Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924032759619 Cornell University Library E354 .L88 1869 The pictorial field-bool( of the War of 1 3 1924 032 759 619 olin Overs THE PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK OF THE WAR OF1812; OR, ILLUSTRATIONS, BY PEN AND PENCIL, OP THE HISTORY, BIOG- RAPHY, SCENERY, RELICS, AND TRADITIONS OP THE LAST WAR POR AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. BY BENSON J. LOSSING. WITH SBVEKAl HUITOEED ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD, BY LOSSING AND BAEEITT, CHIEFLY PEOM OEIGINAL SKETCHES BY THE AUTHOE. NEW YOEK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, PEANKLIN SQUAEB. 186 9. Lo Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by Habpbk & Brothbes, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. \HE author of this voltune said to the readers of his Piotoeial Field-book of the Revolution, at the close of that work, " Should time deal gently with us, we may again go out with staff and scrip together upon the great highway of our coun- try's progress, to note the march of events there." The im- plied promise has been fulfilled. \_Xhe author has traveled more than ten thousand miles in this country and m the Canadas, with note-book and pencil ia hand, visiting places of historic interest connected with the "War of 1812, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, gathering up, recording, and delineating every thing of special value, not found in books, illustrative of the sub- ject, and making himself familiar with the topography and incidents of the battle- fields of that war. Access to the archives of governments, state and national, and to private collections, was freely given him ; and from the lips of actors in the events of that struggle he received the most interesting information concerning it, which might have perished with themj The results of the author's researches and labors are given in this volume. The narrative of historic events is resmned where his work on the Eevolution left it. An account is given of the perils of the country immediately succeeding the Revolution ; the struggles of the new nation with the alhed powers of British and Indians in the Northwest ; the origin and growth of political parties in the United States, and their relations to the War of 1812 ; the influence of the French Revolution and French politics in giving complexion to parties in this country; the first war with the Barbary Powers ; the effects of the wars of Napoleon on the public policy of the TJnited States ; the Embargo and kindred acts, and the kin- dling of the war in 1812. The events of the war are given in greater detail than in any work hitherto published, and the narrative brings to view actors in the scenes whose deeds have been overlooked by the historian. The work is a continuation of the history of our country from the close of the Revolution in 1Y83 to the end of the Second War with Great Britain in 1815. POUGHKEEPSIE, New Yobk, Jult, 1868. CHAPTER I. EARLY DATS OP THE REPUBLIC. The Close of the Revolution ; the States free, but not independent, 18 ; Why? Articlesof Confederation, 19; the Public Debt, 20 5 Attitude of the States, 21 ; British Opinion concerning them, 22 ; Public Dangers, 23 ; Dissolution of the Republic threatened, 24 ; Washington's Torebodings ; his Proposition for a Con- vention to reorganize Government, 25 ; Meeting of the Convention, 26 ; Proceedings of the Convention to form a National Constitution, 27-32 ; Ratification of the Constitution ; its Opponents, 38 ; the Estab- lishment of a Nation, 34. CHAPTER n. EVENTS IN THE NORTHWESTERN TERRITORY. Foundations of Government in the Wilderness, 35 ; the Northwestern Temtory ; Settlements there, 36-37 ; the Indians and their British Allies, 38 ; Councils with the Indians, 39 ; British Intrigues and Indian Hostilities, 40; Expedition against the Indians in the Ohio Country, 41; Battle on the Maumee, 42; Visit to the Place of Conflict, 43-44 ; Expeditions of Scott and Wilkinson, 45 ; Ports built in the Wil- derness, 46 ; St. Clair's Expedition, 47 ; his Battle with the Indians and Defeat, 48 ; how Washington re- ceived the News of St. Clair's Defeat, 49 ; his Justice and Generosity ; Wayne's Expedition, 50 ; Inter- ference of British Officials, 51 ; the British and Indians in armed Alliance, 52 ; Wayne's Expedition down the Maumee, 53, 54 ; Defeat of the Indians and treaty of Greenville, 55, 56. CHAPTER III. ESTABLISHMENT OP THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. The national Policy and Power indicated, 58 ; Relations with France and England, 59 ; revolutionary Movements in France, 60, 61 ; diplomatic Intercourse with Great Britain and Spain, 62 ; Discourtesy of the British Government ; mistaken Views concerning the American Government, 63 ; Acts in relation to the Public Debt, 64 ; Hamilton's financial Scheme ; Currency, 65 ; Jefferson's Disappointment and Sus- picions, 66 ; Progress of the French Revolution, 67 ; the political and religious Views of Jefferson and Adams, 68 ; Democracy in England, 69 ; Adams's Scheme of Government ; Jefferson's Disgust and un- generous Suspicions, 70 ; 'P2Ane's Rights of Man ; a Newspaper War, 71 ; ih% Federal aai Republican Parties formed, 72 ; Sympathy with the French Revolutionists, 73 ; Lafayette, 74 ; Monarchy in France overthrown, 75 ; the National Convention ; Execution of the King, 76 ; Minister .from the French Re- public, 77 ; Washington's Proclamation of Neutrality, 78. CHAPTER IV. FOREIGN RELATIONS AND DOMESTIC POLITICS. " Citizen Genet" and his Reception by his political Admirers, 79 ; his first Interview with Washington ; Enthusiasm of the Republicans, 80 ; the American and the French Revolution compared, 81 ; Genet de- fies the American Government, 82 ; he is recalled ; his Successor, 83 ; British " Rules" and " Orders in Council;" Armed Neutrality, 84; British Impressment of American Seamen, 85; Jay's Treaty with Great Britain, 86 ; Opposition to the Treaty, 87 ; the Whisky Insurrection ; Democratic Societies, 88 ; Difficulties with Algiers, 89 ; an American Navy recommended, 90 ; Construction of a Navy ; Unfriend- liness of the French Directory, 91 ; Struggle between the Republicans and Federalists for^political Power ; Adams elected President, 92 ; open Rupture between France and the United States threatened, 93 ; Mad- ness of Partisans, 94 ; Aggressions of the French Directory, 95 ; Preparations for War with France ; Action in New York, 96 ; History of the Songs " Hail, Columbia !" and " Adams and Liberty," 97. CHAPTER V. WAR ON THE OCEAN. — POLITICAL STRBGOLES. Washington appointed to the Command of the Army ; Hamilton acting General-in-chief, 98 ; Envoys ex- traordinary sent to France, 99 ; Bonaparte in Power ; American War-vessels afloat, 100 ; British Out- rages ; Obsequiousness of the American Government, 102 ; naval Engagements, 103 ; American Cruisers in the West Indies, 104 ; Truxtun's Victory ; Honors to the Victor, 105 ; Peace ; Divisions in the Fed- eral Party, 106 ; Intrigues against Adams ; Alien and Sedition Laws ; Nullification Doctrines put forth, 107 ; State Supremacy asserted ; Jefferson elected President, 108 ; Mortification of the Federalists ; Death of Washington, 109 ; a public Fimeral, 110 ; Washington's Person and Character, 11 1. IV CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. DIFFICULTIES WITH THE BAEBARY POWERS. — ENGLAND AND FRANCE AT WAK. Bonaparte's Career and Influence, 112 ; Obsequiousness of Englishmen, 113 ; Beginning of Jefferson's Ad- ministration ; the National Capital, 114 ; Jefferson's Policy ; political Proscription, 115 ; the Navy re- duced, 116 ; Captain Bainbridge, the Dey of Algiers, and the Sultan, 117 ; Insolence and Exactions of the Barbary Kulers, 118 ; American Navy in the Mediterranean Sea and its Operations, 119-120 ; Bom- bardment of Tripoli, 121 ; Destruction of the P/ii&rfe/jp/iia, 122; Destruction of the /nirepirf; Honors to Commodore Preble, 123 ; Commodore Barron's Squadron, in the Mediterranean, 124 ; Eaton's Expedi- tion in Northern Africa ; Kespect of the Barbaiy Powers for the American Flag, 125 ; Bonaparte and his Relations with England, 126 ; a French Invasion of England threatened, 127 ; a Struggle for political Supremacy ; Bonaparte proclaimed Emperor, 128 ; Napoleon's Berlin Decree, 129. CHAPTER Vn. EVENTS WEST OF THE ALLEGHANIES. — SEARCH AND IMPRESSMENT. Organization of new States, 130; Americans disturbed by the Retrocession of Louisiana to France, 131 ; the secret Designs of the latter, 132 ; Jefferson's Letter and Bonaparte's Necessity ; Pmxhase of Louisi- ana, 133 ; Events connected with the Purchase of Louisiana, 134 ; the Duel of Hamilton and Burr ; the Acts of Burr's political Associates, 135 ; his ambitious Schemes ; Blennerhassett and Wilkinson, 136 ; Buit's Operations, Trial for Treason, and Exile, 137 ; American commercial Thrift and British Jealousy, 138 ; British Perfidy defended by British Writers, 139 ; Unpleasant foreign Relations, 140 ; Memorial of Merchants concerning British Depredations, 141 ; Impressment of American Seamen and Right of Seai-ch, 142 ; diplomatic Correspondence on the Subject, 143 ; cruel Treatment of American Seamen, 144 ; farther diplomatic Action, 145, 146 ; national Independence and Honor in Peril, 147 ; Minister ex- traordinary sent to England, 148. CHAPTER VHL SEARCH AND IMPRESSMENT. — EMBARGO. — PARTY SPIRIT. Negotiations concerning the Impressment of American Seamen, 149 ; a Treaty agreed to, but not ratified; Wai'on the Administration, 150, 151 ; The Continental System of Napoleon, 152; Aggressions on Amer- ican Commerce and Neutrsility by France and England, 153 ; Napoleon's Milan Decree and its Effects, 154 ; the Navy and the Gun-boat Policy, 155 ; British Cruisers in American Waters, 156 ; the Affair of the Chesapeake, 157; the Outrage resented, 158 ; Action of the American Government, 159 ; Action of the British Government, 160 ; fruitless Mission of » British Envoy, 161 ; political Complexion of the Tenth Congress; an Embargo established, 162; its Effects; Party Spirit violently ai-oused, 163; the Embargo vehemently denounced, 164 ; the British exact Tribute from neutral Nations, 165 ; Dangers of national Vanity, 166. CHAPTER IX. WAR BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND GREAT BRITAIN THREATENED. Provisions for Strengthening the American Navy, 1 67 ; Gun-boats; Opposition to a Navy, 1 68 ; British op- position to the Orders in Council, 169 ; Napoleon's Blow at American Commerce ; Modification of the Orders in Council, 170 ; Actions concerning the Embargo, 171 ; Disunionists in New England, 172, 173 ; Embargo or War the proclaimed Alternative, 174 ; Cotton supposed to be the King of Commerce, 1 75 ; Just Arrangements for settling the Difficulties with Great Britain, 176 ; the British Government repudi- ates the Acts of its Agent, 177 ; an offensive British Minister sent to America, 278 ; the French Decrees and British Orders in Council, 179 ; England and France refuse to be just, 180 ; Outrage by a British Cruiser, 181 ; Method of signaling, 182, 183 ; Action between the President and Little Belt, 184 ; Tes- timony concerning the Affair, 185 ; Commodore Rodgers assailed and vindicated, 186. CHAPTER X. HOSTILITIES OP THE INDIANS IN THE NORTHWEST. The Indiana Territory and Governor Harrison, 187 ; British Emissaries among the Indians, 188 ; Tecum- tha and his Brother the Prophet, 189 ; Indian Confederation proposed ; Harrison denounces the' Prophet 190 ; the Mission of Joseph Barron, 191 ; Tecumtha before Harrison at Vincennes, 192 ; roving Plun- derers ; Tecumtha alarmed, 193 ; Preparations for fighting the Indians, 194 ; Harrison marches up the Wabash with Troops ; Deputation of friendly Indians, 195 ; Visit of the Author to the Region of threat- ened Hostilities, 196-200 ; Harrison approaches the Prophet's Town ; the Indians alarmed 201 • Hai-- rison's Encampment near the Tippecanoe, 202 ; the Prophet's Teaching, 203 ; Battle of Tippecanoe 204 205 ; The Prophet disgraced, 206 ; Actors in the Battle .of Tippecanoe, 207 ; Author's Visit to the Bat- tle-ground, 208, 209. CHAPTER XI. A WAR SPIRIT AROUSED. — DECLARATION OP WAR AGAINST GREAT BRITAIN. The Twelfth Congress and its Composition, 210 ; the President's feeble War-trumpet, 211 • Chai-ffes against Great Britain, 212; Action of the Committee on Foreign Relations, 213; Alarm on Account of the Slaves, 214; Randolph and Calhoun in Congress, 215; Policy of the FederaUsts, 216- Patriotism of some of their Leaders, 217 ; Debate concerning the Navy, 218 ; the President compelled to adopt War Measures, 219 ; a British Emissary in New England, 220 ; his Revelations and Rewards, 221 • Action of the British Mimstry on the Subject, 222 ; a new Embargo Act, 223 ; delusive Hopes of Justice 224 a prelnmna^ War Measure 225 ; Report on the Causes of and Reasons for War, 226 ; Action of Confess ""^ *^,™^"1''*' ^"i- ^^'f'T'' °^ '^^'■' 22« ' ^'°^'' °^ *« ^^"™<7 i° Congress against the K- oppSn?oTe wTal' '^' ^^"^ ^''""■'' ^°' "'"^'"^ """ *' ^'"' ''"^ P"^''" ^"^^'^ CONTENTS. V CHAPTER Xn. BEGINNING OF THE WAR OP 1812. The British Regency — Political Affairs in Europe, 233 ; the Troops and Fortifications on the Northern Frontier, 234 ; Sea^coast Defenses of the United States, 235-238 ; Fulton's Torpedoes and their Uses, 238-240 ; Fulton's Anticipations, 241 ; Effects of a Fear of Torpedoes, 242 ; the Action of State Gov- ernments concerning the War, 243 ; puhlic Feeling in Canada, 244 ; Signs of Pacification, 245 ; condi- tional Revocation of the Orders in ConncU, 246 ; haughty Assumptions of the British Government on the Subject of Search and Imprisonment, 247; War inevitable and justifiable, 248 ; Choice of military Leaders, 249, 250. CHAPTER Xni. hull's campaign against CANADA.' Canada to be invaded — Object of the Invasion, 251 ; Organization of an Army in Ohio — an active Frontiers- man, 258 ; Author's Journey through Ohio, 254 ; General Hull takes Command of Ohio Volunteers, 255 ; regular and volunteer Troops in the Wilderness, 256 ; Hull's March to Detroit, 257; his Baggage and Papers captured, 258 ; how the British in Canada were informed of the Declaration of War, 259 ; Detroit in 1812, 260; Hull invades Canada, 261, 262 ; Reconnoissance toward Maiden, 263; first Battle of the War, 264, 265 ; Distrust of General Hull, 266 ; first Blood shed in the War, 267; early Scenes at Mack- inaw, 268, 269 ; Events at Mackinaw in 1812, 270 ; Employment of the Indians by the British, 271. CHAPTER XIV. CAMPAIGN ON THE DETROIT TRONTIER. .ilarming Facts and Rumors, 272 ; Preparations in Canada for resisting Invasion, 273 ; Alarm caused by the Invasion, 274 ; Symptoms of Disloyalty — General Brock's Influence, 275 ; Defeat of Americans under Van Home at Brownstown, 276 ; mutinous Spirit evinced in Hull's Army, 277; Expedition to succor a Supply- train, 278 ; the March toward the River Raisin, 279 ; Battle of Maguaga, 280, 281 ; Disappointment and Disaffection of the American Troops, 282 ; Brock goes to Maiden with Troops, 283 ; Preparations for at- tacking Detroit, 284 ; Hull deceived — -an Effort to reach a Supply-train, 285 ; Hull summoned to sur- render, and refuses, 286 ; the British proceed to attack Detroit, 287; Scenes within the Fort, 288 ; Hull surrenders the Fort, Garrison, and Territory, 289 ; Feeling of the Troops — Result of the Surrender, 290 ; Incidents of the Surrender, 291 ; British Occupation of Detroit and Michigan, 292 ; Account of the Sur- render, and public Indignation, 293 ; Hull tried by a Court-martial, 294 ; a Consideration of Hull's public Character, 295 ; the Government more to blame than Hull, 296. CHAPTER XV. MILITARY EVENTS IN THE THEN FAR NORTHWEST. The Author's Journey from Chicago to Detroit, 297; a Ride from Windsor to Amherstburg, 298 ; Histori- cal Localities at Amherstburg or Maiden, 299; Windsor and "Windsor Castle,"^00; Pontiac',s Siege of Detroit, 301; Chicago, its Name, Settlement, and Position, 302 ; Trading-house and Fort at Chicago, 303; an Indian Raid, 304 ; Troubles at Chicago, 305 ; Treachery of the Indians — a Warning, 306; Mu- nitions of War and Liquor destroyed, 307 ; Massacre at Chicago, 308 ; Incident of the Conflict with the Savages — Bravery of Women, 309 ; Cruelties of the Indians — their British Allies, 310 ; Survivors of the Massacre, 311 ; Mrs. Kenzie and the Growth of Chicago, 312 ; . Designs against Fort Wayne, 313 ; Attack on Fort Wayne, 314 ; Ravages of the Indians — Little Turtle, 315 ; Treachery of Indians at Fort Wayne, 316 ; Fort Harrison besieged, 317 ; brave Deeds at Fort Harrison, 318 ; Attack on Fort Madison, 319. CHAPTER XVI. WAR WITH THE BRITISH AND INDIANS IN THE NORTHWEST. The Nation aroused — Enthusiasm of the People, 320 ; Harrison and the Kentuckians, 321 ; Harrison at the Head of Kentucky Volunteers, 322 ; Departure for the Wilderness, 328 ; Volunteers flock to Harrison's Standard, 324 ; Fort Wayne relieved — Destruction of Indian Villages, 325 ; Harrison's Popularity— he commands the Northwestern Army, 326 ; Winchester met by British and Indians in the Wilderness, 327 ; Re-enforcements gathering, 328 ; Harrison's proposed autumn Campaign, 329 ; reported Movement through the Wilderness, 330 ; Erection of Forts, 331 ; the Indians alarmed and humbled, 332 ; the Au- thor's Visit to the Theatre of War, 333 ; Preparations for further Warfare, 334 ; Expedition against the Indians in the Illinois Country, 335 ; Expedition to the Wabash Region, 336 ; Sufferings of the Kentucky Soldiers, 337. CHAPTER XVn. WAR WITH THE BRITISH AND INDIANS IN THE NORTHWEST. Harrison cheerfully meets Difliculties, 338 ; Difficulties of a winter Campaign, 339 ; Organization of the Army — the Western Reserve, 340 ; Preparations in Ohio against Invasion, 341 ; Energy and Patriotism of Colonel Wadsworth, 342 ; an Expedition to the Maumee, 343 ; stirring Events at the Maumee Rapids, 344 ; Services of iriendly Indians, 345 ; Campbell's Expedition into the Wabash Region, 346 ; a Battle near the Mississiniwa, 347 ; Sufferings and Difficulties of Harrison's Army, 348, 349 ; Advance toward the Maumee Rapids, 350 ; Frenchtown on the Raisin River threatened, 351 ; Battle at Frenchtown, 352 ; Winchester arrives with Re-enforcements, 353 ; he disregards Warnings of Danger, 354 ; Massacre at Frenchtown, 355 ; Winchester compelled to surrender his Army, 356 ; Perfidy, Cowardice, and Inhu- manity of the British Commander, 357 ; Massacre and Scalping allowed by him, 358 ; Incidents of the Massacre, 359 ; Author's Visit to Frenchtown, 360 ; historical Localities and Survivors of the War there, 361, 862 ; Harrison unjustly censi*ed, 363 ; his Army at the Maumee Rapids, 364. vi CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVni. EVENTS ON THE NORTHERN JLND NIAGARA FRONTIERS IN 1812. First warlike Measures on the Northern Frontier, 365 ; the Militia of the State of New York, 366 ; Events on Lake Ontario and at Sackett's Harbor, 367 ; a hostile British Squadron oif Sackett's Harbor, 368 ; a Skirmish and a Repulse of the British— Vessels of War on Lake Ontario, 369 ; Operations on the St. Lawrence Frontier, 370 ; hostile Squadrons on Lake Ontario, 370 ; Operations near Kingston— Commo- dore Chauncey, 372 ; General Brown sent to Ogdensburg, 373 ; the British attack Ogdensburg, 374 ; St. Regis, its capture by the Americans, 375 ; Honors to the Victors at Albany, 376 ; Eleazer Williams, or " The Lost Prince," 377 ; the Author's Visit to St. Regis, 378 ; Buifalo in 1812, 379 ; the Niagara Fron- tier, 380 ; American Troops on the Niagara Frontier, 381 ; an Armistice and its Effects, 383 ; Prepara- tions for an InvasiiDn of Canada, 384 ; Expeditions for capturing British Vessels, 385 ; Capture of the Adams and Caledonia near Fort Erie, 386 ; Incidents of the Exploit, 387 ; Feelings of the Americans and British, 388. CHAPTER XIX. EVENTS ON THE NIAGARA FRONTIER IN 1812. Conduct of General Smyth, 389 ; Van Rensselaer prepares to attack Queenston, 390 ; British Force on the Niagara Frontier, 391 ; Expedition against Queenston delayed, 392 ; military Etiquette — Colonel Scott, 393 ; Passage of the Niagara River in the Dark, 394 ; Skirmish at Queenston Village, 395 ; Colonel Van Rensselaer wounded and Captain Wool in command, 396 ; the Americans scale Queenston Heights, 397 ; Battle on Queenston Heights and Death of General Brock, 398 ; Passage of the River by Re-enforce- ments, 399 ; Events on Queenston Heights, 400 ; another Battle — Wool wounded, 401 ; bad Conduct of the New York Militia, Colonel Scott in Command, 402 ; Heroes and Cowards made Prisoners of War, 403; Surrender of the American Army, 404 ; a triumphal and funeral Procession, 405 ; Honors to General Brock, 406 ; Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer, 407 ; Events at the Mouth of the Niagara River, 408 ; Protection for American Prisoners of War, 409 ; General Smyth's injurious Pride and Folly, 410 ; his silly Proclamations ridiculed, 411. CHAPTER XX. EVENTS ON THE NIAGARA FRONTIER AND VICINITY IN 1812. The Author's Visit to the Niagara Frontier, 412 ; Lewiston, Queenston, and Queenston Heights, 41 3 ; Brock's Monument, 414; an Evening on Queenston Heights, 415; Interview with the Chief of the Six Nations, 416 ; Journey from Queenston to Niagara, 417 ; Fort George and its Appurtenances, 418 ; Fort Missis- saga — Return to Niagara Falls, 419 ; Journey from Niagara Falls to the Settlement of the Six Nations on the Grand River, 420 ; a Morning with the Chief of the Six Nations, 421 ; Indian Relics and Customs, 422 ; the Mohawk Church and Brant's Tomb, 423, 424 ; the Mohawk Institute — Communion-plate from Queen Anne, 425 ; British attack Black Rock, 426 ; Preparations for another Invasion of Canada, 427 ; the British forewaiyed — Passage of the Niagara River, 428 ; Incidents of the attempted Invasion, 429 ; Smyth's Incompetence and FoUy, 430 ; the Invasion of Canada abandoned, 431 ; a Duel, and what came of it— exit Smyth, 432. CHAPTER XXI. NAVAL OPERATIONS IN 1812. Acknowledged naval Superiority of Great Britain, 433 ; Character, Distribution, and Condition of the Amer- ican War Marine, 434 ; Commodore Rodgers's Squadron— first Shot in the War, 435 ; Rodgers in Euro- pean waters— British Squadron at Halifax, 436 ; Cruise of the Constitution, 437 ; how she eluded her Pursuers, 438 ; the Essex goes on a Cruise, 439 ; Cruise of the Essex, 440 ; how a Challenge was accepted by Commodore Porter, 441 ; the Constitution off the Eastern Coast, 442 ; Battle between the Constitution and Ouerriere, 443, 444 ; Destruction of the GMerrJcj'e— Effects of the Victory, 445 ; Honors to Commo- dore Hull, 446 ; Effect of the Victory on the British Mind, 447 ; Hull's Generosity, 448 ; Cruise of the Wasp, 449 ; Fight between the Wasp and the Frolic, 450 ; both Vessels captured by the Poictiers 451 ■ Honors to Captain Jones, 452 ; Lieutenant Biddle honored and rewarded, 453. ' ' CHAPTER XXIL NAVAL OPERATIONS AND CIVIL AFFAIRS IN 1812. Commodore Rodgers's second Cruise, 454 ; Battle between the United States and Macedonian, 455 ■ Cap- ture of the Macedonian— DRca.tvr takes her to New York, 456 ; Honors to Decatur, 457; Bainbri'dge in Command of a Squadron, 458 ; his Cruise on the Coast of Brazil, 459 ; Battle between the Constitution and Java, 460 ; Loss of the Tbwa- Incidents of the Battle, 461 ; Honors to Bainbridge, 462 ; Effects of the naval Battles in Great Britain, 463 ; meeting of the Twelfth Congress, 464 ; Madison re-elected— his Ad- ministration sustained, 465 ; Quincy's Denunciations and Clay's Response, 466; Measures for strengthen- ing the Army and Navy, 467 ; Retaliation— Report of the Committee on Foreign Relations 468 • Mani- festo of the Pnnce Regent and its Charges, 469 ; Mediation of the Emperor of Russia proposed 470 • Re joicings over Napoleon's Misfortunes— Peace Commissioners, 471 ; Cabinet Changes, 472. ' ' CHAPTER XXIII. EVENTS ON THE MAUMEE HfVER. Contemplated Expe(«tion against Maiden, 473 ; American Camp at the Maumee Rapids, 474 ; Interference of the Secretary of War with General Harrison, 475 ; General Clay's march to the Maumee 476 • Harri son assumes grave Responsibilities, 477; British and Indian Expedition against Fort Meigs 478- the Mission of Captam Ohver 479 ; Leslie Combs volunteers for perilous Duty, 480 ; Incidents of his Vo'va^e down the Maumee, 481 ; Preparations for an Assault on Fort Meig^ 482 j Attack on Fort Meigs 483 • CONTENTS. vii critical Situation of the Fort and Garrison, 484 ; Harrison's Plans against the Besiegers, 485 ; Dudley's Defeat and sad Results, 486 ; Arrival of Re-enforcements for Fort Meigs, 487; Effect of a Sortie from Fort Meigs, 488 ; the Author's Visit to the Maumee Valley, 490-493. CHAPTER XXIV. THE WAR IN NOKTHEKN OHIO — CONSTKTJCTION OF PEEEy's FLEET. Harrison's Provision for the Frontier Defenses, 494 ; Kentuckians under Colonel R. M. Johnson, 495 ; Te- cumtha anxious for hostile Action, 496 ; Johnson's Troops at Fort Stephenson, 497 ; unsuccessful Attempt to capture Fort Meigs, 498 ; Fort Stephenson menaced, 499 ; Croghan determines to hold it, 500 ; it is summoned to surrender, 501 ; a Siege, 502 ; Fort Stephenson stormed, and the Assailants repulsed, 503 ; Incidents of the Night succeeding the Struggle— Honors to Croghan, 504 ; the Author's Visit to Sandusky, 505, 506 ; also to Fremont and Site of Fort Stephenson, 507 ; Journey to Toledo — Harrison's Character assailed and vindicated, 508 ; Captain Periy sent to Lake Erie, 509 ; Harbor of Erie or Presq' Isle, 510; Construction of a Lake Fleet begun there, 511 ; Perry's Services with Chauncey and in securing American Vessels, 512 ; Perry's earnest Call for Men, 513 ; Erie menaced, 514; first Cruise of Perry's Fleet, 515 ; Harrison visits Perry, 516 ; Perry's second Cruise, 517. CHAPTER XXV. THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE. i'eiTy prepares for Battle, 518 ; his final Instructions — British Squadron in sight, 519 ; Names and Char- acter of the opposing Squadrons, 520; Change in the Order of Battle, 521 ; relative Position of the Squadrons— Opening of the Battle, 522 ; first Position of the Vessels in the Fight, 523 ; the Battle- Scenes on board the Lawrence, 524, 525 ; sad Condition of the Lawrence, 526 ; Perry goes from the Law- rence to the Niagara, 527 ; Perry breaks the British Line, 528 ; his Victory — ^British Ships vainly at- tempt to Escape, 529 ; Perry's famous Dispatch, 530 ; Surrender of the British Officers — Burial of the Dead, 531 ; sad Effects of the Battle, 532 ; Importance of Perry's Victory, 533 ; public Celebrations by the exultant Americans, 534 ; Honors to Elliott and his Suborinates, 535 ; a Plea for a British-Indian Alliance — Prediction by Washington Irving, 536 ; Author's Visit to Erie and Cleveland, 537 ; Prepara- tions for unveiling a Statue of Perry at Cleveland, 538 ; surviving Soldiers of the War of 1812, 539 ; the Statue unveiled — a remarkable Dinner-party, 540 ; a sham naval Battle — early Residents of Cleveland, 541 ; Perry and his Captives, 542 ; Reception of Perry and Harrison at Erie, 543. CHAPTER XXVI. Harrison's invasion of canada — ^his home. Arrangements for invading Canada, 544 ; Army of the Northwest in Motion, 545 ; it crosses Lake Erie, 546 ; Proctor, frightened, flees from Maiden — Tecumtha's scornful Rebuke, 547; vigorous Pursuit of the British, 548 ; the Armies in the River Thames, 649 ; Destruction of Property, 550 ; the British and In- dians make a Stand for Battle, 551 ; the Armies in battle Array, 552 ; Battle of the Thames, 553, 554 ; British defeated — Death of Tecumtha — who killed him, 555 ; Gallantry of Colonel Johnson, 556 ; Harri- son and Proctor properly rewarded, 557, 558 ; Returns to Detroit — Effect of the Victory, 559 ; the Au- thor's Visit to the Thames Battle-ground, 560, 561 ; Harrison on the Northern Frontier, 562 ; Harrison leaves the Atmy — AuthoV's Journey in Ohio, 563 ; Antiquities at Newark, 564, 565 ; Columbus and the Scioto Valley, 566 ; Chillicothe and its Vicinity, 567, 568 ; Governor Worthington's Residence, 569 ; Visit to Batavia and North Bend, 570 ; North Bend and its early Associations, 571 ; Courtship and Mar- riage of Captain Harrison and Anna Symmes, 572 ; Harrison's Tomb and Dwelling, 573, 574. CPAPTER XXVII. EVENTS ON THE ST. LAWRENCE FRONTIER AND nPPEE CANADA. The Energies of Great Britain displayed, 575 ; Operations in the St. Lawrence Region, 576 ; Attack on Elizabethtown — Retaliation, 577 ; Attack on Ogdensburg, 578 ; Defense of the Town, 579 ; Ogdensburg captured, 580; the Village plundered and Citizens carried off, 581 ; Author's Visit to Ogdensburg and Prescott, 582 ; the Canadian Rebellion, 583 ; another Invasion of Canada contemplated, 584 ; Prepara- tions for it, 585 ; Expedition against Little York, 586, 587 ; Americans land and drive the British to Lit- tle York, 588 ; Explosion of a Powder-magazine and Death of General Pike, 589 ; Capture of York and Escape of the British, 590 ; York abandoned — a Scalp as an Ornament, 591 ; the Author's Visit to To- ronto, formerly Little York, 592 ; an Adventure among the Fortifications, 593 ; notable Men and Places at Toronto, 594 ; Passage across Lake Ontario — Journey to Niagara Falls, 595 ; Expedition against Fort George — the respective Forces, 596 ; Cannonade between Forts George and Niagara, 597 ; the American Squadron and the landing of Troops, 598 ; a severe Battle — Capture of Fort George, 599 ; the British retreat to the Beaver Dams and Burlington Heights, 600 ; British Property on the Niagara Frontier de- stroyed by themselves — Expedition toward Burlington Heights, 601 ; the Americans- at Stony Creek, 602; Battle at Stony Creek, 603 ; Capture of Generals Chandler and Winder, 604 ; the Americans flee and are pursued, 605 ; Destruction of Property at Sodus — ^British Fleet off Oswego, 606. CHAPTER XXVIII. EVENTS AT SACKETt's HARBOR AND ON THE NIAGARA FRONTIER IN 1813. British Designs on Sackett's Harbor — its Defenses, 607; General Brown in Command at Sackett's Harbor, 608 ; Assembling of the Militia — Approach of the British, 609 ; Position of the Militia— a Panic and Flight, 610; a Conflict — Destruction of Publi^ Stores, 611; the British retreat, 612; Sackett's Harbor and its Defenses, 614; the Author's Visit there — the Frigate New Orleans — a neglected Monument, 616; his- torical Localities around Sackett's Harbor — a Visit to Watertown and Brownsville, 617 ; the Story of Whittlesey and his Wife, 618 ; Movements on the Niagara Frontier, 619 ; Expedition against the British at the Beaver Dams, 620 ; Services of a patriotic Woman, 621 ; Defeat and Surrender of the Americans — Fort George invested, 622 ; the Author's, Visit to the Beaver Dams Region, 623 ; a veteran Canadian viii CONTENTS. Soldier, 624 ; Visit to Stony Creek and Hamilton, 625 ; British and Indian Raids on the Niagara Fron- tier, 626 ; Battle at Black Rock, 627 ; Expedition to Burlington Heights and York, 628 ; Dearborn suc- ceeded by Wilkinson, 629 ; Relations between Wilkinson, Armstrong, and Hampton, 630 ; Affairs on the Niagara Frontier, 631 ; Fort George menaced and Newark burnt, 632 ; just Indignation of the British- Retaliation proposed, 633 ; Fort Niagara captured— Desolation of that Frontier, 634 ; N. Y. Militia at Buf- falo, 635 ; Battle near Black Rock and Destruction of Buffalo, 636 ; Horrors of retaliatory Warfare, 637. CHAPTER XXIX. EVENTS ON THE NORTHERN PRONTIEE IN 1813. Wilkinson concentrates his Forces, 638 ; General Dearborn moves into Canada, 639 ; Repulse of the British at La Colle— Colonel Carr, 640 ; Preparations for War on Lake Champlain, 641 ; Movements of Hamp- ton in Northern New York, 642 ; Chauncey tries to engage Sir James Yeo on Lake Ontario, 643 ; a Bat- tle at last, 644 ; Chauncey again searching for his Foe, 645 ; an Expedition for the St. Lawrence against Montreal — Disasters, 646 ; Hampton's Operations in the Chateaugay Region, 647; Wilkinson's Expedi- tion on the St. Lawrence, 648 ; Battle off French Creek — the Expedition moves down the St. Lawiience, 649 ; the Flotilla passes Prescott, 650 ; General Brown invades Canada — Wilkinson in- Peril, 651 ; Prep- arations for a Battle, 652 ; Battle of Chrysler's Field, 653 ; the Americans go down the St. Lawrence, 654 ; Character of some of the chief Leaders, 655 ; the Army in winter Quarters at French Mills, 656 ; its Sufferings there and Release, 657 ; Attempt to seduce American Soldiers from their Allegiance, 658 ; the Author's Visit to the St. Lawrence Region — Carleton Island, 659, 660 ; WilUam Johnson of the Thou- sand Islands, 661 ; his Exploits, Arrest, and Imprisonment, 662 ; his Services in the War of 1812, 663 ; a Visit to French Mills and Vicinity, 664 ; Rouse's Point — La Colle, 665 ; a Visit to Chrysler's Farm, Prescott, and Ogdensburg, 666. CHAPTER XXX. PEEDATOET WAEFAKE OF THE BRITISH ON THE COAST. Blockade of the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays declared, 667 ; Operations of Blookaders in Chesapeake Bay, 668 ; Attack on Lewiston — Cockburn, the Marauder, 669 ; Capture of Frenchtown, 670 ; Attack on Havre de Grace, 671 ; the Town plundered and fired, 672 ; the Author's Visit to Havre de Grace — John O'Neill, 673 ; Cockburn plunders and destroys other Villages, 674 ; stirring Scenes in Hampton Roads, 675 ; a British Fleet enters the Roads, 676 ; Craney Island and its Defenders, 677 ; Preparations for Battle, 678 ; the British attack, are repulsed, and withdraw, 679 ; they turn upon Hampton, 680 ; they land and menace it, 681 ; a Struggle for the Possession of Hampton, 682 ; Americans driven out, and the Village given up to Rapine and Plunder, 683 ; the Author visits Craney Island and Norfolk, 684, 685 ; the Fortifications on Craney Island, 686 ; a Visit to Hampton, 687 ; a Daughter of Commodore Barron —a Veteran of 1812 — Hampton destroyed by Virginia Rebels, 688 ; Cockburn in the Potomac and on the Coasts of the Carolinas and Georgia, 689 ; Secret Organizations among the Slaves, 690 ; Decatur runs the Blockade at New York, 691 ; blockading Squadron off New London, 692 ; Alarm produced by Tor- pedo Vessels, 693 ; the Coast of Connecticut blockaded — the local Militia, 694 ; Decatur in the Thames, 695 ; the Author's Visit to New London and its Vicinity, 696, 697. CHAPTER XXXL WAE ON THE OCEAN IN 1813. Battle between the Hornet and Peacock, 698 ; Victory of the Hornet — Prowess of the Americans respected, 699 ; Honors to Captain Lawrence and his Men, 700 ; Cruise of the Chesapeake — her Character 701 • Lawrence's last official Letter, 702 ; Broke's Challenge, 703 ; the Chesapeake and her Crew, 704 • the Chesapeake goes out to fight, 705 ; Battle between the Chesapeake and Shannon — Death of Lawrence 706 ; Treachery — Capture of the Chesapeake— stie is taken to Halifax, 708 ; Exultation of the British' 709 ; Honors to Captain Broke, 710 ; Respect paid to the Remains of Lawrence and his Lieutenant Lud- low, 711 ; funeral Ceremonies at Salem, 712 ; funeral Ceremonies at New York — Monuments 713' stir- ring Scenes in Chesapeake Bay, 714 ; Cruise of the Argus in British Waters, 715 ; Battle between the Argus and Pelican, 716 ; Battle between the Enterprise and Boxer, 717 ; Funeral of the Commander of each at Portland, 718 ; Honors to Burrows and M'Call, 719 ; last Cruise of the Enterprise 720. CHAPTER XXXII. CRUISE OP THE ESSEX. Weakness of the American Navy, 721 ; the Essex starts on a long Cruise — a Search for Baiubridge 722 • she sails for the Pacific Ocean, 723 ; her Search for British whaUng Vessels, 724 ; by capturing and arm- ing British whaling Vessels, Porter creates a Squadron, 725 ; successful Cruise among the Gallapagos Isl- ands, 726 ; Porter sails for the Marquesas Islands, 727 ; civil War in Nooaheevah, 728 ; Porter engages in the War, 729 ; the Women of Nooaheevah, 730 ; Incidents in the Harbor of Valparaiso, 731 ■ Battle between the Essex and two British Ships, 732 ; the Essex captured— Porter returns Home, '733 ■ ' Honors to Commodore Porter— his subsequent Career, 734; Rodgers's long Cruise in 1813— his Services to his Country, 735, 736 ; he makes another Cruise in the President — Honors to Rodgers, 737. CHAPTER XXXIII. WAR AGAINST THE CREEK INDIANS. Insurrectionary Movements in Louisiana, 738 ; military Movements in West Florida, 739 ■ Louisiana made a State— Insurrection in East Florida, 740 ; Action of United States Officials there-^Exnedition 711 • Surrender of Mobile to the Americans, 742 ; Tennessee Volunteers on the Mississippi, 743 ; they return to Nashville, 744 ; Tecnmtha m the Creek Country-he exhorts the Creeks to make War on the WhS People, 746 ; the Creek Nation and their Position, 747 ; Civil War among the Creeks— White Ppnnl» in Peril, 748 ; the Militia in the Keld-Battle of Burit Com Creek, 749 ; PrlparatVons for SnSower Alabama, 750 ; Fort Mims and its Occupants, 751 ; Rumors of impending Hostilities, 752 ; Fort Mims CONTENTS. ix crowded with Refugees, 753 ; gathering of hostile Savages near, 754 ; furious Assault on Fort Mims, 755 ; Massacre at Fort Mims, 756; Horrors of the Massacre, 757; Response of the Tennesseeans to a Cry for Help, 758 ; General Andrew Jackson in the Field — Mobile threatened, but saved, 759. CHAPTER XXXIV. WAK AGAINST THE CKEEK INDIAKS/ Jackson heeds a Cry for Help from the Coosa, 760 ; the Army threatened with Famine — ^AfTairs in the lower Creek Country, 761 ; Choctaw Allies — Expedition against Tallasehatche, 762; Battle of Talla- sehatche, 763 ; Jackson hastens to the Relief of threatened Posts, 764 ; Battle at Talladega, 765 ; the dis- pirited Indians sue for Peace, 766 ; Destruction o( the Hillabee Towns, 767 ; the Creek Country invaded from' Georgia — Battle of Auttose, 768 ; Expedition under Captain Dale, 769 ; Dale's terrible" Canoe Fight, 770 ; Fort Claiborne at Randon's Landing, 771 ; Battle of Econochaco, 772 ; Dissolution of the Armies in the Creek Country — new Volunteers, 773; Battle of Emucfeu, 774; Battle on Enotochopco Creek, 775 ; Battle on the Cidebee River, 776 ; East Tennesseeans and Choctaw AUies on the Way to the Creek Country, 777 ; Battle of the Horseshoe, 779 ; the Power of the Creek Nation broken there, 780 ; the subdued Indians sue for Peace — Weathersford in Jackson's Tent, 781 ; the Creek Nation ruined, 782. CHAPTER XXXV. CIVIL ATFAIRS IN 1813 — EVENTS ON THE NORTHERN FRONTIER IN 1814. Political Composition of Congress — Peace Commissioners, 783 ; illicit Traffic — Change in public Sentiment — Peace Party, 784 ; revolutionary Proposition — new Embargo Act, 785 ; Rumors of Peace — Embargo Act repealed, 786 ; Provisions for the increase of the Army, 787 ; Prisoners of War — retaliatory Meas- ures proposed, 788 ; Campaign on the Northern Frontier and Lake Champlain, 789 ; Wilkinson marches on La Colle Mill, in Canada, 790; Battle of La Colle Mill, 791 ; end of Wilkinson's military Career, 792 ; Brown, moving toward the Niagara Frontier, perplexed by Orders from the War Department, 793 ; Naval Forces on Lake Ontario, 794 ; the British attack Oswego, 796 ; they capture Oswego, 796 ; Survivors of the War in Oswego, 797 ; Sackett's Harbor blockaded, 798 ; Woolsey at Big Sandy Creek with Stores for Sackett's Harbor, 799 ; Battle at Big Sandy Creek, 800 ; a great Cable carried to Sackett's Harbor — Author's Visit to Big Sandy Creek, 801 ; the AJmy on the Niagara Frontier — Red Jacket, 802 ; Fort Erie and the Invasion of Canada, 803 ; an Iftvasion of Canada from Black Rock, 804 ; Capture of Fort Erie, 805; Scott prepares for battle at Street's Creek, 806 ; preliminary Fighting, 807; Scott advances — the British Force, 808 ; the Battle of Chippewa, 809, 810 ; the British driven from Chippewa — Indians dis- heartened, 811 ; the Armies inspirited by the Victory, 812 ; Preparations to cross the Chippewa Creek, 813 ; the British retreat — Brown marches for Fort George, 814 — he falls back to Chippewa, 815. CHAPTER XXXVT. WAR ON THE NIAGARA PRONTIEB IN 1814. The British, re-enforced, advance toward Chippewa, 816; Scott discovers them near Niagara Falls, 817; the British attack Scott, 818 ; Brown advances from Chippewa, 819 ; Colonel Miller captures a British Battery, 820; Appreciation of his Exploit, 821;. desperate Struggle in the darkness — Victory for the Americans, 822 ; close of the Battle of Niagara Falls, 823 ; the Battle and the Victory considered, 824 ; Scott, wounded, proceeds to Washington, 825 ; Honors awarded him, 826 ; the Author's Visit to the Battle-grounds of Chippewa and Niagara Falls, 827, 828 ; the Army falls back and is ordered to Fort Erie, 829 ; the British again attack Black Rock, 830 ; Brown wounded — Gaines takes Command of the Army, 831 ; the American Troops at Fort Erie, 832 ; the British assail the Fort, 833 ; Battle of Fort Erie, 834, 835; Brown resumes Command, 836 ; a Sortie, 837; brilliant Success of General. Porter, 838 ; Triumph of Miller and Upham, 839 ; the British abandon the Siege, 840 ; Honors awarded to General Brown, 841 ; Honors to Generals Porter and Ripley, 842 ; two remarkable Survivors of the Battle of Fort Erie, 843 ; General Izard sends Troops to the Niagara Frontier, 844 ; he takes Command there, 845 ; the American Troops withdraw from Canada, 846 ; the Author visits Fort Erie and its Vicinity, 847, 848 ; Holmes's Expedition into Canada — Battle of the Long Woods, 849 ; Expedition to the upper Lakes, 850 ; Operations in that Region, 851 ; M'Arthur's Raid in, Canada, 352 — his Bravery and Generosity, 853. CHAPTER XXXVIL EVENTS ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN IN 1814. The Downfall of Napoleon, 854 ; English Troops released for Service in America, 855 ; Struggle for the ' Control of Lake Champlain, 856; Operations on the Canada Border, 857 ; alarming Order from the War Department, 858 ; Concentration of Troops at Plattsburg, 859 ; Position of American Works there, 860 ; the British advance on Plattsburg, 861 ; a Skirmish at Beekmantown, 862 ; another near Plattsburg, 863 ; the British checked at the Saranac Bridge, 864 ; British land — our naval Forces in motion, 865 ; Opening of naval Battle off Plattsburg, 866 ; Battle of Lake Champlain, 867-870 ; Victory for the Amer- icans complete, 871 ; Casualties, 872 ; Movements of the land Troops— Battle of Plattsburg, 8?3 ; the British alarmed, 874 ; their hasty Flight into Canada, 875 ; Rejoicings because of Victory, 876 ; Honors to General Macomb, 877 ; Honors to Commodore Macdonough, 878 ; Effect of the Victory at Plattsburg, 879 ; the Author's Visit to the Scene of War on and near Lake Champlain, 880-884 ; Operations on Lake Ontario, 885; a heavy British Ship on the Lake, 886; close of Hostilities on the Northern Frontier, 887. CHAPTER XXXVIIL THE WAR ON THE NEW ENGLAND COAST IN 1814. The Blockade of New London, 888 ; amphibious Warfare on the New England Coast, 889 ; New England sea-port Towns blockaded, 890; Portsmouth and Boston menaced, 891 ; Preparations for the Defense of Boston, 892; the British Squadron attacks Stonington, 893; Captain Holmes and his Gun, 894; a Dep- utation sent to the British Commander, 895 ; the British repulsed— impotency of the Attack, 896 ; a X CONTENTS. British Force on the Coast of Maine, 897; Operations in Penobscot Bay and Eiver, 898 ; Prepa,rations at Hampden to oppose the British Invasion, 899 ; Panic and Flight of the Militia, 900 ; the British at Bangor, 901 ; Treatment of General Blake, 902 ; the British at Castine, 903 ; the Author s Visit to Places on the New England Coast— Observations at Boston, 904 ; at Salem and Marblehead, 905-907 ; Journey to the Penobscot, 908 ; Observations at Castine, 909 ; Voyage up the Penobscot, 910 ; Hampden, 911; Observations at Bangor, 912 ; Visit to New Bedford and Providence, 913 ; Stonington and Mystic, 914 ; Story of a faithful Daughter, 915. CHAPTER XXXIX. THE CAPTHKE OP \^^SHXNGTON CUT. Apathy of the Government while the Capital was in peril, 916 ; feeble Preparations for its Defense, 917; General Winder in Command— a Call for Troops, 918 ; Tardiness of the Secretary of War — Apathy of the People, 919 ; Appearance of the British in Chesapeake Bay, 920 ; gathering of Troops — ^Destruction of Barney's Flotilla, 921 ; the Forces gathered for the Defense of Washington and Baltimore, 922 ; the British move on Washington from the Patuxent, 923 ; Battle Lines formed near Bladensburg, 924 ; Ex- citement in the national Capital, 925 ; the British advance on Bladensburg, 926 ; Arrangements to receive them, 926, 927; Dueling -ground near Bladensburg, 928 ; Battle of Bladensburg, 929, 930 ; Barney wounded and made Prisoner, 931 ; the victorious British march on Washington City, 932 ; Destruction of the pubHc Buildings, 933 ; Destruction of the Navy Yard, 934 ; Flight of the President and his Cabinet — Patriotism of Mrs. Madison, 935 ; Object of the Invasion, 936 ; the British retreat from Washington, 937 ; Slavery the cause of the Disaster at Bladensburg, 938 ; a British Fleet passes up the Potomac, 939 ; Alexandria plundered — Toi-pedoes, 940 ; the British Squadron returns to Chesapeake Bay — Visit to the Battle-ground at Bladensburg, 941; Kalorama and Oak HiU Cemetery, 942; Congressional Buiial- ground — Fort Washington, 943. CHAPTER XL. EVENTS AT EALTIMOBE, PHILADELPHIA, AND NEW YORK IN 1814. The British in Chesapeake Bay, 944 ; Exploits of Parker and Cockbum, 945 ; Operations of the British Fleet in Chesapeake Bay, 946 ; Baltimore threatened, 947 ; Preparations for the Defense of Baltimore, 948 ; Fortiiications and Troops for its Defense, 949 ; the British land and advance on Baltimore, 950 ; Position of the contending Armies, 951 ; Battle of North Point — Death of the British Commander, 952, 953 ; the British Fleet moves up to attack Fort M'Henry, 954 ; Bombardment of the Fort, 955 ; the British Invaders driven off, 956 ; " The Star-spangled Banner," 957; the British land Troops march on Baltimore, 958 ; they retire to their Ships — the British Programme, 959 ; Honors to Colonel Armistead, 960 ; the Author's Visit to Baltimore and the historical Localities around it, 961-965 ; New York and Philadelphia relieved, 965 ; the Volunteer Companies of Philadelphia, 966 ; Organization of Troops and Estabhshment of Camps, 967 ; Patriotism of the Citizens of Philadelphia, 968 ; New York aroused — Com- mittee of Defense, 969 ; the Citizens assist in casting up Fortifications — " The Patriotic Diggers," 970 ; the Fortifications around New York, 971-975; a floating Battery authorized by Congi'ess, 976 ; the Steam- ship Fulton the First, 977. ' CHAPTER XLL NAVAL WAErAKE ON THE OCEAN IN 1814 — AMERICAN PRIVATEERS. New Vessels for thfe Navy— the John Adams, 978 ; Cruise of the Wasp — Capture of the Reindeer, 979 ; the Wasp and Avon — Loss of the Wasp, 980 ; Fight between the Peacock and Epervier, 981 ; Barney's Flo- tilla in Chesapeake Bay, 982 ; the Constitution, 983 ; Battle between the Constitution, Cyane, and Levant, 984; the Constitution and her Prizes — Honors to Commodore Stewart, 985; Stewart's Home in New Jersey, 986 ; Decatur's Squadron — he puts to Sea in the President, 987; Battle between the President and Endymion, 988 ; the rest of Decatur's Squadron puts to Sea, 989 ; Battle between the Hornet and Penguin, 990 ; Honors to Captain Biddle, 991 ; Cruise of the Hornet.wA Peacock — the Navy at the end of the War, 992 ; the first Privateers, 993 ; Cruise of the Rossie, 994 ; first Prize taken to Baltimore the Globe,^ 995 ; Cruise of the Highflyer, Yankee, and Shadow, 996 ; Salem and Baltimore Privateers, 997 • Privateering at the close of 1812, 998; remarkable Cruise of the(7o7ne<,999; Cruise of the Chasseur, Sar- atoga, Dolphin, Lottery, and Yankee, 1000 ; Cruise of the General Armstrong, Ned, and Scourge, 1001 ; the Teaser — Capture of the Eagle — Cruise of the Decatur, 1002; Cruise of the David Porter, Globe, and Harpy, 1003 ; the Career of the General Armstrong, 1004 ; Honors to Captain Reid — Cruise of the Pnnce de Neufchdtel, 1005 ; Cruise of the Saucy Jack and Kemp, 1006 ; Cruise of the Macdonough and Amelia — the American Privateers and their Doings, 1007. CHAPTER XLH. CIVIL AFFAIRS IN 1814 — OPERATIONS IN THE GULF REGION. Boston'the Centre of illicit Trade, 1008 ; the Peace Faction assails the Government and the Public Credit 1009; Effects of the Conspiracy against the Public Credit, 1010; new financial Measures — Revival of the Public Credit, 1011 ; Measures for increasing the Army — Discontents in New England 1012 ■ the Hart- ford Convention, 1013-1015 ; the Members oif the Hartford Convention, 1016; Jackson' recalled to active Service in the Gulf Region, 1017 ; the Baratarians and their Leader, 1018 ; Jackson perceives Mischief at Pensacola, 1019 ; Fort Bowyer threatened by a British Squadron, 1020 ; the Fort attacked and the Assailants repulsed, 1021 ; the British at Pensacola — Jackson marches on that Post, 1022 ; Flight of the British and Indians, 1023 ; Jackson in New Orleans— Appearance of the British, 1024 ; Preparations to receive the Invaders, 1025 ; Capture of the American Flotilla on Lake Borgne, 1026 ; Jackson's Review of Troops in New Orieans and their Disposition, 1 027 ; the British approach the Mississippi 1028 ■ thev march on New Orleans— Response to Jackson's Call for Troops, 1029 ; Events below New Orleans 1030 • a night Battle, 1031; the British fall back, 1032 ; the Americans withdraw, 1034. ' ' CONTENTS. xi CHAPTER XLUI. DEFENSE OP NEW ORLEANS — PEACE. Jackson's Line of Defense, 1034; a gloomy Day for the Invaders — Arrival of General Pakenham, 1035 ; Seat of War in Louisiana and Florida, 1036 ; severe Battle on the 28th of Decemher, 1037 ; the British vanquished — the American Lines of Defense, 1038 ; the British cast up Kedoubts near the American Line, 1039 ; a heavy Battle, 1040 ; the British repulsed and then re-enforced, 1041 ; Jackson prepares to receive the increased British Forces, 1042 ; Character and Disposition of his own Forces — Position of his Army on the 7th of January, 1043; a British Detachment crosses the Mississippi, 1044; Battle of New Orleans, 1046-1049 ; Disposal of the Dead, 1050 ; Attack on Forts St. Philip and Bowyer — Jackson's Army in New Orleans, 1051; Honors accorded to Jackson and his Troops, 1052 ; Rumors of Peace and continu- ance of Martial Law, 1053; Incidents of Jackson's Trial for Contempt of Court, 1 054 ; the Author's Jour- ney to New Orleans — Lexington and "Ashland," 1055 ; Frankfort and its Cemetery, 1056; a Visit to Nashville and the " Hermitage," 1057 ; New Orleans and its historic Men and Places, 1058 ; Attack on Fort Sumter — Uprising of the People, 1059; Negotiations for Peace and the Commissioners, 1060; Ghent and the Sympathy of its Inhabitants with the Americans, 1061 ; the Treaty of Peace, 1062, 1063 ; Rejoic- ings of the American People, 1064; Commemorative Medals — its Ratification, 1065; Position of the Re- public at the close of the War, 1067 ; Readjustment of National Affairs — Dartmoor Prisoners, 1068 ; Prosperity of the Republic and its Relations to other Nations, 1069 ; Text of the Treaty of Peace, 1071. 1. inumiuated Frontispiece. 2. Title-page. 3. Preface Page ill 4. Contents v 5. Illustrations zlii 6. Initial Letter 17 7. First Great Seal of the United States 20 8. War 22 9. Britannia aroused 22 10. Portrait of William Jackson.. 26 11. Jackson's Monument 27 12. Portrait and Signature of Gou- verneurMorns 28 13. Signatures of the Members of the Constitutional Conven- tion 30,31,32 14. Tail-piece 34 15. Initial Letter 35 16. Campus Martins 37 17. Portrait and Signature of Mias Heckewelder 37 18. Portrait and Signature of Gen- eral St.Clair 38 19. Signature of Winthrop Sargent 38 20. Signature of Lord Dorchester. 38 21. FortHarmar 39 22. Fort Washington, on the Site ofCincinnati 41 23. Signature of,Joaeph Harmar. . 41 24. The Maumee Ford— Place of Harmar's Defeat 42 25. Map— Harmar's Defeat 43 26. Hall's Crossing-place 43 27. Apple-tree near Harmar's Ford 44 28. Map— Plan of St. Clair's Camp and Battle 47 29. Signature of Tobias Lear 49 30. Lowi'y'a M^onument 52 31. Map— Plan of Line of Wayne's 32. Signature of A. M'Kee 54 33. Map— Battle of the Fallen Tim- bers 55 34. Turkey-foot Eock 55 35. Signature of Colonel Ham- tramck...# 56 36. Colonel Hamtramck's Tomb.. 56 37. Tail-piece— ludianlmplements 57 38. Initial Letter 58 39. Portrait and Signature of T. Pinckney 64 40. Liberty Cent '. 65 41. Portrait and Signature of Gen- eral Hamilton 66 42. Portrait and Signature of Thomas Paine 69 43. A Bad Measure 69 44. An Asaignat 74 45. Portrait of Louie XVI 76 46. Paine fitting Stays 76 47. Memorial Medal 76 48. InitialLetter 79 49. TheContrast 81 50. Portrait and Signature of . Thomas Mifflin 82 51. Portrait and Signature of E. C. Genet 83 52. Portrait and Signature of John Jay 85 53. Signature of AlexanderM'Kim 89 54. Seal of the Bepnblican Society ofBaltlmore 89 55. Portrait and Signature of C. C. Pinckney 92 56. Portrait and Signature of John Adams 93 6T. Portrait and Signature of Joel Barlow 94 68. Signature of Benjamin Stod- dert Page 96 59. InitialLetter 98 60. John Bull taking a Lunch 99 61. Signature of Stephen Decatur 101 62. Portrait and Signature of John Barry 101 63. Commodore Barry's Monu- ment 101 64. Naval Pitcher 104 65. Medal presented to Commo- dore Truxtun 105 66. Signature of Thomas Truxtun 105 67. Truxtun's Grave 105 63. The Lutheran Church in Phil- adelphia 110 69. Washington Medal Ill 70. Tail-piece — MThersonBlue.. Ill 71. InitialLetter 112 72. Portrait and Signature of Thomas Jefferson 114 73. Algiers in 1800 117 74. Portrait and Signature of Eichard Dale 118 75. Dale's Monument 119 76. Portrait and Signature of Ed- ward Preble 120 77. Tripolitan Weapon 121 78. Tripolitan Poniard 122 79. Medal given to Commodore Preble 123 80. NavalMonument 124 81. Signature of William Eaton. . 126 82. InitialLetter 130 S3. Portrait and Signature of A. Burr 135 84. Signature of John Adair 136 85. Blennerhassett's Eesidence.. 136 86. Signature of Blennerhassett. . 136 87. Portrait and Signature of Eu- fasKing 143 88. Portrait and Signature of Wil- liam Pinkney 148 89. InitialLetter 149 90. Lynnhaven Bay 166 91. Portrait and Signature of Commodore Barron 159 92. Portrait and Signature of JamesMonroe 161 93. InitialLetter 16T 94. Gun-boats 168 98. Portrait and Signature of Jo- siahQuincy 174 96. Portrait and Signature of James Madison 176 97.. Fort or Battery Severn, at An- napolis 181 98. Commodore Eodgera's Eesi- dence 182 99. Signals, No. 1 182 100. SignalBook 182 101. Signals, No. 2 183 102. Signals, No. 3 183 103. Signals, No. 4 183 104. Signal Alphabet 183 105. Signal, No. 6. 184 106. Portrait and Signature of Commodore Eodgers 185 107. Tail-piece— Gauntlet 186 108. InitialLetter 1 187 109. Birth-place of Tecumtha and his Brother 188 110. The Prophet 189 111. Joseph Barron 191 112. Indian Detecter 191 113. Portrait and Signature of Gen- eralBoyd 194 114. Signature of Peter Funk 196 116. FortHarrison 197 116. 117. 118. 119. 120. 121. 122. 123. 124. 125. 126. 127. 128. 129. 130. 131. 132. 133. 134. 135. 136. 137. 138. 139. 140. 141. 142. 143. 144. 146. 146. 147. 148. 149. 150. 161. 162. 153. 154. 155. 157. 158. 159. 160. 161. 162. 163. 164. 166. 166. 167. 168. 169. 170. 171. 172. 173. 174. 176. 176. 177. Signat're of JudgeNaylor Page 198 Portrait and Signature of A. Whitlock 199 Portrait and Signature of Wil- liam H. Harrison 200 View at Tippecanoe Battle- ground 202 Signature of J. Snelling 203 Map— Battle of Tippecanoe. 208 Vignette to a Mournful Ballad 208 Tippecanoe Battle-ground... 209 Tail-piece — ^Wigwam 299 Initial Letter 210 Portrait and Signature of H.— ~_ Clay 211 The Gerrymander l-^U Portrait and Signature of J. - Eandolph 215 Portrait and Signature of J. C.Calhoun 216 Signature of Josiah Quincy . . 217 Signature of James Emott. . . 217 Signature of J. H. Craig 220 Fac-simileofaNewspaperCut 224 Portrait and Signature of Gov- ernor Clinton 225 Governor Clinton's Tomb 226 Caricature— Josiah the First. 228 InitialLetter 233 Portrait of George the Fourth 233 Signature of Jonathan Wil- Tiama 235 Fort Independence 236 Castle Williams 237 Plan of Fort M'Henry 237 Torpedo, Plate 1 238 Torpedo, Plate 2 239 Torpedo, Plate 3 239 Torpedo, Plate 4 240 Deatruction of the Dorothea. . 240 Portrait and Signature of Rob- ert Fulton 242 Fnlton'aBirth-place 242 Signature of Edward Baynes. 247 Portrait of Henry Dearborn. . 249 GeneralDearbom'sEesidence 280 The Parting Stone 250 InitialLetter 261 Portrait and Signature of Wil- liam Hull 252 Portrait and Signature of John Johnston 253 Place of Hull's Eendezvous.. 254 Signature of Governor Meigs. 255 View at Bloody Bridge 261 Colonel Babie's Eesidence... 262 View at the Eiviere aux Ca- nards 264 Map— Detroit Frontier 266 Portrait and Signature of Dun- canM'Arthur 267 Mackinack,fromEoundIsland 267 Arch Eock, Mackinack 268 FortMackinack 269 Tail-piece- Canoe 271 InitialLetter 272 Fort Niagara, from Port George 274 Portrait of Thomas B. Van Home 275 Barracks at Sandwich 278 Maguaga Battle-ground 281 Tecumlia 282 Signature of J. B. Glegg 283 Portrait and Signature of D. Noon 292 Portrait andSignature of Lew- is Cass 294 Tail-piece— Neglected Grave, 296 XIT ILLUSTRATIONS. 178. Initial Letter Page 297 179. Signatureof Jno. B. Laughton 298 180. View at Maiden, Upper Can- ada 299 181. British Cannon at Detroit 300 182. Signature of HobtEeynolds.. 300 183. Signature of C. Moran 302 L84. Einzie Mansion and I'ort Dearborn 303 185. Tlie Blaclc Partridge's Medal. 306 186. Map— Site of Cliicago 308 187. Bloclc-house at Cliicago 312 188. Port Wayne in 1812 315 189. The Little Turtle's Grave 31S L90. BridgeattheHeadoftheMau- mee 316 191. Portrait and Signature of Z. Taylor 818 192. General Taylor's Residence. . 319 [93. Initial Letter 320 194. Port Defiance 333 ;95. Site of Port Defiance i [96. Apple-tree at Defiance 334 .97. Taiil-piece — Indians at Eains of a Village 337 98. Initial Letter 338 ,99. Portrait and Signature of Si- mon Perldns 340 :00. Signature of Elijah Wads- worth 340 01. Portrait and Signature of E. Whittlesey 341 02. Signature of William Eustis.. 349 03. Winchester's Head-quarters. . 354 04. Map — Movements at French- town 358 05. Residence of La Salle 359 06. Monroe, ttom the Battle- ground.. .' 361 07. Signature of Laurent Duro- cher 362 08. Portrait and Signature of Jas. Knaggs 363 09. Tail-piece — Tomahawk and Scalping-knife 364 10. Initial Letter 365 11. Arsenal Building, Watertown 366 12. Signature of Colonel Benedict 367 13. Portrait of Captain William Vaughan 368 14. Cipher Alphabet and Numer- als 370 15. Signature of Paul Hamilton.. 370 16. Signatureof Richard Dodge.. 373 17. Appearance of Fort Presenta- tion in 1812 373 18. Design on Indian Pass 374 19. Signature of G. D. Young. ... 376 20. Portrait and Signature of Ble- azer Williams 377 21. Old Church in St. Regis 378 22. Boundary Monument 879 33. The Port of Buffalo in 1813... 380 34 Remains at Fort Schlosser... 380 35. Signature of H. Dearborn 381 26. Map of the Niagara Frontier. 382 37. Portrait and Signature of Ste- phen Van Rensselaer 384 38. Signature of William Howe Cuyler 387 39. Portrait and Signatureof Jes- se D.Elliott 388 30. Tail - piece — Oar, Boarding- pike, and Rope 388 !1. Initial Letter 389 !2. Signature of Alexander Smyth 389 S3. Qneenston in 1812 390 !4. Sgnature of JohnRPenwick 391 55. View from the Site of Vroo- man's Battery 891 )6. Signature of John Chrystie. . . 892 i7. Signature of James Collier. . . 393 i8. Landing-place of the Ameri- cans at Qneenston 395 S9. Russell's Law OfSce 396 10. Portrait and Signature of Jolin E.Wool 397 11. Signatureof J. R.Mullany...! 399 12. Portrait andSignature of John Brant 401 13. Brant's Monument 401 14. Signature of Joseph G. Totten 403 tS. Signature of J. Gibson 403 16. New Magazine at Port George 405 17. Signature of R.H. SheafFe 405 18. Medal in Memory oT General Brock 400 19. Brock's Monument 406 260. 261. 265. 270. 271. 272. 273. 274. 275. 276. 277. 278. 279. 280. 281. 282. I. Portrait and Signature of Sol- omon Van Rensselaer..Page 407 . Signature of John Lovett 407 I. T^l-piece — Proclamation and Sword 411 ;. Initial Letter 412 . Brock's Monument on Queens- ton Heights 414 . Monument where Brock fell.. 41C . Signature of Solomon Vroo- man 417 . PresentOutline of Port George 418 . French Magazine at Fort George 418 . Distant View of Fort Missis- saga 419 Interior View — Fort Mississa- ga in 1860 419 Mission-house on the Grand River 421 Portrait and Signature of G. H.M.Johnson 421 Ornamental Tomahawk 421 Deer-shank Weapon 422 Silver Calumet 422 Ancient Scalping-knife 422 Mohawk Church, Grand Riv- er, C.W 423 Interior of Mohawk Church. . 423 Communion Plate 425 General Porter's Residence, Black Rock 426 Signature of George M'Peely. 426 Signature of Cecil Bisshopp.. 428 Signature of Samuel Angus... 428 Tail-piece — Snail on Maple- leaf. 432 Initial Letter 433 Signature of R. Byron 436 The Constitution m 1860. Fac-simile of Commodore Por- ter's Writing 441 Portrait and Signature of Commodore Hull 442 Hull's Monument 442 Portrait of James Richard Da- cres. ....... ............... 444 Hull's iiedai." ! .... ... . ... '. .. 446 283. Portrait and Signature of Cap- tain Jones 449 284. Signature of Thos. Whinyates 449 285. Signature of J. P. Beresford. . 451 286. AWasp on a Frolic 452 287. Medal awarded to Captain Jones 452 288. The Biddle Um 453 289. Tail-piece— Eagle bearing off the Trident of Neptune 453 290. Initial Letter 464 291. Signature of John S. Carden. 456 292. Medal awarded to Decatur. . . 458 293. Portrait and Signature of Commodore Bambridge 459 294. Bainbridge's Monument 459 295. Bainbridge's New York Gold Box 462 296. Bainbridge's Albany Gold Box 462 297. Bainbridge's Medal 463 Bainbridge's Urn 463 Tail-piece — Napoleon's Flag and Star descending 472 300. Initial Letter 473 301. Signature of C. Gratiot 474 Portrait and Signature of Green Clay 476 303. View of Cincinnati from New- port in 1812 470 304. Map— Fort Meigs and its Vi- cinity 477 305. Fac-simile of Harrison's Let- ter 479 Portrait and Signature of Leslie Combs 480 307. Up the Maumee Valley 481 308. Site of the British Batteries ftom Port Meigs 482 309. Portrait and Signature of Wm. Christy 483 310. Plan of Port Meigs 484 .^11. Signature of W.E.Boswell... 487 312. Map— Siege of Fort Meigs 488 313. Remains of Walker's Mona- ment 489 314. Portrait of Peter Navarre 490 315. Ruins of Port Miami 491 316. Up the Maumee from Maumee City 492 317. Well at Fort Meigs 492 318. Tail-piece— A Scalp Page 493 319. Initial Letter 494 320. Signature of E.M.Johnson.. 496 321. Johnson's Monument 4S6 322. Portrait and Signature of G. Croghan 499 323. View at Fremont, or Lower Sandusky 500 324. Plan of Fort Stephenson 503 825. Gold Medal awarded to Gen- eral Croghan 505 326. Lower Castalian Spring 506 327. Site of Fort Stephenson 507 328. Part of Short's Sword-scab- bard 507 329. Perry's Residence 609 330. Portrait and Signature of Dan- iel Dobbins 509 331. Wayne's Block-house at Brie 610 332. Site of French Fort and En- trance to Erie Harbor 511 333. Month of Cascade Creek 511 334. Block-house 511 335. Map— Erie and Presq' Isle Bay 514 336. Portrait and Signature of Ush- er Parsons 516 337. Put-in Bay 617 338. Initial Letter 618 339. Perry's Look - out, Gibraltar Island 518 340. Perry's Battle-flag. : 519 341. Portrait of O.H.Perry 521 342. View of Perry's Birth-place. . . 521 343. Catafalco 621 344. Perry's Monument 621 345. The two Squadrons just before the Battle 622 346. Portrait and Signature of S. Champlin 623 347. First Position in the Action. . 523 348. Signature of J. J. Yamall 524 349. Second Position in the Battle 526 360. Portrait and Signature of J. Chapman 627 351. Signature of Thomas Holdnp 528 352. Position of the Squadrons at the close of the Battle 529 363. Almy's Sword 529 354. Fac-simile of Perry's Dispatch 530 355. The Burial-place, Put-in Bay. 532 356. Queen Charlotte and Johnny Bull 634 357. The Perry Medal 536 358. The Elliott Medal 535 359. Signature of Asel Wilkinson. 538 300. Portrait of Benjamin Fleming 538 361. Perry's Lantern...... 639 362. Perry's Statue 640 363. Portrait and Signature of S. Sholes 541 364. Champlin's Chair 642 365. Perry's Quarters at Erie 543 306. Portrait of T. H. Stevens 643 367. Initial Letter 644 368. Portrait and Simatare of C. S.Todd .? 548 369. Dolsen's 549 370. View at the Mouth of M'Greg- or's Creek 650 371. M'Gregor's Mill 650 372. Portrait of Oshawahnah 552 373. View on the Thames 553 374. Map— Battle of the Thames. . 654 375. Portrait and Signature of S. Theobald 666 376. The Harrison Medal 658 377. The Shelby Medal 658 378. Tecumtha's Pistol 660 379. Thames Battle-ground 561 380. Remains of an ancient Coflln 664 381. The four Sides of the Holy Stone 664 Stone Axes 664 Sectional View of a Pyramid. 504 384. Great Earth-work near New- ark 665 The old State-house 667 General M 'Arthur's Residence 668 387. Portrait and Signature of T. Worthington 568 Adena, Governor Worthing- ton's Residence 669 Portrait and Signature of Mrs. Harrison 571 390. Pioneer House, North Bend. . 571 391. Block-house at North Bend.. 671 392. Han-ison's Grave 573 393. Symmes's Monument 573 ILLUSTRATIONS. XV 394. Harrison's Residence at North Bend Jage S74 395. Initial Letter BT6 396. Block-house at Brockville 5T7 39T. Parish's Store-hous^. BT8 398. Portrait and Signature of D. W.Church 678 399. Site of Fort Presentation 579 400. Map— Operations at Ogdens- burg 580 401. Portrait and Signature of J. York 680 402. Court-house, Ogdensburg 580 403. The battered Wind-mill 683 404. Wind -mill and Enins near Prescott 584 405. Fort 'Wellington in ISCO 584 406. Portrait and Signature of Z. Pike 586 407. Little York in 1813 687 408. Bemains of the Western Bat- tery 588 409. Powder-magazine at Toronto 589 410. Map— Attack on Little York.. 690 411. Signature of John Eoss 592 412. Eemains of old Fort Toronto. 593 413. Old Fort at Toronto in 1860... 593 414- View on the Niagara near Lewiston 695 416. Entrance to the Niagara Eiver 597 416. Plan of Operations at the Month or the Niagara 599 417. A North Biver Steam-boat. . . 601 418. Portrait and Signature of W. H.Merritt 603 419. Battle-ground of Stony Creek 603 420. Tail -piece — Destmction of Store-houses 606 421. Initial Letter.' 007 432. Portrait and Signature of Ja- cob Brown 608 423. General Brown's Monument. . 60S 424. Light-house at Horse Island.. 609 425. Signature of Capt.Mulcaster. 610 426. Map— Operations at Sackett's Harbor 612 427. Sackett's Harbor in 1814 613 428. Map— Sackett's Harbor and its IJefenses . . 614 429. Signature of Henry Bckford..' 615 430. The New Orleans 616 431. Pike's Monument 616 432. Eemains of Fort Pike 617 433. Block-house, Sackett's Harbor 617 434. Mansion of General Brown. . . 618 435. Whittlesey Eock,Watertown. 618 436. Signature of C. G. Boerstler. . . 437. German Church 438. Portrait and Signature of Lau- ra Secord 439. Beaver Sams Battle- ground and Surroundings 624 440. Signature of James Dittrick.. 624 441. Bisshopp's Monument 628 442. Interior of Fort Niagara 634 443. Signature of General A.Hall. 635 444. Tail-piece — Farm-house on Are.... 637 445. Initial Letter 637 446. Portrait and Signature of J. G.Swift 638 447. Signature of Joseph Bloom- fleld 639 448. Signatureof A. BeSalaberry. 639 449. Portrait and Signature of Eob- ertOarr 640 450. Portrait and Signature of Jas. Wilkinson 646 451. Signature of W.Hampton 648 462. Mouth of French Creek 649 453. Bald Island and Wilkinson's Flotilla 660 464. Chrysler's in 1855 652 465. Signature of Eob't Swartwont 652 456. Signature of J. A. Coles 653 457. Signature of J. Walbach 653 458. Map— Chrysler's Field 654 459. Signature of M. Myers 664 460. Place of Debarkation on the Salmon Eiver 656 461. Lewis and Boyd's Head-quar- ters 666 462. Brown's Head-quarters 656 463. Fac-simile of written Placard 658 464. Eemains of Fort Carleton 669 465. Indian Armlet 660 466. Lieht-house'kept by Johnston 661 467. Peel Island. . . .• -. . . 661 620 620 621 468. Portrait and Signature of W. Johnston Page 662 469. Johnston's Commission 663 470. French Mills in 1860 664 471. Signature of James Campbell 665 472. The Block-house Well 666 473. Signature of Peter Brouse 666 474. Victoria Medal 666 475. Initial Letter 607 476. Interior of old Fort Norfolk.. 668 477. Signature of A. M'Laue 668 478. Signature of Admiral Cock- burn 609 479. Landing-place of the British at Havre de Grace 671 480. The Pringle House 672 481. Episcopal Church 672 482. John O'Neil's Sword 673 483. General ViewofCraney Island 675 484. Signatureof Jos. Tarbell 675 486. Signature of J. Sanders 676 486. Portrait and Signature of W. B. Shubrick 676 487. Portrait and Signature of Eob- ert Taylor 677 438. Signature of B. J. Neale 678 489. Portrait and Signature of Jas. Faulkner 678 490. Plan of Operations at Craney Island .- 679 491. Signature of J'osiah Tattnall. . 680 492. The Centipede 680 493. View at Hampton Creek in 1853 681 494. Plan of Operations at Hamp- ton 683 495. Head - quarters of Beokwith and Cockbum 683 496. British Consul's House 685 497. Oyster Fishing 685 498. Eemains of Fortifications on Craney Island 686 499. Block-house on Craney Island 686 500. Magazine on Craney Island. . 686 501. Landing-place of the British at Murphy's 687 602. Kirby House 688 503. Soldiers' Monument at Point Pleasant 689 504. Osceola's Grave 690 505. Entrance to Bonaventure 691 506. Signature of T. M. Hardy 691 607. New London in 1813 692 608. Light-house at New London.. 694 509. Signature of H. Burbeck 694 510. Burbeck's Monument 694 511. Commodore Eodgers's Monu- ment 696 512. Ancient Block-house at Fort Trumbull 697 613. New London Harbor from Fort Trumbull 697 514. The old Court-house 697 515. Initial Letter 698 516. The Lawrence Medal 700 61T. Hornet and Peacock 700 618. Signature of Sam. Evans 701 519. Fac-simile of Lawrence's Let- ter 702 620. Fac-simile of Broke's Chal- lenge 703 521. The Chesapea^ disabled 706 522. Portrait of Captain Broke 707 523. Shannon and Chesapeake at Halifax 70S 524. Portrait and Signature of Jas. Lawrence 709 625. Signature of Admiral Warren 709 626. Admiral Warren's Seal 709 627. Silver Plate presented to Cap- tain Broke 710 528. Signature of George Budd 711 529. Coffins 712 ■"i30. Lawrence Memorial 712 631. Monument of Lawrence and Ludlow 713 632. Lawrence's early Monument. 713 533. Portrait of W. H. Allen 716 534. Lieutenant Allen's Monument 716 535. Graves of Burrows, Blyth, and Waters 718 536. The Burrows Medal 719 537. The M'Call Medal 720 638. Initial Letter 721 639. Portrait and Signature of D. Porter 721 540. The mighty Gattanewa 728 541. The Bssffic and her Prizes 729 586. 600. 601. 602. 603. 604. 605. 606. 607. 610. 611. 612. 613. 614. 615. 616. 617. 618. 619. 620. 621. Marquesas Drum Page 730 Rattle of the JilsdeXt Phcebe^ and Cherub 733 David Porter's Monument.... 734 Initial Letter 738 Signature of Fulwar Skipwith 740 Signature of Hugh Campbell. 740 Portrait and Signature of Gen- eral Eobertson *. . . 747 Signature of Sam Dale 749 Map— Seat of War in Southern Alabama 761 FortMims 766 Portrait of John Coffee 759 Initial Letter 760 Map— Battle of Talladega 765 Claiborne Landing 770 Map— Seat of the Creek War in Upper Alabama 778 Maj)— Battle of the Horseshoe 780 Initial Letter 78S Signature of N. Macon 784 Embargo— a Caricature 785 Death of the Terrapin 787 Signature of J. Mason 788 Signature of C. Van De Venter 788 Signature of George Glasgow 788 Map— Affair at La Colle Mill. 790 La Colle Mill and Block-house 791 The dismantled Superior 794 Sir J.L.Yeo 795 Attack on Oswego 796 Signature of A. Bronson 796 Signature of H. Eagle 797 Signature of M. M'Nair 797 Fort at Oswego in 1855 798 Place ofBattle at Sandy Creek 799 Otis's House, Sandy Creek. . . 800 Signature of Alfred Ely 800 Signature of Harmon Bhle. . . 801 Portrait of Jehaziel Howard. . 801 Eed Jacket's Medal 802 Portrait of Eed Jacket 803 Profile and Signature of Wil- liam M'Eee 803 Portrait and Signature of C. K.Gardner 805 Signature of General Eiall... 805 Street's Creek Bridge 806 ' Eemains of TSte-de-pont Bat- tery 807 Signature of Joseph Treat 807 Street's Creek Bridge, looking North 808 General Towson's Grave 809 Map— Battle of Chippewa 810 ^nature of Worth 812 m)rth's Monument 812 Jones's Monument 812 Mouth of Lyon's Creek 813 Initial Letter 816 View at Lundy's Lane 818 Portrait and Signature of J. Miller ; 820 Miller's Medal 821 Portrait of John M'Neil 821 Flag of the Twenty-fifth 822 Map— Battle of Niagara Falls 823 Scott's Medal 826 Signature of Winfleld Scott. . . 826 Signature of Jas. Cummings. . 827 Hospital near Lundy's Lane.. 828 Wooden Slab 828 Eemains of Douglass's Bat- tery and Fort Erie 830 Portrait and Signature of E. . P.Gaines 831 Drummond's Secret Order 832 Gaines's Medal 836 -Portrait and Signature of P. B.Porter 838 Porter's Tomb 838 Map— Siege of Fort Erie 839 Wood's Monument. 840 Brown's Medal 841 Brown's Gold Box 841 Signature of E. W. Eipley 842 Porter's Medal 842 Sealof the City of New York. 842 Signature of De Witt Clinton 842 E^)ley's Medal 843 Portrait of Eobert White 844 Fac-simile of White's Writing 844 Portrait and Signature of G. Izard 846 Euins of Fort Erie 846 FortBrie Mills 84T Signature of James Sloan. . . . 847 XVI ILLUSTRATIONS. 62T. 630. 631. 634. 635. 63T. 640. 641. 642. 643. 644. 645. 646. 64T. 649. 650. 651. 652. 653. 654. 656. 65T. 668. 659. 660. 661. 662. 663. 664. 665. 666. 667. 668. 669. 670. 671. 6T2. 6T3. 674. 675. 6T6. 677. 678. 679. 680. 681. 682. 683. 684. 685. 686. 687. 690. 691. 692. 895. 696. 697. 698. 699. 700. 701. 702. 703. T04. 705. 706. 707. 708. 709. 710. Til. Soldiers' Monument Page 848 Eiley's Monament 849 Signature of B. M'Douall. . .'.. 850 Map— M'Artlim-'8 Raid 852 Portrait of General Scott 853 Initial Letter 854 Portrait and Signature of T. Macdonough 856 Judge Moore's House 857 Signature of D. Bissell 857 Signature of G. Prevost 868 Portrait and Sig. of B. Mooers 858 Portrait and Signature of A. Macomb 859 Sampson's 859 Map— Fortifications at Platts- burg 860 M. Smith's Monument 861 Howe's House 862 Piatt's Residence 863 Old Stone Mill 864 TheSaranac 865 Henley's Medal 868 Oassin's Medal 868 Portrait and Signature of H. Paulding 869 View from Cumberland Head 870 Map — ^Naval Action 871 Macdonough's Dispatch 872 Portrait and Sig. of J. Smith . 872 Battle of Plattsburg 873 The Sarauac at Pike's Canton- ment 874 Buius of Port Brown 875 Artillery Quadrant '. . 875 General Mooera's Grave 876 United States Hotel 876 Macomb's Monument 877 Macomb's Medal 878 Macdonough's Medal 878 Macdonough's Farm-house. .. 879 Downie's Grave 879 View in Beekmantown 880 Soldiers' Graves 880 Map— Seat of War 881 Store-houses 882 Mooers's House 882 Woolsey's House 883 Ball in Mooers's House 884 Portrait and Signature of P. Gregory 888 Portrait and Signature of M. Crane 885 Crane's Monument 886 Portrait and Signature of I. Chauncey 887 Chauncey's Monument 887 Initial Letter 888 Portrait aud Signature of J. Montgomery 891 Fort Pickering 891 Carcass 894 Stonington Flag 894 The Cobb House 896 Denison's Monument 896 Portrait and Signature of J. Sherbrooke 897 Fott Porter, Castine 897 Signature of B. Barrie 898 General Blake's House 898 CrosbjT's Wharf. 899 Portrait and Signature of C. Morris 900 Morris's Monument 901 Town-house, Hampden 902 Beed'sShop 902 Eemains of Fort George 903 Signature and Seal of G. Gos- selin 903 Yankee Doodle TTpset 904 Billet-head of CoTistitution 905 Fort Pickering, Salem 900 Eemains of Fort Lee 906 Marblehead Harbor 907 Fort Sewall 907 Portrait aud Signature of Dr. Browne 908 Small Cannon 909 View from Fort George 909 Eemains of Fort Castine 909 Eemains at Fort Griffith 910 Port Point 910 The Bacon Tree 911 Mouth of the Kenduskeag 911 Portrait and Sig. of Van Meter 912 Bemains of Fort Phoenix 913 Arsenal at Stonington 914 PortraitaudSig. of J. Holmes 914 712. 713. 714. 715. 716. 717. 718. 719. 720. 721. 722. 723. 724. 725. 726. 72T. 730. 731. 732. 733. 734 735. 736. 737. 738. 739. 740. 741. 742. 743. 744. 745. 746. 747. 748. 749. 750. 751. 752. 753. 754. 755. 766. 757. 758. 759. 760. 761. 762. 763. 764. 765. 766. 767. 768. 769. 770. 771. 772. 773. 774. 775. 776. 777. 778. 779. 780. 781. 782. 783. 784. 785. 786. 787. 788. 789. 790. 791. 792. 793. 794. 795. 796. 797. Portrait and Signature of A. B. Holmes Page 914 Denison's Grave 914 Tail-piece— Bomb-shell 915 InitialLetter 916 Signature of P. Stuart 916 Portrait and Signature of D. L.Clinch 917 Portrait and Signature of W. H. Winder 918 Signature of H. Carbery 920 Signature of J. P. Van Ness. . 920 Signature of T. B. Stansbury.. 921 Signature of J. Sterett 921 Signature of W. Smith 922 Signature of S. West 922 Signature of W. D. Beall 922 Signature of W. Scott 922 Signature of J. Tilghman 922 OH Mill, Bladensburg 924 Bridge at Bladensburg 927 Besidence of J. C. Bives 927 Dueling-ground, Bladensburg 928 Signature of J. Davidson 928 Map— Battle of Bladensburg.. 929 Portrait and Signature orj. Barney 930 Barney's Spring 931 Bullet 981 The Capitol in 1814 932 B§mains of the Capitol 933 Eemains of the President's House 934 Signature of T. Tingey 934 Portrait and Signature of D. Madison 935 Portrait and Signature of J. Barker 936 Portrait and Signature of G. E.Gleig 937 Signature ofD. Wadsworth... 938 Fort Washington 939 Sketch of Torpedo 940 The Unknown 942 Barlow's Vault 942 Kalorama 942 Cenotaph 943 Gerry's Monument 943 Initial Letter 944 Portrait and Sig. of P. Parker. 946 Portrait and Sig. of S. Smith . 947 Montebello 947 Eodgers's Bastion 949 Methodist Meeting-house 950 Portrait and Signature of J. Strieker 950 Portrait and Signature of D. M'Dougall 952 Battle of North Point 953 Battle-flag 954 Signature of M. Bird. ........ 954 Fort M'Henry in 1861 954 Signature of J. H. Nicholson., 955 Signature of S. Lane 965 Portrait and Signature of G. Armistead 955 Signature of F. S. Key 956 Star-spangled Banner 967 The Armistead Vase 960 Armistead's Monument 960 Signature of W. K. Armistead 960 Battle Monument 961 The City Spring, Baltimore... 962 Portrait and Sig. of J. Lester. 963 North Point Battle-ground... 963 Monument where Boss fell. . . 964 Eemains of Circular Battery.. 965 State Fencible 966 Signature of D.D.Tompkins. 970 Signature of Morgan Lewis... 970 Fort Stevens aUd Mill Bock. . 971 Tower at Hallett's Point 971 Fortifications around New York 972 Mill Eock Fortifications 973 Fort Clinton 973 PortClintonandHarlemEiver 973 M'Gowan's Pass.*. 974 North Battery 974 View from Fort Fish 974 Courtenay's, and Tower 975 Bemains of Block-house 975 M'Gowan's Pass in 1860 975 Signatureof A. and N.Brown. 976 Iron-clad Vessel 976 Section of Floating Battery... 977 FuUon the First. 977 Initial Letter 978 798, 801. 804 805. 806. SOT. 821. 822. 823. 824. 825. 826. 827. Portrait and Signature of J. Blakeley Page 979 Blalfeley's Medal 980 Portrait and Signature of L. Warrington 981 Warrington's Medal 982 Billet-head of Cyane 985 Stewart's Medal 986 Stewart's Besidence 986 Stewart's Sword 986 Portrait and Signature of C. Stewart 987 Portrait and Signature of S. Decatur 988 Decatur's Monument 989 Portrait and Sig. of J. Biddle 990 Biddle's Medal 991 Privateer Schooner 993 Signatureof Admiral Sawyer 994 Portrait and Signature of S. C.Eeid 1004 Initial Letter 1008 Signature of A. J. Armstrong 1011 Portrait and Signature of A. J.Dallas 1011 Signature of T.Jesup 1013 Signatures of the Members of the Hartford Convention.. 1014 Caricature 1015 The Hermitage 1017 Portrait of W. C. C. Claiborne 1019 Portrait of A. Jackson 1020 Map— Attack on Fort Bowyer 1021 Jackson's City Head-quarters 1024 Portrait of Maj or Plauchfi... 1024 Patterson's Monument 1025 Map — Fight of Gun-boats and Barges 1026 Cathedral in New Orleans... 1027 FortSt.John 1028 VillerS'B Mansion 1029 Portrait of De la Eonde 1030 Lacoste's Mansion 1031 Map— Affair below N.Orleans 1032 Portrait of De Lacy Evans.. . 1032 A Tennessee Flag 1033 Initial Letter 1034 De la Eonde's Mansion 1034 Map— Seat of War in Louisi- ana 1036 Jackson's Head-quarters, . . . 1037 Chalmette's Plantation 1039 Map— Battle of New Orleans 1040 Eemains of a Canal 1042 Plauch^'s Tomb 1043 You'sTomb 1043 Map — Position of Troops 1044 Battle of New Orleans. ...... 1047 Monument 1048 Pecan-trees 1050 Map— Fort St. Philip 1051 Jackson's Medal , 1052 Jackson's Draft 1053 Signature of D. A. Hall 1054 The Old Court-house 1054 Ashland 1065 Bodley's Grave 1055 Jackson's Tomb 1055 Clay's Monument 1056 Grave of Daniel Boone 1056 Kentucky Soldiers' Monu- ment 1057 Portrait and Signature of F, Eobertson 1058 Portrait of A. Henner 1058 JapanPlnm 1059 Portrait of J. Q. Adams 1059 Portrait of J. A Bayard 1060 Adams's Homes 1060 ViewofGhent 1061 Cipher Writing 1061 Pac-simile of MS, of Treaty ofGhent 1062 Seal and Sig, of Gambler 1062 Seal and Sig, of Goulburn , . . 1062 Seal and Sig. of W. Adams . . 1062 Seal and Sig. of J. Q, Adams. 1062 Seal and Sig. of J. A. Bayard 1062 Seal and Sig. of H. Clay 1063 Seal and Sig. of J. Eussell . . . 1063 Seal and Sig. of A. Gallatin. . 1063 Por't and Sig. of C. Hughes. 1063 Medal of Gratitude 1065 Treaty of Peace Medal 1065 Allegorical Picture— Peace. . 1066 Dartmoor Prison 1068 Tail-piece — Civil and Mill- tary Power X073 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK OP THE WAR OF 1812. CHAPTER I. "I see, I see, Freedom's established reign ; cities, and men, Numerous as sands upon the ocean shore. And empires rising where the sun descends ! The Ohio soon shall glide by many a town Of note ; and where the Mismaippi stream, By forests shaded, now runs sweeping on, Nations shall grow, and states not less in fame Than Greece and Rome of old. We, too, shall boast Our Scipios, Solons, Catos, sages, chiefe, That in the lap of Time yet dormant lie, Waiting the joyous hour of life and light." Philip FEENEAtr, 1775. UCH was the pvophecy of an Amer- ican poet when the war for his country's independence had just been kindled; and similar were the prescient visions of the statesmen and sages of that hour, who, in the majesty of con- scious rectitude, decreed the dismemberment of a mighty empire and the establishment of a nation of freemen in the New World. Their rebellion instantly assumed the dignity of a revolution, and commanded the respect and sympathy of the civilized nations. Their faith was per- fect, and under its inspiration they contended gallantly for freedom, and won. We, their children, have seen the ' minstrel's prophecy fulfilled, and all the bright visions of glory that gave gladness to our. fathers paled by a splen- , dor of reality that makes us proud of the title — Ameeican Citizen. When, on the 25th of November, 1783, John Van Arsdale, a sprightly sailor-boy of sixteen years, climbed the slushed flag-staff in Port George, at the foot of Broadway, New York, pulled down the '' i British ensign that for more than seven years had floated there, and un- j furled in its place the banner of the United States,' the work of the Rev- olution was finished. As the white sails of the British squadron that bore away from our shores _the last armed enemy to freedom in Amer- ' Before the British left Fort George they nailed their colors to the summit of the flag-staflf, knocked off the cleets, and " slushed" the pole from top to bottom, to prevent its being climbed. Van Arsdale (who died in 1836) ascended by nailing on cleets, and applying sand to the greased flag-staff. In this way he reached the top, hauled down the British flag, and placed that of the United States in its position. It is believed by some that the nailing of the flag there by the British had a higher significance than was visible in the outward act, namely, a compliance with orders from the impe- rial government not to strike the flag, as in a formal surrender, but to leave it flying. In token of the claim of Great Britain to the absolute proprietorship of the cotontry then abandoned. It was believed that the absence of British au- thority in the United States would be only temporary. B PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The hopes of the Americans not realized. ^ They were free, hut not independent. ica became mere specks upon the horizon in the evening sun to the straining eyes of eager thousands gazing seaward beyond the Narrows,' the idea pf absolute independ- ence took possession of the mind and heart of every true American. He saw the visi- ble bonds of British thraldom fall at his feet, and his- pulse beat high with the inspira- tion of conscious freedom, and the full assurance that the power and influence of Brit- ish sovereignty had departed from his country forever. Alas ! those natural, and generous, and patriotic, and hopeful emotions were falla- cious. They were born of a beautiful theory, but derived no real sustenance from so- ber facts. They were the poetry of that hour of triumph, entrancing the spirit and kindling the imagination. They gave unbounded pleasure to a disenthralled people. But there were wise and thoughtful men among them who had communed with the teachers of the Past, and sought knowledge in the vigorous school of the Present. They diUgently studied the prose chapters of the great volume of current history spread out before them, and were not so jubilant. They reverently thanked God for what had been accomplished, adored him for the many interpositions of his providence in their behalf, and rejoiced because of the glorious results of the struggle thus far. But they clearly perceived that the peace established by the decrees of high' contract- ing parties would prove to be only a lull in the great contest — a truce soon to be broken, not, perhaps, by the trumpet calling armed men to the field, but by the stern behests of the inexorable necessities of the new-born republic. The revolution was accomplished, and the political separation from Great Britain was complete, but abso- lute independence was not achieved. The experience of two years wrought a wonderful change in the public mind. The wisdom of the few prophetic sages who warned the people of dangers became painful- I ly apparent. The Americans were no longer the legal subjects of a monarch beyond I the seas, yet the power and influence of Great Britain were felt like a chilling, over- I shadowing cloud. In the presenc^of her puissance in all that constitutes the material j strength and vigor of a nation^lKey felt their weakness ; and from many a patriot heart j came a sigh to the lips, and found expression there in the bitter words of deep humili- i ation — We are free, but not independent. Why not ? Had not a solemn treaty and the word of an honest king acknowledged the states to be free and independent ? Yes. The Treaty of Peace had declared the confederated colonies " to be free, sov- ereign, and independent states ;" and that the King of Great Britain would treat them as such, and relinquish "all claims to the government, propriety, and territorial rights of the same."z The king, in his speech from the throne," had said, "I .Decembers have sacrificed every consideration of my own to the wishes and opinion ^itas." ' of my people. I make it my humble and earnest prayer to Almighty God that Great Britam may not feel the evils which might result from so great a dismemberment of the empire, and that America may be free from those calamities which have formerly proved, in the mother country, how essential monarchy is to the enjoyment of consti- tutional liberty. Religion, language, interest, affections may, and I hope will, yet prove a bond of permanent union between the two countries: to this end neither attention nor disposition shall be wanting on my part."^ • The passage from New York Harbor to the sea, between Long Island and Staten Island » See Article I. of the Treaty of Peace between the United States and Great Britain sTgned at Paris „n thP ,^ nf fhrnS?SlS?es'^"^^'''°''*^^''^'^^^"^«^^^'^'"^^"'-"-J-'"^™>^«^^^^^^^ =1 This acknowledgment was wrung from the king. He had lone detested the verv n«m<. „f „„o, *v . and tUs feeling was strengthened by his Intense personal hatred of DFranMnw^osecoo°Lr^^ given him the distinction of Arch-rebel. The king carried his prejudices so far tS lir JohnZwi/^.^ f ■ * resign his place as President of the Eoyal Society in this wise : The king urgently reques ed th^ sS t„^^fh?-T°-J^ the authority of its name, a contradiction of a scientific opinion of the rebellious -Prankliu ^i^rfe rented thlf-V'"* not mhiB power to reverse the order of nature mA rosioTioa Tho ^ii„„f oi- tL v ^ ,' """S'^ replied that it was courtier, advocated the opinion which was nltrZzefbfbt'J?/.^^^^ Joseph Banks, with the practice of a true ety. See Wright's m^lL «™fer luSZlTmnlZul^ """' '^"'"'°' °' *' ^°^^ ^ocl- OF THE WAR OF 1812. 19 Reception of John Adama in England. Why the Am ericans were not independent. Articles of Confederation. This |ras all very kind, and yet the Americans were not independent. Why not ? Had not the representative of their independent sovereignty been ap- pointed by the Congress to reside as the agent of the republic in the British capital, and been received with cordiality ? Yes. John Adams had been appointed" minister plenipotentiary to the . Febraary 24, Court of Great Britain, and had been ordered to leave sunny France for fog- "^■ gy England. The Duke of Dorset, the British embassador at Paris, had treated him most kindly at Auteuil, and had as kindly prescribed a gay court-dress to be worn by the embassador at his first presentation to the king on his majesty's birth-day. That plen- ipotentiary had been presented," most graciously received, and affected almost b j„ne 4, to tears by these honest words of good King George: "I was the last man in ^^^^• the kingdom, sir, to consent to the independence of America ; but, now it is granted, I shall be the last man in the world to sanction a violation of it." This reception was significant, and this declaration of his majesty was explicit and sincere. Yet the Americans were not independent. Why not ? Because t?iey had not formed a nation, and thereby created a power to C be respected; because British statesmen were wise enough to perceive this weakness, and sagacious enough to take advantage of it. Without the honesty of the king, mis- led by the fatal counsels of the refugee loyalists who swarmed in the British metropo- lis, and governed wholly by the maxims and ethics of diplomacy, the ministry cast embarrassments in the way of the Confederation, neglected to comply with some of the most important stipulations of the Treaty of Peace, maintained a haughty reserve, and waited with complacency and perfect faith to see the whole fabric of government in the United States, cemented by the bonds of common interest and common danger while in a state of war, crumble into fragments, and the people return to their allegiance as colonists of Great Britain. Their trade and commerce, their manufactures and arts, their literature, science, religion, and laws were yet largely tributary to the parent country, without a well-grounded hope for a speedy deliverance. To this domination was added a traditional contempt of the English for their transatlantic brethren as an inferior people,^ and the manifestation of an illiberal and unfriendly spirit, heightened by the consciousness that the Americans were without a government sufliciently pow- erf#l to command the fulfillment of treaty stipulations, or an untrammeled commerce suflSciently important to attract the cupidity and interested sympathies of other na- tions. Such is a general statement of reasons why th^ United States were not inde- pendent of Great Britain after their total political separation from her. These gave to Dr. Franklin and others the consciousness of the incompleteness of the struggle commenced in 1775. When a compatriot remarked that the war for independence was successfully closed, Franklin wisely replied, " Say, rather, the war of the Bevolution. ^ The war for independence is yet to be fought." I have remarked that our fathers had not formed a nation on the return of peace, and in that fact was the inherent weakness of their government, and the spring of all the hopes of the royalists for their speedy return to colonial dependency. To illustrate this, let us take a rapid survey of events from the ratification of the Treaty of Peace in the autumn of 1784, to the formation of the National Constitution in the autumn of 1787, The Articks of Confederation, suggested by Dr. Franklin in the summer of,1775, adopted by the Continental Congress in November, 1777, and finally settled by the ratification of all the states in the spring of 1781, became the organic law of the great American League of independent commonwealths, which, by the first article of that Constitution, was styled " The United States of America." In behalf of this Confeder- 1 "Even the chimney-sweepers on the streets," said Pitt, in a speech in the House of Commons inlT63, "talkboast- ingly of their subjects in America." 20 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The League of States. The States not sovereign. The Public Debt. acy, commissioners were appointed by the Continental Congress to negotiate f^r peace with Great Britain. That negotiation was successful, and, in September, 1783, a defin- > September 3, itive treaty was signed at Paris'^ by the respective commissioners^ of the ''®^- two governments. It was subsequently ratified by the Congress and the Crown. In the first article of the ti-eaty all the states of the League were named, for the simple purpose of definitely declaring what provinces in the New World foi'med "The United States of America," as there were British, French, and Spanish provinces there not members of the League; and also because they were held to be, on the part of the English, independent republics, as they had been colonies independent of each other.2 The League now assumed a national attitude, and the powers of the Confederacy were speedily tested. The bright visions of material prosperity that gladdened the hearts of the Americans at the close of the war soon faded, and others more sombre appeared when the financial and commercial condition of the forming republic was contemplated with candor. A debt of seventy millions of dollars lay upon the shoulders of a wasted people. About forty-four millions of that amount was owing by the Federal govern- ment (almost ten millions of it in Europe), and the remainder by the individual states. These debts had been incurred in carrying on the war. Even while issuing their paper money in abundance, the Congress had commenced borrowing; and when, in 1780, their bills of ci-edit became worthless, borrowing was the chief monetary resource of the government. This, of course, could not go on long without involving the republic in embarrassments and accomplishing its final ruin. The restoi-ation of the public credit or the downfall of the infant republic was the alternative presented to the American peoj^le. 1 See note 2, page IS. ■ t^t!,,"''??*''!''"?'' ^.'^l^ie^ous political doctrine known as supreme state sovereignty, whose hndamental dogma ■s that the states then forming the inchoate repul)Iic were absolutely independent sovereignties, have cited this namin" of X,r ™'' T^ f f ' '" that treaty m support of their views. The states were independent commonwealths, but not sover- ZloZ.J^ f n™ 'fS'!f ."" '?.PT'"a ^'"= '=°'°"'"'' ^'l 't^'es had never been in that exalted position. They were dependencies of Great Britain until the Declaration of Independence was promulgated, wlien they immediately a-umed he position of equals in a National League, acknowledging the general government ^-hich they thus e"ablishedas"he supreme controlling power, having a broad signet for the common use, bearing the words, "Seal of he Un ed Sta es ' FIE3T GKEAT SEAL OF THE imTTED STATES.* as Its insignia of anthority. When a treaty of peace was to be negotiated, the states did not each chno sioner for the purpose, hut these agents were appointed by the General Congress, as representative, of the " 'i^'^'^-T of the Contederation, without reference to any particular states. And when, a few years later the „ , /I T"'"^' PEOPLE" 18 the phrase) formed and ratified a National Constitution, they disowned alUn, ependent sHte "P" < ^' '"' rese^i^ed to the states only municipal rights, the exercise of which should not be in conTaCt^n ^mVoT^^n^lr^o? ^ For a history (with illustrations) of this first Great Seal of the United States, xiii., p. 178, written by the author of this work. see a paper in Harper's Magazine, vol. OB" THE WAE OF 1812. 21 Attempts to restore the Public Credit and establish Commercial Kelations. Attitude of the States. With a determination to restore that public credit, the General Congress immediately put forth all its strength in efforts to produce such a result. A few weeks after the preliminary Treaty of Peace was signed, the Congress declared that "the establishment of permanent and adequate funds on taxes or duties, which shall operate generally, and, on the whole, in just proportion, throughout the United States, is indispensably necessary toward doing complete justice to the public creditors, for restoring pub- lic credit, and for providing for the future exigencies of the war."' Two months later" the Congress recommended to the several states, as " indispensably nee- » April is, essary to the restoration of public credit, aud to the punctual discharge of ™*- the public debts," to vest the Congress with power to levy, for a period of twenty-five years, specified duties on certain imported articles, and an ad valorem duty on all others, the revenue therefrom to be applied solely to the payment of the interest and principal of the public debt. It -was also proposed that the states should be required to establish for the same time, and for the same object, substantial revenues for supply- ing each its proportion of one million five hundred thousand dollars annually, exclusive of duties on imports, the proportion of each state to be fixed according to the eighth article of the organic law of the League.^ This financial system was not to take effect until acceded to by every state. This proposition was approved by the leading men of the country, but it was not adopted by the several states. They all took action upon it in the course of the succeed- ing three years, but that action was rather in the form of overtures — indications of what each state was willing to do — not of positive law. All the states except two were willing to grant the required amount, but they were not disposed to vest the Congress with the required power. " It is money, not power, that ought to be the ob- ject," they said. " The former will pay our debts, the latter may destroy our liber- ties:'^ This first important effort of the Congress to assume the functions of sovereignty was a signal failure, and the beginning of a series of failures. It excited a jealousy be- tween the state and general governments, and exposed the utter impotency of the lat- ter, whose vitality depended upon the will of thirteen distinct legislative bodies, each tenacious of its own peculiar rights and interests, and miserly in its delegation of power. It was speedily made manifest that the public credit must be utterly destroyed by the inevitable repudiation of the public debt. The League were equally unfortunate in their attempts to establish commercial rela- tions with other governments, and especially with that of Great Britain. The Liberal ministry, under the Earl of Shelburne when the preliminary Treaty of Peace was signed, devised generous measures toward the Americans. Encouraged by a lively hope there- by engendered, American commerce began to revive. William Pitt, son of the emi- nent Earl of Chatham,' then at the age of only twenty-four years, was Chancellor of the Exchequer. With a clear perception of the value to Great Britain of friendly relations between that government and the new republic, he introduced a bill into Parliament for the regulation of commerce between the two countries, by which trade with the British West India Islands and other colonial possessions of the crown was thrown open to the enterprise of the merchants of the United States. In this proposed measure was involved a powerful element of solid peace and har- mony between the two governments; but there seemed not to be wisdom enough among the statesmen of Great Britain for a practi cal perception of it. The shipping 1 Journal of CoDgress, February 12, 1783. The last clause was necessary, because only prelimirmy articles of peace ''f^tTfS&Z\X:;iottl:^^nr.enU New Hamplire, «TOS , Massachusetts $2^,^, Khodemand, $32,318; Connecficut, $192,091 -New York, $128,243, New Jersey, $83 358 ; Pennsylvan a, $205,189 ; Delaware, $22,443 ; Maryland, $141,517 ; Virginia, $256,487 : North Carolina, $109,006 ; South Carolina, $96,183 ; Georgia, $16,030. 3 ThTresolutons of Congress, aid the proceedings of the several State Le^slatures, with remarks thereon by "AEe- poblicMi, " were published in the mo York Gazettear, and afterward in pamphlet form, in the autumn of 1780, by Carroll^ * Patterson, 32 Maiden Lane, New York. 22 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Dissolution of the Liberal British Ministry. The new Cabinet. Its discordant Elements interest, then potential in Parliament, with strange blindness to its own welfare and thai of the state, successfully opposed it ; and the Liberal Shelburne ministry did not survivt the proposition a month. It was dissolved, and, after a ministerial hiatus of several weeks, during which time faction threatened the peace if not the stability of the throne a Cabinet was formed of materials the most discordant hitherto.' North and Fox, Burkt and Cavendish, Portland and Stormont, whO' had differed widely and debated bitterly on American atfairs, coalesced, much to the astonishment of the simple, the scandal of political consistency, and the delight of satirists with pen and pencil.^ The new Cabinet listened to other counsels than those of the sagacious Pitt, and, in- stead of acting liberally toward the United States, as friends and political equals, they inaugurated a restrictive commercial policy, and assumed the offensive hauteur of lord and master in the presence of vassals or slaves. Echoing the opinions of the acrimoni- ous Silas Deane, the specious Tory, Joseph Galloway, and Peter Oliver, the refugee Chief Justice of Massachusetts,^ English writers and English statesmen made public observations which indicated that they regarded the American League as only alien- ated members of the British realm. Lord SheiBeld, in a formidable pamphlet, gave expression to the views of the Loyalists and leading British statesmen, and declared his belief that ruin must soon overtake the League, because of the anarchy and confu- ' The political satires and caricatares of the day Indicate the temper of the people. Of these the war in America formed the staple subject at the time in question. The conduct of that war, its cessation or continuance, formed the topic of violent debates in Parliament, caused rancor among politicians, was the basis of new party or- ganizations, and a source of great anxiety among the people. Among those who employed carica- tures in the controversies Sayer and Gillray were the chief. The latter soon outstripped all com- petitors, and gave to the world more than twelve hundred caricatures, chiefly political. One of his earliest productions was issued at the period in question, in which the original positions of the diflferent leaders of the coalition were exhibit- ed in compartments. In one, entitled "War," Fox and Burke, in characteristic attitudes, are seen thundering against the massive Lord North. In another com- partment, called "Neither Peace nor War," the three orators are, in the same attitudes, attacking the prelimina- ry Treaty of Peace with the United States. Under them are the words " The Astonishing Coa- lition." Another caricature was called "The Loves WAB ?• I "2 ™* *® ^^*Ser ; or. The Coalition Wed- ■F . ,T!"^ popular caricature was a burlesque n ;.,.T .V n,v , . P"=*<"'*l'™'ory of the sudden friendship between 'ox and North. The la ter was commonly known in political circles as "the iadger." In another pnnt Fox and North were represented under one coat tandmg on a pedesta , and called "The ^ate Idol," This the king (who del Bsted the whole affau.) was expected to worship. In another, the two are seen pproachmg Britannia (or the people) to claim her sanction. She rejects them "oplrTestoatn" " ''""''' '" '^ ^'"°™ ^"' "°'='^ ^.''^^ distance 1^ The coalition finally became unpopular, and Gillray, in a caricature entitled ■Britannia Aroused, or. The Coalition Monsters Desteoyed," represents her i^ fhry, grasping one of the leaders by the neck and the other by the legan^ nrlmg them from her as enemies to liberty. I have copied from WrUfs I^ lava under the Hmee o/Hamver the most forcible portions of the two carkt Silas Deane had been an active supporter of the American cause, and was sent to W™„.o ental Congress, early in 1TT6. In the autumn of that year he was associated wftt,^! ^ ?,'."' ^° ^^ent of the Conti- iissioners to the French Court. Deane's nnfltness for his sSHS soon mad/"»!'™'''f ^'"i Arthur Lee as com- ■ ie close of m. He went to England at the close of the war, anrthlre vented Ms sS'^': "f.?"" ^"^ recalled at Joseph Galloway was a Pennsylvanian, who espoused the republican cause and Zif ^T" ^^ ^o^trymen. 1 1774, but soon afterward abandoned his countjjien and went to EnS KeZuTf^^ """"^ *^' Congress :n°^^twh^rrhVXriS^:aT'^^ "-*" "^«- ^« -- '^^^^ 3tts Assembly m 1774, and soon afterward went to England, where he SedSi iraMg™ 79™" ^^ ** Massaehu- OF THE WAE OF 1812. 23 Expectations of British States men. Lord Slieffleld's Pamphlet. British Legislation. Public Dangers. sion in which they were involved in consequence of their independence. He assumed that the New England States in particular would speedily become penitent suppliants at the foot of the king for pardon and restoration as colonies. He saw the utter weak- ness and consequent inefliciency of the League as a form of government, and advised his countrymen to consider them of little account as a nation.^ " If the American states choose to send consuls, receive them, and send a consul to each state. Each state will soon enter into all necessary regulations with the consul, and this is the whole that is necessary." In other words, the League has no dignity above that of a fifth-rate power, and the states are still, in fact, only dislocated members of the British Empire.^ In considering the more remote causes of the War of 1812, and the final independ- ence of the United States achieved by that war, that pamphlet of Lord Sheffield, which gave direction to British legislation and bias to the English mind in reference to the American League, may be regarded as a most important one. It was followed by Orders in CounciP by which American vessels were entirely excluded from the British West Indies ; and some of the staple productions of the United States, such as fish, beef, pork, butter, lard, et cetera, were not permitted to be carried there except in Brit- ish bottoms. These orders were continued by temporary acts until l'i'88, when the policy was permanently established as a commercial regulation by act of Parliament. In view of this unfriendly conduct of Great Britain, the General Congress, in the spring of 1784, asked the several states to delegate powers to them for fifteen years, by which they might compel England to be more liberal by countervailing measures of prohibition.* Well would it have been for the people of the young republic had some restrictive measures been adopted, whereby British goods could have been kept from their ports, for in a very short time after the peace a most extravagant and ruinous trade with Great Britain was opened. Immense importations were made, and private indebtedness speedily added immensely to the evils which the war and an inadequate government had brought upon the people. But the appeal of the Congress was in vain. The states, growing more and more jealous of their individual dignity, would not invest the Congress with any such power ; nor would they, even in the face of the danger of having their trade go into the hands of foreigners, make any permanent and uniform arrangements among themselves. Without public credit, with their commerce at the mercy of every adventurer, without respect at home or abroad, the League of States, free without independence, presented the sad spectacle of the elements of a great nation paralyzed in the formative process, and the coldness of political death chilling every developing function of its being. Difficulties soon arose between the United States and Great Britain concerning the I " It will not be an easy matter," he said (and he no donbt spoke the language of the English people in general), " to bring the American states to act as a nation ; they are not to be feared as sueh by UB. It will be a long time before they can engage or will concur in any material expenses. A stamp act, a tea act, or such act that can never again occnr, would alone unite them. Their climate, their staples, their manners are different ; their interests opposite ; and that which is beneficial to one is destructive to the other. We might as reasonably dread the effects of combinations among the German as among the American states, and deprecate the resolves of the Diet as those of the Congress. In short, every circumstance proves that it will be, extreme folly to enter into any engagements by which we may not wish to be bound, hereafter. It is impossible to name any material advantage the American states will or can give us in return more than what we of course shall have. No treaty can be made with the American states that can be binding on the whole of them. The Act of Confederation does not enable Congress to form more than general treaties." — Sheffield's Observations on the Commerce of the Ainericam States, London, 1783. ' The estimation in which the League was held by the British government may be inferred by an inquiry of the Duke of Dorset, in reply to a letter from Messrs. Adams, Franklin, and Jefferson, on the subject of a commercial treaty, in March, 1785. His grace inquired " whether they were commissioned by Congress or their respective states, for it ap- peared to him that each state was determined to mmutge its own matters in its own way." It could not he expected that England would be in haste to form any important commercial relations with a government so uncertain in its charac- ter, for a league of independent governments was liable to dissolution at any moment. 3 July, 1783. The British Privy Council consists of an indefinite number of gentlemen, chosen by the sovereign, and having no direct connection with the Cabinet ministers. The sovereign may, under the advice of this council, issue orders or proclamations, which, if not contrary to existing laws, are binding upon the subjects. These are for tempo- rary purposes, and are called Orders in Council. 1 See Journal of Congress, April 30, 1784. 24 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK — : ~ TT"! Tta TiiBBnliition threatened. Bxcaee for Dissatisfaction. Weakness of the new Government made manifest. Its .Uissomiion inreaieneu. plenipotentiary, to arrange all matters in dispute. But Mr. Adams could accomplish little. Indeed his mission was almost fruitless. He found the temper of the British people, from the peasant up to the monarch cold it not positively hostile, toward the United States. He was never insulted, yet the chilliness of the social atmosphere, and the studied neglect of his official representations, often excited hot indignation in his bosom. But his government was so weak and powerless that he was compelled to bite his lips in silence. When he proposed to have the naviga- tion and trade between all the dominions of the British crown and all the territones of the United States placed upon a basis of perfect and liberal reciprocity, the offer was not only rejected with scorn, but the minister was given to understand that no other would be entertained by the British government. When he recommended his own government to pass countervailing navigation laws for the benefit of American com- merce, he was met with the fact that it possessed no power to do so. At length, be- lieving his mission to be useless, and the British government steadily refusing to send a minister to the United States, he asked and received permission to return home. Meanwhile matters were growing infinitely worse in the United States, The Con- gress had become absolutely powerless, and almost a by- word among the people. The states had assumed the attitude of sovereign, each for itself; and their interests were too diversified, and in some instances too antagonistic, to allow them to work in har- mony for the general good. The League was on the point of dissolution, and the fair .fabric for the dwelling of liberty, reared by Washington and his compatriots, was tot tering to its fall. The idea of forming two or three distinct confederacies took posses- sion of the public mind. Western North Carolina revolted, and the new State of Franklin,^ formed by the insurgents, endured several months. A portion of South- western Virginia sympathized in the movement. Insurrection against the authorities of Pennsylvania appeared in the Wyoming Valley.^ A Convention deliberated at Port- land on the expediency of erecting the Territory of Maine into an independent state.^ An armed mob surrounded the New Hampshire Legislature, demanding a remission of taxes ;* and in Massachusetts, Daniel Shays, who had been a.captain in the Continental army, placed himself at the head of a large body of armed insurgents, and defied thf government of that state.^ There was resistance to taxation every where, and disre spect for law became the rule and not the exception. There was reason for this state of things. The exhaustion of the people was grea1 on account of the war, and poverty was wide-spread. The farmer found no remunera tive market for his produce, and domestic manufactures were depressed by foreigr competition.' Debt weighed down all classes, and made them feel that the burdei ^ Against Great Britain it was charged that slaves had been carried away by her military and naval commanders suh sequent to the signing of the treaty, and on their departure from the country.* It was also complained that the Westeri military posts had not been surrendered to the United States according to Article VII. of the treaty. Against the Unitei States It was charged that legal impediments had been interposed to prevent the collection of debts due British mei chants by Americans, and that the stipulations concerning the property of Loyalists, found in Articles V. and VI. of th treaty, had not been coniplied vfith. Thesecriminations and recriminations were fair, for it has been justly remarked " America could not, and Great Britain would not, because America did not, execute the treaty."— Life and Works ofjoh Ada/ms^ i., 424. 2 See Eamsey'B History of Tennessee; Harper's Magazine for March, 1862. 3 See Lossiug's Field^Book of the RevolvMon. * See Williamson's History of Maine. * See Coolidge and Mansfield's History of New Hampshire. * See Bradford's History of Massachusetts ; Harper's Magazine for April, 1862. ' The idea was prevalent, at the close of the war, that the United States ought to be an exclnsiyely agricultural natioi and that the old policy of purchasing all fabrics in Europe, to be paid for by the productions of the soil would be th wiser one. Acting upon the belief that this would be the policy of the new government, the merchants imported largeh and, there being very little duty to be paid, domestic manufactures could not compete with those of Great Britain. Th fallacy of the idea that exports would pay for the imports was soon made manifest, and almost universal bankraptc • See Article VII. of the treaty. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 25 WaeUngton'e Views of Public Affairs. His Suggestions, and those of Alexander Hamilton. Propositions of the latter. which the tax-gatherer would lay upon them would be the " feather" that would " break the camel's back." There was doubt, and confusion, and perplexity on every side ; and the very air seemed thick with forebodings of evil. Society appeared to be about to dissolve into its original elements. Patriots — ^men who had labored for the establishment of a wise government for a free people— were heart-sick. " lUiberality, jealousy, and local policy mix too much in all our public councils for the good government of the Union," wrote Washington. " The Confederation appears to me to be little better than a shadow without the substance, and Congress a nugatory body, their ordinances being little attended to. To me it is a solecism in politics ; indeed, it is one of the most extraordinary things in nature, that we should confederate as a nation, and yet be afraid to give the rulers of that nation (who are the creatures of our own making, appointed for a limited and short duration, and who are amenable for every action, and may be recalled at any moment, and are subject to all the evils they may be instrumental in producing) sufficient powers to order and direct the affairs of the same. By such policy as this the wheels of govern- ment are clogged, and our brightest prospects, and that high expectation which was entertained of us by the wondering world, are turned into astonishment; and from the high ground on which we stood we are descending into the vale of confusion and dark- ness. " That we have it in our power to become one of the most respectable nations upoii earth, admits, in my humble opinion, of no doubt, if we would but pursue a wise, just, and liberal policy toward one another, and keep good faith with the rest of the world. That our resources are ample and increasing, none can deny ; but while they are grudg- ingly applied, or not applied at all, we give a vital stab to public faith, and shall sink, in the eyes of Europe, into contempt."' Other patriots uttered similar sentiments ; and there was a feverish anxiety in the ]iublic mind concerning the future, destructive of all confidence, and ruinous to entei"- prises of every kind. Already grave discussions on the subject had occurred in the library at Mount Vernon, during which Washington had suggested the idea of a con- janctioh of the several states in arrangements of a commercial nature, over which the Congress, under the Articles of Confederation, had no control. The suggestion was luminous. It beamed out upon the surrounding darkness like a ray of morning light. It was the herald and harbinger of future important action — the key-note to a loud trumpet-call for the wise men of the nation to save the tottering republic. It was the electric fire that ran along the paralyzed nerves of the nation, and quickened into action a broader statesmanship, like that displayed by the youthful Hamilton, who, three or four years before, had induced the Legislature of New York to recomiflend the " assem- bling of a general Convention of the United States, specially authorized to revise and amend the Confederation, reserving the right to the respective Legislatures to ratify their determination."^ occurred among the importing merchants. The imports from Great Britain during the years 1784 and 1785 amounted in value to $30,000,000, while the exports thither did not exceed $9,000,000. ■ Letter to James Warren, October 7, 1785. 2 So early as 1780, Alexander Hamilton, then only twenty-three years of age, thoroughly analyzed the defects of the Articles of Confederation, in a long letter to James Duane, member of Congress from New York. It was dated, "Lib- erty Pole, September 3, 1780." He discussed the subject at great length, gave an outline sketch of a Federal Constitu- tion, and suggested the calling of a Convention to frame such a system of government.* During the following year he published in the Nmo York Packet, printed at Pishkill, Duchess County, a series of papers under the title of The Corwti- tutionaliat, which were devoted chiefly to the discussion of the defects in the Articles of Confederation. They excited great local interest ; and Hamilton succeeded, in the summer of 1782, in having the subject brought before the Legisla- ture of the State of New York while in session at Poughkeepsie. It was favorably received, and on Sunday, the 21st of July, that body passed a series of resolutions, in the last of which occurred the sentence above quoted. On the 1st of April, 1783, Hamilton, In a debate in Congress, expressed an earnest desire for a general Convention, and the subject was much talked of among the members of Congress' in 1784. In the same year Thomas Paiup and Pelatiah Webster wrote on that subject. In the spring of 1784, Noah Webster, the lexicographer, in a pamphlet which he says he " took the pains to carry in person to General Washington," suggested a "new system of government, which • See The Works o/ Alexander Bamiltan, i., 150. 26 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK C'unveution of Representatives of the States at Anuapolis and Philadelphia. This recommendation had been seriously pondered by thoughtful men throughout the League, but the public authorities were not then ready to adopt it. Washington's proposition for a commercial Convention was favorably received, and in September, the = September 11, following year," five states were represented by delegates in such Conven- 1'^*- tion, held at Annapolis, in Maryland.' Already a desire had been ex- pressed in many parts of the country for a Convention having a broader field of consid- eration than commerce., only one of the elements of a nation's prosperity. So thought and felt members of the Convention at Annapolis — a Convention that proved a failure in a degree, inasmuch as only five of the thirteen states were represented. They ad- journed after a brief session, first recommending the several states to call another Con- vention in May following; and performing the momentous service of preparing a letter to the General Congress, in which the defects of the Articles of Confederation were set forth. In Febru.ary following, the Congress took the proceedings of the Convention into consideration, and recommended a meeting of delegates from the several states, to be held at Philadelphia on the second Monday in the ensuing May; not, however, for the regulation of commerce, but really for the reconstruction of the national govern- ment.^ On the 4th of July, 1V76, a Congress of representatives of thirteen colonies met in the great room of the State House in Phila- delphia, since known as Independence Hall, and declared those colonies free and inde- pendent states. On Monday, the 14th of May, 1787, a Congress of representatives of the same colonies, then become free and independent states, assembled in the same hall for the purpose of establishing the va- lidity and power of that declaration, by dis- solving the inefiicient political League of the states, and constituting the inhabitants of all the states one great and indissoluble nation. There were few delegates present on the appointed day of meeting ; and it was not until the 25th that representatives from seven states (the prescribed quorum) ap- ^^. . . peared. Then Washington, a delegate from Virginia, was chosen president of the Convention, and William Jackson secretary.s On WILLIAM JAOKbON. should act not on tluMtshut Oirecihj „n mmvichmU, and vest in Congress full power to carry its laws Into effect " Th,B pamphlet is entit ed, " Sfeetehes of American Policy." Thus thinking men all lamented the weatae. of thften- 1 The following are the names of the representatives : Kao I'M-fc- Alexander Hamilton Ptrhert -Rp^c^t, ^' r Abraham Clarke. William C. Houston ; P™«,„fe„»<^Tenche Coxe, J^r^lll^T^DtafaJtoZ.^^T^^^ Dickmson, Richard Bassett ; Virgmia^mmmi Randolph, James Madison, Jr., St George Tnckei ° ' delgaSstr M^ssLhi^e^'rwaslst'owT:*'^ '''' °'^^'™"^' "'^^ ^^' ™^°'""°° <-'''* ^'^ ™^-'««^ ^^ "le " R'l^M, That ill the opinion of Congress it is expedient that, on the second Monday in May next a Cnnvpntinn nf Delegates, who shall have been appointed by the several states, be held at Philadelphia, for he s'fe and ex, res°° °/ pose of revising the Articles of Confederation, and reporting to Congress and the severa LeJisInfi^res .^,.h u t? and provisions therein as shall, when agreed to in Congres's and confirmed by the s ates reader the Felrn?/;?' tion adequate to the exigencies of government and the preservation of the Union" '^"'''*" ^onstitu- 3 William Jackson was an eminent patriot, and one of Washington's most intimate personal friends Tr„ „ ♦ a ,^ Continental army at the age of sixteen years, and served his ctnntry faithfully duri^ the whole wnr fl 7 *i' ence. He became an aid to the commander-in-chief with the rank of miioi- T nlT^i i? ^ar for independ- Colonel John Laurens, on a diplomatic mission to Franie At fbe close onhe ir "e visited aZT'md'" If" "' turn was appointed, on the nomination of Washington, secretary to the Convention that formed the NVirouarConstt- OF THE WAR OF 1812. 27 ■William Jackson and EdrnuDd Eandolph. Members of the Convention. > Attitude of Rhode Island. the 28th, Edmund Randolph, of Virginia,' at the request of his colleagues, opened the business of the Convention in a carefully considered speech, in which he pointed out the serious defects in the Articles of Confederation, illustrated their utter inadequacy to secure the dignity, peace, and safety of the republic, and asserted the absolute neces- sity of a more energetic government. At the close of his speech he oifered to the Con- vention fifteen resolutions, in which were embodied the leading principles whereon to form a new government according to his views. I do not propose to consider in detail, nor even in a synoptical manner, the proceed- ings of that Convention, which occupied several hours each day for four months. I will merely direct attention to the really great men who composed it, and the measures that were adopted, and leave the reader to seek in other sources the interesting infor- mation concerning the events in the daily sessions of that remarkable congress of wise men, whose efforts bore noble fruit for the political sustenance of mankind.- The venerable Dr. Franklin, then near the close of a long and useful life, was the most conspicuous member of that Convention next to Washington. Thirty-three years before he had elaborated a plan of union for the colonies, to which neither the crown nor the provinces would listen f now he came to revive that plan, with full hope of success. Johnson, Rutledge, and Dickinson had been members of the Stamp-act Con- tution. His private record of the proceedings and debates is in the hands of his family. He became the private secretary of President Washington, and accompanied him on his tonr through the Southern States in 1791. He held the office of sin-veyor of the port of Philadelphia and inspector of customs there until removed, for political causes, by Mr. Jefferson. He then started a daily newspaper, called "The Political and Commercial Eeg- ister." Major Jackson lived a life of unsullied honor, and at his death was buried in Christ Church yard, on Fifth Street, Philadelphia. A plain slab about three feet high marks the spot, and bears the following inscription : "Sacred to the memory of Major William Jackson : born March the 9th, 1T59 ; depart- ed this life December the ITth, 18'2S. Also to Klizabeth Willing, his relict: bom March the 2Tth, 1763 ; departed this life August the 6th, 185S." Mrs. Jackson was ninety years of age at the time of her death. I am indebted to Miss Ann Willing Jackson, daughter of Major .Jackson, for the portrait given on the preceding page. It is copied from a miniature in her possession, painted by Trumbull. She also has a silhouette profile of her father, cut by Mrs. Mayo, of Eichmond, Virginia, the mother of the late Mrs. General Wintield Scott. The signature of Secretary Jackson is with those of the other signers of j vckbo^ s mu.nu.ment. the Constitution, on page 32. 1 Edmund Randolph was a son of an attorney general of Virginia before the Revolution. He was an eminent law- yer, and a wann patriot throughout the old war for independence. He was a member of the Continental Congress from 1779 until 17S2. He was active in the Convention that formed the Constitution. He was elected Governor of Virginia in 178S, and Washington chose him for his first attorney general of the United States in 1789. He was secretary of state in 1794, but, in consequence of being engaged in an intrigue with the French minister, he retired from public life. He died in December, 1813. 2 Rhode Island was not represented in the Convention. Ignorant and unprincipled men happened to control the Assembly of the state at that time, and they refused to elect delegates to the Convention. But some of the best and most influential men in Rhode Island joined in sending a letter to the Convention, in which they expressed their cordial sympathy with the objects of the movement, and promised their acquiescence in whatsoever measures the majority might adopt. The following were the names of the delegates from the several states ; New Hampshire. — John Langdon, John Pickering, Nicholas Oilman, and Benjamin West. Massachmetts.—Fmncis Dana, Elbridge Gerry, Nathaniel Gorham, Rufus King, and Caleb Strong. Comi^cticiit. — William Samuel Johnson, Roger Sherman, and Oliver Ellsworth. Neio York, — Robert Yates, John Lansing, Jr., and Alexander Hamilton. A'eiv Jersey.— DnYid Brearley, William Churchill Houston, William Paterson, John Neilson, William Livingston, Abra- ham Clark, and Jonathan Dayton. Pennsylvania.— Thomas MifHin, Robert Morris, George CljTner, Jared Ingersoll, Thomas Fitzsimmons, James Wilson, Gouverneur Morris, and Benjamin Franklin. Delaware.-QeoTge Read, Gunning Bedford, Jr., John Dickinson, Richard Bassett, and Jacob Brown. Maryland.— J a.mes M'Henry, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Daniel Carroll, John Francis Mercer, and Luther Martin. Virginia.— George Washington, Patrick Henry, Edmund Randolph, John Blair, James Madison, Jr., George Mason, and George Wythe. Patrick Ilenry having declined his appointment, James M'Clure was nominated to supply his place. Korth C«ro?m«.— Richard Caswell, Alexander Martin, William Richardson Davie, Richard Dobbs Spaight, and Willie Jones. Richard Caswell having resigned, William Blount was appointed as deputy in his place. Willie Jones having also declined his appointment, his place was supplied by Hugh Williamson. , South Carolina.— John Eutledge, Charles Pinckney, Charles C. Pinckney, and Pierce Butler. Oeorgia.—Wmum Few, Abraham Baldwin, William Pierce, GeorgeWalton.William Houston, and Nathaniel Pendleton. s " The Assemblies did not adopt it," said Franklin, "as they all thought there was too much prerogatioe in it; and in England it was judged to have too much of the demoa'atic." PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Leading Members of the CouventioD. Its Objects. Its ProeeedingB. Gouvemeur Morris, gress in 1705, and the last two had been compatriots of Washington in the Congress of l'i'74. Livingston, Sherman, Read, and Wythe had shared the same honors. The last two, with Franklin, Sherman, Gerry, Clymer, Morris, and Wilson, had signed the Declaration of Independence. The Continental army was represented by Washington, Mifflin, Charlejs Cotesworth Pinckney, and Hamilton. The younger members, who had become conspicuous in public life after the Declaration of Independence, were Hamilton, Madison, and Edmund Randolph. The latter was then Governor of Virginia, liaving suc- ceeded Patrick Henry, the "trumpet of sedition" when the states were British provinces. The Convention was marked by long and warm debates, and with dignity suited to the occasion. The most prominent speakers were King, Gerry, and Gorham, of Massa- chusetts; Hamilton and Lansing, of New York ; Ellsworth, Johnson, and Sherman, of Connecticut ; Paterson, of New Jersey ; Franklin, Wilson, and Morris, of Pennsylvania ; Dickinson, of Delaware ; Martin, of Maryland ; Randolph, Mason, and Madison, of Vir- ginia; Williamson, of North Carolina, and the Pinckneys, of South Carolina. Such were the men, all conspicuous in the history of the republic, who assembled for the purpose of laying the broad foundations of a nation. Tliey had scarcely a prece- dent in history for their guide. The great political maxim established by the Revolu- tion was, that the original residence of all human sovereignty is in the people : it was for these founders of a great state to parcel out from the several commonwealths of which the new nation was composed, so much of their restricted power as the peo- ple of the several states should be willing to dismiss from their local political insti- tutions, in making a strong and harmonious republic that should be at the same time harmless toward reserved state rights. This was the great jwoblem to be solved. "At that time," says a recent writer, " the world had witnessed no such spectacle as that of the deputies of a nation, chosen by the free action of great communities, and assembled for the purpose of thoroughly reforming its Constitution, by the exercise and with the authority of the national will. All that had been done, both in ancient and in modern times, in forming, moulding, or modifying constitutions of government, bore little re- semblance to the present undertaking of the states of America. Neither amono- the Greeks nor the Romans was there a precedent, and scarcely an analogy."i Randoljih suggested the chief business of the Convention in his proposition "that a N^ATiONAL government ought to be est.ablished, consisting of a supreme leo-islative ex- ecutive, and judiciary." Upon this broad proposition all future action was'ba.sed ; 'and they had not proceeded far before it was clearly perceived that the Articles of Confed- eration were too radically defective to be the basis of a stable government. Tlierefbre instead of trying to amend them, the Convention went diligently at work to form an entirely new Constitution. In this they made slow progress, opinions were so conflicting. Plans and amendments were ofi'ered, and freely discussed. Day after day, and week after week, the debates contin- ued, sometimes with great courtesy, and sometimes with great acrimony, until the 10th of September, when all plans and amendments wliich had been adopted by the Convention were placed in the hands of a committee for revision and arrangement.^ Bv ^.^^^ //^6///0 They placed the matter in the hanks of Gon^AfnTnt ,^ o fhZ: pose. In language and general arran^empiit ti,„-NT ,"'"f'"r ine pur- was the work of that eminent ma" • ° ' ' ^''"°°'" Constitution • Gomerneur Morris was bom near the Westchester shore of the Harlem -S^^^^^T^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ZT. : 1-52, He was educated at King's (now Columbia) College, in the city of New Y^^rstldTei Lw ^ntr'tbe emS OF THE WAR OF 1812. 29 Signing the Constitution. Hesitation on tlie part of some. Patriotic Course of Franklin, Hamilton, and othere. this committee a Constitution was reported to the Convention. It was taken up and considered clause by clause, discussed, slightly amended, and then engrossed. On the 15th it was agreed to by the delegates of all the states present. On the 11th a fair copy on parchment was brought in to receive the signatures of the members — an act far more important in all its bearings than the signing of the Declaration of Independ- ence, eleven years before.' " In the performance of that act, as in the former, there was some hesitation on the part of a few. There had been serious differences of opinion during the whole session — so serious that at times there seemed a probability that the Convention would be an utter failure. There were still serious differences of opinion when the instrument was adopted, and delicate questions arose about signing it. A large majority of the mem- bers wished it to go forth to the people, not only as the act of the Convention collect- ively, but with the individual sanction and signature of each delegate. This was the desire of Dr. Franklin, and, with pleasant words, he endeavored to allay all irritation and bring about such a result. It was finally agreed, on the suggestion of Gouverneur Morris, that it might be signed, without implying personal sanction, in these closing words : " Done by consent of the states present. In testimony whereof, we have sub- scribed," etc. ' Hamilton patriotically seconded the efforts of Franklin, notwithstanding the instru- ment did not have his approval, because it did not give power enough to the national government. " No man's ideas," he said, " are more remote from the plan than my own ; but is it possible to deliberate between anarchy and confusion on one side, and the chance of good on the other?" The appeals of Franklin and Hamilton, and the example of Madison and Pinckney, secured the signatures of several dissatisfied members ; and all present, excepting Mason and Randolph, of Virginia,^ and Gerry, of Massachusetts,^ signed the Constitu- tion.* While this important work was in pi'ogress, Franklin looked toward the chair occupied by "Washington, at the back of which a sun was painted, and observed, "I have often and often, in the course of the session, and the vicissitudes of ray hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at that sun behind the President without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting : at length I have the happiness to know that it is a rising sun." The Convention, by a carefully worded resolution, recommended the Congress to lay the new Constitution before the joeopfo (not the states), and ask them, the source of aU William Smith, of that city, and was licensed to practice in 1T71. He was an active patriot during the war, serving in the Continental Congress, on committees of safety, etc. He resided some time in Philadelphia. He was sent abroad on a diplomatic mission, and resided for a while in Paris. He afterward went to London on public business, and was finally appointed minister plenipotentiary at the French Court. He returned to America in 1798, was elected to the Senate of the TJnited States, and was active in public and private life until his death in 1816. 1 For a ftiU account in detail of all the proceedings in relation to the Constitution, see the HUtmy of the Origin, Forma- tion, and Adoption of the Constitution of the United Stales, with Notices of its Principal Framers, by George Ticknor Curtis, in two volumes : New York, Harper & Brothers. ' George Mason was Washington's neighbor and early personal friend. He was a statesman of the first order among those of his associates in Virginia, and a thorough republican. He was the framer of the Constitution of Virginia, and was active in the Convention that formed the National Constitution. He was so imbued with the state pride for which Virginians have always been noted, that he would not agree to that Constitution because it did not recognize individual state sovereignty — the very rock on which the new republic was then in danger of being wrecked. In conjunction with Patrick Henry, he opposed its adoption in the Virginia Convention, professing to believe that it would be the instru- ment for converting the government into a monarchy. He died at his seat on the Potomac (Gunston Hall) in the autumn of 1792, at the age of sixty-seven years. 3 We shall have occasion to consider the public character of Mr. Gerry hereafter. He was Vice-President of the United States in 1S12. * The names of the delegates have been given in note 2, page 27. The names of those who signed the Constitution are given in our /ac-simife^ of their signatures, which have been engraved from the original parchment in the State De- partment at Washington. It T^ill be seen that Alexander HamiltonV name stands alone. His colleagues from New York (Yates and Lansing) had left the Convention in disgust on the Ist of July, and New York was considered not officially represented. Bat Hamilton, who had not swei-ved ftom duty, was there. The weight of his name was im- portant, and in the place that should have been filled with the names of delegates from his state was recited, " Mr. Ham- ilton, of New York." It will be observed that the hand-writing of all seems defective, the lines appearing irregular. This is owing to the parchment on which their names are vreitten, which did not receive the ink as freely as paper would have done. These irregularities" have all been carefully copied, so as to give a perfect /oc-simifo of the originals. PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Signatures to the National Constitution. yicQe/i^k/Ae.^7^^^^^'^'^^^-^^ ^t^"= i"^^^^^ «>« '^^^S g^^ataess of the New World, and employed the oft- "Westward the course of empire takes its way." OF THE WAE OF 1812. 35 Pounaations of Government laid by the People. They comprehend the Value of the Great WUaemeSB, CHAPTER II. " Old burial-places, once eacred, are plundered, And thickly with bones is the fallow field strown 5 The bond of confederate tribes has been sundered— The long council hall of the brave oyerthrown. The Sac and Miami bowmen no longer Preserve at the door-posts unslumbering guard ; We fought, but the pale-browed invaders were stronger; Our knife-blades too blunt, and their bosoms too, hard." W. H. C. HOSMER. ^E have seen the development of weak, isolated commonwealths into a powerful, consolidated nation, and are now to observe the growth of that nation in resources and strength until, by an exhibition of its powers in vindication of its rights before the -world, it became absolutely independent, and was re- spected accordingly. That assertion and vindication were made by the moral forces of legislation and the patriotism of the people, co- working with the material forces of army and navy. In this view is involved the whole drama of the contest known in history as the War of 1812, or the Second Struggle for Independence — a drama, many of whose characters and inci- dents appear upon the stage simultaneously with the persons and events exhibited in the preceding chapter. Looking back from the summer of 1812, when war against Great Britain was formally declared, the causes of the conflict appear both remote and near. The war actually began years before the President proclaimed the appeal to arras. While statesmen and politicians were arranging the machinery of government, the people were laying broad and deep the visible foundations of the state, in the estab- lishment of material interests and the shaping of institutions consonant with the new order of things, and essential to social and political prosperity. They had already be- gun to comprehend the hidden resources and immense value of the vast country within the treaty limits of the United States westward of the Alleghany Mountains. They had already obtained prophetic glimpses of a future civilization that should flourish in the fertile regions Watered by the streams whose springs are in those lofty hills that stretch, parallel with the Atlantic, from the Lakes almost to the Gulf, across fourteen degrees of latitude. Pioneers had gone over the grand hills and sent up the smoke of their cabin fires from many a fertile valley irrigated by.the tributaries of the Ohio and Mississippi. Already they had learned to regard the Father of Waters as a great aque- ous highway for an immense inland commerce soon to be created, and had begun to urge the supreme authority of the land to treat with Spain for its free navigation. Already peace and friendship with the savage tribes on the remote frontiers of civil- ization had been promised by treaties made upon principles of justice and not fashioned by the ethics of the sword.' _^^_ 1 Necessity, if not conscience, recommended this policy, for at the close of the Revolution the " regular army" had been reduced to less than seven hundred men, and no officer was retaiiied above the rank of captain. This force was soon still farther reduced to twenty-flve men to guard the military stores at Pittsburg, and flfty-flve to perform military duty at West Point and other magazines. ,„.,,„.,. 1,. , .. a Peace was negotiated vrith most of the tribes which had taken part against the United States in the late war. A 36 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK In dian Treaties. Anti-alaTery MoTementa. The Ordinance of 178T. Firet Settlements in Ohii By treaty with the chief tribes between the Ohio River and the Great Lakes, an the cession by Virginiai to the United States of all claims to lands in that region, th general government became absolute possessor of a vast country, out of which seven flourishing states have since been formed.^ While the National Convention was in session at Philadelphia in the summer o 1181, the Continental Congress, sitting at New York, feeble and dying, with only eigh states represented, took up and disposed of in a satisfactory manner a subject secon- only in importance to that under discussion in the capital of Pennsylvania. The » July 13 adopted,^ by unaninious vote, "An Ordinance for the government of the Tei "8T; '; ritory of the United States northwest of the Ohio."^ In anticipation of thi action, extensive surveys had been made in the new territory. Soon after the passag of the ordinance above mentioned, a sale of five millions of acres, extending along th Ohio from the Muskingum to the Sciota, were sold to the " Ohio Company," whicl was composed of citizens of New England, many of whom had been officers of the Coil tinental army.* A similar sale was made to John Cleve Symmes, of New Jersey, fo two millions of acres, in the' rich and beautiful region between the Great and Littl Miami Rivers, including the site of Cincinnati. These were the first steps taken toward the settlement of the Northwestern Terri tory,in which occurred so many of the important events of the War of 1812. Hitherti New England emigration had been chiefly to Vermont, Northern New Hampshire, am the Territory of Maine. Now it poured, in a vast and continuous stream, into the Ohi- country. General Rufus Putnam, at the head of a colony from Massachusetts, founde( a settlement^ (the first, of Europeans, in all Ohio, if we except the Moravian mjssionar; stations*) at the mouth of the Muskingum River, and named it Marietta, in honor o; treaty was conclnded at Port Stanwix (now Eome, New York) in October, 1T84, witli the Six Nations. Another was coi eluded at Fort M'Intosh in January, 1785, with the Wyandots, Delawares, Chippewas, and Ottawas ; and another wit the Cherokees, at Hopewell, in November the same year. Dissatisfaction having arisen concerning remuneration. fc lands, two new treaties were made at Fort Hannar, on the Muskingum, Ohio, at the beginning of 1789, by which allov ances were made for ceded lands. By treaty, the Indian titles to lands extending along the northern bank of the Ohi and a considerable distance inland, as far west as the Wabash Eiver, were extinguished. This tract comprised aboi seventeen millions of acres. 1 The deed of cession, signed by Virginia commissioners, with Thomas Jefferson at their head, was executed on th fii'st day of March, 1784. It stipulated that the territory ceded should be laid out and formed into states, not less tha one hnndred nor more than one hundred and fifty miles square ; that the states so formed should be " distinct repul lican, states," and admitted as members of the National Union, having the same rights of sovereignty, etc., as tl older states. After the cession was executed the Congress referred the matter to a committee, of which Mr. Jefferson was chairmai That committee reported an ordinance containing a plan for the government of the whole Western territory north an south of the Ohio, from the thirty-flrst degree of north latitude to the northern boundary of the United States, it hein supposed that other states owning territory south of the Ohio would follow the example of Virginia. The plan propose to divide the great Territory into seventeen states, and among the conditions was the remarkable one " that, after the yef ISOO, there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the said states, other than in the punishment c crimes whereof the party shall have been daiy convicted.'' This provision did not get the vote of nine states, the nun her necessary to adopt it. New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, with the fonr New England States, voted for i1 North Carolina was divided ; Delaware and Georgia were unrepresented ; Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina vote against it. (See Journal of Congress, April 19, 1784.) After expunging this proviso the report was adopted, but tl subject was not definitely acted upon. 2 Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. ? This ordinance was reported by a committee, of which Mr. Dane, of Massachusetts, was chairman. It contained M JefTerson's anti-slavery proviso, with a clause relative to the rendition of fngitive slaves, similar in form to the one inco porated in the National Constitution a few weeks later. 4 This company was formed in Boston, and Eev. Manasseh Cutler, and Winthrop Sargent were the authorized agen 'of the association to make the contract with the United States Treasury Board. Among the associates were Genera Parsons and Enfns Putnam, of Connecticut ; General Vamum and Commodore Whipple, of Ehode Island ■ General Tu per, of Massachusetts, and men of lesser note in public life. ' 5 Putnam ai^d his party landed on the site of Marietta on the 7tb of April, 1788. The governor of the territory hi not yet arrived, so they, established temporary laws for their own government. These were published by being writti and nailed to a tree. Eetum J. Meigs, afterward governor of the state, was appointed to administer the laws Sm was -the beginning of government in the State of Ohio. • 6 These devoted missionaries were the first white inhabitants who took up their abode within the present limits of tl State of Ohio. The Eev. John Frederick Post and Eev. John Heckewelder had penetrated the wilderness in this directii before the cominencement of the Eevolutlon. Their first visit was as early as 1T61. Others followed, and they esta lished three stations, or villages of Indian converts, on the Tuscarawas Eiver, within the limits of the present county that name. These were named Schoenbnm, Gnadenhntten, and Salem. The latter was near the present Village of Pc OF THE WAR OF 1812. 31 Campus Martius and Fort Washington. Miss Heckewelder. General St. Clair. Maria Antoinette, the queen of Louis the Sixteenth, of France. A stockade fort, called Campus Martius, was immediate- _ — _ ly commenced, as a protection ^_^r:.^ S^~ ^-^^ against the hostile Indians,^ In the autumn of the same year a party of settlers seated them- selves upon Symmes's purchase, and founded Cohmibia, near the mouth of the Little Miami. Fort Washington was soon afterward built a short distance below, on the site of Cincinnati. It has been estimated that with- in the years 1788 and 1789, full twenty thousand men, women, and children went down the Ohio CAMPUS UAETIUS. in boats, to become settlers on its banks. Since then, how wonderful has been the growth of empire beyond the Alleghanies! Soon after the organization of the Northwestern Territory, Major General Arthur St. Clair,^ an officer in the old French War, and in the Continental army during the Revolution, was appointed its governor by the Congress, of which body he was then president. He accepted the position with reluctance. "'The office of governor was in a great measure forced on me," he said, in a letter to a friend.^ Yet, ever ready to go where duty to his country called him, he proceeded to the Territory in the summer of Washington. There Hecke- welder resided for some tiioe, and there his daughter Jo- hannaMariawas born, on the {)thofApril,1781. She was the firstwhite child born in Ohio, and isyet living [1367] atBeth- lehem, Pennsylvania, in full possession of her mental fac- ulties. She has been deaf for a number of years, and uses a slate in conversation. Her hand is firm, and she writes with vigor, as her signature, carefully copied in the engra- ving, madeatthe close of 1859, attests. It was appended to an autograph note to the writer. The portrait was tak- en by the Baguerreian pro- cess at that time. In a diary kept by the younger pupils of the Bethlehem boarding- school, where Miss Hecke- welder was educated, under date of December 23, 17S8 (the year when Marietta was founded), occurs the follow- ing sentence : " Little Miss Polly Heckewelder's papa re- turned from Fort Pitt, which occasioned her and us great joy." See Bethlehem Souve- nir, 1858, p. G7. 1 This fort was a regular parallelogram, with an exte- rior line of seven hundred and tweuty feet. There was a strong block-house at each corner, surmounted by a tow- er and sentry-box. Between them were dwelling-houses. At the outer comer of each block -house was a bastion, standing on four stout tim- bers. There were port-holes for musketry and artillery. These buildings were, all made ol sa.wed timbers. Twenty feet in advance of these was a row of very strong and large pickets, with gateways through them, and a few feet outside of these was placed a row of abatis. 2 Arthur St. Clair was a native of Edinburg, in Scotland, where he was boru in 1734. He came to America with Admi- ral Boscawen in 1759, and served under Wolfe as a lieutenaut. After the peace in 1703 he was placed in command of Fort Ligonier, in Pennsylvania. When the Revolution broke out he espoused the patriot cause, and was appointed a colonel in the Continental army in January, 1770. He was active most of the time during that war, and after its close settled in Pennsylvania. He was President of the Continental Congress in 17S7, and the following year was appointed governor of the newly-organized Northwestern Territory. His services in that region are recorded in the text. He survived his misfortunes there almost a quarter of a century, and then died, in poverty, at Laurel Hill, in Western Pennsylvania, in August, 181S, at the age of eighty-four years. 3 William B. Giles, a member of Congress from Virginia. 38 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Temper of the Western Indians. The British tampering with them. Lord Dorchester. Frontier Troops and Posts. 1 788, and took up his abode in Campus . .j„iy, Mai-tius,'' with Winthrop Sargent as ™s- 'fK^^^^^^^^^C BIGNATUBE OF WINTHItOr 8AEGENT. secretary or deputy, who acted as chief mag- istrate during the absence of the governor. St. Clair at once instituted inquiries, irr ac- cordance with his instructions, concerning the temper of the Indians in the Territory. They were known to be exceedingly uneasy, and sometimes in frowning moods ; and the tribes on the Wabash, numbering .almost two thou- sand warriors, who had not been parties to any of the treaties, were decidedly hostile. They continued to make predatory incursions into the Kentucky settlements, notwithstand- ino- chastisements received at the hands of General George Rogers Clarke, the "father of theN^orthwest," as he lias been called ; and they were in turn invaded and scourged by bands of retaliating Kentuckians. These expeditions deepened the hostile feeling, and gave strength and fierceness to both parties when, in after years, they met in battle. It soon became evident that all the tribes in the Territory, nuijibering full twenty thousand souls, were tampered with by British emissaries, sent out from tlie frontier forts, which had not been given up to the United States in compliance with treaty stip- ulations. Sir John Johnson (son of Sir William, of the Mohawk Valley, and the im- placable enemy of the United States^) was the Inspector General of Indian Affairs in America, and had great influence over the savages; and Lord Dorchester (formerly Sir Guy Carleton) was again to war. These circumstan- governor gener.al of those \JX j^ ^/^ ces gave rise to the opinion provinces,^ and, by speeches S/J~~Zr?^C^^C^^L£yy' ^^^'^ *^® British govern- at Quebec and Montreal, di- ment, which yet refused to rectly instigated the savages send a representative to the United States, and treated the new republic with ill-concealed contempt, was pre- paring the way for an effort to reduce the members of the League to colonial vas- salage. The Confederacy was but feebly prepared to meet hostilities on their northwestern frontier. The military force at the time the Territory was formed consisted of only about six hundred men, commanded by Brigadier General Harmar.^ Of these there were two companies of artilleiy, formed of volunteers who enlisted to put down Shays's Rebellion in Massachusetts. The frontier military stations were Pittsburg, at the forks of the Ohio, Fort M'Intosh, on Beaver Creek, and Fort Franklin, on French Creek, near old Fort Venango, in Pennsylvania ; Fort Harmar, at the mouth of the Mus- ' Sir John was the heir to the title and fortune of Sir William, and was at the bead of the Loyalists in the Mohawk Valley at the begiuuino; of the Revolution. He had lived some time in England, and returned to settle in Canada in 1785. He had suffered in perpon and estate at the hands of the republicans, having been expelled from his home, his property contiscated, and his family exiled. These circumstances made him a bitter and relentless foe, and ready to striice a blow of retaliation. His losses were made up by the British government by grants of land. He died at Mont- real in 1830, at the age of eighty-eight years. For a detailed account of his career during the old war for independence, see Lossing's Field-liook of the Revolutum, vol. i. 2 Sir Guy Carleton was Governor of Canada when the old war for independence broke out, and continued there until its close. He was acquainted with all the affairs of the Indians, and had great influeuce over them. 3 Appointed brigadier general on the Slst of July, 1787. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 39 CouDcil at Port Hamar. Little Turtle's Opposition. Uneasiness of the Indians of the Gulf Hegion. FORT HAK.UAE. kingum River; Fort Steuben, on the Oliio River, now Jefferson\'ille, opposite Louis- ville; and Fort Yincennes, on tlie Wabash River. Early in 1789"- Governor St. Clair held a council at Fort Harmari with chiefs and sachems of the Six ISTations. He also held a council with the °'^^™'"''''- leading men of the Wyandots, Delawares, Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawatomies, and Sacs. With all these representatives of thousands of Indians, scattered over the coun- try from the Mohawk Valley to that ofthe Wabash, he made treaties, when old agree- ments were confirmed, and remunerations and boundaries were specified. The Six Nations (or, rather, five of the six nations, for the Mohawks, who were in Canada, were not represented) were faithful to the treaty; but the great body of the others, influ- enced by British emissaries and unscrupulous traders, refused to acknowledge the valid- ity of the treaty made by their warriors and rulers.^ Within a few weeks after the council at Fort Harmar, parties of them were out upon the war-path on the frontiers of Virginia and Kentucky. Nearer the Gulf, the Creeks and Cherokees, brought into immediate contact with the wily Spaniards in Florida and at New Orleans, who were already preparing seduc- tive temptations to the settlers in the trans-AIIeghany valleys to leave the American League and join fortunes with the children of Old Spain, became first uneasy, and at the time in question were assuming a hostile attitude. The Creeks, led by the talented M'Gillivray, a half-breed, whose father was a Scotchman, had formed a close alliance with the Spaniards, and through them might receive arms and other military supplies. In view of all these circumstances, the portentous cloud of a threatened general Indian war was gathering in the western horizon at the close of 1789. 1 This fort was commenced in the autnmn of 17S5, by a detachment of United States troops under the command of Major John Doughty. It was on the right bank of the Muskingum, at its junction with the Ohio, and was named in honor of Colonel Josiah Harmar, to whose regiment Major Doughty'a corps was attached. It was the first military post of the kind erected within the limits of Ohio. The outlines formed a regular pentagon, embracing about three fourths of an acre. United States troops occupied it until ITOO, when they left it to con.struct and occupy Fort Washington, on the site of Cincinnati. During the Indian wars that succeeded it was occupied by a few troops, and was finally aban- doned after the treaty of Greeuville in 1795. 2 In the great council at Fort Greenville in 1795, Little Turtle, the most active of the chiefs in the Northwest, gave the following reason for their refusal to comply with the treaties: "You have told me," he said, "that the present treaty should be founded upon that of Muskingum. I beg leave to observe to you that that treaty was effected altogether by the Six Nations, who seduced some of our young men to attend it' together with a few of the Chippewas, Wyandots, Delawares, Ottawas, and Pottawatomies. I beg leave to tell you that I am entirely ignorant of what was done at that treaty.** 40 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Evidences of Britisli Intrigues; Proposed Western Boundary of the U nited States. Indian Warriors on tlie Ohio. Yet more threatening was the aspect of affairs on the Western frontier in the spring of 1790. Serious trouble was evidently brewing. Major Hamtramck, a small Cana- dian Frenchman, and a spirited officer in the' United States army, was in command of the military post at Vincennes, an important point on the Wabash,^ surrounded by French families, whose long residence made them influential among the Indians. Many of the latter spoke their language, and some had embraced the Roman Catholic relig- ion. Taking advantage of this intimate relationship, Hamtramck sent out Antoine Gamelin, with: speeches to the Wabash and Miami Indians from Governor St. Clair, of- fering them peace: and friendship. In the course of his tour Gamelin obtained positive evidence of the influence of the British at Detroit over the savage mind in the West. He traversed the country from Post Vincennes along the Wabash, and eastward to the Miami village, where the conjunction of the St. Mary's and St. Joseph's Rivers forms the Maumee, or Miami of the Lakes, at the present city of Fort Wayne, Indiana. He made speeches himself, and ofiered them St. Clair's ; but he was every where met with* the reply that they could do nothing definitely until they could hear from Detroit. "You invite us to stop our young men," said the-Kickapoos. "It is impossible to do it, being constantly encouraged by the British." "We are all sensible of your speech, and pleased with it," said Blue Jacket, chief warrior of the Shawnoese; "but we can not give you an answer without hearing from our father at Detroit." " We can not give a definite answer without consulting the commandant at Detroit," said Le Gris, the great chief of the Miamis. "The English commandant at Detroit is our father since he threw down our French father," said the Shawnoese.'' And so, on all occa- sions, they were unwilling to accept proffers of peace with the United States without first consulting the commandant at Detroit, with whom Johnson and Carleton were in constant communication. Instigated by these men, these Western tribes insisted on the establishment of the Ohio River as the boundary between the Indians and the United States, and would listen to no other terms.^ Hamtramck was so well satisfied of these machinations of the British that he assured Governor St. Clair that a permanent peace with the savages was an impossibility. The governor, meanwhile, had received accounts of the depredations of the Indians along the Ohio from the Falls (Louisville) to Pittsburg. They infested the banks in such numbers, waylaying boats and plundering and wounding the voyaging emigrants, that an utter cessation of the navigation of the river seemed inevitable. The principal rendezvous of the marauders was near the mouth of the Scioto, on the ' north bank of the Ohio, and to that point two hundred and thirty Kentucky volunteers and one hundred regular troops were sent, under General Harmar. They assembled at Fort Washington,* then not quite completed, and marched from thence to the Scioto. 1 Vincennes was so named by tlie French traders, who established a trading-post there as early as 1730. The name is in honor of the Sienr de Vincennes, an officer sent to the Miamis as early as 1T05, and who commanded the post on the Wabash, afterward called by his name. It was alternately in possession of the Americans and British during the Revo- lution, while the head-quarters of the latter were at Detroit. It is on the bank of the Wabash, one hundred miles from its mouth, and is the capital of Ehox County, Indiana. = Oamelin'B Journal, cited by Dillon, in his His(ory of Indiana, p. 226. 3 This curtailment of the boundaries of the United States, so as to prevent their control of the npper lakes and the valuable fur trade of the country around them, was a favorite scheme of British statesmen. It was even proposed as a fine qua rum, at one time, by the British commissioners who negotiated the Treaty of Peace in 1814, that the Indians inhabiting a portion of the United States within the limits established by the Treaty of 1783 should be included as the allies of Great Britain in the projected pacification ; and that definite boundaries should be settled for the Indian terri- tory, upon a basis which would have operated to suiTender to a number of Indians, not probably exceeding a few thou- sands, the rights of sovereignty as well as of soil, over nearly one third of the territorial dominions of the United States inhabited by more than one hundred thousand of its citizens.* ' « Fort Washington was built on the site of a block-house erected by Ensign Luce within the limits of the present city of Cincinnati, which was first named Losantiville by a pedantic settler, from the words !e os antl ville, which he interpreted as meaning "the village opposite the mouth"— mouth of Licking Elver. Luce was at North Bend with a detachment of troops, charged with selecting a site for a block-house. Judge Symmes wished it to be built there, biit Luce accordine to the judge, was led to Cincinnati, as Losantiville was then called, on account of his love for the beautiful wife of a se^ tier, who went there to reside because of the attentions to her of Uie ensign at the Bend. Luce followed, and erected the * See American State Papers, ix., 332 to 421, inclusive. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 41 Fort Washington, on the Site of Ciuciunati. Harmar'8 Expedition against the Indians. ' 1790. The Indians fled on their approach, and the expedi- tion returned witliout ac- complishing any thing. A more formidable expe- dition, to penetrate the Mi- ami country, was determ- ined upon, and, at the close of September," Gen- eral Harmar left Fort Washington witli over four- teen hundred troops,^ and moved toward the heart of the hostile Indian country around the head waters of the Maumee. St. Clair, in obedience to instructions fi'om President Washington, liad previously sent a let- ter' to the British commandant at Detroit, courteously informing him that the expedition had no designs upon any possessions of the crown, lie added that he had every reason to expect, after such a candid explanation, that the commandant would neither countenance nor assist the tribes in their hostilities. Of course this ex- pectation was not fORT WABUI^GTON, ON TUE BITE OF OINCmNATI. '' September 19. ,:Z^- y^^ -^^S-^^^-^^-^P^-po ^pi^^r^^ realized. Harmar reached the Mauraee at the middle of October. As he approached an In- dian town the inhabitants fled, leaving it to be burned by the invaders. Colonel Har- din, with some Kentucky volunteers and thirty regulars, was sent in pursuit. He fell into an ambuscade of one hundred Indians, under Mish-i-kin-a-hwa., or Little Turtle (an eminent Miami chief), about eleven miles from the site of Fort Wayne, where the Goshen state road ci'osses the Eel River. The frightened militia fled without firing a gun, while the regulars stood firm until twenty-two of their number were slain. Cap- tain Armstrong, who escaped, stood in mud and water up to his chin, and saw the sav- ages dance in frantic joy because of their victory. Harmar moved about two miles to Chillicothe^ and destroyed it; then, after being blocli-house there : and in 1790 Major Doughty built Fort Washington on the same spot. It was a rude but strong structure, and stood upon the eastern boundary of the town as originally laid out, between the present Third and Fourth Streets, east of Eastern Kow, now Broadway, which was then a "two-pole alley." The celebrated English writer and traveler, Mrs. Trollope, resided in Cincinnati for a while, and had a noted bazar on the site of the fort. That work was composed of a number of strongly-built hewn-log cabins, a story and a half in height, arranged for soldiers' barracks. Some, better tinished than the majority, were used by tire officers. They formed a hollow square, inclosing about an acre of ground, with a strong block-house at each angle. One of these was Luce's. These were built of the timber from the ground on which the fort stood. In 1792 Congress resei"ved fifteen acres around it for the use of the garrison. In the autumn of 1790, Governor St. Clair arrived at Fort Washington, organized the County of Hamilton, and decreed that the little village of Cincinnati, commenced around the fort, should be the county seat. Thus commenced the Queen City of the West, as it has been called. 1 These consisted of three battalions of Virginia militia, one battalion of Pennsylvania militia, one battalion of mount- ed light troops, and two battalions of regulars— in all, 1453. Of these, 320 were regulars. 2 This has been mistaken for the present Chillicothe on the Scioto. Chillicothe was the name of one of the priucipal tribes of the Shawnoese, and was a favorite name for a village. There were several of that name in the country of the Shawnoese. There was Old Chillicothe, where Boone was a captive for some time. It was on the Little Miami, on the site of Xenia. There was another on the site ofWestfall, in Pickaway County; and still another on the site of Frank- fort, in Ross County. There was an Indian town of that name on the site of the present Chillicothe. All these were within the present limits of Ohio. It signified " the town," or principal one. 42 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Battle near Fort Wayne, and Harmar's Defeat. The Disaster and its ConBeqnences. • October 21, 1790. menaced by the Indians, he- turned his face toward Fort Washington.* That night was a starry one, and Hardin, who was full of fight, proposed to Harmar a surprise of the Indians at the head of the Maumee, where they ha^ a vil- lage on one side of the river and an encampment of warriors on the other side. Har- mar reluctantly complied, and four hundred men were detached for the purpose.^ Six- ty of them were regulars, under Major Wyllys. They marched in three columns (the regulars in the centre), and pushed forward as rapidly as possible, hoping to fall upon the Indians before dawn. But it was after sunrise before they reached the bank of the Maumee. A plan of attack was soon arranged. Major Hall, with a detachm&nt of mi- litia, was to pass around the village at the bend of the Maumee, cross the St. Mary's and the St. Joseph's, gain the rear of the Indian encampment unobserved, and await an attack by the main body of the troops in front. These, consisting of Major M'Mul- lin's battalion. Major Fontaine's cavalry, and the regulars under Major Wyllys, were to cross the Maumee at and near the usual ford, and thus surround the savages. The game was spoiled by the imprudence of Major Hall, who fired prematurely upon a solitary Indian and alarmed the encampment. The startled Miamis were instantly seen flying in different directions. The militia under M'Mullin and the cavalry under Fontaine, who had crossed the river, started in pursuit, in disobe^ dience of orders, leaving the regulars under Wyllys, who had also crossed the Mau- mee, unsupported. The lat- ter were attacked by Little Turtle and the main body of the Indians, and driven back with great slaughter. Richardville, a ♦half- blood and successor to Little Tur- tle, who was in the battle, and Who died at Fort Waiyne . in 1840, often asserted that the bodies of the slain were . , ^ , ., ^ , , ,., so numerous in the river at the tord that he could have crossed over the stream upon them dryshod ^ While this conflict was going on at the ford, M'Mullin and Fontaine, in connection with HalWere skirmishmg with parties of Indians a short distance up tTie St. Jo- sephs. Fontaine, with a number of his followers, fell at the head of his mounted militia, in making a charge. He was shot dead, and, falling fi-om his horse, was imme- diately scalped. The remamder, with those under Hall and M'Mullin, feU back in confusion toward the ford of the Maumee, and followed the remnant of the regulars m their retreat. The Indians, having suff-ered severely, did not pursue. ^ the res? a'Z^"^" informed of the disaster by a horseman who had outstripped that Sthirtv Jm ? '""^t^lff '^ h^d t^ten possession of these raw recruits that only thirty willmg to go, could be found among them. On his arrival at camn Hardm urged Harmar to proceed with his whole foL to the MauLe Sif laS 'October 23. ^^J^^S ^^^t ^n confidence in the militia, refused; and, as soon as Drena- ^^^^^l^^^^^^ldbemade^^ army took up its maiW Sort WaS- THE MAUMEE TOED— PLACE OF HAEMAU'S DEFEAT. = sirrn?o?^rSg;™^^^in^^ OF THE WAR OF 18 12. 43 Scene of Harmar's Defeat. Visit of tlie Author to the Places of Conflict. Site of the Miami Village. FIGHT BETWEEN MILITIA ^ AND INDIANS ington, which they reached oH the 4th of November. ' I visited the scene of the disas- ter at the Mauniee Ford toward the close of Sejjtember, 1860. I came up the Maumee Valley to Defiance on the night of the 24th, and, after visiting places of histor- ic interest there the next morn- ing (of which I shall hereafter write), I rode on to Fort Wayne upon the Toledo and Wabash Rail- way, a distance of forty -three ■hiiles. It was a delightful day, but the journey was very monot- onous, because almost intermina- ble forests covered the flat country over which we passed. I arrived at the flourishing city of Fort Wayne, the sliire town of Allen County, Indiana, late in the afternoon, and by twilight had visited the fords of the Maumee and St. Josef)h's, made famous by the events of the 22d of October, 1790. I was accomjjanied by the Hon. F. P. Randall, the mayor of the city, who kindly offered his services as guide. We crossed the great bridge at the head of the Maumee, and rode first down that stream to the place yet known as "Harmar's Ford." It is about half a mile below the confinence of the St. Mary's and St. Joseph's at Fort Wayne. The river was not then fordable there, a dam having been built about half a mile below, making the water four feet deep at the old crossing-place. The road that led to and crossed the ford was along the margin of the Maumee, which was skirted by the same forest-trees in whose presence the battle was fought. They had grown to be grand and stately, and were made exceedingly picturesque by the trailing grape-vines. We returned to the bridge and rode up the St. Joseph's to the place where Major Hall and his detachment forded it. It is about half a mile above the bridge. There the St. Joseph's, with its banks fringed with a variety of graceful trees, swept in gentle curves, and presented to the eye pictures of great beauty. Near the spot here represented, on the east bank of the St. Joseph's, was once a stockade, built by the French, and occupied by the En- glish in Pontiac's time. The land of the point between the St. Joseph's and the Maumee, on which Little Turtle was encamped and the principal Miami village was situated, is a level bot- tom, and known as the Cole Farm. Much of it was covered with Indian corn of lux- 1 Harmar lost, in this expedition, 183 killed and 31 wounded. Among the killed were Majors Wyllys and Fontaine. The loss of the Indians was supposed to be about equal to that of the white people. Criminations and recriminations grew out of this expedition. Harmar and Hardin were both tried by court-martial and both were acquitted. Harmar resigned his commission on the 1st of January, 1T92. Hardin had been a lieutenant in Morgan's rifle corps in the Revo- lution, and was a brave soldier. He was a Virginian by birth, but settled in Kentucky after the war. He was killed by some Shawnoese while on a mission of peace to them in 1792, when he was in the thirty-ninth year of his age. A coun- ty in each of the states of Ohio and Kentucky bears his name, in his honor. HALL B CivOisblNG PJ AOE. 44 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK A venerable Historical Apple-tree. Cliief Eichardville. The Twightwecs. Their Cruelty to Prisoners. uriant growth; and I was told that there is evidence that a similar crop has been raised from it year after year for almost a century, and yet the soil was black, rich, and apparently inexhaustible. Here, it is said, was the place where the Miamis were accustomed to burn their prisoners.' About three hundred yards westward from Harmar's Ford, on the site of the In- dian camp, was a venerable apple-tree, full of fruit, its trunk measuring fifteen feet in circumference. Under this tree Chief Richardville, to whom allusion has been made, was born a little more than a hund- red years ago.^ It was a fruit - bearing tree then, and is supposed to have grown from a seed dropped by some French trader among these Twightwees, as the Miamis were called in early times.^ In the sketch of the apple-tree the city o f Fort Wayne is seen in the distance. The spires on the left are those of the Roman Catholic Cathedral. We returned to Fort Wayne at twi- light, and I spent the e^^ening profitably Vvith Mr. Hedges, one of the oldest and most intelligent of the inhabitants of that town.* He Avas there in the spring of 1812, while the old stockade was yet standing, and before a garrison of United States troops from Harrison's army arrived. He has seen the city bloom out into its present form and beauty from the folds of the dark forest, and its history and traditions are as familiar to him as those of his own biog- raphy. We chatted on the events of the past until a late hour, and parted with an agreement to visit the historic scenes together in the morning. The air toward mid- night was as mild as early June, but a dappled sky prophesied a storm. At three o'clock in the morning I was aroused by heavy thunder-peals, and the daw«ing of the Arn.E-TREE ^E.vr. uae.mar e ford. 1 We have mentioned Mr. Gameliu's peace mission, on page 40, He was at this place, and only three days after he left (about the 1st of May, 1790), the savages, as if in derision of the United States authority, brought an American pris- oner there and burned him.— See Dileon's Hisiory of Indiana. About seventy years ago a white man was bound to the stake at this place. The mother of Chief Richardville, men- tioned in the next note, and a woman of great influence, had made fruitless attempts to save him. The torch was ap- ])Iied. Eichardville, then quite young, had been designated as their future chief. She appealed to him, and, placing a i:nife in his hand, bade him assert his chieftainship and cut the cords that bound the prisoner. He obeyed, and the pris- The militia then led the van in th precipitate retreat, which soon became a flight.^ The fugitive army was well covere( by Major Clarke and his battalion; and the Indians, after following about four mileE turned back, wonderfully elated- with their victory. Little Turtle was in chief com mand. St. Clair behaved gallantly during the dreadful scene. He was so tortured witl gout that he could not mount a horse without assistance. He was not in uniform His chief covering was a coarse cappo coat, and a three-cocked hat from under whicl his white hair was seen streaming as he and Butler rode up and down the lines durinj the battle. He had three horses killed under him. Eight balls passed through hi clothes. He finally mounted a pack-horse, and upon this animal, which could wit] difficulty be spurred into a trot, he followed in the retreat. The fugitive army did not halt until safely within the palisades of Fort Jeffersor The panic was terrible, and the conduct of the army after quitting the ground wa most disgraceful. Arms, ammunition, and accoutrements were almost all throw: away ; and even officers, in some instances, threw away their arms, " thus setting a: example for the most precipitate and ignominious flight."^ They left the camp a nine o'clock in the morning, and at seven o'clock that evening they were in Fort Je: ferson, twenty-nine miles distant. That evening Adjutant General Sargent wrote i his diary, "The troops have all been defeated; and though it is impossible, at thi time, to ascertain our loss, yet there can be no manner of doubt that more than hal the army are either killed or wounded."* 1 There were quite a large number of the wounded so maimed that they could not walk or sit upon a horse, and the companions were compelled to leave them upon the field. " When they knew they must be left," says Sargent, " th( charged their pieces with a deliberation and courage which reflects the highest honor upon them ; and the firing of mu ketry in the camp after we had quitted it leaves little doubt that their latest efforts were professionally brave, and whei they could pull a trigger they avenged themselves."— JfS. Journal. During the engagement, the Indians, as opportunity oflered, plundered and scalped their victims. They also disfl] ured the bodies of the slain. Having been taught by the British emissaries that the Americans made war upon the for their lands, they crammed clay and sand into the eyes and down the throats of the dying and dead.— Dillon's Hi tory of Indiana, p. 283. Among the slain was Major General Butler ; and it has been authoritatively asserted that tl miscreant, Simon Girty, instigated a savage warrior, while the general was yet alive on the field, to scalp him, and tal out his heart for distribution among the tribes ! 2 The whole number of effective troops in the battle, according to Sargent's return, was 1748. 2 Sargent's MS. Journal. There were almost two hundred female camp-followers, chiefly wives of the soldiers. C these, fifty-six were killed ; most of the remainder were in the fiight. One of them, Mrs. Catharine Miller, who died : Cincinnati about the year 1838, was so fleet afoot that she ran ahead of the army. She had a great quantity of long n hair, that streamed behind her as she ran, and formed the mificmme which the soldiers followed Statement of Mai( Whitlock, of Crawfordsville, Indiana. 4 MS. Journal, Friday, November 4,1791. Mr. Sargent was slightly wounded. According to his report, afterward ma( out carefully, thirty-six ofllcers were killed and thirty wounded ; and 593 privates were killed and missing and 2' wounded. He did not think many Indians were lost— probably not more than one hundred and fifty killed and wouui ed. Several pieces of cannon, and all the baggage, ammunition, and provisions were left o'l the field, and became spc for the savage victors. The value of public property lost, according to the report of the Secretary of War toward tl close of 1T92, was $32,810 75. The signature of the Adjutant General, of which afac-aimtte is given on page 88 was oo OF THE WAK OF 1812. 49 Effect of St. Clair's Defeat on the Public Mind. Expression of President Washington's Indignation. At Fort Jefferson the flying troops found the First Regiment of the IJnited States army, about three hundred strong. Leaving a well-provisioned garrisoni there, the remnant of St. Clair's force made their way to Fort "Washington, where . November, they arrived at noon on the 8tL* •'^'^• Intelligence of St. Clair's defeat produced the greatest alarm among all the settlers in the West, even as far eastward as Pittsburg. It cast a gloom over society in all parts of the Union, and checked for a short time the tide of emigration in the direc- tion of the Ohio.^ St. Clair was condemned in unmeasured terms by men of all classes and parties, and the indignation of President "Washington was exceedingly hot. "Here," he said to Tobias Lear, his private secretary, " yes, HEKE, on this very spot, I took < ^^^ ^^?^"'^*''^^^''^™^^~~^ leave of him. I wished him success __^f^?^^^!!^^^^ aad honor. You have your instruc- -^ ^^ tions, I said, from the Secretary of "War. I had a strict eye to them, and will add but one word — beware of. a surprise ! I repeat it — beware oe a suepeise ! You know how the Indians fight us. He went off with that, as my last solemn warning, thrown into his ears.^ And yet ! ! to suffer that army to be cut to pieces, hacked, butchered, tomahawked, by a surprise — the very thing I guarded him against ! ! O God, O G-od, he is worse than a murderer ! How can he answer it to his country ? The blood of the slain is upon him. — the curse of widows and orphans — the curse of Heaven !" The tone of "Washington's voice was appalling as these vehement sentences escaped his lips. " It was awful !" said Mr. Lear. " More than once he threw his hands up as he hurled imprecations upon St.. Clair." Mr. Lear remained speechless — awed into breathless silence. " The roused chief," says the chronicler, " sat down on the sofa once more. He seemed conscious of hiS' passion, and uncomfortable. He was silent ; his wrath be- gan to subside. He at length said, in an altered voice, ' This must not go beyond ied from his report. In Howe's Hi»U/rkal Collections of Ohio may be found many particulars and anecdotes of this dis- astrous campaign. Among the slain, as we have observed, was Major General Butler, a highly esteemed officer from Pennsylvania. He held the rank of colonel in the Continental army. In 178T he was sent to the Ohio as agent for Indian affairs in that quarter. He was wounded early in the action, and before his wounds could be dressed, an Indian, who had penetrated the camp, ran up and tomahawked and scalped him. Butler was much beloved by the Indians who were friendly to the United States. Among those who loved him most was Big Tree, a Seneca chief in the Genesee Valley. He vowed to avenge the death of Bntler by killing three of the hostile Indians. Because the treaty of peace at Greenville in 1795 thwarted his bloody purpose, Big Tree committed suicide. 1 This event was the theme for oratory, the pulpit, poetry, art, and song. I have before me a dirge-like poem, printed on a broadside, and embellished with rude wood-cuts representing forty coffins at the head, a portrait of General Butler, a Miami village, an Indian with a bow, and the hideous skull and cross-bones. It is entitled "The Columbian Trage- dy," and professes to give, in verse, " a particular and official aecount" of the affair. It was published " by the earnest request of the friends of the deceased worthies who died in defense of their country." According to this " official ac- count," the battle was fought between two thousand United States troops " and near four thousand wild Indian savages, at Miami Village, near Port Washington !" A pions tone runs through the mournful ballad, and the feelings of the writer may be Imagined after the perusal of this single verse : " My trembling hand can scarcely hold My faint, devoted quill. To write the actions of the Bold, Their Valor and their 5W!." There was a famous song that was sung for many years afterward, entitled " Sinclair's Defeat," written, as the author thus informs us, by one of the soldiers : " To mention our brave officers is what 1 write to do ; No sons of Mars e'er fought more brave, or with more courage true. To Captain Bradford I belonged, in his Artillery ; He fell that day among the slain— a valiant man was he." This son" may be found in Howe's HislorvMl CoUectiona of Ohio, p. 136. ' This interview was on the 28th of March, 1T91, the day when St. Clair left Philadelphia and proceeded to the frontier post of Pittsburg. Thence he went to Kentucky, and afterward to Port Washington, every where endeavoring to enlist the sympathies and co-operation of the inhabitants for the campaign. D 50 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK WaBhington'sKtodnesatoSt-Clair. Resignation of the latter. Hia later Daye. ■ General Wayne and Ms Troopg this room.' Another pause followed— a longer one— when he said, in a tone quite low, ' General St. Clair shall have justice. I looked hastily through the dispatches-^ saw the whole disaster, but not all the particulars, I will hear him without preju- dice; he shall have fuH justice.' "He was now," said Mr. Lear, "perfectly calm. Half an hour had gone by; the storm was over, and no sign of it was afterward seen in his conduct or heard in his conversation."' . „ . . Washington was both generous and just, and St. Clair found in him a most faithful friend. "The first interview of the President with the unfortunate general after the fatal 4th of N'ovember," says the late Mr. Custis, who was present, "was nobly im- pressive. St. Clair, worn down by age, disease, and the hardships of a frontier cam- paign, assailed by the press, and with the current of popular opinion setting hard against him, repaired to his chief as to a shelter from the ftiry of so many elements. Washington extended his hand to one who appeared in no new character, for, during the whole of a long life, misfortune seemed ' to have marked him for her own.' Poor old St. Clair hobbled up to his chief, seized the offered hand in both of his, and gave vent to his feelings in an atidible manner. "^ St. Clair's case was investigated' by a committee of the House of Representatives, and he was honorably acquitted. But public sentiment had set against him in a cur- rent too strong to be successfully resisted, and he resigned his commission.^ Geiieral Anthony Wayne, whose impetuosity exhibited during the old war for independence had gained him the title of "Mad Anthony," was appointed to fill his place. Wayne was then in the prime of manhood, and Congress and the people had confidence in his intelligence, courage, and energy. Congress authorized an increase of the regu- lar army to a little over five thousand men, and a competent part of this force, to be called the Legion of the United States, was to be assigned to Wayne for an expedi- tion against the Indians in the Northwest. He took post at Pittsburg early in the following June,* and appointed that place as the rendezvous of his invading army. It was soon perceived that it was easier to vote troops in the halls of Congress than to draw them out and muster them in the camp ; and it was not until near the close of November that Wayne had collected a sufficient number to warrant his moving forward. He then went down the Ohio only about twenty miles, and there hutted his soldiers in a well-guarded camp, which he called Legionville. There he was joined by Lieutenant William Henry Harrison, afterward the distinguished gen- eral in the armies of the United States, and the ninth President of the republic. The I WaaMngton in Domestic Life, by Bicliard Eash, p. 6T. ' SecoUections amd Private MemMra of WasMngtmi, by hia adopted aon, G. W. P. Cuatia, p. 419. 'The late Hon. Ellsha Whittleaey, of Ohio, First Auditor of the United States Treasury dnrisg a portion of the flrsi term of Mr. Lincoln'a administration, and a veteran soldier of 1812, furnished me with the following interesting acconnl of hia interview with St. Clair three years before his death : " In May, 1816; four of us called upon him, on the top of Chestnut Ridge, eaatwardly eight or ten miles ftom Greens burg, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. We were traveling on horseback to Connecticut, and being informed thai General St. Clair kept tavern, we decided to call for entertainment during the night. We alighted at his residence lat< in the afternoon, and, on entering his log house, we saw an elderly, neat gentleman, dressed in black broadcloth, sill stockings, and small-clothes, shining shoes whose straps were secured by large silver buckles, his hair clubbed and pow dered. On closing his book he rose, received us most kindly and gracefully, and pointing ns to chairs, heaskedustobi seated. On being asked for entertainment, he said, ' Gentlemen, I perceive you are traveling, and although I should bi gratified by your custom, it la my duty to inform you I have no hay nor grain. I have good pasture, but if hay and graii are essential, 1 can not famish them.* " There stood before us a major general of the Eevolution— the friend and confidant of Washington— late governor oi the Territory northwest of the River Ohio— one of nature's noblemen, of high, dignified bearing, whom misfortune, no the ingratitude of his country, nor poverty could break down nor deprive of self-respect— keeping a tavern in a loj house, but could not furnish a bushel of oata nor a lock of hay. We were moved principally to call upon him to bear bin converse about the men of the Revolution and of the Northwestern Territory, and our regret that he could not entertaii us was greatly increased by bearing him converse about an hour. The large estate he sacrificed for the cause of thi Revolution was within a short distance of the top of Chestnut Ridge, if not in sight. After he was governor he peti tioned Congress for relief, but died before it was granted."* * During the last two years of his life General St. Clair received a pension of sixty dollars a month from his govern ment, and his latter days were made comfortable thereby. About 18B6, Senator Brodhead, of Pennsylvania procurei from Congress an appropriation for the heirs of General St. Clair. ' OF THE WAR OF 1812. 51 Wayne in the Indian Country. A grand Council. Interference of British Officials. young Virginian soon exhibited qualities which caused Wayne to make him a mem- ber of his military family as his aid-de-camp. "Wayne remained at Legionville until the close of April, 1793, when his .whole force proceeded to Cincinnati in boats, and took post near Fort Washington. There they remained all the summer and until the 7th of October, when Wayne moved forward and encamped" six miles in advance of Fort Jefferson, on the site of Green- . „ . . ville. His army then numbered three thousand six hundred and thirty men, exclusive of a small body of friendly Indians from the South, chiefly Chootaws, under the eminent warrior. Humming-bird. While the army was making these tardy movements, the government was using its best endeavors to effect a pacification of the tribes, and to establish a solid peace without more bloodshed. These efforts promised success at times. With the aid of the pious Heckewelder, the Moravian, General Putnam made a treaty of peace and friendship with the Wabash and Illinois tribes, at Vincennes, on the 2Vth of Septem- ber, 1792. At about the same time great numbers of the tribes on the Miami, the Maumee (or Miami of the Lakes), and Sandusky Rivers, assembled at the Maumee Rapids to hold a grand council, at which Red Jacket, Cornplanter, Big Tree, the aged Guasutha, and other representatives of the Six Nations appeared, at the request of the Secretary of War. Simon Girty was the only white man present. The savages, on consultation, dietermined, in conformity with the adyice of the British, not to acknowl- edge any claim of the United States to lands northwest of the Ohio River. ^ In the spring of 1793 a commission was sent by the President to treat with the hostile tribes.'^ Lieutenant Governor Simcoe, of Canada, professing to be friendly, and favorable to a pacification of the tribes, the commissioners went by the way of Niagara, a post yet held by the British. Simcoe received them courteously, and hos- pitably entertained them for five or six weeks, while the Indians were holding another grand council at the Rapids of the Maumee. While tarrying there, the commissioners were informed by a Mohawk Indian from the Grand River that Governor Simcoe had "advised the Indians to make peace, but not to give up any of their tands."^ The commissioners called Simcoe^s attention to this. He did not deny the allegation, but replied, " It is of that nature that it can not be true," as the Indians had not " applied for his advice on the subject."* This subterfuge was well understood by the commis- sioners ; and his admission that, " ever since the conquest of Canada," it had been " the principle of the British government to unite the American Indians," was omin- ous of ulterior designs. At Niagara, and at Captain Elliott's,, near the mouth of the Detroit River, in Can- ada, the commissioners held councils with the Indians, but nothing satisfactory was accomplished. British influence was more powerful than ever, and the savages in council plainly told the commissioners that if they insisted upon the treaty at For t Harmar, and claimed lands on the northern side of the Ohio, they might as well go home, as they would never agree to any other boundary than that river. So the commissioners, after several months of fruitless labor, turned homeward late in Au- gust. It was evident that the might of arms must make a final settlement of the matter, and to arms the United States resorted. We left Wayne and his army near Fort Jefferson, eighty miles from Fort Washing- ton, on the 23d of October. He was then embarrassed by a lack of suflScient convoys for his stores. Already a party detailed for this purpose had been attacked and se- ■ The sentiments of the Indians, even the friendly ones, concerning the boundary, may be inferred from the following toast given by Cornplanter, at the table of General Wayne, at Legionville, in the spring of 1793 : " My mind is upon that river," he, said, pointing to the Ohio. " May that water ever continue to run, and remain the boundary of lasting peace between the Americans and Indians on the opposite shore."— Halt-'s Memoir of W. H. Harrison, p. 31. s The commission consisted of Benjamin Lincoln, Beverly Eandolph, and Timothy Pickering. ' Note of commissioners to Lieutenant Governor Simcoe, 7th June, 1793. * Reply of Lieutenant Governor Simcoe to American commissioners, 7th June, 1793. 52 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Hostile Intentions of the British revealed. Allied Indians and British In Arms. Battle at Fort Recovery. verely handled by a strong band of Indians under Little Turtle near Fort St. Clair. Lieutenant Lowry and fourteen of his companions were killed,' and all the horses at- tached to the wagons were carried off. The season was now too far advanced to enter iipon a campaign, so Wayne set his army to building a very strong fort on the spot where he was encamped. It was made impregnable against the Indians. There they went into winter-quarters.^ Suf- ficient garrisons were placed in the forts at Vincennes, Cincinnati, and Marietta; and the return of spring was waited for with anxiety, for it was obvious that hostilities with the savages could not be long delayed. A European war, to which we shall soon have occasion again to refer, was now having its effect upon the United States, complicating the difficulties which natu- rally attend the arrangement of a new system of government. Ill feeling between the United States and Great Britain was increasing, and evidences were not wantino- that the latter was anxious for a pretense to declare hostilities against the foi-meh Taking advantage of this state of things, Lord Dorchester (formerly Sir Guy Carle- ton), the Governor of Canada, encouraged the Indians in maintaining their hostile at- ' Fehniary 10, titude. At a council of warriors from the West, held at Quebec early in ^™- 1794,^ Dorchester, m a speech, said, "Children, since my return I find no appearance of a line remains ; and from the manner in which the people of the states push on, and act, and talk on this side, and from what I learn of theii- conduct toward the sea, I shall not he mrprised if toe are at war with them in the course of the present year ; and if so, a line must then be drawn by the warriors.'" This was a suggestion for the savages to prepare for war. It was followed by an order from Dorchester to Lieutenant Governor Simcoe to establish a British military post at the rapids of the Maumee, fifty miles within the Indian country and the treaty limits of the United States. At the very time when this menacing attitude was as- sumed, the government of the new republic was exhibiting the most friendly feelings . toward that of Great Britain by a position of strict neutrality. Wayne was compelled to wait until late in the summer of 1-794 before he felt strono- enough to move forward. Meanwhile the Indians appeared in force. On the SOth of June, about a thousand of them, accompanied by a number of British soldiers and French Canadian volunteers,^ made their appearance before Fort Recovery (mention- ed m note 2 below), and during the day assailed the garrison several times During these assaults the Americans lost fifty-seven men in killed, wounded, and missing and two hundred and twenty-one horses. The Indians lost more, they said, than in their battle with St. Clair. '•'"itV' r, ^*^'^^l',^" ^ "^O"*'^ after this engagement, Wayne was ioinedt- by Maior ™*- General Scott, with sixteen hundred mounted volunteers 'from Kentucky ' July 28. and two days afterward" he moved forward with his whole force toward the f^ ni?- ^^LpY" ^"^ "^ " P""' "'"'"' " ™'<= '"'■°" ''"= «"" of Eaton, in Preble Conn- w?J^,r „rfl f ™ " '''J'^ ^"'^ " " '""'" cemetery, and therein, upon one of those ;T. V. w f -T.™*^' '°°""°" "^ ^^'"' " ■""" monument of Rutland marble, For l.^n.f f "' '™' TS-'"" '"' "''= ""^^"'' '° commemoration of the slain al 1 oit Kecoveiy. Lowry and his companions were buried in Port St Clair His re- TerZ wUh"th?r'' '" f' '""^^^-n^'^^y » the 4th of July, 1822, and there rein- te.refl with the honors of war. They were afterward buried in the mound. = Th s was called Port Greenville, and covered a large part of the site of the pres- ent village of Greenville. The soldiers built several hundred log huts, in v^^hich they wmtered comfortably. Each hut was occupied by six persons ° "''''' ™ "" ""=" ""'y From Port Greenville Wayne sent out eight companies, and a detachment of artil- To .r, s v,o.rM.«r ar^-Ive^d on'the'io'T "^ "f .'r*'^"" ^'"f ™'>«™ St.'ciair was defeated Thv arrived on the ground on Christmas-day, and proceeded to build a stron- stockade ered the territory lost by St Clair as^'^fl "sTlfbut ^e^'omeT^'' " TTr"™""" """^ fact th:t they\ad re o " pany each of artillery au'd rmZkVrflTtZTjTfJlon "'"' "" ""^ ''°™P''"^* '" '-™ •'*"^- ^ coni- tr:i";wi;;rt;::s^r^?T;;^d;^c;:^i^ssi^^ days before, saw a large body of I.dians,^at.rXrth~rd, w^m^'™ OP THE WAR OF 1812. 53 Wayne's Expedition down the Maumee. His Offers of Peace rejected. Conduct of Little Tortle. Maumee. Admonished by the fate of St. Clair, he marched cautiously and slowly — so slowly and stealthily that the Indians called him The Blacksnake. Little Turtle was again upon the alert, with two thousand warriors of his own and neighboring tribes within call. The vigilant Wayne well knew this. He had faithful and compe- tent scouts and guides, and by unfrequented ways ,and with perplexing feints, he moved steadily onward, leaving strength and security in his rear. Twenty-five miles beyond Fort Recovery he built a stockade on the bank of the St. Mary's, and called it Fort Adams. From this point he moved forward on the 4th of August, and at the end of four days encamped on a beautiful plain at the conflu- ence of the Au Glaize and Maumee Rivers, on the site of the present village of Defi- ance. There he found a deserted Indian town, with at least a thousand acres of com growing around it.* There, as elsewhere on his march, the alarmed savages fled at his approach. He tarried there a week, and built a strong fortification, which he called Fort Defiance. Of this fort, and the appearance of its remains when I visited it in the autumn of 1860, 1 shall hereafter write; Wayne was now at the most important and commanding point in the Indian coun- try. " We have gained the grand emporium of the hostile Indians of the West without loss of blood," he wrote to the Secretary of War.* Apd there he gained .Aumetw, full and positive information concerning the character, strength, and posi- ™*- tion of the British military post at the foot of the Maumee Rapids already alluded to.^ Once more peace and reconciliation were offered to the Indians. Notwithstanding he was in possession of full power to subjugate and destroy without fear of the Brit- ish intruders below, Wayne, unwilling to shed blqod unnecessarily, sent a message to the Indians down the Maumee with kind words. "Be no longer deceived or led astray," he said, " by the false promises and language of bad white men at the foot of the Rapids ; they have neither the power nor the inclination to protect you." He of- fered them peace and tranquillity for themselves and their families, and mvited them to send deputies to meet him in council without delay. His overtures were rejected, and by craftiness they endeavored to gain time. " Stay where you are," they said, " for ten days, and we will treat with you ; but if you advance we will give you bat- tle." This defiance was contrary to the advice of the sagacious Little Turtle, who coun- seled peace. ^ For this he was taunted with accusations of cowardice. The false charge enraged him, and he was foremost in the conflict that immediately ensued. That conflict was unavoidable. The vigilant Wayne perceived that nothing but a severe blow would break the spirit of the tribes and end the war, and he resolved to in- flict it mercilessly. For thiS purpose his legion moved forward on the 15th of August, and on the 18th took post at Roche de Bout, at the head of the Rapids, near the pres- ent town of Waterville, and there established a magazine of supplies and baggage, with protecting military works, which they called Fort Deposit. There, on the 19th, Wayne called a council of war, and adopted a plan of march and of battle submitted by his young aid-de-camp. Lieutenant Harrison, who, nineteen^years afterward, as a general-in-chief, performed gallant exploits in that portion of the Maumee Valley.* 1 "The very extensive and highly cultivated fields and gardens show the work of many hands. The margin of those beautiful rivers, the Miami of the Lakes [pronounced Maumee] and Au Glaize, appear like one continued village for a number of miles both above and belW this place ; nor have 1 ever before beheld such immense fields of corn in any part of America from Canada to Florida."— Wayhe's Later to the Secretarn of War from Fort Defiance, August 14, 1794. 2 It was a strong work of earth and logs, mounting four 9-pounders, two large howitzers, six 6-po'unders, and two swivels. The garrison, under Major Campbell, a testy Scotchman, consisted of 260 British regulars and 200 militia. 3 "We have beaten the enemy twice, under separate commanders," said Little Turtle, in a speech. "We can not ex- pect the same good fortune always to attend us. The Americans are now led by a chief who never sleeps. The night and the day are alike to him ; and during all the time that he has been marching upon our villages, notvrithstandlng the watchfulness of our young men, we have never been able to surprise him. Think well of it. There is something whispers me it would be prudent to listen to the offers of peace." * I am indebted to the Hon. John Francis Hamtramck Claiborne, of Mississippi, for the plan of the line of march and order of battle given in the text. In a letter to me, covering the drawings, dated " Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, August 54 PICTOE I AJ- FIELD-BOOK Battle of the Fallen Timbers. DeTastationa around Fort Miami. The Puniehment of M'Kee. On the morning of the 20th, at eight o'clock, Wayne advanced with his whole, army accord- ing to the adopted plan of march, having for his subordinate general officers Major General Scott, of the Kentucky volunteers, and Brig- adier Generals Wilkinson, Todd, and Barher. They had proceeded about five miles when the advanced corps, under Major Price, were terribly smitten by heavy volleys from the concealed foe, and were compelled to fall back. The legion was immediately formed in two lines, principally in a dense wood on the bor- ders of a wet prairie, where a tornado had prostrated a large number of trees, makiag the operations of cavalry very difficult. This fallen timber^ afforded an admirable covert for the enemy, who, full two thousand strong, and composed of Indians and Canadian volun- teers,3 ^^gre posted in three lines, within sup- porting distance of each other. Wayne's troops fell upon the foe with fearfiil energy, and made them flee toward Fort Miami like a herd of frightened deer to a covert. In the course of an hour the victory was complete. The mongrel horde were driven more than two miles through the thick woods, and left forty, of their number dead in the pathway of their flight. By the side of each body lay a musket and bayonet from British armories.* . Three days and three nights the victorious army remained below the Rapids, wield- ing the besom of destruction in defiance of the threats of the commandant of Fort Miami, within view of whose guns Wayne pitched his tents. On the site of the present Maumee City, tioned, and chief insti- near Fort Miami, Colo- j/ y^C^^ ii^^^ ^^ gator of the war, had nel M'Eee, the Brit- •^^^^■'^CfJi^rC^' t^^t^^C'-^'''''^ extensive store -houses ish agent already men- and dwellings, for he was carrying on a most lucrative trade with the Indians. These, with their contents, were committed to the flames, while every product of the field and garden above and below the British fort was utterly destroyed.^ Wayne's men sometimes ap- PLAK OF THE LINE OF UAEOH.l 20, 1860," Mr. Claiborne remarks : f This day, si?ty-six years ago, was fought the great Battle of the Bapida. I send yoii the original ' Plan of the Line of March' and of the 'Order of Battle.' I found these diagrams among the papers of mj father, the late General Claiborne, who was in the battle, a lieutenant and acting adjutant in the First EegimenttTnitei States Infantry, Colonel J. F. Hamtramck. I found them in a package of letters ftom Harrison to my father, the ' Plai of the Line of March' indorsed, in my father's handwriting, ' Lieutenant Harrison's Plan, adopted in council, Augusi 19, '94.' "Wayne, it appears, called a council of war on the 19th, and the plan, drawn np by Harrison, then a young man ol twenty-one years, was adopted by the veteran officers the moment it was submitted — an homage to skill and talent rareli awarded to a subaltern." I ExPLAHATioN OF THE Plan.— A A, two squadrous of expert woodmen ; BB, two squadrons of light dragoons; EE two companies of infantry front and rear ; G G, one troop of light dragoons on each Hank ; H H, one company of infan try on each ilank ; 1 1, one squadron of dragoons on each flank ; J J, two companies of riflemen on each flank ; E E, es pert woodmen on the extreme of each flank. P F F F represent the main army in two columns, the legion of regula troops on the right, commanded by General Wilkinson, and the Kentucky volunteers, under Scott, on the left. = This conflict is often called in history and tradition the Battle of the Fallen Timbers. ' There were about seventy white men, including a corps of volunteers from Detroit under Captain Caldwell. • Among the oflicers mentioned by Wayne, in his dispatch to the Secretary of War, whose services demanded specii mention, were Wilkinson and Hamtramck ; his aids-de-camp De Butt, Lewis, and Harrison ; Mills, Covington of th cavalry, Webb, Slough, Prior, Smith, Van Rensselaer, Rawlins, M'Kenney, Brook, and Duncan. His loss in killed an wounded was 133. Of these, 113 were regulars. The loss of the enemy was not ascertained. In their flight they lei forty of their dead in the woods. ' Wayne's dispatch to the Secretary of War fl-om Port Defiance, August 28, 1794. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 55 The British and Indians humbled. Death of Turkey-foot. Scenes at the Place of his Death. PLAN Of THE liATTLE OF THE FALLEN TIMUEES. proaehed within pistol-shot of Fort Miami, but its guns prudently kept silence. Major Campbell, the commandant, contented himself with scolding and threatening, while Wayne coolly defied him and retorted with vigor. Their correspondence was very spicy, but harmless in its efiects. Among the brave warriors in the battle who was the last to flee before Wayne's legion, was Me-sa- sa, or Turkey-foot, an Ottawa chief, who lived on Blanchard's Fork of the Au Glaize River. He was greatly beloved by his people. His courage was conspicuous. When he found the line of the dusky warriors giving way at the foot of Presque Isle Hill, he leaped upon a small boulder, and by voice and gesture endeavored to make them stand firm. He almost immediately fell, pierced by a musket ball, and expired by the side of the rock. Long years afterward, when any of his tribe passed along the Maumee trail, they would stop at that rock, and linger a long time with mani- festations of sorrow. Peter Navarre, a native of that region, and one of General Har- rison's most trusted scouts during the War of 1812, who accompanied me to the spot in the autumn of 1860, told me that he had seen men, women, and children gather around that rock, place bits of dried beef, parched peas — — _ _ and com, and sometimes _^-__ ^^j^ some cheap trinket ujjon it, and, calling frequently upon the name of the beloved Ot- tawa, weep piteously. They carved many rude figures of a turkey's foot on the stone, as a memorial of the English name of the lamented Me-sa- sa. The stone is still there, by the side of the highway at the foot of Presque Isle Hill, within a few rods of the swift - flowing Maumee. Many of the carvings are itill quite deep and distinct, while others have been ob- literated by the abrasion of the elements. 1 Of this locality, so famous in the chronicles of the War of 1812,1 shall iiave more to say hereafter. TUBKET-FOOT S BOOK. ' The above view of Turhmj-fooVs Rock is at the foot of the Maumee Eapids, looking up the stream. It is seen in the foreground, on the right, and over it the road passing over Presque Isle Hill. It was here, and farther to the right, that ^he Indians were posted among the fallen trees. On the left is seen the Maumee, which here sweeps in a gi'acefnl curve. The point across the Maumee at the bend is the river termination of a plain, on which General Hull's army was encamp- ed while on its march toward Detroit in the summer of 1S12. There the army crossed the Maumee. Turkey-foot Rock is limestone, about five and a half feet in length and three feet in height. It is about three miles above Maumee City. In allusion to the event which the rock commemorates, Andrew Coffiuberry, of Perrysburg, in a poem entitled "The Forest Ranger, a Poetic Tale of the Western Wilderness of 1794," thus wrote, after giving an ac- count of Wayne's progress up to this time : " Yet at the foot of red Presque Isle Brave Me-sa-sa was warring still: 56 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The Troops build Fort Wayne. Colonel Hamtramck. The humbled Indians sue for Peace. Having thoroughly accomijlished his work, Wayne returned with his army to Port • August 27 Defiance," while the Indians, utterly defeated and disheartened, retired to ^^ ' the borders of Maumee Bay, in the vicinity of Toledo, to brood over their misfortunes and ponder upon the future. At the middle of September the victors moved from Defiance to the head of the Maumee, and at the bend of that river, just below the confluence of the St. Mary's and St. Joseph's, which form it, they built a strong fortification, and named it Fort Wayne. It was completed on the 22d of Oc- tober, and was immediate- ly garrisoned with infan- try and artillery, under Colonel Hamtramck.^ This accomplished, the remain- der of the troops left, some for Fort Washington, to be discharged from the serv- ice, and the others for Fort Greenville, where Wayne made his head-quarters for the winter. Thither deputa- tions from the various tribes Avith whom he had been at war came to Wayne, and agreed upon preliminary terms of peace. They well remembered his assurance that the British had neither the power nor the inclination to help them — an assurance verified by the silence of Fort Miami's guns. They promised to meet him in council early in the ensuing summer, for the purpose of forming a definitive treaty of peace between the United States and the Indian tribes of the Northwest. Faithful to their promise, chiefs and sachems began to reach Fort Greenville early in June. A grand council was opened there on the 16th of that month, and was continued until the 10th He stood upon a large rough stone, Still dealing random blows alone ; But bleeding fast — glazed were his eyes, And feeble grew his battle-cries ; Too frail his arm, too dim his sight. To wield or aim his axe aright ; As still more frail and faint he grew. His body on the rock he threw. As coursed his blood along the ground, In feeble, low, and hollow sound, Mingled with frantic peals and strong, The dying chief poured forth his song." Here follows "The Death-song of the Sagamore." ' John Francis Hamtramck was a most faithful and useful officer. He was a resident of Northern New York when the Revolution broke out, and was a captain in the Continental army. He was appointed a major in the regular army of the United States in September, 1789, and was promoted to be lieutenant colonel commandant of the first sub-leoion in Feb- ruary, 1793. He commanded the left wing under General Wayne in the battle of the Maumee, in August, 1794, and held the rank of lieutenant colonel in the First Infantry in 179(j. He was retained as colonel on the reduction of the army in April, 1802, and on the 11th of April the following year he died and was buried at Detroit. While in Detroit, in the autumn of ISCO, I visited the grave of Colonel Ham- tramck, and made the accompanying sketch. It is In the grounds attached to St. Anne's Orphan Asylum, and between that institution and St. Anne's Church, both belonging to the Eoman Catholics. The monument over his grave and the grounds around it were much neglected. The former was dilapidated, the latter covered with weeds and brambles. The monument is composed of a light freestone slab, grown dingy from the effects of the elements, lying upon a foundation of brick. It bears the following inscription : "Sacred to the memory of John Fkancis Hamtkamok, Esq., Colonel of the First United States Regiment of Infantry, and Commandant of Detroit and its dependencies. He departed this life on the llth of April, 1803, aged 45 years, 7 months, and 27 days. True patriotism, and zealous attachmeut to national liberty, joined to a laudable ambition, led him into military service at an early period of his life. He was a soldier even before he was a man. He was an active participator in all the dangers, difficulties, and honors of the Eevolu. tionary War ; and his heroism and uniform good conduct procured him the attention and personal thanks of the immortal Washington. The United States, in him, have lost a valuable officer and good citizen, and society a usefuil and pleasant member. To his family his loss is incalculable, and his friends will never forget the memory" of Hamtramck. This humble monument is placed over his remains by the officers who had the honor to serve under his command : a small but grateful tribute to his merit and his worth." HAMTEAMOK 6 TOMB. OF THE WAE OF 1812. 57 Treaty with the Indians at Greenville. Peace eecnred. of August. Almost eleven hundred Indians were present, representing twelve tribes.^ A definitive and satisfactory treaty was signed by all parties on the 3d of August, and the pacification of the Indians of the Northwest was thereby made complete.^ By the operations of a special treaty between the United States and Great Britain, the Western military posts were speedily evacuated by the British, and for fifteen years the most remote frontier settlements were safe from any annoyance by the In- dians. This security gave an immense impetus to emigration to the Northwestern Territory, and the country was rapidly filled with a hardy population. ' Wyandots, Delawares, Shawnoeee, Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawatomies, Miamie, Weas, Kickapoos, Piahlceshaws, EaskaBkias, and Eel Siver Indians. " After the treaty had been twice read to the Indians, and every section explained by General Wayne, that officer said; "Brothers, — All you nations now present, listen I You now have had, a second time, the proposed articles of treaty read and explained to you. It is now time for the negotiation to draw if) a conclusion. I shall, therefore, ask each nation individually if they approve of and are prepared to sign those articles in their present form, that they may l>e immediately engrossed for that purpose. I shall begin with the Chippewas, who, with the others who approbate the measure, will signify their assent. Tou, Chippewas, do you approve of these articles of treaty, and are you prepared to sign them? [A unanimous answer— yes.] Tou, Ottawas, do you agree f [A unanimous answer— yes.] Tou, Potta- watomies f [A unanimous answer— yes.] You, Wyandots, do you agree P [A unanimous answer— yes.] Tou, Dela- wares i [A unanimous answer— yes.] Ton, Shawnoese f [A unanimous answer— yes.] Yon, Hiamis, do yon agree ? [A unanimous answer— yes.] Tou, Weas? [A unanimous answer— yes.] And you, Kickapoos, do yon agree f [A unanimous answer— yes.] The treaty shall be engrossed ; and, as it will require two or three days to do it properly on parchment, we will now part, to meet on the 2d of August. lu the interim, we will eat, drink, and rejoice, and thank the Great Spirit for the happy stage this good work has arrived at." After the treaty was signed, a copy of it on paper was given to the representative of each nation, and then a large quantity of goods and many small ornaments were distributed among the Indians preseut. On the 10th, at the close of the council. General Wayne said to them: "Brothers, I now fervently pray to the Great Spirit that the peace now es- tablished may be permanent, and that it may hold us together in the bonds of friendship until time shall be no more. I also pray that the Great Spirit above may enlighten your minds, and open your eyes to your true happiness, that your children may learn to cultivate the earth and enjoy the fruits of peace and industry. As it is probable, my children, that we shall not soon meet again in public council, I take this opportunity of bidding you all aU affectionate farewell, and of wishing yon a safe and happy return to your respective homes and families." By this treaty the Indians ceded about twenty-five thousand square miles of territory to the United States, besides sixteen separate tracts, including lands and forts. In consideration of these cessions, the Indians received goods from the United States, of the value of $30,000, as presents, and were promised an annual allowance, valued at $9500, to be equitably distributed among all the tribes who were parties to the treaty. 58 PICTOBIAL FIELD-BOOK Organization of the new Government. Its Policy indicated. Its Power manifested. CHAPTER HI "Wliat constitutes a state? Men, who their duties know, But know their rights, and, knowing, dare maintain i Prevent the long-aimed blow, And crush the tyrant while they rend the chain— These constitute a state." Sib Williau Jones. " There's a warfare where none but the morally brave Stand nobly and firmly, their country to save. 'Tis the war of opinion, where few can be found, On the mountain of principle, guarding the ground ; With vigilant eyes ever watching the foes Who are prowling around them, and aiming their blows." Mbs. Daha. HILE the arm of military power was removing the remainB of a ' hoary barbarism from the beautiful region west of the Allegha- nies, preparatory to the founding of great commonwealths there, the new national government was summoning its functions into energetic and beneficent action. Men were never called upon to perform duties of greater importance and momentous conse- quences. They were charged with the establishment of the for- eign and domestic policy of a nation, " not for a day, but for all ime." The President and the Legislature- felt the responsibility, and in solemn earn- istness they elaborated schemes for the tuture prosperity of the republic. The earliest efforts of Congress, after its organization, were directed to the arrange- ttent of a system of revenue, in order to adjust the wretched financial affairs of the ountry. Mr. Madison, the tacitly acknowledged leader in the House of Representa- ives, presented the plan of a temporary tariff upon foreign goods imported into the Jnited States, with provisions favorable to American shipping ; also a scheme of ton- lage duties, in which great discriminations were made in favor of American vessels, s well as those of France, Holland, Sweden, and Prussia, the only nations having reaties of commerce with the United States. An efficient revenue system was speed- ly adopted and put in motion, for the consolidated government possessed inherent ower to do so. This first practical exhibition of sovereignty by the central government of the rnited States opened the eyes of British merchants and statesmen to the fact that lie Americans had suddenly made a stride toward absolute iadependence-that their ommerce was no longer subjected to the caprice of foreign powers, nor neglected ecause of the disagreements and jealousies of thirteen distinct Legislatures They erceived that its interests were guarded and its strength nurtured by a central owcr of wonderful energy, and that the new republic had taken its place among le family of nations with just claims to the highest respect and consideration Other ations yielded the same recognition, and its future career was contemplated with ecuhar interest throughout the civilized world. While the House of Representatives was engaged on the subject of revenue the enate was occupied in arranging a judiciary system. A bill for the purpose 'was ffered m that body by Oliver Ellsworth, of Connecticut. After undergoinrsevrral mendments, it was concurred in by both houses of Congress, and a national judilkry OF THE WAB OF 1812. 59 The JuSiciary. Amendments to the Constitution. Cabinet Ministers. Eelatiohs with Prance and England. was established similar in all its essential features to that now in operation. It con- sisted of one chief justice and five associate justices, who were directed to hold two sessions annually at the seat of the national government. Circuit and district courts were also established, which had jurisdiction over certain specified cases. Each state was made a district, as were also the two Territories of Kentucky and Maine. The districts, excepting the two Territories, were grouped so as to form three circuits. A marshal and district attorney were appointed for each district by the President.* The subjects of revenue and judiciary being well disposed of, Congress next turn- ed its attention to the organization of executive departments. Only three — Treas- ury, War, and Foreign Relations — were established. The heads of these were styled Secretaries instead of MLaisters, as in Europe. The President of the United States was clothed with power to appoint or dismiss them at his pleasure, with the concur- rence of the Senate. They were designed to constitute a cabinet council, ever sub- ject to the call of the President for consultation on public afiairs, and bound to give him their opinions in writing when required. The attention of Congress was next turned to the amendments of the Constitution proposed by the people of the several states, which amounted, in the aggregate, to one hundred and forty-seven, besides separate Bills of Rights proposed by Virginia and New York. Sixteen of the amendments were agreed to, and twelve of them were subsequently ratified by the people and became a part of the organic law of the na- tion. The profound wisdom of the framers of the Constitution and its own perfection are illustrated by the fact that, of these twelve amendments, not one of tiem, judged by subsequent experience, was of a vital character. > . ' Before the adjournment of Congress on the 29th of September,* the Pre^i- ^ dent had appointed his Cabinet,^ and the new government was fairly set ia motion. Its foreign relations were, on the whole, satisfactory, and only in England were other than friendly feeling^ toward the United States manifested. These were met by corresponding ill feeling toward England on this side of the Atlantic. The resentments caused by the late long war were blunted, but by no means deprived of their strength ; and, finally, the fact that the British government still held possession of Western military posts within the boundary of the United States, and that from these had gone out infiuences which had involved their country in a bloody and ex- pensive war with the Indians, produced much irritation ia the American mind. This was intensified by the wounds given to their national pride by the British govern- ment, in so long refusing to negotiate a commercial treaty with them, and declming to reciprocate the friendly advances of the United States by sending a minister to re- side at the national capital. With their old ally, France, the most perfect friendship still existed, but it was destined to a speedy interruption. Events in that country, and the position assumed by the President of the United States in relation to them, caused violent animosity to take the place of cordial good will, and were among the causes which gave birth to parties in America whose collisions, for several years, shook the republic to its centre, and at times threatened its existence. The animosities of these parties^nd the col- lateral relations of national policy and events in France and England to them, will be found, as we proceed in our narrative, to have played an important part in the great drama we are considering, at the period immediately preceding and during the prog- ress of the War of 1812. 1 John Jay, of New Yorlc, was appointed Chief Justice of the United States ; and John Eutledge, of South Carolina, James Wilson, of Pennsylvania, William Cashing, of Massachusetts, Robert H. Harrison, of Maryland, and John Blaii', of Virginia, were appointed associate judges. a Alexander Hamilton was appointed Secretary of the Treasury j Henry Knox, Secretary of War ; and Thomas Jeffer- son, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, the duties of which were the same as now performed by the Secretary of State, or prime minister. The Navy Department was not created until 1798. Naval affairs were under the control of the Secre- tary of War. At that time the Attorney General and Postmaster General were heads of departments, but were not, as now Cabinet officers. Edmund Randolph was appointed Attorney General, and Samuel Osgood Postmaster General. 60 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Heyolutionary Movements in Prance. Lafayette the Leader. Bxcitement in Paris. National Aseembl At the very time when the fruits of the American Revolution were exhibiting the ripeness in the forin of a free and vigorous nation full of jjromisej the Empire o France, made unsound to the core by social and political corruptions most foul, ws shaken by a moral earthquake — a revolution severe at the beginning, and terrible i its subsequent course. The French monarch was weak, his advisers were wickec and the dominant classes, through luxury and concomitant vices, were exceeding! corrupt. The good and the brave of the kingdom had long perceived the abyss o woe upon the brink of which their country was poised, and with a heroism which i the light of history appears almost divine, they resolved to sound the trumpet of pc litical reform, and arouse king, nobles, and people to a sense of solemn duty as mei and patriots. At the head of these brave men was Lafayette, seconded chiefly 'by the Duke d^ Rochefoucauld and M. Condorcet. They wished to obtain for France a Constitutioi similar to that of England, which they regarded as the most perfect model of humai government then known. They loved their king because of his many virtues, anc would have advised him wisely had their voices been permitted audience in the Tui leries ; but they loved Prance more than their king, and desired to see her crownec with true glory, based upon the welfare and prosperity of her people. To accomplisl this, they placed their hopes on a virtuous constitutional monarchy. For a long time Lafayette and his coadjutors had been elaborating their scheme A.t length, in the Assembly of Notables, in April, 1789, that champion of rational lib 3rty stood up in his place and boldly demanded a series of reforms in the name of the people, one of which was a representative National Assembly. "What!" ex claimed the Count D'Artois, one of the king's bad advisers, "do you make a motion m the States General?" " Yes, and even more than that," quickly responded Lafay 3tte. That more was a charter from the king, by which the public and individual iberty should be acknowledged and guaranteed by. the ftiture States General. The jroposition was received with unbounded enthusiasm. The measure was carried Early m May a session of the States General was opened at Versailles, and they con- itituted themselves a National Assembly. Now was the golden opportunity for King Louis. Slight concessions at that mo- nent might have secured blessings for himself and his country. But he heeded the (ounsels of venal men more than the supplications of his real friends. He opposed he popular will, and took the road to ruin. He ordered the hall of the National As- embly to be closed, and placed a cordon of mercenary German troops around Paris o overawe the people From that time until early in July the French capital was readfoUy agitated. Passion ruled the hour. The city was like a seething caldron. !-very one felt that a terrible storm was about to burst The National Assembly was now sitting in Paris, and thoroughly sustained by the jeople. They called for the organization of forty-eight thousand armed militia. Yithm two days two hundred and seventy thousand citizens were enrolled. A state layor was appomted by the town assembly, and the Marquis La Salle was named ommanaer«n-chief. T,?rtl?r*'^'.' T^ intercepted by the people by the arrest of royal couriers. Hen they demanded arms. An immense assemblage went to the Hospital of the nvahds on the 10th of July, and demanded from the governor the instaSLery to liem of all weapons there. He refused, and they seized thirty thousand muskets and ^enty pieces of cannon. Then they visited the shops of the armorers and the de o^tory of the Garde-meuble, and seized all the arms found there Higher and higher rose the tide of revolution. The girdle of soldiers around Paris ^as the chief cause for present irritation. The National Assembly sent a deputation ) the kmg at Versailles to ask him to remove them. His good heart counsefed 00^ liance, but his weak head bowed to the demands of bad advisers "I alone have OF THE WAR OF 1812. 61 Excitement In Paris. Formation of a National Guard. Treachery at tlie Bastile. Tliat Prison destroyed. the right to judge of the necessity, and in that respect I can make no change," was the haughty answer of the king borne hack to the Assembly. This answer, and the dismissal of M. Necker, the controller of the treasury, and other patriotic ministers who favored reform, produced a crisis. Paris was comparatively quiet on the night of the 13th of July. It was the omin- ous lull before the bursting of the tempest. The streets were barricaded. The people formed themselves into a National Guard, and chose Lafayette as their commander. G-iin, sabre, scythe, and whatever weapon fell in their way was seized. Multitudes of men of the same opinion embraced each other in the streets as brothers, and, in an instant almost, a National Guard of one hundred thousand determined men was formed. The morning of the 14th was serene. The sky was cloudless. But storms of pas- sion were sweeping over Paris. The people were in motion at an early hour. Their "steps were toward the Bastile, a hoary state prison, which was regarded as the strong- hold of despotism. They stood before it in immense numbers. A parley ensued. The gates were opened, and forty leadiiig citizens, as representatives of the popu- lace, were allowed to enter. The bridges were then suddenly drawn, and volleys of musketry soon told a tale of treachery most foul. They were all murdered] That moment marks the opening of the terrible scenes of the French Revolution. With demoniac yells the exasperated populace dragged heavy cannon, before the gates, and threatened the destruction of the Bastile. The terrified governor displayed a white flag, and invited a second deputation to enter the gates. These shared the fate of the former ! The furious multitude would no longer listen to words of peace. They were treacherous all. A breach was soon made in the walls. The governor and other ofBcers were dragged to execution, and their heads were paraded upon pikes through the streets. The great iron key of the Bastile was sent to the City Hall.i The National Assembly decreed the demolition of the hated prison, and very soon it was leveled to the ground.^ Upon its site, now the Place de Bastile, stands the Column of July, erected by Louis Philippe to commemorate the Revolution in 1830, which placed him on the throne. Lafayette sent the key of the Bastile to Washington, who placed it in the broad passage at Mount Vernon, where it still hangs. The National Assembly elected Lafayette commander-in-chief of the National Guard of all France, a corps of more than four millions of armed citizens. They voted him a salary of fifty thousand dollars a year, but, imitating Washington, he refused to accept any remuneration for his services. The humbled kmg approved his appointment, and the monarch, deserted by his evil counselors, threw himself upon the National Assembly. "He has been deceived hitherto," Lafayette proclaimed to the public, " but he now sees the merit and justice of the popular cause." The over- joyed people shouted " Long live the king !" and for a moment the Revolution seemed to be at an end and its purposes accomplished. But Lafayette, who comprehended the labors and the dangers yet to be encoun- tered, was filled with apprehension. The wily Duke of Orleans, who .desired the de- struction of the king for the base purpose of his own exaltation to the throne, was busied in sowing the seeds, of distrust among the people.^ The duke incited them to demand the monarch's presence at the Tuileries. Louis went voluntarily from Ver- sailles to Paris, followed by sixty thousand citizens and a hundred deputies of the 1 For a pictare and description of this key, see Lossing's FleU-Booh of the ReaoMum, ii., 209. ! A picture of the Bastile may be found In Lossing's Home o/)ro8/u»»i*m ami jJs.^esomtoM, p. 22^^^ 3 "He does not. Indeed, possess talent to carry into execution a great project," said Lafayette to John Trunlhull, who was about to leave Paris, " but he possesses immense wealth, and France abounds In marketable talents. Every city and town has young men eminent for abilities, particularly in the law-ardent in character, eloquent, ambitious of dis- ttaction, but poor.'' Many of these were the men who composed the leaders in the Eeign of Terror, and reddened the streets of Paris with human blood. 62 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK European War expect ed. Great Britain and Spain in Ul-hamor. Attempt to extort Jnstice from Great Britain. Assembly, and there formally accepted the Declaration of the Rights of Man, which was presented to him. The people were satisfied, and the duke was disappomted. Order reigned in Paris and throughout the kingdom. The bearing of these events upon our subject will be observed presently. At this time a general European war seemed inevitable. A long-pending contro- versy between Great Britain and Spain remained unsettled. It was believed that France, with her traditional hatred of Great Britain, would side with Spain. This alliance would menace England with much danger. At the same time, Spain, a de- clining power, would necessarily be much embarrassed by war. Viewing this situa- tion of affairs in Western Europe with the eye of a statesman, Washington concluded that it was a favorable time to urge upon Spain the claims of the United States to the free navigation of the Mississippi, concerning which negotiations had been for some time pending, and also to press upon Great Britain the necessity of complying with the yet unfulfilled articles of the Treaty of 1 783. Mr. Carmichael, the American Charg'e des Affaires at the Court of Madrid,i was instructed not only to press the point concerning the navigation of the Mississippi with earnestness, but to endeavor to secure to the United States, by cession, the island of New Orleans and the Floridas, offering as an equivalent the abiding friendship of the new republic, by which the territories of Spain west of the Mississippi might be secured to that government. At the same time, Gouverneur Morris, then in Paris, was directed by Washington to repair to London, and, with sincere professions of a desire on the part of the United States " to promote harmony and mutual satisfaction between the two countries," sound the British ministry on the subject of a full and immediate execution of the Treaty of 1783.2 Morris had a formal interview with the Duke of Leeds, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, near the close of March, 1790. He was received with cordiality, and was assured of the earnest desire of Great Britain to cultivate friendly relations with the United States, and the determination of the king to send a minister to America. But when Morris attempted to hold explicit conversation on the subject of his semi-offi- cial mission- he was met with evasion and reticence. It was immediately made evi- dent to him that there was real reluctance on the part of Great Britain to fulfill the stipulations of the Treaty of 1783, or to make a fair commercial arrangement, and that there was a disposition to procrastinate while the difficulties between Great Britain and Spain remained unadjusted. He found great misapprehensions existing in En- gland concerning the real character of the Americans and their government, even among the best informed. They overrated the importance to Americans of friendship with them. They believed that trade with Great Britain was of vital consequence to the Americans, and that the latter would make an international commercial treaty upon almost any terms to secure it With this belief, a committee of Parliament, to whom had been referred the revenue acts of the United States, acting under the ad- vice of the merchants of leading maritime towns of Great Britain, reported early in 1790, in favor of negotiating a commercial treaty with the Americans, but with the explicit declaration that the commissioners should not " submit to treat" for the ad- mission of American vessels into any of the British islands or colonial ports. They actually believed that the necessities of the United States would make them acqui- esce in an arrangement so ungenerous and partial. While war with Spain seemed impending, the British ministers listened "compla- cently to what Morris had to say about the frontier military posts, the impressment of American seamen into the British naval service under the plea that they were sub- 1 William Carmichael went to Spain with Minister John Jay, as secretary of legation, in 17T9, and when that flinction- ary left, Mr. Carmichael remained as Chmgi des Affaires. After the Treaty of Peace was signed in 1T8S, the Spanish gov- ernment reftased to acknowledge him as such, hut finally, through the agency of Lafayette, they reluctantly consented to do so. " s Washington's letter to GouYemeur Morris, October 13, 1T89. OF THE WAR OF 1812.- 63 Discourtesy of the British Government. The Americans supposed to be dependent. A Change of Views. jeots of Great Britain, and the propriety of sending a full minister to the United States. 1 It was evident that the British were willing to allow their relations with the Americans to remam unchanged until they should have a definite perception of the course European affairs were likely to take. This evidence became more and more manifest in the autumn. The French government, embarrassed by its own troubled affairs, was disinclined to take part with Spain in its quarrel, and the latter, unable alone to cope with Great Britain, yielded every point in the controversy, and the dispute was settled. Relieved of this burden of perplexity, and regarding France as hopelessly crippled by her internal difficulties. Great Britain showed marked iadif- ference concerning her relations with the United States. Nothiag more was said about sending a minister to America, and Mr. Morris was ti'eated with neglect, if not with positive discourtesy. At the close of the year Mr. Morris left England. He had been there about nine months, endeavoring to obtain a positive answer to the simple questions. Will you execute the Treaty ? will you make a treaty of commerce with the United States ? At the end of that time the real views of the British government were as hidden as at the beginning. Ungenerous diplomacy had been employed all the time by the British ministry, while the American government was anxious to establish peaceful relations with Great Britain and all the world upon principles of exact justice. Its agents were unskilled in the low cunning of diplomatic art which at that time dis- tinguished every court in Europe, and they lost the game. Both the government and people of the United States felt aggrieved and indignant at the course of Great Brit- ain, and self-respect would not allow them to farther press the subject of diplomatic intercourse or treaty relations. They therefore resolved to pause in action until the republic should become strong enough to speak in decisive tones, and prepared to maintain its. declarations by corresponding vigor of action. Great changes are wrought by time. The march of stirring events in Europe now became majestic, for a new and important era was dawning ; and the dignity and importance of the republic beyond the sea was too apparent to the world to allow the British government to maintain its indifference much longer without evil consequences to itself Already France, Holland, and Spain, the real enemies of En- gland, had placed representatives at the seat of our national government, and British pride was compelled to yield to expediency. In August, 1791, George Hammond ar- rived in Philadelphia, clothed with full ministerial powers as the representative of Great Britain, presented his credentials, and was formally received. In December following, diplomatic relations between the two governments were established by the < Great Britain evidently apprehended an alliance of the United States with Spain, in the event of a war between the former and the latter power. Dorchester, the Governor of Canada, was employed to ascertain the disposition of the United States on that point. He accordingly asked permission to pass through New York on his way to England : and when it was readily granted, as he expected, he sent his aid-de-camp. Major Beckwith, to the seat of the United States government, under the pretext of making a formal acknowledgment, bnt really to seek information upon the subject in question. He first approached Mr. Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury. After expressing the thanks of Lord Dor- chester, he, with apparent unconcern, remarked that his lordship had reason to fear that the delays which Mr. Morris experienced in England would be attributed to a lack of desire on the part of the British ministry to adjust every mat- ter in dispute between the United States and Great Britain. In behalf of his lordship he was instructed to say, that there conld he no donbt, not only of the friendly feeling of Great Britain, but of a desire on her part for an alliance with the United States. Major Beckwith then spoke of the rupture between Great Britain and Spain, and expressed his pre- sumption that, in the event of war, the Unitted States would fiud it to their interest to take part with Great Britain. He then, in the name of Dorchester, disclaimed any influence, under British authorities, over the Indian tribes in the West. The President laid the matter before his Cabinet, and it was agreed to draw out from the major as much information as possible by treating him and his communication very civilly. But he obtained no information of importance. The matter was so transparent that no one was deceived. " What they [the ministers] are saying to you," jeffersoii wrote to Morris in August, " they are saying to ns through Quebec ; hut so informally that they may disavow it when they please: . '. .' Through him [Major Beckwith] they talk of a minister, a treaty of commerce, and alliance. If the object of the lattei: be honorable. It is useless ; if dishonorable, inadmissible. These tamperings prove that they view war as possible ; and some symptoms indicate designs against the Spanish possessions adjoining us. The consequences of their acquiring all the country on our frontier from the St. Croix to the St. Mary's are too obvious to you to need devel» opment. Ton will readily see the dangers which would then environ us. . . , We wish to he neutral, and we will be so, i/ they wtll exeaiie the Treaty fairly and attempt no conqueete adjoining w." 64 PICTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK Efforts for the Establishment of the Public Credit. Hamilton's Protest against tampering with the National Honor. appointment of Thom- as Pinckney, of South Carolina, as American minister to tlie Court of St. James. ^ At about this time two violently antag- onistic parties had as- sumed definite shape and formidable pro- portions in the United States, the acknowl- edged heads of which were Alexander Ham- ilton and Thomas Jef- ferson, members of Washington's Cabi- net. On the former, as Secretary of the Treasury, devolved the important duty to arrange a plan for TyyiyCX^ Jl4^C^t^^^LJZ.^ the establishment of the public credit.^ Ow- ing to long delay, and doubts and discour- agements in the minds of the original holders of the evidences of the public debt, they had fallen into the hands of speculators at one sixth of their nominal value. It was there- fore argued that, in the liquidation of these claims, there should be a scale of depreciation adopted, thereby mak- ing a saving to the public ti'easury. Hamilton would listen favorably to no suggestions of that kind. With the sagacity of a statesman, the sincerity of an honest man, and the true heart of a patriot, he planted his foot firmly upon the ground of justice and honor, and declared that public credit could only be established by the faithful dis- charge of public obligations in strict conformity to the terms of the contract. These debts were originally due to officers and soldiers, farmers, mechanics, and patriotic capitalists, and were sacred in the estimation of honest men ; and it was no just plea for their whole or partial rej^udiation that speculators would profit by the honesty of the government. It was not for the debtor to inquire into whose hands his written promises to pay were lodged, nor how they came there.^ Upon this lofty foundation of principle Hamilton stood before hosts of his frowning countrymen, conscious of the importance of financial honor and integrity to the infant republic, and determined to secure for it the dignity which justice confers, at whatever cost of personal popularity. ■• January 14, He accordingly presented to Congress,"' in an able report, a scheme " for ^''"'' the support of the public credit," whose principal feature was the funding of tlie public debt — a plan proposed by him to Robert Morris as early as 1782. He also proposed the assumption by the general government of the state debts incurred during the war, amounting, in principal and interest, to over twenty millions of dol- ' Thomas Pinckney -was born in Charleston, South Carolina, 23iJ of October, 1T60. He was educated in England. When the Revolution broke out he entered the military service, and was active until Gates's defeat near Camden, in August, 17S0, when he was made a prisoner. He was Gates's aid. He was chosen Governor of South Carolina in 1T87. In 1T112 he went as minister to England. In 1704 he was sent in the same capacity to Spain, to treat concerning the nav- igation of the Mississippi. At the beginning of 1812 the President appointed him to the command of the Southem divi- .sion of the army. After the war General Pinckney retired to private life. He died on the 2d of November, 1828, aged seventy-eight years. = The impoverished condition of the country, and the wants of the public treasury at that time, may be comprehended by the fact that, at the close of 1789, the Attorney General and several members of Congress were indebted to the pri- vate credit of the Secretary of the Treasury to discharge their personal expenses. Even the President of the United States was obliged to pass his note to his private secretary, Mr. Lear, to meet his household expenses, which was dis- counted at the rate of two per cent, a month. Members of Congress were paid by due-bills, which the collectors were ordered to receive in payment of duties.— Hamilton's History of the liepublic of the United States, iv., 48. 3 Hamilton argued that, besides motives of political expediency, there were reasons in favor of his view " which rest on the immutable principles of moral obligation ; and, in proportion as the mind is disposed to contemplate, in the order of Providence, an ultimate connection between public virtue and public happiness, will be its repugnance to a vio- lation of those principles. This reflection derives additional strength from the nature of the debt of the United States. It was the pp.ioe op LimnTv. The faith of America has been repeatedly pledged for it, and with solemnities that o-ive peculiar force to the obligation." ^ OF THE WAR OF 1812. 65 Hamilton's Fioancial Scheme assailed. Banking Capital in the United States. A Decimal Currency adopted. lars. His scheme included the establishment of a national bank,^ a system of revenue from taxation, internal and external, and a sinking fund. This scheme — just, patriotic, necessary, and beneficial — was assailed with the great- est vehemence, and the discussions which it elicited, especially upon the subject of the assumption of the state debts, in Congress, in the public press, and in private circles, fearfully agitated the nation, and created the first regular and systematic opposition to the principles on which the afifairs of the republic were admiaiistered. Its propo- sitions, especially the one relating to the assumption of state debts, were regarded with alarm by the late opponents of the Constitution and a consolidated government, because of their tendency to a centralization of power, as giving an undue influence to the general government by placing the purse as well as the sword in its hands, and as being also of doubtful constitutionality. Many believed that they saw in this scheme great political evils, because it secured the financial union of the states, and nllght lead to the establishment of a government as absolute as a constitutional mon- archy. These suspicions were strengthened by the well-known fact that Hamilton regarded the British government as a model of excellence, and had advocated greater centralization of power, in the Convention of 1787. He was made the target for the shafts of j)ersonal and political malice, and his financial system was misrepresented and abused as a scheme for enriching a few at the expense of the many.- The war of opinion was fierce and uncompromising. While Washington took no part in the discussion of Hamilton's scheme, it com- manded his highest admiration, as the most perfect that human Avisdom could devise for restoring the public credit and laying the foundation of national policy. He pre- dicted gi'cat and lasting good from its adoption, and his prophecies were fulfilled. Confidence was revived, and that acted like magic upon industry; and then com- 1 At that time the whole banking capital of the United States was only $2,000,000, invested in the Bank of North A m^- ica, established in Philadelphia by Robert Morris, chiefly as a government fiscal agent ; the Bank of Neio York, in New York City; and the Bank of Ma^ssachuse.ttf!, in Boston. In January, 1791, Congress chartered a national bank for the term of twenty years, with a capital of $10,000,000, to he located in the city of Philadelphia, and its management to be intrusted to twenty-five directors. It did not commence business operations in corporate foi-m until in February, 1794. The subject of currency had occupied the attention of the old Congress as early asl7S2, when Gouvernenr Morris pre- sented an able report on the subject, written at the request of Eobert Morris.* He proposed to harmonize the moneys of all the states. Starting with one ascertained fraction as a unit, for a divisor, he proposed the following table of money : Ten units to be equal to one penny ; ten pence to one bill ; ten bills, one dollar (about seventy-five cents of our present currency) ; and ten dollars, one cro^vn. Mr. Jefferson, as chairman of a committee on the subject of coins, re- ported a table in 17S4, in which he adopted Morris's decimal system, but entirely changed its details. He proposed to strike four coins, namely, a golden piece of the value of ten dollars, a dollar in silver, a tenth of a dollar in silver, and a hundredth of a dollar in copper. This report was adopted by Congress the following year, and this was the origin of our cent, dhne, dollar, and eagle. The establishment of a mint for coinage was delayed, and no legislative action on the subject was taken until early in April, 1792, when laws were enacted for the preparation of one. For three years afterward the operations of the mint were chiefly experimental, while in Congress long debates were had conceraing the devices for the new coins. The Senate proposed the head of the President of the United States who should occupy the chair of state at the time of the coinage. In the House, the head of Liberty was suggested, as being less aristocratic than the ef- figy of the President — less the stamp of royalty. The head of Liberty was finally adopted. During that interval of three years, several of the coins called " specimens," now so rare in cabinets, and so much sought after by connoisseurs, were struck. Of these the rarest is a email copper coin, known as the "Liberty-cap cent." The engraviug is from one in my pos- libeety oe^tt. session. The mint was first put into full operation, in Philadelphia, in 1T05. 2 "The public paper suddenly rose, and was for a short time above par," says Marshall. "The immense wealth which individuals acquired by this unexpected appreciation could not be viewed with indifference." * Robert Morris had considered the subject for more than a year. As early as July, ITSl, he wrote to Benjamin Dud- ley, of Boston, an Englishman, requesting him to come to Philadelphia, that he might consult him about the coinage of money. In November Mr. Dudley was employed in assaying. Mr. Morris kept him engaged in experiments, and in the preparation of machinery for a mint. In these Mr. Dudley consulted Dr. Hitteuhouse and Francis Hopkinson. A coun- try blacksmith, named Wheeler, was employed to make the rollers for the mint, and it was July the following year be- fore any machinery was perfected. Mr. Morris labored hard to get the mint in operation, but without success. Finally, on the 2d of April, 1783, Morris was enabled to wi-ite in his diary, "I sent for Mr. Dudley, who delivered me a piece of silver coin, being the first that has been struck as an American coin." Mr. Dudley was installed superintendent of the mint, having charge, also, of the preparation of the paper moulds, etc., in the manufacture of the currency printed by Hall & Sellers, the printers of the Continental money. Finally, in July, Mr. Morris gave up the idea of establishing a mint, and Mr. Dudley, after delivering up the dies to him, left his service.— Eobeet Mokeis's Diary. E PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Mr. Jefferson in France. His Reception in New York. His Suspicions of former Colleagues and Compatriots. menced that wonderful development of material wealth which has gone on with few intermissions until the present time. While these discus- sions were at their height, Jefferson arrived at the seat of government, to as- sume the duties of Secre- tary of State. He had but lately returned from France, where he had la- bored for several years in the dijjlomatic service of his country. He had witnessed the uprising of the people there at the bidding of Lafayette and others a few months be- fore. The example of his own country was the star of hojje to the French revolutionists, and as the author of the Declaration of Independence, he was regarded as an oracle, and courted by the leaders of the constitutional party there. Fresh from the fields of political excite- ment in the French capi- tal, and his inherent democratic principles and ideas intensified and enlarged by these experiences, he came home full of enthusiasm, expecting to find every body in his own country ready to speak a sympathizing word for, and to extend a helping hand to the people of France, the old ally of Americans in their efforts to establish for themselves a constitutional government. But Mr. Jefferson was disappointed. When he arrived in New York, after a tedi- ous journey of a fortnight on horseback, he was Avarmly welcomed by the leading families of the city, and became the recipient of almost daily invitations to social and dinner parties. The wealthier and more aristocratic classes in New York, who gave dinner parties at that time, were mostly Loyalists' families, who remembered the pleasant intercourse they had enjoyed with the British officers during the late war, and had always regarded the British form of government as the most perfect ever devised. Free from political restraint, their conversation was open and frank, and their sentiments were expressed without reserve. Mr. Jefferson was continually shocked by the utterance of opinions repugnant to his faith, and in contrast with his recent experience.' Mr. Jefferson, who was sensitively and even painfully alive to the evils of despotism and the dangers of a government stronger than the people, took the alarm, and he became morbidly suspicious of all around him. The conservatism of Washington and his associates in the government, and their lack of enthusiasm on the subje'ct of the French Revohition, which so filled his own heart, were construed by him as indiffer- ence to the diffusion of -democratic ideas and the triumph of republican principles, for which the patriots in the war for independence had contended. He had scarcely taken his seat in the Cabinet before he declared that some of his colleagues held de- cidedly monarchical views, and it became a settled belief in his mind that there was a party m the United States constantly a,t work, secretly and sometimes openly, for the overthrow of republicanism. This idea became a sort of monomania, and haunted him until his death, more than thirty years afterward. Events in France soon began to make vivid impressions upon the public mind in America. The fears of Lafayette were realized. The lull that succeeded the tempest of 1-789, was only the precursor of a more terrible storm in 1 Y91, that shook European society to its deepest foundations, and, like the great earthquake of 1755 was felt in almost every part of the globe. ' ' " I can not describe the -ivonder and mortification with which the table conversation filled me " Mr T.d-o "Politics was the chief topic, and a preference for a kindly oyer republican government wr'e,iflen,ltr°r'" f' sentiment. An apostate I could not be, nor yet a hypocrite ; and I found myself, for the molt narY the o, ?™" ' on the republican side of the question, unless among the guests there chanced to be some r^ember of thnt L'*T the legislative houses." This is the first mention that we any where find of a Eepublicau Party"n th°s coif t '' " OF THE WAR OF 1812. 67 Formation of the Jacobin Club in Paris. Demoralization of the National Guard. A ConBtitution granted to the People. Long before tlie meeting of the States-general at Versailles, forty intelligent men, ■whose feelings were intensely democratic, who avowed their hatred of kings and their attendant titles and privileges, and who ridiculed and contemned Christianity as an imposture, had met in the hall of the Jacohin monks in Paris, and from that circumstance were called the Jacohin Cluh. In the commotions that attended and followed the destruction of the Bastile, this club had gained immense popularity. They now published a newspaper, whose motto was Libbett and Equalttt, and whose design was to disseminate ultra democratic doctrines, irreligious ideas, and a spirit of revolt and disaffection to the king. They became potential — a power in the state. Their influence was every where seen in the laxity of public morals. The church was polluted with the contagion. A refractory spirit appeared among the National Guai'ds, and the king and his family were insulted in public. Disgusted with these evidences of demoralization, Lafayette resigned his command of the National Guard, but resumed it on the solicitation of sixty battalions. He was exceedingly popular, yet he could not wholly control the spirit of anarchy that was abroad. The king, alarmed, fled in disguise from Paris. Terror prevailed among all classes. The flight of the monarch was construed into a crime by his enemies, and he was arrested and brought back to Paris under an escort of thirty thousand National Guards. He excused his movement with the plea that he was exposed to too many insults in the capital, and only wished to live quietly, away from the scenes of strife. The populace were not satisfied.- Led by Robespierre, a sanguinary demagogue, and member of the Constituent Assembly, they met in the Elysian Fields, and peti- tioned for the dethronement of Louis. Pour thousand of the National Guard fired upon them, and killed several hundred. The exasperation of the people was terrible, yet the popularity of Lafayette held the factious in check.' The Constitution was completed in September. The trembling king accepted it, and solemnly swore to maintain it. Proclamation of the fact was made throughout the kingdom, and a grand fSte, whereat one hundred thousand people sang and danced the Carmagnole in the Elysian Fields, was held at Paris, and salvos of cannon thun- dered along the banks of the Seine.^ There was wide-spread sympathy -in the United States with these revolutionary movements in France. The spirit of faction, viewed at that great distance, appeared like patriotism. Half-formed and half-und,erstood political maximSj floating upon the tide of social life in the new republic, began to crystallize into tenets, and assumed antagonistic party positions. The galvanic forces, so to speak, which produced these crystallizations, proceeded from the President's Cabinet, where Mr. Jefferson, the Sec- retary of State, and Mr. Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury, were at direct vari- ance in their views of domestic public measures, and were making constant war upon each other. Jefferson, believing, with Thomas Paine (who now appeared in the field of political strife abroad), that a weak government and a strong people were the best guarantees of liberty to the citizen, contemplated all executive power with distrust, arid desired to impair, its vitality and restrain its operations. He thought he saw in the funding system arranged by Hamilton, and in the United States Bank and the ex- cise law — creations of that statesman's brain — instruments for enslaving tbe people ; 1 "lam exposed to the envy and attacks of all parties," he wrote to.Washington, "for this single reason, that who- ever acts or means wrong finds me an insuperable obstacle. And there appears a kind of phenomenon in my situation —all parties against me, and a national popularity, which, in spite of every effort, has remained unchanged. . . . Given up to aU the madness of license, faction, and popular rage, I stood alone in defense of the law, and turned the tide into the constitutional channel." » Upon a tree planted on the site of the Bastae a placard was placed, in these words : " Here is the epoch of Liberty ; We dance on the ruins of despotism ; The Constitution is finished- Long live patriotism !" PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK 68 Jefferson makes War npon Ms OppopentB. His religiouB YiewB. Jefferson and J ohn Adams Antagonists in Opinion. and he affected to believe that the rights of the states and liberties of the citizens were in danger. ^ . • • j 4. • Hamiltonron the other hand, regarded the National Constitution as inadequate m strength to perform its required fiinctions, and believed weakness to be its most rad- ical defect: and it was his sincere desire, and uniform practice so to construe its pro- visions as to give strength and efficiency to the Executive in the admmistration of public affairs. , _ , . v.- 1 Not content with an expression of his opinions, Jefferson charged his political op- ponents, and especially Hamilton, with corrupt and anti-republican designs, selfish motives, and treacherous intentions; and thus was inaugurated that system of per- sonal abuse and vituperation which has ever been a disgrace to the press and political leaders of this country. ' ' 1. t.- An unfortunate blunder made by John Adams, the Vice-President, at about this time, confirmed Jefferson in his opinions and fears. These men, compatriots in the events out of which the nation had been evolved, cherished dissimilar political ideas, and held widely differing religious sentiments. Mr. Jefferson was always a free- thinker, and his latitudinarianism was greatly expanded by a long residence among the contemners of revealed religion in France. He admired Voltaire, Kousseau, and D'Alembert, whose graves were then green ; and one of his most intimate compan- ions was the Marquis of Condorcet, who " classed among fools those who had the misfortune to believe in a revealed religion.'" He sympathized with the ultra Re- publicans of France, was their counselor in the early and later stages of the revolu- tionary movement of 1789, and opened his house to them for secret conclave. He was an enthusiastic admirer of a nation of enthusiasts. Mr. Adams, on the contrary, was thoroughly imbued with the political and reli- gious principles of New England Puritanism. He discpvered spiritual life in every page of the Bible, and accepted the doctrines of revealed religion as an emanation from, the fountain of Eternal Truth. His mind was cast in the mould of the English conservative writers, whom he admired. He detested the principles and practices of the French philosophers, whom Jefferson revered ; and, from the outset, he detected in the revolutionary movements in France the elements of destructiveness which were so speedily developed. These views were indicated in a letter to the Rev. Dr. Price, of England, acknowledging the receipt of a printed copy of his famous discourse on the morning of the anniversary dinner of the English Revolution Society in 1789, in which the preacher, accepting the French Revolution as a glorious event in the his- tory of mankind, said, " What an eventful period is this ! I am thankful that I have lived to see it ; and I could almost say, ' Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.' ... I have lived to see thirty millions of people indignantly and resolutely spuming at slavery, and demanding liberty with an irresistible voice." To this Adams replied, " I know that encyclopedists and economists — ^Diderot and D'Alembert, Voltaire and Rousseau — ^have contributed to this great event even more than Sidney, Locke, or Hoadley ; perhaps more than the American Revolution : and I own to you I know not what to make of a republic of thirty millions of atheists. . . . 1 Capeflgne, ii., 82. Mr. Jefferson's religious views, at that time, may be inferred from the contents of a letter written at Paris on the 10th of August, 178T, to Peter Carr, a young relative of Ms in Virginia, wherein he lays down some maxims for his future guidance. He enjoins him to exalt reason ahove creeds. " Question with boldness," he says, "even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve the homage of reason than of blindfold fear." He then advises him to read the Bible as he would Livy or TacitnB. "The facts which are within the ordinary coarse of nature you will believe on the authority of the writer, as you do those of the same kind in Livy or Tacitus." He then cautions him against a belief in statements in the Bible "which contradict the laws of nature." Concerning the New Testament, he said, " It is the history of a personage called Jesus. Keep in your eye the opposite pretensions, 1, of those who say he was begotten of God, bom of a virgin, suspended and reversed the laws of nature at will, and ascended bodily into heaven ; and, 2, of those who say he was a man of illegitimate birth, of a benevolent heart, enthusi- astic mind, who set out with pretensions to divinity, ended in believing them, and was punished capitally fol seditlou by being gibbeted according to the Komau law." OF THE WAR OF 1812. 69 An English Democrat's Discourse. Burke's Eeflections on the French Revolution. Paine's "Kights of Man." Too many Frenchinen, after the example of too many Americans, pant for equality of person and property. The impracticability of this, God Almighty has decreed, and the advocates for liberty who attempt it will surely suffer for it."^ 1 See Letter to Richard Price, April 19, 1790, in the Life and Works of John Adams, ix., 663. Richard Price, D.D., LL.D., was an eminent English Dissenting minister, and at this time was preacher at the meet- ing-house in Old Jewry, London. He was then quite venerable in years, and with a mind as vigorous as when, in 1776, he wrote his famous "Observations on the War in America." He was an ultra democrat, and sympathized strongly with the French Revolution. He did not live to see that Revolution assume its huge proportions and hideous visage that BO terrified Europe, for he died in the spring of 1791. The discourse above alluded to was preached on the anniversary of the Revolution in 1688 (4th of November) which hurled James the Second from the throne. Dr. Price was an active member of the "Revolution Club," of which, at that time, the Earl of Stanhope was president. The discourse " On the Love of our Country" was preached before the mem- bers, and was subsequently printed. After alluding to the Revolution in France, he said, " I see the dominion of kings changed for the dominion of laws, and the dominion of priests giving way to the dominion of reason and conscience. Be encouraged, all ye friends of freedom and ^vl■iter8 in its defense ! The times are auspicious. Your labors have not been in vain. Behold kingdoms, admonished by you, starting from sleep, breaking their fetters, and claiming justice from their oppressors I Behold the light you have struck out, after setting America free, reflected to France, and there kindled into a blaze that lays despotism in ashes, and warms and illuminates Europe !" The Society, at that meeting, on motion of Dr. Price, agreed, by acclamation, to send, in the shape of a formal address, " their congratulations to the National Assembly on the event of the late glorious Revolution in France." This action and the discourse of Dr. Price produced the greatest agitation throughout England. Auxiliary clubs were speedily formed in various parts of the kingdom, encouraged by men like Dr. Priestley, the eminent Unitarian minister at Bir- mingham. Monarchist and Churchuian were greatly alarmed. The king was inclined to deny any more concessions to the Liberal party, making the Revolution in France a sufficient argument against reform in England, while the clergy of the hierarchy raised a cry that the Church was in danger from the revolutionizing and destructive machinations of the Dissenters. To the astonishment of all men, Edmund Burke raised his voice in the House of Commons in cadences never heard before from his lips. He had ever been the eloquent advocate of the rights of man. Now he declared that there was no such thing as natural rights of men, and he condemned the whole body of Dissenters in the strongest terms, as discontented people, whose principles tended to the subversion of good government. Nor did his denuncia- tions rest there. He professed to regard Dr. Price's sermon with holy horror, aud its author as a most dangerous agi- tator, and he brought to the task of disabusing the public mind of England concerning the real character of the revolt in Paris the whole powers of his mighty Intellect. In an almost incredible short space of time he wrote his famous "Reflections on the French Revolution," the publication of which produced a most powerful efl'ect. The king aud min- istry, and the Tory party, expressed unbounded admiration of this splendid de- fense of then- policy, while all just men agreed that it was a monstrous exagger- ation. It called forth many opposing writers— among them the powerful Priest- ley, the elegant Mackintosh, and the coarse but vigorous Paine. The war of words, and pen, and type was waged furiously for a long time, and satirical bal- lads and clever caricatures played a conspicuous part in the contest. Thomas Paine, who had been in Paris some time, and participated in some of the revolutionary scenes there, had lately returned when Burke's "Reflections" appeared, and he lost no time in preparing an answer, which he entitled "The Rights of Man." The first part was published on the 1st of February, 1791, and produced great disturbance. It was sought after with the greatest avidity, and in proportion to its success was the alarm and indignation of the Tory party. There was ample food for the caricaturists, and Gillray's pencil was active. Fox and Sheridan, who were the leaders of the opposition in Parliament, were classed among the leaders of the Revolution Clubs, and appeared in pictures with Priest- ley and Paine. In May, 1791, Gillray burlesqued Paine in a caricature which he entitled ' ' The Rights of Man ; or, Tommy Paine, the American Tailor, taking the Measure of the Crown for a new pair of Revolution Breeches." Paine is seen with the conven- tional type of face given by the caricaturists to a French demo- crat. His tri- colored cockade bears the inscription, "Tiwe la liberte .'" and from his mouth proceeds an incoherent soliloquy, as if from a man half drunk.* This was in allusion to his well-known intemperance. Paine was finally prosecuted by the government for libel on account of some remarks in his " Rights of Man," and was compelled to flee to France, where he was warmly received by the revolutionists. A Tory mob destroyed Dr. Priestley's church in Birmingham, and his dwelling and fine library a short distance in the country; also he and his family barely escaped with thoir lives. * The following is a copy of the soliloquy: "Fathom and a half! fath- om and a half I Poor Tom 1 ah ! mercy upon me ! that's more by half than my poor measure will ever be able to reach ! Lord 1 Lord ! I wish I had a bit of the stay-tape [allusion to Paine's former business of stay- maker] or buckram which I used to cabbage when I was a 'prentice, to lengthen it out. Well, well, who would ever have thought it, that I, A HAD MEASURE. who have served seven years as an apprentice, and afterward worked four years as a journeyman to a master tailor, then followed the business of an exciseman as mnoh longer, shouM not be able to take the dimension of this bawble! for what is a crown but a bawble. to PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Adams's "DiscoTU-ses on Davila." His Qpmions on GoYernment. Jefferson's Disgnst and Alarm. Mr. Adams had discerned with alarm the contagion of revolution which went out from Paris in the autumn of 118Q. He saw it affecting England, and menacmg the existence of its government; and he perceived its rapid diffusion in his own country with surprise and pain. It was so different in form and substance from that which had made his own people free, that he was deeply impressed with its dangers. With a patriotic spirit he sought to arrest the calamities it might bring upon his country, and with that view he wrote a series of articles for a newspaper, entitled " Discourses onDavila." These contained an analysis ofDavila's History of the Civil War in France^ in the sixteenth century. The aim of Mr. Adams was to point out to his countrymen the danger to be apprehended from factions m ill-balanced forms of gov- ernment. In these essays he maintaiaed that, as the great spring of human activity, especially as related to public life, was self-esteem, manifested in the love of superior- ity, and the desire of distinction, applause, and admiration, it was important in a pop- ular government to provide for the moderate gratification of all of them. He there- fore advocated a liberal use of titles and ceremonial honors for those in office, and an aristocratic Senate. To counteract any undue influence on the part of the Senate, he proposed a popular assembly on the broadest democratic basis ; and, to keep in check encriDachments of each upon the other, he recommended a powerful Executive. He thought liberty to all would thus be best secured.^ From the premises which formed the basis of his reasoning, he argued that the French Constitution, which disavowed all distinctions of rank, which vested the legislative authority in a single Assembly, and which, though retaining the office of kiag, divested him of nearly all actual power, must, in the nature of things, prove a failure. The wisdom of this assumption has been vindicated by history. The publication of these essays at that time was Mr. Adams's blunder.^ His ideas were presented in a form so cloudy that his political system was misunderstood by the many and misinterpreted by the few. He was charged with advocating a mon- archy and a hereditary Senate ; and it was artfully insinuated that he had been se- duced by Hamilton (whose jealous opponents delighted in pointing to him as the arch-enemy of republican government) from his loyalty to those noble principles which he had exhibited before he wrote his " Defense of the American Constitu- tions," published in London three years before. Those essays filled Jefferson with disgust, and he cherished the idea that Hamilton, Adams, Jay, and others were at the head of a party engaged in a conspiracy to over- throw the republican institutions of the United States, and on their ruins to construct a mixed government like that of England, composed of a monarchy and aristocracy.* 1 BelV latoria delk Quern CivUi di Framcia, by Henrico Caterino Davila. 2 This was only an amplification of tlie thonglit thus expressed in his Defense of the American Constitutions: "It is denied that the people are the best keepers, or any keepers at all, of their own liberties, when they hold collectively, or by representative, the executive and judicial power, or the whole uncontrolled legislature." He did not believe in the efficiency or safety of a government formed upon the simple plan of M. Thurgot and other clear-minded men of France, in which all power was concentrated in one body directly represeiiting the nation. That was the doctrine and the prac- tice of the French revolutionists, enforced by the logic of Condorcet and the eloquence of Mirabeau. Mr. Adams wished a system of checks and balances, which experience has proved to be the wisest. ' They were published in the Gazette of the United States, at Philadelphia, then the seat of the national government. Their more Immediate object was a reply to Condorcet's pamphlet, entitled Quatre Lettres d^un Bourgeois de Sew Haven, s/wr V Unite de la Legislation. Mr. Adams soon perceived that his essays were furnishing the partisans of the day with too much capital for immediate use in the conflict of opinion then raging, and ceased writing before they were com- pleted. Twenty years later, when a.new edition was published, Mr. Adams wrote, "This dull, heavy volume still excites the wonder of its author— first, that he conld find, amidst the constant scenes of bnsiness and dissipation in which he was enveloped, time to write it ; secondly, that he had the courage to oppose and publish his own opinions to the uni- versal opinion of America, and indeed of all mankind, Not one man in America then believed him. He knew not one, and has not heard of one since, who then believed him.— J. A., 1812." 4 " The Tory paper, Fenno's," he wrote to Mr. Short, in Paris, "rarely admits any thing which defends the present form which we may see in the Tower for sixpence apiece f Well, although it may be too large for a tailor to take measure of, there's one comfort— he may make mouths at it, and call it as many names as he pleases I And yet, Lord ! Lord ! I should like to make it a Taukee-doodle night-cap and breeches, if it was not so d— d large, or I had stuflT enough. Ah ! if I could once do that, I would soon stitch up the month of that barnacled Edmnnd from making any more Seflectians upon the Flints. And so. Flints and Liberty forever, and d— n the Dungs ! Huzza 1" OF THE WAR OF- 1812. 71 Effect of Paine's ' ' Eights of Man." Fe ad between Jefferson and Hamilton. Newspaper War. To thwart these fancied designs, and to inculcate the doctrines of the French Revo- lution which he so much admired, and on which he grounded his hopes of a staMe government in his own country,' Jefferson hastened to have printed and circulated Thomas Paine's famous reply to Burke's " Reflections on the French Revolution," called " The Rights of Man," which had just heen received from England. That essay, originally dedicated " To the President of the United States," was admired by Jefferson, and it was issued from the Philadelphia press, with a complimentary note from him. This apparent indorsement of the essay by the government, in the persons of tljie President and Secretary of State, was very offensive to Great Britain, and produced a good deal of stir in the United States. Major Beckwith, the aid-de-camp of Lord Dorchester, already mentioned,^ was in Philadelphia at that time, and expressed his surprise ; but subsequent assurances that the President knew nothing of the dedica- tion, and that Mr. Jefferson " neither desired nor expected" to have the note printed, soon smoothed the ripple of dissatisfaction so far as the British government was con- cerned.^ The political and personal feud between Jefferson and Hamilton became more in- tense every hour. Freneau's United States Gazette, believed to be under the control of the former, was filled with bitter denunciations of Hamilton and the leading meas- ures of the administration ; and Fenno's National Gazette, the supporter of the gov- ernment policy, was made spicy by Hamilton's vigorous retorts.* The public miud was greatly excited thereby, and Washington was compelled to perceive (as he did with alarm and mortification) that there was a schism in his Cabinet, which threat- ened to be destructive of all harmony of action, and perilous to the public good. He anxiously sought to end the strife by assuming the holy office of peace-maker, but in of government in opposition to his desire of subverting it, to make way for a king, Lords, and Commons. There are high names here in favor of this doctrine . . . Adams, Jay, Hamilton, Knox, and many of the Cincinnati. The second says nothing ; the third is open. Both are dangerous. They pant after union with England, as the power which is to support their projects, and are most determined Anti-Gallicans. It is prognosticated that our republic is to end with the President's life ; but I believe they vrill find themselves all head and no body." 1 "Yon will have heard," Mr. Jefferson wrote to Edward Eutledge in August, 1T91, " before this reaches you, of the peiU into which the French Revolution Is brought by the flight of their king. Such are the fruits of that form of gov- ernment which heaps importance on idiots, and which the Tories of the present day are trying to preach into our favor. I still hope the French Eevolution will issue happily. I feel that the permanence of our own leans in some degree on that, and that a failure there would be a powerful argument to prove that there must be a failure here." 2 See note 1, page 63. 3 The political sentiments of Paine's nights of Man were in accordance with the feelings and opinions of the great body of the American people. The author sent fifty copies to Washington, who distributed them among his friends. His ofiicial position cautioned him to be prudently silent concerning the work. Eichard Henry Lee, to whom Washing- ton gave a copy, said, in his letter acknowledging the favor, " It is a performance of which any man might be proud ; and I most sincerely regret that our country could not have offered sufficient inducements to have retained, as a perma- nent citizen, a man so thoroughly republican in sentiment and fearless in the expression of his opinions." See Lossing's Bmim of WaahingUm, or Mount Venwn and its Assodatiims, p. 262. The note alluded to in the text was from Mr. Jefferson to a stranger to him (Jonathan Bayard Smith), to whom the owner of Paine's pamphlet, who lent it to the Secretary of State, desired him to send it. " To take off a little of the dryness of the note," Mr. Jefferson made some complimentary observations concerning the pamphlet, and expressed his satisfaction that something public would be said, by its publication, ' ' against the political heresies which had lately sprung up." To the astonishment of Mr. Jefferson, this private note was printed with the pamphlet the next week. Mr. Jefferson acknowledged that his remarks in it were aimed at the author of the Discourses on Davila, and the affair produced a temporary estrangement between him and Mr. Adams. Warm discussions arose, soon after the publication of Paine's pamphlet, on the doctrines which it promulgated. A series of articles in reply to the ' ' Eights of Man" appeared in the Boston Cmtind, over the signature of Puilicola, which were attributed to John Adams, and were reprinted in London, in pamphlet form, with his name on the title-page. They were written by his son, the late John Qnincy Adams. They were answered by several writers. "A host of champions," Jefferson wrote to Paine, "entered the arena immediately in your defense." * Philip Freneau, a poet of some pretensions, and a warm Whig writer during the Eevolution, was called from New Tork, where he was editing a newspaper, to fill the post of translating clerk in the State Department under Mr. Jeffer- son. A new paper, called The National Gazette., opposed to the leading measures of the administration, was started, and Freneau was made its editor. It was understood to be Mr. Jefferson's " organ," but it would be both ungenerous and unjust to believe that tte bitter attacks made upon all the measures of the administration were approved by Mr. Jeffer- son ; yet, when the Secretary well knew that the President, whom he professed to revere, was greatly hurt and annoyed by them, it was, as Mr. Irving justly remarks (iy« of Washington, v., 164), " rather an ungracious determination to keep the barking cur in his employ." Fenno published the United States Gazette, the supporter of the measures of the admin- istration. Y2 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK FederaliBtsandKepubUcanB. Their Differences. Popular Sentiment. Earope against France. vaiii.1 The antagonisms of the Secretaries had become too violent to be easily recon- ciled. Their partisans were numerous and powerful, and had become arranged in tangible battle order, under the respective names of Federalists and Bepublioans— names which for many years were significant of opposing opinions : first, concernmg the administration of the national government; secondly, on the question of a neutral policy toward the warring nations of Europe; and, thirdly, on the subject of the war with Great Britain declared in 1812. The Federalists, called the " British party" by their opponents, were in favor of a strong central government, and were very conservative. They were in favor of main- taining a strict neutrality concerning the aflfairs of European nations during the ex- citing period of Washington's administration, and were opposed to the War of 1812. The Republicans, called the " French party," were favorable to a strong people and a weak government, sympathized warmly with the French revolutionists, and urged the government to do the same by public expressions and belligerent acts if necessary, and were favorable to the War of 1812 when it became an apparent national neces- sity. Federal and JRepublican were the distinctive names of the two great political parties in the United States during the first quarter of a century of the national ex- istence, when they disappeared from the politician's vocabulary. New issues, grow- ing out of radical changes in the condition of the country, produced coalitions and amalgamations by which the identity of the two old parties was speedily lost. The zeal of the opposing parties was intensified by events in Europe during the summer and autumn of 1792 ; and at the opening of the last session of the second Con- gress, in November, the party divisions were perfectly distinct in that body. * All Europe was now efiervescing with antagonistic ideas. The best and wisest men stood in wonder and awe in the midst of the upheaval of old social and political systems. Popular sentiment in the United States was mixed in character, and yet crude in form, and for a while it was difficult to discern precisely in what relation it stood to the disturbed nationalities of Europe. The blood of nearly all of them coursed in the veins of the Americans ; and notwithstanding a broad ocean, and per- haps more than a generation of time, separated the most of them from the Old World, they experienced lingering memories or pleasant dreams of Fatherland. France, the old ally and friend of the United States, was the centre of the volcanic force that was shaking the nations. The potentates of Europe, trembling for the stability of their thrones, instinctively arrayed themselves as the implacable enemies of the new power that held the sceptre of France, and disturbed the political and dynastic equilibrium. They called out their legions for self-defense and to utter a solemn protest. The people were overawed by demonstrations of power. The gleam of bayonets and the roll of the drum met the eye and ear every where, and in the autumn of 1*792 nearly all Europe was rising in arms against France. Revolution had done its work nobly, wisely, and successfully in the United States, and the experiment of self-government was working well. The memory of French arms, and men, and money that came to their aid in their struggle for liberty, filled the hearts of the Americans with gratitude, for they were not, as a people, aware of • Angnst 23 ' ■^°"' ™™isters discharged their respective duties to the entire satisfaction of the President, and he 1192. ' '^'' greatly disturbed by their antagonisms, now become public. To Jefferson he wrote," after referring to the Indian hostilities, and the possible intrigues of foreigners to check the prosperity of the United States, "How unfortunate, and how much to be regretted is it, that while we are encompassed on all sides by armed en- emies and insidious friends, internal dissensions should be harrowing and tearing our vitals. . . . My earnest wish and my fondest hope, therefore, is that, instead of wounding suspicions and irritating charges, there may be liberal allow- ances, mutual forbearances, and temporizing yieldings on all sides. Under the exercise of these, matters will go on smoothly, and, if possible, more prosperously. Without them, every thing must rub j the wheels of government will dog, our enemies will triumph, and, by throwing their weight into the disaffected scale, may accomplish the ruin of the goodly fabric we have been erecting." Washington wrote to Hamilton in a similar strain, and from both he received patriotic replies. But the fend was too deep-seated to be healed. Jefferson would yield nothing. He harbored an implacable hatred of Hamilton whom he had scourged into active retaliation, and whose lash he felt most keenly. ' OF THE WAR OF 1812. 73 Washington's Wisdom and Prudence. Sympathy with the French EevoMionlsts. Anarchy in France. the utterly selfish motive of the Bourbon in giving that aid, and how little it had really contributed to their success in that struggle ; and their own zeal for freedom, while enjoying the fruition of their efibrts, awakened their warmest sympathies for those yet in the toils of slavery. Without inquiring, they cheered on the people of France, who were first led by the beloved Lafayette ; and with corresponding de- testation, heightened by the memory of old wrongs and the irritations of present un- friendliness, they saw Great Britain, so boastful of liberty, arrayed against the French people in their professed struggle for the establishment of a constitutional govern- ment like that of England. But there were wise, and thoughtful, and prudent men in the United States and in Great Britain, who had made the science of government their study and human nature their daily reading, who clearly perceived the vast diiference between the revolutions in America and France, and thought they observed in the latter no hope for the real benefit and prosperity of the people. These, in the United States, formed the leaders of the Federal or conservative party. Washington had hailed with great satisfaction the dawning of what he hoped to be the day of liberty in France, but, from the begin- ning, his own sagacity, and the gloomy forebodings manifested by Lafayette from time to time in his letters, made him doubtful of the success of the movement. He often expressed an earnest wish that republicanism might be established in France, but never breathed a hope, because he never felt it. And when, in the summer of 1792, he perceived the bloody and ferofiious character of the French Revolution, and the departure of its course from the high and honorable path marked out for it by Lafay- ette and his compatriots, he and the conservative party, then fortunately holding the reins of executive and legislative power, resolved that the government of the United States should stand aloof from all entanglements with European politics. Jefierson and his party, on the other hand, deeply sympathized with the French revolutionists, and bore intense enmity toward Great Britain. They were greater in numbers than the Federalists, and their warfare was relentless. They denounced every man and measure opposed to their own views with a fierceness and lack of generosity that appears almost incredible, and they shut their ears to the howling of that lawless violence that had commenced drenching the soil of France in blood. Even the dispatches of government agents abroad were sneered at as instruments of needless alarm, if not something worse. ^ But " the inexorable logic of events" soon revealed to the people of the United States those terrible aspects of the French Revolution which made them for a mo- ment recoil with horror. Anarchy had seized unhappy France, and the ferocious Jac- obin Club reigned supreme in Paris. They were the enemies of the king and Consti- tution, and were determined to overthrow both. Licited by them, the populace of Paris, one hundred thousand in number, professedly incensed because the kiag had refused to sanction a decree of the National Assembly against the priesthood, and another for the establishment of a camp of twenty thousand men near Paris, marched to the Tuileries* with pikes, swords, muskets, and artillery, and demanded . j^^^ jq^ entrance. The gates were thrown open, and forty thousand armed men, i^^^- many of them the vilest sans-culottes of the streets of Paris, went through the palace, and compelled the king, in the presence of his family, to put the bonnet rouge, or red cap of liberty, upon his head. Lafayette was then at the head of his army at Maubeuge, a fortified town in the Department of the Iforth. He hastened to Paris, presented himself at the bar of the > Gonvemeur Morris, who had heen appointed minister to France after Jefferson left, kept Washington continually informed of the scenes of anarchy and licentiousness in the French capital, and presented gloomy prognostications re- specting the future of that country. Because of this faithfulness, and his testimony against the tendency of the French Revolution, Mr. Jefferson, in his Wind devotion to that cause, and his ungenerous judgment concerning all who differed ftom him, spoke of Morris as " as a high-flying monarchy-man, shutting his eyes and his faith to every fact against his wishes, and believing every thing he desired to be true." H PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Lafayette before the National Assembly. He demands tlie Pnnlshment of Traitors. Frencb Paper-money. National AssemWy, and in the name, of the army demanded the punishment of those who had insulted the king and his family in the palace and violated the Constitution. But Lafayette was powerless. Paris was drunk with passion and unrestrained license. OF THE WAE OF 1812. >J5 Monarchy in France OTerthrown. Lafayette ImpriBoned. The National Convention established. The doom of royalty was decreed. The populace and members of the Assembly de- manded the deposition of Louis. The sittings of the Assembly were declared perma- nent until order should be restored. At midnight' the dreadful tocsin, or . Angnst 9, alarm-bell, was sounded, and the drums beat the generale in every direc- "^■ tion. The streets were filled with the mad populace, and in the morning the Tuileries were attacked by them. The king, attended by the Swiss Guard, fled to the National Assembly for protection. Nearly every man of the guard was butchered. The mon- arch escaped unhurt, but the overawed Assembly decreed the suspension of the royal authority. 1 Monarchy in France was virtually overthrown, and with it fell Lafayette and the constitutional party. The Jacobins of the Assembly procured a decree for the arrest of the marquis. He and a few friends turned their faces toward Holland as a temporary refuge from the storm until they could escape to the United States. They were arrested on the way, and for three years Lafayette was entombed in an Austrian dungeon at Olmutz, while pretended republicans, with bloody hands, were holding the uncertain and slippery reins of anarchical power in his beloved France. The Jacobins were not satisfied with the suspension of the king's authority. They felt unsafe while he lived. They conspired against his life and the lives of all who might sympathize with him. They filled the prisons with priests and nobles^ and other suspected persons. These men were dangerous while their pulses beat health- ily. Their prisons became human slaughter-houses. Thither thS demoniac ^ populace were sent on the evening of the 2d of September,'' and before the dawn, at least eighteen hundred persons were slain ! The conspirators now took bolder steps. They abolished the Constituent Assem- bly, and constituted themselves a National Convention. The Hall of the Tuileries was their meeting-place, and there, in the palace of the kings, they assumed the ex- ecutive'powers of government. They decreed the abolition of royalty, and proclaimed France a republic." With wonderfixl energy they devised and put in o September 23, motion schemes of conquest, and propagandism. They assumed to be ■'™^' the deliverers of the people of Europe from kingly rule. Frontier armies, with the aid of paper-money alone,^ were speedily put in motion to execute the decree of Dan- ton and his fellow-regicides that " there must be no more kings in Europe." They invaded Belgium and Savoy, and conquered Austrian Netherlands. At the sound of the Marseilles Hymn, sung by these knights-errant of the new chiValry, the people flocked to the standards of revolt.^ 1 The king wrote a touching letter to his brother, dated " August 12, 1792, seven o'clock in the morning." The follow- ing is a copy : "My brother, I am no longer king ; the pnblic voice will make known to yon the most cruel catastrophe. I am the most unfortunate of husbands and of fathers. I am the victim of my own goodness, of fear, of hope. It is an impene- trable mystery of iniquity. They have bereaved me of every thing. They have massacred my faithful subjects. I have been decoyed by stratagem far from my palace, and they now accuse me ! I am a captive. They drag me to prison, and the queen, my children, and Madame Elizabeth [his sister] share my fate. "I can no longer doubt that I am an object odious in the eyes of the French, led astray by prejudice. This is the stroke which is most insupportable. My brother, but a little while, and I shall exist no longer. Eemember to avenge my memory by publishing how much I loved this ungrateful people. Becall one day to their remembrance the wrongs they have done me, and tell them I forgave. Adieu, my brother, for the last time." This letter was sent in a bit of bread to a friend of the king. It was intercepted, and never reached his brother.— Coj-respojMfence o/ioMts XF7., iram«tofed 6?/ Helen Maeia Williams, iii., 45. ' This paper-money, a specimen of which is given on page 74, was called Asaignat, It was first issued in 1789, and the liasis for its 'credit was the property of the clergy and the emigrants, which the government had seized, and which was intended for sale. For three years it held a market value of over ninety per cent., but in 1792 it began to depreciate, and, like our ovra Continental money, soon became worthless. The first issue was to the amount of about $200,000,000. The amount that was finally put in circulation was about $1,750,000,000. This paper-money, which for a season played so important a part in the history of the world, was productive of the greatest evils. Specimens of it are now rarely to be found. The engraving represents one in the author's possession. 3 In the National Convention, on the 28th of September, Danton declared, amid the loud applauses of the assembly, that " the principle of leaving conquered peoples and countries the right of choosing their own constitutions ought to-be so far modified that we should exjjressly forbid them to give themselves kings. There must be no mare Ungs in Europe. One king would te mffidmt to mcUmger general liberty; and I request that a committee be established for the purpose of promoting a general irmtrrectim among allpeiy>le against kings." They thus made a distinction between the monarchs and the people, and professed to be the deliverers of the latter. The Eevolution Clabs of England affiliated with them in sentiment, and Dr. Priestley and Thomas Paine were elected members of the National Convention. Priestley de- 76 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Paine in France. Execution of Louis XVI, Egotism of the French Eevolutionists. Success gave the revolu- tionists prestige, and, with egotism unparalleled, the National Convention, by acclamation, declared that, " in the name of the French nation, they would grant fraternity and assistance to all those peoples who wish- ed to procure liberty ;" and they charged the executive power " to send orders to the generals to give assistance to such people, and to de- fend citizens who had suffer- ed, and were then suffering in the cause of liberty." moment England was alarmed, for she had numerous enemies in her own household, and the civilized world looked upon the sanguinary tragedy on the Gallic stage with dismay and horror. The contagion of that bloody Revolution had so poisoned the circulation of the social and political system of the United States, that, strange as it may appear to us, when the proclamation of the French Republic, with all its attendant horrors of August and September, was made known here, followed speedily by intelligence of LOUIS SVI. The revolutionists, flush- ed with victories, and em- boldened by the obedi- ence which their reign of terror inspired, soon exe- cuted a long - cherished plan of the Jacobins, and murdered their king in the presence of his subjects.^ They declared war against Entrland and Hoi- .„ . , » "Feb. 1, land,'' and soon af- it93. terward against b March Spain,*" and with '^■ the battle-cry of '■''Liberty and Equality" they de- fied all Europe. For a clined, but Paine accepted, went over to France, and took his seat in that blood-tbirsty assembly. This call- ed forth squibs and caricatures in abundance. In one of the latter, entitled "Fashion for Base; or, a Good Constitution sacrificed for a Fantastic Form," Paine is represented fitting Britannia with a new pair of stays, in allusion to the occupation of his early life. Over a cottage door on one side was a sign, "Thomas Paine, Stay-maker, from Thetford. Paris Modes by Express." Paine never ventured to return to England. His popularity in Prance was brief. In the National Convention he offended the ferocious Jacobius by advocating leniency toward the king. He incurred their hatred, and Robespierre and his associates cast him into prison, where he composed his " Age of Reason." He was saved from the guillotine by accident, escaped to the United States, and spent much of his time there, until his death, in coarse abuse of meu and measures in that country and England. ' They went through the farce of a trial. The king was accused of treason to the people and the Constitu- tion, and was found guilty, of course. Weak in intellect, and dissipated in habits as he was, Louis was innocent of the crimes alleged against him. He was beheaded by the guillotine. When standing before the instrument of death, and looking upon the people with benignity, he said, " I forgive my enemies ; may God forgive them, and not lay my innocent blood to the charge of the nation ! God bless my people !" He was cut short by an order to beat the drums and sound the trumpets, when the brutal offlcer in charge called out to him, " A^o speeches t coine, no speeches .'" PAINE FITTING STATS. MEMORIAL MEDAL. The death of Louis was sincerely mourned. He was weak, but not wicked. He was an amiable man, and loved his country. His friends dared not make any public demonstrations of grief, or even of attach- ment. A small commemorative medal of brass was struck, and secretly circulated. These were cherished by the Loyalists for a generation with great afl'ectiou. On one side is a head of Louis, with the usual inscrip- tion— ldd. XVI. EEx GALL. uEi GEATiA. On the othcr side is a memo- rial urn, with "louis xvi." upon it, and a fallen crown and sceptre at its base. Beneath is the date of his death, and over it the significant words, SOL KEONi ABUT—" The sun of the kingdom has departed." The engraving is from a copy in the author's possession.* * Louis was born on the 23d of March, 1T54, and in 1770 married Maria Antoinette, of Austria. He ascended the throne of Prance, on the death of his grandfather, in 1774. OF THE WAE OF 1812. 77 Forgetfulness of Holland's Friendship. Arrival of " Citizen Genet." Washington's Wisdom and Prudence. the conquest of Austrian Netherlands by a French army, there was an outburst of popular feeling in favor of the Gallic cause that seemed to be almost universal. They were blind to the total difference between their own Revolution and that in France. They were forgetful of the friendship of Holland during that struggle — a friendship far more sincere than that of the French ; forgetful also of the spirit of true liberty which for centuries: had prevailed in Holland, and made it an asylum for the persecuted for conscience' sake in all lands ; and the people in several towns and cities celebrated these events with demonstrations of great joy.^ With a similar spirit the death of the French king was hailed by the leaders of the Republican party in the United States; and the declaration of war against England and Holland by France awakened a most remarkable enthusiasm in favor of the old ally of the Amer, icans, aroused old hatreds toward England, and called loudly for compliance with the letter and spirit of the treaty of 1778.^ These demonstrations were soon followed by the arrival of "Citizen Genet," as he, was styled,^ as minister of the French Republic to the United States. He came in a frigate, and landed at Charleston, South Carolina, early in April. His reception there was all that his ambition could have demanded ; and his journey of three or four weeks by land from there to Philadelphia, the national capital, was a continued ova- tion. He was a man of culture and tact, spoke the English language fluently, and was frank, lively, and communicative. He was precisely the man for his peculiar mission. He mingled familiarly with the people, proclaimed wild and stirring doc- trines, scorned all diplomatic art and reserve, and assured the citizens of the United States of the unbounded affection of his countrymen for the Americans. The Repub- lican leaders hailed his advent with delight ; and a large portion of the people were favorable to immediate and active participation by their government with France in its impending struggle against armed Europe. Many, in the wild enthusiasm of the moment, would not have hesitated an instant in precipitating their country into a war that might have proved its utter ruin. It was fortunate for the country that a man like Washington, and his wise coun- selors, were at the helm and halliards of the vessel of state at that time, and endowed with courage suflScient to meet the dangerous popular gale. When intelligence of the declaration of war between France and' other nations reached him, the President was at Mount Vernon. He had no confidence in the self-constituted rulers of France or their system of government. " They are ready to tear each other in pieces," he wrote to Governor Lee, of Virginia, " and will, more than probably, prove the worst foes the country has." Perceiving the proclivity of the public mind in his own country, the President felt great anxiety, and he made immediate preparations to arrest, as far as possible, the terrible evils which a free course of the popular sympathy for the French might have. 1 There was a grand fete held in Boston on the 24th of January, 1793. An ox was roasted whole. It was then deco- rated with ribbons, and placed npon a car drawn by sixteen horses. The flags of the United States and France were displayed from the horns of the ox. It was paraded through the streets, followed by carts bearing sixteen hundred loaves of bread and two hogsheads of punch. These were distributed among the people ; and at the same time a party of three hundred, with Samuel Adams, then Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, at their head, assisted by the French consul, sat down to a dinner in Faneuil Hall. To the children of all the schools, who were paraded in the streets, cakes were presented, stamped with the words "Liberty emd£guaUty." By public subscription, the sums owed by prisoners in the jail for debt were paid, and the victims of that barbarous l^w were set free. In Philadelphia the anniversary of the French alliance, mentioned in the subjoined note, was commemorated by a public dinner. Governor (late General) Mifflin presided. At the head of the table a pike was flxed, bearing upon its point the bonnet rovge, with the French and American flags Intertwined In festoons, and the whole surmounted by a dove and qlive branch. ' A treaty of alliance, friendship, and commerce was entered into by the United States and Fiance on the 6th of Feb- ruary, 177S, by which the former was bound to guarantee the French possessions in America ; and by a treaty of com- merce executed at the same time, French privateers and prizes were entitled to shelter in the American ports, while those of the enemies of France should be excluded.— See Article XVII. of the Treaty. 3 The French Jacobins affected the simplicity of the republics of Greece and Home. All titles were abolished, and the term cUizm was universally applied to men. When the king was spoken of, his family name of Capet was used. He was called "Citizen Capet" or " Louis Capet." They affected to regard liberty as a divinity, and a courtesan, in the conventional costume of that divinity, was paraded in a car through the streets as the Goddess of Liberty. PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK 78 ^ — ■* TT;^ I n ' Assaults upon it and its Aathor. SVaehington's Proclamation of Neutrality. __^ ^ .April 12 He sent- a most unwelcome letter to the Secretary of State. "War," he ™^- ' wrote "having actually commenced between France and Great liritam,it behooves the government of this country to use every means in its power to prevent the citizens thereof from embroilmg us with either of those powers, by endeavormg to maintain a strict neutrality." He required Mr. Jefferson to give the subject his careful thought, and lay his views before him on his arrival m Philadelphia. A sun- ilar letter was sent to the head of every other department. , , „ Washington reached Philadelphia on the I'Zth of April, and on the 19th held a Cabinet council. It was agreed that the President should issue a proclamation of neutrality, warning citizens of the United States not to take part in the kmdlmg war. At the same meeting it was agreed that the minister of the French Republic should be received.! -, j. ^ ■■, -, The President's proclamation of neutrality was issued on the 22d ot April, and was assailed with the greatest vehemence by the "French party," as the Republicans were called. Reverence for the President's character and position was forgotten in the storm of passion that ensued. The proclamation was styled a " royal edict," a " darmg and unwarrantable assumption of executive power," and was pointed at as an open manifestation by the President and his political friends of partiality for En- gland, a bitter foe, and hostility to France, a warm friend and ancient ally. It is fair to infer, from the tone of his private letters at that time, that the Secretary of State (who voted very reluctantly in the Cabinet for the proclamation), governed by his almost fanatical hatred of Hamilton, and his sympathies with the French regicides, secretly promoted a public feeling hostile to the administration.^ 1 The following is a copy of the President's proclamation : " Whereas It appears that a state of war exists between Austria, Prnssia, Sardinia, CSreat Britain, and the IJnited Neth- erlands on the one part, and France on the other, and the duty and interests of the United States require that they should, with sincerity and good faith, adopt and pursue a conduct friendly and impartial toward the belligerent powers : "I have therefore thought fit, by these presents, to declare the disposition of the United States to observe the conduct aforesaid toward those powers respectively, and to exhort and to warn the citizens of the United States carefully to avoid all acts and proceedings whatsoever which may ij any manner tend to contravene such disposition. "And I do hereby make known, that whosoever of the citizens of the United States shall render himself liable to pun- ishment or forfeiture under the law of nations, by committing, aiding, or abetting hostilities against any of the said powers, or by carrying to any of them those articles which are deemed contraband by the modern nsage of nations, will not receive the protection of the United States against such punishment or forfeiture ; and farther, that I have given instructions to those ofdcers to whom it belongs to cause prosecutions to be instituted against all persons who shall, within the cognizance of the courts of -the United States, violate the laws of nations with respect to the powers at war, or any one of them. In testimony whereof, etc., etc. Signed, Geobge Wasuingtos." 2 It is an unpleasant duty to arraign men whom the nation delights to honor as tried patriots, ou a charge of com- plicity vrith those who at one time would have wrecked the government upon the rocks of anarchy, not designedly, per- haps, but nevertheless effectually. But historic truth sometimes demands it, as in the case before us. Mr. Jefferson was openly opposed to the policy of Washington's administration. This was manly. But it was not m*ily to he a covert enemy. He always denied any complicity with Freneau, his translating clerk, in his coarse abuse of Washington and his political friends, while Jefferson was Secretary of State ; but the very minutes made by Mr. Jefferson himself, and printed in his Anas, sufficiently indicate his relative position to Preneau at that time. He says that at a Cabinet council Washington spoke harshly of Preneau, who impudently sent him three copies of his paper every day, filled with abuse of the administration. "He could see nothing in it," Jefferson recorded, "but an impudent design to insult him: he ended in a high tone." Again Jefferson says, " He [the President] adverted to a piece in Preneau'a paper of yester- day. He said he despised all their attacks on him personally, but that there had never been an act of the government, not meaning in the executive line only, but in any line, which that paper had not abused. ... He was evidently sor* and warm, and 1 took his intention to be, that I should interpose in some way with Preneau, perhaps withdraw his ap' poiutment of translating clerk in my office. But I will not do it. His paper has saved our Constitution, which was gal loping fast into monarchy, and has been checked by no one means so powerfully as by that paper. It is well and uni versally known that it has been that paper which has checked the career of the monocrats."— Jfe7»M>ir and Correepond ence of Jefferson, London edition, iv., 49T. But the evidence against Mr. Jefferson in this matter is not entirely circum stantial. The late Dr. John W. Prancis, of New York, who was Prenean's physician in the latter years of his life informed the author that it was one of the most poignant griefs of that journalist that he had seemed to be an enem; of Washington. He assured Dr. Prancis that the Natimal GazeUe was entirely under the control of Mr. Jefferson, anc that the Secretary dictated or wrote the most vioUnt attacks on Washin^tim a/nd his politimL friem/lB, The only excuse fo: the conduct of Mr. Jefferson at that time is political monomania. OF THE WAR OP 1812, >J9 Genet's Beception in South Carolinii. Privateers commiaeioned. Arrival and Eeception of one of them at Philadelphia. CHAPTER IV. " While France her huge limhs hathes recumbent in blood, And society's base threats with wide desolation, May Peace, like the dove who returned from the flood, Find ah ark of abode in our 'mild Constitution. But though peace is onr aim, Tet the boon we disclaim If bought by our Sovereignty, Justice, or Fame ; For ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls i^s waves." KoBEET Tbeat Paine. (iiiE*^*T*" — i^C] HE wisdom and timeliness ofWashington's proclamation of neu- I trality was soon made manifest. Genet came with blank com- missions for naval and military service, and proceeded to fit out two privateers at Charleston. He was also empowered to give authority to every French consul in the United States to consti- tute himself a court of admiralty, to dispose of prizes captured by French cruisers and brought into American ports. In defiance of the proclamation, his privateers, manned principally by American citizens, sailed from Charleston, with the consent and good wishes of the governor and citizens, to depredate on British commerce.' One of these privateers was DEmhuacade, the frigate that brought Genet to our shores. She went prowling up the coast, seizing several vessels, and at last captured a fine British merchantman, named The. Grange., within the Capes of the Delaware, when she proceeded to Philadelphia in triumphant attitude.* Her arrival .May 2, was greeted by a great assemblage of people on the brink of the river. i™- " When the British colors were seen reversed," Jefferson wrote to Madison, " and the French flying above them, the people burst into peals of exultation." Upon her head, her foremast, and her stem, liberty-caps were conspicuous ; and from her masts float- ed white burgees, with words that echoed the egotistic proclamation of the French National Convention.^ VEmbuscade was the precursor of the French minister, who arrived at Philadel- phia- fourteen days later.* According to preconcert, a number of citizens ^^^^^^ met him at the Schuylkill and escorted him to the city, in the midst of the roar of cannon and the ringing of bells. There he received addresses from societies and the citizens at large ; and so anxious were his admirers to pay homage to their idol, that he was invited to a public dinner before he presented his credentials to the President of the United States ! At that presentation, which occurred on the 19th,"= the minister's pride was ^ ^^^ touched, and his hopeful ardor was chilled. He found himself ia an atmos- 1 General William Moultrie, the heroic patriot of the Kevolntion, was then Governor of South Carolina. A vrit of the day wrote : x , ^ " On that blest day when first we came to land. Great Mr. Moultrie took us by the hand ; Surveyed the ships, admired the motley crew. And o'er the envoy friendship's mantle threw \ Received the souns^imliitte with soft embrace, And bade him welcome with the kindliest grace." 2 From her foremast were displayed the words, " Enemies of equality, reform or tremble ;" from her mainmast, " Freemen we 'are your friends and brethren ;" from the mizzen-mast, "We are armed for the defense of the rights of man " VEttibumaiie saluted the vast crowd with fifteen guns, and was responded to on shore by cheers, and gnn for gun. 80 PICTOEIAL riELD-BOOK Genet in the Presence of Washington. His Eeception by his Political Friends. Democratic Societief phere of the most profound dignity in the presence of Washington; and he was mad( to realize his own littleness while standing before that nohle representative of the besi men and the soundest principles of the American Republic. He withdrew from th« audience abashed and subdued. He had heard sentiments of sincere regard for th« French nation that touched the sensibilities of his heart, and he had felt, in the genu ine courtesy and severe simplicity and frankness of the President's manner, whollj free from effervescent enthusiasm, a withering rebuke, not only of the adulators in public places, but also of his own pretentious aspirations and ungenerous duplicity.' Genet affected to be shocked by the evidences of monarchical sympathies in the President's house. ^ He was supremely happy when he was permitted to escape from the frigidity of truth, virtue, and dignity into the fervid atmosphere of a ban- 'Mayn, quet-hall filled with his "friends."* There his ears were greeted with the "^^- stirring Marseilles Hymn, an ode in French, composed for the occasion,^ and toasts brimful of " Liberty and Equality." There his eyes were delighted with a "tree of liberty" upon the table, and the flags of the two nations in fraternal enfold- ings. There his heart was made glad by having the red cap of liberty placed upon his own head first, and then upon the head of each guest, while the wearer, under the inspiration of its symbolism — " That sacred Cap, which fools In order sped In grand rotation, ronnd from head to head" — Uttered some patriotic sentiment. There his hopes of success were made to bud anew as he saw the officers and sailors of the privateer receive a "fraternal embrace" from each guest, and bear away to the robber the flags of the two nations amid the cheers of the convivialists. ^ Genet's presence intensified the party spirit of the Republicans. "Democratic Societies," in imitation of the Jacobin Clubs of France, were formed, secret in their proceedings, and disloyal in the extreme in their practice at that time. In servile imitation of their prototypes, they adopted the peculiar phrases of the populace of Paris;^ and a powerful faction was soon visible, more French than American in their labits of thought and political principles. By some strange infatuation, sensible and aatriotic men were drawn into the toils of the charmer, and they sanctioned and par- iicipated in scenes which composed a most astounding and humiliating farce.^ ■ Genet's address to Washmgton was full of fl-iendly professions. " It was impossible," Jefferson wrote to Madison 'for any thing to be more affectionate, more magnanimous than the purport of Genet's mission .He Xs eyew hmg, and asks nothmg." And yet, while making these professions, he had secret instructions in LiVpocletTofor^eSt bscord be ween the United States and Great Britain, and to set the American government at deCce if necessary he execution- of hxs designs. He had already openly insulted that government by his acts at cStoi-rcity X" "e Snal government '" °°"' ''"'' '"' "'"" ^■"i"^"'^''" »' «ta.iding alone in the attitude of diX:;^!!; ' He was " astoniaed and indignant" at seeing a bust of Louis XVI. In the vestibule, and complained of it to his friends" as an "msult to France." He was equally "astonished" by discovering In the pLiS«T«rinr ' .!t,ii, ledalllons of Capet and his family ," and he was " shocked to learn" that the Marquis LNoSlefrre^^^^ .afayette) and other emigrant Frenchmen had lately been admitted to the pSce "f Wash 1^1^ J^^^^^^ lost things disagreeable outside of the charmed circle of his "friends" ■ -inaeea ne louna nl ^»l'J^' "1,^ 'I" ^^ "f '"'^ Duponceau," of Philadelphia, a worthy French gentleman, who came to America with ae Baron De Steuben, and was for many years a distinguished citizen of Pennsylvania. The ode was trkSnft^rt^ n "i^!±,t\^l Tv'^- "''"'"n' ^"^ *""^'?«°g «'«* "f the Secretary of State, and then suig again. "'^ '""' The title of eUizen," says Griswold, " became as common in Philadelphia as in Paris and in tb» „«™<.„,,„. -^ uVfhetrsTveie^rmrbor^arc^^^^^^^^^^ rS. rr';5T™""'' "'!.™^ ''y''*"'-' ""^ P™««*^3 '» -"""gl^ ^""i« taiSe tiat 0? thXk e's Sure L°l^rt n^Lf„7 fw^r™"""' * oomvmy. One of the Democratic taverns displayed as a^g^ a revoftin^ SXf „f^h» intilated and bloody corpse of MaiieAntolnette.'''-/J^«M&o™ Co«r(, p. 350. Strange as It^avs^^^^^^^^ ifluencedby his prejudices at that time that he shut his eyes, appa rency, to all passSg"vL7,rd?omfv^Tto Mad" .;fcfof^oc^b":s lished woman. Her murderers accused and convicted her of crimes of Which they taew she was inno.™f eS""""'' ssimfr T^tL^Ls:^..f:xr- cast mto .the Magdaien <^r.^.^-,.k .J ^:::^L^^j:^^^i OF THE WAR OF 1812. 81 Enthnsiasm for the F rench Cause. The American and French Revolutions contrasted. Genlet rebaked by Jefferson. But the ludicrous picture of Genet's reception in Philadelphia was relieved by a dignified act. On the day of his arrival in that city, an address, signed by three hundred merchants and other substantial men of that city, in which was expressed the soundest loyalty to the letter and spirit of his proclamation of neutrality, was pre- sented to President Washington. Similar enthusiasm for the French cause was manifested in New York and a few other places, but the citizens were never obnoxious to the charge of overt disloyalty to the government. Although the Carmagnole^ was sung hourly in the streets, and Democratic societies fanned the zeal for the Jacobin system of government into in- temperate heat, the citizens, as such, remained loyal to the Constitution and the laws.^ The government, unawed by the storm of passion that beat upon it, went steadily forward in the path of right and duty. The Grange was restored to its British owners, and the privateers were ordered to leave the American waters. Orders were sent to the collectors of all the ports of the United States for the seizure of all vessels fitted out as privateers, and to prevent the sale of any prizes captured by such ves- sels. Americans from one of the privateers fitted out at Charleston were arrested and indicted for a violation of law ; and Chief Justice Jay declared it to be the duty of grand juries to present all persons guilty of such violation of the laws of nations with respect to any of the belligerent powers. These measures greatly irritated the French minister and his American partisans. He protested ; and the Secretary of State, soon finding him to be a troublesome friend, reiterated the opinions of the President, and j^lainly told him that, by commissioning jsrivateers, he had violated the sovereignty of the United States, and that it was ex- pected that The Genet and L' Emhuscade (the two privateers fitted out at Charleston) would leave the American waters forthwith. ison, after expressing his opinion that Genet's magnanimous offers would not be received, "It is evident that one or two of the Cabinet [meaning H.amilton and Knox], at least, under pretense of avoiding war on the one side, have no great antipathy to run foul of it on the other, and to make a part in the confederacy of princes against human liberty." 1 A dance, with singing, performed in the streets of Paris during the French Eevolution. ^' page 60. 2 These societies and the newspapers in their interest attempted to deceive the people by comparing the French Rev- olution to their own, as equallyjustilled and holy. JIany, totally ignorant of the facts, believed^ but enlightenment and better counsels kept their passions in check. The informed and thoughtful saw no just comparison between the two Revolutions. THE CONTEAST. The aspect of dignity, decorum, gravity, order, and religious solemnity so conspicuous in the American Revolution was wholly wanting in that of the French. " When I find," Hamilton wrote to Washington, "the doctrines of atheism openly advanced in the Convention, and heard with loud applauses ; when I see the sword of fanaticism extended to enforce a political creed upon citizens who were invited to submit to the arms of France as the harbingers of liberty ; Avhen I behold the hand of rapacity outstretched to prostrate and ravish the monuments of religious worship erected by those citizens and their ancestors ; when I perceive passion, tumult, and violence usurping those seats where reason and cool deliberation ought to preside— I acknowledge that I am glad to believe there is no real resemblance between what was the cause of America and what is the cause of France." The difference between American liberty and French libertij was graphically illustrated by a print called TJk Contrast, of which our engraving is a reduced copy. 82 PICTORIAL riELD-BOOK Persistence of the French Minister. His "Filibustering" Schemes. His Attempt to create a Eebellion, Genet, with offensive pertinacity, de- nounced this doctrine as contrary to right, justice, and the law of nations, and threatened "to appeal from the President to the people." The Re- publican papers sustained him in his course. 1 The Democratic societies be- came more bold and active ; and Genet, mistaking the popular clamor in his fa- vor for the deliberate voice of the na- tion, actually undertook to fit out as a privateer at Philadelphia, during the absence of the President at Mount Ver- non, under the very eyes of the national government, a British vessel that had been captured and brought in there by L' Embuscade, and which he named m French The Little Democrat. Mifflin, the Democratic Governor of Pennsyl- vania, interfered, and threatened to seize the vessel if Genet persisted in his course. The minister refused to listen. Jefferson begged him to desist until the return of the President. Genet spurned his kind words, and raved like a madman. He declared his determination to send The Little Democrat to sea, complained that he had been thwarted in all his undertakings by the government, denounced the Presi- dent as unfaithful to the wishes of the people, and resolved to press him to call the Congress together to act upon the subjects in dispute." Genet's official and private conduct became equally offensive ; and when, on Wash- ington's return to the seat of government, it "was recited to him, his indignation was aroused. " Is the minister of the French Republic to set the acts of the government at defiance with ii1ipunity f he asked. His Cabinet answered No. Forbearance to- ward the insolent minister was no longer required by the most exacting courtesy, and it was agreed in Cabinet council that the French government should be requested to recall him because he was offensive to that of the United States. Jefferson had become disgusted with him, and the tone of popular sentiment soon became more sensible and patriotic. His reiterated threat of aj)pealing from the President to the jjcople — in other words, to excite an msurrection for the purpose of overthrowing the government — had shocked the national pride ; and many considerate Republicans, 1 A writer in Freneau's Gazette said, "I hope the minister of France mil act -with firmness and spirit. The^j^^opZe are his friends, or the friends of France, and he will have nothing to apprehend; for, as yet, the people are the sovereigns of the United States. Too much complacency is an injury done to his cause ; for, as every advantage is already taken of France (not hy the people), farther condescension may lead to farther abuse. If one of the leading features of our government is pusillanimity when the British lion shows his teeth, let France and her minister act as becomes the dig- nity of her cause, and the honor and faith of nations." Freneau's paper, at that time, was assisted in its attacks upon the government by the General Advertiser (afterward known as the Avrm-a), edited by B. F. Bache, a grandson of Dr. Franklin, who had been educated in France. It was even more violent and abusive than its colleague, and even charged Washington with an intention of joining in the league of kings and priests against the French Kepublic ! 2 Genet was intrusted by his government with bolder schemes than the fitting out of privateers. He was to organize what are called in our day "filibustering expeditions," on an extensive scale, against the Spanish dominions, the object being no less than the seizure of Florida and New Orleans. An expedition against the former was to be organized in South Carolina, and against the latter in Kentucky. The one in the Missis-sippi Valley was to be led by General George Rogers Clarke, the conqueror of the Northwest, to whom was given the magniloquent title of "Major General in the Armies of France, and Commander-in-chief of the French Revolutionary Legions on the Mississippi." Funds for car- rying on these expeditions were to be derived from the payment to the minister, by the United States, of a portion of the national debt due to France. French emissaries were employed in South Carolina and Kentucky, and in the latter dis- trict, the public mind, irritated by the Spanish obstructions to the navigation of the Mississippi, was very favorable to the movement. The failure of Genet's mission put an end to these schemes of conquest, not, however, until they had produced annoying effects upon the national government. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 83 A Reaction. Genet recalled. His Successor. Biographical Sketcli of Genet. wVio had been zealous iu the cause of the Revolution in France, paused while listening to the audacious words of a foreigner who pre- sumed to dictate the course of conduct to be pursued by the be- loved Wa s h i n g t o n. The tide turned. Very soon there were dem- onstrations through- out the Union of agree- ment with the procla- mation of neutrality, which the jiartisans of Genet never dreamed of, and a strong and irresistible reaction in favor of the national government speedily manifested itself on every hand. Genet' was recalled, and M. Fouchet, a man equally indiscreet, was appointed his success- or. At the close of the year, Mr. Jeifer- son, whose views of French affairs had be- come much modified by the course of events at home and abroad, left the Cabinet and retired to private life, much to the regret of Washington, who found in him an able minister of state. Jef- ferson was a patriot, but, for several years, his jealousy and ha- tred of Hamilton and his friends made him a political monoma- niac. Wliile the govern- ment of the United States, unswayed by the popular sentiment in favor of France, and national resent- ment against Great Britain, had hastened, oi> the breaking out of war between those two countries, to adopt a strictly neutral policy, thereby showing great magnanmiity and a conciliatory spirit toward the late enemy in the field, that enemy, inmiical still, was pursuing a selfish and ungenerous course, which the wisest and best men of En- gland deplored. Regardless of the opinions of Europe expressed in the treaty for an armed neutrality in 1780,2 she revived the rule of war laid down by herself alone in 1 Mr. Genet never returned to Prance. At about the time of his recall, a change of faction had taken place in tiis country, and he thought it prudent not to return. He remained, married a daughter of George Clmton, Governor ol the State of New York, and became an ornament to American society. It is only of his ofBcial conduct, while the mmister of the French Jacobin government, that Americans have reason to complain of him. He was a man ol emment aciiii- ties At the time of his arrival in the United States, he was a few months more than thu-ty years of age, having oeen bom in January, 1TC3. He was a precocious boy, and from childhood was engaged in public employments He was attached to the embassies at Berlin, Vienna, Loudon, and St. Petersburg. Because of a spirited letter which he wrote to the Emperor of Russia, indignantly protesting against his expulsion from his dominions after the death oi i.ouis XVI he became a favorite of the French revolutionists. He was made adjutant general of the armies ol France and minister to Holland, and was employed in revolutionizing Geneva and annexing it to France. He was finally sent to America as minister and consul general. He was twice married. His second wife was the daughter ot Mr. Osgood, the first Postmaster General under the Constitution. He took great interest in agriculture, and his last illness was occa- sioned by his attendance at the meeting of an agricultural society of which he was president. He died ^ "s seat on Prospect Hill, near Greenbush, opposite Albany, on the Uth of July, 1834," One of his sisters was the celebrated Madame Campan, and another was Madame Anguie, mother-in-law of the distinguished Marshal Ney. Mr. Genet often spoke ol the vvisdom of Washington and his administration, the folly of his own countrymen at that time and of their admirers in America, and rejoiced that the proclamation of neutrality defeated his wild schemes. 2 During the American Revolut ion the superior maritime power of Great Britain was able to damage the commerce * Genet was buried in the grave-yard of the Reformed Dutch Church at Greenbush. Upon a plain marble tablet placed over his remains is the following inscription : , , . j. ^ ^ ^ i -.f • *„„ t>i™; " Under this humble stone are interred the remains of EnMu™ Chakles Ge^et, late Adjutant General, Minister Pleni- potentiary and Consul General from the French Republic to the United States of America. He was born at Versailles, parish of St Louis, in France, Januarv 8, 1TC3, and died at Prospect Hill, town of Greenbush, July 14 1834. "Driven by the storms of ihe Revolution to the shades of retirement, he devoted his talents to his adopted country, where he cherished the love of liberty and virtue. The pursuits of literature and science enlivened his peaceful solitude, Tnd he devoted hlB time to usefulness and benevolence. His last moments were like his life, an example of fortitude and hue Christian philosophy. His heart was love and friendship's sun, which has set on this transitory world, to rise with radiant splendor beyond the grave." i PICTOEIAL FIELD-JJOOK ■itish "Rules" and Orders in Conncil. Their I njustice. Tlie Armed Nentrality. reeling in tlie United Stateg. 756,' and first by a "provisional order in council," as it was called, issued in June, !Tovember 6 1 '^93,^ and then by another order in council, issued in November following,* 1^93. ' and secretly promulgated, she struck heavy blows at her antagonist, re- M-dless of the fact that they fell almost as heavily upon those who favored her by 3utrality. Citizens of the United States were then carrying on an extensive trade ith the French West India Islands, whose ports had been opened to neutrals for the me reasons as in 1756, and felt no apprehension of interference frqm any source, ut Great Britain had determined to again apply her starvation measures against her Ld enemy, and a secret order in council was issued, and silently circulated among the ritish cruisers, without the least notice or intimation to the American merchants; irecting all vessels engaged in trading with any colony of France to be taken into ritish ports for adjudication in the courts of admiralty.^ This lawless invasion of neutral rights, conducted secretly and treacherously, pros- ■ated at one blow a great portion of American commerce. The property of Amer- an merchants to the amount of many millions of dollars was swept from the seas to British ports and lost. This was regarded as little better than highway robbery, idged by the law of nations and common justice. When iatelligence of this high-handed measure reached the United States, it pro- ciced the hottest indignation throughout the land. Political strife instantly ceased, id both parties were equally zealous in denunciations of the treachery and aggres- ons of Great Britain, for which she ofiered no other excuse than expediency, grow- :g out of her evident determination to maintain her boasted position of" mistress of le seas," regardless of the rights of all the rest of the world. Congress was then iii ission, and measures were proposed for retaliation, such as reprisals, embargoes, se- other European nations immensely. The British government revived the rule of 1T56, below mentioned, and infringed rgely upon neutral commerce. To resist these encroachments, and to protect neutral maritime rights, Bussia, Swe- n, Denmark, and Holland formed a treaty of alliance, which they denominated The Armed Neutrality, hy which they 3dged themselves to support, at the hazard of war, if necessary, the following principles : 1. That it should be lawfiil r any ships to sail freely from one port to another, or along the coast of the powers at war. 2. That all merchandise d effects belonging to the snbjects of the belligerent powers, and shipped in neutral bottoms, should be entirely free ; at is, free ships make free goods. 3. That no place should be considered blockaded except the assailing power had ken a station so as to expose to imminent danger any ship attempting to sail in or out of snch ports. 4. Thatnoneu- il ships should be stopped without material and well-grounded cause ; and, in such cases, justice should be done them thout delay." The British navy triumphed over all opposition, the designs of the armed neutrality were defeated, d Holland was made a party to the war with the Americans and France. A similar attempt to restrict the maritime wer of Great Britain was made in the year ISOO, which resulted iu the destruction of the Danish fleet before Copen- gen in April, 1801. Soon after this The Armed Neutrality was dissolved, and the dominion of the seas was accorded England. 1 When the war between Great Britain and France was formally declared in 17B6, the former power announced, as a inciple of national law, "that no other trade should be allowed to nentrals with the colonies of a belligerent in time war than what is allowed by the parent state in time of peace." This was in direct opposition to the law of nations omulgated by Frederick the Great, of Prussia, namely, " the goods of an enemy can not be taken froin on board the ips of a friend ;" and also in direct violation of a treaty between England and Holland, in which it was stipulated ex- essly that " free ships make free goods" — that the neutral should enter safely and unmol^ted all the 'harbors ofthe lligerents, unless they were blockaded or besieged. England not only violated the treaty, but, having the might, ex- cised the right of invading the sovereignty of Holland, and capturing its vessels whose cargoes might be useliil for her vy. This assumption—this dictation of law to the nations to suit her own selfish purposes— turned against England e denunciations ofthe civilized world, and which for more than a century she has never ceased to receive. At that time r "law" was aimed directly at France, then much the weaker naval power. Unable to maintain her accnstomed ide with her West India Islands, she opened, their ports to neutrals. It was to destroy the trade by neutrals, so lucra- 'e to them and so beneficial to France, that Great Britain introduced that new principle of national law. 2 This order, intended as a starvation measure against France, declared that all vessels laden wholly or in part with eadstuffs, bound to any port of France, or places occupied by French armies, should be carried into England, and eir cargoes either disposed of there, or security given that they should be sold only in ports of a country in friendship th Great Britain. This order was issued on the 8th of June, 1793. ' The following is a copy ofthe order: "George B. : Additional instructions to all ships of war, privateers, etc. : "That they shall stop and detain all ships laden with goods the produce of any colony belonging to Prance, or con- ying provisions or other supplies for the use of such colonies ; and shall bring the same,'with their cargoes, to legal judication in our courts of a(^ralty. By his majesty's command. Signed, Dosdas. "November 6,1793." So secretly was this order issued that the first account of its existence reached the London Exchange with the details several captures which it authorized and occasioned. And Mr. Pincbuey, the American minister, was unable to pro- re a copy of it until the 25th of December, more than six weeks after it was issued Hnckney'a letter to his government, ■amber 26, 1793. OF THE WAR OF 18 12. 85 British Impressment of American Seamen. War threatened. John Jay a special Minister to England. questrations, and even war. The whole country was violently agitated ; and the excitement was increased by events on the Indian frontier, already mentioned, show- ing the hand of British influence in the bloody battles in the Northwest. Another and more serious element of discord between the two nations came up for consideration, and which, in after years, was one of the immediate causes of open hos- tilities between the two countries. This was the impressment of American seamen into the British service. In efibrts to maintam lier position of " mistress of the seas," Great Britain found herself under the necessity of announcing another " law of na- tions" to suit her particular case. High wages, humane treatment, and security from danger, to be found in the American merchant service, had attracted a great many British seamen to it. ^heir government, alarmed at the threatened weakening of its naval power by this drain, planted itself upon the theory that a subject can not ex- patriate himself — once an Englishman, always an Englishman ; proclaimed the doc- trine that in time of war the government had a right to the services of every subject ; and that, at the command of their sovereign, every natural-born subject was bound to return and fight the battles of his country. In accordance with this doctrine a proc- lamation was issued, by which authority was given to the commanders of British ships of war to make up any deficiency in their crews by pressing into their service British-born seamen wherever found, not within the immediate jurisdiction of any foreign state. Under this authority many American merchant vessels were crippled, while m mid-ocean, by British seamen being taken from them. ISTor were subjects of Great Britain alone taken. It was sometimes difficult to discover the nationality of English and American seamen ; and as the British commanders were not very nice in their scrutiny, native-born Americans were frequently dragged on board British war vessels, and kept* in servitude in the royal navy for years. This was a great and irri- tating grievance. War with Great Britain now seemed in- evitable. To avert it was Washington's most anxious desire. To do so, and main- tain strict neutrality, was a difficult task. He resolved to try negotiation. He well knew that the temper of his countrymen would oppose it. With a moral heroism commensurate with the occasion, he nom- inated John Jay, the Chief Justice of the United States, as envoy extraordinary to the Court of Great Britain, to negotiate for a settlement of all matters in dispute between the two governments. The prop- osition was met with a storm of indigna- tion. It was scouted as pusillanimous. The Democratic societies and Democratic newspapers were aroused into uncommon activity. The tri-colored cockade was seen on every side, and the partisans of the French regicides ruled the hour. Better counsels prevailed in the Senate, and on the 19th of April" that body confirmed the nomination by a vote of eighteen to eight. On the 12th of May following, Mr. Jay sailed from ISTew York for London. The French "Eepublic,!' meanwhile, had become offended with the United States because of the virtual dismissal of Genet, and demanded the recall of Mr. Morris. gg PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The Fall of the French Jacobms. Minister Monroe in Paris. Jay'. Treaty with Great Britain. Washington prudently complied, and appointed James Monroe in his place. T^e . . , latter arrived in France at an auspicious moment." Intelligence of the i?r^ new American mission to England had aroused the most bitter enmity to- ward the United States among the violent leaders of the National Convention. But their bloody rule was at an end. Robespierre and his fiendish associates had fallen. For some time they had been hated in the Convention. At length Billaud Varennes mounted the tribune, and, in a speech full of invective, denounced Robespierre as a ' Jni 26 tyrant.'' The accused attempted to speak. " Down with the tyrant !" burst °w^*- ' from many a lip, and he and his guilty colleagues were dragged to execu- tion amid the shouts of the populace, who had huzzaed as loudly when the king was murdered. With their fall the dreadful Reign of Terror ende^. The Jacobin society was suppressed. Reason and conscience were asserting their sway in the Conven- tion. The nation breathed freer, and the curtain fell on one of the bloodiest tragedies in the history of the human race. Monroe was received with great cordiality. He sent a judicious letter to the Pres- ident of the Convention. Its sentiments were consonant with the feelings of the liour. When he afterward entered the hall of the Convention the president em- braced him affectionately. It was decreed that the flags of the two nations should be entwined and hung up there, in token of international union and friendship ; and lyLonroe, with reciprocal courtesy, presented the banner of his country to the Conven- tion in the name of the American people. The Convention, in turn, resolved to pre- sent their national flag to the President of the United States. Jay's mission to England was partially successful. He found many obstacles to eontend with. He entered upon the business in June, with Lord Grenville, and on the 19th of November following, the contracting parties signed a treaty of amity, com- merce, and navigation. Although Mr. Jay accomplished much less than his instruc- tions directed him to ask for, the treaty was a long step in the direction of right, justice, and national prosperity, and led to the execution, to a great extent, of the Treaty of 1'783. It also laid the solid foundation of the commercial policy of the United States. > Jay's treaty was doomed to a severe trial, and, with it, the administration, the Constitution, and even the republic itself The Democrats had resolved to oppose it, whatever might be its provisions, especially if it should remove all pretexts for a war I The treaty provided for the establishment of commissions to determine the eastern botmdary of the United States, then in dispute ; the amount of losses incurred by British subjects by impediments being thrown in the way of collect- ing debts in the United States incurred before the Revolution ; and to ascertain and estimate the losses of the Americans by irregular and illegal captures by British cruisers, such losses to be paid by the British government. It was provided that the Western military posts should be given up on the Ist of June, 1796, in consideration of the adjustment of the ante-Eevolutionary debts. The Indian trade was left open to both nations, the British being allowed to enter jU American harbors, with the right to ascend all rivers to the highest port of entry. This was not reciprocated in full. Americans were not allowed free navigation of the rivers in the Hudson's Bay Company's possessions, nor those of others of the British colonial possessions in America, e:xcept atove the highest porta of entry. The citizens or subjects of each government holding lands in the dominions of the other government were to continue to hold them without alienage, nor were confiscations of the property of such persona to be allowed. In a word, the existing conditions of property should not be disturbed. Such are the substantial provisions in the first ten articles of the treaty, which were declared to be perpetual. The remaining eighteen, having apecial reference to commerce and navigation, were limited in their operations to two years after the termination of the war in which Great Britain was then engaged. American vessels were allowed to enter the British ports in Effrope and the East Indies on eqnal terms with those of British ves- sels, while participation in the East India coasting-trade, and trade between European and British East Indian ports, was left to the contingency of British permission. The British were permitted to meet the discrimination in the Amer- ican tonnage and import duties by countervailing measures. American vessels not exceeding seventy tons were allowed to trade to the British West Indies on condition that they should not, during the continuance of the treaty, transport from America to Europe any of the principal colonial products. British vessels were to be admitted into American ports on terms equal to the most favored nations. There were provisions made favorable to neutral property on the high seas, and that a vessel entering a blockaded port should not be liable to -capture unless previously notified of the blockade. There were satisfactory arrangements made concerning enlistments ; of courtesy between ships of war and privateers of the two countries j to prevent the arming of privateers of any nation at war with the two contracting par- ties, and the capture of goods in the bays apd harbors of the parties. In the event of war between the two countries, the citizens or subjects of either should not be molested, if peaceable ; and fugitives from justice, charged with high crimes, to be mutually given up.* * The Treaty in full may be found in the Stateanum'e Manual, iv., 298. OF THE WAB OF 1812. SI Violent Opposition to the Treaty. Its Friends assailed. Secession proposed by Virginians. with Great Britain. It reached the President early in March,* hut the Sen- . March 6, ate were not convened to consider it until June.'' Meanwhile an unfaithful "^'>- Cabinet minister (Mr. Randolph, of Virginia) revealed enough of its charac- ' """"^ ^' ter to warrant attacks upon it. The mad, seditious cry of faction was immediately raised in the Democratic societies and spread among the people. > The Senate finally voted to ratify the treaty, and it was published to the world. ^ Then the opposition opened upon it their heaviest batteries of abuse. The chief tar- gets for their shot were its provisions for the payment of honest debts contracted be- fore the Revolution, and the omission to provide for the remuneration of slaveholders . for their negroes carried away during that war. As the Constitution of the United States, and the public sentiment and judicial decisions of Great Britain did not recog- nize man as property,^ the claim relating to slaves in the old treaty was passed over. The author of the treaty, the approving senators, the administration, and the Presi- dent personally, were violently assailed. The treaty was declai-ed to be a token of national cowardice ; an insult to the American people ; a covert hlow at Prance, their old ally. Bold attempts were made to intimidate the President and prevent his sign- ing it. Public meetings were held all over the country, at which the most violent language and seditious suggestions and menaces were made. A mob in Philadelphia paraded in the streets with effigies of Jay and the ratifying senators.* A meeting in Boston denounced the treaty as containing not one article " honorable or beneficial to the United States." H^iilton and other speakers in favor of the treaty were stoned at a public meeting in New York, not only by a low mob, but by decent people. = South Carolinians called Jay a " traitor," longed for a guillotine, trailed the British flag in the dust of the streets of Charleston, and burned it at the door of the British consul ; while Virginians, ever ready with the grand panacea of disunion for political evils, ofiered their prescription in emphatic if not elegant language.^ > The following is a specimen of those factions cries : " Americans, awake 1 Remember what you suffered throngh a seven years' war with the satellites of George the Third (and I hope the last). Eecollect the services rendered by your allies, now contending for liberty. Blush to think that America should degrade herself so much as to enter into any Mnd of treatg with a power, now tottering on the brink of ruin, whose principles are directly contrary to the spirit of republicanism. The United States are a republic. Is it advantageous to a republic to have a connection with a mon- arch 1 Treaties lead to war, and war is the bane of a republican government. . . . France is our natural ally ; she has a government congenial with our own. . . . The nation on whom our political exiatenoe iepends we have treated with in- difference bordering on contempt. . . . CiMzens, your security depends on France. ... Let us unite with France, and stand or fall together." 2 The Senate, on voting to recommend the ratification of the treaty, removed the seal of secrecy, but forbade the publi- cation of the treaty itself, for prudential reasons connected with measures for ascertaining the construction by the English of the order of the 8th of June, 1793 (see page 84), which, it was rumored, had Just been renewed. Eegardless alike of the rules of the Senate, of official decorum, and of personal honor. Senator Thomson Mason, of Virginia, sent a copy of it to the Amrora newspaper, the bitter enemy of the administration, and a full abstract of it was published therein on the 2d of July. A poet of the day thus Ironically addressed Mr. Mason : " Ah, Thomson Mason ! long thy fame shall rise With Democratic incense to the skies I Long shall the world admire thy manly soul. Which scorned the haughty Senate's base control ; Came boldly forward with thy weighty name. And gave the treaty up for public game 1" — The Echo, 3 In 1697 an English court decided that " negroes being usually bought and sold among merchants as merchandise, and also being infideli, there might be a property in them sufficient to maintain trover." In 1703 Chief Justice Holt de- cided that "so soon as a negro lands in England he is free." To this Oowper alluded when he said, "Slaves can not breathe in England." Holt also decided that "there is no such thing as a slave by the law of England." Just before the kindling of the Eevolutlon these decisions were reaffirmed by Chief Justice Lord Mansfield in the case of James Somerset, a native of Africa, who had been carried to Virginia, sold as a slave, and taken to England by his master, where he was induced to assert his freedom. » That of Jay bore a pair of scales : one was labeled "Ameriean libertji and incUpendence," and the other, which greatly preponderated, "British gold." From the mouth of the figure proceeded the words, " Come up to my price, andlvyOl sell you my couvMV" 5 "These are hard arguments," said Hamilton, who was hit a glancing blow upon the forehead by one of the stones. " Edward Livingston," says the late Dr. Francis, in his OM anA Nem York (" afterward so celebrated for his Louisiana Code), was, I am Informed, one of the violent young men by whom the stones were thrown." « " Notice is hereby given," said a Eichmond paper (July 31, 1795), " that in case the treaty entered into by that damn- ed arch-traitor, John Jay, with the British tyrant should be ratified, a petition will be presented to the next General Assembly of Virginia at the next session, praying that the said state may recede from the Union, and be under the gov- ernment of one hundred thousand free and independent Virginians. " P.S. As it is the wish of the people of the said state to enter into a treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation with PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Washington's Calmness and Faith. The "Whisky Insurrection" quelled. The "Democratic Societies." None of these things moved Washington. He signed the treaty, and awaited almly to see the storm pass by. It did so, and the foundations of the government were found to be stronger than ever. It was, says Lyman, "the first act of the gov- rnment that proved the stability of the Federal Constitution. It was a severe trial, Qd the steadiness with which the shock was borne may be attributed, in some de- ree, to the personal character of the President."^ In after years, when the republic ■as menaced by internal factions and external foes, the result of the conflict over Jay's Treaty" was pointed to as a warrant for faith and hope. While these unpleasant relations with Great Britain and France were exciting the sople of the United States, the government was sorely perplexed by other events at ome and abroad. At home there had been, for a long time, much discontent on ac- )unt of excise laws which levied a duty on domestic distilled liquors. These discon- ints were fanned into a flame by the Democratic societies, and, in the summer of ? 94, the inhabitants of some of the western counties of Pennsylvania arrayed them- ilves in armed opposition to the authority of the national government. A formidable surrection prevailed. Buildings were burned, mails were robbed, and government ficers were insulted and abused. At one time there were nearly seven thousand insur- mts in arms, many of them being the militia of the country, who hadassembled at the ,11 of rebel leaders. The insurgent spirit also infected the border counties of Virginia. The President perceived with alarm this imitation of the lawlessness of French pol- ios, then so assiduously propagated, and took immediate s^s to crush the growing August T and moiister. He first issued two warning proclamations." They were un- leptember 25. heeded. After exhausting all peaceable means for the restoration of der, he sent a large body of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, and Maryland oops, under General Henry Lee (then Governor of Virginia), into the disaffected dis- ict. This argument was effectual ; and very soon the outbreak, known in history as e "Whisky Insurrection," like that of Shays's in Massachusetts a few years earlier^ as subdued and thoroughly allayed. This alarming insurrection was ended without e shedding of a drop of blood— a result chiefly due to the prompt energy and pru- ince of Washington. The government was amazingly strengthened by the event. ierj good citizen expressed his reprobation of violent ' resistance to law, and the 3mocratic societies, the chief fomenters of the rebellion,^ after that showed symp- ms of a desire to become less conspicuous.^ ' other state or states of the present tTnion who are averse to returning again under the galling yoke of Great Britain prmters of the (at present) United States are requested to publish thl above notiflcatioi " orweatiJritam, Lyman's Diplomacy of the United States, 1, 208. "That the Belf-constituted societies," Washington wrote to John Jay, "which have spread themselves over this ntry have been laboring incessantly to sow the seeds of distrust. Jealousy, and of course discoSSebyhonta' effect some revolution in the government, is not unknown to you.* That they have been the foSers of the wSt disturbances, admits of no doubt in the mind of any one who will examine their conduct " °' '"^ "^^^' I consider this insurrection," he wrote to General Henry Lee on the 26th of August, "as the first formidable fruit of nZZf^Zf-""' ^'™^ ■ ' '''"™' '™ ^'■''■"'""^'y *"• '^^- o™ "ews! Which may coSute to tte an- I have before me the certificate of membership granted to Capt ain (afterward Commodo re) Joshua Barney by the ^disr^e-th'^nr-'^zr^Ss ^ir^^^^^^^^^^^ silent and the goveoors of the thirteen states. Be'sidfs the''sf th^r'e ^sTgi^nV^ouS" XSt^rsTo^^lTe nbers. It was a very popular society, and its membership included most of the best men of New To, t Tu 1 , «ry on the 12th of May came to be regarded as a holiday^ No party politics werP toW»t,.i V Z \- '^ '"^"'' m Washington denounced " self-constit^ted societies'- for reaso3ovena^^^^^^^^ ing their society to be included in the just reproof. Mooney and others adhered t^the Zar,i!«Hn ^ ^ *v t e It became a political organization, and took part with Jefferson and the Static paruitt »??,,"'' ^""^ *"' IS known as a centre of Democratic organization, in the political ..ense of Zt^Ze itshead au« tpr»T t"'"' '^^^ I' ;T'"»?-™ 't" ^'"'^" ^'^^ of the City Hall Park, at thejmiction ofNass^u Street and P„rtp„^r" ' • "it "i *^^'"'?<' ^™S ^°™' ™ the southeast comer of Nassau and Spruce St?Lts In the vp„r 1^1^;,. ^^^ uined to build a " wigwam." Tammany Hall was accordingly erected by them The comer ^nZZ , -f ^^ ft nty-second anniversary of the society, in May, ISll, and was finished the following year Of the orilfV*'* "V^" hirteen appointed at the meeting in 1800 to carry out the design of erecting a bulldinrLw „ ?,°^' committee t is the venerable Jacob Barker, of New Orleans. erecang a Dullding, only one now (1867) survives: OF THE WAR OF 1812. 89 Difficulty with Algiers. British Interference. Algerine Corsairs let loose upon American Commerce. The new diiBculty abroad was with Algiers, one of the Barbary Powers, on the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The corsairs of those states, and especially of Algiers, had long depredated upon commerce in that region, and had grown bold by suffered imjjuuity. When, at the close of the Revolution, American vessels began to find their way within the Pillars of Hercules, they frequently became the prey of these sea-robbers, who appropriated their cargoes and sold their crews into slavery, where they were held for ransom-money. President Washington called the attention of the national government to these piracies as early as 1790 ; and, in an able rejiort, Secretary Jefferson laid before Congress important details touching the position of American interests in that part of the globe. Little, however, could be done, as the Americans had no navy ; and the commerce of the United States in that quarter was for a long time dependent on the Portuguese fleet for protection. Portugal was at war with Algiers for several years, and the fleet of the former con- fined the cruisers of the latter to the Mediterranean Sea. This barrier was broken in 1793, by British instrumentality acting secretly, for the avowed purpose of damaging France. Portugal was then seriously dependent on Great Britahi, and had asked its aid in procuring a peace with Algiers. The British agent at the Court of the Dey was instructed to do so, and, without due authority being given him by Portugal to act in its behalf, he concluded a truce between the belligerents for one year. In that treaty was introduced the extraordinary stipulation that the Portuguese government should not afford protection to any nation against Algerine cruisers ! This truce was immediate in its operations, and the robbers were released without notice being given to other powers. The effect of this measure was disastrous to American commerce. Notwithstand- ing the British ministry disclaimed any intention to injure the United States, it was very evident that it was a j3art of a scheme to cripple the growing commerce of the Americans, or at least so to alarm it as to prevent its carrying supplies to France. And such was the result. The corsairs spread themselves over the Atlantic near the European coasts, and captured a large number of American vessels making their way to Portugal and other parts of the Continent, unsuspicious of any danger. The cor- sairs of Tunis joined those of Algiers, and thus a powerful fleet of pirate ships was formed.' Democratic or Kepuhlican Society of B.iltimore, with the seal of the society attached, by the side of which his name is written. The following is a copy of the certificate and seal : "To all other Societies established on principles of Libeett and Equality, Union, Pateiotio Virtue, and Peese- VEEANOE. "We, the Members of the Republican Society of Baltimore, certify and declare to all Eepublican or Democratic Soci- eties, and to all Eepublicans individually, that Citizen JoanuA Baeney hath been admitted and now is a member of our Society, and that, from his kno^vn zeal to promote Republican principles and the rights of humanity, we have granted him this our certificate (which he hath signed in the margin), and do recommend him to all Republicans, that they may receive him with fraternity, which we offer to all those who may come to us with sim- ilar credentials. "In testimony whereof, etc. Signed, Alexander 51'Ki.m, President "Geoege Seaes, Sccn-faru" This certificate is dated the "twelfth day of August, and in the nineteenth year of the independence of the United States and the establishment of the American Republic," or 17!)6. 1 The maritime force of Algiers at that time, according to O'Brien (see American State Pciperx, x., 32.S), consisted of four frigates, with an aggregate of 124 guns ; one polacca (a vessel with three short masts, without tops, caps, or cross- tree.s to the upper yards), with 18 guns ; one brig of 20 ; four xebecs (a small three-masted vessel used In the Mediter- PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK i Pride and Avarice of the Dey of Algiers. An American Navy recommended. First Steps toward its Creation. The Americans felt justly indignant toward Great Britain because of the important rt she had played in letting those robbers out of the Mediterranean. But the gov- - iment was powerless to act. David Humphreys, who had been appointed commis- mer for the United States to negotiate with the Dey of Algiers, had been treated Lth contempt by the haughty semi-barbarian, who was as avaricious as he was oud. "If I were to make peace with every body," he said, "what should I do Lth my corsairs ? "What should I do with my soldiers ? They would take off my ad for the want of other prizes, not bemg able to live on their miserable allow- ice !" Such logic was unanswerable by words, and Humphreys wrote to his government the close of 1793, at the suggestion of Captain Richard 0'Brien,> "If we mean to ive a commerce, we must have a navy to defend it." With the same recognition the necessity for nautical power, Washington, in his message at the opening of Con- gress early in December,^ said, when alluding to the war in Europe, and the deli- '*'■ cate international questions arising out of the frontier relations of the republic, rhere is a rank due to the United States among nations, which will be withheld, if )t absolutely lost, by the reputation of weakness. If we desire to avoid insult, we ust be able to repel it ; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful in- ruments of our prosperity, it must be known that we are at all times ready for ar." The President's wise counsels prevailed. In January,* 1794, a commit- annary 2. ^^^ ^^^ appointed, with instructions to report the amount of force neces- ry to protect American commerce against the Algerine pirates, and the ways and eans for its support.^ This measure, and the general subject of British aggressions, icited, as we have seen, long and warm debates, and party lines were very distinctly larch 26 drawn. The feeling against Great Britain became intense, and in March" ifw. ' an embargo for a limited period was laid, chiefly for the purpose of ob- ructing the supply of provisions for the British fleet in the West Indies.^ Then llowed the appointment of Mr. Jay as minister extraordinary to Great Britain, al- ady noticed. There was a powerful and determined opposition to the creation of a navy. With range ideas of national honor and national independence, some advocated the pur- lase of a peace with the Dey of Algiers, and the future security of his forbearance, J ransom and tribute money, rather than prepare for, and thus, as they believed, revoke a war. And these cowardly counsels had great influence; for when, finally, iiarch 11 ^ ^iU 'W^^s passed'' providing for the construction of six frigates, it was en- 1794. cumbered with a clause commanding a suspension of labor upon them in le event of a peace with Algiers being secured. For the purchase of such peace a illion of dollars were appropriated. An act was also passed for the fortification of le harbors of the republic.'* These were the first steps toward the creation of the ivy, army, and fortifications of the United States under the National Constitution. Dean), with an aggregate of 168 guns ; a brig on the stoclis of 20 guns ; three galliotas, with 4 gnns each ; and sixty ji-hoats. The vessels were all manned at the rate of twelve men for each gun. Ttmis had, at the same time, twenty- ree corsairs, mounting from 4 to 24 guns each. ' Letter of O'Brien to Humphreys, dated "Algiers, November 12, 1793." — See AyneriAom, State Papere^ Boston edition, 17, X., 319. 2 This was the first Committee of Ways and Means ever appointed by the Congress, questions of that sort having en hitherto referred to the Secretary of the Treasury. It was an opposition measure. 3 First for thirty days, and afterward for sixty. At the end of that time the embargo expired by limitation, but a mporary act authorized the President to renew it at any time before the next session of Congress. * The naval bill provided that four of the six frigates should carry 44 guns each, and the other two 30 guns each, bout $700,000 were appropriated for the purpose. In the matter of harbor defenses, the President was authorized to mmence fortifications at Portland, Portsmouth, Gloucester, Salem, Boston, Newport, New London, New York, Phila- ilphia, Baltimore, Annapolis, Alexandria, Norfolk, Ocracoke Inlet, Wilmington, Cape Fear Elver, Georgetown, S. C, aarleeton, Savannah, and St. Mary's. But the whole amount of money appropriated for this purpose was the paltry im of $136,000. True, this was only for the cammeiicmieTii of the fortifications. The President was authorized to pnr- lase two hundred cannon, and artillery munitions for the forts, for which $96,000 were appropriated. For the estab- jhment of arsenals and armories $81,000 were appropriated, and $340,000 were provided for the purchase of arms and OF THE WAK OF 1812. 91 Building of Prigates. Tribute to the Dey of Algiers. Eelease of Captives. The French Directory offended. Perceiving an urgent necessity in the aspect of foreign affairs in relation to his own governnient, the President resolved to have the six frigates huilt immediately, and their keels were soon respectively laid in six different ports. ^ The work was going on briskly, when it was suspended, at the close of 1 795, by the conclusion of a treaty of peace" with the African robber, which cost the governnient a million . November 28, of dollars without ultimate advantage.^ The work on the six frigates "'''• was suspended, and the mercantile marine of the United States lost all hope of pro- tection in the event of a war with any foreign government. At the beginning of 1796 the aspect of the foreign affairs of the republic was peace- ful. The Indian war in the West had ceased ; a better understanding with Great Britain prevailed than had been known since the close of the Revolution ; and the French government, then in the hands of a Directory,^ showed no special symptoms of enmity toward that of the United States. But clouds soon began to appear in that section of the pcilitical horizon. The ratification of Jay's treaty gave such offense to the Directory that they declared* the alliance between France and the t February is. United States at an end, and that Adet, the successor of Fouchet, should ^^°*" be recalled, to rdake room for a special minister. In July," when intelli- ° J°iy ^• gence was received that the Congress of the United States had made an appropriation for the due execution of Jay's treaty, the Directory issued a secret order authorizing French ships of war to treat neutral vessels in the same manner as they had suffered themselves to be treated by the English. Under this authorization, numerous Amer- ican ships were seized in the West Indies by French cruisers. This was followed in military stores. The importation of arms for two years was to be ft-ee, and no arms were allowed to be exported for a year.. . 1 These were Portsmouth, N. H., Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Norfolk. The President also pro- ceeded to appoint the following officers, constructors, and navy agents : Captains and Supermtendents. Naval Conatructora. Navy Amenta. For Shipa to be built at John Barry. Samuel Nicholson. Silas Talbot. Eichard Dale. Thomas Truxtun. James Sever. Joshua Humphreys. George Cleghom. Porman Cheesman. John Morgan. David Stodert. James Hackett. Isaac Coxe. Henry Jackson. John Blagge. W. Pennock. Jeremiah Yillott. Jacob Sheaffe. Philadelphia. Boston. New York. Norfolk. ' Baltimore. Portsmouth. 2 The relations of those African sea-robbers to the commerce of the world at that time was a disgrace to the civilized nations who suffered themselves to be made tributary to the piratical rulers of the semi-barbarian states on the south- em shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The first contact of those powers with the Americans was in 178B, when Algerine corsairs captured two vessels from the United States, and consigned their crews, twenty-one in number, to slavery. Measures were immediately taken by the diplomatic agents of the United States in Europe for their release. The rapacious Dey believed he had found a new mine of wealth, and he asked an enormous price for their ransom. The American government determined not to estab- lish a precedent that would be followed by more exorbitant demands. In Prance was a religious order, called Mathu- rins, established in ancient times for the purpose of redeeming Christian captives in the hands of the infidels. On the solicitation of Mr. Jefferson, then minister of the United States at the French Court, the principal of this order under- took to procure a release of the American captives. He was unsuccessful. Others made similar attempts, with like re- sults. The Dey refused to lower his demands, believing that the United States would pay any price rather than allow Americans to remain in bondage. Finally onr government appropriated $40,000 for their ransom, and first John Paul Jones, and then Mr. Barclay, were appointed commissioners to negotiate for their release. Bach died before he reached Algiers, and the business was placed in the hands of Colonel David Humphreys, American minister at Lisbon. This was at about the time when the truce between Portugal and Algiers, already mentioned, was concluded. The Algerine fleet was then upon the Atlantic, and, within a month after the truce was agreed upon, ten American vessels were cap- tured by them, and over one hundred American seamen consigned to slavery. Colonel Humphreys asked the Dey for a passport to Algiers. The elated raler said that he would not make peace with the Americans on any terms, nor allow any American embassador to come to his capital. Humphreys hastened to the United States, when Congress appropri- ated about a million of dollars to be applied to the release of the captives. In the spring of 1795 Humphreys sailed for Europe, with Mr. Donaldson, consul for Tunis and Tripoli. While the former remained in Prance to obtain the aid of that government, Donaldson made a treaty with the Dey. The captives were finally released on the payment of a large sum of money, and an agreement on the part of the United States to pay to the Dey of Algiers an annual tribute. The amount to be paid down was ,$800,000, and, in addition, the United States agreed to present the Dey with a frigate worth one hundred thousand dollars. The amount of annual tribute-money was twenty-five thousand dollars. This treaty was humiliating to the United States, but it was in accordance with the usages of European nations, and could not then be avoided. ,„ . , ^.,. ,. , ^ xv . » <■ ' The Directory was installed at the Lnxembourg at Pans, nnder a new constitution of government, on the Ist of November 1795 and was appointed to hold executive power for four years. It was composed of five members, and rnled in connection with the Chambers, namely, the Council of Ancients and the Council of Five Hundred. 92 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK American Servility. Close of Washington's Administration. Attacks on his Character. America by Minister Adet's famous " cock- ade proclamation," calling upon all French residents in the United States, in the name of the Directoi-y, to mount on their hats a tri-colored cockade. The call was loyally responded to, and many American Demo- crats, also, were seen with this token of their devotion to the French Republic. Mr. Monroe, having failed to please either the French Directory or his own govern- ment, was superseded by Charles Cotes- worth Pinckney, of South Carolina. That gentleman embarked as minister to France in September, bearing with him Monroe's letters of recall. Washington's second administration was now drawing to a close, and he resolved to ^ retire to private life. In September he is- l "f^ Z^'' ^ ^^'^^ ^^"^ admiral^le Farewell Address to his 1^3 1^ 1:33 :2<2^j,-<>C?^2<^2---'^--^ countrymen — a political legacy of inestima- ble value. At the same time the first great struggle of the Federal and Democratic parties for power was going on, in the can- vass'for Washington's successor. The candidates were Adams and Jefferson ; and every appeal which party spirit or party rancor could invent was made to the people all over the land. Adet, with unparalleled impudence, issued an inflammatory appeal to the peoj^le, containing a summary of alleged violations of friendship to France on the part of the United States government. It was chiefly intended to arouse the feeliu ''.""• ^-Tr' ^'''^r^^ ^ regularprovisional army of about twenty thousand men, and ive the President author y to appoint officers for it ; also to receive and organize volunteer corps, who should be ex- apted from ordinary militia duty. The sum of $800,000 was appropriated for the purchase of cannon arms, and mUitary ores. Provision was made for fortifying the harbors of the United States-a labor already commencedland, for the rther security of ports the purchase and equipment often galleys. The President was also authorized to cause twelve Xp of not Z, ^° on ^™' "'°^' M ^ Department, the duties of which the reive ofnot loss than 20 nor exceed- ^ /> Secretary of War had hitherto per- f?8SZ"'t'^^"^"1,'""''^; /yjy. .^^ryio / formed, was created, and on the loth venjrtf ;f' ^''■,f"7lx'""^ tV^^ ^C^^-cQt^ of April, 1T98, Benjamin Stoddert, of venue cutters to be built. A Navy Georgetown, in the District of Colnm- a, was appointed the first Secretary of the Navy, and took his seat in the Cabinet. , ti^!i ''^'y °f !^''«' York was greatly excited by the prospect of a war with Prance. Its commerce had suffered much r„r ^T^j V ?-^ * cruisers, and the mercantile classes were greatly exasperated. The Hepnblicans or Dem- nll t 1 o-ilf f'^»?'="*<'°. ^^°^ meetings were public, called " The Society of Free Debate." A meeting was ilea lor the 2ith of April, 1T98, to discuss the question, "Would it be better policy, under existing circumstances, to Lf." "^v.^'T ? ^?!'°^ proposed by some as a less dangerous measure], than to arm in defense of our carrying- „7™. -^ I^f aeralists went to the meeting in great numbers, and, by an overwhelming vote, elected Jacob Morton vp,!^^„'.t ^f ?,, ° °'^^}^^^. ™*.«3 f™ »™™g- They expressed by resolutions fall approbation of the conduct of the ZTww «f " determination to support it. They appointed a committee, consisting of Colonel Jacob Morton, ent «1,f P™!f '■ Nicholae Bvartson, John Cozine, and Josiah Ogden Hoffman, to draft an address to thePresl 'iTaddresTed thrrSL '''""'°"™ """ '^' ^""^ """""' *°™"' ^''°<'^- ^"«'' ^^^ ««°«™°t » °n° ores™^ ^S/t^*"^^ "^f l" "•' ""^ ''ddressed by the late Chief Justice Samuel Jones. Nine hundred young ■atost the French *''™'^'™= '" ^^ '" readiness, at a moment's warning, to offer their sei-vices to their country ^I^fi"!!,?' '^ °'"^™.! ""^ N«w"^o* Chamber of Commerce took action concerning the defenses of New York Thev ntheTtrv"!nd1r" H»? " r' '"'^T" '" ■="" " P"""" ""'"■'S^ "f <='*"«"« ^h" ■night "e ready to defend rnTi Srr^l^ ^ .^„ defenseless port." The call was made, and an invitation was given for such citizens to e RefobZi If '^"'"H"''.'^, •^"P^' '* """S ^««° ascertained that Colonel Stevens, an elper°euLd arSS rf e Revolution was wilhng to take the direction of them and to give them insti-nctions. P^^ucea artillerist of ar of ill As ' °'"' "' "Black-cockade Federalists," which was a term of reproach until ten years after the OF THE WAB OF 1812. 97 Patriotic SongB. History of Bail, Columbia 1 and Adaim amd Liberty. intense hatred, which sometimes led to personal collisions. In the sti-eets of cities opposing processions were seen; and all over the land the new songs oiSail, Colum- bia I and Adams and lAherty, were sung with unbounded applause.' The excitement against some of the opposition leaders in Congress soon hecame mtense, and the most obnoxious of them, from Virginia, sought personal safety in flight, under the pretense of attention to their private affau-s at home. ' The history of the origin and fate of these two songs is curious. The former, almost totally destitute of poetic merit, is still sung, and is regarded as a national song ; the latter, ftiH of genuine poetry, has been forgotten. Hail, Columbia ! was written in the spring of 1798, when the war spirit of the nation was aroused by the irritating news from France. Mr. Fox, a young singer and actor in the Philadelphia Theatre, was to have a benefit. There was so little novelty at the play-house that he anticipated a failure. On the morning previous, he called upon Joseph Hopkinson, and said, "Not a single box has been taken, and 1 fear there will be a thin house. If yon will write me some patriotic verses to the tune of the ' President's March,' I feel sure of a full house. Several people about the theatre have attempt- ed it, but they have come to the conclusion that it can not be done. Yet I think you may succeed." Hopkinson retired to his study, wrote the first verse and chorus, and submitted them to Mrs. Hopkinson, who sang them with a harpsichord accompaniment. The time and words harmonized. The song was soon finished, and the young actor received it the same evening. The theatre placards the next morning announced that Mr. Fox would sing a new patriotic song. The house was crowded— the song was sung— the audience were wild with delight ; for it t(^ched the public heart with elec- trical effect at that moment, and eight timesthe singer was called out to repeat the song. When it was sung the ninth time the whole audience arose and Joined in the chorus. On the following night (April 30, 1798) the President and his wife and some of the heads of departments were present, and the singer was called out time after time. It was repeat- ed night after night in the.theatres of Philadelphia and other places, and it became the universal song of the boys in the streets. On one occasion a crowd thronged the street in fl:onf of the author's residence, and suddenly " Hail, Colum- bia !" from five hundred voices broke the stillness' of the midnight air. In June following Robert Treat Paine was requested to write a song, to be eung at the anniversary of the "Massa- chusetts Charitable Fire Society." He wrote a political song adapted to the temper of the times, and called it ' ' Adams and Liberty." At the house of Major Russell, editor of the Boston Centinel, the author showed it to that gentleman." " It is imperfect," said Euasell, "without the name of Washington, in it." Mr. Paine was about to take some wine, when Russell politely and good-naturedly interfered, saying, "Tou can have none of my wine, Mr. Paine, until you have written another stanza, with Washington's name in it." Paine walked back and forth a few moments, called for a pen, and wrote the finest verse in the whole poem — a verse which forms the epigraph of the chapter on the next page. This song, in nine stanzas, became immensely popular. It was sung all over the country, in theatres and public places, in workshops and drawing-rooms, and by the boys in the streets. The sale of it on "broadsides" yielded the airthor a profit of $750. The temper of the large majority of the American people at that time is expressed in the following verses of the ode : " While Fi'ance her huge limbs bathes recumbent in blood. And Society's base threats with wide dissolution ; May Peace, like the dove, who returned from the flood, I^d an ark of abode in our mild Constitution. But though Peace is our aim. Yet the boon we disclaim. If bought by our Sov'reignty, Justice, or Fame. " 'Tis the fire of the flint, each American warms ; Let Rome's haughty victors beware of collision. Let them bring all the vassals of Europe in anns- We're a' world by ourselves, and disclaim a division. While with patriot pride To our laws we're allied. No foe can subdue us, no faction divide. " Our mountains are crowned with imperial oak. Whose roots, like our liberties, ages have nourished ; But long ere our nation submits to the yoke. Not a tree shall be left on the field where it flourished. Should invasion impend. Every grove would descend From the hill-tops they shaded, our shores to defend. " let our patriots destroy Anarch's pestilent worm. Lest our Liberty's growth should be checked by corrosion ; Then let clouds thicken round us, we heed not the storm, .Our realm fears no shock but the earth's own explosion. Foes assail us in vain, Though their fleets bridge the main. For our altars and laws with our lives we'll maintain. For ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves." G )8 PICTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK 'reparations for War. Washington invited to command the Army. He accepts. Hamilton acting General-in-chief. CHAPTER V. " Should the tempest of war overshadow onr land, Its bolts could ne'er rend Freedom's temple asunder ; For, unmoved, at its portal, woald Washington stand, And repulse with his breijist the assaults of the thunder ! His sword from the sleep Of its scabbard would leap. And conduct with its point ev'ry flash to the deep I For ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves." EoBEET Tbeat Paine. AVING resolved on war, if necessary, for the dignity of the nation, the question arose spontaneously in the hearts of the American people. Who shall command our armies at this im- portant crisis ? All minds instinctively turned toward Wash- ington as the only man who could command the respect of the , whole nation and keep a dangerous faction in cheek.^ "In such a state of public affairs," Hamilton wrote, " it is impossi- ble not to look up to you. . . . In the event of an open rupture with France, the public voice will again call you to command le armies of your country. ... All your past labor may demand, to give it efficacy, lis farther, this great sacrifice. "2 " We must have your name, if you will in any ise permit us to use it," President Adams wrote to him on the 22d of June. " There ill be more efficiency m it than in many an army." And four days later, James ['Henry, the Secretary of War, wrote to him, "You see how the storm thickens, and lat our vessel may soon require its ancient pilot. Will you— may we flatter our- ilves that, in a crisis so awful and important, you will accept the command of all ir armies? I hope you will, because you alone can unite aU hearts and all hands, it is possible that they can be united." These intimations were followed by corresponding action. On the 7th of July resident Adams, with the consent of the Senate, appointed Washington Lieutenant- sneral and commander-in-chief of all the armies raised and to be raised for the rvice of the United States. The venerated patriot, then sixty-five years of ao'e in- antly obeyed the call of his country. "You may command me without reserve" i said to President Adams, qualifying the remark only by the expressed desire that i should not be called mto active sei-vice until the public need should demand it IS fnend Mr. IJamilton, then forty-one years of age, was appointed first major gen- al and placed m adtive supreme command; and in November, Washington held a >nferenoe at Philadelphia with all the general officers, when arrangements were ad^ tor the complete organization of a provisional army on a war footing Washmgton all this while had looked upon the gathering tempest with perfect nhdence that the clouds would pass by, and leave h is country unscathed by the }^^rZ, *h! n^'"tv conviction of many of the wisest men of that day that the leaders of the onnosition wished to srSti^i^rr-r^f^rc^^oS^^^^^^^ Ht^CTo%SKyT?r ^ '^''■"' '-^ ^™^"- ""''^ P™^-^ OF THE WAR OF 1812. The Pride of the Directory humbled. A Minister Plenipotentiary to France appointed. lightning and the hail. Events soon justified his faith. The pride of the haughty Directory was speedily humbled, and the fears of England, toward whom many thoughtful men in America had looked as a possible friend and aid in the event of a war with France, were allayed. The victorious Bonaparte, who had threatened Great Britain with invasion, had gone off to Egypt on a romantic expedition, his avowed object being to march into Palestine, take possession of Jerusalem, rebuild the Tem- ple, and ^.-estore the Jews to their beloved city and land. This he unsuccessfully at- tempted after the battle of the Nile, in which the proud Toulon fleet had been van- quished by Nelson." A few weeW later Sir John Borlase Warren had 'Xngasn, scattered a French fleet" that hovered on the coast of Ireland to aid in- ™^' surgents there ; and many minor victories were accorded to English ' October a. prowess.^ These successes of the English, intelligence of the war feeling in America, and the appointment of Washington as commander-in-chief of the armies of the United States, made the intoxicated Directory pause in their mad career. The wily Talley- rand besran to think of conciliation. In letters to Pinchon," French sec- . ^ „„ , ^ . ITT i"- T1 T t> ' August 28 and retary of legation at the Hague, he intimated that any advances tor ne- September 28, gotiation that the government of the United States might make would be received by the Directory in a friendly spirit. These intimations, as intended, were communicated to William Vans Murray, the United States miaister at the Hague, who transmitted them to his government. Without consulting his Cabinet, or taking counsel of national dignity. President Adams nominated Mr. Murray minister plenipotentiary to France. The country was astounded. It came upon the Cabinet, the Congress, and the people without premo- nition. The Cabinet opposed it, and the Senate resolved not to confirm it. No direct overtures had been made by the French government ; and some of Mr. Adams's best friends, who regarded war as preferable to dishonor, deprecated a cowardly cringing to a half-relenting tyrant, and warmly remonstrated with him. He persisted, and they were estranged. He finally so far yielded to public opinion as to nominate three envoys extraordinary, Mr. Murray being one, to negotiate a settlement of all matters in dispute between the United States and France. These were confirmed by the Senate at near the close of the session, in February, 1799, not willingly, but from a conviction that a refusal to do so might endanger the existence of the Federal party, for Mr. Adams had many and powerful supporters. It was stipulated, however, that the two envoys yet at home (Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth and Patrick Henry 2) should 1 England had for some time trembled violently before the won- derful operations of Bonaparte on the Continent. For a while in- fasion of the island seemed imminent. But when the cloud disap- peared in the autumn of 1798, and scarcely a day passed without bringing intelligence of some new success of the British navy, the feeling of exultation was intense. The pencil of Gilhray, the great caricaturist, was exceedingly active, and in quick succession he brought out several prints illustrating John Bull as being surfeited with his immense captures. In one of these, entitled "John Bull taking a Luncheon ; or, British Cooks cramming Old Grumble-giz- zard with Bonne Chire," the representative of English nationality, a burly old fellow is seen sitting in a chair at a well-fttmished table, while the naval cooks are zealous in their attentions. The hero of the Nil6 offers him a "fricassee i la Nelson," consisting of a large dish of battered French ships of the line. Another admiral offers him a " fricando i la Howe," " dessert 4 la Warren," " Dutch cheese a la Duncan," et csetera. John Bull is deliberately snapping up a frigate at a mouthful, and is evidently fattening on his diet. "What!" he exclaims, "more fricassees? Where do you think I JOHN ntHL TAEiKQ A LusoH. Shall find room to stow all you bring in f" By his side is an im- mense jug of brown stout to wash them down. Behind him is a -t)icture of "Bonaparte in Egypt" suspended against the wall, nearly concealed by Nelson's hat, which is hung over it.* = Mr. Henry declined the nomination because of his advanced age and mcreasing mflrmities. Governor William B . • The portion of this celebrated caricature here given, with the description, is copied fi-om Wright's England »™Jer the nmuip. DfHanmer, 11., 298. 100 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Three Envoys sent to France. Bonaparte First Consul. Naval Warfare between the Americans and the French. not embark for Europe until authentic and satisfactory assurances should be given as to their reception. Such assurances were received by the government in October fol- lowing, and in November Ellsworth and W. R. Davie (the latter having taken Mr. Henry's place) sailed for Europe. Fortunately for all parties, when the envoys reached France a change had taken place in the government of that country. The Directory was no more. Bonaparte had suddenly returned from the East, after great and brilliant movements with various results, and was hailed as tlje good genius of the Republic. He found, as he expected, his country rent by political dis- sensions, and the Directory in disrepute among the most powerful classes. "With the issistance of a strong party, supported by bayonets, he dissolved the Assembly of 'Novembers, Representatives and took the government into his own hands,* with the ""'• title of First Consul, which was at first conferred upon him for ten years, md afterward for life. The audacity and energy of Bonaparte saved France from anarchy and ruin. To jlease the people he proclaimed a pacific policy, and opened correspondence with the March 2, powers then at war with the Republic with professions of peaceful desires. 1800. It ^yas at this auspicious moment that the American envoys arrived" at Paris. While these political movements were in progress, and preparations were making n the United States for a French invasion, war between the two nations actually sommenced on the ocean, although hostilities had not been proclaimed by either. On he Vth of July, 1798, Congress declared the old treaties with France at an end, and wo days afterward passed a law authorizing American vessels of war to capture f'rench cruisers wherever they might be found. On the llth, a new marine corps of learly nine hundred men, rank and file, commanded by a major, was established by aw, and a total of thirty active cruisers was provided for. We have observed that some movements for strengthening the navy were begun larly in 1797. The frigates United States, 44, Constitution, 44, and Constellation, 38,' v^ere launched, and ordered to be put in commission that year. The Un ited States first cached the water, and was the beginning of the American navy created after the adop- lon of the National Constitution. She was launched at Philadelphia on the 10th of 1797. ''^'^^y'" ^""^ "^^^ followed in September by the Constellation and Constitution. The former was set afloat on the 7th of that month, at Baltimore, and the lat- er on the 20th, at Boston j^ yet none of these were ready for sea when, in the spring if 1798, war with France seemed inevitable. An Indiaman, called the Ganges, was armed and equii:)ped at Philadelphia as a 4-pounder, and placed in the command of Captain Richard Dale. She sailed on the 2d of May, to cruise along the coast from the east end of Long Island to the Capes of /irgmia, to watch the approach of an enemy to the ports of New York, Philadelphia ndBaltimore. On the 12th of June Captain Dale received instructions off the Capes f Delaware to seize French cruisers and capture any of their prizes that might fall a his way. ° The Constellation, 38, first went down the Patapsco on the morning of the 9th of 1798. j^Pi'il." and early in June went to sea under the command of Captain Thomas Iruxtun, in company with the Belmare, 20, Captain Decatur,^ each havmg 'avie, of North Carolina, was appointed in Henry's place. The commission then stood : Murrav of Marvland • WIr tnTofie rpptireLt''''' """^''^ °' ^'""' "*™""''- *• ^""«^" »"" »' '""^ =»s-- ^^ '-tSdKorTan";: ' The Constellation was constructed by David Stodert. 3 Stephen Decatur was born at Newport, Khode Island, in 1761. He commanded several privateers during the T?pvo ition and captured several English ships. He received a commission as captain in the UnLd States uavv!nl7-)f and irved with distinction during the hostilities with the French cruisers. In 1800 he commanded a sanadrin „r ti!,M«^ ,.1 on the Guadaloupe station, his flag-sMp being the Philadelpkia, 38. He left the s™ in iso" and % W^'^" OF THE WAll OF 18 12. 101 Capture of Le Croijable. The llnit-ed States and the Constitution. Life aucl Services of Commodore Barry. Q_;/^^^^^^C^ oB^^^^^^-^^^^ orders similar to Dale's. When only a few days out, De- catur fell in with the French corsair Le GroyaUe, 14, captured her, and sent her to Philadelphia as a prize. She was condemned by the prize court, added to the United States navy with the name oi Betaliation', snA. placed under the command of Lieuten- ant William Bainbridge. She was the first vessel captured during the " French War of '98," so called, and was the first vessel taken by the present navy of the United States. Early in July the United States, 44, Cap- tain John Barry,^ went to sea, and cruised eastward. She carried among her officers several young men who afterward became distinguished in the annals of naval war- fare.- The government soon afterward de- termined to send a force to the West Indies, where American commerce was most ex- posed, and Cajjtam Barry was ordered there with a small squadron, consisting of the United States, 44, Delaware, 20, and 'Her- ald, \9. The Constitution (yet in the service) went to sea in July, in command of Captain Sam- xiel Nicholson, and, in comjiany with four revenue vessels, sailed in August to cruise off the coast southward of the Virginia Capes. One of tlies^e vessels was in com- mand of Lieutenant (afterward Commodore) Preble. In August the Constitution, Q3.])tA\xiTv\xx.- ty^T^^^-y-t- Ay/pc^>*^ — ^^^ commercial pnrsaits in Philadelphia, where he died in L90S. A plain slab, near the noble granite monument erected to the memory of his distingnished son in St. Peter's (Episcopal) Church burying-grouud, marks the grave of the gallant captain and his wife, who died iulS12. I John Barry was born in Ireland, County of Wexford, in 1745. He came to America in his youth, as a seaman. In 1775 he entered the naval service of Congress, and it is a disputed point whether he was the first of the com- manders who got to sea at that period. He was in ac- tive service during the whole war. In the establishment of the new navy in 1794 he was named the senior officer, in which station, in command of the United States, he died on the ISth of September, 1S03, in the city of Philadelphia. He died childless, at the age of flfty-eight years. Commodore Barry's tomb is near the entrance to the cemetery of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, on Fourth Street, Philadelphia. The following is a copy of the in- scription : "Let the patriot, the soldier, and the Christian who visit these mansions of the dead, view this monument with re- spect. Beneath are deposited the remains of Jon?( Baeey. He was born in the County of Wexford, in Ireland, but America was the object of his patriotism, and the theatre of his usefulness aud honor. In theEevolutionary War, which established the independence of the United States, he bore the commission of a captain in their infant navy, and aft- erward became commander-in-chief. He fought often and (mce bled in the cause of freedom. But his habits of war did not lessen in time the peaceful virtues which adorn private life. He was gentle, kind, just, and charitable ; and not less beloved by family and friends than by his grateful country. In a full belief in the doctrines of the Gospel, he calmly resigned his soul into the arms of his Redeemer on the 1.3th of September, 1803, in the fifty-ninth year of liis age. His affectionate widow hath caused this marble to be erected, to perpetuate his name after the hearts of his fellow-citizens have ceased to be the living record of his public and private virtues." 2 Her first lieutenant was David Ross, who was last seen on the SOth of November, 1799 ; John MuUowny, who died in 0O.y.M0I)OEE BAEEY S .^lOND.MENT. PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK 02 ritish outrage.. The Obseqnionsne.s of the American Government. Instruction, of the Secretary of thli;;;^ .n, and the BaltimoreM Captain Phillips, performed signal service by safely con- oying sixty American merchant vessels from Havana to the United fet^es, in the ice of several French cruisers lying in that port. Both the British and French au- borities in the West Indies were surprised at the appearance of so many Amencan raisers in that region. At the close of the year 1798 the American navy consisted f twenty-three vessels, with an aggregate armament of four hundred and forty-six uns. , It was at this time that the first of the series of most flagrant outrages upon the Lmerican flag, which flnally aroused the people of the United States to vindicate heir honor and independence by an appeal to arms, was committed by a British ommander. The American ship Baltimore, Captain Phillips, sailed out of Havana n the morning of thel6th of ]Srovember,1798, in charge of a convoy bound to Charles- on. South Carolina, and in sight of Moro Castle met a British squadron. At that time he governments of the United States and Great Britain were on friendly terms, and 'hillips bore up to the Carnatick, the flag-ship of his majesty's squadron, to speak to he commander. To his surprise, three of the convoy were cut off from the rest and aptured by the British vessels. By invitation Phillips went on board the CarnaticTc, rhen he was informed that every man on board the Baltimore who had not a regular American protection should be transferred to the British flag-ship. Captain Phillips protested against the outrage, and declared that he would formally sun-ender his hip, and refer the matter to his government. His protest was of no avail. On re- urning to the Baltimore, he found a British oflScer mustering his men. He imme- liately ordered that gentleman and those who accompanied him to walk to the lee- vard, and then sent his men to their quarters. After consultation with a legal gen- leman on board his ship, he determined to formally surrender her if his men were ,aken from him. Fifty-five of them were transferred to the Carnatick, and the colors )f the Baltimore were lowered. Only five of her crew were retained by the British saptain. These were pressed into the service of the king. The remainder were sent )ack, and the Baltimore was released. The British squadron then sailed away with ihe five captive seamen, and the three merchant vessels as prizes. The Baltimore hastened to Philadelphia, and her case was laid before the govera- nent. At that time the trade between the United States and Great Britain was ex- .remely profitable to American merchants ; and the mercantile interest was such a jower in the state that almost any indignity from the " mistress of the seas" would lave been submitted to rather than provoke hostilities with that government. ^ The ^bnerican Cabinet, in its obsequious deference to the British, had actually instructed ihe commanders of American cruisers on no account — not even to save a vessel of iheir own nation — to molest those of other nations, France excepted.^ The govem- nent dismissed Captain Phillips from the navy without trial because he surrendered (v'ithout a show of resistance ; but the outrage of the British commander was passed by unnoticed! At about the time of this occurrence near Havana, a small American squadron was L801, was her second lieutenant ; her third was James Barron, afterward commodore ; and her fourth was Charles Stew- irt, the Tenerable commodore, yet (1862) living. Among the midshipmen were Decatur, Somers, and Caldwell, who iistinguished themselves at Tripoli. Jacob Jones and William M. Crane joined her soon afterward, both of whom be- came commodores. 1 The country had just entered upon a career of great commercial prosperity, notwithstanding many perils and hin- ierances beset that branch of national industry. American tunnage had doubled in ten years. American agricultural products found a ready market. The exports had increased from nineteen millions to almost ninety millions, and the Imports in about the same proportion ; and the amount of revenue from imports greatly exceeded the most sanguine anticipations. 2 "The vessels of every other nation (Prance excepted"), ran the instructions of the Secretary of the Navy, "are on no %ecount to he molested ; and I wish particularly to impress on your mind that, should you ever see an American vessel captured by the armed ship of any nation at war with whom we are at peace, you can not lawfully interfere to prevent the capture, for it is to be taken for granted that such nation will compensate for such capture if It shall prove to have been illegally made." OF THE WAR OF 1812. 103 Naval Engagements. Increase of the Navy. Victory of the ConatenaMm over the ImwrgmU. cruising off Guadaloupe. One of the vessels was the captured Le Croyable, now the Retaliation, commanded by Lieutenant Bainbridge. They discovered some French cruisers, and mistook them for English vessels. The Retaliation reconnoLtered them, and perceived her mistake too late to avoid trouble. She was attacked by two French frigates (the Yolontaire and Insurgente), and was compelled to surrender. The Insurgente, to whom the Retaliation was a prize, was one of the swiftest vessels on the ocean. She immediately made chase after two of the American ships, who were pressing all sail in flight. Bainbridge was a prisoner on the Volontaire, and, with the officers of that vessel, witnessed the chase with great interest from the fore- castle. The Insurgente continually gained upon the fugitives. " What are their armaments ?" the commander of the Volontaire asked Bainbridge. " Twepty-eight twelves and twenty nines," he quickly responded. This false statement doubled their forces, and startled the commander. He was the senior of the captain of the Insur- gente, and immediately signaled him to give up the chase. The order was reluctantly obeyed. The American vessels escaped, and Bainbridge's deceptive reply cost him only a few curses. In this affair the Retaliation gained the distinction of being the first cruiser taken by both parties during the war. The strength of the navy was considerably increased during the year 1799. Many vessels were launched, and most of them were commissioned before the close of au- tumn. At the beginning of the year the active force in the West Indies was distrib- uted into four squadrons. Commodore Barry, the senior officer in the service, was in command of ten vessels, with an aggregate of two hundred and thirty-two guns, whose general rendezvous was St. Rupert's Bay. Another squadron of five ves- sels. Tinder Commodore Truxtun, in the Constellation, rendezvoused at St. Kitt's, and cruised to leeward as far as Porto Rico. Captain Tingey, with a smaller force, cruised between Cuba and St. Domingo ; and Captain Deafctur, with some revenue vessels, watched the interests of American commerce off Havana. These squadrons captured many French vessels during the year. At meridian on the 9th of February,^ while the Constellation was cruising off Nevis, a large vessel was discovered at the southward. Truxtun gave chase, and brought on an engagement at little past three in the afternoon. It lasted an hour and a quarter, when the antagonist of the Constellation struck her colors and surrendered. She was the famous French frigate Insurgente, Captaiu Barreault, just mentioned as the captor of the Retaliation a few weeks earlier. The gallant Frenchman did not yield until his fine ship was dreadfully shattered, and he Jiad lost seventy men, killed and wounded. The Constellation had lost only three mei^ found- ed. The prize was put in charge of Lieutenant (afterward Commodore) Rodg'ers, and at the end *of three days of tempest, danger, and suffering, she was taken iato St. Kitt's' (St. Christopher), and received a salute from the fort. This victory produced great exultation in the United States, and the navy was de- clared to be equal to any in the world. The Insurgente carried 40 guns and 409 men; the Constellation only 32 guns and 309 men. The battle was fought with •great skill and bravery on both sides. The press was filled with eulogiums of Trux- tun. He received congratulatory addresses from all quarters, and the merchants of Lloyd's Coffee-house, London, sent him a service of plate worth over three thousand dollars, on which a representation of the action was elegantly engraved.^ The cap- tives were loud in praises of Tijnxtun's courtesy and kindness ;^ and for a long time a » I Cooper's Naval History of the United States, i., 297 ; Tmxtnn's dispatch to the Secretary of the Navy. " Wyatt's Generals and Commodores 0/ the American Army andyavy, p. 19T. 3 " I am sorry," Captain Barreault wrote to Trnxtnn, " that onr two natlpns are at war ; but since I nnfortnnately have been vanquished, I felicitate myself and crew upon being prisoners to you. You hjlVB flulted all the qualities which characterize a man of honor, cotfrage, and humanity. Receive from me the most B)»?sre thanks, and be assured I shall make It a duty to publish to all my fellow-countrymen the generous condnct Which you have observed to- ward us." 104 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK American Craisers in the West Indies. Copteat between the Constellation and La Ve^ffeancc. song, called'" Truxtuu's Victory," was sung every where, in private and at public gatherings.^ Durin<^ the remainder of the year nothing of importance was performed by or be- ■ Noremberl! fell our cruisers. In November Commodore Barry sailed from Newport" ^ 1799. ' ^-^j. Fi-ance in the United States, having Messrs. Wolcott and Davie, the two envoys, on board. He met with no adventures, and performed his errand with satisfaction.' Meanwhile our cruisers were busy in the West Indies, watching the interests of American commerce there, and making the French corsairs exceedingly cautious and circumspect. At length another victory gave lustre to the American navy, rendering it verj popular, aud causing many leading families of the country to place their sons in the service.^ Tlie victory was again by Truxtun, in the Constellation. Early on the morning of the 1st of Fcbruary^lSOO, while ofFGuadaloupe seeking for the large French frigate La Vengeance, said to be in those waters, he discovered a sail to the south which he took to be an English merchantman. He ran up English colors, but receiving no re- sponse, he gave chase. The stranger pressed sail, and it w^as almost fifteen hours before the Constellation came within hailing distance of her. It was then discovered that she was a large French frigate. Truxtun, unabashed, prepared for action. It was opened by the Frenchman, at eight o'clock in the evening, by shots from the stern and quarter guns. A desperate engagement at pistol-shot distance ensued. It lasted until one in the morning, the combatants all the while running free, side by side, and pouring in broadsides. The French frigate suddenly ceased firing, and dis- appeared so completely in the gloom that Truxtun believed she had gone to the bot- tom of the sea. At that moment it was discovered that the Constellation'' s shrouds had been nearly all cut away, and that the mainmast was ready to fall. A heavy squall came on, and the Jliast went by the board, carrying with it a midshijjman and several topmen who were aloft. The stranger, dreadfully crippled, made her way to » February Curagao, where she arri-^-ed on the 6th.'' She was the sought-for frigate isoti- Jja Vengeance, carrying 54 guns and 400 men, including passengers. Cap- tain Pitot, her commander, acknowledged that ho had twice struck his flag during the engagement. She would have been a rich prize for the Constellation. It was lost only by the utterly helpless condition of that vessel's mainmast. Truxtun bore away for Jamaica, and it Avas some time before he knew the name and character of liis antagonist, and the prize he had lost.^ 1 The song was not poetry, but touched a chord of popular sentiment which responded with great animation. The following is a single verse of the song, which contains eight ; " On board the Conatallation from Baltimore we came ; . We had a bold commander, and Truxtun was his name : Our ship she mounted forty guns, And on the main so swiftly runs. To prove to France Columbia's sons Are brave Yankee boys." ^ "The Navy" became a favorite toast at public meetings, and pictures of na- val battles and doggerel verses called "naval songs" were sold in the shops and streets. An enterprising crockery merchant had some pitchers of diiferent sizes made in Liverpool, comraemorative of the navy. One of them, before me, that belonged to the late W. .J, Davis, Esq., of New York, is a white pitcher, about a foot in height. Under the spout, in a wreath, arc the words, "Sfocess TO THE Infant Navy," and below this the American eagle, in form like that on the great seal of the United States. On one side is a picture of a full-rigged vessel of war, and some naval emblems in the foreground. On the other side is a map of the United States, having on one side Washington and Liberty, in full-length figures. Fame, with trumpet and wreath, above it ; and on the other side Frank- lin sitting making a record, and a helmeted female, representing America, near which stands Justice. This device was upon pitchers made at about the time of Washington's inauguration as the first President of the United States. 3 ha Ventjmn^e had on board the Governor of Guadaloupe and his family, and two general officers, returning to France. She had also a fnll cargo of sugar and coffee, and a very large amoimt of specie. She lost, in killed and wounded, one hundred and sixty-two. The Constellation lost fourteen men killed and twenty- uaval riTOUEE. OF THE WAR OF 18 12. 105 Truxtun'B Victory welcomed. He is honored by Congress. His public Services. This second victory over a superior foe gave Truxtim great renown at home and abroad, and the Congress of the United States, by action approved on tlie 29th of March, 1800, authorized the President to present him a gold medal " emblematical of the late action," with the thanks of the nation.' !UE7)AL rKy.BEKTET) TO COMMODOEE TEUXTHN. Ave wounded. Eleven of the latter died of their wounds. Among the lost wa,s Midshipman Jarvis, of Xew York, who commanded the men in the top. He was warned by an old seaman that the mast would soon fall. He gallantly said, " Then we must go with it." They did so, and only one man was saved. Congress, by vote, recognized the bravery of voun" Jarvis, "who gloriously preferred certain death to an abandonment of his post." I This medal is represented in the engravini, the exact size of the original. On one side is a profile bust of Truxlun in relief with the legend, "Patei.e f.wres filio mgno Tiiom.vs TEnxxrra." On the reverse are seen two ships of war (the Fre'nch a two-decker), both shattered, and the rigging of both much cut np. Legend: "Tue United Statks FeIOATK Co>-STEU,ATI0N, of TniETY-EIGIIT OmiS, rUIlBUES, ATTACKS, AND VANQUlSnES THE FeENOU SuiP LaAeNUEANOE, (iK FlFTY-FOrR GFNS, IST OF FEBEr.VEV, ISOO," Thomas Truxtun was born at Jamaica, Long ^ Island, on the ITth of February, 1T5S. He w-ent to sea at the age of twelve years. During his apprenticeship he was impressed into the Brit- ish service, but was soon released. He com- manded a vessel in 1TT5, and brought consid- erable powder to the colonies at that time. He was engaged in privateering from Phila- delphia during the whole war. WTiile carrying Mr. Barclay, consul general of the United States, to France, he had a successful engagement with a British man-of-war. In 1704 he was appointed by Washington one of the six naval commanders, and the OmsteUattan was built under his superintend- ence at Baltimore. His exploits in her are related in the text. The cruise which resulted in the de- feat of ia Vengeance was his last. In 1802 he was ordered to the command of a sqiiadron destined for the Mediterranean. Being denied a captain to command his flag-ship, he declined the service. His letter to this eifectwas construed by President Jelferson as a resignation, which was accepted, and the American navy was deprived of one of its brightest ornaments. He retired to a farm not far from Philadelphia, where he remained in quiet un- til 1816, when the citizens of Philadelphia elect- ed him high sherifl". He held that oiBce three years, and died on the 5th of May, 1S22, in the six- ty-seventh year of his age. He was buried in Christ Church-yard, Fifth Street, Philadelphia, where a plain upright slab of white marble marks his grave, on which is the following inscription : "Sacred to the memory of Commodore Thomas Truxtun, for- merly of the United States Navy, who died May 5th, 1822, aged sixty-seven years." In considering the little sketch ofTruxtun's grave, the spectator is supposed to be standing with his back to Fifth Street looking east. TEUXTFN B GRAVE. 06 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK eace. Troubles among the Federalists. Character of President Adams. Opposition to Adams in his own Party. Other victories of less magnitude were won by the American cruisers during the Eirlier months of the year 1800, and contributed to make the little navy of the United tates a subject for praise and wonder in Europe. But its services were now less eeded, and efforts to increase the navy were sensibly relaxed during the summer of lat year. Active negotiations for peace and amity were in progress between the f^nited States and the First Consul of France, which led to a settlement of difficulties, he American envoys were cordially received, and three plenipotentiaries, with Joseph onaparte at their head, were appointed to treat with them. Many difficulties arose, id sometimes an utter failure of the effort seemed inevitable. Finally a convention as concluded,' peace was established, the envoys returned home, and the provisional •my of the United States was disbanded. Allusion has been made to the divisions in the Federal party on account of Presi- 3nt Adams's course in the appointment of diplomatic agents for negotiations with le French government before that government had officially signified its willingness I receive them. The instant dissatisfaction caused by that act only gave intensity I feelings already existing. Mr. Adams was an honest patriot, of much ability, but 'tally unfitted by temperament and disposition for the leadership of a great politi- il party. He was excessively vain, and correspondingly sensitive and jealous. His vid and sometimes eccentric imagination seldom yielded obedience to judgment. is prejudices were violent and inexorable, and his frankness made him indiscreet in s expressions of opinion concerning men and measures. He held resentment ;ainst Hamilton as relentless as did Jefferson, and he openly accused him of British •oclivities, and hostility to the National Constitution. Because Wolcott, and Pick- ing, and Ames, and M'Henry, and other leading Federalists could not agree with m concerning public policy, the President regarded them as personal enemies, actu- ed by selfish objects, and desirous of defeating his most earnest wishes, namely, a -election to the seat he then occupied. Cunning Democrats fanned the flame of scord ; and they strengthened Adams's political aspirations by assuring him that he ight unite the moderate and virtuous men of both parties, and thus crush the oli- ,rchy of radical Federalists, to whom all national troubles should be attributed.^ It was not long before confidence among the members of the Federal party was al- )st destroyed. Such were their divisions in the House of Representatives that, not- thstanding they had a decided majority there, they were not able, as Jefferson ex- ingly wrote, to carry a single measure during the session of 1799-1800. The sim- j truth appears to be that Adams would not be controlled by the leaders who limed to have elevated him and his party to power. He exercised his own judg- mt as President without regard to party. His most ardent political partisans, w become his opponents, reciprocated his own suspicions, and believed that his iduct was prompted by jealousy of Hamilton, and a disposition to secure his own Ta- ction at whatever sacrifice of principle, or at whatever risk to the Federal party^^ These suspicions created zealous action. The most influential Federal leaders, two whom (Timothy Pickei-ing and James M'Henry) were in Adams's Cabinet, adopted cheme foi* quietly preventing his re-election to the Presidency, which he ardently sired. The method of choosing the President and Vice-President, at that time, was Phis convention was signed at Paris on the 30th of September, ISOO, by Oliver Ellsworth, William E. Davie, and Wil- 1 Vans Mnrray, on the part of the United States, and Joseph Bonaparte, Charles P. E. Flearieu, and Pierre L. E Manual, iv., , = Oliver Wolcott to Fisher Ames, Dec 20,1799. Jildreth's History 0/ the United States, Second Series, ii., 355. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 107 Plans of Federalists for defeating Adams. Tactics of the Democrats. The .Mien and Sedition Laws. for two persons to be voted for without distinction as to the office for which they were respectively intended ; and the one receiving the highest number of votes was declared President, and the other Vice-President. ' This plan gave facility to the scheme of Mr. Adams's opponents. A caucus of the Federal members of Congress resolved to place Mr. Adams and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, of South Carolina, on the same ticket, with the tmderstanduig that both should receive the same number of votes, and thus cause the election to be carried to the House of Representatives, where Mr. Pinckney would have a considerable majority. Caution was necessary, for the foe was vigilant, and ever ready to take advantage of the weakness which dis- sensions would create in the Federal camp. Open opposition to Adams, whose high personal character was appreciated every where, and especially in N"ew England, might have imperiled the success of the party. Mr. Adams, on the other hand, was aware of the intrigues against him, and that members of his Cabinet were leaders in the scheme ; yet for once he was discreet enough not to denounce them openly, nor dismiss them from his council, for he was doubtful of his own strength in the power- ful Middle States where they were popular, and where the Alien and Sedition Laws, which brought such odium upon his administration, were heartily detested. A Dem- ocratic caucus pursued a similar course, and selected Thomas Jeiferson and Aaron Burr, but with the understanding that the former was the choice of the party for President. The Alien and Sedition Laws just alluded to were used adroitly by the Democrats to excite the people against Adams's administration and the Federal party, and that use was made powerful in securing the election of Mr. Jefferson to the Presidency in the year 1800.2 1 For the yonng reader, or a foreigner to whom the working of our political system in detail may not be familiar, an explanation here may be usefnl. The President of the United States is not voted for directly by the people. Persons in each state, in nnmber equal to the respective senators and representatives- in Congress, are elected by the people, and delegated with full powers to choose a President and Vice-President. These meet at a specified time, and form what is termed the Electoral College. Although the electors may vote for whom they please, the candidates named by the people are always voted for in the college, so that practically the people do vote directly for President and Vice- President. In the event of an equal number of votes being cast in the college for both candidates, the election is car- ried to the House of Eepresentatives, in accordance with the provisions of the National Constitution, Article ii., sec- a The action of Virginia and Kentucky politicians in the matter were so powerful at the time, and remote, even to onr day, in their influence upon public opinion in a portion of the republic concerning the theory of our government, as to warrant the introduction here of the following brief history of the affair ; . , iv In the year 1798, when war with France seemed to be unavoidable. Congress passed acts for the security of the gov- ernment against internal foes. By the first act alien enemies could not become citizens at all. By the second, which was limited to two years, the President was authorized to order out of the country all aliens whom he might Judge to be dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States. Byathird act, in case ofwar declared against the United States, or an actual invasion, all resident aliens, natives or citizens of the hostile nation, might, upon a proclamation of the Pres- ident issued according to his discretion, be apprehended, and secured or removed. These were known as Alien Laws. The President never had occasion to employ them, but several prominent Frenchmen, who felt that the laws were aimed at them, speedily left the country. Among them was the celebrated French writer, M. Volney, who, in the preface to his View of the Soil and ClimaU of the United States of America, complained bitterly of the " violent and public attacks made upon his character, with the connivance or instigation of a certain eminent personage," meaning President Adams. In July, 1798, an act was passed for the punishment of sedition. It made it a high misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not to exceed $5000, imprisonment from six months to five years, and binding to good behavior at the discretion of the court, for any persons unlawfully to combine in opposing measures of the government properly directed by authority, or attempting to prevent government officers executing their trusts, or inciting to riot or insurrection. It also pro- vided for the fining or imprisoning any person guilty of printing or publishing " any false, scandalous, and malicious vnitings against the government of the United States, or either House of Congress, or the President, with intent to de- fame them, or to bring them into contempt or disrepute." This was called the Sedition Law. The laws brought out the heaviest batteries of denunciation from the opposition, and were deplored by many of the Federalists The wise Hamilton perceived the dangers that might arise from the enactment of the Sedition Law, and immediately wrote a hurried note of warning to Wolcott on the 29th of June, saying, " Let its sot establish a tyean- NT Energy is a very different thing from violence. If we take no false step, we shall be essentially united ; but if we push things to the extreme, we shall then give to faction body and solidity." The fears of Hamilton were realized. Nothing contributed more powerfully to the speedy downfall of the Federal party than these extreme measures. The Alien and Sedition Laws aroused individual resentments, and led to the public avowal of the doctrine of inde- pendent and supreme state sovereignty in its most dangerous form. The right of "nullification" was as distmctly pro- claimed by Jefferson and others as it ever was by Calhoun or Hayne. In a series of resolutions drawn up under the seal of secrecy as to their authorship, Mr. Jefferson declared the National Constitution to be a mere compact made by sovereign states he Vn-^nia Legislature a senes of resolutions drawn by Mr. Madison, similar in spirit, but more can louVS^ex- ssion. They were adopted and, with a plea in their favor, were sent to the various State Legislatures In some of m they were handled roughly, and all that responded condemned them as unwarrantable and miscWevons excertinK iady-commtted Kentucky. These were the famous "Resolutions of 98," on which nullification inSTnd seces on wi?, ? fj .'•™''^™' '"*■ '°°1«V'" J°^''«°='t'™' The whole movement was of a local and temporary nature eraon and Madison were wielding dangerous weapons in their sturdy warfare for political power (for that was the aius of the whole matter) ; but they trusted the people, and believed, as Jefferson said in hfsTnau "'■'^^"^ ^"-^ "Wy conducted, and are uStrd to have beiu Lsed for the press by most, f not all of the speakers, discloses no referelce wha^^ 'to acZti^uZllrtutZ S ml state to arrest by force the operation of a Uw of the UnUed States.«-See letter to Edward Everett AuiiTtWqTin SbiUior Corrcspond^ce ofJa^ Madis"t declined it voted his time chiefly to literary and scienfiL pursuit^ I^wafsInfoFV nt'^^^ \T »""'" '"'' '^^ ''- representative of his country, and In ITS'i sncceefled Tr,.,„i.r„ ■ ■ J° ^'™™ "> I'Sc, to jom Adams and Franklin as til 1T89 when he returned, a'nd enVe^ed wX^ on-fcab n °t a SertrrVof Sraf/^H ''""'•• °^ '^™--^ *^~ n93. He was elected Vice-President of .he United States inmS 2 BoT^^s efettrtrtre '^.^^:"^:^ OF THE WAR OF 1812. 115 Mr. Jefferson foreshadows Ma Policy . His Popularity. A National Party desired. Political Proscription begun. delivering speeches in person, because he considered these customs too monarchical in form.i ' ' A small military and civic escort conducted Mr. Jefferson to the Capitol, and there he read his inaugural address to a large crowd of delighted listeners. It had been looked for with anxiety, as it would foreshadow the policy of the new administration. ^ It was patriotic, conservative, and conciliatory, and allayed many apprehensions of his political opponents. " Every difference of opinion," he said, "is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Federalists — ^we are all Republicans."' In this spirit Mr. Jefferson commenced his administration. He set about the reform of public abuses, treated every body with kiudness, and left most of the incumbents of public offices untouched for a while.* His political enemies were compelled to con- fess his forecast, wisdom, and faithfulness ; and many Federalists, believing that he would not disturb their friends in office, joined the Republican party, and became the most vehement denunciators of their old partisans and their principles. ° Mr. Jefferson soon discovered that he was not wholly his own master. He had been elevated to power by a party whose leaders, like those of all parties, were lustful for office. He was compelled to listen to their clamors, and finally to yield acquiescence in their doctrine that "to the victor belongs the spoils,"" He grad- ually filled many of the most important offices in his gift with his political friends, for whose accommodation faithful men, a large proportion of them appointed by Washington and retained by Adams, were removed. Thus was developed in alarm- ing proportions that system of proscription commenced by the second President, which has worked mischievously in the administration of our general and state gov- ernments from that time until the present. It bore immediate fruit in the form of bitter partisanship. The Federalists, now become the opposition, and thereby hav- ing the advantage in controversy, began a relentless warfare upon, the new admin- istration as soon as its prescriptive policy was manifested. With that warfare, as a mere game of politics, we have nothing to do, except so far as it had a bearing upon re-elected in 1805, and in 1809 retired to private life, from whicli he was never again drawn. He died at his residence at Monticello on the 4th of July, 1826, in the S4th year of his age. Like Adams, he departed on the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The profile of Mr. Jefferson, given on page 114, is from an impression from a pri- vate plate made in aqnatinta aboat the year 1804, and presented by the President to the Hon. D. C.Verplanck, who was a member of Congress from 1803 until 1809. 1 The personal appearance of President Jefferson at this period may be imagined from the following description by William Plumer, United States senator from New Hampshire in 1802 : " The next day after my arrival I visited the President, accompanied by some Democratic members. In a few moments after our arrival a tall, high-boned man came into the room. He was dressed, or rather undressed, in an old brown coat, red waistcoat, old cordnroy small- clothes much soiled, woolen hose, and slippers without heels. I thought him a servant, when General Vamum sur- prised me by announcing that it was the President."— See Ufe of ViUiam Plumer, p. 242. » In a letter to Nathaniel Macon, of North Carolina, on the 14th of May, Mr. Jefferson indicated his policy as follows; " 1. Levees are done away with. 2. The tost communication to the next ConsresB will be, like all subsequent ones, by message, to which no answer will be expected. 3. The diplomatic establishment in Europe will be reduced to three ministers. 4. The compensation of collectors depends on you [Congi'esa], and not on me. 6. The army is undergoing a chaste reformation. 6. The navy will be reduced to the legal establishment by the last of this month. 7. Agencies in every department will be revised. 8. We shall push you to the uttermost in economizing. 9. A very early recom- mendation has been given to the Postmaster General to employ no printer, foreigner, or Revolutionary Tory in any of his oiBces." 3 See the Statesnum^s Manual, i., 242, where the President's inaugural message is printed in full. * Mr. Jefferson appointed James Madison Secretary of State, Henry Dearborn Secretary of War, and Levi Lincoln At- torney General. He retained Mr. Adams's Secretaries of the Treasury and Navy until the following autumn, when Albert Gallatin was appointed to the first, and Robert Smith to the second. These were both Republicans, and his Cabi- net was now wholly so. ' Mr. Jefferson dreamed, patriotically, of a consolidated national party and a brilliant administration. In a letter to John Dickinson, two days after his inauguration, he wrote, "I hope to see shortly a perfect consolidation, to effect which, nothing shall be wanting on my part short of the abandonment of the principles of the Revolution. A just and solid republican government maintained here, will be a standing monument and example for the aim and imitation of the people of other countiies." Tet he early resolved on rewards to friends. To Colonel Monroe he wrote on the 7th of March, "To give time for a perfect consolidation seems prudent. I have firmly refused to follow the counsels of those who have desired the giving of offices to some of the Federalist leaders in order to reconcile. I have given, and will give, only to Republicans, under existing circumstances." « This doctrine was first announced in these words by the late William L. Marcy when he assumed the administration of the public affairs of the State of New York as governor in 1833. PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK 16 eason for giving a History of Parties. The Navy reduced. Unwise Economy. Tribute to the Barbary Fowere. ublic events during the few years immediately preceding the War of 1812, and held elationship thereto. , , , , , <.^t. • j It seems proper at this point in our narrative to say, that the sketch of the rise and i-ogress of the two great political parties which existed in the United States at the leginning of the present century, and whose animosities and aspirations had much to in bringing about a war in 1812, has been given for the purpose, first, to afford our •eneral subject that much-needed elucidation, and, secondly, to connect by dependent inks of historic outlines the events of the Fiest with those of the Second Wae eoe NDBPENDENCE. March ^t % close of Mr. Adams's administration," Congress passed a law^ au- isoi! ' thorizing the President to place the navy on a rigid peace footing, by retain- iig only thirteen frigates,^ and only six of these to be kept in active service.^ The ,ct authorized him to dismantle and sell all others, and lay up seven of the thirteen ti a way in which they might be carefully preserved. It also authorized him to re- Luce the complement of officers and men, by retaining in the service, in time of peace, inly nine captains, thirty-six lieutenants, and one hundred and fifty midshipmen, in- luding those employed on the six frigates kept in active service, and to discharge the emainder. Under this authority, and in accordance with his own judgment concern- Qg rigid economy and the prospect of universal peace, Mr. Jefferson sold all but the hirteen frigates named, laid up seven of these, and discharged all the officers and Qen in excess after placing the service on a peace footing. And yet, in the matter )f force, nearly four fifths was retained, for the vessels sold were mostly inferior, and mly fourteen of them had been built expressly for the government service. The Pres- dent also suspended work on six Bhips authorized by Congress in 1798. So little did he American people then seem to apprehend the value of a competent navy for the jrotection of their commerce every where, as well as the honor of the nation, that a najority of them applauded these measures, while many Federalists assailed them mly for political effect. That strong arm of the government which had so protected jommerce as to enable the Americans to sell to foreign countries, during the difficul- iies with France, surplus products to the amount of $200,000,000, and to import suf- icient to yield the government a revenue exceeding $23,000,000, was thus paralyzed 3y an unwise economy in public expenditure. The conduct of the Barbary Powers soon made the want of an efficient navy pain- Eully apparent. The government of the United States had purchased, by the pay- ment in full of a stipulated sum of money, the friendship, or rather the forbearance of the Bey of Tripoli, while to the Dey of Algiers and the Bey of Tunis tribute in money, military and maritime stores, and other presents was annually paid.^ The submis- sion of all the Christian nations of Europe to these exactions made those pirate-kings exceedingly insolent, and finally, in the spring of 1801, the President resolved to humble the pride and the power of those commercial marauders, release American commerce from their thrall in the Mediterranean, and assert the dignity of his coun- try by ceasing to pay tribute to another. This resolution was strengthened by the ■ Approved March 3, 1801. 2 These were the United States, Con^titutwn, President, Chesapeake, PhUaddphia, CoristeUation, CoTigress, New YarJc, Bos- Urn, Essex, Adams, John Adams, and Gmi&ral Greene. These had an aggregate armament of 364 gnns. The vessels sold were the George Washington, Ganges, P&rtsmovih, Merrinmck, Connecticut, of 24 guns each ; the BaMm&re, Delaware, and Mon,tezuma, of 20 guns each ; the Maryland, Patapsco, Herald, TrumbuU, Warren, Norfolk, Richmond, and Pinckney, of IS guns each ; the Ea^jle, Augusta, and Scamml, 14 guns each ; the Experiment, 9 guns, and nine galleys. — Cooper, i., 383-4. 3 Colonel Ebenezer Stevens, an active and eminent merchant of NewTork, and who had been a meritorious artillery ojiicer during the Eevolution, was employed by the government as its factor in forwarding the stores to Tunis. In May, 1801, Secretary Madison wrote to Mr. Stevens on the subject, saying, "It Is desirable that the remaining cargo of maritime and military stores due to the Regency of Tunis should be provided and shipped without loss of time. The powder will be given to you from the public magazines, and the Navy Department will give orders to its agent at New York or elsewhere, as may be most convenient, to supply the cannon and such other articles as you may want and can be spared."— ilfS. letter. How much cheaper and more dignified It would have been to have sent the materials in ships of war, fully prepared, as they might have been, to knock the capitals of those semi-barbaric rulers about their ears, and sink their corsairs in the deep waters of the Mediterranean ! OF THE WAR OF 1812. IIY Bainbridge at Algiers and Constantinople. His Treatment at each. Good Effect of his Visit to Constantinople. insolent treatment of Commodore Bainbridge by the Dey of Algiers the previous year. In May, 1800, Bainbridge, in command of the George Washington, 24, went out with the usual tribute to the Algerine ruler. He arrived in the port of his capi- tal in September, performed with courtesy the duties enjoined upon him, and was about to leave, when the Dey commanded him to carry an Algerine embassador to the Court of the Sultan at Constantinople. Bainbridge politely refused compliance, when the haughty and offended Dey said sternly, " You pay me tribute, by which you become my slaves, and therefore I have a right to order you as I think proper." The guns of the castle were looking out vigilantly upon Bainbridge's frigate, and without their permission he could not pass out of the harbor. He was compelled to yield to the force of circvtmstances, being _._&5i - assured by Mr. O'Bri- _ ^ en, once a captive and — then American consul there, that if he at- tempted to leave the harbor, the guns of the castle, heavy and well- manned, would open upon his vessel with destructive effect, hi^ ship would be seized and used for the pui- pose, and war would ensue. To avoid these calamities Bainbridge bowed submissively to the humiliation ; and he even complied with the haughty ruler's farther requisition, that he should carry the Algerine flag at the main, and that of the United States at the fore. He sailed out of the port of Alo-iers an obedient slave, and then, placing his own flag in the position of honor as a freeman he bore the Algerine embassador to the Golden Horn. " I hope," he wrote to the Secretary of the Navy, " I shall never again be sent to Algiers with tribute, unless I am authorized to deliver it from the mouth of our cannon." Under other circumstances this trip to the ancient city of Constantinople would have been a desirable one, for Bainbridge had the honor of displaying the stars and stripes for the first time before that famous seat of Ottoman empire. The Sultan and his o-reat oflicers of state were astonished. They had never heard of the United States ■ but when, at length, they were made to comprehend that it was a country beyond the great sea, discovered by Columbus, of which they had heard vague and romantic rumors, Bainbridge was received with the greatest courtesy. He and the Turkish admiral became warm friends ; and when Bainbridge was about to return to Alo-iers in January, the latter gave him a, firman to protect him from farther inso- lence there. The Sultan, whose flag bore the crescent moon, drew a favorable omen from this visit of a banner bearing its neighbors, the stars of heaven. He believed the two nations must ever be friends, and so they have been. On his return to Algiers" the Dey requested Bainbridge to go on an- . jann.wy 21, other errand to Consta'ntinople. Bainbridge peremptorily refused. The i^^»i- Dey flew into a rage, threatened war, and finally menaced the captain with personal violence. Bainbridge quietly produced hh firman, when the fierce governor became lamb-like and obsequiously offered to the man he had just looked upon as his slave, ALGIEES IN ISOO. 118 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The Dey of Algiers humbled. Insolence of the Bey of Tunis. Commodore Dale in the Mediterranean. friendship and service. Taking advantage of this change, Bambridge assumed the air of a dictator, and demanded the instant release of the French consul and fifty or sixty of his countrymen, who had lately been imprisoned by the Dey. When Barn- bridge left he carried away with him all the French in Algiers. His compulsory visit to Constantinople resulted in great good to his fellow-men. The Bey or Bashaw of Tripoli,^ not content with the gross sum that had been paid him by the United States, when he learned that his neighbors had received larger bribes than he, demanded tribute in the autumn of 1800, and threatened war if his demand was not satisfied within six months. Accordingly, in May, 1801, he ordered the flag-staff of the American consulate to be cut down, and proclaimed war. In an- ticipattou of these events. Commodore Dale had been sent with a small squadron, con- sisting o{ the Fresideiit, 44, Captain James Barron; Philadelphia, 38, Captain Samuel Barron; Essex, 32, Captain Bainbridge, and Enterprise, 12, Lieutenant Commandant Sterrett. 'Yhe President was Dale's flag-ship. The squadron sailed fromHamptonRoade, and reached Gibraltar on the 1st of July. Dale soon proceeded eastward in company with the Enterprise, and appeared off Trip- oli and Tunis, to the great astonishment of the rulers of those states. On the way the Enterprise fell in with, attacked, and captured a Tripoli- tan corsair called the Tripoli, reducing her, in the course of an engagement of three hours, almost to a wreck, and killing and wounding twenty of her men, without the loss of a single man on her side.^ Meanwhile the Philadelphia was of Gibraltar, to pre- vent two Tripolitan corsairs which were found there going out upon the Atlantic ; and the Essex sailed along the northern shores of the Medi- terranean, to convoy American merchant ships. Dale contin- ued, to cruise in the Mediterranean until autumn, and his j)res- ence exercised a most wholesome restraint over the corsairs.^ Another expedition was sent to the Medi- terranean in 1802, under cruising in the Straits ~ """^ Commodore Richard V. Morris. It Avas a relief squadron, and consisted of the Chesapjeahe, 38, Lieutenant Chauncey, acting captain ; Constellation, 38, Captain Murray ; New YorJc, 36, Cap- tain James Barron; Jolm Adams, 28, Captain Rodgers; Adams, 28, Captain Camp- bell, and Enterprise, 12, Lieutenant Commandant Sterrett. Morris hoisted his broad pennant on board the Chesapeake. The squadron did not go in a body, but pro- ceeded one after another from February until September. Meanwhile the Poston, 1 This "was Jussuf Caramalli. He was a third son, and had obtained the seat of power by violence. He murdered his father and elder brother, and deposed his next brother, Hamet, the rightful heir, who at this time was an exile in Etrypt, whither he fled to save his life, followed by quite a large number of adherents. - The rai!^ or commander of the Tripoli was Mahomet Sous. Three times during the engagement the Trijjoli struck her colors, and ae often treacherously renewed the combat, when Lieutenant Sterrett determined to sinl: her. She w.^s too much of a wreclc to be taken into port — indeed, according to instructions, she could not be made a prize— and she was dismantled under the direction of Lieutenant David Porter. When her commander reached Tripoli, wounded and heart-broken, he was subjected to great indignity. He was placed upon a jackass, paraded through the streets, and aft- erward received the bastinado. 3 Richard Dale was born near Norfolk, Virginia, on the 0th of November, 1T5G. He went to sea at the age of twelve years, and continued in the merchant service until 1770, when he became lieutenant of a Virginia cruiser. He was an active oiHcer during the whole war of the Revolution, and was with Paul Jones in his gallant action with the Scrapis in September, 1770, He was then only about twenty-three years of age. He was a great favorite with Jones, and the latter presented to Dale the elegant gold-mounted sword which Jones received from the King of France. It is now in the pos- session of his grandson, Richard Dale, of Philadelphia, where I saw it in November, 1801. The handle, guard, and hilt, OF THE WAR OF 1812. 119 Tripoli and its Cruisers blodiaded. Abandonment of the Barbary Coast. Commodores Morris and Dale. commanded by the eccentric Captain M'Neill (son of Hector M'Neill, of the Revo- lutionary navy),i was cruising in the Mediterranean in an independent way, after conveying Robert R. Livingston, the United States minister, to France. The port of Tripoli was blockaded by her early in May, where she was joined by the Con- stellation. The latter vessel was soon left alone, as M'Neill avoided the company of others, and- not long afterward she had a severe contest with a flotilla of seventeen Tripolitan gun-boats. She handled them severely, as well as some cavalry on the shore, with her great guns. The Chesapeake reached Gibraltar on the 25th of May, and found the Essex, Cap- tain Bambridge, still blockading the two Tripolitan cruisers there. The arrival of the Adams late in July enabled the Chesapeake, in company with the Enterpi-ise, to cruise along the north shore of the Mediterranean for the protection of American commerce. Finally orders were given for the diflferent vessels of the squadron to rendezvous at Malta. They collected there in the course of the month of January, 1803, and during the spring appeared off the ports of the Barbary Powers, and ef- fectually restraining their corsairs. Tripoli was blockaded by the John Adams in May. She had a severe engagement toward the close of the month with gun-boats and land batteries. These suffered severely, and the Americans lost twelve or fifteen in killed and wounded. An unsuccessful attempt to negotiate a peace was made the next day, and in June the movements of the Algerine and Tunisian corsairs induced the Americans to raise the blockade. But, before leaving, Commodore Rodgers, of the John Adams (then in chief command), with the Enterprise, attacked a large Tri- politan corsair lying in a sheltered bay, and drove her people to the shore. The cor- sair soon afterward blew up, with a large number of joersons who had returned to her. The ships then all left the Barbary coast, and Commodore Morris returned home. He arrived toward the close of November, 1803. The conduct of aftairs in the Mediterranean under his direction was not satisfactory. A court of inquiry de- cided that he had not " discovered due diligence and activity in annoying the enemy," and the President, with a precipitation difficult to be defended, dismissed him from the service without trial. ^ The United States government had determined to act with more vigor against the Barbary Powers, and in May, 1803, Commodore Preble was appointed to the com- andthe mountings of the scabbard are solid gold, with bean- t if ully- wrought devices on them. Upon the blade is the fol- lowing inscription : vindicati maris ludivious xvi. remu- XEEATOR sTRENuo VTETUTi — " Louis XVI. rewardcr of the valiant aeserter of the freedom of the sea." Dale left the service in 17S0, In 1794 he was appointed one of the six naval captains by Washington. He was made commodore in 1801 by being placed in command of a squad- ron, and the following year he resigned. He retired with a competency, and spent the remainder of his days in Philadel- phia, where he died in 1826, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. The grave of Commodore Dale is in Christ Church-yard, on Fifth Street, Philadelphia. His monument is a marble slab, with the follo\\'ing inscription: *'Iu memory of Commodore RiouARD Dale, born November 6, 1750, died February 24, 1826. An honest man, an incorruptible patriot, in all his re- lations conciliating universal love. A Christian without guile, he departed this life in the well-founded and triumph- ant hope of that blessedness which awaits all who, like him, die in the Lord." On the same slab is an inscription com- memorative of the virtues of his wife, who died in Septem- dale's monuaient. ber, 1832, at the age of sixty-five years. Very near this tomb is a handsome marble cross, erected to the memory of Montgomery, a son of Commodore Dale, also ofthe United States navy, who died in December, 1S52, at the age of fifty -five years. ^ See Lossing's Field-Boole of the Revolution, ii., 640. 2 Richard Valentine Morris was the youngest son of Lewis Morris, of Morrisania, New York, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He entered the service in early life, and in June, 1798, he was commissioned a captain in the navy. He was retained as fifth in rank at the reduction of the navy in 1801. His dismissal from the service has ever been considered a high-handed political measure. He died while attending the Legislature at Albany in 1814. 120 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK /^^^^ a^-f^ Squadron under Preble in the Mediterr aneau. Settlement of Difflculties with Morocco. Capture ot the Philaddphia. mand of a squadron, consisting of the Constitiitio?i, 44, Fhiladelphia, 38, Ar- gus and Siren, 16 each, and Nautilus, Yixen,&n(\. Enterprise, 12 each. Preble sailed in the Constitution at the middle of August, and the other vessels follow- ed as fast as they were made ready. The PhiladeipMa, Captain Bainbridge, had sailed in July, and on the 26th of August captured the Moorish frigate Meshhoha, found holding in possession an American merchant vessel which she had taken as a prize. It was dis- covered that her commander was act- ing under the orders of the Moorish Governor of Tangiers to cruise for American vessels. The Philadelphia returned to Gibraltar with her prize. On the arrival of Preble he determ- ined to sail for Tangiers and make in- quiries respecting the hostile proceed- ings of the Moors. He was accompa- nied by Commodore Rodgers, and on the 6th of October the Constitution, New York, John Adams, and Nautilus entered the Bay of Tangiers. Preble had an interview with the Emperor of Morocco, who disavowed the act of the Gov- ernor of Tangiers, and expressed a desire to remain at peace with the United States. The difficulty with Morocco being settled, Rodgers sailed for home, and Preble made energetic preparations to bring Tripoli to terms. A serious disaster soon oc- curred. On the morning of the 31st of October the Philadelphia chased a Tripolitan ship into the harbor of Tripoli. In endeavoring to beat off she struck on a rock not laid down in any of the charts. Every effort to get her off failed, and she was at- tacked and finally captured by the Tripolitans. Bainbridge and his officers and men were made prisoners, and two days afterward the ship was extricated and taken into the harbor. The officers were treated as prisoners of war, but the crew were made slaves. Bainbridge found means to report his misfortune to Preble at Malta, and to sug- gest the destruction of the Philadelphia, which was being fitted for sea. Preble had recently appeared off Tripoli for the first time. On the 23d of December the Enter- p>rise. Lieutenant Decatur, sailing in company with the flag-ship, captured a ketch called the Mastico, then belonging to the Tripolitans, and bound to Constantinople with a present of female slaves for the Sultan. Heavy storms arose, and Preble and Decatur sailed into Syracuse, where the ketch was appraised and taken into the service, with the name of the Intrepid. Decatur had formed a plan for cutting out or destroying the Philadelphia. It was approved by Preble ; and on the 3d of February, 1804", he left Syracuse with orders and preparations to destroy her. The Intrepid was chosen for the service, and sev- enty-four determined young men sailed in her for the port of Tripoli, accompanied by the brig Siren, Lieutenant Stewart. Heavy storms delayed their operations until the 16th, when, in the evening, the young moon shining brightly, the Intrepid sailed into the harbor, and was warped alongside the Philadelphia without exciting suspicion, she having assumed the character of a vessel in distress. Most of the officers and men were concealed until the ketch was placed alongside the Philadelphia. Then OF THE WAR OF 1812. 121 Destroction of the PhUadelphia. Tripoli bomljaraea. A hand to hand Fight. Gallantry of Deoatnr. for the first, the Tripolitans suspected them. At the same moment Decatur and other officers sprang on board the frigate, followed by their men. In a few minutes the turbaned defenders of the Yessel were all killed or driven into the sea. She was immediately set on fire, in the midst of the roar of cannon from the Tripolitan bat- teries and castle, and from two corsairs near. The scene was magnificent ; and as the guns of the Philadelphia became heated they were -discharged. # The Intrepid was in imminent danger from the flames, but she escaped. Not one of the gallant Decatur's men was killed, and only four were wounded. In the light of the conflagration the Intrq>id,hj the aid of oars, swept out of the harbor, where the boats of the Siren, with their strong sweeps, were in readiness to aid in towing her off. Before a pleas- ant breeze both vessels sailed for Syracuse, where the American squadron and the people of the town welcomed them with strong demonstrations of joy. For this he- roic act Decatur was promoted to captain, and several of the other- officers who ac- companied him were advanced. This bold act greatly alarmed the Bey or Bashaw of Tripoli, and the ensuing block- ade of his port by Commodore Preble made him exceedingly circumspect. Finally, at the close of July,* Preble entered the harbor of Tripoli with his squadron, and anchored the Constitution two and a half miles from the walled city, whose pro- tection lay in heavy batteries mounting one hundred and fifteen cannon, nine- teen gun-boats, a brig, two schooners, and some galleys, twenty-five thousand land-soldiers, and a sheltering reef of dangerous rocks and shoals. These did not dismay Preble. On the 3d of August, at three in the afternoon, he opened a heavy cannonade and bombardment from his gun-boats, which alone could get near enough for effective service. Confiict in closer range soon took place, and finally Lieutenant Decatur, commanding gun-boat Number Four, lay his vessel alongside one of the largest of those of the enemy, and boarded and captured her after a desperate struggle. ^ He immediately boarded an- other, when he had a most desperate personal encounter with the powerful Tripolitan captain. The struggle was brief but deadly. The captain was finally killed by Decatur at a moment of fearful peril, and the vessel was captured.^ After a general confiict of two hours, during which time three of the enemy's gun-boats were sunk in the harbor, three of them captured, and a heavy loss of life had been suffered by the Tripolitans, the Americans thought it prudent to withdraw, but to renew the confiict four days afterward. The second attack on Tripoli commenced at half past two o'clock in the afternoon of the 7th. "^ An hour afterward a hot shot from the town » August, paggg^ juto the hull of gun-boat Number Nine, one of the prizes captured on the 3d, and fired her magazine. The vessel was destroyed, and with it her commander. Lieutenant Caldwell, of the IHren, Midshipman Dor- sey, and eight of her crew. Six others were wounded. When the smoke cleared away her bow only was above water. On it were Midshipman Rob- ert "T. Spence and eleven men, busily engaged in loading the long 24-pounder with which she was armed. They gave three loud cheers, discharged the gun at the enemy, and a moment afterward were picked from the water by men in boats, for the wreck on which they stood, with its great gun, had gone to the bottom. Ao-ain, after inflicting some damage upon the enemy, the Americans with- drew, but renewed the attack on the 24th of the same month, ihis was weapon. 1 While Captain Decatur was thus gallantly assailing the enemy, his yonnger brother James, first lieutenant of the Nautilus, was as bravely emulating his example, in command of gun-boat Nvmber Tmo. He had caused the surrender of one of the enemy's largest vessels, and was boarding her to take possession, when the captain of the surrendered vessel treacherously shot him and escaped. The miscreant's pistol was loaded with two balls connected by a wire. The wire struck Decatur on the forehead, and bending, the two balls entered his temples, one on each side, and killed him in- stantly. He was the only American ofllcer killed in this engagement. 2 Decatur attacked the Tripolitan captain w.ith a pike. The assailed seized it and turned it upon his assailant. Deca- THIPOHTAN PICTORIAL PIELD-BOOK 22 ripoli bombarded the Fifth Time. A floating Mine. It. Explosion in the Harbor of Tripoli. irief, and without any important results. But on the 29th a fourth and more formi- [able attack was made by the American gun-boats, commencmg at three o clock m the aorning. The conflict continued until daylight, with great fury on both sides, when he ConstUution ran toward the harbor, under heavy fire from the Bashaw's castle nd Fort English. She signaled the gun-boats to withdraw, correctly supposmg their mmunition to be nearly exhausted. This was done under the fire of the Constitution, rhich, with grape and round shot, greatly damaged the gun-boats of the enemy and aused them to retreat. She then ran in, and opened a heavy fire upon the town, bat- eriesj and castle. She soon silenced the guns of the castle and two batteries, sunk a [■unisian vessel, damaged a Spanish one, severely bruised the enemy's galleys and ;un-boats, and then withdrew, without having a man hurt. , ' The American squadron lay at. anchor off Tripoli until the 2d of September repair- ng damages. It then sailed for the harbor, where it arrived on the afternoon of the Id. The enemy, profiting by experience, had adopted new tactics. The change corn- jelled Preble to modify his own plan. At half past three in the afternoon the bomb- :etches opened the conflict by bombarding the town. The Constitution ran down to he rocky reef and opened a heavy flre, at grape-shot distance, upon the castle and the ity. She poured in eleven effective broadsides, while the smaller vessels were car- ying on the conflict at other points. The general engagement lasted an hour and a [uarter, when, the wind rising freshly, the commander, in the exercise of prudence, ;ave a signal for the squadron to withdraw. ' The ketch Intrepid, used in the destruction of the Philadelphia, had been converted tito a floating mine, for the purpose of destroying the enemy's cruisers in the harbor tf TripoH One hundred barrels of gunpowder were placed in a room below deck, md immediately above them a large quantity of shot, shell, and irregular pieces of ron were deposited. In other parts of the vessel combustibles were placed, and she vas made ia every way a most disagreeable neighbor. On the night succeeding the Lfth bombardment of Tripoli she was sent into the harbor on her destructive mission, inder the command of Captain Somers, who had behaved gallantly during the recent ittacks on the town. He was assisted by Lieutenant Wadsworth, of the Constitution, md Mr. Israel, an ardent young oflicer, who got on board the ketch by stealth. These, vith a few men to work the Intrepid, and the crews of two boats employed in towing ler, composed the expedition. At nine o'clock in the evening the Intrepid entered the harbor on her perilous mis- iion. The night was very dark, and she soon disappeared iu the gloom. Many eager syes were turned in the direction where her shadowy form was last seen. All hearts n the squadron beat quickly with anxiety. Suddenly a fierce and lurid light streamed ip from the dark bosom of the waters like volcanic fires, and illuminated with its lorrid gleams the rocks, forts, flotilla, castle, town, and the broad expanse of the har- Dor, followed instantly by an explosion that made all surrounding object's tremble. Flaming masts and sails and fiery bombs rained upon the waters for a few moments, ;ur drew his cutlass and attempted to cut off the head of the pike, when his weapon snapped at the hilt, and he was left ipparently at the mercy of the Turk. He parried the thrust of the Tripolitan, and sprang upon and clutched him by the ;hroat. A trial of strength ensued, and they both fell to the deck. The Tripolitan attempted, as they lay, to draw a small poniard from his sash. Decatur perceived the movement, grasped the hand that held the deadly steel, and drew from his own pocket a small pistol, which he passed round the body of his antagonist, pointed it inward, and shot him 3ead. Puring the affray, Reuben James, a quarter-gunner, performed a most self-sacriflcing act. One of the Tripolitan crew, seeing the perilous condition of his commander, aimed a sabre-blow at Decatur's head. James, with both arms disabled from wounds and bleeding prohisely, rushed between the Tripolitan and his commander, and received the sabre-stroke upon his own Vice-Admiral) Charles Stew- head. The blow was uot fa- iffitr~ -^ art — bom which the annexed tal. Decatur took the dirk i|iiiita;/Mai «flB ^ — ' niiriMl^ ^^ dravringwasmade. Oneofthe from his foe, and afterward ^^ ^'^^WtM/^^^^g^^^^^^^^^ weapons — a powerftal though presented it to Captain ^„,„„, ,.,.,, ««»,,»„,, not large sort of a sword or (now [1867] the venerable thipolitan foniakd. j^^^ ^^.^.^^ .^ ^ shark -skin scabbard— which was taken from the enemy by Decatur at that time, is delineated in the engraving on page 121. It is in the possession of F. J. Dreer, Esq., of Philadelphia.— See Waldo's Life 0/ Decatur, page 132. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 123 Destruction of the Intrepid. Honors to Commodore Preble. Biographical Sketch. when all was again silence and darkness three-fold greater than before. Anxious eyes and ears bent in the direction of the dreadful explosion. The boats were waited for until the dawn with almost insupportable impatience. They never came, and no man of that perilous expedition was heard of afterward. Whether the ex2)losion was an accident or a sacrifice — whether a shot from the enemy, or a brand dropped from a patriotic hand to prevent the ketch and its freight of men and powder from falling into the hands of the Tripolitans — can never be known. For more than sixty years the matter has been shrouded in impenetrable mystery.^ Lack of powder and the approach of the stormy season of the year induced Com- modore Preble to cease oj^erations on the dangerous Barbary coast, other than the maintenance of the blockade of Tripoli. Not another shot was fired ; and on the 10th of September^ Preble was relieved by the arrival of Commodore Samuel Barron. He returned home late in February, 1805, bearing expressions of the highest regards from his officers, and received the homage of the nation's gratitude.^ Congress voted thanks to the commodore, and all who had served under his orders. On Preble they bestowed a gold medal bearing appropriate devices and inscrip^- MEDAL GIVEN TO OOMMODOBE PREBLE, 1 Waldo, in his Li/e of Decatur, page 146, says that an eye-witness informed him that the evening was unusually calm ; that as the Intrepid moved silently into the inner harbor, two of the enemy's heaviest galleys, with more than a hundred men in each, captured the " infernal," wholly unconscious of her character. The impression was that Somers, knowing their fate to be miserable captivity if taken prisoners into the city, where Bainbridge and his men had then suffered for eleven months, considered death preferable, and with his own hand fired the magazine of the Intrepid. Under this im- pression a newspaper writer, after alluding to the capture, wrote with more feeling than poetry— " In haste they board : see Somers stand. Determined, cool, formed to command, The match of death in his right hand, Scorning a life of slavery. And now behold ! the match applied, The mangled foe the welkin ride : Whirling aloft, brave Somers cried, ' A glorious death or liberty 1' " 2 Edward Preble was born in Portland, Maine, on the 15th of August, 1761. He early evinced a passion for the sen, and engaged in the merchant service. He became a midshipman in the naval service in 177t> in the state ship Protector. He afterward became lieutenant of the sloop-of-war Winthrop, and remained in her during the remainder of the war for independence. He was the first lieutenant appointed in the new naval establishment in 1708, and soon afterward made two cruises in the brig Pickeriiuj as commander. lu 1800 he was made captain and placed in command of the Essex, in which he sailed to the East Indies to convoy American vessels. On account of ill health he withdrew from active serv- ice until 1803, when he went to the Mediterranean Sea. After his successful operations there he again withdrew from the service. In 1806 he suffered severely from debility of the digestive organs, from which he never recovered. He died on the 25th of August, 1807, at the age of forty-six years. To his memory a friend wrote in 1807— " Lamented chief! though death be calmly past, Our navy trembled when he breathed his last ! Our navy mourns him, but it mourns in vain: A Preble ne'er will live— ne'er die again 1 Yet hope, desponding, at the thought revives— A second Peeble— a Decatur lives !" The likeness of Preble given on page 120 is from a portrait of him in Faneuil Hall, Boston. 124 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Commodore Barron's Squadron in the Mediterranean. The Naval Monument at Annapolis. Devices and Inscriptions. tions.i Officers of the navy afterward caused a white marble monument to be erected at the government dock-yard near the National Capitol in memory of their brother officers who fell at Tripoli.^' Commodore Barron found himself in command of a much greater naval force than the Americans had ever put afloat in the Mediterranean Sea. It consisted of the President, 44, Captain Cox ; Constitution, 44, Caj^tain Decatur; Congress, 38, Captain Rodgors; Constellation, 38, Captain Campbell; JSssex, 32, Cajjtain J. Barron; iiiren, 16, Captain Stewart ; Argus, 16, Captain Hull ; Vixen, 12, Captain Smith ; Enterprise, 12, Lieutenant Commandant Robinson, and Nautilus, 12, Lieutenant Commandant Dent. Tlie John Adarns, 28, Captain Chauncey, and the Hornet, 12, Lieutenant Com- mandant Evans, with two bombs and twelve gun-boats, were expected to join the Mediterranean squadron. It will be perceived that in this squadron, in actual com- mand, were many of those who attained to great distinction during the War of 1812. ' The engraving on the preceding page shows the exact size of the medal, dore, with the legend, "Ed\vap.i>o Feeble, rirci stp.enuo oomitia Americana." barding the town and forts of Tripoli; legend, "vindioi co-m-meeoii amekioani IsAVlL 110NLML\T On one side is a bust of the commo- On the reverse, the American fleet hom- . Exergue — ante Tripoli, 1804." 2 The picture represents the monu- ment as it appeared when first erected. It is of white marble, and with its pres- ent pedestal (not seen in the engrav- ing) is about forty feet in height. It was mutilated when the navy yard at Washington was bunied in 1S14. It was afterward repaired, and removed to the west front of the Capitol iu Washington, where it was placed upon a spacious brown-stone base in an oval reservoir of water. The monument, with this base, was removed to Annap- olis, in Maryland, iu 1S60, and set up there in the grounds of the Naval Academy. In consequence of the Great Eebellion, in ISCl, that academy was removed to Newport, Ehode Island. The monument was left. "It is situ- ated," wi-ote Mr. William Yorke AtLee to the author in January, 1S62, "ou a hill in the northwestern portion of the naval school grounds. It is in a state of good preservation, and adds not a little to the beauty of the grounds." The shaft is surmounted by the ■Vmerican eagle, bearing the shield. On its sides the representations of the bows of vessels are seen projecting, ind by its pedestal is au allegorical figure of Fanw in the attitude of alight- ing, with a coronal of leaves in one hand and a pen in the other. The form of the pedestal has heen altered. On one side of the base, in relief, is a view of Tripoli and the American squadron ; on the other the names of the heroes in whose memory the monument was erected. On three sides of the base are statues rep- resenting Mercnry (Commerce), His- torij, and A^neriea, the latter in the form of an Indian girl with a feather head-dress, half nude, and two chil- dren near. On the brown sandstone sub-base on which this monument now stands are the following inscriptions, upon three sides ; ^T\l^]^' r " '^*'"' '"'^ty-eishth year of the independence of the United States " ^ P"'' '" ""= ^"^^ "' ™' cl,itVdm1r::a^Cof,i,^t^arn™\hr;^l^^"°™^' ''"'" '"'''■ ^^'-^ '^^"^^ "^-^ --'• The CMMren of oi^c::f^^™Jec[:d';;:L mo::^.::^ ''^'^ "^"°'-^' ™^ "^"'^='"°" °^ '>^^'^ ™^-. - -«t^y of imitation, their brother OF THE WAE OF 1812. 125 Ailiance with Hamet Caramalli. March across Northern Africa. Peace with Tripoli. The Barbary Powers humbled. Barron's flag-ship was the President. Leaving some of his force to overawe the menacing Moors, he kept up the blockade of Tripoli during the autumn and winter of 1804-5. Meanwhile a land movement y y<~\ against Tripoli was conceived and exe- y^^y'^!/^' — > y^ cuted under the management of Cap- y'^^CC^'^^^^^^^^^t^ O^^^^^ tain William Eaton, of the United States army, then consul at Tunis. We have already observed that Hamet Caramalli, the right possessor of the beyship of Tripoli, had fled to Egypt. He had taken refuge with the Mame- lukes. It was determined to make common cause with- him against his usurping brother. Accordingly Captain Eaton, with three American officers, set out for Egypt* to confer with him. Hamet joyfully accepted their alliance, » November 2C, and the Viceroy of Egypt gave him permission to leave the country. i^"*- He left the Mamelukes with about forty followers, and joined Eaton westward of Alexandria, who was at the head of a small number of troops, composed of men of all nations. Early in March* the allies, with transportation consisting of one , b March 6, hundred and ninety camels, started for Tripoli. They traversed portions of i^"^- the great Desert of Barca, and the wild regions along the African coast of the Medi- terranean for a thousand miles. Late in April," in conjunction with two ■= April 2t. American vessels, they captured the Tripolitan sea-port town of Derne. d May is ana After two successful engagements'' with, Tripolitan troops they approach- '^°°® ^^■ ed the capital, confident of success, for their followers had become very numerous, when, to the mortification of Captain Eaton and the extinguishment of all the hopes of Hamet, they were apprised that Tobias Lear, consul-general on that coast, had ap- peared before Tripoli in the JEssex, and made a treaty^ with the terrified ejnne4 Bashaw.^ Thus ended the four years' war with Tripoli. The ruler of Tunis was yet insolent, and Commodore Rodgers, who had become commander of the squadron in conse- quence of the failing health of Barron, anchored thirteen vessels befpre his capital on the 1st of August. The haughty Bey was speedily humbled, and sent an embassador to the United States. The power of the American government was now acknowledged and feared by all the barbarians of the northern shores of Africa, and the commerce of thie Mediterra- nean Sea was relieved of great peril. Pope Pius the Seventh declared that the Amer- icans had done more for Christendom against the North African pirates than all the powers of Europe united. The cruising and belligerent operations of the American navy in the Mediterranean had not only accomplished this great good for the world, but had been an admirable school for the military mai-ine of the United States. The value of the lessons taught in .that school was manifested a thousand times during the war with Great Britain that ensued a few years later. While these events in the Mediterranean, connected in the practical service on the part of the Americans with the War of 1812, were transpiring, political changes had commenced in Europe which speedily aroused the United States to a sense of the ne- cessity of strengthening the naval arm of the government. We have observed that the beginning of 1802 saw a general pacification of Europe, and that England paid obsequious court to Bonaparte, whose fascinations allured thousands of Englishmen to France. This ''First Kiss in Ten Years," celebrated by 1 This treaty was not creditable. Although it was stipulated that the United States should pay no more tribute to Tripoli it was agreed that $60,000 should be paid for captives then in possession of the «ashaw. Altogether better and less humiliating terms for the United States might have been obtained. All that Hamet gained was the release of his wife and children He lost every thing else. He afterward came to the United States, and applied to Congress for re- muneration for his services in favor of the Americans. His petition was denied, but $2400 were voted for his temporary relief. PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK 126 Bonaparte declared Consul for Life. His Inaolence toward the English. War declared against France. the caricaturists, was the last for more than that space of time. First jealousy then suspicion, and, finally, intense hatred of France and her ruler took possession of the English mind. These feelings were intensified by the act of the French Senate, who . August 3 declared Bonaparte consul for life,^ a declaration speedily sanctioned by the ifo2. ' Yotga of tjiree millions of Frenchmen. This was jealously regarded as a cautious step toward more absolute power, which England feared; and when, im- , A„ 3t 15 mediately afterward, first the Island of Elba," then Piedmont," then the = Se^ptemier 11. Duchy of Parma,* were incorporated into the dominions of France, no ' October. one doubted that the First Consul would speedily set armies in motion for the greater aggrandizement of himself and' the country of his adoption. England professed to see in this accession of territory infringements of the Treaty of Amiens. Bonaparte retorted by accusing Great Britain of violating the spirit of treaties and endeavoring to disturb the peace of Europe, for which he was laboring, and assumed toward England a haughty and dictatorial tone that wounded her sens- itive pride. He evinced a disposition to possess Malta ; required England to drive royal French emigrants from her shores, where they had taken refuge ; demanded- a suppression of the liberties of the English press in its criticisms on French afiairs, be- cause it was regarded as his most dangerous enemy ; and actually asked for a modifi- cation of the English Constitution. ^ He was charged with inciting another rebellion in Ireland, and distributing his secret emissaries, under the guise of consuls, all along the British coasts.^ The cup of Bonaparte's iniquity was finally made full to English comprehension when, at the beginning of March, 1803, he declared, in an official note to Lord Whit- worth, the British embassador in Paris, that England, alone, can not now encounter France." That announcement, assuming the shape of a Wnace, raised a storm of patriotic indignation all over England, which found a loud echo in the House of Lords on the 9th of March. That indignation, not unmixed with alarm, became more in- tense when intelligence reached London that a Senatus Consultum on the 21st of March had placed one hundred and twenty thousand conscripts at the command of the French ruler. Still professing a desire for peace, the Addington ministry contin- ued negotiations with Bonaparte. Finally, in May, the British minister at Paris, who had been personally insulted by the First Consul, and who had repeatedly warned his government that the negotiations on the part of the French ruler were deceptive, and contrived only to give time for hostile preparation, was ordered to leave the French capital. The British government immediately ordered the French minister to leave London, and on the 18th of May formally declared war against France, and put in immediate operation an embargo upon all French vessels in English ports. In retal- iation, crowds of English visitors in the French dominion were seized and held as prisoners of war.^ Immense bodies of troops were sent to the French coast, and men- aced England with immediate invasion. Bonaparte Superintended the preparations in person, established his head-quarters at Boulogne, on the roads to which finger- posts marked "Jb ZiSndon" were erected, and every possible means were used to in- 1 The English Constitution is not a permanent instrument embodying the foundations of all laws, like that of the United States, but comprehends the whole body of English laws enacted by Parliament, and by which the British peo- ple are governed. The Constitution of the United States is superior to the Congress or National Legislature ; the Par- liament or National Legislature of England is superior to the Constitution. What Parliament declares to be the Consti- tution of England is the Constitution of England : what the Parliament enacts the monarch must be goveme^d by, and the courts can not adjudge to be unconstitutional and void. Sheridan comprehensively said, "The King of England is not seated on a solitary eminence of power ; on the contrary, he sees his equals in the coexisting branches of the Legis- lature, and he recognizes his swperior in the law." 2 The latter charge was proven by the seizure of the papers of the French consul at Dublin, in whose secret instruc- tions were the following passages : " You are required to furnish a plan of the ports of your district, with a specification of the soundings for mooring vessels. If no plan of the ports can be procured, yon are to point out with what wind ves- sels can come in and go out, and what is the greatest draught of water with which vessels can enter the river deeply laden." = About twelve thousand English subjects of all ages were committed to custody. OF THE WAE OF 1812. 127 The English People excited against France. Invasion of Great Britain by the French expected. Witticisms. flame the resentments of Frenchmen against their English neighbors across the Channel. In England every art was also employed to excite the people against France and its ruler. Immense numbers of " loyal papers" and " loyal tracts" were scattered over the land, some being atrocious libels on Bonaparte and his family, fictitious ac- counts of his barbarities, and exaggerated pictures of his treatment of those countries which had bowed to his power ; others were calm and dignified appeals to the pa- triotism and courage of the nation. It was evident to all that an invasion was prob- able, and yet wits, and satirists, and vulgar libelers hurled perpetual volleys of abuse and ridicule against Bonaparte and France, afiecting, with ill-disguised trepidation, to look upon both with contempt.^ This apparent gayety and unconcern was like the whistling of boys in the dark to keep their courage up. The government at the same moment was making immense preparations to repel the expected invasion, and the year 1803 was one of alarm and terror for all England.^ She was the asylum of the Bourbon Royalists, who were the traditional enemies of all popular liberty and prog- ress, the most implacable foes of the French ruler, and the sleepless and relentless conspirators against the lives of all who should stand in the way of their recovery of the throne from which the best of their linea,ge, Louis the Sixteenth, had been driven a few years before. These Royalists were petted by the English government and pit- 1 Bonaparte was sometimes compared to a wild beast, at other times to a pigmy, and at all times as a blusterer to be laughed at. One morning London would be amused by a large placard announcing an exhibition thus : "Just arrived at Mr. Bull's Menagerie, In British Lane, the most renowned and sagacious Man^tiger or Orang-outang, called Napoleon Bonaparte. He has been exhibited in Holland, Switzerland, and Italy, and lately in Egypt," etc. Another morning chapmen would offer in the great thoroughfares songs with words like these : " Come, I'll sing you a song. Just for want of some other, About a STnall thing that has made a great pother : A mere iTisect — a pigmy. I'll tell you, my hearty, 'Tie the Corsican hop-o'^my-tkwmh, Buonaparti." Or boastful ballads in words like these : " Arm, neighbors, at length. And put forth yonr strength Perfidious, bold France to resist ! Ten Frenchmen will fly, To shun a black eye. If one Englishman doubles his fist 1" The theatres were resonant with patriotic songs. One of the most popular of those song in -the play-houses, called " The Island," began with this stanza: "If the French have a notion of crossing the ocean. Their luck to be trying on land. They may come if they like ; But we'll soon make 'em strike To the lads of the tight little Island ! Huzza for the boys of the Island '. The brave volnnteers of the Island ! The fraternal embrace, If foes want in this place, We'll present all the arms in the Island !" Gillray and other caricaturists were exceedingly active at this time in ridiculing all parties, hut especially Bonaparte. Some of these caricatures, which were grossly personal, annoyed the Corsican exceedingly, for he was extremely sensi- tive to any thing like ridicule against himself and family. The one which gave him most offense was a broad parody on BeJshaznar's Feast, by GUlray, which appeared in August, 1803, entitled " The BanOwriting on the Wall" The First Consul and Josephine, his wife (the latter represented of enormous hulk), and other members of his family and court, are seated at table devonring the good things of England as a dessert. When Bonaparte first discovers the mysterious hand, his fork is stuck into St. James's, seen on his plate. Another is swallowing the Tower of London, while Jose- phine is drinking large bumpers of wine. On a plate bearing the inscription " Oh de roast beef of Old England 1" is seen a head of King George. Above the feasters a hand holds the scales of Justice, in which the legitimate crown of France weighs down the red cap and its attendant chain— Despotism under the name of Liberty. Behind Josephine stand the three afterward princesses of the imperial family— Borghese, Louise, and Joseph Bonaparte. A copy of this caricature is given in full in Wright's History of the Home of Hammer, Ulusirated by Carieatures and Satires. It is said to have greatly exasperated the First Consul and his friends. 2 On the 23d of July the germ of another rebellion in Ireland appeared at Dublin. The chief leader was Robert Em- met, an eminent barrister, who was implicated, with his brother, in the rebellion there in 1798. His followers proved themselves so unworthy of himself and the cause (which was the independence of Ireland) that he fled in despair to the Wickldw Mountains. He might have evaded pursuit, but his love for his betrothed, the daughter of the famous Curran, caused him to linger. He was arrested, tried for and found guilty of treason, and hanged on the 20th of September fol- lowing. 128 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Effects of the British Declaration of War. Fight for the Championship. Bonaparte proclaimed JSmperor. His Plans. ied by tlie English people ; and this offense, above all others, exasperated Bonaparte, xir he regarded England as the accomplice of the conspirators against himself and luman freedom. ■ The British declaration of war, said Meneval (who was always at the elbow of the First Consul), changed his whole nature.' He had been planning vast beneficent schemes for France under the serene skies of universal peace, WljiCn England, of all the lations loudest in her professions of concord and sentiments of Christian benevo- ence, was the first to disappoint him — the first to again disturb the peace of Europe jy brandishing high in air the flaming sword of war, instead of the green olive- Dranch of amity and good will. Compeilftd to accept the challenge, he resolved to nve her war to her heart's content. Each party charged the other with act'S of flagrant wrong against the peace and veil-being of the world, and the record of impartial history implies that hoth spoke h.e truth. It is not our business to act as' umpire on the question, or to delineate the svents of the great war that ensued. We will simply consider the resulting effects >f these international strifes on the peace and prosperity of the United States. The var was waged by both parties with an utter disregard of the rights of all other lations or the settled maxims of international comity. France and England entered he lists for the champion's belt — for the supremacy in the political affairs of the rorld— and they fought with the science, the desperation, and the brutality of ac- omplished pugilists. On the 18th of May, 1804, Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor of the French, in Mays. »ened with Napoleon negotiations for peace, the res«o.ration of "Hanover being one .the proposed conditions. Napoleon considered it, and on that account the Kins Prussia, alarmed and offended, joined the coalition of the Northern Powers against m. The exasperated emperor marched upon Prussia, and, after slaying more than )ctober 25, twenty thousand of the king's subjects in arms, he entered Berlin = his capital, in triumph. Meanwhile the Russians had been beaten 'back ,Sl!m^ "^ ^""""^ ^"^ """"^ *^ ^"^ ^'^ °^ ^'^'^ "^ ^'■'^ ^**"- ^y Charles J. lugereoll. Second OF THE WAR OF 1812. 129 The Berlin Decree. through Poland, and he was in possession of "Warsaw. Strong, bold, and defiant, and burning with a desire to humble " perfidious Albion," he issued from his camp at the Prussian capital" the famous manifesto known in history as the .November 21 Berlin Decree,' which declared the ports of the whole of the British do- i^''^- minions in a state of blockade, while a French vessel of war scarcely dare appear on the ocean to enforce it. This brings us to the immediate consideration of events in the United States, and the effects of the strife abroad upon American affairs. ' The following is a copy of the decree : -^Mmperial Camp, Berlin, November 21, 1806. "Napoleon, Emperor of the French and King of Italy, considering: " 1. That England does not admit the right of nations as universally acknowledged by all civilized people ; " 2. That she declares as an enemy every individual belonging to an enemy state, and, in consequence, makes pris- oners of war not only of the crews of a/rmM, vessels, but those also of merchaml vessels, and even the supercargoes of the same; "S. That she extends or applies to merchant vessels, to articles of ooiimerce, and to the property of individuals the right of conquest, which can only be applied or extended to what belongs t"o an enemy state ; " 4. That she extends to ports not fortified, to harbors and months of rivers, the rifjltt of bbckade, which, according to reason and the usages of civilized nations, is applicable only to strong or fortified ports ; " 5. That she declares places blockaded before which she has not a single vessel of war, although a place ought not to be considered blockaded but when it is so invested that no approach to it can be made without imminent hazard ; that she declares even places blockaded which her united forces would be incapable of doing, such as entire coasts and a whole empire. "6. That this unequaled abuse of the right of blockade has no other object than to interrupt the communication of dififerent nations, and to extend the commerce and industry of England upon the ruin of those of the Continent ; ' "7. That this being the evident design of England, whoever deals on the Continent in English merchandise favors that design, and becomes an accomplice ; " 8. That this conduct in England (worthy only of the first stages of barbarism) has benefited her to the detriment of other nations ; " 9. That it being right to oppose to an enemy the same arms she makes use of, to combat as she does when all ideas of justice and every liberal sentiment (the result of civilization amongmen) are disregarded, " We have resolved to enforce against England the usages which she has consecrated in her maritime code. "The present decree shall be considered as the fundamental law o'f the Empire until England shall acknowledge that the rights of war are the same on land as at sea ; that they can not be extended to any private property whatever, nor to persons who are not military, and until the right of blockading be restrained to fortified places actually invested by competent forces. " Art. 1. The British Islands are in a state of blockade. ■.. "Art. 2. All commerce and correspondence with them is prohibited ;; consequently, all letters or packets written in England, or to an Englishman written in the JSnglish lamguage, shall not be dispatched from the post-offlces, and shall he seized. " Art. 3. Every individual a subject of Great Britain, of whatever rank or condition, who is found in countries occu- pied by our troops or those of our allies, shall he made prisoner of war. " Art. 4. Every warehouse, all merchandise or property whatever belonging to an Englishman, are declared good prize. " Art. 5. One half of the proceeds of merchandise declared to he good prize and forfeited, as in the preceding articles, shall go to indemnify merchants who have suffered losses by the English cruisers. "Art. 6. No vessel coming directly from England or her colonies, or having been there since the publication of this decree, shall be admitted into any port. " Art. 7. Every vessel that by a false declaration contravenes the foregoing- disposition shall be seized, and the ship and cargo confiscated as English property. "Art. 8. [This article states that the Councils of Prizes at Paris and at Milan shall have recognizance of what may arise in the Empire and in Italy under the present decree.] " Art. 9. Communications of this decree shall be made to the Kings of Spain, Naples, Holland, Etruria, and to our oth- er allies, whose subjects as well as ours are victims of the injuries and barbarity of the English maritime code. " Art. 10. Our ministers of foreign relations, etc., are charged with the execution of the present decree. "Napoleow." With a partiality toward the Americans that was practical friendship, the French cruisers did not, for a whole year, in- terfere with American vessels trading with Great Britain. On this point Alexander Baring, M.P., in his Inquiry into •the Causes and Conaeqv^nces of the Orders in C(mneil, and an JExamination of the Conduct of Great Britain toward the Neur tral ComTnerce of ATnerica, said: ^^No coTidefmnution of an American vessel had ever takenplace und£r it; and so little did the French privateers interfere vrith the trade of America with this country, that the insurance on it was very little higher than in time of profound peace ; while that of the American trade with the Continent of Europe has at the same time been doubled, and even trebled, by the conduct of our cruisers." I ?0 PIGTOEIAL IflELD-BOOK osperity of American Commerce. Germa of new States appearing in the Orgapization of Territories. CHAPTER VII. " Sliall tliat arm which haughty Britain In its gristle found too strong— That by which her foes were smitten— Shall that arm be palsied long? See our sons of ocean kneeling To a tyrant's stripes and chains ! Partisan I h&st thou no feeling When the hardy tar complains ? See the British press-gang seize hlni, Victim of relentless power ! Stout his heart is, but must fail him In this evil, trying hour." The iMrKEEGEi) Seaman's Appeai. JNCOURAGED by promises of continued peace in Europe, and the relaxation of the " rule of 1756" by Great Britain,i the commerce and general business of the United States enjoyed a season of un- exampled prosperity. The social and political power of the re- public rapidly augmented. The Indians on the frontiers were peaceful ; and the causes for irritation on the part of the inhabit- ants west of the mountains toward the Spaniards, who controlled the Lower Mississippi, were in a fair way of being speedily re- loved. The germs of new states were appearing in the late wilderness, That vast omain northwest of the Ohio, west of a line drawn from the mouth of the Kentucky liver to Fort Recovery on St. Clair's battle-field, and thence due north to Canada, was j{jj ^ erected into a Territory,^ and named Indiana. William Henry Hari-ison, isoa. ' Wayne's eflBcient aid in 1794 (who had been out of the army since 1798), was ppointed governor of the germinal state, and established his capital at Vincennes, n the Lower Wabash. At about the same time the Mississippi Territory, organized in 1798 by Winthrop Sargent, St. Clair's efficient secretary in the govei-nment of the Ohio country, ^^^ ^°' was allowed a representative assembly,'' and its political machinery was put a motion. In the spring of 1802 the United States came into possession, by act of Georgia, of me hundred thousand square miles of territory, now constituting the State of Ala- >ama. It was inhabited by the Creek and Cherokee Indians toward the east, and he Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes toward the west. With those philanthropic im- )ulses which marked the character of Jefferson, he recommended measures for the veil-being of those tribes, and for securing to them equal and exact justice. Late in the same year the inhabitants within the present domain of Ohio, in repre- sentative convention held at Chilicothe, adopted a State Constitution," and the Territory, called Ohio, became a peer among the states of the •epublic. But these political organizations on soil within the domains of the United States, ind over which a civilized population was rapidly spreading, were of small account when compared with the importance of a great acquisition of territory and political power which speedily followed. Louisiana, which once comprehended the vast and [indefinable region of the Valley of the Mississippi and the domain watered by its 1 See note 1, page 84. OF THE WAK OF 1812. 131 Louisiana retroceded to France. The Americans disturbed by the Act. President Jefferson's View of the Subject. tril)utaries, from the Gulf of Mexico to the forty-ninth parallel of latitude, and west- ward to the Pacific Ocean, or " South Sea," as it was then called, was a possession of France by right of discovery by secular and religious explorers, and was named in honor of the Gallic king Louis. ■In 1'763 France ceded to England the whole of that region east of the Mississippi except Florida, and to Spain all west of that river. By these cessions and the sur- render of others, effected by compulsion at the end of a seven years' war, France ab- dicated territorial dominion in North America. While the negotiations of the Treaty of Amiens were in progress, a rumor went abroad that Spain, by secret treaty, had retroceded, or would retrocede, to France all of Louisiana in her possession, and possibly the domain along the Gulf of Mexico known as East and West Florida, thus giving to that now rising, ambitious, and ag- gressive power the entire control of the navigation of the Mississippi, and a position to exercise an influence over the political affairs of the United States more potent and permanent than had ever been attempted. This gave the government and people much uneasiness, and the American ministers in London, Paris, and Madrid were im- mediately instructed to endeavor to defeat the measure. It was too late. The act of cession was accomplished, and the fact was made known to the President early in •1802. President Jefferson, who loved his country and republican institutions intensely, and who desired its prosperity and grandeur with a patriot's warm devotion, wrote an earnest letter to Mr. Livingston,* the American embassador at Paris, on a April is, the subject. With wonderful sagacity he clearly comprehended the mat- ^^*'^- ter in all its bearings, immediate and prospective, and perceived the great evils to the republic which French occupation of the outlet of the Mississippi would inflict. " It would completely reverse," he said, " all the political relations of the United States, and would form a new epoch in our political career. Of all nations of any consider- ation, France is the one which hitherto has offered the fewest points on which we could have any conflict of right, and the most points of common interest. From these causes we have ever looked to her as our natural friend, as one with whom we never could have occasion of difference. Her growth, therefore, we viewed as our own, her misfortunes ours. There is on the globe one single spot the possessor of which is our natural and habitual enemy. It is New Orleans, through which the produce of three eighths of our territory must'^ass to market ; and, from its fertility, it will ere long yield more than half of our whole produce, and contain more than half of our inhabit- ants. France, placing herself in that door, assumes to us the attitude of deflance. Spain might have retained it quietly for years. Her pacific dispositions, her feeble state would induce her to increase our facilities there, so that her possession of the place would be hardly felt by us, and it would not perhaps be very long before some circumstance might arise which might make the cession of it to us the price of some- thing of more worth to her. " Not so can it ever be in the hands of France ; the impetuosity of her temper, the energy and restlessness of her character, placed in a point of eternal friction with us and our character, which, though quiet, and loving peace and the pursuit of wealth, is high-minded, despising wealth in competition with insult or injury. Enterprising and enei-getic as any nation on earth, these circumstances render it impossible that France and the United States can lo5g continue friends when they meet in so irrita- ble a position The day that France takes possession of New Orleans fixes the sentence which is to restrain her forever within her low-water mark. It seals the union of two nations who, in conjunction, can maintain exclusive possession of the ocean. From that moment we must marry ourselves to the British fleet and nation. We must turn all our attentions to a maritime force, for which our resources place us on very high ground ; and, having formed and connected together a power which 32 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK •oposition for the Cession of Louisiana. The secret Designs of Trance. Talleyrand. Atrocious Suggestions. lay render re-enforcement of her settlements here impossible to France, make the rst cannon which shall be fired in Europe the signal for tearing up every settlement le may have made."' Mr. Jefferson suggested that if France considered the possession of Louisiana " in- ispensable for her views," she might be willing to cede to the United States, for a )nsideration, the Island of Kew Orleans, and the Floridas, and guarantee the free avigation of the Mississippi by both nations, thus removing, in a degree, " the causes f jarring and irritation" between the parties.^ Although the President's letter to Mr. Livingston was private, Mr. Jefferson chose ) consider it as supplemental to the official instructions which were sent to the em- issador, and he desired him to urge, on proper occasions, with the proper persons, id in a proper manner, the considerations and suggestions which the letter con- lined. As we have already observed, it was too late to prevent the cession. That ;t had been accomplished by secret treaty eighteen months before.^ Nothing now remained for the Americans to do to prevent the threatened evils of rench occupation at the mouth of the Mississippi but to negotiate for the purchase ' territory there. Such negotiations were speedily entered into. Mr. Livingston took important preliminary steps in that direction, and in January, 1803," James Monroe was appointed to assist him in the negotiation. Their in- Letter to Eobert E. Livingston, April 18, 1802. ' France had no really peaceful and friendly feelings toward the United States at that time. Among the dreams of )ry which filled the mind of Bonaparte was the re-estahlishment of the ancient colonial Empire of France. His first lay was in -St. Bomingo ; his next was to be in Louisiana. What would have been his instrumentalities there in ex- iding his sway over the country west of the Alleghanies, may be inferred from the following extract of a memorial lose inspiration was supposed to be the First Consul, and Talleyrand the writer. This document was published in mphlet formin Philadelphia in 1803, hut was suppressed because of negotiations then pending for the purchase of uisiana from France. It vindicates the wisdom and sagaeity of Jefferson exhibited in the above letter to Mr. Living- m. On the forty-fifth page of the pamphlet it is observed: ' There is still another mean, however, by which the fury of the states may be held at pleasure — ^by an enemy placed their Western frontiers. The only aliens and enemies within their borders are not the blacks. They, indeed, are the 1st inveterate in their enmity ; but the iNDiAifS are, iji many respects, more dangerous inmates. Their savage igno- Me, their uvdiscipUned passioris, their restless and warlike habits, their notions of ancient rights, make them the fittest Is imagiTiable far disturbing the states. In the territory adjacent to the Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri there are ire than thirty thousand men whose trade is hunting, and whose delight is war. These men lie at the mercy of any ilized nation who live near them. Such a neighbor can gain their friendship or provoke their enmity with equal ease. can make them inactive, or he can rouse them to fury; he can direct their movement in any way he pleases, and .ke it mischievous or harmless, Ify swpplying their fury with arms and with leaders, or by withholding that supply. ' The pliant and addressful spirit of the French has always given them an absolute control over these savages. The ice which the laziness or the insolence of the British found impracticable ^s easily performed by us, and will be still tier hereafter, since we shall enter on the scene with more advantages than formerly. 'We shall detach within, a suflicient force to maintain possession against all the efforts of the states, should they, itrary to all their interests, proceed to war with or without provocation. We shall find in the Indian tribes an army :manently cantoned in the most convenient stations, emUmed with skill and temper best adapted to the nature and the ne of the war, and armed and impelled with far less trouble and expense than an equal nnmber of our own troops. shall find a terrible militia, infinitely mere destructive while scattered through the hostile settlements iham an equal farce mr own. We shall find in the bowels of the states a mischief that only wants the toueh of a wellrdirected spark to in- ve in its explosion the utter ruin of half their nation. Such will be the power we shall derive bom a military station i a growing colony on the Mississippi. These will be certain and immediate effects, whatever distance and doubt ire may be in the remoter benefits to France on which I have so warmly expatiated. As a curb on a nation whose ure conduct in peace and war will be of great importance to us, this province will be cheaply purchased at ten times ! cost to which it will subject us." :he writer made Bonaparte say : " My designs on the Mississippi will never be officially announced till they are exe- ed. Meanwhile the world, if it pleases, may fear and suspect, but nobody will be wise enough to go to war to pre- it them. I shall trust to the folly of England and America to let me go my way in my own time." Vhen the war between the United States and Great Britain broke out in 1812, British writers urged the government jmploy the savages, with all their known blood-thirstiness and cruelty, as allies. One writer soundly berated the gov- iment for its apparent apathy toward their " Indian friends," and cited the above atrocious suggestions of the French Ulster as the true programme of action for the British to pursu^in the war with the Americans 1— See the New Ouar- ly Rmiern and British Colmial Register, No. 4 : J. M. Richardson, Comhill, London. There had been for some time indications of speedy hostilities between the United States and Spain growing out the territorial relations of the two countries on the Gulf of Mexico. By a treaty with Spain in 1T95 that government i granted to the United States the right of deposit at New Orleans for three years, after which the privilege was either be continued, or an equivalent place assigned on another part of the banks of the Mississippi. The Spaniards consid- d themselves masters of the province while it was unoccupied by the French, even after the cession was consum- ted. The privilege of deposit at New Orieans had been continued ; but suddenly, in October, 1802 the Spanish in- idant or governor declared by proclamation that the right of deposit at New Orleans no longer eirfsted This oro- :ed great excitement in the Western country, and the Americans, when certified of the treaty of cession did not doubt it the Spanish intendant acted under orders from the French government. OF THE WAR OP 1813. 133 Effect of Jefferson's Letter and Bonaparte's Necessity. Purchase of Louisiana. Blow at England. structions only asted for the cession of New Orleans and the Floridas, and that the Mississippi should be divided hy a line that • should put the city of New Orleans within the territory of the United States, thus securing the free navigation of that river. To the surprise of the American negotiators, M. Marhois, the representative of Bo- naparte,! offered to treat for the sale of the whols of Louisiana. " Irresolution and deliberation," said the First Consul in his instructions to Marbois, " are no longer in season. I renounce Louisiana. It is not only New Orleans that I will cede, it is the whole colony, without any reservation. I know the price of what I abandon, and I have sufficiently proved the importance that I attach to this province, since my first diplomatic act with Spain had for its object the recovery of it. I renounce it with the greatest regret. To attempt to retain it would be folly. I direct you to nego- tiate this affair with the envoys of the United States." The sagacious Bonaparte — the Man of Expediency — saw clearly which was the path of safety for him. Jefferson's covert menace of an American alliance with En- gland against him, his ill success against St. Domingo,^ and the storm-clouds of war that were again lowering darkly over Europe, caused the gorgeous dream of colonial dominion to fade from the mind of the First Consul. He needed troops at home, and he was more in want of money than far-off possessions held by doubtful tenure.^ Monroe arrived at Paris on the 12th of April, 1803. 'The negotiations immediately commenced. The intercourse between the three commissioners was very pleasant. Livingston and Marbois had known each other intimately more than twenty years before. Every thing went on smoothly ; and in less than a fortnight a treaty was signed by which the United States came into the possession of a vast and, to some extent, undefined domain, containing a mixed free population of eighty-five thousand souls and forty thousand negro slaves, for the sum of 115,000,000. "We have lived long," said Mr. Livingston to Marbois, as he arose from his seat after signing the treaty, " but this is the noblest work of our whole lives. The treaty which we have just signed has not been obtained by art or force ; equally advantageous to the two contracting parties, it will change vast solitudes into flourishing districts. From this day the United States take their place among the powers of the first rank ; the En- glish lose all exclusive influence in the affairs of America." Bonaparte, who had watched the progress of the negotiations with intense interest, held similar opinions. " It is true," he said to Marbois a few hours later, " the nego- tiation does not leave me any thing to desire ; sixty millions [francs] for an occupa- tion that will not perhaps last for a day ! I would that France should enjoy this unexpected capital, that it may be employed in works beneficial to her marine.^ This accession of territory," he continued exultingly, " strengthens forever the power of the United States ; and Ihave just given' to England a maritime rival that will, sooner or later, humble her pride." 1 Martois was secretary to the French embassy to the United States during a portion of the American Revolution, and was now at the Head of the French Treasury Department. ! ToussaintL'Duverture, an able and courageous negro, seized the Spanish part of St. Domingo, and made it a colony of France, in January, 1801, He was declared President for life. This example was speedily followed by the black and colored population of Guadaloupe. They seized the governor sent out by Bonaparte, and established a provisional gov- ernment in October, 1801. Meanwhile an insurrection had broken out in St. Domingo, and Bonaparte sent his brother- in-law, Le Olerc, to quell it. Toussaint regarded the army as an instrnment for the enslavement of himself and his people A new civil war ensued, while the French army was completely decimated by fever and sword. Twenty thou- sand soldiers perished, and sixty thousand white people of the island were massacred by the infuriated negroes. A momentary peace ensued. Toussaint, who deprecated these acts, was treacherously seized on the false charge of inten- tion to excite another insurrection, taken to France, and died in prison there. By direct act of Bonaparte slavery was established in Guadaloupe (where his army was more successful), and the slave-trade was opened. 3 "I require a great deal of money," the First Consul said to Marbois, "to carry on this war, and I would not like to commence with new contributions. If I should regulate my terms according to the value of those vast regions to the United States, the indemnity would have no limits. I will be moderate, in consideration of the necessity in which I am placed of making a sale. But keep tliis to yourself." ,,. „ ,, , 4 The invasion of England and the prostration of her maritime superiority was then Bonaparte's favorite project. 134 PICTOEIAL FIELD. BOOK iecession proposed by New England. Condemned by Hamilton. Affairs in the Southwest. Transfer of Louisiana. Notwithstanding the acknowledged national advantages to be gained by the acqui- ition of Louisiana, the Federal politicians, especially those of New England, perceiv- ng that it would strengthen the South, into whose hands the government had fallen, aised a loud outcry against it as the_ work of the Southern Democracy. They pro- fessed to regard the measure as inimical to the interests of the North and East ; and laving, while in power, become familiar with the prescription of disunion of the tates, always put forth by the Southern political doctors as the great remedy for .pparently incurable political evils, they resolved to try its efficiency in the case in [uestion. All through the years 1803 and 1804 desires for and fears of a dissolution if the Union were freely expressed in what are now the free-labor states east of the Uleghanies ;' and a select Convention of Federalists, to be held at Boston in* the utumn of 1804, to consider the question of disunion, was contemplated early in that ear. Alexander Hamilton was invited to attend it, but his emphatic condemnation f the whole plan, only a few months before his death, seems to have disconcerted the saders and dissipated the scheme. " To his honor be it spoken," said Dewitt Clinton 1 the Senate of the State of New York in 1809, "it was rejected by him with abhor- ence and disdain." The acquisition of Louisiana by the United States was distasteful to the Spaniards, fc brought the restless and enterprising Americans too near the Spanish provinces in lexico to promise quietude t(f the latter. Yrugo, the Spanish minister at Washing- m, therefore entered a solemn protest against the entire treaty. Questions eoncem- ig the true boundary of Louisiana were speedily raised, and serious complications ^ere threatened. The Spaniards were disposed to cling to all the territory east of le Mississippi included in West Florida, and thus hold possession of New Orleans, 'his disposition opened afresh the animosity of the inhabitants of the West against le occupants of the Lower Mississippi, and the United States contemplated the ne- 2ssity of taking possession of New Orleans by the force of arms. Troops under eneralJames Wilkinson, consisting of a few regulars, several companies of Mississip- L volunteers, and a considerable number of Tennessee militia, marched from Nash- ille to Natchez. But a peaceful transfer of the territory took place. Lausat, the commissioner of ranee to receive Louisiana from the Spaniards under the cession treaty, performed lat duty, and a few days afterward he formally delivered the island and city of New rleans to General Wilkinson and William C. C. Claiborne, the commissioners appomt- ' I for the purpose by the United States. The Spaniards were left in possession of le country along the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean, known as The Floridas mg south of the thirty-first degree of north latitude, and east of a line nearly cor- spondmg with the present boundary between Mississippi and Louisiana on the earl liiver. Upon the soil thus acquired, and which was an important step in the direction of )solute mdependence of Great Britain on the part of the United States, some of the ost stirring events of the War of 1812 occurred, and thereon was fought the last id most decisive battle of the Second War for Independence The acquisition of Louisiana created in the minds of adventurers visions of personal id national aggrandizement the influence of which it was difficult to resist. Amon<^ ose who formed schemes of operation in that direction was Aaron Burr, the Vice"- resident of the United States, who in 1804, by the failure of his political aspirations, e general distrust of his political and personal integrity, the exposure of his immoral iaracter,his hopeless financial embarrassments, and, above all, his cruel murder of OF THE WAR OF 1812. 135 Aaron Burr. His Murder of Hamilton. Virginians honor him for it. Specially honored by Jefferson and his Friends. the great and honored Hamilton in a duel, had become a desj^erate man, and a fugi- tive from society and from justice, moral and legal. When the correspondence be- tween Burr and Hamilton immediately preceding the duel was published, it was evi- dent that the former had committed a murder by forcing the combat upon his victim.' The public indignation was intense — so intense that Burr fled before its fury to Geor- gia by sea, " merely," as he wrote to his daughter Theodosia, a planter's wife in South Carolma, " to give a little time for pas- sion to subside, not from any aj)prehen- sions of the final ef- fects of proceedings in courts of law." Burr found him- self in a congenial atmosphere in the South. He was feted and caressed ; and when, finally, he made his way to- ward Washington City, to take his seat as President of the Senate by virtue of his ofiice, he was treated to ovations. A public dinner was given him at Pe- tersburg, in Virginia, to hon- or him as " the destroyer of th' arch-foe of democra- cy."'^ Attended by a retinue of Democrats he visited the thea- tre in the evening, where the audience rose and received him with cheers.^ At Washington City he was received with great deference. The " President (Jefier- son) seems to have been more complai- sant than usual ;"■* and at Burr's re- quest General Wil- kinson Avas appoint- ' ed Governor of Lou- isiana, and Dr. Brown secreta- ry. These were the Vice-Pres- ident's warm friends. At the close of his oflicial ca- reer in the spiring of 1805, Burr was a ruined man, socially, politically, and pecuniari- 1 The political intrigues and social immoralities of Burr had become so generally known in 1S04 that his future suc- cess in any political schemes was extremely doubtful. He offered himself as an independent candidate for Governor of the State of New York in the spring of 1S04, and was defeated, as he believed, through the powerful influence of Alex- ander Hamilton, who was convinced that he wag uniit for any important place of honor or profit. Th.at failure imbit- tered him. This feeling was intensified by the consciousness that he was suspected and distrusted every where. Ham- ilton, whom he regarded as his arch-enemy, was at the same time honored and trusted. His integrity was not doubted by his most uncompromising political enemies. This contrast was like glowing embers upon the head of Burr, and he was resolved to destroy his antagonist. A pretext for action to that end was not long wanting. A zealous partisan of Burr's competitor in the late election, in his zeal during the canvass, declared in print that Hamilton had said that the Vice-President was a "dangerous man, who ought not to be trusted with the reins of government." Again he wrote, "I could detail you a more despicable opinion which General Hamilton has expressed of Burr." These alleged expressions were made the basis of a challenge, on the part of Burr, to mortal combat. Hamilton per- ceived .at the beginning that Burr was determined to force him to fight, against his own convictions of the wrongfulness of dueling and the necessities of the case. He took honorable means to avoid a meeting. His malignant enemy could not be appeased. At length, compelled by the wretched custom of society then prevailing, called " the code of honor," he accepted the challenge, met BmT on the western shore of the Hudson near Weehawken early on the morning of the 11th of July, 1804, and received a mortal wound. He declared his intention not to Are at Burr, and adhered to his reso- lution, while the murderer took deliberate aim, and accomplished his errand to the field of blood. Hamilton was con- veyed across the river to the house of a friend, where he died after suffering for twenty-four hours. The coroner returned a verdict of willful murder. A bill of indictment for that crime was found against him in New Jersey, within the Juris- diction of which the duel was fonght, and the Grand Jury of New York found bills against him and his seconds for being soncerned in a duel, the punishment for which, by a recent act of that state, was disfranchisement and incapacity to tiold office for twenty years. Burr fled to Philadelphia, and from thence to Georgia. 2 Barton's Life of Aaron Burr, page 3T2. = The same. « The same, page 873. Senator Plnmer wrote in November, 1804, "Mr. Jefferson has shown bim more attention, and in- cited him oftener to his house within the last three months, than he ever did for the s.ame time before. Mr. Gallatin [Sec- ■etary of the Treasury] has waited upon him oftener at his lodgings, and one day was closeted with him more than ;wo hours. Mr. Madison, formerly the intimate friend of Hamilton, has taken his murderer into his carriage, and ac- jompanied him on a visit to the French minister. . . . The Democrats of both houses .are remarkably attentive to Bnrr. iVhat office they can give him is uncertain. Mr. Wright, of Maryland, said in debate, ' The first duel I ever read of was ;hat of David killing Goliath. Our little David of the Republicans has killed the Goliath of Federalism, and for this I im willing to reward him.' "-See Life of William Pluvmr, by his son, page 328. PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK 136 Burr's Schemes for his o^vn Profit. Blennerhassett and hi s Home. Burr deceives Andrew Jackson and John Adair. ly. Every legitimate avenue to a retrieval of his character and fortune seemed to be closed, and he became desperate. His ambition was as intense as ever, and he sought new fields for the exercise of his powers. He spent the ensuing summer in the West. It was for him a season of wide observation of men and things, having a bearing upon some grand enterprise Avhich he had conceived. As he Avent leisurely down the Ohio he visited Harman Blennerhassett, a wealthy and cultivated Irishman, who, with a beautiful and equally cultivated wife, had formed for themselves a sort of terrestrial paradise upon an island in the Ohio River a short distance below the mouth of the Muskingum. Husband and wife were equally charmed by Burr. He fired their imaginations with glimpses of his schemes of personal grandeur for all who should co-operate with hmi. He filled their minds wfth dreams of immense wealth and power; and when he left their home the sunshine of their sweet domestic felicity had departed forever. Blennerha&sett was a changed man. He had placed his wealth and reputation in the keeping of an unpi'incipled profligate, and lost both.^ At that time the brave and incorruptible Andrew Jackson was in command of the Tennessee militia. In May^ Burr appeared at the door of his mansion, a few miles from Nashville, and was received as an honored guest. To that stem patriot he talked of the establishment of a splendid empire in the Southwest, where the Spaniards then ruled ; and, before he departed, he had won Jackson's confidence, and his promises of co-operation. He met Wilkinson at St. Louis, and divulged some of his schemes to that weak man. He won the friendship of other influential persons. among them General Adair, of Kentucky ; and in the autumn he returned to Wash- ington, and sought to yfIoov^-'v^'^ win to his service dissatisfied military and naval officers. He talked enigmat- ically, and, to the BLENNLEiiAWbl' 11 S KESIDEN ' Blennerhassett's was in- deed a beautiful and happy home. It was the creation of wealth, taste, and love. The mansion was elej^ant. The gardens were laid out and planted with care. Conserv- atories were rich in exotics. Science, music, painting, farm culture, and social pleasures made up a great portion of the sum of daily life in that elegant retreat. It became the resort of the best minds west of the mountains. The lately rude island smiled with peTpetual beauty. To the sim- ple settlers upon the neigh- boring shore the house seem- Into that paradise the wily serpent crept, and polluted ed like a palace, and the way of living there like that of a prince, it with its slime. Harman Blennerhassett was a descendant of an ancient Irish family, whose seat was Castle Conway, in Kerry. His education was thoroughly given at Trinity College, in Dublin, and he graduated at the same time with his friend and kinsman, Thomas Addis Emmett. He loved and studied scieuce. On the death of his father in 179S he inherited a large fortune. Having become involved in political troubles, he sold his estate, went to England, and married the beautiful and accomplished Mies Agnew, granddaughter of one of the British generals killed at the battle at Germanto\\Ti, near Philadelphia. They came to America, journeyed to the West, purchased the island in the Ohio which still bears his name, made their home there, and for five years before Burr's appearance they had enjoyed perfect happiness and repose. A fine library, pictures, scientific apparatus gave them imple- ments for mental culture, and they Improved the opportunity. When Burr's mad schemes failed Blennerhassett's para- dise was laid waste. He became a cotton-planter in Mississippi, but finally lost his fortune. He and his wife finally returned to England, where he died at the age of sixty-one years. His widow came to America to seek from Congress some remuneration for his losses. While the matter was pending she sickened and died in poverty in New York in August, 1842, and was buried by the Sisters of Charity. i^^^— OF THE WAR OP 1812. 137 Military Preparations on the Ohio Elver. Bnrr saspected of Treason and denounced. His Arrest and Trial. Bxlle. ears of some, disloyally. Now he spoke of an expedition against Mexico, then of a union of the Western States and Territories into a glorious independent government. To General Eaton he talked of usurpation — of taking possession, by the instrument- ality of a revolution, of the national capital and archives, and, Cromwell-like, assuming for himself the character of a protector Of an energetic government.' The President was apprised of these things, but he regarded Burr's language and schemes as those of a desperate politician too weak to be dangerous.^ In the summer of 1806 Burr was again in the West, engaged in his grand scheme, into the inner secrets of which he had not allowed any man to penetrate. Blenner- hassett's home was his head-quarters, and a military organization was his work. A flotilla was formed at Marietta, on the Ohio, laden with provisions and military stores ; and large numbers of leading men in the West, ignorant of the real designs of Burr, but believing the great central plan to be the construction of a magnificent Anglo- Saxon empire in Mexico, in whose glories they all might share, joined in the enter- prise. Wilkinson was made the arch-conspirator's willing tool. Having been en- gaged in intrigues with the Spaniards in a scheme that would have dismembered the Union, he was now a fitting instrument for Burr's disloyal designs. But in Kentucky there was a man not to be deceived by Aaron Burr. It was that remarkable character. Colonel Joe Daviess, who gave his life to his country on the field of Tippecanoe. He was then the United States District Attorney for Kentucky. He believed Burr to be engaged in treasonable plans, and procured his arrest. Young Henry Clay defended the prisoner, and he was acquitted ; but Daviess never doubted his guilt. Jackson too had become convinced that Burr was preparing to separate the West from the rest of the Union, and he denounced him. " I hate the Dons," he wrote to Governor Claiborne," " and would delight to see Mexico re- . November 12, duced ; but I would die in the last ditch before I would see the Union i^^^- disunited !" Wilkinson, alarmed at the aspect of affairs, turned traitor to Burr, and also denounced him. Meanwhile the government had become alarmed. The whole West, and indeed the whole country, was agitated by Burr's operations ; and the magnitude of his preparations, the persons involved in his toils, and the known disposition of unscru- pulous politicians west of the mountains to set up for independency, caused the Pres- ident to take measures to arrest what seemed to be treason, in the bud. Jefferson did not choose to give it that complexion, and, in a proclamation for the arrest Of Burr's designs, whatever they might be, he warned all persons against participating in a scheme for "invading the Spanish dominions." Boats at Marietta, on the Ohio, loaded for New Orleans with materials for the ex- pedition, were seized, and Blennerhassett's Island was occupied by United States troops. In February, 1807," Burr was arrested near Fort Stoddart, on ^^^^^^^^^^3 the Tombigbee River, in the present State of Alabama, by Lieutenant (afterward Major General) E. P. Gaines. He was taken to Richmond, in Virginia, and there tried on a charge of treason. Chief Justice Marshall presided over the court. Burr was acquitted ; but, from that day to this, no intelligent student of the history of events in the West during the years 1 805 and 1 806, doubts that he was en- gaged in a wicked conspiracy to dissever the Union, and establish a government over which, in some form, he should be the ruler. His escape from conviction was so nar- row, and his fears of farther prosecution were so great, that, after remaining concealed for several weeks among his friends, he sailed for Europe under the name of G. H. Edwards. He remained in exile and poverty for several years. 1 "He said if he could gain over the marine corps, and secure the naval commanders Truxtun, Preble, Decatur, and others, he would turn Congress neck and heels out of doors, assassinate the President, seize on the treasury andfcavy, and declare himself the protector of an energetic government."— Deposition of General William Eaton. See Life of Eaton, page 396-400, inclusive. ' The same, page 401. 8 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK e ' ' Eule of 1756" modified. Commercial Tlu-ift in t he United States. The Jealoasy of British Merchants aronsed. While the people of the United States were violently agitated by these events in e "West the war in Europe was progressing, and France and England had com- enced their desperate game for supremacy at the expense of the commercial pros- irity of the world. For a long time the commercial thrift of the United States, fostered by a modifica- )n of the British "rule of 1766,"' had been the envy of English merchants. That edification had been made solely for the supposed benefit of British commercial in- rests. Relying upon the faith of that government, tacitly pledged in the formal :position of the terms of that modification by the law ofiicer of the crown, the merican ship-owners commenced and carried on a most exteiisive and profitable ade.2 American vessels became the chief carriers of the products! of the colonies of ranee and Holland ; also of Spain after her accession to the French alliance. Swe- in, Denmark, and the Hanse Towns^ were then the only neutral maritime powers, id these, in common with the United States, were fast growing rich.* First the envious British merchants complained ; then the privateersmen and navy Beers, who declared that, as there were no more prizps to take, their occupation was See note 1, page 84. On the accession of Alexander to the throne of Rassia, after the assassination of the Emperor Panl in March, 1801, ! most friendly relations were established between that country and Great Britain. On the 17th of June, 1801, a treaty 8 concluded between the two governments "to settle," as the preamble expressed it, "an invariable determination the principles of the two governments upon the rights of neutrality." In that treaty not only the "rule of 1766'.' was b recognized, but the right of the neutral to trade with the colonies of belligerents, and from his own country in the )duce of those colonies to the mother country, was expressly stipulated. As this was avowedly the "settled princi- i ;" of the government of Great Britain, American commerce had no more fears. But its sense of security was soon turbed, but' immediately quieted by the prompt action of Mr. King, the American minister at the British court. Early 1801 he was informed that a decree of the Vice- Admiralty Court at Nassau, New Providence, had condemned the cargo an American vessel goin.g from the United States to a port in the Spanish colonies, the cargo consisting of articles ! growth of old Spain.' Mr. King immediately presented a respectful remonstrance to the British government against s infringement of the rights of neutrals. The matter was referred to the king's advocate general (Lord Hawkesbury), LO reported, on the 16th of March, 1301, in the following words, the doctrine of England at that time* concerning the Ms of neutrals: ' ' It is ntow distinctly understood, and has been repeatedly so decided by the High Court of Appeals, that theprodrnx theMlomks of the enemy may he imported by a neutral into his own country, and may he exported from thence, evm to the ther country ofeuch colony ; and, in like manner, the produce and manufactures of the mother country may, in this cir- 'toua mode, legally find their way to the colonies. The direct trade, -however, between the mother country and its colo- is has not, I apprehend, been recognized as legal, either by his majesty's government or by his tribunals." He then plained what rule should govern the carrying of goods to cause them to avoid a fair definition of " direct trade" and in conformity to the modification of the " rule of 1766," above mentioned, by saying, " that landing the goods and pay- ; the duties in the neutral country breaks the continuity of the voyage, and is such an importation as legalizes the de, although the goods be reshipped in the same vessel, and on account of the same neutral proprietors, and be for- xded for sale to the mother country or the colonies." )n the 30th of March the Duke of Portland (the principal Secretary of State) sent the above extracts from the report the advocate to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, with a letter in which he said, " I have the honor to sig- y to your lordships the king's pleasure that a communication of the doctrine laid down in the said report should be mediately made, by your lordships to the several judges presiding in them, setting forth what is held to be the law m the subject by the superior tribunals for their future guidance and direction."— Letters from Messrs. Monroe and ickney to Lord Howick, August 20, 1806. Lubeck, Hamburg, and Bremen. These are all that remain of the ancient Hanseatic League, a commercial union a number of Gei-man port-towns in support of each other against the piracies of the Swedes and Danes, formed in 14, and formally signed in 1211. At one time the league comprised sixty-six cities, and possessed grea"t political power, ey were reduced by various causes to their present number more than two hundred years ago. The Congress at Vi- la in JS15 guaranteed the freedoin of these cities. » The following table exhibits'the export trade o.f the United States for four years: Ybahs. Foreign. DOMBSTIC. Total. 1803 13,694,000 36,231,000 ■^3,179,000 00,283,000 42,206,000 41,408,000 42,3.87,000 41,253,000 55,800,000 77; 099,000 , 95,560,000 101,636,000 1804 1805 1806 103,287,000 167,314,000 330,001,000 This exhibit was made pecnliarly annoying to the English, because the foreign articles were priucinally oroductiona the colonies of the enemies of Great Britain. Montesquieu, wi-iting ten years before the English "rule of 1756" in regard to the rights of neutrals was promul- :ea, said, concernrag the spuit of that people, " Supremely jealous with respect to trade, they bind themselves but lit- by^reaties, and depend only on their own laws. Other nations have made the interests of commerce yield to those politics i the Enghsh, on the contrary, have ever made their political interests give way to those of commerce "—See e Spirit, of Laws, ii., 8. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 139 Eeassertion of the " Eule of 1750." British Perfidy defended by British Writers. Baring's Exposure. greatly interfered with. The enemies of Great Britain, having full use of neutral merchant vessels, had none of their own , on the ocean. Armed ships, protected by the neutral flag, performed all the duties of practical commerce, and the trade of the maritime foes of England was but little interrupted by existing war. The " rule of 1756," it was alleged, was whoUy evaded. These complaints were heeded. The Courts of Admiralty began to listen willingly to suggestions that this allegation of neutral property was in many, if not in most cases, a mere fraud, intended to give to belligerent goods a neutral character ; and early in the summer of 1805 the "rule of 1756" was revived in full force. ^ Like kin- dred measures on previous occasions,^ it was put into operation secretly ;, and the first intimation that the maritime law laid down by the king's advocate in 1801, was abro- gated, was the seizure by British cruisers and condemnation by British Admiralty Courts of American vessels and their cargoes. At the same time English public writers put forth specious defenses of the action of their government in its revival of the old practice. One of these was James Stephens, a lawyer of ability, supposed to have been employed for the purpose by the government. He wrote* an able > October and elaborate essay, under the title of" War in Disguise, or the Frauds of the i^'"'- l!f eutral Flags," in which, taking the " rule of 1 756" as the law of nations, " to which," he said, " the neutral powers have all assented, in point of principle, by submitting to its partial applicatibn,"^ he argued that the immense trade carried on .with the ene- mies of England under the American flag was essentially war against Great Britain. " War in Disguise" was " written in. the spirit of a lawyer stimulated by that of a merchant,"* and was full of dogmatic assertions and bold sophistries. It was ably answered in England by Alexander Baring,^ and in America by James Madison, then • In May, 1806, the decision of the Lords of Appeal on the case of the cargo of the American ship Essex unchained the chafing English cruisers. It was necessary, for the sake of decency, to give to the world a fair excuse for that decision. It had already been decided that when goods had been made a common stock of America by a fair importation and tlw payment of ditties, they might be re-exported from thence to any part of the world. To evade this decision, the Court of Appeals, in the case above alluded to, established the illegality of the neutral trade, "founded on a discovery," says Alexander Baring (see note 5, below), "now made for the first time, that the duties on the cargo imported had not actually been paid in yvmey, but by bond of the importer." This decision contracted the whole foreign trade of America excepting that in lier own produce. " It circulated rapidly among our cruisers and privateers," continues Mr. Baring, " and in the course of a fortnight the .seas were cleared of every American ship they could find, which now crowded our ports for trial." — See Baring's Inquiry into the Caixses a«d Con^quffnces of the Orders in Council, pages 81, 82. 2 See page 84. ' 3 This assumption was characteristic. England, on her own motion, promulgated the "rule of 1756" as a "law of na- tions ;" and having the power to enforce it for half a century in the face of the most vehement protests of every respect- able maritime nation— even armed protests— her statesmen and publicists agreed that those nations had " assented to it ;" as if a wrong imreaented on account of the weakness of the sufferers became .a right ! It was never assented to. The " Armed Neutrality" of 1780 and 1800 were marked protests against it, and the Americaii principle and policy always op- posed the assumption. , From the first protest against it in 1793 until the close of 1861, when Secretary Seward, in a letter to Lord Lyons, the British minister at Washington, in the case of the San Jacinto and Trerc^,' reiterated the American doctrine concerning the protecting powers of a neutral flag, the Americans have opposed the "rule of 1766." For a full account of the case of the San Jacinto and Trent, see Lossing's Pictorial History of the Oivil War. 1 Madison. 5 The eminent English merchaut,^lexander Baring (afterward Lord Aehburton, and at that time a member of Parlia- ment), put forth a pamphlet in February, 1808, entitled .4?i Inquinj into tlw Ca/u^es and Consequences oftlie Orders inCoun^ eil, etc. It was published in February, 1808, and contains a most searching exposure of the mischievous exaggerations and sophisms of this essay. It is not extravagant to say that that essay, in its injurious influence, was one of the most potent causes of the war between the United States and Great Britain in 1812, because it justified in a semi-oflicial manner the outrages of the British government, through its navy, on the commerce of the United States, under the sanction of orders in council, and deluded the English mind with a semblance of justice. Speaking 'of some of the statements of the author of War in Disguise, Mr. Baring said, "He appears ignorant of every thing relative to American trade to a de- ' gree incredible." War in Disguise was followed by other pamphlets of lesser note on the same side. Among the most noted of these was one entitled Ttie Present Claims and Complaints of America Briefly and Fairly Considered. It was an jpho of War in Disguise, and was published in London at the close of May, 1806. On the back of the title-page of the copy in my possession is the foUovring memorandum in manuscript by Brooke Watson, who was an eminent Canadian merchant when the Eev- oltttion broke out in 1775, and was a violent partisan of the crown : "June 5th, 6th, 7th, and Sth, 1806. Bead this pamphlet with all the attention in my power to give it, and under all the consideration of my capacity, accompanied with as much disinterestedness as the nature of the subject will permit to exercise. I am of opinion that, should this country give way to the solicitations of the American States, and much less to their hostile threats, they will, by so doing, that is, by allowing the Americans to be the carriers of the produce of the French colonies to the mother country, sacrifice the deepest interest of this nation to the views of Prance and the growing insolence of the Americans.— East Sheen, Sth June, 1806. Bbooue Watsos. "Read 'War in Disguise,' Lord Sheffield, etc." PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK swer to " War in Disguise." Foreig n Belations nnpromising. Expected DifflciUties with Great Britain. e Secretary of State. In that answer, referring to menaces in Mr. Stephens's essay,; adison uttered the following noble words, prophetic of soon-coming deeds that vin- oated the power behind them: "The blessing of God on our first contest in arms ide this nation sovereign, free, and independent. Our citizens feel their honorable ndition, and, whatever may be their opinion on questions of national policy, will fmly support the national rights. Our government must therefore be permitted to idge for itself. No minister, however splendid his talents, no prince, however great 3 power, must dictate to the President of the United States."' The foreign relations of the United States at the opening of the year 1806 were [promising. The conduct of the Spanish government in reference to Louisiana emed to render war with that nation inevitable. Forbearance on the part of the „„„„„ » Americans was exhausted, and a select committee of Congress reported* 1S06. that the aggressions of Spain afforded ample cause for war. i3ut as the ilicy of the country was always a peaceful one, it was proposed, while preparing I- hostilities, to endeavor to avert them, and settle all matters in dispute by the Lrchase of a part or the whole of the Floridas from Spain. Action to that end was ken, but the war-cloud soon passed away, Not so with the harbingers of a storm that was evidently brewing between the aited States and Great Britain. The depredations of British cruisers and priva- ers on American commerce, commenced under the most absurd and frivolous pre- xts,2 and fiilly sanctioned by the British government, produced the most intense iignation throughout the country ; and when the Ninth Congress had assei&bled at Washington in December, 1805, the subject was speedily presented to their notice, r. Jefferson had been re-elected President of the United States, and the Democratic irty, of which he was the founder and head, had an overwhelming majority in the ational Legislature. Its power became somewhat weakened by the defection of ihn Randolph, of Roanoke, one of its leaders, a quarrelsome and ambitious man of iried but not solid attainments, who carried with him several of his Virginia col- igues, and filled the halls of legislation during the entire session with unprofitable ckerings. • On account of British depredations, memorials from the merchants of nearly all of e maritime towns of the United States north of the Potomac, argumentative and munciatory in substance, and numerously signed, were pi-esented to the President ; id on the iVth of January these, with a special message on the subject, were id before Congress by Mr. Jefferson, together with parts of the diplomatic corre- This reply to Mr. Stephens was published anonymously in February, 1S06, with the title otAnAnsmer to "War in iguise;" or^ Rermarks on the Kern DoctriTie of England concerninfj, Neutral Trad£, i.fter the capture of the Maeedonian by Decatur in the autumn of 1812, the following epigram appeared in Cobbett's lificaZiZefrister, an English publication :' "WAE IN DISGUISE; OE, AN APOLOGY FOK HIS MAJESTY'S HAVY. " One Stephens, a lawyer, and once a reporter, ■Of war and of taxes a gallant supporter. In some way or other to Wilberforce kin. And a member, like him, of a borough bought in, Who a Master in Chancery since has been made, Wrote a pamphlet to show that Jonathan's teaue Was a ' Wab in DisoxnsE ;' which, though strange at first sight, Events have since proved may have been but too right ; For when Garden the ship of the Yankee Decatur Attacked, without doubting to take her or beat her, A FBiGATE she seemed to his glass and his eyes ; But when taken himsdf, how great his surprise To find her a sevemtt-fotte in disottise 1 " If Jonathan thns has the art of disguising, That he captures our ships is by no means surprising ; And it can't be disgraceful to strike to an elf Who is more than a match for the devil himself.— Puss." ' Baring's Inquiry, etc., page 96. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 141 Memorials of Merchants on the Subject of British Depredations. Conduct of the British Cruisers. spondence on the same topic by Mr. Monroe, the United States minister at the Brit- ish court. The President assui-ed Congress that Mr. Monroe had been instructed " to insist on rights too evident and too important to h6 surrendered. ' The memorials fronl the merchants were generally drawn with great ability ; and it is a notable fact that these mfen, whoj as a class, naturally deprecate war because it is destructive to commerce, and are willing to make great concessions to avoid it, called earnestly upon the government to put forth the strong powers of the ai-my and navy, if necessary, in defense of the rights of neutrals and the protection of American interests. There were memorials from Boston, Salem, Newburyport, New Haven, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and all called loudly for redress, under the evident ex- pectation that to insist upon it would cause war. The Boston merchants said that they folly relied that " such measures would be promptly adopted as would tend to disembarrass commerce, assert our rights, and support the dignity/ of the United States." The merchants of Salem said, " If, however, conciliation can not effect the purpose, and an appeal to arms be the last and necessary protection.of honor, they feel no dis- position to decline the common danger or shrink from the common contribution. Relying on the wisdom and firmness of the general government on this behalf, they feel no hesitation to pledge their lives and properties in the support of the measures which may he adopted to vindicate the public rights and redress the public wrongs." The merchants of Newburyport relied "with confidence on the firmness and justice of the government to obtain for them compensation and protection;" and those of New Haven called upon that government " firmly to resist every encroachment upon the rights of neutrar nations." They tendered " assurances of their disposition to give aid and support to every measure calculated to accomplish this important object." . The New York merchants declared their firm "reliance upon the government of their country that their rights would not be abandoned, and (referring to the assump- tion of the Author of "War in Disguise," see page 139) that no argument in favor of a usurpation would ever be derived from their acquiescence." They concluded by saying, "We pledge our united support in favor of all the measures adopted to vindicate and secure the just rights of our country." The merchants of Philadelphia suggested that when every peaceable means conr sistent with honor had been tried to recover redress, and failed, that a resort to arms might be necessary. " If such measures should prove ineffectual," they said, " whatever may be the sacrifice on their part, it would be met with submission." These memorials were signed by merchants of every shade of politics, and by for- eigners doing business in these ports. For more than ten years they had suffered greatly from the varying but always aggressive policy of Great Britain, a policy now g*reatly aggravated by the latitude tacitly given to the British cruisers in respect to American commerce. These were in little danger of being made answerable for any errors, and were consequently not disposed to make nice distinctions. They detained and sent in every vessel they met under the most frivolous pretenses, in which they were encouraged by the expectation of actual war. They captured American vessels with cargoes wholly of American produce ; and the owners of privateers were in the daily practice of taking in valuable cargoes and offering immediately to release them for one or two hundred guineas, and sometimes a larger sum. " In these instances," says Mr. Baring, "the judge decreed the restitution of the ship and cargo, and costs against the captors, with expressions of indignation which so lawless an outrage nec- essarily excited. The latter had, in the face of this censure, the audacity to enter ap- ' SUtUsman'a Manual, i., 2T8. 142 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK [mpressment of American Seamen into tlie British Service. The Kight of Search asserted. Protest of the Americans. peals, and the American was obliged either to compromise or leave to the captor the option of bringing forward his appeal within a twelve-month, with the possible ad- vantage of an intervening war securing to him his prize.' The London merchant," he said, " is either obliged to acquiesce in this iniquitous robbery, or let his correspondent suffer the more expensive vexations which it is, unfortunately, in the power of these people to inflict. If these are the maritime rights," exclaims the honest and indig- aant Englishman, " for which, we are told, with a pompous ambiguity that always ivoids coming to the point, ' our ancestors foaght and bled,' and for which ' we jrushed the N"orthern Confederacy^'^ I am stran^y mistaken. "^ Another and most serious subject of coniplaint against Great Britain was now 3onsidered in connection with the depredations upon American commerce. It was ;he impressment into the British naval service of seamen taken without leave from American vessels, and who were sailing under the protection of the American flag. To this subject we have already referred.* It had been a topic of complaint and ne- gotiation from the beginning of the national government in 1V89, and impressment n general was a system against which humane British publicists and statesmen had leclaimed. But the British government, not always the exponent of the English nind and heart, governed by expediency rather than justice, and having the prece- lents of more than four. hundred years to support its policy in this respect,^ had then or half a Century chosen to exercise that power in. procuring seamen for its navy, ,nd to utterly disregard other hoary precedents which would have justified it in ibolishing the nefarious system. ^ It was too useful in time of war, in the replenish- aent of the navy, to be relinquished. Upon it had been ingrafted another more uni- 'ersally offensive. It was that of se«»-cAmgr neutral vessels for British seamen, and, eizing them without other criteria of their nationality than the presumptive evi- dence which similarity of language afforded, impressing .them into the British naval ervice. In the course of fifteen years thousands of native Americans had. thus been aade to serve a master whom they detested. There being no maritime power strong nough to resist these aggressions, it was assumed by Great Britain, as in the case of he " rule of 1V56," that it was for her an established " maritime right." * From the beginning of its career the government of the United States protested gamst the right of search and the impressment of seamen taken from under the Lmerican fiag. In his instructions to the United States minister in London in the ammer of 1792, Mr. Jefferson directed him to call the attention of the British minis- ' L-y to the subject. That government not denying that American seamen had been npressed,had made the degrading proposition that, for their protection against such accidents," such seamen should carry with them a certificate of citizenship ' " This I a condition," said Mr; Jefferson, "never yet submitted to by any nation'" The ight to enter an American vessel without leave,/o»- any pretense, was then and al- ways has been, strongly denied by the government of the United States. The War f 1812 with England was a solemn. protest against the assumption of that right ^y le British government; and such a requirement of American sailors would operate ractically as a warrant to British cruisers for stripping almost every American ves- il of Its seamen, for the habits, calling, and vicissitudes of the sailor are such that lost of them would soon lose their " certificates." The proposition had been unhes- atmgly rejected as inadmissible by an independent nation In October of the same year Mr. Jefferson again called the attention of the embas- idor to the subject, "so many instances" of impressment having been complained V^:^^.t:'^'^'''- =A™«^^-'-l%. see note 2, page 83. = Baring's /«,„,>,, pages 96, 90,97. . > The statute of 2 Richard II. speaks of impressment being well known as early aslSTS Impressment was declared to he illegal by the British government in 1041 ^ ""''"''• .. _ ' Mr. Jefferson to Mr. Pinckney, June 11, 1T92. OF THE WA R OF 1812. 143 Correspondence on the Subject of Impressments. Rufus King. His Arrain-ument of the British Government. of ;^ and in November he expressed to Mr. Pinckney tbe hope that he might " be able to malce the British ministry sensible of the necessity of punishing the past and pre- venting the future."^ In 1796 Timothy Pickering, then Sec- retary of State, in his instructions to Mr. King, Ameri- can minister at the Court of London,^ spoke of " the long and fruitless at- tempts that have been made to pro- tect American sea- men from British impress," and di- rected him to do all in his power to en- able the American flag to " protect those of whatever nation who sail un- der it."* In anoth- er dispatch the same year he ry on board their ships for American seamen," and there- fore " their doom is fixed for the war. Thus," he said, "the rights of an inde- pendent nation are to be sacrificed to British dignity. Justice requires that such inquiries and examinations be made, because, otherwise, the lib- eration of our sea- men will be im- possible. For the British govern- ment then to make professions of re- spect to the rights of our cit- izens, and willingness to re- alludes to the fact that the (Ji\,{^yi /tC*-^^ izens, and willingness to British government had gone / IrJ lease them, and yet deny the so far as not to " permit inqui- only means of ascertaining those rights, is an insulting tantalism. If the British government have any regard to our rights, any respect for our nation, and place any value on our friendship, they will even facilitate to us the means of releasing our oppressed citizens."^ A little later he wrote, " The British naval officers often impress Swedes, Danes, and other foreigners from the vessels of the United States. They have even some- times impressed Frenchmen ! . . . They can not pretend an uiability to distinguish these foreigners from their own subjects. They may with as much reason rob the American vessels of the property or merchandise of the Swedes, Danes, or Portu- guese, as seize and detain in their service the subjects of those nations found on board American vessels."'^ Durino- the following year very many complaints concerning impressed American seamen were made to the government of the Uuited States, and cases of absolute 1 Mr. Jefferson to Mr. Pinckney, October 12, 1T02. 3 The same to the same, November 0, 1702. = Eufas King was born in Scarborough, Maine, in the year 17.55. He was a student in Harvard College in 1776, when the breaking out of the war for Independence suspended that institution. He chose the law for his professi(m, and be- came an able practitioner. He was in Sullivan's army in Rhode Isl.ind in 177S, and was admitted to the bar in 1780. His first appearance was in opposition to his great instructor, Theophilus Parsons, of Newburyport. His oratorical talents soon became known and appreciated, and in 1784 he was elected to a seat in the Legislature of Massachusetts. In the National Convention of 1787 he was an efficient member, and nobly advocated the ratification of the Constitution there adopted. Having married the daughter of an opuleut merchant of New York, Mr. King made that city his residence In 1783 and the next year was elected to a seat in the Legislature of New York. He was one of the first United States sen- ators from New York, and in 1700 was appointed minister to Great Britain. He returned home in 1803. From 181.? to 1820 he was a member of the United States Senate. At the close of his term he was sent to England as minister pleni- potentiary, but ill health compelled him to relinquish his post and return home after a residence of about a year there. He died at' his home near Jamaica, Long Island, on the 29th of April, 1827, at the age of seventy-two years. * Mr. Pickering to Mr. King, June 8, 1790. 5 The same to the same, September 10, 1796. « The same to the same, October 20, 1796. 44 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK mel Treatment of American Seamen in the BritiBh Navy. Secretary Marshall to MinJBter King. ruelty exercised toward and hardships endured by American seamen thus impressed ^ere reported.' The United States government, always inclined to peace, frequently urged upon lat of Great Britain the necessity of a convention which should settle the questions f impress and neutrality, but without success, for the British government prac- cally assumed the right to be a law unto itself. Early in 1*799 Mr. King made an irnest representation on the subject to Lord Grenville, denying, as he had on former Dnferences, any right of the kind on the part of Great Britain, and suggesting that Lmerican ships of war, by permission of their government, might with equal right ursue the same practice toward British merchantmen. He protested against the in- iscriminate seizure on board of American vessels of seamen of several nations, and ressed him for some definite assurance of a change. But Grenville, as usual, was ^rasive, and the conference ended without a prospect of satisfaction. Grenville as- ired Mr. King that all Americans so impressed should be discharged on application )r that purpose ; but the American minister very properly considered that offer far lort of satisfaction. " Indeed," he said, " to acquiesce in it is to give up the right. "^ Late in the year 1800, John Marshall, then Secretary of State, wrote an able and [oquent letter to Mr. King in London on the subject of the impress. "The impress- lent of our seamen," he said, " is an injury of very serious magnitude, which deeply ffects the feelings and the honor of the nation. . . . They are dragged on board iritish ships of war with evidences of citizenship in their hands, and forced by vio- snce there to serve until conclusive testimonials of their birth can be obtained. . . . Llthough the Lords of the Admiralty uniformly direct their discharge on the produc- 1 Inyestigation revealed the following facts: on the 4th of Jnly, 1794, Captain Silas Talbot, of the United States Navy, rote from Kingston, Jamaica, to Secretary Pickering, that Admiral Sir Hyde Parker had " issued a general order to all ptains and commanders of ships and vessels of war, directing them not to obey any vprit of habeas ccyrpus, nor suffer ly men to leave their ships in consequence of such writ." This order was issued because Talbot had made successful >plications to the civil authorities on that island for the release of enslaved Americans on board British vessels. Tal- )t, however, persevered in his humane efforts, and he wrote that, while all the writs which he had obtained were rved, none of them were obeyed. The naval officers on that station set the civil authority at defiance, and Talbot rote, "The laws in this island, it seems, can not be administered for the relief of American citizens who are held in ritish slavery, many of whom, as they write me from on board Captain Otway's ship, Imve been brought to the gangway id whipped for writing to their agent to get them discharged /" William Cobbett, an BngUshman, wrote afterward in his Political Register, saying, " Onr ships of war, when they meet 1 American vessel at sea, board her and take out of her by force any seamen whom onr officers assert to be British Lbjecta. Th£re is no rule by whieh they are bouvd. They aclai discretion; and the consequence is that great numbers ' native Americans have been impressed, and great number? of them are now in our navy. . . . That many of these en have died on board our ships, that many have been wounded, that many have been killed in action, and that many ive been worn out in the service there can be no doubt. Some obtain their release through the application of the merican consul here ; and of these the sufferings have in many Instances been very great. There have been instances here men have thus got free after having been flogged through the fleet for desertion* But it has been asked whether we •e not to take our sailors where we find them ? To which America answers, ' Yes.' . . . She wishes not to hdve in her lips any British sailors, and she is willing to give them up whenever the fact of their being British sailors can be roved; but let not men be seized in her ships upon the high seas (and sometimes at the mouths of her own rivers), here there is nobody to judge between the parties, and where the British officer going on board is at once aoottsee, ITNEBS, JunGE, and oaptoe !" = Mr. King to Mr. Pickering, March 15, 1799. * There is ample testimony to prove the cruel treatment experienced by impressed American seamen on board British issels. Richard Thompson, a native of New Paltz, Ulster County, New York, testified at Poughkeepsie on the 17th of pril, 1793, that, while on the sea in a merchant vessel, he was impressed on board the British vessel of war Peacock in !10. He was not allowed to write to his friends. When he and two other impressed American seamen heard of the 3claration of war in 1812, they claimed to be considered prisoners of war, and refused to do duty any longer. They ere ordered to the quarter-dftck, put in irons for twenty-four hours, then taken to the gangway, stripped naked, "tied id whipped, each one dozen and a half lashes, and put to duty." When the Peacock went into action with the Hornet ley asked the captain to be sent below, that they might not fight against their countrymen. The captain called a mid- lipman and told him to " do his duty." That duty was to hold a pistol at the head of Thompson and threaten to blow is brains out if he and his companions did not do service. They were liberated on the capture of the Peacock by the ^ornet. Another seaman from Ulster County, named James Tompkins, testified to greater cruelties inflicted on himself Qd three others, who were impressed on board the British ship Acteon in April, 1812. When they refused to do duty ley were whipped " five dozen lashes each." Two days afterward they received four dozen lashes each. They still ifused to do duty, and, after the lapse of another two days, they received two dozen lashes -each. They still refused, ad, after being whipped again, they were put in irons, where they were kept three months. On their arrival In London ley heard of the capture of the Guerriere. With a shirt and handkerchiefs they made stripes and stars for American jlors, hung it over a gun, and gave three cheers for the victory. For this outburst of patriotism they received two ozen lashes each. OF THE WAE OF 1812. 145 Argament against Impressments. The British Government refuses to listens Its Proposition on the Subject rejected. tion of this testimony, yet many must perish unrelieved, and all are detained a con- siderable time in lawless and injurious confinement. It is the duty as well as a right of a friendly nation to require that measures be taken by the British government to prevent the continued repetition of such violence by its agents. . . . The mere release of the injured, after a long course of serving and sufiering, is no compensation for the past, and no security for the future. . . . The United States, therefore, require posi- tively that their seamen who are not British subjects, whether bom in America or elsewhere, shall be exempt from impressment. The case of British subjects, whether naturalized or not, is more questionable ; but the right even to impress' them is de- nied. . . . Alien seamen, not British subjects, engaged in our merchant service, ought to be equally exempt with citizens from impressments. We have a right to engage them, and have a right to and an interest in their persons to the extent of the service contracted to be performed. Britain has not a pretext of right to their persons or their service. To tear them, then, from our possession is at the same time an insult and an injury. It is an act of violence for which there exists no palliative." After alluding to the fact that the principles of the United States government would not allow retaliation by impressments from the British merchant ships, and suggesting that something in that way might be done by recruiting from that service, Mr. Mar- shall concludes by saying, " Is it not more advisable to desist from, and to take efr fectual measures to prevent an acknowledged wrong, than, by perseverance in that wrong, to excite against themselves the well-founded resentment of America, and force our government into measures which may possibly terminate in open rup- ture?"' These suggestions were all submitted to the British ministry, but without the slightest visible effect. While the war continued, the nefarious practice was carried on vigorously, but when the general pacification of Europe took place in 1801, and the Peace of Amiens gave a respite to British ships of war — when their seamen were in excess of the demand — impressments ceased, and the American minister in London, untaught by past experience and observation, wrote, " I am in hopes that Lord St. Vincent will be inclined to attend to our reiterated remonstrances against the im- pressment of our seamen and the vexations of our trade. "^ Vain expectation ! Earlv in the vear ISOC Mr. Liston, the British minister in the United . ^ ^ -f-r-»--i AT ' • n 1 ' IT February 4. States, submitted to President Adams a proposition tor the reciprocal de- livery of deserters, so worded as to sanction impressment on board oi private vessels, but to except " public ships of war." It was rejected. Pickering, the Secretary of State, said, " It appears utterly inadmissible, unless it would put an end to impress- ments."^ The Secretary of the Navy said, " It is better to have no article, and meet all consequences, than not to enumerate merchant vessels on the high seas among the things not to be entered in search of deserters."^ The Secretary of the Treasury ob- jected to it because it did not " provide against the impressment of American sea- men."* The Secretary of War objected to it on the same ground, saying, " If this article [the seventh in Mr. Liston's proposition] means what it is apprehended it does, it is utterly inadmissible."'^ The President and his Cabinet, thus planting themselves upon the broad principles of neutral rights and the sanctity of the national flag laid down at the beginning, would listen to nothing short of a recognition of those rights and of that sanctity.' When hostilities between Great Britain and France were revived in 1803, the im- 1 Marshall to King, September 20, 1800. = Mr. King to the Secretary of State, February 23, 1801. 3 Pickering to the President, February 20, 1800. * Benjamin Stoddert to the President, February 26, 1800. « Oliver Wolcott to the President, April 26, 1800. « James M'Henry to the President, April 16, 1800. ' From June, 1T97, until the beginning of 1801, no less than 2059 applications for seamen impressed, including many made previonsly by Mr. King and Mr. Pinckney, were made. Of these, only 102 were British subjects— less than one twentieth of the whole impressed. Eleven hundred and forty-two were discharged as not being British subjects, and 805 more than one half, were held for farther proof, while there ejdsted strong presumption that the whole, or a greater part, at least, were aliens. — Ltman's DipVrmtxcy of the United States, li., 15, note. PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK i8 octrine concerning Neatral Bights held by the United States and Great Britain. The latter a.raigped by Madl^ ress was again put into active operation. The American minister in London, Mr. [onroe, following up previous efforts made by Mr. King when that gentleman per- 3ived that war was inevitable,i ^^ed every lawful endeavor to make a mutually sat- factory arrangement concerning it. In a letter of instructions to that mmister early in 1804/ Mr. Madison, then Secretary of State, ably and lucidly reviewed Januarys. ^^^ ^^^^^ subject of the impress and the rights of neutrals. His letter pened with the following clear enunciation of the doctrines of the .two nations: " We consider a neutral flag on the high seas as a safeguard to those sailing under :. Cheat Britain, on the contrary, asserts a right to search for and seize her own sub- ects ; and under that cover, as can not but hajppen, are often seized and taken offciti- ms of the United States, and citizens or subjects of other neutral countries navigating \e high seas under the protection of the American flag." After brief and cogent ai'gument, Mr. Madison said, " Were it allowable that Brit- ih subj€cts should be taken out of American vessels on the high seas, it might at sast be required that the proof of their allegiance should lie on the British side, 'his obvious and just rule is, however, reversed. And any seaman on board, though oing from an American port, sailing under an American flag, and sometimes even peaking an idiom proving him not to be a British subject, is presumed to be such rdess proved to be an American citizen. It may be safely affirmed that this is an utrage which has no precedent, and which Great Britain would be, among the last ations in the world to suffer, if offered to her own subjects and her own flag.^ ********** " Great Britain has the less to say on the subject, as it is in direct contradiction to lie principles on which she proceeds in other cases. While she claims and seizes on lie high seas her own subjects voluntarily serving in American vessels, she has con- tantly given, when she could give, as a reason for not discharging from her service Lmerican citizens, that' they had voluntarily engaged in it. Nay, more; while she mpresses her own subjects from the American service, although they have been set- led, and married, and naturalized in the United States, she constantly refuses to re- 3ase from hers American seamen pressed into it whenever she can give for a reason hat they are either settled or married within her dominions. Thus, when the volun- ary consent of the individual favors her pretensions, she pleads the validity of that onsent. When the voluntary consent of the individual stands in the way of her retensions, it goes for nothing. When marriage or residence can be pleaded in her Ivor, she avails herself of the plea. When marriage, residence, and naturalization re against her, no respect whatever is paid to either. She takes by force her own ubjects voluntarily serving in our vessels. She keeps by force American citizens avoluntarily serving in hers. More flagrant inconsistencies can not be imagined." No arguments, no remonstrances, no appeals to justice or the demands of intema- ional comity, could induce the British government at that time, when waging war rith all its powers, to relinquish so great an advantage. 1 In the spring of 1803 Mr. King made a determined effort to prevent a revival of the practice of impressment. On the th of May he submitted the following article to the British ministry: "No person shall be impressed or taken on the igh seas out of any ship or vessel belonging to the subjects or citizens of one of the parties by the public or private rmed ships or men-of-war belonging to or in the een'ice of the other party." Lord St, Vincent, the First Lord of the admiralty, and Lord Hawkesbury, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, at first assented to this article ; but, after onsultation with Sir William Scott, an exception was required in favor of the juirroio aeas. This proposal was rejected y Mr. King. It was regarded as a subterfuge. The government, at the opening of another war, was determined not 5 relinquish the practice of impressments fi-om American vessels, and this revival of an obsolete claim of England to xclusive jurisdiction over the seas surrounding the British Isles as far south as Cape Finisterre and north to a point n the coast of Norway, which it was known the Americans would reject, was done as an excuse for terminating the ne- otiation on the practice of the impress. 2 Cooper, in his Mval HisUn-y of the United States, ii., 84, says : "On the 12th of June [1805] No. 1 [gun-boat] fell in dth the fleet of Admiral CoUingwood off Cadiz, and, wliile Mr. Lawrence was on board one of the British ships, a boat ras sent .and took three men out of No. T, under the pretense that they were Englishmen. On his return to his own ves- el Mr. Lawrence hauled down his ensign, but no notice was taken of the proceeding by the British. It is a fitting com- lentary on this transaction that in the published letters of Lord CoUingwood, when he speaks of the impressment of imericans, he says that England would not submit to such an aggression for an hour." OF THE WAR OF 1812. 147 National Independence and Ho nor imperiled. Memorials to Congress for decided Action. Hesitation of Congress. Day after day proofs were received of the sufferings of American citizens on ac- count of the impress ; and so flagrant and frequent were these outrages toward the close of 1805, that, in the memorials presented to Congress on the subject of British depredations upon American commerce, already alluded to, the impressment of Amer- ican seamen was a prominent topic. ^ Action in Congress on these subjects, so vital to the interests of the people and the dignity of the nation, was prompt. It was felt that a crisis was reached when the in- dependence of the United States must he vin'dicated, or the national honor he imper- iled. There was ample cause for most vigorous retaliatory measures toward Great Britain, ay, even for war. But the administration itself, and the host of its oppo- nents, were willing to bear a little longer than take the responsibility of an open rup- ture with Great Britain. A resolution offered in the United States Senate, declaring that the depredations upon American commerce under the sanction of the British government were " unprovoked aggressions upon the property of the citizens of the United States, violations of their neutral rights, and encroachments upon their na- tional independence," was adopted by unanimous vote f but when, four . February 10, days afterward," another resolution was offered requesting the President i^"^- to " demand the restoration of the property of those citizens captured and ' ^®^™*'^ "■ condemned on the pretext of its being employed in a trade with the enemies of Great Britain, indemnification for past losses, and some arrangement concerning the impress- ment of seamen," there was hesitation. To obtain the redress sought, there were only four modes — namely, negotiation, non-intercourse, embargo, and war. Thf first had been tried in vain ; the second and third would be menacing and offensive ; and the fourth, all parties at that time deprecated. There was a division in the vote. There was unanimity in denunciation, but differences when the test of positive action was applied. There were twenty votes in the affirmative, and six in the negative. It was resolved to try negotiations once more. William Pinkney,^ of Maryland, who had considerable diplomatic experience, was finally appointed a minister ^ extraordinary to England," to become associated with Monroe, the resident 1 " The impressment of onr seamen, notwithstanding clear proofs of citizenship, the violation of onr jurisdiction by captures at the months of our harbors,* and insulting treatment of our ships on the ocean, are subjects worthy the se- rious consideration of our national councils.'* — SaUrei Memorial. "The constancy and valor of the seamen of the United States are justly themes of patriotic exultation. From their connection with us, we consider their cause as our cause, their rights as our rights, their interests as our interests. Our feelings are indignant at the recital of their wrongs."— .^eio york Memorial, signed by Johii Jacob Astor and others. " That our seamen shonld be exposed to meanest insults and most wanton cruelties, and the fruits of their industry and enterprise fall a prey to the profligate, can not but excite both feeling and indignation, and call loudly for the aid and protection of government." — PhUadelphia Memorial. The New Haven and Baltimore memorials expressed similar sentiments. ' William Plntaey was bom at Annapolis, Maryland, on the ITth of March, 1764. His father was a Loyalist, but Wil- liam, as he approached manhood, toward the close of the Revolution, espoused the cause of his country. At the age of twenty-two years he was admitted to the bar, and commenced the practice of his profession in Harford County, Mary- land, where he married the sister of (afterward) Commodore Eodgers. He was a member of the Executive Council of Maryland in 1792, and in 1795 was chosen to the Legislature. The next year he was appointed one of the commissioners under the provisions of Jay's treaty, and proceeded to England. He remained there until 1805, when he returned, and made Baltimore his residence. He was distinguished for his legal learning and eloquence, and was immediately ap- pointed Attorney General of Maryland. He was sent to England for the object mentioned in the text, in 1806, where he remained until 1811, when he returned home. He fought bravely in the battle near Bladensburg in 1814, and was soon afterward elected to Congress. In 1816 he was appointed minister to Bussia. He remained there until 1820, when he returned, and was chosen to a seat in the Senate of the United States. In that body, and in the United States Courts, he labored intensely until 1821, when his health suddenly gave way. He died on the 25th of February, 1822, in the fifty- ninth year of his age. * This had been done repeatedly. The American waters were almost continually plowed by British cruisers at this time. A few weeks later an event occurred which aroused the greatest indignation throughout the country. A small coasting vessel, navigated by Captain John Pearce, of New Tork, running for Sandy Hook, was flred into by the British cruiser Leander, Captain Whitby. Captain Pearce was killed. It was, morally, a gross act of piracy. The act itself called forth bitter denunciations at a meeting held at the Tontine Coffee-house, in New Tork, on the following day (April 26, 1806). A resolution proposed by a committee, of which Euftis King, late minister to England, was chairman, declared that an administration that would suffer foreign armed ships to " impress, wound, and murder citizens" was."not en- titled to the confidence of a brave and free people." ' The public indignation was increased when it became known that Captain Whitby, who was brought to trial in England for the murder of Captain Pearce, and his guilt fairly proven by evidence dispatched thither by the United States government, was lumoraUy acquitted ! 148 PICTOEIAL riELD-BOOK Minister Extraordinary sent to England. The old Party Lines again established. War and Anti-war Parties. minister, in negotiating a treaty that should settle all disputes between the two govern- ments. It was thought expedient, at the same time, to use the second method pro's' pectiyely, as an auxiliary to the American miaisters, for it would appeal potentially to the commercial interest of Great Britain, then, as ever, the ruling power in the state. Accordingly, after long and earnest debates, the House of Representatives passed an act" prohibiting the importation anarch as into the United States of a great i^oe. variety of the most important manufactures of Great Britain. It passed the Senate on the 16th of AprU, and on the 18th became a law.i To give time for the negotiations, the commencement of the prohibition was postponed until the middle of the following, November. In the debate upon the Non-importation Act in Congress, and in its discussion among the people, the old party lines, which, to some extent, had appeared faint when great national questions were fairly discussed, became perfectly distinct. The measure ivas regarded by the jealous opponents of Jefferson and his Cabinet as a display of ;hat hostility to Great Britain because of love for France, which the President and lis Secretary had so frequently manifested during the administrations of "Washington md Adams. It was regarded as a measure calculated to lead the country into a war vith Great Britain. The administration party, on the contrary, charged the Peder- ilists, because they were unwilling to support the measure, with being friendly to -heir country's oppressor. The old political war-cries were sounded, and " French )arty" and " British party" became familiar words again on the lips of partisans. The Federalists affected to regard Great Britain in her wars with France, and espe- lially in the current one with Napoleon, as the champion of the liberties of the world igainst an audacious aspirant for universal empire ; while the Democrats affected to lonsider the Emperor of the French as a great regenerator, who was destined to bene- tt the world by prostratmg tottering thrones, effaomg corrupt dynasties, purifying the lohtical atmosphere of Europe, and giving new life and vigor to the people. Such rere the antagonistic ideas then distinctly developed. The Non-importation Act ras passed by a strictly party vote— ninety-three Democrats, against thirty-two Fed- rahsts and " Quids," as John Randolph and his six secessionists were called. The leat of that debate in the first session of the Ninth Congress developed the germ of he War and Anti-war parties, so strong and implacable just previous to and durine he War of 1812. 1 The following is a list of articles prohibited : All articles of which leather, silk, hemp or flax and tin and brass ftin leets excepted) were the materials of chief value ; woolen cloths whose invoice prices sLuldelc^d five ^ ng a yard ; woolen hosiery of all kinds ; window-glass, and all the mannfactnres of glass ; silvSTnd nfated wafe m rXrterarp^LirrdS^' '"'''^■'^"'"^"'^ OF THE WAR OF 1812. 149 Hopes created by a new Britieli Ministry. Disappointment. Negotiations reopened. Charles James Fox. CHAPTER Vm.. " You all remember well, I gness, The Chesapeake disaster, When Britons dared to kill and press. To please their royal master." Song — ^BonoEBS abd Viotoet; " Prom the deep we withdraw till the tempest he past. Till our flag can protect each American cargo ; While British ambition's dominion shall last, Let us join, heart and hand, to support the Eubabgo : For Embaboo and Peace Will promote our increase ; Then embargoed we'll live till Injustice shall cease : For ne'er, till old Ocean retires from his bed, Will Columbia by Europe's prond tyrants he led." SoHd — Embabso and Feaoe. HILE the debate on the Non-importation Act»was at its height in Congress, intelligence came of a change in the British minis- try that promised a speedy adjustment of all matters in dis- pute between the two countries. William Pitt died in Janua- ry," and at the beginning of February a new Cabi- . January 23, net was formed, known in English history as " All- ^^''^• the-talents Ministry," of which the peaceful, humane, and lib- eral Charles James Fox was the most influential member,^ as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. ' Under the impression that the new ministry would be more ready to act justly to- ward the Americans than the old one, Mr. Pinkney sailed for England. He was soon undeceived. England's policy in the conduct of the tremendous war in which she was engaged was too firmly established to be disturbed by the private opinions and wishes of individuals, and Mr. Fox appears to have imbibed the views of his prede- cessors in office concerning the complaints of the Americans on the subject of the impress and neutral rights. Before Pinkney's amval Fox had expressed to Monroe some sensibility at the passage of the Non-importation Act. He declared that it embarrassed him, because it would place him in the position of treating under seeming compulsion. Monroe gave a satisfactory explanation, and, on the arrival of Pinkney, Lords Holland and Auckland were appointed to negotiate with the American envoys. The negotiations commenced in August.* As the American commis- .^^g^j^ sioners were instructed to make no treaty which did not secure the vessels of their countrymen on the high seas against visitations from press-gangs, this topic naturally occupied the early and earnest attention of the negotiators. The American commissioners, under instructions, contended that the right of impressment existing by municipal law could not be exercised out of the jurisdiction of Great Britain, and, consequently, upon the high s eas. In reply, the British commissioners recited the old 1 wnv anrl Bnrke stood side by side in the opposition to LordNorth in the long struggle before and during the Amer- ican EevSn He was ily^ on the liberal ^^^^ At one time at the close of the Kevolution, the nation appeared to be divided Into parties, one known as the king's, and fv.» „fh»r 0= TTmr's On One occasion Dr. Johnson said, "Fox is an extraordinary man ; here is a man who has divided 1 kinXr^ft cJ° so that it was a doubt which the nation should be ruled by-the sceptre of George IIX or the ton^TofFS •' He vJas always an advocate for a peace policy, and his accession to power m 1806 gave the thinking ™»f!!f ^ Jland hones of a cessation of the wasting war with the all-conquering Napoleon. To that end he labored, Td had well^igh accomplished measures for pacification when, on the 13th of September. 1806, he died. PICTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK agrees and Character of Negotiations. A Treaty agreed to. The Berlin Decree considered. )Ctrine that no subject of the king could expatriate himself— " once an Englishman, ways an Englishman"— and argued that to give up that right would make every merican vessel an asylum for British seamen wishing to evade their country's serv- B, and even for deserters from British ships of war. They were sustained in this e'w by the law officers of the crown and the Board of Admiralty, and would not eld the point. Here the American commissioners might have terminated the nego- ition, because the vital object of their appointment could not be obtained. At length this impressment question was placed in an attitude to allow negotiations 3on other topics to go on. While the British commissioners declared that their gov- nment would not relinquish by formal treaty the right of impressment on the high as, they agreed that special instructions should be given and enforced for the ob- rvance of great caution against subjecting any American-bom citizens to molesta- on or injury. They gave the American commissioners to understand, although it as not expressed in terms, that the intention of the British government was not to low impressments from American vessels on the high seas except under extraordi- iry circumstances, such as having on board known deserters from the British navy, November 8 ^^^ ^^^^ gradually to abandon the practice. This proposition was put m 1806. ' "vpriting," and the negotiations on other topics proceeded. The terms of a treaty considered in many respects more favorable to the Americans lan that of Jay ip 1'794, to continue for ten years, were soon agreed to. The trade 3tween the United States and the European possessions of Great Britain were placed 1 a footing of perfect reciprocity, but no concessions could be obtained as to the •ade of the West Indies ; while in the matter of the East India trade terms as favor- ale to the Americans as those of Jay's would not be granted. The provisions in lat treaty concerning blockades and contraband were adopted, with an additional rovision that no American vessels were to be visited or seized within five miles of le coast of the United States. In regard to the carrying-trade, in which American vessels were so largely con- jrned, the modification of the " rule of 1756" (stipulated in the treaty with Russia in 301, already alluded toy was agreed to, but to operate only during the current war, y which such vessels could transport to any belligerent colony not blockaded by a ritish force, any European goods not contraband of war, providing such goods were .merican property, and the continuity of the voyage had been broken by their hav- ig been previously landed in the United States, and a duty paid of at least one per 3nt. above the amount drawn back on re-exportation. In like manner the produce f the colony might be carried back, and taken into any port in Europe not block- led. At this point in the negotiation, intelligence of the issue of the Berlin Decree,^ which 'e shall consider presently, reached the commissioners. It produced hesitation on le part of the British negotiators. They required assurances that the United States 'ould not allow their trade with Great Britain, and in British merchandise, to be in- jrrupted and interfered with by France without taking measures to resent it. This ssurance the American commissioners refused to give, as they were not inclined to ledge their government to quarrel with France for the benefit of English trade. [oUand and Auckland waived the point and signed the treaty, at the same time pre- 3nting a written protest against the Berlin Decree, reserving to the British govem- lent the right, should that decree be actually carried into force as against neutrals, nd be submitted to by them, to take such measures of retaliation as might be deem- d expedient. Had this treaty not been based in a degree upon contingencies and promises, leav- ig American commence still, in the absence of positive treaty stipulations, at the 1 See note 2, page 138. = See page 129. OF THE WAB OF 1812. 151 Treaty withheld from the Senate. War on the Administration. Blockade of the European Coast declared. mercy of British policy, it might have heen considered so advantageous to the mer- chants of the United States, being an advance in the right direction, as to have re- ceived the favor of the administration. But it was too loose in its actual guarantees, and the experience of the past was too admonitory to allow such a treaty to be ac- cepted as a satisfactory settlement of difficulties between the two governments. It also failed to secure the most vital advantages contemplated in the appointment of the commission, namely, the abolition of the impress from American vessels and te- linquishment on the part of Great Britain of its claims to a right of search. Such being its character, the President, at the risk of being charged with usurpation, did not even lay the treaty before tjie Senate, but, on his own responsibility, seconded by the co-operation of Mr. Madison, his Secretary of State, he refused to ratify it. That refusal destroyed' all hope of negotiating another treaty so favorable to the Amer- icans, for, long before it reached the British government in official form, the Pox and Grenville ministry had disappeared. It had been superseded" by one in which . March, Liverpool, Percival, and Canning, all disciples of the more warlike Pitt, were i^'"'- the leading spirits. The remains of Fox had lain in Westminster Abbey six months when this change in the administration took place.' As might have been expected, Jeffisrson was vehemently assailed by the opposi- tion ; and the merchants, as a class, misled by the deceptive clamor of politicians, swelled the voice of denunciation. The Federalists, ever suspicious of the President, their arch-enemy in former crises of the government, charged him with insincerity when he protested his earnest desire for an honorable adjustment with England ; and they wei-e inclined to regard the rejection of the treaty as a deliberate manoeuvre to cherish popular passion, and thus to strengthen the party hold of the President and his destined successor, Mr. Madison.^ The war against the administration was waged unrelentingly. Another great struggle between the Democrats and Federalists for the prize of the Presidency and national rule now commenced, and some leading men of the opposition who, when in power, had bitterly denounced the course of the British government because of its course on the impress and neutral rights, now became either silent spectators or vir- tual apologists for England. Yet the Democratic party steadily gained in numbers and influence even in New England, and the war feeling became more and more in- tense and positive among the people. We have already alluded to the seizure of Hanover by the Prussians at the insti- gation of Napoleon.^ This offense against the Crown of England was immediately resented ; or, rather, it was made the pretext for einploying against France a measure which, as in 1756 and 1V92, was calculated to starve the empire. By orders in Coun- cil, issued on the 16th of May, 1806, the whole coast of Europe from the Elbe, in Ger- many, to Brest, in France, a distance of about eight hundred miles, was declared in a state of blockade, when, at the same time, the British navy could not spare from its other fields of service vessels enough to enforce the blockade over a third of the pre- scribed coast. It was essentially a " paper blockade," then valid according to En- glish " laws of nations" — laws of her own enactment, and enforced by her own mate- rial power. The almost entire destruction of the French and Spanish fleets off Tra- falgar, a few months before,'' had annihilated her rivals for the sovereign- b octoher 21, ty of the seas, and she now resolved to control the trade of the world, by i^"'- which she might procure pecuniary means to carry on the war. The British orders in Council somewhat startled American commerce, and by some was considered, so far as that commerce was concerned, as not only a counter- vailing measure in view of the Non-importation Act of the American Congress, but a positively belligerent one. But its effects were slight in comparison with the pros- , ' See page 128. a Hildreth's History of the United States, Second Series, li., 663. 3 See page 128. PICTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK e Berlin Decree. The " Continental System." Americans the only Neutrals. Their Expectations. ating blow inflicted upon the American shipping interest when, from the " Imperial imp at Berlin" on the 21st of November, 1806, Napoleon issued the famous decree liich declared the British Islands in a state of blockade, forbade all correspondence trade with England, defined all articles of English manufacture or produce as con- aband, and the property of all British subjects as lawful prize of war. ^ Resting for moral support upon England's cherished " law of nations," Napoleon ade this declaration of a practically universal blockade when he had scarcely a ship his command to enforce it ; for Lord Nelson, as we have just observed, had almost ictober 21, demolished the whole French and part of the Spanish fleet ofi" Trafalgar 1805. jyst thirteen months before.'' On land the power of Napoleon was scarcely bounded by any river in Europe, "ithin his grasp was seemingly the sceptre of universal empire, of which he dreamed Lth the ambition of an Alexander. State after state had been added to his domin- is, and brother after brothef had been placed upon thrones of his own construction, lid the ruins of old dynasties. He now endeavored, by the practice of England's ^ic, to dispute with her in a peculiar way the sceptre of the seas.^ This was the beginning of what was afterward called the Continental System, com- moed avowedly as a retaliatory measure, and designed primarily to injure and, if ssible, to destroy the commercial prosperity of England. ^ Napoleon adhered to it • several years as a favorite scheme, to the delight and profit of smugglers created the system, and the immense injury of the commerce of the world. He compelled )st of the states of Europe to become partners in the league against Great Britain, refusal to join it was considered a just cause for war. Yet England, with such wers against her, and such an injurious system impinging heavily upon her mari- ae and trading interests, defied Napoleon and his allies, and exhibited a moral and iterial energy which commands our wonder and highest respect. America was at this time really the only neutral in the civilized world. Her iso- ion enabled her to maintain that position, and enjoy prosperity while Europe was lonant with the din of battle, clouded with the smoke of camps and ruined towns, i wasted by the terrible demands of moving armies. But her security and pros- pity were likely to be disturbed by this unrighteous decree from the "Imperial mp." It was so broad in its application, that it would be equally injurious to neu- ,1s and belligerents. The commercial world perceived this with its keen eye, and aerican commerce was convulsed by a thrill of apprehension. Rates of insurance I up to ruinous heights at the beginning of 180V, and commercial enterprises of 3ry kind were suspended. rhis panic was somewhat allayed by a letter from John Armstrong, American min- 3r at Paris, who believed the operations of the decree .would be only municipal, i was assured by the French Minister of Marine that the existing commercial re- ions of the United States and the French Empire, as settled by the Convention of )0,3 would not be disturbed.* This assurance was subsequently strengthened by ! fact that the decree was not enforced against American vessels until about a year Brward,* Napoleon doubtless hoping the United States, growing every day more 1 more hostile toward England because of her injustice, would be induced to join ! league against that power. The Americans were also taught to rely upon the ditional policy of France concerning the rights of neutrals, so plainly avowed in : Armed Neutrality T reaty in 1780, earnestly proclaimed ever since by the French 3ee note 1, page 13*>, STapoleon at this time had been compelled to abandon Ms schemes for the invasion of England. He had lost St Tin p, and a 1 prestige in the West Indies, and had no means of amioying his most potent enemy, on the sea >ee twelfth and fourteenth articles of that Convention in Statemian's Momual, iv., 342, 343 Jn the 10th of December, Minister Armstrong asked for an explanation of the Berlin Decree. Monsieur Decres the ister of Manne, rephed on the 24th that he considered the decree as in no way modifying 'Hh™ Tations at n^es 'with the' uStTd's^Tt^s Tf" ' ■ "'.^"^'" ""^S"'""' ""• """^"Ife^tly. of the Conve^Jion of the 30th oSe». , with the United States of America." s Baring's Inquiry, etc., page 116, cited in note 1, page 129 OF THE WAR OK 1812. 153 Change in the Policy of the French. Seizure of American Ships. British Orders in Council. ■ — — « rulers, and reiterated in the charges against England in the preamble to the famous decree under consideration. The promises of security to American commerce from the operations of the Berlin Decree were soon broken. The powers of that decree were put forth in the autumn of 1807. The Peace of Tilsit' had released a large number of French soldiers from duties in the camp and field, and these were employed at various ports along the coasts of Europe in strictly enforcing the blockade and putting the Continental Sys- tem into active operation. Even American commerce did not remain undisturbed ; on the contrary, it was directly threatened by a decision of Regnier, the French Min- ter of Justice, -who declared that all merchandise derived from England and her colo- nies, by whomsoever owned, was liable to seizure even on board neutral vessels.^ As Americans were then the only neutrals, this decision was aimed directly at them, with the intention, no doubt, of forcing the United States into; at. least a passive co- operation with Bonaparte in his deadly designs against British commerce and the liberties of that people. When Minister Armstrong made inquiries concerning this interpretation of the Berlin' Decree, Champagny, the French Minister for Foreign Af- fairs, coolly replied that the principal powers of Europe for eleven months had not , only not issued any protest against the decree, but had agreed to enforce it, and that to make it effectual its execution must be complete. He disposed of the treaty obli- gations in the matter by saying that, since England had disregarded the rights of all maritime powers, the interests of those powers were common, and they were bound to make common cause against her;^ that is to say, any nation that would not join Napoleon in enforcing his iniquitous Continental System, ostensibly against England, but really against the commerce of the world, forfeited its claim to have its treaty stipulations regarded ! This doctrine was speedily followed up by practice, when the American ship Horizon, stranded upon the French coast, was, with her cargo, ua violation of every principle of humanity, confiscated in the French prize court, acting under Eegnier's decision,'' on the ground that that cargo consisted of . November 10, merchandise of British origin. This decision and confiscation became a ^^*'^- precedent for the speedy seizure and sequestration of a large amount of American property. Almost simultaneously with this practical illustration of Regnier's interpretation of the Berlin Decree in the case of the Horizon}' Great Britain made a , „ , ,„ . ^ ' " November 10. more destructive assault on the rights 01 neutrals than any yet attempt- ed by either party. By orders in council, adopted on the 11th and promulgated on the lYth of November, all neutral trade was prohibited with France or her allies unless through Great Britain.* This avowed measure of retaliation for the issue of 1 This was a treaty of peace concluded between France and Eussia on the Tth of June, 1807, when Napoleon restored to the Prussian monarch one half of his territories, and Russia recognized the Confederation of the Ehine, and the eleva- tion of Napoleon's three brothers, Joseph, Louis, and Jerome, to the thrones respectively of Naples, Holland, and West- phalia. 2 Letter to the Imperial Attorney General for the Council of Prizes, September 18, 180T. ' 2 " AH the difficultiea which have given rise to your reclamations," said Champagny to Armstrong, "would be removed with ease if the government of the United States, after complaining in vain of the injustice and violations of England, took, with the whole Continent, the part of guaranteeing itself therefrom. England has introduced into the maritime war an entire disregard for the rights of nations : it is only in forcing her to a peace that it is possible to recover them. On this point the interest of all nations is the same. All have their honor and independence to defend."— Ltman'b Diplmnaey of the United States, i., 411. This was all very true, but the terms on which the United States were invited to join that Continental league were entirely inconsistent with their principles concerning blockades— principles identical with those of the Armed Neutral- ity of 17S0. The Berlin Decree asserted principles the very reverse of these, and in an extreme degree— principles against which the Americans had ever protested— principles which the French minister, only a year before^ had pro- nounced *' monstrous and indefensible." 4 Mr. Baring, in his able Inquiry^ into the Causes and Comegmnces of the Orders in CouneU, gives the followmg analysis of the extremely lengthy document : "All trade directly from America to every port and country of Europe at war with Great Britain, or fi-om which the British flag is excluded, is totally prohibited. In this general prohibition every part of Europe, with the exception at present of Sardinia, is included, and no distinction whatever is made between the domestic produce of America and that of the colonies re-exported from thence. PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK ipoleon's Milan Decree. Its Effects on American Commerce. British CmieerB in American Waters. le Berlin Decree was only a pretext for pampering the greed of the British colonial erchants and ship-owners. As the Americans were the only neutrals, it was a di- et blow against their commerce, of which, for fen years, the British had been ex- ledingly jealous. The effect was to deprive American vessels of all the advantages ■ neutrality. In retaliation for the issuing of these orders, Bonaparte promulgated another de- •ee, dated "At our Palace at Milan, December 17, 1807," which extended and made ore vigorous that issued from Berlin. It declared every vessel which should sub- it to be searched by British cruisers, or should pay any tax, duty, or license-money I the British government, or should be found on the high seas or elsewhere bound > or from any British port, denationalized and forfeit.^ "With their usual servility I the dictates of the conqueror, Spain and Holland immediately issued similar de- •ees. Thus, within a few months, the commerce of the United States, carried on in rict accordance with the acknowledged laws of civilized nations, was swept from le ocean. Utterly unable, by any power it then possessed, to resist the robbers upon le great highway of nations, the independence of the republic had no actual record, had been theoretically declared on parchment a quarter of a century before, but le nation and its interests were now as much subservient to British orders in coun- I and French imperial decrees as when George the Third sent governors to the col- lies of which it was composed, and Beaumarchais, in behalf of Louis the Sixteenth, ipplied their feeble, rebellious hands with weapons wherewith to fight for liberty id independence. While the commerce of the world was thus becoming the sport of France and En- and — traditionary enemies and implacable duelists for a thousand years — unscru- ilous gamesters for power — an event occurred which excited in the United States le most intense animosity toward Great Britain, and created a powerful war party nong legislators and people. To give eificieney to the Orders in Council, the British government kept a naval rce continually hovering along the American coast. They frequently intruded into merican waters, and were a great vexation and annoyance to navigators and mer- lants. They were regarded as legalized plunderers employed by a strong nation to jspoil a weaker one.^ Every American vessel was liable, on leaving port, to be ar- sted and seized by this marine police, sometimes under the most untenable pretexts, id sent to England as a prize. The experience of the Leander, already mentioned ee page 147), was the experience of hundreds of vessels, excepting the murder of leir commanders ; and, as we have seen, remonstrances and negotiations were of no rail. A crisis was at length reached in the summer of 1807. 'The trade from America to the colonies of all nations remains unaltered by the present orders. America may ex- irt the produce of her own country, but that of no other, directly to Sweden. "With the above exception, all articles, whether of domestic or colonial produce, exported by America to Enrope, 1st be landed in this country [England], from whence it is intended tp permit their re-exportation under such regnla- ns as may hereafter be determined. 'By these regulations it is understood that duties are to be imposed on all articles so re-exported ; but it is intimated it an exception willbemadein favor of such as are the produce of the United States, that of cotton excepted. 'Any vessel the cargo whereof shall be accompanied with certificates of French consuls abroad of its origin, shall, 3;ether with the cargo, be liable to seizure and confiscation. " Proper care shall be taken that the operation of the orders shall not commence until time is afforded for their being lown to the parties interested." — See Tfiquiry, etc., page 15. When introducing this analysis of the orders of the 11th of November, Mr. Baring remarks that " they are so much veloped in official jargon as to be bardly intelligible out of Doctors' Commons, and not perfectly so there." In a note says, " I beg to disclaim any intention to expound the titnal text s it seems purposely intended that no person should ofane it with his comprehension without paying two guineas for an opinion, with an additional benefit of being able obtain one directly opposed to it for two more." I "These measures," said the fourth article of the Milan Decree, "which are resorted to only in just retaliation of the rbarous system adopted by England, which assimilates in its legislation to that of Algiers, shall cease to have any tect with respect to all nations who shall have the firmness to compel the English government to respect their flag." declared that the provisions of the present decree should be null as soon as England should " abide again by the inciples of the law of nations which regulate the relations of civilized states in a state of war." ! Privateers with French commissions were guilty of depredations upon American commerce, but the occasions were OF THE WAR OF 1812. 155 Keorganization of the Naval Service. The " Guu-boat Policy." Deserters from British Ships. Notwithstanding the many depredations upon American commerce and the in- creasing menaces of the belligerents in Europe, very little had been done to increase the efficiency of the navy of the United States since its reduction at the close of the war with the Barbary States. The squadron in the Mediterranean had been gradu- ally reduced, but several small vessels had been built. Two of these, the ship Wasp, 18, and brig Hornet, 18, constructed after French models, and ranking as sloops-of- war, were beautiful, stanch, and fast-sailing craft. In the spring of 1806 the naval service was reorg/anized,' yet nothing of great im- portance was contemplated to increase its material strength excepting the construc- tion of gun-boats.2 The President had imbibed very strong prejudices in favor of these vessels. A flotilla of them, obtained from Naples, had been used efiectively in the war with Tripoli in 1804, and they were favorites in the service because they af- forded commands for enterprising young officers. A few were built in the United States in 1805, their chief contemplated use being the defense and protection of har- bors and rivers. Then was inaugurated the " gun-boat policy" of the government, so much discussed for three or four years afterward. Toward the close of 1806 the President officially announced that the gun-boats (fifty in number) " authorized by an act of the last session" were so far advanced that they might be put in commission the following season. ^ Yet only in the Mediterranean Sea was there a foreign station of the navy of the United States where an American cruiser might be seen at the beginning of 1807, notwithstanding American merchant vessels to the amount of 1,200,000 tons were afloat. Nor was there a home squadron worthy of the name ; while British and French cruisers were swarming on our coasts, and British orders and French decrees were wielding the besom of destruction against our commerce. In the spring of 1807 a squadron of British ships of war, whose rendezvous was Lynnhaven Bay,* just within Cape Henry, in Virginia, were watching some French frigates which had been for some time blockaded at Annapolis, in Maryland. One of the British vessels was the Melampus, 38. Three of her men deserted, and enlisted among the crew of the United States frigate Ghesg/peake, then being fitted for sea at the navy yard at Washington to join the Mediterranean squadron. Mr. Erskine, the British minister, who had been sent to Washington by Fox to supersede Merry, the successor of Listen, made a formal request of the President for their surrender, but without any warrant found in the laws of nations, or in any agreement between the two governments. A proposition to deliver up British deserters had been made by Monroe and Pinkney during the late negotiations, as an inducement for the British to abandon the practice of impressment, but nothing on that point had been accom- plished. The United States government, willing to be just, and anxious for honorable peace, instituted inquiries concerning the deserters. They were actually enlisted for service 1 By an act of Congress in April, 1806, the President was authorized to employ as many of the public vessels as he might deem necessary, but limiting the number of ofBcers and seamen. The list of captains was increased by the act to thirteen, that of the masters and commanders to 'nine, and that of the lieutenants to seventy-two. In consequence of deaths and resignations there were many promotions, and sixty-nine midshipmen were raised to the rank of lieutenant. The names of the captains under the new law were as follows : Samuel Nicholson, Alexander Murray, Samuel Barron, John Bodgers, Edward Preble, James Barron, William Bainbridge, Hugh G. Campljell, Stephen Decatur, Thomas Tin- gey, Charles Stewart, Isaac Hull, John Shaw, and Isaac Chauncey. Of these Commodore Stewart is now (1867) the only survivor. The names of the masters and commanders were as follows: John Smith, George Cox, John H. Dent, Thomas Eobin- son, David Porter, John Carson, Samuel Evans, and Charles Gordon. Not one survives. ! The act of Congress for " fortifying the Ports and Harbors of the United States and for building Gun-boats" was ap- proved on the 21st of April, 1806. It provided for the construction of fifty gun-boats. 3 Annual message, December 2, 1806.— See Statesman's Manual, i., 282. 4 Here the French fleet under the Count de Qrasse lay early in September, 1T81, when the English fleet under Admiral Graves appeared off Cape Charles, entering the Chesapeake Bay. The French prepared for conflict, and put to sea. The British bore down upon them, and on the afternoo^of the 5th of September a partial action took place. The two fleets were within sight of each other for five consecutive days, but had no other engagement. For an account of these events and a diagram, see Lossing's Fieli-iooh of the Revolution, 11., 306, latest edition. 56 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK' LYMNHATEN BAY. le Deserters American Ci tuens. Their Surrender refased. The CImapmke watched by a British Squadron. on board the Chesa- peake ; but it was es- tablished by compe- tent testimony that one was a native of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, that anoth- er was a colored man and a native of Mas- sachusetts, and in the case of the third there was strong circum- stantial evidence of his being a native- bom citizen of Mary- land.i Under these circumstances, as the claims of British citi- zenship could not be established, and as the government was not isposed to surrender any seamen who claimed its protection, a refusal in respectfal irms was communicated to Mr. Erskine. No more was said upon the subject; but appears to have stimulated Vice-Admiral Berkeley, on the Halifax station, under 'hose command was the squadron in Lynnhaven Bay, to the assumption of authority 'hich led to much trouble. At about the beginning of June the Chesapeake sailed from Washington, to Nor- )lk, and on the 19th she was reported to Commodore James Barron, the appointed ag-officer of the Mediterranean squadron, as ready for sea. She dropped down to [ampton Roads, and on the morning of the 22d of June — a bright, beautLfiil, hot loming — at about eight o'clock, she weighed anchor, under the command of Captain rordon, and bearing the broad pennant of Commodore Barron. She was armed with iventy-eight 18-pounders on her gun-deck, and twelve carronades^ above, making a )tal of forty guns. She was a vessel of ordinary character, and bore a crew num- ering three hundred and seventy-five. On the evening of the 21st,* the British squadron in Lynnhaven B&y, charged with the double duty, it seems, of watching the French frigates nd the Chesapeake, consisted of the Bdlona, li ; the Mdampits, 38 ; the Leopard, ; and another whose name was not mentioned. The Leopard, Captain Humphreys, ras charged with the duty of intercepting the Chesapeake. She was a small two- ecker, and is said to have mounted fifty-six guns. She preceded the Chesapeake to 3a several miles, her sails bent by a gentle northwest breeze. The Leopard kept in sight of the Chesapeake until three o'clock in the afternoon, rhen the former bore down upon the latter and hailed, informing Commodore Barron biat she had a dispatch for him. The Chesapeake responded by lying-to, when some f her ofiicers discovered that the Leopard'' s ports were triced up — an evidence of elligerent intent — but they did not mention the fact to Captain Gordon or the com- 1 The names of the deserters were William Ware, who had been pressed il'om an American vessel on board the Jfe- mvpnm in the Bay of Biscay j Daniel Martin, colored, pressed at the same time and place ;> and John Strachan, pressed a board the same vessel from an English Gnineaman off Cape Finisterre. Ware and Strachan had protections^ but [artin had lost his.— See Commodore Barron's Letter to the Secretary of the Navy, dated April 2, 180T. It is proper to ;ate that Mr. Hamilton, the British consul at Norfolk, made repeated official demands for these three seamen and an- ther, and was as often refused by the officers of the Cliesapeake, acting under government orders. = A carronade is a short piece of ordnance, having a large calibre, and a chamber for the powder like a mortar. It de- ves its name ftom Carron, in Scotland, where it was first made. — Webster. Tune, L80T. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 157 The Chesapeake hosaiei. The Demand for the Deserters refnsed. The Leopard Area into the Chesapeake. modore. A British boat came alongside, and the lieutenant in command was politely- received by Barron in the cabin of the Chesapeake. He Laformed the commodore that he was in search of deserters,, and, giving their names, he demanded their release, on the authority of instructions issued at Halifax on the 1st of June by Vice-Admiral Berkeley. Those .instructions directed all captains under his command, should they fall in with the Chesapeake out of the waters of the United States, to show their orders, and " to proceed and search" for such deserters ; at the same time, should the commander of the Chesapeake make a similar demand, they were to allow him to search for deserters from the American service, "according to the usages of civilized nations on terms of peace and amity with each other."* He also presented a note from Captain Humphreys of the Leopard., expressing a hope that every circumstance respecting the deserters might "be adjusted in a manner that the harmony sub- sisting between the two countries might remain undisturbed." Barron was justly astonished at the impertinence of Humphreys and the assump- tions of Berkeley. The " customs and usages" referred to by the latter were confined to the British navy, and were subjects for complaint by " civilized nations." The practice had been advocated only in the British Parliament and by the British press ; and twice already the "usage" had been applied to American vessels by British cruisers and denounced as outrageous.^ Barron knew well that the first outrage of the kind had caused the issuing of a standing order from his government to the com- manders of national vessels never to allow their crews to be mustered except by their own oiEcers. He therefore made a short reply to Humphreys, telling him he knew of no deserters on board the Chesapeake, that he had instructed his recruiting officers not to enlist British deserters, and explicitly assuring him that his crew should not be mustered except by their own officers. While the lieutenant was waiting for Barron's answer, the officers of the Chesa- peake, suspicious of some mischief brewing, were busy in clearing the ship for action. She had left port all unprepared for conflict. Without the least expectation of en- countering an enemy, she had gone to sea without preparation for hostile service, ' either in the drilling of her men or in perfecting her equipments. She was littered and lumbered by various objects, and her crew had been mustered only three times. When the lieutenant left, Barron seems to have imagined that some hostile demon- stration might follow his refusal to allow a search for deserters. His men were silently called to quarters, and the ship was regularly prepared for action. He soon received a trumpet message from Humphreys, saying, " Commodore Barron must be aware that the orders of the vice-admiral must be obeyed." Barron replied that he did not understand. The hail was several times repeated, and then a shot was sent from the Leopard athwart the bows of the Chesapeake. This was speedily followed by another, and as quickly the remainder of the broadside was poured into the almost helpless frigate. Owing to obstructions it was difficult to get her batteries ready ; and when one broadside was ready for action there was no priming-powder. When a small quantity was brought, there were no matches, locks, nor loggerheads, and not a shot could be returned. Meanwhile the Leopard, at not more than pistol-shot dis- tance, and in smooth water, poured several broadsides upon the unresisting ship, kill- ing three men and wounding eighteen. Barron and his aid (Mr. Broome), who were standing in the gangway watching the assailant, were slightly hurt. The commodore frequently expressed a de^re that one gun, at least, might be fired before he should 1 Vice-Admiral Berkeley's circular order recited that many seamen, subjects of his Britannic majesty, and serving in the British Navy, had deserted from several British ships, which he named, and had enlisted on board the frigate Chee- apeake, and had openly paraded the streets of Norfolk, in sight of their officers, under the American colors, protected by the magistrates of the town and the recmiting ofBcer, who refused to give them up, either on demand of the commanders of the ships to which they belonged or on that oOhe British consul. 2 See the account of outrage in case of the B^hnore, Captain Phillips, on page 102, and that of the American gun- boat overhauled by one of Admiral CoUingwooa's vessels in the Mediterranean, note 2, page 146. An apology was made for the former outrage, but the latter was passed by. 58 PICTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK rrender of the Chempeake. The Deserters carried away. The Outrage resented. rike his flag, for he perceived that a surrender would he necessary to save the ship om utter destruction. He was gratified. Just as the colors in their descent touched le tafii-ail, Lieutenant Allen, who had made ineffectual attempts to use a loggerhead,' m with a live coal between his fingers and touched off one of the guns of the second i vision of the ship, of which he was commander. The Leopard had kept up her cannonade, without any response, for about twelve inutes. Twenty-one of her round shot had hulled the Chesapeake, and her grape id made considerable havoc with the victim's sails and rigging. When the Amer- an ensign was lowered, two British lieutenants and_ several midshipmen went on )ard, mustered the crew, arrested the three deserters from the Mdampus, dragged om his concealment in the coal-hole the fourth, named John Wilson, who had desert- L from the Halifax, and bore them all away to the Leopard. Barron, meanwhile, id informed Humphreys by note^ that the Chesapeake was his prize ; but that com- ander refused to receive her, saying, " My instructions have been obeyed, and I de- re nothing more." He then expressed regret because of the loss of life, and offered ly assistance the crippled ship might require. His proffered sympathies and aid ere indignantly rejected; and the Chesapeake, with mortified officers and crew, ade her way sullenly back to Norfolk. The unfortunate deserters were taken to Halifax, tried by a court-martial, and sen- need to be hung. . The three Americans were reprieved on condition that they ould re-enter the British service, but Wilson, the English subject, was hanged. When Canning, the British Minister for Foreign Affairs, heard of the outrage, he pressly disavowed the act in behalf of his government, and informed Monroe and nkney that orders had been sent out for the recall of Berkeley from his command, umphreys also suffered the displeasure of his government because he had exceeded s instructions, find he was never again employed in service afloat. One of the tnericans remanded to slavery in the British navy died in captivity ; the others, one 13, after five years of hard service, were restored* to the deck of the ship from 1812. which they had been taken. Provision was also made for the families of e slain. The attack on the Chesapeake created the most intense excitement and indignation roughout the United States, and for a time all local politics were forgotten, and all Tties, Federalists and Democrats, natives and foreigners, were united in a firm re- ive that Great Britain should make reparation for the wrong, or be made to feel e indignation of the insulted republic in the power of war. Public meetings were Id in all the principal cities from Boston to N'orfolk,^ in which the feelings of the ople were vehemently expressed. "It is an act of such consummate violence and •ong," said the citizens of Philadelphia,* "and of so barbarous and murderous char- ter, that it would debase and degrade any nation, and much more so a nation of semen, to submit to it." Such were the sentiments every where expressed, and there A loggerhead is a spherical mass of iron heated and used in place of a match in firing cannon in the navy dreth s Htsfory o/(fe J7mM States, Second Series, ii., 678 ; Perkins's ffistory o/«fte iate ror, page 22 On the return of the Cfesoiieirite to Norfolk a puhlic meeting was held there, when it was resolved that no inter- kool Cantl'tni»' tl''* ^'^ '"'i ^"'/f? '''"''^™° '" ^"^ ^^""y'"'"! *" Pl^a^^e of the President sCd Known. Ciiptam Douglas, the commander of the squadron, made some insolent threats, when Cabell Governor of hZL,Tt?a'f'*f''"'-°'""l"''*°'l°r'^""'^='''°P*°°- D°''g'«MndinghisthrekrstobewkSgm™chie Zhlin %r ^a.^'^'f «T' ^ "^ "'*' "1"^ '°™'*°*' ""^ '""J'^™" »""> " menacing position in Hampton Eoads The rImaWfl thP^ cT' "l ""°°'°* "^ '^' '^'""''™° ""™' ^'"'^ "' ^°'f°"'' ^"^ "'^^'-^d not to molest him He he remaned there. Some rather spicy correspondence with Erskine, the British minister, ensued in the course of H.™T,?nn'»ft"^?r'^"'*'™/?;: '"""^ ^^^^-^^^^ l^elonging to the British fleet destroyed byrendi»iantpec^ of Hampton after the return of the Chempeake 1 In a letter to the Secretary of State from Monticel^ concerning , demand under such circumstances, President Jefferson wrote: "It will be very difficult tnnswerMrErsMne'sdf ad respectmg the water-casks in a tone proper for such a demand. I have heard of one who! haTL broten hie cane r the head of another, demanded payment for his cane. This dem^d might well enough have^de part of an oSr Zt l' Isnr^Thf °' '? "^^ Ckuapeake, and to deliver up the aut*s of the murders c^mUted on boJrd he°-° iSaSho?or^:rSL™^r"'"^' ^'"' ^'^^^^ "^^ '^^'""^"^' --^o-phHopkinson, Es,.'rargFed. OF THE WAE OF 1812. 159 British Vessels ordered to leave American Waters. Harbors to be defeuded. Fanishment of Barron. was a general desire for an immediate declaration of war against Great Britain to re- dress all wrongs and grievances. But the President and his Cabinet, averse to war, preferred a pacific course, and determined to allow Great Britain an opportunity for a disavowal of the act, and to make reparation of the wrong. The former, as we have observed, was promptly done by Mr. Canning ; the latter, embarrassed by intricate negotiations, was accomplished more tardily. In response and submission to the ^pular will, the President issued a proclamation on the 2d of July, in which he complained of the habitual insolence of the British cruisers, expressed his belief that the present outrage was unauthorized, and ordered all British armed vessels to leave the waters of the United States immediately. As his government possessed no power to compel compliance with this order, he directed that, in case of their refusal to leave, all intercourse with them, their officers and crews, should be at once suspended. He forbade all persons affording such vessels aid of any kind, unless in the case of a ship in' distress or charged with public dis- patches. Preparations for defense were also made. Most of the gun-boats in com- mission were ordered to New York, Charleston, and New Orleans ; military stores were. purchased; one hundred thousand militia were ordered to be detached by the different states, but without pay, and volunteers were invited to enroll themselves. Commodore Barron was made to feel the nation's indignation most se- verely. He was accused of neglect of duty, and was tried by a court- martial on specific charges of that nature. The navy, government, and nation appear to have predeterm- ined his guilt. The wounded na- tional pride needed a palliative, and it was found in the supposed de- linquencies of the unfortunate com- modore. He was found guilty, and sentenced ,to five "years' suspension from the service, without pay or emoluments. 1 Captain Gordon was tried pn the same charge, but his of- fense was so slight that he was only privately reprimanded. Such also was the fate of Captain Hall, of the marines ; while the gunner, for neg- lect in having priming-powder suffi- cient, was cashiered. It was the opinion of Mr. Cooper that these officers were made the /j^XJLco Cly^^ (iJioLty*^^ 1 James Barron was born in Virginia in 1768, and commenced his services in the navy nnder his father, vrho was " commodore of all the armed vessels of the Commonwealth of Virginia" during the Revolution and the Confederation. He was commissioned a lieutenant under Barry In 1798, and the following year was promoted to the highest grade then known to the navy, namely, captain. With, and subordinate to his brother Samuel, he sailed to the Mediterranean that vear where he soon acquired fame for his skill in seamanship. He was one of the best officers and disciplinarians m the navv The affair of the Chempeake and its effects upon himself cast a shadow over his future life. He was restored to official position, but, somewhat broken in spirit, he never afterward entered the service afloat. In 1820 he and Deca- tur had a correspondence on the affair of the Chempeake, which resultedm a duel, the particulars of which will be given hereafter. The duel was fought near Bladensburg, four miles from Washington City. Both were badly wounded. De- catur died ; Barron recovered after months of intense suffering. *v oil <•» -, Barron held several Important commands in the service on shore, and at the time of his death, on the 21st of Apr. , 1861, he was the senior officer of the United States Navy. He died at Norfolk, in Virginia, and was buried m St. Paul's Ohur A-vard there with military and civic honors, on the morning of the 23d of April. A funeral sermon was preached ta the venerable aid venerated church by Kev. William Jackson. It was a beautiful tribute to the worth of a brave and ill-requited patriot. 160 PICTORIAL PIELD-BOOK Keparation demanded of Eugland. Failure to obtain it. Hoyal Proclamation concerning British Seamen. scape-goats of the government, where divided power is too often not only irrespons- ible but inefficient. " It may well be questioned," he says, " if any impartial person, who coolly examines the subject, will not arrive at the conclusion that the real de- Ibquents were never put on their trial." He then adverts to the fact that four months had been consumed in fitting this, single vessel for sea, under the immediate eye of the government, at a time when there was pressing necessity for her service ; that she did not receive all her guns until a 'few days before she sailed; that her crew were coming on board until the last hour before her departure ; that her people had been quartered only three days before she put to sea, and that she was totally unfitted for active service when she was ordered to leave port. " When it was found that the nation had been disgraced," continues Mr. Cooper, " so unsound was the state of popular feeling that the real delinquents were overlooked, while their victims be- came objects of popular censure."^ The President's proclamation was followed by the dispatch of the armed schooner Revenge to England with instructions to the American ministers (Monroe and Pink- ney) to demand reparation for insults and injuries in the case of the Chesapeake, and to suspend all other negotiations untU it should be granted. Unfortunately for the success of the special negotiations, these instructions also directed them, in addition to a demand for an apology and indemnity to the families of the killed, to insist, by way of security for the future, that the visitation of American vessels in search of British subjects should be totally relinquished. This was inadmissible. The British government refused to treat upon any other subject than that of reparation. A dis- avowal of the act had already been made, and every disposition to be just and friendly had been shown. The ministry even placed their government in the position of an injured party, inasmuch as the proclamation concerning British ships of war iu Amer- ican waters was evidently an act of retaliation before a demand for reparation had been made, or the disposition of the British Cabinet had been ascertained. Monroe and Pinkney had already proposed to reopen negotiations for a treaty on the basis of the one returned from their government unratified,^ and, with these new instructions, they pursued the subject with so much assiduity that Mr. Canning made = October 22, to them a formal and final reply^ that, while he was reaidy to listen to any 180T. suggestions with a view to the settlement of existing difficulties, he would not negotiate anew on the basis of a treaty concluded and signed, and already reject- ed by one of the parties. Indeed there was a decided aversion to treating at all on the subject of impressments ; and the views of the government on that topic were - October IT. Plainly manifested when, by royal proclamation,^' all British mariners, in whatever service engaged, were required to leave it forthwith and hasten to the aid of their native country, then menaced and imperiled, and her "maritime rights" called m question. It authorized all commanders of foreign ships of war to seize British seamen on board foreign merchant vessels (but without undue violence), and take them to any British port. It also demanded from all foreign ships of war the delivery of all British mariners on board of them; and that in case of a re- fusal to give them up, proper notice should be communicated to the British minister resident of the nation to which such contumacious vessel and commander might be- long, that measures for redress might be employed. Mr. Monroe formally objected to this proclamation, as shutting the door against all future negotiations on the subject of impressments. ^ Cann ing repUed that it was 1 Cooper's NmaX Bistmy of the United States, ii., 110. „ o James Monroe waB bom in Westmoreland ConntT, in Vireinia on thp 2fl nf Anril itko tn ^u ^® ^^^^ }' ex!:rr,LrMr^k^VdSrtrS^^^^^ OF THE WAE OF 1812. 161 Special Envoy to the United States. His Mission fniitless. Critical Situation, only a declaration of existing law, and necessary for the in- formation of British commanders who might be placed in a situation similar to that of Captain Hum- phreys, of the Zeop- ard. It was evident to both parties that the topic of that outrage could not be satis- factorily treated in London, because the American ministers could not separate it from that of impress- ment. The British government re- ^ minister to Washing- ton, provided with instructions to bring the unhappy dispute to an honorable con- clusion. H. G. Rose, a son of one of the ministers, was ap- pointed for the deli- cate duty, and ar- rived at Annapolis in January, 1808. His mission was fruit- less. He was instruct- ed not to treat of the affair of the Chesa- peake while the re- cent proclamation of the President was in force, nor to connect yf^ ^^ ^ the subject with -/^^^-J^-t^^-7 ^^^'^'"'^^^^'^'t:^ that of impress- solved therefore to send a special ^ . ments from pri- vate vessels. As the' proclamation had reference to the conduct of British armed . vessels in American waters from the beginning of the current European war, the President refused to withdraw the document, and Rose returned in the same vessel that bore him to our shores. Meanwhile Monroe had returned home, leaving Pinkney resident minister in London. All hopes of settling existing difficulties with England were at an end, and from the beginning of 1808 the political relations between the two governments foreboded inevitable hostilities at no distant day. The critical condition of foreign relations induced the President to call the Tenth Congress together as early as the 25th of October. The administration party had an overwhelming majority in that body, and was daily increasing in strength through- out the country. The confidence of the Democrats in Jefferson's wisdom, sagacity, and patriotism was unbounded. In the Ignited States Senate there were only six Federalists, and one of them, John Quincy Adams, soon left their ranks and joined those of the dominant party.? A new Democratic member appeared at about the same time, and began a career as a national legislator which forms a wonderful chap- ter in the history of the government. _J[t.wa8-Henry JDJay, 2 wh£ had beea appointed to fill, for a single session, the sea,t made vacant by the resignation of General John life, and.^ith Patrick Henry and others of his state, he opposed the ratification of the National Constitution. He was one' of the first United States senators from Virginia under it. He was sent to France as emhaseador inlT94, and was recalled hy Washington in 1T96. In 1T98 he was elected Governor of Virginia, and three years afterward Mr. Jefferson sent him to Paris to assist in negotiations for the purchase of Louisiana. He was then transferred to the British court as co-laborer in diplomacy with Mr. Pinkney. In 1811 he was again elected Governor of Virginia, but was soon called to the Cabinet of Mr. Madison as Secretary of War. In 181G he was elected President of the United States, and held that office eight years, when he retired from public life. He lived in Virginia until 1831, when he took np his residence with his son-in-law in the city of New York. He died there on the 4th of Jaly of that year, at the age of little more than sev- entv-one years. ... i- „ 1 Mr. Adams was then fortv years of age, and had been in the Senate since 1803. " He is a man of much information, wrote his contemporary and friend. Senator Plamer, of New Hampshire, in April, 1806, " a correct and animated speaker, of strong passions, and of course subject to strong prejudices, but a man of strict, undeviating integrity. He is not the slave of party, nor influenced by names, bnt free, independent, and occasionally eccentric." s "This day [December 29, 1806"], wrote Senator Plniner, "Henry Clay, the successor of John Ad&iir, was qtialifled, and took his seat in the Senate. He is a young lawyer. His stature is tall and slender. I had much conversation with him, and It afforded me mnch pleasure. He is intelligent, and appears frank and candid. His address is good, and his manners easy."— iife vfPlwmer, page 361. 162 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Political Complexion of the Tentb Congress. The President's Message. An Embargo established. 4dair, then under a cloud because of his recent participation with Aaron Burr in his schemes in the Valley of the Mississippi. In the House of Representatives the Democratic party had about the same average majority as in the Senate". The opposition, even ■with the " Quids" — John Randolph iiid his Virginia seceders — could not command at any time more than twenty-eight i^otes. Their chief leaders were Samuel W. Dana, of Connecticut, who had been a nember since 1796; the late Josiah Quincy, of Massachusetts, who took his seat in 1 805 ; Barent Gardinier, of New Yoi-k, and Philip Barton Key, of Maryland. Among ;he new administration members was Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky. Thus sus- ;ained by the National Legislature and the people, the policy of the President and lis Cabinet became the policy of the country. Octobers?, I^ ^^^ Seventh annual message* the President called the attention of 180T. Congress to several very important subjects. He gave a narrative of un- uccessful efforts to settle with Great Britain all difficulties concerning search and mpressments ; considered the affair of the Chesapeake, the refusal of the British com- aanders to obey the orders of his proclamation to leave American waters, the orders n Council and Decrees, the subject of national defenses, the uneasiness of the In- Lians on the frontiers, and the relations with other foreign governments. He also xpressed great dissatisfaction at the acquittal of Burr, through erroneous, if not mis- hievous interpretation of law, as he evidently believed ; and he pressed upon the ttention of Congress the propriety of so amending the law as to prevent the de- truction of the government by treason.' December 11. Having been officially informed"" of the new interpretation of the Ber- December 18 ^'" Decree,^ and unofficially apprised of the almosfsimultaneously issued British orders in Council, the President communicated to Congress" the acts in his possession, and recommended the passage of an Embargo Act — " an in- ibition of the departure of our vessels from the ports of the United States."^ The lenate, with closed doors, proceeded to the consideration of the subject, and, after a December 18. ^^^^}°^ °^ ^°^^ ^ours and a departure from ordinary rules, passed a bill'* laying an embargo on all shipping, foreign and domestic, in the ports of he United States, with specific exceptions. The minority made a feeble opposition a the measure.^ They asked for delay, but it was not granted, and the act was assed by a strictly party vote— ayes twenty-two, noes six. John Quincy Adams lius signified his adherence to the dominant party by voting with them. In the [ouse, which also sat with closed doors, the passage of the act was pressed wjth qual zeal by the friends of the administration, and was as warmly opposed by the 'ederalists and " Quids." 'The bill was debated for three days in Committee of the Vhole, the sittings continuing far into each night. The bill was passed on Monday, le 21st, at almost midnight, by a vote of eighty-two' to forty-four, and became a law y receiving the signature of the President on the following day. It prohibited all essels in the ports of the United States from sailing for any foreign port, except for- ign ships in ballast, or with cargoes taken on board before notification' of the act; ad coastwise vessels were required to give heavy bonds to land their cargoes in the Lt ^^.^"^"f'l »'°'"' Constitution," said the President, " certainly supposed they had guarded as well their govern- ent against destruction by treason, as their citizens against oppression under pretense of it ; and if these ends are not ffir»™ vt ™P°''?°'='' *" ^?^™ by what means more effectual they may be 8ecured."-5tetesma™'« ManvaL i., 297. mn^^'i^? "^f ^^l' sagacious men, felt at that time that the Union had barely escaped dissolution from the in- mous machinations of Burr and his dupes. " -">. »u ' 2,1° ^^° ™' ' Special Message to Congi'ess December 18 ISOT The President was charged with having recommended an embargo before receiving positive information of the Ber- i Deere, and the Orders in Council. This was a mistake. Of the former he had been Informed forTweek previously his communication to Congress on the subject by an official letter from Mr. Armstrong ; and on the momtorof fte y on which the message was sent in, the Natwrml Inmigmeer, of Washington City, contained a DaraOTanh from a ,ndon paper of the 10th of November, announcing the Orders in Council "awaiting hi^ mao^°y'LirS" Pri™te ;ters had also reached him, by which he was satisfied that, by the combined action of the bSCTeSfSrei™ ™,m jrce of the United States was utterly destroyed. '""<: ueiiigerente, the foreign com- OF THE WAR OF 1812. iqq Effects of the Embargo. Prophecy of Josiah Qgincy. Party Spirit violently aroused. United States. What little life was left in American commerce under the pressure of the orders and decrees of the belligerents was utterly crushed out by this act. The Embargo Act, universal in its application and. unlimited in its duration, was an experiment never before tried by any nation — an attempt, by withholding inter- course from all the world, to so operate upon two belligerent nations as to compel them to respect the rights and accede .to the claims of an injured neutral. Its pro- fessed objects were to induce France and England to relax their practical hostility to neutral commerce, and to preserve and develop the resources of the United States. But it accomplished neither. The French government viewed it as timely aid to their Continental System, and far more injurious in its effects upon Great Britain than upon France ; while England, feeling that her national character and honor were at stake, and believing that she could endure the privations which the measure would inflict in both countries longer than America, proudly refused to yield a single point under the pressure of this new method of coercion. The words of Josiah Quincy be- came prophetic. " Let us once declare to the world," he said, " that, before our em- bargo policy be abandoned, the French decrees and the British orders must be re- voked, and we league against us whatever spirit of honor and pride exists in both those nations. . . . No nation will be easily brought to acknowledge such a depend- ence on another as to be made to abandon, by a withholding of intercourse, a settled line of policy."' Opposition to the measure, in and out of Congress, was violent and incessant. The topic was made a strong battery from which the Federalists hurled their hottest de- nunciatory shot against the admmistration. Old party cries were again heard, and the people were startled by the bugbear of French influence in the councils of the nation. The President was charged with secret intrigues with Bonaparte for an alli- ance ,of the United States and France against Great Britain, the traditional object of hatred by the Democratic party. The suggestion alarmed intelligent men, for the history of six years had taught them that the allies of the Corsican soon became his subjects.?. -The New England people were taught to believe that the Embargo was the result of a combination of Western and Southern states to ruin the Eastern com- monwealths ; and every art which party tactics could command was brought to bear in the service of the opposition, who, as politicians, hoped, by means of the alarm, dis- traction, and real distress which then prevailed, to array such numbers against the dominant party that, in the election for President of the United States to be held a few months later, they might fill the Executive chair with one of their own number. 1 Speech in Congress on the supplementary Embargo Act, Febraary, 1808. . 2 In the course of debate on a supplementary Embargo Act in Congress, on the 20th of February, Gardinier denounced the whole affair as a sly, cnnning measure to aid Prance. " Is the nation prepared for this ?" he vehemently exclaimed. " To settle that point," he said to the defenders of the measure, "tell the people what your object is ; tell them that you mean to take part with the ' Great Pacificator.' Else stop your present course. Do not go on forging chains to fasten us to the car of the imperial conqueror !" " The commercial portion of the United States (I mean from Pennsylvania to New Hampshire"), wrote Timothy Pick- ering on the 26th of January, 1808, "are in general yet patient, because, from their unlimited confidence in the Presi- dent's wisdom and patriotism, they believe that some mighty state secret induced him to recommend the Embargo. If they supposed, as I do, that it-originated in the influence of Prance— perhaps in a concert with that government, the sooner to pull down the power of Britain— the public indignation would be roused, and our country saved from becom- ing the provinces of the ' emperor and king.' " I greatly regret the retaliating order of Great Britain ; for, though it really furnishes no ground for the Embargo, it will yet be urged by the President's friends to jns>tify it. The path of interest and common policy was plain. We should have pursued our ordinary commerce with all the British dominions, and armed our vessels against French ci'nisers. This would have offended Bonaparte. No matter. While Britain ynaintaiTia h&r own indt^endtmce ours will be safe. If she fall (which I do not believe will happen), our condition would not be worse. With arms in our hands, «nd a manly military spirit pervading our country, we should be respected by the conqueror ; but tamely crouching, without any resistance, we should be treated, as we should deserve, with contempt, and all the indignities due to voluntary slaves."— ilfS. Letter to General Ebenezer Sievene, dated " City of Washirfgton, January 26, 1808." -This remarkable letter, now before me, from a senator of the United States to a leading merchant of yie city of New York, is cited to show, first, how powerfnlly partisan feelings may operate upon the opinions and judgment of a true patriot, and, secondly, how much the leading men of the country at ^hat time considered the United States a dependent on Great Britain. " While Britain maintains her own Independence ours will be safe !" The war that speedily followed dispelled that servile spirit. 64 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK nconsistency of PoliticianB. Vio latiops of the Embargo. Supplementary Acts. A young Foefs DepnnciationB. That section of the Federalists known as the "Essex Junto" were the most uncom- )romising opponents of the administration and the Embargo ; and many of those who, mly two years before, had vehemently denounced Great Britain because of her per- listent. assaults upon the rights of neutrals, were now, in the heat of party zeal, the ipologists of, and sympathizers with that goTemment, whose aggressions had con- Febraary, stantly increased. In the very month'* when th^it eminent British mer- ^^"^- ' chant, Alexander Baring, declared before the world that " it would be no ixaggeration to say that upward of three fourths of all the merchants, seamen, etc., mgaged in commerce or navigation in America, have, at some time or other, suffered rom acts of our [British] cruisers," ^ a leading Federal politician (who, two years be- February 10, fore,"" declared, by his vote in the National Senate, that the conduct of 1806. ' Great Britain was "an unprovoked aggression upon the property of the iitizens of the United States, a violation of their neutral rights, and an encroachment ipon their national independence"), wrote to a friend that, " although England, with ler thousand ships of war, could have destroyed our commerce, she has really done 't 710 essential injury."^ It was soon discovered that the Embargo Act was frequently violated by enrolled joasting vessels carrying cargoes to the West Indies, and it became necessary to pass supplementary acts to prevent such evasions of the law. It, was chiefly in the de- bates upon these acts that the acrimony already noticed appeared. Gardinier, of S^ew York, made the most sweeping charges of corruption, and affiliation with the 'French usurper" against the majority in Congress. His violence and abuse elicited !ome personal attacks, and one of them so incensed him that he challenged his assail- mt (Campbell) to mortal combat. They met at Bladensburg. Gardinier was shot ;hrough one side of his body, but, after weeks of suffering, he recovered and came Dack to Congress, not a whit subdued. Disputes ran high throughout the country, md public speeches, newspapers, and pamphlets teemed with' the most vehement as- saults upon the dominant party.^ Many men, dreading the horrors of a war with I Baring's Inquiry, etc. = Timothy Pickering to James Sullivan, Governor of New Hampshire, February 16, 180S. 3 Among the few political pamphlets of that period, now extant, is a remarkable one before me, entitled The Emtar- '0 ; or, Sketches of tlie TiTnes : a Satire. It is a poem, and was written by William Ccllen Bkyant, then a lad only about hirteen years of age, who is still (1SG7) in active political life, ^nd holds a front rank among the literary celebrities of he age. In rhythm, vigor of thought, and force of expression, this production of his early years gave ample assurance if the future distinction of the author as a poet and political writer.* But politics were seldom the theme for his muse Lfter this early effusion of that nature. In the preface he spoke of the "terrapin policy" of the administration— the policy designed by the Embargo of shut- ing the nation up in its own shell, as it were, like the terrapin. His epigraph, tram Pope's Eamy on Satire, contained he significant line, " When private faith and public trust are sold." le assailed the President and his supporters as vigorously as if his weapon had been wielded by the hand of long ex- )erience. Seriously believing that his country was in great peril, he wrote— " Ill-fated clime 1 condemned to feel th' extremes Of a weak ruler's philosophic dreams ; Driven headlong on to ruin's fateful brink, When will thy country feel, when will sh^ think?" )f the Embargo he wrote— *' Curse of our nation, source of countless woes. From whose dark womb nnreckoned misery flows, Th' Embargo rages, like a sweeping wind- Fear lowers before, and Famine stalks behind." Jifluenced by the common opinion of the opposition, he said to his countrymen- " How foul a blot Columbia's glory stains ! How dark the scene 1 Infatuation reigns ! For French intrigue, which wheedles to devour, * Threatens to fix us in Napoleon's power. ' In a notice of the second edition, with other poems, printed in 1809, the Monthly Anthohpy for June of that year said, 'If the young bard has met with no assistance in the composition of this poem, he certainly bids fair, should he con- ;inue to cultivate his talent, to gain a respectable station on the Parnassian Mount, and to reflect credit on the literature )f his country." OF THE WAR OP 1812. 165 An insulting Proposition by Great Britain. Tribute exacted from Neutral Nations. England, wtich they believed the Embargo Act would evoke, preferred to give free- dom to the commerce of the country, and let it provide itself against the risks that menaced it, rather than to kill it outright. Such was the feeling of many merchants ; but patriotic statesmen, holding the dignity and the independence of the United States as of far more consequence than the temporary interests of trade, advocated the most stringent execution of the Embargo Act, and at the middle of . March 12, March^ the supplementary enactments became law. ^^''^• At about the same time the British Parliament, with an air of condescension, pass- ed an act,'' as a favor to neutrals, permitting them (United States and Sweden) to trade with France and her dependencies, on the condition that vessels engaged in such trade should first enter some British -port, pay a transit duty, and take out a license .'^ In other words, the United States were told by England, with as much insolence and hauteur in fact as the Dey of Algiers ever exhibited, " Pay me tribute, and my cruisers (or corsairs) will be instructed not to plunder you." This was properly regarded as a flagrant insult — one which the British gov- ernment would never have offered except to a nation supposed to be incapable of efficiently resenting it. When to this insult was added a positive injury, a few weeks later ° in the form of instructions issued by ministers, in the name of . ., ,, the half-demented king, to the British naval commanders, expressly intend- ed to induce Americans engaged in commercial pursuits to violate the blockade, the administration resolved to plant itself firmly upon that dignity and independence which a free people ought always to assert. Those instructions, so disgraceful to the British ministers, were severely condemned by every honest man in the British realm. ^ Evasions of the Embargo continued, and another supplementary act, applying to the navigation of rivers, lakes, and bays, increased its stringency, and awakened new and more bitter denunciations of the measure. But the government was immovable. Ob ne'er consent, obsequious, to advance The willing vassal of imperious France ! Correct that suffrage you misused before, And lift your voice above a Congress roar. Rise, then, Columbia ! heed not France's wiles, Her bullying mandates, her seductive smiles ; Send home Napoleon's slave, and by him say No art can lure us, and no threats dismay j Determined yet to war with whom we will. Choose our allies, or dare be neutral still." I have cited the above as an example of the intensity of feeling against the administration at that time among those politically opposed to Jefferson and his party— a feeling that made even boys politicians. 1 This was essentially a tribute in the form of a duty, more odious in principle and application than the stamp tax that aroused the American colonists in 1765. The effect may be Illustrated by showing the amount of tribute which American commerce was required by the act to pay upon only two of the many articles specified, with the percentage of the tariff, namely, cotton and tobacco. The amount on a cargo of cotton, at the then current prices, costing at New Orleans $43,500,' would be subjected to a tax in some English port, before it would be allowed to depart for a French port, of $6600 To this would be added about $2000 more on account of other charges. A cargo of tobacco of four hundred hogsheads would be subjected to a tribute of about $13,000. The estimated annual tribute upon tobacco alone was $2,338,000. It was proposed to tax a great variety of American productions in the same way. 2 The follovring is a copy of the instructions: »»,,,• j ^v " George E. : Instructions to the commanders of our ships of war and privateers. Given at our Court at Windsor, the 11th day of April, 1808, in the 48th year of our reign : , . . j . ^ " Our will and pleasure is that you do not interrupt any neutral vessel laden with lumber and provisions, and going to any of our colonies islands, or settlements in the West Indies or South America, to whomsoever the property may appear to Mma and notwithstanding such vessel may not have regular cUarances and documents on board. And In case any vessel shall be met with and beino- on her due course to the alleged port of destination, an indorsement shall be made on one or more of the principal papers of such vessel, specifying the destination alleged and the place where the vessel was so visited And in case any vessel so laden shall arrive and deliver her cargo at any of our colonies, islands, or settle- ments ^foresaid such vessel shall be permitted to receive her freight and to depart, either in ballast or with any goods that may be legally exported in such vessel, and to proceed to any unblockaded port, notwithstanding the present hos- tilities or any future hostilities which may take place. And apassportfor such vessel may be granted by the governor, or other person having the chief civil eommamd of sw:h colony, island, or 8ettUmeni."_ .;,..„,u., A British-bom writer of the day, after declaring that this order was a sufScient cause of war, said. What ! one of the most DOtent monarchs in the world, rather than do justice to an unoffending nation, on which, for fourteen years, his ministers had perpetrated the most flagrant outrages, invites, and tempts, and affords facilities to Its citizens to violate the laws of thek country, and openly pursue the infamous trade of smuggling."— Ifofftcto Carey. 166 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The Embargo denounced as suicidal. Dangers of National Vanity. A notable Illustration. .t was deaf to the prayers for a repeal made in petition after petition that poured nto Congress, especially from New England. A proposition for repeal, and to allow nerchant vessels to arm and take care of themselves, was voted down by a large najority ; and the only glimpse of light was seen through an authorization given to he President to suspend the Embargo Act, according to his discretion, in case of )eace in Europe, or such changes in the policy of the belligerents as might, in his judgment, make the navigation of the seas safe to American vessels. It was in the lebate on this proposition that Josiah Quincy, who had then taken a place among he acknowledged leaders of the Federal party, used the language already quoted on •age 163. He denounced the whole policy as fallacious and mischievous. "The anguage of that policy is," he said, " ' Eescind your decrees and your orders, or we rill, in our wrath, abandon the ocean !' And suppose Great Britain, governed by he spirit of mercantile calculation, should reply, ' If such be your mode of venge- nce, indulge it to your heart's content ! It is the very thing we wish. You are our ommercial rivals, and, by driving you out of the market, we shall gain more than we an lose by your retirement.' . . . " It is to be feared," continued Mr. Quincy, " that, having grown giddy with good- jrtune, attributing the greatness of our prosperity to our own wisdom, rather than a course of events over which we have had no influence, we are now entering that 3hool of adversity, the first blessings of which is to chastise, our overweening conceit f ourselves. A nation mistakes its relative importance and consequence in thinking tiat its countenance, or its intercourse, or its existence is all-important to the rest of lankind. An individual who should retire from intercourse with the world for the urpose of taking vengeance on it for some real or imaginary wrong, would, notwith- ;anding the delusions of self-flattery, be certainly taught that the world moved long just as well after his dignified retirement as before. Nov would the case of a ation which should make a similar trial of its consequence be very different. The itercourse of human life has its basis in a natural reciprocity, which always exists, owever national or personal vanity may often suggest to inflated fancies that, in the Itercourse of friendship, civilities, or business, they give more than they receive." These were words of wisdom— words as wise and significant now as they were len. They combated a great error— an error folly exemplified in our day in the isumption of a single class of our citizens, namely, the cotton-growers. These, lowing the value of their great staple and its consequence to the civilized world' 3lieved or asserted, before the late Civil War, that it gave them power to dictate irtam lines of policy to the governments of the earth. In the madness of their •ror they proclaimed cotton a king too potent for all other kings. Believing that le producers of the raw material have the consumers of it always in their power, id may bring the latter to terms at any time by cutting off the supply, they forgot le great fact that dependence is reciprocal, and that, in commercial conflicts the •oducer, being the poorer party, is always the first to succumb. The events and ^sults of the late Civil War laid bare that radical error to the full comprehension of 1, as well as to acute political economists. So it was with the Embargo. Those who expected to see great national triumphs llow that measure, which was expected to starve the English manufacturing oper- ives and the West India slaves, were bitterly disappointed. The evils brought 5on their own national industry in various forms were far greater than those in- T "P^°?^"g^*" a repeal of the Embargo Act, a declaration of war against Great Britain in the ^ent of her not recallmg her offensive orders after the Emperor should have with- :-awn his Berlin, Milan, and Bayonne decrees.' Canning spoke for his government in a very courteous but extremely sarcastic )te,aswing Mr. Pinkney of the kindly feeling of his majesty toward the United .ates, but expressmg his unwillingness to change the policy involved in those orders, ider the present aspect of the case. He could not see the impartiality of the Em- hX'"nrino"';:pr'^^^^^^^^ /other %S?than\"a7oT;;rwllhrtXr ^^^^^^^^ ^^'^^ ^ "- -'"""'o'^ -*- '" OF THE WAR OF 1812. 171 Canning's offensive Letter. Pinkney's Opinion of the Embargo. Silence of Napoleon, Opposition to the Embargo. barge which Mr, Pinkney claimed ;' nor did his majesty feel inclined to recall his orders while the proclamation of the President concerning the interdiction of British ships of war in American waters remained in full force. '^ He alluded to the timeli- ness of the Embargo in assisting France in her blockade of Europe, but expressed an unwillingness to believe that the Americans intended, or could have any interest in " the subversion of the British power."^ The letter concluded with a hope that a perfect understanding between the two governments might be maintained. But its tone was so ironical — so disingenuous and uncandid — so full of the spirit of a selfish strong man in his dealings with a weak one, that it irritated the American minister to whom it was addressed, and the administration that made the overture, not a little. Mr. Pinkney expressed his views strongly against a repeal of the Embargo Act in a letter to Mr. Madison. " The spirit of monopoly," he said, " has seized the people and government of this country. We shall not, under any circumsfances, be toler- ated as rivals in navigation and trade. ... If we persevere we must gain our pur- pose at last. By complying with the policy of the moment we shall be lost. By a qviiet and systematic adherence to principle we shall find the end of our difficulties. The Embargo and the loss of our trade are deeply felt here, and will be felt with more severity every day. The wheat harvest is likely to be alarmingly short, and the state of the Continent will augment the evil. The discontents among their manufac- turers are only quieted for a moment by temporary causes. Cotton is rising, and will soon be scarce. Unfavorable events on the Continent will subdue the temper, unfriendly to wisdom and justice, which now prevails here. But, above all, the world will, I trust, be convinced that our firmness is not to be shaken. Our measures have not been without effect. They have not been decisive, because we have not been thought capable of persevering in self-denial— if that can be called self-denial which is no more than prudent abstinence from destruction and dishonor." The French Emperor maintained an ominous silence on the subject. He made no response to Armstrong's proposition, and this reticence was quite as offensive as Can- ning's irony. " We have somewhat overrated our means of coercion," Armstrong wrote to the Secretary of State." "Here it is not felt; and in England, .August 31, amid the more recent and interesting events of the day, it is forgotten. I i^"^- hope, unless France shall do us justice, we shall raise the Embargo, and make, in its stead, the experiment of an armed commerce. Should she adhere to her wicked and foolish measures, there is much more besides that we can do ; and we ought not to omit doing all we can, because it is believed here that we can not do much, and even that we will not do what little we can." At home the Embargo Act met with the most violent opposition in various forms. It was talked against and acted against, especially by the leaders of the opposition in the Eastern States. They excited a very strong sectional feeling by calling it 1 "If considered as a measure of Impartial hostility against both belligerents," wrote Mr, Canning, "the Embargo appears to his majesty to have been manifestly unjust, as, according to every principle of justice, the redress ought to have been first sought from the party originating the wrong. And his majesty can not consent to buy off that hostility, which America ought not to have extended to him, at the expense of a concession made, not to America, but to ! Alluding to the failure of Eose's mission in regard to the affair of the Clmapeake, Mr. Canning, with singular un- fairness, remarked, speaking of the President's proclamation which that affair drew forth concemmg British vessels of war " The continuance of an interdiction which, under such circumstances, amounts so nearly to direct hostility, after the 'willingness professed, and the attempt made by his majesty to remove the cause on which that measure had been originally founded, would afford but an inauspicious omen for the commencement of a system of mutual conciliation ; and the omission of any notice of that measure in the proposal which Mr, Pinkney has been instructed to bring for- ward, would have been of itself a material defect in the overture of the President," ,..„.,, 3 "By some unfortunate concurrence of circumstances," said Mr, Canning sarcastically, "without any hostile inten- tion the American Embargo dU come in aid of the 'blockade of the European Continent" precisely at the very moment when, if that blockade could have succeeded at all, this interposition of the American government would most effectual- ly have contributed to its success," ,. , . , Jl^-l- 1 IJ .V IXV J . . These words of Cannin" were caught up by the opposition in America as additional evidence that the administration were playing into the hands of Napoleon, and the old C17 of " French party" was vigorously revived for a while. 2 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK ractlons of the Embargo. Attempts to make It Odious. Di.unioBJets in New E ngland. metimes a"Vu-ginia measure," at others a "Southern measure," and at all times a ubserviency to French dictation." They declared that it was a blow aimed mten- Qially at the prosperity of New England, she having greatly the preponderance _m mmercial and navigating interests; and that, while the whole country felt the in- ry inflicted by the Embargo Act more than England or Erance, that mjury fell )stly upon the Eastern States. This deceptive statement, made chiefly for political ect, was contradicted by the commercial statistics of the United States.^ Infractions of the Embargo were open and frequent all along the New England ast for the magistrates winked at them; and smuggling became so general, es- cially by way of Lake Champlain, that the first active services of the newly-cre- sd army were enforcements of the laws on the Northern frontier, under the direc- )n of Wilkinson, while gun-boats were sent into several of the Eastern ports for e same purpose. The leaders of the opposition, hoping to break down the Demo- itic party, made the Embargo Law as odious as possible, cast obstacles in the way its execution, and used every means to induce England to believe that it was so :popular that it would be speedily repealed in the face of the continuance of her ders in Council. "They are now playing a game," the President wrote, "of the 3St mischievous tendency, without perhaps being themselves aware of it. They are deavoring to convince England that we suffer more from the Embargo than they 1, and if they will but hold out a while we must abandon it. It is true, the time will me when we must abandon it. But if this is before the repeal of the orders in mncil, we must abandon it only for a state of war. The day is not distant when at will be preferable to a longer continuance of the Embargo. But we can never move that, and let our vessels go out and be taken under these orders, without aking reprisals. Yet this is the very state of things which these Federal monarch- is are endeavoring to bring about ; and in this it is but too possible they may suc- ed. But the fact is, if we have war with England, it will be solely produced by ese manoeuvres."^ An " Anglican party," a mere political myth in former years, was now a practical ality.' Another foi-m of opposition to the Embargo was a declaration of several eminent wyers of Massachusetts that it was unconstitutional; and very soon the doctrine of e Virginia nullifiers, as put forth in the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions of 1798, decidedly condemned by the Federalists as tending directly to disunion, was speed- T proclaimed by that same party all over New England as being orthodox. When was known that the party was defeated, and that Madison was elected President, e unpatriotic cry of disunion was heard throughout New England, in the deceptive cents of proclamations that a state, as such, has a right to declare void any act of e National Congress that might be deemed unconstitutional. That doctrine was boldly proclaimed in the Eastern States as it had been in Virginia and the South n years before.* The arguments used by the Virginia nullifiers and secessionists in According to ofacial tables, the value of the exports of the TJuited States from 1T91 to 1S13 was $1,343,047,000. Of s ainount the exports of the Eastern, Middle, and Southern States were in value as follows: Five Eastern States $299,192,000 Four Middle States 634,766,000 Six Southern States and District of Columbia 809,089,000 for the New England States less than one fourth of the whole amount. ' Jefferson to Dr. Lieh, of Philadelphia, June 23, 180S. ' The following clause in a resolution adopted at a public meeting in Topsfleld, Massachusetts, on the 15th of Janu- j, 1807, expressed the seitiments, and illustrated the actions of a large class of Americans at that time : "This assem- j can not refrain from expressing its conviction that neither the honor nor the permanent interests of the United ites require that we should drive Great Britain, if it were in our power, to the surrender of those claims [right of irch, impress, and confiscation] so essential to her in the mighty conflict in which she is at present engaged — a con- !t interesting to humanity, to morals, to religion,- and the last struggle of liberty." 1 A memorial from the town of Bath, in Maine, to the Massachusetts Legislature, dated December 27, 1808, contained 3 following resolution : " That a respectful address be forwarded in the name of the people of this town to the Legis- lore of this commonwealth, stating to them the wrongs and grievances we already suffer, and the painful apprehen- OF THE WAR OF 1812. I'js The dangerons Wea pons of Party Strife. State Sovereignty proclaimed In New England. An Enforcing Act. 1798 against the Alien and Sedition laws were used in New England in 1808 against the Embargo laws. Happily we are far enough removed from the din of that old conflict of parties to view the contest dispassionately, and perceive that we can, with just charity, declare that these New England leaders were no more real disunionists at heart than were Jeiferson and Madison, and that both parties, having confidence in the people, ventured to use dangerous weapons in their partisan strife for the suprem- acy, feeling, as Jefferson said in his inaugural address, already cited, that there was safety in tolerating a great error "when reason is left free to combat it." The second session of the Tenth Congress was commenced on the 1th of Novem- ber," and, at the earliest possible moment after the organization, the opposition opened their batteries upon the Embargo in various forms. In both houses motions for a repeal or modification of the act were presented, and long and warm debates ensued. But in both houses there was a decided inajority in favpr of sustain- ing the measure, and these were supported by resolutions in favor of the Embargo passed by the Legislatures of New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Vir- ginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. The whole country was agitated by the discus- sion of the question, and in private and public assemblies the great inaiibus upon commerce was the topic which occupied all minds, and shaped the tenor of general conversation. The history of parties, their tactics and manoeuvres, their struggles and animosities at that time, bearing as they do, more or less directly, upon the subject of this vol- ume, form a very interesting chapter in the chronicles of the nation for the student of our history. Our plan and space do not admit of even an outline narrative of those purely partisan conflicts, and we must pass on to a rapid considei:ation of events which speedily caused war between the United States and Great Britain. The policy of the administration being fully sustained, more stringent measures for enforcing the Embargo were adopted. The Enforcing Act, as it was called, caused such opposition and exasperation in New England, that action among the j)eoj)le and in State Legislatures assumed the aspect of incipient rebellion. Then it was that dis- union sentiments, just alluded to, were freely uttered in nearly all the region eastward of the longitude of the Hudson River. Many wise men began to regard civil war as possible, if not inevitable. Some weak-kneed members of the administration party in Congress were disturbed by the mutterings of the thunder indicating an approaching sione we experience of speedily having our calamity increased by the addition of still more restrictive and arbitrary laws; expressing to them our approbation of the measures they have already adopted upon the subject, and requesting them to take such other immediate steps for relieving the people, either by themselves alone or in concert with other commercial states, as the exti'aordinary circumstances of our situation require." In Gloucester, Massachusetts, a town meeting resolved, on the 12th of January, 1S09, "that to our state government we look for counsel, protection, and relief at this awful period -of general calamity." The people of Boston, in a memorial dated January 26, 1S09, said : " Our hope and consolation rest vrith the Legisla- ture of our state, to whom it is competent to devise means of relief against the unconstitutional measures of the general government ; that your power is adequate to this object is evident from the organization of the confederacy." The opposition press uttered many violent and inflammatory appeals to the people. A hand-bill was circulated in Newburyport which contained the following sentences: "Let every man who holds the name of America dear to him . ■ stretch forth his hand and put this accursed thing, the Embaeoo, from him. Be resolute ; act like the sons of liberty, of God, and of your country; nerve your arms vrith vengeance against the despot who would wrest the inestimable gem of your independence from yon, and you shall beconquerors !" "We know," said the Boston Repertory, "if the Enibargo be not removed, our citizens will ere long set its penalties and restrictions at defiance. It behooves us to apeak, ibr glrike we must if speaking does not answer." "It is better to suffer the amputation of alimb [meaning the severance of New England from the Union"], said the Boston Gazette, " than to lose the whole body. We must prepare for the operation. Wherefore, then, is New England asleep ? Wherefore does she submit to the oppression of enemies in tJie South t Have we no Moses who is inspired by the God of our fathers, and will ZcodiMoirfo/.Bff'M't?" .^ ^. , .„ . ^^ "This perpetual Embargo," said Eussell, in the Boston Cmtinel, ' ' bemg unconstitutional, every man will perceive that he U not tound to regard it, bwtmay send hUproduce or merchandise to a foreign market in the same manner as if the gm>- emimmt hud never undertaken to prohibit it. If the petitions do not produce a relaxation or removal of the Embargo, the people ought to immediately assume a higher tone. The government of Massachusetts has also a duty to perform. The state is still amiereign and independent." , , , ■^,. , ,■ ' j, ..r. ..x,. t, v The above passages have been cited to give an idea of the state of public feeling under the pressure of the Embargo. Never had the patriotism of the people greater temptations than at the gloomy period of utter commercial stagnation or ruinous fluctuation from 1808 to 1S12, inclusive of those years. PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK argo or War the prod aimed Alternative. Quincy lashes the War Party. Effe cts of his Denunciations. ipest, and, for the purpose of pacifying the discontented people, the majority passed Ly 19 an act^ appointing the last Monday in May following as the time for the ^- ' assembling of the new Congress, when a repeal of the Embargo would ur and the alternative of war with Great Britain be accepted. This postponement of the repeal and the expressed intention of going to war called forth from Quincy,^ the Federal leader in the lower House, a most with- ering, denunciatory speech — a speech that stung the dominant party to the quick, and rankled like a thorn for a long time. He treated their assertion that war would be the alternative of re- peal with the most bitter scorn. He had heard enough of that " eternal clamor," he said, and, if he could help it, the old women of the country should no longer be frightened by the unsubstantial bug- bear. He taunted them with cowardice,, and declared his conviction that no in- sult, however gross, that might be offer- ed by France or Great Britain, could force the majority into a declaration of war. " To use a coarse but common ex- f ^^^^rjia pression," he said, " they could not be : («>r^cj>j ErBkine'3 Arra ngements repudiated by his Government. The Bnppoaed EeaBona. Farty Eancor again revived. ed his instructions, and was not authorized to make any such arrangement. It was charged that this was not the true reason, because the arrangement as made was perfectly just to both parties, and more favorable to England than to the United • btates 1 o America it offered simply a repeal of the orders in Council and atone- ment tor the outrage on the Chesapeake; to England it offered a restoration of all the advantages of a vast and valuable commerce, and a continuance of non-inter- course between the United States and France. The most plausible . conjectures for the disavowal of an arrangement so desirable were, first, that the implied censure of the British government respecting the conduct of Admiral Berkeley, contained in one of the letters of the Secretary of State to Mr. Erskine,' so irritated the old mon- arch, who had always hated the Americans, that he refused his assent ; secondly, that the recent violent proceedings in New England in relation to the enforcement of the Embargo Act deceived the British ministry into the belief that the American gov- ernment would be compelled by popular clamor to repeal the Embargo, and leave England's restrictive policy unimpaired. To the comprehension of the writer the true reason for the rejection may be found in the fact that such an arrangement would mterfere m a deep-laid scheme to break up the American Union, by fomenting sectional antagonisms based chiefly upon the clashing of apparently diverse interests. Two years later it was discovered that the British authorities in Canada had an ac- credited agent in Boston for that purpose, the British government ignorantly sup- posing the opposition of the Federalists to be real disloyalty. ^ Whatever may have been the true reason for the rejection, the historical fact remains that England spurn- ed the olive-branch so confidingly offered. The orders in Council stood unrepealed, Mr. Erskine was recalled,^ and a proclamation of the President of the United States' dated 9th of August,- 1809, declared the Non-intercourse Act to be again in full force in regard to Great Britain. The British government also issued orders to protect from capture such American vessels as had left the United States in consequence of the President's proclamation of April preceding. The blessings of the opposition, so freely showered upon the administration when the blossoms of May and the leaves of June were unfolding, returned to their bosoms, and at the season of the harvest-moon curses flowed out as freely. It was charged that Madison and his Cabinet were acquainted with Canning's instructions to Er»- skine ; that they knew the latter had exceeded his instructions, and that there was no expectation of the arrangement being confirmed by the British government ; and that the whole affair was a pitiful trick of the administration to cast the odium of continued restrictions upon commerce from their own shoulders upon that of the British ministry. The partisan war was soon revived in all its rancor. Francis James Jackson, who had been the British minister at Copenhagen in 1807, succeeded Mr. Erskine. He was an unscrupulous diplomat, and, because of his com- plicity in the unwarrantable attack by British land and naval forces upon the capital of Denmark in early September, 1 80 V, he was known as " Copenhagen Jackson."* The 1 Secretary Eobert Smith, in a letter to Mr. Brslcine on the 17th of April, said, " I have it in express charge from the President to state that, while he forbears to insist on a farther punishment of the offending officer, he is not the less sensible of the justice and utility of such an example, nor the less persuaded that it would best comport with what is due from his Britannic majesty to his own honor." ' For an account of this matter, see Chapter XI. of this work. 3 Mr. Erskine was the eldest son of the celebrated English orator and lord chancellor. In the year 1800 he married the daughter of General John Cadwalader, of Philadelphia, with whom he lived until 1S43, when she died. His eldest son he named Thomas Americus, and is still living, I believe, the successor to his father's title. In 1848 Lord Erskine mar- ried again. This wife died in April, 1851, and he again married in December, 1852. His last wife was the widow of Thomas Calderwood Durham, Esq., of Largo and Palton. He had children only by his first wife. He succeeded to his father's titles in 1823. He was educated for the law at Trinity College, Cambridge, but was much of his life in dip- lomatic sei-vice. He was British envoy at Washington from 1806 to 1810, and afterward represented his country at the courts of Wurtemberg and Bavaria. In 1843 he retired from public life, and died on the 19th of March, 1855. * The British government strongly suspected that Denmark would acquiesce in the dictates of the French emperor, and become the ally of the conqueror. If so, the Danish fleet would fall into his hands, and England's life might be im- periled. She therefore sent a formidable armament to the Baltic, accompanied by Jackson as envoy extraordinary, to negotiate with the Danish government, the basis of which was an English protectorate of Danish neutrality, on condi- M 178 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK " Copenliagen Jackson" and his Misconduct. Proposed Eevocation of the French Decrees. Napoleon on Armstrong. infamy of that affair made every person connected with it odious to the people of the United States. It was a foul blot upon the boasted civilization and Christianity of Great Britain ; and the sending of Jackson, who had been a conspicuous actor in the tragedy, as minister to WashLogton while causes for serious irritation between the two governments existed, was regarded as a meditated insult by the extreme mem- bers of the dominant party. ; Jackson was received with cool courtesy, but his deportment soon excited the thorough dislike of those with whom he came in contact. He was insolent, irritable, and quarrelsome. He had an unbounded admiration of the greatness of the people he represented, and a corresponding contempt for the people he had been sent to. He regarded the Americans as an inferior people, and treated the officers of govern- ment with the hauteur which he had practiced toward weak and bleeding Denmark when he negotiated with her at the mouths of British cannon. His manners were so offensive that, after the second verbal conference with him. Secretary Smith refused any farther correspondence except in writing. The insolent diplomat was offended, and wrote an impudent letter to the secretary. He was soon informed that no far- ther communications would be received from him. Disappointed and angry, he left Washington, with every member of his diplomatic family, and retired to New York' The American government requested his recall, and early in 1810 he was summoned back to England. But his government manifested the greatest indifference as to its relations with the United States. The request for his recall was received with the most perfect coolness, and no other minister was sent to Washington until early in 1811. •March. -^ ^^^ ®^^"^y P^""* of 1810,^ the President received intimations from abroad that a way was probably opened for a repeal of the restrictive orders and decrees. M. de Champagny (Duke de Cadore), the French Minister of Foreign Af- fairs, in a letter to Minister Armstrong, said that if England would revoke her block- ade against France, the latter would revoke her Berlin Decree.^ Minister Pinkney, still in London, on receiving this information, approached the British ministry on the subject, and he expressed to his own government his hope that the restrictive meas- ures of the belligerents would be speedily removed.^ To aid in negotiations to that efiect. Congress, on the 1st of May, 1810, repealed the Non-intercourse and Non-im- portation laws, and substituted an act excluding both British and French armed ves- sels from the waters of the United States. It farther provided that, in case either toeat Britam or France should so revoke or modify its a cts before the'sd of March, e™t"eiecte1 ttrs'^L''ra,^rlnoi»,'''"i*, VO.^^^f^ the termination of the war with France. The Danishl^v"- 'shTmaSf of twenty fev^^^^ "^^^^ *" ''^^'^ »f ^ """f^'. ^dependent nation, whereupon the Irit- mira GaSer aSS cXart Ll^^^^^ * ^'^'"'"' ""'"'*°'^ '^"^ '™°P«' °°'i«'' t^e respect ve commands of Ad- Zl'^r'e'i:Ced and"^^^^ It?!'"''' cathedral, many pub?ic buildings and private A great part of the citv waa rntimmpfl ™^L « A ^^ "'-" ^"^ °° *™ f™™ *he 2d until the 6th of Septemher. pitulation, and issued a declaration of war aSt Enrfanfl ^n«^^^- D''"'«»' g»™""nent reflised to ratify the ca- also declared war asainst Ensland »nfl i»=n£f J*°faiid. Eussia, mdignant at the shameful treatment of Denmark, ships a^d property ^ ' ™'^ " '"''°''''"' °° '''« »'»'' of October ordering the destruction of all British to;kSs:tSronuh::ett'of^r;^^^^^^^^ ' ionahle place of resort. ' *™'''^' ** '^^ V^^^nt Manhattanville, now Jones's Hotel, a fash- ^^^^l^^ol^Xl^^M^'l^i^T^^ ■''"""'y' ^810 in^«-"-oa» SU.U I^s. The manner of the cor- ure of the Emperor, X ™te t^M^e rl» J,? government at this time appears to have excited the hot displeas- "Mo«Bi„m, ii™i!!, n ^' ^"^Pagny on the 19th of Jannaiy, 1810, as follows- ofthtgTth^onTre:not"Sp-;S'»d""?:r"e^^^^^^^ lU. beyo7/all ridicnlous that he writes we can understand Howie itXHr.ff.i.^"^- f "^f should write in English, but at length, and in a manner that to the secretary who iltoe speak alsfZhlTT**"'^"^™^^^^ SP^''^ ordinary a dispatch in cipher trmakfthem SLerI.7tr t°*i' ?""''' ''"1™^/™" America. Send by a courier eztra- don't miderstand French-fs a morose man wUh wh!, ' *'"" Sovemment is not represented here ; that its minister an envoy to talk with. Write in detail n?;,"* II?'"" T^ "™ ,""' ^"''^ ' *"' *" <'1'«"«=1«« "'O"" "e removed if we had the XInited States-what hrs bSn do 'e^nfltrf ' ^' T ''°'"' ""''^* ^^^'^ "'^ '^""^ f™™ Altenburg has had in may know what a fool has been sent here '' P^'^vosei. Write to America in such manner that the Presideat 3 Letter of Pinkney to the Secretary of State. February 28, 1810, in An^an State Pa„„s. N-o..o»." OF THE WAR OF 1812. I'rg The Berlin and Milan Decrees revoked. The British Orders in Council maintained. 1811, as that they should cease to violate the neutral commerce of the United States, and if the other nation should not, within three months thereafter, in like manner re- voke or modify its edicts, the provisions of the Non-intercourse and Non-importation laws should, at the expiration of the three months, be revived against the nation neg- lecting or refusing to comply. * When this act was communicated to the French government, M. de Champagny addressed a note to Minister Armstrong, dated 5th of August, 1810, olfieially declar- ing that " the decrees of Berlin and Milan are revoked, and that after the first day of the following November they will cease to have efiect ; it being understood that, in consequence of this declaration, the English shall revoke their orders in Council, and renounce the new principles of blockade which they have wished to establish, or that the United States, conformably to their law, will cause their rights to be re- spected by the English." This was explicit, and the President doubted not it was_ sincere. TTherefore, in accordance with the provisions of the act of the 1st of May, he issued a proclamation on the 2d of November announcing this revocation of the French decrees, and declaring the discontinuance, on the part of the United States, of all commercial restrictions in relation to France and her dependencies. On the same day the Secretary of the Treasury' issued an order to all collectors of the cus- toms to act in conformity with the President's proclamation, but to enforce against English war vessels, and against her commerce, the law of May* after the . ji^y i, 2d of the following February, unless, meanwhile, information should be re- i^^"- ceived by the President of the revocation of her orders in Council. The United States had been made to doubt Gallic faith. Professing to be indig- nant at what seemed to be partiality shown to England by the Americans in their restrictive acts, Bonaparte had caused the seizure and confiscation of many American vessels and their cargoes. Armstrong remonstrated from time to time, and finally, when notified that a large number of these vessels were to be sold, he presented a vigorous protest," and recapitulated the many aggressions which American ^ ^^^^ ^^ commerce had sufiered from French cruisers. This just remonstrance was ungenerously responded to by a decree, issued by the Emperor from Rambouillet on the 23d of March, 1810, which declared that " all American vessels which should en- ter French ports, or ports occupied by French troops, should be seized and seques- tered." Under this decree, many American vessels and millions of American prop- erty were seized. But it was supposed that the proclamation of the President on the 2d of November would annul these hostile proceedings, and release the vessels. On the contrary, the French government simply suspended the causes in the Council of Prizes" until February, 1811, in order to ascertain whether the United . p^^^^j^gj ^s. States would enforce the proclamation of November agaiijst Great Brit- ain. At the same time the French government abstained from furnishing the Amer- ican government with formal ofiicial evidence of any decree relating to the revoca- tion of former edicts, and the whole matter rested upon the simple letter of ^ ^^^^ ^ the Duke of Cadore (Champagny) to Mr. Armstrong." Great Britain took advantage of this fact, and resisted the application to re- scind her orders, on the ground that she was furnished with no evidence that the decrees had been rescinded, because the French government had never promulgated any edict for this revocation. But she had the evidence of the French minister's ex- plicit declaration, on which the action of the United States government was based, as well as a general order of the French government to the Director General of Cus- toms" not to apply the Berlin and Milan Decrees to American vessels , December 25. entering French ports after the 1st of November, 1810. These oificial declarations of the French government were sufiicient for the United States, and should have been for Great Britain, for, if faith could not have been placed in them, decrees from the same source would have had little value. But France and England 180 PICTOEIAL PIELD-BOOK England and France refase to. be just. Friendly Proposition of the United States unheeded. were playing sucli a desperate Igame, that they not only rightfully suspected each other of duplicity continually, but doubted the sincerity of the United States, al- though that government had never, in the smallest degree, broken its faith with ei- ther. England refused to recall her orders in Council; Bonaparte refused to make any indemnity for the seizures under the Bayonne and Rambouillet Decrees, and American commerce was left in a state of the most painful suspense. Having exhausted all arguments in endeavoring to convince the British ministry of the reality of the French revocation,^ and to effect a recall of the orders, Mr. Pink- ney left England and returned home, satisfied that, while she could sustain herself in the prosecution of the war, she would never yield an iota of her power to oppress the weak. At this very time, spumed as they had been, the United States proceeded to open another door of reconciliation, by an act of Congress providing that, in case at any time " Great Britain should revoke or modify her edicts, as that they shall cease to violate the neutral commerce of the United States, the President of the United States should declare the fact by proclamation, and that the restrictions previously imposed should, from the date of such proclamation, cease and be discontinued. "^ To this friendly proposition England was deaf. She would listen to no appeals to her justice or her magnanimity. For long years she had been the aggressor and the oppressor, and yet she refused to heed the kindly voice of her best friend when it pleaded for simple justice. At that very time she was exercising, by the might of I her navy, the most despotic sway upon the ocean, and committing incessant injuries upon a friendly power. She had, at that time, impressed from the crews of Ainerican merchant vessels, peaceably navigating the high seas, not less than six thousaito MAEiNBES who claimed to be citizens of the United States, and who were denied all opportunity to verify their claims. She had seized and confiscated the commercial property of American citizens to an incalculable amount. She had united in the enormities of France in declaring a great proportion of the terraqueous globe in a state of blockade, effectually chasing the American merchant from the ocean, -^he had contemptuously disregarded the neutrality of the American territory, and the jurisdiction of the American laws within the waters and harbors of the United States. She was enjoying the emoluments of a surreptitious trade, stained with every species of fraud and corrruption, which gave to the belligerent powers the advantage of a peace, while the neutral powers were involved in the evils of war. She had in short usurped and exercised on the water a tyranny similar to that which her great antag- onist had usurped and exercised on the land. And, amid all these proofs of ambition and avarice, she demanded that the victims of her usurpations and her violence should revere her as the sole defender of the rights and liberties of mankind '^ At about the time when Mr. Pinkney left England, Augustus J. Foster, who had •Febraaryis, Deen secretary to the British legation at Washington, was appointed* ^ f ^ • ^°/7 extraordinary to the United States, charged with the settlement ot the affair of the Chesapeake and other matters in dispute between the two gov- ernments.* He had just fairly entered upon the duties of his peaceful mission, when an event occurred that produced great complications and ill feelings. in ChamprlysTiS^^^^^^^^^ made a strong point of the fact that one of the conditions 3 See Dallas's Expo^itwn oftlu. Cmaea and 'character of the late War. ernm^wTtllt ofZ?™ ^d att^^^^^^^^^ f'' ^-^^-^ "^ ?>« ""^t P-Wc feelings of their gov- of any indisposition to keewTfrknaiv fl^nlolf^f^^ ? A Img the place caused by the recall of Jackson was not because also from late inte^ptions to SKl^s ol^l t'„°^^' °' '??.*■ ^IT '» °""^^ ^ satisfactory appointment, and announcedhisconii™fdinsa^;!C/ontr«ro?^ry^fsn:^r^^^^^ OF THE WAR OF 1812. 181 Outrage by a British Cruiser. Commodore Bodgers. The Frigate President ordered to Sea. Since the favorable arrangement with France, British cruisers hovering upon the American coast had become more and more annoying to commerce. A richly-laden American vessel bound to France had been captured within thirty miles of New York ;i and early ia the month of May a British frigate, stipposed to be the Gner- riere, Captain Dacres, stopped an American brig only eighteen miles from New York, and a young man, known to be a native of Maine, was taken from her and impressed into the British service.^ Similar iastances had lately occurred, and the government resolved to send out one or two of the new frigates^ immediately for the protection of the coast trade from the depredators. ' The IVesiclent, Captain Ludlow, was then anchored off Fort Severn,* at Annapolis, FOBT OB BATTEBT BBVEEN, AT AMMAPOLIS. bearing the broad pennant of Commodore Rodgers, the senior officer of the navy. The commodore was with his family at Havre de Grace, seventy miles distant ;^ the Presidents sailing-master was at Baltimore, forty miles distant ; her purser and chap- lain were at "Washington, an equal distance from their posts, and all was listlessness on board the frigate, for no sounds of war were in the air. Suddenly, at three o'clock in the afternoon of the Tth of May, while Captain Ludlow was dining on board the sloop-of-war Argus, lying near the President, the gig was seen, about five miles dis- tant, sailing at the rate of ten miles an hour, with the commodore's broad pennant flying, denoting that he was on board.^ Rodgers was soon on the President's quar- ter-deck. He had received orders* from his government to put to sea at once . jiay6, in search of the offending British vessel, and on the 10th he weighed anchor 1811. Fourth, went before the Privy Council in great state, and was sworn in as regent of the kingdom. He held that office until the death of his father in 1820, when he became king. 1 Hildreth, Second Series, iii., 24S. 2 Although the sea was running high, the captain of the Spitfire (the arrested brig) went with the yonng man on board the frigate, and assured the commander that he had known him from boyhood as a native of Maine. The Insolent reply was, " All that may be so, bnt he has no protection, and that is enough for me. "—Sew York Herald, May 11, 1811. = The American navy then in active service consisted of the President, Constitution, and United States, 44 each ; the Es- sex, 33 ; John Adams, 24 ; Wasp and Hornet, 18 each ; Argus and Siren, 16 each ; Nautilus, Enterprise, and Vixm, :^each ; and a large flotilla of gun-boats, commanaed principally by sailing-masters selected from the officers of merchpt ves- sels.— Cooper, ii., 118. * The present Fort or Battery Severn, composed of a circular base and hexagonal tower, js upon the site of a fort of the same name, erected, with other fortifications, in 1TT6. It was then little more than a group of breast-works. These were strengtliened at the beginning of the war in 1812. The present fort, seen in the picture, is rather a naval than a military work, its principal use being for a practice-battery for the 'students in the Naval Academy there, and for the de- fense of the naval arsenal, school, and officers' quarters. That academy (which was removed to Newport, Rhode Island, on the breaking out of the civil war in the spring of 1861, and its buildings at Annapolis used fophospital purposes dur- ing the conflict) was to the navy what the West Point Academy is to the army. The grounds about Fort Severn are very beautiful, and delight the eyes of all visitors. In addition to the Naval Monument there, already mentioned (page 124), are others, both elegant and expensive. -r . -^ ■, ^,. i. ^ 5 The residence of Commodore Eodgers at Havre de Grace, at that time, was yet standmg when I visited that town m November 1861 It stood at near the junction of Washington and St. John Streets, and was occupied by William Pop- lar. It was a two-story brick house, substantially built, and well preserved, as seen in the engraving on the next page. It will be referred to again, in an account of my visit to Havre de Grace above alluded to. ' Letter from an officer on board the President in the Mw York Herald, June 3, ISll. 182 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK The President on a Cruise. She discovers a strange Vessel, Signals. Method of Sigmaling.t OOiUMOnOBE aol)G£BS*B BEBIDENOE. and proceeded down the Chesapeake, with the intention of cruising off New York as an inquirer concerning the impressment He stopped on his way down the bay for munitions, and on the 14th passed the Vir- ginia capes out upon the broad ocean. He lingered there as an observer for a day or two, and at about noon on the 16th, Cape Henry bearing southwest, and dis- > tant about forty miles, he discovered a strange sail on the eastern horizon. The squareness of her yards and symmetry of her sails proclaimed her a war vessel. She was bearing toward the President under a heavy press of sail. Thinking she might be the offender, the President stood for the stranger, and at two o'clock displayed her broad pennant^ and ensign. The stran- ger made several signals. These were unanswered, and she bore away southward.^ • A pennant is a streamer made of a long, narrow piece of bunting, worn at the mast-heads of vessels of war. A broad permantiB a square piece of the same material, placed at the mast-head of the commodore's flag-ship." It is some- times spelled jpCTidiw* ani pmnon. The latter is not, strictly, a streamer. It is a shorter flag, split at the end, and used on merchant vessels. In the Middle Ages it was carried by knights at the heads of their lances. It is sometimes used poetically for a streamer or banner. 2 "Made the signal 275, and flnding it not answered, concluded she was an American frigate," wrote the commandei of that vessel to his superior on the 2lBt of May. Bach nation has a system of naval signals of its own, unknown to all others, and changed frequently, and for that reason Commodore Eodgers could not answer. These signals comprise a system of telegraphic signs, by which ships communicate with each other at a distance and convey information, or make known their wants. This is done by means of a certain number of flags and pennants of diffferent colors,- peculiarly ar- ranged, which indicate the different numerals from 1 to 0. Particular flags or pennants are also used for specific pur- po'ses ; for example, one pennant is called the interrogative, and, when hoisted, signifies that a question is asked; while another flag signifies affirmative, negative, etc. To correspond with the fiags, signal-books are formed, with sentences or words which these flags, represent. These books contain a list of the most common words in the language, with a table of such geographical names as are likely to be needed at sea, and also "a list of the ships belonging to the navy of the country.*— jYeM) ATnericcm Cycloptsdia, article-SiGNALS. To give the reader'a practical idea of the working of naval signals, I introduce graphic and explanatory descriptions ftom Eodgers and Black's Semaplwrie Signdl-bodk, approved by the Secretary of the , Navy, J. T. Mason, in 1847. These signals are composed of nine flags and five short pennants, capable of making 100,000 signals. These flags and pen- nants are seen in the engraving. No. 1. There are three colors, namely, red, white, and bine;. The red and blue are represented by shading, the lines of the former being per- pendicular, and of the latter horizontal. Each of tbe flags has the same signiflcation as the number above it. The pennants are used for duplicating or repeating. They are intended as substitutes for the numbers of such flags as are already in use ; for example, in the signal num- ber 2325 the figure 2 occurs twice. Having but one flag to represent that figure, another is substituted to answer its purpose, and this is done by using a pennant termed du- plicate. The four pennants in the lower section of engrav- ing No. 1 represent 1st, 2d, 3d, and 4th" duplicates in the order of common enumeration. The first duplicate always repeats the number of the upper or first flag (the counting is alifltys downward) of the signal with which it is hoist- ^ tfe- fcte^ ^^ SICrJJALb. — MO. 1. ''■\ SIGNAL-liOOK. " These signal-books, when prepared for actual service at sea, are cov- ered with canvas, containing a pla^e of lead on each side sufficient to sink them. This is for the purpose of. destroying them, by tbrowing them into the sea when a vessel is compelled to strike her colors, to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy. . The annexed picture of a signalibook so covered and leaded is from a drawing of one before me which was used by Commodore Barney. It is about nine inches in length. The lead is stitched into the canvas cover. It was found among Barney's papers, whic> that indefatigable antiquary of Philadelphia, John A. M'Al- lister, secured from destruction, and deposited for safe keeping with the collections of the Pennsylvania Historical Society. Those papers were kindly placed at my disposal by Mr. M'Allister, and fl-om them I gleaned much valuable material used in the preparation of a portion of this work. OF THE "WAR OF 1812. 183 A Chase by the President. Signaling. A Change in Signals. Anxious to speak with her, Rodgers gave chase. The President gained upon her, and at three in the afternoon was so near that her hull was seen upon the horizon; ed ; the 2d duplicate repeats the second flag, and so on. The first duplicate, hoisted singly, is answering penvmit; the 2d, hoisted singly, is No; the 3d, hoisted singly, is Yes; and the 4th, hoisted singly, is muimeml signal. 0, or cipher pen- nant, hoisted singly, is alphabetical si0ial. Engraving No. 2 shows four ex- amples of the use of the signals, in all of which the duplicates are used. By attention to the above explanations, the operation will be readily understood. The first section of the engraving No. 2 represents the nuiuber 2295, op- posite which, in the signal-book, will be found the words, "The commodore wishes to see yon." The second section represents the number 2329 — "Can you spare a compass ?" In these two the 1st duplicate is used, repeat- ing the number of the first crup- per flag. In the third section is represented number 6404— " Prepare for action, SIGNALS NO. 2. In the fourth section, number T226— " Strange sail on the starboard." In these two the second duplicate repeats the number of the second flag hoisted. The recipient of the information conveyed by the sig- nals writes down the numbers on a slate, and then readily finds the meaning by referring to the corresponding number in the signal-book. In a calm the signals are displayed on a more horizontal line, as seen in engraving No. 3, which represents number 1307 — "Is be- calmed, and requires a steam-boat to tow." The same flags and pennants are also used for alphabetical signals, to spell a word or name. The 0, or cipher signal, is hoisted singly, as the preparatory signal, after which the or cipher signal is placed above or below the flags where required, as seen in engraving No. 4, and indicated in the alphabet below. During the autumn and winter of 1811 and 1812, when war with En- gland seemed to be inevitable, the attention of Commodore Eodgers was much occupied with the subject of land telegraphs for army pur- sisNALB —NO i) poses, and naval signals. He invented a telegraph which was adopt- ed. On the 31st of April, 1812, he wrote to the Secretary of the Navy from the President^ then ly- ing in Hampton Roads, rec- ommending a change in the naval signals, several years having elapsed since the system of day signals then in use had been intro- duced. He thought it had become known to the Brit- ish navy. In that letter, preserved in the Depart- ment at Washington, he sent a drawing made In ac- cordance with the proposed change. His suggestions were adopted, and the sig- nals delineated in the en- graving No. 5, on the next page, copied from Eodgers's manuscripts, were those used during the War of 1812. A frequent change in the arrangement of the signal flags is necessary, for obvious reasons. The code of signals used in the United States Navy just previous to the late Qivll war was prepared by a board of officers consisting of Commodores M'Cau- ley and LavaleHe, and Commanders Mar- chand and Steedman. It was adopted by the Navy Department in 1S5T. In 1S59 an- other board of officers tested and approved a system of night signals invented by B. F. Coston, of the United StatesNavy. In Octo- ber, 1861, they were adopted in the United States army. A new system of signals for both the army and navy was arranged by Major (afterward Colonel) Albert J. Myer, whicji was used throughout the war. Major Myer was the chief sigDal oflicer during all that time, and is now (1867) at tie head of the signal depart- ment of the army. J 2. 3 4 5 e 7 ,8 9 A B C D E F G H I 10 20 w i.0 50 60 10 80 90 J K Is M N. O P Q R 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 S T U V \Y X Y Z J^inish 184 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The Porsner and the Porsned in Conflict. The President and the Little Belt the CombatantB. SIGNALS. — KO. 5. but the breeze slackened, and night fell upon the waters before the two vessels were near enough to each other to discern their respective characters. At twenty minutes past eight in the evening the Pres- ident brought-to on the weather-bow, or a little forward of^the beam of the stranger, and, when within about a hundred yards of her, Rodgers hailed, and asked "What ship is that ?" No answer was given, but the question ^^^^ was repeated from the stranger, word for word. After a P^^H j n pause of fifteen or twenty seconds Rodgers reiterated his I- -j-^ 1—^ — inquiry, and, before he could take his trumpet from his mouth, was answered by a shot that cut off one of the main-top-backstays of his vessel, and lodged in her main- mast. He was about to order a shot in return, when a gun from the second division of his ship was fired. ^ At almost the same instant the antagonist of the President fired three guns in quick succession, and then the rest of her broadside, with musketry. This provocation caused he President to respond by a broadside. " Equally determined," said Rodgers, " not to »e the aggressor, or suffer the flag of my country to be insulted with impunity, I gave , general order to fire."^ In the course of five or six minutes his antagonist was si- enced, and the guns of the President ceased firing, the commander having discovered hat his assumed enemy was a feeble one in size and armament. But, to the surprise if the Americans, the stranger opened her fire anew in less than five minutes. This ras again silenced by the guns of the President, when Rodgers again demanded ■What ship is that?" The wind was blowing freshly at the time, and he was able hear only the words, " His majesty's ship—" but the name he could not understand, le immediately gave the name of his own vessel, displayed many lights to show his thereabouts in case the disabled ship should need assistance, and bore away. At dawn the President discovered her antagonist several miles to the leeward, and nmediately bore down upon her to offer assistance. Lieutenant Creighton was sent 1 a boat to learn the names of the vessel and her commander, to ascertain the extent f damage, offer assistance, and to express the regret of the commodore that necessity Q his part had led to such results. Lieutenant Creighton brought back the informa- on that the ship was the British slooTp-of-war Zittle Pelt, 18, Captain A. B. Bingham, ;ho had been sent to the waters off Charleston, South Carolina, in search of the &%(&■- ■ere, and, not finding her, was cruising northward for the same purpose, according to IS ms_tructions.3 Captain Bingham politely refused aid, because he did not need it, id sailed away to Halifax, where he reported to "Herbert Sawyer, Esq., Rear-admi- il of the Red," the commander-in-chief on the American station.* The President pro- Say, ceeded on her voyage toward New York, and " off Sandy Hook," on the 23d,* • Commodore Rodgers wrote the dispatch to the Secretary of the Navy from hich the foregoing facts have been drawn. The reports of th e occurrence by Rodgers and Bingham were utterly contradictory Lw^3''f ''*'' seamen, who professed to have been deserters from the Prement, testified at Halifax tl»t this enn was icharged by accident.— iomdoJi 2%nc«, December T, 1811 . ■* s I Eodgers's dispatch to the Secretary of the Navy, May 23, 1811. Aamr«r4'^°*'™' J^'/. ^"'^^ *' "Bermuda, this 19th day of April, 1811," signed by H. N. Someryille, by command sln^wtirS, ' "" »'J*r«ss«a to " Arthnr Batt Bingham, Esq., commander of his majesty's sloop LiUle Belt." In bi^ts^f Z TT„«TJ'i^°"^A"' *® " P^'ticnlarly careful not to give any Just cause of offence to the government or ■S h,^^^ZZ w "^^^ of Ajnerioa : and to give very particular orders to this effect to tlie officers yon may have ■»^]on to send on board ehips under the American flaff." ' ad mfl^tlt''»^'r?i'''' vessel much damaged in her masts, sails, rigging, and hull, many shot through between to?d cre^hton ?hat^I ^°^ '^l"'"'^"* " ""■ ''■*" ""'I "" "^^ "PP^"- ''''*«• ^^^ *« "'"board pump shot away. Jif^ ^™Shton that he had all necessary materials on board for making sufficient repairs to enable him to reach OF THE WAR OF 1812. 185 Contradictory Statements of Bodgers and Bingham. The Testimony. Indignation of tlie American People. ' 1811. in respect to the most essential fact, namely, as to the aggressor. Rodgers stated positively that he hailed twice, and his words were repeated by the stranger ; that she first fired one shot, which struck his vessel, then three shots, and immediately ■» __„^ afterward the remainder of her hroad- side, before he opened his guns upon her, except the single one which one of the deserters declared was discharged by accident. This account was fully corroborated, before a court of inquiry, by every officer and some of the sub- ordinates who were on board the Pres- ident, under oath. On the contrary, Captain Bingham reported that he hailed first, and that his words were twice repeated from the President, when that Vessel fired a broadside, which the Little Belt immediately re- turned. This statement was fully cor- roborated before a court of inquiry, held at Halifax on the 29th of May,* by the officers of the Lit- tle Belt, and two deserters from the under oath. Bingham and his supporting deponents declared that the action lasted from forty- five minutes to one hour ; while Rodgers declared that it lasted al- together, including the intermis- sions, not more than fifteen min- utes.^ Bingham also intimated in his dispatch that he had gained the advantage in the contest.^ When intelligence of this afiair went over the land it produced intense excitement. Desires for and dread of war with Ehgland were stimulated to vehement action, and conflicting views and expressions, intensified by party hate, awoke spirited conten- tions and discussions in every community. The contradictions of the two command- ers were in due time made known, and added fuel to the fires of party strife. Each government naturally accepted the report of its own servant as the true one. Not so with all the people of the United States. The opposition politicians and^ news- papers, with a partisanship more powerful for a while than patriotism, took sides with the British; and, eager to convict the administration of belligerent intentions, while ; at the same time they inconsistently assailed it because of its alleged imbecility and want of patriotism in not resisting and resenting the outrages and insults of Great CcxJ^^x^^^/ 1 John Eodgere was bom at Havre de Grace, in Maryland, in 1771. He entered the navy as lieutenant, on the 9th of March, 1798, and Vfas the executive ofHcer of the CanxUiOxiiian, under Commodore Truxtun, when the ImwrrjenU was taken. See page 103. He was appointed captain in March, 1799, and he was in active service daring the naval opera- tions in the Mediterraiiean until 1805. He was the oldest officer in rank in the navy at the time of the occurrence narrated in the text. He was the first to start on a cruise with a squadron after the declaration of war in 1812. His efficient serv- ices during that war will be found detailed in future pages. From April, 1815, until December, 1S24, he served as presi- dent of the board of Navy Commissioners, and ftom 1824 until 1837 he was in command of a squadron in the Mediterra- nean. On his return in 1827 he resumed his place at the board, and held it for ten years, when he relinquished it on account of failing health. He died at Philadelphia in August, 1838. The portrait above given was copied firom an orig- inal painting in the Navy Department at Washington. 2 " The action then became general, and continued so for about three quarters of an hour, when he [the American] ceased firing, and appeared to be on fire about the main hatchway. He then filled. I was obligedto desist from firing, as. the ship falling off, no gun would bear, and had no after-sail to keep her to."— Dispatch to Admiral Sawyer, May 21,1811. PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK leinoralizing Bffects of Party Politics. Commodore Eodgers assailed. Eodgere vindicated. ;ain, or making eflS.eient preparations for such resistance and resentment, circulated port, with the fiercest denunciations, that Rodgers had sailed with orders from shington to rescue by force the young man lately impressed from a Portland ;.^ They exultingly drew a comparison between the late and pSteeent Democratic linistration, the former denying the right of the Leopard to take a seaman by e from the Chesapeake, the latter ordering Rodgers to do what Captain Hum- 3ys had been condemned by the Americans and punished by his own government doing. Rodgers himself, who had behaved most prudently, gallantly, and mag- Lmously in the matter, received his full share of personal abuse from the opponents he administration; and, strange as it may seem, when the question was reduced ne of simple veracity on the part of the two commanders, a large number of his itrymen, even with the overwhelming testimony of all the officers and many of subordinates of the President against that of five officers and two deserters pro- 3d by Captain Bingham, were so misled by party zeal as to express their belief the British commander uttered nothing but truth, and that Rodgers and his peo- ill committed perjury ! But these ungenerous and unpatriotic assaults soon lost r chief sustenance when the Secretary of State officially declared that no orders been given for a forcible rescue of the impressed American ; and the satisfaction [r. Foster, the British minister at Washington (who had requested: an inquiry into conduct of Rodgers), that the statements of that commander were substantially , was manifested by the fact that the subject was. dropped in diplomatic circles, never revived there, and the affair of the Chesapeake was settled in accordance 1 the demands of the government of the United States. lit while the two governments tacitly agreed to bury the matter in official obliv- the people of the respective countries, highly excited by the event, would not let it ). It increased the feeling of mutual animosity which had been growing rapidly .te, and widened the gulf of separation, which every day became more and more jult of passage by kindly international sentiments ; and when the Twelfth Con- ember 4, gress assembled, a month earlier than usual,^ the administration party in '^^^- and out of that body was found to be decidedly a war party, while the sralists, growing weaker in numbers every day, were as decidedly opposed to le charge was apparently Jnstifled by the tenor of a letter, already referred to, pnrporting to have been written by .cer on board the PresiAmt on the 14th of May, bnt whose name was never given. He wrote : " By the officers who ■ from Washington we learn that we are sent in pursuit of the British frigate who had impressed a passenger from ter. Yesterday, while beating down the bay, we spoke a brig coming up, who informed us that she saw the British s the day before off the very place where we now are ; but she is not now in sight. We have made the most complete rations for battle. Every one wishes it. She is exactly our force, but we have the Argw with us, which none of pleased with, as we wish a fair trial of courage and skill. Should we see her, I have not the least doubt of an en- lent. The commodore will demand the person impressed ; the demand will doubtless be refused, and the battle istantly commence. . . . The commodore has called in the boatswain, gunner, and carpenter, informed them of Bumstances, and asked if they were ready for action. Eeady was the reply of each."— iVeio Fori BmaU June 3 1811 OF TflE WAR- OF 1812. jg^ The Indiana Territory. Harrison it8 Governor. His wise Administration. CHAPTER X. "On Wabash, when the sun withdrew, And chill November's tempest blew. Dark rolled thy waves, Tippecanoe, Amidst that lonely solitude. But Wabash saw another sight ; A martial host, in armor bright. Encamped upon the shore that night, And lighted up her scenery." Song — TirpECAuoE. "Bold Boyd led on his steady band, With bristling bayonets burnished bright. What could their dauntless charge withstand ? What stay the warriors' matchless might? Rushing amain, they cleared the field ; The savage foe constrained to yield To Harrison, who, near and far. Gave fonn and spirit to the war." Battle of Tippecanoe. ^BILE the nation was agitated by political contentions, and the p low mutterings of the thunder of an oncoming tempest of war '~ were heard, heavy, dark, and ominous clouds of trouble were seen gathering in the northwestern horizon, where the Indians were still numerous, and discontents had made them restless. In the year. 1800, as we have seen (page 130 ), the Indiana 'Territory (then including the present States of Indiana, Illinois, ^"— and Wisconsin) was established, and the late President Harri- son, then an energetic young man of less than thirty years of age, was appointed gov- ernor. He had resigned his commission of captain in the United States army, and for a few years had been employed in civil life. In the year 1805 a Territorial Leg- islature was organized, much to the discontent of the French settlers on the Wabash, and Vincennes, an old town already spoken of (page 40), was made the capital. Harrison was popular among all classes, and particularly with the Indians ; and he managed the public affairs of the Territory with prudence and energy in the midst ■ of many diificulties arising out of land speculations, land titles, treaties with the In- dians, and the machinations of traders and the English in Canada. He had much to contend against in the demoralization of the Indians by immediate contact with the white people, especially effected by whisky and other spirituous liquors. ^ By a succession of treaties. Governor Harrison, at the close of 1805, had extin- guished Indian titles to forty-six thousand acres of land within the domain of Indi- ana. Every thing had been done in accordance with the principles of exact justice, and, had the governor's instructigns been fully carried out, the Indians would never have had cause to complain. But settlers and speculators came, bringing with them, in many cases, the peculiar vices of civilized society, which, when copied by the In- dians, were intensified fourfold. Regarding the natives as little better than the wild beasts of the forest, they defrauded them, encroached upon their reserved domain, and treated them with contempt and inhumanity. " You call us your children," said an old chief to Harrison one day, in bitterness of spirit — " you call us your children 1. " I do not believe," wrote General Harrison in 1805, " that there are more than six hundred warriors on the Wabash, and yet the quantity of whisky brought here annually for their consumption is said to amount to six thousand gallons." PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK ichmetits on the Indians. British Emissaries again at Work. Tecomtha and his Family. ly do you not make us happy, as our fathers, the French, did ? They never took us our lands ; indeed, they were common between us. They planted where they ied, and they cut wood where they pleased, and so did we. But now, if a poor m attempts to take a little bark from a tree to cover him from rain, up comes a e man and threatens to shoot him, claiming the tree as his own.''^ And so, with le reason, they murmured on. Emissaries sent out by the British authorities iq bda fanned the flame of discontent ; and Elliott, the old enemy of the Americans, living near Maiden, observing symptoms of impending war between the United is and Great Britain, was again wielding a potent influence over the chiefs of the iS in the if orthwest. Their resources, as well as privileges, were curtailed. Na- )n's Continental System touched even the savage of the wilderness. It clogged almost closed the chief markets for his furs, and the prices were so low that In- hunters found it difiicult to purchase their usual necessaries from the traders. he beginning of 1811 the Indians were ripe for any enterprise that promised them f and independence. powerful warrior had lately become conspicuous, who, like Metacomet, the Wam- ag, and Pontiac, the Ottawa, essayed to be the savior of his people from the • ling footsteps of the advancing white man. He was one of three sons bom of a k mother (Methoataske) at the same time, in a cabin built of sapling logs un- 1, and chinked with sticks and mud, near the banks of the Mad River, a few 3 from Springfield, Ohio. They were named respectively Teoiimtha, Elkswatawa, and Kamskaka. Te- cumtha^ was the war- rior alluded to. His name signifies, in the Shawnoese dialect, " a fiying tiger," or "a wild-cat springing on its prey." He was a well-built man, about five feet ten inches in height.^ Elkswata- wa, " the loud voice," also became famous, lore properly speaking, notorious ; but Kamskaka lived a quiet, retired life, and in ignoble obscurity. i early as 1805, Elkswatawa, pretending to have had a vision, assumed to be a het, and took the name of Pemsquatawah, or " open door." Up to that period ad been remarkable for nothing but stupidity and intoxication. He was a ing, unprincipled man, whose countenance was disfigured by the loss of an JilKTHPLAOE OF TEOtTMTHA AN1» HIS BROTUERS. vemor Harrison to the Secretary of War. e late Colonel John Johnston, of Dayton, Ohio, who was Indian Agent among the Shawnoese and neighboring for many years, and knew Tecumtha well; informed me that the proper way to spell that warrior's name, accord- the native pronunciation, is as I have given it. On such authority I have adopted the orthography in the text. Colonel Johnston, whose name will he frequently mentioned in the course of our narrative, I obtained much val- infonnation concerning the Indians of the Northwest from the year 1800 to 1812, during a visit with him in the n of 1860. birthplace of Tecumtha and his brothers was at the Piqaa village, about five miles west from Springfield.* The Ing, copied by permission from Howe's Historical CoUeetpns ofOhia^ shows the place of his birth as it appeared fears ago. It is on the north side of the Mad River. A small hamlet, called West Boston, now occupies the site Piqua village. The Indian fort at that place, consisting of a rude log hut surrounded by pickets, stood upon the 3n on the left of the picture. ' ^ Colonel Johnston. is was ancient Piqua, the seat of the Piqua clan of the Shavraoese, a name which signifies "a man formed out of hes," and significant of their alleged origin. See Howe's Eistoriml Collections of Ohio, page 362. Modern Piqua, imes confounded with that' of the ancient one in speaking of Tecumtha, is a flourishing village on the Great Mia- er, Miami County. Upper Piqua, three miles above the village, is a place of considerable historical interest. The is referred to Mr. Howe's valuable work for interesting details concerning the events which made it famous. OF THE WAE OK 1812. 189 The Prophet's Vision. Tecumtta's Craft. His Inspiration. The superstitions Indians excited. eye.i While lighting his pipe one day, he fell to the earth, as if dead. Preparations were made for his bu- rial. When his friends were about to remove him, he opened his eyes and said, " Be not fear- ful. I have been in the Land of the Blessed. Call the nation togeth- er, that I may tell them what I have seen and heard." His people were speedily assem- bled, and again he spoke, saying, " Two beautiful young men were sent to me by the Great Spirit, who said, The Master of Life THE PEOPHET. is angry with you all. He will destroy you unless you refrain from drunkenness, lying, stealing, and witch- craft, and turn your- selves to him. Unless the red men shall do this, they shall never see the beautiful place you are now to be- hold." He was then taken to a gate which opened into the spirit- land, but he was not permitted to enter.^ Such was the proph- et's story. He imme- diately entered upon his mission as a pro- fessed preacher of righteousness. He in- veighed against drunkenness and witchcraft, and warned his people to have nothing . to do with the pale-faces, their religion, their customs, their anns, or their arts, for every imitation of the intruders was offensive to the great Master of Life. Tecum- tha, possessed of a master mind and a statesman's sagacity, was the moving spirit in all this imposture. It was a part of his grand scheme for obtaining influence over the Northwestern tribes for political purposes, and he went from tribe to tribe pub- lishing the wonders of his brother's divine mission. The Prophet's harangues excited the latent superstition of the Indians to the high- est degree, and for a while his sway over the minds of the savages in the Northwest was almost omnipotent. The chiefs and leading men of his own tribe denouncdB him, but the people sustained him. Success made him bold, and he used his newly- acquired power for the gratification of private and public resentments. He was ac- cuser and judge, and he caused the execution of several hostile Delaware chiefs on a charge of witchcraft. A terrorism began to prevail all over the region where his di- vine mission was recognized. The credulous — men, women, and children — came long distances to see the oracle of the Great Spirit, who, they believed, wrought miracles.^ Their numbers became legion, and the white settlers were alarmed. Tecumtha's d^ep scheme worked admirably. In the great congregation were lead- ' The portrait of the Prophet is from a pencil sketch made hy Pierre Le Dm, a yonng French trader, at Vincennes, in 1808. He made a sketch of Tecnmtha at ahont the same time, hoth of which I found in possession of his son at Quebec in 1848, and by whom I was kindly permitted to copy them. That of Tecnmtha will be found in Chapter XIV. Owing partly to his excessive dissipation, the Prophet appeared mnch the elder of Tecnmtha. 2 Drake's Book of the Indians, page 624. 3 The Prophet was without honor in his own country, and he left Piqua and settled in a village of his own at Qreen- ville, in Ohio, where Wayne held his great treaty in 1795, on lands already ceded to the United States. At the instiga- tion of Tecnmtha, no doubt, he sent emissaries to the tribes on the Lakes and on the Upper Mississippi, to declare his prophecy that the earth was about to be destroyed, except in the immediate residence of the Prophet at Greenville. Alarm caused many to flock thither as a place of refuge, and this gave Tecumtha an opportunity to divulge with ease to a large number, his plans for a confederacy. The Prophet made many predictions concerning the future glory of the Indians. His disciples spread the most absurd tales about his wonderful power— that he could make pumpkins spring out of the ground as large as wigwams, and that his corn grew so large that one ear would feed a dozen men. They spread a belief that the body of the Prophet was invnlnerable, and that he had all knowledge, past, present, and future. It is said that so great a number flocked to Greenville to see him, that the southern shores of Lakes Superior and Mich- igan were quite depopulated. The traders were obliged to abandon their business. Of these deluded fanatics not more than one third ever returned, having died in consequence of the privations of hunger, cold, and fatigue. Xbey perished by scores upon their weary pilgrimage.— J/5. Life and Timm of Teevmaeh, by Henry Onderdonk, Jr., 1842. 190 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Tecumtha'B Project of a Confederation. Harrison denounces the Prophet. Tecumtha's Boldness. ing men from all the surrounding tribes, even from the Upper Mississippi, and he had a rare opportunity to confer with them together on the subject of his darling project, a grand confederation of all the tribes in the Northwest to drive the white man across the Ohio, and reclaim their lands which they had lost by treaties. He declared to assembled warriors and sachems, whenever opportunity oflfered, that the treaties concerning those lands northward of the Ohio were fraudulent, and therefore' void ; and he always assured his auditors that he and his brother, the Prophet, would resent any farther attempts at settlement in that direction by the white people. Governor Harrison perceived danger in these movements, and early in 1808 he ad- dressed a speech to the chiefs and head men of the Shawnoese tribe, in which he de- nounced the Prophet as an impostor. " My children," he said, " this business must be stopped. I will no longer suifer it. ^^You have called a number of men from the most distant tribes to listen to a fool, who speaks not the words of the Great Spirit, but those of the Evil Spirit and of the British agents. My children,:your.conduct has much alarmed the white settlers near you. They desire that .you will send away those people ; and' if they wish to have the impostor with them they can carry him. Let him go to the Lakes ; he can hear the British more distinctly." This speech exasperated and alarmed the brothers. The Prophet and his follow- ers, frowned upon by the Shawnoese in general, who listened to the governor, took up their abode in the spring of 1808 on the banks of the Wabash, near the mouth of the Tippecanoe River. - Tecumtha.was there too, when not on his political journeys among the neighboring tribes, but he was cautious and silent. The Prophet, more directly aimed at in Harrison's speech, hastened to deny any complicity with the British agents, or having hostile designs. He visited Vincennes in August to con- fer in person with the governor, and to give him renewed and solemn assurances that he and his followers wished to live in harmony with the white people. So specious were the words of the wily savage, that Harrison suspected he had misjudged the man, and he dismissed the Prophet with friendly assurances. The governor soon had reason to doubt the fidelity of the oracle. There were reported movements at the Prophet's town on the Wabash, half religious and half warlike, that made him suspect the brothers of unfriendly designs toward the Ameri- (s§as. He charged them with having made secret arrangements with British agents for hostile purposes, and pressed the matter so closely that, at a conference between the governor and the Prophet at Vincennes in the summer of 1 809, the latter acknowl- edged that he had received invitations from the British in Canada to engage in a war with the United States, but declared that he had rejected them. He renewed his vows of friendship, but Harrison no longer believed him to be sincere. " September 30, Soon after this interview Harrison concluded a treaty at Fort Wayne"' ^^- with Delaware, Pottawatomie, Miami, Kickapoo, Wea, and Eel River In- dians, by which, in consideration of $8200 paid down, and annuities to the amount of $2350 in the aggregate, he obtained a cession of nearly three millions*of acres of land extending up the Wabash beyond Terre Haute, and including the middle waters of the White River, i Neither Tecumtha, nor his brother, nor any of their tribe had any claim to these lands, yet they denounced those who sold them, declared the treaty void, and threatened to kill every chief concerned in it. Tecumtha grew bolder and bolder, for he was sanguine of success in his great scheme of a confederation, and the arrest of the white man's progress. He had already announced the doctrine, opposed to state or tribal rights, that the domain of all the Indians belonged to all in common, and that no part of the territory could be sold or alienated without the consent of all. This was the ground of the denunciations of the treaty by Tecumtha and his brother, and the justifi cation of their threats against the ofifending chiefs— threats the I The Weas and Kickapoos were not represented at the cotincD, but the former, in October, and the latter in Decem- ber, confirmed the treaty at Fort Wayne. OF THE WAR OP 1812. 191 Signs of Indian Hostilities. Tlie Mission of Joseph Barron. His hostile Reception by the Prophet. more alarming, because the warlike Wyandots, on the southern shores of Lake Erie, whom all the tribes so feared and respected that they called them uncles, had lately become the allies of these Shawanoese brothers. ti the spring of 1810 the Indians at the Prophet's town gave unmistakable signs of hostility. They refused to receive the " annuity salt," and insulted the boatmen who took It to them by calling them " American doge." These and other indications of hostUity caused Harrison to send frequent messengers to the Prophet and his brother. Finally, in July, he sent a letter to them by Joseph Barron, a Frenchman, known to and respected by all the Indian tribes in that region as a faithful and kind- hearted interpreter. He was instructed to in- vite the brothers to meet the governor in coun- cil at Vincennes, and lay their alleged griev- ances before him. Barron was received by the Prophet in a most unfriendly spirit. The ora- cle was surrounded by several Indians, and when the interpreter was formally presented his single eye kindled and gleamed with fiercest anger. Gazing upon the visitor in- tently for several minutes without speaking, he suddenly exclaimed, " For what purpose do you come here ? Brouillette was here ; he was a spy. Dubois was here ; he was a spy. Now you have come. You, too, are a spy." Then, pointing to the ground, he said, vehemently, " There is your grave, look on it !" At that moment Tecumtha appeared, assured Barron of his personal safety, heard the letter of Governor Harrison, and promised to visit Vin- cennes in the course of a few days.^ On the morning of the 12th of August Te- cumtha appeared at Vincennes. He had been requested to bring not more than thir- ty warriors with him ; he came with four hundred fully armed, and encamped in a grove on the outskirts of the town. The inhabitants, most of whom were unarmed, were startled by this unexpected demonstration of savage strength, and, partly on ' statement of Mr. Barron, quoted by Dillon in his History of InUama, page 441. Mr. Barron was a native of Detroit. He was employed by Harrison as interpreter abont eighteen years. He was an uneducated man, of much natural abil- ity, and very interesting in conversation. He was slender in form, abont a medium height, had black eyes, salloii; com- plexion, a prominent nose, small month, and wore his hair in a cue, 4 la aborigine^ with a long black ribbon dangling down his back. He was a facetious, pleasant, social, and entertaining man, full of anecdotes and bon inots. He was fond of music, and played the Indian flutes with skill. Barron was acquainted with most of the Indian dialects east of the Mississippi. In 1837 he accompanied emigrating Pottawatomies to the West. He also accompanied another party of the same tribe in 1838 to their lands beyond the Mississippi. He afterward returned to the Wabash, and, after a pro- tracted illness, died on the 31st of July, 1843, at an advanced age, at the residence of his son on the Wabash, near its con- fluence with the Eel Eiver. Mr. Barron was at the battle of Tippecanoe vrith Harrison, and this circumstance greatly exasperated the Indians against him. They were very anxious to capture and torture him. So important did they consider him, that they made rude sketches of his features on the barks of trees, and sent them among the various tribes, that they might know and catch him. One of these was for some time in possession of Mr. Compret, of Fort Wayne. It was carried to Germany by a Catholic priest as a great curiosity. Another, on a piece of beech bark, was preserved a long time at Fort Dearborn, and in 1836 was in possession of James Hertz, a private soldier at Mackinaw, from whom a friend procured it, and in the autumn of 1861 sent me a tracing of it. The sketch is a fac-simile on a reduced scale. George Winter, Esq., an artist of Lafayette, Indiana, painted a portrait of Mr. Barron in 183T. He kindly furnished me the copy from which the above engraving was made ; also with fhe information concerning the famous interpreter contained in this note. Mr. Winter was the painter of the portrait of Frances Slocum, the lost child of Wyoming.— See Lossing's Fiellrhookolviiim,U3W. ^ „ ^ ■, ,. ^ Brouillette and Dubois, mentioned above, with Francis Vigo, Pierre La Plante, John Con- ner, and William Prince, were influential men, and were frequently employed by Harrison as messengers to the Indians. JUBEFH BASBON. i^niAM nji'rjiorEK. 192 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK TecumthaatVincennes. His Arrogance. . Hairison'B Speech. Hoetile DemonBtrations by the Indians. account of their fears, and partly because of the fame of Tecumtha as an orator, they flocked to the governor's house. Seats had Ibeen prepared for those who were to par- ticipate in the council under the portico of the governor's residence ; but when Te- cumtha, after placing the great body of his warriors in camp in the shade of a grove near by' advanced with about thirty of his followers, he refused to enter the area with the white people, saying, " Houses were built for you to hold councils in; Indians hold theirs in the open air." He then took a position under some trees in front of the house, and, unabashed by the large concourse of people before him, opened the business with a speech marked by great dignity and native eloquence. When he had concluded, one of the governor's aids, through Barron the interpreter, said to the chief, pointing to a chair, " Your father requests you to take a seat by his side." The chief drew his mantle around him, and, standing erect, said, with scornful tone, "My father ! The sun is my father, and the earth is my mother; on her bosom I will re- pose," and then seated himself upon the ground. Tecumtha's speeches at this council were bold, arrogant, and sometimes insolent. He avowed the intention of himself and brother to establish, by a confederacy of the tribes, the principle of common interest in the domain as intended by the Great Spir- it, and to not only prevent any other sale or cession of lands, but to recover what had been lately ceded by the treaty at Fort Wayne. He declared his intention to kill all the" village chiefs" who had made the sale if the lands were not returned, because he was authorized, he said, by all the tribes to do so. " Return those lands," he said, " and Tecumtha will be the friend of the Americans. He likes not the English, who _^are continually setting the Indians on the Americans."* Governor Harrison, in his reply, ridiculed the idea that the Great Spirit had intend- ed the Indians to be one people. " K such had been his intention," he said, " he would not have put six different tongues into their heads, but wpuld have taught them all to speak one language." As to the lands in dispute, the Shawnoese had nothing to do with it. The Miamis owned it when the Shawnoese were living in Georgia, out of which they had been driven by the Creeks. The lands had been purchased from the Miamis, who were the true owners of it, and it was none of the Shawn^ese's busi- ness. When these asseverations were interpreted, Tecumtha's eyes flashed with an- ger. He cast off his blanket, and, with violent gesticulations, pronounced the govern- or's words to be false. He accused the United States of cheating and imposing upon the Indians. His warriors, receiving a sign from him, sprang to their feet, seized their war-clubs, and began to brandish their tomahawks. The governor started from his chair and drew his sword, while the citizens seized any missile in their way. It was a moment of imminent danger. A military guard of twelve men, who were under some trees a short distance off, were ordered up. A friendly Indian cocked his pis- tol, which he had loaded stealthily while Tecumtha was speaking, and Mr.Winans, a Methodist minister, ran to the governor's house, seized a gun, and placed himself in the door to defend the family. The guard were about to fire, when Harrison, perfect- ly collected, restrained them, and a bloody encounter was prevented. When the in- terpreter told him the cause of the excitement, he pronounced Tecumtha a bad man, and ordered him to leave the neighborhood immediately. Tecumtha retired to his ■August 20 camp, the council was broken up,^ and no sleep came to the eyelids of the 1810. people of Vincennes that night, as they expected an attack from the savages. On the following morning, Tecumtha, with seeming sincerity, expressed his regret because of the violence into which he had been betrayed. He found in Harrison a man not to be awed by menaces nor swayed by turbulence. With respectful words he asked to have the council resumed. The governor consented, and then placed two companies of well-armed militia in the village, for the protection and encouragement of the inhabitants. Tecumtha, always dignified, laid aside his insolent manner, and ' Ondei'donk's MS. Ufa of Tecumseh, OF THE WAR OF 1812. 193 UnsuccesBfal Attempts to conciliate Tecumtha. Kovlng Plunderers. Tecumtha's Fears and Dnplicity. publicly disavowed any intention of attacking the governor and his friends on the preceding day. When asked whether he intended to persist in his opposition to the late treaty, he replied firmly that he should " adhere to the old boundary." Chiefs from five different tribes immediately arose, and declared their intention to support Tecumtha in the stand he had taken, and their determination to establish the pro- posed confederacy. Harrison well knew the great ability and influence of Tecumtta, and was very anx ious to conciliate him. On the following day, accompanied only by Mr. Barron, he visited the warrior in his camp, and had a long and friendly interview with him. He told Tecumtha that his principles and his claims would not be allowed by the Presi- dent of the United States, and advised him to relinquish them. " Well," said the warrior, " as the Great Chief is to determine the matter, I hope the Great Spirit will put sense enough into his head to induce him to direct you to give up this land. It is true, he is so far ofi'he will not be injured by the war. He may sit still in his town and drink his wine, while you and I will have to fight it out."^ The conference end- ed by the governor's promising to lay the matter before the President. War with the followers of Tecumtha and the Prophet now seemed probable, and Harrison commenced measures to meet it. A small detachment of United States troops, under Captain Cross, stationed at Newport, Kentucky, were ordered toVin- cennes, there to join three companies of militia infantry and a company of Knox Coun- ty dragoons, in the event of an attack from the savages. The governor had paid par- ticular attention to drilling the militia, and now, when their services were likely to be needed, they felt much confidence on account of their discipline. The Indians on the Wabash, grown bold by the teachings of their great military leader, the oracular revelations of the Prophet, and the active encouragement of the British in Canada, began to roam in small marauding parties over the Wabash region in the spring of 1811, plundering the houses of settlers and the wigwams of friendly Indians, stealing horses, and creating general alarm. Tecumtha was exceedingly ac- tive, at the same time, in efibrts to perfect his confederacy and inciting the tribes to war; and, early in the summer, the movements of the Indians were so menacing that Governor Harrison sent Captain Walter Wilson, accompanied by Mr. Barron, with an energetic letter to the Shawnoe brothers.* He assured them that he was .jnne24, fully prepared to encounter all the tribes combined, and that if they did not i^ii. put a stop to the outrages complained of, and cease their waflike 'movements, he should attack them. Tecumtha was alarmed. He received the messengers very courteously, and prom- ised to see the governor in person' very soon, when he would convince him that he had no desire to make war upon the Americans. He accordingly appeared at Vin- cennes on the 2'7th of July, accompanied by about three hundred Indians, twenty of them women. The inhabitants were alarmed. It was believed that the wily savage had intended, with these warriors at hand, to compel the governor to give up the Wa- bash lands But when, on the day of his arrival, he saw seven hundred and fifty well-armed militia reviewed by the governor, he exhibited no haughtmess of tone and manner He was evidently uneasy. He made the most solemn protestations of his friendly intentions and desires to restrain the Indians from hostilities, yet he earnest- ly but modestly insisted upon a return of the lands ceded by the treaty at Fort WaVne His duplicity was perfect. He left Vincennes a few days afterward with twenty warriors, went down the Wabash, and, as was afterward ascertamed, visited the Southern Indians-Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws-and endeavored to brmg them into his league against the white people. The remainder of his followers from the Prophet's town, astonished at the military display at Vmcennes, returned to their rendezv ous on the Tippecanoe, filled with doubt and alarm. 1 Dawson's Life of Harrison, page 59 ; Drake's Book of the Xorth American Imliam. "N" 194 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK FreparatloiiB for fighting the Indians. Colonel John P. Boyd. Response to a Call for Volanteers. ^""^-^ T''n\^-'"f \^ '^^^^^ er, who was afterward second in ^^J^-Z-t*^ ^CY^Y sufficient. Captain Funk raised command, under Colonel Crog- C^^ \ h^s company ra the course of a ban, at Fort Stephenson, on the ,^^^. , few days,^and early m September ioined Colonel BartholonieWs regiment, then marching on Vincennes. At this place they found Colonel Joseph H. Da- viess, with two other volunteers (James Mead and Ben. Saunders) from Lexington, the colonel's 'hen place of residence: There were with him, also, four young gentlemen from Louisville, namely, George Croghan, John O'Fallon, a miHi<»i-. ain of St. Louis in 1862, Moore, afterward a captain in the TJ. S. Army, and -^ Hynes , ^ . The signature of Captain Funk (then bearing the title of Major), above given, is copied from a note to me from him^ written in September, 1861. , ... *^iTTT7-ii.oi " Fort Knox was erected by Major Hamtramck in 1T8T, and named in honor of General Heniy Knox, the Secretary of War. 196 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK A Night at Peru. A Political Campaign. UnpleaBant Experience at Indianapolie. when we left, at two in the afternoon, for Indianapolis. We arrived at Peni, a little village on the Wabash fifty-six miles west of Fort Wayne, at sunset. The dull clouds had lifted the space of a degree from the horizon, and allowed the last rays of the sun to give glory to the thoroughly saturated country for a few minutes, before the lu- minary disappeared behind the forests that skirted a wide prairie on the west. At Peru, a railway leading southward, to the capital of Indiana connects with the Toledo and Wabash Road, over which we had traveled. But there was no evening connection, and we were compelled to remain among the Peruvians until morning. Theirs is a small village. Town and taverns were filled with people, drawn thither by the two-fold attraction of a county fair and a desire to go to Indianapolis in the morning, where the late Judge Douglas, one of the candidates for the Presidency of the United States, was to speak. I found a crowd of railway passengers around the register of the inn where I stopped, all anxious to secure good lodgings for the night. The applicants were many, and the beds proportionately few. I was fortunate enough to have for my room-companion for the night. Judge Davis, of Bloomington, Illinois, a gentleman of great weight in the West, and an ardent personal friend of the late President Lincoln. He declared that, if his friend should be elected, he would be found to be "the right man in the right place." Judge Davis is now (1867) one of the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. Having half an hour to spare before supper and the approaching darkness, I strolled around the village, that lies upon a rolling plain and along the banks of the beauti- ful Warbash — beautiful, indeed, because of variety in outline, greenness of verdure, and its fringes of graceful trees and shrubbery. Many of the trees were more ancient than the dominion of the white man there, and others were as young as the town near by, so lately sprung up from the shadows of the wilderness. A canal, with muddy banks, dug along the margin of the river, somewhat marred the beauty of the scene. It was quite dark when I retired to the inn, having called on the way at the house of Mr. G-rigg, whose wife is a daughter of the Little Turtle. They were absent, and I missed, the anticipated pleasure of an interview with one whose father bore such a conspicuous part in the history of the Northwest. I left Peru, in company with Judge Davis, at six o'clock the following morning, and reached Indianapolis at ten. It was a sunny day. The town was rapidly filling with people pouring in by railways and common roads from all directions. Flag's were flying, drums were, beating, marshals were hurrying to and fro, and" the crowds were flowing toward the "Bates House," the common centre of attraction, where Judge Douglas was receiving his friends in a private parlor, and waiting for the ap- pointed hour when he should go out and speak to the people on the political topics of the day. Over the broad street a splendid triumphal arch was thrown, and every avenue to the hotel was densely thronged with eager expectants. I made my way through the living sea, and registered my name for dinner at the " Bates," expecting to leave for Terre Haute at evening. After spending an hour with Mr. Dillon, au- thor of the latest history of Indiana, I was informed that a train would leave for the West at meridian. So I again elbowed my way through the crowd just as Judge Douglas was entermg his carriage, and, with the shouts of twenty thousand voices rmging in my ears, I escaped to the empty streets, and reached the railway station just m time for the midday train. I was soon reminded that I had involuntarily made a liberal contribution to some light-fingered follower of the itinerant candidate for the crown of civic victory. I had been relieved of the present care of that subtle magician thus apostrophized by Byron : " Thon more than stone of the philosopher 1 Thou touchstone of Philosophy herself! Thou bright eye of the mine ! thon loadstar of The soul ! thou true magnetic pole, to which All hearts point duly north, like trembling needles !" OF THE WAR OF 1812. 19Y Visit to Terre Haute afid the Site of Port Harrison. Sketch of tlie Fort. A Traveler in Trouble. . Terre Haute (high land) is seventy-three miles westward of Indianapolis. It is a •pleasant village, and the capital of 'Vigo County. It then contained less than two thousand inhabitants. It is on a high plain on the left bank of the Wabash, and is one of the most delightfdl summer residences in all that region. We arrived there at' four o'clock in the afternoon. Hoping to visit the site of Fort Harrison that even- ing,- so as to leave in the morning, I immediately sought a gentleman in the village to whom I had a letter of introduction. The town was almost depopulated by the attractions of a county fair in its neighborhood. The- afternoon was so pleasant that •men, women, and children had all gone to the exhibition, and not a vehicle of any kind could be found to convey me to the fort, over two miles distant. After wasting more than an hour in fruitless attempts to procure one, I fell back on my unfailing reserve, and started off on foot. It was twilight when I reached the spot — twilight too dim to make a sketch of the locality. The old sycamore and elm trees that were there in their early maturity when the fort was built yet stand along the bank be- tween the canal and the ruin, and on the western shore of the Wabash opposite may still be seen the fine old timber upon the low and frequently-overflowed bottom ; but nothing of the fort remained excepting the logs of one of the block-houses, which then (1860) formed the dwelling of Cornelius Smock within the area of the old stock- ade. I had the good-fortune to meet an old man (in my haste I forgot to inquire his name), when near the site of the fort, who was there in 1813, soon after Captain Tay- lor's defense of it. He pointed out the exact locality, and gave me such a minute description of the structure, that I made a rough outline of it on the spot, a finished copy of which is seen in the picture. He pronounced it perfect according to his rec- ollection. Its truthfiilness was confirmed on my return to the Terre Haute House by a picture, made in like manner a few years ago from the recollections of old peo- ple, and lithographed. \ It was placed in my hands by Mr. Ralston, of the gas- works ; and I was surprised to find such a perfect agree- ment, even in detail. I have no doubt the engraving here ■ ,„,„ given is a truthful representation of Fort Harrison and its surroundmgs m 1813. I left Terre Haute for Crawfordsville, Indiana, at three o'clock m the . September 27, morning,^ checking my luggage (as I thought) to the Junction near ^^- Greencastle,the capital of Putnam County, where the Louisville New Albany, and Chicago Eailway crosses that of the Terre Haute and Richmond. _ By mistake my trunk was checked for Philadelphia, and was not left at the Junction. I found the telegraph •operator in his bed half a mile from the station but he could not send a message with effect before seven o'clock, at which time my luggage would be beyond Indianapolis, making its way toward Philadelphia at the rate of twenty-five miles an hour The winged electricity was more fleet than the harnessed steam. It headed the fugitive at Richmond, a hundred miles distant, and at two o'clock m the after- noon, it was brought back a prisoner to Greencastle Station, much to my relief I -^ 1 Published by Modesitt and Eager in the year 1848. POET HASEISON. 198 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK GreeEcastle and CrawfordsviUe. A Visit to the Foan der of Crawfordsville. Two of Wayne's Soldiera. think I never saw so much beauty in an old black leather trunk before nor since. Meanwhile I had pretty thoroughly explored Greencastle, chiefly before daylight, when trying to find my way back to the station from the telegraphist's lodgings. Every street appeared to end^at a vacant lot. At length, just at dawn, I received directions from an Irishman, with an axe on his shoulder, more explicit than clear. " Is it the dapo' you want ?" he inquired. " Yes." " Will, thin," he said, " jist turn down to the lift of the Prisbytarian Church that's not finished, and go by the way of the church that m. finished; turn right and lift as'many times as ye plaze,and bedad ye'll be there." Perfectly satisfied I walked on, found the station by accident, wait- ed patiently for, the telegraphist, and then went to the village, half a mile distant, to breakfast. Greencastle is pleasantly situated upon a high table-land, sloping every way, about a mile east of the Walnut Fork of the Eel Kun, and then contained between two thousand and three thousand inhabitants. I remained there until three o'clock in the afternoon, when I left for Crawfordsville, twenty-eight miles northward, where I met my family and remained a few days, the guest of the Honorable (afterward Ma- jor General) Lewis Wallace, the gallant commander first of the celebrated Eleventh Indiana Regiment in Western Virginia, and afterward of loyal brigades and di- visions in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Northern Mississippi, in the late Civil War.' There I met the Honorable > since 1833, and for fifteen Isaac Naylor, who was with ^ /p^ V^I^^V~) l^^"^^ ^^^ Judge of the Cir- Harrison at the battle of c^ xy/'^^k^'^^Cy^/^^Q^ cuit Court. From him I Tippecanoe. He had been ^ '^2^7 obtained much valuable ih- a resident of Crawfordsville formation concerning the in- cidents of the battle of Tippecanoe and the preceding march of the army from Vin- cennes.^ I also visited, at Crawfordsville, the late venerable Major Ambrose Whitlock, one of the last survivors of General Wayne's army in the Northwest. He was first under the immediate command of Hamtramck, and afterward served as aid to Wayne, and became lieutenant in the company of which Harrison was captain. Major Whitlock was the founder of Crawfordsville. He was at the head of the Land-office in Indiana, as receiver of the public moneys of the United States', for eight years. William H. Crawford, Monroe's Secretary of the Treasury, appointed him to that station. The office was at Terre Haute. It was finally determined to establish an office in another part of the Territory for the convenience of the settlers, and the selection of the lo- cality was left to the judgment of Major Whitlock. He found in the wilderness near Sugar Creek, in a thickly-wooded dell, a spring of excellent water, and resolved to establish the ne\)j| Land-oflSce near that desirable fountain. Settlers came. He laid out a village, and named it Crawfordsville, in honor of his friend of the Treasury De- partment. He resided there ever afterward. His house was upon a gentle eminence eastward of the railway, and the wooded dell and the ever-flowing spring of sweet water formed a part of his premises on the eastern borders of the village. Major Whit- lock^ was ninety-one' years of age at the time of my visit, yet his mental faculties 1 For an account of General Wallace's military services, see Lossing's Pictorial History of the Civil War. "> Judge Naylor was bom in Kockingham County, Virginia, on the 30th of July, 1790, and at the age of three years was taken by his family to a settlement near Euddle's Station, Bourbon County, Kentucky. He removed to Clarke County, Indiana, in 1805, and in 1810 made a voyage to New Orleans on a flat-boat. He repeated it next year,'and soon after his return, and while preparing for college, he joined Harrison's army at Vincennes as a volunteer in Captain James Big- ger's company. He assisted in the construction of Fort Harrison, participated in the battle of Tippecanoe soon after- ward, and, at different times during the war with Great Britain that ensued, served as a volunteer, but was not in any other battle. In 1860 he was elected Judge of the Common Pleas of Montgomery County. ' Ambrose Whitlock was bom at Bowling Green, Caroline County, Virginia, on the 25th of April, 1769. At an early age he went to Kentucky. He enlisted in Wayne's army, and was with him throughout his Indian campaigns. At one time he was his aid. He was five years in garrison at Fort Washington (Cincinnati) as sergeant. President Adams commissioned him lieutenant in 1800. In 1802 he was appointed assistant military agent at Vincennes, and also assistant paymaster. He became district paymaster in 1805, a first lieutenant in the regular army In 1807, and a captain in 1812. OF THE WAR OF 1812. I99 Journey from CrawfordsTille to Lafayette. Political Excitement at Lafa yette. Political PartieB at that Time. were quite vigorous. Unlike many sol- diers of the past, a large portion of his life was blessed with an affluence of health and fortune. On the evening of a sultry day, the last one of September, we left Crawfordsville for Lafayette, Indiana, twenty-eight miles northward, with the intention of visiting the Tippecanoe battle-ground the next morning. The country through which we passed for the first few miles was hilly, and heavily timbered, and the foliage was be- ginning to assume the gorgeoxxs hues of autumn. It was the first evidence we had seen of the actual departure of summer, for nearly all September had been more like August in temperature, than itself We soon reached a small prairie, the first we had seen, and at eight o'clock arrived at Lafayette. The town, containing full ten thousand inhabitants, was all alive with political excitement, the " Douglas Democrats" and the " Republicans'" both holding public meetings there. The former, convened at a hotel, was addressed by Herschel V. Johnson, of Georgia, the " Douglas" candidate for the Vice-Presidency of the Ilnited States ; the latter, held in the court-house, was addressed by Mr. Howard, member of Congress from Michigan, whom I had met a few days before at the table of Senator Lane, of Crawfordsville. Torch-light processions of the " "Wide-awakes" and the " Little Giants"^ followed the speeches ; and as they marched and countermarched in the same streets at the same time, they became so entangled to the eye of the specta- tor that it was difficult for a partisan to recognize his own political representative in the moving illumination. This was followed by drum-beatings and huzzas, which were kept up until midnight. -<7%€t^c4 He relinqnisbed his rank in the line in June, IS14, and in May, 1S15, was appointed deputy paymaster general of the dis- trict composed of Kentucky, Illinois, and Indiana. He was disbanded in 1816, having served in the army twenty-three years and a half, and attained to the rank of major. He was never in military service afterward. After serving eight years as receiver of the public moneys in Indiana, he was dismissed by General Jackson to make room for some one else. It is supposed that not half a dozen soldiers of Wayne's army now (1867) survive. In the possession of Mr. Dil- lon at Indianapolis I saw a dagneiijfotype of Martin Huckleberry, one of Wayne's array, then (September, 1860) just taken from life ; and in Bangor, Maine, I saw in November, 1860, Henry Van Meter, a colored man, over ninety years of age, who was also (n "Mad Anthony's" army. I am indebted to General Wallace for the portrait of Major Whitlock, from which this engraving was made. It was taken when he was in his ninety-flrst year. He died at his residence in Craw- fordsville on the 26th of June, 1863, when over ninety-four years of age. ' There was a schism in the great Democratic party, so-called, in the spring of 1860, when one portion nominated Ste- phen A. Douglas, of Illinois, for the Presidency, and were called the " Douglas Democrats," and the other portion nom- inated John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, then the Vice-President of the United States, and were known as the "Breckinridge Democrats." Opposed to the entire Democratic party was the Republican, a political organization of a few years' standing, composed of men of all the old parties, whose leading distinctive object was the prevention of the extension of slavery beyond the states and Territories in which it already existed. This party had nominated Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, for President. A fourth party, professedly conservative, and calling themselves the Union party, nominated John Bell, of Tennessee, for President, and Edward Everett, of Massachusetts, for Vice-President. They were frequently called the Bell-Everett party. At the election in November, 1860, these four candidates were supported by their respective friends. Mr. Lincoln was elected. Mr. Douglas died in the city of Chicago early in the following Jvfie. Mr. Bell had already declared his affiliation with rebels in arms against the government ; while Mr. Breckin- ridge, a lately-chosen senator from Kentucky, only waited for the close of the extraordinary session of Congress, held in July, and the payment of his salary from the Treasury of the United States, to openly declare himself an enemy to that country, and become a traitor by taking up arms to overthrow the government. = Eepnblican associations, pledged to the support of the candidates of that party, werfe formed all over the free-labor states in 1860. They wore round capes, and oftentimes lights on their hats, and assumed the name of "Wide-awakes." They formed the staple of Republican torch-light processions in the autumn of 1860. Mr. Douglas was a short, powerful man. In allusion to his mental strength and shortness in stature, he was called by his admirers the Little Giant. The young men of his party formed associations like the " Wide-awakes," called themselves " Little Giants," and formed the staple of the torch-light processions of the Douglas party in the autumn of 1860. 200 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Indian Portraits. Jonmey to the Battle-groiind of Tippecanoe. Harrison's Marcli up tlie Wabash Valley. At Lafayette I met Mr. George Winter, an English artist who has resided many years in Indiana, and had-the pleasure of inspecting his fine collection of Indian por- traits and scenes painted by him from nature. His collection possesses much histor- ical and ethnological value, and ought to be in the possession of some institution where it might be preserved and the individuals never separated. He was intimate- ly acquainted with many of the characters whose features he has delineated, and he has collected stores of anecdotes and traditions of the aboriginals of the Northwest. The memory of Mr. Winter's kind attentions while we were in Lafayette is very pleasant. The first day of October dawned brightly, and the temperature of the air was like that of early June. Before sunrise we visited the artesian well of sulphur-water in the public square, the result of a deep search for pure water. A neat pavilion covers it ; cups are furnished for the thirsty, and not far off are baths of it for invalids and others. At an early hour we departed for the battle-ground of Tippecanoe, seven miles northward. We passed over a level and pleasant country most of the way, crossing the railway several times. Within three miles of the battle-ground we crossed the Wabash on ai cable-bateau,^ and watched with interest the perilous fording of the stream just above, near the railway bridge, by a man and woman in a light wagon. Twice they came near being submerged in deep channels, but finally reached the shoro with only wet feet. The man saved the It r- riage fee of twelve cents. We arrived at the Battle-ground House .i1 ten o'clock, passing the scene of the contlji-l just before reaching it. Resting in the lool shadows of the stately trees that still 0()\ cr the spot, let us turn to the chronicle of I lie Past and study the events which have madi- this gentle elevation, overlooking a "wet pi.ii- rie," classic ground. Fort Harrison, as we have seen, was com- pleted on the 28th of October. It was u.ii- risoned by a small detachment under LieuU'ii- ant-colonel Miller — the "I'll try, sir!" hero nl the battle of Niagara, three years later. Ihe main body of the army moved forward the a October 29 i^^^i day," and on. the 31st, SQon 1811- after passing the Big Raccoon Creek, crossed to the western side of the Wabash, near the site of the present village of Montezuma, in Parke County.^ There the troops were joined by some of the Kentucky volunteers, under Wells, Owen, and Geiger.^ Harrison was commander-in-chief by virtue of his office as gov- V.: ^ 1 These were large flat-boats for conveying passengers, teams, and freight. They are pushed across by poles at low water, and at high water are secured and assisted in the passage by a huge cable stretched from shore to shore. 2 Dillon's Hiattyry of Indiana, page 462. 3 Having been informed that the Indians were more numerous in his front than he had anticipated, Governor Harri- son had sent Colonel Daviess and one or two others to Kentucky to apply for a re-enforcement of five hundred men. Brigadier General Wells immediately ordered out his brigade and beat up for volunteers. The privates hanging back Wells and several of his officers stepped out, and beingjoined by some of the file, the volunteers mustered thirty-two men. They elected Colonel F. Geiger as their captain. The reluctance of the men to turn out was owing in part to their scruples, the brigade having been ordered out without orders from the Governor of Kentucky. The governor be- ing at Frankfort, there was no time to consult him Funk's Ifarratwe. • OF THE WAR OF 1812. 201 First Appearance of hostile Indians. The Prophet's Town approaehed. The Indians alarmed. ernor of the Territory, and Boyd was his next in command. The whole force con- sisted of nine hundred and ten men, and was composed of two hundred and fifty regulars uiider Boyd, sixty volunteers from Kentucky, and six hundred Indiana mili- tia. The mounted men, consisting of dragoons and riflemen, amounted to about two hundred and seventy. The command of the dragoons was given to Colonel Daviess, and of the riflemen to General Wells, both having the relative rank of major. The army was near the Vermilion River on the 2d of November, and there, on the western bank of the Wabash, built a block-house twenty-five feet square, in which eight men were placed, to protect the boats employed in bringing up provisions for the army. On the following day* the army moved forward, and on the . NoTemijer s, 5th encamped within eleven miles of the Prophet's town. Harrison had i^^^- been careful, on the preceding day, to avoid the dangerous passes of Pine Creek, whose banks, for fifteen or twenty miles from its mouth, were immense cliffs of rock, where a few men might dispute the passage of large numbers.^ From their encampment on the 5th, looking northward, stretched an immense prai- rie, extending far beyond the limits of vision. It reached to the Illinois at Chicago, the guides asserted. It filled the troops, who had never been on the northwest side of the Wabash, with the greatest astonishment ; but their attention was soon drawn from the contemplation of nature to watchfulness against the wiles of their own spe- cies. Until now they had seen no Indians, though often discovering their trails. On the following day," when within five or six miles of the Prophet's town, ^ j^^^g^^^g^ ^ they were seen hovering around the army on every side. The approach of the troops had become known to the Prophet, and his scouts, numerous and saga- cious, watched every step of the invaders. Great caution was now necessary, and the same order of march which Harrison, as Wayne's aid, had planned for that gen- eral in 1794,2 he now adopted. The infantry marched in two Columns on both sides of the path, and the dragoons and mounted riflemen in front, rear, and on the flanks. To facilitate the march, and keep the troops in position for a quick and precise forma- tion into battle order in the event of an ambuscade, they were broken into short col- umns of companies. They had now left the open prairie, and were marching most of the time through open woods, the ground furrowed by ravines. Parties of In- dians were continually making their appearance, and Barron and other interpreters tried, but in vain, to speak to their leaders. Finally, when within a mile and a half of the Prophet's town, Toussaint Dubois, of Vincennes, offered to take a message to the mongrel warrior-pontiff. The menaces of the savages were so alarming that he soon turned back, and the army pressed forward toward the Tippecanoe. The alarmed savages now asked for a parley. It was granted. They assured Har- rison that the Prophet had sent back a friendly message by the Delaware and Miami couriers, but that they had gone down the eastern bank, and missed him on his march. They were surprised at his coming so soon, and hoped he would not disturb and fright- en their women and children by occupying their town. Harrison assu4-ed them that he was ready to have a friendly talk with them, and desired a good place for an en- campment They pointed to a Suitable spot back from the Wabash, on the borders of a creek less than a mile northwest from the Prophet's town. Two ofiicers (Majors Taylor and Clarke) were sent with Quarter-master Piatt to examine it, They report- ed that the situation was excellent. Harrison then parted with the chiefs who had come out to meet him, after an interchange of promises that no hostilities should be commenced until an interview should be held the followmg day. "I found the ground destined for the encampment," Harrison wrote, "not altogether such as I could wish .It.ashelieved1.at.eln^^^^^^^^^^ ^fhTslS ^-nMrthfve^S Kiver, to ma.e=a diversion in favor of General Harn^ar's expe^Uion^on^he Manmee. 202 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK- Harrison's Encampment on the Tippecanoe Battle-ground. Its Arrangement and Composition. it. It was, indeed, admirably calculated for the encampment of regular troops that were opposed to regulars, but it afforded great facility to the approach of savages. It was a piece of dry oak land, rising about ten feet above the level of a marshy prair rie in front (toward the Prophet's town), and nearly twice that height above a simi- lar prairie in the rear, through which, and near to this bank, ran a small stream clothed with willows and other brushwood. Toward the left flank this bench of land widened considerably, but became gradually narrower in the opposite direction, and at the dis- tance of one hundred and fifty yards from the right flank terminated in an abrupt point.'" No doubt the wily savages recommended this position that they might employ their peculiar mode of warfare advantageously. The above is a good description of the locality as it appeared when I visited itf in the autumn of 1 860. It was still covered with the same oaks ; on " the front," toward Wabash and Tippecanoe Creek, stretched the same " wet" or frequently overflowed prairie ; in " the rear" was the same higher bank, and prairie, and Burnet's Creek ; and at the " abrupt point" the Louisville, New Albany, and Chicago Eailway strikes the " bench of .land," and runs parallel with the common wagon-road along the bank over- looking the " wet prairie." In the annexed sketch, taken from " the alirupt point," looking northeast over the camp-ground, is seen the southern portion of the inclosure of the battle-field, near which Spencer's rifle- men were posted, indi- cated on the plan of the encampment on page 205. The horse- man denotes the direc- tion of the wet prairie toward the Prophet's town, and the steep bank seen on the left of the picture has Bur- net's Creek flowing at its base, and was still "clothed with wil- lows," shrubbery, and vines. Harrison arranged his camp with care on the afternoon of the 6th of November, in the form of an irregular parallelogram, on account of the slope of the ground. On the front was a b&ttalion of United States infantry, under Major George Rogers Clarke FIoyd,2 flanked on the left by one company, and on the right by two companies of In- diana militia, under Colonel Joseph Bartholomew.' 'In the rear was a battalion of United States infantry, under Captain William C. Baen," acting as major, with Cap- tain Robert C. Barton,« of the regulars, in immediate cojnmand. These were support- ed on the right by four companies of Indiana militia, led respectively by Captains VIEW AT TIl'PEOiNOE JJATTLE-GKOUMD. » Harrison's dispatch to the Secretary of War from Vincennes, November 18, 1811 ' Was appointed Captain of the Seventh Infantry in 1808, and Major of the Fourth Infantry in 1810 In August 1S12 he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of Seventh Infantry, and resigned in April, 1813. ^ ' ' jor oLraron^etl^^^a'TSo^'irAr''"'""'^"^ ^ thettHf Novemherisn*" ^°""' ""^"''^ '° ^^^' ^°* ^''* °'"' ''™°*° ™°''™* *° '"" *""'" "^ Tippecanoe en ' First Lieutenant in Fourth Infantry in 1S08, promoted to captain in 1809, and resigned in September, 1812. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 203 Harrison's Instmctions. . The Camp in Repose. The India nB in Commotion. The Prophet's Treachery. Josiah Snelling, Jr.,i John Posey, Thomas Scott, and Jacob Warrick, the whole com- manded by Lieutenant Colonel Luke Decker. The right flank, eighty yards wide, was filled with mounted riflemen, under Captain Spear Spencer. The left, about one hund- red and fifty yards in extent, was composed of mounted riflemen, under Major Gen- eral Samuel Wells,^ commanding as major, and led by Colonels Frederic!^ Geiger^ and David Robb, as captains. Two troops of dragoons, under Colonel Joseph H. Da- viess, acting as major, were stationed in the rear of the front line near the left flank ; and at a right angle with these companies, in the rear of the left flank, was a troop of cavalry as a reserve, under Captain Benjamin Parke.* Wagons, baggage, officers' tents, etc., were in the centre. Having completed the arrangement of his camp and supped, Harrison summoned the field-officers to his tent by a signal, and gave them instructions. He ordered that each corps that formed the exterior line of the camp should hold its ground, in case of an attack, until relieved. In the event of a night attack, the cavalry were to pa- rade dismounted, with their pistols in their belts, and act as a corps de reserve. Two captains' guards, of forty-two privates each, and two subalterns', of twenty each, were detailed to defend the catop. The whole were commanded by the field-officer of the day. Thus prepared, the whole camp, except the sentinels and guards, were soon soundly sleeping. There was a slight drizzle of rain at intei-vals, and the darkness was intense, except occasionally when the clouds parted and faint moonlight came through. Quite difierent was the condition of affairs in the Indian camp. There was no sleep there. Both parties had agreed to parley before fighting, and there should have been no excitement ; but the dusky foe of the white man had no respect for truces. The unprincipled Prophet, surrounded by his dupes, pi-epared for treachery and murder as soon as the curtain of night had fallen upon the land.^ He brought out the Magic Bowl. In one hand he held the sacred torch, or " Medean fire," in the other a string of beans which he called holy, and were accounted to be miraculous in their effect when touched. His followers were all required to touch this talisman and be made invulnerable, and then to take an oath to exterminate the pale-fades. When this was accomplished, the Prophet went through a long series of incantations and mystical movements ; then turning to his highly-excited band, about seven hundred in num- ber, he told them that the time to attack the white men had come. " They are in your power," he said, holding up the holy beans as a reminder of their oath. "They sleep now, and will never awake. The Great Spirit will give light to us, and dark- ness to the white men. Their bullets shall not harm us ; your weapons shall be al- 1 First Lieutenant in Fonrth Infantry in 1808, regimental paymaster in April, 1809, and promoted to captain in June the same year. He was breveted a major for gallantry at Browns- town, in Angnst, 1812. In April, 1813, was appointed assistant inspector general, with the rank of major, and in February, 18U, was commissioned Lieutenant Colonel of the Fourth Eeg- imbnt of Eiflemen. In April he received the commission of inspector general, with the rank of colonel. He was distin- guished atXyon's Creek, on the Chippewa, under General Bis- seii ; and when the army was placed on a peace footing in 1816 he was retained as Lieutenant Colonel of the Sixth Infantry. He was promotod to Colonel of the Fifth in 1819. He died at Washington City on the 20th of August, 1828. 2 He was a major in Adair's battalion of mounted riflemen, General Charies Scott's division of Kentucky \ olunteers, in 1793. He was afterward made Major General of the Kentucky Militia. He was appointed Colonel of the Seventeenth Eegiment of Infantry in Matfib, 1812, and was disbanded in May, 1814. ^ 3 He afterward commanded a company of Louisville Volunteers under M^or General Harrison. 4 Parke was promoted to major on this field of action by Governor Harrison for his gallant conduct. His company was discharged in November, 1812. „ . , »., , ^ ^,, .. 5 It is believed that the treachery of the Indians did not take the shape of an attack on Harrison s camp until late that evening it having been primarily arranged that they should meet the governor in council, and appear to agree to his terms At the close the chiefs were to retire to their warriors, when two Winnebagoes, selected for the purpose, were to kill' the governor, and give the signal for the uprising of the Indians.-See Iniian Biography, by Samuel G. Drake, 1832 ; 12mo, page 33T. 204 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Purioua Attack on Harrison's Camp. Good Behavior of raw Troops. Gallantry of M^or Daviess. ways fatal." Then followed war-songs and dances, until the Indians, wrought up to a perfect frenzy, rushed forth to attack Harrison's camp without any leaders, btealth- ily they crept through the long grass of the prairie in the deep gloom, intending to surround their enemy's position, kill the sentinels, rush into the camp, and massacre all ^ Harrison was in the habit of rising at four o'clock in the morning, calling his troops to arms, and keeping them so until broad daylight. On the morning of the 7th ot November he was just pulling on his boots at the usual hour, when a smgle gun was fired by a sentinel at the northwest angle of the camp, near the bank of Bumet s Creek This was instantly followed by the horrid yells of numerous savages m that quarter, .who opened a murderous fire upon the companies of Baen and G«iger that formed that angle. The foe had been creeping up stealthily to tomahawk the senti- nels, but the sharp eyes of .one of them had detected the moving savage in the gloom, and fired upon him with fatal efiect.^ Their assault was furious, and in their frenzy several Indians penetrated through the lines, but never to return. The whole camp was soon awakened by demon yells and a cry to arms, and the officers, with all possible speed and precision, in the faint light of smouldering fires, placed their men in battle order. These fires were then extinguished, for they were more useful to the assailants than to the assailed. Nineteen twentieths of the troops had never been in battle; yet, considering tbe alarming circumstances of the attack, their conduct was cool and gallant, and very little noise or confusion followed such a sudden awaking from sleep and call to defend life. The most of them were in line before they were fired upon, but some were compelled to fight defensively at the doors of their tents. Harrison called for his horse— a fine white charger— but in afiright the animal had pulled up the stake that held his tether, and could not be found. The governor im- mediately mounted a fine bay horse that stood snorting near, and with his aid, Colo- nel Owen, hastened to the angle of the camp where the attack was first made.^ He found that Barton's company had sufiefed severely, and the left of Geiger's was en- tirely broken. He immediately ordered Cook's company and that of the late Captain Wentworth, under Lieutenant Peters, to be brought up from the centre of the rear line, where the ground was much more defensible, and form across the angle in sup- port of Barton and Geiger. At that moment the governor's attention was directed to firing at the northeast angle of the camp, where a small company of United States riflemen, armed with muskets, and the companies of Baen, Snelling, and Prescott, of the Fourth Regiment, were stationed. There he found Major Daviess forming the dragoons in the rear of those companies. Observing heavy firing from some trees about twenty paces in front of them, he directed the major to dislodge them with a part of his dragoons. " Unfortunately," says Harrison in his dispatch to the Secre- tary of War, " the major's gallantry determined him to execute the order witli a smaller force than was sufficient, which enabled the enemy to avoid him in front and 1 Daring the night a negro camp follower who had been missed from duty was found lurking near the governor's marquee, and arrested. He was tried after the battle by a drum-head court-martial, and was convicted of having de- serted to the enemy, and returned for the purpose of murdering the governor. He was sentenced to be hnng immedi- ately, but was saved in consequence of the kindness of heart of the governor. His imploring eyes touched Harrison's tender feelings, and he referred the matter to the commissioned officers present. Some were for his immediate execu- tion, when Snelling said, " Brave comrades, let us save him. The wretch deserves to die ; but as our commander, whose life was more particularly his object, is willing to spare him, let us also forgive him. I hope, at least, that every officer of the Fourth Regiment will be on the side of mercy." Ben was saved.— Harrison's letter to Governor Scott, of Ken- tucky, cited by Hall, page 149. Captain Funk, in his narrative, says the negro was the driver of Governor Harrison's cart, and that he informed the Indians that the white people had no cannon with them. Cannon were the dread of the savages. Doubtless this infoi-mation caused a change in the policy mentioned in note 5, page 203, and caused the sav- ages to conclude to attack the pale-faces. ' Judge Naylor, of Crawfordsville, already mentioned as a participant in the battle, informed me that the name of the sentinel who first fired and gave the alarm was Stephen Mare, of Kentucky. He fired, and fled to the camp, but was shot before reaching it. ' a statement of Judge Naylor. Captain Funk says that Harrison's own white horse was ridden by Major Taylor, the generaVs aid, against his wishes. OF THE WAR OF 1812. Battle of Tippecanoe. 205 The Severity of the Battle. Death of Major Daviess. attack him on his flanks. The major was mortally wounded,i and his party driven back.. Harrison immediately promoted Captain Parke to Daviess's rank iust as in- telligence was brought to him that Captain Snelling, with his company of regulars had driven the savages from their murderous position with heavy loss. TIPPECANOE The battle now became more general. The Indians attacked the camp on the whole front and both flanks, and a portion of the rear line. They fell with great se- verity upon Spencer's mounted riflemen on the right and the right section of War- rick's company, which formed the southwest angle of the encampment. Spencer and his lieutenant were killed, and Warrick was mortally wounded, and yet their men gallantly maintained their position. They were speedily re-enforced by Robb's rifle- men, who had been driven or ordered by mistake from their position on the left flank toward the centre of the camp, and at the same time Prescott's company of the Fourth Regiment was ordered to fill the space vacated by the riflemen, the grand object being to maintain the lines of the camp unbroken until daylight, when the as- ' The letter B in the plan marks the spot where Daviess fell. It vpas near an oak whose top was blown off in a gale a few years ago. It is seen in the sketch of the battle-gronnd as it appeared in 18G0, printed on page 209. = Daviess was gallant and impatient of restraint. One of his party was General Washington Johns, of Vincennes, a quarter-master of the dragoons, who was intimate with Harrison. Daviess sent him to the governor when the Indians first made the attack at this point, asking permission to go out on foot and charge the foe. "Tell Major Daviess to be patient ; he shall have an honorable station before the battle is over," Harrison replied. In a few moments Daviess repeated the request, and the governor made the same reply. Again he repeated it, when Harrison said, "Tell Major Daviess he has heard my opinion twice ; he may now use his own discretion." The gallant major, with only twenty picked men, instantly charged beyond the lines on foot, and was mortally wounded. He was a conspicuous mark in the gloom, because he wore a white blanket coat.— Statements of Judge Naylor and Captain Funk. The latter says Col- onel Daviess's horse was a roan bought of Frank Moore, of Lonlsville. The Indians were masked by some fallen tim- ber. Captain Punk attended him at about nine o'clock ; assisted in changing his clothes, and dressing his wounds. He was shot between the right hip and ribs, and it was believed that the fatal bullet proceeded from the ranks of his friends firing in the gloom. Daviess was afraid the expedition might be driven away hastily, and leave those wounded behind. He exacted a promise, from Captain Fnnk that in no event would he leave him to fall into the hands of the savages. 206 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Defeat of the Indians. The Prophet In Disgrace. Return of th e Army to Yincennea. sailed would be able to make a general charge upon a visible foe. To do this re- quired great activity on the part^ of the commander. Harrison was constantly rid- ing from point to point within the camp, and kept the assailed positions re-enforced. Finally, when the day dawned, he discovei-ed the larger portion of the Indians to be on the two flanks. He accordingly strengthened these, and was about to order the cavalry, under Parke, to charge upon the foe on the left, when Major Wells, not un- derstanding Harrison's intentions, led the infantry to perform that duty. It was ex- ecuted gallantly and effectually. The Indians were driven at the point of the bay- onet, and the dragoons pursued them into the wet prairies on both sides of the ridge on which the battle was fought. The ground was too soft for the horsemen to pur- sue, and the savages escaped. Meanwhile the Indians had been charged and put to flight on the right flank, and had also taken refuge in the marshy ground, chiefly on the side of Burnet's Creek, where they were sheltered from view.^ Looking eastward from the site of the battle-ground over the " wet- prairie" (now a fenced and cultivated plain) toward the Wabash, the visitor will see a range of very gentle hills, covered with woods. On one of these the Prophet stood while the battle was raging on that dark November morning, at a safe distance from danger, singing a war-song and performing some protracted religious mummeries. When told that his followers were falling before the bullets of the white men, he said, " Fight on, it will soon be as I told you." When at last the fugitive warriors of many tribes — Shawnoese, Wyandots, Kickapoos, Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawatomies, Winnebagoes, Sacs, and a few Miamis — lost their faith, and covered the Prophet with reproaches, he cunningly told them that his predictions had failed because, dur- ing his incantations, his wife touched the sacred vessels and broke the charm ! Even Indian superstition and credulity could not accept that transparent falsehood for an excuse, and the impostor was deserted by his disappointed followers, and compelled to take refuge with a small band of Wyandots on Wild-cat Creek. The foe had scattered in'all directions into places where the white man could not well follow. " Sonnd, sound the charge ! spur, spur the steed, And swift the fugitives pursue : 'Tis vain ; rein in — your utmost speed Could not o'ertake the recreant crew. In lowland marsh, in dell or cave, Each Indian sought his life to save ; Whence peering forth, with fear and ire, Ho saw his Prophet's town on fire." • November 8, When, on the day after the battle,^' Harrison and his army advanced 1^11- upon the Prophet's iown, they found it deserted. After getting all the copper kettles they could find, and as much beans and corn as they could carry away, they applied the torch, and the village and a large quantity of corn were speedily re- duced to ashes. Six days afterward the army, bearing the wounded in twenty-two wagons, reached Fort Harrison on its return to Vincennes. Captain Snelling, with his company of regulars, was left to garrison the fort, and, on the 18th of the month, the remainder of the army, excepting some volunteers disbanded the day before, were at Fort Knox, in the capital, of the Indiana Territory. The immediate result of the expedition was to scatter the Prophet's warriors on the Wabash, frustrate the scheme of Tecumtha, and give temporary relief to the settlers in Indiana. Tecumtha, who was really a great man (while the Prophet was a cunning dema- gogue and cheat — a tool in the hands of his brother), was absent among the South- 1 Harrison's dispatch to Dr. Eustis, Secretary of War, November 18, 1811 ; M'Afee's Histm-n of the Late War in the West- ern Country, pages 22-30 ; Onderdonk's MS. Life of Tecumsah ; Drake's Indian Biography ; HalVs Ufa of Harrison, pages 132-140 ; Dillon's History of Indiana, pages 447-472 ; statements to the author by Judge Naylor, of Crawfordsville, In- diana, and Major Funk, of Kentucky. The 7th was passed in burying the dead and strengthening the encampment, for rumors were plenty that Tecumtha was coming to the aid of his brother with a thousand warriors. "Night," says Captain Funk, "found every man mounting guard, without food, Are, or light, and in a drizzly rain. The Indian dogs, during the dark hours, produced fregnent alarms by prowling in search of carrion about the sentinels." OF THE WAR OF 1812. 207 Tecamtha disappointed. Eeci-niting-tou r of the Prophet. Life and Character of Major Daviess. era Indians when the battle of Tippecanoe occurred. He returned soon afterward, and found all his schemes frustrated by the folly of the Prophet. The sudden un- popularity of the impostor deprived him of a strong instrument in the construction of his confederacy, to which his life and labors had been long directed with the zeal of a true patriot. He saw his brightest visions dissipated in a moment. Mortified, vexed, and exasperated, and failing to obtain the acquiescence of Governor Harrison in his proposition to visit the President with a deputation of chiefs, he abandoned all thoughts of peace, and became a firm ally of the British, i In the battle of Tippecanoe Harrison lost, in killed and wounded, one hundred and eighty-eight.2 It was a hard-fought and well-fought battle, and attested both the skill and bravery of Harrison. ^ The expediency and conduct of the campaign were topics for much discussion, and elicited not a little severity of censure from the op- ponents of the administration and of war. Harrison was a personal and political friend of President Madison, and this gave license to the opposition to make him a target for denunciatory volleys. His prudence, his patriotism, his military skill, his courage, were all brought in question ; and some claimed the chaplet of fame for the victory gained, for the brow of Colonel Boyd.* But time, the great healer of dissen- 1 Blkswatawa (the Prophet) now started on a recruiting-tour among the various tribes on the Upper Lakes and Mis- sissippi, all of which he visited with astonishing success. He entered the villages of his most inveterate enemies, and of others who had not even heard his name, and so manceuvred as to make his mystery-fire and sacred string of beans a safe passport through all their settlements. He enlisted some eight or ten thousand warriors to flght the battles of his brother. He carried into every wigwam an image of a dead person the size of life, which was ingeniously made of some light material, and k«pt concealed under bandages of thin white muslin, and not to be opened to public scrutiny. Of this he made great mystery, and got his recruits to swear by touching the string of white beans attached to its neck. By his extraordinary cunning he carried terror wherever he went. If they did not obey him he threatened to make the earth tremble to its centre and darken the light of the sun. Nature seemed to conspire with the Prophet, for at this very time an earthquake extended along the Mississippi, demolishing houses and settling the ground. A comet, too, appeared in the north with fearful length of tail, and seemed a harbinger to the fulfillment of the predictions of the Proph- et. The sun was eclipsed, to the great terror of the savages, but, as the Prophet declared, it resumed its wonted bright- ness because of his intercession. But while in the full tide of success,' two rival chiefs of his own tribe dogged the foot- steps of the Prophet, denounced him as an impostor, and exposed his tricks.— Onderdonk's MS. lAfe ofTecumseh. 2 He lost, in killed and wounded, ten oflicers, namely, one aid-de-camp, one major, three captains, two subalterns, one sergeant, and two corporals. Judge Naylor told me that the sergeant and himself were asleep at the same fire when the attack commenced, and that a bullet from an Indian's musket killed him as he was springing to his feet. Colonel Abraham Owen, Harrison's aid-de-camp, was killed early in the engagement, when he and the governor rode to the point of first attack. Letter A in the plan on page 205 marks the spot where he fell. He rode a white horse, and this made him a mark for the Indians. The enemies of Harrison afterward asserted that the latter, to conceal himself, had ex- changed horses with Owen. The fact was as I have stated — his own horse had scampered away in a fright, and he had mounted the first one near, which happened to be a dark-colored one. The horse Owen rode was his own. That offi- cer had joined him as a private of Geiger's company, and had been accepted as his volunteer aid. He was a good citi- zen and a brave soldier, and had been a member of the Kentucky Legislature. Among the mortally wounded, and who died before Harrison made his report, was Major Daviess, and Captains Baen and Warrick. Daviess, commonly called "Joe Daviess," was the most brilliant man in that little army, and was as brave as he was <)rilliant. He was a Virginian by birth, and at the time of his death was only thirty-seven years of age. He took a leading part against Aaron Burr in the West in 1806. Previous to that he had been a successful opponent of the Nicholases in political movements, they being Eepnblicans and he a Federalist. He was a great student, very ab- stemious, used a hewn block for a pillow, and a bed nearly as hard. His oratory was powerful, and Wilson C. Nicholas, the leader of that art in "Kentucky at the close of the last century, was often compelled to bend to his young rival. Al- luding to this power, a Tennessee poet (Robert Mack) wrote as follows, in a rhyming eulogy, after his death : " Emerging from his studious shed, Behold, behold him rise 1 All Henry bursting from his tongue, And Marshall from his eyes. Chained by the magic of his voice, • Fierce- party spirit stood; E'en prejudice almost gave way. While with resistless reasoning's sway O'er far-famed Nicholas he rolled The oratorial flood." In ISM '02 Mr Daviess went to Washington City on professional business, and was the first Western lawyer who ever apneared'in the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. Jefferson made him Attorney of the United States for the District of Kentucky He married a sister of Chief Justice Marshall, and always held a front rank m his profession. Daviess County, Kentucky, was named in his honor. He was wounded at about five o'clock in the morning of the 7th of November and survived until one o'clock in the afternoon of the same day. He was nearly six feet high, vigorous and athletic. He was bom in Bedford County, Virginia, on the 4th of March, ITM. ^ ,., v . ,, ■ 3 Harrison was continually exposed during the action, but escaped unhurt. A bullet passed through his hat. Mfyor HeniT Hnrst, who was one of his aids-de-camp (and an active one) m this battle, and was the only lawyer who resided in Indiana while it was a Territory, died at Jeffersonville, on the Ohio, opposite Louisville, where he had lived forty years, on the Ist of January, 1855, in the eighty-fifth year of hij age. ,,,„,.,,...,,, » In his dispatch to the Secretary of War, Harrison said of Colonel Boyd : " The whoie of tl^e mfantry formed a email 208 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Harrison and the Tippecanoe Battle. Tlie Battle-ground. A solemn Memorial Poem. sions, corrector of errors, and destroyer of party and personal animosities, has long since silenced the voice of detraction ; and the verdict of his countrymen to-day, as they study the record dispassionately, is coincident with that of his soldiers at the , time, and of the Kentucky Legislature shortly afterward,: who, on motion of the late venerahle member of Congress, John J., Crittenden, resolved, "That in the late campaign against the Indians on the "Wabash, Governor W. H. Harrison has, in the opinion of this , Legislature, behaved like a hero, a patriot, and a general ; and that for his cool, deliberate, skillful, and gallant conduct in the late battle of Tippecanoe, he deserves the warinest thanks of the nation." History, art, and song^ made that event the theme for pen, pencil, and voice ; and when, thirty years afterward, the leader of the fray was a candidate for the Presidency of the United States, he was every where, known by the familiar title of Old Tippecanoe. His partisans erected log-cabins in towns and cities, and ia them sang in chorus, "Hurrah for the father of all the green Westj For the Buckeye who follows the plow I The foemen in terror his valor confessed; And we'll honor the conqueror now. His country assailed -in the darkest of days, To her rescue impatient he flew ; The war-whoop's fell blast, and the rifle's red blaze, But awakened Old Tippecanoe." The battle-field of Tippecanoe has become classic ground. It belonged to the State of Indiana, and had been inclosed with a rude wooden fence for. several years, which, we were told, was soon to give place to an iron one. The inclosure comprised seven acres. It was a beautiful spot. The ground, gently undulating, and sloping from Battle-ground City^ (an infant in years and size), was still covered with the noble oaks. In the sketch here given, made when I visited it in October, 1860, the specta- tor is supposed to be standing just northward of the place where Major Wells's line, on the left flank, was formed (see a plan of the camp on page 205), and looking south- west over the once wet prairie toward the Wabash. On the extreme left, in the dis- tance, is seen the gentle eminence on which the Prophet stood during the battle, sing- ing his war-songs. Farther to the right, near the roW of posts, is a large tree with the top broken off. It marks the spot near which Daviess fell. There is only space enough between it and the verge of the prairie below for the common road and the railway. brigade, under the immediate orders of Colonel Boyd. The colonel throughout the action manifested equal zeal and bravery in carrying into execution my orders, in keeping the men to their posts, and exhorting them to flght with valor." Judge Naylor informed me that he heard Colonel Boyd frequently cry out, " Huzzah ! my sons of gold, the day is ours 1" ^ 1 Among the many " verses composed on the occasion of the battle of Tippecanoe," none were more popular in the West, for a long time, than a string of solemn doggerel, printed on a small broadside of rough paper, at Frankfort, Kentucky. A copy lies before me. It is entitled, "A Bloody Battle between the United States Troops, under the command of Governor Harri- son, and several Tribes of Indians, near the Prophet's Town, November 7, ISll." At the head is a rude wood-cut, evidently made by an amateur for some other scene, for a camp exhibits two cannon. A little distance off are seen three Indians. I give' a fac-eimile of this remarkable " illustration" (of reduced size), as a specimen of the art in the West at that time. The following specimen of the "poetry" shows a " fitness of things" be- tween the rhyme and the picture : ' " Harrison, a commander of great renown. Led on our troops near by the Prophet's town ; After evils o'ercome and obstrnctions past. Near this savage town they encamped at last." Readers anxious to pemse the other seven verses will find the whole "poem" In the third volume of M'Cartv's Va tUmal Samj-hoQk, page 440. " This village is the child of a college located there, called The Batae-ground Institute; devoted to the education of both sexea. It was founded in 1868, and the village was soon afterward laid out. Both college and "city" are flour ishing. The former was under the charge of Eev: B. H. Staley when I was there, and contained almost three hundred pupils. The college is situated in a grove of oaks on the upper border of the battle-ground, and the shaded inclosure forms a delightful promenade and place for out-of-door study. Several students, with their books, were seen under the trees when we were there. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 209 Departure for Chicago, Journey across the Prairies. Thunder-Btorm. Arrival at Chicago. TIPPEOANOE BATTLE-GBOtTND IN ISfiO. We dined at the Battle-ground House, and departed for Chicago, one hundred and forty miles distant, at three o'clock in the afternoon. The journey was one of real pleasure. Soon after leaving, we entered a prairie, and traversed its dead level for seventy miles, passing some little villages on the way. It was rich with verdure and late praii-ie-flowers, and the broad expanse was dotted here and there in every di- rection, as far as the eye could comprehend, with clumps of tall trees and shrubbery, which appeared like islands in the midst of a vast green sea. Toward evening heavy black clouds gathered in the northwestern sky, and when we approached Michigan City that stands among the sand dunes at the head of Lake Michigan, just at sunset, we ran into a heavy thunder-shower that was sweeping around the majestic southern curve of that inland sea. Darkness soon came on, and as we approached Chicago, late in the evening, we encountered another shower. On lake and prairie the light- ning descended in frequent streams, and the thunder roared fearfully above the din of the dashing railway train. But all was serene when we arrived at Chicago. The stars were beaming brightly, and a young moon was just dipping its horn below the great prairie on the west. It had been a day of exciting pleasure as well as fatigue, and the night at the Richmond House was one of sweet repose for us all. fW*" «**. '■;"i«kKnw 210 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Meeting of the TwelftH Congress. Strength of Parties in that Body. CHAPTER XI. " Harli 1 the peal of war is rung ; Hark ! the song for battle's sung ; Firm he every hosom strung, And every soldier ready. , On to Quebec's embattled halls ! Who will pause when glory calls ? Charge, soldiers ! charge its lofty walls. And storm its strong artillery ! Firm as our n^ive hills we'll stand, And should the lords of Europe land, We'll meet them on the farthest strand ; We'll conquer or we'll die !" Feom the Teekton Tedb Ameeioah. NTELLIGENCE of the battle of Tippecanoe reached Washing- ton City soon after the Twelfth Congress had assembled, and produced a profound sensation in that body. They had been . convened by proclamation a month earlier^ than the . November 4, regular day of meeting. The affairs of the coun- ^^^^■ try were approaching a crisis, and this session was to be the most important of any since the establishment of the nation. Both political pai-ties came fully armed and well prepared for a desperate conflict. The Federalists were in a hopeless minority in both houses, but were strong in materials. They had but six members in the Senate, where even Mas- sachusetts, the home of the " Essex Junto," was represented by a Democrat in the person of the veteran Joseph B. Vamum, the speaker of the last House, who had been chosen to supersede Timothy Pickering.^ Giles, of Virginia, having joined a faction similar to Randolph's " Quids" in its relations to the administration, Wm. H. Crawford, of Georgia, became the leader in the Senate of the dominant party proper, and was ably supported by Campbell, of Tennessee. In the lower House the Federalists had but thirty-six members, whose great leader was Quincy, of Massachusetts, ably supported by Key, of Maryland, Chittenden, of Vermont, and Emott, of New York. Connecticut and Rhode Island were still rium- bered among the Federal states ; but in the remainder of New England and the State of New York the Democrats had a decided majority. There were but ten Federal- ists for all the states south of Pennsylvania and Delaware, ^he more radical mem- bers of the last Congress had been re-elected ; and in Cheves, Calhoun and Lowndes, of South Carolina, Clay, of Kentucky, and Grundy, of Tennessee — all young men and full of vigor — appeared not only Democratic members of ability, but enthusiastic champions of war with Great Britain.^ With these came the veteran Sevier, the hero " The contest for power between the Federalists and Democrats of Massachusetts had been long and bitter. In 1811 the latter succeeded in electing their candidate for governor (Blbridae Gerry), and a majority of both houses of the Leg- islature. In order to secure the election of United States senator in the future, it was important to pei-petuate this possession of power, and measures were taken to retain a Democratic majority in the State Senate in all future years. The senatorial districts had been formed without any division of counties. This arrangement, for the purpose alluded to, was now disturbed. The Legislature proceeded to rearrange the senatorial districts of the state. They divided counties in opposition to the protests and strong constitutional arguments of the Federalists ; and those of Essex and Worcester were so divided as to form a Democratic district in each of those Federal counties, without any apparent re- gard to convenience or propriety. The work was sanctioned, and became law by the signature of Governor Grerry. He probably bad no other band in the matter, yet he received most severe castigations from the opposition. In Essex County, the arrangement of the district in its relation to the towns was singular and absurd. Bussell, the veteran editor of the Boston Centind, who had fought against the scheme valiantly, took a map of that county and des- OF THE WAR OF 1812. 211 Henry Clay choBen Speaker. The President's feeble War-trumpet. History of the Qerry-mander. of King's Mountaia, and first Governor of Tennessee — " stiff and grim as an Indian arrow ; not speaking, but looking daggers. "^ /The young and ardent members, with ^/}ay tious sachem, with irrepressible young warriors eager for a fray. The President, in his annual a November message, " ^' ^^^•'■ sounded a war-trum- pet, though rather feebly. After allud- ing to the condition of the national de- fenses, he said, "I must now add, that the period has arrived which claims from the legislative guardians of the national rights a system of more am- ple provision for maintaining them. Notwithstanding the scrupulous -—J justice, the protracted modera;tion, '' and the multiplied efforts on the the imperious Clay at their head, imme- diately took the lead J| and the warlike tem- per of the House was manifested by the election of Mr. Clay to the speakershp by the decided vote of seventy-five, against thirty-eight given for William Bibb, the peace candidate, and a dozen scattering votes. ^ A determin- ation that inactivity and indecision should no longer be the pol- icy of the administra-' tion was soon manifested, and the timid President Madison found himself, as the standard-bearer of his party, surrounded, like a cau- part of the United States, to substitute for the accumulating dangers to the peace of ignated by particular coloring the towns thus se- lectel! and hnng it on the wall of his editorial room. One day Gilbert Stnart, the eminent paint- er, looked at the map, and said the towns which Eussell had thus distinguished resembled some monstrous animal. He took a pencil, and with a few touches added what might represent a head, wings, claws, and tail. "There," Stuart said, " that will do for a salamander." Eussell, who was busy with his pen, looked up at the hideous figure, and exclaimed, "Salamander I call it Oeirry- •mand^r I The word was immediately adopted into the political vocabulary as a term of reproach to the Democratic Legislature. — See Specimms 0/ 2fewspapsr JAteratwre, loith Personcd Memoirs, An- ecdotes, and Reminiscences, by Joseph T. Bucking- ham, ii., 91. Stuart's monstrous figure of the Gerrymander was presented upon a broadside containing a natu- ral and political history of the animal, and hawked about the country. From one of these before me, kindly placed in my possession by the late Edward Everett, I copied the picture given in this note, which is about one half the size of the original. After giving some ludicrous guesses as to its character and origin— whether it was the genuine Basilisk, the Serpms Mmocephalus of Pliny, the Grifm of romance, the Great Red, Dragon or Apol- lyon of Buuyan, or the Monatrum Horrenivm of Virgil— the writer of the natural history of the Gerry-mander says that the learned Dr. Water- ed proved it to be a species of salamander, engendered partly by the devil in the fervid heats of party strife. "But," ^says°^asttiscreatare has been engendeed and brought forth under the subhmest auspices, the doctor proposes fha a name sho^fbe given to it expressive of its genus, at the same time conveying an elegant and very appropnate .nmrfimZ^o Z excellencv the governor, who is known to be the zealous patron of whatever is new, astonishmg, and Tl"^^W^^Sti^-l^'^--^^-^-- ^- "'-^ -,-°-' ^^^ ""^^ ^^'"^'^'^ considerations the doc- tor has decreed this monster shall be denominated a Gebey-mahdeb. „.,,.„„. „ ^^ „-a- . . f , = Mr CTay was elected on the first ballot. The vote stood-for Clay, W ; for Bibb, 38 , for Bassett, of Virgmia 1 , for Nelson, of ViTginia, 2, and for Macon, of North Carolina. 3. Mr. Clay was declared duly elected speaker. A corre- THE GEERY-MANDBE. 212 PICTOEIAL PIELD-BOOK Report of the Committee on Foreign Relations. Its Charges against Great Britain and warlike Tone. the two countries all the mutual advantages of re-established friendship and confi- dence, we have seen that the British Cabinet perseveres not only in withholding a remedy for other wrongs, so long and so loudly calling for it, but in the execution, brought home to the threshold of our territory, of measures which, under existing circumstances, have the character as well as the effects of war on our lawful com- merce. With this evidence of hostile inflexibility in trampling on rights which no independent nation can relinquish, Congress will feel the duty of putting the United States into an armor and an attitude demanded by the crfsis, and corresponding with the national spirit and expectations." Yet Mr. Madison, like Mr. Jefferson, was anx- ious to avoid war, if possible. A war-note in a higher key was speedily sounded by the Committee on Foreign Relations, of which Peter P. Porter, of New York, was chairman. They made a short but energetic report on the 29th of November. =■ They referred in severe terms to the wrongs which for more than five years the commerce of the United States had suffered from the operations of the conflict for power between England and France — wrongs inaugurated by British orders in Council, and imitated, in re- taliation, by French decrees. They charged Great Britain with the crime of persist- ing in the infliction of these wrongs after France, by abandoning her decrees, so far as the United States were concerned, had led the way toward justice to neutrals. They then arraigned Great Britain upon a more serious charge — that of continued impressment ■ of American seamen into the British service. While they pleaded for the protection of commerce, they were not, they said, " of that sect whose worship is at the shrine of a calculating avarice Although ihe groans of those victims of barbarity for the loss of (what should be dearer to Americans than life) their lib- erty — although the cries of their wives and children, in the privation of protectors and parents, have of late been drowned in the louder clamors of the loss of prop- erty, yet is the practice of forcing our mariners into the British navy, in violation of the rights of our flag, carried oiji with unabated rigor and severity. If it be our duty to encourage the fair and legitimate commerce of this country by protecting the property of the merchant, then, indeed, by as much as life and liberty are more esti- mable than ships and goods, so much more impressive is the duty to shield the per- sons of our seamen, whose hard and honest services are employed, equally with those of the merchants, in advancing, under the mantle of its laws, the interests of their country. To sum up, in a word, the great cause of complaint against Great Britain, your committee need only say, that the United States, as a sovereign and independ- ent power, claim, the right to use the ocean, which is the common and acknowledged highway of nations, for the purposes of transporting, in their own vessels, the prod- ucts of their oVn soils and the acquisitions of their own industry to a market in the ports of friendly nations, and to bring home, in return, such articles as their necessi- ties or convenience may require, always regarding the rights of belligerents as de- fined by the established laws of nations. Great Britain, in defiance of this incontesta- ble right, captures every American vessel bound to or returning from a port where her commerce is not favored; enslaves our seamen, and, in spite of our remonstrances, perseveres in these aggressions. To wrongs so daring in character and so disgraceful in then* execution, it is impossible that the people of the United States should remain indifferent. We must now tamely and quietly submit, or we must resist by those means which God has placed within our reach. spondent of the New York Evening Post wrote : " He made a short address to the House on taking his seat, which, from the lowness of his voice at that time, could not he distinctly heard." In the same letter the writer said, "It is believed Clay was not thought of for Speaker till Sunday ; he certainly was not publicly mentioned. The Democrats had a cau- cus Sunday evening, and fixed oa Clay. This was done to prevent the election of Macon, who has too much honesty -ind independence for the leading administration men." Mr. Clay was then thirty-four years of age, and this was his first appearance as a member in the House of Represent- atives. He was in the Senate previously, as we have observed. The portrait given on the previous page is from a painting from life by the late Mr. Eanney, when Mr. Clay was nearly sixty years of age. ), € OF THE WAB OF 1812. 213 Hesolutions of the Committee on Foreign Relations. The first railway Traveler and telegraphic Dispatch. " Your committee would not cast a shade over the American name hj the expres- sion of a doubt which branch of this alternative will be embraced. The occasion is now presented when the national character, misunderstood and traduced for a time by foreign and domestic enemies, should be vindicated. If we have not rushed to the field of battle like the nations who are led by the mad ambition of a single chief in the avarice of a corrupted court, it has not proceeded from the fear of war, but from our love of justice and humanity. That proud spirit of liberty and independ- ence which sustained our fathers in the successful assertion of rights against foreign aggression is not yet sunk. The patriotic fire of the Revolution still lives in the American breast with a holy and unextinguishable flame, and will conduct this na- tion to those high destinies which are not less the reward of dignified moderation than of exalted valor. But we have borne with, injury until forbearance has ceased to be a virtue. The sovereignty and independence of these states, purchased and sanctified by the blood of our fathers, from whom we received them, not for ourselves only, but as the inheritance of our posterity, are deliberately and systematically vio- lated. And the period has arrived when, in the opinion of your committee, it is the sacred duty of Congress to call forth the patriotism and resources of the country. By the aid of these, and with the blessing of God, we confidently trust we shall be able to procure that redress which has been sought for by justice, by remonstrance, and forbearance in vain." The committee, " reserving for a future report those ulterior measures which, in their opinion, ought to be pursued," earnestly recommended Congress to second the proposition of the President by immediately putting the United States "into an araior and attitude demanded by the crisis, and corresponding with the national spirit and expectations." In a series of resolutions they recommended the imme- diate completion of the military establishment as authorized by law, by filling up the ranks and prolonging the enlistments ; the authorization of an additional force of ten thousand regular troops to serve for three years, and the acceptance by the President, under proper regulations, of any number of volunteers not exceeding fifty thousand, to be organized, trained, and held in readiness ; giving the President au- thority to order out detachments of militia when the interests of the country should require ; the immediate repairing of all national vessels and fitting them for service, and the allowing merchant ships to arm in their own defense. ^ This report, spread upon the wings of the press, went over the country swiftly— not so swiftly as now, for railways and telegraphs were unknown^— and produced a 1 Nilea's Weekly Register, i., 253. _ , ^ -r. . 2 The first trip made by a locomotive on this continent was thns deacrfbed a few years ago m a speech at an ine Railway festival, by Horatio Allen, the eminent engineer: , ,, . ,,. "When was it? Who was it? And who awakened its energies and directed its movements? It was in the year 1828 on the banks of the Lackawaxen, at the commencement of the railroads connecting the canal of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company with their coal mines, and he who addresses you was the only person on that locomotive. The circumstances which led to my being alone on the engine were these : The road had been built in the summer ; the structure was of hemlock timber, and rails of large dimensions notched on caps placed far apart. The timber had cracked and warped from exposure to the sun. After about three hundred feet of straight line, the road crossed the Lackawaxen Creek on trestle-work about thirty feet high, with a curve of three hundred and fifty-five to four hundred feet radius The impression was very general that the iron monster would either break down the road, or it would leave the track at the curve and plunge into the creek. My reply to such apprehensions was that it was too late to con- sider the orobabilitv of such occurrences ; there was no other course than to have a tnal made of the strange animal, which had been brought here at a great expense, but that it was not necessary that more than one should be involved to its fate ■ that I would take the first ride alone, and the time would come when I should look back to the mcident with areat interest. As I placed my hand on the throttle-valve handle, I was undecided whether I woMd move slowly r wia a fair degree of speed ; but, believing that the road would prove safe, and preferrmg if we did go down, to go hanTsomely, and without any evidence of timidity, I started with considerable velocity, passed the curve over the creek safely Td was soon out of hearing of the vast assemblage. At the end of two or three miles I reversed the valve and re nrned wiftout accident, having thus made the first railroad trip by locomotive on the Western hemisphere • The flrrregular telegraphic dispatch, for the public eye and ear was sent from Washington City to Baltimore by PrnfiTRflnr Samuel P B Morse, the inventor of the electro-telegraphic system of intellectual communication, in May, 1^ The dispatch,'fnrnished to Professor Morse, accordmg to promise, by Miss Anna Ellsworth, daughter of the then C^misstoner of Patents, who had taken great interest in Mr. Morse's expenments, was worthy of the occasion : it was the egression of Balaam-" What hath god weotight!" That first dispatch, in the telegraphic language, may be found In the archives of the Connecticut Historical Society. 214 ' PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Supposed Republican Proclivities of British Colonists. John Randolph on the Danger of enlightening the Slaves. j)owerful impression upon the American mind and heart. No one could deny the truthfulness of its statements, and few well-informed persons doubted the wisdom and justice of its conclusions. While great indignation was felt toward France for her past and present aggressions upon the rights of neutrals, much stronger was the feeling against Great Britain, because it had been her settled policy and her practice for more than half a century, and had been used with cruel rigor long before France, in retaliation, adopted the same instrument for warfare. This indignation was more vehement because England, with haughty persistence, and in violation of the sover- eignty and independence of the United States, continued her nefarious practice of impressing American seamen into the British naval service. Upon such burning feelings throughout the land, just then stimulated to great intensity by the intelli- gence from the Indian country, fell the fuel of this trumpet-toned report. It was short, perspicuous, aiid pungent. It was read by every body; and every measure proposed in Congress, looking to hostilities with Great Britain, was applauded by a large majority of the people. In Congress warm debates followed on the resolutions appended to the report. It was admitted that the United States could not meet Great Britain on the ocean fleet to fleet,' but it was believed that when an army from the States should appear on the soil of Canada, or of the' other British provinces in the farther East, the people, then tired of being ruled as colonies, would gladly join fortunes with the young Giant of the West. It was believed that their bosoms swelled with desires since embodied in these words of an English poet : " There's a star in the West that shall never go down 'Till the records of valor decay ; We must worship its light, though 'tis not onr own, For liberty bursts in its ray." It was also believed that American privateers would speedily ruin British com- merce and fisheries, and that, by sea and land expeditions, the people of the United States would be remunerated tenfold for all the spoliations inflicted on their com- merce, and thus compel the British government to act justly and respectfully. ^ Most of the Southern and Western members were in favor of war. But John Ean- dolph, always happy in his element of universal opposition, battled against the men of his own section in his -peculiar way, sometimes with ability, always discursorily, and frequently with the keenest satire. He endeavored to excite the fears of the mem- bers of the slave-labor states by warning them that an invasion of Canada might be retorted upon Southern soil with fearful eflTect. He declared that the slaves had al- ready become polluted by that French democracy which animated the administration party, who were so eager to go to war with the enemy of JSTapoleon, whom he ranked, as a scourge of mankind, with Tamerlane and Genghis Khan— " malefactors of the human race, who grind down men into mere material of their impious and bloody ambition." He said the negroes were rapidly gaining notions of freedom, destructive alike to their own happiness and the safety and interests of their masters. He de- nounced as a "butcher" a member of Congress who had proposed the abolition of slavery m the District of Columbia. He said men had broached on that very floor the doctrine of imprescriptible rights to a crowded audience of blacks in the galleries teachmg them that they were equal to their masters. "Similar doctrines," he said' ' 'are spread throughout the South by Yankee peddlers; and there are even owners of slaves so infatuated as, by the general tenor of their conversation, by contempt of order, morality, religion, unthinkingly to cherish these seeds of destruction And what has been the consequence ? Within the last ten years repeated alarms of slave- msurrections, some of them awful indeed. By the spreading of this infernal doctrine the whole South has been thrown into a state of in security You have de- ' Porter's Speech. ' ' OF THE WAR OF 1812. 215 Bandolpli scolds the Democrats. John C. Calhonn. Sketches of Randolph and Calhoun. prived the slave of all moral restraint," he continued, addressing the Democrat- ic members; "you have tempted Kim to eat of the tree of knowledge just enough to perfect him in wickedness ; you have opened his eyes to his naked"- ness God forbid that the South- ern States should ever see an enemy on these sliores with their infernal prin- ciples of French fraternity ifi the van ! While talking of Canada, we have too much reason to shudder for our own safety at home. I speak from facts when I say that the night-bell never tolls for fire in Richmond that the light- ened mother does not hug her infant the more closely to her bosom, not know- ing what may have happened. I have myself witnessed some of these alarms in the capital jof Virginia." Randolph' then gave the Democrats some severe words concerning the ad- verse policy advocated by their party in 1198, when the Federal administra- tion was preparing for a war . with France. He taunted them with being preachers of reform and economy heretofore, but now, in their blind zeal to serve their French master, were willing to create a heavy national debt by rushing into an unnecessary and wicked war with a fraternal people — fraternal in blood, language, religion, laws, arts, and literature.^ Randolph's speech had but little effect upon his auditors other than to irritate the more sensitive and amuse the more philosophic. A few members, at the risk of poi- soned arrows from his tongue, ventured to give him some home thrusts, while Cal- houn, then less than thirty years of age, made this the occasion of his first oratorical effort in that great theatre of legislative strife wherein he so long and so valiantly contested.^ With that dexterous use of subtle logic which never failed to give him i John Randolph claimed to te seventh in descent from Pocahontas, the famous Indian princess. He was bom three miles from Petersburg, in Virginia, on the 2d of Jime, 17T3. He was educated at Princeton College, New Jersey, Colnmbia College, New York, and William and Maiy College, in Virginia. Prom infancy he suffered from ill health. ' He studied law, but never practiced it. His first appearance in public life was in 1799, when he was elected to a seat in the National Congress, and for thirty years, with an interval of two years each, he held a seat in that body. He became in- sane for a time in 1811, and had returns of his malady at intervals during the remainder of his life. He strenuously op- posed the war with Great Britain in 1812, and after that event his political career was very erratic. He was the warm friend of General Jackson in 1828, and in 1830 tbat gentleman appointed him United States Minister to Eussia. He could not endure the vrinter on the Neva, and his stay in Russia was short. He resided in England for a while, and after his retm-n his constituents elected him to Congress. But he did not take his seat. Consumption laid its hand upon him, and he died in a hotel in Philadelphia, on the 23d of May, 1833, while on his way to New York to embark for Eu- rope. 2 Speech in the House of Representatives, December 10, 1811.— Niles's Register, i., 315. 3 John Caldwell Calhoun was born in Abbeville District, South Carolina, on the 18th of March, 1782. His mother was a native of Virginia. He entered Yale College as a student in 1802, where he was marked as a young man of genius and great promise. He was graduated in 1804 vrith the highest honors of the institution. He studied law in Litchfield, Connecticut, and entered upon its practice in his native district. He was elected to a seat in the Legislature of South Carolina in 1808, and in 1811 he took his "seat as member of the National Congress as a stanch Republican or Democrat. He ably supported Mr. Madison's administration, and in 1817 President Monroe called him to his Cabinet as Secretary of War. He was elected Vice-President of the tJnited States in 1825, and was re-elected with Jackson in 1828. He suc- ceeded Hayne in the Senate of the United States in 1831, and became the leader in the disloyal movement of his native state known in history under the general title of Nullification, in 1832-'33. President Tyler called him to his Cabinet as Secretary of State in 1843, and he again entered the Senate as the representative of his state in 1846. He held that position until his death, which occurred at Washington City on the 31st of March, 1850, when he was just past sixty-eight years of age. Our portrait of Mr. Calhoun, on the next page, ia from one taken from life about the year 1830, when he was forty-eight years of age. 216 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Calhoun's Reply to EandoIpli'B Speech. The Policy of the Federaliste. Preparations for War. ingenious arguments in favor of any views he might desire to enforce, he replied to to controvert. The Randolph at some length, insisting that it was a prin- ciple as applicable to nations as to in- dividuals to repel a first insult, and thus command the respect, if not the fear of the assailant. "Sir," he said, "I might prove the war, should it en- sue, justifiable by the express admis- sion of the gentle- man from Virginia ; and necessary, by facts undoubted and universally ad- mitted, such as extent, duration, and character of the injuries received ; the failure of "those peaceful means here- tofore resorted to for the redress of our wrongs, is my proof that it is necessary. Why should I men- tion the impress- ment of our seamen ; depredation on ev- ery branch of our commerce, includ- ing the direct ex- port trade, contin- ued for years, and made under laws which professedly , such as ^ ^ /p ^jnf^^ which protessedly that gentleman (^^^^..J^ "X/P CC^'^^^^^^-O-^^-^^im^ undertake to reg- did not pretend ^^"^^ '-^ ' ulate our trade with other nations ;' negotiation resorted to time after time till it became hopeless ; the restrictive systems persisted in to avoid war and in the vain expectation of returning justice ? The evil still grows, and in each succeeding year swells in extent and pre- tension beyond the preceding. The question, even in the opinion and admission of our opponents, is reduced to this single point, Which shall we do, abandon or defend our own commercial and maritime rights, and the personal liberties of our citizens in ex- ercising them ? These rights are essentially attacked, and war is the only means of redress. The gentleman froni Virginia has suggested none, unless we consider the whole of his speech as recommending patient and resigned submission as the best remedy. Sir, which alternative this House ought to sustain is not for me to say. I hope the decision is made already by a higher authority than the voice of any man. It is not for the human tongue to instill the sense of independence and honor. This is the work of nature — a generous nature that disdains tame submission to wrongs. This part of the subject is so imposing as to enforce silence even on the gentleman from Virginia. He dared not deny his country's wrongs, or vindicate the conduct of her enemy." In this dignified strain Mr. Calhoun charmed his listeners, steadying the vacillat- ing, convincing the doubting, and commanding the respectful attention of the oppo- nents of the resolutions. He treated Randolph's bugbear of slave insurrection with lofty contempt. " However the gentleman may frighten himself," he said, " with the disorganizing efiects of French principles, I can not think our ignorant blacks have felt much of their baleful influence. I dare say more than one half of them never heard of the French Revolution."^ The Federalists said very little on this occasion. It had always been their policy to be prepared for war. The resolutions appended to the report of the Committee « December 16, on Foreign Relations were adopted," and bills were speedily prepared ^^^'^- and passed for augmenting the army. Additional regulars to the num- > See page 165. 2 AyriAgmeiA of the Debates of Congress from 1789 to 1856, by Thomas H. Benton, iv., 449. OP THE WAR OF 1812. 217 Augmentation of the Anny. Patriotism of leading Federalists. Heasons of Quincy and Emott for their Course. ber of twenty-five thousand were authorized by a vote of the House early in Janu- ary." The bill also provided for the appointment of two major generals .January 4, and five additional brigadiers ; also for a bounty to new recruits of sixteen i^^^- dollars, and, at the time of discharge, three months' extra pay and a certificate for one hundred and sixty acres of land.i On the 14th of the month another act was passed, appropriating a million of dollars for the purchase of arms, ordnance, camp equipage, and quarter-master's stores ; and four hundred thousand dollars for powder, ordnance, and small-arms for the navy. Thus, in a brief space of time, the little army of the peace establishment, which had been comparatively inactive, was swelled in prospective from about three thousand men to more than seventy thousand regulars and volunteers. The President was authorized to call upon the govei'nors of states 1 Seven of the thirty-seven Federalists in the House voted for these measures. These were Quincy and Eeed, of Mm- sachuseits; Emott, Bleecker^ Gold, and Livingston, of JTew) York; and Milnor, of Pimnsylvania. The latter was the late James Milnor, D.D., Eector of St. George's Church, New York. It was during this session of Congress that he became deeply impressed with religious sentiments, and felt himself called to the Gospel ministry. He abandoned the lucrative profession of the law and the turbulent field- of politics, and took orders in the Protestant Episcopal Church, of which, until his death, in the spring of 1844, he was "a bright and shining light." The position taken by these leading Federalists at that critical time, in opposition to the great body of their colleagues in Congress and of the party in New England, was patriotic in the highest degree, and yet, so donbtfiil were they of the verdict which posterity might pass upon their actions, that two of them (QuinCy and Emott) prepared quite an elaborate defense, in' which the rea- sons for their course were ably set forth. It was drawn up by Em- ott, slightly amended by Quincy, and signed by both. It was left in Bmott's hands, to be used at any future time by him or his de- JtyiiMM RUMMy scendants in vindication of their course. Posterity— even contem- //^A^A Jt/f poraries— have pronounced their course wise and patriotic. The ^ 1/^ ' *-^^/l original manuscript, in the possession of the Hon. James Emott, of Ponghkeepsle, New Tork, a son of one of the signers, is before me while I write. It is in the delicate and neat hand- writing of the elder Emott,* and dated January 1, 1812. After elearly stating the position of public affairs, they say : "We thought it therefore worthy of an experiment to allow the administration to make out their case before the great bar of the public without, as heretofore, aiding it by an early opposition ; and we hoped, and yet hope, that by vrithdrawing the aliment of party rancor it will cease to exist, and that the people will see the precipice to which they have been drawn, and the danger which awaits the country unless there is a speedy and radical change of men or measures. . . . By leaving the government in the first instance unmolested, in its measures the people may receive a distinct impres- sion of its objects. If they are really of that high and commanding character as to effectuate what their friends prom- ised relief to our country, it is of little consequence from whose hands so desirable a blessing is received. But if the character of the plans of the administration continues time-serving, self-oppressive, and hypocritical, on it and its sup- porters would faU the responsibility, without the possibility of transferring it to those who had neither shared nor op- posed their purposes." . These gentlemen then allude to the prevalent opinion that if the Federahsts should withhold their opposition, the British government, hopeless of a party in its favor in the United States, would relax its restrictive measures. They then declare that if the British government or people believe that opposition of the Federalists arises from any unpa- triotic motives, "bottomed on a desire for power to be obtained at the expense of the interests of the nation, there has been an essential and lamentable mistake. . . „ j, ^ » tv ■ .i,„„ „„* „r„,„, «,. In reference to the measures proposed for putting the country in a state of adequate strength in the event of war, for which these gentlemen voted fom- days after the date of the paper under action, they remarked: "In i;e-estimating our duties upon this occasion, we have not deemed it necessary to take into consideration the causes wh^h have led to our present embarrassments. We certainly do not entertain the opinion that the course which has been pursued by the ad- mTnistration is either correct or to be Justified ; but we can not but perceive that ™; P^f * ^iflcult es ^^^o* o^PPa- rently and exclusively attributable to the American government as to justify a resort t° ^ .P^l'-^yj^'^^^J^'^^'^^^^^^ '^^ nation nnnrotected and defenseless It is because we wish for peace with security that we are willing, to add to the oreseSt Srrrestablishment: ... Our country and our firesides are dear to us. We think hey are m danger, and V^^^^o^^\^^liT .yr^^-n, by measures In which we have had no agency, and for which we do not hold our- relvrresponsMe if^o le or in part, we discover that a necessity has been produced for defensive preparations we TaSer^t ourseirs to resist such preparations' from motives of general opposition to the administration, or from a desire to render it odious to the country." __^ . James Emott was born »* Poughkeepsie New To*^^^^^^ Cw Sf gJIwing^^S V'L' -"Sr^Zl^ his vocation, and commenced its practice a ^allston Centre, New York, a ^ ton ?P-.I"l™^,^«:-';Pf;tfa^yirro?OnrndCco^^^^^^^^ Imiro^eld tieir sittings a^lbany, cemmg titles to lands m the military tiact " "^n™"^!" | ^ ^^^^ to represent Albany County in the and to tha "ty Mr ^^o't "moved aW the year 180 ^ ^^ZrliW, and after practicihg law there for a while he State Legislature. He soon a™"^^/™ '™7°° ^° ™ L^ Duchess District in the National Congress. He took his returned to Poughkeeps.e and ^''^^ « «f „^, * V'^ „fectirnnt"l 1^^^^^^^ politics he wa« a Federalist, and was one of seat in 1809, and continued m possession of it ^^ '^:«^'=™",™5^^^^^ of party. He was representative of the prominent leaders, yet his patrio ism was never '^|«°^^o 'h^^ „ member of that body Duchess County m the ^ew Y°rk A^« in^^^^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^,^ ^.^ ^^^ ,„„, j3,3, ^^,„, f„, four consecutive years. In 181T °«/^' *PP^™!!° „' jJ^^^^ Maturin Livingston. He was appointed judge of the sec- political reasons, he was removed *» '"^1';™°^;°! nnti^^ISSl ^hen he was sixty years of age. Judge Emott then re- ^SeVrofJsrH^mrarpiu^^^^^^^^^^ 218 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Voices of the State Legislatures. A Pittance for the Navy. TJusnccessfol Efforts for its Increase. each to furnish his respective quota of one hundred thousand militia, to be held in readiness to instantly obey the call of the chief magistrate. For the expense of this reserve one million of dollars were appropriated. The State Legislatures, meanwhile, spoke out emphatically for war if necessary. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Georgia, Kentucky, and Ohio, resolved to stand by the general government when decisive measures should be adopted ; and, in their reply to the annual message of Governor Gerry, the House of Representatives of Massachusetts exhibited the same sentiments, denouncing Great Britain as a " pirat- ical state," and her practice of impressment "man-stealing." The navy, important as it proved to be in the war that followed, was neglected. Cheves, of South Carolina, made a report in favor of its augmentation; and he and Lowndes, in supporting speeches, hinted at the expediency of constructing forty frig- ates and twenty-five ships of the line. It was urged by these members, in direct op- position to the narrow views of "Williams from the same state a year before, that "protection to commerce was protection to agriculture." Quincy also argued that protection to commerce was essential to the preservation of the Union, and, with a covert but significant threat, he: gave as a reason that the commercial states could not be expected to submit to the deliberate and systematic sacrifice of their most im- portant interests.! Their pleas were in vain. A bill, containing only an appropria- tion of four hundred and eighty . thousand dollars for repairing three frigates— Cow- stellation, Chesapeake, and Adams— sindL two hundred thousand dollars annually for three years, to purchase timber for the purpose of refitting three others, was passed, and sent to the Senate, where Lloyd, of Massachusetts, moved to insert an appropria- ■ Jan^ry IT, tion for thirty new frigates. ^^ " Let us have the frigates," he said ; " pow- erful as Great Britain is, she could not blockade them. With our haz- ardous shores and tempestuous northwesterly gales from ISTovember to March, all the navies in the world could not blockade them. Divide them into six squadrons. Place those squadrons in the northern ports ready for sea, and at favorable moments we would pounce upon her West India Islands, repeating the game of De Grasse and D'Estaing in '79 and '80. By the time she was ready to meet us there, we would be round Cape Horn cutting up her whalemen. Pursued thither, we would skim away to the Indian Seas, and would give an account of her China and India ships very different from that of the French cruisers. N"ow we would follow her Quebec, now her Jamaica convoys ; sometimes make our appearance in the chops of the Chan- nel, and even sometimes wind north almost into the Baltic. It Avould require a hund- red British frigates to watch the movements of these thirty. Such are the means by which I would bring Great Britain to her senses. By harassing her commerce with this fleet, we could make the people ask the government why they continued to vio- late our rights.'' Crawford, of Georgia, replied at some length, and the Senate, unmoved by the glow- ing pictures of naval achievements drawn by the senator from Massachusetts not only refused to sanction Lloyd's amendment, but reduced the appropriation for re- pairs to three hundred thousand dollars. While the war party, strong in Congress and throughout the country, were ener- getic in action and impatient of delay, Mr. Madison showed great timidity It was owmg, doubtless, in a great degree, to the character of his Cabinet, which unfortunate- ly surrounded him at that momentous crisis. Mr. Monroe, the Secretary of State was the only member who had any military taste and experience, and he had seen 'only limited service m the Revolution. Gallatin, the Secretary of the Treasury, was a civihan, and was avowedly opposed to the war with Great Britain. Eustis the Sec- retary of War, knew very little about military affairs. Hamilton, the Secretary of the Navy, had no practical knowledge of nav aU^irsJ^ o qualify him for the station; 1 Hildreth, Second Series, ili., 277. " OF THE WAR OF 1812. 219 Madison threatened with Desertion by the War Party. He recommen as an Embargo. A British Plot discovered. and Mr. Madison himself was utterly unable, though by virtue of his office pommand- er-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States, to grasp with vigor, the con- duct of public affairs in a time of war. Consciousness of this made him timid and vacillating. The administration members of Congress at length resolved to take a bold and decided stand with the President. His first .term of office was drawing to a close, and it was known that he was anxious for re-election. The leading Democrats in the State of New York, whose voices were potential in the matter at that time, dis- satisfied with Mr. Madison's weak course, contemplated nominating De Witt Clinton, then mayor of the city of New York, for the Presidency of the United States. His pretensions were sustained by Gideon Granger, the postmaster general, who doubt- ed the propriety of a war with Madison as leader. Other influential Democrats in different parts of the country held similar views. In this state of things, Mr. Madison was waited upon'' by several of the • March 2, leading Democratic members of Congress, and informed, in substance, that ^*^^" war with England was now resolved upon by the dominant party, the supporters of his administration; that the people would no longer consent to a dilatory and in- efficient course on the part of the national government; that, unless a declaration of war took place previous to the Presidential election, the success of the Democratic; party might be endangered, and the government thrown into the hands of the Fed- eralists ; that, unless Mr. Madison consented to act with his friends, and accede to a declaration of war with Great Britain, neither his nomination nor his re-election to the Presidency could be lelied on. Thus situated, Mr. Madison concluded to waive his own objections to the course determined on by his political friends, and to do all he could for the prosecution of a war for which he had neither taste nor practical- ability.^ Mr. Madison's first step in the prescribed direction after this interview was in the form of a confidential message to Congress on the 1st of April, recommending, as preliminary 1;p a declaration of war, the immediate passage of a law laying a general embargo on all vessels then in the ports of the United States, or that might there- after enter, for the period of sixty days. Meanwhile another subject had produced very great excitement throughout the country. An Irishman, named John Henry, who had become a naturalized citizen of the United States, and had lived several years in Canada, appeared at the Presidential mansioi; one dark and stormy even- ing early in February,'' 1812. He bore a letter of introduction to Mr. ^ Madison from Governor Gerry, of Massachusetts, who seemed to be im- pressed with the truthfulness of Henry, and the great importance of the information which he proposed to lay before the President.^ An interview was arranged for the following evening, when Henry divulged to the President what appeared to be most astounding secrets concerning efforts that had been in progress for two years on the part of the British authorities in Canada, sanctioned by the home government, to effect a separation of the Eastern States from the Union, and to attach them to Great Britain. He told Mr. Madison that, up to the year 1809, he had been living for five ■ statement of James Fisk, a Democratic member of Congress from Vermont, who was one of the committee, cited in the Statemian's Manual, i., 444. The feeling against Mr. Madison on account of his timid policy had begun to manifest itself very strongly among his political friends in Congress before the close of 1811. The New York Evening Post, of January 6, 1812, says : "The Houses of Congress refused to adjourn on the 1st of January in order to wait on the chief magistrate. It was an intended insult." Henry Dearborn, an officer of the Eevolntion, then in Washington, and who had lately been appointed a major gen- eral in the national army, wrote to his daughter, saying : " You may tell j-our neighbors they may prepare for war ; we shall have it by the time they are ready. I know that war will be very unwelcome news to you, but I also know that yon possess too much Spartan patriotism to wish your father to decline a command for the defense of the honor of our beloved country. You would, if necessary, urge him to the field rather than a speck of dishonor should attach to him for declining such a command." 2 Heni-y had spent a week in Baltimore. He left that city for Washington on the mommg of the Ist of February.— Letter in Niles's iJesMter, ii., 46. 220 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK The Mission of John Henry in New England. An Attempt to de stroy the Eepnblic by Disunion. years on his farm in Vermont, near the Canada line, and amused himself in writing essays for the newspapers against republican governments, which he detested. Those essays, he said, had arrested the atten- tion of Sir James Craig, then Governor General of Canada, who invited him to Montreal at the close of 1 808. At that time the violent demonstrations of the Federalists in New England against the embargo induced the English to believe that there was deep-seated dis- affection to the government of the United States on the part of the people of that section. Under that impression Henry was commissioned by Sir James Craig to proceed to Boston, and ascertain the true state of affairs there, and the temper of the people in that part of the Union. His instructions directed him especially to ascer- tain whether the Federalists of Massachusetts would, in the event of their success at the approaching election, be disposed to separate from the Union, or enter into any connection with England. " The earliest information on this subject," said Sir James, " may be of great consequence to our government ; as it may also be, that it should be informed how far, in such an event, they would look to England for assistance, or be disposed to enter into a connection with us."' Henry was authorized to intimate to the Federalist leaders, if the supposed state of things should be found to exist, that they might communicate to the British government through him.^ According to Henry's statement, he passed through Vermont after receiving these instructions, and arrived at Boston on the 5th of March. There he remained about three months,' spending his time in coffee-houses and disreputable places, until » May 4, Erskine's arrangement and a recall by Ryland," Craig's Secretaiy, put an ^^^- end to his mission. During that time Henry had addressed fourteen letters to Sir James over the initials "A. B.," most of them written at Boston. The earlier ones were filled with the most encouraging accounts of the extreme disaffection of the Eastern people, especially those of Massachusetts, on account of the commercial restrictions. He expressed his belief that, in the event of a declaration of war against Great Britain by the United States, the Legislature of Massachusetts would take the lead in, establishing a separate Northern Confederacy, which might, in some way, end in a political connection with .Great Britain. The grand idea of destroying the Union was the theme of all the letters, expressed or implied. "If a war between America and France," he wrote, " be a gi-and desideratum, somethuig more must be done ; an indulgent, conciliating policy must be adopted. ... To bring about a separation of the states under distinct and independent governments is an affair of more uncer- tainty, and, however desirable, can not be effected but by a series of acts and long- continued policy tending to irritate the Southern and conciliate the Northern peo- ple. . . . This, I am aware, is an object of much interest in Great Britain, as it would forever insure the integrity of his majesty's possessions on this continent, and make the two goverments, or whatever member the present confederacy might join with, as useful and as much subject to the influence of Great Britain as her colonies can be rendered."^ 1 Sir James Craig's Instrnctions to John Henry, dated at Quebec, 6th Febraary, 1809. = Henry was furnished with the following credentials, to be used if circumstances should require : "The bearer, Mr. John Henry, Is employed by me, and full confidence may be placed in him for any communication which any person may wish to make to me on the business committed to him. In faith of which I have given him this under my hand and seal, at Quebec, the Cth day of Eebrnary, 1809. j h Ckaig " Henry was also furnished with a cipher to be used in his correspondence. 3 Henry to Sir James Craig, 13th of March, 1809. Mr. Erskine's arrangement greatly disappointed the British author- ities in Canada, who doubtless expected to reap great rewards from the home government by a snccessfhl effort to dis- rupt the American Union. For twenty years they had been inciting the Indians on the Northwestern frontiers to war upon the Americans, and now they hoped, by a successful movement among those whom they supposed to be as mer- OF THE WAR OF 1812. 221 Henry-B Corresppndence in MadUon'B FoBseesion. The P.'esidenf 8 Message on the Subject. Henry soon perceived that his estimate of New England disloyalty was simply ab- surd, and he came to the conclusion that the idea of a withdrawal from the Union was unpopular; that, as matters stood, the Federalists would confine themselves to the ordinary resistance of political opposition. " Weak men," he wrote, " are sure to temporize when great events call upon them for decision." Henry's performances seem to have pleased Sir James Craig, who promised him employment in Canada worth at least a thousand pounds ($5000) per annum. Henry waited long for the fulfillment of that J)romise, and finally Sir James died. Li June, 1811, the British spy was in London humbly petitioning the government for remu- neration for his services in Boston. There he was at first treated with great con- sideration by the government. « I was received in the highest circles," he said to his friend, the Count Edward de Crillon. " I was complimented with a ticket as niember of the Pitt Club without bemg balloted for."i But when he had spent all his money, and presented his claims for retribution, the government attempted to cheapen his services. He claimed thirty thousand pounds, but speedily lowered his demands. He would be content, he said, with the office of Judge Advocate of Lower Canada, with a salary of five hundred pounds a year, or a consulate in the United States. Kobert Peel, the Earl of Liverpool's under secretary, in behalf of that offi- cial, politely referred Henry to Sir James Craig's successor in Canada, Sir George Prevost. The spy was exasperated, and sailed for Boston instead of for Quebec, full of wrath, and a determination to be revenged by divulging the whole secret of his mission to the United States government, and, if possible, receive from it the remu- neration which he had vainly sought in England. He was successful. Mr. Madison was satisfied of the great value of Henry's disclosures at that crisis, when war against England was about to be declared. They gave overwhelming proof of the secret de- signs of the British government to destroy the new republic in the West. Out of the secret service fund in his possession he gave Henry fifty thousand dollars for the entire correspondence of the parties to the afiair ia this country and in England. After receiving the money^ Henry went to Philadelphia, where he wrote a letter to the President* as a preface to his disclosures. On the 9th of March .pebniary20, the United States sloop-of-war Wasp, Captain Jones, sailed from Sandy ^^i^- Hook with dispatches for Mr. Barlow, the American minister at Paris, bearing away Henry to sunny France, where he would be safe from British vengeance. On the same day the President laid the Henry documents' before Congress, with a message, in which he said, " They prove that at a recent period, while the United States, not- withstanding the wrongs sustained by them, ceased not to observe the laws of neu- trality toward Great Britain, and in the midst of amicable professions and negotia- tions on the part of the British government through its public minister here [Mr. Er^ skine], a secret agent of that government was employed in certain states — more espe- cially at the seat of government in Massachusetts — in fomenting disafiection to the constituted authorities of the nation, and in intrigues "with the disaffected for the purpose of bringing about resistance to the laws, and eventually, in concert with cenary as themselves, to reduce the United States to virtual vassalage. Eyland, Governor Craig's secretary, in a letter to Henry on the Ist of May (four days before his ofadal letter summoning him to Montreal), exhibited that disappoint- ment. He concluded his letter in these petulant words : " I am cruelly out of spirits at the idea of Old England truck- ling to such a debased and accursed government as that of the United States." ■ De Crillon's deposition before the Committee on Foreign Eelations, submitted to Congress March 13, 1811. > This was paid out of the Treasury of the United States in two sums, on the draft of Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury, to the order of James Graham, the United States Treasurer, one for forty-nine thousand dollars, and the other for one thousand dollars, dated 10th of February, 1812. Henry was probably swindled out of his money. He had land- ed at Boston with a Frenchman calling himself the Count de Crillon, and a great intimacy grew up between them. They went to Washington together. When Henry returned to Baltimore he had a deed from the " count" for an estate in Languedoc, the consideration being four hundred thousand ftancs. It is probable the count received the forty-nine thousand dollars, and Mr. Henry the one thousand dollars, the latter being sufficient to enable him to reach his valuable French estate. The " count," who became a witness in the government investigation of Henry's disclosures, proved to be an arrant knave and impostor. 2 These may be found in Benton's Airidgmmt of the Debates in Congrese, iv., 506 to 614 inclusive. 222 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Henry's Disclosures make Political Cap ital. The British Ministry sappress Ihe Correspopdence. Embargo proposed. a British force, of destroying the Union, and forming the eastern part thereof into a political connection with Great Britain." The indignation against Great Britain was intensified by these disclosures, and the inhabitants of New England felt deeply annoyed by this implied disparagement of the patriotism of their section. Both political parties endeavored to make capital out of the affair. The Democrats vehemently reiterated the charge that the Feder- alists were a " British party," and " disunionists ;"i while the opposition alleged that the affair was a political trick of the administration to damage their party, insure the re-election of Madison, and to offer an excuse for war. The feeling excited in New England against the administration was intense, and the indignation of the people was almost equally divided between the President and the British sovereign. It was charged that the whole matter was a fraud ; that Monroe wrote the letter pur- porting to have been sent by Henry from Philadelphia to the government, and that the paper on which Lord Liverpool's communication to Henry, through Robert Peel, was written, bore the mark of a Philadelphia paper manufacturer. These charges were all untrue. Every thing about the matter was genuine. The British ramister at Washington (Mr. Foster), two days after the President's message ■ March n, '^^^ published, declared in the public prints* his entire ignorance of any 1812- ' transaction of the kind, and asked the "United States government to consid- er the character of the individuaP who had niade these disclosures, and to " suspend any farther judgment on its merits until the circumstances shall have been made known to his majesty's government." That government was called upon for an ex- planation, early in May, by Lord Holland, who gave notice* that he should ^^ ' make a motion to call for the correspondence in relation to the intrigue. Ministers were alarmed, and their guilt was apparent in their efforts to suppress in- quiry. Every pretext was brought to bear to oppose the motion. When they could no longer deny the facts, they endeavored to throw the obloquy of the act upon the dead Sir James Craig. The ministerial party in the House of Lords, when the mo- tion was made, prevailed, and, by a vote of seventy-three against twenty-seven, re- fused to have the correspondence produced. Lord Holland declared in his closing speech that, until such investigation should be had, the fact that Great Britain had entered into a dishonorable and atrocious intrigue against a friendly power would stand unrefuted. And it does stand unrefuted to this day. It was so j)alpable, that Madison, in his war message on the 1st of June, made this intrigue one of the serious charges against Great Britain as justifying war. The President, as we have observed, sent a confidential message to Congress on the 1st of April, recommending the laying of an embargo for sixty days. It was avowedly a precursor of war ; and Mr. Calhoun immediately presented a bill in Com- ^ They called up lii formidable array the proceedings of the New England people against the Embargo Laws during the past two or three years, and in an especial manner they arraigned Mr. Quincy, the great opposition leader of the House, who, a year before (January 14, ISll), in the debate on the bill to enable the people of the Territory of Orleans to form a State Constitution preparatory to their admission into the Union, had declared that the passage of the bill would "justify a revolution in this country." "Look," they said, "to the signification of this passage in Mr. Qnincy's speech —a passage which, when called to order, he reduced to writing : " I am compelled to declare it as my deliberate opinion that, if this bill passes, the bonds of the Union are virtually dissolved ; that the states which compose it are free from their moral obligations, and that, as it will be the right of all, so it will be the duty of some to prepare definitely for a separation, amicably if they can, violently if they must." Eor an abstract of Mr. Quincy's speech on that occasion, see Benton's Abrid^imit of the Debates in Congress, iv., 32T. ' The Senate, by resolution, asked for the names of persons in Boston or elsewhere who were concerned in the plot with Henry. By Secretary Monroe's reply, it seems that the spy never mentioned the name of any individual. " John Henry was a native of Ireland. He appeared in Philadelphia about the year 1793 or 1794, having come over as a steerage passenger. He possessed considerable literary ability, and became editor of Brown's PhUadelpMu Gazette. He afterward kept a grocery, and married in that city. Having become naturalized, and obtained a commission in the army iu the time of the expected war with France, he had command of an artillery corps under General Ebenezer Stevens, of New York, and was superior officer at Port Jay, on Governor's Island, for more than a year. He afterward had a command at Newport, where he quitted the service, settled iipon a farm in Northern Vermont, studied law, and after five years entered upon the service recorded in the text. " He was a handsome, well-behaved man," says Sulli- van, " and was received iu some respectable families in Boston." OF THE WAR OF 1812. 223 Efforts to alarm the People. War predicted. The Sine of France. Embar go Act passed. mittee of the Whole in accordance with the recommendation, i The opposition sound- ed an alarm. The weakness of the country, and its utter want of preparation for war, became the themes of impassioned appeals to the fears of the people. The continued aggressions of, France— equal, they said, to those of England^— were pointed to as causes for war with that nation, and it might he necessary to encounter both at the same time. -yCo these alarmists Clay vehemently responded. He charged them with having cm obstacles in the way of preparation, and now made that lack of preparation an excuse for longer submission to great wrongs. Weak as we are, he said, we could j fight France too, if necessary, in a good cause— the cause of honor and independence. ' He had no doubt that the late Indian war on the Wabash had been excited by the British ;3 and he alluded to the employment of Henry, as a spy and fomentor of dis-| union, as another gross offense. " We have complete proof," he said, " that England! would do every thing to destroy us. Resolution and spirit are our only security." He viewed the Embargo as a war measure, and " war we shall have in sixty days," he said. / i John Randolph implored the House to act with great caution. He said the Presi- dent dared not plunge the country into a war while in its present unprepared state. There would be no war within sixty days. He believed the spirit of the people was not up to war, or the provocation of an Embargo Act would not be needed. Other remarks were heard from both sides. The bill, by the aid of the previous question, was passed that evening^ by a vote of seventy against forty-one. . ^prii i, It was sent to the Senate the next morning. That body suspended the ^^^^- ' rules, took up the bill, and carried it through all the stages but the last, with an amendment increasing the time to ninety days. It was sent back to the House the next morning,* where it was concurred in, and on Saturday, the 4th of April, it became a law by the signature of the President. It had been violently " ^" ^' assailed by Quincy, when it came back from the Senate, as an attempt to escape war, not as a preliminary to it. It was absurd to think of creating a sufficient army and navy in ninety days to commence war. He coincided with Randolph in the belief that the Embargo was only intended to aid Bonaparte, by stopping the shipment of ' When the Embargo project was first suggested in the Committee on Foreign Belations, it was proposed to discuss it under a pledge of secrecy. John Bandolph refused to be bound by any such pledge, denying the committee's author- ity to impose it. Mr. Calhoun, with frank generosity, on the ground that all should have an equal chance, communi- cated to Mr. Quincy the fact that an embargo was to be laid the day before the committee's report to that eflFect was made. Quincy, Lloyd, and Emott immediately sent expresses with the information to Philadelphia, New York, and JBoston. Emott's message appeared in the New York Evening Post on the 31st of March, the day before the President's message was sent in. In consequence of this information, several vessels at these respective ports loaded and escaped to sea before the Embargo was laid. 2 These assertions contained much truth. According to a report laid before Congress on the 6th of July, 1812, it ap- peared that the whole number of British seizures and captures of American vessels since the commencement of the Continental War was 91T. Of these, 528 had occurred previously to the orders in Council of November, 180T, and 389 afterward. The French seizures and captures were 658 ; of these, 206 were before the Berlin and Milan decrees, 317 after- ward, and 45 since their alleged repeal. Eecent Danish captures amounted to TO, and Neapolitan to 47. Besides these there had been extensive Dutch and Spanish seizures, which, it was alleged, should properly be placed to the French account, as those countries were under the control of Napoleon. It was also stated that more than half the captures by British cruisers had been declared invalid, and restoration ordered, while in France only a quarter of the vessels seized were so treated. It must be confessed that France was guilty of direct and indirect spoliation of American commerce to an extent equal, if oot exceeding that inflicted by Great Britain. 3 On the nth of June the Secretary of War laid before Congress numerous letters from militaiy and civil officers of the government from various portions of the Northwestern, Western, and Southwestern frontiers, dating back as far as 1807, and giving overwhelming evidence of the continual efforts of British emissaries to stir up the Indians to hostilities against the United States, and to win them to the British interest in expectation of war between the two countries. I will quote as a matter of fact, not speculation, from a speech of Bed Jacket, the great Seneca chief, in behalf of himself and other deputies of the Six Nations, in February, IsiO: " Bkothee,— Since you have had some disputes with the British government, their agents in Canada have not only endeavored to make the Indians at the westward your enemies, but they have sent the war-belt among our warriors [in Western New York], to poison their minds and make them break their faith with you. At the same time we had in- formation that the British had circulated war-belts among the Western Indians, and within your territory." Copious extracts from the letters above mentioned as having been laid before the Secretary of War may be found in Niles'a Weekly Begiater, ii., 342. 224 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Supplementary Embargo Act. Opposition to the Embargo. Delusive Hopes of Justice. provisions to Spain, where the British armies were then beginning to win victories.^ It was called, in ridicule, " a Terrapin War."^ The Embargo Act (which prohibited the sailing of any vessel for any foreign port, except foreign vessels, with such cargoes as they had on board when, notified of the •April 14, act) was speedily followed by a supplement* prohibiting exportations by 1512- ' land, whether of goods or specie. ^ Farther provision was also made for the immediate strengthening of the army. These belligerent measures were hailed with joy throughout, the country by the war party, who were dominant and determined. They alarmed those who wished for peace ; yet these, unwilling to believe that the administration would push mat- ters to the extreme of actual hostility, acquiesced in the embargo because of a delu- sive hope that it might be the means of causing Great Britain to modify its system concerning neutrals, and thereby avert war. It Was, indeed, a delusive hope. The letters of Jonathan Russell (who had succeeded Mr. Pinkney as niinister to England) at this time gave no encouragement for it. On the contrary, they were discourag- ing. To Mr. Monroe he wrote, after attending discussions on the orders in Council in Parliament : " If any thing was wanting to prove the inflexible determination of the present ministry to persevere ia the orders in Council, without modification or re- laxation, the declarations of leading members of the administration on these meas- ures must place it beyond the possibility of a doubt. I no longer entertain a hope that we can honorably avoid war."* 1 One great object of the Embargo appears to have been to detain at home as many merchant Bhips as possible, for the twofold purpose, in view of approaching war, to keep them from British privateers, and to engage them for that service on the part of the Americans. Mr. Alison, the British historian, suggests only part of the truth in saying that it was to prevent intelligence of the proceedings of the Americans in their preparations for war reaching England, and to furnish them with means, itom their extensive commercial navy, of manning their vessels of war. To do this, cost the nation a great sacrifice. A writer in the American Meoiew of April, 1S12, estimated the loss as follows : Mercantile loss $24,814,249 Deteriorated value of suit)1u8 produce and waste 40,196,028 Loss sustained by the revenue 9,000,000 Total national loss ; $T4,010,27T, or $6,167,523 a month. ' See note '3, page 164. Argument, ridicule, satire were all employed against the " Terrapin War." During the late spring and early summer of 1812, the subjoined song was sung at all gatherings of the Federalists, and was very popular : ■'Huzza for our liberty, bpys, These are the days of our glory— The days of true national joys, When terrapins gallop before ye I There's Porter, and Grundy, and Bhea, In Congress who manfully vapor, Who draw their six dollars a day. And fight bloody battles (m paper 1 Ah ! this is true Terrapin war. 'Poor Madison the tremors has got, 'Bout this same arming the nation Too far to retract, hfe can not Go on— and he loses his station. FAO-aullLiS OF A MEWSPAPEK OUT. Then bring up your 'regulars,' lads, In ' attitude' nothing ye lack, sirs, Ye'll frighten to death the Dauads, With fire-coals blazing aback, sirs 1 Oh, this is trnfe Terrapin war ! "As to powder, and bullet, and swords, For, as they were never intended. They're a parcel of high-soun&mg words, But n«ver to action extended; ■ Te TOMst frighten the rascals away. In 'rapid desceriV on their quarters; Then the plunder divide as ye may,- And drive them headlong in the waters. Oh, this is great Terrapin war 1" ' The opposition speakers and newspapers' deijomiced the Embargo (especially the" Land Embargo," as the supplement- ary act was called) in nnmeasured terms. The land trade with Canada, so suddenly arrested and thrdvyn Into confusion by it, was represented by a bewildered serpent, which had been sud- denly stopped in its movements by two trees, marked respect- ively Emuaego and Non-jnteeootjese. The wondering snake is puzzled to know what has happened, and the head cries out, "What is the matter, tail?" The latter answers, "I can't get out." Acock(in allusion to France) stands by, crowing joyfully. 4 Letter to Secretary Monroe, March 4, 1812. Mr. Percival, one of the Cabinet, and a leading administration member, said, in the course of debate: "As England is contending for the de- fense of her maritime rights, and for the preservation of her na- tional existence, which essentially depends on the maintenance of these rights, she could not be expected, in the prosecution of this great and primary interest, to arrest or vary her course to listen to the pretensions o/ neutral nations, or to remove the eoils, however they might he regretted, which the uniform policy of the times' indirectly or iminteatumaUy extended to them." OF THE WAR OF 1812. 225 British Orders and French Decrees unrepealed. A preliminary War Measure. Madison renominated. The determination of the British government not to relax the rigor of the orders m Council was explicitly stated a few weeks later,- when Mr. Foster, the .sothMav Bntish.mimster at Washington, in a letter to Mr. Monroe, after reviewing '«i^ '' the whole ground of controversy between the two countries, said: "Great Britain can not admit, as a true declaration of public law, that free ships make free goods. She can not admit, as a principle of public law, that arms and military stores are alone contraband of war, and that ship-timber and naval stores are excluded from that de- scription ; and she feels that to relinquish her just measures of self-defense and retali- ation would be to surrender the best means of her own preservation and rights, and with them the rights of other nations, so long as France maintains and acts upon such prmciples. ' ^ The conduct of France now became a subject for just animadversion, and cast ob- stacles in the way of the arguments of the war party concerning the orders in Coun- cil. Joel Bariow had been sent to France as the successor of minister Armstrong He strove in vam to procure from the French government any promise of indemnity tor past spoliations, or of a relaxation of restrictive measures in future. The Presi- dent and his Cabinet had earnestly hoped that the Beriin and Milan decrees would be repealed, thereby compelling Great Britain to withdraw her orders in Council or stand before the worid as a willful violator of the rights of nations. In this they hoped for a door of escape from war. It was certain that, while the decrees stood absolute- ly unrepealed in form. Great Britain would not relax her restrictive system one iota. Dispatches from Barlow late in March gave no hope of a change. Indeed, the French Mmister for Foreign Affairs had laid before the Conservative Senate* a re- port in which those decrees were spoken of as embodying the settled pol- '^^'''"'i'' icy of the emperor, to be enforced against all nations who should suffer their flags to be "denationalized" by submitting to the pretensions of the British to seize enemies' goods in neutral vessels, to treat timber and naval stores as contraband, or to block- ade a port not also invested by land. Thus matters stood on the 1st of June, when Mr. Madison sent into Congress, aft- er previous arrangement with the Committee on Foreign Affairs, a most important confidential mes- sage, by which he was fairly committed to the war policy. He had hesitated somewhat. He w:as will- ing to sign a bill declaring war against Great Brit- ain, but he did not wish to appear as a leader in the measure. His new political masters would consent to no flinching. They resolved that the President should share the fearfiil responsibility with them- selves. A Congressional caucus was about to be held to nominate a Democratic candidate for the Presidency, and a committee, with the imperious Clay at their head, waited on Mr. Madison, and told him plainly that he must move in a declaration of war, or they would not support him for re-election. He yielded. The caucus was held. Eighty members were present. Vamum, of Massachusetts, was presi- dent, and Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, was sec- retary. The entire vote was given to Mr. Madison. George Clinton, the Vice-President, whom they had intended to nominate for re-election, had' died a few A little later a London ministerial paper used the following language, which exposed the animhs of the men in pow- er and the aristocratic and mercantile classes: "As Great Britain has got possession of the ocean; it musthave the right to enact laws for the regulation of its own 0lemmt, and to confine the trceckaqfneittrale within snch boundaries aslts^ own rights amd interests require to be ch awn."— London Courier, April, 1812. 226 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK George Clinton. The President's accusatory Message. Calhoun's Report, on Caus es and Reasons for War. weeks before,' and the aged Elbridge Gerry, lately defeated as a candidate for re- eleotion to the governorship of Massachusetts, was placed on the ticket for Vice- President. This matter disposed of, and the continued claims of De Witt Clinton, of New York, to a. nomination for President being considered as of little: moment, the war party, led by Clay and Calhoun, put forth vigorous exertions for the full ac- complishment of their purposes. In his message to Congress on the- 1st of June the President recapitulated the wrongs which the people of the United States had suffered at the hands of Great Britain — wrongs already noticed in preceding pages, and need not be repeated here. He declared that her conduct, taken together, was positively belligerent. " We be- hold in fine," he said, " on the side of Great Britain, a state of war against the United States, and on the side of the United States a state of peace toward Great Britain. "^ He warned his countrymen to avoid entanglements " in the contests and views of other powers" — meaning France — and called their attention to the fact that the French government, since the revocation of her decrees as applied to American com- merce, had authorized illegal captures by her privateers; but he abstained at that time from offering any suggestions concerning definitive measures with respect to that nation. The Tnessage was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations,^ and on the 8d of June Mr. Calhoun, its then chairman, presented a report, in which the causes and reasons for war were more fully stated — more in historical order and detail — than ia the President's message. In concluding the review of British aggressions, the report declared that the hostility of the government of Great Britain was evidently based 1 George Clinton was born in tOster County, New York, in 1739. He chose the profession of the law for his avocation. In 1768 he was elected to a seat in the Colonial Legislature, and was a member of the Continental Congress in 1775. He was appointed a brigadier in the army of the United States in 1776, and during the whole war was active in military affairs In New York. In April, 1777, he was elected governor and lieutenant governor, under the new Republican Constitution of the state, and was continued in the former office eighteen years. He was president of the Convention assembled at Pough- keepsie to consider the Federal Constitution in 1788. He was again chosen governor of the state in 1801, and three years afterward he was elected Vice- President of the United States. He occupied that elevated position at the time of his death, which occurred at Washington City on the 20th of April, 1812. Mr. Clinton expired about nine o'clock in the morning. He had been 111 for some time, and his death was not unexpected. His funeral took place on the afternoon of the 21st. The corpse was removed from his lodgings to the Capi- tol, escorted by a troop of horse. There it remained until four o'clock, when the procession, composed of cavali*y and the marine corps, clergymen, physi- cians, mourners, the President of the United States, members of both houses of Congress, heads of departments, etc., moved to the Congressional burying- ground, situated on the Eastern Branch of the Potomac, about a mile east- ward of the Capitol. Over his grave a monument of white marble was erect- ed. The annexed sketch of it was made when I visited that resting-place of many of the American worthies, in the autumn of 1861. It is about fifteen feet in height. The tablet for the inscription, and a profile in high relief on the obelisk, are of statuary marble. On the east side (in shadow in the picture) is the inscription ; on the north side the fasces ; on the west side a serpent • on a staff; and on the south side the winged caduceus of Mercury. On the west side of the obelisk is a Roman sword, crossed by a saber, arid tied to- gether by a scarf. The following is a copy of the inscription : "To the memory of Geobge Clinton. He was bom in the State of New York on the 26th of July, 1739, and died at Washington on the 20th of April, 1S12, in the 73d year of his age. He was a soldier and statesman of the Rev- olution, eminent in council, distinguished in war. He filled, with unexampled usefhlness, purity, and ability, among many other high offices, those of gov- ernor of his native state, and of Vice-President of the United States. While he lived, his virtue, wisdom, and valor were the pride, the ornament, and the security of his country; and when he died he left an illustrious example of a well-spent life, worthy of all imitation. This monument is affectionately dedi- cated by his children." ^ For the message in full, see Statemian'a Manual, i., 387. . 3 The committee was composed of John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina ; Felix Grundy, of Tennessee • John Smilie .of Pennsylvania; John A.Harper, of New Hampshire; Joseph Desha, of Kentucky; and Ebenezer Sea'ver, of Massa^ CLINTON 8 TOMB. chosetts. OF THE WAK OF 1812. 227 Action of the Hone e of RepreBentatives in Secret Session. Action of the Senate on a Declaration of War ! on the fact that the United States were considered by it as its commercial rival, and tnat tHeir prosperity and growth were incompatible with its welfare. " Your com- mittee said the report, "will not enlarge on any of the injuries, however great, Avhich have a transitory effect. They wish to call the attention of the House to those ot a permanent nature only, which intrench so deeply on our most important rights, and wound so extensively and vitally our best interests, as could not fail to deprive the United btates of the principal advantages of their Revolution, if submitted to. Ihe control of our commerce by Great Britain, in regulating at pleasure and expel- hng It almost from the' ocean ; the oppressive manner in which these regulations have been carried mto effect, by seizing and confiscating such of our vessels, with their cargoes, as were said to have violated her edicts, often without previous warn- ing of their danger; the impressment of our citizens from on board our own vessels on the high seas and elsewhere, and holding them in bondage till it suited the conven- ience of their oppressors to deliver them up, are encroachments of that high and dan- gerous tendency which could not fail to produce that pernicious effect; nor would these be the only consequences that would result from it. The British government might, for a while, be satisfied with the ascendency thus gained over us, but its pre- tensions would soon increase. The proof which so complete and disgraceful a sub- mission to its authority would afford of our degeneracy, could not fail to inspire con- fidence that there was no limit to which its usurpations and our degradation might not be carried." On the presentation of this report the doors were closed, and a motion to open them was denied by a vote of seventy-seven against forty-nine. Mr. Calhoun then presented a bill, as part of the report, declaring war between Great Britain and her dependencies and the United States ''" *'^« -P"'"'"' a™^ his sword The sceptre ftomyom- hand. At Gallia's proud command." OF THE WAR OP 1812. 233 A Regency established in England. Condition of Political Affairs in Euvope, CHAPTER Xn. "The tocsin has sounded— the bugle has blown, And rapid as lightning the rumor has flown, That, prepared to defend our heaven-blessed soil, Oar country to save and proud- tyrants to foil. We submit without murmur to danger and toil." Song — The Toobin has Soumded; EFORE entering upon a description of the stirring scenes of act- ual conflict of arms during the war, let us make brief notes of the position of the belligerents in relation to the struggle. The Prince of Wales (afterward George the Fourth) had be- come actual sovereign of Great Britain by the removal of the restrictions of the bill which created him regent of the realm. The court physicians had pronounced the insanity - of the old king to be incurable. This change in the practical relations of the prince to the government took place in February, 1812, and in May following a radical change in the Cabinet occurred, on account of the murder of Mr. Perceval, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, by Bellamy, a Livei-pool ship-broker, who charged his commercial losses upon the government, and sought revenge in slaying one of its chief servants. Lord Sidmouth was ap- pointed Secretary of State, the Earl of Harrowby Lord President of the Council, and Mr. Vansittart Chancellor of the Ex- chequer. Lord Castlereagh was Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Great Britain was etill waging a tre- mendous war against Napoleon. Wellington was at the head of her armies in the Spanish Peninsula, and her forces by land and sea were generally successful. Her in- herent energy was wonderful. Russia refused to bow the knee to the Corsican, and 'he threatened her with invasion. Great Britain became her ally, and the summer and autumn of 1812 saw the hopes of the ambitious emperor of obtaining universal dominion clouded with fearful doubts. Six days after the United States declared war against Great Britain, the victorious Napoleon, with an immense and splendid army, crossed the Niemen" in the face of three hundred thousand Russians, ,j ^ ^ and pushed on toward Moscow. At Borodino the retreating Muscovites isia. confronted their invaders,* and when the curtain of night fell upon the bat- ' ^^p'' ^• tie -field, ninety thousand killed and wounded soldiers lay there. The French entered Moscow in triumph, but it was soon a heap of ashes. Late in October, with one hundred and twenty thousand men, the emperor commenced a retreat to- ward France. Six months from the time of his entering Russian territory he had lost, in slain, wounded, starved, frozen, and prisoners, four hundred and fifty thou- THE PaiNOE REGENT — GEOEGE IT. 234 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The British Navy. British Land Force in Canada. Their Frontier Fortiflcationfl. sand men, and yet he had scarcely reached Paris before he issued orders for new conscriptions with which to prosecute the war ! " The sun of his glory was low in the west, yet it blazed out brilliantly before it set. In 1812, Great Britain, Russia, Sweden, and Spain were allied in arms against France, Prussia, Italy, Austria, and Poland. The British navy at that time consisted of two hundred and fifty-four ships-of-the- line, of 74 guns and upward; thirty-five 50's and 44's; two hundred and forty-seven frigates ; and five hundred and six smaller vessels of war ; making a total of one thousand and thirty-six. Of these there were five ships-of-the-line, nineteen frigates, forty-one brigs, and sixteen schooners on the American station ; that is to say, at Halifax and Newfoundland, Jamaica -and the Leeward Islands.^ They had also four armed vessels on Lake Ontario, namely, ^oya/ George, 22 ; Earl ofMoira, 16 ; Prince Regent, 14 ; and Duke of Gloucester, 8. They also had several smaller vessels nearly ready for service. The British regular land force in Upper Canada when war was declared did not exceed fifteen hundred men -^ but the aggregate of that in Lower Canada, and in the contiguous British provinces was estimated at six thousand regular troops. The pop- ulation of all the North American British colonies was estimated at ^00,000, and their militia at 40,000. They had an immense assailable frontier, stretching along a series of great lakes, and the Rivers St. Mary's, St. Clair, Detroit, Niagara, and St. Law- rence, commencing at Lake Superior on the west, and terminating far below Quebec on the east, along a line of about 1700 miles. Out of Lake Superior flows a rapid current, over immense masses of rock, through a channel for twenty-seven miles call- ed the St. Mary's River, and enters Lake Huron, at the head of which is the British island of St. Joseph. On that island was then a small fort and garrison. It is dis- tant above Detroit about three hundred and thirty miles by water. The shores of Lake Huron at that time were uninhabited except by Indians and a few traders. At its western angle is a short and wide strait, connecting it with Lake Michigan, in the centre of which is the island of Michilimackinack, which is about nine miles in cii-- cumference. On this island the Americans had a small fort and garrison. The wa- ters flow out of Lake Huron through the rivers and Lake St. Clair, and then through the Detroit River into Lake Erie. On the latter river, at Amherstburg, the British had a fort and small garrison, where ships for service on Lake Erie were built. The British had no harbor or military post on Lake Erie. At its foot, at the head of the Niagara River, was Fort Erie, a distance of^five hundred and sixty-five miles from Quebec. Just above Niagara Falls, at the mouth of the Chippewa River, there was a small stockade, called Fort Chippewa. Near the mouth of the Niagara River, not quite seven miles below Queenstown, was Fort George, constructed of earthen ram- parts and cedar palisades, mounting some guns not heavier than nine-pounders. Half a mile below the fort, at the mouth of the Niagara River, was a pretty little village called Newark, now Niagara. On the north side of Lake Ontario is York, or Toronto Harbor, where was an old fort and a block-house. York was then the c'ap-- ital of Upper Canada. On the eastern extremity of the lake is Kingston, with a fine harbor, and was defended by a small battery of nine-pounders on Point Frederick. It was the most populous town in the Upper Province at that time, and formed the prmcipal naval dep6t of the British on Lake Ontario. There were some military works at Montreal, and veiy strong ones at Quebec. At the time when war was declared the United States were at peace with all the worid, an d had very little commerce exposed upon the oce an, owing to restrictions 1 Steele's List, 1812. ' ~ ' = These consisted of the Fprty-flrst Regiment, 900 men; Tenth Veterans, 250 ; Newfonndland Eerfment am. Bov.l |^^s?:^^d'^on:^iJs.s-t=^:r^f^Sirr^ C«T.«i><™fe«c. ofMaiOT Ge^al Sir Isaac Brock, E.B., by Ferdinand Brock Tapper, p 168. ""les.-iVe a»d or THE WAR OF 1812. 236 Sea-coast and Frontier DefeuBes of the United States. West Point Military Academy. Jonathan Williams. and dangers which had prevailed for a few years. Of the land and naval forces at that time we have spoken in the last chapter. In addition to full twelve hundred miles of frontier along the British provinces, there was a sea-coast of a thousand miles to defend against the' most powerful maritime nation in the world. The subject of sea-coast, harbor, and frontier defenses attracted the attention of the government at an early period. A school for military instruction, especially for the education of engineers, to he established at West Point, on the Hudson, was author- ized by Congress in the spring of 1802 f^ and from to time to time appro- « March ic priations had been made for fortifications, and works had been erected. ^''^• The corps of engineers, authorized by the law just named, commenced their functions as constructors of new forts or repairers of old ones in the year 1808, when a war with England was confidently expected ; and that body of young men continued thus em- ployed, in a moderate way, until the breaking out of the war in 1812, when thej' were sent to the field, and all won military distinction.^ The forts completed pre- vious to 1809 were the only fortifications for the defense of the sea-coast of the United States at the commencement of the war in 1812.^ 1 Washington recommended the establishment of a military academy at West Point so early as 1783, when, on the ap- proach of peace, his thoughts were turned to the future military condition of his country. Soon after he became Pres- ident of the United States, he again called the attention of his countrymen to the importance of a military academy, and again indicated West Point as the proper place. In 1794, Colonel Bochefontaine, a French officer in the service of the United States, and other officers of artillery, were stationed at West Point for the purpose of establishing a miltary school there. They rebuilt the front of Fort Putnam, on the mountains in the rear, in 1795, and constructed five or six small casemates, or bomb-proofs. Fort Clinton, on the Point, was then partly in ruins. Its magazine, twenty-five by two hundred feet in size, built of stone and lined with plank, and trenches, was quite perfect. Several buildings were erected, and the whole post was under the charge of Major Jonathan Williams. The library and apparatus were com- menced, but the school was soou suspended. It was revived in 1801 by Mr. Jefferson, and in the spring of the follow- ing year Congress, as we have observed in the text, authorized the establishment of a military academy there. Mean- while the harbors on the coast were defended only by small redoubts. They were insignificant affairs. " It is worthy of remembrance," observed the late venerable General J. G. Swift, in a letter to the author in February, 1860, " that the sites upon which these small works were built were those selected in the Hevolutionary struggle, and they remain to . this day the best for their purpose." = Letter of General Swift to the author, February 13, 1860. In November, 1802, the engineers at West Point formed a Military and Philosophical Society, the object of which was the promotion of military science. The following are the names of the original members : Jonathan Williams, Decius Wadsworth, William A. Barron, Jared Mansfield, James Wilson, Alexander Macomb, Jr., Joseph G. Swift, Simon M. Leroy, Walter K. Arniistead, and Joseph G. Totten. These were the members present at the first meeting. Swift and Totten were the latest survivors of this little company. The former died in the summer of 1865, and the latter in the spring of 1864. Their portraits will be found in this work. Totten was the chief military engineer of the United States at the time of his death. The society consisted of many persons besides military men. Its membership, during its ten years' existence, comprised most of the leading men in the country, especially of the army and navy. The MS. records of the society, in four folio volumes, are in the New York Historical Society. 3 The following statement of the names, locations, and conditions of the coast fortifications previous to 1808, 1 have compiled from a manuscript general return of such works by Colonel Jonathan Williams* and Captain Alexander Ma- comb, which I found among the minntes of the Military and Philosophical Society of West Point, mentioned in a preced- ing note. Some of these forts were somewhat strengthened before the declaration of war in 1812, but the change in their general condition was not very great. Fort Sumner, Portland, Maine.— A square block-house. Fart William amd Mary, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.— A ruin. _ Fort Lily, Gloucester, Cape Ann.— Three sides of an unfinished figure, being one front and two divergmg Imes. A square block-house in the rear. ' .„ ^ , x. j, , Fori Pickering, at Salem, Massachusetts.-Three sides of a rectangular figure, without bastions, flanks, or any promi- nence .whatever. The lower part of the sides is stone-work, with parapets of earth. Closed m the rear by barracks, a • Jonathan Williams was bom in Boston in 1760. He was appointed Major of the Second Artillery and Engineers in February, 1301, and in December follow- ing Inspector of Fortifications and Superintendent of -the MilitaiT Academy at West Point. In July, 1802, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of Engineers, and resigned in June the following year. In April, 1805, he resumed the service among the Engineers, with the same rank, and in February, 1808, was pro- moted to colonel ; he resigned in July, 1812. In 1814 he was elected to a seat in Congress from Philadel- phia, bat never occupied it. He died on the 20th of May, 1816, at the age of sixty-five years.— Gardner's Dietimtiry of the Army, 487. Colonel Williams was the author of A Memoir of the Themmmeter in Navir gation, and Elemmts of Fortification. 236 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The Coast Defenses of the tTnited States in the year 1812. A new system of naval warfare had lately been suggested by Robert Fulton, who ■December, had been a long time abroad, and who had recently returned home* to ^^'"^- ' achieve an immortal triumph in science and art, and the beginning of a brick wall, and gate. A square block-honse in the centre, and an old stone building in the rear and on the left, without the lines. A sketch of its appearance in 1860 may be found in another part of this volume. Fm-t Sewatt, at Marblehead, Massachusetts, is an irregular oblong figure, with a square block-house; E is founded, on one side, on a rock, and on the opposite side has a wall and arches, forming a magazine below. One stone house within the lines A sketch of this old foit as it appeared in 1860 may be found in another part of this work. Fortlridepenience, in Boston Harbor.— New Work. An irregular, pentagon and well fbrtijaed^ With five bastions. Three bastions and one curtain finished. This fort (whose present appearance is seen in the engraving) is on Castle Island, rOKT IKDEPEWDENCE. on the site of a fortification erected during the early years of the Massachusetts colony. It was rebuilt in 1644, and burned in 16T3. A new fort of stone was then erected, and other works, and it became the shelter of the British dui'ing the years preceding the Eevolution. After the Eevolnfion it was called FoH Adams. In 1799 Castle Island was ceded to the United States, and President Adams named the works Fort Tniepemierwe. The present structure was erected in 1801, '2, and '3. It and Fort Warren.'on an island opposite, command the entrance to Boston Harbor. The fort may contain a thousand men iii time of war. Fort Wolcott, near Newport, Ehode Island.— Built of stone cemented with lime. Had a brick and stone magazine, a sally-port and ditch, reverberatory furnace. Supported by two wings or bastions, both facing the harbor. Eevetments in stone laid in linie cement; parapets supplied with sod-work;'the batteries intended for ten pieces of cannon. Had five pieces, 32-pounder8.each. Barracks two stories high, composed of brick, and bomb-proof. Fort Adams, Newport Harbor.- Form similar to Fort Wolcott. Situated on Brenton's Point, nearly opposite the. Dumplings Fort on Canonicut Island. Similar in all its arrangement and construction to Fort Wolcott. It was then unfinished. Fort Hamilton; Narraganset Bay, near Newport, a mile northwest of Fort Wolcott, on Eojie Island.— Extensive forti- fications, commenced in 1802. Quadrilateral in form, presenting two regular and two tower bastions. Works suspend- ed in 1803. It was intended to be wholly constracted of stone, brick, and sod-work. The barracks were completed, and were considered the finest in America at that time. It was intended to mount seventy cannon. About halfcompleled when the war broke out. North Battery, Ehode Island, about three fourths of a mile northeast of Fort Wolcott, on a point of land nearer New- port.— Semicircular, and calculated for about eight guns. It was unfinisbed. Dvmjplings Fort. — Entrance to Narraganset Bay, nearly opposite Fort Adams. A round tower bastion, built in 1804, of stone well cemented. It was about eighty feet above the water, and rose fifteen to twenty feet above the rock on which it was built. It contained a good magazine, and three other bomb-proof rooms for the men. No cannon were \mounted. The platforms were not completed. Calculated for seven pieces, exclusive of howitzers and mortars. It was believed that thirty men might defend'it. Towering Bill, near Newport, Ehode Island, one mile east of the North Battery, and due north from the city.— It com- manded the whole town, the country around, and a part of the htirbor. Eemains of Eevolutionary works there. A small block-house built in 1T99 or 1800 was entire. Fort Trumltull, New London, Connecticut, on a rocky point of land projecting into the River Thames. — ^Form irregu- lar. The walls fronting the water built of solid stone, elevated to the usual height, and finished with turf and gravel. Badly situated against an enemy on land, as the hills around it and across the river are higher than the fort. It had a small magazine and stone block-house, and fourteen guns mounted. A view of this fort may be seen in another part of this work. Fort Jay, on Governor's Island, New York Harbor,* thirteen hundred yards south Of the Battery, at the lower extrem- ity of the city of New York.— It was a regular fort, with bastions, quite strong, but then unfinished. It had a handsome gateway, with aco-rps de gards draw-bridge. In the centre of the fort was a square block-house of timber, two stories high, but probably not cannon-proof; under it was a well. It had two detached batteries, one mounting four 18-ponnd- ers and an 8-inch French mortar, with platforms for four others ; and the other ten pieces, IS and 24 pounders ; origin- ' Governor's Island was called Pag-ganoh .by the Indians, andNutten Island by the Dutch. It was purchased, as * public domain, by Governor Van Twiller, in the early days of the Dutch rule in New York. In the settlement of the accounts of the Eevolutionary debt. New York agreed to erect fortifications in the harbor in front of the city of New York, in payment of the quota required from that state. In accordance with an act passed by the State Legislature in March, 1T94, the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars was expended,.under the direction of a committee, iji constructing fortifications. . The committee consisted of George Clinton, Matthfew Clarkson, James Watson, Bichai'd Varick, Nicholas Fish, Ebenezer Stevens, and Abijah Hammond. A further sum of one hundred thousand dollars was granted on the 6th of April, 1795, to complete the works on that and Oyster (now Ellis's) Island. Fort Jay was built, and in February, ]800,.the island and all its appurtenances were ceded to the United States. The island contains sev- enty-two acres of land. OF -THE WAR OF 18-12. 237 Coast Defenses of the United States." wonderful revolution in commerce, hj the successful introduction of navigation by- steam.* While abroad, Mr. Fulton had conceived the idea of destroying ships by, introducing floating mines under their bottoms in submarine boats, and ex- • 180T. - ■ ■'■ OABTLE WlLXlAAtB. ally Intended for thirteen guns. The parapet had flfly-one embrasures, and it would take one thousand men to man the , parapet. The fort, being commanded by hills on the Long Island shore, was not constructed to withstand a siege, but as a guard to the entrance to the Bast Eiver, and to operate against an enemy in the harbor or in the city. ^ EUia'a and Bedloe'8 Islands both had fortifications on them. The former, lying a little more than two thousand yards iSonth west from the Battery, had a semicircular battery calculated for thirteen guns. The parapet, of timbers, was nn- flniahed. Twelve 12-pounders lay there, but no guns were mounted. It was commanded by Bedloe's Island, twelve hundred yards distant ; also by Panlus's Hook (Jersey City), lying north of it. There were good quarters for officers and men. It was an excellent position to defend the harbor from an enemy coming in at the Narrows. Only a part of the island then belonged to the United States. On Bedloe's lahmd. a battery had been commenced, and brick buildings for quarters. No cannon were mounted except- ing two field-pieces that belonged to Fort Jay. A dismounted 24-pounder lay upon the island. It was almost useless as ft defensive work. Major Decins Wadsworth was then in command of the District of New York, and these works were imder his supervision. Of the islands in New York Harbor, and the modem fortifications upon them, I shall have occa- sion to write hereafter. Fort Mifflin, on the southeast extremity of Mud Island, in the Delaware, just below Philadelphia, was an irregular /oval. It was the old British fort of the Eevolution. It had been strengthened, and was a very important work. It was ■ constructed of stone, brick, and earth, with heavy guns mounted. A long account of It is given in the MS. records of the Military and Philosophical Society (New York Historical Society), vol. iv. Fort M' Henry, at Baltimore, was a new work situated on a point of land between the Patapsco Hiver and the har- bor. It was a regular pentagon, with a well-executed re- vetment ; also a magazine, and barracks sufiicient for one company. The counterscarp, covert, and glacis were yet to be made. On the water side was the wall of a battery, . but not yet inclosed. It Is a well-chosen position to pre- vent ships reaching Baltimore, and-is about two and a half miles from the city. At the time we are considering, a large house belonging to a citizen stood in front of the battery, next the extreme point, and, in the event of a ship's pass- ing, would have to be battered down, as it would cover the vessel. cA picture of the fort as it appeared in 1861 may be found in another part of this work. Fort Severn, at Annapolis, has already been noticed. See Bote 4, on page ISl. Forts A'orfolk and Nelson, one on each side of the Eliza- beth Kiver, near Norfolk, Virginia, were of some import- ance. The former, on the Norfolk side of the river, a mile and a half below the town, was an oblong square, with two bastions, built chiefly gf earth, and a ditch on three ades of it. Within it was one frame house and eight small log huts, all in bad condition. Two 12, four 9,.and thirteen 6 pounders, two brass 8-inch howitzers, and seven carron- ades, all dismounted, were lying there. The fort was on th? site of some works thrown up during the Eevolution. , Fort Nelson was about a mile below the town, on the op- , „ , „ ^ . ,. ' Dosite side of the river. Its form was triangular, but irregular, the works of the Eevolntionary era having been used. It covered nearly two acres of ground. It was built of earth. It had two batteries with embrasures, lined with bnck inside In it were one large two-story house,' two rooms on a floor, a kitchen, and smoke-house. There were thirteen 24-Dbnnders and one 12-pounder mounted ; the carriages were rotten, and unfit for Krvice. This fort, like the one op- ■ .posite, wap intmded to guard.theapproach to the town by water. On the land side the walls were not more than three feet high. The magazine was too damp for use. PLAN OF FOBT m'UENBY. 238 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Military Poets on the Northwestern Frontiers. Fulton's Torpedoes. ploding them there. He was filled with the benevolent idea that the introduction of such secret and destructive agencies would have a tendency to do away with naval warfare, and thus would be established what he called the Liberty . of the Seas. Impelled by this grand idea, he left France, where he had been residing several years, and went over to England in 1804, for the purpose of offering his invention to the British government.' He finally obtained permission to make a public ex- periment of his Torpedo, as he called his " infernal machine," and he was furnished For the protection of Charleston Harbor there were several works, some of them as old as the Revolution. Fort John- son, on James's Island, was enlarged and strengthened in 1793, and afterward repaired and patched at various times. The chief works were of brick. The barracks were of wood, one-story high ; there was also a block-house. A large portion of the fort was carried away by a hurricane in 1804, and the remainder was inundated, sapped, and destroyed. Port Pinekney, built in 1798, stood upon a marsh in front of Charleston called Shnte's Folly. Built entirely of brick. It mounted eight 26-pounders en barbette. At the best it was an inefficient work, and in 1804 it too was sapped during the great hui'ricane, and rendered almost useless. Fort Moultrie was built on the site of the fort of that name in the Revo- lution. It ivas constructed in 1798, chiefly of brick and palmetto logs. It mounted on the ramparts ten 26-pounders en parbette, on double sea-coast carriages ; one mortar, and six 12-ppunders and a howitzer in the ditch. This fort was also greatly damaged Dy the hurricane. The counterscarp and glacis were entirely swept away ; no ditch remained ; every traverse, and gun, and the reverberatory furnace were washed away and buried in the sand. All the wood-work of the fort was rotten, yet the fort was in a condition to be repaired. At the south end of the city of Charleston were the re- mains of Fort Mechanic, a redoubt in utter ruin. SnSh was the general condition of the sea-coast defenses of the United States when war was declared in 1812. On the Northern and Northwestern frontiers were some military posts and fortifications. First was the fort on the island of Michillimackinack, in the strait between Lakes Huron and Michigan. At Chicago, on Lake Michigan, was jPort Dearborn ; at the head of the Manmee, Fort Wayne ; a strong fort at Detroit ; a battery and block-house at Erie ; a bat- tery at Black Rock, Just below Buffalo ; Fart Niagara, a strong work built by the French, at the mouth of theNiagara v River ; another considerable fort at Oswego, and a military post and a battery, called Fort TompHne, at Sackett's Har- bor. All of these will be noticed in the course of bur narrative. ^ Mr. Fulton took up his residence in Paris with_Joel Barlow, and remained with him seven years. It was during that time that he planned his submarine boat, which he called a nautilus, and the machines attached to which he styled- submarine.bombs. - He offered his invention several times to the French government, and once to the Dutch em- bassador at Paris, but did not excite the' favorable attention of either. He then opened negotiations with the British government, and went to London in 1804. There he held interviews with Mr. Pitt and Lord Melville, and explained the nature of his invention to them. Pitt was convinced of its great value, but Melville condemned it. In the course of a month a committee wife appointed to examine, whose chairman was Sir Joseph Banks. They reported the submarine boat to be impracticable, when Mr. Fulton abandoned the idea of employing a submarine vessel, and turned his atten- tion to the arrangement of his bombs, so that they might be employed without submerged boats. These he called Tor- pedoes, and, in a memorial afterward presented to the American Congress," he thus describes their construction, and method of operation : Plate I. This shows the torpedo anchored, and so arranged as to blow np a vessel that should strike it. Bis a copper case, two feet long and twelve inches in diameter, capable of containing one hundred pounds of gun- powder. A, a brass box, in which is a lock, similar to a common gun-lock, with a banel two inches long, and holding amusket-charge of powder. The box, with the lock cocked and barrel charged, is screwed to the copper case B. H is a lever, having a communica- tion with the cock inside the box A, holding the lock cocked, and ready to Are. C, a deaJ box filled with cork and tied to the case B, so as to make the torpedo fifteen to twenty pounds lighter than the water speciftcally, so as to give it buoyancy. It is held down to a given .depth by a weight. A small anchor is attached to the weight to prevent its being move'd by the' tides. 'The toi-pedo was sunk not so deep as the usual draft of vessels to be acted upon. In flood-tide it would be oblique to the weight, at slack water perpendicular at D, and during the ebb again oblique at B. At ten feet below the surface the tide wonld Bot be likely to disturb it seriously. When a ship in sailing should strike the lever H, „„,,., .. , ^ ^, ,,^ an instantaneous explosion would take place, and the utter destruction of the vessel would follow. Fulton proposed to anchor a hundred of these in the Narrows approaching the harbor of New York, in the event of war. The figure on the right shows an end view of the torpedo' with a forked link, by which the chances of being struck by a vessel were increased. ' * Mr. Fulton's memorial, published in pamphlet form in 1810, by William Elliott, 114 Water Street New York bears ■ the following title : Toepedo WAB,(md Submarine Explosion, by Robert Fulton, Fellaw of the American Philos!mhical Socwty, and. of the. United States MilUary ami PhUosophiml Sonety. Its mo\.to-The lAberty of the Sea^ will be the Bappi- XOEPEUO.— PLATE I. OF THE WAR OF. 1812. 239 Description of Torpedoes and their Uses. vith a Danish brig, named Dorothea, and two boats, with, eight men each, for the mrpose. On the 15th of October, 1805, the Dorothea was anchored in Walmer Plate II. This represents another kind of torpedo— a clock-work torpe'do*— intended to attack a vessel while lying ,t anchor or under sail, by harpooning her on her larboard or starboard bow. B, a copper case containing one hundred lonnds or more of gunpowder, C, a cork cushion, to give buoyancy to the whole. A, a cylindrical brass box, about even inches in diameter and two deep, in which is a gun-lock, with a barrel two inches long to receive a charge of pow- ler and wad, which charge is flred with the powder of the case B. In the brass box A there is also a piece of clock- vork, moved by a coiled spring, which being wound up and set, will let the lock etrik^ fire in any number of minutes vhich may be determined, within an hour. K is a. small line fixed to a pin, which holds the clock-work inactive. The nstant the pin is withdrawn the clock-work begins to move, and the explosion will take place in one, two, three, or any lumber of minutes for which it has been set. The whole is made perfectly water-tight. D is a pine box, two feet ong and six or eight inches square, filled with cork to give it buoyancy, as in Plate I., although in this case it floats on ihe surface, no weights for submergence jeing lised. To this the torpedo is sus- )ended. The line of suspension should )e long enough to bring the torpedo veil back toward the stern of the vessel. From the torpedo and float D are two lines, each twenty feet long, united at E. From these a single line, about fifty feet in length, is attached to a harpoon. This, when the vessel is harpooned in the bow, ivill bring the torpedo under the bottom. It about midships, of a man-of-war. The larpoon I is a round piece of iron, half m inch in diameter, two feet long, with a butt of one inch, which is the exact cal- ibre of the gun from which it is to be projected. In the head of the barbed har- poon is an eye ; the point about six inch- es long. Into the eye the line of the har- poon is spliced, and a small iron or tough copper link runs on the shaft of the har- poon. To this link the line is attached at such length as to form* the loop H when the harpoon is in the gun. When flred, the link will slide along to the butt of the harpoon, and, holding the rope and the harpoon parallel to each other, the _ rope will act like a tail or rod to a rocket, and guide it straight. P Is the harpoon gun, acting upon a swivel fixed m the stern-sheets of a bo4t. The harpoon is fixed in the vessel's bow, with the line from the tor- pedo attached ; the torpedo clock- work is set in motion, the ma- chine is thrown overboard, and the tide, on the motion of the ves- sel, quickly places it under the ship. Plate HI. The upper portion of the plate represents the stem of a row-boat, with the harpooni gun and torpedo just described. A platform, four feet long and three feet wide, is made on the stern, level with the gunwale, and projecting over the stem flfteen, or eighteen inches, so that the torpedo, in falling into the water, may clear the rudder. The ropes are carefully disposed so that there may be no entanglement. The letters in this figure (A, B, and C) denote the parts, as in the last plate. The pin D, which restrains the clock-work, is drawi),. when the torpedo is cast off, by the line attached to the boat at E. The harpooner, stationed at the gun. TOIiPEDO. — PLATE U. TOKPEDOES. — PLATE III. considering : ■ " Dt Mr. Fulton a H'y Frasse : ^ , i i ., ka « eight years. 240 PICTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK The Dorothea destroyed by a Torpedo. An Account of Fulton's Experiment. ■Road, not far from Deal, and in sight of Walmer Castle, the residence of William Pitt, the English prime minister, and there, in the presence of a large number of naval offi- cers and others,' he made a successful exhibition. He first practiced the boatmen with empty torpedoes. One was placed in each boat, and connected by a small rope eighty feet long. The Dorothea drew twelve feet of water, and the torpedoes were suspended fifteen feet under water when cast from the boats, at the distance of sev- enty-five feet apart. They floated toward the brig with the tide, one on each side of her. When the connecting-line struck the hawser of the brig, both torpedoes were brought by the tide under her bottom. Having exercised the men sufficiently, Fulton filled one of the torpedoes with one hundred and eighty pounds of gunpowder, set its clock-work (explained in note 1, page 238) to eighteen minutes, and then went through with the same manoeuvres as before, the filled and the empty torpedo being united by a rope. At the expira- tion of eighteen minutes from the time the torpedoes were cast overboard, and were carried toward the Dorothea, a dull explosion was heard, and the brig was raised bodily about six feet,^ and sepa- rated in the middle ; and in tweny min- utes nothing was seen of her but some floating fragments. The pumps and fore- masts were blown out of her ; the fore- topsail -yards were thrown up to the cross-trees ; the forfe-chain plates, with their bolts, were torn from her sides, and her mizzen-mast was broken oflT in two places. The experiment was perfectly satisfactory ; but the British government refused to purchase and use the invention, because it was thought to be inexpedient DESTBUOTION OF THE DOBOTUEA. also steers the boat, and fires according to his judgment. If the harpoon sticks into the bow of the Tessel, the boat is immediately moved away, the torpedo cast out of the boat, and the clock-work set in motion. If the harpoon misses the ship, the torpedo may be saved, and another attack be made. Fulton proposed to have twelve men in each boat, all armed for their protection or offensive movements, if necessary. The figure in the lower part of the plate is a bird's- eye view of a vessel (A) at anchor. B, her cable ; E F, two torpedoes ; C D, their coupling lines, twelve feet long. It is touching the vessel's cable, and the torpedoes being driven under her by the tide. In this way the Dorothea, mentioned in the text, was attacked. Those were clock-work torpedoes. TORPEPOTES. — PLATE TV. Plate IV. represents a bird's- eye view of a vessel at anchor, or under weigh, attacked by a flotilla of mortar-boats. A is the vessel, and B C two torpedoes operating by means of the harpoon move- ment. When it was objected that these boats would be exposed to grape, canister, and musket balls from the vessel, Fulton estimated that the time of danger, by expert movements, would not exceed four minutes — two in approachingnear enough to fire the harpoon, and two for retreating. He entered into a calculation of the greater efiiciency and less exposure of the I have given this description of the torpedo as illustrative of a Science and mechanical skill have since produced far more de- torpedo system, in harbor defense, than ships of war. part of the history of the times we are considering. structive engines of war, and yet Fulton's dream of establishing the liberty of the seas by means of the torpedo, or any other instrumentality, remains unaccomplished. A Monitor of to-day is worth a million of torpedoes for harbor defense. 1 Admiral Holloway, Sir Sidney Smith, Captain Owen, Captain Kingston, Colonel Congreve, and a greater portion of the officers of the fleet under Lord Keith were present. Pitt was in London, and did not see the exhibition. Colonel Congreve was the inventor of the rocket, or " pyrotechnic arrow," as Fulton called it, bearing his name. 2 The engraving la from a drawing by Fulton, appehded to his memorial to Congress in 1810. OF THE WAR OF 1812; 241 Fulton'a Torpedoes in New York Harbor. . . Hi a Estimate of the Value of Torpedoes.and Steam Navigation. for the mistress of the seas to introduce into naval vi^arfare a system that would give great advantages to weaker maritime nations. The Earl St. Vincent said Pitt was a fool to encourage a mode of warfare which they, who commanded the seas, did not want, and which, if successful, would deprive them of it.' At the beginning of 1807 Mr. Fulton was in Washington with his drawings, mod- els, and plans for a " torpedo war." He was favorably listened to then, but his plans . were regarded with more interest after the affair of the Leopard and Chesapeake, a few months later. That affair caused much public discussion about harbor defenses, and able practical writers, like Colonel Williams and John Stevens, favored the use of Fulton's torpedoes. It was believed that measures would be taken to drive British vessels of war from American harbors, and on the 6th of July Fulton again brought his torpedoes to the notice of the Secretary of the Navy. Congress made a small appropriation for experiments, and on the 20th of July, by the direction of the.Presi- dent, Fulton performed a feat in the harbor of New York similar to that of the de- struction of the Dorothea in Walmei- Road. He utterly destroyed' a vessel ;of two hundred tons burden, and convinced the spectators that any ship might be so demol- ished.2 The experiment created quite a sensation in England. The Earl of Stan- hope, Fulton's early friend, alluded to it in Parliament, and rep]:oached the. govern- ment, by implication, for suffering such an invention to go to America,, when, for three thousand pounds, they might have possessed it. Nothing farther of importance was done in the matter, for Fulton was then deeply engaged in bringing' to a successful issue his experiments in navigating by steam as a motor. Bjit: when those, experi- ments resulted in. absolute and brilliant success, and men's minds were, filled' with speculations concerning the future of this new aid to commerce, he believedithat his torpedo system would be of far more benefit to mankind than navigation by steam. In a letter to a friend, giving him an account of his first voyage to Albany and iback by steam — the first achievement of the kind — he said : " However, I will not admit that it is half so important as the torpedo system of defense and attack, for out of it will grow the liberty of the seas, an object of infinite importance to the welfare of America and' every civilized country. But thousands of witnesses have now seen the stewn-boat in rapid movement, and believe ; they have not seen a ship-of-war de- stroyed by a torpedo, and they do not believe."^ How utterly impotent is the finite mind when it attempts to understand the future.- It is like a bewildered traveler in a dark night attempting to comprehend an almost illimitable prairie before him by the aid of a " fire-fly lamp." The torpedo is forgot- ten ; the steam-boat, in Monitor* form, is now (1867) the great champion for the " lib- erty of the seas." In January, 1810, Fulton again visited Washington, and at Kalorama, the seat of his good friend Barlow, near Georgetown, in the presence of President Jefferson, Sec- retary Madison, and a large number of members of Congress, he exhibited and ex- plained the plans and models of improved torpedoes, such as are described in note 1, 1 Letter from Eobert Pulton to Joel Barlow. ,2 Mr. Fulton invited the Governor of the State of New York, the Corporation of the city, and many others, to witness his experiments. They assembled at Fort Jay, on Governor's Island, on the 20th of July, and in the shadow of the gi'eat gateway he lectured on the subject of his torpedoes. He had a blank one for his explanations, and his numerous audi- tors gathered close around him, with great eagerness, to catch every word from his lips, and see every part of t^e ma- chine. At length he turned to one of the torpedoes lying near, nnder the gateway of the fort, to which his clock-work was attached, and drawing out the plug, and setting it in motion, he said : "Gentlemen, this is a charged torpedo, with which, precisely in its present state, I mean to blow up a vessel, ft contains one hundred and seventy pounds of gun- powder, and if I were to suffer the clock-work to run, fifteen minutes, I have no doubt that it would blow this fortifloa- tion to atoms." The circle of the audience around Mr. Fulton immediately widened, and, before five .of the fifteen min- utes had elapsed, all but two or three had disappeared from the gateway, and retired to as great a distance as possible with the utmost speed. Fulton, entirely confident in his machine, was perfectly calm. " How frequently fear arises from ignorance," he said— Colden's.i?/e o/iiV!(he United States during* the war. No doubt the fear of Ful- ton's torpedoes- fdlton's bibth-plaoe. ' Pulton had also invented a submarine machine for cut- ting the cables of ships at anchor. . Experiments with this were tried at the same time. 2 Bobert Fulton was bom at Little Britain, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1705. His parents were fl-om Ire- land. His early education was meagre. At the age of sev- enteen he was painting miniatures* at Philadelphia, and indulging his taste for mechanics in the work-shops of that city. His friends, sent him to London, to receive instruc- tions in painting, when he was twenty-one years of age. The celebrated West was his instructor. The Earl of Stan- hope, who took great interest in mechanics, became his fiiend, and encouraged his taste for the useful arts. He heard of the experiments of Pitch and Evans in the use of steam for navigation, and his active mind began to spec- ulate on the subject, and have glorious perceptions of fu- ture achievements. He left painting, and became an en- gineer. He entered the family of Joel Barlow, at Paris, in 1T9T, and there he became acquainted with Chancellor Liv- ingston, with whom he carried on experiments in naviga- tion by steam. They saw wealth and honor as the reward of success in that line on the inland waters of the United States. They came home, and were successful. The first voyage ftom Albany to New York silenced all donbt. In • In White's Philadaphia Directory, 1785, is the follovring : "Robert Pulton, miniature painter, corner of Second and IValnut Streets." OF THE WAE OF 1812. 243 A "Peace Party." Action of State Governments. Riot in Baltimore. ■i5aved several of our sea-port towns from destruction. Fulton's steam-frigate, launched in 1814, will be noticed hereafter. Notwithstanding war had been declared by a large majority in Congress, and was approved by an equally large majority of the people of the United States,- the admin- istration was anxious for some honorable means for averting it. Indeed, both gov- ernments at the last moment seemed to hesitate. In the United States there was a large and powerful party utterly opposed to hostilities. There was a smaller organ- ization, called the " Peace party," who were pledged to cast obstacles in the way of the government while hostilities should last. The authorities of several of the states took ground early against affording aid to the government ; and it was very soon perceived that the Canadians, whose willingness to cast off the yoke of the imperial government had not been doubted, were generally loyal, and ready to take up aims against the United States. The Governors of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Con- necticut refused to comply with the requisition made upon them for militia immedi- ately after the declaration of war was promulgated. They planted themselves upon the Constitution, and the act of Congress authorizing the President to make a requi- sition for the militia, which contemplated the exigency of expected invasion. No evidence of any danger of invasion, they said, existed ; and, supported by the judici- ary and .Legislatures of their respective states, they set the President at defiance. The Legislature of New Jersey denounced the war as " inexpedient, ill-timed, and most dangerously impolitic, sacrificing at once countless blessings." The Maryland House of Delegates passed resolutions commending the action of the Governors of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, and disapproving of the war ; while in the Senate opposite views were expressed. The Legislature of Pennsylvania re- buked the action of the three New England governors, and called it " an alarming and unexpected occurrence." They resolved that " the declaration of war was the result of solemn deliberation, sound wisdom, and imperious necessity." The Legislar ture of Ohio declared that the United States had been driven into the war by the aggressions of Great Britain, and said, " The man who would desert a just cause is unworthy to defend it." The Governor of New York exhorted a hearty concurrence in support of the national government; and the new State of Louisiana, just admit- ted into the Union, said, by the voice of its governor, " If ever war was justifiable, the one which our country has declared is that war. If ever a people had cause to repose in the confidence of their government, we are that people." These conflicting views produced corresponding conflict of action. Party spirit was aroused in all its fierceness. Personal collisions became frequent occurrences, and in the city of Baltimore a most fearful riot occurred, the result of which was murder and maiming.' 1809 he obtainea his first patent. His torpeflo scheme failing, he turned his attention to submarine batteries. In 18W he was directed by Congress to construct a war steamer. She was launched, and called Fidtm. He died seven months afterwardT (February 24, 1815), at the age of fifty years. Our engraving of Mr. Fulton is from a portrait by Benjamm West painted in 1805. The' view of his residence is from a sketch by E. B. Cope, Esq. It gives its present appearance. 1 There was a violent opposition newspaper in Baltimore called The Federal Sepubliccm, edited by a younff man only twentv-six years of age. Baltimore was then a flourishing commercial city, and this paper was the organ of the mer- cantile interest, which had suffered from the restrictive commercial measures, and was now prostrated by the ipipe°a- ing war. The Republican denounced the declaration of war, and, in defiance of intimations that had been made in^Con- grfss that when that declaration was once made all opposition to the war must cease the editor announced his determ- taation to speak as freely against the administration and its measures as before, thereby reversmg the pohoy of tas party n ITO in the matter ofthrAlien and Sedition Laws. "We mean," he said, "to represent in »/*»Xtve mliv s canable that the war is unnecessary, inexpedient, and entered into from partial, personal, and, as we believe, motives Stag upon theiTfront marks of undisguised foreign influence which can not be mistaken." This annonncemait was S on latarday, June 20th, and on Monday evening, the 22d, a mob, headed by a French apothecary, proceededto tlie office of thatnaper and demolished it. Having thus commenced violence, they proceeded to the wharves and disman- tlfd some vesseXand committed other heinous acts. The publisher of the Fed^alRepuUioa^ ^^'S^r^f '° ''■'''"'}>^lfl he oTe The lower portion of the house of one of the proprietors was used for the purpose. The paper was printed n Georgeto^ bnlpubUshedthen in Baltimore after a silence of five weeks. According o expectation, the publishing office wfsatrcked The magistrates of the city seemed to have used no means to quell the riot m June, and were not exnecred to do so now. Genfral Hen,7 Lee, then a resident of Baltimore, furnished the proprietors with a regular plan of defense, and offered to superintend the execution of it. General Lingan, another soldier of the Eevolution, and also 244 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The Inhabitants of Canada. Reasons for their Loyalty. Address of the Canadian Legislature. The people of Canada, whose soil was about to be invaded, were filled with feeling^ of doubt and alarm, especially in the Upper Province. A large number of the in- habitants in that section were natives of the United States who had emigrated thith- er to better their condition. Many of them still felt a lingering affection for the land of their birth, and were unwilling to take up arms against it ; but there was another class of emigrants— Loyalists, or the children of Loyalists of the Revolution— Lpolit- ical exiles — occupying a large tract of land lying between Lakes Erie and Ontario, and westward, who were indebted to the liberality of the British government for the soil they were cultivating, and to their own industry for the roofs that sheltered them. These retained bitter feelings toward the United States, and took up arms with alacrity against a people whom they regarded as their oppressors. When war was actually commenced — when American troops were actually encamped on Canadian territory, these old Loyalists formed a most energetic and active element in the firm opposition which the invasion encountered. To these the Legislature of Upper Can- ada, whose loyalty was at first considered somewhat doubtful, addressed a most stirring appeal, soon after the American declaration of war was known,, to the delight of the governor and the English party. " Already," they said, " have we the joy to remark that the spirit of loyalty has burst forth in all its ancient splendor. The mi- litia in all parts of the province have volunteered their services with acclamation, and displayed a degree of energy worthy of the British name. They do not forget the blessings and privileges which they enjoy under the protective and fostering care of the British empire, whose government is only felt in this country by acts of the purest justice, and most pleasing and eflGicacious benevolence. When men are called upon to defend every thing they call precious, their wives and children, their friends and possessions, they ought to be inspired with the noblest resolutions, and they will not be easily frightened by menaces, or conquered by force ; and beholding, as we do, the flame of patriotism burning from one end of the Canadas to the other, we can not but entertain the most pleasing anticipations. Our enemies have, indeed, said that they can subdue this country by a proclamation ; but it is our part to prove to them that they are sadly mistaken ; that the population is determinately hostile, and that the few who might be otherwise inclined will find it their safety to be faithful." The address then proceeded to warn the people that, " in imitation of their Euro- pean master (Napoleon)," the United States would " trust more to treachery than to a Federalist, joined him, and about twenty others made up the defensive party. They were well-armed and provisioned for a siege. On the evening of the 2eth of July (the evening of the day on which the revived newspaper first appeared) the laob assembled. After assailing the building with stones for some time, they forced open the door, and when ascend- ing the stairs they were fired upon. One of the ringleaders was killed and several were wounded. After much solici- tude, two magistrates, by virtue of their authority, ordered out two companies of militia, under General Strieker, to quell the mob. A single troop of horse soon appeared, and at about daylight the mayor and General Strieker appeared. A truce was obtained, and it was agreed that the defenders, some of whom were hurt, and who were all charged with mnrder, should be conducted to prison to answer that charge. They were promised not only personal safety, but pro- tection of the premises by a military guard. On their way to prison the band played the rogue's march. The mob im- mediately sacked the house. Only a few more of the military could be persuaded to come out, and the mol) had its own way to a great extent. At night they gathered around the prison, and the turnkey was so terrified that he allowed them to enter. The prisoners extinguished their lights and rushed out. They mingled with the mob, and thus several es- caped. Some were dreadfully beaten, and three were tortured by the furious men. General Lee was made a cripple for life, and General Lingan, then seventy years of age, distinguished for his services in the field during the old war for in- dependence,- expired in the hands of the mob.* In the treatment of their unfortunate prisoners the most intense sav- agism was displayed. The riot was at length quelled, and the city magistrates, on Investigation, placed the entire blame on the publishers of the obnoxious newspaper. It was decided that in a time of war no man has a right to cast ob- stacles in the way of the success of his country's undertakings. The course of the Federal Republican was condemned as treasonable — as giving aid and comfort to the enemy ; and its fate was not mounied outside'of the circle of its polit- ical supporters. While all right-minded men deprecated a mob, and condemned, in unmeasured terms, its atrocities, they as loudly condemned the unpatriotic course of the offending newspaper. * Funeral honors were paid to General Lingan, at Georgetown, on the Ist of September following, by a great proces- sion, and an oration by the late George Washington Parke Custis, the adopted son of Washington. His oration was extemporaneous, and was an eloquent and impassioned appeal to the feelings of his auditors. Only three years and six months after the death of the orator, the blood of other patriots, not engaged in the immediate defense of the liber- ty of the press, but hurrying to the national capital to save it from the grasp of fratricides, were slain in the streets of Baltimore by a mob (April 19, 1861), who, as in 1812, were tenderly dealt with, if not encouraged, by the magistrates of the city. OF THE WAR. OF 1812. 245 Enlistments in tlie British Provinces. Peaceful Propositions. Action on the Orders in Council and Decrees. force ;" that they would be falsely told that armies come to give them freedom and peace ; that emissaries " of the most contemptible faction that ever distracted the affairs of any nation — the ffiiinions of the very sycophants who lick the dust from the feet of Bonaparte," would endeavor to seduce them from their loyalty. This address had a powerful effect. The prudence and sagacity of Sir George Pre- vost, the governor general of Canada, had allayed the political agitations m the Low- er Province, which had assumed a threatening aspect during the administration of his predecessor, Sir James H. Craig. Now, when war seemed impending, the Legis- lature of the Lower Province, laying aside their political bickerings, voted to furnish two thousand unmarried men to serve for three months during two successive sum- mers. Besides these, a corps, called the Glengary Light Infantry, numbering, on the 1st of May, 1812, four hundred ranis; and file, and drawn chiefly from the Lower Province, was organized. Its oflScers promised to double that number. At the same time, enlistments were made in Acadia and Nova Scotia, while Lieutenant M'Donell gathered under his banner a large number of Highlanders, settled upon the Lower St. Lawrence and the Gulf.^ It was soon made evident to the Americans that no de- pendence could be placed upon disloyalty among the Canadians, and that, instead of finding friends and allies north of the lakes, they would find active foes. While these events were transpiring in America, there were movements abroad which faintly promised an adjustment of difficulties between the two governments without a resort to arms. Immediately after the declaration of war, President Mad- ison, through Secretary Monroe, sent a dispatch* to Mr. Russell, the Amer- . j^ne %, ican minister at the British court, by Mr. Foster, the English minister retir- i^^^- ing from Washington,^ instructing him to offer an armistice preliminary to a definite arrangement of all differences, on condition of the absolute repeal of the obnoxious orders in Council, the discontinuance of impressment, and the return of all American ^ seamen who had been impressed and were still in the British service. He was au- thorized to promise, on the part of the United States, a positive prohibition of em- ployment for British seamen in the American service, public or private, on condition of a reciprocity in kind on the part of the British government. He made still more liberal advances toward reconciliation in a subsequent dispatch," offering i^^gj^gt^^ to agi-ee to an armistice on a tacit understanding, instead of a positive stipulation, that no more American seamen should be impressed into the British service. j • n -i "ur The British government had already taken action on the orders m Council, we have noticed the effect of Brougham's efforts in Parliament, and Baring's potent In- quiry on the subject of those orders. In the spring of 1812 a new order was issued, declaring that if at any time the Berlin and Milan Decrees should, by some authori- tative act of the French government publicly promulgated, be withdrawn, the orders in Council of January, 1807, and of April, 1809, should be at once repealed. Mr. Bar- low the American minister at Paris, immediately after receiving mformation ot this new order, pressed the French government to make a public announcement that those decrees had ceased to operate, as against the United States, since November, 1810 The Duke of Bassano exhibited great reluctance to do so, but finally, persuaded that the Americans would resume trade with Great Britain in defiance of the few French cruisers afloat, and that the two governments might form an alliance against the em- peror, produced a decree, dated April 28, 1811, directing that,m consideration of the resistknce of the United States " to the arbitrary pretensions advanced by the British orders in Council, and a formal refusal to sanction a system hostile to the independ- 1 A m^ of the Wm mwe.n Great BriUU ani tU UniUi States of Africa 6MHr^ the Years 1812, 1813, and 1814, by Vr^ost ' sS tZ Ket Y^rk for Halifax in the brig mm, on'sunday, July 12, accompanied by Mr. Barclay, the British consul at New York. 246 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK DiEgraceful Conduct of a French Minister. Conditional Revocation of the Orders in Council. s — ence of neutral powers, the Berlin and Milan Decrees were to be considered as not having existed, as to American vessels, since November 1, 1810."^ Barlow perceived, by the date of this document, that there was dissimulation and lack of candor in the whole matter, and, by pressing the duke with questions, caused that minister to ut- ter what were doubtless absolute falsehoods. ^ In truth, the French had, throughout this whole matter of decrees, Bnd the enforcement of the Continental System, been guilty of deception and injustice to a degree that would have justified an honest na- tion in suspending all diplomatic relations with them. On receiving a copy of this decree Barlow dispatched it to London by the Wasp, for Mr. Russell's use. It reached there just in time to co-operate with the British manufacturers, who had procured the appointment of a committee of the House of Commons to inquire into the effects of the orders in Council on the commercial inter- ests of the nation.^ Castlereagh, to whom Russell presented the decree, considered it. too limited to induce the British government to make any change in its policy. But he and his colleagues were compelled to yield. The new ministry, who came in after Mr. Perceval's death,* were very strongly pressed by Brougham, Baring, and oth- ers, and menaced with the desertion of their supporters in the manufacturing dis- •1612. *"°*^- ^"ially> on tlie 16th of June,* Brougham, after a minute statement of facts brought out by the inquiry of the Commons' committee, and an eloqilent exposition of the absurd policy pursued by the government,^ moved an address to the Prince Regent, beseeching him to recall or suspend the orders in Council, and to adopt such other measures as might tend to conciliate neutral powers, without sacri- ficing the rights and dignity of his majesty's crown. Castlereagh deprecated this " hasty action," as he called it, and stated that it was the intention of the government to make a conciliatory proposition to the Cabinet at Washington. On an intimation ^ that this definite proposition was decided upon in the Cabinet, and would appear in - June. ^^^ ^^^* Gazette, Brougham withdrew his motion. On the 23d* a declaration fi-om the Prince Regent in Council was published, absolutely revoking all or- ders as far as they regarded America. It was accompanied by a proviso that the present order should have no effect unless the United States should revoke their Non- intercourse Act, and place Great Britain on the same relative footing as France The order also provided that the Prince Regent should not be precluded, if circumstances should require it, from restoring the orders in Council, or from taking such othei; measures of retaliation against the French as might appear to his royal highness iust and necessary.^ •' .=■ •> Intelligence of this conditional revocation of the orders in Council reached Mr Pos ter before he sailed from Halifax, and he obtained fi-om the naval commander on that station (Admiral Sir John Boriase Warren) consent to a mutual suspension of pro- mJ^Z ?f T ^??T T' ^f^ 7^1?"/ °' ®'- ^■°"^' ^P"' 2«' IS"'" ^d ^'g^^d ^y Napoleon as "Emperor of the French King of Italy Protector of the Confederation of the Ehine, and Mediator of the Swiss Confederacy " t),!f -flTr ^\ "T^^J'^nS ^^"^^' apparently a year old, had ever been published. He was answered no adding hat It had been shown to Mr. Enssell, when Charg6 d'Affaires at Paris, and had been sent to SerrurierT^wLMntton to be commmncated to the American government. The records on both sides of the Atlantic proved this Itement to be untrue. The decree was a fresh one, antedated for diplomatic effect. siatement to 3 The examination of this committee, who were authorized to summon persons and papers, commenced on the 29tb of April, and continued until the 13th of June. Witnesses from almost every part of Great BriainTere examined and LT„ '' "™ the transcendent importance of American commerce to the welfare of England was mrde manifest by tes ' timony. The folly, wickedness and stupidity of the orders in Council were fully exposed ; and in the vXme of almost SSe'o^rLd prodded*'' ■"^■'"'" ""''" "'^^"*"^"™' ^° -^"> ^'<="- *= ^™° """^ ealamuLlo" J He decried the sort of half-piratical commerce which England was then pursuing in unmeasured terns' ^"Uistins miserable, shifting, doubful, hateful traflc that we prefer to the sure, regular, increasing, honest ga™s of Ameril^ commerce-to a trade which is placed beyond the enemy's reach ; which, besides enriching ourselves to peace and ho^ or,onlybene^^^ y^ g-"^^ vith eloquent words, der the command of an ~~^/^ ' ' ^ , which were loudly ap- experienced officer who plauded. General Hull then came forward,»took formal command, and, in a patriotic speech of some length, he stirred the blood of the volunteers, and made them eager to meet the dusky foe on the distant frontier. " In marching through a wilderness," he said, " memorable for savage barbarity, you will remember the causes by which that barbarity has been heretofore excited. In viewing the ground stained with the blood of your fellow- citizens, it will be impossible to suppress the feelings of indignation. Passing by the ruins of a fortress,^ erected in our territory by a foreign nation in times of profound peace, and for the express purpose of exciting the savages to hostility, and supplying them with the means of conducting a barbarous war, must remind you of that sys- tem of oppression and injustice which that nation has continually practiced, and which the spirit of an indignant people can no longer endure. "^ This speech touched sharply a tender chord of feeling in every bosom, and they gave their general their fullest confidence. Most of them had never seen him before. His manner was pleasing ; his general deportment was familiar, yet not undignified ; and his gray locks commanded reverence and respect. There were some, who pro- fessed to know him well, who doubted the wisdom of the government in choosing 4iim to fill so important a station at a time so critical, yet they generally kept silent, i Eetum Jonathan Meiga was born at Middletown, Connecticut, in 1T65, and was graduated at Tale pollege. He rhose the law as a profession, and commenced its practice In his native town. He was chosen chief justice of the bu- nreme Court of Connecticut in the winter of ISOJ-'S. In the following year President Jefferson appointed him com- mandant of United States troops and militia in Upper Louisiana, and soon afterward he became one of the judges of that Tereitorv He was commissioned a Judge of Michigan Territory in 180T. He resigned the foUowmg year, and was XtPd governor of Ohio. His election was unconstitutional because of non-residence, not havmg lived four years m Ohio Di-ior to the election. He was appointed United States senator for Ohio in ISOS. That office he resigned, and was elected governor of that state in 1810. He was governor during the greater part of the War of 1812, and was one of the most enSc men of the West in the prosecution of that war. He was appointed postmaster general m March, ISU, Td mSed tMt important department of the government with great ability unt 1 1823. He died at Marietta, Ohio, on thTagth of March, 1825. Governor Meigs was a tall and finely-formed man, and in deportment was dignified, yetur- " Thiri',!S.lar n^e of Governor Meigs suggests inquiry as to its origin. The answer may thus be briefly given : A hrlht eved Connecticut giri was disposed to coquette with her lover, Jonathan Meigs ; and on one occasion, when he Kissed SarwKa^ earnestness, and asked for a positive answer, she feigned coolness and won d give him no sScfion Thelovef resolved to be trifled with no longer, and bade her farewell forever. She perceived her ei- no satisfaction | "J^ '"^"^ "^^ j^ , ^^fore her pride would yield to the nlore tender emotions of her heart. ro^but he was a lowed to go ^l^'^^^^Son&t^^n ! retui-n, Jonathan 1" He did return ; they were joined in wed- Tl»n she ran to '^« g*'« .^"^"'"/"i^.f t°p^^^^ they named their first child Eetum Jonathan. He was horn-in °.5n' '"''• ^T^ZTcfZl Me gs of wh?ch Ms ory says so much, and was the father of the governor of Ohio, who IMO ; was the heroic Colonel Meigs oi wnicn j. ^ ^^^^ ^^.^^.^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ Maumee, just below the Falls. ""ffisS^yT/ifte tofe Far in tU Western Cmmtrv, by Kobert B. M'Afee, p. 51. 256 PICTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK Hall-B Troops joined by Kegnlars. Honors paid to the latter. The Army in the Wilderness. wishincr to give him every opportunity to disappoint their expectations, win success for his country, and honors for himself • i,,. . On the 1st of June* the little army commenced its march up the Miami. ' ^^^^' General Hull had appointed his son. Captain A. F. Hull, and Robert Wallace, Jr., his aids-de-camp; Lieutenant Thomas S. Jesup, of Kentucky, his brigade major; Dr. Abraham Edwards his hospital surgeon ; and General James Taylor, of Ken- tucky, his quartermaster general, i He proceeded to Staunton, a small village on the east bank of the Miami, and thence moved on to Urbana,^ where the volunteers were joined by tbe Fourth Regiment of regulars under Lieutenant Colonel James Miller.3 They were met about a mile from the village by Colonels M'Arthur, Cass, and Findlay, at the head of their respective regiments, by whom they were escorted into camp. They were led under a triumphal arch of evergreens, decked with flow- ers, surmounted with an eagle, and inscribed with the words, in large letters, " Tip- pecanoe — Gloet."* On their arrival. General Hull issued an order complimentary to the regulars and congratulatory to the volunteers. " The general is persuaded," he said, " that there will be no other contention in this army but who will most ex- cel in discipline and bravery. . . . The patriots of Ohio, who yield to none in spirit and patriotism, will not be willing to yield to any in discipline and valor." The troops were now at a frontier town. Between them and Detroit, two hund- red miles distant, lay an almost unbroken wilderness, a part of it the broad morasses of the watershed between the Ohio and the lakes, and beyond these the terrible Black Swamp in the present counties of Henry, Wood, and Sandusky. There was no pathway for the army, not even an Indian trail. They were compelled to cut a road, and for this purpose M' Arthur's regiment was detached. The difiiculties and labors were very great, for. heavy timber had to be felled, causeways to be laid across mo- rasses, and bridges to be constructed over considerable streams. They also erect- ed block-houses for the protection of the sick, and of provision trains moving forward with supplies for the army. Industry and perseverance overcame all obstacles, and, on the 1 6th of June, the 'road was opened to the scouts at a point in Hardin County, not far from Kenton. Two block-houses were built on the south bank of that stream, stockaded, and the whole work named Fort M'Arthur. The fortifications did not in- close more than half an acre. There were log huts for the garrison, and log corn- cribs for the food. It was a post of great danger. Hostile Indians, and especially the warlike Wyandots, filled the forest, and were watching every movement with vigilant eyes and malignant hearts. The army halted at Fort M'Arthur on the 19th, and Colonel Findlay was detached with his regiment to continue the road to Blanchard's Fork of the Au Glaize, a tiili- utary of the Maumee. Three days afterward the whole army followed, excepting a small garrison for Fort M'Arthur, under Captain Dill, left to keep the post and take care of the sick. Heavy rains now fell, and the little army was placed in a perilous position. They had reached the broad morasses of the summit, and had marched only sixteen miles, when the deep mud impelled them to halt. They could go no far- ther. The black flies and musquitoes were becoming a terrible scourge. The cattle were placed on short allowance, and preparations were made to transport the bag- 1 General Taylor was yet living, at the age of seventy-nine, in 1848, at Newport, Kentucky. " Urbana is the capital of Champaign County, Ohio. It was laid out by Colonel William Ward, a Virginian, in 180B. The army of General Hull encamped in the eastern part of the village. This being a frontier town, it was afterward used as a place of rendezvous and departure for troops going to the frontier. The old court-holisc, built in 1807, was used as a hospital. ' These troops came from Vincennes. They had come by the way of Louisville, through Kentucky, and had been every where received with honors. Their services at Tippecanoe were duly appreciated. At Cincinnati the shore was lined with the inhabitants waiting to receive them as they crossed the Ohio from Newport. A triumphal arch had ^en built, over which, in large letters, were the words, "The Heboes of Tiiteoanoe." They were received with cheers and a salute of seventeen guns (the number of the states at that time), and they, only, passed under the arch. Food and liquor in great abundance were sent to their camp.— Liejitenant Coleiml Miller to Ma Wife, June. 12, lS\2—Aittograph Letter. « Lieutenant Colonel Miller to his Wife, June 12, 1813— Autograph Letter. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 257 Hull's March toward Detroit. Alarming Reports concerning the Indians. gage and stores on pack-horses. They built a fort, which, in allusion to the circum- stances, they called Fort Necessity. Here Hull was met by two messengers from Detroit — General Robert Lucas and William Denny — whom he had sent from Dayton to that post with dispatches for acting Governor Atwater. Their report was disheartening. General Lucas had been present at a council of the chiefs of several tribes at Brownstown— Ottawas, Ojib- was or Ghippewas,Wyandots, and others. All but Walk-in-the- Water, principal chief of the Wyandots, made peaceful professions. The latter spoke many bold and un- friendly words. The British, too, were making hostile manifestations. They had collected a considerable body of Indians at Maiden, where they were fed, and armed, and well supplied with blankets and ammunition. Kind and generous treatment made them fast friends of the British, and eager to go out upon the war-path against the Americans. Tecumtha was also wielding his great influence in the same direc- tion ; and to Hull and his friends the situation of Detroit, with its weak defenses, seemed, as it really was, in great peril. The danger made him impatient to push forward. At length the rain ceased, the earth became more firm, the army marched under the guidance of Zane, M'Pherson, and Armstrong (three men well acquainted with wood-craft), and at the end of three days were on Blanohard's Fork, where Colonel Findlay had erected a stockade fort, which was called by his name. , It was about fifty yards square, with a block-house at each corner, and a ditch in front. It was on the southwest side of the stream, where the village of Findlay now stands. The fort stood at the end of the present bridge. > At Fort Findlay General Hull received a dispatch* from the War Depart- a june 24, ment directing him to hasten to Detroit, and there await farther orders. It i*^^- was dated on the morning of the day when war was declared, but contained not a word concerning that measure.^ This will be mentioned again presently. Hull^rdered all the camp equipage to be left at the fort, and made preparations for an immediate advance. Colonel Cass was sent forwai'd with his regiment to open a road to the Rapids of the Maumee f and a few days afterward the whole army, excepting detachments left in the forts, were encamped upon a plain on the eastern bank of that stream, opposite Wayne's battle-ground of 1794. There the wearied troops had the first glimpse of civilization since they left Urbana. They were taken across the stream, and marched down its left bank, through a small vil- lage at the foot of the Rapids,* to a level spot near the ruins of the old British fort Miami, where they encamped. So wearied and worn were Hull's beasts of burden when he reached navigable wa- ters connecting with his destination that he resolved to relieve them as much as pos- sible. He accordingly dispatched, from the foot of the Rapids, the schooner Cuya- hoga for Detroit with his own baggage and that of most of his ofiicers ; also all of the hospital stores, intrenching tools, and a trunk containing his commission, his in- structions from the War Department, and complete muster-rolls of the whole army.= The wives of three of the officers. Lieutenant Dent, and Lieutenant Goodwin, with thirty soldiers as protectors of the schooner, also embarked in her. A smaller ves- sel, under the charge of Surgeon's Mate James Reynolds, was dispatched with the Cuyahoga for the conveyance of the army invalids, and both sailed into Maumee 1 Howe's Historical Collections of Ohio, page 238. 2 Armstrong's Notices of the War ^1S12, i., 48. HulVs Memoir of the Campaign oftU iiorthwestem Army, page 36. _ 3 Miami and Maumee mean the same thing. The latter method of spelling more nearly indicates the pronunciation to an English ear than the former. The Indians pronounced it as if spelled Me-aw-me. So the French spelt it, accord- ing to their pronunciation of i and «, Mi-a-mi. To distinguish this stream from the two of the same name (Great and Little Miami) that empty into the Ohio, this was frequently called the Miami of the Lakes. 4 Now Maumee City, nearly opposite Perryshurg, the capital of Wyandotte County. , „ . , ^ ._ , s Robert Wallace, one of General Hull's aids-de-camp, in a letter published in a newspaper at Covington, Kentucky, in 1842 and quoted in the Appendix to General Hall's Military amd Civil We, page 443, says, " His son. Captain Hull (who was also an aid), in executing this order, unfortunately shipped a small trunk containing the papers and reports of the army, for which he was afterward severely reprimanded by his father." 258 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Hull mfomed of tlie Declaration of War. Captare of a Schooner with hie Baggage and Papers. Bay, where Toledo now stands, on the evening of the 1st of July. On the same day the army moved toward Detroit through the beautiful open country, by the way of Frenchtown, on the River Raisin, now the pleasant city of Monroe, in Michigan. ■ jniy, When approaching Frenchtown toward the evening of the 2d,'' Hull^ was 1812.' overtaken by a courier, sent by the vigilant postmaster at Cleveland, with a dispatch from the "War Department, which read as follows : " SiE,— War is declared against Great Britain. You will be on your guard. Pro- ceed to your post with all possible expedition ; make such arrangements for the de- fense of the country as in your judgment may be necessary, and wait for farther orders." This dispatch was explicit and easily understood, but its date, and the time and manner of its reception, perplexed the general. It bore the same date as the one re- ceived a week earlier at Fort Findlay, in which there was no intimation of a declara- tion of war. That had been sent by a special courier from the seat of government ; this had been sent by mail to Cleveland, to be there intrusted to such conveyance as " accident might supply," through one hundred miles of wilderness. ^ The former contained an important order; the latter contained information more important. This fact was inexplicable to Hull, and remains unexplained to this day. The cir- cumstance made him feel serious apprehensions for the safety of the schooner and her consort. The question pressed heavily upon his mind whether the British command- er at Maiden, past which the vessels must sail, might not already have heard of the declaration of war. In that event they might be seized, and valuable plunder as well as valuable information would fall into his hands. Moved by these considera- tions, he dispatched an officer with some men to the mouth of the Raisin to stop the schooner, but their arrival was too late. With a fair wind she had passed that point. A few hours afterward Hull's apprehensions were justified by events, for he learned, on the morning after his arrival at Frenchtown, that the Cuyahoga had been cap- tured. While sailing past Maiden, unconscious of danger, at ten o'clock on the morn- ing of the 2d, she was brought to by a gun from the shore. The British armed ves- sel Hunter went alongside of her, and schooner and cargo became a prize. The troops and crew were made prisoners of war. The vessel with the invalids, being be- hind the schooner, passed up the more shallow channel on the west side of Bois Blanc Island, and reached Detroit in the afternoon of the next day* in safety.^ " ^ ' The British commander at Maiden, alid those of other posts, hadh&erx noti- fied of the declaration of war through the vigilance of British subjects in New York. Sir George Prevost, the governor general of Canada, was informed of the fact on the 24th of June by an express from New York to the Northwest Fur Company, which left that city on the 20th, the day when intelligence of the declaration of war reached there. On the 25th, Sir George sent a courier with a letter to Sir Isaac Brock, the lieutenant governor at York (now Toronto), but it did not reach him until the 3d of 1 1 am indebted to the Hon. Elisha Whittlesey, of Ohio, late First Auditor of the U»ited States Treasury, for the fol- lowing interesting account of the transmission of this dispatch from Cleveland to the camp. Mr. Walworth, the post- master at Cleveland, was requested by the postmaster general to send the dispatch by express. Charles Shaler, Esq., a young lawyer, then in Cleveland (brother-in-law of Commodore M'Bonough), was persuaded to become the bearer, cer- tainly as far as the Rapids of the Manmee, and possibly to Detroit. The compensation agreed upon was thirty-five dol- lars. On searching the mail the dispatch could not be found. It was suggested to Mr. Walworth that it might be in the Detroit mail. Having been informed by letter of the declaration of war, and believing the dispatch to be of great importance, he considered it his duty to open the Detroit mail. He did so, but withjieluctance, and found the dispatch. At about noon on the 28th of June Mr. Shaler started from Cleveland on horseback. He was obliged to swim all the streams excepting the Cuyahoga at Cleveland. No relays of horses could be obtained. He reached the Kapids on the night of the 1st of July. There he was informed that the army was moving rapidly toward Detroit. He pursued and overtook it not far from the Raisin, at two o'clock in the morning of the 2d, just as the moon was rising. After soilie formality he was ushered into the presence of Hull, who was dressing. He was requested to be silent in the presence of camp listeners. A council of ofBcers was immediately summoned. The army was put in motion at dawn. He ac- companied it to Detroit, where his horse died from the effects of the rapid journey through the wilderness. Mr. Shaler remained in Detroit nntll he saw the flag of his country raised over the soil of Canada. He returned to Cleveland partly_ on foot, and partly on hired and borrowed horses. ' Letter of Dr. Reynolds, dated at Detroit, July T, 1812. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 259 How British Offlcei-3 ill Canada were info rmed of the Declaration of War. Hull's Army at Detroit. July, when he was at Fort George, on the Niagara frontier. He had been informed of the event by express from New York as early as the 2Vth of June, i Colonel St. George, at Maiden, was informed of it by letter on the 30th, two days before it reach- ed Hull ; and Captain Roberts, in command of the British post on the island of St. Joseph, at the head of Lake Huron, was notified by letter also on the 8th of July. The letters to the last two named commanders were in envelopes franked by the American Secretary of the Treasury.^ How these were obtained remains a mystery, for no man believes that Mr. Gallatin would have lent such assistance to any known enemy of his country. The fact that he was opposed to the war gave currency to a report that he was willing to cast obstacles in the way of the invasion of Canada, a scheme which many even of the war -party regarded as unwise. Mr. Madison was also charged with having, under the influence of Virginia politicians and the wily Cal- houn, withheld aid from Hull, that the conquest of Canada might not be effectedj as it would, by annexation to the United States, materially increase the area and polit- ical influence of free-labor territory, and more speedily snatch the sceptre of dominion in the afiairs of the government from the slave-labor states. Assertions of this kind were prevalent at that day, and have been revived in our time.^ Hull's army rested a day. at Frenchtown, and spent the 4th of July in constructing a bridge across the Huron River, near Brownstown, twenty-five miles from Detroit. They had passed a hostile Wyandotte village, and observed a large vessel with troops on board at Maiden. Expecting an attack by a combined force of British and In- dians, Hull's troops slept upon their arms that night.'* They marched early the next morning ; and at evening, having passed the Rivers Aux Ecorces and Rouge, en- camped at Spring Wells,* at the lower end of the Detroit settlement, opposite Sand- wich in Canada, where a British force was stationed, and not far from which, up the river opposite Detroit, they were throwing up fortifications. The camp was upon a pleasant eminence, eligible for a commanding fortification. From its crown they hurled a few heavy shot across the river, " which cleared out a number of inhabitants ' The late Honorable William Hamilton Merritt, of St. Catharine's, Canada West, who was a member of the Canadian Parliament, was an active ofldcer of dragoons during the early portion of the war on the Canadian Peninsula. He left a very valuable n?irrative of the events of the war in that section, in manuscript, which his family kindly placed in my hands. In that narrative I find the following statement: "We received intelligence of the declaration of war by the United States on the 2Tth of June, 1812, from a messenger sent by the late John Jacob Astor to Thomas Clark, Esq., of Niagara Falls. The express was immediately sent to President General Brock, who was at York." " Letter of General Jesup to General Armstrong, cited in the latter's Notices of the War of 1812, i., 195. ■ 3 It is said that when (as we shall hereafter notice) General John Armstrong and President Madison quarreled, the former, in a pamphlet, boldly made the charge alluded to in the text. They became reconciled, and the pamphlet was withdrawn, and the whole issue, as far as practicable, was destroyed. One of these pamphlets was, it is said, in pos- session of the late Alvan Stewart. In a letter of that gentleman to " The Liberty Party" in 1846, he alluded to this matter as follows : After noticing the points on the frontier to which General Smyth, of Virginia, General Winder, of Maryland, Generals Wilkinson and Hampton, then of Louisiana, were stationed with their troops, he says, "Pour slave- holding generals, with their four armies, were stretched out on our northern frontier, not to take Canada, but to prevent its being taken by the men of New England and New York, in 1812, '13, and '14, lest we should make some six or eight free states from Canada, if conquered. This was treason against Northern interests. Northern blood, and Northern honor. But the South furnished the President and the Cabinet. This revelation could have been proved by General John Armstrong, then Secretary of War, after he and Mr. Madison had quarreled." — Writinas amd Speeches of Alvan Stewart on Slavery, edited by his son-in-law, Luther R. Marsh, Esq., page 4T. We have seen that Commander Stewart (now the venerable admiral bearing the title of Old Ironsides) was called to WashinCTton City on public business. At that time, while in conversation with Mr. Calhoun upon public matters, the latter declared to the former that whenever the control of the national government should pass out of the hands of the Southern politicians (he spoke for them, and not for the people), they would " resort to a dissolution of the Union."— See Letter of Commodore Stewart to G. W. Childs, May 24, 1861. * It was the intention of the British to attack Hull in the swamps of the Huron River. It was prevented by a decep- tive communication to the commander at Maiden by a resident there, and a friend of Hull's. He informed Colonel St. George that Hull had sent for cannon at Detroit, and intended to cross the river and attack Fort Maiden. This caused the British commander to concentrate his troops for the defense of the fort. Meanwhile Hull moved on toward De- troit. Speaking of this event in the march, Robert Wallace, one of General Hull's aids, writing in 1842 to the Liehimi VaUey Register, Covington, Kentucky, says, " During that day it was remarked to me by several officers that General Hull appeared to have no sense of personal danger, and that he would certainly be killed if a contest commenced. This was said to prepare me for taking orders from the next in rank." 5 This locality was sometimes called The Sand Hills. Out of these, on the river side, many springs of pure water for- merly gushed out, and these gave the name by which the place was generally known. For the same reason the French called it Belle Fontaine. The sand-hills, three in number, were Indian burial-places. 260 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Impatience to invade Canada. Hull determines to do so. Detroit in 1812. very quick."' There, and near Fort Detroit, Hull allowed his troops to wash their clothes and have their arms repaired, while he was awaiting farther orders from his government.^ Officers and men, anxious to invade Canada, were impatient, and even a mutinous spirit was manifested by some of the Ohio Volunteers. They burned with a desire to cross the river and attack the foe. The sight of growing fortifications, that would endanger the town and fort of Detroit, and soon become too formidable to face in crossino- the river, maddened them, and it was with great difficulty that their officers restrained them.' To quiet their tumultuous impulses, Hull called a council of the field officers. He assured them that he had no authority to iavade Canada. They insisted that it was expedient to do so immediately, and drive off the fort-builders. " While I have command," he said, firmly, " I will obey the orders of my govern- ment. I will not cross the Detroit until I hear from Washington." The young offi- cers heard this announcement with compressed lips, and doubtless many a rebellious heart — rebellious toward the commander — beat quickly, with deep emotion, for hours after the council was dismissed. The general was perplexed ; but, happily for all concerned, a letter came from the Secretary of War that evening, directing him to " commence operations immediately," and that, should the force under his command be equal to the enterprise, and " consistent with the safety of the American posts," he should take possession of Fort Maiden at Amherstburg, and extend his conquests as circumstances might justify.* He was also directed to give assurance to the in- habitants of the province about to be invaded, of protection to their persons and prop- erty. With such official warrant in his hands, Hull determined to cross into Canada at once, to the delight of his army, both officers and privates.' Detroit at that time stretched along the river at a convenient distance back, and the present Jefferson Avenue was the principal street. It contained one hundred and sixty houses, and about eight hundred souls. The inhabitants were chiefly of French descent. Only seven years before, every building but one in the village was destroyed by fire.* On the hill, in the rear, about two hundred and fifty yards from the river, stood Fort Detroit, built by the English after the conquest of Canada a hundred years ago. It was quadrangular in form, with bastions and barracks, and 1' Lieutenant Colonel Miller to his Wife, July T, 1S12 — Autograph Letter. 2 Colonel William Stanley Hatch, of "River Home," near Cincinnati, kindly placed in my hands a chapter of his un- puhlished "Memoirs of the War 0/1S12 in the Northwest, containing a minute account of events which came under his own observation, during the campaign of General Hull from May until the middle of August. Colonel Hatch was a volunteer In the Cincinnati Light Infantry, commanded by Captain John F. Mansfield of that city, and from the inva- sion of Canada to the surrender of the army he was acting assistant quartermaster general. To liis narrative I am in- debted for a number of facts given in this sketch not found recorded in history. He says that on Monday, the 6th of July, the fourth regiment of regulars marched to the fort, and that the next day the volunteers marched thither, and took up their position near the fort, south, west, and north of it. 2 General Hull had'heen subjected to much annoyance from the Ohio Volunteers from the beginning of the march. They were militia just called into the field, and had never been restricted by military discipline. They were frequently quite insubordinate. This fact was brought out on Hull's trial. " One evening," says Lieutenant Baron, of the Fourth Regiment, in his testimony at the trial of General Hull, " while at Urbana, I saw a multitude, and heard a noise, and was informed that a company of Ohio Volunteers were riding one of their oflBcers on a rail. In saying that the Ohio Volunteers were insubordinate, witness means that they were only as much so as undisciplined militia generally are. Some thirty or forty of the Ohio militia refused to cross into Canada at one time, and thinks he saw one hundred who refused to cross when the troops were at Urbana." — Forbes's Report of the Court-^martial, page 124. The same witness testified to the manifestation of a mutinous spirit at other times. On one occasion, he says. General Hull rode up and said to Colonel Miller, ' ' Your regiment is a powerful argument ; without them I could not march these men to Detroit." 4 Dispatch of William Eustis, Secretary of War, to General Hull, dated June 24, 1812. 5 On the moiTiing of the 6th Colonel Cass was sent to Maiden with a'flag of truce, to demand the baggage and pris- oners taken from the schooner. On his approach he was blindfolded, and in this condition was taken before Colonel St. George. He was treated courteously. The demand was unheeded, and, being again blindfolded, he was led out of the fort. He retunied to camp with Captain Burbanks, of the British Array.— M' A fee, 'The city of Detroit is about nine miles below Lake St. Clair. The river, or strait, between St. Clair and Lake Erie gave it its name, de troit being the French name of a strait. The Indians called it Wa-wa-o-te-wong. It was a trading- post of the French as early as 1020, before any of the French missionaries had penetrated the distant wilderness from Quebec and Montreal. It was established as a settlement in 1701, when Antoine do la Motte Cadillac, lord of Bouaget, Moun Desert, having received a grant of fifteen miles square from Louis XIV., reached the site of Detroit with a Jesuit missionary and one hundred men, and planted the first settlement in Michigan.— C/iar!«)oia:. The name of the old In- dian village on its site was called by the Ottawas Teuchsa Grondic Coldm, cited by Lauman in his History of Miehiaam. page 61. Sites of Portiflcations at Detroit. OF THE WAR OF 1812. Britisli Worlss opposite. 261 Preparations to cross the Eiver. covered about two acres of ground. The embankments were nearly twenty feet in height, with a deep dry ditch, and were surrounded by a double row of pickets. The outside row was in the centre of the ditch, and the other row projected from the bank, formmg what is technically called 9.fraue. There was a work, called the Cita- del Fort, that stood on the site of the present Arsenal, or Temperance Hotel, in Jef- ferson Avenue. The fort was garrisoned when Hull arrived by ninety-four men. Its position was one of considerable strength, but, unfortunately, it did not command the river, and could not damage the armed vessels which the British at that time em- ployed in those waters. ^ The town was surrounded by strong pickets, fourteen feet high, with loop-holes to shoot through. The pickets commenced at the river, on the line of the Brush farm, and followed it to about Congress Street ; thence westerly, along or near Michigan Avenue, back of the old fort, to the east line of the Cass farm, and followed that line to the river. On Jefferson Avenue, at the Cass line, and on At- water Street, on the Brush farm, massive gates were placed. These pickets, which had been erected as defenses against Indian incursions, were yet well preserved in 1812.2 The fortifications which the British were erecting on the opposite side of the river (then about three fourths of a mile wide) would, if completed, not only command the town, but seriously menace the fort ; so, with all possible expedition, Hull prepared to cross and drive the British toward Maiden. His force at that time, including the Michigan militia, under Colonel Elijah Brush, who had joined those from Ohio, num- bered about twenty-two hundred effective men.^ After great exertions, Hull collected boats and canoes sufficient to carry about four hundred men at a time. These would be too few to cross in the face of the en- emy behind his breastworks, and he resorted to strategy. Toward the evening of the 11th, all the boats were sent down the river to Spring Wells, in full view of the British, and at the same time Colonel M' Arthur, with his regiment, marched to the same point. TheBiit- .ish prepared to dispute their passage. Aftei dark, troops and boats moved silently up the river to Bloody Bridge, a mile and a half above Fort Detroit, and pre- pared to cross there Finding all silent at Spring Wells, the de ceived British believed that the Americans had gone stealthily down the river to attack Maiden. Under this impression, they left Sandwich, and in the morning the Ameri- cans had no one to op- view at bloody bkidge in iseo.* I At that time the Americaos had a small frigate, named the Aiwms, nearly completed, at the ship-yard on the Eoiige Eiver. = j^^ge Witherell's iiumimgcences o/ Z)eimf. 3 Lieutenant Colonel Miller— Autograph Letter. * This view is from the bridge that was over Bloody Bun, in Jefferson Avenue, in 1860. Bloody Bridge Was nearer the Detroit Eiver, seen in the distance. It was near the second fence from the river, running from the left in the pic- ture, and at the itiost distant point where the stream of water is seen. That stream is Bloody Eun. The large tree in the foreground was a whitewood. It was sixteen feet in circumference ; and scars of the bullets received into it dur- ing a battle a hundred years ago might still be seen in its huge trunk. 262 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK First Invasion of Canada. Hull's Head-quarters. Hull's Proclamation to the Canadians. •July 12 pose their landing. At dawn" the regular troops and the Ohio Volunteers 1812. ' crossed to the Canadian shore to a point opposite the lower end of Hog Isl- and. They looked with suspicious eye upon a stone wind-mill on the shore, for it ap- peared like an excellent place for a concealed battery.^ But there was no resistanoe,^ and the little army first touched Canada just above the present town of Windsor. It was a bright and lovely Sabbath morning, with a gentle breeze from the south- west. The American flag was immediately hoisted by Colonel Cass and a subaltern^ over Canadian soil, and was greeted by cheers from the invaders, the spectators of the passage of the Detroit at Bloody Bridge, and from the fort and town. They were also cordially received by the French Canadians. The Americans encamped on the farm of Colonel Francis Babie,^ a French Canadian and British officer, with his fine brick mansion (then unfinished, and yet standing in Windsor) in the centre of the camp. This was taken pos- session of by General Hull, and used as head-quarters for himself and principal of- ficers. The little village of Sandwich, a short distance below, gave its name to this locality, and Hull's dispatches from ooLo^Ei. BABiE-s EEsri,E=« "g^ "f '^mY-o^^ years), suggested to the War Department both rMed I was informed by the venerable Robert Reynolds, of Araherstburg, who was a deputy assistant commissary general in the British aimy in Canada during the war, that Proctor sent a letter to Captain Roberts telling him that his force was considerable, and that he need not send down more than five thousand Indians. This letter, according to instruc- tions, was Intercepted, and placed in the hands of Hull, who had visions immediately of an overwhelming force coming down upon his rear, while a superior array should attack him in front. 2 I visited the Long Point region at Norwichville in the autumn of 1860, where early settlers were yet living. There I was informed, from the lips of AdamTeigh, ofBni*ford, who was one of the volunteers, that all of the recruits from his neighborhood were dressed In scarlet uniform at the public expense. When they approached Sandwich he said these raw recruits were mixed with the regulars, each volunteer being placed between two regulars. By this stratagem Hull was deceived into the belief that a large British force was marching against him. Yeigh was an energetic young man, and soon won the confidence of Brocl?, who gave him the following directions on the day that they marched upon Sand- wich from Amherstburg : If your lieatenant falls, take his place ; if your captain falls, take his place ; if your colonel falls, take his place. As no blood was shed on the occasion, and nobody fell, Yeigh failed of promotion. He cited this circumstance to show how nearly he came to being, a British colonel. 3 Hintorical Sketches of the Second War, etc., i., 81. * Hull's Memoir of the Campaign of 1812, page 73. ' Letter of Colonel Cass to the Secretary of War, September 10, 1812. 286 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Demand for the Surrender of Detroit. The Garrison threatened with Massacre. The Demand refused. approached head-quarters the next day at about ten o'clock in the mommg. Mean- while affairs at Detroit had reached a crisis. On the morning of the 15th of August, General Hull pitched his marquee m the centre of his camp, near the fort. It was the first time since the 4th of July that it had made its appearance, and much attention and remark was elicited by it, especial- ly because its top was ornamented with red and blue stripes, which made it conspic- uous among the tents.^ The British had been in considerable force on the opposite shore since the 13th, and had been permitted to throw up intrenohments, and to plant a battery for two eighteen-pounders and an eight-inch howitzer in a position to com- mand the town and fort, notwithstanding the latter was armed with twenty-eight pieces of heavy ordnance, which the artillerists were anxious to use in driving the enemy from his works. When his preparations for attack were completed. General Brock, at little past meridian on the 15th, sent Lieutenant Colonel M'Donell and Ma- jor Gl'egg from Sandwich, with a flag, to bear to General Hull a summons for the unconditional surrender of the post. " The force at my disposal," said Brock, " au- thorizes me to require of you the surrender of Detroit. It is far from my inclination to join in a war of extermination, but you must be aware that the numerous body of Indians who have attached themselves to my troops will be beyond my control the moment the contest commences. "^ This covert threat of letting loose the blood-thirsty savages upon the town and garrison of Detroit deeply impressed the commanding general with contending emo- tions. His pride of character, and his patriotism, for which all venerated him, bade him fight ; his fear of the consequences to the army and the inhabitants under his charge bade him surrender. His whole efiective force then at his disposal did not exceed one thousand men,^ and the fort was thronged with trembling women, and children,' and decrepit old men of the town and surrounding country, who had fied thither to escape, the blow of the tomahawk and the keen blade of the scalping-knife. For full two hours he kept the flag waiting while revolving in his mind what to do. His ,troops were confident in their ability to successfully confront the enemy, and were eager to measure strength with him ; and at length Hull mustered resolution sufiicient to say to Brock, " I have no other reply to make than to inform you that I am ready to meet any force which may be at your disposal, and any consequences which may result from its execution in any way you may think proper to use it." He added, apologetically, that a certain flag of truce, sent to Maiden at about the time Colonel Cass fell upon the British and Indians at the Aux Canards, proceeded contrary to his orders ; and that the destruction of Gowris's house at Sandwich was - also contrary to his orders." Hull's response to Brock, when made known, was welcomed by the troops with the most lively satisfaction ; and when the flag touched the Canada shore, the bearers were startled by a loud huzza from the fort at Detroit and the adjacent camp. The time for trial, and, as Hull's little army believed, of victory for them, was at hand, and the most active preparations to meet the foe was seen on every side. Major Jesup rode down to Spring Wells to reconnoitre the enemy at Sandwich. He was satisfied,' from the position which the Queen Charlotte had taken, that the British intended to land at that place under cover of her guns. Having selected a commanding point for a battery from which that vessel might possibly be driven away, he hastened back to head-quarters, and requested Hull to send down a twenty-pounder for the purpose. Hull refused. Jesup returned to Spring Wells, where he found Captain I M'Afee, page 85. = Brock to Hull, dated Sandwich, August IS, 1S13. , ' Hull, in his report to the Secretary of War, August 26, 1812, said it " did not exceed eight hundred men." Colonel Cass, in a letter to the same Cabinet minister, on the 10th of September, said that the morning report of the 16th " made our effective men present fit for duty 1060." Major Jesup estimated them at 960. * When Major Denny evacuated Fort Gowris he set fire to the picket and other works used for strengthening it, when the flames accidentally seized the house and destroyed It. OF THE WAE OF 18.12. 28T Bombardment of Fort Detroit. . British and Indians cross the Kiver. , They move against the Fort. Snelling, with a, few men and a six-pounder, occupying the place he had selected for his battery. They perceived that the greater part of the British forces were at Sand- wich, and both hastened to head-quarters. Jesup now asked for one hundred and fifty men to go over and spike the enemy's guns opposite Detroit. Hull said he could not spare so many. " Give me one hundred, theji," said the brave Jesup. "Only one hundred," said Snelling, imploringly. " I will think of it," was Hull's reply ; and soon afterward he took refuge in the fort, for at four o'clock in the afternoon the British battery of five guns opposite, under the direction of Captain Dixon, of the Royal Engineers, opened, upon the town, the fort, and the camp, with shot and shell. All the troops, except Findlay's regiment, which was stationed three hundred yards northwest of the fort, were ordered within the walls,, crowding the work far beyond its capacity. 1 The British kept up their cannonade and bombardment until toward midnight.^ .The fire was returned with great spirit, and two of the enemy's guns were silenced and disabled.3 At evening twilight it was suggested to Hull that as the fort did not command the river, a strong battery might be placed near the mai-gin of the stream, so as to destroy the enemy as fast as they should attempt to land. An eligible point for the purpose, in the direction of Spring Wells, was selected, but the general, whose mind seemed to have been benumbed from the moment the enemy's battery was opened, would listen to no suggestions of the kind ; and when that ene- my, in full force, crossed the river during the early morning of the 16th — a calm and beautiful Sabbath morning-^-completing the passage in the matin twilight, they were allowed to land without the least molestation from ball or bullet. Colonels Elliott and M'Kee, with Tecumtha, had crossed during the night two miles be- low, with six hundred Indians, and taken position in the woods to attack the Americans on flank and rear, should they attempt to dispute the debarkation of the regulars and militia, who numbered seven hundred and seventy men, with five pieces of light artillery.* When all had breakfasted, the invaders moved toward the fort ; the white troops in a single column, their left flank covered by the Indians, who kept in the woods a mile and a half distant. Their right rested on the Detroit River, and was covered by the guns of the Queen Charlotte. Lieutenant Colonel Miller, t^ ith the 4th Regiment, was now in the fort ; and the Ohio Volunteers and part of the Michigan militia were posted behind the town palif sades, so as to annoy the enemy's whole left flank. The remainder of the militia were stationed in the upper part of the town, to resist the incursions of the Indians, I Historical Sketches of the late War, by John Lewis Thomson, page 30. , ■ ■ = During the evening a large shell was thrown from a battery opposite where Woodward Avenne now is. It passed over the present Jefferson Avenue, then the principal street of the town, and fell upon the roof of Augustus Langdon, which stood on what is now the southerly comer of Woodward Avenue and Congress Street. .Coming down through the house, which was two stories in height, it fell upon a table around which the famUy were seated, and went through to the cellar. The family had just time to flee from the house, when the shell exploded, almost wrecking the building. —Judge WtthefM. s The battery that did the greatest execution was placed, according to Judge Witherell, in the rear of the spot where {he United States Court-house now stands. It was commanded by Lieutenant Daliba, of Dyson's Artillery Corps. He was a brave soldier. During the cannonade he stood iu the ramparts, and when he saw the smoke or flash of the ene- my's cannon, he would call out to his men'"Down I" when they would drop behind the parapet until the shot had struck. A large pear-tree stood near the battery and was somewhat in the way. Colonel Mack, of the Michigan militia, or- dered, a young volunteer named John Miller to cut it down. John obeyed with alacrity. Seizing an axe, he hewed away diligently until he had about half severed the trunk, when a cannon ball from the enemy cut away nearly all of the remainder. The young man coolly turned toward the enemy and called out, " Send us another, John Bull ; you can cul; faster than I.can." . It is related that a negro was seen, on the morning of the 16th, when the shot were strikmg thick and fast around the fort behind a chimney on the roof of one of the barracks in the fort. He watched the smoke of the cannon across the river, and would then dodge behind the chimney. At length an eight-pound ball struck the chimney just over his head, demolished it, and covered the skulker with.bxictand mortar. Clearing himself from the rubbish, and scratohing his woolly head, he exclaimed, " What de debble you doin updar !" He fled to a safer place. - * According tq Brock's official account, the number of troops which he marched against the fort was a little over thir- teen hundred, as follows: 30 artillery; 250 of the-41st Eegiment ; 50 I?oyal Newfoundland Begiment ; 400 militia, and about 600 Indians. His artillery consisted of three 6-jpouuders and two 3-pounders.— Tupper's Life of Brock, page 250. The number of Indians was probably greater than here stated, as 1000 warriors attended a council a tew days before. 288 PICTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK Hnll'8 Troops reBti-ained from ActioD. All ordered into the Fort. Scenes within the Fort. whose chief motive in joining the British standard was plunder, and the free and safe indulgence of their ferocity. Two twenty-four-pounders had been placed- in battery on an eminence from which they could sweep the advancing column.^ The American force was considerably less than that of the British, white and red combined, but their position was much superior. They had four hundred rounds of twenty-four- pound shot fixed ; about one hundred thousand cartridges prepared ; ample provisions for fifteen days and more approaching, and no lack of arms and loose ammunition.^ The invaders advanced cautiously, and had reached a point within five hundred yards of the American line, near the site of Governor "Woodbridge's residence, at the crossing of the Central Railroad, when General Hull sent a peremptory order for his soldiers to retreat into the fort. The troops were astounded and bewildered. Con- fident in their ability to repulse and probably capture the invaders, they were eager for the order to begin the contest. " Not a sign of discontent broke upon the ear ; not a look of cowardice met the eye. Every man expected a proud day for his coun- try, and each was anxious that his individual exertion should contribute to the general result. "3 Like true soldiers they obeyed, but not without loud and fearless expression of their indignation, and their contempt for the commanding general. Many of them, high-spirited young men from the best families in Ohio, showed symptoms of positive mutiny at first ; and the twenty-four-pounder would have poured a destructive storm of grape-shot upon the advancing column, notwithstanding the humiliating order, had not Lieutenant Anderson, who commanded the guns, acting under the general's di- rection, forcibly restrained them. He was anxious to reserve his fire until the ap- proaching column should be in the best position to receive the most destructive volleys. The guns were heavily charged with grape-shot, and would have sent terrible messengers to many of the " red-coats," as the scarlet-dressed British were generally termed. The eager artillerists were about to apply the match too soon, when Anderson sprang forward, with drawn sword, and threatened to cut down the first man who should disobey his orders. The infuriated soldiers entered the already over-crowded fort, while the enemy, after reconnoitring the fort and discovering the weakness of the fortification on the land side, prepared to storm it. But, before they could form for the purpose, the oc- casion had ceased. The fire froin the battery on the .Canada shore, kept up slowly since da;wn, had become very vigorous. Up to this time no casualty had resulted from it within the fort. Now a ball came bounding over the fort wall, dealing death in its passage. A group standing at the door of one of the officers' quarters were almost annihilated. Captain Hancks, of Mackinaw, Lieutenant Sibley, and Dr. Rey- nolds, who accompanied Hull's invalids from the Maumee to Detroit, were instantly killed, and Dr. Blood was severely wounded. Two other soldiers were killed almost immediately afterward by another ball ; and still two others on the outside of the fort were slaio. Many women and children were in the house where the officers were slain. Among them were General Hull's daughter and her children. Some of the women were pet- rified with afiiight, and were carried senseless to the bomb-proof vault for safety. Several of them were bespattered with blood ; and the general, who saw the efiects of the ball from a distance, knew not whether his own child was slain or not. These casualties, the precursors of future calamities, almost unmanned him, and he paced the parade backward and forward in the most anxious frame of mind. At that mo- ment an officer from the Michigan militia in the town, who had observed the steady approach of the enemy without a gun being fired from the fort or the twenty-four 1 This was in Jefferson Avenue, in front of the Cass farm, hefore the hill was cut down. The elevation was then about the same as it is now at the intersection of Woodward Avenue. These guns were placed there by Lieutenant Anderson, of the United States Engineers. Although the landing-place of the enemy at Spring Wells was about three miles off, Anderson opened upon the foe while they were crossing, but without doing much damage. ' Colonel Cass to the Secretary of War, September 10th, 1812. 3 The same to the same. OF THE WAE OF 1812. 289 Surrender of Deti-oit. Indignation of the Troopa. Hull assumes all Responsibility. pounders outside, came in haste to inquire whether it was the intention of the gen- eral to allow that body alone to defend the place ; also to inform him that the Brit- ish and Indians were at the tan-yard, close upon the town. The general mlade no re- ply, but, stepping into a room in the barracks, he prepared a note hastily, handed it to his son. Captain Hull, and directed him to display a white flag immediately from the walls of the fort,' where it might be seen by Captain Dixon over the river.^ This was done. The firing soon ceased, and in a few minutes Captain Hull was " unex- pectedly seen emerging from the fort"^ with a flag of truce. At the same time, a boat, with a flag, was dispatched to the commander of the battery on the Canada shore. Captain Hull bore proposals for an immediate capitulation. He soon returned with Lieutenant Colonel M'Donell and Major Glegg, who were authorized by Brock to negotiate the terms of surrender. The white flag upon the walls had awakened pain- ful suspicions ; the arrival of these oficers announced the virtual betrayal of the gar- rison. Hull had asked no man's advice, nor suggested to any the possibility of a sur- render.* His act was quick, and as unexpected as a thunderbolt from a clear sky. Not a shot had been fired upon the enemy — not an efibrt to stay his course had been made. For a moment nothing but reverence for gray hairs, and veneration for a sol- dier of the Revolution, saved the commander from personal violence at the hands of his incensed people. Many of the soldiers, it is said, shed tears of mortification and disappointment. The terms of capitulation were soon agreed to,* and the American commander is- sued a general order saying that it was " with pain and anxiety" that he announced to the Northwest Army that he had been compelled, from a sense of duty, to agree to articles of capitulation which were appended to the averment. He then sent a ' "Leonard Harrison, of Dearborn, told me tliat soon after a white flag was hoisted at the fort he happened to be standing near Colonel Findlay,' of the Ohio Volunteers, and Lieutenant Colonel Miller, of the Fourth Infantry. Colonel Hndlay said, ' Colonel Miller, the general talks of a surrender ; let us put him under arrest.' Miller replied, ' Colonel Findlay, I am a soldier ; I shall obey my superior officer," intimating that if Findlay would assume the command of the army he would obey him. Had the stem old M' Arthur, or the younger and more impetuous Cass been present, either of them would have taken the responsibility."— jM(%re WithereU. Miller's true soldierly qualities of obedience and acquiescence is shown in the careful manner in which, to his wife, he wrote concerning the surrender, from his prison at Fort George, on the 2Tth day of August, 1812. " Only one week after I, with six hundred men, completely conquered almost the whole force which they then had, they came out and took Fort Detroit, and made nearly two thousand of us prisoners, on Sunday, the 16th instant. There'being no opera- tions going on below us [meaning Niagara frontier] gave them an opportunity to re-enforce. The number brought against us is yet unknown ; but my humble opinion is we could have defeated them, without a doubt, had we attempt- ed it. But General Hull thought difterently, and surrendered without making any terms of capitulation. Colonel Brush and I made the best terms we could after the surrender, which were but poor."— Jfanuscript Letter. = The white " flag" was a table-cloth. It was waved from one of the bastions by Captain Burton, of the Fourth Eegi- ment, by order of General Hull. ^ Tupper's Life of Brock, page 232. ' 4 In his dispatch to the Secretary of War, dated at Fort George, August 26, 1812, General Hull generously said :' " I well know the high responsibility of the measure, and take the whole of it on myself. It was dictated by a sense of dnty, and a full conviction of its expediency. The bands of savages which had then joined the British force were numerous beyond any former example. Their numbers have since increased ; and the history of the barbarians of the north of Europe does not furnish examples of more greedy violence than these savages have exhibited. A large portion of the brave and gallant officers and men I commanded would cheerfully have contested until the last cartridge had been ex- pended and the bayonets worn to the sockets. I could not consent to the useless sacrifice of such brave men when I knew it was impossible for me to sustain my situation. It was impossible, in the nature of things, that an army could have' been furnished with the necessary supplies of provisions, military stores, clothing, and comforts for the sick, on pack-horses, through a wilderness of two hundred miles, filled with hostile savages. It was impossible, sir, that this little army, worn down by fatigue, by sickness, by wounds, and deaths, could have supported itself not only against the collected force of all the Northern nations of Indians, but against the united strength of Upper Canada, whose popula- tion consists of more than twenty times the number contained in the Territory of Michigan, aided by the principal part of the regular forces of the province, and the wealth and influence of the Northwest and other trading establishments among the Indians, which have in their employment more than two thousand white men." After alluding to Colonels M'Arthur, Findlay, Cass, and Miller in commendatory terms, he said : " If aught has taken place during the campaign which is honorable to the army, these officers are entitled to a large share of it. If the last act should be disapproved, no part of the censm-e belongs to them." He closed his dispatch by sohcitmg an early m- vestigation of his cond'uct, and requesting the government not to be unmindful of his associates m captivity, and of the families of the brave men who had fallen in the contest. _ ,. .^i. .,. 5 It was stipulated that the fort at Detroit, with all its dependencies, and the troops there, exeeptmg such of the mili- tia of Michiean Territory who had not joined the army, should Be surrendered, with all public property of ev«y kind. The command of Captajn Brush at the Eivet Eaisin, and M'A^Jbur's then away from Detroit, were, at the request of Hull, included in the capitulation, while the Ohio militia, who had not yet joined the army, were paroled on condition that they should return home, and not serve during the war. 290 PICTORIAL FIEXD-BOOK Position of M 'Arthur and Cass. Escape of Captain Brush and h is Command. Eesolt of tlie Surrender. messenger with a note to Colonel M' Arthur (who, with Colonel Cass and the detach- ment sent toward the Raisin, were, as we have seen, hastening back to Detroit) in- forming him of the surrender, and that he and his command were included in the ca- pitulation as prisoners of war.i They had arrived in sight of Detroit at about the time when the American white flags had silenced the British cannon,^ thoroughly- exhausted by rapid and fatiguing marches and lack of food, for they had tasted noth- ing for more than forty-eight hours, excepting some green pumpkins and potatoes found in the fields. They had observed the enemy, and the ease with which, in con- nection with the army at Detroit, they might capture him by falling upon his rear. But all was silent. That fact was a sealed enigma. There were two ai-mies within half cannon-shot of each other, and yet, to the ears of these listeners, they-both seem- ed as silent as the grave. Had there been firing, or any signs of resistance, M'Arthur would have fallen upon the rear of the invaders even without orders. But all was mystery until the arrival of Hull's courier with the unwelcome tidings. M'Arthur attempted to communicate with Hull, but failed. He sent a message to Captaui Brush with Hull's note, saying, " By the within letter you will see that the army tinder General Hull has been surrendered. By the articles you will see that provision has been made for the detachment under your command ; you will there- fore, I hope, return to Ohio with us."^ At sunset Colonel Elliott came to M'Artiiur from the fort with the articles of capit- ulation, and with authority from Brock to receive tokens of the submission of the detachment. The dark, lustrous eyes of M'Arthur flashed with indignation at the demand. As they filled with tears of deepest mortification, he thrust his sword into the ground, and broke it in pieces, and then tore his epaulettes from his shoulders. This paroxysm of feeling was soon succeeded by dignified calmness ; and in the dim twilight M'Arthur and Cass, with their whole detachment, were marched into the fort, where the arms of the soldiers were stacked. Before the curtain of night had been fairly drawn over the humiliating scene the act of capitulation and surrender was completed — an act which produced universal mortification and intense indigna- tion throughout the country.* In less than two months after war was declared, and the favorite scheme of an invasion of the enemy's provinces had been set in motion, a strong military post, a spirited army, and a magnificent territory, with all its in- habitants,* had been given up without an effort to save them, or a moment's waiting for the arrival of powerful re-enforcements and ample supplies, then on their way from the southward. About two thousand men in alP became prisoners of war. ■ " Such part of the Ohio militia," he said, " as have not joined the army [meaning Brush's detachment at the Balsls] will be permitted to return to their homes, on condition that they will not serve during the war. Their arms, how- ever, will be delivered up, if belonging to the public." 2 They had been discovered by Brock's scouts, and their presence in the rear caused the British general to move to the attack sooner than he intended to. "Hearing," says Brock, in his official dispatch, " that his [M'Arthur's] cavalry had been seen that morning three miles in our rear, I decided on an immediate attack." 3 On the evening of the ITth, Captain Elliott, son of Colonel Elliott, with a Frenchman and Wyandot Indian, ap- proached Brush's encampment at the Eaisiu bearing a flag of truce, a copy of the capitulation at Detroit, and authority to receive the surrender of Brush and hie command. Lieutenant Conthier, of the Raisin, the officer of the day, blind- folded Elliott, and led him to the block-house. Brush was not satisfied that his visit was by authority, or that the doc- ument was genuine, so he ordered Elliott's arrest and confinement. M'Arthur's letter testified to the genuineness of Elliott's document and authority, when Brush hastily packed up the public property at the Eaisln, and, with his whole command and his cattle, started for Ohio, directing Elliott to be released the next day. The angry Elliott sent for Te- cumtha to pursue Brusb. It was too late. —Statement of Peter Navarre (who was an eye-witness) to the Author in Sep- tember, 1860 ; Letter to the Author from the Hon. Elisha Whittlesey, of Ohio. * Among other demonstrations in different parts of the country, the newspapers of the day noticed that at Greens- borough, North Carolina, General Hull was hung and burnt in effigy, " in accordance with the prescription of a public meeting." ' The whole white population of Michigan at that time was between fonr and five thousand. The greater part were Canadians. Their settlements were chiefly on the Maumee, Eaisln, Ecorcej, Eouge, Detroit Elver, Lake St. Clair and the island of Mackinack. They paid very little attention to agriculture, being engaged chiefly in hunting, fishing' and trading with the Indians. They did not produce sufficient from the earth to give themselves sustenance • and their beef pork, corn, and flour were brought from a distance' ' ' « Estimates of the number actually included in the capitulation vary from 1800 to 2500. I have examined all and think the number was not far from 2000. ' OF THE WAE OF 1812. 291 Effect oftheSarrender. Incidents. Disposal of the Prisoners. These consisted of two squadrons of cavalry, one company of artillery, the 4th United States Regiment, and detachments from the 1st and 3d; three regiments of Ohio Volun- teers, and one regiment of the Michigan militia. The British obtained by this capit- ulation (for it was not a victory) a large amount of arms, ammunition, and stores, all of which, especially arms, were greatly needed in Upper Canada.i It was a godsend to the provmces in every aspect. The surrender caused months of delay before another invadmg army could be brought into the field, and thus gave the British time for preparation ; and it secured the friendship and aUiance of savage tribes, who, as usual, were ready to join whatever side seemed to be the stronger party, and safest as an ally. The formal surrender of the fort and garrison took place at meridian, on the IGth.^ At -the same hour the next day (Monday, the 11th) General Brock and his staff, with other ofiicers, appeared in full uniform, and in their presence a salute was fired from the esplanade in front of the fort, with one of the brass cannon included in the capitulation. It bore the following inscription : " Taken at Saeatoga on the 17th OF OcTOBEE, 1777." When the British officers saw this, they were so d^elighted that gome of them greeted the old British captive, now released, with kisses ; and one of them remarked to Colonel Hatch, from whose manuscript narrative I have gained the facts, " we must have an addition put to that inscription, namely, ' Retaken at De- TEOiT August 16, 1812.' "^ The salute was answered by Dixon's battery on the Canada shore, and by the Queen Charlotte, which came sweeping up the middle of the river from the waters between Spring Wells and Sandwich, and took position di- rectly in front of the town.* It was on this occasion that General Brock paid marked respect to Tecumtha. He took off his own rich crimson silk sash and publicly placed it round the waist of the chief Tecumtha received it with dignity and great satisfaction ; but the follow- ing day he appeared without the badge of honor. Brock apprehended that some of- fense had been given to the chief, but, on inquiry, he found that Tecumtha, with great modesty and with the most delicate exhibition of praise, had placed the sash upon the body of Round Head, a celebrated and remarkable Wyandot warrior, saying, " I do not want to wear such a mark of distinction, when an older and abler warrior than myself is present." The volunteers and militia who were made prisoners, and some minor regular officers, were permitted to return home on parole. Those of Michigan were dis- charged at Detroit, and the Ohio Volunteers were borne in vessels to Cleveland, from which point they made their way home. General Hull and the regulars were held as prisoners of war, and sent to Montreal. They were taken to Maiden, and there embarked on board the Queen Charlotte, Hunter, and other public vessels, and con- veyed to Fort Erie, opposite Buffalo. From that point they were marched to Fort George, where they were again placed in vessels and sent to Kingston. Frora that post they were escorted by land to Montreal. General Hull and his fellow-prisoners reached Fort George, on the Niagara, on the 26th of August, when the commander immediately wrote a lengthy report of the surrender and attendant events, hut was not permitted to forward it, until his ar- rival at Montreal.^ Information of the disaster had already reached General Van 1 Tlie spoils were 2500 stand of arms ; twenty-flve iron, and eight brass pieces of ordnance ; forty barrels of gun- powder, a stand of colors, and a great quantity and variety of military stores. The armed brig Adams also became a prize. She was immediately pat in complete order, and her name changed td^etroit, under which title we shall meet her hereafter, in the British service. 2 The garrison flag surrendered on that occasion was taken to Montreal by Captain Glegg, Brock's aid-de-camp. 3 This cannon was retaken from the British at the battle of the Thames, in October, 1813. I saw it in the state arse- nal at Frankfort, Kentucky, when I visited that city in April, 1861. It is a small three-pounder, three feet four laches in length. It has the British mark of the broad arrow upon it, and the date of " 1776." * After the surrender. General Hull returned to his own honse, where he had resided as Governor of Michigan. It was then occupied by Mr. Hickman, his son-in-law. A British guard attended him.— Wallace. 5 It was Hull's intention to forward his dispatch from Fort George by Major Witherell, of the Michigan Volunteers ;, 292 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK A Courier's remarkable Eide. Britiali Occupation of Detroit and Michigan. General Brock knighted. /2^'Mf/ » August 16, 1812. Rensselaer, at Lewiston, and he had promptly sent the news by express to General Dearborn, the senior command- er in the arihy, whose hestd-quarters at that time were at Greenbush, opposite Albany, on the Hudson River. For this important errand Van Rensselaer employed Captain Darby Noon, the leader of a fine company of Albany Volunteers, who were then stationed at or near Fort Niagara. Captain Noon was a man of great energy, and he per- formed the service in an incredibly short space of time. He rode express all the way, changing his horses by im- pressing them when necessary, assur- ing the owners of remuneration from the govemnient. He neither slept on the way, nor tasted food, excepting what he ate on horseback. When he arrived at Greenbush, he was so much ■exhausted that he had to be lifted from his horse, and he was compelled to re- main in his bed for several days. ' On the day of the surrender,^ General Brock issued a proclamation to the inhabitants of Michigan, in which they were assured of protectioii" in life, property, and religious observances, and were called upon to give up all public propprty in the Territory. Having made arrangements for the civil and military oc- cupation of the Territory, and leaving Colonel Proctor in command of a garrison of two 'hundred and fifty men at Detroit, he hastened back to York, where he arrived on the 2Vth,'' and was received with the greatest enthusiasm by the people, who regarded him as the savior of the province. In the short space of nineteen days he had met the Legislature, arranged the public affairs of the prov- ince, traveled about three hundred miles to confront an invader, and returned the , possessor of that invader's whole army and a vast territory, about equal in area to Upper Canada. Henceforth, during bis brief career, he was the idol of the Canadi- ans, and the Prince Regent, representing the majesty of Great Britain, cre- ated him a baronet. '^^ While General Hull was on his way toward Montreal, Colonel Cass, at the request of Colonel M' Arthur, was hasting to Washington City, " for the purpose," as he said, " of communicating to the government such particulars respecting the expedition lately commanded by Brigadier General Hull, and its disastrous results, as might en- •aMe them correctly to appreciate the conduct of the oflScers and men, and to develop the causes which produced so foul a stain upon_the^national character."^ This com- but Brock having gone directly to York, the commander of the post would not take the responsibility of allowing his prisoner to correspond with his government. 'From Montreal he sent his dispatch, dated August 26th, by Lieutenant Anderson, of the Artillery, to the Secretary of War Hull's heUber to the Semetairy of War, Montreal, September 8, 1812. 1 Darby Noon was a native of Irelan^.and a man of great personal worth. He raised and equipped a volunteer com- pany at Albany, almost entirely at his own expense, and in 1813 was commissioned a major in the 41st Kegiment of New York State Militia. His wife was Caroline Broome, daughter of Lieutenant Governor Broome, of New York. Ma- jor Noon survived the war only eight years, dying in September, 1823. Prom his widow, who died in 1861, 1 received the above portrait of the gallant oflScer. 2 General Brock's dispatches and the colors of the United States 4th Regiment reached London on the 6th of Octo- ber.rthe anniversary of his birth, where, in honor of his achievement at Detroit, the Park and Town gnus were flrtd. ■Only a week later, and the gallant general was no more. J Bx-Qovernor Samuel Huntington was at Cleveland, a volunteer, when Colonel Cass arrived there on his way to the ° August. or THE WAR OF 1812. 293 Colonel Cass's Statement abont the Surrender of Detroit. Public Indignation. A mischievous Armistice. munication was made in. writing on the 10th of September, in which was given an outline history of events near Detroit, from the landing in Canada until the surrender. It exhibited much warmth of feeling, and its circulation in prjnt prejudiced the pub- lip mind against Hull, and intensified the indignant reproaches which the first intel- ligence of the surrender had caused to be hurled at the head of the unfortunate gen- eral. It also diverted public attention for the moment from the palpable inefficiency of the War Department,' the efiects of the armistice, and the injurious delays of General Dearborn,^ to which much of the disaster should properly be charged. Col- onel Cass's opinions, as well as facts, were eagerly accepted by the excited public as veritable history, and few had words of palliation to offer for the captive veteran when they read the following glowing, dogmatic words at the conclusion of the young colonel's letter : " To see the whole of our men, flushed with the hope of victory, eagerly awaiting the approaching contest — to see them afterward dispirited, hope- less, and desponding, at least five hundred shedding tears, because they were not al- lowed to meet their country's foe and to fight their country's battles, excited sensa- tions which no American has ever before had cause to feel, and which, I trtist m God, will never again be felt while our men remain to defend the standard of the Union. Confident I am that, had the courage and conduct of the general been equal to the spirit and zeal of the troo'ps, the event would have been as brilliant and suc- ([jessful as it is disastrous and dishonorable.' Geiieral Hull and his fellow-captives arrived at Montreal on Sunday afternoon, the 6th of September, and attracted much attention. The prisoners numbered, rank and file, three hundred and fifty. They were escorted from Kingston by one hundred and thirty men, under Major Heathcote, of the Newfoundland Regiment. At Cornwall, opposite St. Regis, they were met by Captain Gray, of the Quarter-master's depart- ment, who took formal 'charge of the prisoners. They had other escorts of troops until seat of government. Huntington accompanied him to Washington, at the request of General Wadsworth. When within two days ride of the national capital, Cass was prostrated by sickness. Huntington pressed forward, and was the first to give positive information of HulPs suiTender, to the Secretary of War. This made Dr. Eustis impatient for the arrival of Cass. " The Secretary at War," wrote Huntington, " was very desirous to see him, and requested me to go after him in a carriage. I met him the first day, about thirty-five miles from this. He had recovered sufficiently to pursue the journey."— Autograph Letter of Governor Huntington to General Meigs, Washington City, September i Secretary Eustis seems to have been so conscious of his fatal mistake in not sending his letter to Hnll, announcing the declaration of war, by which his vessel and its precious contents, captured at Maiden at the beginning of July, might have been saved, that, as late as the 18th of December, four months after the surrender of Detroit, he gave evidence of his belief that public opinion would lay the responsibility of the disaster upon him. In a letter to General Dearborn of that date, he said : " Fortunately for you, the want of success which ^na attended the campaign will be attnbuted to the Secretary of War. So long as you enjoy the confidence of the government, the clamor of the discontented should not be regarded " Governor Huntington, in his letter to Governor Meigs, mentioned in the preceding note, said : " The whole blame is laid at the door of the present administration, and we are told that if De Witt Clinton had been our president, the campaign would have been short and glorious-it would have been short, no doubt, and termmated by an Ino-lorions peace."— Autograph Letter, Washington City, September 12, 1812. 2 General Dearborn, early in August, signed an armistice, entered into between himself and Sir George Prevost, for a ressation of hostUities until the will of the United States government should be known, there then being, it was supposed, nronositions for peace on the part of Great Britain before the Cabinet at Washington. On this account Sir George had i«Biiprl Tiositive instructions for a.cessation of hostilities. Dearborn signed the armistice on the 9th of August. Had he sent a notice of it by express to Hnll, as that officer did of his surrender to Dearborn, Detroit might have been saved, ■ for it wonld have reached Hnll before the 15th of August, and the imperative commands of Prevost would have pre- venterl Brock's actin"' on the ofl'ensive. Meanwhile Hull's supplies and re-enforcements would have arrived from Ohio, Ind made him strong enough to invade Canada again at the conclusion of the armistice. But instead of sending a notic^ of the armistice to Hull by express. Dearborn, like the Secretary of War with his more imp<>rtant dispatches, fntmsted his Sr to the in-egular mails, and it was actually «<«. days going from Albany to Buffalo! The first St maUon of an armistice which Hull received was while on his way toward the Niagara as a prisoner of war. Lew™Cass was born at Exeter, New Hampshire, on the 9th of October, 1T82 At he age of seventeen years he crossed he Aleghany Mountains on foot, and settled in Marietta, Ohio, where he studied law, and was active m pro- crossed ™^^"=f 7"J^r'„ Jefferson appointed him Marshal of Ohio in 1807. He took an active part in the war of lll2 Se W^sf iTlate^n 1813 PresTdeuTMadison appointed him Governor of the Territory of Michigan. He held Jf ! MiZ,m iTl when he was called to the Cabinet of President Jackson as Secretary of War. In 1836 he went that position "" l^f 'X^°i,t3,';f t^^Conrt of St. Cloud. He returned home in 1842. He was elected United States to France ^.f^^^^^^^~i^i'^^i°is4s, and he held that position until called to Buchanan's Cabinet in 185T. He ^'°'*°?I fnSn at Lai^he dose of 1860 because he could not remain associated with the President's confidential '^^:^V^J'lfZtZ:e^ltZmtre.son against his country. He retired from public life, and died at Detroit in the ITth of June, 1866, at the age of eighty-four years. 294 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Hull in Captivity. A Conrt-martial called to Try Um. Its Composition and Decision. they reached the vioinity of Montreal, when they were left in charge of the militia until preparations could be made for the formal entrance into the city. This was not accomplished until quite late in the evening, when they were marched in in the presence of a great concourse of rejoicing people, who had illuminated the streets through which the triumphal procession passed. Gen- eral Hull was received with great polite- ness by Sir George PrevoBt, the Gov- ernor General and Commander-in-chief, and invited to make his residence at his mansion during his stay in Montreal. On Thursday following,^ » September lo, General Hull and eight of 1812. his ofScers set out for the United States on their parole. General Hull retired to his farm at Newton, Massachusetts, from which he was summoned to appear before a court- martial at Philadelphia on the 25 th of February,1813, of which General Wade Hampton was appointed president. The members appointed consisted of three brigadier generals, nine colonels, and three lieutenant colonels ; and the eminent A. X Dallas, of Pennsylvania, was judge advocate. This court was dissolved by the Presi- dent without giving a reason for the act ; and, ahnost a year afterward, Hull was summoned to appear before another, to convene at Albany, New York. - It met on the 3d of January, 1814. General Dearborn was the president, and he was assisted by three brigadier generals, four colonels, and five lieutenant colonels.^ Again Mr. Dallas was judge advocate. As Hull blamed Dearborn for his negligence, and as his own acquittal would condemn that ofiicer, he might very properly have objected to the appointed president of the court ; but he was anxious for a trial, and he waived all feeling. He was charged with treason, cowardice, and neglect of duty and unof- ficer-like conduct from the 9th 5f April to the 16th of August, 181 2.2 General Hull objected to the jurisdiction of the court on the first charge — treason— as a matter of civil cognizance only. The court concurred ia this view, and he was tried only on the other charges. After a session of eighty days, the court decided'' that he was not guilty of treason,^ but found him guilty of the second and third charges, namely, cowardice, and neglect of duty and unofficer-like conduct. He was sentenced to be shot dead, and his name to be struck from' the rolls of the army.* f^ ^ Generals Bloomfleld, Parker, and Covington ; Colonels Fenwick, Carberry, Little, and Irvine ; and Lieutenant Colonels Dennis, Connor, Davis, Scott, and Stewart. ' The specifications under the charge of Tkeason were, 1st. " Hiring the vessel to transport his sick men and bag- gage from the Miami to Detroit." 2d. " Not attacking the enemy's fort at Maiden, and retreating to Detroit." 3d. "Not strengthening the fort of Detroit, and surrendering." The specifications under the charge of Cowakdice were, 1st. "Not attacking Maiden, and retreating to Detroit." 2d. " Appearances of alarm during the cannonade." 3d. " Appearances of alarm on the day of the surrender." 4th. " Sor^ rendering of Detroit." The specifications under the third charge were similar to those under the second. ^ It is perhaps not technically true that the court decided that lie was not guilty of treason. They detennined that they could not try him on that charge, but said " the evidence on the subject having been publicly given, the court deem it proper, in justice to the accused, to say that they do not believe, il'om any thing that has appeared before them, that General William Hull has committed treason against the United States." * The President approved the sentence on tie 25th of April, and on the same day the following general order was issued: OF THE WAR OF 1812. 295 Hnll pardoned by the PreBiaent. A Coneideratlon of HttU'a public Character. His own Defense. The court strongly recommended him to the mercy of the President, on account of his age and his revolutionary services. Mr. Madison pardoned him, and he retired to his farm, to live. in comparative obscurity, under a cloud of almost universal re- proach, for ahout twelve years. He wrote a vindication of his conduct in the cam- paign of 1812, in a series of letters, published in the American Statesman newspaper in Boston,! ^nd on his dying bed he declared his belief that he was right, as a sol- dier and a man, in surrendering Detroit. He had the consolation of feeling, before his death, a growing sympathy, for him in the partially disabused public mind, which prophesied of future vindication and just appreciation. 2. I have given, in this and the preceding chapter, as faithful a general history of Hull's campaign as a careful and dispassionate study of documentary and other con- temporaneous narratives, written and verbal, have enabled me to do. I have record- ed what I believe to be undoubted facts. As they stand in the narrative, unattended by analysis, comparison, or argument, they present General Hull in his conduct of the campaign in some instances in an unfavorable light : not as a traitor — not as an act- ual coward, but as bearing to the superficial reader the semblance of both. But, after weighing and estimating the value of these facts in connection with current cir- cumstances to which they bore positive relationship — after observing the composition of the court-martial, the peculiar relations of the court and the witnesses to the ac- cused, and the testimony in detail, the writer is constrained to believe that General Hull was actuated throughout the campaign by the purest impulses of patriotism and humanity. That he was weak, we may allow ; that he was wicked, we can not be- lieve. His weakness, evinced at times by vacillation, was not the child of cowardice, but of excessive prudence and caution, born of the noblest sentiments of the human heart. These, in his case, were doubtless enhanced by the disabilities of waning physical vigor. ^ He was thus far down the western slope of life, when men counsel more than act. The perils and fatigues of the journey from Dayton to Detroit had afiected him, and the anxieties arising from his responsibilities bore heavily upon his judgment. These difficulties his young, vigorous, ambitious, daring officers could not understand ; and while they were cursing him, they should have been kindly cherishing him. When he could perceive no alternative but surrender or destruc- tion, he bravely determined to choose the most courageous and humane course ; so he faced the taunts of his soldiers, and the expected scorn of his countrymen, rather than fill the beautiful land of the Ohio, and the settlements of Michigan, with mourn- ing. Hull had warned the government of the folly of attempting the conquest of Can- " WasMngton City, April 25, 1814. "The rolls of the army are to be no longer disgraced by haying npon them the name of Brigadier General William Hull. The general court-martial, of which General Dearborn is president, is hereby dissolved. " By order, "J. B. Waibaoh, Adjutant General." 1 These were published in a volume of three hundred and ten pages, entitled, Memoirs of the Campaign of the North- western Army of the United States. A.D. 1S12. General Hull's long silence was owing to the fact that his papers were bm-nt in the vessel in which they were sent from Detroit to Buffalo, after the surrender, and that during two adminis- trations he vainly applied to the War Department at Washington for copies of papers necessary for his defense. It was not until John C. Calhonn became Secretary of War that any notice was taken of his application. That officer promptly caused copies to be made of all papers that General Hull desired, when he commenced his vindication in hie memoir just mentioned. 2 He was always calm, tranquil, and happy. He knew that his country would one day also understand him, and that history would at last do him justice. He was asked, on his death-bed, whether he still believed he had done right in the surrender of Detroit, and he replied that he did, and was thankful that he had been enabled to do it.— History of the Campaignof lS12,hyhia granisOTi, Jacmea l^reeman Clark, page 365. Mr. Wallace, one of his aids, says that when he parted vrith the general at Detroit to return home, the white-haired yeteran said, " God bless you, my young friend I Ton return to your family without a stain ; as for myself, I have sacrificed a reputation dearer to me than life, but I have saved the inhabitants of Detroit, and my heart approves the act." s Mr. Wallace, one of Hull's aids, whose testimony we have before alluded to, says : " General Cass has since declared to me that he thought the main defect of General Hull was the ' imbecility of age,' and it was the defect of all the old veterans who took the field in the late war. A peaceful government like ours must always labor under similar disad- vantages. Our superannuated olHcere must be called into service, or men without experience must conunand our arm- ies." 296 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The Government more to blame tha n Hall. A Scape-goat wanted and found. Biographical Sketch of Hnll . ada without better preparation. But the young Jiot:bloods of the administration- Clay, and others— could not wait ; and the President and his Cabinet, lacking all the essential knowledge for planning a campaign, had sent him on an errand of vast im- portance and difficulty without seeming to comprehend its vastness, or estimating the means necessary for its accomplishment. The conception of the campaign was a huge blunder, and Hull saw it ; and the failure to put in vigorous motion for his support auxiliary and co-operative forces, was criminal neglect. When the result was found to be failure and humiliation, the administration perceived this, and sought a refuge. Public indignation must be appeased — the lightning of the public wrath must be averted. General Hull was made the chosen victim for the peace-offering — the sin- bearing scape-goat ; and on his head the fiery thunderbolts were hurled. The grass has grown greenly upon his grave for more than forty years. Let his faults (for, like all men, he was not immaculate) also be covered with the verdure of blind Charity.' Two generations have passed away since the dark cloud first brooded over his fair fame. We may all see, if we will, with eyes unfilmed by prejudice, the- silver edging which tells of the brightness of good intentions behind it, and prophesies of evanish- ment and a clear sky. Let History be just, in spite of the clamors of hoary Error. " ' Tis strange how many nnimagined charges Can swarm upon a man, when once the lid Of the Pandora-hox of contnmely Is open'd o'er his head." — Shakspeaee. 1 William Hall was born in Derby, Connecticut, on the 24th of June, 1753. He was. graduated with honor at Tale Col- lege when he was nineteen years of age. He first studied divinity, but left it for the law. He was a meritorious soldier and ofiicer throughout the Revolution, and participated in nine biittles. He went to Canada on an Indian commission in 1792. He held judicial and representative oflBces in Massachusetts, and, as we have seen, was placed in a responsible military and civil station at the beginning of the War of 1812. He died at Newton, Massachusetts, in November, 1S25. I am indebted to General Hull's granddaughter, Miss Sarah A. Clarke, of Nevpport, Rhode Island, for a copy of his por- trait, painted by Stuart, from Which our engraving was made. The signature is copied from a letter in my possession, written at White Plains, New York, in the autumn of 1778. Jonrney from Chicago to Detroit. OF THE WAK OF 1812. 297 A Sabbath in Detroit. CHAPTER XV. "And who supplies the murderous steel 1 And who prepares the base reward That wakes to deeds of desperate zeal The fury of each slumbering horde f From Britain comes each fatal blow ; From Britain, still our deadliest foe." TuE Kentucky Volunteeb ;^bt a Ladt. TT was a beautiful, clear, breezy morning, early in October, 1860, when the writer left Chicago, with his family, to visit the theatre of events described in the two preceding chapters. "We took the Michigan Central train for Detroit, and soon lost sight of the marvelous metropolis of Illinois, and Lake Michigan, on which it stands.^ We swept rapidly around the magnificent curve of the head of the lake, and after leaving the sand dunes of Michigan City, and the withered bud of a prospective great mart of commerce at New BuflPalo, traversed a beautiful and fertile country in the western half of the lower part of the peninsula and State of Michigan. Large streams of water, mills, neat villages, broad fields covered with ripe com, spacious bams, and hardy people, seen all along the way to Marshall, where we dined, and beyond, pro- claimed general prosperity. Among the most considerable streams crossed during the day were the St. Joseph, Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, and Huron. Over the latter, in its crooked course, we passed several times when approaching the metropolis (Lansing is the capital) of Michigan. It was the dusk of mere starlight when we traveled over that section of the route, and it was late in the evening when we reach- ed Detroit, and found a pleasant home at the Russell House for the few days of our sojourn in that neighborhood. The following day was the Sabbath. The air was as warm as in early June. A drizzling rain moistened all the streets and caused small congregations in the church- es. We listened to the fiiU, powerful voice of Bishop M'Coskry ia the morning, and in the afternoon strolled with a friend far down beautiful Fort Street,^ and enjoyed the prospect of fine residences and omamental gardens. The sun shone brightly all the afternoon, but in the evening heavy" clouds came rolling up from the southwest. At nine o'clock a thunder-storm burst over the city, which sent down lightning and rain until past midnight. No traces of this elemental tumult were seen above in the morning — ' " The thunder, tramping deep and loud, Had left no foot-marks there." The sky was cloudless, and a cooV breeze from the northwest — cooler than any we had felt since the dog-dayk — reminded us that autumn had succeeded summer. It came from the far-off region beyond Mackinack,, where snow had already whitened the hills. I At an early hour I st artfed for Monroe, on the site of old Frenchtown, on the river i.This is the largest of the lakes that lie wholly within the United States. It is 330 miles long, and has an average width of 60 miles. It contains 16,981 square miles, or 10,868,000 acres. Its average depth is about 900 feet, and its ele- vation above tide water is about 300 feet. 2 The residence of the late General Cass was on this street. It was a spacious but very modest wooden building, on the comer of Fort and Cass Streets, a little westward of the site of the old fort. His former residence— a small, low, one-storied building, with four dormer windows— n«s yet standing, on the west side of Lamed Street, near the comer of Second Street. 298 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK A Trip from Detroit to Amher sthnrg. One of the "oldest Inhabitant's" ReeollectioDS of the War of 1812., Raisin, to visit the places of historic interest in that vicinity, where I spent the day pleasantly and profitably. Of the events of that day I shall write hereafter. On the ' tob r 6 following morning" I procured a horse and light wagon, crossed the feriy I860*' ' to the Canada shore at Windsor, and started for Amhersthnrg, eighteen miles down the stream toward Lake Erie. In the lower part of Windsor I sketched Colonel Babie's house, delmeated on page 262, and then rode on to Sandwich, two miles below where I met one of that famous class known as " the oldest inhabitants" in the person of Mr. John B. Laughton, who was born in Detroit, but who has been a British subject from his early years. When, in 1796, the post of Detroit was evacu- ated by the British, according to the provisions of the treaty of 1783, many residents of English, Irish, and Scottish line- age, preferring " not to be Yankees," as Mr. Laughton said, crossed the river and settled along its Canada shore. Mr. Laughton was a mem- ber of the Kent militia in 1812 ; and from Sandwich he saw the white flag that pro- claimed the surrender of Detroit. He was then a young man twenty-two years of age. He was afterward in the afiair known as the battle of the Long Woods, in Canada ; also at the battle of Chippewa, where he lost a brother killed ; and at that of Niagara, where he lost his own liberty, and was sent a prisoner to Greenbush, op- posite Albany. He related many interesting circumstances connected with the sur- render. He spoke of the Canadian Volunteers in the uniforms of regulars, by which Hull was deceived ; and said that among the Indians who followed Brock into the fort at Detroit were several Canadians, painted and dressed like the savages, who each held up a white arm to show Hull that they had defied the menace in his proc- lamation respecting the treatment of such offenders. Sandwich was an exceedingly pleasant village. Around it were orchards of pear and apple trees of great size, which attested the fact that it -is one of the oldest settle- ments in Canada. Here the disbanded French soldiers settled after the peace of Paris in 1763. The houses had pleasant gardens attached to them; and as the town was the capital of Essex County, it contained a jail and court-house, and the resi- dence of the county officers. I left Sandwich toward noon, .and a little past meridian crossed Turkey Creek. For several miles below Sandwich the banks of Detroit are low and sandy. The road, lying much of the way in sight of the river, was in excellent condition, and with the picturesque and interesting scenery forms a most attractive drive in pleasant weather. Passing;through the Petit C6te settlement, I arrived at a neat' little tavern near the northern bank of the Aux Canards, where I met an old French Canadian who was present when Cass, and Findlay, and M' Arthur, and Snelling made their military visits there in 1812. He was loyal then, but quiet; and when it was safe to do so, in the absence of the Americans, he furnished the Queen Charlotte with vegetables. He pointed out the ridge from which M' Arthur reconnoitred the whole position, and also the spot where Colonel Cass planted his six-pounder, and " blazed away" at the enemy on the southern shore of the stream. The bridge seen in the centre of the picture on page 264 was upon the site of the old one, and, like it, was reached by a causeway at both ends. I sketched the scene, then crossed the Aux Canards over the causeway and the bridge, and hastened on to Amhersthnrg, for the day was rapidly wearing away. Most of the way from Aux Canards, or Ta- ron-tee, to Amhersthnrg, the river bank is high, and the road passing along its margin was thickly settled, for the farms were narrow. Most of the houses were large, with fine gardens around them. Among the most attractive of these was " Rosebank," the residence of Mr. James Dougall, an eipinent horticulturist, about three miles from Amherstburg. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 299 The Vicinity of Amherstbuvg. Historical Localities. It was nearly three' o'clock when the steeples of Amherstburg announced its pres- ence. I soon crossed a beautiful open plain, whereon cattle were grazing, bounded on the left by streets of neat log cottages, Tvhitewashed and embowered, each a story in height, with two acres of land attached. The plain was a military reserve of one hundred and thirty acres, and the cottages were the dwellings of pensioners — super- annuated British soldiers — who were well cared for by their government. On the right of the road, in the upper part of Amherstburg, within a high, picket inclosure, was Fort Maiden ; its chief building (barracks) were then devoted to more humane purposes than war. It was used for the insane in Canada West, as a branch of a parent asylum for such unfortunates situated at Toronto. No part of the old fort remained. The new one was constructed during the excitement incident to the " Patriot War," or " Rebellion," as men of different bias respectively call an out- break in the Canadas in 1838. It was constructed in 1839. , Amherstburg had an antiquated appearance, the houses having been chiefly built by the French. The streets were narrow, and the side- walks were mostly paved with irregular stones. I had but little time to devote to an inspection of the place. After ordering dinner at Salmoni's, I went out with an intelligent lad, and visited the fort and other places of interest along the shore. The ship-yard, where a part of Barclay's fleet on Lake Erie was built, was a few rods above Salmoni's ; and from the comer of a large red stone house, overlooking the whole locality, and commanding quite an ex- TIEW OF MALDEN, WHEBB THE BKITIBH SHIPS WEEE BITILT. tensive view of the river southward, with Elliott's Point on the left and Bois Blanc Island on the right, I made the accompanying sketch. The wharf, then used chiefly for wood, was precisely where the British vessels were launched. In the direction of the ship under sail (seen in the picture), just off Elliott's Point on the left, is seen Lake Erie. Looking a little farther to the right, on Bois Blanc Island,,is seen the light- house, near which was a block-house and battery in 1812 ; and on each side of the group' of sails at the wharf is seen a block-house, both erected in 1838. There was a bloek-house on the right of Salmoni's Hotel, and another at the upper end of the ship-yard,'near the fort, in 1812. ^ After dinner I visited the venerable Eobert Reynolds, living in a fine brick man- sion, surrounded by charming grounds, on the bank of the river, just below Amherst- burg. From his grounds there is a view of Elliott's Point, where Colonel Elliott, al- 300 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK A veteran Britisli Officer. EeturD to Detroit. Equine Entertainment at " Windsor Caetle." ready mentioned frequently, resided. Just below it, three or four miles from Ara- herstburg, is Hartley's Point, where General Harrison landed when he invaded Cana- da in 1813. Mr. Reynolds was in the eightieth year of his age when I visited him. His sister, hut little his junior, lived with him. They were born in Detroit. He was deputy assist- ■ • sen's on the day of ant commissary gen- p«_-^J^ - / /^/\} ' /^ /y ^^ battle of the eral in the British //rAu//y/y^/f7/^^^ Thames. From that army in the War of ///^ ^ 'U\yW. / (y'^l/u^J^^O time until the peace 1812, and was at the _. — — ----^-V^ ^-^ "^^ — - he was stationed at taking of Detroit. ^^ Burlington Heights, He was also at Dol- at the west end of Lake Ontario. His sister told me that she distinctly heard the firing between the fleets of Perry and Barclay in the memorable battle of Lake Erie, in September, 1813; and that she also saw from her residence the vessels conveying Harrison's army from the Raisin to the Canada shore. Mr. Reynolds knew Proctor and Tecumtha well, and seemed to have a very unfavorable opinion of the former as a commander. He spoke of his conduct at the Thames as " shameful," and justified the strietures of Te- cumtha. It was sunset when I left Amherstburg for Detroit. In the western sky, as I looked over the fields where Van Horne and Miller had wrestled with the mongrel foe, when the country was almost a wilderness, were seen gorgeous cloud-bars of crimson and gold. These faded into dull lead ; and just as daylight yielded the sceptre to star- light, I crossed the sluggish Ta-ron-tee. It was a summer-like evening, and before I reached the slope of the highway leading up to Sandwich, the lights of Detroit gave pleasant indications that the end of the journey was near. It was nine o'clock when I entered Windsor, and on inquiring of a man, standing on the piazza of a large wooden building, for the proper turn to the Ferry, I was told that the boat had ceased running for the night. For a moment I was perplexed. I did not wish to re- main all night in Windsor when Detroit was so near. "Where can I leave my horse and wagon in safety," I inquired. " At this house," the man replied. " What is the name of it ?^' I asked. " Windsor Castle," he answered. The name and the building were in ludicrous contrast. But my business was not to criticise ; so I left the horse in care of the groom of the stables of Windsor Castle, crossed the dark and swifl- flowing waters to Detroit in a light skifi" hired for the occasion, and wondered all the way at my confidence in a stranger whose face I could not see in the darkness. But horse and wagon were found the next morning well cared for at " Windsor Castle." I spent Wednesday, the 7th of October, in visiting places of interest in Detroit under the kind guidance of Mr. Moore, of that city. We first went to the wharves in rear of the warehouses of Messrs. Mooney and Foote, and Sheldon, to see three iron cannon that were captured from the British in the naval battle on Lake Erie where Perry was victorious. They were then put to the more commendable use of posts for fastening vessels to the wharves. One of them was a long twenty-four-pounder, and the other two were thirty-two-pound carronades. After visiting the rooms of the Michigan Historical Society, where I found noth- ing of interest connected with the subject of my re- searches, we rode out on the. noble Jefferson Avenue to Bloody Run, stopping on the way for a brief interview with the late Honorable B. F. H. Witherell, from whose local sketches quotations have been made in preceding chapters. Judge Witherell- kindly placed in my hands BK.TisH 0Ai,N0N AT DETEoiT. ^"''^ valuablc historical material, the fruit of his own researches. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 301 Siege of Detroit by Pontiac. Fight at Bloody Enn. Origin of the Name. Blmwood Cemetery. Bloody Run, as a little stream that comes down gently to the great avenue, after beautifying Elmwood Cemetery, is called, holds a conspicuous place in the annals of Indian wars. The event which gave it its present name (it was formerly known as Parent's Creek) may be thus briefly stated : We have already alluded to the con- spiracy of Poatiac in 1763. He had said to some Canadians in. council: "I have told you before, and I now tell you again, that when I took up the hatchet it was for your good. This year the English must all perish throughout Canada. The Master of Life command^ it." He then told them that they must act with him, or he would be their enemy. They cited the capitulation at Montreal, which transferred Canada to the English, and refused to join him. He pressed forward in his conspiracy with- out them, and finally invested Detroit with a formidable force. In July, 1V63, Pontiac was encamped behind a swamp, about two miles north of the fort at Detroit. Captain Dalyell,' who had ranged with. Putnam in Northern New York, arrived with re-enforcements for the fort at the close of the month, and obtained permission of the commandant to attack Pontiac at once. A pei-fidious Ca- nadian, possessed of the fact, communicated it to Pontiac, and he made ready for an attack. At a little past midnight,* Dalyell marched to Parent's Creek. The dark- a juiy 31, ness, owing to a storm, was intense. Pontiac, forewarned, had posted his ^''^' warriors all along the route for a mile in front of his camp, so that a thousand eager ears were listening for the approach of the white men. Five hundred dusky war- riors were lurking near the rude log bridge, at the mouth of the wild ravine, through which Parent's Creek flowed. Dalyell's advance was just crossing the bridge when terrific yells in front, and a blaze of musketry on the left flank, revealed the presence of the wily foe. One half of the advanced party were slain, and the remainder- shrank back appalled. The main body advancing also recoiled. Then came another vol- ley, when the voice of Dalyell in the. van inspirited his men. With his followers he pushed across the bridge, and charged up the hill ; but in the blackness the skulking enemy could not be seen, and his presence was known only by the flash of his guns. Word now reached Dalyell that the Indians,, in large numbers, had gone to cut off his communication with the fort. He sounded a retreat, and in good order pressed toward Detroit, exposed to a most perilous enfilading fire. Day dawned with a thick fof enveloping all objects, and now, for the first time, dim glimpses of the enemy -were obtained. They came darting through the mist on flank and rear, and as sud- denly disappeared after firing deadly shots upon the English. One of these slew Cap- tain Dalyell while he was attempting to bear off a wounded sergeant. ^ The detach- ment finally reached the fort, having lost sixty-one of their number in killed and wounded. Most of the slain fell at the bridge. Parent's Creek has ever since been called, from that circumstance. Bloody Run, and the old structure was always called Bloody Bridge. That bridge, as we have before remarked, was much nearer the De- troit than Jefferson Avenue. At the culvert where that avenue crosses Bloody Run stands a huge whitewood tree, delineated on page 261, yet, as we have observed, scarred by the bullets that were fired in that sanguinary encounter niore than a hund- red years ago. On leaving Bloody Run we rode up to the Elmwood Cemetery, and made the tour of those hallowed grounds, where taste and industry, aided by naitnral advantages, have produced one of the most charming places for the repose of mortality with which our country begins to abound. We lingered there for more, than, aji hour^and returned to the city in time for a late dinner; and a visit to the= grave of Colonel .- fi.v>„r,oitiv writtpn Dalzell. James Dalyell had been appointed a lifetitenant in the' Sixtieth -Regiment ofR^valTS an rmir"obtSta tt of Foot ^ was a toave and efficient officer, and had performed important services during the French and Indian 302 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Interviews with Citizens of Detroit. Chicago, its Name, Settlement, and Position. Hamtramck, with Mr. K M. Lyon,' to whose kind attentions while in Detroit I was much indebted. The monument that covered that brave soldier's grave is delineated on page 56. At twilight I called upon the Hon. C. Moran, who, though only a lad of sixteen years, was performing ^ =>^ said he saw General sentinel duty in the ^^^"^ ^=^ Hull during the heavy fort at Detroit when it ^-^-'^y^'^^^y^'^ ^y>r.^^^ cannonading, just be- was surrendered. He '^ A^^^ ^^ a-'i-t^ fgj.g tjae white flag was run up, sitting upon the grass within the fort apparently unmoved by the terrors of the scene. He related many interesting particulars of occurrences within the fort at that time, and it was with real regret that I felt compelled to make the interview short, for I had made an engagement to call on Mr. Robert M. Eberts, a native of De- troit, and a resident of that place since his birth in 1804.. Mr. Eberts was full of m- teresting reminiscences, and the half hour passed with him was one of real pleasure and profit. 2 Late in the evening I returned to the Russell House, copied the picture of Mackinack on page 267, and early the following, morning — a cold, blustering, genu- ine late-November kind of morning: — crossed the Detroit, and proceeded by railway along the borders 'of Lake St. Clair to Chatham, for the purpose of visiting. thebattle- ground of the Thames or Moravian Towns. Of that visit I shall write hereafter. I have said that we went from Chicago to Detroit. These cities bear an intimate re- • August 15, lation in the history of the period we are considering, for on the very day* 1812. ' -^vhen Brock demanded the surrender of Detroit, the little gai-rison of Fort Dearborn, at Chicago, compelled to leave that post, set out upon their fatal march toward Fort Wayne. The site of Chicago (spelt by the early settlers Chigagua, Chikakou, and Chikako) was first visited by a white man in 1674, when Father Marquette, a French Jesuit priest, built a cabin there, planted a missionary station, and deposited the seed of the present great city. It lay in the path of explorations by commercial and religious adventurers, one seeking trade, the other desiring to give the light of the Gospel to the heathen of the New World. It was visited in turn by Marquette, Allouez, La Salle, Durantaye, La Hontan, De St. Come, Gravier, Charlevoix, and others of less note. In 1685 Durantaye built a fort where, eleven years before, Marquette erected his cabin. How long it remained a missionary station it is difBcult now to determine.^ " The first white man who settled here was a negro," the Indians of Chicago said,- with great simplicity. He was a mulatto from ^t. Domingo, named Jean Baptiste Point au Sable, who found his way to that far-ofi" wilderness in the year 1796. He did not remain long, and the improvements which he had commenced fell into the hands of John Kinzie, a native of Quebec, and for nearly twenty years the only white inhabitant of Northern Elinois, with the exception of a few American soldiers. He was an enterprising trader with the Indians, and in 1804 made Chicago his home. 1 Mr. Lyon was a Pension and Bounty Land Agent in Detroit. He informed me that he had in his possession com- plete copies of all army rolls of the War of 1812 for Michigan, Ohio, New York, and other states, hesides other record evidence of service. He had also in his possession muster-rolls of the Black Hawk, Patriot, and Mexican wars. He was probably better prepared, by the amount of positive information in his possession, and the devotion of undivided attention to the subject, to ser\'e claimants for pensions and bounties than any other man west of Lake Erie. '' Positive statements made to me by Mr. Eberts and .Judge Moran, when combined, form a curious subject for speon- lation. Mr. Eberts assured me that General Brock sent a hollow silver bullet (repeating Sir Henry Clinton's famous act in 1771) from Fort George to Major Muir at Fort Maiden, containing a message, and that the major sent it by Rich- ard Eberts (whom I saw at Chatham), brother of my informant, to Colonel Askin, a British oflBcer residing at Strahan in Canada. Askin's son-in-law. Colonel Brush, was then one of General Hull's aids-de-camp, and it was believed, after the surrender, that the bullet contained a communication from Brock to Brush. Judge Moran told me that on one oc- casion his uncle was sent by Colonel Brush to Askin, his father-in-law, with a package, and that he was made a pris- oner, and detained in Canada for some time. The bullet and the package seem to have some connection in the matter. 3 Chicagou was the Indian name of the Illinois River, at the mouth of which the city stands. In the language of the Pottawatomies, who inhabited that region, the name signifies a skunk or pole-cat — some say the wild onion, both of which emit unpleasant odors, and were abundant there. It is said that the Pottawatomies wore garters of the dried skunk's skin. — Sketch af the Early History o/ Chicago^ by John Gilmartin Shea. OF THE WAB OF 1812. 303 Fort Dearborn. Kinzie'B Eesidence. The Garriaon at CMoago. During the two previous years the United States government had erected a stockade there, and on the 4th of July of that year it was formally named Fort Dearborn, in honor of the then Secretary o:f War. It had a block-house at each of two angles on the southern side, a sally-port and covered way on the north side, that led down to the river, for the double purpose of providing a means of escape and for receiving water during a siege, and was strongly picketed, i It stood upon a little rise of KINZIE MANSION AND FOKT DEAEBOEN. ground on the south bank of the Chicago River, about half a mile from its mouth. On the north bank of that stream, directly opposite the fort, Mr. Kinzie enlarged into a spacious but very modest mansion the house built by Jean Baptists and his immediate successor, Le MaL Within an inclosed green in front he planted some Lombardy poplars, and in the rear was a fine garden and growing orchard. There he lived with his young family for eight years, isolated from society excepting that of the military, but enjoying great peace, with every necessary and many of the lux- uries of life, and possessing the confidence and esteem of the surrounding Indians. The peacefulness of the current of life at Chicago was interrupted in the spring of' 1812. The garrison was commanded by Captain Nathan Heald,^ assisted by Lieu- tenant Linai T. Helm,^ a son-in-law of Mrs. Kinzie, and Ensign George Ronan. The surgeon was Dr. Van Voorhees. The garrison consisted of fifty-four men. The only other residents of the post, at the time of the events we are about to consider, were Mr. Kinzie and his family, the wives of Captain Heald and Lieutenant Helm and of some of the soldiers, and a few Canadian voyageurs, with their wives and children. The officers and their troops, like Mr. Kinzie, were on the most friendly terms with 1 Fort Dearborn was erected nnder the superintendence of Major John Whistler, who was also the overseer of the construction of Port Wayne, at the forks of the Maumee. Major Whistler was an Englishman. He was taken prisoner with Burgoyne at Saratoga in 1777, and remained in the United States. He settled in Maryland, and in 1790-91 joined" the troops under General St. Clair, and was with him at his defeat on the Miami in November, 1791, where he was act- ing as adjutant and was wounded. He was commissioned an ensign of the First Infantry in the Spring of 1792, and in the autumn was made a lieutenant in the first sub-leglon. He passed through other grades of service until, on the 10th of July, 1812, he was breveted a major. He was disbanded in 1815, and three years afterward became military store- keeper at St. Louis. He died at Belle Fontaine, Missouri, in 1827. In building Fort Dearborn, Major Whistler had no oxen, and the timber was all dragged to the spot by the soldiers. He worked so economically that the fort. Colonel Johnston, of Dayton (who furnished him with some materials from Fort Wayne), told me, did not cost the government over fifty dollars. For a while the garrison could get no corn, and Whistler and his men subsisted on acorns. " Heald, who was a native of Massachusetts, joined the army as ensign in the spring of 1799. He became a first lieu- tenant in November of the same year. In January, 1807, he was commissioned a captain, and held that office until the 26th of August, 1812, when, on account of his good conduct at Chicago, he was prorhoted to major. He was disbanded in 1815. 3 Helm, of Kentucky, entered the army as ensign in December, 1807, and became second lieutenant the following year. He was promoted to &st lieutenant in January, 1813, and to captain in April, 1814. He resigned in September following. 304 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Signs of Trouble with the Indians. An Indian Raid. Massacre of White People. the Pottawatomies and Winnebagoes, the principal tribes in that neighborhood ; yet they could not win them from their decided attachment to the British, from -whom, at Fort Maiden, they annually received large presents as bribes to secure their alli- « November ance. After the battle of Tippecanoe, the previous autumn,^ in which por- 1811. ' tions of their tribes were engaged, it had been observed that the leading chiefs became sullen, and suspicions of contemplated hostility sometimes clouded the minds of Heald and his command. One day in the spring of 1812, N^au-non-gee and a companion, both of the Calumet band, were at Fort Dearborn. When passing through the quarters, they observed Mrs. Healdi and Mrs. Helm^ playing at battle- dore. Turning to Mr. Griffith, the interpreter, Nau-non-gee said : " The white chiefs' wives are amusing themselves very much ; it will not be long before they are living in our corn-fields." The terrible significance of these words, then hidden, was made apparent a few weeks later. On the evening of the Vth of April, 1812, Mr. Kinzie's children were dancing before the fire to the music of their father's violin, when their mother came rushing wildly in, pale with terror, and exclaiming, " The Indians ! the Indians !" " What ? where ?" exclaimed Mr. Kinzie, in response. " Up at Lee's, killing and scalping !" gasped the afi'righted mother. It seems that the alarm had been given by a man and boy,^ who had been fleeing from destruction down the opposite side of the river, and had shout- ed the terrible fact to the family of Mr. Burns, half a mile above the fort, where Mrs. Kinzie was in attendance upon a newly-made mother. Not a moment waS to be lost. Mr. Kinzie immediately hurried h^s family into two old pirogue^ moored in front of his house, and conveyed them across the river to the fort. At the same time the in- trepid Ensign Ronan, with six men, started up the river in a scow to save the Bums family ; and a cannon was fired to give notice of danger to a party of soldiers who had gone up the river to catch fish. Mrs. Bums, with an infant not a day old,* and the rest of her family, were taken in safety to the fort ; and the absent soldiers, who were two miles above Lee's, made their way back in the , darkness, discovering on their way the bodies of murdered and scalped persons at Lee's Place. These were obtained the next day, and were buried near the fort. It was afterward ascertained that the savage scalping-party were Winnebagoes, from Rock River, who had come with the intention of destroying every white person outside of the fort. The noise of the cannon frightened them, and they fled back to their homes. 1 Rebecca Heald was a daughter of General Samnel Wells, of Kentucky (one of the heroes of Tippecanoe), and niece of Captain William Wells, who will appear prominently in our narrative. She was with her uncle at Fort Wayne two or three years before the war, where Captain Heald became acquainted with her. Their acquaintance ripened into mu- tual attachment. He taught her the use of the rifle, in which she became very espert. They were married in 1810 or 1811, and she accompanied her husband to Fort Dearborn. 2 Mrs. Helm was a daughter of Colonel M'Killup, a British officer attached to one of the companies who were station- ed at Fort Miami,'0n the Maumee, at the time of Wayne's appearance there in 1794. While reconnoitring one night, he was mistaken for an enemy, and mortally wounded. His widow married Mr. Kinzie, with whom, and this daughter, she removed to Chicago in 1803. Here the daughter, at the age of eighteen years, married Lieutenant Helm, of Kentucky, in 1811. She died suddenly at Waterville, in Michigan, in 1844.— Pioneer Women of the West, by Mrs. E. F. Ellet. 3 These were a discharged soldier and a son of Mr. Lee, who lived near the fort, and cultivated a farm about three miles up the sonth branch of the Chicago River, in the vicinity of the point where Halstead Street now crosses that stream. See map on page 266. This was known as Lee's Place. Lee and all'his family, except Mrs. Lee and her infant, perished in the massacre at Chicago on the 15th of August. * Pirogue, or piragua, originally meant a canoe formed out of the trunk of a tree, or two canoes united. A vessel used in this country as a narrow ferry-boat, carrying two masts and a lee-board, is calle A piragua. 5 The main facts of this narrative of affairs at Chicago, in 1812, are derived from a most. interesting account from the pen of Mrs. John H. Kinzie, of Chicago, published in pamphlet form in 1844; and repeated substantially in a charming history of personal adventures on the northwestern frontier, by the same accomplished lady, in a volume published in 18S6, entitled, Wavr-bun, the "Early Bay" in the Northwest. Mrs. Kinzie is a daughter-in-law of Mr. John Kinzie, the trader just mentioned, and much of the narrative of the events which we are considering she received from Mrs. Helm, an actor in the events. Of this infant of Mrs. Burns she gives a few words of interesting narrative. The mother and child were made prisoners at Chicago by a chief, and carried to his village. His, attentions to them aroused the jealousy of his spouse, and one day she spitefully struck the infant with a tomahawk with the intention of killing it. The blow took off some of the scalp. " Thirty-two years after this," says Mrs. Kinzie, " as I was on a journey to Chicago in the steamer Uncle Sam, a young woman, hearing my name, introduced herself to me, and, raising the hair from her forehead, showed me the mark of the tomahawk which had so nearly been fatal to her." Wavr-Jmn page 244. ' OF THE WAK OF 1812. 305 Order for the ETacaatlon of Chicago. Danger in the Movement. The Commandant warned against it. All of the inhabitants of Chicago not belonging to the garrison now took refuge in the Agency House, which stood upon the esplanade, about twenty rods west from the fort, on the site of the present light-house, and there intrenched themselves. This was an old-fashioned log house, with a passage running through the centre, and piaz- zas extending the whole length of the building, front and rear. These were planked up. Port-holes were cut in the barricade, and sentinels were posted there every night. For some time hostile Indians hovered around the post and committed dep- redations ; but at last they disappeared, and for several weeks the dwellers at Chi- cago experienced no alarm. Toward the evening of the 7th of August,^ Win-ne-meg, or The_ Catfish, a . jg^^ friendly Pottawatomie chief, who was intimate with Mr. Kinzie, came to Chi- cago from Fort Wayne as the bearer of a dispatch from General Hull to Captain Heald, in which the former announced his arrival at Detroit with an army, the declaration of war, the invasion of Canada, and the loss of Mackinack. It also conveyed an order to Captain Heald to evacuate Fort Dearborn, if practicable, and to distribute, in 'that event, " all the United States property contained in the fort, and in the government factory or agency, among the Indians in the neighborhood." This was doubtless in- tended to be a peace-ofiering to the savages,to prevent their joining the Britishythen menacing Detroit. Win-ne-meg, who knew the purport of the order, begged Mr. Kinzie to advise Cap- tain Heald not to evacuate the fort, or the movement would be difficult and dangerous. The Indians had already received information from Tecumtha of the disasters to the American arms, and the withdrawal of Hull's army from Canada, and were becoming daily more restless and insolent. Heald had an ample supply of ammunition and pro- visions for six months ; why not hold out until i-elief could be sent from the south- ward ? Win-ne-meg farther urged that, if Captain Heald should resolve to evacuate, it should be done immediately, before the Indians should be informed of the order, or could prepare for formidable resistance. " Leave the fort and stores as they are," he said, " and let them make distributions for themselves ; and while the Indians are en- gaged in that business, the white people may make their way in safety to Fort Wayne." Mr. Kinzie readily perceived the wisdom of Win-ne-meg's advice, and so did Cap- tain Heald's officers, but the commander resolved to obey Hull's order strictly as to evacuation and the distribution of the public property. He caused that order to be read to the troops on the morning of the Sth,*" and then assumed the whole ^^^^^^j responsibility. His officers expected to be summoned to a council, but were disappointed. Toward evening they called upon the commander, and, when informed of his determination, they remonstrated with him. The march, they said, must neces- sarily be slow, on account of the women and children and infirm persons, and there- fore, under the circumstances, extremely perilous. Hull's order, they said, left it to the discretion of the commander to go or to stay ; and they thought it much better to strengthen the fort, defy the savages, and endure a siege until relief should reach them. Heald argued in reply that special orders had been issued by the War De- partment that no post should be surrendered without battle having been given by the assailed, and that his force was totally inadequate to an engagement with the Indians. He should expect the censure of his government, he said, if he remained ; and having full confidence in the professions of friendship of many of the chiefs about him, he should call them together, make the required distribution, and take_ up his march for Fort Wayne. After that his officers had no more communications with him on the subject. The Indians became more unruly every hour, and yet Heald, with fatal procrastination, -postponed the assembling of the savages- for two or three days.. They finally met near the fort on the afternoon of the 12th,= and there the ^^^^^^^^ commander held a farewell council with them. 306 PICTORIAL EIELD-BOOIC ATreaty with the Indians. Their Faithlessness known. Solemn Warnings unheeded. Heald invited tlie officers to join him in the council, but they refused. They had re- ceived intimations that treachery was designed — that the Indians intended to murder them in the council-circle, and then destroy the inmates of the fort. The officers re- mained within the pickets, and, opening the port of one of the block-houses so as to expose the cannon pointed directly upon the group in council; they secured the safety of Captain Heald. The Indians were intimidated by the menacing monster, and ac- cepted Heald's offers with many protestations of friendship. He agreed to distribute among them not only the goods in the public store — blankets, broadcloths, calicoes, paints, etc. — but also the arms, ammunition, and provisions not necessary for the use of the garrison on its march. It was stipulated that the distribution should take place the next day, soon after which the garrison and white inhabitants would leave the works. The Pottawatomies agreed, on their part, to furnish a proper escort for them through the wilderness to Fort "Wayne, on condition of being liberally reward- ed on their arrival there. When the result of the council was made known, Mr. Kinzie warmly remonstrated with Captain Heald. He knew the Indians well, and their weakness in the presence, of great temptations to do wrong. He begged the commander not to confide in their promises at a moment so inauspicious for faithfulness to treaties. He especially en- treated him not to place in their hands arms and ammunition, for it would fearfully increase their power to carry on those murderous raids which for months had spread terror throughout the frontier settlements. Heald perceived his folly, and resolved to violate the treaty so far as arms and amnlunition were concerned. On that very evening, when the chiefs of the council seemed most friendly, a cir- cumstance occurred which should have made Captain Heald shut his gates to his dusky neighbors, and resolve not to leave the fort. Black Partridge, a hitherto friend- ly chief, and a man of much influence, came quietly to the commander and said : " Fa- ther, I come to deliver to you the medal I wear. It was given me by the Americans, THE BLACK PAETEIDOe's MEDAL. and I have long worn it in token of our mutual friendship. But our younff men are resolved to imbrue their hands in the blood of the white people. I can not restrain them and I will not wear a token of peace while I am compelled to act as an ene- my. Ihis solemn and authentic warning was strangely unheeded. JZ^l^I'^'^^i'all ^ ^^"^ ''*^° Infonned, was received by the Black Partridge at the treaty of Fort WavnA n„ ♦!,= onfi, of ^pteiSiber, 1809, mentioned on page 190. It was of silver. The engraving is the exact s°zeomT^rfJ.' ? t."" copied from one in the possession of the widow of General Jacob Broln, otLZl^m^fl^^Yo^^^^^^t^l'^^^ OF THE WAE OF 1812. 307 Another Warning. ArmB, Powder, and Whisky destroyed. Arrival of Ke-enforcementa. Too late. The morning of the 13th was bright and cool. The Indians assembled in great numbers to receive their presents. Nothing but the goods in the store were distrib- uted that day ; and in the evening the Black Partridge said to Mr. Griffith, the in- terpreter, " Linden birds have been singing in my ears to-day ; be careful on the march you are going to take." This was another solemn warning, and it was com- municated to Oaptain Heald. It, too, was unheeded ; and at midnight, when the sentinels were all posted and the Indians were in their camps, a portion of the pow- der and liquor in the fort was cast into a well near the sally-port, and the remainder into a canal that came up from the river far under the covered way. The muskets not reserved for the garrison were broken up, and these, with shot, bullets, flints, gun-screws, and every thing else pertaining to fire-arms, were also thrown into the well. A large quantity of alcohol belonging to Mr. Kinzie was poured into the river, and before morning the destruction was complete. But the work had not been done in secret. The night was dark, and vigilant Indians had crept to the fort as noise- lessly as serpents, and their quick senses had perceived the destruction of what, un- der the treaty, they claimed as their own. In the morning the work of the night was made more manifest. The powder was seen floating upon the surface of the river, and the sluggish water had been converted by the whisky and the alcohol into " strong grog," as an eye-witness remarked. Complaints and threatenings were loud among the savages because of this breach of faith ;' and the dwellers in the fort were impressed with a dreadful sense of impending destruction, when the brave Captain Wells, Mrs. Heald's uncle) and adopted son of the Little Turtle, was discovered upon the Indian trail near the Sand Hills, on the border of the lake not far distant, with a band of mounted Miamis, of whose tribe he was a chiefs He had heard at Fort "Wayne of the orders of Hull to evacuate Fort Dearborn, and, being fully aware of the hostilities of the Pottawatomies, he had made a rapid march across the country to re-enforce Captain Heald, assist in defending the fort, or prevent his .exposure to certain destruction by an attempt to reach the head of the Maumee. But he was too late. All means for maintaining a siege had been destroyed a few hours before, and every preparation had been made for leaving the post the next day. When the morning of the 15 th arrived, there were positive indications that the In- dians intended to massacre all the white people. They were overwhelming in num- bers, and held the fate of the devoted band in their grasp. When, at nine o'clock, the appointed hour, the gate was thrown open, and the march commenced, it was like a funeral procession. The band struck up the Dead March in Saul. Captain Wells, the summer of 1860. She also had a smaller medal of the same kind, struck for the same occasion. These were distrib- uted among the inferior chiefs. ' 1 The celebrated chief Black Hawk, who was among the Indians at the time of the massacre at Chicago, declared that, had the treaty been fully carried out, the white people would not have been attacked. And such has been the geperal impression of students. But the conduct of Black Partridge before the powder and liquor were destroyed disproves tliis. No doubt the massacre had been determined on as soon as the order for the evacuation was made known to the Indians. ' When in Toledo, Ohio, in the antunm of 1860, 1 spent an hour pleasantly and profitably with General John E. Hunt, a brother-in-law of General Cass, whose early life was spent among the stirring scenes of the frontier. He was in the fort at Detroit when it was surrendered. He knew Captain William Welle, and from his lips the substance of the fol- lowing brief notice was commimicated : When a child. Wells was living with his relative, Hon. Nathaniel Pope, of Ken- tucky, where he was stolen by a band of Miami Indians and taken to the Maumee country. He was adopted by Little Turtle, the eminent Miami chief. He was rescued by his relatives, but had become so attached to his Indian friends and their mode of life that he returned to them. He was compelled to go upon the war-path when Harrison invaded that region, and.was with the Indians who defeated St. Clair. No doubt he swayed the mind of Little Turtle when Wayne appeared in that region, for that chief was favorable to peace with the great Blacksnake, as they called him. Weljs saw clearly the weakness of the Indians ; and one day, while in tie woods, hejpuddenly informed his foster-father that he should leave him, to join the army of Wayne. "I now leave your nation for my own people;" said Wells. "We iave long been friends. We are friends yet, until the sun reaches there," pointing to a place in the heavens. ",Frqm that time we are enemies. Then, if you wish to kill me, you may ; if I want to kill you, I may." At the hour named. Wells crossed the Maumee, and, asking the direction toward Wayne's army, disappeared in the forest. In Wayne's army he commanded a company of the spies. When peace was restored, after the treaty of Greenville, in 1796, he and the Little Turtle became good friends. He married the Little Turtle's sister, a Miami girl, and became a chief of that na- tion. One of his daughters was the wife of Judge Wolcott, of Maumee City, Oliio. Wells was Indian Agent at Fort Wayne when the War of 1812 broke out. He had lived there since 1804. 308 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK A aolemn March. out of the Fort. Treachery of the Indians. Massacre of the White People, with his face blackened with wet gunpowder in token of his impending fate, took.the lead with his friendly Miamis, followed by Captain Heald, and his heroic wife by his side. Mr. Kinzie accompanied them, hoping, by his personal influence, to soften, if he could not avert, the impending blow. His family were left in a boat, in charge of a friendly Indian, to be conveyed around the head of the lake to Kinzie's trading sta- tion, on the site of the present village of Niles, in Michigan. Slowly the procession moved along the lake shore until they came to the Sand Hills, between the prairie and the beach, when the escort of Pottawatoniies, about five hundred in number, under The Black-bird, filed to -the right, and placed those hills between themselves and the white people. Wells and his Miamis had kept ija the advance ; suddenly they came dashing back, the leader shouting, " They are about to attack us : form, instantly !" These startling words were scarcely uttered when , a Storm of bullets came from the Sand Hills, but without serious effect. The treacherr ous and cowardly Pottawatomies had made those hillocks their cover for a murders ous attack. The troops, hastily brought into line, charged up the bank, when one of their number, a white-haired man of seventy years, fell dead from his horse, the first victim. The Indians were driven back, aijd the battle was waged on the open prai- rie between fifty-four soldiers, twelve civilians, and three or four women, against about five hundred Indian warriors. Of course, the conflict was hopeless on the part of the white people ; but they resolved to make the butchers pay dearly for every life which they destroyed.' The cowardly Miamis fled at the first onset. Their chief rode up to the Pottawat- omies, charged them with perfidy, and, brandishing his glittering tomahawk, declared ^ that he would be the first to lead Americans to punish them. He then wheeled and * dashed after his fugitive companions, who were scurrying over the prairie as if the Evil Spirit was at their heels. / 81TB OF OUIOAQO AND OP EVENTS THEEE IN 1812. The conflict was short, desperate, and bloody. Two thirds of the white people were slam or wounded, and all the horses, provisions, and baggage were lost. Only ll^r/rf ! t*""""! °^^". refrained to brave the fury of about five hundred Indians, who had lost but fifteen m the conflict. The devoted band had succeeded in break- ing through the ranks of the assassins, who gave way in front an d rallied on the flank. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 309 Incidents of the Copflict withthe Savages. Death of Captain Wells. Bravery of Women. and gained a slight eminence on the prairie near a grove cailled The Oak Woods. The savages did not pursue. They gathered upon the Sand Hills in consultation, and gave signs of willingness to parley. Farther conflict with them would be rashness ; so Captain Heald, accompanied by Perish Le Clerc, a half-breed boy in Mr. Kinzie's service, went forward, met Black-bird on the open prairie, and arranged terms for a surrender. It was agreed that all the arms should be given up to Black-bird, and that the survivors should become prisoners of war, to be exchanged for ransoms as soon as practicable. With this understanding, captured and captors all started for the Indian encampment near the fort.' So overwhelming was the savage force at the Sand Hills, that the conflict, after the first desperate charge, became an exhibition of individual prowess— a life-and-death struggle, in which no one could render any assistance to his neighbor, for all were principals. In this conflict women bore a conspicuous part. All fought gallantly so long as strength permitted them. The brave Ensign Ronan wielded his weapon even when falling upon his knees because of loss of blood.^ Captain Wells displayed the greatest coolness and gallantry. He was by the side of his niece when the conflict began. " We have not the slightest chalice for life," he said. " We must part, to meet no more in this world ; God bless you." With these words, he dashed forward with the rest. In the midst of the fight he saw a young wan-ior, painted like a de- mon, climb into a wagon in which were twelve children of the white people, and tom- ahawk them all ! Forgetting his- own immediate danger, Wells exclaimed, " If that is their game, butchering women and children, I'll kill too." He instantly dashed to- ward the Indian camp, where they had left their squaws and little ones, hotly pur- sued by swift-footed young warriors, who sent many a rifle ball after him. He lay close to his horse's neck, and turned and fired occasionally upon his pursuers. When he had got almost beyond the range of their rifles, a ball killed his horse and wound- ed hijnself severely in the leg. The young savages rushed forward with a demoniac yell to make him a prisoner and reserve him for the torture, for he was to them an arch : ofiender. His friends Win-ne-meg and Wau-ban-see vainly attempted to save him from his fate. He knew the temper and the practices of the savages well,' and resolved not to be made a captive. He taunted them with the most insulting epi- thets to provoke them to kill him instantly. At length he called one of the fiery young warriors (Per-so-tum) a s2'M0!i«,which so enraged him that he killed Wells in- stantly with a tomahawk, jumped upon hishody, cut out his heart, and ate a portion of the warm and half-palpitating morsel with savage delight. '' The wife of Captain Heald, who was expert with the rifle and an excellent eques- trian, deported herself bravely. She received severe wounds. Faint and bleeding, she;:ma.naged to keep the saddle. A savage raised his tomahawk to kill her, when she looked him full in the face, and, with a sweet, melancholy smile, said, in the Indian tongue, " SuTely you will hot kill a squaw!" The appeal was -effectual. The arm of. the savage fell, and the life of the heroic woman was saved. Mrs. Helm, the step- daughter of Mr. Kinzie, had a severe personal encounter with a stalwart young Indianj who attenlpted' to tomahawk her. She sprang on one side, and received the blo-RT intended for her head upon her shoulder, and at the same instant she seized the savage around the neck, and endeavored to get hold of his scalping-knife, which hung in a sheath upon his breast. While thus struggling, she was dragged from her antag- 1 Captain Heald's dispatch to Adjutant General Cashing, October 23, 1812. ' Mrs. Helm speaks of the terror of Dr. Van Voorheea at that time. He was badly wounded. His horse had been shot under him. " Do yon think," he said to Mrs. Helm, " they will take our lives f" and then talked of offering a large ran- som for existence. She advisedhimnot to think of life,, but of inevitable death. "Ohl" he esclaimed, "I can not die. I am not fit to die. If I had only a short time to prepare for it— death is awful 1" She pointed to the falling Bonan, and said, '■' Look at that man ! at least he dies like a soldier." " Yes," gasped the terrified surgeon, " but he^as no, ter- ror of the future-^he is an unTjeliever !" At that moment Mrs. Helm had a deadly struggle with a young Indian, and a moment afterward she saw the dead body of the surgeon. He had been slain by a tomahawk. s StateraenforCotonelJahn-iIghMton, ofDayton^to^ejuthgr,^ PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK 310 Act of a friendly Indian. The Wounded butchered for their Scalps. Scalps parchased by the British Commander. onist by another Indian, who bore her, spite of her desperate resistance, to the margin of the lake, and plunged her in, at the same time, to her astonishment, hold- ing her so that she would not drown. She soon perceived that she was held by a friendly hand. It was that of the Black Partridge who had saved her. "When the firing ceased and the capitulation was concluded, he conducted her to the prairie, where she met her father, and heard that her husband was safe. Bleeding and suf- fering, she was conducted to the Indian camp by the Black Partridge and Per-so-tum, the latter carrying in his hand a scalp which she knew to be that of Captain Wells by the black ribbon that bound the queue. The wife of a soldier named Corbord, believing that all prisoners were reserved for- torture, fought desperately, and suffered herself to be literally cut in pieces rather than surrender. The wife of Sergeant Holt, who was badly wounded in his neck at the beginning of the engagement, received from him his sword, and behaved as bravely as an Amazon. She was a large and powerful woman, aild rode a fine, high- spirited horse, which the Indians coveted. Several of them attacked her with the butts of their guns, for the purpose of dismounting her, but she used her sword so skillfully that she foiled them. She suddenly wheeled her horse and dashed over the prairie, followed by a large number, who shouted, " The brave woman ! the brave woman ! don't hurt her !" They finally overtook her, and, while two or three were engaging her in front, a powerful savage seized her by her neck, and dragged her backward to the ground. The horse and woman became prizes. The latter was afterward ransomed. When the captives were taken to the Indian camp a new scene of horrors was opened. The wounded, according to the Indians' interpretation of the capitulation, were not included in the terms of the surrender. Proctor had offered a liberal sum for scalps delivered at Maiden ; so, nearly all the wounded men were killed, and the value of British bounty, such as is sometimes offered for the destruction of wolves, was taken from each head.^ Id. this tragedy Mrs. Heald played a part, but fortunate- ly escaped scalping. In order to save her fine horse, the Indians had aimed at the rider. Seven bullets took efiect upon her person. Her captor, who was about to slay her upon the battle-field, as we have seen, left her in the saddle, and led the horse to- ward the camp. When in sight of the fort his acquisitiveness overpowered his gal- lantry, and he was taking her bonnet from her head in order to scalp her, when she was discovered by Mrs. Kinzie, who was yet sitting in the boat, and who had heard the tumult of the conflict, but without any intimation of the result until she saw the wounded woman in the hands of her savage captive. " Run ! run, Chandonnai !" exclaimed Mrs. Kinzie to one of her husband's clerks, who was standing on the beach. " That is Mrs. Heald. He is going to kill her ! Take that mule, and offer it as a ransom." Chandonnai promptly obeyed, and increased the bribe by offering in ad- dition two bottles of whisky. These were worth more than Proctor's bounty, and Mrs. Heald was released. She was placed in Mrs. Kinzie's boat, and there concealed from the prying eyes of other scalp-hunters. Toward evening the family of Mr. Kinzie^ were allowed to return to their own '■ A writer, signing his communication "An Officer," nnder date of "Buffalo, March 8, 1813," speaks of the arrival there of Mrs. Helm, and her narrative of sufferings at and after the massacre at Chicago. " She knows the fact," he says, ." that Colonel Proctor, the British commander at Maiden, bought the scalps of our murdered garrison at Chicago, and, thanks to her noble spirit, she boldly charged him with the infamy in his own house." This independence was probably the cause of the cruel treatment which she and her husband received at the hands of Proctor. She and her husband, after several weeks of captivity among the Indians, were united at Detroit, where Proctor cansed them both to be arrested, and sent on horseback, in the dead of a Canadian winter, across the wilderness to Fort George, on the Niagara frontier. The writer farther says concerning the statements of Mrs. Heald, "She knows, from the tribe with whom she was a prisoner, and who were the perpetrators of those murders, that they intended to remain true, but that tfiey receivedordera from the British to cut off our garrison whom they were to escort."— Niles's Weekly Segiater, April 3, ■ a John Kinzie, who bore so conspicuous a part in the events we are considering, was horn in Quebec, in 1T63, and was the only offspring of his mother's second marriage. His father died while he was an infant, and his mother mar- ried a third time, and with her husband (Mr. Porsythe) removed to th? city of New York. At the age of ten years OF THE WAR OF 1812. gn Suryivors of the Massacre at, Chicago. Sketch of Mr. Kinzie. Remains of the Port. house, where they were greeted by the friendly Black Partridge. Mrs. Helm was jjlaced in the house of Ouilmette, a Frenchman, hy the same friendly hand. But these and all the other prisoners were exposed to great jeopardy hy the arrival of a band of fierce Pottawatomies from the Wabash, who yearned for blood and plunder. They searched the houses for prisoners with keen vision, and when no farther concealnient and safety seemed possible, some friendly Indians arrived, and so turned the tide of affairs that the "Wabash savages were ashamed to own their blood-thirsty inten- tions. " -. In this terrible tragedy in the wilderness fifty-five years ago, twelve children, all the masculine civilians but Mr. Kinzie and his sons. Captain Wells, Surgeon Van Voor- hees,^ Ensign Ronan, and twenty-six private soldiers, were murdered. The prison- ers were divided among the captors,' and were finally reunited, or restored to their Mends and families. A few of them have survived until our day. Mrs. Rebecca Heald died at the St. Charles Mission, in Missouri, in the year 1860. Major John H. Kinzie, of Chicago (husband of the writer of " Wau-bun"), his brother Major Robert A. Kinzie, and Mrs. Hunter, wife of General David Hunter, of the National Army, are [186'7] surviving children of Mr. Kinzie, and were with their mother in the boat. The brothers were both officers of Volunteers during the late Civil War; and a most promising son of John Kinzie became a martyr for his country in that war. Paul de Garmo, another survivor, was living at Maumee City, Ohio, when I visited that place in 1860, but I was not aware of the fact until after I had left. Jack Smith, a sailor on the lakes, who was a drummer-boy at the time, was alive within the last two or three years. It is believed that no other survivors of the massacre are now [1867] living. On the momijig after the massacre the fort was burned by the Indians, and Chi- cago remained a desolation for about four years. In 1816 the Pottawatomies ceded to the United States all the land on which Chicago now stands, when the fort was rebuilt on a somewhat more extended scale, and the bones of the massacred were col- lected and buried. One of the block-houses of the new fort remained, near the bank of the river, until 1856, when it was demolished. The view here given (by whom young Kinzie was placed in a school in Williamsburg, near Long Island. One day he made his way to the North Eiver, got on board of an Albany sloop, and started for Quebec, fortunately for him, he fonnd a passenger who was on his way to that city, who took charge of him. At Quebec the boy apprenticed himself to a silversmith. Three years after- ward, his family, having returned to Canada for the purpose of moving to Detroit, discovered him. They had supposed him lost forever. When he grew up he loved the vrilds. He became a (trader, and lived most of the time on the frontier and among the Indians. He established trading-houses. He married the'widow of a British officer in ISOO, and settled at Chicago in 1804. There he became a captain in 1812, and in January, 1813, joined his family at Detroit. There he was badly treated by General Proctor, who cast him into prison at Maiden. He was finally sent to Quebec, to be for- warded to England, for what purpose was never known. The vessel in which he sailed was compelled to put back, when he was released and returned to Detroit, where he found General Harris in possession. He and his family re- turned to Chicago in 1816, when the fort was rebuilt. Mr. Kinzie died there on the 8th of January, 1838, at the age of sixty-five years. This was two years before the town of Chicago was laid out into lots by commissioners appointed by the state. 1 The leader of the flriendly party was Billy Caldwell, a half-breed and a chief. The Black Partridge told him of tlje evident intentions of the Wabash Indians. They had blackened their faces, and were then seated sullenly in Mr. Kinzie's parlor, preparatory to a general massacre of all the remaining white people. Billy went in, took off his ac- coutrements, and said, in a careless way, " How now, my friends I A good day to you. I was told there were enemies here, but I am glad to find only friends. Why have yon blackened your faces 1 Is it that you are mourning for your friends lost in battle ? Or is it that yon are fasting ? If so, ask oar frtend here cca8ians.I carried my rifle, tomahawk, and butcher-knife, with a loaded pistol in my belt. VSTien I went to plow, I laid my gun on the plowed ground, and stuck up a stick by it for a mark, so that I could get it quick in case it was wanted. I had two good dogs. I took one into the house, leav- ing the other out. The one outside was expected to give the alarm, which would cause the one inside to bark, by which I would be awakened, having my arms always loaded. I kept my horses in a stable close to the house, having a port- hole so that I could shoot to the stable-door. During two years I never went from home with a certainty of returning, not knowing the minute I might receive a ball irom an unknown hand ; but, in the midst of all these dangers, that God who never sleeps nor slumbers has kept me."— Dillon's Hiaiorij of Indiama, page 493. ' General Harrison, then at Piqua in command of Kentucky troops, sent Major William Oliver, a gallant officer, with four Shawnoese, to Fort Wayne to assnre the garrrison of speedy re-enforcement. They pushed through the wilderness for about sixty miles. Oliver was in Indian costnme. When they approached the fort they came upon the out-guards of the savages. With great skill they evaded them, made their way through the line? of the besiegers, and, with fleet fpot, gained the fort. Oliver and his companions remained there imtil the close of the siege. —Ea/rly History qf the Maw- mee F;aJ!ej/, by H. L. Hosmer, page 32. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 3r5 Siege of Fort Wayne raised. Eavages of tlie Indians. Tlxe Grave of Little Turtle. tack,* and kept up a fire at intervals for twelve hours. On the following , Septembers, day they raised a tremendous war-whoop, to frighten the garrison, and i^^^- again comineneed an assault, with as little success as on previous occasions. The patient little garrison remained unharmed ; and on the 12th, the besiegers fled precip- itately, having heard of the approach of a large re-enforcement for the fort. That evening the deliverers arrived, and Fort Wayne was saved. ^ FOET WATME IN 1812. Before they left, the Indians destroyed every thing outside the fort — live-stock, crops, and dwellings. Among the latter was the house of Captain Wells, who was killed at Chicago. It was on his reservation of rich bottom lands on the north side of the St. Mary's River, opposite the present city of Fort Wayne, and not more than half a mile distant from it. When I visited the spot in the autumn of 1860, in com- pany with the venerable Mr. Hedges, already mentioned,^ and the Hon. I. D. G. Nel- son, more than twenty apple-trees of an orchard planted by Captain Wells — the old- est in Northern Indiana, having been set out in 1804 or 1805 — were yet standing, shorn of beauty, huge, gnarled, and fantastic- al, but fruit - bearing still. They were on the land of Mr. Edward Smith, on the east side of the road froin Fort Wayne to White Pig- eon. In Mr. Smith's garden, which was within the inclosure of the orchard, only a few yards westward of a group of larger trees, was the grave of the Little Turtle. Its place is marked in our little sketch of that group THE LITTLE TUBTLE'S GRAVE. of five apple-trees by the figures in the fore- ground. There the Lit- tle Turtle was buried in the middle of July, 1812, and his. nephew, Co-is-see, pronounced a funeral oration at his grave. His residence was then at Eel River, about fifteen miles northwest of Fort Wayne. He had come to the fort to be treat- ed by the garrison sur- geon for the gout, and diedthere.^ Mr. Hedg- es was at his funeral. 1 Thnman7i'BSJ-WcA«so/' M'^fee, page 111. " Died April 20,1846.' = On the same day General Harrison, who had heard of the fall of Detroit and Chicago, and knew the danger to which Fort Wayne would be exposed, wrote as follows to the Secretary of War: " I shall march to-morrow morning with the troops I have here, taking the route of Dayton and Piqua. The relief of Fort Wayne will be my first object, and my after operations will be guided by circumstances until I receive your instructions. Considering my command as merely provisional, T shall cheerfully conform to any other arrangements which the government may think proper to make. The trpops which I have with me, and those which are coming from Kentucky, are perhaps the best ma- terials for forming an army that the world has produced. But no equal number of men was ever collected who knew so little of military discipline, nor have I any assistants that can give me the least aid, if there was even time for it, bat Captain Adams, of the 4th Regiment, who was left here sick, and whom I have appointed deiraty adjutant general until the pleasure of the President can be known. No arms for cavalry have yet arrived at Newport, and I shall be f jrced to put muskets in the hands of all the dragoons. I have written to the quarter-master at Pittsburg to request him to forward all supplies of arms, equipments, and quarter-master's stores as soon as possible. I have also requested him to send down a few pieces of artillery without waiting your order, and wait your Instruction as to a farther number. There ia but one piece of artillery, one iron four-pounder, any where that I can hear of in the country. If it is intended to' retake the posts that we have lost, and reduce Maiden this season, the artillery must be sent on as soon as possible." He also complained of a want of facility for getting money on drafts. Such were the inadequate preparations made by the government for the promotion of the war in the Northwest, when it was first commenced. PICTORrAL FIELD-BOOK 324 A divided command deprecated. Winchester and Harrison. Crowds of Volu nteers. Hamaon's Inflnence. had been assigned the chief command of the Army of the Northwest :The original object in the formation of that army having been co-operationwith Hull in the cap- ture of Maiden, and the reduction and occupation of Canada West, the whole aspect of aifairs had been changed by the loss of Hull and his army. Harrison suggested to the Department the importance of having one miUtary head m the Northwest; and, with the justification of pressing necessity, he laid aside his usual modesty, and preferred his own claim to that distinction, on the ground of his superior knowledge of the country and the savages with whom they had to contend, and the universally expressed desire of the troops that he should be their chief leader. Haying made this response to the government by the express who brought his commission andm- sti'uctions, Harrison pressed forward in the path of duty to Piqua, on the bank of the Great Miami, with the intention of there resigning his command into the hands of General Winchester. He had two thousand troops with him, and two thousand were on their way to join him. Biqua was reached on the 3d of September, and there Harrison was informed of the critical situation of Fort Wayne, and of tte rumored marching from Maiden, on the 1 8th of August, of a large force of British and Indians under Major Muir, with the in- tention of joining the savages in the siege of that place. Winchester, to whom Har- rison had written, had not arrived. There would be great danger in delay, and Har- rison resolved not to wait for his superior, but, retaining command, send detachments immediately forward to the relief of the menaced garrison. For this purpose he de- tached Lieutenant Colonel John Allen's regiment of Regulars, with two companies from Lewis's and one from Scott's regiments, with instructions to make forced marches until their object should be accomplished. > At the same time he dispatched a mes- senger, as we have seen, to assure the garrison of Fort Wayne of approaching relief.^ Already seven hundred mounted men, under Colonel Adams, had advanced to Shaw's Crossing of the St. Mary's River, not far from Fort Wayne. The trqop was composed of citizens of Ohio of all ages and conditions, who, in hearing of the disasters north- ward, and the perils of Fort Wayne, had hastened to the field. " Such, indeed, was the ardor of the citizens," says a contemporary, " that every road leading to the frontiers was invaded with unsolicited volunteers."^ The exasperation in the West against the British and Indians was intense. Harrison had observed some restlessness among the troops under the restraints « September, of discipline. On the morning of the Sth" he addressed them briefly, read ^^1^- the Articles of War, endeavored to impress their minds with the import- ance of discipline and obedience, told them that the danger to which Fort Wayne was then exposed demanded an immediate forced march for its relief, and request- ed those who could not endure the life of a true soldier to leave the ranks. Only one man did so, when his companions, thinking him too feeble to walk, carried him on a rail to the banks of the Great Miami, and gave him a " plunge bath," not, perhaps, in strict accordance with the fashion prescribed by Priessnitz. The effect was salutary, and murmurings ceased. Such discipline, exercised by the soldiers themselves, was a hopeful sign for the commander. Colonel John Johnston, the Indian agent, was residing at Piqua.* At the request of Harrison, he sent some Shawnoese to old Fort Defiance, at the mouth of the Au Glaize River, to ascertain whether any British troops had gone up the Maumee Val- ley. Logan, a powerful half-breed, was sent to Fort Wayne for information. Both parties were successful, and returned with important messages. No British troops had passed up the Maumee, and Fort Wayne was closely besieged by the savages. > M'Afee, page 121. 2 See note 5, page 314. 3 M'Afee, page 121. * For the pnniose of neutralizing, if possible, the effects of British influence over the tribes of Ohio, a council had been held at Piqua on the 16th of August. Governor Meigs, Thomas Worthington, and Jeremiah Morrow were the commissioners on the part of the United States. Every thing promised success ;' but while the council was in progress news of the fall of Detroit and Chicago reached Piqua, and frustrated the plans of the white people. OP THE WAE OF 1812. 325 Tfle Ai-my in the Wilderness. Preparati ons for Battle. Fort Wayne relieved. Destruction of Indian Towns. Harrison was compelled to wait at the Piqua until the morning of the 6th* . Sept., for flints. At dawn of that day his forces were under motion, and before ^^^- ' eight o'clock they had fairly plunged into the great wilderness beyond the borders of civilization. In order to march rapidly and easily, the troops had left most of then- clothing and baggage at Piqua; and on the afternoon of the 8th, they overtook Al- len's regiment at St. Mary, sometimes called " Girty's Town,"' or the First Cross- ing of the St. Mary River. There they were joined by Major R. M. Johnson, with a corps of mounted volunteers. The army in the wilderness numbered two thousand two hundred men. Indian spies were seen hovering around the camp that night, who, it was afterward said, reported that " Kentuck was crossing as numerous as the trees." The morning of the 9th was dark and lowering, but the troops were in good spii'- its, and reached Shane's, or the Second Crossing of the St. Mary, before sunset, where they found Colonel Adams, with his mounted Ohio Volunteers. Being now in the vicinity of Fort Wayne, the army marched in battle order on the following day, ex- pecting an attack. They moved slowly and cautiously. Scouts were out continu- ally, and Logan and another Shawnoe acted as guides. On the night of the 11th they fortified their camp in expectation of an attack, and many alarms occurred dur- ing the darkness, caused by the discovery of Indian spies who were lurking around the verge of the pickets. . The march was resumed at a very early hour on the morning of the 12th in battle order. An encounter was expected at a swamp five miles from Port Wayne. But no foe was visible there. The savages had all fled, as we have before observed,^ and Fort Wayne, on that warm, bright September day, was the scene of great rejoicing. The liberating army encamped around the fort that night, excepting a party of horse- men, who made an unsuccessful pursuit of the savages ; and on the following morn- ing, reconnoitring parties were sent out in every direction, but did not discover the dusky foe. Harrison now called a council of ofiicers, to whom he submitted a plan of opera- tions, which was adopted. He had determined to strike the neighboring Indians with terror by a display of power. He accordingly divided his army, and sent out detachments to destroy whatever of Indian possessions might be found. One detach- ment, under Colonel Simrall (who arrived in camp with three hundred and twenty dragoons on the 17th), laid waste the Little Turtle's town, on the Eel Run,'' ' b gent. 19. excepting the buildings erected by the United States for the now deceased chief, on account of his friendship since the treaty of Greenville in 1794.^ Another detachment, under Colonel Samuel Wells, was sent to the Elk Hart River, a tribu- tary of the St. Joseph, of Michigan (sometimes called the St. Joseph of the Lake), sixty miles distant, to destroy the town of the Pottawatomie chief 0-nox-see, or Five Medals,* which was accomplished;" and Colonel Payne, with an-- « September is: other detachment, to the forks of the Wabash, and laid in ashes* a Mi- " September is. ami village there, and several others lower down.^ Around all of these villages were corn-fields and gardens, but no living thing was seen. The Indians had deserted ' Now the village of St. Mary, in Mercer County, Ohio, on the site of Port St. Mary, erected by Wayne, and command- ed by Captain John Whistler before he built Fort Dearborn at Chicago. The notorious Simon Girty occupied a cabin at that place for some'time. = See page 315. 3 While the Little Turtle lived most of the Miamis remained faithful to the Americans, but soon after his death, in the summer of 1S12, the great body of them joined the hostile savages. * This village, like all the others, vpas deserted. Before the door of the chief, upon a pole, hung a red flag, with a broom tied above it; and at the tent of an old warrior a white flag was flying from a pole. The body of the old warrior was in a sitting posture, the face toward the east, and a bucket containing trinkets by its side. In one of the huts was found a Cincinnati newspaper containing an account of General Harrison's army.. The troops found a large quantity of dried com, beans, and potatoes, which furnished them and their horses with food. = In one of these was found the tomb of a chief, built of logs and daubed with clay. His body was laid on a blanket, with his gun and his pipe by his side, a small tin pan on his breast containing a wooden spoon, and a number of ear- rings and brooches. 326 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK General Winche ster. Attachment of Troops to Earrisou. Hanison in chief Command of the Northwestern Arifay. them. The severest blow that a savage can receive, especially at that season of the year, is to deprive him of food and shelter. So, when the torch was applied to the cabins, the knife destroyed the corn and the vegetables. GeneralJames Winchester arrived at Fort Wayne on the 18th of September, and on the following day General Harrison formally resigned all command into his hands. The change produced almost a mutiny among the soldiers. They were greatly at- tached to Harrison. Winchester was a wealthy citizen of Tennessee, andhad iiot for many years had any military experience. He had been a subordinate officer in the army of the Revolution, but for thirty years had lived in ease and opulence in Ten- nessee. His deportment was too aristocratic to please the great mass of the troops, and this, added to their expectations of more severe discipline from an officer of the Regulars, caused a large number of them to positively refuse at first to serve under the new commander. It required all the address of Harrison (popular as he was, and as ready as were his followers to comply with all his wishes), together with the per- suasions of the other officers, to. reconcile them to the change. It was effected, but only when they were allowed to indulge the hope that their beloved general might be reinstated in command.' ' Septemher, Harrison left, Fort Wayne on the evening of the lOth," and returned to 1812. ' St. Mary, where he intended to collect the mounted men from Kentucky, and prepare for an expedition against Detroit. " Frqm Fort Wayne," he wrote, " there is a path, which has been sometimes used by the Indians, leading up the St. Joseph's, and from thence, by the head waters of the River Rezin [Raisin], to Detroit. By this route it appears to me very practicable to effect a coup-de-main upon that place, and if I can collect a few hundred more mounted men, I shall attempt it."^ To the accomplishment of this design he prepared to lend all his energies. Already there was a respectable force of mounted men at St. Mary, and others were on the march to that place. Harrison went to Piqua to perfect his arrangements. There, on the 24th,'' ep em er. ^^ received a dispatch from the Secretary of War in reference to his let- ter concerning the acceptance of a brigadier's commission, which opened thus : " The President is pleased to assign to you the command of the Northwestern Army, which, in addition to the regular troops and rangers in that quarter, will con- sist of the volunteers and militia of Kentucky, Ohio, and three thousand from Virginia and Pennsylvania, making your whole force ten thousand men." It then went on to instruct him to first provide for the defense of the frontiers, and then to retake De- troit with a view to the conquest of Canada. He was assured that every exertion would be made to send him a train of artillery from Pittsburg, in charge of Captain Gratiot, of the Engineers, who would report to him as soon as some of the pieces could be got ready. He was also informed that Maj or Ball, of the 2 d Regiment of Dragoons, would join him ; and that such staff officers as he might legally appoint would be ap- proved by the President. " Colonel Buford, deputy commissioner at Lexington," he said, " is furnished with funds, and is subject to your orders." More ample powers than had ever been given to any officer of the American army since Washington was. invested with the authority of a military dictator were intrusted to him in the fol- lowing closing sentence in the dispatch : " You will command such means as may be ' At St. Mary's, Harrison wrote to Governor Shelby as follows: "My sitnation here is very embarrassing, so much so that I have determined within the two hours past to propose to General Winchester to recognize me as commander- in-chief, or to relinquish all command whatever, unless it is of the mounted forces which I have prepared, and with which I shall strike a stroke somewhere. You will hear from another quarter the very serious difficulty which was to be en- countered before the men of Scott's, Allen's, and Lewie's regiments could be reconciled to the command of General Winchester. I fear that the other three regiments will prove still more refractory."— Autograph Letter, September 22d, 1812. 2 Autograph Letter to General Shelby, dated "St. Mary, 22d Scpteml e ■, 1S12." I have before me an autograph note from General Harrison to Governor Meigs, of similar purport, dated at St. Mary, the 20th of September. " But it must be kept profoundly secret," he wrote. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 327 Wincheater's March through the Wilderneaa. Conf ronted by British and Indians. Sudden Plight of the latter. practicable. JEJxercise your own discretion, and act in ali cases according to your own judgment.'" With such ample powers invested in a commander-in-chief, Shelby's " Board of War" would have been quite useless. Harrison had reason to be proud of the honor conferred, and the " special trust and confidence" reposed in him; while his soldiers, rejoicing in the fact, appeared ready and eager to follow whithersoever he might lead. General Winchester, with about two thousand men, left Fort Wayne on the morn- ing of the 22d of September (each soldier carrying six days' provisions) for the Mau- mee Eapids. He moved cautiously down the left bank of that river, to avoid a sur- prise, in three divisions, his baggage in the centre, and a volunteer company of spies, under Captain Ballard, supported by Garrard's dragoons, moving about two miles in advance. Winchester intended to halt at Fort Defiance, at the confluence of the Maumee and Au Glaize Rivers, fifty miles from Fort Wayne, and there await i-e-enforcements from Harrison at St. Mary. They encountered Indians on the way.' Some of the spies were killed ; among them Ensign Leggett, of the Seventeenth United States Infantry, who, with four others of a Woodford (Kentucky) company, had been permitted to push forward to reconnoitre the vicinity of Fort Defiance. They were all killed and scalped. When their fate was made known in the camp, Captain Ballard^ was ordered , out with his spies and forty of Garrard's dragoons to bury the bodies. This sad office they undertook on the morning of the 27th, and when within two miles of the place of the massacre they discovered an Indian am- buscade. A conflict ensued. Garrard's troops charged upon the savages, when they fled in dismay, closely pursued for some distance, and found refuge in the swamps, where cavalry could not penetrate. These Indians were the advance of a heavy force — heavy by comparison only — under Major Muir, consisting of two hundred British regulars, one thousand savages, under Colonel Elliott, and four pieces of cannon. They were making their way up the Maumee on its southern side to a,ttack Fort Wayne. Their artillery and bag- gage had been brought to Defiance in boats from Maiden, and with them they were marching by land to Fort Wayne. Fortunately for the little army under Winches- ter, a shrewd subaltern of Scott's regiment (Sergeant M'Coy) had been captured and taken before Muir, who was then twelve miles above Fort Defiance. He was ques- tioned closely, and in his answer he magnified Winchester's army fourfold. He also told Muir that another army equally large was coming down the Au Glaize to join Winchester. The exaggerated facts given to the British commander by his own credulous and excited scouts made him believe the stories of M'Coy ; and when he heard of the defeat of his advance by Ballard and Garrard, he ordered a retreat to Fort Defiance, where he re-embarked his artillery and baggage. Relying upon his boats for facility in retreating, in the event of a defeat, Muir re- solved to give battle about four miles above Fort Defiance, at the ford of a creek on the north side of the Maumee, where Wayne crossed in 1794 ; but when, on the morn- ing of the 28th, he attempted to form his line of battle there, he found, to his great mortification and alarm, that about three fourths of his Indian allies had deserted him. They had heard of M'Coy's stories, and, associating them with Muir's retro- grade movement, and the re-embarkation of his artillery and baggage, they became greatly alarmed, and abandoned the expedition. Thus weakened, Muir conceived himself to be in great danger. He hastened back to Defiance, and fled twenty miles I Captain Bland Ballard was a distinguished citizen of Kentucky. He was bom in Fredericksburg, Virginia, October 16, 1761, and at this time was just past fifty years of age. He had been in, Kentucky since 1TT9. He was with General Clark when he invaded the Ohio country in 1781, where he was severely wotaded. In 'all that service, as a spy and otherwise, Ballard was exceedingly active. He was with Wayne in his campaigns. He joined Allen's regjment in 1312, and, as we have seen in the text, was wounded at the Baisin and taken prisoner. He frequently represented Shelby County in the Kentucky Legislature. Ballard County, Kentucky, was so called in his honor, andBlaudville, the cpnnty seat, bears the Christian name of Captain Ballard. He was Jiving, at the age of eighty-seven years, in 1847. For a fuller account of him, see Collihs's Historical Sketches of Kentucky, page 171. 328 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Winchester arrives at Fort Defiance. Ee-enforcements gathering. Their March toward Fort Defiance. down the Maumee before he halted, leaving some faithful mounted Indians behind to watch the movements of the Americans. Winchester, in the mean time, was moving cautiously forward. He could receive no certain intelligence concerning the force and position of the enemy. Two scouts (Hickman and Riddle) had gone completely around the invaders on the 26th with- « September, out seeing them,i and others were equally unsuccessful on the 2Vth and ^^1^- 28th.* When the army approached the creek where Muir expected to make a stand, Winchester was informed of its advantageous position for the enemy, and crossed to the southeast side of the Maumee to avoid him. There they discov- ered the trail of the invader, with his artillery. Ignorant of the alarm of Muir, they encamped on a rise of ground and fortified their position. Then a council of war was held. Some officers were in favor of sending a detachment in pursuit of the re- treating foe, but the general and a majority determined otherwise. Their provisions were almost exhausted, and the unknown force of the enemy caused prudence to ask for strength in re-enforcements. ^ Several mounted parties were sent out to recon- noitre, and expresses were detached to General Harrison at St. Mary, asking for re- lief by sending men and food. It was soon ascertained that the enemy had left Fort Defiance, and on the 30th Winchester moved down the river to a high bank of the Maumee, within a tnile of the fort, and again formed a fortified camp. On the 1st of October Colonel Lewis made a reconnoissancfe in force, and ascertained that the ene- my was entirely gone.^ While Winchester was making his way toward Fort Defiance, the troops that were gathering in the rear of the army had mostly arrived at St. Mary. These consisted of three regiments from Kentucky, commanded respectively by Colonels Joshua Barbee, Robert Poague, and William Jennings (the latter riflemen), and three companies of mounted riflemen, from the same state, under Captains Roper, Bacon, and Clark. Also a corps of mounted men from Ohio, under Colonel Findlay, who, as we have seen, had been active with General Hull. These had been raised pursuant to a call of Governor Meigs and General Harrison, at the beginning of September, and. rendez- voused as early as the 15th at Dayton. They were intended to operate against some of the hostile Indian towns. On the 21st of September, Harrison ordered Colonel Jennings to proceed with his regiment down the Au Glaize to establish an intermediate post between St. Mary and Fort Defiance, and to escort provisions to the latter place for the use of Winchester on his route to the Rapids of the Maumee. When Jennings had marched between thirty and forty miles, he found the Indians hovering round his camp at night, and his scouts brought intelligence that they were in considerable force toward Fort De- fiance; so he halted and constructed a stockade on the bank of the Ottawa River, a tributary of the Au Glaize, not far from the present Kalida (the Greek for beautifuT), the capital of Putnam County, Ohio. It was named Fort Jennings, in honor of the commander of the detachment. At the same time Colonel Findlay was ordered to attack some Ottawa towns'^ farther eastward, on Blanchard's Fork, below Fort Find- lay, in the same county.^ - September. Winchester was informed of the march of Jennings with provisions, and on the 29th,'' his army bein g half famished, he sent Captain Garrard 1 They crossed the Maumee to the south side, and took as direct a route as they could to the Au Glaize They crossed that stream, and descended it along its eastern shore to its mouth at Defiance. Two miles below the confiu- ence orthe streams they crossed the Maumee, and returaed up the north side to the army. fflo A T\ !^^ '™® ■^'^'^'^ Navarre (whom we shall meet hereafter), who had piloted the British as far as the Eap- las, aeserted them, and pushed on to meet Winchester and inform him of the approach of the enemy.-Hosmer's Earlv uwurry of the Maumee Valley, page 34. TtL™'^™!"*^-? ^"^"*' ^'x^'™*™ ! Thomson's Sfetete of tlie Late War, ch. iv. ; Perkins's Historjr, «te., qf the Late War Brackenndge's Hwtorj, of tlie Late War, pages 65-68, inclusive. * The emphasis in the word Ottawa being In the middle syllable, these were called 'Tawa towns The Lower 'Tawa to™ was on Blanchard's Fork, on the site of the present village of Ottawa, two miles below the Upper 'Tawa town OF THE WAR OF 1812. 329 Harrison's Autumn Campaign arranged. Patriotism of tlie Women of Kentuclty. Troops ready for an Advance. ■witli dragoons to assist in escorting to his camp a brigade of pack-horses with supplies. Garrard was successful, and returned, after a tour of thirty-six hours, in a drenching rain. Winchester was still in his fortified camp near Fort Defiance, and Garrard was received at that beautiful spot in the wilderness with the lively satis- faction of the famished when fed. During the few days of suspense concerning the extent of his command General Harrison formed projects for the immediate future, which inexorable circumstances compelled him to abandon, to some extent. He had now, as commander-in-chief, ar- ranged with care the plan for an autumn campaign, which contemplated the seizure and occupation of the strategic position at the foot of the Maumee Rapids, and pos- sibly the capture of Detroit and Maiden. His base of military operations, having the Rapids as the first object to be possessed, was a line drawn along the margin of the swampy region from St. Mary to .Upper Sandusky, the former to be the principal de- posit for provisions, and the latter for artillery and military stores. He intended to march his army in three divisions : the right column to be composed of the Virginia and Pennsylvania troops, to rendezvous at Wooster, the capital of the present Wayne County, Ohio, and proceed from thence, by Upper Sandusky, to the Rapids. The centre column, to consist of twelve hundred Ohio militia, to march from Urbana, where they were then collected, to Fort M' Arthur, and follow Hull's road to the Rapids. The left column, to be composed of the regulars under Colonel Wells and four regiments of Kentucky volunteers, to proceed down the Au Glaize to the Mau- mee from St. Mary, and from their confluence pass on toward the Rapids. He designed to send the mounted horsemen, by way of the St. Joseph of the Lake, to make the coup-de-main on Detroit, already alluded to ; but this project was abandoned, for, should they take that post without the support of infantry, they might be compelled to abandon it, and would thereby expose the inhabitants to the fury of the Indians, who must be exasperated by the movement. Harrison therefore determined to em- ploy them in making destructive forays upon Indian towns, and sweep the savages from the line of march from the Rapids to Detroit, when the troops should all be ready to move. Harrison now made urgent appeals for supplies of every kind. He sent an express to Pittsburg to hurry forward the cannon and ordnance stores to Wooster ; and, as the troops were nearly destitute of winter clothing, he and Governor Shelby appealed to the inhabitants of Kentucky for voluntary contributions. It was generously re- sponded to. A thousand needles were speedily put in motion in fair hands ; and many a poor soldier, as he stood sentry on the banks of the Maumee or the Raisin a few weeks later, had reason to feel grateful to the patriotic women of Kentucky. On the 1st of October there were nearly three thousand troops at St. Mary. Har- rison, resolved to employ the portion of the left wing, under Winchester, at Defiance, as a coi-ps of observation, and to make that place an important deposit for provisions, preparatory to the advance of that corps upon the Rapids. This movement was to commence as soon as the. artillery should arrive at Upper Sandusky, and the other supplies had accumulated along the base of operation. A corps of observation was also to be placed at Lower Sandusky, which, with Defiance, would form the extremi- ties of a second base when the Rapids should be occupied. These arrangements for operations were exceedingly judicious for an economical use of supplies, and a per- fect defense of the frontier while the troops were concentrating at the Rapids. The mounted men, consisting of the companies of Roper, Clark, and Bacon, and the volunteers under Major Richard M. Johnson, were formed into a regiment. They elected Johnson their colonel ; and these, with the Ohio mounted men under Find- lay, formed a small brigade, which Harrison placed in charge of General Edward W. Tupper, of Gallia County, Ohio, a gentleman about fifty years of age, who had, by his own exertions, raised about a thousand men for the service. This brigade was des- 330 A great Stir in Camp. PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Bapid forward Movement. Harrison at Fort Defiance. tined for the expedition against Detroit, by way of the St. Joseph, which the general hoped to set in motion soon. A few hours after it was organized, an express from Winchester reached Harrison with the intelligence of his encounter with the invad- ing force under Muir. At almost the same moment, an express arrived from Gov- ernor Meigs, with a letter to him from General Kelso, who was in command of some Pennsylvania troops on the shore of Lake Erie, informing him that, as late as the 16th of September, some British regulars, Canadian militia, and two thousand In- dians, had left Maiden with two pieces of artillery for Fort Wayne. These dispatches created a great stir in camp. Three days' cooked provisions, with ammunition and other military stores, were immediately issued to the troops, and a command for a forced march was given. Three hours afterward General Harrison was in the saddle, and his whole corps were following him toward the wilderness in a drenching rain, and the road filled with deep mud. They reached the camp of Col- onel Jennings at twilight, and officers and men, from the general down, slept in the cold, damp air, without tents, and nothing between them and the water-pools on the surface of the flat ground but brush from the beech-trees. There Harrison was met by another express from Winchester, notifying him of the flight of the enemy down the Maumee. The rapid march was stayed. Barbee's regiment was ordered back to St. Mary, and Poague's was directed to cut a road to Fort Defiance from Camp Jennings. The mounted men, more than a thou- sand in number, pressed forward in five lines, mak- ing an imposing appearance in the stately forest, where the leaves were just assuming the gorgeous autumnal hues. The troops were disappointed and depressed because of the flight of the enemy ; and the commanding general was vexed when he dis- covered that Winchester's alarm was quite unnec- essary. He reached that officer's camp at sunset. His soldiers bivouacked three miles in the rear. Early the next morning they marched down to the confluence of the Maumee and Au Glaize, and en- camped there around the ruined intrenchments of old Fort Defiance. Harrison found the troops under Winchester in a deploi-able condition, and one regiment in a state of open mutiny. He ordered the " alarm" instead of the "reveille" to be beaten on the following morning. This brought all the troops to arms. They were drawn up in a hollow square, when,, to the surprise and delight of the soldiers, Hamson, their beloved general, appeared among them. It was with difficulty that they restrained their voices, for shouts of welcome were ready to burst from their lips. He addressed them as a kind fa- ther would talk to his children. He shamed the malcontents by saying that while he lamented the fact of their mutiny, and was moi"- FOBT nEPIANCE.l ' This fort was constructed of earth and logs, with a ditch extending around it, except on the An Glaize side. At each angle was a block-house, connected by a line of pickets at their nearest angles. Outside the fort there was a glacis, or sloping wall of earth, eight feet thick, and outside of this the ditch, fifteen feet wide and eight feet deep. The glacis next to the ditch was supported by a log wall, and by fascines, or fagots, on the side next to the Au Glaize. Pickets, eleven feet long and one foot apart projected from the wall diagonally over the ditch, forming a fmise of formidable appearance. The diagram, showing the relative position of the foi-t to the two rivers at their confiuence, and to a new fort afterward built by Winchester, may be explained as follows ! A, officers' quarters ; B, store-houses ; C C C C, the ditch ; E B, gateways ; F, a dry ditch, eight feet deep, used for the safe procurement of water from the river, with pick- ets (fla) guarding it ; G, draw-bridge. OF TflE WAR OF 1812. 33I Harrison's Address to hia Troops. Erection of new Forts ordered. Troubles among Leaders. tified on their account, it was of no consequence to the government, as he had now- more troops than he needed, and was in expectation daily of receiving large re-en- forcements from Pennsylvania and Virginia. As they had come to the woods ex- pecting to find all the comforts and luxuries of home, they must be disappointed, and he gave them liberty to return. But he could not refrain from alluding to the mor- tification which he anticipated they would experience from the reception they would meet from the old and the young, who had greeted them on their march to the scene of war as their gallant neighbors. Then he appealed to their pride as soldiers and their patriotism as citizens. He told them that his government had made him com- mamder-in-chief of the army in which they were serving, and assured them that am- ple supplies of provisions and other stores were on the way. When he had con- cluded, and the veteran Scott, addressed them, saying, " Yoii, my boys, will prove your attachment for the service of your country and your general by giving him three cheers," the wilderness instantly rang with shouts of applause, and before the sun went down perfect harmony and good feeling prevailed in the camp. General Harrison selected a site for a new fort on the bank of the Au Glaize, about eighty yards above Old Fort Defiance, and ordered the immediate assignment of fatigue parties to construct it. General Winchester at the sanie time moved his camp from the Maumee to the Au Glaize, about half a mile above the site of the new fort. This movement was made on the 4th of October. That evening Harrison, accom- panied by Colonel Johnson and his original battalion (composed of Johnson's, Ward's,' and Ellison's companies), turned their faces toward St. Mai-y, where, three days after- ward, their term of enlistment having expired, they were discharged. Poague's regi- ment was directed to return to the old Ottawa towns, twelve miles from St. Mary, after the road to Defiance should be completed, and erect a stockade there. They did so, and Poague named it Fort Amanda, in honor of a loved one in Kentucky. General Winchester was left in command of the left wing of the army; with instruc- tions to facilitate the transportation of supplies to Fort Defiance, and to occupy a position at the Maumee Rapids as speedily as possible. When he left Winchester, Harrison expected to have all necessary supplies for advancing against Detroit within a fortnight. Before leaving Fort Defiance Harrison ordered General Tupper to lead the mounted men, then over nine hundred in number, down the Maumee to the Rapids, and beyond if desirable, to disperse any detachments of the enemy, civilized or savage, that might be found, and to return to St. Mary by the " 'Tawa" or Ottawa towns on Blanchard's Fork of the Au Glaize. But this order was not executed on account of several dis- turbing causes, namely, extensive damage to powder and scarcity of food, which made it difiicult to provide adequate supplies for an expedition that might occupy a week or ten days; the sudden appearance of hostile Indians, who menaced Winchester's camp ; dissatisfaction of some of the Kentucky troops with Tupper and his command ; misunderstanding between Winchester and Tupper, and the unfriendly conduct of the former toward the latter; the weakening of Tupper's forces by the withdrawal: of Ken- tucky troops and Simrall's dragoons ; and finally the dismissal of Tupper from, tlie command of the expedition by Winchester, who gave it to Colonel Allen, of the reg- ulars, and which caused the Ohio troops to cross the Au Glaize, and positively refuse to march under any other than their own chosen leader.' The chief difficulty seems to have arisen fi'om conflict between regular officers and volunteers ; and thus termin- ated the expedition, said Tupper, " at one time capable of tearing the British flag from the walls of Detroit. "^ 1 M'Afee, pages 143, 149 ; Tupper's Letter to General Harrison from ITrljana, October 12, 1812 ; Brackenridge, page 59 ; Perkins, page 97. 2 Letter to General Harrison from Urbana, dated October 12th, 1812. M'Afee, who gives a more detailed account of this affair than any other writer, says, " Some of the Kentuckians were not inclined to march under Tupper unless 332 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The Conduct of Colonel Tapper. Expeditions against the Indians. Harrison in Central Ohlp. Instead of returning to St. Mary, Tupper took the most direct route to Urbana by way of Hull's road, from near the present town of Kenton, where he immediately pre- pared for another and independent expedition to the Rapids. Winchester preferred charges against him for alleged misconduct at Defiance, and Harrison ordered his ar- rest, but the accused being far on his way toward the Rapids, as we shall observe presently, when the order was given, the prosecution was stayed. At Tupper's re- quest a Court of inquiry aftei-ward investigated the matter, and he was honorably acquitted. While on his way from Defiance to St. Mary, General Harrison was informed, by ex- press from Fort Wayne, that the Indians were again menacing that post. At St. Mary he found Colonel Allen Trimble at the head of five hundred mounted men of Ohio, who came to join Tupper in the expedition against Detroit. These were immediately dis- patched to the relief of Port Wayne, with instructions to proceed to the St. Joseph of the Lake, about sixty miles distant, and destroy the townof the hostile Pottawatomie chief White Pigeon. The troops were disappointed, and at Fort Wayne about one half of Trimble's command refused to go farther. The gallant colonel pushed on with the remainder, destroyed two Pottawatomie villages, and would have killed or cap- tured the inhabitants had not a treacherous guide given them timely warning of danger. At St. Mary Harrison found some penitent Miami chiefs who had joined the enemy. They had come at the summons of messengers, and were prepared to deny their guilti- ness, or to palliate it, as circumstances might dictate. They found Harrison well in- formed concerning their bad conduct, and they cast themselves upon the mercy of the government. As proof of their sincerity, they sent five chiefs to Piqua as host- ages until the decision of the President should be made known. Thither General Harrison repaired, where he found some of Tupper's troops. He passed over to Urba- na, and then southeastward to Franklinton, on the west bank of the Scioto, opposite the present city of Columbus, the capital of Ohio, whose site was then covered by the primeval forest. There,. in the heart of Ohio, and at a convenient point for the concentration of troops and supplies from a distance, Harrison established his head- quarters, and occupied much of the remainder of the autumn and early winter in laborious preparations for an advance on Detroit and Canada — ^collecting troops and creating dep6ts for supplies, building stockades and block-houses, cutting roads, and dispersing or overawing the hostile Indians, who might- be excessively mischievous on the flank and rear. Poague speedily completed Fort Amanda on the Au Glaize, Colonel Barbee erected another at St. Mary, which -was called Fort Barbee, and be- fore the 1st of November the new stockade at Defiance, built chiefly of logs, was completed and named Fort Winchester. I visited the ruins of Fort Defiance on a wai-m sunny day late in September, 1860. I came up the Maumee Valley by railway from Toledo on the previous evening, and arrived at Defiance Station at midnight. The village of Defiance,' lying mostly on the Maumee, upon the beautiful plain at the confluence of that river and Au Glaize, was shrouded in a chilling fog. Warned of the danger of the night air in that valley accompanied by some field officer from Winchester's command. Colonel Allen therefore tendered his services to ac- company General Tapper in any capacity he might choose to receive him. The offer was accepted. But General Win- chester; having misunderstood the nature of the arrangement between them, issued an order directing Colonel Allen to take the command and march toward the Eapid«. This caused a serious misunderstanding between the two generals. Colonel Allen, however, having informed General Winchester correctly on the subject, the order was immediately re- scinded. The greater part of the men having by this time refused to proceed directly to the Rapids, General Tapper marched them over the Au Glaize, and proceeded to the Ottawa towns, where he professed to expect re-enforcements from Ohio." This account agrees substantially with that of Tupper in his letter to Harrison, in which he says " It is a duty I owe to Colonel Allen to say that I have not the smallest reason to believe he was privy to the orders of General Wmchester." *- j uv^^d ui «cuci»* 1 Defiance is the county seat of Defiance County, about fifty miles northeastward from Fort Wayne It was laid ont in 1822, and from its eligible situation and fertility of the country aronnd-the rich Black Swamp re»ion-seems destined to become a place of much importance. i' = " betms aesunea OP THE WAR OF 1812. 333 BemainB of Forts Defiance and Winchester. Their Location and Appearance. An ancient Apple-tree. at that season Of the year, I felt as if fever and ague were inhaled at every inspira- r Jt H ""f ^""^ ^ '".^^ ^'''''"'' *° ^ ^°*^^- Ttere all was darkness. A^slumW- ing attendant was finally aroused, and I was directed by the feeble light of a sma 1 candle to a most cheerless bedroom at one o'clock in the morning. After an early breakfast I went out to find the historical localitieB of the place, "and was fortunate enough to be introduced to Mr. E. H. Leland and Doctor John Paul, who kindly ac- companied me to them We first visited the interesting remains ofFort Way/e on the .point of land where the two ruins meet. We found the form of the fflalis Z ditQh very distinctly marked, the remains of the former rising six or eight feet above the bottom of the latter. The shape of the fort was perfectly delineated by thole mounds and the ditch. Some large honey-locust-trees were growing among the ruins. These have appeared smce the fort was abandoned in 1796. One of them with a triple stem, standing in the southeastern angle of the fort, measured fifteen feet m cii^umference. . These ruins are likely to be preserved. The banks were covered with a, fine sward, and they were withm an inclosure containing about two acres of land which the heirs of the late Curtis Holgate presented to the town. : We visited the site of Fort Winchester, a little above Defiance, on the bank of the Au Glaize, and found the remams of many of the pickets protrudmg from the ground; Across a ravme, just above the fort, was the garrison burying-ground. We returned ^4 .,7 3f^^'''''°''f *^^ ^""""S ^'''^S^ ^^^°^ ^P^'is theMaumee, and from the heights of Fail s Grove, on the eastern side of the river, obtained a comprehensive view of the .two streams at their confluence, the site of the fort, and the village of Defiance. The sketch there made is here given. The meeting of the waters is seen toward the left, those of the Maumee flowing in from the right to meet those of the Au Glaize, over which, in the distance, a bridge is seen. The group of trees (the hon- ey-locusts spoken of) seen near the centre of the pic- ture mark the site of Fort Defiance. In the foreground is seen a garden extending from the highway at the foot of the heights of Fail's Grove to the bank of the Maumee, with waving broom corn then ripe and ready for the knife. On our return to the village we visited on the way, near the margin of the Maumee, an aged and gigantic apple-tree, coeval, no doubt, with the one near Fort Wayne. ^ We found it carefully guarded, as a sort of " lion" of the place, by a high board fence, the ground around it, within the inclosure, thickly covered with burr-bearing weeds. It was upon the Southworth estate, and access to it might be had only through a small house near. That tree was a living monument of the French occupation of the spot, as a trading station, long before any other Europeans had penetrated that re BITE OF FOET DEFIANCE. mote wilderness from the ground, It measured about fifteen feet in circumference eighteen inches The figure standing by it aflbrds a fair criterion for judging of I See page 334. APPLE-TREE AT BEFIANOE. 334 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Events nearer the Mississippi. Tlie Indians generally hostile. Shelby's Appeal to the Kentuckians. its size, by comparison with the body of a stout maD. We returned to Defiance in time for dinner, and left with the early train for Fort Wayne.' Let us resume the narrative of events in the North- west in the autumn of 1812. We left General Harrison at Franklinton, General Tapper at Urbana, and General Winchester at Fort De- fiance, all engaged in preparations to move forward to the Rapids of the Maumee, and thence to Detroit. While the movement of the troops in Western Ohio and Eastern Indiana, just related, were in progress, stirring events of a like nature occurred in the region nearer the Mississippi River. We have ali-eady noticed the departure of troops from Kentucky for Vincennes, and the messengers sent to that post by Captain Taylor, asking immediate aid for Fort Harrison on the Wabash.^ This call was immediately i-esponded to. Colonel William Russell, of the Seventh United States Regiment of Infantry, just arrived at Vincennes, departed at once for Fort Harrison with about twelve hundred men, con- sisting of three companies of Rangers, two regiments of Indiana militia, under Colo- nels Jordan and Evans, and Colonel Wilcox's regiment of Kentucky Volunteers. Lieutenant Richardson, of the regulars, was directed to follow with eleven men as an escort for provisions. By a forced march Russell and his party reached Fort Har- rison on the 16th, much to the joy of Captain Taylor, without encountering the foe.i Not so the provision escort. That was attacked by the savages on the 15th, who killed more than one half of the detachment and captured all of the provisions. An- other provision train that followed immediately afterward was more fortunate. The savages were not seen. The great body of the Indians seemed to have fled from the vicinity, and Russell and his troops, except Wilcox's regiment, returned to Vincennes. At about this time the Indians of Illinois and Northern Indiana, persuaded, like the rest of the savages under the influence of Tecumtha, after the fall of Mackinaw, Detroit, and Chicago, that the time was at hand when the white people might be driven beyond the Ohio River, every where showed signs of hostilities. These were so menacing that Ninian Edwards, the Governor of the Illiliois Territory, called on the executive of Kentucky for aid. That aid was on its way in the person of Colonel Barbour and his command, when it was diverted tp Vincennes, on account of the dangers impending over Fort Harrison. Edwai-ds had sent out spies, and was persuaded that no time was to be lost in making preparations for oflTensive and de- fensive operations against the savages. He combined the scattered militia of his Territory, and caused several companies of Rangers to be encamped on the Missis- sippi, above St. Louis, and on the Illinois River. These served to keep the Indians in "Septembers, cheok for a time. Meanwhile Governor Shelby had made the stirring ^^^^- appeal" to the Kentuckians already alluded to.^ He told them of the " extensive combination of the savages, aided by the British from Canada," who were momentarily expected on the frontier settlements of Illinois and Indiana. Twenty- one persons, he said, had already been murdered not more than twenty miles north of the Ohio ! "It is hoped," he remarked, "that it will rouse the spirit and indigna- tion of the freemen of Kentucky, and induce a sufficient number of them to give their services to their country for a short period." ■ He asked them to rendezvous at Louis- ville on the 18th of the month, with thirty days' provisions. "Kentuckians" he said, " ever pre-eminent for their patriotism, bravery, and good conduct will I am persuaded, on this occasion, give to the world a new evidence of their love of coun- ' See page 43. = See page IGT. 3 See page 323. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 335 Wealth and PatriotiBm of Kentncky illgstrated. , Hopkins's Expedition against Illinois Indians. Insubordination.. tiy, and a determination, at every hazard, to rescue their feliow-men from the mur- ders and devastations of a cruel and barbarous enemy.'" This address, as we have seen, was responded to with wonderful alacrity; Hund- reds more than were needed were at Louisville on the appointedday, and were turned back with feelings of the keenest disappointment. One old veteran, who had suf- fered from savage cruelty, and had fought the dusky foe in the early days of Ken- tucky settlement, although greatly chagrined when he found his company rejected, said, " "Well, well, Kentucky has often glutted the market with hemp, flour, and to- bacco, and now she has done so with volunteers." This was a truthful, exposition, in few words, of the wealth and patriotism of Kentucky. General Samuel Hopkins, under whom the Kentucky Volunteers were placed; made his head-quarters at Vincennes. The troops continued to arrive and were mustered into the service from the 21st of September until the 2d of October, when Hopkins, then convalescing after a severe attack of fever, found himself at the head of. almost four thousand men, about two thousand of them expert riflemen, on horseback. His little army was speedily organized,^ and on the 10th of September he started with the mounted riflemen for the Indian country by the way of Fort Harrison. The chief design of the expedition was to march an annihilating force upon the principal Kick- apoo and Peoria Indian villages on the waters of the Illinois River, the former sup- posed to be about eighty miles distant, and the latter one hundred and twenty miles. Hopkins and his two thousand horsemen crossed the "Wabash on the afternoon of the 14th,'' and made their first encampment that night three miles from Fort »october, Harrison. Before them lay magnificent level prairies, covered with tall ^^^^' grass, both dry and green. The guides passed a satisfactory examination as to their knowledge of the route, and the plans of the general were unanimously approved by a council of officers. On resuming the second day's march, every thing promised well excepting the lack of discipline and evident restlessness under restraint manifest- ed by the troops. Indeed, so far as military discipline was concei-ned, they constituted little more than a vast mob, and it was soon found that every man was disposed to be a law unto himself. Every hour of the march revealed to the commanding gen- eral evidences of the fact that his army was as combustible as the dry grass around them. The symptoms of discontent, seen even at Vincennes, now assumed the posi- tive forms of complaint and murmuring. The guides were suspected of ignorance or disloyalty ; and food and forage, it was alleged, were becoming alarmingly scarce. Finally, while halting on the fourth day's march, a major, whose name is withheld, rode up to the commanding general, and in an insolent manner peremptorily ordered him to march the troops back to Fort Harrison. Not long afterward a violent wind arose that blew directly toward them, and very soon it was discovered that the prairie was on fire at the windward. They saved themselves by burning the grass around their camp. It was believed that this was the work of the Indians, and it gave the finishing blow to the expedition. The troops would not march farther. Hopkins called a council of oflBcers," when it was decided by them to re- turn, as their men were utterly unmanageable. The mortified commander then called for five hundred volunteers to follow him to the Illinois. Not one re- sponded to his summons. His authority had vanished. They even refused to sub- 1 Address of Governor Shelby, issued at Frankfort September 8, 1813. - 2 Four regiments were at first formed, to be commanded respectively by Colonels Samuel Caldvpell, John Thomas, James Allen, and Tonng Ewing. These constituted two brigades, the first to be commanded by General James Ray, an early adventurer in- Kentucky and experienced Indian fighter,* and the other by General Jonathan Ramsey. After this arrangement was made, another, under Colonel Samuel South, was organized. George Walker was appointed judge advocate of the little army. Pierce Butler adjutant general. Majors William Trigg and William A. Lee aiSs to General Hopkins, William Blair and Joseph Weisiger volunteer aids, and John C. Breckinridge the general's secretary. • For an account of the early adventures of General Ray, see Collius's Kentucky, its History, Antiquities, and Biogra- phy, page 458. 336 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Enseell's co-operating Expedition in Illinois. Hopkins's Expedition to the Wabasli Begion. His new Troops. mit to his leadership on their return, and he folloioed his army back to Fort Harrison, where they arrived on the 25th.^ Thus ended an apparently formidable and promis- ing expedition. Yet it was not unfruitful of good. It alarmed the Indians, gave them a sense of the real power of the white people, and made them more cautious and cii-cumspe,ct. That imposing force had marched eighty or ninety miles in the In- dian country without show of opposition any where. While Hopkins's expedition was in motion, another,' under Colonel Eussell, com- » October 11, posed of two Small companies of United States Rangers, marched from ^^*^- Vincennes" to unite with a small body of mounted militia under Gover- nor Edwards (who assumed the chief command), for the purpose of penetrating the region toward which General Hopkins was marching, and to co-operate with him. Their combined force numbered nearly four hundred men, rank and file. They pen- etrated deeply into the Indian country, but^ hearing nothing of Hopkins, and being too few to attempt much, they contented themselves with some minor exploits. They fell suddenly and furiously upon the principal Kickapoo town, twenty miles above Peoria, at the head of Peoria Lake, and drove the Indian inhabitants into a swamp, through which for three miles they were vigorously pursued, the invaders finding themselves frequently waist-deep in mud and water. The fugitives fled in dismay across the Illinois River. Many of the pursuers passed over, and brought back canoes with dead Indians in them. Twenty lifeless warriors lay prone in the path of the returning victors. Doubtless many more perished in the morass and the stream. The town, with a large quantity of corn and other property, was destroyed. The spoils brought away were eighty horses, and the dried scalps of several white persons who had been murdered by the savages. ^ The expedition returned, a:fter an absence of thirteen days, with no other serious casualty than four men wounded, not one of them mortally. General Hopkins discharged the mutinous mounted men, and organized another expedition against the Indians. This force, twelve hundred and fifty strong, was composed chiefly of foot soldiers, and the object of the expedition was the destruc- tion of the Prophet's town, and other Indian villages on the Upper Wabash. His troops consisted of three regiments of Kentucky militia, commanded respectively by Colonels Barbour, Miller, and Wilcox ; a small company of regulars, under Captain Zachary Taylor ; a company of Rangers, commanded by Captain Beckers ; and a com- pany of scouts or spies, led by Captain Washburne. The greater portion of them rendezvoused at Vincennes, and moved up the Wabash Valley to Fort Harrison where they arrived on the 5th of November. Six days afterward they marched from the fort up the road made by Harrison a year before, and, at the same time, seven boats, filled with provisions, forage, and military stores, well guarded by Lieutenant Colonel Barbour with a battalion of his regiment, moved up the river. The Indians were supposed to be on the alert, aiid the march was cautiously pursued The streams were full of water,. and the passage of swamps and low lands was extremely diilicult and fatiguing. They did not cross the Wabash as Harrison did, but, for suf- ficient reasons, marched up the east side of that, stream. So difficult was the march that thei expedition did not reach the Prophet's town until the 19th, when Hopkins dispatched Adjutant General Butler, with three hund- red men, to surprise a Winnebago village of about forty houses on the present Wild Cat Creek, a mile from the Wabash, and about four miles below the Prophet's town Ihe village was deserted. Flames soon laid it in ashes. The Prophet's town about equal m size, and a large Kickapoo village just below it, containing about one hund- m f^^^!^"^^^ '"'™™°'" ''^^"'^' ^^'^^ ^"'t ^«™=™' O""'!'^' ^' 1812 , Dillon's History of Indiana, page 3MSl1r' ™'"'" ""^''"'^ '^'"^'' '" ^^^"""^ «^''^<"'' *^ «<=«"g g°™™°' °f Indiana, dated " Camp Enssell. October OJF THE WAK OF 1812. 337 The IndiaPB attack a Bnrial Party. Sufferings of the Kentucky Soldiers. Close of Hopkins's military Career. red and sixty huts, with all their winter provision of corn and beans, were utterly- destroyed. It was not until the 21st that any Indians were discovered. On that day they fired upon a small party of soldiers, and killed one man. On the following morning sixty horsemen, under Colonels Miller and Wilcox, went out to bury the dead, when they were suddenly attacked by Indians ia ambush, and lost eighteen men, killed, wounded, and missing, in the skirmish that ensued.^ The rendezvous of the savages, in a strong position on the Wild Cat, was soon discovered, and preparations were made for dislodging them, when they decamped and disappeared. The season was far advanced, the cold was increasing, and ice was beginning to form in the river. These circumstances, and the fact that many of 'the troops, especially the Kentuck- ians, were " shoeless and shirtless" — clad in the remnants of their summer clothes, Caused an order to be issued on the 25th for a return to Fort Harrison and Vincennes.^ "We all suffered very much," said Pierre La Plante, of Vincennes, who was one of the troops, " but I pitied the poor Kentuckians. They were almost naked and bare- foot — only their linen hunting-shirts — the ground covered with snow, and the Wabash freezing up."^ • With this more successful- expedition ended General Hopkins's military career. In general orders, issued at Vincennes on the 1 8th of December following, he said : " The commander-in-chief now closes his command, and, in all probability, his military serv- ices forever." Most of the volunteers were now discharged, and Illinois and Indiana experienced a season of comparative repose. 1 This detachment was composed of Captain Beckers's company of Eangers, a small nuniber of mounted militia, and several army officers. 2 General Hopkins's Letter to Governor Shelby, November 27, 1812. 3 Dillon's Ifi3tor!/ of iTidiana, Note, page 602. Y 338 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Impatience of the People. Harrison's Difficulties. He ia Hopeful and Cheerful. CHAPTER XVn. " How dread was the conflict, how bloody the fray, Told the banks of the Raisin at the dawn of the day ; While the gush fropi the wounds of the dying and dead Had thaw'd for the warrior a snow-sheeted bed. "Bat where is the pride that a soldier can feel, To temper with mercy the wrath of the steel. While Proctor, victorious, denies to the brave Who had fallen in battle, the gift of a grave ?" ^ LL through the months of October, November, and De- cember,* General Harrison labored incessantly and in- tensely in making preparations for a winter campaign in the Northwest. The nation was feverish and impatient. Igno- rance of military necessities allowed unjust and injurious cen- sures and criticisms to be made — unjust to the officers and sol- diers in the field, and injurious to the cause. The desire of the people to recover all that Hull had lost would brook no re- straint, nor listen to any excuse for delay. A winter campaign was demanded, and Harrison was not a man to shrink, from any required duty. He knew that much was expected of him ; and day and night his head and hands were at work, with only the intermissions required by the necessity for taking food, indulging in sleep, and the observance of the Sabbath. Taking all things into consideration, his task was Herculean, and to some men would have been appalling. He was compelled to create an army out of good but exceedingly crude materials. He was compelled to reconcile many differences and difficulties in order to insure the harmony arising from perfect discipline. He was compelled to concentrate forces and supplies at some eligible point, like the Rapids of the Maumee, while perplexed with the great- est impediments. His operations were necessarily threefold in character — prepara- tive, offensive, and defensive, in a wilderness filled with hostile savages controlled and supported by British regulars. A frontier, hundreds of miles in extent, must be protected at all hazards from the hatchet and the knife. The season was becoming more and more inclement. From the fortieth degree of latitude northward (the di- rection of his projected march) was a region of dark forests and black swamps. The autumnal rains had commenced, filling every stream, and making every morass brim- ful of water. Through these, roads and causeways for wagons and pack-horses must be cut and constructed, over which supplies of every kind, with men and artillery, must be conveyed. Block-houses were to be built, magazines of provisions estab- lished and a vigilant watch kept upon the savages who might prowl upon flanks and rear. All this had to be done with undisciplined troops prone to self-reliance and independence, with great uncertainty whether volunteers would swell his army for invasion to the promised dimensions of ten thousand men. Tet, in view of all these labors and difficulties, Harrison was cheerful and hopefiil. " I am fully sensible of the responsibility invested in me," he wrote to the Secretary of War on the 13th of October. "I accepted it with full confidence of being able to effect the wishes of the President, or to show unequivocally their impracticability. If the fall should be very dry, I will take Detroit before the winter sets in; but if we shciuld have much rain, it Will be necessary to wait at the Rapids until the Mi- OF THE WAE OF 1812; 339 Objections to a Winter Campaign. Difficulties of Transportation. General Simon Perkins. ami of the Lake [Maumee, or Miami of the Lakes] is sufficiently frozen over to bear the army and its baggage." Nine days later Harrison wrote, "I am not able to fix any period for the advance of the troops to Detroit. It is pretty evident that it can not be done upon proper principles until the frost shall become so severe as to enable us to use the rivers and the margin of the lake for transportation of the baggage and artillery upon the ice. To get them forward through a swampy wilderness of near two hundred miles, in wagons or on pack-horses, which are to carry their own provisions, is absolutely im- possible." He then referred to a suggestion of a Congressman that the possession of Detroit by the enemy would probably be the most effectual bar to the attainment of peace, then hoped for, and observed, " If this were really the case, I would under- take to recover it with a detachment of the army at any time. A few hundred pack- horses, with a drove of beeves (without artillery or heavy baggage), would subsist the fifteen hundred or two thousand men which I would select for the purpose until the residue of the army could arrive. But, having in view offensive operations /roni Detroit, an advance of this sort would be premature, and ultimately disadvantageous. No species of supplies are )balculated on being found in the Michigan Tetritory. - The farms upon the Raisin, which might have afforded a quantity of forage, are nearly all broken up and destroyed. This article, then, as well as the provisions for the men, is to be taken from this state — a circumstance which must at once put to rest every idea for a land conveyance at this season, since it would require at least two wagons with forage for each one that is loaded with provisions and other articles.. My present plan is," he continued, " to occupy Upper Sandusky, and accumulate at that place as much provision and forage as possible, to be taken from thence upon sleds to the River Raisin. At Defiance, Port Jennings, and St. Mary, boats and sleds are pre- paring to take advantage of a rise of water or a fall of snow." At this time, the troops moving on the line of operations which passed from Frank- linton (head-quarters) and Delaware, by Upper to Lower Sandusky, composed of the brigades from Virginia and Pennsylvania, and one of Ohio, under General Simon Perkins,^ were designated in general orders, and known as the right wing of the army ; 1 Simon Perkins was born at Norwich, Connecticut, on tbe ITth of September, 17T1. His father was a captain in the army of the Eevolntion, and died in camp. He emigrated to Oswego, New-Tork, inlT9S, where he spent three years m extensive land operations. A portion of the " Western Keserve," in Ohio, having been sold by the State of Connecti- cat, the new proprietors invited Mr. Perkins to explore the domain, and report a plan for the sale and settlement of the lauds He went to Ohio for that purpose in the spring of 1T98. He spent the summer there in the performance of the duties of his a^rency, and returned to Connecticut in the autumn. This excursion and these duties were repeated by him for several successive summers. He finally married in 1804, and settled on the "Heserve" at Warren. So ex- tensive were the land agencies intrusted to him, that in 1815 the state land-tax paid by him into the public treasury was one seventh of the entire revenue of the state. Mr. Perkins was the first post-master on the "Reserve, and to him the post-master general intrusted the arrangement of post-offlces in that region. For twenty-eight years he re- ceived and merited the confidence of the department and the people. At the request of the government, m 180T he established expresses through the Indian country to Detroit. His efforts led to the treaty of Brownsville in the autumn of 1S08 when the Indians ceded lands for a road from the " Eeserve" to the Maumee, or Miami of the Lakes. In May of that'year he was commissioned a brigadier general of militia, in the division commanded by Major General Wads- worth On hearing of the disaster to Hull's army at Detroit, he issued orders to his colonels to prepare their regiments for active duty. ToTiim was assigned the du'ty of protecting a large portion of the Northwestern frontier. To the care of Brigadier General Simon Perkins I commit you," said Wadsworth on parting with the troops of the Smerve, " who will be your commander and yonr friend. In his integrity, skill, and courage, we all have the utmost confidence. He was exceedingly active. His scouts were out, far and near, continually. His public accounts were kept with the createst clearness and accuracy for more than forty years. "No two officers in the public service at that titiie,'' testifies the Honorable Blisha Whittlesey, "were more energetic or economical than Generals Harrison and Perkins. When, in 1813 General Harrison was sufBciently re-enforced to dispense with Perkins's command, he left the service [Pebruary 28 18131, bearing the highest encomiums of the commander-in-chief of the Army of the Northwest. President Madi- son at the suggestion of Harrison and others, sent him the commission of colonel in the regular army, but duty to his fam'ilv and the demands of a greatly increasing business caused him to decline it. ..,.,.., General Perkins was intrusted with the arrangement and execution, at the head of a commission, of the extensive ca- nal Bvstem of Ohio From 1826 until 1838 he was an active member of the "Board of Canal Fund Contimissioners.'.' They were under no bonds and received no pecuniary reward. In the course of about seven years they issued and sold state bonds for [he puMc improvements to the amount of four and a half millions of dollars. Among the remarkablfe men SeM^d the "Western Reserve," General Simon Perkins ever held one of the most couspicuous places and his m- fluence in sodal and moral life is felt in that region to this day. He died at Warren, Oh 0, on tte 19th of Novembef, ?^ msSwlonasu^vivedhim. She died at the same place in April, 1862. To their son, Joseph Perkins, Esq., oraevflanll am indebted for the materials for this brief sketch, and the likeness of the patriot on the next page. 340 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Divisions of the Army of tlie Nortliwest. Employment of the Troops. The Western Reserve, Tapper's brigade, that was to move on Hull's road, by Fort M' Arthur, was called the centre; and the Kentuckians under Winchester were styled the left wing. The Virginia and Pennsylvania troops were employed in escorting the artillery and military stores toward Upper San- dusky; the Ohio troops conveyed pro- visions from Manary's Block-house, near the head of the Great Miami, twenty miles north of Urbana, to Forts M' Arthur and Findlay, on Hull's road; while the JKen- tuckians were traversing the swamps of the St. Mary and the Au Glaize, and de- scending those rivers in small craft, to carry provisions to Fort Winchester (De- fiance) on the left wing.^ Northwestern Ohio, particularly the settlements on the Western Heserve,^. had been alive with excitement and patriotic zeal during all the autumn, and General Wadsworth, com- mander of the 4th Division of the Ohio Militia (the boundaries of which comprised the counties of Jefferson and Turnbull, thus embracing at least one third of the state) was continually, vigilantly, and efficiently employed in the promotion of measures for the defense of the frontier from the Maumee to Erie, and for the recovery of Michigan. In politics General Wadsworth was a Democrat of the Jefferson school. He had watched with interest and indigniatiori the course of Great Britain for many years, and when the Congress of the nation de- clared war against her, he rejoiced in the act as a righteous and necessary one. He had been an active soldier of the Revolution,^ and now, when his country needed his 1 M'Afee, pages 103, 104. 2 The charter of Connecticut) granted in 1663, covered the conntry fl*om Rhode Island, or, as expresBed, " Narragan- set Kiver," on the east, to the Pacific on the west. When New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania claimed dominion ■ above the line of the southern boundary of the province, difflculties appeared. These were disposed of. In 1TS6 the State of Connecticut ceded to the United States all the lands within the charter limits westward of Pennsylvania, ex- cepting a tract one hundred and twenty miles in length westward, adjoining that state. The cession was accepted. This was called the Connecticut or Western Seserve ; and many settlers went there from the State of Connecticut. A part of the Reserve, containing half a million of acres, was granted by the state to the inhabitants of New London, Pair- field, and Norwalk, whose property had been burnt by the British during the Revolution. This was known as The Fire Lands. The remainder of the Reserve was sold in 1T95, and the proceeds of the sale were devoted to the formation of the present school fund of Connecticut. = Elijah Wadsworth was born in Hartford, Connecticut, on the 4th of November, 1T47, and became a resident of Litch- y^:>'3^5»>-»r> field before the Revolution. After the battle of Bunker's Hill he volunteered to go to Boston, but his purpose was frustrated, when he engaged heartily in raising Colonel Elisha Sheldon's troop of light-horsemen. He was commis- sioned a lieutenant of the company of which Benjamin Tallmadge was captain. He served with zeal during the entire war. He commanded the guard in whose custody Major Andrfi was placed immediately after his arrest. Wadsworth was a man of great energy. He went early to Chip, and was part owner of the " Western Reserve." He made his residence at Canfleld, Ohio, In 1802, and was always a leading man in that section of the new ptate, and was OF THE WAR OP 1812. Elisha Whittlesey. 341 Alarming Rumors about Hull's Surrender. Preparations against Invasion. services, he cheerfully offered them. Although he was sixty-five years of age, he entered upon active military duties with energy with the late venerable Elisha Whittlesey, of Can- field,' and the late Honorable Ben- jamin Tappen, of Steubenville, Ohio, as his aid-de-camp. The former ac- companied him to Cleveland from Canfield,^ and the latter soon joined him there. General Wadsworth was at his house in Canfield when intelligence of the surrender of Hull reached him.^ The alarming rumors that prevailed concerning the imminence of an in- vasion called for immediate and en- ergetic action. Wadsworth at once issued orders to the several brigadier generals of his division io muster the militia for the protection of the fron- tier from the immediate incursions ^jT ^/ of the British and their savage allies. // Already citizens of the region adja- C/ cent to Canfield had formed a corps ■of dragoons, under Captain James Dowd. This company was ordered into the serv- ice ; and so promptly did it respond to the call, that by noon the following day (Sun- day, August 23d, 1812), it was on its march toward Cleveland as an honorary escort very efficient in the organization of the crude material of pioneer life into well-balanced society, the establishment of schools, etc. His aid was essential in the establishment of the state government, and when the militia was enrolled he was chosen major general of the 4th Division. In that office he was found when war broke out in 1812, His services in the war are recorded in the text. On his tomb-stone at Canfield are the following words : " Major General Elijah - Wadsworth moved into Canfield in October A.D. 1802, and died December 30, 1817, aged TO years, 1 month, and 17 days." 1 Elisha Whittlesey was bom in Litchfield County, Connecticut, on the 19th of October, 1783. His father, a practical farmer, was a member of the Connecticut Legislature seventeen consecutive sessions, and was a member of the State Convention that ratified the Constitution of the United States. The subject of this brief memoir was a pupil of Eev. Thomas Bobbins, of Danbury, Connecticut, who died only a few years ago, and also of the eminent Moses Stuart, of Andover. He studied law, and was admitted to practice at Fairfield in the winter of 1805. He commenced practice at New Milford, but in June, 1806, he emigrated to Ohio, and settled at Canfield, Tumbull County, which place was his home when in private life. In the autumn of that year he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Ohio, and at the first session of the Court of Common Pleas thereafter he was appointed prosecuting attorney, which office he held sixteen years. When the war broke out he was appointed aid to General Wadsworth. On the retirement of General Wadsworth from the service, Mr. Whittlesey was appointed brigade major in General Simon Perkins's corps, and was with that officer during the remainder of his campaign in Northern Ohio in 1812-'13. He was sent by General Harrison from the Eapids of the Maumee, after the defeat of General Winchester at the Eaisin, to ask the Legislature of Ohio to pass a law providing for the payment of such Ohio troops as should remain in service after their time of enlistment should expire. He was successful. Mr. Whittlesey resumed his profession after the war. He served as a member of the, Ohio Legislature from 1820 to 1823 inclusive, when he was elected to Congress, in which he served fourteen consecutive years. During all that time he was a member of the Committee on Claims, full one half of that time its chairman, and was never absent, excepting on public business, but for one day, for which, in the settlement of his accounts, he^educted the sum of eight dollars— a day's salary ! President Harrison appointed him auditor of the treasury of the Post-office Department in March, 1841, He resigned it in 1S43. President Taylor appointed him comptroller of the treasury in June, 1849. He ofifered his re- signation to President Pierce, but that gentleman, knowing the value of an honest man in that responsible station, wonid not accept it. In March, 1857, he tendered his resignation to President Buchanan. ■ -Heaccepted it in May, say- ing, " The Lord knows I do not viish you to resign at all," On the 10th of April, 1861, President Lincoln called him from his home to occapy the same -responsible position. He cheerfully responded to the call of his country, although^ seventy-eight years of age, and faithfully discharged the duties of his office until a few days before his death, which occurred on Wednesday, the 7th day of January, 1883, when in the eightieth year of his age,' > ' Canfield, the capital of Mahoning County, Ohio, was then the residence of General Wadsworth, and alsd of Mr. Whittlesey. 3 It came in.the. form of a letter written by Alfred Kelley, and signed by twelve other citizens of Cleveland. B, Pitch, of Ellsworth, was the bearer of it. 342 PICTORIAL .FIELD-BOOK Troops welcomed to Cleveland. Energy of General Wadsworth. Distress on the Baisln Kiver. for the commanding general. They marched by the way of Hudson,' twenty-five miles •An°d how ms. Letter of General Wadsworth to the Secretary of War, dated Cleveland, August 25 1812 «,. commissioners appointed were Aaron Norton, Eleazer Hicock, and Ebenezer M^rrav' Thp n»n„i» »„!., * them, on the terms offered, as cheaply as if paid in gold and silver. They gave a certTflcate iTwrithi/Sl .^ ? tMe famished, its quantity and value, with a promise to pay for it when the gover^ent shortr-3ff ^ f ^ - " parpose. Property abandoned by frightened inhabitants was taken, apprai!edranT"nvento Id A ?f' '^ "" would harvest a field of grain, while an officer kept an exact account ot the whole matter and the nwl^"'' T '^ OF THE WAR OF 1812. 343 Ke-enforcementB for Winchester. March to Detroit suspended. Attempted Lodgment at the Maumee Bapids. General Reazin BealP was also directed to go westward on a similar errand; and preparations for their departure were nearly completed, when Wadsworth received dispatches from the Secretary of War saying that the President intended to adopt the most vigorous measures " to repair the disasters at Detroit," and to prosecute with increased ardor the important ohjects of the campaign. Wadsworth was di- rected to forward fifteen hundred men to the frontier as quickly as possihle, with directions to " report to General Winchester, or officer commanding" there, at the same time promising an adequate supply of arms and ammunition. Arrangements for the movement were speedily made, and Perkins and Beall, who had heen em- ployed by- Governor Meigs in opening a road from Mansfield, in the interior of Ohio (now capital of Richland*County), to Lower Sandusky, were ordered toward the lat- ter place. Some clashing of authority between Wadsworth and Meigs, and some complaints concerning afiairs in the region bordering on Lake Erie, caused Harrison, who (as we have seen) was made commander-in-chief of the Iforthwestern Army, to make a personal examination of matters there toward the close of October. He found General Wadsworth near the mouth of the Huron River, at the head of eight hund- red men. Beall, with about five hundred, was at Mansfield. The two corps were consolidated and placed under General Perkins, with orders to proceed to Lower Sandusky, and open a road thence to the Rapids of the Maumee ; a severe task, for it was necessary to causeway it about fifteen miles. This was accomplished. Har- .rison returned to his head-quarters at Franklinton early in November, and on the *15th of that month was compelled to inform the War Department that he doubted the propriety of attempting to penetrate Canada, or to proceed farther than the Rapids during the winter, owing to the insurmountable difficulties in the w,ay of transporting forage and supplies. "I know it will be mortifying to Kentucky," Harrison wrote to Governor Shelby, " for this army to return without doing any thing ; but it is better to do that than to attempt impossibilities. I wish to God the public mind were informed of our difficulties, and gradually prepared for this course. In my opinion, we should in this quarter disband all but those sufficient for a strong frontier guard, convoys, etc., and prepare for the next season." General Tupper had made another unsuccessful attempt to establish a permanent lodgment at the Maumee Rapids, and this failure doubtless gave nerve to Harrison's convictions. We left Tupper at Urbana, after his difficulties with Winchester at Defiance. He pushed forward along Hull's road to Fort M'Arthur, and there he speedily prepared an expedition to the Rapids, consisting of six hundred and fifty mounted men who volunteered for the service. He had sent Captain Hmkson, at the head of a company of spies, to reconnoitre at the Rapids, who returned with a British captain, named Clarke, as his prisoner. The result of the reconnoissance was information that there were three or four hundred Indians, and about seventy-five British regulars at the Rapids, who were there for the pui-pose of carrying off a quan- tity of corn at that post. Tupper immediately notified General Winchester of his intended expedition, and, on the lOth,^ moved forward with his command .November, along Hull's road toward the Rapids, taking with him a light aix-pounder, and five days' provisions in the knapsacks of the men. _ The r6ads were wretched, and Tupper was compelled to leave hiS little cannon at a block-house on the way. From Portage River, twenty miles from^the Rapids, he sent forward a reconnoitring party, following slowly with his whole command Within a few miles of the Rapids he met his spies returning with information that the enemy were st ill there. Halting until twilight, he marched forward to a ford . „ „ ,T,„„„„„w.T,in wfti an ensim in the United states Infantry in 1792, and was in the third sub-legion 1 Eeazin Beall, of ^^""""f^^f'^^ZT^Z^^ertbe following year. He served under Wayne for a while, and re- the same year He was «^°tf ' ™^J^^,'^™ J|e^^^^^^^^ tilHhe 3d of November, 1812, he was a brigadier general ToltSSrTre^rL.^:roZTc^^^ from 1813 till 1815. He died on the 20th of February, 1842.- Gardner's Dictionary of the Army, page 59. 344 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Stirnpg EventB at the Kapids. ." " Fight with Indians. Relief for OHio Troops. A Menace. about two miles above the Rapids., Thence spies were again sent forward,and re- turned saying "They are closely encamped, and are singmg and dancmg. i upper resolved to attack them at dawn, and orders were- given to cross the river imme- diately The sky was clear, and the weather intensely, cold. The men were much fatigued yet the excitement gave them strength. Tupper dashed into the icy flood at the head of his men, and crossed with, the first section in safety; but the water, waist-deep at times, and flowing in- a swift current, confused and swept from their feet many of the next division. They were exposed to great perils, but none were lost. After ineffectual attempts to accomplish the undertaking, those who had cross- ed were recalled, and the whole body retired to the woods and encamped. Early the next morning Tupper sent to Winchester for re-enforcements and food ; and some spies went down the river, showed themselves opposite the enemy's camp, and tried to entice them across. They failed, when Tupper moved down with his whole body, and displayed the heads of his columns in the open space between the river and the woods. This frightened the enemy. " The squaws," said a contem- porary writer,! a j-an to the woods ; the British ran to their boats, and escaped. The Indians, more brave than their allies, paraded, and fired across the river, but without effect." . They used muskets and a four-pound cannon. Tupper then feill back, hop- ing the, savages in a body would venture across the Maumee, but they did not. Some mounted Indians were seen to go up the stream, and at the same time some of Tupper's men, contrary to orders, entered a field to pull corn, while others pursued a. drove of hogs in the same direction. The latter were suddenly assailed by a party of mounted savages who had crossed unperceived, and four of Tupper's men were killed. The Indians, excited by the shedding of blood, fell upon the left flank of the white' army, but were repulsed. Almost at the same moment, a large body of the savages, under the notable chief Split-Log, who- rode a fine white horse, crossed the river above the advance of Tupper's column. They were driven back by Bentley's battalion with some loss, and the Ohio troops were not again annoyed by them. Late in the evening Tupper and his men turned their faces toward Fort M' Arthur, for their provisions were almost exhausted, and their nearest point of sure supply was forty miles distant. "Winchester, in the mean time, having received Tupper's first message, had sent a detachment, under Colonel Lewis, of four hundred and fifty men, to co-operate with the Ohio troops. Tupper's appeal for men and food, which reached him later, was forwarded to Lewis as soon as it was received by Winchester, and the former pushed forward by a forced march to the relief of the imperiled ones. Finding Tupper's camp, deserted, apparently with haste, and in it two dead men scalped, Lewis sup- posed he had been defeated. Under this impression, he retreated to Winchester's camp. Thus ended this bold attempt to take position at the Rapids. The inten- tions of the projector failed, but the expedition had the effect to frighten the British and .Indians away before they had gathered up the corn; and averted, for the time^ a contemplated blow by the savages upon the alarmed French settlements on the Raisin, at the instigation of their British allies.^ 1 M'Afee, page 170. See also Brackenrldge, page 61.. ' Jnst before the approach of Tapper the following note (of course, written by one of the British allies) from the In- dians was sent to the inhabitants on the Raisin : " The Hurom cmd other tribes of Indians, assembled at the Miami Rapids, to the inhaWtamts of the River Raisin. " FaiENDBj^Listen ; you have always told ns that you would give us any assistance in your power. We therefore, as the enemy is approaching us, within twenty-flve miles, call upon you all to rise up and come here immediately, bring- ing your arms along vrith you. Should yon fail at this time, we vrill not consider you in future as fliends, and the con- sequences may be very unpleasant. We. are well convinced that you have no wi'iting forbidding you to assist us. his "We are your friends at present. " Round -j- Head, mark, his "Walk-in- -j- the-Watbe.'' mark. OF THE W3.E OF 1812. 345 Sefyices of Captain Logan. His Death. . Wa-pagh-ko-netta and its notable Indians. At about this time the American service ui the Korthwest lost a valuable friend. It was the settled policy of the government not to employ the Indians in war, but there were occasions when exceptions to the rule, became a necessity. It was so in Ohio.- There was an active, intelligent, and influential chief, a nephew of Tecum- tha (son of his sister), who, when a boy, having been captured by General John Lo- gan, of Kentucky, received that gentleman's name, and bore it through life. His wife bad also been a captive to a Kentuckian (Colonel Hardin), and both felt a warm at- tachment to the white people. Major Hardin (then in the Army of the Northwest, and son of Colonel Hardin) and Logan were true friends, and highly esteemed each other. Logan had much influence with his tribe, and when the war broke out he asked for employment in the American service. It was granted, because he might have been made an enemy. He accompanie'd Hull to Detroit, and was exceedingly active as a scout; We have also seen that Harrison employed him on a mission to Fort Wayne. ^ ,^ Soon after the return of Tupper from the Kapids, Logan and his followers were sent toward that post to reconnoitre. They met a strong opposing party, and, to save themselves, scattered in every direction. Captain Logan, with two friends (Captains John and Bright Horn), made his way to Winchester'^ camp, where he re- lated their adventures. His fidelity was ungenerously suspected, and he was believed to be a spy. His pride and every sentiment of manhood were deeply wounded by the suspicion, and he resolved to vindicate bis character by actions rather than by w;ords. He started" with his two friends for the Kapids, with the de- "November 22, termination to bring in a prisoner or a scalp. They had not gone far when ^^^^• they were made prisoners themselves by a son of Colonel Elliott and some Indians, among whom was Win-ne-meg, or Win-ne-mac — the Pottawatomie chief who bore Hull's dispatch from Tort Wayne to Chicago. 1 He was now an ally of the British. He knew Logan well, and rejoiced in being the captor of an old enemy. The latter resolved to make a desperate efibrt for liberty. His companions were made to un- derstand significant signs, and at a concerted signal they attacked their captors. Logan shot Win-ne-meg dead. Elliott and a young Ottawa chief were also slain. Logan was badly wounded, so was Bright Horn ; but they leaped upon the backs of horses of the enemy and escaped to Winchester's camp. Captain John followed the next morning with the scalp of the Ottawa. Logan's honor and fidelity were fully vindicated, but at the cost of his life — his wound was mortal. After he had suffered great agony for two days, his spirit returned to the Great Master of Life. Proctor had offered, it is said, one hundred and fifty dollars for his scalp. It was never taken from his head. His body was carried in mournful procession, by Major Hardin and others, to Wa-pagh-ko-netta,^ where his family resided, and was buried 1 See page 306. ' This is a small village in Allen Cotmty, Ohio, on the Ait Glaize Eiver, about ten miles from St. Mary. After the Shawnoese were driven from Piqna by General Clark in 1780, they established a village here, and named it Wa-pagh- ko-netta, in honor of a. chief of that name. Colonel John Johnston informed me that he knew the chief well. He said he had a club-foot, and thinks the name had some relation to that deformity. Colonel Johnston resided at Wa-pagh- ko-netta for some time. The Society of Friends, or Quakers, had a mission there for a number of years. It was thie home of Blue Jacket, spoken of in our account of the invasion of the country by Wayne, in 1794. Buckongahelos also resided there ; also the celebrated Black Hoof, who was a native of Florida, whose birthplace was on the Suwanee. lie remembered the removal of that tribe from their southern home to the forests of Pennsylvania and Ohio. He was at the defeat of Braddock in 1755. In all the wars with the white people in his region, from that time until the treaty of Greenville in 1798, he was a popular leader, afid Could alvrnya command as many men for the war-path as he desired. He was a party to the treaty at Greenville, and was ever faithft^l to his pledges there made. Tecnmtha could not se- duce him, and he was the faithful friend of the Americans in the war with Great Britain which we are now considering. A few weeks after the burial of Logan [January, 18133, he visited General Tupper's camp at Fort M'Arthar. While sitting by the fire with the general, a scoundrel militia-man. Colonel Johnston informed me, fired a pistol ball at him through the logs of the block-house, which entered his cheek, passed through his mouth, cat off his palate, and lodged in his neck. He would neverhave the ball removed, but wouhl call the children to feel of it, and then would tell them of his wrongs. Colonel Johnston gave him a healing plaster for his wound in the form of a bank-note of the denomi- nation of one hundred dollars. Colonel Johnston says he was one of the most perfectly formed men he ever saw. He was natnrallycheerfal and good-natured. He lived with his wife faithfully for forty years. His stature was small, and his eyesight remained perfect daring his whole life. 346 PICTORIAL PIELD-BOOK Expedition against Miamis and Delawares. Friends to be spared. Campbell on the Mississiniwa.' there with mingled savage rites and military honors. The scalp of the slain Ottawa, raised upon a pole, was carried in the funeral procession and then taken to the coun- cil-house. Logan's death was mourned as a public calamity, for he was one of the most intelligent, active, and trustworthy of Harrison's scouts. At this time the Miamis, nearly all of whom had become wedded to the interests of the British, were assembled, with some Delawares from White River, in towns on the Mississiniwa, a tributary of the Wabash, fifteen or. twenty miles from its conflu- ence with the la.tter stream, near the boundary-line between the present Wabash and Grant Counties, Indiana. They were evidently there for hostile purposes, and Gen- eral Harrison resolved to destroy or disperse them. He detached for the pui-pose Lieutenant Colonel John B. Campbell, of the Nineteenth Regiment of United States Infantry,' composed mainly of Colonel Simrall's regiment of Kentucky dragoons ; a squadron of United States volunteer dragoons, commanded by Major James V. Ball; and a corps of infantry, consisting of Captain Elliott's company of the Nineteenth United States Regiment, Butler's Pittsburg Blues, and Alexander's Pennsylvania Riflemen. A small company of spies and guides were attached to the expedition. Campbell left Franklin ton, the head-quarters of the Army of the Northwest, on the 25th of November, with his troops, instructed by Harrison 'to march for the Mis- sissiniwa by way of Springfield, Xenia, Dayton, Eaton, and Greenville, so as to avoid the Delaware towns. He was also instructed to save, if he could do so without risk to the expedition. Chiefs Riehardville (then second chief of the Miamis), Silver Heelsj and the White Lion, all of which, with Pecan, the principal chief of the Miamis, and Charley, the leader of the Eel River tribe, were known to be friendly to the white people. The son and brother of Little Turtle were also to be saved, if possible; also old Godfrey and his wife, who were true friends of the Americans. It was the middle of December before the expedition left Dayton, on account of delay in procuring horses. Their destination was eighty miles distant. Each sol- dier was required to carry twelve days' rations, and a bushel of corn for foraga The ground was hard frozen and covered with snow, and the weather was intensely cold, yet they marched forty miles the first two days. On the third they made a forced march, and during that day and night they advanced another forty miles, when they reached the Mississiniwa, and fell upon a town inhabited by a number of Miamis and Delawares. Eight warriors were slain, and eight others, with thirty- two women and children, were made prisoners. The town was laid in ashes with the exception of two houses, which were left for the shelter of the captives. Cattle and other stock were slaughtered. ^ Campbell left the prisoners in charge of a sufficient guard, and pushed on down the river three miles to Silver Heels's village with Simrall's and Ball's dragoons.- It was deserted; so also were two other towns near. These were destroyed, with many cattle. They captured several horses, and with these and a very small quantity of corn they returned to the scene of their first victory, and encamped for the night on the shore of the Mississiniwa. The camp was about two hundred yards square, and fortified with a small redoubt at each angle. The infantry and riflemen were posted in front, on the bank of the river. Captain Elliott's company on the rigljt, Butler's in the centre, and Alexander's on the left. Major Ball's squadron occupied the right Black Hoof was often asljed to sing the songB of the worship of his people, but nothing conld induce him to do so He wou d not even repeat the words to the white man. His was like the refusal of the Hebrew cap iveto le the TJ^ h f \-"f' ,^°1'.°' "■" "^™ °^ ^""y'™- ^^'"'^ Hoof was the principal chief of the Shawnoese for m^T hundred td Z ylTsl * """""' "' Wa-pagh-ko-netta about the year 1830, at the age. it was beUeved oTZ of KW-V^t''''^" "^JLyii™ °' Virginia, and nephew of Colonel Campbell, who was distinguished at the battle w I ^-,0,?^™^""° "" ^^^^- H« ^"^ commissioned lieutenant colonel of the Nineteenth EeeiS of Tnf.ttrt i„ March, 1812. For his good conduct in the expedition mentioned above he was breveted a coToner In loS 1814 he was commissioned a colonel in the Eleventh Infantry, and was distinguished and severely wXded in the h^nt' ^f Chippewa on the 5th of July following. He died of his wonnds on the 28th of August, 1814 ^""""^^^ '" ">« ''»"''' "^ OF THE WAR OF 1812. 347 Attack on Campbell's Camp. A desperate FigM. Distressing Betreat to Greenville. and one half of the rear line, and Colonel Simrall's regiment the left and other half of the rear line. Between Ball's right and Simrall's left there was a considerable open- ing. Major Ball was the officer of the day. At midnight the sentinels reported the presence of Indians, and a fire was 'seen down the river. The greatest vigilance was exercised, and the r&veillerw&& beaten at four o'clock in the morning. Adjutant Payne immediately summoned the fi^ld officers to a council at the fire of the commander to consult upon the propriety of going on twelve miles farther down the river, to attack one of the principal towns there. While the officers were in council, half an hour before dawn,* . December is, the camp was startled by terrific yells, followed immediately by a ^^^^■ furious attack of a large body of savages who had erept stealthily along the margin of the river. Every officer flew to his post, and in a few moments the lines were formed, and the Indians were confronted with a heavy fire. The attack was made upon the angle of the camp, formed by the left of Captain Hopkins's troops and the right of Captain Garrard's dragoons of Simrall's regiment. Captain Pierce, who com- manded at the redoubt there, was shot and tomahawked, and his guard retreated to the lines. The conflict soon became general along the right flank and part of the rear. The Pittsburg Blues promptly re-enforced the point assailed, and gallantly kept the savages at bay. For an hour the battle raged furiously. It was finally terminated, between dawn and sunrise, by a well-directed fire from Butler's Pitts- burg corps, and desperate charges of cavalry under Captains Trotter, Markle,' and Johnson, when tha Indians fied in dismay, leaving fifteen of their warriors dead on the field. Campbell had lost eight killed and forty-two wounded. Several of the latter afterward died of their wounds. ^ Campbell had one hundred and seven horses killed. What the whole loss of the Indians was could not be ascertained, but it is supposed that they carried away as many mortally wounded as they left dead on the field. Little Thunder, a nephew of Little Turtle, was in the engagement, and per- formed great service in inspiring his people with confidence by stirring words and gallant deeds. Although Silver Heels, a friend of the Americans (and who was with their army on the Niagara frontier the following year), was not present, nearly all of the prisoners were of his band. He did every thing in his power to persuade his young warriors to remain neutral, but in vain. Rumors reached Campbell immediately after the battle that Tecumtha, with fi^^e or six hundred warriors, was on the Mississiniwa, only eighteen miles below. With- out calling a council, the commander immediately ordered a retreat for Greenville. He sent a messenger (Captain Hite) thither for re-enforcements and supplies, for he expected to be attacked on the way. Fortunately the savages did not pursue. It was a dreadful journey, especially for the sick and wounded, in that keen winter air. They moved slowly, for seventeen men had to be conveyed on litters. Every night the camp was fortified by a breastwork. At length, wearied and with little food thev met provisions with an escort of ninety men under Major Adams The relief was timely and most grateful. All moved forward together, and on the 25th, with three hundred men so frostbitten as to be. unfit for duty, the expedition arrived at Greenville More than one half the corps that a month before had gone gayly to the wilderness were now lost to the service for a while. They had accomplished their Trrand but at a great cost.' The commander-in-chief of the army of the Northwest, . Joseph Markle, afterward a aistlnguisbed^^^^^^ a?Grlenvme, December26th, 1812 , M'Afee, » Lieutenant Colonel Campbell's official report ^^^^'^^^'^^j^'^^^Xm^^^^ 62. Lieutenant Colonel Camp- Srs^nVa'S'CaS t '^^To^'lT^: '^^^'^^^ r^Z'^I.AV...^^<^r mb instead of December 18th, and addressed fr°» "^^^^""''crpbeflt Ha^^^^^^^^ "to lament the loss of several brave men and many wound- ^ "1 have on tb'^occa™''. '^^^^^^^ See of thf Shio vilanteers, and Lieutenant Waltz, of Markle's troops. Pierce ed. Among the f"™^J.«™^''^Pf^„f;!™' 'f ^^^^ Pennsylvania corps. He was first shot throagh the arm, and then ZuTt'e'S"capi:^TTtiJ:i;^^^^^^^^^^^ 348 PICTORIAL PIELD-BOOK Good Effects of the ChastiGement of the Indians. Sufferings and Difficulties of Harrison's Army. Waste of Horses. in' a general order, congratulated Lieutenant Colonel Campbell on his success, and commended him for his obedience to orders, his gallantry, and his magnanimity. ' These expeditions against the savages produced salutary effects, and smoothed the way for the final recovery of Michigan. They separated the friends and enemies of the Americans effectually. The line between them was distinctly drawn. There were no middle-men left. The Delawares on the White River, and others who de- sired to be friendly, and who had been invited to settle on the Au Glaize in Ohio, now accepted the invitation.^ The other tribes, who had cast their lot with the Brit- ish, were made to feel the miseries of war, and to repent of their folly. So severe had been the chastisement, and so alarmed were the tribes farther north, who re- ceived the fugitives from the desolated villages on the Wabash and the Illinois at the close of 1812, that Tecumtha's dream of a confederacy of Indians that should drive the white man across the, Ohio was rapidly fading as he awoke to the reality of an unsuspected power before him, and the folly of putting his trust in princes — in other words, relying upon the promises of the representatives of the sovereignty of England to aid him in his patriotic schemes. Before the war was fairly commenced, the spirits of the Indians, so buoyant because of the recent misfortunes of the Amer- icans in the Northwest, were broken, and doubt and dismay filled the minds of all excepting those who were under the immediate command and influence of the great Shawnoese leader. As winter came on the sufferings and difficulties of Harrison's invading army were terrible, especially that of the left wing under Winchester, which was the most ad- vanced, and the most remote from supplies. Early in November typhus fever was slaying three or four of his small' command daily, and three hundred were upon the sick-list at one time. So discouraging became the prospect at the beginning of De- cember of i-eaching even the Rapids, that, having proceeded about six miles below the Au Glaize, Winchester, partly from necessity and partly to deceive the enemy, ordered huts to be built for the winter shelter of the troops. Clothing was scanty, and at times the whole corps would be without flour for several days. These pri- vations were owing chiefly to the difficulty of transportation. The roads were wretched beyond the conception of those who have not been in that region at the same season of the year. It was swamp, swamp, swamp, with only here and there a strip of terra firma in plight almost as wretched. The pack-horses sank to their knees, and wagon-wheels to their hubs in the mud. Wasting weariness fell upon man and beast in the struggle, and the destruction of horses was prodigious. " The fine teams which arrived on the 10th at Sandusky with the artillery," wrote Harri- son to the Secretary of War on the 12tTi of December," are entirely worn down ; and two trips from M' Arthur's block-house, our nearest deposit to the Rapids, will' com- pletely destroy a brigade of pack-horses." It was sometimes found impossible to get even empty wagons through the mire, and they were abandoned, the teamsters being glad to get out with their horses alive; and sometimes the quarter-master, taking advantage of suddenly fro zen mud, would send off a quantity of provisions, which officers also Ueutenant Colonel Simrall, Major M'Donnell, Captains Hite and Smith, and Captains Markle M'Clelland Garrard, and Hopkins. Lieutenants Hedges, Basye, and Hickman were among the wounded JH-l^leJland, .„„.f '^ r*? *J« ™<^««s' pleasure," said General Harrison, in a general order, " that the general has heard that the most punctual obedience was paid to his orders in not only.saving all the women and children, hut to aZing aH he warriors who ceased to resist, and that, even when vigorously attacked by the enemy, the claiCof me^rfy p^revai ed over every sense of their own danger, and this heroic band respected the lives of their prisoner lS an account of r'e4'lr°/r' "' "P""'' "'^ *"'°'^' "'^'"'™" "S**"^' °" ^^^'"^ »1™«- The\meri an soWier w llTl ow L„i/ J^v,"^ f 'v g"™™™'"'' ™'^ *•"' '^°'^ <"■ *= ™« ^" not ^^ "^^^a "gainst the fallen and the heriels nor thi gold of the other be paid for the scalps of a massacred enemy." helpless, nor the wi'tlTJ'hp^llr''''^" ^? emigrated from Pennsylvania about fifty years before, where they had had an acquaintance r.1i V "> J'w-? ■' '"..?' '°°g * P'"°^ °°'^«'" ^■^^ "^t favorable circumstances. They Ld experienced the See and kindness of Wilhara Penn and his immediate successors. They were settled on the Au gS aboThalfwav be ween Piqua and Wa-pagh-ko-netta. Some of them went farther east, and settled on the haX of the Scioto wfthfn" ^LlTl f *' Pyesent Delaware country. Whose name is derived from these Indians. BuckougaheloE alrtrdv meL tioned, and an eminent chief named Kill-buck, were of this tribe. "i-KouganeioB, already men- OF THE WAK OF 1812. 349 Tranaportafairin the- Wiiaerness; Han-JBon's Instrnctions. The effective gorce in the Horthweat. w^ild be swamped and lost by a sudden .thaw. Water transportation was quite as diflicu t. Sometimes the. streams would he too low for loaded boats to navigate; then they would be found crooked, narrow, and obstructed by logs; and again sud- den cold would produce so much ice that it would be almost impossible -to move for- ward. Then sleds would be resorted to until a thaw would drive the precious freight to floating vessels again. Such is a glimpse of the difficulties encountered in that wilderness of Northern Ohio; but it affords a faint idea of the hardships of the little invading army trymg to make its way toward Detroit. All this was endured by the patriotic soldiers without scarcely a murmur. In view of all these, difficulties, the enormous expense of transportation, and the advantages which dishonest contractors were continually taking, Harrison suggested tp. the War Department, at about the middle of December, that if there existed no ui-gent political necessity for the recovering of Michigan and the invasion of Canada during the winter, the amount of increased expenditure of transportation at that sea- son of the year might be better applied to the construction of a small fleet that should command the waters of Lake Erie— a suggestion made by Hull, but little heeded, ear- ly in the year.i The response came from the pen of a new head of the War Depart- ment. Dr. Eustis^ had resigned, and James Monroe, the only man in the cabinet who had experienced actual' military service, had succeeded him. With a more perfect knowledge of military affairs, he better comprehended the character of the campaign; and, having perfect confidence in the commander-in-chief of the Northwestern Army, he reiterated the instructions of his predecessor to Harrison, directing him to conduct the campaign according to his own judgment, promising, at the same time, that the government would take immediate measures for securing the command of Lake Erie. Only on two points were positive instructions given : First, in the event of penetrat- ing Canada, not to promise the inhabitants any thing but the protection of life, lib- erty, and property ; and, secondly, not to make any temporary acquisitions, but to pro- ceed so surely that any position which he might obtain would be absolutely permanent. Early in December a detachment of General Perkins's brigade reached Lower San-r dusky (now Fremont, Ohio), and repaired an old stockade there which had protected an Indian store. The remainder of the brigade arrived soon afterward. On the 10th a battalion of Pennsylvania troops made their appearance there, with twenty-one pieces of artUlery, which had been escorted from Pittsburg by Lieutenant Hukill. Very soon afterward a regiment of the same troops and part of. a Virginia brigade . arrived, speedily followed by General Harrison, who made his head-quarters there on the 20th. He remained but a little while. There he ireceived the second dispatch [December 25th] from Lieutenant Colonel Campbell, giving a more detailed account of his expedition to the Mississiniwa. Harrison at once repaired to Chillicothe to consult with Governor Meigs oo the propriety of fitting out another expedition in the same direction, to complete the work begun by destroying the lower Mississini- wa towns. The project was abandoned. The whole effective force in the Northwest did not exceed six thousand three hundred infantry,^ and a small artillery and cavalry force ; yet Harrison determined 1 See page 251. ' William Eustie was bom in Cambridge, Maeeachusetts, on the 10th of Jane, 1T53. He was graduated at Harvard College at the age of nineteen, and ' was at the Bobinson Honse, oppo- chose the practice of medicine for y^^^^ /I j'^^^ ^''® yJeiX. Point, while Arnold occu- his profession. He entered the Con- y^ ////&^ / ■/ 'x Pi^d it as his head -quarters. He tinental Army of the Eevolution as ■^ l/ff ^^ y x / /~T , ] commenced the practice of his pro- a regimental surgeon, and served in / _1 ■ / * -^ «^ ^ fession at Boston at the close of the that capacity during the war. He war. He was an ardent politician, and was a representative of Massachnsetts in the National Congress, of the Republican party, from 1801 till 1805. Presi- dent Madison appointed him Secretary of War in 1809, and he retained the office until the autumn of 1812, when he re- sii'hea. He was appointed minister to Holland in 1814. After his return he was chosen to a seat in Congress again,, which he held for nearly two terms fl-om 1820. In 1823 he was chosen governor of Massachusetts. He was then sev- enty years of age. He di6d in 1825, while holding that oiBce, in the seventy-second year of his age. 3 Hartison'S Letter to the Secretary of War, January 4, 1813. 350 PICTOBIAL FIELD-BOOK Movements ordered. The MisBion and Sufferings of Captain Combs. The Army at the Maumee Kapide, to press forward to the Rapids, and beyond if possible. From Lower Sandusky he dispatched Ensign Charles S. Todd, then division judge advocate of the Kentucky troops, to communicate instructions to Winchester. He was accompanied by two white men and three Wyandottes. He bore oral instructions from General Har- rison to General Winchester, directing the latter to advance toward the Rapids when he should have accumulated twenty days' provisions, and there commence building huts, to deceive the enemy into the belief that he intended to winter there ; at the same time to prepare sleds for an advance toward Maiden, but to conceal from his troops their intended use. He was. also to inform Winchester that the diiferent lines of the army would be concentrated at the Rapids, and all would proceed from thence toward Maiden, if the ice on the Detroit River should be found strong enough to bear them. Young Todd performed this dangerous. and delicate duty with such success that he received the highest commendations of his general. Meanwhile Leslie Combs, another Kentuckian, a brave and spirited young man of scarcely nineteen years, who had joined Winchester's army as a volunteer on its march from Fort Wayne to Defiance, had been sent by Winchester to Harrison on an errand fraught with equal peril. He bore a dispatch to Harrison communicating the fact that the left wing had moved toward the Rapids on the 30th of December. Combs traversed the pathless wilderness, pn foot, accompanied by a single guide (A. Ruddle), through snow and water, for at least one hundred miles, enduring pri- vations which almost destroyed him. He, too, performed his mission so gallantly and satisfactorily that his general thanked him. These two messengers, who passed each other in the mazes of the great Black Swamp fifty years ago — young, ambitious, pa- triotic, and daring — performed other excellent service during the war, as we shall have occasion to observe. Combs and Todd are still [1867] living; both residents of Kentucky, enjoying a green old age, and wearing the honors of their country's gratitude. I had the pleasure of meeting them both during 1861, and listening to interesting narrations of their experiences in that war. Portraits and biographical sketches of these heroes may be found in future pages of this work.^ While on his march toward the Rapids, Winchester received a letter from Harri- son recommending him to abandon the movement, because, if, as Lieutenant Colonel -December 25 Campbell, in his second dispatch,^ had been informed, Tecumtha was on the Wabash with five or six hundred followers, he might advance rapid- ly and capture or destroy all the provisions in Winchester's rear. It was this sec- ond dispatch of Campbell, as we have seen, that sent Harrison in such haste back to Chillicothe, to consult with Governor Meigs. Winchester did not heed the cautious suggestions of his superior, but pressed on toward the Rapids. General Payne, with six hundred and seventy men, was sent forward to clear the way. Payne went down the Maumee several miles below old Fort Miami, but saw no signs of an enemy. The remainder of the army arrived at the Rapids on the 10th of January, 1813, and established a fortified camp on a pleas- ant eminence of an oval form, covered with trees and having a prairie in the rear. This was a little above Wayne's battle-ground in 1794, opposite the camp-ground of Hull at the close of June, 1812, and known as Presque Isle Hill.^ On the day of their arrival, an Indian camp, lately deserted, was discovered. Captain Williams, with a small detachment, gave chase to the fugitives, whom he overtook and routed. 1 Combs's sufferings were very severe. He carried a heavy musket and accoutrements, a blanket, and four days' provisions. The snow commenced falling on the morning after his departure, and continued vpithout intermission for two days and nights. On the third day of their march Combs and his companion found the snow over two feet deep m the dense forest. Ruddle had been a captive among the Indians in this region and knew the way, and the method of encountering such hardships as they were now called upon to confront, the storm detained them, their provisions became scarce, and for several nights they could find no place to lie down, and eat up and slept. Hunger came to both on the sixth day of their journey, and illness to young Combs. Nothing but his ever tinfliching resolution kept him up. On the ninth evening they reached Fort M'Arthur, apd were well cared for by General Tupper. Combs lay pros- ti-ated with sickness for several days. 2 See page 267, and map of the Maumee in this vicinity, page 66. OF THE WAR OT 1812. 351 Troops re-enlisted. The Settlement of Fi-enchtown threatened. Winchester sends them Defenders. The enlistments of the Kentucky troops would expire in February, and Harrison had requested "Winchester to endeavor to raise a new regiment among them to serve six months longer. Inaction and suffering had greatly demoralized them. There was so much insubordination among them that Winchester had little confidence in their strength. Harrison, on the contrary, believed that active service would quick- en them into good soldiers, and did not hesitate to include them in those on whom he would most rely in his expedition against Maiden. Eventii justified that faith and confidence. Winchester was now satisfied that the pleadings of humanity would speedily sum- mon him to the Raisin. First came rumors that the enemy, exasperated by their want of success in their recent movements, were preparing at Maiden an expedition to move upon Frenchtown, on the Raisin, for the purpose of intercepting the expedi- tion from Ohio on its way to Detroit. These rumors were Speedily followed by mes- sengers from Frenchtown,* made almost breathless by alarm and rapid » January is, traveling, bringing intelligence that the Indians whom Williams had scat- ^^^^' tered had passed them on their way to Maiden, uttering thrfeats of a sweeping destruc- tion of the inhabitants and their habitations on the Raisin. Others soon follow- ed,* deeply agitated by alarm, and, like the first, earnestly pleaded for b January the shield of military power to avert the impending blow. The troops, ^*"' ""* "*• moved by the most generous impulses, were anxious to march instantly to the de- fense of the alarmed people. Harrison, the commander-in-chief, was at Upper San- dusky,! sixty-five miles distant, and could not be consulted. Winchester called a council of ofiicers. The majority advised an immediate march toward the Raisin, between thirty-five and forty miles distant by the route to be traveled. This decis- ion was approved by Winchester's judgment and humane .impulses, and on the morn- ing of the lYth he detailed Colonel Lewis and five hundred and fifty men in that di- rection. A few hours afterward Colonel Allen was sent with one hundred and ten men. Lewis's instructions were " to attack the enemy, beat them, and take posses- sion" of Frenchtown and hold it." These overtook Lewis and his party at Presque Isle, a point on Maumee Bay a little below, opposite the present city of Toledo, about twenty miles from the Rapids. There Lewis was told that there were four hundred British Indians at the Raisin, and that Colonel Elliott was expected with a detach- ment from Maiden to attack Winchester's camp at the Rapids. This information was sent by express to General Winchester, whose courier was on the point of start- ing with a message to General Harrison, informing him of the movement toward the Raisin, and suggesting the probable necessity of a co-operating force from the right wing. • i 1 Colonel Lewis remained all night at Presque Isle. The weather was mtensely cold and strong ice covered Maumee Bay and the shore of Lake Erie. On that ght- terino' bridge the Americans moved early and rapidly on the morning of the 18th, and were within six miles of their destination before they were discovered by the scouts of the enemy. On the shore of the lake, in snow several inches in depth, the little army calmly breakfasted, and then marched steadily forward through timber lands to an open savanna in three lines, so arranged as to fall into battle order ma moment. The right, compo sed of the companies of M'Cracken, Bledsoe, and Matson, a„„.i.,=w thP Tirpsent caratal of Wyandot County, Ohio, is not the place above alluded to. The "Upper <,„n?X- Zdri^ot dSg he Mian wZ and as the rendezvous of Americans in the war of 1812, was at Crane Sandusky "^f .3°°' ^^f °i,t™hief named Tarhe or Crane), four miles northeast from the court-house m the pres- Town so <=all%a/i-<'°'|n eminent f'^J^'^^lJ^^^ Tarhe in 1818, the Indians transferred their connoll-honse to the '"/ "f lh"/ZdYm Ur^e^anduskt^^^^^^^^^^ »1 »"«1 ''"' °'^ ^''^ '^-"^ ^own. "V^V^i7iZ^^r^^^^^^eofl.y.cyi note in the early history of the country. It was a favorite res dence of Che Old Upper Sandusky ^»^ " P'"" , j Crawford had a battle with them and was defeated in June, 1783. Crawford wrmtdereTby Se' and olLrtoW toXres which the savages inflicted on leading prisoners. A full account of was ™™«™"' "^ , ^ f a in Howe's Historical CqlUctiom of Ohw. "''"^:eT.^^^l^y^o^^^^'Ve, a stockade about fifty rods northeast of the court-house in the present TTpper Sandusky. 352 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Frenchtown and Its suffering Inhabitants. Arrival of Winchester's relief Party. Battle and Massacre. was commanded by Colonel-Allen; the left, led by Major Green, was composed of the companies of Hamilton, Williams, and Kelley ; and the centre, under Major Madi- son, contained the corps of Captains Hightown, Collier, and Sebrees. The advanced guard was composed of the companies of Captains Hickman, Glaives, and James, and were under the command of Captain Ballard, acting as major. The chief of the lit- tle army was Colonel Lewis. Frenchtown,^ at the time in question, was a flourishing settlement containing thir- ty-three families, twenty-two of whom resided on the north side of the Raisin. Gar-* dens and orchards were attached to their houses, and these were inclosed with heavy pickets, called " puncheons," made of sapling logs split in two, driven in the ground, and sometimes sharpened at top. The houses were built of logs of good size, and furnished with most of the conveniences of domestic life. Two days after the sur- render of Detroit, as we have seen, this place was taken possession of by Colonel Elliott, who came from Maiden for the purpose with authority from General Brock. The weapons and horses of the inhabitants were left on parole, and protection to life and property was promised. The protection was not given, and for a long time the inhabitants were plundered not only by the Indians, but by Canadians, French, and British,^ and were kept in a state of almost continual alarm by their threats. In the autumn two companies of the Essex (Canadian) militia, two hundred in number, un- der Major Reynolds, and about four hundred Indians, led by Round-head and Walk- in-the-water,' were stationed there, and these composed the force that confronted Colonel Lewis when he approached Frenchtown on the 18th of January, 1813, and formed a line of battle on the south side of the Raisin, within a quarter of a mile of the village; Lewis's force numbered less than seven hundred men, armed only with muskets and other light weapons. The enemy had a howitzer* in position, directed by bombardier Kitson, of the Royal Artilleiy. When within three miles of Frenchtown Colonel Lewis was informed that the ene- my was on the alert and ready to receive him ; and as the Americans approached the village on the south side, the howitzer of the foe was opened upon the advancing column, but without effect. Lewis's line of battle was instantly formed, and the whole detachment moved steadily forward to the river, which was hard frozen, and in many places very slippery. They crossed it in the face of blazing muskets, and then the long roll was beaten, and a general charge was executed. The Americans, rushed gallantly up the bank, leaped the garden pickfets, dislodged the enemy, and drove him back toward the forests. Majors Graves and Madison attempted to cap- ture the howitzer, but failed. Meanwhile the allies were retreating in a line inclin- ing eastward, when they were attacked on their left by Colonel Allen, who pursued them more than half a mile to the woods. There they made a stand with their howitzer and small-arms, covered by a chain of inclosed lots and groups of houses, and having in their rear a thick, brushy wood, full of fallen timber. While in this position Majors Graves and Madison moved upon the enemy's right, while Allen was sorely pressing his left. The enemy fell back into the wood, closely pursued, and the conflict became extremely hot on the right wing of the Americans, where both' whites and Indians were concentrated. The contest lasted from three o'clock until dark, the enemy all the while slowly retreating over a space of not less than two miles, gallantly contesting every foot of the ground. The detachments returned to the village in the evening, and encamped for the night on the ground which the ene- ' The Eaisin, on which Frenchtown was situated, was called Sturgeon Eiver by the Indians, because of the abund- ance of that flsh in its waters. It flowed through a fertile and attractive region, and late in the last century a number of French families settled upon its banks, and engaged in farming, and trading with the Indians. Because of the abundance of grapes on the borders of the stream they called it Riviere aiw Raisins, and on account of the nationality of the settlers the village was called Frenchtown. It is now Monroe, Michigan. 2 Statement to the author by the Hon. Laurent Durocher, of Monroe (Frenchtown), who was an actor in the scenes there during the war of 1812. 3 gee note 3, page 2T9. * A kowitz or twicitzer is a kind of mortar or short gun, mounted on a carriage, and used for throwing bomb-shells. 0-F^THE WAR OF 1.812.- _^ 353 FrenchtowQ to be held. ' Winchester gmveB with Ke-enforcemen ts. Position of Troops there. my had occupied. American officers occupied the same buildings in which the Brit- ish officers had lived. The troops had behaved nobly. There had not been a single case of delinquency. « This amply supported," as was said, " the double character . of Americans and Kentuckians," and fully vindicated the faith and judgment of Gen- eral Harrison. Twelve of the Americans were killed and fifty-five wounded. Among the latter was Captain B. W. Ballard,' who gallantly led the van in the fight ; also Captains Paschal, Hickman,^ and Richard Matson.^ The loss of the enemy must have been much greater, for they left fifteen dead in the open field, while the most san- guinary portion of the confiict occurred in the wood. That night the Indians gather- ed their dead and wounded, and, on their fetreat toward Maiden, killed some of the inhabitants and pillaged their houses. As soon as his little army was safely encamped in jthe village gardens, behind the strong " puncheon"^pickets, and his wounded men comfortably housed, on the night of the battle,* Colonel Lewis sent a messenger to General "Winchester with . jannary is, a brief report of the action and his situation.* He arrived at Winchester's ^^^^• camp before dawn, and an express was immediately dispatched to General Harrison with the tidings. Lewis called a council of officers in the morning, when it was resolved to hold the place and wait for re-enfoi-cements from the Rapids. They were not long waiting. From the moment when intelligence of the afiair at Frenchtown was known in Win- chester's camp, the troops were in a perfect ferment. All were eager to press north- ward, not doubting that the victory at the Raisin was the harbinger of continued success until Detroit and Maiden should be in the possession of the Americans. It was also apparent that Lewis's detachment was in a critical situation ; for Maiden, the principal rendezvous of the British and Indians in the Iforthwest, was only eighteen miles from Frenchtown, and that every possible method would be instantly put forth to recover what had been lost, and bar farther progress toward Detroit. ; Accordingly, on the evening of the lOth,* General Winchester, accompanied by Colonel ^ Samuel Wells, of Tippecanoe fame, marched from the Maumee toward I"'renchtown with less than three hundred men, it being .unsafe to withdraw, more from the camp at the Rapids. He arrived at Frenchtown at three o'clock in the after- noon of the next day, crossed the river, and encamped the troops in an open field on the right of Lewis's forces,' excepting a small detachment under Captain Morris, left behind as a rear-guard with the baggage. Leaving Colonel Wells in command of the re-enforcements, after suggesting the propriety of a fortified camp, Winchester, with his- staff, recrossed the Raisin, and established his head-quarters at -the house of Colonel Francis Navarre, on the south side of -the river, and more than half a mile from the American lines. ^ 1 Captain Bland W. Ballard was a son of Captain Ballard, of Winchester's army. He was acting major at the time when he was wounded. 2 Hickman led a party of spies under Wayne from December, 1794, until June, 1T95. ' Matson was afterward with Colonel E. M. Johnson in the battle of the Thames. * Colonel Lewis's full report to General Winchester was written two days afterward, dated " Camp at Frenchtown, January 20, 1S13, on the Eiver Eaisin." The facts in our narrative of the battle were drawn chieily from this report. 5 It is asserted that Colonel Lewis recommended the encamping of the re-enforcements within the picketed gardens, there being .plenty of room on his left. Wells being of the regular army, precedencegavehim the )-i£);ft« of Lewis, and military rule would not allow him to take position on his left. This observance of etiquette proved to be exceedingly mischievous. „.., ^ -^ « The view of Colonel Navarre's house, the head-quarters of Winchester, given on page 354, Represents it as it ap- peared in 1813, with a "puncheon" fence in flront. General Winchester occupied the room on the left of the entrance- door. The room was a long one, fronting east (we are looking at the house in. a southeast direction), and had a large flrepiace ~ In ((this room the Indians who came to trade with. Navarre rested and slept. . The trees seen on the west side of the Jiouse are still there— venerable pear-trees (originally brought from Normandy), which were planted there by the early settlers. Those which remain' still bear fruit. In 1830 the old Navftrre House was altered by the sou of the owner in 1813 He made additions to it, and raised the roof so as to make it two stories in height. Like the original, the structure of 1830 was a log edifice. When I visited the spot in the autumn of 1860, it had undergone another change The loff-honse of 1S30 had been clap-boarded, and it was then the residence of the rector of the Episcopal church in Monroe. It stood back a little from Front Street, within the square bordered by Front, Murray, Humphrey, and Wads- 354 PICTOBIAL PIELD.-BOOK Winchester's Lack of VigUance. Warnings of Danger unheeded by Winchester. Other Officers on the Alert. WIMOHEBTEE'S HEAD-QUAETEES. According to the testimony of an ofBoer of the expedition, very little vigilance was exercised by General Winchester. Spies were not sent out to reconnoitre, nor any measures adopted for strength- ening the camp. A large quantity of fixed ammunition, sent to Winchester's quarters from the Rapids, was not dis- tributed, although the re-enforcements had only ten rounds of cartridges each ; and the urgent recommendation of Colonel Wells that the quarters of the commander-in-chief and the principal officers should be with the troops was unheeded. 1 On the morning of the 21st Winchester requested Peter Navarre and his four brothers to go on a scout toward the mouth of the Detroit River. Peter was still living when I visited the Maumee Valley in the autumn of 1860, and accompanied me from Toledo. to the Rapids. He was a young man at the time in question, full of courage and physical strength. He and his brothers complied with Winchester's request with alacrity. They saw a man, far distant, coming toward them on the ice. He proved to be Joseph Bordeau, wtose daughter Peter afterward married. He had escaped from Maiden, and was bringing tbe news that the British would be at the Raisin, with a large body of Indians, that night. Peter hastened back to Winchester with this intelligence. Jacques La Salle, a resident of Frenchtown, in the interest of the British, was present, and asserted, in the most positive language, that it must be a mistake. Winchester's fears were allayed. Peter was dismissed with a laugh, and no precautions to insure safety-were taken by the general.^ Another scout confirmed •this: intelligence during the afternoon. The general was still incredulous. Late in the evening news came to Lewis's camp that a very large force of British and In- dians, with several pieces of heavy artillery, were at Stony Creek, only a few miles distant, and would be at Frenchtown before morning. The picket-guard was im- mediately doubled, and word was sent to the commanding general. He did not be- lieve a word of it ; but Colonel Wells, who did believe the first rumor brought by Bordeau, had meanwhile hastened to the Rapids with Captain Lanham for re-enforce- ments, leaving his detachment in charge of Major M'Clanahan. When the late evening rumors had been communicated to Winchester, the. field officers remained up, . expecting every moment to receive a summons to attend a council at head-quarters. They were disappointed. The general disbelieved the alarming rumors ; and before midnight a deep repose rested upon the camp, as if some trusted power had guaranteed perfect security. The sentinels, as we have ob- served, were well posted, but, owing to the severity of the weather, no pickets were sent out upon the roads leading to the town. All but the chief officers in Lewis's camp and some better-informed inhabitants seemed perfectly free from apprehension. At head-quarters the night was passed by the general and his stag" in sweet slumber ; but just as the reveille was beaten, between four and five o'clock in the morning, and the drummer-boy was playing the Three Camps, the sharp crack of the sentinels' worth Streets. I am indebted to the kind courtesy of Mrs. SaraJi A. Noble, of Monroe (Frenchtown), Michigan, for the foregoing facts, and for the above sketch of Winchester's quarters as it appeared in 1813. 1 Jiajor Elijah M'Clanahan to General Harrison, dated " Camp on Carrying Elver, January 26, 1818," Carrying River was. eighteen miles from Winchester's camp, on the Manmee, on the way toward the Baisin. 2 Oral statement of Peter Navarre to the author. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 355 Attack on Frenchtown by Proctor and his Fellow-savages. A terrible Struggle. A Panic and Massacre. muskets firing an alarm was heard by still dull ears. These were followed im- mediately by a shower of bombshells and canister-shot hurled, from several pieces of ordnance, accompanied by a furious charge of almost invisible British regulars, and the terrible yells of painted savages. The sounds arid missiles fell upon the startled camp with appalling suddenness, giving fearful significance, to the warnings, and a terrible fulfillment of the predictions uttered the previous evening. , Mght had not yet yielded its gloomy sceptre to Day. The character and number of assailants were unknown. All was mystery, te;rrible and : profound ; and, the Americans had nothing else to do but to oppose force to force, as gallantly as possible, until the rev- elations of daylight should point > to strategy, skill, or prowess for safety and vie-' tory, ., The exposed re-enforcements in the open field were driven in toward Lewis's. picket- ed camp, after bravely maintaining a severe conflict for some time. At this moment General Winchester arrived, and endeavored to rally the retreating troops behind a " puncheon" fence and second bank of the Raisia, so that they might incline to the right, and find shelter behind Lewis's camp. His efforts were vain. The British and their savage allies were pressing too heavily upon the fugitives ; and when at length a large body of Indians gained their right flank, they were thrown into the greatest confusion, and fled pell-mell across the river, carrying with them a detachment of one hundred men which Lewis had sent out for their support. Seeing this, Lewis and Allen joined Winchester in his attempt to rally the troops behind the houses and fences on the south side of the Raisin, leaving the camp in the gardens in charge of Majors Graves and Madison. But all efforts to stop the flight of the soldiers were vain. The Indians, more fleet than they, had gained their flank, and swarmed in the woods on the line of their retreat, while those who made their way along a narrow lane leading from the village to the road from the Rapids were shot down and scalped by the savages skulking behind the trees and fences. Others, who rushed into the woods hoping to find shelter there from the fury of the terrible storm, were met at every turn by the bloody butchers, and scarcely one escaped. Within the space of a hundred yards, near Plum or Mill Creek, nearly one hundred Kentuckians fell under the hatchets of hired savages, who snatched the " scalp-locks" from their heads, and afterward bore them in triumph to Fort Maiden to receive the market price for that precious article of commerce. ' Death and mutilation met the fugitives on every side, whether in flight or in submission, and all about that little village the snow was crimsoned with human blood. On that dreadful ■ morning it was on the part of the allies of the British a war of extermination.^ 1 " Never dear mother, if I should live a thousand years, can I forget the frightful sight of this morning, when^hand- somelv-Dlintea Indians came into the fort, some of them can-Jing half a dozen scalps of my countrymen fastened upon sS and yet covered with blood, and were congratulated by Colonel Proctor for their !«-™en// I heard a Britosh offitr who I was told, was Lieutenant Colonel St. George, tell another officer, who, I believe, was Colonel Vmcent ^a Cctdr wa atograce to the British army-that such encouragements to devils was a blot upon he British character. -LetterTA G. Tustin, ot Bardstown, Kentucky, to his mother, dated Fort Maiden January 23 1813 = NO r^le of cvilized warfare was observed. Blood and scalps were the chief objects for which the Indians fongh. JNO ruie « "•"' " . nrisoners. A party of fifteen or twenty, under Lieutenant Garrett, after retreat- They seemed disposed 'J""" f^^^^ P™^ %^^^ ^„t the young commander were killed and scalped. Another ingabout amile^were com^em^^^^^ tender similar circumstances. Colonel Allen, who had been party of f^^y men were mo^^^^^^^ abandoning all hope, and escaping about two miles m he wounded in the ^^^^'^^^^^"^ZiXjBh^^^ exhaustion, to sit down upon a log. He was observed by an Indian V f L irrP^rhi^TriTrom sed him his protection if he would surrender without resistance. He M so At chief, who, P^'^"^""^ """^^^^^^ ^th murderous intent, when, with a single blow of his sword, Allen ]^dlTo?rem Veld uTon thJgfounTnis companion instantly shot_the colo.el dead. "He had the honor," says M'Afee, . 'of Shooting one of the flrs^^^^^^^ His father emigi-ated with him John Allen was born in Kockbridge ^^nellifZiZ^^ the present town of Danville, in Boyle County. Inl784 to Kentucky '"^ 1T8»> ^°5„«„f '^f ^^^^^^^^^^ and in a school in that then rude village young Allen the family removed to another P*''- f ™ ™f ' "°" Virrinia. for four years, and commenced its practice in ShelbyviUe, received his education. He «t°f i«*j^^ " ™?°' SsWly there whei the war broke out to 1B12, when he raised Kentucky, mim He Y,f f»"°!"°2,^^7™S™ HTwas killed, as we have seen, at the massacre on the Eiver RSsfon thV^rdTjIn'uaTlSls'rrLfagro^f forty-one years. Allen County. Kentucky, was so named in his honor. 356 ■ PICTOBIAL FIELD-BOOK Winchester made Prisoner. Proctor repulsed. Winchester forced to surrender his Army. Major Madison. General Winchester and Colonel Lewis were made prisoners by Round-head,' at a bridge about three fourths of a mile from the village, stripped of their clothes except shirt, pantaloons, and boots, and in this plight were taken to the quarters of the British commander, who proved to be Colonel Proctor, the unworthy successor of the worthy Brock in the command at Detroit and Amherstburg. He was in Fort Maiden, at the latter place, when intelligence of Lewis's occupation of Frenchtown reached him, and he made imnlediate preparations to drive the Americans back. The British and Li- dians expelled from Frenchtown on the 18th had fallen back with their howitzer to Brownstown, where Proctor joined them, on the evening of the 20th, with a detach- ment of the 41st Regiment, one hundred and forty in number, under Lieutenant Col- onel St. George; the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, under Colonel Vincent; and a part of the 10th Veteran Battalion and some seamen. These, with Reynolds's militia and a party of the Royal Artillery, with three three-pounders and the howitzer already mentioned, made a white force about five hundred strong. The Indians, under Round- head and Walk-i^-the-Water, numbered about six hundred. "With these Proctor ad- vanced from Brownstown on the morning of the 21st, and halted at Swan Creek, twelve miles on the way. There he remained until dusk, when the march was re- sumed. So great was the lack of vigilance on the part of the Americans that Proc- tor's troops and guns were made ready for assault before their presence was positively known. Then followed the attack just recorded. While the right wing of Lewis's army and Winchester's re-enforcements were suf- fering destruction, the left and centre, under Majors Graves and Madison, were nobly defending themselves in the garden picketed camp. They maintained their position manfully against the powerful assault 'of the enemy. The British had planted theii- howitzer within two hundred yards of the camp (and eastward of it), behind a small house about forty rods from the river, upon the road to Detroit. It was a formidable assailant, but it was soon silenced by the Kentucky sharp-shooters behind the pickets, who first killed the horse and driver of the sleigh that conveyed ammunition, and then picked off thirteen of the sixteen men in charge of the gun. It was soon drawn back so far that its shot had no effect on the " puncheon ;" and at ten o'clock, perceiv- ing all efforts of his white troops to dislodge the Americans to be fruitless. Proctor withdrew his forces to the woods, with the intention of either abandoning the contest, or awaiting the return of his savage allies, who were having their feast of blood beyond the Raisin. When the assailants withdrew, the Americans quietly break- fasted. While the troops were eating, a white flag was seen approaching from the British line. Major Madison, believing it to be a token of truce while the British might bury their dead, went out to meet it. It Was borne by Major Overton, one of General Win- chester's staff, who was accompanied by Colonel Proctor. He brought an order from General Winchester directing the unconditional surrender of all the troops as prisoners of war. This was the first intelligence received by the gallant left wing that their chief was a captive. Proctor had dishonorably taken advantage of his situation to extort that order from him. He assured Winchester that as soon as the Indians, fresh from the massacre from which he had escaped, should join his camp, the remainder of the Americans would be easily captured, concealing from him the fact that they had already driven the British back to the woods. He represented to the general that, in such an event, " nothing would save the Americans from an indiscriminate massacre by the Indians." Totally ignorant of the condition of the remnant of his little army, and horrified by the butchery of which he had just been a witness Win- chester yielded, and sent Major Overton with the orders just mentioned Madison, surprised and mortified, refused to obey the order except on conditions. t^e SmTeuUhe hldlt^peftm him"' ""' ^""'""' ''"™'''^' ^°""'-''"' '°^«^« '"^ P^'-"-' "^ '° ^ive up OF THE WfR OF 1812. • 357 Proctor quails before a true Man. His Pei-fldy, Cowardice, and Inhumanity. A fearful Night at Freuchtown. " It has been customary for the Indians," he observed, " to massacre the wounded and prisoners after a surrender ; I shall therefore not agree to any capitulation -which Gen- eral Winchester may direct, unless the safety and protection of all the prisoners shall be stipulated." The haughty Proctor stamped his foot, and said, with a supercilious air, " Sir, do you mean to dictate to me /" " I mean to dictate for myself," Madison replied, with firmness. " We prefer selling our lives as dearly as possible rather than be massacred in cold blo6d." Proctor, who was scorned by Brock for his jealousy and innate meanness, and is remembered with dislike by the Canadians, who knew him as innately cruel and cowardly,' quailed before the honest, manly bravery of Madison, and solemnly agreed that all private property should be respected ; that sleds should be sent the next morning to remove the sick and wounded to Amherst- burg; that the disabled should be protected by a proper guard; and that the side- arms of the ofiicers should be returned when the captives should reach Maiden. Proctor refused to commit these conditions to writing, but pledged his honor as a soldier and a gentleman that they should be observed. Madison was ignorant of Proctor's poverty in all that constituted a soldier and man of honor, and trusted to his promises. On the conditions named, he and his officers agreed to surrender them- selves and their men prisoners of war. Before the surrender was fairly completed the Indians began to plunder, when Major Madison ordered his men to resist them, even with ball and bayonet. The cowardly savages quailed before the courage of the white captives, and none of the prisoners were again molested by them while on their way to Maiden. Quite differ- ent was the fate of the poor wounded men who were left behind. Having secured his object. Proctor violated his word of honor, and left them exposed to savage cruelty. Rumors came that Harrison was approaching, and the British commander, more intent on securing personal safety than the fulfillment of solemn promises, left for Maiden with most of his savage allies, within an hour after the surrender, leaving as a "guard" only Major Reynolds and two or three interpreters. Proctor did not even name a guard, nor spoke of conveyances for the wounded after leaving Frenchtown ; and ■ when both Winchester and Madison reminded him of his promises and the peril of the wounded, he refused to hear them. It is evident that from the first that inhuman officer intended to abandon the wounded prisoners to their fate. Among them was Captain Hart, brother-in-law of Henry Clay, and inspector general of the Army of the Northwest. He was anxious to accompany the prisoners to Maiden, but Captain Elliott, son of the notorious Colonel Elliott, who had known Hart intimately in Ken- tucky, 'assured him of perfect safety at Frenchtown, and promised to send his own conveyance for him the next morning. Elliott assured all the wounded that they need not apprehend danger, and that sleds from Maiden would come for them in the morning. The wounded were taken into the houses of the kind-hearted villagers, and cared for by Drs. Todd and Bowers, of the Kentucky Volunteers, who were left behind for the purpose. In every mind there was an indefinable dread when Proctor and his motley crew departed ; and when it was known that he had promised his savage allies a "frolic" at Stony Creek, only about six miles from the Raisin, not only the wounded soldiers, but the villagers, and Major Reynolds himself, felt a thrill of horror, for there could be no doubt that the drunken Indians, after their debauch, would re- turn to Frenchtown to glut their appetites for blood and plunder. Even those who remained wenl^ from house to house, after Proctor's departure, in search of plunder. The night following the battle was a fearful one at Frenchtown. .January 23, Day dawned with hope, but the sun at' his r ising^ found the inhabitants i^i^- 1 Tecumtha, ae we shall observe hereafter, regarded Proctor as a coward, and by threats compelled him to make a stind onThe Tha.^8 ; and the venerable Eobert Eeynolds, of Amherstburg, and other survivors of the British army m Canada with whom 1 have conversed, spoke of him with contempt as a boasting, coward. 358 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Massacre and Scalping of wounded Prisoners allowed by Proctor. Incidents of the horrible Event. and prisoners in despair. Instead of the promised sleds from Maiden, about two hund- red half-drunken savages, with their faces painted red and black m token of then- fiendish purposes, came into the village. The chiefs held a brief council, and determined to kill and scalp all the wound- ed who Were unable to travel, in revenge for the many com- rades they had lost in the fight. This decision was announced by horrid yells, and the savages went out upon their bloody . errand. They first plundered the village; then they broke into the houses where the wounded lay, stripped them of every thing, and then toma- hawked and scalped them. The houses of Jean B. Jereaume and Gabriel Godfrey, that ^tood near the pi-esent dwelliiig of Matthew Gibson, sheltered a large number of prisoners. In the cellar of Jereaume's house was stored a large quantity of whisky. This the savages took in Sufficient quantities to mad- den them, when they set both dwellings on fire. A number of the wounded, unable to move, were consumed. Others, at- tempting to escape by the doors and windows, were tomahawk- ed and scalped. Others, out- side, were scalped and cast into the flames, and the remainder, who could walk, were marched ofi' toward Malden._ When any of them sank from exhaustion, they were killed and scalped. Doctor Todd, who had been tied and carried to Stony Creek, informed Elliott of what was going on at the Raisin, and begged him to send conveyances for the wounded, especially for Captain Hart ; but that young officer coolly replied, "Charity begins at home ; my own wounded must be carried to Maiden first." He well knew that an hour more would be too late for rescue.^ Major Graves was never heard of after the Maumee. Captain Hickman was mur- dered in Jereaume's house. Captain Hart was removed from that house by Doctor 1 This is from a sketch sent to Colonel William H. Winder by Lieutenant Colonel Boerstler, in a letter dated "Buffalo, 17th February, 1813. I send you," he says, " a hasty sketch of the situation of the troops at Frenchtown." He obtained it from some subordinate ofBcer among the prisoners from the Baisin, who were paroled, and passed through Buffalo. He says, " The prisoners have passed through to the number of four hundred and sixty-two. The general and field officers are not yet sent slctosb."— Autograph Letter. ' Elliott had been in Lexington, where he was very ill of fever for a long time in the family of Colonel Thomas Hart, the father of Captain Hart. During that illness he had received many attentions from the young man whom he now basely deserted in his hour of greatest need. MOVEMENTS AT PEENOHTOWN.l OF THE WAR. OF 1812. 359 The Death of Captain Hart. Sketch of his Life. The British ashamed to call the Indians their Allies. Todd, before the massacre was commenced, to the dwelling of Jacques Navarre, about a mile up the river (now the Wadsworth brick house), under the charge of a friendly Pottawatomie chief Hart offered him one hundred dollars to convey him in safety to Maiden. The chief attempted it. Hart was placed on a horse, and when passing through the village, near the house of Frangois La Salle' (who was sufspected of com- plicity with the British), a Wyandot savage came out, and claimed the cap- tain as his prisoner. A dispute arose, and they finally settled it by agreeing to kill the prisoner, and dividing his money and clothes between them. So says the most reliable recorded history.^ Local tradi- tion declares that the Pottawatomie at- tempted to defend Captain Hart when the Wyandot shot and scalped him. There are many versions of the tragedy. He was buried near the place of his murder, but the exact spot is not known. Proctor arrived with his prisoners at Amherstburg on the morning of the 23d of January, and on the 26th proceeded to Sandwich and Detroit.^ Some of them were sent to Detroit, and others were forwarded to Fort George, on the Niagara, by way of the Thames. These suffered much from the severity of the weather and bad treatment of their guards. At Fort George they were mostly paroled, on con- dition that they should not " bear arms against his majesty or his aUies during the war, or until exchanged." "Who are his majesty's allies?" inquired Major Madison. The of&cer addressed, doubtless ashamed to own the disgrace in words, said, "His nlajesty's allies are known." General Winchester, Colonel Lewis,'' and Major Madi- son,* were sent to Quebec, and at Beauportj near -that city, they were confined until the spring of 1814, when a general exchange of prisoners took place. . EE8IDEM0E OF LA SALLE. 1 1 am indebted to Mrs. Sarah A. Noble for this sketch of La Sailers honse, as it appeared at the time. It stood in front of the ford, was built of logs, and between it and the river was a " puncheon" fence. The " Laselle Farm" was known some time as the "Humphrey Farm." It is now [1867] the property of the Honorable D. A. Noble. 2 Nathaniel G. T. Hart was a son of Colonel Thomas Hart, who emigi'ated to Kentuckjj from Maryland, and settled in Lexington. Captain Hart was born at Hagerstown, in Maryland. One of his sisters married H«ury Clay, another married James Brown, long the United States minister at the French Court. Hart was making a fortune in mercantile pursuits when the war of 1812 broke out, when (at the age of about twenty-seven years) he was in command of the Lexington Light Infantry, a company which was organized by General James Wilkinson, who was its first captain, in 17ST. Under its fourth captain (Beatty) it was with Wayne in the campaign of 1794. Hart was its seventh captain, and was at the head of it in the expedition to the Baisin. When I visited Lexington in April, 1861, 1 called on the then commander of the company. Captain Samuel D. M'Cullough, who showed me the crimson silk sash of Captain Hart in his possession, which was torn and had blood-stains upon It. Cassius M. Clay, now [1867] American minister to the Court of St. Petersburg, commanded this company in the United States army in Mexico. In the battle of Buena Vista its flag was the regimental color of the Kentucky cavalry. On the 18th of January, 1861, a flag was presented to this company (now called the " Lexington Old Infantry") at the Odd Fellows Hall in Lexington, by General Leslie Combs, in behalf of the donor, David A. Sayre. On that occasion the United States band from the barracks at Newport, Ken- tucky, performed the musical part of the ceremonies. The Star-spangled Banner was sung, and the roll of all the captains, from 1789 to 1861, was called. The only sumvors of the company when Hart was captain, who were present, were, Thomas Smith, of Louisville; Lawrence Daly, of Fayette County ; and Judge Levi L.Todd, of Indianapolis. The latter, who was Hart's successor as captain, gave the opening address. ' A few days after the massacre at the Eaisin Proctor ordered all the inhabitants there to leave their houses and move to Detroit. It was mid-winter and severely cold. The snow was very deep, and they suffered dreadfully. Some conveyances were sent down from Detroit for them. For a while Frenchtown was a desolation, and the remains of the massacred were unburied. . . ^ - ^ 4 William Lewis was in Gaither'e battalion at St. Clare's defeat in 1791. He was then captain, and was appomted to the same position in the 3d Regiment of Infantry the following year. ' He resigned in 1797. In August, 1812, he was com- missioned Lieutenant Colonel of Kentucky Volunteers, and, as we have seen, behaved gallantly at Frenchtown. He was a native of Virginia. His death occurred near Little Hock, Arkansas, on the 17th of January, 1826. s George Madison was a native of Virginia, where he was born in 1T63. He was a soldier in the Eevolutipn, although he was only a lad of twelve years when it broke out. He was with General Clarke in the Northwest, and was at the hpad of a company iii St. Clair's defeat in 1791, where he was wounded. He was also wounded in an attack by the In- 360 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK War-cry of the Kentuckians. Honor conferred on Proctor. Sbamefulness of the Act. " Guardians of Civilization." The loss "of the Americans in the affair at the Raisin was nine hundred and thirty- four. Of these, one hundred and ninety-seven were killed and missing ; the remainder were made prisoners. Gf the whole army of about a thousand men, only thirty-three escaped. The loss of the British, according to Proctor's report, was twenty-four killed, and one hundred and fifty-eight wounded. The loss of their Indian allies is not known. The event was a terrible blow to Kentucky. It caused mourning in al- most every family. The first shock of grief was succeeded by intense exasperation, and the war-cry of Kentucky soldiers after that was. Remember the River Raisin ! » January 20, At Sandwich Proctor wrote his dispatch" to Sir George Prevost, the •'^^^- commander-in-chief in Canada, giving an account of his expedition to Frenchtown, and highly commending the conduct of his savage allies.^ His private i-epresentations were such that the evidently deceived Assembly of Lower Canada passed a vote of, thanks to him and his men, and the equally duped Sir George promoted him to the rank of brigadier general " until the pleasure of the Prince Re- gent should be known."^ That " pleasure" was to confirm the appointment, and there- by the British government indorsed his conduct. I visited Frenchtown (now Monroe); in Michigan, early in October, 1860. I went down from Detroit by railway early in the morning, after a night of tempest — min- gled lightning, wind, and rain. The air was cool and pure, and the firmament was overhung with beautiful cloud-pictures. I bore a letter of introduction to the Honor- able D. S. Bacon, a resident of the place for almost forty years, who kindly spent the day :vvitli me in visiting persons and places of interest on that memorable spot. Crossing the bridge to the north side of the stream, we passed down "Water Street toward the site of La Salle's, the camp of Colonel Lewis, and other places connected with the battle and massacre already described." "W^e met the venerable Judge; Du- dians inthe camp of Major John Adair the following year. For more than twetfty years he was auditor of public ac- counts in Kentucky. . When Kentucky was asked for troops in,1812he took the field. He was kept a prisoner at Quebec for some time. ' In 1816 he was nominated for tlie ofttce of governor of Kentucky. He was so beloved and popular that his opponent withdrew in-the heat of the canyass,- declaring that nobody could resiBt.that popularity. He was elected, but died on the 14th of October the same year. - ' "The zeal and courage of the Indian Dejpartment," he said, "were never more conspicuous than on this occasion, and the Indian warriors fought with their usual bravery." 2 It seems hardly possible that the Canadian Assembly or Sir George Prevost could have known the facts of the hor- rors of Frenchtown, and Proctor's inhuman abandonment of the" prisoners, or they would have^punifihed rather than rewarded the commander on that occasion. Sir George, in his general order announcing the promotion of Proctor, ac- tually said, "On this occasion the gallantry of Colonel Proctor was most nobly displayed in his hvmume and unwearied exertions^ which auceeeded in rescuing the vanquished frorn the revenge of the Indian warrvyrs /" British writers, unable to offer the shadow of an excuse for Proctor's conduct, either avoid all mention of the massa- cre, or endeavor to shield hirfi from the scourge of just criticism by affecting to disbelieve the fact that he agreed to give protection to the wounded, or accepted the surrender on any conditions whatevei-. " Indeed," says James, vrith an air of triumph in discussion, "General Winchester was not in a condition to dictate terras," because he was "strip- ped to his shirt and trowsers, and suffering exceedingly from the co\i."— Account of the Military Occurrences of the Lata War, etc., i., 188. But the testimony of eye and ear vritnesses to the fact are too abundant for any honest-minded man to doubt. Before all his men, in the presence of Colonel Proctor, not twenty rods from the house of Franpois Lasalle, Major Madison declared the conditions that had been agreed upon. The late Judge Dnrocher, who was present, in- formed me that he heard these conditions announced, and that Proctor assented to them by his silence. This is in con- firmation of Winchester's statement in his report, written at Maiden on the 23d of January, the day after the surrender. It gives the writer no pleasure to record the cruelties of savages and the unchristian conduct of British commanders who employed them. He would prefer to bury the knowledge of these things in oblivion, and let the animosities which they engender die with the generation of men who were actors in the scenes ; but when a Pharisee, affecting to be the " guardian of civilization," preaches censorious homilies to an equal in virtue and dignity, it is sometimes a wholesome service to prick the bubble of his pride with the bodkin of just exposure. "When the British government, in its pride or blindness, lectures that of the United States on lust for power, barbarity in warfare, and kindred subjects, as it did daring the late civil war in the United States, an occasional lifting of the veil from the records of the censor's own shortcomings may be productive of a wholesome humility and a practical desire for reform. Posterity will point the finger of scorn toward the conduct of the government of that empire, and the journalists and publicists in its interest, during the trials of the government and loyal people of the United States in their late struggles against foul conspiracy and frightful rebellion, as unworthy of an enlightened and Christian nation. That conducl>-the manifestation of the intense selfishness of the aristocracy of rank and wealth which have ever ruled England— will always appear darkly in the history of nations as a crime against humanity, and a libel upon the character of the overwhelming majority of the English people. The employment of bloody savages to butcher their relatives in America ; the demoniac treatment of captive Sepoys in India ; the encouragement of frightful atrocities in China, and the open sympathy with conspirators against a beneficent government for the avowed purpose of establishing a despotism whose comer-stone should be uuMAN SLAVEEY, should forever close the lips of the English government when it Attempts to lectiu-e others on human- ity, or claims to be,par exceUence, the "guardian of civilization." OF THE WAR OF 1812. 361 Visit to the Eaiain. Tlie historical Localities there. Survivors of the War. rooher already mentioned in the narrative as one of the actors in the scenes there— a Short darkicompkxioned man of French descent-who pomted out the spot, in an open lot between Water Street and the river, not far from where we were standing, a httle westward of La Salle's house, where Captain Hart was murdered by the iS- dians. I'romismg me another and longer interview at his office, we left Judge Du- rocher and passed on to the site of La Salle's dwelling, then the property of Hon. D. bISI able, delineated on page 359, a part of which yet remains, with a pear-tree plant- ed there during the last century. Not far below this we came to the railway and the common road leading from the Raisin to Detroit. On the corneivof the latter, not far from the site of the houses of Godfrey and Jereaume, where the wounded were burned and massacred, was a large brick house, the residence of Matthew Gib- son Very near it, in an orchard, might be seen the remains of the cellars of those buildings. From that pomt, around which the battle was fought, and near which the MO^SEOE, FROM THE BATTLE-GEODSU, Americans were driven across the Eaisin just before the massacre on the south side of the stream, I made the above sketch (looking westward) of the river, the railway bridge, and the distant town. Gibson's house is seen in the foreground, on the right ; the railway bridge, on four piers in the water, with the town beyond it, is seen in the centre ; and by the distant trees, seen immediately beyond the point on the left, is indicated the spot near which Winchester was captured. Returning to the village, I called upon Judge Durocher, who, in the course of a pleasant interview of an hour, gave me many items of information concerning the events we have been considering. He spoke of Winchester as a " fussy man," quite heavy in person, and illy fitted for the peculiar service in which he was engaged. He also assured me that after the de- feat of the Americans at Frenchtown, Proctor endeavored to persuade the Lidians to destroy the French settlements there, because he believed the inhabitants to be favor- able to the United States. It was even proposed to the Indians in council, and an- other Cold-blooded massacre, not by the permission, but at the instigation of Proctor, was only prevented by the firmness of the friendship which the Pottawatomies bore to the inhabitants oh the Raisin. Judge Durocher was seventy-four years of age when' I visited him. A little less than a ye,ar afterward he was borne to the grave.' . ^ Laurent Durocher was the son of a French Canadian, andfvas horn at St. Genevieve Mission, in MiSBouri, in 1786. Hia father died when he was young, and his uncle sent him to a college in Montreal to be educated. At the close of his 362 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK The valiant James Knaggs. His public Career. His Belations with ihe Indians. Our next visit was to the head-quarters of Winchester, delineated on page 354, which was occupied by the rector of the Protestant Episcopal church in "Monroe. It was too unlike the original to claim the service of the pencil, and we proceeded to the house of James Knaggs, one of the oldest inhabitants of that i:egion, and a re- markable character, who, as an Indian fighter and volunteer soldier, performed good service during the war of 1812. He had just returned from, some toil at a distance, and, octogenarian as he was, he seemed vigorous in miad and body. He was a stout- built man, about eighty years of age. His birth-place was at Roche de Bout, on the Maumee, a little above the present village of Waterville. His father was an English- man, and his mother a Mohawk Valley Dutch woman. ^ From early life he was fa- miliar with the Indians and the woods. He had been a witness of the treachery and cruelty of the savages, and his family had suffered severely at their hands. When speaking of the Indians and his personal contests with them, his vengeful feelings could hardly be repressed, and he talked with almost savage delight of the manner in which he had disposed of some of them. ^ Soon after Wayne's campaign Knaggs settled at Frenchtown, and became a farmer. In 1811 he established a regular ferry at the Huron River, on the road to Detroit, with only Indians as companions and neighbors. These, excited against all Ameri- cans by British emis^saries, were very troublesome, and Knaggs had frequent conflicts with them in some form. When Hull was on his way toward Detroit, Knaggs joined the army as a private in Captaiii Lee's company of dragoons — " River Raisin men the best troops in the world," as Harrison said' — and became very expert and efficient in the spy, scout, or ranger service. He was engaged in the various conflicts near the Detroit Rivei', already described, and in 1813 was in the battle of the Thames, under Colonel Richard M. Johnson. While with Hull at Sandwich, attached to Col- onel M' Arthur's regiment, he performed important scout service. On one occasion, accompanied by four men. he penetrated the country as far as the site of the present village of Chatham, on the Thames, and there captured a Colonel M'Gregor, a burly British officer, and a Jew named Jacobs, and carried them to Hull's camp. He tied M'Gregor to a horse, and thus took him to the head-quarters of his chief After the surrender M'Gregor offered five hundred dollars for the capture of Knaggs, dead or alive. The Indians were constantly on the watch for him, and he had many studies, in 1805, he settled at Frenchtown. At the beginning of the war of 1812, he, with other young Frenchmen of that region, joined the army of General ican commander with several im- HuU for a year. They were at the . /''"A, portant trusts. When, in 1818, Haisin when Hull surrendered, and // ( O if Monroe County was organized. gave themselves up to Captain El- ^^^ /'Jt}:-^CJ^j y.^,^/, Durocher was chosen its clerk. He liott. During the remainder of the OCM'U/tC/yyjr' CSs'ZtyZO&rK^t^ held that office for about twenty war he was charged by the Amer- years. He was for six years a, member of the Territorial Council of Michigan, and in 1835 was a member of the Convention that framed the state Con- stitution. He was a member of the state Legislature, a justice of the peace, Judge of probate, and circuit judge, and at the time of his death, on the Slst of September, 1861, was clerk of the city of Monroe. The funeral services at the tinie of his burial were held in St. Anne's Catholic church of Monroe, where Father Joos officiated. 1 Knaggs's mother lived at or near Frenchtown at the time of the battle there, and was one of those whom Proctor ordered to Detroit. She was then eighty years of age. Thinly clad (having been robbed by the Indians), she proceeded in an open trainemi, and reached Detroit in safety. When asked how it happened that she did not perish, she replied, " My spunk kept me warm." 2 On one occasion, as he informed me, while he kept the ferry on the Huron, he flogged a troublesome Indian very severely. That night a brother of the savage came to Knaggs's cabin at a late hour to avenge the insult. Hearing a summons, but not knowing the visitor, Knaggs went out, when the gleam of a knife-blade' in the starlight warned him of danger. He ran to a spot where he had a large club, pursued by a savage, who, ia striking at him with his knife, cut off the skirt of the only garment that Knaggs had on. The latter seized the club, turned upon his assailant, felled him to the ground, and beat him until every bone in his body was broken. Although nearly fifty years had elapsed since the occurrence, Mr. Knaggs became much excited while relating it. 3 I am indebted to Mr. Lyon, of Detroit, for the following copy of the first muster-roll of the " Eaisin men," under Cornet Isaac Lee : Carmt, Isaac Lee. Sergeant, James Bentley. Corporal, John Euland. Privates, James Knaggs, Louis Dronillard, Orriu Ehodes, Michael M'Dermot, Scott Eolle, Samuel Dibble, (Robert Glass, Cyrus Hunter, James Eolle, Silas Lewis, Samuel Youngs, John Murphy, Thomas Noble, Francis Moifatt, Daniel Hull, John Eeddull, John Creamer. FrCim October, 1813, to April, 1814, Captain Lee commanded a large company of dragoons. His lieutenants were George Johnson and John Euland. The late Judge Laarent Durocher was cornet. Johnson was a very brave officer, and in the battle of Maguaga he actually commanded Smyth's dragoons. OF THE WAR OF. 1812. 363 The patriotic Knaggs Family. Hamson unjustly censured. His Efforts to relieve Winchester at the Kaisia. UllLCi narrow escapes. This made him feel bit- terly toward them. At the battle of the Thames, Knaggs identified the body of Tecumtha, it is said, he having been long acquainted with the great Shawnoe. He was absent in Ohio on his parole when the battle of the Raisin occurred. He was the youngest of five brothers, all of whom were active in mili- tary service. His four brothers served as spies with Captain Wells, who was killed at Chicago. ■ One of them was captured in the war of 1812, and carried a prisoner to Halifax. They were all men of strong convictions, and each, until the day of his death, hated both the British and their Indian allies, for they had all suflfered at their hands. Mr. Knaggs seemed in fine health and spirits when I * A visited him; but, a little more J than three months afterward, he died suddenly. His death occurred on the 23d of De- cember, 1860.1 I returned to Detroit by the evening train, filled with reflections concerning the events of the day, and those which made the Raisin terribly conspicuous in the annals of the war. I remembered that some of the newspapers of the day censured Harri- ^ son for not promptly supporting Winchester ; and that in the political campaign of '1840, when Harrison was elected President of the United States, his enemies cited his alleged shortcomings on this occasion as evidence that his military genius and services, on which his fame mostly rested, were myths. But contemporary history, and the well-settled convictions of his surviving companions in arms whom I met in the Northwest, as well as the gallant engineer. Colonel Wood, who afterward fell at Fort Erie,2 fully acquit General Harrison of all blame or lack of soldierly qualities on that occasion. It was not until the night of the 16th that he was informed by a messenger that General Winchester had arrived at the Rapids, and meditated a for- ward movement. The latter intimation alarmed Harrison, and he made every exer- tion to push troops forward from Upper Sandusky, where he was then quartered, sixty miles from the Rapids by way of the Portage River, and seventy-six miles by Lower Sandusky. He immediately ordered his artillery to advance by way of the Portage, with an escort of three hundred men, under Major Orr, with provisions ; and he pressed forward himself, as speedily as possible, by the way of Lower Sandusky,* where one regiment and a battalion were stationed, under the command of General Perkins. This battalion was ordered to march immediately, under Major Cotgrove, and Harrison determined to follow it the next morning. He was just rising from his 1 I am indebted to Mr. William H. Bowlshy, a photographer in Monroe, for the likeness of Mr. Knaggs. It was taken from life by that gentleman. The signature was written in my note-book by Mr. Knaggs when I visited him. = Lieutenant Colonel Wood, then Harrison's chief engineer, with the rank of captain, afterward said, " What human means within the control of General Harrison could prevent the anticipated disaster, and save that corps which was al- ready looked upon as lost, as doomed to inevitable destruction f Certainly none, because neither orders to halt nor troops to succor him [Winchester] could be received in time, or at least that was the expectation. He was already in motion, and General Harrison still at Upper Sandusky, seventy miles in his rear. The weather was inclement, the snow was deep, and a large portion of the Black Swamp was yet open. What would a Tarenne or a Engtoe have done, under such a pressure of embarrassing circumstances, more than Harrison did ?" 364 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Harrison at tlie Maumee Hapids. He assiats the Fugitives from the Haiein. Hie Army at the Maumee Rapids. bed when a messenger came with the tidings of the advance of Lewis upon French- town. Perkins was immediately ordered to press forward to the Rapids the remain- ing troops under his command. After hastily breakfasting, he and Perkins proceeded in a sleigh. They were met on the way by an express with intelligence of Lewis's victory at the Raisin. This nerved Harrison to greater exertions. He pushed for- ward alone and on horseback, through the swamps filled with snow, in daylight and in darkness, and, after almost superhuman efforts, he reached the Rapids early on the morning of the 20th. Winchester had departed for the Raisin the previous evening, and Harrison could do nothing better than wait for his oncoming troops, under Perkins and Cotgrove, and the artillery by the Portage. What remained at the Rapids of Winchester's army, und^r Colonel Payne, were sent forward toward the Raisin, and Captain Hart, the inspector general, was sent to inform Winchester of the supporting movements in his rear. Alas ! the roads were so almost impassable/ that the troops moved very slowly. After the utmost 'exertions they were too late. ISTews came to Harrison, at ten o'clock on the morning of the 22d, of the attack of the British and Indians on the Akericans at Frenchtown. The fraction of Perkins's brigade which had arrived at the Rapids was sent forward, and Harrison himself hastened toward the Raisin. He met the affrighted fugitives, who told doleful stories of the scenes of the morning, and assured the commander that the British and Indians were in pursuit of the broken army of Winchester toward the Rapids. This intelligence spurred on the re-enforcements. Other fugitives were soon met, who declared that the defeat of Winchester was total and irretrievable, and that no aid in Harrison's power could win back the victory of the enemy. A council of officers was held at Harrison's head-quarters in the saddle, when it was decided that a farther advance would be useless and imprudent. A few active men were sent forward to assist the fugitives in escaping, while the main body returned to the Rapids. There another council was held, which resulted in an order for the troops, numbering not more than nine hund- red men, to fall back to the Portage (about eighteen miles), establish there a forti- fied camp, wait for the arrival of the artillery and accompanying troops, and then to push forwai-d to the Rapids again. The latter movement was delayed on account of heavy rains. On the 30th of Jan- uary Colonel Leftwitch arrived with his brigade, a regiment of Pennsylvania troops, and a greater part of the artillery, and on the 1st of February General Hamson moved toward the Rapids with seventeen hundred men. He took post on the rio-ht bank of the river, upon high and commanding ground, at the foot of the Rapids, and there established a fortified camp, to which was afterward given, in honor of the 'gov- ernor of Ohio, the name of Fort Meigs. All the troops that could be- spared fi-om other posts were ordered there, with the design of pressing on toward Maiden before the middle of February ; but circumstances caused delay, and the Army of the North- west tarried for some time on the bank of the Maumee before openins the camnaim of 1813 in that region. x- s i- t OF THE WAR OF 1812. 305 Events on the Kortheru Fmiitier. First warlike Measures there. Enforcement of the Revenue Laws. CHAPTER XVin. " Oh 1 now the time has come, my boys, to cross the Yankee line, We remember they were rebels once, and conquered John Burgoyne ; We'll subdue those mighty Democrats, and pull their dwellings down, And we'll have the States inhabited with subjects to the crown." Song — The Noblb Lads of Canada. iN preceding chapters the military events in the Northwest, where the war was first commenced in earnest, have been con- sidered in a group, as forming a distinct episode in the history. By such grouping, in proper order, the reader may obtain a comprehensive view of the entire campaign of 1812 in that re- gion, which ended with the establishment of General Harrison's head-quarters on the banks of the Maumee early in February 1813. We will now consider the next series of events, in the order of time, in the cam- paign of 1812, which occurred on the Northern frontier, from Lake Erie to the River St. Lawrence. The movements in the Northwest already recorded claim precedence, in point of time, over those on the Northern frontier of only seven days, Hull havino- initiated the former by the invasion of Canada on the 12th of July, and a squadron of British vessels having opened the latter by an attack on Sackett's Harbor on the 19th of the same month. The parties in these movements, between the scenes of which lay an almost unbroken wilderness of wood and water of several hundred miles, were absolutely independent of each other in immediate impulse and action. When war was declared the United States possessed small means on the north- em frontier for offensive or defensive operations. The first warlike measure was the construction, at Oswego, on Lake Ontario, of the brig Oneida, by Christian Bero- .and Henry Eckford, under the direction of Lieutenant Melancthon Woolsey, of the United States Navy. She was commenced in 1808, and was launched early in 1809. She was intended chiefly for employment in the enforcement of the revenue laws on the frontier, under the early embargo acts. For a similar purpose, a company of infantry and some, artillery were posted at Sackett's Harbor, at the eastern end of Lake Ontario,' in 1808; and in March, 1809, militia detachments were stationed on the southern shores of the St. Lawrence, opposite Kingston, to prevent smug- gling. This duty gave rise to many stirring scenes on the frontier in the violation and vindication of the revenue laws, which were generally evaded or openly defied until the spring of 1812, when a more stringent embargo act was passed.* 'April 4, The Legislature of the State of New York, as vigilant as the national i^'^- government, took measures early for enforcing the laws on the Canada frontier of that commonwealth. In February, 1808, the governor ordered five hundred stand of arms to be deposited at Champion, in the present county of Jefierson ; and the fol- lowing year an arsenal was built at Watertown,^ on the Black River, twelve miles 1 The Indians gave this an alnrost nnpronounceable and interminable name, which signified "Port at the month of Great Kiver." It received its name from Augustus Sackett>, the first settler. It was constituted an election district in 1S05, and in 1814 it was incorporated a village. Duriug the war of 1812 it was the chief military post on the Northern frontier. Millions of dollars have been expended there for fortifications and war vessels, yet prosperity as a village seems not to have been its lot. It contains less than one thousand inhabitants. a The engraving of the Arsenal Building on the following page is from a sketch made by the writer in 1855. It was erected at a cost of about two thousand dollars. It is still [1867] standing, on the south side of Arsenal (formerly Co- lumbia) Street, between Benedict and Madison Streets. It was maintained by the state as an arsenal until 1850, when It was sold. 366 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK War Materials at Watcrtown. The Militia ther e in Command of General Brown. The detached Militia of the State. eastward of Sackett's Harbor, under the di- rection of Hart Massey,' where arms, fixed ammunition, accoutrements, and other war supplies were speedily gathered for use on the Northern frontier. In May, 1 812, a reg- iment of militia, under Colonel Christopher P. Bellinger, was stationed at Sackett's Har- bor, a part of which was kept on duty at Cape Vincent. Jacob Brown, an enterpris- ing farmer from Pennsylvania, who had set- tled on the borders of the Black River about four miles from Watertown, and had been appointed a brigadier general of militia in 1811, was then in command of the first de- tachment of New York's quota of the one hundred thousand militia which the Presi- " April 10, dfent was authorized to call out by act of Congress.* When war was de- ^^^^- clared he was charged with the defense of the frontier from Oswego to Lake St. Francis, a distance of two hundred miles. ^ AESENAI. nUILDIMG, WATEETOWN, 1 Mr. Massey was one of the earlier settlers of Wateitown. The first religious meeting there was held in his honse. He was collector of the port of Sackett's Harhor at the time in question, and held that office all through what was call- ed " Embargo times" and the War. He died at Watertown in March, 1853, at the age of eighty-two years. 2 By a General Order issued from the War Department on the 21st of April, 1812, the detached militia of the State of New York were arranged in two divisions and eight brigades. Stephen Van Eensselaer, of Albany, was appointed major general, and assigned to the command of the First Division ; and Benjamin Mooees, of Plattsburg, was ap- pointed to the same office, and placed in command of the Second Division. The eight brigadiers commissioned for the service were assigned to the several brigades as follows : 1st brigade, Gekaed STEnpiFOED, of the city of New York ; 2d, Keuben Hopeins, of Goshen, Orange County ; 3d, Mioajah Pettis, of Queensbury, Washington County; 4th, Eiohakd Dodge, of Johnstown, Montgomery County; 5th, Jacob Beown, of Brownsville, Jefferson County ; 6th, Daniel Millee, of Homer, Cortland County ; 7th, William Wadswobtjh, of Gen- eseo, Ontario County ; 8th, Geoege M'Cluke, of Bath, Steuben County. This force was farther subdivided Into twenty regiments, and to the command of each a lieutenant colonel was as- signed, as follows : First Brigade : Ist regiment, Beehman M. Van Burm, of the city of New York ; 2d, Jonas JUapes, of the city of New York; 3d, JohnPttimaa, of Jamaica, Queens County. Second Brigade : 4th regiment, Abraham, J. Hardmbergh, of Shawangunk, TJlster County ; 5th, Martin Heennance, of Ehinebeck, Duchess County ; 6tli, Abraham Van Wyck, of Fishkill, Duchess County. Third Brigade : Tth regiment, James Green, of Argyle, Washington County ; 8th, Thomas DtiCler, of Plattsburg, Clin- ton County ; 9th, Peter I. Vosbwgh, of Kinderhook, Columbia County. Fourth Brigade : 10th regiment, John Prior, of Greenfield, Saratoga County, and 11th, Caivin Rich, of Sharon, Scho- harie County, to be attached to the regiments from General Veeder's division ; 12th, John T. VanDalfsen, of Coeyman's, Albany County, and 13th, Piitna/m JFarrington, of Delhi, Delaware County, to be attached to the regiments from Gen- eral Todd's division. Fifth Brigade : 14th regiment, WiUiam, Stone, of Whitestown, Oneida County ; 15th, Thomas B. Benedict, of De Kalb, St. Lawrence County. Sixth Brigade : 16th regiment, Farrand Stranahan, of Cooperstown, Otsego County; 17th, Thomas Mead, of Norwich, Chenango County. Seventh Brigade : 18th regiment, Httgh W. DdbMn, of Junius, Seneca County ; 19th, Henry Bloom, of Geneva, Cayu- ga Connty ; 20th, Peter Allen, of Bloomfield, Ontario County. To the Eighth Brigade was assigned the regiment of light infantry under Colonel Jeremiah Johnson, of Brooklyn, Kings Connty, and the regiment of riflemen under Colonel Francis M'Clure, of the city of New York. ■ General Van Hensselaer assigned to the several brigades the following staff officers : ^ Brigades. Brlgodo Majors and Inspectore. Brigade Quartermasters. Brigades. Brigade Majors and Inspectors. Brigade Qaartennasters. 1 2 a 4 Theophilus Pierce. John Dill. Michael S. Van der Cock. Moses S. Cantine. Charles Graham. Robert Heart. Dean Edson. Leon'd H. Gansevoort. 6 6 7 ■8 Eobert Shoemaker. Thomas Greenley. Julius Keyes. Joseph Lad. Henry Seymour. Nathaniel E. Packard. Henry Wells. Jeremiah- Anderson. I have compiled the above statement from General Van Eensselaer's first General Order, issued from his head-quar- ters at Albany on the 18th of June, 1S12.* The following paragraph from his second (General Order, issued on the 13th of July, indicates the special field of operations to which General Van Eensselaer was assigUed : " Major General Ste- phen Van Eensselaer having been requested to repair to the command of the militia heretofore ordered into the service, and to be hereafter ordered into the service of the United States for the defense Of the Northern and Western frontiers of this state between SL Begis and Pennsylvania, enters upon his command this day." In the same Order General Van Eensselaer declared that all the militia comprehended in the brigades organized by his General Order of the 18th of JnnS, " together with the corps commanded by Lieutenant Colonels Swift, Flemming, and Bellinger, were subject to his division orders." ' General Van Eensselaer's MS. Order Book from June 18th to October 1st, 1812. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 36'? Seizure of British Vessels on Lake Ontario. Retaliation expected. Northern Militia called out. In May, 1812, the schooner Lord JSFelson, owned hy parties at Niagara, Upper Canada, and laden with flour and merchandise, sailed from that port for Kingston. She was found in American waters, captured by the Oneida, under Lieutenant Com- mandmg Woolsey, and condemned as a lawful prize for a violation of the Embargo Act. About a month later,"' another British schooner, the Ontario, was cap- « jnne u, tured at St. Vincent, but was soon afterward discharged; and at about the ^^^^' same time, still another British schooner, named Niagara, was seized, and sold because of a violation of the revenue laws. These events, as was expected, soon led to retal- iation. When news of the declaration of war reached Ogdensburg, on the St. Law- rence, eight American schooners — trading vessels — lay in itshajrbor. They endeav- ored to escape'' to Lake Ontario, bearing away affrighted families and tfceir .^ effects. Ail active Canadian partisan named Jones, living not far from the present village of Maitland, had raised a company of volunteers to capture them. He gave chase in boats, overtook the fugitive unarmed flotilla at the foot of the Thousand Islands,^ a little above Brockville, captured two of the schooners {Sophia and Island Packet), and emptied and burned them. The remainder retreated to Ogdensburg.^ It was believed that this movement was only the beginning of more active and ex- tensive ones, offensive and defensive, on the part of the British — that several of the Thousand Islands were about to be fortifled, and that expeditions of armed men in boats were to be sent over to devastate the country along the northern frontier. General Brown and Commander Woolsey, vested with full authority, took active measures to repel invasion and protect the lake coast and river shores. In a letter to the former, Daniel D. Tompkins, Governor of New York, informed him of the dec- laration of war, and directed him to call out re-enforcements for Bellinger from the militia of Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence Counties, and to arm and equip them, if necessary, from the arsenals at Watertown, and at Russel, farther north on the Grosse River. Colonel Benedict, of ,-^_ y%,'X~ t><^-'<4>%4j of them as might do the service an injury by falling iflto „■„ ■ » i , ., , ■ the hands of the enemy. Under snch circumstances von will communicate to me in cipher by the following alphabet whenever you may judge It expedient" Here foStte «pher alphabet and numerals, of which a facsimile is above given. The original is in thepossess on of theNewTork Histoncal Society. It was presented by the Eev. Mr.' Chauncey, a son of the commodore, on the 6th of PebruarflSM OF THE WAR OF 1812. 371 American and British Squadrons on Lake Ontari o. Elliott sent to Lake Erie. Chauncey'B first Craise. Chauncey entered upon his new duties immediately after the receipt of his orders. In the first week in September he sent forward forty ship-carpenters, with Henry Eckford at their head. Others so^on followed; and Commander Woolsey was direct- ed to purchase some merchant vessels for the service. On the 18th of the same month, one hundred officers and seamen, with guns and other munitions of war, left New York for Sackett's Harbor, and Chauncey arrived there himself on the 6th of October. The schooners Genesee Packet, Miaperiment,GoUector,Lord N'6lson,Gharles and Ann, and Diana, were purchased, and manned and named respectively in the same order. Conquest, Growler, Pert, Scourge, Governor Tompkins, and Hamilton. Their armament consisted principally of long guns mounted on circles, with a few lighter ones that could be of very little service. Add to these the Oneida and Julia already in the service, and the entire flotilla, exclusive of the Madison, 24 (whose keel was laid before Chauncey's arrivaP), mounted only forty guns, and was manned by four hundred and thirty men, the marines included. The Oneida carried sixteen guns, therefore there was an avei-age of only five guns each among the remainder of the squadron. The British, at the same time, had made for service, on Lake Ontario, the ships Boyal George, 22, and Earl of Moira, 14 ; and schooners Prince Pegent, 16, Puke of Gloucester, 14, Simcoe, 12, and Seneca, 4. These, in weight of metal, were double the power of the American, while there was a corresponding disparity in the number of men.^ Lake Erie, over which also Chauncey was appointed commander, was separated from Ontario by the impassable cataract of Niagara, and vessels for use on the wa- ters of the former had to be constructed on its shores, or at Detroit, where the unfin- ished brig Adams, captured at the surrender of Hull, had been built. For the pur- pose of creating a fieet there, Chauncey sent Lieutenant Jesse D. Elliott with orders for purchasing vessels similar to those given to Commander Woolsey. We shall consider some of Elliott's earlier operations presently. Chauncey first appeared on Lake Ontario as the commander of a squadron on the 8th of November, a cold, raw, blustery day, with his broad pennant fluttering over the Ooieida, his flag-ship, accompanied by six small vessels,^ and bound on an expe- dition to intercept the entire British squadron on their return from Fort George, on the Niagara River, whither they had gone from Kingston with troops and munitions of war. Chauncey took his station near the False Ducks, some small islands nearly due west from Sackett's Harbor, on the track to Kingston, and in the afternoon of the 9th* fell in with the Royal George, Commodore Earl's flag-ship, mak- . November, ing her way for the latter place. Chauncey chased her into the Bay of ^^^^• Quints, and lost sight of her in the darkness of the night that soon followed. On the morning of the lOth* he captured and burnt a small schooner, and soon tj^^yg^j^jg^ afterward espied the Royal George headed for Kingston. He gave chase with most of his squadron,* followed her into Kingston Harbor, and there engaged both her and five land batteries^ for almost an hour. These were more formidable than Chauncey supposed ; and a brisk wind having arisen, and the night coming on, he withdrew and anchored. The breeze had become almost a gale the next morn- ing,"= so Chauncey weighed anchor and stood out lakeward. The Tomp- „ jfo^g^^g, ^ kins, Samilton, and Julia chased the Simcoe over a reef of rocks, and so 1 The Madison was launched on the 26th of November, only forty-five days after her keel was laid. Henry Eckford was her constructor. 2 Cooper's Naval RiOory of the United States, ii., 328. a The Oadda was commanded by Lieutenant Woolsey ; the Conquest by Lieutenant Elliott ; the BamHton by Lieuten- ant M'Pherson ; the Governor TompUns by Lieutenant Brown ; the Pert by Mr. Arundel ; the JvMa by Mr.Trant ; and the Growler by Mr. Mir. The last three named were sailing-masters. 4 In this chase Captain Elliott, in the Conqitest, gallantly led, followed by the Julia, Pert, and Growler. The Oiielda brought up the rear. She allowed the smaller vessels to make the attack. When, at half past three, she opened her carronades on tbe Royal George, that vessel was quick to cut her cables, and run up to the town. 5 There was a battery on both India and Navy Points. Three others guarded the town ; and some movable cannon were brought to bear on the American vessels. 372 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Operations near Kingston. ' Chauncey's Prizes. ^ Forsyth's Expedition. riddled her that she sank before reaching Kingston. Soon afterward the Hamilton captured a large schooner from Niagara. The prize was sent past Kingston under convoy of the Growler, hoping to bring out the Royal George, but that vessel had been so much damaged in the action that she was compelled to haul on shore to keep from sinking. She had received several shots between wind and water, some of her guns were disabled, and a number of her crew had been killed. The gale continued on the 12th, and during the following night a heavy snow- storm set in. Chauncey was undismayed by the fury of the elements. He had set his heart ori obtaining the supremacy of the lake at all hazards, and he continued his cruise. Informed that the Earl of Moira was off the Real Ducks, he attempted to capture her. She was on the alert. A schooner that she was convoying was seized, but the warrior escaped. During the day Chauncey saw the Royal George, and two schooners that he supposed to be the Prince Regent and Duke of Gloucester, but they did not seem disposed to meet him. In this short cruise Commodore Chauncey captured three merchant vessels, destroy- ed one armed schooner, and disabled the British flag-ship, and took several prisoners,^ with a loss on his part of only one man killed and four wounded.^ The loss of the British is not found on record. Leaving the Governor Tomphins, Conquest, Hamilton, and Growler to blockade Kingston harbor until the ice should do so efiectually, Chauncey sailed on the 19th, in the Oneida, for the head of the lake, accompanied by the remainder of the squad- ron. " I am in great hopes," he wrote to Governor Tompkins, " that I shall fall in with the Prince Regent, or some of the royal family which are cruising about York, Had we been one month sooner, we could have taken every town on this lake in three weeks ; but the season is now so tempestuous that I am apprehensive we can not do much more this winter." His anticipations were realized. He was driven back by a gale in which the Growler was dismasted, and the ice formed so fast that all the vessels were in danger. He retired to Sackett's Harbor, and early in Decem- ber the lake navigation was closed by the frost. ^ While Chauncey was commencing vigorous measures for the construction of a navy at the east end of Lake Ontario, the land forces there and on the St. Lawrence were not idle, although no very important service was performed there during the remain- der of 1812. The vigilant Captain Forsyth made a bold dash into Canada late in September. Having been informed that a large quantity of ammunition and other munitions of war were in a British store-house at Gananoqui, on the shores of the Lake of the Thousand Islands, in Canada,* and not heavily guarded, Forsyth asked and obtained permission of General Brown to make an attempt to captui^ them. He or- ganized an expedition of one hundred and four men, consisting of seventy riflemen and thirty-four militia, the latter oflJcered by Captain Samuel M'Nitt, Lieutenant Brown, and Ensigns Hawkins and Johnson. They set out from Sackett's Harbor on the 18th of September, and on the night of the 20th they left Cape Vincent in boats, threading their way in the dark among the upper group of the Thousand Islands. They landed a short distance from the village of Gananoqui, only ninety-five strong, without opposition ; but as they approached the town they were confronted by a party of sixty British regulars and fifty Canadian militia drawn up in battle order, who poured heavy volleys upon them. Forsyth dashed forward with his men with- 1 Among the prisoners was Captain Brock, brother of Major General Brock, who had been killed recently at Queens- town. He had some of his brother's baggage with him. ' Mr. Arundel, the commander of the Pert, was badly injured by the bursting of one of her guns, and a midshipman and three seamen were slightly wounded. Mr. Arundel refused to leave the deck, and was afterward knocked over- board by accident and drowned. 3 Channcey's Letter to Governor Tompkins, November 16, 1812 ; Cooper's Naval Historp, li., 833 to 337 Inclusive. * Gananoqui is pleasantly situated at the mouth of the Gananoqni Kiver, where it enters the upper portion of the St. Lawrence, known as the Lake of the Thousand Islands. It is in the town of Leeds, in Canada West, nearly opposite the town of Clayton (old French Creek), New York. OF THE WAE OF 1812. 373 Spoils taken at Gananoqnl. General Brown Bent to Ogdensbnrg. Hostile Movements there. out firing a shot until within a hundred yards of the enemy, when the latter fled pell- mell to the town, closely pursued by the invaders. There the fugitives rallied and renewed the engagement, when they were again compelled to flee, leaving ten of their number dead on the field, several wounded, and eight regulars and four militia- nien as prisoners. Forsyth lost only one man killed and one slightly wounded. For his own safety, he broke up the bridge over which he had pursued the enemy, and then returned to his boats, bearing away, as the spoils of victory, the eight regu- lars, sixty stand of arms, two barrels of fixed ammunition comprising three thousand ball-cartridges, one barrel of gunpowder, one of flints, forty-one muskets, and some other public property. In the store-house were found one hundred and fifty barrels of provisions, but, having no means of carrying them away. Captain Forsyth applied the torch, and store-house and provisions were consumed.^ The public property secured on this occasion was given to the soldiers of the expedition as a reward for their valor. While" Forsyth was away on his expedition, Brigadier General Richard Dodge ar- • September 21, rived at Watertown^' with a 1^^^- detachment of Mohawk Val- / / < i ley militia. He outranked General Brown, and on his arrival he ordered that officer to proceed to Ogdensburg, at the mouth of the Osw;egatohie River, to garrison old Fort Presentation, or Oswegatchie, at that place.2 General Brown was chagrined by this unlooked-for order, but, like a true soldier, he immediate- ly obeyed it. A part of Captain Forsyth's company went with him; and three weeks later, at the request of the governor, Gen eral Dodge sent to Brown* the remainder of the riflemen, and the artillery compa- appeaeanoe or foet oswegaiohie m isi2. nies of Captains Brown, King, and Foot, in all one hundred and sixty men, with two brass 9 -pound cannon, one 4, and an ample supply of muskets and munitions of war. General Brown arrived at Ogdensburg on the 1st of October. Already the militia had been ;Bmployed in some hostile movements. At about the middle of September information reached Ogdensburg that some British bateaux, laden with stores, were •ascending the St. Lawrence. It was resolved to capture tljem. A gun-boat, with a brass six-pounder and eighteen men, under Adjutant Daniel W. Church, accompanied by a party under Captain Griffin, in a Durham boat, went down the river in the night, and encountered the enemy near Toussaint Island. The Durham boat was lost in the afiray, and the gun-boat was in great peril at one time. It was saved, how- ever. The expedition was a failure. Five of Church's men were wounded, and one was killed. The British lost several in killed and wounded. They were led by Ad- jutant Fitzgibbon.^ On the day after General 'Brown's arrival at Ogdensburg," about forty British bateaux, escorted by a gun-boat, were seen approaching Prescptt from below, and as they neared the town a battery at that place opened upon Og- » October 12. 1 Letter of General Brown to Goremor Tompkins, September 23, 1813 ; Letter from TJtica, September 29, 1812, pub- lished in Th£ War, page 71. The same letter appears in Niles's WeeMy Begixter, October 10, 1812. = A particular account of this fort will be given hereafter. 2 Hough's History of St. Lawrence and Franklin Counties, page 624. 374 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK A British ExpeditiOD on the St. Lawrence. It attacks Ogdenshurg. The British repulsed. densburg to cover the flotilla, i The heavy guns at the latter place consisted of a brass six-pounder under the charge of Adjutant Church, and an iron twelve-pounder managed by Joseph York, sheriff of the county, and a volunteer citizen. These re- plied to the British battery for a while. On the following day the firing from Pres- • October cott was renewed, but was not answered ; and on Sunday morning, the 4th,'' 1812.^''' two gun-boats and twenty-five bateaux, filled with about seven hundred and fifty armed men, under Colonels Lethbridge and Breckinridge, went up the river almost a mile, and then turned their prows toward Ogdensburg, with the evident intention of attacking it. Forsyth's riflemen were encamped at the time near the old fort on the west side of the Oswegatchie, and General Brown, with regulars and militia, were stationed in the town.^ The whole American force amounted to about twelve hundred effective men. These were immediately drawn up in battle order to receive the invaders. When the latter had approached to within a quarter of a mile of the town, nearly in mid-channel, the Americans opened such a severe fire from their two cannon that the enemy retreated in confusion and precipitation, with the loss of three men killed and four wounded. ^ About thirty rounds were fired from each of the two cannon, and the action lasted two hours.* Not one of the Ameri- cans was injured in the action, but some damage was done to the town by the can- non-shot of the British. " This enterprise," says Christie, a British author, " under- taken without the sanction of the commander of the forces, was censured by him, and the public opinion condemned it as rash and premature."^ Eighteen days after the repulse of the British at Ogdensburg, Major Guilford Dud- ley Young, and a small detachment of militia, who were chiefly from Troy, New York, performed a gallant exploit at St. Regis, an Indian village lying upon the boundary-line between the United States and Canada. The dusky inhabitants of that settlement were placed in « very embarrassing position when war was declared. Their village lp,y within the boundaries of both governments, and up to that time the administration of their internal affairs, managed by twelve chiefs, had been nom- inally independent of both. The annuities and presents from both governments were equally divided among them, and in all matters of business and profits every thing was in common. That this relation should not be disturbed, commissioners, appoint- ed by the two governments, agreed that the Indians should remain neutral, and that the troops of both parties should avoid intrusion of their reservation. But they be- came objects of suspicion and dread. The settlers in that region had been horrified with tales of Indian massacres remotely and recently, and these people could not pass the boundaries of their domain without being regarded as possible enemies. So vig- ilant was this general fear that the Indians were compelled, when they went abroad, to carry a pass from some well-known white inhabitant, among the most prominent of whom, appointed by the chiefs, was Captain Polley, late of Massena Springs.* I William E. Guest, Esq., whom I met at Ogdensburg in the summer of 1860, in some of his published " Eecollections" of that place, speaking of the affair, says, " The villagers came out in large numbers, and stood in Washington Street, near the resilience of Mr. Parish. Among them were a number of ladies, who felt safe, as no balls had as yet come into the village. While all were intently watching, with great excitement, the movements of the contending parties, a 12-pound shot, with its clear, singing, humming sound, passed pver our heads, in the line of State Street, as near as we could judge, and fell in the rear of the village. A sudden change came over the scene. It became an intimate matter to all, and the ladies beat a rapid retreat." When I was in Ogdensburg in 185S, and made a sketch of the old Court- house, printed in a note in Chapter Xxvil. of this work, I was informed that that ball passed through the building, and a hole made by it was pointed out to me. 3'The subordinate commanders on this occasion were Colonel Benedict, Major Dimock, Adjutant Hoskin, and Captains Forsyth, GSrifBn, Hubbard, Benedict; and M'Nitt. — Ogdensburg Falladium, Oc- tober 6, quoted in Tlie Ww, 1., 78. ' One account says that one of their gun-boats was disabled, and another that " two of their boats were so knocked to pieces as to render it necessary to abandon them." * Hough's History of St. Lawrence and Franklin CowntUa, page 625. Letter from Plattsburg, dated October 9, in Niles's Weekly Register, iii., 126. Christie's Xilitary Operations in Canada, page 81. * Christie's Military Operations in Canada, page 81. ^ These passes stated that the bearer was a quiet, peaceable person. It was their custom to hold these passes up on approaching a white person that they might not be alarmed. On the other hand, OF THE WAR OF 1812. 375 The British violate a Neutrality Agreement. British Troops occupy St. Regis. Its Capture by the Americans. These restrictions curtailed their hunting and fishing, and they were reduced to such great extremities that they were compelled to apply to Governor Tompkins for re- lief.' The governor listened to their request, and during the war they received ahout five hundred rations daily from the United States government stores at French Mills,^ now Fort Covington, on the Salmon River. The neutrality agreement was violated by Sir George Prevost, the British com- mander-in-chief in Canada, who placed Captam M'Donell and a party of armed Cana- dian voyageurs in the village of St. Regis " for the security of that post," to " guard against any predatory incursions of the enemy, to inspire confidence in the Indians," and to give " support and countenance" to " Monsieur de Montigny, captain and res- ident agent at the village."' The real object appears to have been the seduction of the Indians from their neutrality by persuading them to join the British standard. In this they were successful, as the presence of more than eighty St. Regis warriors in the British army at different places on the frontiers subsequently fully proves.* Major Young was stationed at French Mills when M'Donell took post at St. Regis, and he wished to attempt the capture of the whole party at about the 1st of October. William L. Gray, an Indian interpreter, was then running a mill on the site of the present village of Hogansburg, two miles above St. Regis, and consented to be Young's guide. He took him and his command along an unfrequented way, that brought them out suddenly upon the eastern banks of the St. Regis, opposite the village. The stream was too deep to ford, and, having no boats. Major Young was compelled to abandon the project at that time. The British intruders were alarmed ; but as day after day wore away without farther molestation, M'Donell settled down into a feel- ing of absolute security. From that state he was soon aroused. Young left French Mills, with about two hundred men, on the night of the 21st of October, at eleven o'clock, crossed the Str Regis, at Gray's Mills, at half past three in the . October 22, morning," in a boat and canoe and a hastily-constructed raft, and before ^^^^' dsL^;^n arrived within half a mile of St. Regis, where they concealed themselves, while taking some rest and refreshment, behind a gentle hill westward of the village. Hav- ing carefully reconnoitred the position, the little party moved in three columns to- ward the British part of the village, at the northern extremity of which, not far from the ancient and famous church, stood the houses of Montigny and M'Donell, in which the officers and many of the men of the British detachment were stationed. Captain Lyon, editor of the Troy Budget, moved with his company along the road upon the bank of the St. Regis, so as to gain the rear of Montigny's house and a small block- house, while Captain Tilden and his company made a detour westward, partly in rear of M'Donell's, for the purpose of reaching the St. Lawrence and securing the boats of the enemy. Major Young, with the companies of Captains Higbie and M'lSreil, moved through the village in front. Thus the enemy was surrounded. Lyon was first discovered by the British sentinel and attacked. Young was then within one hundred and fifty yards of Montigny's house. At that instant an ensign of the enemy, attempting to pass in front after being ordered to stand, was shot dead; and a few minutes afterward complete success crowned the enterprise of the gallant major. Forty prisoners (exclusive of the commander and the Catholic priest), with their arms and accoutrements, thirty-eight muskets, two bateaux, a fiag, and a quantity of bag- the Indians required persons taTcling across their domain to exhibit passes. As few of these Indians could read, a de- KeeTrecetog page) was*dopted to obviate the difficulties which that deficiency might give rise to. If a person was going through to French Mills, a simple bow was drawn on the paper ; if he was intending to visit St. Eegis vil- 'Tih^Mr^ftln't'olXtosZ that purpose was signed by the mark and name of Lewis Cook, one of the chiefs of the St. Eegis Indians, and a colonel in the service of the United States, a Hough's History of St. Lawrence and Franklin Counties, page 156. 3 Letter of Adjutant Baynes to Captain M'Donell. . „ , •, j. - „ * Le Clerc who succeeded Montigny as agent, raised a company of warriors there, and crossed over to Cornwall. These participated in several engagements during the war.-Hongh's St. Lawrmm and franklin Countws, page 166. 376 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK First Trophy-flag of the War taken on Land. Its public Keception a t Albany. Sketch of Colonel G. P. Young. gage, including eight hundred blankets found at the Indian agent's house, were the fruits of the victory. The British had seven men killed, including a lieutenant, en- sign, and sergeant, while the Americans were all unhurt. The late distinguished civilian, William L. Marcy,^ who was a lieutenant in Lyon's company, and assailed the block-house, was the captor of the flag that waved over it. He bore it in triumph back to French Mills, where Young and his party arrived the same day, at eleven o'clock, with the prisoners and spoils — the latter in the captured bateaux, by way of Salmon River.^ ^.■-''-:^^:^ ' Young and his de- The prisoners were _^^!^^^^^^\]^^*>-C,-'^<^-^ tachment returned sent to Bloomfield's "^^^^^ ~/^^^~~^ *° "^^Jf ^^^ ^i*^ head - quarters at ' ••" "^ ~ ^'^$ ^ -> ^ ~^ ^i^ o'^^'i ^^°^ P^^' Plattsburg. Early <^ sented that British in January Major -^ . . flag — the first tro- phy of the kind that had ever been taken on land — to the people of the State of New York in the capital at Albany.^ Soon after the affair at St. Regis the British retaliated by an expedition to French Mills, which captured the company of Captain Tilden stationed there. Le Clerc also captured Mr. Gray, the interpreter, and sent him to Quebec, where he died in the hospital. During a brief sojourn at the Massena Springs, on the Racquette River, in the sum- mer of 1855, I visited St. Regis, or AJc-wis-sas-ne, the place "where the partridge drums," as the Indians called it.* I rode out to Hogansburg, ten miles eastward of ' The public career of Mr. Marcy is too well known to reijnire more than a passing notice here. He was then twenty- six years of age, and had studied law, and was practicing it in Troy. He served with credit in the New York State mi- litia during a greater part of the war. In 1821 he was appointed adjutant general of the state. In 1829 he was made a justice of the Supreme Court of the state. In 1831 he was elected to a seat in the United States Senate, and in 1833, governor of the State of New York, which office he held, by re-election, six years. In 1845 President Polk called him to his cabinet as Secretary of War, and in 1853 he became one of President Pierce's constitutional advisers as Secretary of State. On the 4th of March, 186T, he retir^ed to private life, and just four months afterward he died suddenly at Balls- ton, New York, while reading in his bed, at the age of seventy years. 2 Major Young's dispatch to General Bloomfleld, October 24, 1812 ; Thomson's WMorical Sketches, etc. ; Hough's History of St. Lawrerux and Franklin Counties ; statement of Eev. Eleazer Williams to the author. 3 That ceremony took place on the 5th of January, 1813, at one o'clock in the afternoon. Major Young, with a de- tachment of his Troy volunteers, entered Albany. The soldiers bore two fine living eagles in the centre of the detach- ment, and the trophy-colors in the rear, while a band played Yankee Doodle. They passed through Market Street (near Broadway), and up State Street, to the Capitol, where they were greeted by an immense crowd who thronged the build- ing. The governor was too ill to be present, and Colonels Lamb and Lusk acted as his representatives. Major Young, after an appropriate speech, delivered the trophy to those gentlemen, and received from Colonel Lnsk a complimentary response. Guilford Dudley Yoimg was bom at Lebanon, Connecticut, in June, 17T6, and in 1798 married Miss Betsey Huntington, of Norwich. In 1805 he settled in Troy, New York, where he engaged in mercantile pursuits. He raised a corps of volunteers in the summer of 1812, and Joined the service on the St. Lawrence frontier under Colonel Benedict. Be- cause of his exploit at St. Regis he was promoted to major in the 29th Regular Infantry in February, 1813, and was raised to the rank of lieutenant colonel two months afterward. He was disbanded in 1815, and soon afterward joined Miranda's Mexican expedition. He left New York for that purpose in July, 1816. In August, the following year, he was in Port Sombrero, with two hundred and sixty-nine men, when it was encircled by three thousand five hundred Royal- ists. While standing exposed on the ramparts on the 18th of August, 1818, a cannon-shot from the enemy took ofli his head. 4 During the colonial period, when the northern fl-ontiers of New England were harassed by savages, three children, were carried off by them ftom Groton, Massachusetts. They consisted of two hoys and a girl named Tarbell. The girl escaped and returned home, but the boys were taken to Canada and adopted into the families of their captors— some Oaughnawaga Indians, near Montreal. In the course of time they married daughters of chiefs. Their intercourse with the savages w«s not very pleasant, and the village priest advised them to seek new homes. They, with their wives and wives' parents (four families) departed In a bark canoe, went up the St. Lawrence, and landed upon the beautiful point on which St. Regis stands. There they resolved to remain. They called the place, on account of the abundance of par- tridges, as above hoticed. In 1760, when they had made themselves comfortable houses, with cultivated fields around them they were joined by Father Anthony Gotdon, a Jesuit priest, and a colony from Caughnawaga. .Gordon named the place St. Regis. Gordon erected a church of logs and covered it with bark. This was burned two years afterward, when a small wooden church was erected in its place, and the first bell ever heard in §t. Regis was hung in its tower Ihe common behef has been that this was the bell carried off from Deerfield by the Indians, after the destruction of that village by fire in 1704 ; and with that belief Mrs. Sigourney wrote her beautiful poem entitled The Bell of St. Eeqis in Which occurs these stirring lines: " Then down inom the burning church they tore The bell of tuneful sound ; And on with their captive train they bore That wonderful thing toward their native shore, The rude Canadian bound. OF, THE WAR OF 1812. 37r Eleazer WiUiamB, or " The Loat'prince." " A strange St^ The Bell at St. Regis. A Visit iofet. Begis. place of -worship had just been erected in a pleasant pine grove on the borders of that village of two hundred inhabitants, Mr. Williams vras connected with the Indians in that re- gion during the War of 1812. He was with Major Young in his first attempt to surprise the Brit- ish at St. Regis, and was afterward in military service at Plattsburg, in a com- pany of volunteer Rangers. He gave me some useful in- formation with some friends, over a new- ly cleared but pleas- ant (Country, with the great Wildemjps of Northern New York lying on our right, and far in the south- east the blue sum- mits of the Crreen Mountains bounding the horizon. We dined at Hogans- burg in company with the late Rev. Eleazer Williams, the reputed " Lost Prince" of the house of Bourbon, who was then pastor of a lit- tle congregation of Episcopalians, whose ty>^ 4l From Hogansburg we rode up to St. Regis, a poor-looking village situated upon a gently elevated plain at the head of Lake St. Francis, just below the foot of the Long Saut Rapid, on a point between the mouths of the St. Regis and Racquette Rivers. It is surrounded by broad commons, used as a public pasture, with small gardens near the houses. In front of the village, in the St. Lawrence, lie some beautiful and fertile islands, upon which is raised the grain for the subsistence of tlie villagers ; and on the opposite shore of the great river is the Canadian village of Cornwall. We first visited the remains of the cellar of Montigny's house, where Captain M'Donell and some of the British soldiers were captured by Young, at the mouth of the St. It spake no more till St. Eegis's tower In northern skies appeared ; And their legends extol that pow-wow's power, Which lolled that knell like a poppy-flower, As conscience no>v slumbereth a little hour In the cell of a heart that^s seared." The hell carried from Deerfleld was taken to Canghnawaga, and hung in the church of St. Louis there, where it still remains. ' A dark mystery has ever brooded over the fate of the eldest son of Louis the Sixteenth, King of Prance, who was ten years of age at the time of his father's murder by the Jacobins. The Eevolutionists, after the downfall of Robes- pierre and his fellows, declared that he died in prison, while the Royalists believed tha»he was sent to America. Cu- rious facts and circumstances pointed to the Rev. Mr. Williams, a reputed half-breed Indian of the Caughnawaga tribe, as the survivin^priiice, who for almost sixty years had been hidden from the world in that disguise. The claim that he was the Dauphin— the " Lost Prince"— was set up for him, and the fact that he was not possessed of Indian blood was fairly established by physiological proofs. Scars produced by scrofula and inoculation for the small-pox, described as marking the person of the Dauphin, marked the person of Mr. Williams with remarkable exactness. The book in question brings all of these proofs of identity to view. But the world was incredulous. The word of the Prince de Join- Tille, an interested son of Louis Philippe, was put in the balance against that of a poor missionary of the Episcopal church in America, and the latter was outweighed. Mr. Williams died in 1859, in that obscurity in which his life had been passed. The question that so excited the American public a few years ago — " Have we a Bourbon among us V — has not been asked for a long time. The remains of the reputed "Lost Prince" rest in peace near the banks of the St. Regis. PICTOEIAL riELD-BOOK The old Church in St. Eegis. Pleasant Memories of the Visit. 378 A Parish j'riest at a Horse-race. Regis We then called at the house of the parish priest (Father Francis^Marcote), but had not the pleasure of seeing him, he having gone over to Cornwall, his servant said, to attend a horse-race. The gray old church, huilt of massive stone, its walls five feet thick its roof covered with shingles and its belfry with glittering tin-plate, stood near. Its portal was invitingly open, and we entered. We fonlid it quite plain in general construction, but the altar and its vicinity were highly ornamented and gilded Upon the walls hung some rude pictures. Across the end over the entrance was a gallery for the use of strangers. The Indian worshipers usually kneel or sit on the floor during the service. The full liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church was used there, and the preaching was in the Mohawk language." The present church edifice was erected in 1792. The dilapidated spire had lately been taken down, and the bel- fry was covered with a cupola surmounted by a glittering cross. Near the vestry- room, within the inclosure, was a frame-work on which hung three bells ; the two upper ones made of the. first one ever heard in St. Regis, mentioned in note 4, page 376.2 The lower and larger one was cast in Troy in 1852, and had not yet been placed in the tower. OLD onUECH IN ST, EEGIS. While sketching the old church' I was surrounded by the Indian children, all cu- rious to know what I was about ; while an old Indian woman stood in the door of a miserable log house near by, looking so intently with mute wonder, apparently, that I think she did not move during the half hour I was engaged with the pencil. The children kept up a continual conversation, intermingled with laughter, all of which came to the ear in sweet, low, musical cadences, like the murmuring of brooks. This is in the British portion of the town. Just after leaving the church we met the venerable Captain Le Clerc, already men- tioned, who had lived in St. Regis fifty-seven years. He accompanied us to the house of Fran9ois Dupuy, one of the two merchants then in St. Regis. Dupuy's store and ^ A full and interesting account of St. Eegis may be found in Hough's History of St. Latorence and Franklin Counties. ' This bell became cracked more than thirty years ago, and it was recast in two small ones. The Indians, suspicious that some of the (to them) sacred metal might be abstracted at the bell-founder'e, sent a deputation to watch the pro- cess, and see that every particle of the old bell went into the crucible. 3 In this view is seen the old church on the right, a specimen of many- of the houses in the village on the left, and in the extreme distance, near the centre, the dwelling of the parish priest. A tall flag-staff stands near the inclosure. The bells mentioned in the text are just behind the two Lombardy poplars on the right. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 379 The Boundary Line between the Unitea States and Canada. Capta||Fo lly. Buffalo in 1812. dwelling were on the forty-fifth parallel of north latitude, which is the dividing-line here between the United States and Canada. That line passed through his house; and while an attendant was preparing some lemonade for us within the dominions of Queen Victoria, we were sitting ^ twilight I walked leisurely down m the United States, hut in the fM to the springs on the margin of same room, waiting to he served. ^H .the swift-flowmg Racquette, and On the margin of the street op- I f under the pavilion* that covers posite Dupuy's stood one of the ^ T the principal fountain of health I cast-iron obehsks, three feet and 1 met , a venerable man, who in- a half m height, which are placed ^ J^ formed me that he was one of at certain intervals along that '^ f^jg the first settlers in that region, frontier line as boundary monu- , F ^ He was in the War of 1812 as a ments. Upon its four sides were -■ | soldier, and fought in some of the cast appropriate inscriptions, in " Bj ' battles on the Niagara frontier, raised letters.' ^ IB | He was badly wounded at Black We left St. Regis toward the ^ »H|b| Rock by the explosion of a bomb- evenmg of a delightful day, and J y,g^''^ F "shell that came from a battery reached Massena just as the jPR-^iv ^ ' on the Canada side. "I was guests of the hotel were assem- „ knocked down," he said, "had bling at the supper -table. At boumdaby MoianiBUT. my breast -bone stove in, and three ribs broken." He was at Fort Erie at the time of the sanguinary sortie, but was unable to walk on account of his wounds. That veteran was Captam John PoUey, " already mentioned. He was then seventy-two years of age. He had seen all the country around him bloom out of the wilderness, and had outlived most of the com- panions of his youth. Let us resume the historical narrative : While active operations were in progress at the eastern end of Lake Ontario and along the St. Lawrence River, important events were transpiring toward the western end of the lake and on the Niagara frontier. /That frontier, extendiag along the Ni- agara River from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, a distance of thirty-five miles, was the theatre of many stirring scenes during the war we are considering. The Niagara River is the grand outlet of the waters of the upper lakes iato Ontario, and divides a portion of the State of New York from that of Canada. Half way between the two lakes that immense body of water pours over a limestone precipice in two mighty cataracts, unequaled in sublimity by any others on the surface of the globe. At the time we are considering that frontier was sparsely settled. Bufialo^ was a •little scattered village of about one hundred houses and stores, and a military post of suiBcient consequence to invite the torch of British incendiaries at the close of 1813, when all but two dwellings were laid in ashes. It was only about sixty years ago that the tiny seed was planted of that now immense mart of inland com- merce, containing one hundred thousand inhabitants. Where now are long lines of wharves, with forests of masts aiid stately warehouses, was seen a sinuous creek, nav- igable for small vessels only, winding ,its way through marshy ground into the lake, its low banks fringed with trees and tangled shrubbery. In 1814 it was a desola- tion, and the harbor presented the appearance delineated in the engraving on the fol- lowing page. A little south of Buflfalo, stretching along Buffalo' Creek, were the villages of the Seneca Indians, on a reservation of one hundred and sixty thousand acres of land, and then inhabited by about seven hundred souls. Two miles below Buffalo was Black Rock, a hamlet at the foot of Lake Erie and of powerful rapids, where there ' On the west face, " Bototdaey, AtromT 9, 1842." On the east, " Teeatt or WASHinoToif." On the north, " Liedten- AWT CoLOWEL I. B. B. EsToouET, H. B. M. C0MMIS8IOMEK." On the south, " Albeet Smith, TJ. S. Commissionee." > Buffalo was laid out hy the Holland Land Company in 1801, and was called New Amsterdam. 380 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Settlements along the Niagara Fronger in 1812. Bemains of Fort Schlosser. Bestrnction of the Steamer Caroline: THE POET or BOTFAIO IK 1813. was a ferry; and almost opposite was Fort Erie, a British post of considerable strength. Nine miles below, at the Falls of Elliott's Creek, was the village of Wil- liamsville; and at the head of the- rapids, above Niagara Palls, were the remains of old Fort Schlosser, about a mile below Schlos- ser Landing, near which is yet standing an immense chimney that belonged to the En- glish " mess-house," or dining-hall of the gar- rison that were stationed there several years before the Revolution. ^ Opposite Schlosser, at the mouth of the Chippewa Creek, was the small village of Chippewa, inhabited by Cana- dians and Indians. At the Falls, on the Amer- ican side, was the hamlet of Manchester ; and seven miles below, at the foot of the Lower Rapids, was Lewiston, a little village, with a convenient landing at the base of a bluff. Op- posite Lewiston was Queenston, overlooked from the south by lofty heights, sometimes called The Mountaia. It was the landing- place for goods brought over "Lake Ontario for the inhabitants above. At the mouth of EEMAIM8 AT FOBT SOnLOSSEE. who^w!Slt!l'!;^'.^,f' °°^fl^!-^ '° 't^ 5"" ™' ™* "'""'^ " ^°^ Schlosser, in honor of the meritorions officer who was in command there at the time. It was about a mile from the Niagara Eiver. The frame of the mess-honse rora'cXhc 1^* afrn '' "'r''^'^^'."'^ "^'■^''"^ *^ ^^^--^^ ^«- in possession si Itirntended in tL J^.°"? f *'*''' P'^'=^- ^^^ ^°£"* *°»t " t° "le Site of the new fort, and put it up there It disaoneared S, tZfed foJ^eV/S?'fr\'"* *' ^^f •?'™^^- ^™™* '' " ^""^" "^""^-S ™ «« in wMr^dge rorter resided for several years after his removal to the Niagara frontier. The buildine was consumed when thp Brit ^h devastated that shore in 1813. Slight traces of old French works on the bank of tLXr and of F»t SchW S?WlTn ^tn*'/'"' ^Y""'"'" '""°- I '"" tadebted tothe late Colonel P. A. Porter, of Niagara Fallfvilaee(wh^^^^^^^^ killed in battle during the late Civil War), for the above sketch of the great chimney and the S bniSaWached t™t a l^^7^Zi:^'^±!''^r.^\'}^'' ''"'' °'^''' ''A"'^ ''^""''""' ^'^^^ '""''« American SSfSLiy BWH«h Z. froni Canada. At that time a portion of both Canadian provinces were in insurrection against the ^e^ts nfT„r"'Sv ?*7 ^''i"'*' ™ ""« ^'^S"" ^'^«'' J°«' """^^ Schlosser, was made a renreSronsTor fhTlnsur' Mo to be i^ed as^a ferrv°h^ ?f f" ^T''^" «y"P*t"-«". »* the steamboat Caroline was brougMdow^ from Buf- laio to be used as a ferry-boat between the island and Schlosser Landing. On the night of the 29th of ne^h»riHqT she was moored at Porter's storehouse, Schlosser's Landing, having crossed the fer^%Ura,ti^es during the dfyl OF THE WAB OF 1812. 331 General Stephen Van EepBselaer. Weakpesa of the Niagara Frontier . General Dearborn's Instmctions. Niagara River, on the American side, was (and still is) Fort Niagara, a strong post, erected by the combined skill and labor of the French and English engineers and troops at different times. 1 Just above the fort was the little village of Youngstown ; and opposite this, on the Canada shore, was Fort George. Between the fort and the lake was the village of Newark, now Niagara. Along both banks of the river, its whole length, a farming population was scattered. Such was the Niagara frontier at the opening of the war of 1812. The reader will have occasion frequently to re- fer to the map of it on the following page. Major General Stephen Van Rensselaer, appointed by Governor Tompkins the commander-in-chief of the detached militia of the state, with Solomon Van Rensse- laer, the adjutant general of New York, as his aid and military adviser,^ and John Lovett, of Troy, as his secretary, arrived at Fort Niagara on the 13th of'August,^ and assumed command of the forces on that frontier. On the following day he made his head-quarters at Lewiston, seven miles farther up the river. General Amos Hall, commander of the militia of Western New York, was then at the little hamlet of Manchester, at Niagara Falls, with a few troops; and detachments of the same kind were scattered along the whole line of the river, a distance of thirty-five miles. But the whole force in the field, to guard that frontier from a threatened invasion of the enemy, did not amount to more than a thousand men.* These were scantily clothed, indifferently fed, and were clamorous for pay. There was not a single piece of heavy ordnance along the entire frontier, nor artillerists to man the light field-pieces in their possession. Of ammunition there were not ten rounds for each man. They had no tents. The medical department was in a most destitute condition, and insubordina- tion was the rule and not the exception.^ General Dearborn had been instructed* to make such demonstrations on . jane 2c, the frontier as should Ay/yC *^® British, or ^^^^• prevent re-enforcements y^yxyV^^Y^^ .x^^r— ^-^^ *^®"' "taking a formida- being sent to Maiden by tX ^ oC^ -C-C^t^^^^^^^^e^^C^ ^^^^ movement against Hull at Detroit. This duty was wholly neglected, and, as late as the 8th of Au- gust, the commanding general wrote to the Secretary of War, saying, " Till now I did not consider the Niagara frontier as coming within the limits of my com- mand." This extraordinary assertion waS made in the face of no less than five dis- patches from the War Department, in which such allusions wei"e made to that frontier as to expressly, or by implication, give him to understand that the entire line of the Niagara River and the lakes were under his jurisdiction.* And on the very next The tavern there being crowded, several persons went on the boat to lodge for the night. At midnight a body of armed men from the Canada shore came in a boat, rushed on board, exclaiming "Cut them down 1 give no quarter !"\nd chased the unarmed occupants astern. Some were severely injured, one man was shot dead on the wharf, and twelve more were never heard of afterward. The boat was towed out into the river, set on fire, and left to the current above the cataract. It sunk near Iris Island, and on the following morning charred remains of the vessel were seen below the Falls. It was supposed that more than one of the missing men perished in the flames or the turbulent waters. At one time the diplomatic correspondence between the two governments concerning this outrage threatened a war. 1 A particular account of the fort will be given hereafter. 2 General Stephen Van Bensselaer was not a military man. He was possessed of great wealth, extensive social influ- ence, and was a leading Federalist. His appointment was a stroke of policy to secure friends to the war among that party. It was only on condition that Solomon Van Rensselaer, who had been in military service, should accompany him, that he consented to take the post. It was well understood that Colonel Van Rensselaer would be the general, in a practical military point of view. 3 On reaching Utica, on his way westward, General Van Rensselaer was called to. Sackett's Harbor by rumors of hos- tile movements in that quarter. From there he went on a tour of inspection along the frontier to Ogdensburg, to learn the condition of troops, and the means for ofl'ensive or defensive operations along the St. Lawrence frontier. * See note 2, page 366. 5 Narrative of the Affair at Queenetown in the War of 1S12, by Solomon Van Rensselaer, page 10. ' On the 26th of June the Secretary of War wrote to General Dearborn, then at Albany : " Your preparations, it is pre- sumed, will be made to move in a direction for Niagara, Kingston, and Montreal." On July 15th he wrote : " On your arrival at Albany your attention will be directed to the security oSthe northern frontier bp the lakes." On the 20th he wrote more explicitly, saying: "You will make such arraugements with Governor Tompkins as will place the militia detached by him for tlie Niagara and other posts on the lake under yow control,'' July 29th he wrote : " Should it be ad- visable to make any other disposition of these restless people [the warriors of the Seneca Indians], yon will give orders to Mr. Granger and the aymmamMng officer at Niagara." On the 1st of August the same functionary wrote: "You will make a diversion in favor of him [General Hull] at Niagara ami Kingston as soon as may be practicable." Yet, with these 382 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK The Niagara Frontier. '^^^'^S^:^^S:^X^t2Z^''- """"-^ '^=" »""> "- ^^ '•i" "-t consider the Ni- (AVVAE OF 1812. 333 Effect oftheArmiBtice. Solomon Van ReDaa^i?a|Bloinacy. Service expected ofthe Army on the Niagara Frontier. day* lie signed an armistice agreeing to a cessation of hostilities along that » August 9, entire dividing line between the two countries. That armistice still far- i^^^- ther delayed preparations for offensive or defensive operations on the part of the Americans, and, on the 1st of September, the entire effective force under General Van Rensselaer on the Niagara frontier was only six hundred and ninety-one men, instead of five thousand, as he had been promised !' Notwithstandiug Dearborn had been ordered peremptorily to put an end to the armistice, he continued it until the 29tl] of August,^ for the purpose, as he alleged.^ of forwarding stores to Sackett's Harboi —a matter , of small moment compared wi^ the accruiqg disadvantages. Within the period of the armistice, Brock was enabled, after the capture of Hull and the Terri- tory of Michigan, to return leisurely with his troops and prisoners to the Niagara frontier. ^ "When the armistice was ended, and Van Rensselaer was so weak in mer and munitions of war, the British confronted him, on the opposite side of a narrow river, with a well-appointed and disciplined, though small army, commanded by skill ful and experienced officers, while every important point from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie, along the British side of the Niagara, was carefully guarded or had been mate- rially strengthened. Some of the most disastrous effects of the armistice were parried by a successful effort at diplomacy on the part of Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer, the commanding general's aid, who was sent to Fort George to confer with the British general, Sheaffe on the details of the operations of that agreement. Van Rensselaer insisted upon the unrestricted navigation of Lake Ontario for both parties, and this point was unex pectedly yielded,* restrictions upon the movements of troops, stores, etc., being con fined to the country above Fort Erie. This was of vital importance to the Ameri cans ; for the much-needed supplies for the army, ordnance, and other munitions oi war collected at Oswego could only be' taken to the Niagara by water, the roadi were in such a wretched condition. By this arrangement, the vessels at Ogdensburg already mentioned, were released,^ to be converted into warriors ; and Colonel Fen wick, at Oswego, moved forward over the lake to Niagara with a large quantity oi supplies. General Van Rensselaer^ was charged with the duty of not only defending th( frontier from invasion, but of an actual invasjpn of Canada himself. This was a par of the original plan of the campaign. While Hull invaded the province from De troit, it was to be penetrated on the Niagara and St. Lawrence frontiers. But Vai Rensselaer found himself in a most critical situation, and doubtful whether he coulc even protect the soil of his own state from the foot of the invader. The arrival oi 1 Van Eensselaer's Narrative, etc., p. 10. ' On the 29th of Angnat General Dearborn issned an order in -which he declared the armistice at an end, and yet th express bearing the order to the Niagara frontier did not reach General Van Eensselaer until the 12th of September.- MS. Letter of Colonel Solomon Van Eensselaer to bis Wife, dated Lewiston, September 12, 1812. 3 Dearborn to the Secretary of War, August 27, 1812. 4 This -was on the 2l6t of August. Four days afterward General Brock arrived -with Hull and the regulars of his arm; as prisoners. * 5 As soon as Van Eensselaer obtained the concession, an express was sent to Oswego, Sackett's Harbor, and Ogdens burg, ordering those vessels up. 6 Stephen Van Eensselaer was the fifth in lineal descent from Killian Van Eensselaer, the earliest and best know: of the American Patroons. He was bom at the manor-house in Albany, N^w York, on the first of November, 1764. Be ing the eldest son, he inherited the immense estate of his father, and was the last of the Patroom. He was educated fli-s at Princeton College and then at Harvard University. He was graduated at the latter institution in 1782. He becam an active politician, and was a warm supporter of Washington and the national Constitution. In 1795 he was electe lieutenant governor of his native state, and held the oflice six consecutive years. He was a rising man in the politic; scale, when the overthrow of the Federal party in 1800 impeded his advancement. Although a Federalist and oppose to the war in 1812, when his country was committed to the measure he patriotically laid aside all party feelings an gave it his hearty support. He was not a military man, and his appointment to the major generalship of the detache militia was a stroke of policy rather than the deliberate choice of a good military leader. He did not long remain 1 the service. He was in Congress during several consecutive sessions, and by his casting vote in the delegation of Nei York he„gave the presidency to John Qulncy Adams in 1824. Then his political life closed. He was foremost in goo works. The "Eensselaer School" at Troy, New York, attests his liberality, and his activity in religious societies wa marked and useful. For many years he was President of the Board of Canal Commissioners. That was his positio at the time of his death, which occurred on the 26th of January, 1840, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. 384 PICTORIAL FIEDi^BOlljlK Van EenBselaer calls for He-enforcements. They come. Prq^MBtiJftpfc'Hivade Canada. Van Rensselaer's Letter. Colonel Fenwick, on the 4tli of September witlv ordnance and stores gave some re- lief, but the evidence of preparations for invasion on the part of the British became daily more and more positive and alarming. , At the middle of September Van Rensselaer informed both Governor Tompkins and General Dearborn of the gloomy prospects before him, and pleaded for re-enforcements, saying, "A retrograde movement of tMs army up- on the back of that disaster which has befallen the one at Detroit would stamp a stigma upon the national character which time would never wipe away. I shall therefore try to hold out against superior force and every disadvantage until I shall be re-enforced. "^ But as late as the 26th of September General Dearborn could give him no sure .prom- ises of timely re-enforcements, while in the same' letter that officer expressed a hope that Van Rensselaer, would- not only be able to meet the enemy, but to carry the war into Canada. " At all events," he said, "we must calculate on possessing Upper Canada be- fore winter sets in."^ Soon after this regular troops and militia began to arrive on the Niagara frontier. The for- mer assembled at Buffalo and its vicinity, the latter at Lewiston ; and when, in the first weel* of October,* General Van Rensselaer invited Major General Hall, of the militia of Western New York, Brigadier Gen- eral Smythe, of the regular army and then inspector general, and the commandants of the United States regiments to meet him in council, he proposed a speedy invasion of Canada. "I propose," he said, "that we immediately concentrate the regular force in the neighborhood of Niagara and the militia here [Lewiston], make the best possible dispositions, and at the same time the regulars shall pass from Four-mile Creek to a point in the rear of the works of Fort George and take it by storm ; I will pass the river here, and carry the heights of Queenstown. Should we succeed, we shall effect a great discomfiture of the enemy by breaking their line of communica- tion, driving their shipping from the mouth of this [Niagara] river, leaving them no rallying-point in this part of the country, appalling the minds of the Canadians, and opening a wide and safe communication for our supplies. We shall save our land, wipe away part of the score of our past disgrace, get excellent barracks and winter quarters, and at least be prepared for an early campaign another year."^ This pro- posed council was not held, owing to the failure of General Smyth to comply with the request of General Van Rensselaer,* and the latter was left wholly to the re- sources of himself and his military family in forming his plans. They were delib- erately matured, and preparations for invading Canada went vigorously on. To- 1 Letter to Governor Tompkins, September IT, 1S12. = Dearborn to Van Eensselaer, September 26, 1812. ^ Letter of General Van Eensselaer to General Dearborn, Lewiston, October 8, 1812. * This will be noticed in the next chapter. » October 5, 1812. 'IfiE WAR OF 1812. 385 Lieutenant Elliott on Lake Erie. P^ejia Aoj»toi- capturing British VesaelB. Co-operation of the Military. ward the middle of October the Ameii'can forces on the frontier were considered suf- ficient to warrant the undertaking. While these preparations were in progress, a daring and successful exploit was per- formed near Bufialo, that won great applause for the actors and infused new spirit mto the troops. We have already observed that Lieutenant Jesse D. Elliott, of the United States Navy, was sent by Commodore Chauncey to superintend the erection of a fleet on Lake Erie. By a letter from the commander, dated the Vth of September, he was instructed to report himself to General Van Rensselaer, on the Niagara frontier, consult with him as to "the best position to build, repair, and fit for service" such vessels as might be required to retain the command of Lake Erie, and, after selecting such place, to " purchase any number of merchant vessels or boats that might be con- verted into vessels of war or gun-boats," with the advice of General Van Rensselaer, and to commence their equipment immediately. He was also instructed to take measures for the construction of two vessels of three hundred tons each, six boats of considerable size, and quarters for three hundred men. These, and a variety of other relevant duties, were committed to the charge of Lieutenant Elliott by Chauncey, who said, " Knowing your zeal for the service and your discretion as ah officer, I feel every confidence in your industry and exertions to accomplish the object of your mis- sion in the shortest time possible."! Elliott was then twenty-seven years of age. Black Rock, two miles below BufPalo, was selected as the place for Lake Erie's first dock-yard in fitting out a navy. While busily engaged there, early in October, in the- duties of his office, Elliott was informed that two British armed vessels had come down the lake, and anchored under the guns of Fort Erie. These were the brigs Adams, Lieutenant Rolette commander, and Caledonia, commanded by Mr. Irvine, the former a prize captured when Hull Sirrendered, and its name was changed to Detroit, the latter a vessel owned and employed by the Northwestern Fur Company on the Upper Lakes. ^ They were both well armed and manned,^ and it was understood that the Caledonia bore a valuable cargo of skins from the forest. They appeared in front of Fort Erie on the morning of the 8th of October, and the zealous Elliott, em- ulous of distinction, immediately conceived a plan for> their capture. Timely aid ofiered. On that very day a detachment of seamen for service under him arrived from New York. They were unarmed, and EJliott turned to the military authorities for assistance. Lieutenant Colonel Winfield Scott was at Black Rock., He entered warmly into Elliott's plans, and readily obtained the consent of General Smyth, his commanding officer, to lend his aid. Captain Towson, of the Engineers' Corps (2d Regiment of Artillery), was detailed, with fifty men, for the service, and the cordial acquiescence of General Smyth was evinced by a note, marked " confidential," to Col- onel Winder, of the 14th Regiment, then encamped near Buffalo, in which he said, "Be pleased to turn out the hardy sailors in your regiment, and let them appear, under the care of a non-commissioned officer, in front of my quarters, precisely at three o'clock this evening. Send also all the pistols, swords, and sabres you can borrow at the risk of the lenders, and such public swords as you have."* Towson joined Elliott with arms and ammunition for the seamen, and both were accompanied by citizens. The combined force, rank arid file, was one hundred and twenty-four liien.^ All the preparations for the enterprise were completed by four 1 Letter of Channcey to Elliott, " Navy Yard, New York, September 7, 1812." = See page 2T0. ' The Detroit mounted six 6-ponnders and mustered flfty-six men, besides thirty American prisoners. The Caledo- nia mounted two small guns and mustered twelve men, besides ten American prisoners. * Manuscript Letter of General Smyth to Colonel Winder, October 8, 1812. It is proper here to remark that, through the kind offices of Mrs. Anrelia Winder Townsend, of Oyster Bay, Long Island, daughter of General'Winder, the papers of that gallant officer were placed in my possession. Free use has been made of them In the course of this work. 5 Lieutenant Elliott, in his official report to the Secretary of the Navy, October 9, 1812, says there were one hundred in the expedition— fifty in each boat. The list furnished by him, and here given in full, makes the number one hund- red and twenty-four, as follows : Commanders, Jesse D. Elliott, Isaac Chauncey. Sailing-maiitera, George Watts, Alexander Sisson. Bb 38ff PICTOBIAL PIEiqWI^K Captnre oj the Adams and CatMmia. Names of the Captor^ f'l ^xcitement at Buffalo. Isaac Eoaph. ^ ' ■ r-. ±=r — ^ — =- ■- ^^- ^^- ■ o'cloek in the afternoon. Two large boats hadcb^^n fitted up at Shogeoquady' Creekj just below Black Rock, and then were taken to the mouth of Buffalo Creek in the evening. The expedition embarked at midnight, and at one o'clock in the morn- « October 9, ing'' it left the creek silently, while scores of peopje on shore, who knew ■'^^^' that an important movement was on foot, waited with anxiety in the gloom. At three o'clock the sharp crack of a pistol, followed by the flash and roll of a volley of musketry, a dead silence, and the moving of two dark objects down the river, proclaimed that the enterprise had been successful. A shout of joy rang out upon the night air from the shore between Buffalo and Black Eock, and lanterns and torches in abundance flashed light across the stream to illuminate the way of the victors.^ The surprise and success were complete. The vessels were captured and the men in them made prisoners. "In less than ten minutes," wrote Elliott, " I had the prisoners all seized, the topsails sheeted home, and the vessels under weigh."^ The Detroitwas taken by the boat conducted by Elliott in person, assisted by Lieu- tenant Roach,* of the Engineers, and the Caledonia by the other boat conducted by Sailing-master Watts,* assisted by the military under Captain Towson. The first was taken with scai-cely any opposition, the second after very brief resistance. The wind was light — too light to allow the vessels thereby to stem the current and reach the open lake; so they ran down the stream in the darkness, but not without annoy- ance. The turmoil of the capture, the shouts of the citizens at' Black Rock and Buf- falo, and the display of lights along the American shore, called every British officer and soldier to his post. The guns of Fort Erie, of two or three batteries, and of fly- Caplmn of Engineers and Ma/rines, "N. Towson. lAeutenant of Enfjineers and Marines, Isaac Roach. Master's Mates, William Peckham, J. E. M'Donald, John S. Cummings, Edward Wilcox. ^nsif/n, William Presman. Boatswain's Mates, Lawrence Hanson, John Hack, James Morrell. Quarter Gunners, iBenjamin Tallman, Bird, Hawk, Noland, Vincent, Oshorn, M'Cobhin, John Wheeler. Seamen, Edward Police, James Williams, Eohert Craig, John M'Intire, Elisha Atwood, William Edward, Michael S. Brooks, William Roe, Henry Anderson, Christopher Bailey, John Exon, John Lewis, William Barker, Peter Davis, Peter Deist, Lemuel Smith, Ahraham Patch, Benjamin Myrick, Eohert Peterson, Benjamin Fleming, Gardiner Gaskill, An- thony De Ki-use, William Dickson, Thomas Hill, John Eeynolds, Abraham Ksh, Jerome Sardie, John Tockum, William Anderson, John Jockings, Thomas Bradley, Hatten Armstrong. Soldiers, Jacob Webber, Jesse Green, Henry Thomas, George Gladden, James Murray, Samuel Baldwin, John Hen- drick, Peter Evans, William Fortune, Daniel Martin, John M'Guard, Samuel Fortune, John Garling, Zachariah Wise, John Kearns, Thomas Wallager, Thomas Houragua, Peter Peroe, Edward Mahoney, Daniel Holland, Mathias Wineman, Mo- ses Goodwin, Lishnrway Lewis, William Fisher, John Fritch, James Roy, James M'Gee, James M'Crossan, William Wei- mer, Thomas Leister, Joseph Davis, Benjamin Thomas, James M'Donald, Thomas Ruark, J. Wicklin, W. Richards, James Tomlin, James Boyd, James Neal, John Gidleman, William Knight, M. Parish, James M'Coy, Daniel Fraser, John House, Jacob Stewart, William Kemp, Hugh Eobb, Anson Crosswell, Charles Lewis, John Shields, Charles Le Forge, John Joseph, Henry Berthold, James tee, Isaac Murrows, George Eaton," Thomas C. Leader, William Cowenhoven, John J. Lord, Charles Le Fraud, Elisha Cook, John Tolenson, John G. Stewart, William Fryer, Cyrenns Chapin, Alex- ander M'Comb, Thomas Davis, Peter Orenstock, William C. Johnson. I am indebted to Colonel Gleason F. Lewis, of Cleveland, for the above " Eoll of Honor," and I take pleasure in here acknowledging my indebtedness to that gentleman for many kind services in aid of my labors. His attention to the business of procuring pensions and bounties for the soldiers of the War of 1S12 and their families for many years, gives him, probably, a more thorough knowledge of that subject, as relates to the Army of the Northwest, than any other man in the country. 1 This is an Indian word, and is variously spelled Shogeoqnady, Shojeoqnady, Seajaquady, and Skajoekuda. 2 Reminiscences of BuffdU), by Henry Lovejoy. 3 Letter to the Secretary of the Navy, October 9, 1812. » Isaac Roach was bom in the District of Southwark, Philadelphia, on the 24th of February, 1T86. After the attack on the ChesapeaUi-a 180T [see page 15T],. Roach, then twenty-one years of age, organized an artillery company in Phil- adelphia. In 1812 he obtained the appointment of second lieutenant in the Second Regiment U. S. Artillery, and joined that regiment under Lieutenant Colonel Scott in July. He volunteered to accompany the expedition against the Brit- ish brigs, and led fifty of his associates in the attack. He was then adjutant of the regiment ; and so anxious were the men to accompany him, that when he passed along the line to select them, his ears were sainted with the exclamations, " Can't I go, sir f"— " Take me. Adjutant"— " Don't forget M'Gee"—" I'm a Philadelphia boy," etc. Roach was wound- ed in the battle at Qneenstown soon aftenvard, and he returned home. He soon afterward joined the staff of General Izard. He was made a prisoner at the Beaver Dams the next year. He had many adventures in attempts to escape, and was finally suceessful. He was about to take the field under General Scott as assistant adjutant general, when peace came. He commanded successively Forts M'Henry, Columbus, and Mifflin, until 1823, when he was commissioned major by brevet. He retired from the army in 1824. In 1838 he was elected Mayor of Philadelphia, and was appointed Treasurer of the Mint soon afterward. He died December 29, 1848. = Watts was killed on the 28th of November following, while assisting Lieutenaiit Holdup and others in spikino- some cannon at the little village of Waterloo, on the Canada side of the Niagara, a short distance below Fort Erie T%e ball that killed Watts passed through Holdup's hand. The former died in the arms of the latter. OP THE WAK OF 1812, 397 A Strnggle for the Possession of a Vessel. Gallantry of the Combatants. Losses of Men in the Conflict. ing artillery, all guided by the lights that gleamed over the waters, were brought to bear upon the vessels. 1 The Detroit was compelled to anchor within reach of the enemy's guns, while the Caledonia ran ashore, and was beached under the protection of the guns of an American battery between Buffalo and Black Rock.^ The guns of the Detroit were all removed to her larboard side, and a mutual cannonading was kept up for some time.^ Efforts were made by tow-line and wai-ps to haul her to the American shore. These failed ; and, regarding the destruction of the Detroit as cer- tain in her exposed position, Elliott cut her cable and set her adrift. At that mo- ment he discovered that his pilot had left. For ten minutes she went blindly down the swift current, and then brought up on the west side of Squaw Island, near the American shore, but still exposed to the guns of the enemy.* The prisoners, forty- six in number, were immediately landed below Squaw Island, but the current was so strong that the boats could not return to the vessel. She was soon boarded by a party of the British Forty-ninth Regiment, then stationed at Fort Erie, but they were driven off by some citizen soldiers of Buffalo, who, with a six-pound field-piece, crossed over to Squaw Island in a scow and boldly attacked them.* She was then placed in charge of Lieutenant Colonel Scott, at Black Rock, who gallantly defended her. Each party resolved that the other should not possess her, and the cannons of both were brought to bear upon the doomed vessel during the remainder of the day. At a little after sunset Sir Isaac Brock arrived, and made preparations to renew the at- tempt to recover the Detroit, with the aid of the crew of the Lady Prevost ; but be- fore these were perfected a party of the Fifth United States Infantry set her on fire and she was consumed.^ The Caledonia was saved, and afterward J)erformed good service in Perry's fleet on Lake Erie. In this really brilliant affair the Americans lost only two killed and five wounded. The loss of the British is not known.' The Caledonia was a rich prize, her cargo ' The movements on the Canadian shore were under the direction of the gallant Major Ormsby, the British com- mandant there. The first shot from the flying artil- lery crossed the river and instantly killed the brave Major William Howe Cuyler, of Ontario, General Hall's aid-de-camp, who had taken a deep interest in the expedition. He had been in the saddle all night, and had jnst left a warehouse where rigging was procured for warping in the Detroit, and was guiding the vessels with a lantern in his hand, when the fatal ball struck him and he fell dead. His body was carried by Captain Benjamin Bidwell and others to the house of Nathaniel Sill. The death of the gallant and accomplished Cuyler was widely mourned. Obituary notices appeared in the newspapers ; and " Tlie War," printed in New York, published a poem "To the Memory of Major Cuyler," in six stanzas, in which the following lines occur: " In Freedom's virtuous cause alert he rose, In Freedom's virtuous cause undaunted bled ; He died for Freedom 'midst a host of foes, And found on Erie's beach an honored bed." 2 She was grounded a little above what is now the foot of Albany Street. The injured on board the Caledonia were brought on shore in a boat. It conld not quite reach the land on account of shoal water, when Doctor Josiah Trow- brido-e, yet [186T] a resident of Buffalo, waded in aud bore some of them to dry land on his back. They were taken to the house of Orange Dean, at the old ferry (now foot of Fort Street, opposite the angle in Niagara Street), aud well cared for. While Doctor Trowbridge was taking a musket-ball from the neck of a wounded man, a twenty- four-pound shot entered the house, struck a chimney just over their heads, and covered them with bricks, mortar, and splinters. Another shot of the same weight demolished a trunk on the deck of the CaMonia, scattered its contents, consisting of ladies' wearing apparel, among the rigging, passed on, and was buried in the banks of the river. Two small boys (Cyms K. St. John and Henry Lovejoy), who came down from Buffalo to see the fight, exhumed the shot and carried it home as a trophy of their valor.— Narrative of Henry Lovejoy. 3 Elliott, who was on board the Detroit, hailed the British commander, and threatened to place his prisoners on the decks if he did not cease firing. The enemy disregarded the menace. "One single moment's reflection," said Elliott in his oflScial dispatch, " determined me not to commit an act that would subject me to the imputation of barbarity." ' 4 Her position was nearly opposite Pratt's Iron Works. 6 These were principally members of an independent volunteer company of Buffalo, of which the late Ebenezer Wal- den was commander. They first brought their six-pounder to bear upon the enemy at the point where the Black Eock Ice-house stood in 1860, Doctor Trowbridge acting as gunner. When the regular gunner came they crossed over to Squaw Island.— Statement of Doctor Trowbridge to the Author. 6 Through the intrepidity of Sailing-master Watts, some of her guns were taken out of her during the cannonade, and saved to do excellent duty in a land-battery between Black Eock and Buffalo. ^ Elliott's official Letter to the Secretary of the Navy, October 9, 1813 ; Cooper's Naval History, ii., 331 ; Letter of Gen- eral Sir Isaac Brock to Sir George Prevost, October 11, 1812, quoted in Tupper's Life of Brock, page 313. 388 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Elliott and his Companions. Expression of the Gratitude of the Nation by Congress. being valued at two hundred thousand dollars, and Britisli — on this occasion was highly- commendable. El- liott^ made special mention of several of his companions,' and •Jan. 26, Congress,* ^^^'- by a vote, awarded to that offi- cer their thanks, and a sword, with suita- ble emblems and de- vices.' The exploit sent a thrill of joy throughout the Unit- ed States, because it promised speedy suc- cess in efforts to ob- tain the mastery of JESSE 1». KLLIOTT. The gallantry of all — Americans Lake Erie, while it produced a corre- sponding depression on the other side, for a similar reason. " The event is partic- ularly unfortunate," wrote General Brock, "and may reduce us to incalculable dis- tress. The enemy is making every exer- tion to gain a naval superiority on both lakes, which, if they accomplish it, I do not see hOw we can possibly retain the country."* 1 Jesse Duncan Elliott was born in Maryland in 1T85. He entered the naval service of the United States as midship- man in April, 1800, ai^ in ISIO was promoted to lieutenant. After his gallant exploit near Buffalo he joined Chauncey at Sackett's Harbor. In July, 1813, he was promoted to master commandant over thirty lieutenants, and appointed to the command of the brig Niagara, 20, built on Lake Erie. He was second in command in Perry's engagement on the lOth of September, 1813, ^ _ /^ employed until Novem- and for his conduct oa (T^ Q\ O f) /) ' ter the same year, when that occasion Congress ] Jjff/X^ /tl \ 1/ V J ^h4^ he was assigned the com- voted him a gold medal, ^"^,^^^^-p^ "-^^ /V 4..'^L4>C'Crt^ mand of the sloop-of-war After that battle he re- (._.:7- J- ^ ^ ^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^_ turned to Lake Ontario, U^ — ^j ^ pleted at Baltimore. This and was there actively <===■' ^^^5^1 ^^s one of Deca- tur s squadron that performed good service in the Mediterranean Sea in 1815. Elliott was promoted to the rank of cap- 'Jik-i 1 subsequently had command of squadrons on several stations, as well as of the navy yards at Boston and Philadelphia. On account of alleged misconduct in the MediteiTanean, he was tried by a court-martial in 1840. The result was a sentence of four years' suspension from the service. In 1848 the President remitted the remainder of his suspension. He died on the 18th of DecemTier, 1845. Commodore Elliott became involved in a controversy concern- ing his conduct m the Battle of Lake Erie, which ceased only with his death. That controversy, and the excitement hCTraftfr Plaoiig ™ ™age of President Jackson on the Constitution frigate as a figure-head, will be noticed = He specially commended for their gallant services Captain Towson and Lieutenant Roach, of the Second Regiment of Artmery , Ensign Prestman of the Infantry , Captain Chapin, and Messrs. John Macomb, John Town, Thomas Dain, Peter Overstocks, and James Sloan, residents of Buffalo. He also particularly noticed Sailing-master Watts, who coml manded the boat that boarded the Cafedoraia. acv-i ..aim, kuu i,um ' Journal of Congress, January 26, 1813. ' Letter of General Brock to Sir George Prevost, October 11, 1812. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 389 Impatience of the People and the Troops. Bad Condnot of General Smyth. His Letter to General Van Rensselaer! CHAPTER XIX. " September the thirteenth, at midnight so dark, Our troops on the Elver Niagara embark'd ; The standard of Britain resolved to pull down. And drive the proud foes ft-om the heights of Queenstown." O1.D SOMG— The HeBOEB of QUEESSTOWTf. fOR several weeks General Van Rensselaer had felt the pressure of public impatience, manifested by letters and the press. It had been engendered by the extreme tardiness displayed in the collection of troops on the frontier for the invasion of Canada, about which much had been said and written menacingly, boast- fully, and deprecatory. That impatience had begun to be seri- ously manifested by his troops early in October. ^ Homesick- ness, domestic claims, idleness in the camp, and bodily sufferings and growing inclemency of the season, combined to affect the temper of the men most injuriously. Their calls to be led to battle became daily more and more urgent and imperious, until the volcanic fires of mutiny completely undermined the camp, and threatened a total overthrow of the general's authority. He perceived the ne- cessity of striking the enemy at once at some point, or allow his army to dissolve, aiid all the toils and expenses of the campaign to be lost. He formed his plans, and as we have observed, endeavored to counsel with the field ofiicers under' his command, but failed. General Alexander Smyth, his second in command, had lately arrived. He was a proud Virginian, an officer of the regular army (inspector gen- eral), and an as- not bend to the necessity of obedience to a militia general, especially one of Northern birth and a leading Federalist, who, for the time, was made his superior in rank and position. His temper was exhibited in his letter to Van Rensselaer" . September 29, announcing his arrival on the frontier.^ It was supercilious, dictatorial, i^i^- 7-^^?- jz^^^^y^^^y pirant for the chief command on the frontier. Unlike the true soldier and pat- riot, he could ' General Van Beneselaer was placed in a most delicate sitnation. It was well known that, politically, both he and his aid. Colonel Solomon Van Bensselaer, had been opposed to the war, and the unavoidable delays were constraed by some into intentional immobility in order to frustrate the designs of the government. These suspicions were m^nst and ungenerons in the extreme, for no purer patriot and conscientious and truthful man than Stephen Van Rensselaer ever lived. "A flood of circumstances," wrote Lovett, Van Rensselaer's secretary, "such as a great desire for forage, for provisions, for every thing to make man comfortable ; the most inclement storm which I ever experienced at this season of the year ; indeed, innumerable circumstances had convinced the general, as early as the beginning of the month, that a blow must be struck, or the army would break up in confusion, with intolerable imputations on his own character."— Manuscript Letter to Abraham Van Vechten, Buffalo, October, 21, 1812. 2 The following is a copy of General Smyth's letter : " I have been ordered by Major General Dearborn to Niagara, to take command of a brigade of United States troops, and directed, on my arrival in the vicinity of vour nuarters, to report myself to you, which I now do. I intended to have reported myself personally, but the conclusions I have drawn as to the interests of the service have determined me to stop at this place for the present. Prom the description I have had of the river below the Palls, the view of the shore below Port Erie, and the information received as to the preparations of the enemy, I am of opinion that onr crossing should be effected between Port Brie and Chippewa. It has, therefore, seemed to me proper to encamp the United States troops near Buffalo, there to prepare for offensive operations. Tour instructions or better information may decide you to give me different orders, which I will await." This letter was offensive, first, because the subordinate officer not only failed to report himself in person, as he was bound in duty to do, but assumed perfect independence by choosing his own theatre of action ; and, secondly, because the writer, an entire stranger to the country, just arrived, went out of his way to intrude his opinions upon his com- manding general as to military operations, when he knew that that general had been there for weeks, and was neces- 390 PICTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK Smyth's InEaburdination. Van Rensselaer prepares to attack Queenston. His effective Force. and impertinent, and gave ample assurance that he would not cordially co-operate with the chief in command. So undutiful was his conduct that many were of opinion that coercive measures should be'used to bring him to a sense of duty.i When polite- ly requested by Van Rensselaer to name a day for a council of officers, he neglected to do so. Day after day passed, and Smyth made no definite reply, when the com- manding geheral' resolved to act upon his own responsibility, and " gratify his own inclinations and that of his army" by commencing offensive operations at once. On the 10th of October he prepared to attack the British at Queenston, opposite Lewis- ton, before dawn the next morning. ^ QUEENSTON IN 1812 Van Rensselaer considered his forces ample to assure him of success. They num- bered more than six thousand. Sixteen hundred and fifty regulars^ under General Smyth, were between Black Rock and Buffalo, commanded by Colonels Winder, Park; er, and Milton, and Lieutenant Colonel Scott. In the vicinity were three hundred and eighty-six militia, under Lieutenant Colonels Swift and Hopkins. At Lewiston, where Van Rensselaer had his head-quarters. Brigadier General Wadsworth com- sarily familiar with every rood of the ground and every disposition of the enemy. Van Bensselaer, tme gentleman as he was, quietly rebuked the impertinence by informing General Smyth that for many years' he had had " a general knowledge of the banks of the Niagara Eiver and of the adjacent country on the Canada shore," and that he had now "attentively explored the American side with the view of military operations." " However willing I may be," he said, " as a citizen soldier, to surrendermy opinion to a professional one, I commonly make such surrender to an opinion de- liberately formed upon a view of the whole ground All my past measures have been calculated for one point, and I now only wait for a competent force. As the season of the year and every consideration urges me to act with promptness, I c&n not hastily listen to a change of position, mainly connected with a new system of measures and the very great inconvenience of the troops."— Foti Sensselaer to Smyth, 30th September, 1812. Speaking of the conduct of General Smyth on this occasion, a contemporary officer says, " It is presumed this temper produced a spirit of insubordination destructive to the harmony and concert which is essential to cordial co-operation, and that the public service was sacrificed to personal sensibility." — WiUcwsorCs Memoir, i., 666. "Was I to hazard an opinion," says Wilkinson in another place, "it should be that his designs were patriotic, but that his ardor obscured his judgment, and that he was more indiscreet than culpable." — Jifefmoira, i., 581. 1 A Narrative of the Affair at QueensUmn in the War of 1812, by Solomon Van Eensselaer, page 19. = QueeuBton (originally Queen's Town) was at this time a thriving little village, and one of the principal d^p6ts for merchandise and grain in that region. Its prosperity was paralyzed by the Welland Canal, which cut off most of its trade. ■ The view here given is from a sketch made in 1812, from the north part of the village, looking southward up the Niagara Eiver. On the right are seen the Heights of Queenston, and on the left the heights of Lewiston. The river is here about six hundred feet in width. The village was upon a plain of uneven surface at the foot of the Heights. •This plain at Queenston is seventy feet above the river, and slopes gradually to the lake, where the bank is only a few feet above the water. The Heights rise two hundred and thirty feet above the river. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 391 The British Force on the Niagara Frontier. Van Henseelaer's Knowledge of the Situation. manded a corps of militia almost seventeen hundred strong, and near him was the camp of Brigadier General Miller, with almost six hundred men. Five hundred and fifty regulars under ^ under Major Mullany, Lieutenant Colonel Fen- /\^ y^^^Z * yf ^®'® ^'^ garrison at Fort wick, and eight hundred y(tfnyVe/c\'y^'Cu e^y^ /l-O^ D i^^a-/CY^„ emy on the Heights of said, 'I have not heard ^ ^^^ ''^ ^ '^^ f^e^^'<^C■'^V^^ • Queenston; thatlhad from heftd-quarters for /Y t the orders for the several days. Is there /^^ V marchmg of the troops any thing in the wind, C^ — to that post, but that, sir?' I remarked that of course, they did not include his command. ' I am Colonel Scott,' he said ; ' will you allow me to look at your orders f ' They were hand- ed to him and the moment he had read them he was in the saddle, his tents were struck, and his command under marching orders. The next I saw of the gallant soldier was on the Heights of Queenston in a perfect blaze of fire, and then, as now, head and shoulders taller than any man in the country." ^ Many years afterward, when Scott, as a major general, was bearing more years and many honors, Colonel Collier met him in Washington City, and the first words Scott addressed to him were, " I was indebted to you for my first fight.' I have always felt under great obligations to you. If it had not been for you, colonel, what would have been my posi- tion ' Seven miles from the battle-field, sir, and the first battle of a campaign I Why, sir, I should never have got over itdurino- my life !" "It is pleasant now," wrote Colonel Collier, "in the sunset of my days, to recall this little Inci- dent connected as it is with the greatest captain of the age in which he lives." A few months after receiving this let- ter i had the pleasure of spending a day or two with Colonel Collier at Cleveland, on the occasion of the inauguration of the statue of Commodore Perry. He is a hale, erect gentleman, of what is called " the old school" in manners, and most delightful entertainer of company in conversation. 394 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Colonel Scott on Lewiston Height s. Passage of the Eiver in the Dark. Landing at the Foot of Qneenston Heiglits. ardent, and eager for adventure and glory, he immediately mounted his horse, and dashed toward head-quarters as speedily as the horrid condition of the road would allow. He presented himself to the commanding general, and earnestly solicited the privilege of taking a part in the invasion with his command. " The arrangements tbr the expedition are all completed, sir," said General Van Rensselaer. " Colonel Van Rensselaer is in chief command. Lieutenant Colonels Chrystie and Fenwick have waived their rank for the occasion, and you may join the expedition as a volun- teer, if you will do the same." Van Rensselaer wisely determined not to have a di- vided command. Scott was unwilling to yield his rank ; but he pressed his suit so warmly that it was agreed that he should bring on his regiment, take position on the heights of Lewiston with his cannon, and co-operate in the attack as circumstances might warrant. Scott hastened back to Sohlosser, put his regiment in motion, and by a forced march through the deep mud reached Lewiston at four o'clock in the - Octoher 13 moming." Again he importuned for permission to participate directly in if''^- the enterprise, but in vain. His rank would be equal, on the field, to that of Colonel Van Rensselaer, who had originated and planned the whole affair,^ and who the commanding general resolved should have the honor of winning the laurels to be obtained by leadership. The night of the 12th was intensely dark, yet every thing was in readiness for the invasion at a little after three o'clock in the morning.'' Mr. Cook, a citi- zen of Lewiston, had assumed the direction of the boats, and provided men to man them ; Mr.Loyett,Van Rensselaer's secretary, had been placed in charge of an eighteen-pound gun in battery on Lewiston Heights, with instructions to cover the landing of the Americans on the Canada shore; and the six hundred men, under Van Rensselaer and Chrystie, were standing in a cold storm of wind and rain at the place of embarkation. It had been arranged for them to cross over and storm and take possession of Queenston Heights, when the remainder of the troops were to fol- loAV in a body and drive the British from the town. But there were only thirteen boats, and these were not sufficient to carry more than about one half of the troops intended for the capture of the Heights.^ The regulars having reached the boats first, the companies of Wool, Malcolm, and Armstrong were immediately embarked, with forty picked men from Captain Leonard's company of artillery at Fort Niagara, under Lieutenants Gansevoort and Rathbone, and about sixty militia. When all were I'eady, Van Rensselaer gave the word to advance, and leaped into the boat con- taining the artillerists. Major Morrison was ordered to follow with th« remainder of the troops on the return of the boats. The struggle with the eddies was brief Within ten minutes after leaving Lewis- ton Landing the boats struck the Canada shore " at the identical spot aimed at," just above a huge rock now seen lying in the edge of the water under the Lewiston sus- pension bridge. There the militia were landed ; the regulars debai-ked a little be- low the rock.^ Three of the thirteen boats had lost their way; the remaining ten now returned to the American shore. The enemy were on the alert. The movements of the Americans had been discov- 1 See note 2, page 381. ' ' This inadequate number of boats seems to have been owing to remissness in Quarter-master-general Porter's de- partment. The quarter-master, then stationed at the Falls, had written to Van Rensselaer, "I can furnish you boats at two or three days' notice to carry over 1200 or 1400 men." A sufficient number for six or seven hundred were or- dered, and the matter was left in charge of Judge Barton, the quarter-master's agent. He had forwarded only thirteen at the appointed hour. General Van Eensselaer has been censured for not having boats enough. It was no fault of his. 3 The view of the landing-place seen on the next page I sketched from a point a few yards below the Canadian end of the Lewiston Suspension Bridge. The rock mentioned in the text is a prominent object in the picture. It is at the foot of the rapids, where the river sweeps in a curve around Queenston Heights, a portion of which occupies a large part of the sketch. Above is seen the suspension bridge, with its steadying-chains attached to the shore ; and on the side of the opposite hank, looking up the river, the position of the railway, that lies upon a narrow shelf cut in the al- most perpendicular shore of the river, is marked by a train of cars. The toll-house seen at the end of the bridge on the right, shows the direction of the road from, the bridge to the villagp of Queenston, not an eighth of a mile distant OF THE WAR OF 1812. 395 Opposition to the Invaders. A Skirmish near Queenston Village. American Officers killed and wounded. CTed by the sentinels, and Captain Dennis, of the Forty-ninth Eegiment of British Regulars, stationed at Queenston, with sixty grenadiers of that corps. Captain Hatt's company of York volunteer mill tia,i a small body of Indians, and a threp pound field-piecp, took position on the sloping shore, a lit tie north of the site of the suspension bridge, to resist the debarkation. Theii presence was first made known by a broad flash, then a volley of muskfetry that mortally wounded Lieuten- ant Rathbone, by the side of Colonel Van Rensselaer, be- LANDIMG-PLiCE OIj' THE AAIEKICANS AT QUBEMSTOS. fore landing, and random shots from the field-piece along the line of the ferry at the moment when the boats touched the shore. These were answered by Lovett's battery on Lewiston Heights, when the enemy turned and fled up the hill toward Queenston, pursued by the regulars of the Thirteenth, un- der Captain Wool, the senior officer present, in the ab- sence of Lieutenant Colonel Chrystie, who was in one of the missing boats.^ On the margin of the plateau on which Queenston stands Wool ceased iiursuit, drew his men up in battle order, and was about to send to Colonel Van Rensselaer for directions, when that officer's aid. Judge Advocate Lush, came hurrying up with orders to prepare to storm the Heights. "We are ready," promptly responded the gallant Wool. Lush hastened back to the chief commander on the shore, and in a few minutes returned with orders for Wool to advance. He was moving rapidly over the plateau toward the foot of the Heights, when the order for storming was countermanded, and the troops were brought to a halt near the present entrance to the village from the bridge. Captain Dennis, meanwhile, had been strengthened by the arrival on the Heights of the Light Infantry under Captain Williams, and a company of the York militia un- der Captain Chisholm ; and just as Wool's command had taken their resting position in battle order, Dennis and his full force, already mentioned, fell heavily on the right flank of the Americans. At the same time, Williams and Chisholm opened a severe fire in their front from the brow of the Heights. Without waiting for farther orders. Wool wheeled his column to the right and confronted the force of the enemy on the plain, where with deadly aim his men poured a very severe fire into their ranks. Van Rensselaer and the militia had taken a position on the left of the Thirteenth in the mean time. The engagement was severe but short, and the enemy were com- pelled to fall back to Queenston. Both parties sufiered much — the Americans most severely. Of the ten officers of the Thirteenth who were present, two were killed and five were seriously wounded. The former were Lieutenant Valleau^ and En- sign Morris ;* the latter were Captains Wool, Malcolm, and Armstrong, and Ensign ' Captain Samnel Hatt was one of the most esteemed and richest men In the province. He entered the service under the impulses of the purest patriotism only, and took this suhordinate station. ' The three missing boats were commanded respectively by Lieutenant Colonel Chrystie, Captain Lawrence, and an unknown snbaltem. Chrystle's boat was driven by the currents and eddies upon the New York shore, and he ordered^ Lawrence's back, while the third felllnto the hands of the enemy, it having struck the shore at the mouth of the creek, just north of Queenston. 3 John Vallean was commissioned first lieutenant of the Thirteenth Eegiment on the 24th of March, 1812. 4 Hobert Morris, appointed ensign in the Thirteenth Eegiment March 12, 1812, 390 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK VaflEepsseker and wool wounded. Van Eepsselaer borpe away. Wool takes the Co mmand. Sketch of Wool. Lent.i The militia suffered very little; but Colonel Van Rensselaer was so badly wounded in several places that he was compelled to relinquish the command. A bul- let passed through both of Wool's thighs, and both Malcolm^ and Armstrong^ were wounded in the left thigh. A considerable number of the Americans were made pns- oners. i. i • Wliile Wool and his command were engaged with the enemy on the plam, those upon the Heights kept up a desultory fire upon the Americans, which the latter could not well respond to. Perceiving this. Van Rensselaer ordered the whole detachment to fall back to the beach below the hill, in a place of more security. They did so, but were not absolutely sheltered from the fire of the enemy above. One' man was killed and several were wounded by their shots. It was now broad daylight, and the storm had ceased. While the detachment wras forming for farther action on the margin of the river, a fourth conipahy of the 1 3th, under Captain Ogilvie, crossed and joined them. ISTo time was to be lost. The Heights must be stormed and taken, or the expedition would be a failure. ■ Lieu- tenant Colonel Chrystie had not been heard from. Van Rensselaer was disabled. All the other officers were young men. Not a single commission was more than six months old, and Captain Wool, the senior of them all in rank, was only twenty-three years of age — too young. Van Rensselaer thought, to be intrusted with an undertak- ing so important. He had never been under fire before that morning, and was already badly wounded. True, in the fight just ended, his metal had given out the ring of that of a true soldier. The alternative was great risk and a chance for honor, or total abandonment of the enterprise and the pointings of the finger of scorn. The choice was soon made. Wool had asked for orders ; had been told that the capture of the Heights was the great object of the expedition ; and, notwithstanding his severe flesh wounds and the inexperience of himself and his men, he had expressed his eagerness to make the attempt. Van Rensselaer ordered him to that duty, and at the same time he directed his aid-de-camp Lush to follow the little column and shoot every man who should falter, for symptoms of weak courage had already appeared. Elated with the order, young Wool almost forgot his bleeding wounds. He was light and lithe in person, full of ambition and enthusiasm, and beloved by his com- panions in arms.* All followed him cheerfully. Ordering Captain Ogilvie, with his ' James W. Lent, Jr., appointed ensign in the Thirteenth Eegiment May 1, 1812. In March, 1813, he was promoted to • first lieutenant of artillery. He was retained in 1816, and became active in the quartet-master's department in 1816. Left the service in 181T. 2 Eichard M. Malcolm was commissioned captain in the Thirteenth Eegiment of Infantry on the 8th of April, 1812. In March, 1813, he was promoted to major, and in June, 1814, to lieutenant colonel of the same regiment. He was dis- banded in June, 181S.— Gardner's Dictionwry of the Army, page 307. 3 Henry B. Armstrong, yet [1867] living, is a son of General John Armstrong, the Secretary of War in 1814. He was commissioned a captain in the Thirteenth Eegiment in April, 1812 ; promoted to major the following year ; in June, 1813, distinguished himself at Stony Creek ; became lieutenant colonel of the First Eifle Eegiment in September, 1813, and was disbanded in Jnne, 1815. Although nearly eighty years of age when the Great Eebellion broke out in 1861, ho went to Washington City and tendered to the government the services of himself and two sons. He then resided on an ample estate in Red Hook, Duchess County, New York. * John Bills Wool, now (1807) a major general in the army of the United States, is a son of a soldier of the Eevolu- tion who was with General Wayne at the , -^^^ town, and continued in that avocation uu- taking of Stony Point in the summer of ^^^ 4!i^^\ *" *''® swept away all his worldly goods. 1779. He- was bom in Newbnrg, Orange ^'^vd j^^£. \. He then commenced the study of law with County, New York, in 1788. His father iwfei^S '^S^fe' \ ^°^^ Enssell, in Troy, in a small building died'wlien be was only four years of age, /^^^JKBSBI^S^^^^ \ recently standing on Second Street, near- when he was taken into the family of his / 'f-^B^M BJVAJaiBjiSIIKM., \ 'y opposite General Wool's present resi- grandfather, James Wool, five of whose / '^■^s|S^^^^9|l|^p \ dence. War with Great Britam was soon sons bore arms in the old war for inde- lT!llUlUI|(|gJ ff^BHlT'^^ afterward looked upon as inevitable, and pendence. During his residence with his \ ' i f If J jlfjll^g^^^^^^^ ./ young Wool, feeling the old Are of his grandfather in Rensselaer County, young \ ■^^^^^ ^^SSSSB BI^^^^' 1 father stirring within him, left his books Wool attended a common country school. V ~^^==^^^^^S^S^^^^ / ^^ ®^®^ usefhlness and honoi; in the field. At the age of twelve years, with a slender \~^^^^^^^^^^~ / Dpon the recommendation of De Witt education, he entered the service of a ^v ^^^^^^^ y^ Clinton he obtained a commission as cap- merchant in Troy, New York, as clerk. ^-> ^^.^ tain in the 13th United States Regiment At eighteen he engaged in the business of \ ^ in the spring of 1S12. It is dated March selling books and stationery in the same ""Ssell s. law offioi:. ^^^ j^^^. War was declared in little more than ninety days afterward, and in September his regiment, under Lieutenant Colonel Chrystie, was ordered to the OF THE WAR OF 1812. 39T Sealing Qneenston Heiglits. General Brock at Fort George. His Expectation of an Invasion. fresh troops to take the right of the column, he sprang forward and commenced the perilous ascent, guided hy Lieutenants Gansevoort and Randolph, who were well acquainted with the way. The picked ar- tillerists led the column; and in many places the precipice was so steep that the troops were compelled to pull themselves up by means of bushes. They were con- cealed from the enemy by the shelter of the rooks and shrubbery; and near the top of the acclivity they struck a fisher- man's path, which the enemy supposed to be impassable, and had neglected to guard it. While Wool and his little band were scal- ing the Heights, the British were making movements under great uncertainty. The vigilant Sir Isaac Brock at Fort George, about seven miles distant, had heard the cannonading before dawn. He aroused his aid-de-camp, Major Glegg, and called for Alfred, his favorite horse, presented to him by Sir James Craig. He had been in expectation of an invasion at some point for sev- eral days, and only the night before he had given each of his staff special instructions.^ Niagara frontier. His gallant bearing there is recorded in the text. Because of his bravery at Queenston he was pro- moted to major in the 29th Regiment of Infantry in April, 1813. For his gallant conduct at Plattsburg, in September, 1S14, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel in December following. He was retained in the army in 1815, and on the 29th of September, 1816, was appointed iiispector general of division, and in 1821 inspector general of the army of the United States, with the rank of colonel. In 1826 he was made a brigadier general by brevet "for ten years' faithful service." His reports to the government on matters pertaining to the service were always models of their kind, and always elicited encomiums. His discipline was always perfect and most eflScieht, and his sleepless vigilance has made him on all occasions one of the most trusted officers in the service. In 1832, General Wool was sent to Enrope to collect information connected with military science. He received great attention, especially in France, where, on one occasion, he formed one of the suite of Louis Philippe at a grand review of 70,000 men. , In November of the same year he accompanied the King of Belgium at a review of 100,000 troops, and visited the fortifications of Antwerp. In 1835, when hostilities with Fiance were anticipated, General Wool made a thorough inspection of all the sea-coast defenses, and submitted an admirable report to government, ' In 1836 he was ordered to the service of removing the Cherokee Indians to Arkansas. In that mission he displayed some of the highest traits of a soldier and statesman. In 1838, while the Canadian provinces were disturbed by insurrection, Wool was sent to the wilds of Maine to look after the defenses of the border. In the Mexican war his services as a tactician, disciplinarian, and as an administrative and executive officer in the field were of incalculable benefit to the country. These are all recorded by the pen of the grateful historian. For his gallant conduct in that war he was breveted a major general, and on his return home he was every where met with the most enthusiastic greetings. As tokens of approbation, three swords were presented to him, one by the citizens of Troy, another by the State of New York, and a third by the United States. Toward the close of 1858, when filibustering expeditions were fitted out on the Western coast, the command of the DepartmerU of the Paeifin was intrusted to General Wool. It was a post of great labor and trust, involving as it did in- ternational questions of a delicate nature, and peculiar relations with Indian tribes. His activity, vigilance, and un- tiring energy in that field were wonderful. In the spring of 1855 he made a tour of inspection and reconnoissance through the distant TeiTitories of Oregon and Washington. On the breaking out of hostilities in that region in the fall of 1855, Wool repaired to the scene of trouble, and was efficient in ending them. He remained in California until near the close of President Pierce's administration, when he was relieved, and placed in command of the Department of the East, comprising the whole counti7 eastward of the Mississippi 'Kiver. He was every where received with the greatest enthusiasm, and especially at Troy, his place of residence." He was there engaged in the quiet routine of his office when the rising tide of the great rebellion, that broke out at the close of 1860, commanded his attention. With his wonted energy, he warned and entreated the national government to prepare for a great emergency ; and when, in April, 1861, Fort Sumter was attacked, and the national capital was menaced by the rebels. General Wool conceived and executed such efficient measures at New York, that, it is not too much to say that he was one of the chief instru- ments in the salvation of the republic from the hand of the (^estroyer. In July he entered upon active service at Fort- ress Monroe as commander of that post, where he stood In the delicate and most important position of sentinel at the portal opening between the loyal and disloyal territories of the republic. He remained there almost a year, when he was commissioned a full major general in the army of the United States, and transferred to the command at Baltimore and vicinity. In 1863 he retired to private life. ' Beacons hadl&een placed at convenient distances between Kingston and Fort George to give notice in the event of an invasioiwljut in the confusion they vrere not lighted. The late Honorable William Hamilton Merritt, M.P., then a 398 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Brock hastens toward Qaeenston. His perilous Position. Attack on Wool. Death of Brock. But SO confident was lie that the attack would be made from Fort Niagara, that he considered the demonstration above as only a feint to conceal that movement ; yet, as a vigilant soldier, he instantly resolved to obtain personal knowledge of the situa- tion of affairs. Mounting Alfred, he pushed toward Queenston at full speed, follow- ed by his aids. Major Glegg and Colonel M'Donell. The journey of seven miles was made in little more than half an hour. Arriving at Queenston, Sir Isaac and his com- panions rode up the Heights at full gftllop, exposed to a severe enfilading fire of ar^ tillery from the American shore. On reaching the redan battery, half way up the Heights,^ they dismounted, took a general view of affairs, and pronounced them fa- vorable. Suddenly the crack of musketry in their rear startled them. Wool and his followers had successfully scaled the Heights, and were close upon them. Brock and his aids had not time to remount. Leading their horses at full gallop, they fled down the slope to the village, followed by the twelve men who maniied' Ihe battery. A few minutes afterward the Stars and Stripes — the symbol of the Union — the in- signia of the Republic — were waving over the captured redan, and greeting the rays of the early morning sun, then struggling in fitful gleams through the breaking clouds. This was the third time within three months that the standard of the United States had been victoriously displayed on the soil of Canada.^ Wool's triumph for the moment was complete. Brock immediately dispatched a courier to General Sheaffe at Tort George with orders to push forward re-enforcements, and, at the same time, open fire- upon Fort Niagara. He then took command of Captain Williams's detachment of one hundred men, and hastened up the slope toward the battery, behind which Captain Wool had placed his little band, with their faces toward Queenston, to await an attack. Den- nis soon joined Brock with his detachment, when a movement was made to turn the American flank. The vigilant Wool perceived it, and immediately sent out fifty men to keep the flanking party in check, and to take possession of the " Mountain," or crown of the Heights, where the monument now stands. But they were too few for the purpose, and even when re-enforced they were too weak to stem the steady ad- vance of the veteran enemy. The whole detachment fell back with some confusion. The enemy, inspirited by this movement, pressed forward, and pushed the Americans to the verge of the precipice, which overlooks the deep chasm of the swift-flowing river more than two hundred feet below. Wool's little band was in a most perilous position. Death by ball, bayonet, or flood seemed inevitable, and Captain Ogilvie raised a white handkerchief on the point of a bayonet in token of surrender The in- censed Wool sprang forward, snatched away that token of submission, addressed a few spirited words to his officers and soldiers, begging them to fight on so long as the ammunition should last, and then resort, to the bayonet. Waving his sword he led his inspirited comrades to a renewal of the conflict with so much impetuosity that the enemy broke and fled down the Heights in dismay, and took shelter in and be- hind a large stone building near the edge of the river. Sir Isaac was amazed and mortified; and to his favorite grenadiers he shouted, " This is the first time I have seen the Forty-ninth turn their backs!" His voice and the stinging rebuke of his words checked them. At the same time Lieutenant Colonel M'Donell brought un two flank companies, of York Volunteers, under Captains Cameron and Howard which had just arrived from Brown's Poinj;, three miles below. The fogitives had rallied, and Sir Isaac turned to lead them up the Heights. His tall figure was a con- spicuous object for the American sharp-shooters. First a bullet struck his wrist wounding It slightly. A moment afterward, as he shouted « Push on the York Vol' unteers, another bullet entered his breast, passed out through his side and left a 4/C^^^^C'^— -f-V.h.i.i.^^^ ■OF THE WAR OF 1812. 399 Capture of Qne enEton Heights. Charactei- of the Exploit. Passage of the River by Se-ento^^^^^ . death-wound. He fell from his horse at the foot of the slope, and lived long enough to request those around him to conceal his death from the troops, and to send some token ol his rememhrance to his sister in England. But his death could not he con- cealed more than a few minutes. When it became known, the bitter words " Revenge the general !" burst from the lips of the Forty-ninth. M'Donell assumed the com- mand, and, at the head of them and the York Militia, one hundred and ninety strong, he charged up the hill to dispute with Wool the mastery of the Heights. The strug- gle was desperate, and the Americans, doubtful of the issue, spiked the cannon in the redan. Both parties were led gallantly and fought bravely. But when M'Donell fell mortally wounded,^ and Dennis and Williams were both severely injured, and were compelled to leave the field, the British fell back in some confusion to Vroo- man's Point, a mile below, leaving the young American commander and his little ^and of two hundred and forty men masters of Queenston Heights, after three dis'- tinct and bloody battles, fought within the space of about five honrs. Taking all things into consideration— the. passage of the river, the nature of the ground, the raw- ness of the troops (for most of tl^e regulars were raw recruits), the absence of cannon, and the youth and wounds of the American commander, the events of that morning were, " indeed, a display of intrepidity," as Wilkinson afterward wrote, " rarely exhib- ited, in which the conduct and the execution were equally conspicuous. , . . Under all the circumstances, and on the scale of the operations, the impartial soldier and competent judge will name this brilliant afiair a chef-d'ceuvre of the war."^ It was now about ten o'clock in the morning. Although bleeding and in much pain, Wool would not leave the field, but kept vigorously at work in preparations to defend the position he had gained. He drew his troops up in line on the Heights fronting the village, ordered Gansevoort and Randolph to drill out the spiked can- non in the redan, and bring it to bear upon the enemy near Vrooman's, and sent out scouts to watch the movements of the foe. Meanwhile re-enforcements and supplies were slowly crossing the river. In the passage they were greatly annoyed by the fire from the one-gun battery on Vroo- man's Point. The first that arrived on the Heights was a detachment of the Sixth Regiment under Captain M'Chesney ; another, of the Thirteenth, under Captain Law- rence ; and a party of New York state riflemen, under Lieutenant Smith. These were immediately detached as flanking parties. They were soon followed by oth- ers, and before noon Major General Van Rensselaer, Brigadier General Wads worth, Lieutenant Colonels Scott, Fenwick, Stran- ajhan, and Major MuUany, were on the Heights, while a few militia were slowly 1, Lieutenant M'Donell was a brilliant and promising young man. He was the attorney general of Upper Canada, and was only twenty-five years of age. He was wounded in five places, one bullet passing through his body, yet he survived twenty hours in great agony. During that time he constantly lamented the fall of his commander.— Tupper's Life, etc., of Brock, page SW. 2 WiVcitison'8 Memoirs, i., 577. The officers who participated with Captain Wool, and received from him, in his re- port to Colonel Van Rensselaer, special commendation, were Captain Peter Ogilvie, and Lieutenants Kearney, Hugunin, Carr, and Sammons, of the Thirteenth, Lieutenants Gansevoort and Randolph, qf the light artillery, and Major Lush, of thejnilitia. Captain Ogilvie resigned in June, 1813. Lieutenant Stephen Watts Kearney, who was a native of New Jerse^was retained in the service in 1815, having risen to the rank of captain. He was made a major by brevet in 1S23, and full major in 1829. In the spring of 1833 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel of dragoons, and to colonel of the same in 1836. In 1846 he was promoted to brigadier general, went into the war with Mexico, and made conquest of the province of New Mexico. For his gallant conduct there and in California he was made major general by brevet. In March, 1847, he was appointed Governor of California. He died in October, 1848. His brother, Philip Kearney, who lost an arm in the battles before the city of Mexico, was a brigadier general in the army raised to put down the Great Rebellion in 1861, and was killed in battle near Fairfax Court-house, in Virginia, September 1, 1863. Lieutenant Daniel Hugunin was a representative in Congress for New York from 1825 to 1827. He died in Wisconsin in 1850. Lieutenant Gansevoort, who had been in the artillery service since 1806, was distinguished a little more than a month later at Fort Niagara. He became captain of artillery in May, 1813, and left the service in March, 1814. Lieutenant Thomas Beverly Randolph was aid-de-camp to General Carrington and captain of infantry in the spring of 1813. He resigned in 1815. He was lieutenant colonel of Hamtramck's regiment of Virginia volunteers in Mexico in 1847. Lieutenant Stephen Lush (acting m^or at Queenston) was aid to General Izard, and dangerously wounded before Chippewa in October, 1814. 400 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Colonel Scott on Queenston Heights. Wadsworth'e Generosity. Indians on the Field. Influence of Scott. passing over the river. Van Rensselaer took immediate steps for fortifying the po- sition, under the direction of Lieutenant Totten, of the Engineers, and dispatched an aid-de-eamp to hasten the passage of the militia. Lieutenant Colonel Scott, as we have observed, arrived at Lewiston with his com- mand at four o'clock that morning. He placed his heavy guns in battery on the shore under the immediate command of Captains Towson and Barker. Having re- ceived permission from Van Rensselaer to cross over as a volunteer and take com- jjiand'Cif the troops on the Heights, he reached the Canada shore, with his adjutant Roach, just after Wadsworth, with a small detachment of volunteers, had crossed without orders. He unexpectedly found that officer upon the mountain, and imme- diately proposed to limit his own command to the regulars; but the generous and patriotic Wads worth promptly waived his rank, and said, " You, sir, know profes- sionally what ought to be done. I am here for the honor of my country and that of the New York militia." Sfeott at once assumed the general command, at the head of three hundred and fifty regulars and two hundred and fifty volunteers, the latter under General Wadsworth and Lieutenant Colonel Stranahan. Assisted by the skill- ful Lieutenant Totten, Scott placed them in the strongest possible position to receive the enemy and to cover the ferry, expecting to-be re-enforced at once by the militia from the opposite shore. He was dooined to most profound mortification and disap- pointment. , While Scott was absent for a short time, superintending the unspiking of the can- non in the redan, a troop of Indians suddenly appeared on the left, led by Captain Norton, a half-breed, but under the general command of Chief John Brant, a young, lithe, and graceful son of the great Mohawk warrior and British ally of that name in the Revolution. Brant made his first appearance in the field on this occasion. He was dressed, painted, and plumed in Indian style from head to foot. His lieutenant and most valued companion was a dark, powerfully-built chief known as Captain Ja- cobs. Another was Norton, the half-breed just mentioned. They and theii- follow- ers were the allies of the British, and came mostly from the settlements of the Six Nations, on the Grand River, in Canada. ^ It was between one and two o'clock in the afternoon when this cloud of dusky warriors swept along the brow of the mountain in portentous fury, with gleaming tomahawks and other savage weapons, and fell upon the American pickets, driving them in upon the main line of the militia in great confusion. The fearful war-whoop struck tprror to many a white man's heart, and the militia were about to fly ignobly, when Scott appeared, his taU form— head and shoulders above all others— attracting every eye, and his trumpet-voice commanding the attention of every ear. He in- stantly brought order out of confusion. He suddenly changed the front of his line ; and his troops, catching inspiration from his voice and acts, raised a shout and fell with such fury upon the Indians that they fled in dismay to the woods after a sharp, hort engagement. But they were soon rallied by the dauntless Brant,^ and contin- ■ The British found considerable difllculty in inducing these Indians to join them. The authorities of the United States used every efl'ort m their powjr to keep the Indians from the contest on both sides, knowing their cruel mode of wari;are Cornplanter, the venerable Seneca chief, did all in his power to keep his race neutral. At the request of the united States government, he induced their influential chiefs, named respectively Blue Eyes, Johnson, Silver Heels and Jacob Snow, to visit the Indians on the Grand Eiver, talk with them about remaining neutral, and bring back an answer. In a mannscript letter before me from Hobert Hoops to Major Van Campan, Is an interesting account of a meeting at Complanter's to hear their report. Mr. Hoops, Francis King, and John Watson were the white representa- tives present. Blue Eyes made the report. He said the Indians told him that they did not want to go to war but re- marked. It 18 the President of the United States makes war upon us. We know not your disputes. The British talk mucn against the Americans, and the Americans talk much against the British. We know not which is right The British say the Americans want to take our lands. We do not want to fight, nor do we intend to disturb von • 'but If you come to take our land, we are determined to defend ourselves." The three commissioners cautioned the Senecas mfnXT„Vtl™°f ?"'"'',• '■" .^^Pl'^'^"'' ^t »ome, and refrain from engaging in the war. Had the British been eqS mindful of the claims of civilization, the historian would have many less atrocities to record. ^ *!,. i^T ^f°!;, ^''"se Indian name was Ahyouwaigha, was a son of Joseph Brant, or Thayendanegea, and was born at the Mohawk village, on the Grand Eiver, in Canada, on the 27th of September, 1794, and was onireighteln years of OF THE "WAR OF 1812. 401 Approach of British under Sheaffe. Chrystie takes Wool's Place. , Sheaffe's Ee-eDforcements. ued to annoy the Americans until Scott, at the head of a considerable poi-tion of his army, made a general assault upon them, and drove them from the Heights. At the same time, General Sheaffe was seen cautiously approaching with re-en- forcements from Fort George, his troops making the road near Vrooman's all aglow with scarlet. Lieutenant Colonel Chrystie had just arrived upon the bat- tle-field for the first time. He had cross- ed and recrossed the river, but did not appear upon the Heights until in the af- ternoon,' when he took command of the Thirteenth Regiment, and ordered Cap- tain Wool, who had endured toil and suf- fering for more than twelve hours, to the American shore to have his wounds dressed. At Vrooman's, General Sheaffe, who had succeeded Brock in command, join- ed the fragments of the different corps who had been driven from the Heights when Brock was kill- ed, with heavy re - enforcements. age whep he appeared as leader on the battle-field at Queenston. He received a good English education at A^caster and Niagara, and was a diligent student of English authors. He loved nature, and studied its phenomena with dis- (|Mmination. He was manly and amiable, and at the time in question was in every respect an accomplished gentleman. On the death of his father in 180T, he became the Tekarilwgm, or principal chief of the Six Nations, although he was the fourth and youngest son. As such he took the field In 1812 in the British interest, and was engaged in most of fhe military events on the Niagara frontier during the war. At the close of the contest he and his young sister Eliza- beth took up their residence at the home of their father, at the head of Lake Ontario, where they lived in the English style, and dispensed hospi- talities vrith a liberal hand. The reader will find a full account of this residence and of the family at the time in question in Stone's I4fe of Joaeph Brant. Young Brant went to England in 1821 on business for the Six Na- tions, and there took occa- sion to defend the character of his father from aspersions in Campbell's Gertrude of Wyoming. He was success- fal in his proof, but the poet had not the generosity or manliness to strike the cal- umnies from his poem, and there they remain to this day. On his return Brant went to work zealously for the moral improiiement of his people, in which he was sne^essfliL In 1827 Governor Dalhousie appointed him to the rank of captain in the represented in the engraving. beant's monument. British army and Superin- tendent of the Six Nations. He was elected a member of the Provincial Parliament in 1832 for the county of Hal- dimand, which comprehend- ed a good portion of the ter- ritory originally granted to the Mohawks. Technical dis- ability gave the seat to an- other, after he had filled it for a while. But during that very summer the competitors were both laid in the grave by that terrible scourge, Asiatic cholsra. He died at the Mohawk village where he was bom, at the age of forty -eight years, and was buried in the same vault vrith his father, in the burying- ground of the Mohawk Churcb, a short distance from Brantford, in Canada, over which has been erected a substantial mausoleum, , This monnnient will be noticed more particularly presently.. ' The conduct of Lieutenant Colonel Chrystie on this occasion was not wholly reconcilable with our ideas of a true soldier. In a manuscript letter before me, written by Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer to General Wilkinson in Janu- ary, 1816, he accuses Chrystie with cowardice, and says Captain Lawrence, whose boat Chrystie ordered back at the crossing (see note 2, page 39S), openly charged him with it. Van Eensselaer gives it as his opinion that much of the bad conduct of the militia in r«flising to cross the river in the afternoon was owing to the example of this ofScer. On the other hand. General Van Eensselaer makes honoraWejnfigtion of him in his report written the next day, and he /C c / 402 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Sheaffe-8 flank Movement. Bad Condaet of the New York Militia. Scotf 8 Harlii^. He moved cautiously. Fear Vrooman's he left two pieces of artillery to command the town, filed to the right, and crossed the country to the little vUlage of St. Da- vid's, three miles westward of Queenston, and hy that circuitous route, after marching and countermarching as if reconnoitring the American lines, he gained the rear of that portion of the Heights on which they were posted, and formed in Elijah Phelps's fields on the Chippewa road.i There he was joined by the 41st Grenadiers and some militia and Indians from Chippewa, when the whole British army confronting that of the Americans was more than one thousand strong, exclusive of their dusky allies.^ The Americans, according to the most careful estimate, did not exceed six hundred in number. _ . When Sheafie appeared, General Van Kensselaer was on the Heights. He im- mediately crossed the river to push forward re-enforcements. He failed. The mili- tia, who had been so brave in speech and clamorous to be led against the enemy, refused to cross. The smell of gunpowder, even from afar, seems to have paralyzed their honor and their courage. Van Kensselaer rode up and down among them, ■Alternately threatening and imploring. T^pn|,^|iant, CrilfyTiel Blnnm^ who had been wounded in action and had returned, and Judge Peck, who happened to be at Lewis- ton, did the same, but without effect. Van Rensselaer appealed to their patriotism, their honor, and their humanity, but in vain. They pleaded their exemption as mili- tia, under the Constitution and laws, from being taken out of their own state ! and under that miserable shield they hoped to find shelter from the storm of indignation which their cowardice was sure to evoke. Like poltroons as they were, they stood on the shore at Lewiston while their brave companions in arms on Queenston Heights were menaced with inevitable destruction or captivity. All that Van Rensselaer could do was to send over some munitions of war, with a letter to General Wads- worth, ordering him to retreat if ia his judgment the salvation of the troops depend- ed upon such movement, and promising him a sujsply of boats for the purpose. But this promise he could not fulfill. The boatmen on the shore were as cowardly as the militia on the plain above. Many of them had fled panic-stricken, and the boats were dispersed. Wadsworth communicated Van Rensselaer's letter to the field officers. They per- ceived no chance for re-enforcements, no means for a retreat, and no hope of succor from any human source except their own valor and vigorous arms. They resolved to /meet the oncoming overwhelming force like brave soldiers. Scott sprang upon a log, 'his tall form towering conspicuous above all,^ and addressed the little army in a few stirring words as the British came thundering on. " The enemy's balls," he said, be- gin to thin our ranks. His numbers are overwhelming. In a moment the shock must come, and there is no retreat. We are in the beginning of a national war. Hull's surrender is to be redeemed. Let us, then, die arms in hand. The country de- mands the sacrifice. The example will not be lost. The blood of the slain wiU make heroes of the living. Those who follow will avenge our fall and their country's wrongs. Who dare to stand ?" " All ! all !" was the generous response ; and in that spirit they received the first heavy blow of the enemy on their right wing.* was promoted to the oflSce of inspector general. He did not live long enougli to teat his mettle fairly. He died at Port George, in Canada, on the 22d of July, 1813. ■ ' MS. Journal of Captain William Hamilton Merritt. 2 Sheaffe's re-enforcements, with whom he marched from Port George, consisted of almost foui' hundred of the 41st Regi- ment, under Captain Derenzy, and ahont three hundred militia. The latter consisted of the flank companies of the 1st Regiment of Lincoln Militia, under Captains J. Crooks and M'Ewen ; the flank companies of the 4th Regiment of Lin- coln Militia, under Captains Nellis and W. Crooks ; Captains Hall's, Durand's, and Applegarth'e companies of the 6th Regiment of Lincoln Militia ; Major Merritt's Yeomanry Corps, and a hody of Swayzee's Militia Artillery under Cap- tains Powell and Cameron. Those firom Chippewa were commanded by Colonel Clark, and consisted of Captain Bul- lock's company of Grenadiers of the 41st Regiment ; the flank companies of tjie 2d Lincoln Regiment, under Captains Hamilton and Rowe, and the Volunteer Sedentary Militia. Brant and Jacobs commanded the Indians. Two three- pounders, under the charge of Lieutenant Crowther, of the 41st Regiment, accompanied the troops. 3 General Scott was six feet five inches in height. He was then slender, graceful, and commanding in form ; for several years before his death he waS ponderous, yet exceedingly dignified in liis appearance. - * Scott was in fall-dress uniform, and, being taller than his companions, was a conspicuous and important mark for OF THE WAR OF 1812. 4o3 Battle on Queenaton Heights. Perils of the Americans. Heroes and Cowards made Prisoners of War. SheafFe opened the battle at about four o'clock by directing Lieutenant M'Intyre, ■witb the Light Company of the 4lBt on the left of his column, supported by a body of militia, Indians, and negroes under Captain Runchey, to fall upon the American right. They fired a single volley with considerable execution, and then charged with a tremendous tumult, the white men shouting and the Indians ringing out the fear- ful war-whoop and hideous yells. The Americans were overpowered by the onslaught and gave way, for their whole available force did not much exceed three hundred men. Perceiving this, Sheaffe ordered his entire line to charge, while the two field- pieces were brought to bear upon the American ranks. The effect was powerful. The Americans yielded and fled in utter confusion toward the river, down the slope by the redan, and along the road leading from Quefenston to the Falls. The latter were cut off by the Indians, and forced through the woods toward the precipices along the bank of the river. Others, who had reached the water's edge, were also cut off from farther retreat by a lack of boats. Meanwhile the American commander had sent several messengers with flags, bearing offers to capitulate. The Indians shot them all, and continued a murderous onslaught upon the terrified fugitives. Some of them were killed in the woods, some were driven over the precipices and perished on the rocks or in the rushing river below, while others escaped by letting themselves down from bush to bush, and swimming the flood. At length Lieutenant Colonel Scott, in the midst of the greatest peril, reached the British commanding general, and offered to surrender the whole force. ^ The Indians were called from their bloody work, terms of capitulation were soon agreed to, and all the Americans on the British side became prisoners of war. These, to the utter astonishment of their own com- manders, amounted to about nine hundred, when not more than six hundred, regu- lars and militia, were known to have been on the Canada shore at any time dur- ing the day, and not more than half that number were engaged in the flght on the Heights. The mystery was soon explained. Several hundred militia had crossed over during the morning. Two hundred of them, under Major MuUany, who crossed early in the day, were forced by the current of the river under the range of Vroo- man's battery, and were captured. Two hundred and ninety-three, who were in the battle, were surrendered ; and the remainder, having seen the wounded crossing the river, the painted Indians, and 'the " green tigers," as they called the 49th, whose coats were faced with green, skulked below the banks, and had no more to do with the battle than spectators in a balloon might have claimed. But they were a part of the invading army, were found on British soil, and were properly prisoners of war. The British soldiers, after the battle, plucked them from their hiding-places, and made them a part of the triumphal procession with which General Sheaffe returned to Fort George.^ the enenjy. He was nrged to change his dress. "No," he said, smiling, " I will die in my robes." As in the case of Washington on the field of Monongahela, the Indians took special aim at Scott, but conld not hit him. 1 Scott fixed a white cravat on the point of his sword as a flag of truce, and, accompanied by Captains Totten (ftom whose neck the "flag was taken) ^ ,,^ wi-ench his sword from him, when and Gibson, made his way along ^-^""'^ ^ Totten and Gibson drew theirs. the river shore, under shelter of /^ T^^IP^ ^^ Indians, who were anned with the precipice, to a gentle slope, up / ( jTd, ."^ nfles, instantly flred hut without which they hastened to the road Lc^ WV^W^ f *?■='' ^°*7r ^^^V*" "'l"'^*' leading from the village to the ,rfj^ LV/UUl. ^"™' *°* tomahawks, when a Heights, exposed to the random «^ ^e/'^ J^ ^ * ^/u^-it.-^ British sergeant, accompanied by a fire of the Indians. Just as they /7 ' ^ gnard, seeing the encounter, rush- reached the road they were met , Ij L-^ =>t ■> f to™ara, crymg Honor ! honor I by two Indians, who sprang upon "' ' ^^ ^^ ff ?« Americans under his pro- them like tigers. They would y; ^^^-^Z^^ ^e Te^^nce rOe" ral Sffe hot listen to Scott's declaration /Z .^^ ^ —^ the presence of General bheaffe. IL /v V» «.T™f»^ Jl*--^—'--^ -y y~~l —Ufe mi Servixa of General TSt^nthoritteslSted in° compiling the foregoing account of events on themga™ frontier, in this and the wecedim? chanter are as follows : Official Eeports of Generals Van Rensselaer and Sheaffe, Lieutenant Colonel Chrystie and Captain Wool ■ oral and wi'itten statements of Captain (now Major General) Wool to the Author ; MS. Order and 404 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Losses in the Battle of Queenston. The Sni-render. Justice and Injustice to the Meritorions. Scott at Hiagara> The entire loss of the Americans during that eventful day, according to the most careful estimates, was ninety killed, about one hundred wounded, and between eight- and nine hundred made prisoners, causing an entire loss, in ran£ and file, of about eleven hundred men. The British loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners (the latter taken in the morning), was about one hundred and thirty. The number of Indians engaged and their loss is not positively known. ' Captain Norton was 'wounded, but not severely. All parties engaged in the fight on that day behaved with exemplary courage, and deserved, as they received, the encomiums of their respective generals, and the thanks of their respective governments. ^ : Brigadier General Wadsworth was in command when the army was surrendered. He delivered his sword to General Sheaffe in person. The ceremony of foi-mal sur- render occurred at near sunset, when the prisoners, officers, and men were marched- to the village of Newark (now Niagara), at the mouth of the Niagara River. There the officers were quartered in a small tavern, and placed under guard. While wait- ing for an escort to conduct them to the head-quarters of General Sheafie, a little girl entered the parlor and said that somebody in the hall wanted to see the " tall officer." Scott, who was unarmed, immediately went out, when he was confronted by the two Indians who had made such a violent assault upon him while bearing a flag of truce. Young Brant immediately stepped up to Scott and inquired how many balls had passed through hig clothing, as they had both fired at him incessantly, and had been' astonished continually at not seeing him fall. Jacobs, at the same time, seized Scott rudely, and attempted to whirl him around, exclaiming, "Me shoot so often, me sure Letter Books of General Stephen Van Rensselaer ; MS. con-espondence of Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer ; Oral Nar- ratives of Soldiers in the Battle at Queenston, living in Canada in 1860 ; Perkins's Histtyry of the Late War; Bracken- ridge's flistorj/ 0/ (Ac iJate War; Thornton's Historical Sketches qf the Late ITar; Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer's JVar- rative of the Atfair at Queenston ; IngersoWs Historical Sketch of the Seamd War, etc. ; Niles's Weekly Register ; the War;' Stone's Life of Brant; (SfceteAes 0/ tfte ITar, hy an anonymous writer ; Arm^trong*a Notices of the War of 1612 ; Mansfield's £4fe and Services of General Winjield Scott; Baylis's Battle of Queenston; Files of the New York Herald, or semi-weekly Evminff Post; James's Military Occurrences of the Late War; Anchinleck's History of the War o/1812; Tapper's iife and Ccyrrespondence of Sir Isaac Brock; Christie's Military Operations in Canada; Jarvis's Narrative; Manuscript Jour- nal of Major Merritt ; Symonds's Battle of Quetmstmi Heights. 1 British writers -widely disagree in their estimates concerning the Indian force on that occasion. It is known that there were some with Dennis in the morning, that others accompanied Sheaffe from Fort George in the afternoon, and that he was joined on the Heights by others from Chippewa. . I think, the Six Nations were represented on that day by about two hundred and fifty warriors. , . , 2 General Sheaffe named almost every commissioned officer engaged in tte battle as entitled to high praise. He spe- cially commended Captain Holcroft, of the Royal Artillery, for his skillfal and judicious use of the ordnance in hie charge ; also Lieutenant Crowther for similar service. „ He gave credit to Captain Glegg, Brock's aid-de-camp, for great assistance ; also to Lieutenant Fowler, assistant deputy quarter-master general. Lieutenant Kerr, of the Glengary Fen- cibles, Lieutenant Colonels Butler and Clarke, and Captains Hall, Dsurand.Rowe, Applegarth, James Crooks, Cooper, Robert Hamilton, M'Ewen, and Duncan Cameron. Lieutenants Richardson and Thomas Butler, and Major Merritt, of the Niagara Dragoons, were all highly spoken of. He added to the list of honor the names of Volunteers Shaw, Thom- son, and Jarvis. The latter (G.S. Jarvis) wrote.an interesting account of the battle. He was attached to the light com- pany of the Forty-ninth Regiment. Upon Major General Brock, his slain aid-de-camp (Colonel M'Donell), and Captains Dennis and Williams, he bestowed special and deserved encomium for their gallantry. In contrast with this dispatch of General Sheaffe to Sir George Prevost, written at Fort George on the evening of the day of battle, is that of General Van Rensselaer to General Dearborn, written at Lewiston on the following day. He gives a general statement of important events connected with the battle, but when he comes to distribute the honors among those who are entitled to receive them, he omits the name of every officer who was engaged in storming and carrying the Heights of Queenston, the chief object of the expedition. The name of Captain Wool, the hero of the day until the tide of victory was turned against the Americans, is not even mentioned. Byron defined military glory as "being shot through the body, and having one's name spelled vn-ong in the gazettes." Worse fate than that would have been that of Wool and the storming-party had History confined her investigations to Van Rensselaer's report. He expressed his great obligations to General Wadsworth, Colonel Van Rensselaer, Lieutenant Colonels Scott, Chrys- tie, and Fenwick, and Captain Gibson, all of whom were gallant men, and performed their duties nobly in the after part of the day, but not one of them had a share in the capture of the Heights, the defeat of Major General Brock, and the winnings of victory. Van Rensselaer was wiunded and taken to Lewiston before daylight. Fenwick was wounded while crossing the river and taken prisoner. Chrystie was not on the battle-field until the morning victories were all won under Wool. How General Van Rensselaer could have made such a report is a mystery. It is due to his candor and sense of justice to say that he was doubtless misled by the reports of interested parties, for as soon as he perceived the injustice that was done to brave officers, he did all in his power to remedy the evil. In his report to Colonel Van Rensselaer, on the 23d of October, Captain Wool made special mention of the officers who acted with him on that day, and these General Van Rensselaer took occasion to name in a special manner in a letter to Brigadier General Smyth announcing his resignation, written at Buffalo on the 24th. In a letter to Captain Wool in December follovring. Gen- eral Van Rensselaer said, " I was not sufficiently informed to do justice to your bravery and good conduct in the attack of the enemy on the Heights of Queenston." He then expressed the hope that the government would notice his merits on that occasion. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 405 Scott's Enconnter with Indians. Object of their Visit. A combined Triumphal and Funeral Procession. to have hit somfe-where !" The indignant officer thrust the savage from him, ex- claimittg," Hands off, you villain! You fired like a squaw!" Both assailants im- mediately loosened their knives and tomahawks from their girdles, and were about to spring upon Scott, while Jacobs exclaimed, " We kill you now !'" when the assailed rushed to the end of the hall, where the swords of the captured officers stood, seized the first one, drew the blade from its steel scabbard as quick as lightning, and was about to bring the heavy weapon with deadly force upon the Indians, when a British officer entered, seized Jacobs by the arms, and shouted for the guard. ' Jacobs turned fiercely upon the officer, exclaiming, " I kill you," when Scott, with the heavy sabre raised, called out, " If you strike I'll kill you both." For a moment the eyes of the group gleamed with fiiry -upon their antagonist, and a scene was presented equal to any thing in the songs of the Troubadours or the sagas of the Norsemen. The gust of passion was momentary, and then the Indians put up their weapons and slowly re- tired, muttering imprecations on all white men and all the laws of war.^ " Beyond doubt," says his biographer,^ " it was no part of the young chief's design to inflict in- jury upon the captive American commander. His whole character forbids the idea, for' he was as generous and benevolent in his feelings as he was brave." It is be- lieved that their visit to Scott was one of curiosity only, for, having tried so repeat- edly to hit him with their bullets, they' were anxjous to know how nearly they had accomplished their object. But it can not be denied that the exasperation of the In- dians against Scott, because of theii- losses on the Heights, was very great — so great that while he remained at Niagara he could not move from his lodgings in safety, even to visit the head-quarters of General Sheaffe,* without a guard. "When General Sheaffe marched in triumph from Queenston to New- ark, he took with him the body of the slain General Brock, which had been concealed in a house near where he fell. The march had a twofold aspect. It was a triumphal and a funeral procession. At Newark the body was placed in the government house, NEW MAGAZINE AT FOBT GEOSOE. and there it lay in state three days, when it was bu- ried^ in a . October 16, new cav- ■'^^^■ alier bastion in Fort George, whose erection he had su- perintended with great interest. By the side of Brock's remains were laid those of his provin- cial aid - de - camp, Lieutenant Colonel M'Donell.= The fu- neral ceremonies 1 This was Colonel Coffin, who had been sent by General Sheaffe, with a guard, to invite the American officers to his table at his quarters. = Stone'B Life of Brant, ii., 5U ; Uans&eld'a Life of Scott, page i6. 3 William L. Stone. At the close of his Life of Joseph Brant, Stone gives an interesting sketch of the life of John * Eoger H Sheaffe was a native of Boston, Massachusetts, and was a lad living there with his widowed mother at the opening of the Revolution. Earl _^ nation to provide for him. He gave Percy's head-quarters were at their y^J^ ^ ^>/^''^" Roman composite order, ninety-five feet in height. The shaft is fluted, and is ten feet in diameter at its base, with an enriched plinth, on which are carved the heads of lions and wreaths in bold relief The flutes terminate in palms. The capital of 1 The following is. a copy of the Inscription : "TJppBB (Jamada has dedicated this monument to the memory of the late Majob Oenebal Sie Isaac Bbooe, K.B., Provincial Lieutenant Governor and Commander of the Forces In this Province, whose remains are deposited in the vault beneath. Opposing the invading enemy, lie fell in action near these Heights on the 13th of October, 1812, in tlie forty-third year of his age. Eevered and lamented by the people whom he governed, and deplored by the sovereign to whose service his life had been devoted." ' ' " On one plate Is the following: "In a vault underneath are deposited the mortal remains of Majob Genbeai Sie Isaac Beook, K.B., who fell in ac- tion near these Heights on 13th October, 1812, and was entombed on the 16th of October at the bastion of Fort George, Niagara, removed from thence, and reinterred under a monument to the eastward of this site, on the 13th October, 1824; and, in consequence of that monument haviilg received irreparable injury by a lawless act on the ITth of April, 1840, it was found requisite to take down the fbrmer structure and erect this monument ; the foundation-stone being laid, and the remains again reinterred vrith due solemnity, on 13th October, 18B3." The other plate has the following ini3cription-t "lu ftlyaUlt beneath are deposited the mortal remains of lieutenant Colonfel Jomf iPDoNEti, P.A.D.C., and Aid-de- camp to the lanionted Hajoe Seneeal" Sie Isaac Beock, K.B., who fell mortally wounded in the battle of Queenston OH the 13th October, 1812, and died on the following day. His rem This monnment was designed by W. Thomas, Esq., of Toronto, and was erected under his superintendence. The contractor was Mr. J. Woithington. 2 We have observed that.a rfonner monnment to the memory of Brock was shattered by powder in 1840. The act produced the greatest Indignation throughout Canada. A meeting was held on Queenston Heights in June following, composed of about eight thonsatid people, y One of the most active men on that occasion was the late Sir Allan M'Nab. There was a military parade and salutes with artiljery. Jn Toronto the day was observed as a solemn holiday. All the public offices were closed, and business was generally srfspended. Delegations and crowds of citizens flocked to Queens- ton from Kingston, Toronto, Cobourg, and Hamilton. The lieutenant governor. Sir George Arthur, and his staflT, were there. Sir George presided. He addressed the meeting. Chief Justice Bobinsou, Sir Allan M'Nab, and several oth- ers, also made speeches. A number of Brock's surviving soldiers were also present. Resolutions were passed ; and when the public proceedings were ended, six hundred persons sat down to a dinner under a pavilion erected on the spot wh'ere the liero fell, at which Chief Justice Hobinson presided. The result of the aflfair was the formation of a building committee for the erection of a new monument, of which Sir Allan M'Nab was chairman.* The money for the purpose was raised by the voluntary subscriptions of the militia and Indian warriors of the province. A grant from the Pro- vincial Parliament enabled the committee to lay ont the grounds, and erect the gate and keeper's lodge. The foun- dation-stone was laid on the 13th of October, 1853, and on the same day the remains of Brock andM'Donell were rein- terred with imposing ceremonies. The day was very fine. There were pall-bearers and chief mourners.t When the remains were deposited in their last resting-place, the corner-stone was laid by Lieutenant Colonel M'Donell, brother of one of the dead heroes. The late Honorable William Hamilton Merritt, M.P., delivered an address, in which he spoke highly of the character and services of the Indians in the War of 1812. Mr. Thorbum, Indian agent, responded in their behalf^ and read an address from the chiefs present, which breathed sentiments of loyalty and affection for the English queen. As a mark of respect, an American steam-boat at Lewiston lowered its flag to half mast. 3 See page 398. ' • The following named gentlemen constituted that committee : Sir Allan M'Nab, M. P. ; Chief Justice Sir John Brush EobiuBon ; Honorable Mr. Justice M'Lean ; Honorable Walter H. Dickson, M. L. C. ; Honorable William Hamilton Mer- ritt'M.P. ;' Honorable Thomas Clark Street, M. F. ; Colonel James Kerby ; Colonel John M'Dougal ; David Thorbum, Esq. ■ Lieutenant Garrett ; Colonel Eobert Hamilton ; and Captain H. Munro. t The pall-bearers were Colonels E. W. Thompson, W. Thompson, Duggan, Stanton, Kerby, Crooks, Zimmerman, Caron Thome, Servos, Clark, Wakefield, and Miller. Among the chief mourners were Colonel Donald M'Donell, the deputy adjutant general fo»Canada Bast, Colonel TacW, Lieutenant Colonel Irvine, the snrviTorB of 1812, and the chiefs ofthe Six Nations. 416 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK A Veteran of 1812. The Chief of the Six Nations of Indians. The Place where Brock fell. From the. rivei; I. -went up the Heights to the site of the redan, and then to the point where the Americans were crowded to the verge of the precipice. This was ac- complished before breakfast. When I came out of the dining-ro&m at Wads worth's, I found the venerable Major Adam Brown in the little parlor. He was, a native of Queenston. At the time of the battle he was a lieutenant in the 1st Battalion of- the Lincoln Militia under Col- onel Glaus, then at Fort George, and was not in the engagement. He was in com- mand of a hundred men at the battle of Niagara (Lundy's Lane), and was in active service during a greater part of the war. While I was writing some memoranda of his conversation in my note-book, he spoke to a person behind me whom I had not noticed, and asked, " Were you the chief who was with the Indians at the dedication of the monument?" "I was, sir," replied a pleasant voice. I turned and observed a fine-looking, dark-complexioned, well-dressed man, whose features and expression re- vealed traces of the Indian race. We both arose .at the same moment. I introduced myself and inquired his 'name. He informed. me that he was George Henry Martin Johnson, a descendant, in the fourth generation, of Sir William Johnson, of the Mo- hawk Valley, and now Tekarihogea, or commander-in-chief of the Six Nations of In- dians in Canada, his father having been the official successor of John Brant.' To me this meeting was interesting and fortunate. I intended to visit the settlements of the Six Nations, on the Grand River, during this tour, but was doubtful concerning the best route, and the most important place for obtaining desired information. All was now plain, and, before we parted, arrangements were made for Mr. Johnson to meet me at Brantford a few days later. On the day of my arrival at Queenston, a committee, appointed for the purpose, had decided upon the exact spot where Brock fell. I visited it in company with Major Brown. A space sixty feet square, within which was to be placed a memorial-stone, had been staked out, and in the centre, the very spot, as the committee supposed, where the hero fell, was marked. 1 As early as 1821, John Howison, in his Sketches of Uppen Canada, had said, " General Brock was killed dose to the road that leads through Queenston village, and an aged thorn-bush now marks the place where he fell when the fatal ball entered his vitals." The spot marked by the com- mittee is about twenty rods west of the "road that leads through Queens- ton," and a little eastward of the " aged thorn-bush," which had become a tree twenty feet in height, with two large stems, when I saw it. Near the site a workman was fashioning the blocks of freestone of which the monument was to be composed, and from him I obtained a sketch of it. After making MONUMENT WHEEE BBOOK FELT.. 1 1 was told that some old residents of the village declared that the place where Brock fell was westward of the thorn-tree, and at least twenty paces from the spot selected. James Cooper, a blacksmith, who was within six feet of Brock when he fell, said it was west of the thorn-tree ; and Henry Stone, who lived in the*Btone house near the field declared that he saw the Mood of Brock on rocks west of the tree. OF THE WAB OF 1812. 417 Joarney from Qneenston to Niagara. Solomon Vrooman. Appearance of the Country. a drawing of the spot, ehowirig.the old thorn-tree on the right, and the stately mon- ument on the Heights in the distance, I introduced, in proper place and propor- tions, the sketch of the memorial-stone to mark the place which Howison said " may- be called classic ground." It is a small affair, heing only about four feet in height. The ground around it was to be inclosed in an iron railing. The Prince of "Wales (Albert Edward) was at that time" making a tour in Canada, receiving . August, tokens of loyalty every where. He visited Queenston very soon after I ^^■ was there, and laid the corner-stone of the little Aonumdtit with imposing cere- monies.' I left Queenston for Niagara at about nine o'clock, after riding to the point in the northern part of the village where the " old fort," or barracks, were situated, near the residence of Mr. E. Clements, of the Customs. We immediately passed a creek and deep ravine, and soon came to the first brick house below Queenston, on the left of the road, the residence of the venerable Solomon Vrooman, pleasantly situated, and surrounded by evidences of the highest and most thrifty cultivation. He was the owner of the point on which the battery bearing his name was situated,^ and partici- l^ated in the battle by assisting in manning the nine-pounder that was mounted there. I called to see him, and spent half an hour with him most agreeably. He was a slender man, seventy-six years of age. His native place was in the Mohawk Valley, but he had lived in Canada since the days of his young manhood. He went with me to the spot where the battery was, and pointed out the very prominent mounds that yet remain, near a bam, from which I made the sketch printed on page 391. He j\ , /^ ^^ told me that one hundred /y ^ X /^^ ^^^ sixty shot were thrown (7y^ 'Ui^'^^ (T/i^ C^^^^^^t^''^^^^'^^^-^ from tliat battery during ^-^ the day, vrholly for the pur- pose of obstructing the passage of the river by the Americans.' Its range of the old ferry and the new crossing- place at the present suspension bridge was point-blank and effectual. On one occasion during the afternoon, some Americans, trying to escape from Queenston by swimming the river, were brought by the current within rifle-shot distance of the battery, when one of the men in his company raised his piece to fire. Vrooman knocked up the piece, exclaiming indignantly, " Shame on you ! none but a coward would fire upon men thus struggling for their lives !" The road from Vrooman's to Niagara was one . of the most delightful that I had ever traveled. Most of the way- it skirted the high bank of the winding river, which was covered with stately trees, through which continual glimpses of the" American shore could be obtained. Landward were seen broad fields, from which bountiful harvests were pouring into bams, or green waving Indian corn, or numerous orchards, whose trees were so heavily laden with fruit that they drooped like weeping willows. As we approached Niagara we passed thi-ough first an aromatic pine grove, and then a narrow forest of oaks, beeches, maples, and evergreens, and emerged upon an open plain, the. property of the government, with the mounds of abandoned Fort George, 1 The Prince of Wales aiTived at Qneenston on the ITth of September, and on the following day he laid the comer- stone of the little monument. Sear the spot was erected a triumphal arch, on which, in large letters, werethe words " TioTOEiA— wETiCOME." The veterans of 1812, who were present, formed a guard of honor for th;o yonng.pfinpp. In the background were the St. Catharine's Hiflemen with a brass band. A silver trowel was presented to the prince with which to perform the ceremony. Upon it was engraved the following inscription : "Presented to His Hoyal HigKr^ess Albekt Edwabd, Prince of Wales, by the-Brock Monument Committee, on Queenston Heights, 18th Septemb,er, 1860." On one side of the monument was placed the following inscription : " This stone was placed by his Eoyal Highness Albekt BnwABn Prince of Wales, on the 18th of September, 1860." On the other side; "Near this spot Sir Isaac Brock, K.B., Provisional Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, fell on the 13th of October, 1812, while advancing to repel the inva- sion of the enemy." .. . - . = See Map on page 382. ' The battery was crescent-shaped. Engineer Gray, in his manuscript report now before me, thus describes it: "It is bnilt m larbette (that is, without embrasures), and has a high breastwork to the river. On the north, a frame house, intended for a bam ; on the west is a' gnii, mounted en barbette (on the top of the breastwork), and flanked by the skele- ton of a house. Within five rods of this runs the highway to Fdrt George." Du 418 PICTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK A Visit to Fort George. Kemaius of the French Magazine tliere. Hospitality of Mrs. Lee. PRESENT OUTLINES OF FOET OBOKGE. on the bank of the river, breaking the monotony of the level far to the right. There were no fences to obstruct the view or the travel on the plain. Cattle were feeding on the short grass, and here and there a footman or a horseman might be seen. We viiillll; //'ff/ 0AVi////' turned out of the beaten road to the ™■(^HIil1l1ll^^UlMlill^^i riglit) and drove across the plain to one of' the angles of the fort. There I left horse and driver, clambered up the steep grassy sides of the embankment, and commenced a hasty exploration of the interior of the fort. The breast- works in all directions were quite per- fect, and the entire form of the fort could be traced without difficulty. There were two or three houses within the works, and the parade and other portions were devoted to the cultivation of garden vegetables. In the most southerly part of the fort, about three hundred yards from the riv- er, is an old powder maga- zine, built by the French within a stockade. It was occupied as a dwelling by the family of an English sol- dier named Lee when I was there in 1860. The higher building seen in the picture is the old magazine. It was covered with slate, and its walls, four and a half feet thick, were supported by three buttresses on each side. The buildings on the left are more modern.. The in- terior of the magazine is arched, and the doors were originally covered with plates of copper fastened by copper nails. _ Mrs. Lee was an intelligent woman, very communicative, and free in the dispensa- tion of the hospitalities of her humble abode. We were refreshed with cakes, har- vest-apples, and cold spring-water. She filled a small basket with copper coins and other relics, and as I parted with her she wished me good luck in my journeyings. I clambered over an irregular and steep bank northward of the old magaainej visit- ed the site of the "cavalier battery" where Brock and M'Donell were buried and sketched the "new magazine," erected by the British in 181 2, delineated on page' 405. It IS of brick. Near it was a small house occupied by an Irish family, and the maga- ' zine was used as a pig-sty. From Fort George we rode to Niagara, half a mile below, halted long enough to obtam refreshments for ourselves and the horse, and then rode out over the garrison reservation, northeastward of the town, to Fort Mississaga,' a strong earth-work with a castle, which was constructed by the British during the war of 1812. Cattle were grazing upon the plain ; the waters of Lake Ontario, ruffled by a breeze, were spark- Img in the distance, and the whole scene was one of quiet and repose. Such, indeed is 1 mssisaam or Mmsamuga is the Indian name of a small black or dark hrown rattlesnake, twelve or fourteen ii.n1,™ m length, which nsnally inhabits tamarack and cranberry swamps in Northwestern Ohio and Canada West Thi« i^t^ name of an Indian tribe ; also of a.large stream in Canada West that empties into Lake Huron. In the littleTew o? Fort Mississaga given on the next page, Fort Niagara is seen on the right in the distance, and Lake Ontario on th^ west FBEMOH MAGAZINE AT FOBT QEOKQB. OF THE WAB OF 1812. 419 Fort Mississaga in 1S60. Beturn to Niagara Falls. Departure for the Grand Kiver. the impression on the mind in Canada, as eompared with "the States." The turmoil and bustle that marks an American popula- tion in large or small numbers, was but slightly manifested there. I found appa- rent stagnation in Queenston; and Ni- agara, though a fine t-^&5^=^_ and pleasant town in appeai'ance, with a population of about ™"' twenty-five hundred, seemed to be repos- '-«=5=-' ing'in almost perfect rest. It was former- ly called Newark, and the present city oc- cupies the site of the httle village ' which the Americans de- stroyed in 1813. It DISTANT VIEW OF lORT MISSISSAGA •was one of the oldest towns in the province, having been settled by Colonel Simcoe when he was the lieutenant governor.* It was a place of considerable trade before the opening of the Welland Canal, about thirty years ago, and is now, as then, the capital of the Niagara District. We found the gate of Fort Mississaga wide open, and walked in without leave. Not a human face was visible. I went up to and around the ramparts, and, taking a position over the entrance- gate, from which. I could see most ot the interior and Fort Niagara beyond, I sketched the scene. In this view are seen the barracks and the castle, with Fort Niagara across the river in the extreme distance. The castle is built of brick. The walls are eight feet in thickness, and covered with stucco. While engaged with the sketch I was startled by a voice near me. It was that of the whole garrison, compriBed in the person of Patrick Burns, who told me to make as many sketches as I pleased, for the fort was uninhabited except by his own family. At an early hour we started on our return to Niagara Falls. I attempted to drive, but soon became discourjtged by the eccentric movements of the horse, when the boy told me for the INTEKIOK VIEW— rOET MISSISSAGA IN 1860. first time that he was " as blin^ as a bat." But I have no reason to complam of the animal for he carried us back in safety, and m time for dinner and for departure by the evening train for the West. Having placed my luggage in charge of a proper person at the suspension bridge station, I crossed that marvelous hanging viaduct on foot along the carriage-road under the railway gallery, with my satchel m hand. As. I left the bridge to ascend to the station on the Canada shore I w^s hailed by a custom-house officer, of whose business I had not the least suspicion until informed by him Believing my assurance that the satchel contained nothing contraband, he allowed me to pass, after I had expressed a wish, good-naturedly, that the United States might soon be annexed to Canada, so that revenue officers might be allowed to engage in some other employment. ^, .„ti. ttt ^ i ;} i- On entering the cars on the Canada side I met Chief Johnson. We traveled to- 420 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK St. Catharine. Hamilton, P aris, and Bi-antfoi-d. Chief Jolinson and the Indian Reservation. gether as far as St. Catharine, eleven miles, where I intended to spend a day or two, and agreed upon the time when we should meet at Brantford. The impressions made by the time spent at St. Catharine, the persons I met at that famous gathering of in- valids around a mineral spring, a visit to the battle-ground of the Beaver Dams, the journey to Hamilton, and a ride to Stony Creek, a place made famous in the annals of the war we are now considering by a conflict and the capture of two American generals, are always summoned by memory with great pleasure. Of these I shall hereafter, write. On Tuesday evening, the 20th of August, I arrived at Hamilton, 'at the head of Lake Ontario, by the. Great Western Railway, and spent the night at the "Royal Hotel." Early on the following morning I rode out to Stony Creek, seven miles, and returned in time to take the cars at meridian for Paris in company with a young Quadroon chief of the Six Nations, named M'Murray, whose mother, wife of the Rev- erend Dr. M'Murray, of Magara, was a half-breed Indian woman, and sister to the first* wife of H. R. Schoolcraft, Esq. He was one of the finest formed and most attractive young men, in person and feature, I have ever met. The road from Hamilton to Paris, nearly thirty miles, passes through a very pic- turesque country. For five miles it skirts the northern high bank of the great marsh that extends from Burlington Bay to Dundas, and follows, a greater portion of the way, a line parallel with Dundas Street, or the Governor's Road. At Paris,i a large town, situated partly on a high rolling plain, and partly in a deep valley, on Smith's Creek and the Grand River, I left the Great Western Railway, and took passage for Brantford, seven miles southward, on the Buffalo and Huron Road, which here intersects it. The country was hilly most of the way, but at Brantford it spreads out into a beautiful plain, or high gravelly ridge, overhanging an extensive and well- cultivated region. The town derives its name from the great Mohawk^ chief, the In- dians having a ford across the Grand River here, which they called " Brant's Ford," it being near his residence.^ The situation of the town, on the north or right bank of the Grand River, is a healthful one. That river is navigable to within less than three miles of the village. The deficiency in that distance is supplied by a canal. The population is about four thousand. Early on the morning after my arrival at" Brantford I was met by Chief Johnson, who had come up to the village the previous evening for the purpose. We left at six o'clock for the Onondaga Station, about nine miles below, from which we walked to Mr. Johnson's house, half way between the villages of Onondaga and Tuscarora, the former inhabited by white people, and the latter wholly by the Indians. Onon- daga is on the north side of the river, and Tuscarora on the south. We passed sev- eral pure-blooded Indians on the way, some of them, who remain pagans, wearing portions of the ancient savage costume ; but most of them, men and women, were dressed in the style of the white people around them. 1 Paris was so named on account of the gypsum, or " plaster of Paris," which abounds there. 2 The word Mohawk, in that language, signifies " flint and steel." • 3 Those of the Six Nations who joined the British during the Revolution were promised by the governors ofCanadn, Carleton and Haldimand, that they should be well provided for at the close of the war. But in the treaty of peace in 1T83, no provision was made for the Indians. At that time the Mohawks, with Brant at their head, were temporarily residing on the American aide of the Niagara River, near its mouth. The Senecas offered them a home in the Genesee Valley, but Brant and his followers had resolved not to live in the United States. He went to Quebec to flaim from Gov- enior Haldimand the fulfillment of his promise. He had fixed his eye upon a large tract of land on the Bay of Quinte. But the Senecas did not wish them to go so far away, and they chose a large tract on the Grand River. This matter being settled. Brant went to England at the close of 17T6, and during the remainder of his life he devoted much of his time to the moral improvement of his people. The grant of land on the Ouise, or Grand River, which Brant, in the behalf of the Indians, procured in 1784, com- prised an area of twelve hundred square miles, or, as Brant expressed it when asked how much would satisfy them, " six miles each side of the river from its month to its source." The whole country thus granted was fertile and beau- tiful. Of jU that splendid domain, running up into the country from Lake Erie toward Lake Huron to the Falls of Blora, the'Indians now retain only comparatively small tracts in the vicinity of Brantford. In 1S30 the Indians made a surrender to the government of the town plot of Brantford, when it was surveyed and sold to actual settlers. It soon grew into a large and thriving village. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 421 Mission-house on Grand Elver. Costume of the Chief of the Six Nations. . Indian Weapons. On our way we also passed the old mission-house, constructed of logs in 1827, for the residence of the Reverend. Robert Lugger, the predecessor of the present missionary among the Indians there. It is near the left bank of the Grand River ; and from the road where the sketch was made ia a fine view of the beautiful valley through which that stream winds its way toward Lake Erie. A walk of a mile and a half MIS810JS-1I0U8E OM THE GEAJJjD KIVEK. brought us to " Chiefswood," the residence of Mr. Johnson, situated on a gentle em- inence, with beautiful grounds sloping to the banks of the Grand River, and sur- rounded by his farm of two hundred acres of excellent land. It is a modest, square mansion, two stories in height, built of brick, and stuccoed. There I was cor- dially welcomed by Mrs. Johnson, a handsome and well-educated woman, daughter of a clergyma'n of the Church of England, and the mother of three fine-looking, healthy children. While awaiting preparations for breakfast, Mr. Johnson proceeded to his business office, leaving me to amuse myself with the curiosities which adorned the little parlor. On a table were sevei-al rare Indian relics, and the daguerreotypes of some Indian chiefs. Among the lat- tei was one of Mr. Johnson himself, in the militaiY costume of commander-in- chief of the Six Nations, as seen in the engraving. In precisely this garb he appeared, ia compliment to my curi- osity, when he came to invite me to breakfast. The coat and breeches were white cloth, and the scarf and sash were rich specimens of Indian work, composed of cloth, ribbons, beads, and ^lylA^o^ ^ porcupine quills. In one hand he holds a hand- some curled-maple handled, silver-mounted pipe- tomahawk,^ and in the other a most foimidable weapon, composed of the shank of a deer, with the bare shin-bone for a handle, dried in the angular position seen in the small engraving on the follow- ing page, and holding a thick glittering blade, which may be used either in giving deadly OKNAMENTAL TOMAHAWK. lit will be observed, in the signature ofMr. Johnson, that a character in the foi-m of a Z precedes the word "chief." This indicates an arm bent at the elbpw, and signifies that the head chief is the right, arm of the nation. 2 These ornamental tomahawlss are not for practical use. The liandle, fpurteen inches in length, contains a tube that answers the purpose of the stem of a pipe, and the head of the tomahawk is arranged as a pipe-bowl. In this specimen the blade and handle are connected by a silver chain. The blade is brass except the steel edge. 422 PICTORIAL PIELD-BOOK A Silver Galnmet. Ancient Scalpmg-knite and its History. Number and Character of the Indians. blows or as a scalping-knife. These, with a silver calumet, or pipe of peace, compose a part of the regalia of the civil and military heads of the Six Nations. These arti- SILYEE CAI.rMET. DEEK-BHANK WEAPON. cles had been long in possession of the nation." On the table was also a daguerre- otype of Oshawahnah, the lieutenant of Teoumtha at the battle of the Thames, and whoinl861 was iyef living on Walpole Island, in Lake St. Clair, off the coast- of Mich- igan. Mr. Johnsoii kindly presented to me the likeness of himself and of that venera- ble, chief . That of the latter, with some facts concerning him, will be given hereafter. By the side of the fireplace hung an undressed deerskin sheath which attracted my attention. " I drew from it an ancient scalping-knife, half consumed by rust, as seen in the little picture. _=— ^.^ss^^^k *^°'^* *° break ground me by Mr. Johnson, is ^^"•'''iP^iHfMi™'*™^^'*^ his house, two or three curious. When he was , aso.eht soALPma-KmrE. years previous to my » Aiignst, visit,* the Venerable Whitecoat, a centenarian chief then living at Tusca- 1S60.. j.Qpa, Village, came to him, and, pointing to the huge stump of a tree that had been felled within the prescribed lines of the building, said, "Dig there, and you will find a scalping-knife that I buried seventy years ago. You know," he continued, " that before the laws of the white man governed us, it was'^he duty of the nearest of kin of a wounded man to avenge his death by shedding the blood of .the murderer in .like manner, and that the weapbn so employed was never afterward used, but buried. I thus took vengeance for my brother's blood, and at the foot of that tree I buried the fatal knife. Dig, and you'll find it." Johnson did so, and found nothing but the rusty blade, to which he has affixed a wooden handle, made like the original. Whitecoat was among the warriors who were in the battle at Queenston. More than twenty of his companions on that occasion were living in the Grand River settlements in 1860. The whole number of the Sir Nations, with the Chij^iDewas, in those settle- ments was about three thousand. Of these about five hundred were pagans. The lat- ter are chiefly Cayugas, who are usually of purer blood than the others, and conse- quently retain more of the Indian feeling and dislike of the Christians — the personifi- cation of hated civilization. J I saw and sketched these objects at the store of Mr. Allan Cleghorn, in Brantford, whose great interest in the wel- fare of the Indians in that vicinity caused him to be elected to a chieftaincy among tliem, according to the old Indian custonj— a compliment equivalent to the presentation of the "freedom of a city" to meritorious men. The silver calumet, or pipe of peace, used at couhcils and in taaking treaties, above delineated, was quite old. On the broad, ornamented silver plate under the howl and part of the stem was the' following inscription: "To the Mohawk Indiana, from the Nine Patentees of the Tract near Schoharie, granted in 1769." On one side of the bowl was the figure of a white man, and on the other that of an Indian. These were tonnected'Withthe representation of the sun on the front of the bowl by a union chain. Suspended ftom the stem in a festoon was, first, a silvef chain, and then strings of wampum. The stem was eighteen inches in length. The Sword seen in the picture was presented to Mr. Johnson in 1849 by T. D. BeVevly, Esq., of Three Bivers, Canada, because of the chief's speech to th-e Six Nations (when assembled on the queen's birthday), in deprecation of the action of the Canadian Parliament in paying Mr.M'Kenzie and "other rebels" for their losses during the civil war in 1837 and 1838. It was an elegant sword. Mr. Johnson was bom near Brantford on the 7th of October, 1818. He was a lineal descendant of Sir William John- son, through Sir John Johnson, whose son Jacob was his grandfather. His military commission as chief of the Six Nations gave him the rank and pay of colonel. His infiuence was powerful, and he had the esteem of his people and of the white inhabitants. OP THE WAR OP 1812. 423 Village of Onondaga aJa Mohawk. The Mohawk Church. Appearance of the Interior. Immediately after breakfast I bade adieu to Mrs. Johnson and her interesting little tamily, and left « Chiefswood" for Brantford, accompanied by the kind-hearted leader in his own conveyance. We went by the way of Onondaga and Mohawk or "The Institute," where Brant first settled. Near the former village Mr. Johnson has'a farm,_on the verge of which, and close by the town', is & free Episcopal church, built ot brick, and devoted to the use of the poor white people of that section. For that noble purpose Mr. Johnson gave ' tlie ground and a considerable sum of monejip In the village, which is pleas- antly situated on a plain, is a small Methodist chapel and sopie neat cot- tages. . Only here and therp an Indian family were seen, and these were found in a state of excitement and grief be- cause of the death of a fine lad, a grand- son of Brant, who had been killed by being thrown from a horse that morn- ing. We reached the old Mohawk church (the first of the kind erected in the province) toward noon, found the door open, and 'entered. Some carpenters were at work repairing the exterior, but in no way changing its form from what it was originally. It is of wood, and was erected in the year 1783. It is a very plain, unpretending structure within and without. The only ornament, except the upholstery of the pulpit and the upper part of the frames inclosing the Ten Command- ments, is a representation' of the royal arms of England, handsomely carved and gilt, attached to the wall over the entrance - door, inside. Back of the pulpit are two black tablets with the Com- mandments inscribed upon them. On the right of it is another tablet, on which is written the Lord's Prayer, and on the left another, with the Apostles' Creed, all in the Mohawk language. ' In front of the little chancel is a neat font. The seats have high backs.^ The one seen in the corner, at the right of the pulpit, was pointed out to me as that which Brant and 1 The following is a copy of the Lord's Prayer, as written upon the tablet In the old Mohawk church: " Shoegwaniha Karouhyakouh teghsiderouh, Wagwaghseanadokeaghdiste ;. Sayanertsherah aodaweghti ; Tsineagh- sereh egh neayaweane ne ougbweatsyake tsioni nityoubt ne Karonhyakoub. Takyouh ne Keab weghniserate ne ui- yadeweghniserake oegwanadarok : Neonl toedagwarighwyastea ne tsiniyoegwatswatonh, tsinlyouht ne oekyoubha tsitsyakhirighwiyoesteanis ne waonkhiyatswatea. Neoni toghsa tagwagheharinet tewadadeanakeraghtoeke : Nok toe- MOHAWK OHTTBOH. INTEKIOB OF MOHAWK OUUBOH. 424 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Building of the Mohawk Chui-ch. ' Its Bell. Tomb of the Brant Family. Thfe "Mohawk IiiBtitnie." his family occupied when he resided there. The area of the interior is only about thirty by forty feet, and is lighted by four arched windows on each side. The tim- ber for the church was floated down the Grand River, sawed and dressed by hand, afe carried to the spot by the Indians. The communion service, still used in the church, was presented to the* Mohawks by Queen Anne. It has been generally sup- posed that the bell was also a gift of the royal lady ; but, on examination, I found the following " card" of the manufacturer cast upon it : " John Warner, Fleet Street, Lon- don 1786." It was doubtless brought from England at about that time by Brant. Near the south side of the church is the tomb of Brant and his son and ofiicial suc- cessors. His original family vault was built of wood. It fell into decay, andjki 1850 the inhabitants of the vicinity erected a new and substantial tomb, composed of light brown sandstone. The public ceremonies on the occasion were conducted chiefly by the Freemasons (Brant being a member of that order), assisted by a large gather- ing of the people from the surrounding country and from the States, especially from the Mohawk Valley, full -five thousand in number. Upon a massive slab which com- poses the top of the tomb are appropriate inscriptions commemorative of both father and son.i A picture of the tomb may be seen on page 401. In front of the church, near the entrance-gate to the grounds, is the grave of the maternal grandfather of Chief Johnson, who was m the train of young Brant at the battle of Queenston. A stone slab, with an appropriate inscription, covers his grave.^ / . After sketching the exterior and interior of the ancient church and Brant's tomb, and visiting the much-altered house, a few rods distant, where the gi-eat chieftain lived, we went to the *' Mohawk Institute," the central point of missionaiy effort among the Six Nations, commenced and continued by " The Society for the Pi-opagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts."' Their first missionary to the Mohawks was sent in the year 1702, and from that time to this they have followed the waning tribe and its confederates in the old league with motherly solicitude. This company have maintained a missionary among the Six Nations in Canada ever since their migration thither. They have contributed largely to the repairs of the old Mohawk church, erected a new one in Tuscarora Village, and now maintain at the " Institute" about sixty Indian scholars. These were under the charge of the Reverend Abraham Nelles, the missionary of the station, and his excellent wife, who had been in that useful field of labor since 1829. His family had had ecclesiastical connection with the Six dagwayadakoh tsinoewe niyodaxheah : Ikea iese saweank ne kayanertsherab, neonl ne kashatsteaghEera, neoni ne (Bweseaghtshera, tsiniyeaheawe neoni tsiniyeaheawe. jlme»i." > The following are copies of the inscriptions : "This torab is erected to the memory of TnA.TE2«T)ATiEGEA, or Captain Joseph Bbant, Principal Chief and Warrior of the Six Nations Indians, by his Pellow-Sabjects, admirers of his fidelity and attachment to the British Crown. Born on the banks of the Ohio Eiver, 1743 ; died at Wellington Square/ U. C, 180T. " It also contains the Bemains of his Son Ahyouwaiohs, or Captain John Beant, who succeeded his Father as Te- harihogm, and distinguished himself in the war of 1812-15. Born at the Mohawk Village, TJ. C, 1794 ; died at the same place,1833. Erected 1850." The tomb is surrounded by a heavy wooden fence. 2 The following is a copy of the inscription ; "In memory of Geoegb Maetin, Mohawk Chief. Born at Kanajohara, TJ. S., Dec. 23, 1767 ; died at Grand Elver, C. W., Feb. 18, 1853, aged 80 years." Chief Johnson has in his possession a silver medal, presented to his grandfather more than seventy years ago by George the Thirf, On one side is a profile of the king. On the other is a landscape. In the foreground is a lion in repose, and a wnlf approaching him with awe. In the distance is a representation of the Mohawk church on Grand River and the mission-house near. ' This society was incorporated by Parliament in 1701. It is the successor or continuation of an earlier one, in 1561, under the title of Th£ Company far the Propagation of the Gospel in Sew England and Parts Adjacent in America. It was composed partly of members of the Church of England and partly of Protestant Dissenters. * Wellington Sqnare is a pleasant little village in Nelson Township, situated on Lake Ontario, eight miles fl-om Hamil- ton, and now (1867) contains between four and five hundred inhabitants. There, north of the beach which divides Lake Ontario from Burlington Bay, Brant made his abode, in a handsome two-storied mansion, beautifiilly situated, long be- fore the present village had existence. There he lived, in the English style, until his death. His widow (third wife) Catharine, was forty-eight years of age at the time of his death. She preferred the customs of her people, and soon after her husband's departure she left Lake Ontario and returned to Mohawk, on the Grand Eiver. Her son and daughter remained at the " Brant house" on Lake Ontario, and lived in elegant style for several years. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 425 COMMUNION PLATE. The Work of the " InBtitate." The Commanifen Plate of the Mohawk Chuvch. A pleasant Day with the Six Nations. Nations Tor a century and a half. His faithfulness as a teacher of temporal and spir- itual things merits and receives the highest commendations. He resided at the old ■mission-house, near Tuscarora, delmeated on page 241, until 1837, when he took np his ahode at Mohawk. Unfortunately, our visit was at vacation time, and we were deprived of the coveted pleasure of seeing a group of threescore Indian children under instruction. We spent two hours very agreeahly with the kind missionary and his family at the " In- stitute" and the parsonage at the glehe. These have each two hundred acres of fertile land, at the head of the Grand Eiver, attached to them, and are separated by the canal, which carries the navigation of the river up to Brantford. We crossed the canal in a canoe, and at the parsonage, an old-fashioned dwelling near the old " Insti- tute" building, with beautiful grounds around it, we saw many curious things connected with the mission. Among them was one half of the massive sUvci- communion plate presented by Queen Anne to the Mohawks in 1 7 1 2. The oth§r half, a duplicate of this, was lent to a church on the Bay of Quinte. Upon each was engraved the royal arms of England and ""A.R." — Anne Regina — with the fol- lowing inscription in double lines around them : " the gift of hee majesty anne, BY THE (iKACB OP GOD, OP GREAT BEITAIN, FEANCE, AlfD lEELAND, AND OP HEE PLANTATIONS IN NOETH AMEEICA, QUEEN, TO HEE INDIAN CHAPEL OF THE MOHAWKS.'' In addition to the three pieces given in the picture was a plate, nine inches in di- ameter, for receiving collections. Mr. Nelles also showed us a well-preserved folio Bible, which was printed in London in IVOl, and was sent to the Mohawks with the communion plate. On the cover are the following words in gilt letters : " foe hee majesty's CHUECH of THE MOHAWKS, 1712." We dined with the excellent missionaries, and then rode to Brantford, a mile and , a half distant, where, after a brief tarry,' I bade adieu to Mr. Johnson and. the Six Nations, when I had only an hour in which to travel seven miles to Paris to take the evening train for Hamilton or Toronto. I had procured a fleet and powerful horse, and in a light wagon, with a small boy as driver, I traveled the excellent stone road, or " pike," between the two places on that hot afternoon with the speed of the trot- ting-course, yet with apparent ease to the splendid animal. I had four minutes to spare at Paris. That beautiful day, spent with the Six Nations and their military chief and spiritual guide, will ever remain a precious treasure in the store-house of memory. I could think of little else while on my journey that evening from Paris to Toronto. Of my visit to that former capital of Upper Canada, known as York in the War. of 1812, Ishall hereafter write.' Let us return from our digression from the strict path of history to the Niagara frontier, which we so recently left, and consider the record of events there during the remainder of 1812, after the battle at Queenston. The British had erected some batteries on the high banks, a little back of the Niagara River, just below Fort Erie, at a point where an invasion by the Americans ' The Indian name was Daronio or Taronto, signifying " Trees on the Water." This was in allusion to the long, low, sandy point (now an island), within which was the Bay of Toronto. On that point were, and still are, many trees. The distance is so great that from the shore at the city they seem to be on the mater. When Colonel Simcoe Became lieu- tenant governor of the Upper Province he endeavored to Anglicize the settlers by making them familiar with English names and things. With this object in view he gave English names to all'places, and the Indian name of Toronto was chauf-ed to York, in honor of the Duke of York. It was known for many years as Little York. 426 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Black Bock and Porter's Eesidence. Attack on the Works there. Bombardment of Fort Niagara. might be reasonably expected. From these batteries they opened a severe Are on the morning of the 11th. of November upon-Black Rock opposite, then a place of quite as much importance as Buffalo in some respects. There were the head-quarters of the little army under General Smyth, and there was the fine residence of General Peter B. Porter, who was then- in command there of a body of New York militia, and made that dwelling his head- quarters. There were some slight fortifications near Black Rock, but the heavi- est cannon upon the breast- work was a six-pounderi All day long, at intervals, the British kept up the fire, at one time hurling a 25- pound shot against the upper loft of Porter's resi- dence, and soon afterward GKKE>.Ai. roKTBB's BEtoENOB, Bi,iOK BooK.i droppiug auother ball, of the same weight, through the roof, while he was there at dmner. At length a bomb- shell was sent into the east barrack with destructive power. It exploded the maga- zine, fired the buildings, and destroyed a portion of the valuable furs captured on » October 9, board the Caledonia a few days before.* This exploit being one of the ^^^^- chief objects of the cannonade and bombardment, both ceased at sunset. Very little noise was heard along that frontier for a month afterward except the sonorous cadences of General Smyth's proclamations. At length British cannon opened their thunders. Breastworks had been raised in front of Newark, opposite Fort Niagara, at intervals all the way up to Fort George, and behind them mortars and a long train of battery cannon had been placed. At six o'clock on the morning of the 21st of November these commenced a fierce bombardment of Fort Niagara, and at the same time a cannonade was opened from Port George and its vicinity. . From dawn until the evening twilight there was a continual roar from five detached batteries on the Canada shore, two of them mounting twenty-four-pounders. From- these batteries two thousand red-hot shot were poured upon the American works, while the mortars, from five and a half to ten and a half inches calibre, were shower- ing bomb-shells all day long. The latter were almost harmless, but the former set fire to several buildings within the fort, which, by the greatest exertions, were saved. The garrison, meanwhile, performed their duty nobly. They were quite sufficient m number, but lacked artillery and ammunition. The gallant Lieutenant Colonel George M'Feely^ was the commander, and Major Armistead, of the United States Engineer Corps, performed the most important services at the guns and in extinguish- ^ L-, t-X,-^ ///Y e ing the flames. Captain M'Keon commanded a 12- pounder in the southeast block-house ; Captain Jacks, of the 7th Regiment of Militia Artillery, was in charge of the north block-house, where he was greatly exposed to a raking fire of the enemy; and Lieutenant Rees' of the 3d United States Artillery, managed an eighteen-pounder in the southeast bat- tery, which told heavily upon a British battery with a twenty-four-pounder en bar- betu. He was soon badly wounded in the shoulder by the falling of a part of the parapet. On the west battery an eighteen and a four pounder were directed by Lieu- 1 This is from a sketch made by the writer in the summer of 1860, from a pier in the Niagara Eiver The hoiisp i» upon the high shore of the river. It was then owned by Mr. Lewis F. Allen. -ine House is .^lo^J^f '--^ 7^1 commissioned a major in March, 1812, and in July was promoted to lieutenant colonel. He beramp colonel of infantry in April, 1314, and was disbanded in Jane, 1818. ^""^ OF THE WAR OP 1812. 42I ArtUlery Duel at Fort Niagara. A heavy Force near Bn ffalo. Orders for Invading Canada at tliat Point. tenant Wendal, and on the mess-house,' Doctor Hooper, of the New York Militia, had charge of a six-pounder. South of Fort Niagara, and a dependency of it, was the " Salt Battery," so called, mounting an eighteen and a four pounder. It was directly m range of Fort George, and annoyed the garrison there exceedingly. It was com- manded by Lieutenants Gansevoort and Harris, of the 1st Artillery. From these several batteries on the American side many a destructive missile went on terrible errands during the day. Newark was on fire several times before night, and the buildings in Fort George were also fired, and one of its batteries was silenced.^ During the day an American twelve-pounder burst and killed two men. Two Others were killed by the enemy's fire,, and a lieutenant and four men were wounded. These were the casualties of the day on the American side. What injury was done to the British is not known. A shot from the Salt Battery sunk a sloop lying at the wharf on the Canada side. Night ended the artillery duel, and it was not renewed in the morning. We have observed that General Smyth expressed his opinion to General Van Rens- selaer, on his arrival on the frontier,, that the proper place to cross the Niagara River for the invasion of Canada was somewhere between Fort Erie and Chippewa.^ A few days after the bombardment of Fort Niagara, Smyth attempted to act upon that opinion. His proclamation had stirred the people of Western New York, and large numbers had flocked to his standard; for his flaming sentences warmed their zeal, and they believed that all his glowing hopes would be realized and his flattering promises would be fulfilled. On the 2'7th of November, when Smyth called the troops to a general rendezvous at Black Rock, they numbered about four thousand five hund- red. They were composed of his own regulars, and the Baltimore Volunteers under Colonel Winder, the Pennsylvania Volunteers under General Tannehill, and the New York Volunteers under General Peter B. Porter. With these he felt competent to invade Canada successfully. As early as the 25th, General Smyth issued orders for " the whole army to be ready to march at a moment's warning." " The tents," he said, " will be left standing. Offi- cers will carry their knapsacks. The baggage will follow in convenient time." After giving directions for the embarkation of the troops in the boats provided by Colonel Winder, to whom that important service was intrusted, he gave the following direc- tions for forming the troops in battle order on the Canada shore : " Beginning on the right, as follows: Captain Gibson's Artillery; the Sixth and Thirteenth Infantry; Captain Towson's Artillery ; the Fourteenth and Twenty-third Infantry as one regi- ment ; Captain Barker's and Captain Branch's Artillery ; the Twelfth and Twentieth Infantry ; Captain Archer's Artillery ; General Tannehill's Infantry ; a company of Riflemen ; the Infantry of Colonel Swift and Colonel M'Clure ; a company of Rifle- men; General Porter's Infantry; Captain Leonard's Artillery; a battalion of Rifle- men on each flank, in a line perpendicular to that formed by the main army, extend- ing to the front and rear."* 1 Tlie Indians were jealons of any attempts of the French to build any thing lilie a fort among them. The French succeeded by stratagem. They obtained pennission to erect a great wigwam, or dwelling, and then induced the In- dians to go on a long hunt. When they returned the walls were so advanced that they might defy the savages. They completed the building in a way that they might plant cannon on the top, and used it as a mess-house. Under it was a deep dungeon, and in that dungeon was a well. It is believed that political prisoners from France were confined in that dark prison. The water of the well was poisoned at one time, and a story was believed by superstitious sol- diers that at midnight the headless body of a Frenchman might be seen sitting on the margin of the well, where he had been murdered. ' Thompson, in his Bistorical Sketches of the Late War, page 80, says, " Such was the spirited earnestness of both officers and nien at this battery, that when, in the most tremendous of the bombardment, they had fired away all their car- tridges, they cut up their flannel waistcoats and shirts, and the soldiers their trowsers, to supply their guns." He also speaks of the wife of an Irish artilleryman, named Doyle, who had been made a prisoner at Queenston, and to whom a parole had been refused, determined to resent the act by taking her husband's place as far as possible. On the occasion now under consideration she took her place at the mess-house, and supplied the six-pounder there with hot shot. Ee- gardless of the shot and shell that fell around her, she never quitted, her station until the last gun had been fired. 3 See Smyth's letter to Van Eensselaer, note 2, page 389. * Manuscript order, November 25, 1812 : Winder Papers. In that, order the directions for attack were gif en as follows : , 428 PICTOEIAi. FIELD-BOX)K Arrangements for Croesing the Niagara River. The British,- forewarned, are forearmed. Passage of the River. "Noveinh r Every thing was in readiness on the 27.th* for invasion, and arrange- 1812. ' ments were made for the expedition to embark at the navy yard below Black Rock at riveille on the morning of the 28th. Seventy public boats, capable of carrying forty men each ; five large private boats, in which one hundred men each could be borne ; and ten scows for artillery, with many small boats, were pressed into the service, so that three thousand troops, the whole number to be employed in the invasion, might cross at once. That evening Smyth issued his final order, directing ■Lieutenant Colonel Boerstler to cross over at three o'clock in the morning with the efiective men of Colonel Winder's regiment, and destroy a bridge about five miles below Port Erie, capture the guard stationed there, kill or take the . artillery horses, and, with the captives, if any, return to the American shore. Captain King was di- rected to cross at the same time at the " Red House," higher up the river, to storm the British batteries. It was left to the discretion of Boerstler to march up the Can- ada shore to assist King, or to return immediately after performing his allotted work at the bridge. "It is not intended to keep possession," said the order. "Let the wounded be kept from the public eye to-morrow. You [Colonel Winder] will remain on this bank and give directions."' ■ General Smyth had so long and loudly proclaimed his designs against Canada, and had so fairly indicated his probable point of invasion, that the authorities on the other side were prepared to meet him at any place between Fort Erie and Chippewa. Ma- jor Ormsby, of the Forty-ninth, with a detachment of that and the Newfoundland regiment, was at the fort. The ferry opposite Black Rock was occupied by two com- panies of militia under Captain Bostwick. Two and a half miles from Fort Erie, at a house on the Chippewa road, was Lieutenant Lament, with a detachment of the Forty- ninth, and Lieutenant King, of the Royal Engineers, with a, three and six pounder, and some militia artillerymen. , Near the same spot were two batteries, one mount- ing an eighteen and the other a twenty-four pound cannon, also under Lamont. A mile farther down was a post occupied by a detachment under Lieutenant Bartley ; and on Frenchman's Creek, four and a half miles from Fort Erie, was a party of sev- enty under Lieutenant ^,^ a part of the Forty-first M'Intyre. Lieutenant -/^^ V^ .^^>, '^ ^ _-^ > - Regulars, some militia Colonel Cecil Bisshopp {^^^-^ ^<:^^yi^eyi^ ^^^ ^.j.^.^ artillery, was at Chippewa with " ■ and near him was Major Hatt with a small detachment of militia. The whole number of British troops, scat- tered along a line of twenty miles, did not, according to the most reliable estimates, exceed one thousand men. " November. ' Before the appointed hour on the morning of the 28th,'> the boats were in readiness under the general superintendence of Lieutenant Angus, of the navy, at the head of a ^ ter. Watts, of Caledonia corps of marines and sea- ^V* /V? ^ fame,^ and several other men, assisted by Lieuten- L/i^6// ^^ t/^-^ -t^ jA/} naval officers. It was a ant Dudley, Sailing-mas- ' cold and dreary night. "November 29. ^^ *^''f^ ^^ *® morning" the advanced parties left the American shore for their respective destinations. One, under Lieutenant Colonel Boerst- ler, consisted of about two hundred men of Colonel Winder's regiment, in eleven boats ; and the other, under Captain King, was composed of one hundred and fifty regular soldiers, and seventy sailors under Lieutenant Angus, in ten boats. King's party were discovered upon the water a quarter of a mile from the shore, and were "1. The artillery will spend some of their first shot on the enemy's artillery, and then aim at the infantry, raking them where it is practicable; 2. The firing of mnsketi-y by wings or companies will begin at the distance of two hundred yards, aiming at the middle and firing deliberately. 3. At twenty yards' distance the soldiers will be ordered to trail arms, advance with shouts, fire at five paces' distance, and charge bayonets. 4. The soldiers will be sUmJL above all things, attentive at the word of command, load quick and well, and aim, low." 1 Manuscript order of General Smyth to Colonel Winder, November 2T, 1812 : Winder Papers. ' See page 38C OF THE WAK OF 1812. 429 Incidents of the Attempt to invade Canada on the Upper Niagara. SO warmly assailed by volleys of musketry: and shot from a field-piece at the Red House, that six of the ten boats were compelled to return. The other four resolutely landed in good order, in the face of the storm of bullets and grape-shot from flying artillery ; and before King could form his troops on the shore," Angus and his seamen, with characteristic impetuosity, rushed into the hottest fire and suffered considerably. King formed his corps as quickly as possible, and the enemy were soon dispersed. He then proceeded to storm and take in quick succession two British batteries above the landing-place, while Angus and his seamen rushed upon the field-pieces at the Red House, captured and spiked them, and cast theni, with their caissons,^ into the river. In this assault Sailing-master Watts was mortally wounded while leading on the seamen.2 Angus and his party returned to the landing-place, with Lieutenant King, of the Royal Artillery, wounded and a prisoner. Supposing the other six boats had landed (for it was too dark to see far along the shore), and that Captain King and his party had been taken prisoners, Angus crossed to the American shore in the four boats. This unfoi-tunate mistake left King, with Captains Mergan and Sproull, Lieutenant Houston, and Samuel Swartwout, of New York, who had volunteered for the service with the little party of regulars, without any means of crossing. King waited a while for re-enforcements. None came, and he went to the landing-place for the purpose of crossing, with a number of the British artillerists whom he had made prisoners. To his dismay, he discovered the absence of all the boats. He pushed down the river in the dark for about two miles, when he found two large ones. Into these he placed all of his ofiicers, the prisoners, and one half of his men. These had not reached the Amei-ican shore when King and the remainder of his troops were taken prisoners by a superior force. Boerstler and his party, in the mean time, had been placed in much peril. The firing upon King had aroused the enemy all along the Canada shore, and they were on the alert. Boerstler's boats became separated in the darkness. Seven of, them landed above the bridge, to be destroyed, while four others, that approached the des- ignated landing-place, were driven off by a party of the enemy. Boerstler landed boldly alone, under fire from a foe of unknown numbers, and drove them to the bridge at the point of the bayonet. Orders were then given for the destruction of that struc- ture, but, owing to the confusion at the time of landing, the axes had been left in the boat. The bridge was only partially destroyed, and one great object of this advance party of the invading army was not accomplished. Boerstler was about to return to his boats and recross the river, because of the evident concentration of troops to that point in overwhelming numbers, when he- was compelled to form his lines for imme- diate battle. Iq,telligence came from the commander of the boat-guard that they had captured two British soldiers, who informed them that the whole garrison at Fort Erie was approaching, and that the advance guard was not five minutes distant. This intelligence was correct. Darkness covered every thing, and Boerstler resorted to stratagem when he heard the tramp of the approaching foe. He gave command- ing orders in a loud voice, addressing his subordinates as field officers. The British were deceived. They believed the Americans to be in much greater force than they really were. A collision immediately ensued in the gloom. Boerstler ordered the discharo'e of a single volley, and then a bayonet charge. The enemy broke and fled in confusion, and Boerstler crossed the river without annoyance.^ 1 A caissmi is an ammunition chest or wagon in which powder and bomb-shells are carried. ' See page 3S6. 3 Colonel Winder's mannscript report to General Smyth, December T, 1812. Winder had attempted to re-enforce the troops on the Canada shore, but failed. On the return of Angus and his party, he was ordered to cross the river with two hundred and fifty men. Within twenty minutes after the order was given, he and his troops were battling with the current and the floating ice. Winder's boat was the first and only one that touched the Canada shore, the current having carried the others below. The enemy, with strong force and a piece of artillery, disputed his landing. Resist- ance would be vain, and Winder ordered a retreat, after losing six men killed and twenty-two wounded. On his return he formed his regiment it once, to join in the embarkation at dawn. ,,„,.„,, ,.v i, < In the report above cited Colonel Winder paid the following compliment to Captain Totten, of the Engineers, who, 430 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK General Smyth's Incompetence. His foolish Swaggering. Another Attempt to cross the Biver. It was sunrise when the troops began to embark, and so tardy were the movements that it was late in the afternoon when all were ready. General Smyth did not make his appearance during the day,' and all the movements were under the direction of his , subordinates. A number of boats had been left to strand upon the shore, and became filled with water, snow, and ice ; and as hour after hour passed by, dreariness and dis- appointment weighed heavily upon the spirits of the shivering troops. Meanwhile the enemy had collected in force on the opposite shore, and were watching every move- ment. At length, when all seemed ready, and impatience had yielded to hope, an order came from the commanding general "to disembark and dineP''^ The wearied and worried troops were deeply exasperated by this order, and nothing but the. most positive assurances that the undertaking would be immediately resumed kept them from open mutiny. The different regiments retired sullenly to their respective quarters, and General Porter, with his dispirited New Yo];k Volunteers, marched in disgust to Buffalo. » November 28, Smyth now Called a council of officers.* They could not agree. The ^®'^' best of them urged the necessity and expediency of crossing in force at once, before the enemy could make formidable preparations for their reception. The general decided otherwise, and doubt and despondency brooded over the camp that night. The ensuing Sabbath dawn brought no relief Preparations for another em- barkation were indeed in progress, while the enemy, too, was busy in opposing labor. It was evident to every spectator of judgment that the invasion must be attempted at another point of the ri-ser, when, toward evening, to the astonishment of all, the general issued an order, perfectly characteristic of the man, for the troops to be ready •■November 30 ^* ^^^ "^^^^ '^^'^^' ^* ^^S^* o'clock the next morning,'' for embarkation. " The general will be on board," he pompously proclaimed. "Neither rain, snow, or frost will prevent the eiribarkation," he said. " The cavalry will scour the fields from Black Rock to the bridge, and suffer no idle spectators. While em- barking, the music will play martial airs. Yankee Boodle will be the signal to get under way. . . . The landing will be effected in despite of cannon. The whole army has seen that cannon is to be little dreaded. . . . Hearts of War! to-morrow will be memorable in the annals of the United States. "^ " To-morrow" came, but not the promised achievement. All the officers disapproved of the time and manner of the proposed embarkation, and expressed their opinions freely. At General Porter's quarters a change was agreed upon. Porter proposed deferring the embarkation until Tuesday morning, the 1st of December, an hour or two before daylight, and to make the landing-place a little below the upper end of Grand Island. Winder suggested the propriety of making a desceijt directly upon Chippewa, "the key of the country." This Smyth consented to attempt, intending, as he said, if successful, to march down through Queenston, and lay siege to Fort George.* Orders were accordingly given for a general rendezvous. at the navy yard at three o'clock on Tuesday morning, and that the troops should be collected in the woods near by on Monday, where they should build fires and await the signal for gathering on the shore of the river. The hour arrived, but when day dawned only fifteen hundred were embarked. Tannehill's Pennsylvania Brigade were not present. Before their arrival rumors had reached the camp that they, too, like Van Rensselaer's militia at Lewiston, had raised a constitutional question about being led out of their state. Yet their scruples seem to have been overcome at this time, and they would at the time of his death in 1S64, was Chief Engineer of the Army of the United States: "It is with great nleaenre I ae knowledge the intelligence and skill which Captain Totten, of the Engineers, has yielded to the works which arp r«\9 ing. To him shall we be indebted for what I believe will be a respectable state of preparation in a short time " ' Thomson's Historical Sketclm, etc., page 85. r r =. »uon ume. 2 General Smyth's dispatch to General Dearborn, December 4, 1812. ' Autograph order, Winder Papers, dated " Head-qnartere, Camp near Buffalo, Nov. 29, 1812." 4 Smyth's dispatch to General Dearborn', December 4, 1612. OP THE WJlR of 1812. 43I Smyth's Conncil of Officers. The IPYasion of Capada abandoned. Diaappointment and Indig nation of the Troops. have invaded Canada cheerfully under other auspices. But distrust of their leader, created by the events of the last forty-eight hours, had demoralized nearly the whole army. They had made so much noise in the embarkation that the startled enemy had sounded his alarm bugle and discharged signal-guns from Fort Erie to Chippewa. TannehilPs Pennsylvanians had not appeared, and many other troops lingered upon the shore, loth to embark. In this dilemma Smyth hastily called a council of the reg- ular officers, utterly excluding those of the volunteers from the conference, and the first intimation of the result of that council was an order from the commanding gen- eral, sent to General Porter, who was in a boat with the pilot, a fourth of a mile from shore, in the van of the impatient flotilla, directing the whole army to debark and re- pair to their quarters. 1 This was accompanied by a declaration that the invasion of Canada was abandoned at present, pleading, in bar of just censure, that his orders from his superiors were not to attempt it with less than jthree thousand men.^ The reg- ulars were ordered into winter quarters, and the volunteers were dismissed to their homes. This order for debarkation, and the fact that just previously a British major, bear- ing a flag of truce, had crossed the river and held an interview with General Smyth, caused the most intense indignation, and the most fearful suspicions of his loyalty^, in the army, especially among the volunteers, whose officers he had insulted by neg- lect. The troops, without order or restraint, discharged their muskets in all direc-, tions, and a scene of insubordination and utter confusion followed. At least a thou- sand of the volunteers had come from their homes in- response to his invitation, and the promise that they should certainly be led into Canada by a victor. They had imposed implicit confidence in his ability and the sincerity of his great words, and in proportion to their faith and zeal were now their disappointment and resentment. Unwilling to have their errand to the frontier fruitless of all but disgrace, the volun- teers earnestly requested permission to be led into Canada under General Porter, promising the commanding general the speedy capture of Fort Erie if he would fur- nish them with four pieces of artillery. But Smyth evaded their request, and the volunteers were sent home uttering imprecations against a man whom they consid- ered a mere blusterer without courage, and a conceited deceiver without honor. They, felt themselves betrayed, and the inhabitants in the vicinity sympathized with them. Their indignation was greatly increased by ill-timed and ungenerous charges made by Sinyth, in his report to General Dearborn, against General Porter, in whom the volunteers had the greatest confidence.* His person was for some time in danger. He was compelled to double the guards around his tent, and to move it from place to place to avoid continual insults.^ He was several times fired at when he ventured out of his marquee. Porter openly attributed the abandonment of the invasion of Canada to the cowardice of Smyth. A bitter quarrel ensued, and soon resulted in a challenge by the general-in-chief for his second in command to test the courage of both by a duel.^ In direct violation of the Articles of War, these superior officers of 1 Autograph statement of Colonel Winder. 2 General Smyth's report to General Dearborn, December 4, 1812. 3 It is proper to say, in justice to General Smyth, that there were no just grounds because of that event for any sus- picions of his loyalty. Colonel Winder had been to the British camp with a flag two days before, to make some ar- rangement about an exchange of prisoners, and this visit of the British major was doubtless in response. * General Porter was a partner in business with Mr. Barton, the army contractor for the Niagara frontier, and General Smyth alluded to him in his report as " the contractor's agent." He charged him with " exciting some clamor" against the measures of General Smyth, and said, "He finds the contract a losing one at this time, and would wish to see the army in Canada, that he might not be bound to supply it." « His friend Colonel Parker, a Virginian, in an autograph letter before me, written to Colonel Winder on the second of December, said: "Major Campbell will inform you of the insult offered to the general last evening, and of the inter- mption to our repose last night. God grant us a speedy relief from such neighbors V— Winder Papers. « There appears to have been much quaneling among the officers on that ftontier during the autumn of 1812. Only three months before. Porter and Colonel Solomon Van Eensselaer had such a bitter dispute that it resulted in a chal- lenge from Porter, but they never reached the dueling-ground on Grand Island. General Stephen Van Eensselaer watched them closely after he heard of the challenge, and was prepared to arrest them both when they should attempt to go to the island.— Statement of Solomon Van Eensselaer, among the Van Eensselaer papers. 432 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK A harmless Duel between Pouter and Smyth. A solemn Farc e. Smyth disbanded. His Petition to Congress. the Army of the Centre, with friends, and seconds,' and surgeons,^ put off in boats from the shore near Black Rock, in the presence of their troops, at two o'clock in the afternoon of the 12th of December, to meet each other in mortal combat on Grand Island.^ They exchanged shots at twelve paces' distance. Nobody was hurt. An expected tragedy proved to be a solemn comedy. The affair took the usual ridicu- lous course. The seconds reconciled the belligerents. General Porter acknowledged his conviction that General Smyth was " a man of courage," and General Smyth was convinced that General Porter was "above suspicion as a gentleman and an officer."* Thus ended the melodrama of Smyth's invasion of Canada. The whole affair was disgraceful and humiliating. " What wretched work Smyth and Porter have made of it," wrote General Wadsworth to General Van Rensselaer from his home at Gene- see, at the close of the year. " I wish those who are disposed to find so much fault could know the state of the mjjlitia since the day you gave up the command. It has been 'confusion worse confounded.'"^ The day that saw Smyth's failure was indeed " memorable in the annals of the United States," as well as in his own i^ri- vate history. Confidence in his military ability was destroyed, and three months afterward he was " disbanded," as the Army Register says ; in other words, he was deposed without a trial, and excluded from the army.^ Yet he had many warm friends who clung to him in his misfortunes, for he possessed many excellent social qualities. He was a faithful representative of the constituency of a district of Vir- ginia in the national Congress from 1817 to 1825, and again from 1827 until his death, in April, 1830. 1 Lienteuant Colonel Winder was Smyth's second, and Lieutenant Angns was Porter's. 2 The surgeon on that occasion was Dr. Roberts, and the assistant surgeon was Dr. Parsons, afterward surgeon of Perry's flag-ship Lawrence, in the battle on Lake Erie, and now [1867] a resident of Providence, Bhode Island; 3 This is a large island, containing 20,000 acres, dividing the Niagara Elver into two channels. (See m^p on page 382.) On this island the late Mordecai Manasseh Noah proposed to found a city of refuge for his co-religionists, the Jews, and memorialized the Legislature of the State of New York on the subject in 1820. The project failed because the chief rabbi in Europe disapproved of it. Noah erected a commemorative monument there, but it and his scheme have passed away. * In a letter of Lieutenant Angus to Colonel Winder the nest day, he said : "A meeting took place between General Smyth and General Porter yesterday afternoon on Grand Island, in pursuance of previous arrangements. They met at Dayton's tavern, and crossed the river with their friends and surgeons. Both gentlemen behaved with the utmost cool- ness and unconcern. A shot was exchanged in as intrepid and firm a manner as possible by each gentleman, but with- out effect The hand of reconciliation was then offered and received."— Autograph letter, Winder Papers. An- other account says that the party returned to Dayton's, where they supped and spent a convivial evening together. 5 Autograph letter to General Van Rensselaer, December 30, 1812. 8 General Smyth petitioned the House of Representatives to reinstate him in the army. That body referred the peti- tion to the Secretary of War— the general's executioner ! Of course, its prayer was not answered. In that petition he asked for the privilege of " dying for his country." This phrase was a subject for much ridicule. At a public celebra- tion of Washington's birthday in 1814 at Georgetown, in the District of Columbia, the following sentiment was offered at the table during the presentation of toasts : "General Smyth's petition to Congress to ' die for his country :' May it be ordered that the prayer of said petition be granted." A wag wrote on a panel of one of the doors of the Hall of Representatives — "All hail, great chief I who quailed before A Bisahopp on Niagara's shore ; ' But looks on Death with dauntless eye, And begs for'leave to bleed and die. Ohmyl OF THE WAR OF 1812. 433 Failures of the Armies. Acknowledged Naval Sujieriority of Great Britain. British Cbntempt for the American Navy. CHAPTER XXI. ' ' By the trident of Neptune,' brave Hull cried, ' let's steer ; It points out the track of the bullying Guerriere: Should we meet her, brave boys, " Seamen's rights !" be our cry : We fight to defend them, to live free or die.' The famed Constitution through the billows now flew, While the spray to the tars was refi'eshing as dew. To qiiicken the sense of the insult they felt, In the boast of the Cfuerriere's not being the Belt." SONO, " CONSTITDTION AND GCEKEIEEE.' "Ye braije Sons of Freedom, whose bosoms beat high For your country with patriot pride and emotion, Attend while I sing of a wonderful Wasp, And the Frolic she gallantly took on the ocean." Old Sonq. wim^fwfrr 'N preceding chapters we have considered the prominent events of the war on land, and perceive in the record very little where- of Americans should boast as military achievements. The war had been commenced without adequate preparations, and had been carried on by inexperienced and incompetent men in the Council and in the Field. Brilliant theories had been promul- gated and splendid expectations had been indulged, while Phi' losophy and Experience spoke monitorily, but in vain. The vis- ions of the theorists proved to be " dissolving views" — unsub- stantial and deceptive — when tested by the standard of practical results. At the close of the campaign in 1812, the Army of the Northwest, first under Hull and then -under Harrison, was occupying a defensive position among the snows of the wilder- ness on the banks of the Maumee ; the Army of the Centre, first under Van Rensse- laer and then under Smyth, had experienced a series of misfortunes and disappoint- ments on the Niagara frontier, and was also resting on the defensive; while the Army of the North, under Bloomfield, whose head-quarters were at Plattsburg, had made less efforts to accomplish great things, and had less to regret and more to boast of than the others. Yet it, too, was standing on the defensive when the snows of December fell. Different was the aspect of affairs on the water. The hitherto neglected naivy had been aggressive and generally successful. We have already observed the operations of one branch of it, with feeble means, in the narrow waters of Lake Ontario, under Chauncey ;i let us now take a view of its exploits on the broad ocean, where Thom- son had declared in song, " Britannia rules the waves." The naval superiority of England was eyej-y where acknowledged ; and the idea of the omnipotence of her power on the sea was so universal in the American mind, that serious expectations of success in a contest with her on that theatre were regarded as absurd. The American newspapers — then, as how, the chief vehicles of popular information— had always been filled with praises of England's naval puissance and examples of her prowess ; while the British newspapers, refiecting the mind of the ruling classes of that empire, were filled with boastings of England's power, abuse of all other people, and supercilious sneers at the navies of every other nation on the > See page 871. Ee 434 PICTORIAL riELD-BOOK Nnmber and Character of the Amer ican War Marine. Distribution and Condition. American Merchantmen saved. face of the earth. That of the United States, her rapidly growing rival in national greatness and ever the object of her keenest jealousy, was made the special tar- wet for the indecorous jeers of her public writers and speakers. The Constitution, one of the finest vessels in the navy of the United States, and which was among the first to humble the arrogance of British cruisers, was spoken of as " a bundle of pine boards, sailing under a bit of striped bunting ;" and it was asserted that " a few broad- sides from England's wooden walls would drive the paltry striped bunting from the ' ocean."' It was with erroneous opinions like these that the commander of the Alert ' Angnst 13, attacked the Essex,'^ and, as we shall observe presently, was undeceived 1812. ' ijy a conclusive argument. Yet, in spite of conscious inferiority of strength in men and metal, the distrust of the nation, and the defiant contempt of the foe, the little navy of the United States went boldly out upon the ocean to dispute with En- gland's cruisers the supremacy of the sea.^ When war was declared, the public vessels of the United States, exclusive of one hundred and seventy gun-boats, numbered only twenty, with an aggregate armament of litle more than five hundred guns. These were scattered. Four of them had wintered at Newport, Rhode Island; four others in Hampton Roads, Virginia ; two were away on foreign service ; two were at Charleston, South Carolina ; two were at New Orleans ; one was on Lake Ontario ; and five were laid up " in ordinary."^ In view of this evident inefficiency of the American navy to protect its commerce, there was much alarm among the few merchants whose ships had gone abroad before the laying of the embargo, which saved many hundreds of detained vessels from exposure to capture or destruction, and thus furnished materials for the privateers that soon swaimed upon the ocean. These merchants sent a swift-sailing pilot -boat to the coasts of Northern Europe with the news of the declaration of war, and with direc- tions for the American commercial marine in the harbors of Russia, Sweden, Denmark, and Prussia, to remain there until the war should cease. By this timely movemeiit a greater part of the American shipping in those ports was saved from the perils of British privateering. A sketch of that important branch of the American naval serv- ice during the war will be presented in a group in another part of this work. It is ' This was alluded to in the following stanzas of a song of the time : " Too long our tars have borne in peace , With British domineering ; But now they've sworn the trade should cease — For vengeance they are steering. First gallant Hull, he was the lad Who sailed a tyi'ant-hunting, And swaggering Dacres soon was glad To strike to ' striped iunting/ " » "While, therefore," says an English writer, " a feeling toward Americans bordering on contempt had unhappily pos- sessed the mind of the British naval officer, rendering him more than usually careless and opinionative, the American naval officer, having been taught to regard his new foe with a feeling of dread, sailed forth to iheet him with the whole of his energies aroused."— Sinjo! Occurrencee of the Late War, etc., by William James. 3 The following is a list of those vessels, their rated and actual armament, the names of the commanders of those afloat, and the designation of those in " ordinary," or laid up for repairs or other purposes : Name. Constitution. . . United'States . Freeident . Chesapeake . . . New York Constellation . . Congi'eas ....... Boston Essex . . . : Adams ated. Mount- ing. Employed. Name. ^ Rated. MouDt- ine. 44 58 58 88 44 44 44 44 Capt. Hull. Capt. l>ecatur. Com. Rodgers. Ordinary. Ordinaiy. Ordinary. Capt. Smith. . Ordinaiy. Capt. Porter. Ordinary. 26 16 16 16 IS 16 12 12 12 12 44 . Wasp 18 44 18 m Siren .....%.......... 36 3fi Argus 3S Vixen 3\^ 32 32 Enterprise Viper ' Employed. Gapt. Ludlow. Capt. Jones. Capt. Lawrence. Lieut. Can-oil. Crane. Woolaey. Gadsden. Sinclair. Blakely. Bain bridge. There were four "bom'b-veBsels in ordinary, named respectively Vengecmce^ Spitjvre, jEtna, and Veeuviua, The ffun- boats were all numbered, from "1" to " 170," and during the Warof 1812.were.dlstributeda8 follows: In New York, 64 ; .New Orleans, 26 ; Norfolk, 14; Charleston, S. C, 2 ; Wilmington, N. C, 2 ; St. Mary's 11 • Washine- ton, 10; Portland, 8; Boston, 2; Connecticut and Rhode Island, 4; Philadelphia, 20; Baltimore, 10. Of these only sixty-two were in commission. Eighty-six were in ordinary, and some were undergoing repairs. There had been an increase of five to the numbel:, and some slight changes of position, when the war broke out. OF THE WAE OF 1812. 435 Commodore Bodgers'a Sqnadion. Craise of the Preside nt. ' First Shot on the Water. Chase of the BetoMiem. proposed now to consider the events of the regular service only, excepting where necessity may compel an incidental allusion to the other. ^ At the time of the declaration of war, Commodore Rodgers, with his flag-ship Pres- ident, 44 ; ^ssea;, 32, Captain Porter; and Hornet, 18, Captain Lawrence, was in the port of New York. The Msex was overhauling her rigging ; the others might be ready for service at an hour's notice. On the 21st of June Rodgers received the news of the declaration of war, and with it orders for sailing immediately. He had drop- ped down the hay that morning with the President and Hornet, and toward noon had been joined by a small squadron under Commodore Decatur, whose broad pennon floated from the Uiiited States, 44. Her companions were the Congress, 38, Captaia Smith, and Argiis, 16, Lieutenant Cojnmandant St. Clair. Rodgers had received information that a large fleet of Jamaica-men had sailed for England under a strong convoy, and he believed that they must then be sweeping along the American coast in the current of the Gulf Stream. When his sailing orders arrived he resolved to make a dash at that convoy, and within an hour after receivii^ his dispatch from the Navy Department he had weighed anchor. With the united squadron he passed Sandy Hook that afternoon. In the evening he spoke an Ameri- can merchantman that had seen the Jamaica fleet, and had been boarded by the Brit- ish frigate Bdvidera, 36. Rodgers crowded sail and commenced pursuit. Thirty-six hours elapsed, and the enemy were yet invisible; but an English war-vessel was espied on the northeastern horizon, and a general chase of the. whole squadron com- menced in that direction. The wind was fresh, and the enemy was standing before it.i The fleet President outstripped her companions, and rapidly gained on the fu- gitive. At four o'clock she was within gun-shot of the enemy, off Nantucket Shoals, when the wind fell, and the heavier President — heavier, because she had just left port — ^began to fall behind. To cripple the stranger was now Rodgers's only hope of success. With his own hand he pointed and discharged one of his forecastle chase-guns, the first hostile shot of the war fired afi^ai? It went crashing through the stern-frame of the stranger and into the gun-room with destructive effect, driving her people from the after part of the vessel. This was immediately followed by a shot from the first division below, directed by Lieutenant Gamble, which struck and damaged one of the stranger's stern-chasers. Rodgers fired again, and was followed immediately by Gajible, whose gun bursted, and killed and wounded sixteen men. It blew up the forecastle of the President, and threw Rodgers several feet into the air. In his descent one of his legs was broken. This accident caused a pause in the firing, when a shot from a stem- chaser of the stranger came plunging along the President's deck, killing a midship- man and one or two men. It was now twilight, and the British ship having her spars and rigging imperiled by the Presidents fire, that vessel having yawed^ fof the purpose, began to lighten by cutting away her anchors, staving and throwing overboard her boats, and starting two tons of water. She gained headway ; and, as a last resort, the President fired three broadsides, but with little effect. Unwilling to lighten his own ship, as it would impair his ability for a cruise, Rodgers ordered the pursuit to be abandoned at midnight." The British vessel, it was afterward ascertained, was the .jOTie23, frigate Behidera, 86, Captain Richard Byron, that had boarded the Ameri- isi^- can merchantman just mentioned. Her commander displayed great skill -in saving his vessel. She sailed for Halifax for repairs,* and gave the first information there 1 The commander of the English vessel had not heard of the declaration of war, and when he saw the squadron he stood toward it. But when he saw them suddenly take in their studding-sails and haul up in chase of him, frequently wetting the sails to profit by the lightness of the wind, he suspected hostility. = The first on land was in the amphibious fight at Sackett's Harbor a month later. See page 368. 3 To y'alii is to steer wild, or out of the line of the ship's course. * The Belvidera was badly injured in her hull, spars, and rigging. The President received a number of Shots in her sails and rigging, but was not materially injured. 436 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Chase of the Jamaica Merchant Fleet. British Squadron at Halifax. Capture of the NautUvx. of the actual existence of war, so positively communicated to her by the President. In this" action the American ^~ ■ bursting of the gun. The frigate had twenty-two men /^ /^^ j^^^J-^ Belvidera lost seven killed killed and wounded, sixteen '^'-^ C/c/'V/i'^f'^t^ ^^^ wounded by shot, and of whom were injured by the /y several others by splinters; Captain Byron was wounded in the thigh by the latter. ^ Rodgers now. continued the chase after the Jamaica-men. Cocoanut shells, orange skins, and other evidences of his being in their track, were seen upon the water off tile Banks of Newfoundland on the first of July. On the ninth the commander of an English letter-of-marque captured by the Hornet reported that he had seen the fleet on the previTjus evening, when he counted eighty-five sail, convoyed by a two-deck ship, a frigate, a sloop-of-war, and a brig. This intelligence stimulated Rodgers to greater exertions, and he continued the chase, ineffectually on account of fogs, un- til the 13th, when he was within a day's sail of the chops of the Irish Channel. Then he relinquished pursuit, sailed southwardly, and passed within thirty miles of the Rock of Lisbon, in sight of Madeira, the Western Islands, and the Grand Banks of New- foundland, without falling in with a single vessel of war, and entered Boston Harbor after a cruise of seventy days. He had captured seven English merchantmen, recap- tured an American vessel from a British cruiser, and brought in about one hundred and twenty prisoners. Many of the seamen of the squadron were sick of the scurvy, and several had died. The news carried into Halifax by the Belvidera created a profound sensation there. The commandant of that naval station, Rear Admiral Sawyer, took measures imme- diately to collect a squadron for the purpose of cruising in search of Rodgers's ships or any other American vessels. Within a week, the African, 64, Captain Bustard ; the Shannon, 38, Captain Broke ; the Guerriere, 38, Captain Dacres ; the Belvidera, 36, Captain Byron ; and the ^olus, 32, Captain Lord James Townsend, were united in one squadron, under the command of Captain Broke, the senior ofiicer, who made the Shannon his flag-ship. This force appeared off New York early in July, and made several captures, among them the United States brig Nautilus, 14, of Tripolitan fame,' Lieutenant Commandant Crane. She had arrived at New York just after Rodgers left, and went out immediately for the purpose of cruising in the track of the English West Indiamen. On the very next day she fell in with the British squadron, and, after a short and vigor- ous chase, was compelled to strike her colors to the Shannon, and surrender one hundred and six men. The Nautilus was the first vessel of war taken on either side in that contest. A prize crew was placed in her, and she was made one of Broke's squadron.3 She was afterward fitted with sixteen 24-pound carronades, and commissioned as a cruiser. •lUE CONSTITUTION IN 1800. Thc Coustitution,. 44,* Captain Isaac i Eodgers's journal and British .account of the engagement, in Niles'a Weekly Register, iii., 26 ; American account in the Boaton Centind, by an officer of the squadron ; Cooper's Saval History, li., 150. z See pao-e 120 ten^r^"'' "''™™''''"°''®' " numl'er of vessels under one commander, less than ten, are called a squadron; more than 4 The Comtitutim was built at Harfs ship-yard, in Boston, where Constitution Wharf now is, at a cost of *302 TIS She was made verystrong. Her frame was oflive-oak, and her planks were bent on without steam, as it was thoueWt that process softened and weakened the wood. She was launched on the 21st of October, ITS? (siemleWmia^hl presence of a great gathering of people. She did not start upon a cruise until the following season whenYhewi com manded by Captain James Nicholson, who died in New York on Sunday, the 2d of September, ^MinXsirt^BiaTh OF THE WAR OF 1812. 437 Cmise of the ConsHMion. She meets a Britieh Squa dron. ' An exciting ChaVe.begsi. Hull, returned from, foreign service at about the time of the declaration of war, and went into Chesapeake Bay, where she shipped a new crew, and on the 12th of July sailed from Annapolis on a cruise to the northward.' She was out of sight of land on the nth, sailing under easy canvas with a light breeze, when, at one o'clock in the afternoon, she descried four vessels northward, heading westward. At four o'clock she discovered a fifth sail in a similar direction, which had the appearance of a vessel of war. ;By this time the other four were so near that theywere distinguished as three ships and a brig. They were in sight all the afternoon, evidently watching the Con- stitution. At half past six a breeze sprang up from the southward, which brought the latter to the windward of the last discovered vessel. ; She was a British frigate. Hull determined to bear down upon and speak to her ; and, to be ready for any emer- gency, he beat to quarters, and prepared his ship for action. The wind was very light, and the two frigates slowly approached each other during the evening. At ten o'clock the Constitution shortened sail and displayed a private signal. The lights were kept aloft for an hour without receiving an answer. At a quarter past eleven they were lowered, and the Constitution made sail again under a light breeze that prevailed ail night. Just before dawn the stranger tacked, wore entirely round, threw up a rocket, and fired two signal-guns. In the gray of early morning three other vessels were discovered on the starboard quarter of the Constitution, and three more astern, and at five o'clock a fourth was seen in the latter direction. The American cruiser had fallen in with Broke's squad- ron, and the vessel with which she had been manoeuvring all night was the Guerriere, 38, Captain Dacres. The squadron was just out of gun-shot distance from the Con- stitution, and the latter found herself in the perilous position of having two frigates on her lee quarter, and a ship of the line, two frigates, a brig, and a schooner astern. The brig was the captured JVautilus. Now commenced one of the most remarkable naval retreats and pursuits ever re- corded. The Constitution was not powerful enough to fight the overwhelming force closing around her, and Hull perceived that her safety depended upon celerity in flight. There was almost a dead calm. Her sails flapped lazily, and she floated al- most independently of the helm on the slowly undulating bosom of the sea. In this year of his age. She was so stanch a ship that the name of Ironsides was given her. She always, was favored with excellent commanders and performed gallant service. Some years ago the Navy Department concluded to break her up and sell her timbers, as she was thought to be a decided "invalid." The order had gone forth, when the execution of it was arrested by the voice of public opinion, called forth by the magic wand of a poet — the pen of Dr. Oliver Wen- dell Holmes, who wrote and published the following stirring protest against making merchandise of her: , "Ay, tear her tattered ensign down 1 No more shall feel the victor's tread, Long has it waved on high. Or know the conquered knee :' " '" : And many an eye has danced tp see The harpies of the shore shall pluck That banner in the sky. The eagle of the sea ! Beneath it rung the battle-shout, O ! better that her shattered liiilk And burst the cannon's roar ; Should sink beneath the wave ; • ' The meteor of the ocean air Her thunders shook themighty, deep, , , Shall sweep the clouds no more. And there should be her grave. Her deck, once red with'heroes' blood— Nail to the mast her holy' ilag,'. ■ ' ^ '' -' Where knelt the vanquished foe. Set every, threadbare-sail,, -,,^-" , . ^.^ When winds were humming o'er t^e flood. And giveher'to the God of StormsJ' And waves were white below— The lightning and the gale !" ' . ■' ., 'S ,. " Old Ironsides" was saved, repaired, and converted into a school-ship.; Such is her vocation now C18673. She was lying at Annapolis in, that capacity when the Great Eebellion broke out in 1861. Our little sketch exhibits her under fall sail, as she appeared there in the autumn of 1860. When the Naval Academy was temporarily removed from An- napolis to Newport, Rhode Island, on account of the Eebellion, the Constitution took her place at the latter station. Her latest commander in the war of 1812-'16, Hear Admiral Charles Stewart, yet [1867] survives, at the age of ninety- one years. He is sometimes called OM Ironsides: His achievements in the Constitution -w\\i be noticed hereafter. > The following is a list of the oflioers of the Conetitution at that time : Captain, Isaac Hull ; Lieutenants, Charles Mor- ris, Alexander S. Wadsworth, Beekman V. Hoffman, George C. Head, John T. Shubrick, Charles W. Morgan ; Sailing- master, John C. Alwyn ; Lieutenants of Marines, William S. Bush, John Contee ; Surgeon, Amos E. Evans ; Surgeon's Mates, John D. Armstrong, Donaldson Teates ; Purser, Thomas J. Chew ; Midshipmen, Henry Gilliam, Thomas Beatty, William D. Salter, Lewis Germain, William L. Gordon, Ambrose L. Field, Frederick Baury, Joseph Cross, Alexander Belcher, William Taylor, Alexander Eskridge, James W. Delancy, James Greenleaf, Allen Griffin, John Taylor ; Boat- swain, Peter Adams ; Gumner, Robert Anderson. ^ 438 PICTOBIAL FIELD-BOOK Methods for Flight. How the Cmstitwtion eluded her Pursuers. Her flnal Escape. listlessness there was danger. Down went her boats with long lines attached, and the sweeps were bent in towing her with the energy of men struggling for life and liberty. Up from her gun-deck was brought a long eighteen-pounder, and placed on her spar-deck as a stern-chaset, while another, of the same weight of metal and for a similar purpose, was pointed off the forecastle. Out of the cabin windows, when saws and axes had made them broad enough, two twenty-four pounders were run, and all the light cannon that would draw was set. She was just beginning to get under headway, with a gentle northwest wind blowing, when exertion was stimulated by the booming of the bow-guns of the Shannon. For ten minutes she sent forth her shot, but without effect, for she was yet beyond range, j^gain the breeze died away. Soundings showed twenty fathoms of water. A kedge' might be used. All spare rope was spliced and attached to one which was carried out half a mile ahead and cast into the deep. Quickly and strongly the crew " clapped on and walked away with the ship, overrunning and tripping the kedge as she came up with the end of the line."^ This was frequently repeated, and the frigate moved off in a manner most mysterious to her pursuers. At length they discovered the secret and adopted the method, when the Constitution, having a little breeze, fired a shot at the Shannon, the nearest ship astern. At nine o'clock that vessel, employing a large number of men in boats and with a kedge, was gaining rapidly on the flying frigate. A conflict, unequal and terrible,' seemed impending and inevitable, yet on board the Constitution the best spirit prevailed. Nearer and nearer drew the Shannon, and almost as closely the Ouerriere was now pursuing on the larboard quarter of the imperiled Vessel. All hope was fading, when a" light breeze from the south struck the Constitution and brought her to windward. "With such consummate skill did Captain Hull take ad- vantage of the wind and beat gallantly away, that the admiration of the enemy was excited in the highest degree. As she came by the wind she brought the Gruerriere nearly on her lee beam, when that vessel opened a fire from a broadside. The shot fell short, the l^lessed breeze that had come like a Providence at the critical moment died away, an^ the boats were again got out to tow by both parties. So anxious was Broke to get the Shannon near enough for action, that nearly all the boats of the Squadron were employed for the purpose,' while the men of the Constitution made up in spirit what they lacked in numbers. Thus the race continued hour after hour all that day and night, the pursuers and the pursued sometimes towing, sometimes kedging. The dawn of the second day of the chase was glorious. The sun rose with un- usual splendor. ISTot a cloud was seen in the firmament. The sea was smooth, and a gentle wind was abroad, sufficient to make the murmur of ripples under the bow of the vessels fall pleasantly on the ear. All of the ships were on the same tack, and three of the English frigates were within long gun-shot of the Constitution on her lee quarter. The five frigates were clouded with canvas from their truck to their decks. Eleven sail were in sight. The scene was a most beautiful and exciting one. No guns were fired, for the distance between the belligerents widened. Either better sailing qualities or superior seamanship gave advantage to the Constitution. With that pleasant breeze she gained on her antagonists, ahd at four o'clock m the afterr noon she was four miles ahead of the Belvidera, the nearest English ship. At seven heavy clouds began to brood over the sea, with indications of a squall. The Consti- tution prepared for it. It burst with fury— wind, lightning, and rain— but left that 1 Kedge, or kedger, is a small anchor with an iron stock, used for keeping a vessel steady or warpine it alone 2 Cooper, ii., 156. ^' ' Coggeshall, in Vis Hwtory of the Ameriam Privateers and Letters of Mm-quf.,Te\a.iea (page 13) that Us friend Captain Brown, who was a prisoner on board the Shannon, was amused to hear Captain Broke and his officers conTeree about the "Yankee frigate." At one period of the chase they were so coniident of capturing her that a prize-crew were al ready appointed to conduct her in triumph to Halifax. To all their qnestions about her, as she was seen speeding be- fore them. Captain Brown had but one answer, namely, "Gentlemen, you will never take that fi-igftte." OF THE WAK OF 1812. 439 Bad of the ChaBe after t he Constitutim. The Essex starts on a Cruise. She captures the Alert. good frigate unharmed. The pursuers and the pursued lost sight of e^ch other for a -while in the murky vapor. In less than an hour the squall had passed to leeward, and the Constitution, sheeted home, her main and top-gallant sails set, was flying away from the enemy at the rate of eleven knots. At twilight the pursuers were iu sight, and at near midnight they fired two guns. Away went the Constitution, before the wind, and at six in the morning the topsails of the British vessel were seen from the American, beginning to dip below the horizon. At a quarter past eight the En- glishman relinquished the pursuit, and hauled off. to the northward; and a few days afterward the British fleet separated for the purpose of cruising in different directions. Thus ended a chase of sixty-four hours, chiefly off the New England coast, remarkable alike for its length, closeness, and activity. It was a theme for much newspaper com- ment, and a poet of the day, singing of the exploits of the Constitution, referred to this as follows : " 'Neath Hull's command, with a tough hand, And naught beside to bacl£ her. Upon a day, as log-books say, A fleet bore down to thwack her. A fleet, you know, is odds, or so. Against a single ship, sirs ; So 'cross the tide her legs she tried, li. And gave the rogues the slip, sirs." A few days after Rodgers left New York, Captain Porter sailed from that harbor in the JEssex, 32, from the mast-head of which fluttered a flag bearing conspicuously the words, " Fees Teade and Sailoes' Rights." He captured several English mer- chant vessels soon after leaving Sandy Hook, making trophy bonfires of most of them on the ocean, and their crews his prisoners. After cruising southward for some weeks in disguise, capturing a prize now and then, he turned northward again, and met with increased success. One night, by the dim light of a mist-veiled moon, he chased a fleet of English transports bearing a thousand soldiers toward Halifax or the St. Law- rence, convoyed by the frigate Mercury, 36, and a bomb vessel. They were sailing wide, and he captured one of the transports, with one hundred and flfty men, before dawn, without attracting the attention of the rest of the fleet, for no guns were fired. A few days after this,* while sailing in the disguise of a merchantman, » August 13, her gun-deck ports in, top-gallant masts housed, and sails trimmed in a ^^^^■ slovenly manner, the JEssex fell in with a sail to windward. The stranger came bear- ing down gallantly, when the Essex showed an American ensign, and kept away un- der short sail, as if trying to avoid a contest. This emboldened the English vessel. She followed the Essex for some time, and finally running down on her weather quar- ter, set her national colors, and, with three cheers from her people, opened fire. She was soon undeceived, and her temerity was severely punished. The ports of the Essex were knocked out in an instant, and the fire of the enemy was responded to with terrible effect. The assailant was so damaged and disconcerted that the con- flict was made short. It was a complete surprise. A panic seized her people, and, in spite of the efforts of her officers, they fled below for safety.' Scarcely eight min- utes had elapsed from the firing of the first gun, when the stranger, which proved to be the British ship Alert, Captain T. L. P. Laughame, mounting twenty 18-pound car- ronades and six smaller guns, struck her colors and was reported to be in a sinking condition. When Lieutenant Finch, of the Essex, went on board to receive her fiag, he found seven feet water in the hold. She was a stanch vessel, and had been built for the coal trade. She was purchased for the British navy in 1804, and the complfe- ment of her crew was one hundred and thirty men and boys. She was every way in- ferior to the Essex, whose armament was forty 32-pound carronades and six long twelves, and her complement of men was three hundred and twenty-five. The cap- tare of the Alert poss esses no special historical interest excepting from the fact that '^ 1 It is said that some of them, after their exchange, were executed for deserting their guns. 440 PICTOKIAL. TIELD-BOOK A Cartel-ship sent, into Newfoundland. ■ The ^aaea; chafes BritiBh VesBelB. she was the first British national vessel captured in the war. The Alert had three men wounded, while the Msex sustained no injury whatever. The Msex was now crowded with prisoners, and Porter became conscious of the fact that they had entered into a plot to rise -and take the vessel from him. The leaks of the Alert being stopped, and all things put in fair seaworthy condition, Por- ter made an arrangement with Captain Laugharne' to convert her into a cartel ship. When this was accomplished, the prisoners were placed on board of her, and she was sent into St. John's, Newfoundland. On her return to the United States she was fit- ted up for the government service. The JEssex continued her cruise to the southward, and on the thirtieth of August, just at twilight, fell in with a British frigate in latitude 36° N. and longitude 62° W.^ Porter prepared for action, and the two vessels stood for each other. Night fell, and Porter, anxious for combat, ran up a light. It was answered at the distance of about four miles. The JSssex sought the stranger in that directibn, but in vain, and when the day dawned she had disappeared. Five days afterward Porter fell in with "two ships of war to the southward and a brig to the northward — the brig in chase of an American merchant ship."^ The Essex pursued, when the brig attempted to pass and join the other two vessels. The Essex headed her, turned her course northward, and continued the chase until abreast the merchantman, when, the wind being light, the brig escaped by the use of her sweeps. When the Essex showed her colors to the merchantman, the two British vessels at the southward discovered them, fired signal-guns, and gave chase.: At four o'clock in the afternoon they were in the wake of the Essex a.ndi rapidly gaining upon her, when Porter hoisted the American colors, and fired a gun to the windward, expecting to escape by some manceuvre in the approaching darkness. At sunset the larger of the two vessels was within five miles, and rapidly shortening the distance between her and the Essex. Porter determined to heave about after dark, and, if he could not pass his pursuer, give her a broadside and lay her or board. The crew were in fine spirits, and when this movement was proposed to them they gave three hearty cheers. Preparations for action were immediately made. The Essex hove round and bore away to the southwest, but the, night being dark and squally. Porter saw no more of the enemy. Supposing himself cut oiT from New York and Boston by a British squadron, he made for the Delaware.* Soon after Captain Porter reached the Delaware a circumstance occurred which created quite a sensation in the public mind for a few days. A week after the dec- laration of "war a writer in a New York paper charged Captain Porter with cruelly treating an English seaman on board of the Essex who refused to fight against his countrym-en, pleading, among other reasons, that if caught he would be hung as a de- serter from the British navy. This story reached Sir James Lucas Yeo, commander of the frigate Southampton, then on the West India station. By a prisoner in "his hands, who was sent home on parole, he forwarded a message to Porter which ap- 1 Thomas Lamb Polden Langharne entered the British navy in 1798, at the age of twelve years. He was a most faith- ful and active ofHcer, and advanced steadily to the post of commander, wiich he attained in 1811.' He was appointed to the, command of the sloop AUrt in February, 1812. His last appointment, afloat was to the Achates, 18, in which ho cruised in the Channel until November, 1815. In 1823 he became inspecting commander In the coast-gnard, was ad- vanced to post-captain, when he retired from the service on half-pay. He is yet [1807]' living. 2 The reader who may consult a modern map while studying this account should repiember that at that time the lon- gitude was calculated from the meridian of Greenwich, in England. In modern American maps it is calculated 'tcom Washington City, the national capital. ' ^Manuscript letter of Captain Porter to the Secretary of the Navy, dated !'At sea, September 5, 1812." * Porter's manuscript letter, September 5, 1812. That letter is before me. , It contains a rough sketch of the nautical movement Just described. "Considering this escape a very extraordinary one,"he wrote, "I have the honor to in- close you a sketch of the position of the ships at three different periods, by whicji you will .perceive at once the plan of effecting it." According to a letter from an officer of the Shanmm, that frigate was the larger of the two vessels that chased the Eaaex on that occasion, and the other vessel. Instead of being a " ship of war," as Porter supposed was the Planter, a recaptured West Indiaman. In the light of this fact we perceive that Porter's escape was not very "extra ordinary." The American merchantman mentioned in the text was the Mmrm, from Cadiz. She was burnt bv flie English on the morning succeeding the chase. .. i. uy me OF THE WAR OF 1812. 441 Yeo's ChaHenge and Porteife Acceptance. The Motto of the Essex. The Constitution starts on another Cruise. peared in the following language on the 18th of September, 1812, in the Democratic Press, printed in Philadelphia : " A passenger of the brig Zyoti, from Havana to Kew York, cap- tured by the frigate /Southampton, Sir James Yeo commander, is requested by Sir James Yeo to present his compliments to Captain Porter, commander of the American frigate JEsseaci — would be glad to have a tSte-d-tSte any where between the Capes of Delaware and the Havana, where he would have the pleasure to break his own sword over his damned head, and put him down forward in irons." To this indecorous challenge Captain For' er replied as follows on the same day : " Captain Porter, of the United States frigate Essex, presents his compliments to Sir James Yeo, commanding H. B. M.'s frigate Southampton, and accepts with pleasure his polite invita- tion. If agreeable to Sir James, Captain Porter would prefer meeting near the Delaware, where Captain P. pledges his honor to Sir James that no other American vessel shall interrupt their tSte-d-igte. The Essex may be known by a flag bearing the motto Feee Trade and Sailors' Rights, and when that is struck to the South- ampton Captain P. will deserve the treatment promised by Sir James. * Here the matter ended. The coveted tSte-d-tSte never occur- red. The Constitution did not long continue idle after her escape from Broke's squadron. She remained a short time in Boston to recuperate, and on the 2d of August sailed eastward in hope of falling in with some one of the En- glish vessels of war supposed to be hovering along the coast from Nantucket to Halifax. Hull,2^her commander, was specially anxions I The original of Porter's acceptance is in the possession of ^ ^ .IV \ Doctor Leonard D.Koeclier.ofPhilaaelphia, who Ismdly allowed V^ S ^ T me to make from it the faoaimile of the paragraph given in the ^^^ V^ 1 ' *« \ 1^ ^f Isaac Hull was born at Derby, Connecticut, in 17T5. He first ^^ entered the merchant service, and in 1798 became a fourth lieu- tenant in the infant navy of the United States, under Commodore Nicholson. In 1800 he was promoted to first lieutenant under Commodore Talbot. In 1804 he commanded the brig Arijus, and distinguished himself at the storming of Tripoli and the reduc-, tion of Deme. He was made captain in 1806, and was in com- mand of the Constitution when the war broke ont. Of his achieve- ments in her the text furnishes a detailed account: Commodore Hull served in the American navy, afloat and asbore, with the, rank of captain, thirty-seven years. He commanded in the Med- iterranean and Pacific, and had charge of the navy yards at Bos- ton and Washington. He was a member of the Naval Board for „ „,... T,,,,, aied at his residence in Philadelphia on the 9th of February, 1843. His remains rest several years CammoA.re Hul ^^f " »"; ™^„jif„i „t,,..t„„b of Italian marble, made by John Struthers and Sons. 'it "p^of rSb of ScipioBarbato at Rome, chastely ornamented, dnd surmounted by an American eagle m 442 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The Gv£rriere. The Constitution off the Eastern Coast. She chases a strange Vessel. to fall in with that famous frigate before whom he had been compelled to fly when she was part of a squadron, and of whom it had been said, " Long the tyrant of our coast Beign^d the famous Guerriere; Our little navy she defied. Public ship and privateer : On her sails, in letters red. To our captains were displayed Words of warning, words of dread : 'All who meet me have a care ! I am England's CHierriere.' "i The commander of the Guerriere had boastfully enjoined the Americans to re- member that she was not the. Little Belt,^ and this offensive form of menace in- creased Hull's desire to meet her and measure strength with her. The Constitution ran not far from the shore down to the Bay of Fundy with- out meeting a single armed vessel. She then bore away southward off Cape Sable, and eastward to the region of Halifax, but with a like result. Hull now determ- ined to cruise eastward of Nova Scotia to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, with the hope of interrupting vessels making their way to Halifax or Quebec. In this new field he made some winnings, but the promise of much harvest was too small to detain him. He. turned his prow southward, and on the nineteenth, at two o'clock in the afternoon, in latitude 41° 40', and longitude 55° 48',3 his heart was gladdened by the discovery of a sail from his mast-head, too re- mote, however, for her character to be determined. ■ The Constitution immediately gave chase to the stranger, and at half past three o'clock it was discovered that she was a frigate, and doubtless an enemy. Hull let his ship run free until within a league of the stranger to leeward, when he' began to shorten sail and deliberately prepare for action. The stranger at once showed sign's of willingness for a fight. Hull cleared his ship, beat to quarters, hoisted the Amer- ican colors, and bore down gallantly on the enemy, with the intention of bringing her into close combat immediately. full relief, in the attitude of defending the na- tional flag, on which it stands. There is a can- non-ball under the flag, on which rests one of the eagle's talons. Upon the south side of the tomb is the name of Isaac Hull. On the north side is the following inscription, written by his friend Horace Binney, Esq, : " Febetjaey ix., MBoooxLiii. In affectionate devotion to the private virtues of Ibaao HtiLi., his widow has erected this- monument." The above likeness of Hull is from an engraving by Edwin, from a painting by Stewart. ' A feminine warrior— an Amazon. TheG^wer- riere was originally a French ship, and was cap- tured on the 19th of July, 1806, by the British ship Blanche, Captain Lavie. She was built at L'Orient upon a sudden emergency, and her timbers, not having been well seasoned, were in a somewhat decaying state at this time, it is said. " See page 184. 3 See note 2, page 440. POLL S , MOMn.MENT. OF THE WAE OF 1812. 443 The Gmrriere flres on the -Conatitution. Hull's Coolneee. Terrible Eesponse of the Cmstitwtion. " ' Clear ship for action !' sounds the hoatswain's call ; ' Clear ship for action !' his three mimics bawl. Swift round the decks see war's dread weapons hurled. And floating ruins strew the watery world. ' 'AH hands to quarters 1' fore and aft resounds, Thrills from the flfe, and ftom the drum-head bounds ; From crowded hatchways scores on scores arise, Spring up the shrouds, and vault into the skies. Tirm at his quarters each bold gunner stands. The death-fraught lightning flashing from'his hands." Comprehending Hull's movement, the Englishman hoisted three national ensigns,^ fired a broadside of grape-shot, filled away, and gave another broadside on the other tack, but without efiect. The missiles all fell short; The stranger continued to ma- noeuvre for about three quarters of an hour, endeavoring to get ia. a. position to rake and prevent being raked, when, disappointed, she bore up and ran under topsails and jib, with the wind on the quarter. The Goristitution, -[oRowiiig closely, yawed occa- sionally to rake and .avoid being raked, and firing only a few guns as they bore, as she did not wish to engage in a serious conflict until they were close to each .other. It was now about six ia the evening. These indications on the part of the enemy to engage in a fair yard-arm and yard-arm fight caused the Constitution to press all sail to get alongside of the foe. At a little after six the bows of the American be- gan to double the quarter of the Englishman. Hull had been walking the quarter- deck, keenly watching every movement. He was quite fat, and wore very tight breeches. As the shot of the Guerriere began to tell upon the Constitution, the gal- lant Lieutenant Morris, Hull's second in command, came to the captain and asked permission to open fire. " Not yet," quietly responded Hull. Nearer and nearer the vessels drew toward each other, and the request was repeated. " Not yet," said Hull again, very quietly. When the Constitution reached the point we have just men- tioned, Hull, filled with sudden and intense excitement, bent himself twice to the deck, and then shouted, " Now, boys, pour it into them !" The command was in- stantly obeyed. The Constitution opened her forward guns, which were double shot- ted with round and grape, with terrible efiect. When the smoke that followed the result of that order cleared away, it was discovered that the commander, in his ener- getic movements, had split his tight breeches from waistband to. knee, but he did not stop to change them during the action. 2' The concussion of Hull's broadside was tremendousi It cast those in the cockpit of the enemy from one side of the room to the otherjiand, before they could adjust themselves, the blood came streaming from above, and numbers, dreadfully mutilated, were handed down to the surgeons. The enemy at the same time was pouring heavy metal into the Constitution. They were only half pistol-shot from each other, and the destruction was terrible. Within fifteen minutes after the contest commenced the stranger's mizzen-mast was shot away, her main yard was in slings, and her hull, spars, sails, and rigging' were torn in pieces. The English vessel brought up in the wind as her mizzen-mast gav6 way, when the Constitution passed slowly ahead, poured in a treinendous fire as her guns' bore, lufied short rouhd'the bows of her antagonist to ■ prevent being raked, and fell foul of her foe, her bowsprit running into the larboard quarter of the stranger. In this situation the cabin of the Constitution was Set on fire by the explosion' of the forward guns ofher enemy, but the fiames were soon ex- tinguished. • , • Both parties now attempted to board. The roar of great guns was terrible, and 1 This is alluded to in an old song called "Halifax Station," written and very extensively sung soon after the event commemorated occurred : " Then up to each masti-l\ead he straight sent a flag, , . , Which shows on the. ocean a proud British brag ; .. ■,, •• , But HulVbeing,plessant,he sentupbut one, '• . ■ And told every lyaman ti) stand true to his gun." 2 Statement of Lieutenant, B. V. Hofllnan. 444 PICTORIAL PIELD-BOOK Attempts at Boarding. The Guerriere suddenly made a Wreck. Dacres surrenders to Hull. the fierce volleys of musketry on both sides, together with the heavy sea that was running, made that movement impossible. The English piped all hands from below, and mounted them on the forward deck for the purpose ; and Lieutenant Morris, Alwyn, the master, and Lieutenant Bush, of the Marines, sprang upon the tafirail of the Constitution to lead their men to the same work. Morris was severely but not fatally shot through the body ; Alwyn was wounded in the shoulder ; and a bullet through his brain brought Bush dead to the deck. Just then the sails of the Consti^ tution were filled, and as she shot ahead and clear of her antagonist, whose fore-mast had been severely wounded, that spar fell, carrying with it the main-mast, and leav- ing the hapless vessel a shivering, shorn, and.helpless wreck, rolling like a log in the trough of the sea, entirely at the mercy of the billows. " Quick as lightning, and fatal as its dreaded^power, Destruction and death on the GuerrUre did shower, While the groans of the dying were heard on the blast. The word was, ' Take aim, boys, away with the mast 1' • The genius of Britain will long rue the day. The Guerriere 's a wreck in the trough of the sea ; Her laurels are withered, her boasting is done ; Submissive, to leeward she fires her last gun." — Old Song. The Constitution hauled oflT a short distance, secured her own masts, rove new rig- ging, and at sunset wore round and took a favorable position for raking the wreck. A jack that had beeil kept flying on the stump of the enemy's mizzen-mast was now lowered, and the late Commodore George C. Read, then a third lieutenant, was sent on board of the prize. She was found to be the Guerriere, 38, Captain James Richards Dacres, one of the vessels which had so lately been engaged in the memorable chase of her present conquer- or, and which Hull was anxious to meet. The lieutenant asked for the commander of the prize, when Captain Dacres ap- peared. " Commodore Hull's compli- ments," said Read, " and wishes to know if you have struck your flag ?" Captain Dacres, looking up and down, coolly and dryly remarked, "Well, I don't know; our mizzen-mast is gone, our main-mast is gone, and, upon the whole, you may say we have struck our flag." Read then said, " Commodore Hull's , compliments, and wishes to know whether you need the assist- ance of a surgeon or surgeon's mate ?" Dacres replied, " Well, I should suppose you had on board your own ship business enough for all your medical officers.!' Read replied, " Oh no ; we have only seven wounded, and they were dressed half an hour aso."^ lUGUABD DAOEES. 1 Statement of Captain William B. Ome, in the New York Evening Post. He commanded the American brig Betsey^ and when returning from Naples in the summer *of 1812, she was captured by the Guerriere. Captain Orne was a pris- oner on board of her at the time of the action, and was treated by Captain Dacres with the greatest courtesy. When that commander'8 interview with Bead was concluded, he turned to Orne and said, "How have our sitaationB been changed 1 You are now free, and I am a prisoner." Jnraes Richard Dacres was a son of Vice Admiral J. K. Dacres, who was in command of the British schooner CarZcftm, on Lake Champlain, in the iight with Arnold's flotilla in 1776. Young Dacres entered the royal navy in 1796, on board the Sceptre, 64, commanded by his father. His first service was against the French, in which he exhibited excellent qualities. He was promoted to the command of the sloop Etk in 180B, and the next year was transferred to the Bacchante, 24. He was appointed to the command of the G^t^rriere in March, 1811. She then carried 48 guns, and was called " a worn-out frigate." See O'Byrne's Naval Biographii. He was wouriBed in the action with the Constitution. Be was unanimously acquitted by the court-martial at Halifax that tried him for surrendering his ship. He commanded the OF THE WAK OF 1812. 445 Bestrnotion of the, Ouerriere. Effect of the News of the Vicltory. Hull's Eecepllon in Boston. The Constitution kept near her prize all night. At two in the morning a strange sail was seen closing upon them, when she cleared for action, but an hour later the intruder stood off and disappeared. At dawn the officer in charge of the Guerriere hailed to say that she had four feet water in her hold and was in danger of sinking. Hull immediately sent all his boats to bring off the prisoners and their effects. ' That duty was accomplished by noon, and at three o'clock the prize crew was recalled. The Guerriere was too much damaged to be saved ; so she was set on fire, and fifteen minutes afterward she blew up, scattering widely upon the subsiding billows all that was left of the boastful cruiser that was " not the Little £elt."'^ "Isaac did so maul and raise her, That the declcs of Captain Dacre Were in such a woful pickle As if Death, with scythe and sickle, With his sling or with his shaft, Had cut his harvest foi'e and aft. Thus, in thirty minutes, ended Mischiefs that could not he mended ; Masts, and yards, and ship descended All to David Jones's locker- Such a ship, in such a pucker !" — Old Sokg. The Constitution arrived at Boston on the 30th of August, and on thai day Cap- tain Hull wrote his official dispatch to the Secretary of War, dated " IT. S. frigate Constitution, off Boston Light." He was the first to announce to his countrymen the intelligence of his own victory. That intelligence was received with the most lively demonstrations of joy in every part of the republic, and dispelled for a mo- ment the gloom occasioned- by the recent disasters at Detroit in the surrender of General Hull. When the Constitution appeared in Boston Harbor, she was surround- ed by a flotilla of gayly-decorated small boats, and the hundreds of people who filled them made the air tremble with their loud huzzas. At the wharf where he landed he was received with a national salute by an artillery company, which was returned by the Constitution. An immense assemblage of citizens were there to greet him and escort him to quarters prepared for him in the city, and the whole town was filled with tumultuous joy. The streets through which- the triumphal procession passed were decorated with flags and banners. From almost every window ladies waved their white handkerchiefs, and from the crowded side-pavements shout after shout of the citizens greeted the hero. Men of all ranks hastened to pay homage to f the conqueror. A splendid public entertainment was given him and his officers by themhabitanrs of Boston, and almost six hundred citizens, of both politicals .parties, sat down to the banquet in token of their appreciation of the gallant commander's Tiber from 1814 to 1818. He continued in service afloat. In 1838 he attained flag rank, answering to ourxommodore, and in 1845 was appointed commander-in-chief at the Cape of Good Hope, his flag-ship heing the Prmdmt, BO. Vice Admiral Dacres died in England, at an advanced age, on the 4th of IJf cemher, 1863. The preceding likeness of Captam Dacres (Vice Admiral of the Eed) is from a print published in London in October, 1831. . ^ , >, 1 "I- feel it my duty to state that the conduct of Captain Hull and his officers to our men has been that of a brave enemy, the greatest care being taken to prevent our men losing the smallest trifle, and the greatest attention being naidtothe wounded."— CaptainDacres'sKeportto Vice Admiral Sawyer, September 7, 1812. s Three days before the action between the Comtttutim and Guerriere, the John Adams, Captain Fash, from Liverpool, was spoken by the English frigate. Upon Fash's register, which he deposited at the New York Custom-house, the fol- lowing lines were found written ; ^ . . • ,. 1 * "Cantain Dacres commander of his Britannic majesty's frigate Gmrriere, of 44 guns, presents his compliments to Commodore Kod-^ers, of the TTnited States frigate PreMmit, and will he very happy to meet him, or any other American frigate of equal fSrce tO the PrMmt, off Sandy Hook, for the purpose of having a few minutes' fe««-d-fete. To this fact a poet of the day, an American gentleman then living at St. Bartholomew s, thus alluded : "This Briton oft had made his boast . He'd with his crew, a chosen host. Pour fell destruction round our coast. And work a revolution ; ■ Urged by his pride, a challenge sent Bold Hodgers, in the PreiMent, Wishing to meet Him tite-i-t'te. Or one his equal from onr fleet- Such was the Constiitviian," 446 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Tributes orHo^o^ by Citizens and Public Bodies. Congress presents Hull with a Gold Medal. services » The citizens 6f New York raised money for the purchase of swords to be presented to Captain Hull and his officers; and the Corporation offered the gallant •December 28 victor the freedom of the city in a gold box,* with an appropriate m- 1812. ' scription.2 Hu]l -^as also requested by the same Corporation to sit for his portrait, to be hung in the picture-gallery of the City Hall. ^ In Philadelphia the citizens, at a general meeting, resolved to present to Captain Hull " a piece of plate of the most elegant workmanship, with appropriate emblems, devices, and insei-ip- tioris " and that "a like piece of plate be presented to Lieutenant Morris, in the name of the citizens of Philadelphia." JEtey-alsQ resolved to present tokens of their grati- tude to the other officers of the(^cmstitution.j The Congress of the United States, by resolution, voted a gold medal toCaptaT^ Hull,* and fifty thousand dollars to be dis- 1 A stirring ode was sung at the table. It was wiltten for the occasion by the late L. M. Sargent, Esq., then an emi- nent and highly esteemed citizen of Boston. The victory of Hnll, so complete, and obtained over a foe so nearly equal in strength, gave promise of f utnire successes on the ocean, and inspired the most doubting heart with hope. This hope was expressed in the fallowing closing stanza of Mr. Sargent's ode : "Hence be our floating bulwarks Those oaks our mountains yield ; 'Tis mighty Heaven's plain decree — Then take the, watery field ! To ocean's farthest barriers, then. Tour whitening saDs shall pour ; Safe they'll ride o'er the tide While Columbia's thunders roar ; While her cannon's fire is flashing fast, And her Yankee thunders roar." 2 This ie a merely complimentary act, by which a person, for gallant or useful services, is honored with the nominal right to all the privileges and immunities of a citizen by the government of a city. When Andrew Hamilton, of Phila- delphia, nobly defended the liberty of the press, jmd procured the acqxiittal of John Peter Zenger, a New York printer, who was" accused of libel by the governor in 1735, the Corporation of New York presented that able lawyer the freedom of the city in a gold box for hia noble advocacy of popular rights. When Washington Irving returned to New York, ' after twenty years' absence in Europe, the freedom of the city was given to him as a compliment for his distinction as an American author when successful ones were rare. The ceremony of presentation to Captain Hull took place in the Common Council Chamber of the City Hall. A com- mittee, consisting of Aldermen Fish and Mesier, and General Morton, introduced Hull to the Common Council, when De Witt ClintoUj the mayor, arose and addressed him. He then presented him with the diploma, elegantly executed in vellum,* and a richly-embossed gold box, with a representation of the battle between the Constitution, and ChiO-riere painted in enameU Hull responded in a few low and modest words, after which the mayor administered to him the freeman's oath. 3 In that gallery hang the portraits of the successive governors of the State of New York. On that account it is known as the Governors' Koom. * On one side of this medal, represented of the exact size of the original in the above engraving, is seen the likeness of Captain Hull in profile, with the legend isAons hull peritos aktb supebat jtjl. mdoooxti. ang. oeetamine koetbs. Thislegend (and date) seems to refer to the skill of Hull in escaping from the British fleet the previous month, for it asserts that his stratagem overmatched the experienced English. On the reverse of the medal is seen a naval engage- ment, in which the Chierriere is represented as receiving the deadly shots that cut away her mizzen-mast. The legend is H0II.E MOMENTo vioToBTA, sud the cxorgue INTEB OONST. NAT. AMEE ET GnEB. NAv. ANGL. — the abbreviation of words indicating action "between the American ship Constitution and the English ship Guerriere" * The form of words in which this instimment is expressed will be found in another part of this work, where an ac- count ie given of a similar honor conferred on GeneralJacob Brown. OF THE WAR O-F 1812. 44Y Effect of the Victory on the British. Estimates of its Importance. Remarks of the London Times. tributed as prize-money among the officers and crew of the victor, whose example was "highly honorable to the American character and insti'uctive to our rising navy.".i It is difficult to comprehend at this time the feeling which this victory of the Americans created on both sides of the Atlantic. The British, as we have observed, looked with contempt upon the American navy, while the Americans looked upon that of England with dread. The naval flag of England had seldom been lowered to an enemy during the lapse of a century, and the people had come to believe her " wooden walls" to be impregnable. Dacres himself, though less a boaster than most of his countrymen in command, had similar faith. He believed that an easy victory awaited him whenever he should be so fortunate as to meet any American vessel in conflict; and he constantly expressed a desire to show how quickly he would make the "striped bunting" trail in- his presence. Very great, then, was th^ disappointment of the com- mander of the Querriere, the service,, and the British; people, when Hull's victory was,, accomplished. The Americans, on the other hand, as we have observed, had little confidence, in the power of their navy, and at that time, they were oast downiby the heavy .blow to their hopes in the misfortunes of the Army of the Northwest at Detroit. This victory, therefore, so unexpected and so coiiiplete,was like the sudden bursting forth of th.e morning sun, without preceding twilight, after a night o£ tem- pest, and the joy of the whole people was unbounded. .It waa. natural for -them, to indulge in many extravagaiices,-yet these were only the, mere demonstrative evidences of a ijew^bofinfaith" that, had taken hold of the American mind. This^ victory was, therefore, of immense importance, inasmuch as it gave the Americans confidence, and dispelled the idea of the absolute omnipotence of the British navy. Its momentous bearing npon the future of the war was at once perceived by statesmen and publicists on both sides, and zealous discussions at once arose concerning the relative strength, and force, and armament of the two vessels, and the comparative merits of the two commanders as exhibited in their conduct before and during the action. There was a tendency on the part of the Americans to overestimate the importance of the victory and the powers of their seamen, and there was an equal tendency of the organs of British opinion to underestimate it, and to detract from the merits of the conqueror by disparaging the strength and condition of the Guerriere. The very writers who had spoken of the Constitution as " a bundle of pine-boards" now called her one of the stanchest vessels afloat ; and the Guerriere, which they had praised as a frigate worthy of the exhibition of British valor when she was captured from the French, and able to drive " the insolent striped bunting from the seas," was now spoken of as "an old worn-out frigate," with damaged masts, a reduced complement, and "in absolute need of thorough refit," for which " she was then on her way to Hal- ifax." Yet the London 2?mes, then, as now, the leading journal in England, and then, as now, the bitter enemy of the United States, and implacable foe of every supposed rival or competitor of England, was compelled, in deep mortification, to view the afiair as a severe blow struck at Britain's boasted supremacy of the seas. "We have been accused of sentiments unworthy of Englishmen," it said, " because we described what we saw and felt on the occasion of the capture of the Guerriere., We witnessed the gloom which that event cast over high and honorable minds ; we participated in the vexation and regret ; and it is the first time we have ever heard that the striking of the English flag on the high seas to anything like an equal force should be regard- ed by Englishmen with complacency and satisfaction It is not merely that an English frigate has been taken, after, what we are free to confess, may be called a brave resistance, but that it has been taken by a new enemy, an enemy unaccustomed to such triumphs, and likely to be rendered insolent and confident by them. He must 1 Kesolutions oi' the Honse of EepresentatiTes, Novemher B, 1812. 448 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Surprise and Chagrin of the British. The two y essels compared. Commodore Hall's Generosity . be a weak politician who does not see how important the first triumph is in giving a tone and character to the war. . Neoer before, in the history of the world did an Mir qlish frigate strike to an American; and though we can not say that Captain Dacres, under all circumstances, is punishable for this act, yet we do say that.'there are com- manders in the English navy who would a thousand times rather have gone down with their colors flying than have set their brother-officers so fatal an example." William James, one of the most bitterly partisan and unscrupulous historians of the war, was constrained to say, " There is no question that our vanity received a wound in the loss of the Gruerriere. But, poignant as were the national feelings, reflecting men hailed the 19th of August, 1812,as the commencement' of an era of renovation to the navy of England."' The advantage in the action, in guns, men, and stanchness, was undoubtedly on the side of the Constitution, jet not so much as to make the contest really an unequal one. The vessels rated respectively 44 and 38, while the Constitution actually car- ried in the action 56, and the Guerriere 49. The latter was pierced for 54 and car- ried 50 when she was captured from the French.^ Her gun-deck metal was lighter than that of the Constitution, but the rest of her armament was the same. Notwith- standing this disparity, the weight of the respective broadsides, according to the most authentic account, could not have varied very materially.^ The crew of the Constitution greatly outnumbered that of the Gruerriere, being 468 against 253. That of the latter had a great advantage in experience and discipline ; for they had been long in naval service, while the crew of the Constitution was newly shipped for this cruise, and mostly from the merchant service. According to the official report of Captain Hull, the action lasted thirty minutes, while Dacres said its duration was two hours and twelve minutes. This discrepancj^ may be reconciled by the consideration that the British commander probably counted from the time when the Guerriere fired her first gun, which the Constitution did not respond to, and the American commander computed from the moment when he poured in his first broadside. The Guerriere was made a wreck — the Constitution was se- verely wounded in spars and rigging. The American loss was seven killed and seven wounded. The British loss was fifteen killed, forty-four wounded, and twenty-four (including two officers) missing. , Dacres was severely wounded in the back, At that time there were more captains in the navy than vessels for them to com- mand ; and Captain Hull, with noble generosity and rare contentment with the laurels already won, gave up the command of his frigate for the sole purpose of giving oth- ers a chance to distinguish themselves. Captain Bainbridge, one of the oldest officers in the service, and then in command of the Constellation, 38, which was fitting out for sea at Washington, was appointed Hull's successor. He was made a flag officer, and the JSssex, 32, and Hornet, '28, was placed under his command. He hoisted his broad pennant on board the Constitution, and sailed from Boston on a cruise on the 15th of September. Captain Charles Stewart was assigned to the command of the Constella- tion; and not long afterward. Lieutenant Morris, Hull's second in command, who was severely wounded when gallantly attempting to lead a boarding-party to the decks of the Guerriere, was promoted to captain. Of Bainbridge's cruise I shall write pres- ently. Let us now consider a most gallant exploit of the Wasp, an inferior member of the United States Navy. The sloop-of-war Wasp, 18, was considered one of the finest and fastest sailers of her class. She was built immediately after the close of the war with Tripoli, and was thor- ^ Naval Oceurrervms, page 116. 2 Captain Lavie's Letter to Lord Keith, Jnly 26, 1806. "Le Guerriere," he said, "is of the largest class of frisates mounting fifty guns, with a complement of 81T men." ' = By actual weighing of the balls of both ships by an officer of the ComlUuUon, it was found that the American 24'6 were only three pounds heavier than the Knglish IS's on that occasion, and that there was nearly the same difference iu favor of the latter's 32's.— Cooper's JSiaval History, etc., ii., 173, Note *. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 449 Craise of the ITcwp. She eucounters a Gale. Chases a Vessel. Captain Joues. orougMy manned and equipped. She mount- ed sixteen 32-pound carronades and two long' 12's, and also carried, usually „two small brass cannon in her tops. Her officers were always proud of her, as an admirable specimen of their country's naval architecture. At the kindling of the war she was on the European coast, the only government vessel, excepting the Constitution, then abroad ; and at the time of the declaration of hostilities by the Ameri- can Congress, she was on her way home as bear- er of dispatches from the diplomatic represent- atives of the United States in Europe. Her commander was Captain Jacob Jones, a brave officer, in whose vems ran much pure, indom- itable Welsh blood.' On the thirteenth of October, 1812, the Wasp left the Delaware on' a cruise, with a full complement of men, about one hundred and thirty-five in number. She ran off south- easterly to clear the coast and strike the tracks of vessels that might be steering north for the West Indies, and on the sixteenth encountered a heavy gale, which carried away her jib-boom, and with it two of her crew. The storm abated on the following day;* and toward midnight, when in latitude thirty -seven north, and » October is, longitude sixty-five west, his watch discovered several sail, two of them ^^^^• appearing to be large vessels. Ignorant' of the true character of the strangers. Cap- tain Jones thought it prudent to keep at a respectful distance until the morning light should give him better information. All night the Waq} kept a course parallel with that of the stranger vessels. At dawn she gave chase, and it was soon discovered that the strangers were a fleet of armed merchant vessels under the protection of the British sloop-of-war Frolic, mounting sixteen thirty-two-pound carronades, two long six-pounders, and two twelve-pound carronades on her forecastle. She was manned with a crew of one hundred and eight persons, under Captain Thomas Whinyates,^ who had been her commander for more than five years. She was coii- 1 Jacob Jones was bom in the year 1770, near the village of Smyrna, Kent County, Delaware. His father was a farm- er, and the maiden name of his mother was likewise Jones. He received a good academic education, and at the age of eighteen years commenced the stndy of medicine and surgery. He began the practice of his profession at Dover, in his native state, but did not pursue it long. He found the field well occupied, and, being active and ambitious, resolved to abandon his profession for one more lucrative. He received the appointment of clerk of the Supreme Court for Kent County. Of this business he became wearied, and entered the serviee of his country as a midshipman in the year 1799. He made his first cruise under Commodore Barry, and was on board the frigate United States when she bore Ellsworth and Davie to France as envoys extraordinary of the TTnited States to the government of that country. He was promot- ed to lieutenant in February, 1801. When the yar with Tripoli broke out he sailed in the Philadelphia under Bain- bridge, and after the disaster that befell that vessel he was twenty months a captive among the semi-barbarians of Northem'Africa. He was commissioned master commandant in April; 1810, and was appointed to the command of the brig Argils, which was stationed for the protection of our commerce on our southern maritime frontier. In 1811 he was transferred to the command of the ITofip, and in the spring of 1812 was dispatched with communications from the United States government to its embassadors in France and England. While on that duty war between the United States and Great Britain was declared by the former. Soon after his return, he went on the cruise which resulted in his capture of the Frolic, and the recapture of his own and the prize vessel by a British frigate. In March, 1813, he was promoted to captain, and ever afterward bore the title of Commodore. After the peace he was employed alternately at home and abroad ; and, finally, in his declining years, he retired to his farm in his native state, where he enjoyed a serene old agei He died at Philadelphia in July, 1860, at the age of eighty years. The likeness is copied from an engraving by Edwin, from a portrait painted by the late Eembrandt Peale. 2 Thomas Whinyates entered the British navy In 1798, and obtained his first commission in Sepr tember, 1799. He was promoted to the rank of commander in May, 1806, and, after having com- mand of the bomb ^elira almost two .years, he was promoted to the' command of the Frolic in Ff 450 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Fight between the ITasp aud the Frolic. The Frolic boarded. Terrible Scenes on her Deck. voying six merchantmen from Honduras. Four of these yessels were large, and mounted from sixteen to eighteen guns each." It was Sund^ morning. . The sky was cloudless, the atmosphere balmy, and a stiff and increasing breeze from the northwest was giving white crests to the billows. Jones soon perceived that the hostile sloop was disposed to fight, and was taking position so as to allow the merchantmen to escape by flight during the engagement. The top-gallant yards of the Wasp were immediately sent down, her top-sails were close-reefed, and she was otherwise brought under short fighting canvas. The Frolic also carried very little sail, and in this condition they commenced a severe engage- ment at half past ten o'clock in the morning. The Wasp ranged close up on the star- board side of the Frolic, after receiving a broadside from her at the distance of fifty or sixty yards, and then instantly delivered her own broadside, when the fire of the Englishman became so, accelerated that the Frolic appeared to fir« three guns to the Wasp's two. The breeze had increased, and the sea was rolling heavily. Within five minutes after the action commenced the main-top-mast of the Wasp was shot away. It fell, with the main-top-sail yard, and lodged across the larboard and fore and fore-top-sail braces, rendering the head yards unmanageable during the remainder of the action. In the course of three minutes more her gaff and main-top- gallant-mast was shot away, and fell heavily to the deck; and at the end of twenty minutes from the opening of the engagement, every brace and most of the rigging was disabled. She was in a forlorn condition indeed, and had few promises of vic- tory. But, while the Wasp was receiving these serious damages in her rigging and tops, the Frolic was more seriously injured in her hull. The latter generally fired when on the crest of the wave, while the former fired from the trough of the sea, and sent her missiles through the hull of her antagonist with destructive force. The two ves- sels gradually approached each other until the bends of the Wasp rubbed against thQ Frolic's bows ; and, in loading for the last broadside, the rammers of the Wasp's gunners were shoved against the sides of the Frolic.^ Finally, the combatants ran foul of each other, the bowsprit of the Frolic passing in over the quarter-deck of the Wasp, and forcing her bows up into the wind. This enabled the latter to throw in a close rakuig broadside that produced dreadful havoc. The crew of the Wasp was now in a state of the highest excitement, and could no longer be restramed. With wild shouts they leaped into the tangled rigging before Captam Jones could throw in another broadside, as he intended before boardmg his enemy, and made their way to the decks of the Frolic, with Lieutenants Bid die and Rodgers, who, with Lieutenants Booth, Claxton,^ and Rapp, had exhibited the most undaunted courage throughout the action.* But there was no one to oppose them Ihe last broadside had carried death and dismay into the Frolic, and almost cleared her decks of active men. The wounded, dying, and dead were strewn in every di- fdmMs'"' °' ™' ™=>™B«oned a post-captain in Angnst, 1813, apd in 1846 was placed on the list of retired rear ' The Frolw had left the Bay of Honduras with abont fourteen sail under convov WVim nff Tr.„o„. v, er first heard of the declaration of war. The British vessels experienced the samfffairwhrhtfrpt- ™"r"^- and they were separated. ThePVoi* sustained quite serious damagThavit haThfr mlln ytXS^r^^^^ and her raaiu-top-mast badly sprung, besides other injuries. In this^indit oS she ente^d unn Jl. f two places, "fs;t-=?rpo"u?tr=rT:?^^^s^^r;er^^^^^^^^^ ness:iSr^fiir;;;Zs^:nr^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Seom^^"^^'''^'^'^™">'-^^--"-°^-«<=^'^S"^^-'-tMbatr^ came his sense of obedience, and in a mLent he kapedTpon the bow^^^^^^^^ ^"' "^ impetuosity oter- e«iteme^t. Seeing this. Lieutenant Biddle mouuterthrhammock cloth to b™^^^ "'" T""" *" ^"™^«^ followed with the greatest enthusiasm. Lang was frorNerBZewtt New Jersey " """^^ "'^ ''«■""• ^''-^ OF THE WAR OF 1812. 451 Surrender of the JVoifc. Both Veesels c aptured by the Poictiera. Captain Jgnes applauded. rection. Several surviving officers were standing aft, the most of them bleeding, and not a common seaman or marine was at his station, except an old tar at the wheel, who had kept his post throughout the terrible encounter. All who were able had rushed below to escape the raking fire of the Wasp. The English officers cast down their swords in submission, and Lieutenant Biddle, who led the boarding-party, springing into the main rigging, struck the colors of the JFi-olio with his own hand, not one of the enemy being able to do so. The prize pass- ed into the possession of the conquerors after a contest of three quarters of an hour, when every one of her officers were wounded, and a greater part of her men were either killed or severely injured. Not twenty persons on board of her remained un- hurt.' Her aggregate loss in killed and wounded was estimated at ninety men. The Wasp had only five killed and five wounded. The Frolic was so injured that when the two vessels separated both her masts fell, and with tattered sails and broken rigging covered the dead on her decks. She had been hulled at almost every discharge from the Wasp, and was virtually a wreck be- fore her colors were struck. The heat of the battle was scarcely over when Captain Jones prepared to continue his cruise in his victorious little vessel. He had placed Lieutenant Biddle in com- mand of the shattered Frolic, with orders to take her into Charleston, or some other Southern port, and was about to part company with his prize, when a strange vessel was seen bearing down upon them. Neither the Wasp nor her prize was in a condi- tion to resist or flee. The rigging of the latter was so cut, and her top-sails so nearly in ribbons, that it would have been folly to attempt either. The strange sail drew near, and heaving a shot over the Frolic, and ranging up near the Wasp, convinced them both that the most prudent course would be to sub- mit at once. Within two hours after the gallant Jones had gained his victory he was compelled to surrender his own noble vessel and her prize. The captor was the British ship-of-war Poictiers, of seventy-four guns, commanded by Captain John Poo Beresford.^ She proceeded to Bermuda with her prizes, where the American prison- . ers were exchanged, and departed for home. From ^^^^^ ^ j New York Captain Jones sent his account of the i^i^^p€''\~-C^i^^<^ — "^ ^ occurrences to the Secretary of the Navy — a report ^ that was received with the greatest satisfaction.^ The victory of the Wasp over the Frolic — the result of the first combat between the vessels of the two nations of a force nearly equal — occasioned much exultation in the United States. The press teemed with laudations of Captain Jones and his gallant companions, and a stirring song commemorative of the event was soon upon the lips of singers at public gatheriags, in bar-rooms, workshops, and even by ragged urchins in the streets. The name of the author, if ever known, has been long forgotten, but the following lines are remembered by many a gray -haired survivor of the War: " The foe bravely fought, but his arms were all broken, And he fled from his death-wound aghast and affrighted ; But the Wasp darted forward her death-doing sting, And full on his bosom, like lightning, alighted. She pierced through his entrails, she maddened his brain, And he writhed and he groan'd as if torn with the colic ; And long shall John Ball nie the terrible day He met the American Wmp on a Frolie." 1 Captain Whinyates's dispatch to Admiral Sir J. Borlase Warren, from the ship Poietiera, October 23, 1812. The loss of the Frolic must have been about one hundred. 2 Report of Captain Jones to the Secretary of the Navy, November 24, 1812 ; Whinyates's dispatch to Admiral Warren, October 2S, 1S12. 3 According to general usage, a court of inquiry was held on the conduct of Captain Jones in giving up the Waap and herprize. The opinion of the court was, " That the conduct of the ofiicers and crew of the Waap was eminently dis- tinguished for firmness and gallantry in making every preparation and exertion of which their situation would admit." 452 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Caricatnre of "A.Wasp on a Frolic." Honors to Captain Jones. A Medal presented to him by Congress. A WABP ON A FnoLia. Charles, the Philadelphia caricaturist, ma- terialized; the idea, and sent forth a colored picture, called A, Wasp on a Feolic, or a Sting foe, John Bull, that sold by hundreds during the excitement in the public mind.' .Captain Jones was everywhere received with demonstrations of gratitude and admiration on his return to the United States. In the cities through which he had occasion topass, brilliant entertainments were given in his honor. The Legislature of Delaware, his native state, ap- pointed a. committee to wait on him with their thanks, and to express "the -pride and pleasure" they felt in recognizing him as a native of their state, and at the same time voted him thanks, an elegant sword,. and a piece of silver plute with appropriate engravings.- The Common Council of New York, on motion of Alderman Lawrence, voted him a sword, and also the The Congress of the United States, on motion of James A. "freedom of the city." Bayard, of Delaware, appropriated twenty-five thousand dollars as a compensation to Captain Jones and his companions for their loss of prize-money occasioned by the re- capture of the Frolic. They also ordered a gold medal to be presented to the cap- GOLD MEBAL AWARDED BT CONQBESS TO CAPTAIN JONES. tain, and a silver one to each of his officers. The captain also received a more sub- stantial token of his country's approbation by being promoted by Congress to the command of the frigate Maeedonian, which had lately been captured from the Brit- ish and taken into the service.^ ' Under the picture were the following lines : " A Wasp took a Frolic, and met Johnny Bnll, Who always fights best when his belly is full. The Wasp thought him hungry by his mouth open wide, So, his belly to fill, put a sting in his side." ' The following are the names of the officers of the Wasp at the time of the action ; Jacob Jones, Commander ; George W. Eodgers, James Biddle, Benjamin Booth, Alexander Claxton, and Henry B. Eapp, Jjieutenants ; William Knight, Sail- ing-nnaster; Thomas Harris, A'^trr/eon ; George S. Wise, PKrser; John M'Cloud, .fioatewam ; George Jackson, Gunner; George Van Cleve, A. S. Ten Eyck, EiohardBrashear, John Holcomb, William J. M'Cluney, C. J. Baker, and Charles Gaunt, Midshipmen ; Walter W. New, Surgeon's Mate. The engraving is a representation of the medal, full size. On one side is a bnst of Captain Jones. Legend— jaooihtr JONES, viBTus IN ABDCA TENDiT. On the reverse are seen two ships closely engaged, the bowsprit of the Wasp between OF THE WAR OF 1812. 453 Lieutenant Biddle honored and rewarded. Lieutenant Biddle shared in the honors. The Legisla- ture of Pennsylvania voted him thanks and a sword, and a number of leading men in Philadelphia pre- sented him with a silver urn, bearing an appropriate inscription, and a repre- sentation of the action be- tween the Wasp and the FVolic? He was shortly afterward promoted to the TflB BIDDLE UEK. rank of master command- ant, and received com- mand of the Hornet sloop- of-war. Poetry wreathed coronals for the brows of all the braves of that fight, and in the Portfolio for January, 1813, a rather] doleful poem appeared in commemoration of the gal- lantry of Biddle, of which the following is a speci- men: ' Nor shall thy merits, Biddle, pass nntold. When covered with the caunon^s flaming breath, Onward he pressed, unconquerably bold; He feared dishonor, but he spurned at death." the masts of VaeProlic. Men on, the bow of the Wasp\a the act of boarding the i^oHc: The main-top-mast of the Waep shot away. Legend — yioToiiiAM nos^i majoki oeleekime eapuit. Exergue— intek wasp. nav. ameri. et tbolio nav. ANG. DIE XVin OOT. MDCOOXn. 1 This urn and the silver medalpresented to Lieutenant Biddle for his share in the capture of the Frolic are in pos- session of Lieutenant James S. Biddle, of Philadelphia. Also the gold medal afterward presented to the hero in ac- knowledgment of his services in capturing the Penguin. The folloiving is the inscription on the urn : " To Lieutenant James Biddle, United States Navy, H-om the early friends and companions of his youth, who, while their country rewards his public services, present this testimonial of their esteem for his private worth. Philadelphia, 1813." 454 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Second Cruise of the Preeideni. She chases a strauge War-Tessel. A severe Battle. CHAPTER XXn. " The chiefs who otir freedom sustained on the land, Fame's far-spreading voice has eternized in story ; By the roar of our cannon now called to the strand, She beholds on the ocean their rivals in glory. Her sons there she owns, And her clarion's bold tones Tell of Hull and Decatur, of Bainbridge and Jones ; For the tars of Columbia are lords of the wave, And have sworn that old Ocean's their throne or their grave." HE victory won by the Wasp was followed, precisely a week later,* by another more important. Commodore Rodg- . October 25 ers sailed in the President from Boston on a second ^^i^- cruise, after refitting, accompanied by the United States, 4:4:, Cap- tain Decatur, and Argus, 16, Lieutenant Commanding Sinclair, leaving the Hornet in port. ' The President parted company with her companions on the 12th of October, and on the 17th fell in with and captured the British packet Swallow. The United States and Argus, meanwhile, had also parted company with each other, and the former had sailed to the southward and eastward, hoping? to intercept British West Indiamen. Decatur was soon gratified by better fortune > October. ^"^ *^® estimation of a soldier. At dawn on Sunday morning, the 25th,'' when in latitude 29° and west longitude 29° 30', not far from the island of Madeira, the watch at the main-top discovered a sail to windward. There was a stifi" breeze and a heavy sea on at the time. It was soon discovered that the stranger was an English ship-of-war, under a heavy press of sail. Decatur resolved to over- take and engage her, and for that purpose he spread all his canvas. The United States was a good sailer, and she rapidly reduced the distance between herself and the fugi- tive she was pursuing. The enthusiasm of her officers and men was unbounded; and as the gallant ship drew nearer and nearer to the enemy, shouts went up from the decks of the United States loud enough to be heard by the British before the Ameri- can vessel was near enough to bring her guns to bear. At about nine in the morning Decatur had so nearly overtaken his prospective an- tagonist that he opened a broadside upon her. The balls fell short. The United States was soon much nearer, when she opened another broadside with efiect. This was responded to in kind. Both vessels were now on the same tack, and continued the action with a heavy and steady cannonade with the long guns of both, the dis- tance between them being so great that carronades and muskets were of no 'avail for some time. Almost every shot of the United States fell fearfully on the enemy, who finally perceived that safety from utter destruction might only be found in closer quarters. When the contest had lasted about half an hour, the stranger, with muti- lated spars and riddled sails, bore up gallantly for close action. The United States readily accepted the challenge, and very soon afterward her shot, sent by the direc- tion of splendid gunnery, cut the enemy's mizzen-mast so that it fell overboard. Not long afterward the main yard of the foe was seen hanging in two pieces, her main and fore top-masts were gone, her fore-mast was tottering, no colors were seen float- mg over her deck, and her main-mast and bowsprit were severely wounded while the United States remained almost unhurt. The stranger's fire had become feeble OF THE WAR OF 1812. 455 Capture of the Maceaanian. Incidents of the Battle. Comparison of the United States and Mcuxdonian. and Decatur filled his mizzen-top-sail, gathered fresh way, tacked, and came up un- der the lee of the English ship, to the utter discomfiture of her commander, who, when he saw the American frigate bear away, supposed she was severely injured and about to flee from him. With that impression her crew gave three cheers ;) but when the United States tacked and brought up in a position for more effectual action than be- fore, the British commander, perceiving farther resistance to be vain, struck her col- ors and surrendered. As the United States crossed the stem of the vanquished ves- sel, Decatur hailed and demanded her name. " His majesty's frigate Macedonian, 38, Captain John S. Garden," was the response. An ofiicer was immediately sent on board. She had suffered terribly in every part during a combat of almost two hours. She had received no less than one hundred round shot in her hull alone, many of them be- tween wind and water. She had nothing standing but her fore and main masts and fore yard. All her boats were rendered useless except one. Of her officers and crew, three hundred in number, thirty-six were killed and sixty-eight were wounded.^ The loss of the United States was only five killed and six wounded.^ The Macedonian was a very fine vessel of her class, only two years old, and, though rated at 36, she carried forty-nine guns — eighteen on her gun-deck and thirty-two pound carronades above. The United States mounted thirty long 24's on her main deck, and twenty- two 42-pound carronades and two long 24'8 on her quarter-deck and forecastle. She 1 The cannonade by the United States was so incessant that her side toward the enemy seemed to be in a blaze. Garden supposed she was on Are, and this belief caused the exultation on his ship. A contemporary rhymer wrote as follows : " For Carden thought he had us tight, Just so did Dacres top, sirs, But brave Decatur put him right With Yankee doodle doo, sirs. They thought they saw our ship in flame. Which made them all huzza, sirs. But when the second broadside came, It made them hold their jaws, sirs." See an allusion to this battle in Note 1, page UO, quoted from Cobbett's Eegister. 2 Captain Carden thus stated his casualties: "Killed: 1 master's mate, the school-master, 23 petty officers and sea- • men, 2 boys, 1 sergeant, and T privates of marines— total, 36. Wouncled dangerimily : T petty officers and seamen. Severe- ly: 1 lieutenant, 1 midshinman, IS petty officers and seamen, 4 boys, and 5 private marines— total, dangerously and se- verely, 36. Wounded slighily : 1 lieutenant, 1 master's mate, 26 petty officers and seamen, and 4 private marines— total, 32. According to the muster-roll found on board ot the MacedcmUm, she had seven impressed American seamen among her crew, two of whom were killed in the action. Another had been drowned at sea, while compelled to assist in boarding an American vessel. Their names were Christopher Dodge, Peter Johnson, John Alexander, C. Dolphin, Mayer Cook, William Thompson, John Wallis, and John Card. During the whole war, American seamen, similarly situated, were compelled to flght against their countrymen. When the fact became known that there were impressed Americans on the Macedonian, the exasperation of the people against Great Britain, because of her nefarious practice, was intensified. 3 KUled: Boatswain's mate, 1 seaman, and 3 marines. Wounded: 1 lieutenant, 4 seamen, and 1 marine. The lieuten- ant (John M. Funk) and one seaman {John Archibald) died of their wounds. The following is a list of the officers of the United States: Commander, Stephen Decatur. Ideutmants, William H. Allen, John Gallagher, John M. Funk, George C. Eead, Walter Wooster, John B. Nicholson. Sailing-master, John D. Sloat. Surgeon, Samuel E. Trevitt. Surgeon's Mate, Samuel Vernon. Purser, John B. Timberlake. Midshipmen, John Stansbury, Joseph Cassin, Philip Voorhees, John P. Zantzinger, Eichard Delphy, Dugan Taylor, Eichard S. HeSth, Ed- ward F. Howell, Archibald Hamilton, John M'Caii, H. Z. W. Hai-rington, William Jamieson, Lewis Hinchman, Benja- min S. Williams. Gunner, Thomas Barry. Lieutenants of Marines, William Anderson, James L. Edwards. There was a boy only twelve years of age on board the United States, the son of a brave seaman, whose death had left the lad's mother in poverty. When the crew were clearing the ship for action, the boy stepped up to Decatur and said, " I wish my name may be put down on the roll, sir." " Why so, my lad f" asked the commander. " So that I may have a share of the prize-money," was the earnest reply. Pleased with the spirit of the boy, Decatur granted his request. The boy behaved gallantly throughout the contest. At the close of the action Decatur said to him, "Well, Bill, we have taken the ship, and your share of the prize-money may be about two hundred dollars ;* what will you do with it !" "I will seud half to my mother, and the other half shall send me to school." The commander was so pleased with the right spirit of the boy that he took him under his protection, procured a midshipman's berth for him, and superintend- ed his education.— Putnam's Life of Decatur, page 193. * Congress decreed that in the distribution of prize-moriey arising from capture by national vessels, one half should go to the United States, and the Other half, divided into twenty equal parts, should he distributed in the following man- ner : to captains, 3 parts ; to the sea lieutenants and sailing-masters, 2 parts ; to the marine officers, surgeons, pursers, boatswains, gunners, carpenters, master's mates, and chaplains, 2 parts ; to midshipmen, surgeon's mates, captain's clerks, school-master, boatswain's mates, gunner's mates, carpenter's mates, steward, sail-makers, mastet'at arms, arm- orers, and coxswains, 3 parts ; to gunner's yeomen, boatswain's yeomen, quarter-masters, quarter-gunners, coopers, sail- maker's mates, sergeants and corporals of marines, drummers and flfers, and extra petty officers, 3 parts ; to seamen, ordinary seamen, marines, and boys, T parts. 456 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Decatur's Courtesy. His Arrival witli liis Prize^ The Macedonian at New York. was manned with a crew of four hundred and seventy-eight. In men and metal the United States was heavier than the Macedonian, "but," says Cooper, "the dispropor- tion between the force of the two vessels was much less than that between the exe- cution."' . Captain Carden fought his ship skillfully and bravely, and when he came on board the United States, and oflFered his sword to Captain Decatur, the latter generously re- marked, " Sir, I can not receive the sword of a man who has so bravely defended his ship, but I will receive your hand." Suiting the action to the word, Decatur took the gallant Carden's hand, and led him to his cabin, where refreshments were set out and partaken of in a friendly spirit by the two commanders. ^ When he took possession of his prize, Decatur found her not fatally injured, and he determined to abandon his cruise and take her into an American port. His own ves- sel was speedily repaired. The Macedonian was placed in the charge of Lieutenant Allen, who, with much ingenuity, so rigged her as to convert her into a barque, when captor and captive sailed for the United States. Decatur arrived off New London on the 4th of December,^ and at about the same time his prize entered Newport Harbor. "Then qniclily met our nation's eyes Tile noblest siglit in nature — A flrst-rate/rf(/ate as a prize Brought home by brave Deoatub." — Old Song. Both vessels made their way through Long Island Sound, the East River, and Hell Gate, at the close of the month, and on the 1st of January, 1813, the Macedonian an- chored in the harbor of New York, where she was greeted with great joy as a " New- year's gift." " A more acceptable compliment could not have been presented to a joyous people," said one of the newspapers. " She comes with the compliments of the season from Old Neptune," said another. "Janus, the peace-loving, smiled," said a third, more classical. The excitement of a feast had then scarcely died away, 1 Naval History of the United States, ii., 179. See the official dispatches of Decatur and Carden ; Clark's Naval History; Waldo's Dife qf Stephen Decatur; The War; Niles's Register; Memoir of Decatur, in the A7idlectic Magazine, i., 502. " All of the private property of the officers and men of the Maeedonian was given up to them. Among other things claimed and received by Captain Carden was a band of music and several casks of wine, the whole valued at eight hund- red dollars. Otthis generous conduct Captain Carden spoke in the highest terms. Hull's generosity to Captain Dacres,. as we have seen, elicited the praise of that officer. The American newspapers called attention to the fact that the'Brit- ish commander of the Poictiers, when he c&ptnred the Wasp and her prize from Jones, would not permit officers or men to retain any thing except the clothes on their backs. See The War, i., 115. Decatur and Carden had met before. It was in the harbor of Norfolk, just before the beginning of the war, that they were introduced to each other. Before they parted Carden said to Decatur, *' We now meet as friends ; God grant we may never meet as enemies ; but we are subject to the orders of our governments, and must obey them." " I heartily reciprocate the sentiment," replied Decatur. "But What, sir," said Carden, "would be the consequence to yourself and the force you command if we should meet as enemies ?" " Why, sir," responded Decatur, in the same playful spirit, "if we meet with forces that might be fairly called equal, the conflict would be severe, but the flag of my country on the ship I command shall never leave the staff on which it waves as long as there is a hull to support it." They parted, and their next meeting was on the deck of the United States, under the circumstances recorded in the text. John Surman Carden was bom on the 15th of August, 1771, at Templemore, Ireland. His father, Major Carden, of the British army, perished in the ^ ceived the commission of com- war of the American Revolution. y/y^ mander in 1T98. He was ap- ' This, his eldest son, entered the // ^ ^— pointed to the command of the British navy as captain's servant (/ j,,,^ /^ / y? ./• ^'''^ ^ Paris in 1S08, and in 181 1 in 1788 in the ship Myor. In /f}?/// ( ^i^T. /T^''^^ '" '''*' °' **® Macedonian. He 1790 he became midshipman in yy //• ' was acquitted of all blame in the the Pcrseserome fHgate. He was I' .^.——y^ -~^ surrender of his ship to Decatur. made lieutenant in 1794. Here- Parliament was full of his praise, and the cities of Worcester and Gloucester, and the borough of Tewksbury, honored him with their "freedom." He was made a rear admiral in 1840, and died at Bonnycastle, Antrim, Ireland, in May, 1858, at the age of eighty-seven years. ' Decatur's official dispatch to the Secretary of the Navy was dated " At Sea, October 30, 1812. Lieutenant Hamilton, a son of the Secretary of the Navy, was sent with it to his father, at Washington, immediately after the arrival of the UnitM, States at New London. He bore the flag of the Macedonian to the seat of government, where he arrived on the evening of the Sth of December, at which time a ball was in progress which had been given in honor of the naval offi- cers. The Secretary of the Navy (Paul Hamilton) and his wife and daughter were present. The first intimation of the arrival of their son and brother was his entrance into the hall of the brilliant assembly, bearing the trophy. Captains Hull and Stewart received it, and bore it to the accomplished wife of President Madison, who was present. The pleas- ure of the occasion was changed to patriotic joy, and at the supper one of the managers offered as a toast, " Cmnmodxn-e Decatur, and the ojlicers amd crew of the frigate United States." Decatur's arrival at New London was hailed with joyful demonstrations. The city authorities presented him the pub- lic thanks, and a ball was given in his honor. OF THE WAE OF 181^, 457 Celebration of Decatnr's Victory. Banquets m the City of New York. Pnblic Honors given to Decat ur. for only three days before^' a splendid banquet had been given, at Gib- .December 29 son's City Hotel, to Hull, Jones, and Decatur, by the Corporation and ^^i^- Citizens of New York,' and the newspapers of the land speedily became the vehicles of the " effusions", of a score of poets, who caught inspiration from the shouts of tri- lunph that filled the air. Woodworth, the printer-poet, and author of The Old Oaken Bucket., " threw together, on the spur of the moment," as he said, a dozen stu-ring stanzas, of which the following is the first : " The banner of Freedom high floated nnflirl'd, While the eilver-tipp'd surges in low homage cnrl'd, Flashing bright round the bow of Decatnr's brave bark. In contest an eofjie— in chasing, a &wA." And J. R. Calvert wrote a banquet-song, which became immensely popular, of which the following is the closing stanza : " Now charge all your glasses with pure sparkling wine, And toast our brave tars who so bravely defend us ; While our naval commanders so nobly combine. We defy all the ills haughty foes e'er can send us ! While our goblets do flow, The praises we owe To Valor and Skill we will gladly bestow. And may grateful the sons of Columbia be To Decatue, whom Neptnue crowns Lord of the Seal" Decatur's victory, following so closely upon others equally brilliant, produced the most profound sensations in the United States and in England. In the former they were impressions of encouragement' and joy ; in the latter, of disappointment and sorrow. The victor was highly applauded for his soldierly qualities and generosity by each service ; and he was spoken of with the greatest enthusiasm by his country- men. Public bodies, and the Legislatures of Massachusetts, New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia gave him thanks, and to these each of the two latter add- ed a sword. The same kind of weapon was presented to him by the city of Phila- delphia ; and the city of New York voted^ him the freedom of the city in addition to the honor of a banquet jointly with Hull and Jones, and *°°'" " requested his poTtr9,it for the picture gallery in the City Hall. The Corporation of New York also gave the gallant crew of the United States a banquet at the City Hotel.^ The national Congress, by unanimous vote, thanked Decatur, and gave him ' This banquet was given on the day after the freedom of the city was presented to Captain Hall. He and Decatur were present, but Jones was absent. At five o'clock about five hundred gentlemen sat down at the tables. De Witt Clinton, the mayor, presided. The room "had the appearance of a marine palace," said an eye-witness. It was "col- onnaded round with the masts of ships, entwined with laurels, and bearing the national flags of all the world. Every table had upon it a ship in miniature, with the American flag displayed. In front, where the President sat, with the officers of the navy and other guests, and which was raised about three feet, there appeared an area of about twenty feet by ten covered with green sward, and in the midst of it was a real lake of water, in which floated a miniature frigate. Back of all this hung a main-sail of a ship thirty-three by sixteen teet."—The War, i., 119. Decatur sat on the right of the President, and Hull on the left. When the third toast — " Our Navy"— was given with three cheers, the great main-sail was fm'led, and revealed an immense transparent painting, representing the three naval battles in which Hull, Jones, and Decatur were respectively engaged. Other surprises of a similar nature were vouchsafed to the guests, and the whole affair was one long to be remembered by the participants. i- , - , ' This banquet was given on Thursday, the Tth of January, 1813, at two o'clock in the afternoon, under the direction of Aldermen Van Der Bilt, Buckmaeter, and King. The room had the same decoratioii as at the time of the banquet given to Hull, Jones, and Decatur, a few days before. The sailors, numbering about four hundred, marched to the hotel in pairs, and were greeted by crowds of men and women in the streets, loud cheers from the multitude, and the waving of handkerchiefs from the windows. The band of the 11th Begiment, among whom was an old trumpeter who had served under Washington, received them with music at the door. At the table they were addressed by Alderman Van Der Bilt, who was responded to by the boatswain of the United States. In the evening they went to the theatre by in- vitation of the manager, which was commnnicated to them in person by Decatur. The whole pit was reserved for them. The orchestra opened with Yankee Doodle. The drop curtain, in the form of a transparency, had on it a repre- sentation of the flght between the United States and Maeedonian. Children danced on the stage. They bore large letters of the alphabet in their hands, which, being joined in the course of the dance, produced in transparency the names of Hull, Jones, and Deoatdk. Then Ifr. M'Farlaud, as an Irish clown, came forward and sang a comic song of seven stanzas, written for this occasion, beginning, ** No more of your blathering nonsense 'Bout Nelsons of old Johnny Bull j I'll sing you a song, by my conscience, 'Bout Jokes, and Deoatcb, and Huli.. 458 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Gold Medal presented to Decatur by CongreBS. Bai nbridge in Command of a Squadron. Biographical Sketch. a splendid gold medal, with appropriate devices and inscriptions.' From that time until now that commander's name is the synonym of honor and gallantry in the es- OOLD MEDAL AWAEDED TO DEOATUK. timation of his countrymen. His subsequent career added lustre to his renown as the conqueror of the Macedonian. We have already observed that Hull generously retired from the command of the Constitution for the purpose of giving some brother-officer an opportunity for gallant achievements in her, and that Captain Bainbridge was his appointed successor. A small squadron, consisting of the Constitution, 44; Msex, 32; and JBbrnet, 18, were placed in his charge. When Bainbridge entered upon his duty in the new sphere of flag-officer, the Constitution and Hornet were lying in Boston Harbor, and the JEssex, Captain Porter, was in the Delaware. Orders were sent to the latter to cruise in the track of the English West Indiamen, and at a specified time to rendezvous at certain ports, when, if he should not fall in with the flag-ship of the squadron, he would be at liberty to follow the dictates of his own judgment. Such contingency occurred, and the Msex sailed on a very long and most eventful cruise in the South Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. That cruise will form the subject of a portion of a future chapter. Bainbridge^ sailed from Boston with the Constitution and Hornet on the 26th of Dad Neptnne has long, with vexation, Beheld with what insolent pride The turbulent, billow-washed nation Has aimed to control the salt tide. Choeus— Sing lather away, jonteel and.aisy, . By my soul, at the game hob-or-nob, In a very few minutes we'll plase ye, Because we take work by the job." 1 On one side of the medal is a profile of Decatur's bust, with the legend stephantts rEOATim NAVAEOHtre, pugnis PLTiEiBns TiOTOE. Ou thc revcrse is a representation of a naval engagement, one of the vessels representing the Hace- d(mimi much injured in spars and rigging. Over them is the legend oooidit signxim hostile bideba suequmt. Ex- ergue — INTEE 8TA. TJNI. NAV. AMEET. Et' MAOBDO. NAT. AUG. DIB XXV OOTOBEIS MDCOCXII. ' William Bainbridge was born at Princeton, New Jersey, on the Tth of May, 1774, and at the age of fifteen years went to sea as a common sailor. He was promoted to mate in the course of three years, and became a captain at the age of nineteen. When war with the French became probable, he entered the navy with the commission of a lieutenant but the position of a commander, his first cruise being in the Retaliation^ which was captured. He was promoted to post- captain for good service in the year 1800, and took command of the frigate Washington. His career in the Mediterranean has been already mentioned in preceding chapters of this work. Between the war with Tripoli and that of 1812 Cap- tain Bainbridge was employed alternately in the naval and merchant service. After the snccessfhl cruise of the Consti- tution in 1S12, he took command of the navy yard at Charlcstown, Massachusetts. After the war he went twice to the Mediterranean in command of squadrons to protect American commerce tlvere. Fpr three years he was president of the Board of Navy Commissioners, and he prepared the signals which were iu use in our navy until lately. For several years Commodore Bainbridge snfi'ered severely from bodily ill health, and finally died at his residence in Philadelphia, ou the 27th of July; 1833, at the age of fifty-nine years. His funeral was celebrated oh the 31st. The Cincinnati Society attended, with a large concourse of citizens, and his body was laid iu the earth with military honors by the United States Marines and a fine brigade of infantry, under the command of the late Colonel J. G. Watmough. Hie remains rest OF THE WAE OF 1812. 459 Bainbridge on the Coast of Brazil. The Hornet challenges a British Vessel. Cruise of the Constitution down the Coast. ' 1812. October.* He touched at the appointed rendezvous,* and arrived off Bahia, or San Salvador, Brazil,^ on the 13th of Decemher. He immediately sent in Cap- tain Lawrence, with the JHbrnet, to commu- nicate with the American consul there, when that commander, discovered in the port the, English sloop-oftwar Bonne Ci- toyenne, 18, Captain Greene,, about to sail for England with a very large amount of specie. Lawrence invited Greene to go out upon the open sea with his vessel and fight, pledging himself that the Constitution sh,ould take no part in the combat, but the British commander prudently declined the invitation. ; The Stimet then took a posi- tion to blockade the English sloop, and the Constitution departed*" for a cruise down the coast of Bra- zil, keeping the land aboard. Three days afterward, at about nine o'clock in the morning,, when in latitude 13° 6' south and longitude 38° west, or about thirty miles from shore, southeasterly of San Salvador, Bainbridge discovered two vessels in shore and to the windward. The larger one was seen to alter her course, with an evident desire for a meeting with the Constitution. The latter was willing to gratify her, and for that purpose tacked and stood toward the stranger. At meridian they both showed their colors and displayed signals, but BAINUKIDGE S MOKnjIEMT. beneath a plain white marble obelisk in Christ Church- yard in Philadelphia, and near it is a modest monument to mark the resting-place of his wife, Susan Heyleger. The following is the inscription on Bainbridge's mon- ument: "William Bainbhidqe, United States Navy. Bom in Princeton, New Jersey, 7th of May, 17T4. Died in Philadelphia 28th of July, 1833. Pateia vioTisarE LAUDAirs." See the Medal, page 4C3. Bainbridge was about six feet in height, and well built. His complexion was fair, his eyes black and very ex- pressive, and his hair and whiskers very dark. He was considered a model as an officer and a man in the navy. 1 The places specified were Port Praya, in the island of St. Jago, and Fernando de Noronha, an island in the Atlantic 125 miles from the extreme eastern cape of Bra- zil. It is now used as a place of bauishmeut by the Bra- zilian government. The Constitution and Hornet appear- ed in the character of British vessels, and at both places letters were left, directed to Sir James L. Yeo, of the So/uthampton. They contained commonplace remarks, and also orders, in sympathetic ink, for Captain Porter,' should they fall into his hands, he having been informed that letters at those places for him would be directed to Yeo. The stratagem succeeded. The whole transaction was in accordance with the privileges of war, and yet a writer in the London Quarterly Review charged Porter with being guilty of an improper act in opening a letter directed to another person I = This is one of the most important places in South America, and until 1T63 was the seat of the viceroyalty of Brazil, when it was transferred to Eio de Janeiro., It coiitains a population of 100,000, of whom one third are white, one third mnlattAes, and the remainder negroes. 460 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Battle between the CansUtutimi and the Java. Incidents of the Battle. Wreck and Capture of the Java. the latter were mutually unintelligible. The stranger was seen to he an English fi'igate. Bainbridge at once prepared for action, when the Englishman hauled down his colors, but left a jack flying. Both ships ran upon the same tack, about a mile apart, when, at almost two o'clock, the British frigate bore down upon the ConstitVr tion with the intention of raking her. The latter wore and avoided the calamity, and at two o'clock, both ships being on the same tack, the Constitution fired a single gun across the enemy's bow to draw out her ensign again. A general cannonade from both vessels immediately ensued, and a furious battle was commenced. When it had raged half an hour the wheel of the Constitution was shot away, and her antagonist, being the better sailer, had a great advantage for a time. But Bainbridge managed his crippled ship with such skill that she was the first in coming to the wind on the other tack, and speedily obtained a position for giving her opponent a terrible raking fire. The combatants now ran free with the wind on their quarter, the stranger be- ing to the windward of the Constitution. At about three o'clock thef stranger at- tempted to close by running down on the Constitution's quarter. Her jib-boom pen- etrated the latter's mizzen rigging, but suflTered most severely without receiving the least advantage. She lost her jib-boom and the head of her bowsprit by shots from the Constitution, and in a few minutes the latter poured a heavy raking broadside into the stern of her antagonist. This was followed by another, when the fore-mast of the English frigate went by the board, crashing through the forecastle and main deck in its passage. At that moment the Constitution shot aheaid, keeping away to avoid being raked, and finally, after manoeuvring for the greater part of an hour, she forereached her antagonist, wore, passed her, and lufied up under her quarter. Then the two vessels lay broadside to broadside, engaged in deadly conflict, yard-arm to yard-arm. Very soon the enemy's mizzen-mast was shot away, leaving nothing stand- ing but the main-mast, whose yard had been carried away near the slings. The stranger's fire now ceased, and the Constitution passed out of the combat of almost two hours' duration at a few minutes past four o'clock, with the impression on the mind of her commander that the colors of the English frigate had been struck. Be- ing in a favorable weatherly position, Bainbridge occupied an hour in repairing dam- ages and securing his masts, when he observed an ensign still fluttering on board of his antagonist. He immediately ordered the Constitution to wear round and renew the conflict. Perceiving this, movement, the Englishman hauled down his colors, and at six o'clock in the evening First Lieutenant George Parker^ was sent on board to inquire her name and to take possession of her as a prize.^ She proved to be the Java, 38, Captain Henry Lambert', and one of the finest frigates in the British navy.* She was bearing, as passenger to the East Indies, Lieutenant General Hyslop (just appointed governor general of Bombay), and his staff. Captain Marshall and Lieuten- ant Saunders, of the Royal Navy, and more than one hundred other officers and men destined for service in the East Indies. The Java was a wreck. Her main-mast had gone overboard during the hour that Bainbridge was repairing. Her mizzen-mast was shot out of the ship close by the deck, and the fore-mast was carried away about twenty-five feet above it. The bow- sprit was cut off near the cap, and she was found to be leaking badly on account of wounds in her hull by round shot. The Constitution was very much cut in her sails The officers of the Cmwtitutim, in this action were-Captofa, William Bainbridge. lAeutenanU Georee Parker Beekman T. Hoffman, John T. Shnbrick, Charles W. Morgan. SaUmg.mmt^a. John cfAJwin, John Nichols ChavZ John Car eton i«t*™mte 0/ Jfon««,, William H. Freeman, John Contee. Surgeon, Amos A. Evans. SurnconTlS John D. Armstrong, Donaldson Yeates. PmrBer, Robert C. Ludlow. Midshipmen, Thomas Beatty, Lewis GermaiuWll liam L. Gordon, Ambrose L. Fields, Frederick Banry, Joseph Cross, Alexander Belcher, William Taylor, Alexander Esk- ndge, James W. Delancy, James Greenleaf, William D. M'Carty, Z. W. Nixon, John A. Wish, Dnlaney Fore™ Georee Leverett, Henry Ward, John C. Long, John Packet, Richard Winter. Boat^oin, Peter Adams. GunLr, Ezekiel dT Img. Acting Midshipman, John C. Onmings. ^'^v.n.iei ±jar York" 'see pa'^'e^^T *"^ *' ""'' ^^'^ ^'""'' ^°" a^^Decatur were at the public banquet given them in the city of New OF THE WAK OF 1812. 461 The LpBseg of the Java. Compaiieon of the two Vessels. Arrival of the Comiitutim at Boston. and rigging. ^ Many of her spars were injured, but not one was lost. Ste went into the action with her royal yards across, and came out of it, with all three of them in their proper places.. There are conflicting accounts concerning the loss of the Joiva in, men. Her commander,. Captain Lambert, was mortally wounded, and her other officers were cautious about the number of her men and her casualties. According to a muster-roll, found on board of her, made out five days after she sailed, her officers and crew numbered four hundred and forty-six. These were exclusive of the more than one hundred passengers, many of whom assisted in the engagement, and of whom thirteen were killed. The British published account states the loss of men on the Java to have been twenty-two killed, and one hundred and one wounded, while Bainbridge reported her loss, as nearly as he could ascertain from the British officers at, the time, at sixty killed, and one hundred and one wounded. This was, doubtless, below the real number. Indeed, Bainbridge inclosed to the Secretary of the Navy evidences of a much larger loss in wounded. It was a letter, written by one of the officers of the Java to a friend, and accidentally dropped on the deck of the Constitu- tion, where it was found and handed to Bainbridge. The writer, who had no motive of public policy for concealing any thing from his friend, stated the loss to be sixty- five killed, and one hundred and seventy wounded.^ The Constitution lost only nine killed and twenty-five wounded. Bainbridge was slightly hurt in the hip by a musket-ball ; and the shot that carried away the wheel of the Constitution drove a small copper bolt into his thigh, which inflicted a dangerous wound, but did not cause him to leave the deck before midnight.. The Java, as has been observed, was a superior frigate of her class. She was rated at thirty-eight, but carried forty-nine. The Constitution carried at that time forty- five guns, and had one man less at each than the Java. On the whole, the preponder- ance of strength was with the latter. Bainbridge might have saved the hull of his prize by taking it into San Salvador, but, having proof that the Brazilian government was favorable to that of Great Britain, he would not trust the captured frigate there. He was too far from home to think of conducting her to an American port ; so, after lymg by the Java for two days, until the wounded and prisoners, with their baggage, could all be transferred to the Constitution, he ordered the ' battered frigate to be fired. She blew up on the 31st, when Bainbridge proceeded to San Salvador with liis prisoners, and found the Sonne Citoyenne about to attempt passing the Hornet and putting to sea. His arrival frustrated the plan. Having landed and paroled his prisoners,^ Bainbridge sailed for the United States on the 6th of January, . January a, 1813.2 ^^^^■ The Constitution arrived at Boston on Monday, the 15th of February, and Bain- bridge immediately dispatched Lieutenant Ludlow with a letter to the Secretary of the Navy. When Bainbridge landed he was greeted with the roar of artillery and the acclamations of thousands of citizens. A procession was formed, and he was escorted to the Exchange Cofiee-house, the bands playing Yankee Doodle, and the throngs in 1 Letter from H. D. Comeck to Lieutenant Peter V. Wood, in the Isle of France, dated on board the Constitution, January 1, 1S13. After speaking of the death of a friend in the battle, he said, " Pour other of his messmates shared the same fate, together with sixty men killed, and one hundred and seventy wounded." ■2 The following is a list of ,the British military and naval officers paroled : MUita/ry, one lieutenant general, one major, one captain. A'avai, one post , captain, one master and commander, -five lieutenants, three lieutenants of marine, one surgeon, two assistant surgeons, one purser, fifteen midshipmen, one gunner, one boatswain, one ship carpenter, two captain's clerks— total,, thirty-eight. Captain Lambert died on the day after the landing (January 4). Bainbridge treated all of his prisoners with the greatest tenderness and consideration. Silver plate to a large amount, presented to Gen- eral Hyslop by the colony of Demarara, and which would have been, lawful prize, was returned to that gentleman, who thanked Bainbridge for his kind courtesy, and presented him his sword (which ]3ainbridge would not receive when it was offered in token of surrender) in farther testimony of his gratitude. And yet, in the face of all this, James, the earliest as he was the most mendacious of the British historians of the war, and one most quoted by British writers now says (Xavdl Oceurrmces, etc., page 188), " The manner in which the Java's men were treated by the American officers reflects upon the latter the highest disgrace.',' In a letter to a friend, written when homeward bound, Bain- bridge exhibited his goodness of heart in thus speaking of the death of his antagonist : " Poor Lambert, whose death I sincerely regret, was a distinguished, gallant, and worthy man. ' He has left a widow and two helpless children ! But his country makes proA-ision for such sad events." 462 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Honors given to Bainbridge. Public Banquet in Boston. Gifts of the Cities of New York and Albany. the Streets, balconies, and windows cheering loudly, the ladies waving their handker- chiefs. The streets were strung with banners and streamers, and Commodores Rodg- ers and Hull, who walked with Bainbridge in the procession, received a share of the popular hono'rs. The victory was announced at the theatre that night, and produced the wildest enthusiasm. The Legislature of Massachusetts being in session, they passed a resolution of thanks to Bainbridge and his officers and crew,i and on the 2d of March a splendid banquet was given at the Exchange Coffee-house to Bain- bridge and the officers of the Constitution.'^ The capture of the Java, the fourth brilliant naval victory in a brief space of time, caused great exultation throughout the United States, and the Constitution was popularly called from that time Old Ironsides. Orators and rhymers, the pulpit and the press, made the gallant exploits of Bainbridge the theme of many words in verse and prose. 3 The Common Council of New York presented to him the freedom of the city in a gold box,* and ordered his portrait painted for the picture-gallery in the City Hall.s The city of Albany did the samej^ and the citizens of Philadelphia pre- NEW YORK GOLD BOX, ALBANY GOLD BOX. sented him with an elegant service of silver plate, the most costly piece of which was a massive urn, elegantly wrought.' The Congress of the United States voted their ' By the Senate on the 19th of Pebraary/and by the House of Representatives on the 20th. 2 The procession was formed In Faneull Hall by Major Tilden, and was escorted by the Boston Light Infantry and the Winslow SlueSj under Colonel Sargent. The Honorable Chnstopher Gore presided at the table, assisted by Harrison Grey Otis, Israel Thoradike, Arnold Willis, Thomas L. Winthrop, Peter C. Brooks, and William Sullivan as vice-presi- dents. Intelligence had just come that the British Orders in Council had been repealed, and that peace might be soon expected. Elated by this news, the Honorable Timothy Dexter offered the following toast: "The British Orders in Council revoked, and our national honor gallantly retrieved. Now let us shut the temple of Janus till his double face goes out of fashion." An ode was sung at the banquet, written, on request of the committee of arrangements, by the late L. M. Sargent, Esq. 3 One of the most popular songs of the day was composed in honor of the capture of the Java, and called " Bain- bridge's Tid re I," in which, after every verse, the singer gives a sentence in prose, winding up with the chorus " Tid 1 e I, Tid re I, Tid re id re I do." The following is a specimen of that kind of song, once so popular : "Come, lads, draw near, and you shall hear, In truth as chaste as Dian, O ! How Bainbridge true, and his bold crew. Again have tamed the lion, O ! 'Twas off Brazil he got the pill Which made him crypeccavi, O But hours two, the Java new, Maintained the battle bravely, 1 "But our gallant tars, as soon as they were piped to quarters, gave throe cheers, and boldly swore, by the blood of the heroes of Tripoli, that, sooner than strike, they'd go the bottom singing Tid re I, Tid re I, Tid re Id re I do." * This box is three inches in diameter and one inch in depth. On the Inside of the lid is the following inscription : "The Corporation of the City of New York to Commodore William Bainbridge, of the United States frigate Ccnaitto- tion, in testimony of the high sense they entertain of his gallantry and skill in the capture of his Britannic Majesty's ship Java on the 29th of December, 1812." ^ The portrait was painted by John Wesley Jarvis. The engraving on page 469 is from a copy of that picture. " The box presented by the city of Albany is of oblong form, and is faithfully delineated in the engraving. It is three inches and a half long and three fourths of an inch deep. On the inside of the lid is the following inscription: "A trib- ute of respect by the Common Council of the City of Albany to Commodore William Bainbridge for his gallant naval Fervices in the late war with Great Britain." This box is in the possession of the gallant commander's daughter, Mrs. (Mary Bainbridge) Charles Joudon, of Philadelphia. ' This urn is eighteen inches in height. The lid is surmounted by an eagle about to soar. Below each massive han- OF THE WAK OF 1812.. 463 Medal presented to Bainbridge by Congress. Effect of the naval Battles in America and Great Britain. thanks to Bainbridge and his companions in arms, and also fifty thousand dollars in money, because of the necessary destruction of their prize. They also ordered a gold medal to be struck in honor of the commander,' and silver ones for each of his ofR- ^ cers, in token of the national approbation of their conduct. eainhkidoe mebai.. The conflict between the Constitution and Javci, was the closing naval engagement of the year, and, with the previous victories won by. the Americans, made the deep- est impressions upon the public mind in both hemispheres. The United States cruis- ers, public and private, had captured about three hundred prizes from the British during that first six months of war. The American war-party— indeed, the whole American people, excepting a few Submissionjsts, were made exultant by these events, and the gloom caused by the failurelif the land forces was dispelled. The views of the Federalists, who had always favored a navy, were justified, and the opposition to it, on the part of the Democrats, ceased. The British people were astounded by these heavy and ominous blows dealt at their supremacy of the seas, and some of the lead- ing newspapers scattered curses broadcast. One of them, a leading London paper, with that vulgarity which too often disgraced journalism on both sides of the At- lantic at that time, petulantly expressed its apprehensions that England might be stripped of her maritime superiority " by a piece of striped bunting flying at the mast-head of a few fir-built frigates, manned by a handful of bastards and outlaws !" But this impotent rage soon subsided, and British writers and speakers, compelled to acknowledge the equality of the American people in all that constitutes the true die is a head of Neptnne. On one side of the nm is the representation of the wrecked Java and the triumphant Corir atituiion, and on the other the following inscription : "Presented by the citizens of Philadelphia to Commodore William Bainbridge, of the U. S. ftigate Crnie'.iiVr tian, as a testimonial of the high sense they entertain of his skill and gallantry in the capture of the British frigate Java, of 49 gnns and SOO men, and of their ad- miration of his generous and magnani- ' mous conduct toward the vanquished foe. Loss in the action of 29th Decem- ber, 1812— C, 9 killed, 2B wounded ; J., 60 killed, 101 wounded." After the death of Bainbridge's wid- ow, his plate was distributed among hie surviving children. The um and other silver pieces, and the New York gold box, belong to Mrs. Susan (Bain- nAINBBlDGE T7BH. bridge) Hayes, widow of Captain Thom- as Hayes, of the United States Navy, a resident of Philadelphia. To her kind courtesy I am indebted for the privilege of making sketches of the nm and box- es. She also has in her possession the sword presented to Bainbridge by Hy- slop (see Note 2, page4Gl). It is a straight dress sword, in a black leather scabbard. Also another sword, with basket guard and elegant gilt mountings. Also a Turkish cimeter. ' On one side of the medal is abnstof Bainbridge, and the legend " qulielmtjs BAINBKID&E PATRIA VIOTORISQUE I^ATTDA- TUB." Reverse, a ship, the stumps of her three masts standing, and her con- queror with only a few shot-holes in her sails. Legend— " PcaHANDO." Exergue ^"iNTEB CONST. NAV. A^^rEaI. KT JAV. HAT. ANSL. DIE XXIX. DEOEM. 3ID000XII." 464 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK James's so-called "Histories" of th e. War. Meeting of the Twelfth Congress. greatness of a nation, labored hard to show that in all cases the American vessels, in force of men and metal, were greatly superior to those of the British encountered. They even went so far as to assert that the American frigates were all " seventy-fours in disguise !" These assertions were iterated and reiterated long after the war had ceased, to the amusement of thoughtful men, who clearly perceived the truth when the smoke had cleared away. The most notable exhibition of this folly is seen in three volumes, one on the naval and two on the military occurrences of that war, written by William James. These, as we have observed, were among the earliest of the ! elaborate writings concerning that war, and have, ever since their appearance, been the most frequently quoted by those British and British-American writers and speak- ers who delight in abusing the government and people of the United States. The spirit manifested on every page bears evidence of the poverty of the author in all that constitutes a candid and veracious historian.' Having now considered in groups the military and naval events of the war during the first year of the contest, excepting those in the extreme southern boundaries of the Republic, which will be noticed hereafter, let us glance at the civil affairs of the United States, having relation to the subject in question, before entering upon a de- scription of the stirring canjpaign of 1813. The second session of the Twelfth Congress commenced on the 2d day of 'No- vember.* It was the eve of the popular election of Presidential electors. President Madison had been nominated for the office for a second term by a Congressional caucus, as we have already observed,^ as the Democratic candidate ; and the Legislature of New York had nominated De Witt Clinton, a nephew of the late Vice-president, and of the same political faith, for the same office. The Federals ists, conscious of their inability to elect a candidate of their own, coalesced with the Clintonian Democrats. This course was decided upon in a Convention of Federalist leaders, from all the states north of the Potomac, held in secret session, in the city of > 1S12 -^^'^ York, in September.'' If the war must go on, they regarded Clinton as the possessor of greater executive ability than Madison, and better able to conduct it vigorously ; but their chief desire and hope was to bring about an early peace by the defeat of Madison, the repeal of the British Orders in CounciP having opened a door for that consummation so devoutly wished for. Jared Ingersoll, of Pennsylvania, a moderate Federalist, was nominated by the Convention for Vice- president. George Clinton having died, Elbridge Gerry, as we have seen,* was nom- inated for Vice-president by the Madisonians. When the elections occurred, nearly all the Federalists and a fraction of the Demo- cratic party voted for the Clintonian electors. All of the New England States, ex- cepting Vermont, chose such electors.^ New York did the samp, in consequence of the adroit management of Martin Van Buren, a politician thirty years of age, who then appeared prominently for the first time.' There was a similar result in New Jersey, i William James was an English emigrant to the United States early in the present century. He was a veterinary surgeon (or " horse doctor," as they are called in this country) in Philadelphia, but was unsuccessful in his profession. He left that city for his native country, thoroughly disgnsted with every thing American, because the people had not appreciated his talents. His chief employment after his return seems to have been abuse of the Americans,, their public men, their government, and their writers. He wrote angry reviews of some American books on the naval and military history of the War of 1812, and these were published, in 181T and 1818, in three volumes. The first was entitled "A Full aTid Correct Account of the Naval Oocurbbnoes of the LaU War, etc.," and the other two, "^ FuU and Correct Ac- count of the MiLiTABY OoouKEENOES of the Late Wajr, etc" They are not histories, but violent tirades, and manifest, as the Edinburg Review remarked, " bitter and persevering antipathy" to the Americans. "Almost every original remark made by the author upon them," said the Ila)iew, "bears traces of the unworthy feeling we have just mentioned." In considering his performance in the light of two generations of thought and investigation, the truth of the motto on the title-page of his volume on the Jfaval Occurrerwes, quoted from Murphy's Tacitus, is vei-y manifest. " Truth is always brought to light by time and reflection, while the lie of the day lives by bustle, noise, and precipitation." James died in 1S2T. 2 See page 226. = See page 245. 4 See page 226. ' In Massachusetts, so strongly Democratic, only a few months before, the "peace electors," as the Clintonians were called, obtained a majority of 24,000. « Owing to the dissonance in the Democratic party in New York, caused by the dissensions between the Madisonians and Clintonians, the Bederaliats chose nineteen out of the twenty-three members of Congress. Those of New Hamp- OF THE WAR OT 1812. 465 The Administration- sustained. Madison re-elected. Tlireats of Josiah Quincy in Congressi and for a time the re-election of Madison appeared doubtful; But before Congress had been in session six weeks it was definitely ascertained, from the oiScial canvass, that Madison had one hundred and twenty-eight out of the two hundred and eighteen electors chosen, and that a large majority of the Congressmen elect were friends of the administration. This result was regarded, under the circumstances, as a very strong expression of the public in favor of the war; and the war-party in and out of Congress were greatly strengthened. They were also encouraged by the aspect of afiairs abroad. Intelligence of appai-ent disasters to the English in Spain, the triumph of Bonaparte in the terrible battle of Borodino, and hjs victorious march upon Moscow, filled them with the hope that England, struggling with all Europe against her, must speedily be compelled to withdraw her soldiers and seamen from America, and give up the contest here, or else fall a prey to the conquering Corsican. But they were doomed to an early disappointment of their hopes by disasters that fell thick and fast upon the French army, exposed to Russian snows and Russian cohorts. It was evi- dent, too, from the returns of the late elections, that the Opposition were growing stronger every day. Among the earliest national measures proposed in Congress was a plan for increas- ing the army twenty thousand men, making the whole establishment fifty-six thou" sand. The President, in his fourth annual message,* after giving a gen- » November 4, eral statement of the position of afiairs in relation to the war, called the ^^^' attention of the national Legislature to the necessity of measures for the vigorous prosecution of it. A bill was introduced into the House of Representatives to raise the pay of private soldiers from six to eight dollars a month, to guarantee recruits against arrest for debt, and to give them their option to enlist for five years or for the war. In the same bill was a clause allowing the enlistment of minors without the consent of their parents or masters. This elicited a very spirited debate, in which Josiah Quincy engaged with his usual vigor. He declared it to be an interference with the rights of parents and masters, and warned the House that if the bill passed with that " atrocious principle" contained in it, it would be met in New England by the state laws against kidnapping and man-stealing. He opposed it as bearing par- ticularly hard upon the Iforth, where the laborers are the yeomanry and the minors, while at the South the laborers were slaves, and exempted by law from military duty. The planter of the South, he said, can look around upon his fifty, his hundred, and his thousand human beings, and say, "These are mj property"— TproTpertj tilling the land, and enriching the owner in war as well as in peace ; while the farmer of the North has " only one or two ewe lambs — his children, of which he can say, and say with pride, like the Roman matron, ' These are my ornaments.'" These, by the pro- posed law, might be taken from him, and his land must remain untilled.i Williams, of South Carolina, the chairman of the Military Committee, retorted fiercely. In reply to Quincy's assertion that the bill contained an " atrocious princi- ple," he charged the great Federal leader with uttering an "atrocious falsehood." His' language was so ofiensively supercilious that it drew admonitions even from John Randolph. He argued well in favor of an increase of the army. " The British regular force in the Canadas," he said, " could not be estimated less_ than twelve thousand men. In addition to these were the Canadian militia, amounting to several thousands, and three thousand regulars at Halifax. To drive this force from the field, the St. Lawrence must be crossed with a well-appointed army of twenty thousand men, supported by an army of reserve of ten thousand. Peace is not to be expected shire were all Federalists, and that party carried the Legislature of New Jersey and more than half of its Congressional ^1 A^iestion upon similar premises arose in the Convention of 178T, when it was proposed to make three out of every five slaves count as persons in determining the representation of the states in Congress. It was observed that while the slaves were called persom for a political purpose, they were only ahattela at other tiines, and could not be called into the military service of the country. This was a grievous wrong toward the non-slaveholding states. G G PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The Policy and Leaders of the War Party denounce d by Quincy. Kespouse by Henry Clay. but at the expense of a vigorous and successful war. Administratio^ns have in vain sued for it, even at the expense of the sarcastic sneers of the British minister. The campaign of 1813 must open in a style and vigor calculated to inspire confidence in ourselves and awe in the enemy. Nothing must be left to chance ; our movements must every where be in concert. At the same moment we move on Canada, a corps of ten thousand men must threaten Halifax from the province of Maine. The honor and character of the nation require that the British power on our borders should be annihilated the next campaign. Her American provinces once wrested fi-oni her, ev- ery attempt to recover them will be chimerical, except by negotiation. The road to peace thus lies through Canada." The bill passed the House of Representatives, but the objectionable clause received only four votes in the Senate. The expensive volunteer system was taken up in Congress, and the law authorizing the employment of that species of soldiers was repealed. Another was substituted, which authorized the enlistment of twenty regiments of regulars to serve twelve months, to whom a bounty of sixteen dollars should be given. It also provided for the appointment of six major generals and six brigadier generals, and a correspond- ing increase of subordinate officers. Party spirit was aroused in the debate that en- sued, and the discussion took a range so wide as to include the whole policy and •Januarys, conduct of the War. Mr. Quincy led off* with great bitterness and the ^^^^- keenest sarcasm. " He denounced the invasion of Canada," says Hildreth,' " as a cruel, wanton, senseless, and wicked attack, in which neither plunder nor glory was to be gained, upon an unoffending people, bound to us by ties of blood and good neighborhood ; undertaken for the punishment, over their shoulders, of another peo- ple three thousand miles off, by young politicians fluttering and cackling on the floor of that house, half hatched, the shell still on their heads, and their pin-feathers not yet shed — politicians to whom reason, justice, pity, were nothing, revenge every thing ; bad policy, too, since the display of such a grasping spirit only tended to alienate from us that large minority of the British people anxious to compel their ministers to respect our maritime rights. So thought the people of New England, and hence the difficulty of getting recruits. The toad-eaters of the palace — party men in pur- suit of commissions, fat contracts, judgeships, and offices for themselves, their fathers, sons, brothers, uncles, and cousins — might assert otherwise, but the people had spoken in the late elections. There were in New England multitudes of judicious, patriotic, honest, sober men, who, if their judgments and their consciences went with the war, would rush to the standard of their country at the winding of a horn, but to whom the present call sounded rather as a jewsharp or a banjo If the government would confine itself to a war of defense, it should have his support ; but for a war of conquest and annexation, whether in East Florida^ or Canada, he would not contrib- Tite a single dollar. Nor was he to be frightened from' this ground by the old state cry of British connection, raised anew by a pack of mangy, mongrel blood-hounds, for . the most part of very recent importation, their necks still marked with the collar, and their backs sore with the stripes of European castigation, kept in pay by the admin- jfif ration to hunt down all who opposed the court." This contemptuous speech drew a most vigorous reply from Mr. Clay, the Speaker of the House, who felt himself specially aimed at by the expression " unfledged poli- ticians." He charged the Federalists, says Hildreth, " with always, throughout the whole controversy with Great Britain, thwarting the plans of their own government ; clamoring alike against the embargo, against the non-intercourse, against the non-im- portation ; when the government were at peace, crying out for war ; and, now the government were at war, crying out for peace ; falsely charging the President with 1 nutmj of the United States, second series, lii., 381. ' The revolntiouary and military operations in that quarter will be noticed hereafter. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 467 . Clay's Speech in Oppositi on to Qnincy. Measures for strengthening the Army and Navy. Government Expenses. being under French influence ;' heaping all kinds of abuse on Bonaparte ; assailing ■Jefierson with impotent rage ; spiriting up chimeras of Southern influence and Vir- ginia dictation, as if the people did not choose their own presidents ; going even so far as to plot the dissolution of the Union." Mr. Clay then presented a most pathetic picture of the wrongs inflicted upon, and miseries endured by, American seamen un- .der the operations of the impressment system, to which Great Britain clung tena- ciously. " As to the gentleman's sentimental protest against the invasion of Canada," he said in substance, " was Canada so innocent, after all ? Was it not in Canada that the Indian tomahawks were whetted ? Was it not from Maiden and other Canadian magazines that the supplies had issued which had enabled the savage bands to butch- er the garrison of Chicago? Was it not by a joint attack of Canadians and Indians that Michillimackinac had been reduced ? , What does a state of war present ? The combined energies of one people arrayed against the combined energies of another, each aiming to inflict all the injury it can, whether by sea or land, upon the territo- ries, property, and persons of the other, subject only to those mitigated usages prac- ticed among civilized nations. The gentleman would not touch the British Continent- al possessions, nor, for the same reason, it was supposed, her West India islands. By • the same rule, her innocent soldiers and sailors ought to be protected ; and as, accord- ing to a well-known maxim, the king could do no wrong, there would seem to be nobody left whom, on the gentleman's principles, we could attack, unless it were Mr. Stephen,^ the reputed author of the Orders in Council, or the Board of Admiralty, under whose authority our seamen were impressed." .... Mr. Clay's " plan was," he said, "to call out the ample resources of the country to the fullest extent, to strike wherever the enemy could be reached, by sea or land, and to negotiate a peace at _Qu_e.be tor Halifax." - - Measures were adopted for strengthening both the ai-my and navy, and the more -perfect organization of each. The President was authorized to cause the construc- tion of four ships of seventy-four guns each, and six frigates and six sloops-of-war ;^ to issue treasury notes to the amount of five millions of dollars, and to create a new stock for a loan of sixteen millions of dollars.* A bill was also passed, chiefly through the untiring efforts of Langdon Cheves and John C. Calhoun, representatives from South Carolina, by which the bonds of merchants given for goods imported from Great Britain and Ireland after. the declaration of war, and seized under the provi- sions of the Non-importation Act, were canceled. For six weeks after the news of war reached England exportations had been allowed to go on ;= and the goods to ■ which the law in question would apply were valued, at invoice prices, at more than > Qalncy had said, in the speech jnst quoted from, that the " administration, under French influence and dictation, had for twelve years ruled the country with authority little short of'despotic ;" and then referred to the continuous rule of " a narrow Virginia clique, to the exclusion from office and influence of all men of talents, even of their own party, not connected with that clique." ^ Author of War m Disguise. See page 140. 3 According to a .careful estimate made by the Secretai-y of the Navy, the force of three frigates would not be more than equal to one ti-gun ship. The expense of building and equipping a frigate of 44 guns, estimated from the actual cost of the President, was $220,910 ; the cost of a'T4, $333,000. The annual expense of keeping a frigate of that size in service was estimated at $110,000, and that of a T4 at $210,110. The result from these calculations was, that while the expenses of a 74 were something less than those of two frigates of 44 guns each, her value in service was equal to three frigates.— See Perkins's History of the Political and MUitary Events of the Late War, page 150. This estimate determined Congress to build T4's. * The following were the Treasury estimates of expenditures for the year 1813 : For the civil list, and interest and reimbursement of a part of the principal of the public debt — $8,500,000 For the army, not including the new levies 17,000,000 For the navy, not including the proposed increase ■ 4,926,000 Total $30,425,000 The total appropriations made for the service of the year amounted to $39,975,000. Such was the amount necessary to meet the entire expenses of the government of the United States fifty years ago, when it was waging a war with Great Britain The expenditures of the government for a year (1863) during the late civil war was $865,234,000. 5 This was under a false impression made by Mr. Kussell, the American Chaa-ge d' Affaires, that in consequence of thfe repeal of the Orders in Council the Non-intercourse Act would be suspended. Immediately after the repeal (June 28d 1812), all the American ships then in British ports commenced loading with British goods. 468 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Retaliatory Law. Report of the Committee on Foreign Helations. eighteen millions of dollars; and were worth double that amount in the American market. This act conciliated the mercantile interest. Cheves, who was chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, endeavored to procure a partial repeal of the Non-importation Act, but failed. The restrictive sys- tem was regarded with great favor as a powerful weapon in the hands of the Ameri- cans, and its friends adhered to it with the greatest tenacity, believing it to be a po^ icy potent in hastening the ruin of England. The Federalists failed to support^ the measure because the repeal was not complete, and on account of the provision in it for the more strict enforcement of what was Jeft. "We have already observed that a retaliatory law, first suggested by Colonel Scott on account of some prisoners taken at Queenston, and who had been sent to England as deserters because they were Irishmen, was passed.' It was so framed as not only to meet the special case of those persons, but such Indian outrages under British sanc- tion as had been committed at the River Raisin.^ Happily, there was no occasion for enforcing the law. On the 13th of January, Mr. Calhoun, from the Committee on Foreign Relations, made an able report. It had been looked for with great interest. In that report the subject of impressment held a conspicuous place. The President, as we have ob- - June 26, Served, only a week after the declaration of war,* proposed an immediate 1812- armistice, on conditions at once just and honorable to both nations. It was rejected by the British in terms of peculiar reproach and insult. At about the same time the British Orders in Council were repealed conditionally, but the practice of impressment was defended as just and expedient, and would not be allowed to be- come a subject for negotiation by the British authorities. Thus matters stood when the Report on Foreign Relations was presented. After alluding to the above facts, the committee proceeded to say that " the impressment of our seamen, being de- servedly considered a principal cause of the war, the war ought to be prosecuted un- til that cause be removed. To appeal to arms in defense of a right, and to lay them down without securing it, or a satisfactory evidence of a. good disposition in the op- posite party to secure it, would be considered in no other light than a relinquishment of it. . . . The manner in which the friendly advances and liberal propositions of the Executive have been received by the British government has, in a great measure, ex- tinguished the hope of amicable accommodations. . . . War having been declared, and the case of impressment being necessarily included as one of the most important causes, it is evident it must be provided for in the pacification. The omission of it in a treaty of peace would not leave it on its former ground ; it would, in effect, be an absolute relinquishment, an idea at which the feelings of every American must re- volt. The seamen of the United States have a claim on their country for protection, and they must be protected. If a single ship is taken at sea, and the property of an American citizen wrested from him unjustly, it rouses the indignation of the coun- try. How much more deeply, then, ought we to be 'excited when we behold so many of this gallant and highly meritorious class of our fellow-citizens snatched from their families and country, and carried into a cruel and afflicting bondage ? It is an evil which ought not, which can not be longer tolerated. Without dwelling on the suf ferings of the victims, or on that wid« scene of distress which it spreads among their relatives through the country, the practice is, in itself, in the highest degree degrad- ing to the United States as a nation. It is incompatible with theu- sovereignty ; it is subversive of the mkin pillars of their independence. The forbearance of the Unit- ed States under it has been mistaken for pusillanimity." To effect a change in the British policy respecting impressments, the committee * See page 408. = The British authorities excused themselves on the plea that they could not restrain the Indians. This was no jus- tification. The root of the iniquity was in the employment of the savages as allies. OF THE WAR 01" 1812.* 469 Manifesto of the Prince Regent. Charges against the Government of the United States. reeemmended the passage of an act, which was appended to their report, similar to one proposed hy Mr. Russell to. Lord Castlereagh several months before, prohibiting, after the close of the present war, the employment, in public or private vessels, of any persons except American citizens, this prohibition to extend only to the subjects or citizens of such states as should make reciprocal regulations. An act to that eifect, which passed the House on the 12th of February, was adopted by the Senate on the last day of the session,* against very warm opposition of some of the war- .March 3, party, who considered it as a humiliating concession. ^*^^- Only four days before the presentation of their report^ by the Commit- tee on Foreign Relations, the Prince Regent, acting sovereign of Great *""*'? Britain,- issued a manifesto" concerning the causes of the war, and the sub- jects of blockade and impressment. He declared that the war was not the consequence of any fault of Great Britain, but that it had been brought on by the partial conduct of the American government in overlooking the aggressions of the French, and in their negotiations with them. He alleged that a quarrel with Great Britain had been sought because she had adopted measures solely as retalia- tive as toward France; and that,;as those measures had been abandoned by a repeal of the Orders in Council, the war was now continued on the question of impressment and search. On this point the Prince Regent took such a decisive position, that the door for negotiation which the recommendation of the Committee on Foreign Aifairs proposed to open seemed irrevocably shut. " His royal highness," said the manifesto from his palace at Westminster, " can never admit that in- the exercise of the un- doubted and hitherto undisputed' right of searching neutral merchant vessels in time of war, and the impressment of British seamen when found therein, can be deemed any violation of a neutral flag, neither can he admit the taking of such seamen from on board such vessels can be considered by any neutral state as a hostile meas- ure or a justifiable cause of war." After reafiirming the old English doctrine of the impossibility of self-expatriation of a British subject, the manifesto continued : " But if, to the practice of the United States to harbor British seamen, be added their as- sumed right to transfer the allegiance of British subjects, and thus to cancel the ju- risdiction of their legitimate sovereign by acts of naturalization and certificates of citizenship, which they pretend to be as valid out of their own territory as within it,^ it is obvious that to abandon this ancient right of Great Britain, and to admit these naval pretensions of the United States, would be to expose the very foundations of our maritime strength." The manifesto charged the United States government with systematic efibrts to inflame their people against Great Britain, of ungenerous conduct toward Spain, Great Britain's ally, and of deserting the cause of neutrality. " This disposition of the gov- ernment of the United States — this complete subserviency to the ruler of France — this hostile temper toward Great Britain," said the prince, "are evident in almost ev- ery page of the official correspondence of the American with the French government. Against this course of conduct, the real cause of the present war, the Prince Regent solemnly protests. While contending against France in defense not only of the lib- erties of Great Britain, but of the world, his Royal Highness was entitled to look for a far difierent result. From their common origin— -from their common interest— from their professed principles of freedom and independence, the United States was the last power in which Great Britain could have expected to find a willing instrument and abettor of French tyranny."' ' For a refutation of this erroneous assertion, see Chapter VII. ! This right of citizenship, acquired by naturalization and the transfer of allegiance, has long ago been tacitly ac- knowledged by the British authorities. Indeed, the claim set up by the Prince Regent was practically abandoned dur- ing the War of 1812, for, excepting in the case of the Irishmen made prisoners with Colonel Scott, the British never claimei British-born prisoners as subjects. See page 408. . .,. ^^ ^ :,. ^ ^ . 3 In the manifesto the Prince Regent also solemnly declared that "the charge of exciting the Indians to offensive 470 ptCTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Proposition from Russia to mediate^ The Proposition entertained. Napoleon's Invasion of Rnssia. This manifesto adroitly framed for effect in the United States as -well as at home, was approved by both houses of Parliament, and sustained in an address to the throne.- It reached America at about the close of the twelfth Congress, and its avowals of the intended adherence of the British government to the practice of impressment stood before the people side by side with the declarations of the report of their Committee on Foreign Affairs, in which it was declared that it was against that practice the war was waging, and that it ought to be waged until the nefarious business was aban- doned by the enemy. While pondering these documents, the Americans were suddenly called by the march of events to contemplate other most important subjects in connection with the war. John Quincy Adams was then the American minister at the Russian court. His relations with the Emperor Alexander were intimate and cordial. When intel- ligence of the declaration of war reached St. Petersburg the Czar expressed his regret. On account of the French invasion of his territory he was on friendly terms with Great "September 20, Britain, and his prime minister, Romanzoff, suggested to Mr. Adams* the ^^^^' expediency of tendering the mediation of Russia for the purpose of ef- fecting a reconciliation. Mr. Adams favored it, but for a while the victorious march of Bonaparte toward Moscow, the heart of the Russian empire, delayed the measure. The final defeat of the invader secured present tranquillity to the Czar, and he sent instructions to M. Daschkoif, his representative at Washington, to offier to the United States his friendly services in bringing about a peace. This was formally done on the 8th of March, 1813, only four days after President Madison, in his second inaugu- ral address, had laudably endeavored to excite anew the enthusiasm of the people in the vigorous prosecution of the war. At about this time official intelligence had been received by the government of the result of Napoleon's invasion of Russia. He had indeed reached Moscow after fear- ful sufferings and losses, but when he rode into that ancient capital of the Muscovites at the head of his staff", on the 15th Of September, it was as silent as the Petrified City of the Eastern tale. The inhabitants had withdrawn, and the great Kremlin in which he slept that night was as cheerless as a magnificent mausoleum. His slumbers were soon disturbed. The Russians had not all left. For hours a hundred unlighted torch- es had been held by the hands of Russian incendiaries. When the great bell of the metropolitan cathedral tolled out the hour of midnight, these were kindled by flint and steel, and instantly a hundred fires glared fearfully from every direction upon the couch of the great Corsican. The city was every. where in flames, and the wea- ried French army were compelled to seek shelter in the desolate country around the blackened ruins of that splendid town. On that fearful night the star of Napoleon's destiny had reached its meridian. Ever afterward it was seen slowly descending, in waning splendor, the paths of the western sky. He perceived in the destruction of Moscow the fearful perils of his sit- uation, and sought to avert them. He proposed terms of peaceful adjustment, but the emperor flung them back with scorn. Retreat or destruction was the alternative. He chose the former; and late in October, with one hundred and twenty thousand men, he turned his face toward France. For a few days the sky was clear and the atmosphere was genial. Then came biting frosts and blinding snow-storms, while clouds of fiery Cossacks smote his legions on flank and rear with deadly blows. Suf- measures against tlie United States is equally void of foundation." This denial was iterated and reiterated by British statesmen and publicists, and has been ever since. It is very natural for a civilized and Christian people to repel the charge of complicity with savage pagans in the practices of merciless and barbarous warfare. It Is commendable, and evinces a proper sense of the heinousness of the offense against civilization ; but the ofBcial declarations of even a prince, were he many times more virtuous than that libertine regent of England, can not set aside the indelible records of history or the verdict of mankind. There are too many positive statements concerning such complicity to doubt it. In addition to those given in the preceding pages of this work, many more may be found in Niles's Weekly Reaister ii., 342. ^ *>« 1 OF THE WAR OF 18,12., 4YI Napoleon's Disasters in Enssia. EejoicingB of the American Peace-party. Commissioners to treat for Peace. fering and death held high carnival among the fugitives. Bonaparte saw that all was lost, and he hastened to France, hearing almost the first intelligence of the terrible disaster. He lost during the campaign one hundred and twenty-five thousand slain in battle, one hundred and thirty-two thousand by fatigue, hunger, disease, and cold, and one hundred and ninety-three thousand made prisoners; in all, four hunch-ed and fifty thousand men! Notwithstanding this fearful loss of life, he had scarcely reach- ed Paris when he issued an order for a general conscription, in number suflicient to take the places of the dead. At the same time Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Prussia, and Spain coalesced for the purpose of striking the crippled conqueror a crushing blow, and early in 1813 they sent large armies toward the Elbe to oppose him. His conscripts were already in the field, and with three hundred and fifty thousand men he invaded Germany, fought and won the great battle of Lutzen,* and, after . May 2, other conflicts, seated himself in Dresden, agreeably to an armistice, and list- ^®^^' ened to offers of mediation on the part of Austria, with a view to closing the war. The intelligence from Europe was disheartening to the war-party, for it was evi- dent that the coalition of the great powers of Europe against the French would so relieve England that she might prosecute the war in America with great vigor. The President had been at all times anxious for peace on honorable terms. He perceived a chance for its accomplishment through Russian mediation, and he at once accepted the offer of M. Daschkoff. That acceptance was followed by the nomination of Al- bert Gallatin, the Secretary of the Treasury, and James A. Bayard, a representative of Delaware in the Senate of the United States, as commissioners or envoys extraor- dinary, to act jointly with Mr. Adams to negotiate a treaty of peace with Great Britain at St. Petersburg. At the same time, William H. Crawford, of Georgia, a Peace Democrat, was appointed to succeed the lately deceased Joel Barlow"' as min- ister at the French court. Of the result of the efforts for peace through Russian mediation I shall hereafter write. The reverses of Napoleon, as we have observed, discouraged the war-party, and gave corresponding joy to the Federalists, especially to the wing of that organization known as the Peace-party, whose head-quarters were at Boston. There they cele- brated the Russian triumphs with public rejoicings.^ In other places, too, these vic- i Mr. Barlow, as we have seen, was an ardent Republican (see page 94). In October, 1812, the Duke de Bassano, at Napoleon's request, invited Barlow Jo meet the emperor at Wilna, in Poland, the nominal object of which was to com- plete a commercial treaty with the TJnited States, for which the American minister had long importuned. It was be- lieved by some that the real object was to make an arrangement by which French ships, manned by American sailors, might be brought into play against Great Britain. Whatever was the, object remains a mystery. Barlow obeyed the royal summons immediately, and traveled day and night. The weather was very inclement. The country had been wasted by war, and he suffered many privations. In consequence of these and exposure to the weather, he was attacked with inflammation of the lungs, which caused his death in the cottage of a Jew at Zamowice, near Cracow, on the 22d of December, 1812. Of course, the object of his mission was not accomplished. His last poem, dictated, it is said, from his death-bed, was a withering expression of resentment against Napoleon for the hopes which he had disappointed. 2 Services were held in King's Chapel, on the 26th of March, 1813, in commemoration of the victories of the Russians over Napoleon, who aimed, it was said, " at the empire of the world." One hundred andflfty amateurs and professional gentlemen assisted in the performance of sacred music. Among other pieces sung was the following recitative, com- posed for the occasion : " For the hosts of Gallia went in with their chariots and with their horsemen into the North,- and the Lord chased them with fierce warriors, winter blasts, and famine ; but the children of Sclavia, safe and unhm-t, throuifh all the danger passed." The closing prayer was made by the Reverend Mr. Chauncey. The^services in the church were held in the forenoon. In the afternoon many hundreds of the citizens of Boston and the neighboring country sat down to a public dinner. M. Bustaphieve, the Russian consul for New England, was a guest. The room was appropriately decorated. Among the ornaments was a portrait of the Russian emperor, with the words, ^^Akxamder, Vie deliverer of Ewrope." Harrison Gray Otis made a speech on the occasion, in which he declared his conviction that the check given to Napoleon by Russia had rescued our country from its greatest danger— the influ- ence of the French policy. Several songs were sung. One of them contained the following verse : " Hail, Russia ! may thy conq'ring bands Sad Europe from her chains release ; Exalt the hopes of farthest lands, And give us back an exiled peaoe !" An ode was sung, to the air of "Ye Mariners of England," which concluded thus: " Then fill to Alexander ! For him a garland twine. While shaded by our oaks, we taste The virtues of the vine. 472 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Cabinet Changes. Armstrong chosen Secretary of War. tories were hailed with joy, and became the themes for song and oratory,' to the great disgust of the war-party and their newspaper organs, who censured the President for his haste in snatching at Russian mediation. During the session of Congress which closed on the 3d of March, 1813, there had been some important changes in President Madison's Cabinet. Public clamor against him had caused Dr. Eustis to resign the War bureau, and the aifairs of that depart- ment were conducted for several weeks by Mr. Monroe, the Secretary of State. John Armstrong, who had been appointed a brigadier general in the army of the United States, and succeeded General Bloomfield in command at New York, was appointed » January 13, Secretary of War," and Paul Hamilton was dismissed from the Navy De- ^ ■ partment to make way for William Jones,*" who had been a ship-master anuary . j^ earlier life, was an active Philadelphia politician of the Democratic school, and at the time was Commissary of Purchases for the army. Madison's Cab- inet, at the opening of the campaign of 1813, was composed as follows: James Mon- roe, Secretary of State; John Armstrong, Secretary of War; William Jones, Secre- tary of the Navy; Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury; and William Pinkney, Attorney General. And when those oaks adorn ou]> hills, Or bear our thunders far. Let each -soul Fill his howl To Tict'ry and the Czar— And give a long and loud huzza To vict'ry and the Czar." » On the 5fh of June, 1813, the late G. W. P. Cnstis, the adopted son of Washington, addressed a large audience at ^otgetovCn, in the District of Columbia, on the Russian victories. That address drew from the Euseian minister at Washmgton a very complimentary letter, and a request for a copy to be transmitted to Russia. That letter, dated " June 21, 1813," was accompanied by a small medal containing a likeness of the Emperor Alexander. "Permit me to express to you my gratitude," said M. Daschkoff, "that of my family, and of all my countrymen who shall peruse your oration, for the zeal and interest you have displayed in our cause ; and allow me to send yon a small medal, with the likeness of Alexander the First, the only one which is now in my possession."— JfS. Letter. ' OF THE WAR OF 1812. 473 Harrison's Position op the Mamnee. Expedition against Maiden. Its Failure. CHAPTER XXm. " Oh, lonely is our old green fort, Where oft, in days of old, Our gallant soldiers bravely fought 'Gainst savage allies bold ; But with the change of years have passed That unrelenting foe. Since we fonght here with Harrison, A long time ago." Song— Old Foet Meios. OTHING of importance in military movements occurred during the dead of winter, in 1813, excepting the terrible aifair at Frenchtown, on the River Raisin, already described,^ and some hostile demonstrations on the St. Lawrence frontier at Elizabeth- town and Ogdensburg by the opposing parties. The campaign of that year opened almost simultaneously on the shores of Lake Ontario, in the Valley of the Maumee, and on the coasts of Vir- ginia. Let us first consider the military events in the Northwest, where we left General Harrison, with a portion of his gallant little army, encamped amid the snows in the dark forests that skirted the Rapids of the Maumee.^ The position chosen by Harrison for a strong advanced post, which would give him facilities for keeping open a communication with Ohio and Kentucky, allow him to afibrd protection to the inhabitants on the borders of Lake Erie, and to operate against Detroit and Maiden, was one of the most eligible in the Northw.est, and its possession gave the British much uneasiness. Harrison's plan was to form simply a fortified camp, and to prosecute the winter campaign with vigor. For this purpose he endeavored to concentrate troops there, and prepared to push on to the vicinity of Brownstown, for the purpose of operating directly against Maiden while the De- troit River was bridged with ice. Considering the destruction of the enemy's ves- sels, frozen up in the vicinity of Maiden, of great imp(!>rtance, he sent a small force, under Captain Langham,^ to perform that Service. On the 2d of March^ they set off in sleighs, with six days' provisions, and well equipped with combusti- bles. The party was one hundred ahd seventy strong. The particular incendiaries were under the immediate command of M. Madis, a Frenchman of European military experience, then conductor of artillery. They were instructed to leave the sleighs at Middle Bass Island, and, with their feet muffled in moccasins, proceed noiselessly, under cover of night, to the work of destruction. Harrison advanced with a support- ing detachment, but on his arrival, at Maumee Bay,* not far below the pres- ent city of Toledo, he met Langham and his party returning. They had found the lake open, and of course the plan of the expedition was frustrated. The mildness of the winter had been remarkable ; the roads were consequently almost impassable. There was no ice competent to bear troops and munitions of war. Harrison now abandoned all hopes of moving forward until spring, and continued the work of fortifying his camp with great vigor, for the preservation of his stores, 1 See Chapter XX. » See page 364. a Augustus L. Langham, of Ohio, was an ensign In a rifle corps In 1808. He resigned in 1809, and in March, 1812, was commissioned a captain in the Nineteenth Regiment of Infantry. He distinguished himself at Port Meigs, In August following he was promoted to major, was retained in 1815, and resigned in October, 1810. 474 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Fortified Camp at the Maumee Eapide^ Hemissness of the commanding Officer. . A weak Garrison. . collected there in great quantity. His troops were then about eighteen hundred in number, and were employed on the works under the skillful direction of that com- petent oflicer, Captain Wood, the chief engineer of Harrison's army, Captain Gratiot,^ then lying prostrate with ill- ness that long continued. "The camp," said Captain Wood, was about twenty- five hundred yards in circumference, the whole of which, with the exception of sev- eral small intervals left for batteries and block-houses, was to be picketed with tim- ber fifteen feet long, from ten to twelve inches ia diameter, and set three feet in the ground. Such were the instructions of the engineer ; and so soon as the lines of the camp were designated, large portions of the labor were assigned to each corps in the army, by which means a very laudable emulation was easily excited. To complete the picketing, to put up eight block-houses of double timbers, to elevate four large batteries, to build all the store-houses and magazines required to contain the supplies of the army, together with the ordinary fatigues of the camp, was an undertaking of no small magnitude. Besides, an immense deal of labor was likewise required in ex- cavating ditches, making abatis, and clearing away the wood about the camp ; and all this was to be done, too, at a time when the weather was inclement, and the ground so hard that it could scarcely be opened with the mattock and pickaxe. But in the use of the axe, mattock, and spade consisted the chief military knowledge of our army ; and even that knowledge, however trifling it may be supposed by some, is of the utmost importance in many situations, and in ours was the salvation of the army. So we fell to work, heard nothing of the enemy, and endeavored to bury our- selves as soon as possible."^ But the work so vigorously commenced was abandoned soon afterward, when the general and the engineer left the camp — the former to visit his sick family at Cincin- nati, and to urge forward troops and supplies for his army ; the latter to superintend the erection of defensive works at Sandusky. The camp at the Rapids was left in charge of Colonel Leftwich, of the Virginia militia, who appears to have resolved to desert the post as soon as possible. Regardless of the danger to the stores, and comfort and safety of those he might leave behind, he not only allowed all work upon, the fortifications to cease, but permitted the soldiers to burn the collected pick- etings for fuel, instead of getting it from the woods within pistol-shot of the camp. On his return from Sandusky on the 20th of February, Captain Wood, to his great mortification, perceived the utter neglect of Leftwich, and the destruction of the works on the lines commenced before he left. The consequence of this conduct of Leftwich, whom Wood called " an old phlegmatic. Dutchman, who was not even :fit for a pack-horse master, much less to be intrusted with such an important command," was great exposure of the garrison to the inclement weather, and the stores to immi- nent peril from the enemy. When, on the expiration of their term of enlistment, the Virginia troops under Leftwich, and others from Pennsylvania, left for home, only about five hundred men remained at the Rapids under Major Stoddard, with which to maintain possession of an unfinished line of circumvallation calculated to contain an army of two thousand men. Harrison's greatest concern during the winter of 1813 was the possibility of not keeping soldiers enough in the field for the spring campaign, as the terms of the en- 1 Charles Gratiot was a native of Missouri, and was appointed second lieutenant of Engineers in October, 1B06, and, captain in 1808. Harrison appointed him his chief engineer in 1812. He was promoted to major in 1815, lieutenant colonel in 1819, colonel and principal engineer in 1828, 'and on the same day (May 24) was breveted brigadier general. He left the service in December, 1838. 2 TJie lines of the camp, inclosing about eight acres, were very irregular. They were upon a high bank, about one hundred feet .above the river and three hundred yards from it. On the land side, commencing at the run, was a deep ravine that swept in a crescent form quite round to the rear. OP THE WAR OF 1812. 4^5 A Call for Volimteei-B nobly answered. Armstropg 'e Interference with Harrison's Plans. Harrison's Protest. ' listment of different corps would soon expire. To provide for such contingency, he called for volunteers from Kentucky and Ohio, and met with cordial responses. ' He was preparing to collect about four thousand men at the Rapids for an early move- ment against Maiden, when he received instructions from General Armstrong, the new Secretary of War, which deranged all his plans. By these he was directed to continue his demonstrations against Maiden, hut only as a diversion in favor of at- tempts to be made upon Canada farther down. He was enjoined not to make an actual attack upon the enemy until the consummation of measures for securing the command of Lake Erie, then just inaugurated, and to be completed at Presque Isle (now Erie, Pennsylvania) by the middle of the ensuing May. Much to his mortifica- tion and alarm, he was directed to dispense with militia as much as possible, and to fill up the ITth, 19th, and 24th Regiments of Regulars for service in the ensuing campaign. He was informed that two other regiments of regulars had been ordered to be raised, one in Kentucky and the other in Ohio. Should the old regiments not be filled in time, he was permitted to make up the deficiencies from the militia. With these he was to garrison the different posts, hold the position at the Rapids, and amuse the enemy by feints. This interference with his plans annoyed Harrison exceedingly, and he ventured to remonstrate with the Secretary of War. He gave him his views"' very aMarch is, freely, and with them some valuable and much-needed information concern- i^^^- ing the country to be defended and the Indian tribes in alliance with the British. He explained the causes of apprehended danger in attempting to carry out the new pro- gramme, and assured the Secretary of War that the regular force to be relied on could not be raised in time for needed service, and that, even if it should, it would be too small for the required duty — so evidently inadequate that enlistments would be discouraged.^ Armstrong, who seldom bore opposition patiently, did not like to be remonstrated with, but he prudently forbore farther interference in the conduct of the campaign in the Northwest at that time.^ General Harrison was yet at Cincinnati late in March, actively engaged in endeavors to forward troops and supplies to the Rapids. Informed that the lake was almost free of ice, that the Virginia and most of the Pennsylvania troops would leave at the ex- 1 Harrison requested that a corps of fifteen hundred men might be raised in Kentucky immediately, and marched to his head-quarters without delay. The Legislature of Kentucky was then in session, and Harrison's request was sub- mitted to them in a confidential message by Governor Shelby. A law was immediately passed offering additional pay of seven dollars a month to any fifteen hundred Kentuckians who would remain in the«ei*vice till a corps could be sent to relieve them. This offer was accompanied by an appeal to their patriotism from the Legislature, which reached them on the 8th of February. They had suffered much, and were very anxious to return home, so they would only promise to remain an indefinite time, but said that if the general was ready to lead them against the enemy they would follow him without additional pay. Similar appeal to the Ohio and Pennsylvania troops met with similar success, but the Virginians would not remain. Meanwhile the Legislature of Kentucky passed an act for detailing three thou- sand men from the militia, of which fifteen hundred were to march for Harrison's camp, and Governor Meigs ordered two regiments to be organized for the same service. " In a letter to Governor Shelby, at about this time, Harrison said : " Last night's mail brought me a letter from the Secretary of War in which I am restricted to the employment of the regular troops raised in this state to re-enforce the post at the Eapids. There are scattered through this state about one hundred and forty recruits of the 19th Begiment, and with these I am to supply the place of the brigades from Pennsylvania and Virginia, whose time of service vrill now be daily expiring. By a letterfrom Governor Meigs I am informed that the Secretary of War disapproved the call for militia which I had made on this state and Kentucky, and was on the point of countermanding the orders. I will just mention one fact, which will show the consequences of such a countermand. There are upon the Au Glaize and St. Mary's Rivers eight forts, which contain within their walls property to the amount of half a million of dollars from actual cost, and worth now to the United States four times that sum. The whole force which would have had charge of all these forts and property would have amounted to less than twenty invalid soldiers."— Autograph Letter, March 21, 1813. 3 Armstrong attempted to arrange the military force of the country on the plan adopted by General Washington in the Revolution. On the 19th of March he promulgated a general order, dividing the whole United States into nine military districts, as follows : 1, Massachusetts, with Maine and Hew Hampshire ; 2, Rhode Island and Connecticut ; 3, New York below the Highlands and New Jersey ; 4, Pennsylvania and Delaware ; 5, Maryland and Virginia ; 6, Georgia ; 7, Louisiana. The rest of the States and Territories being divided between the 8th and 9th,the first embraced the seat of war at the west end of Lake Ontario, and the other the Niagara portion, Lake Ontario, and the St. Law- rence and Lake Champlain. On the 12th of March commissions were issued for eight new brigadiers, namely, Cushing, Parker, Izard, and Pike, of the old army, and Winder, M'Arthur, Cass, Howard, and Swartwout. The latter succeeded Morgan Lewib as quarter-master with the rank of brigadier. 476 PICTORIAL EIELD-BOOK The Brigade of General Green Clay. Their EendezvouB and March toward the Maumee. Cincinnati in 1812. piration of their term on the 2d of April, and that the enemy were doubtless in- formed of the situation of affairs at the Rapids by a soldier who had been made a prisoner by them, he anticipated an early attack upon his camp there. It was, therefore, with the greatest anxiety that he awaited promised re-enforce- ments from Kentucky. The governor had ordered a draft of thi-ee thousand militia (fifteen hundred of them for Harrison's army) as early as the middle of February, to be organized, into four regiments, under Colonels Bos well, Dud- ley, Cox, and Caldwell, forming a bri- gade to be commanded by Brigadier General Green Clay.' The regiments under the first two named officers ren- dezvoused at Newport, opposite to Cin- cinnati, at about the first of April. Those companies which had arrived there earlier had been sent forward to the Eapids on forced marches, by the way of Urbana and "Hull's Trace," and the commander-in-chief followed soon afterward, leaving the remainder of the Kentuckians designed for his command - to be forwarded as quickly as possible. He arrived at camp on the 12th of April, and was gratified by finding more than two VIEW OP OINOINNATI FEOM NEWPORT IN 1812,2 • In s letter dated at "Frankfort, March 5, 1813," Governor Shelby invited Mr. Clay to accept the command of the brigade as brigadier general. Clay accepted the office, and in a letter, dated on the 10th of the same month n^Jn, emor sent him his commiBsion. In the first letter; how before me, the gt)vernor said that, had it been desiened to cross mto Canada at once, he should have taken command of the Kentucky troops in person ueoignea lo 2 This view of Cincinnati in 1812 is ftom an old print. It then contained about two thousand inhabitants OF THE WAR OF 1812. ill Fbrt Meigs and Its Vicinity. Harrison assumes Besponsibility. Proctor's Preparations to invade the Maumee Valley. hundred patriotic Pennsylvanians remaining, who had been persuaded to do so by their chaplain, Dr. Hersey.' Under the direction of Captain "Wood, the for- tified camp, which had been named in honor of the governor of Ohio, had assumed many of the features of a regular fortification, and was digni- fied with the name of Fort Meigs. It was evi- dent that its defense would be the chief event in = the opening of the campaign. Harrison had been informed while on his way of the frequent ap- pearance of Indian scouts in the neighborhood of the Rapids, and of little skirmishes with what he supposed to be the advance of a more power- ful force. Alarmed by these demonstrations, he dispatched a messenger from Fort Amanda with a letter to Governor Shelby, urging him to send to the Maumee the whole of the three thousand militia drafted in Kentucky. This was in viola- tion of his instructions from the War Department respecting the employment of militia, but the seeming peril demanding such violation, he did not hesitate for a moment. Expecting to find Fort Meigs invested by the British and Indians, he took with him from Fort Amanda all the troops that could be spared from the posts on the St. Mary and the Au Glaize, about three hundred in all, and descended by water from his point of de- parture with the intention of storming any British batteries which he might find employed against his camp. He was agreeably disappointed on his arrival by the discovery that the enemy was not near in great force. But that enemy, vigilant and determined, was preparing to strike at Fort Meigs a destructive blow. ' When the ice began to move in the Detroit River and the lake. Proctor formed his plans for an early invasion of the Maumee Valley. Ever since his sanguinary operations at Frenohtown he had been using every art and appliance in' his' l^ower to concentrate at Amherstburg a large In- dian force for the purpose. He fired the zeal of Tecumtha and the Pfophet by promises of future success in all their schemes for confederating the savage tribes, and by boasting iaf his ample pow- er to place in the hands of his Indian allies Fort Meigs, its garrison, aiid immense stores. So stim- ulative were his promises that, at the beginning of April, Tecumtha was at Fort Maiden with al- most fifteen hundred Indians. Full six hundred of them were drawn from the country between 1 These patriotic men informed the general that they were very anxious to go home to put in their spring seeds, hnt that they would never leave him until he thought that their services could be spared without danger to the cause. On the arrival of the three Kentucky companies he discharged the Pennsylvanians. 478 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Proctor calls Savages to Maiden. Expedition against Fort Meiga. Harrison's Precantions. Lake Michigan and the Wabash, much to the satisfaction of Harrison when he dis- covered the fact, for it so relieved him of apprehensions of peril to his posts from that direction that he countermanded his requisition on Governor Shelby for aU the draft- ed men from Kentucky. Proctor was delighted with the response of the savages to his call, and visions of speedy victory, personal glory, and oflScial promotion filled his mind. He became more •feoaatiul than ever, and more supercilious toward the Americans at Detroit. ■ 1813 He ordered the Canadian militiarttrassemble at Sandwich on the Ith. of April,* when he assured them that the campaign would be short, decisive, suc- ' April, cessful, and profitable. On the 23d'' his army and that of his savage allies, more than two thousand in number,^ were in readiness at Amherstburg ; and on that day they embarked on a brig and several smaller vessels, accompanied by two gun- boats and some artillery. On the 26th they appeared at the mouth of the Maumee, about twelve miles below Fort Meigs ; and on the 28th they landed on the left bank of the river, near old Fort Miami, and established their main camp there.^ From that point Proctor and Tecumtha, who were well mounted, rode up the river to a point opposite Fort Meigs to reconnoitre. They were discovered at the fort, when a shot from one of the batteries sent them back in haste. ^ Captain Dixon, of the Royal Engineers, was immediately sent up with a fatigue party to construct batteries upon a commanding elevation nearly opposite the fort, in front of the present Maumee City, but incessant rains, and the wretched condition of the roads, so retarded the prog- ress of the work that they were not ready for operations until the first day of May. The approach of the enemy in force had been discovered by Captain Hamilton, of the Ohio troops, on the 28th, while reconnoitring down the river with a small force. Peter Navarre, one of Harrison's most trustworthy scouts, yet (186 V) living in Ohio, first saw them. Hamilton sent him in haste to Fort Meigs with the intelligence, when Harrison instantly dispatched him with three letters, one for Upper Sandusky, one for Lower Sandusky, and one for Governor Meigs, at Urbana.* Although Fort Meigs was quite strong, several block-houses having been erected in connection with the lines of intrenchment and pickets, and a good supply of field-pieces had been mounted, Harrison was convinced, from the character and strength of the enemy, that his post was in imminent peril. He knew that General Green Clay was on his march with Kentuckians ; and as soon as Navarre was furnished with his letters, he dis- patched Captain William Oliver, the commissary to the fort, an intelligent, brave, and judicious officer (who had performed similar service for him), with an oral message to Clay, urging him to press forward by forced marches. Oliver bore to Clay' the following simple note of introduction :' " Head-qnarters, Camp Meiga, 28tli April, 1813. " Dear Sib, — I send Mr. Oliver to you, to give you an account of what is passing here. You may rely implicitly upon him. Yours, "William Henet Haeeison." Oliver was accompanied by a single white man and an Indian. He was escorted 1 The combined force under Proctor consisted of 622 regulars, 461 militia, and about 1500 Indians ; total, 2482. The Americana at Fort Meigs did not exceed 1100 effective men. 2 See the map on the preceding page, which covers the entire historic ground at and around the Maumee Rapids from Roche de Bout— perpendicular rock— where the river has a considerable fall, and where Wayne was encamped in 1T94 (see page 54), to Proctor's encampment near Fort Miami at the time we are considering. It shows the place of Hull's encampment in 1812 (see page 257), and Wayne's battle-ground in 1794 (ss'e page 65), with the site of Fort Meigs, and of incidents connected with the siege about to be described In the text ; also the present Maumee City on one side of the river, Perryville on the other, and the rail and wagon bridges across. Between Fort Meigs and Perryville is seen a stream. It courses through the ravine mentioned in Note 2,-page 474. ' Statement of Reverend A. M. Lon-aine, in theiodies' Repository, March, 1845. ' Oral statement of Navarre to the author. 5 The original is before me, and a fao-simiU of it appears on the opposite page. It is one of the papers of General Clay kindly placed in my handa by hia son, General Oasaius M. Clay, our late minister at the Russian Court. It is written on a half sheet of foolscap paper, and is thoroughly soiled by contact with mud and water. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 479 General Harrison's Note to General Clay. lieyond the immediate danger that surrounded the camp by a company of dragoons under. Captain Garrard. He found General Clay at Fort Winchester (Defiance) with twelve hundred Kentuckians, three companies of his command, as we have observed,^ having been sent forward by Harrison at the close of March. Clay had left Cincin- 1 See page 470. 480 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Combs commlseloned a Captain of Spies. He goes on a perilous. Expedition. Biographical Sketch of Combs. » April 7, 1813. nati early in April, after issuing a stirring address' to Ms troops* in General Orders, and followed Winchester's route to the Maumee.^ At Dayton he -was overtaken by Leslie Combs, of Kentucky, a bold and ardent young man of niner teen years, whose services as scout and messenger in the late campaign, which ended so disastrously at the Raisin, were well known to General Clay. He at once com- missioned Combs captain of a company of riflemen as spies or scouts, to be selected by him from Dudley's corps. , At St. Mary's block-house Clay divided his brigade. He sent Dudley to the Au Glaize, while he descended the St. Mary himself with Colonel Boswell's corps. Both divisions were to meet at Defiance. While on their way down the Au Glaize, intel- ligence reached Dudley of the perilous condition of Harrison at Fort Meigs. At a council of officers it was resolved to apprise the commander-in-chief of the near ap- proach of succor. Who shall under- take the perilous mission? was the im- portant question. It required some per- son acquainted with the country. Young Combs, eager for patriotic duty and dis- tinction, volunteered to go. " When we reach Fort Defiance," he said, "if you will furnish me a gdod canoe, I will carry your dispatches to General Harrison, and return with-his orders. ' I shall only re- quire four or five volunteers from my own company, and one of my Indian guides to accompany me." A murmur of approbation ran through the company, and his offer was joyfully accepted by Dudley' with word's of complimetit and gratitude.' They reached Defiance the following morning. It was the first of May. As soon as a canoe could be procured Combs embarked on his peril- ous mission, accompanied by two broth- ers named Walker, and two others named respectively Paxton and John- ' " Kentnckians," he said, " stand high in the estimation of our common country. Our brothers in arms who have gone before us to the scene of action have acquired a fame which should never be forgotten by you— a fame worthy your emulation Should we encounter the enemy, remember the fate 0/ your uxiTOHxsm) bkotkebb at the River Raisin — thai British treachery produced their slaughter L' » As it may be interesting to the reader to know wftat constituted the private outfit of an officer of the army at that time for service in the field, I subjoin the following ".list of a/rticles for camp" piejiarei for General Clay: " Trunk, portmanteau and fixtures, fiat-iron, coffee-mill, razor-strop, box, etc., inkstand and bundle of quills, ream of paper, three halters, shoe-brushes, blacking, saddle and bridle, tottoise-shell comb and case, box of mercurial oint- ment, silver spoon, mattress and pillow, three blankets, three sheets, two towels, linen for a cot, two volumes M'Kenzie's Travels, two maps, spy-glass, gold watch, brace of silver-mounted pistols, umbrella, sword, t^o pairs of spurs— one of silver. ClotSes : Hat, one pair of shoes, one pair of boots, regimental coat, great-coat, bottle-green coat, scarlet waist- coat, blue cassimere and buff cassimere waistcoat, striped jean waistcoat, two pair cotton colored pantaloons, one pair bottle-green pantaloons, one pair queen-cord pantaloons, one pair buff short breeches, one pair red flannel drawers one red flannel waistcoat, red flannel shirt, five white linen shirts, two check shirts, nine cravats, six chamois, two'pair tliread stockings, three pair of thread socks, hunting shirt, one pair of woolen gloves, one pair of leather gloves." "A complete ration" at that time was estimated at fifteen cents, and was composed and charged as follows :" meat, five cents ; flour, six cents ; whisky, three cents ; salt, soap, candles, and vinegar, one fourth of a cent each. = Captain Combs is yet (1867) living in his native state of Kentucky, vigorous in mind andbody, and bearing the title of general by virtue of his commission as such in the militia of his state. He is descended, on his mother's side from a Quaker family of Maryland. His father, a Virginian, was a " Eevolutionary Officer and a Hunter of Kentucky." So says a simple inscription on his tomb-stone. Leslie was the youngest of twelve children. He joined the army in 1812 when just past eighteen years of age, and was at once distinguished for his energy and bravery. He was employed as we have seen (page 350), on perilous duty, and never disappointed those who relied upon him. He was made a captain and wounded near Fort Meigs, and narrowly escaped death. He was paroled, and late in May, 1813 returned home He commenced the study of law, and was not again in the field nntil 1836, when he raised a regiment for the south- western frontier at the time of the revolution in Texas. He became very active in political life. His home was Lex OF THE WAR OF 1812. 451 Combs's Voyage down the Maumee Eiver. Greeting of the Flag at Fort Meigs. Combs attacked by Indians. son ; also by young Black Fish, a Shawnoese -vramor.i ■W'ith: the latter at the helm, the other four engaged with the rowing, and himself at the bow in ohaj-ge of the rifles and ammunition of the party, Combs pushed off from Defiance, amid cheers and sad adieus (for few expected to see them again), determined to reach Fort Meigs before daylight the next morning. The voyage was full of danger. Rain was falling heavi- ly, and the night was intensely black. They passed the Rapids in safety, but not until quite late in the morning, when heavy cannonading was heard in the direction of the fort. It was evident that the expected siege had commenced, and that the perils of the mission were increased manifold.' For a moment Combs was perplexed. To re- turn would be prudent, but would expose his courage to doubts ; to remain until the next night, or proceed at once, seemed equally hazardous. A decision was soon made by the brave youth. " We must go on, boys," he said ; " and if you expect the honor of taking coffee with General Harrison this morning, you must work hard for it." He went forward with many misgivings, for he knew the weakness of the garrison, and doubted its ability to hold out long. Great was his satisfaction, therefore, when, on sweeping Ground Turkey Point,^ at the last bend in the river by which the fort was hidden from his view, he saw the stripes and stars waving over the beleaguered UP THE MATTMEE VAT.T.EV. camp. Their joy was evinced by a suppressed shout. Suddenly a solitary Indian .appeared in the edge of the woods, and a moment afterward a large body of them were observed in the gray shadows of the forest, running eagerly to a point below to cut off Combs and his party from the fort. The gallant captain attempted to dart by them on the swift current, when a volley of bullets from the savages severely wounded Johnson and Paxton — the former mortally. The fire was returned with effect when the Shawnoese at the helm turned the prow toward the opposite shore.^ There the voyagers abandoned the canoe, and, with their faces toward Defiance, sought safety in flight. After vainly attempting to take Johnson and Paxton with them. Combs and Black Fish left them to become captives, and at the end of two days and two nights the captain reached Defiance, whereat General Clay had just arrived. The Walkers were also there, having fled more swiftly, because unencumbered. Combs and his dusky companion had suffered terribly.^ The former was unable to assume ington, and he was a neighbor and warm personal friend of Henry Clay throughout the long public career of that great_ man The friendship was muiual, and Clay always felt and acknowledged the power of General Combs. He was always a "flnent, eloquent, and most effective speaker, and now, when he has passed the goal of " threescore and ten years," he never fails to charm any audience by his words of power, his apt illustrations, and genial humor. i-He was a grandson ot Black Fiah, a noted warrior who led the Indians in the attack on Boonsboro', in Kentucky, ' In the above picture, a view of a portion of the Maumee Valley, as seen from the northwest angle of Fort Meigs, looking up the river, Turkey Pbint is seen near the centre, behind the head of Hollister's Island, that divides the river. A clump of trees, a little to the right of the three small trees in a rownear the bank of the river, marks the place. The Maumee is seen flowing to the right, and to the left the plain, when I made the sketch in the autumn of 1860, was covered with Indian corn, some standing and some in the shocks. A canal for hydraulic purposes is seen in the fore-' ground. It flows immediately below the ruins of Fort Meigs. , , ^ ^ ^. 3 It was first thought that the Indians were friendly Shawnoese. So thought Blaek Fwh ; but when he discovered his mistake, he exclaimed, "Pottawatomie, Goddamn!" , „ ■ , t * Paxton was shot through the body, but recovered.. During the political campaign of 1840, when General Harrisoh H H 482 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Preparations for assailmg Fort Meigs. Harrison's Speecli to liie Soldiers. Jort Meigs Btrengflienefl . the command of his company, but he went down the river with the re-enforcements, and took an aqtive part in the conflict in the vicinity of Fort Meigs. There we shall meet him again presently.' The British had completed two batteries nearly opposite to Fort Meigs on th* BITE OF THE CEITEBH BATTEEIES FBOM FOET MEIGS.^ » April, morning of the 30th,* and had mounted their ordnance. One of them bore ^^^'- two twenty-four-pounders, and the other three howitzers^one eight inches, and the other two five and a half inches calibre. In this labor they had lost some men by well-directed round shot from the fort, but neither these, missiles nor the drenching rain drove them away. Harrison had not been idle in the mean time. His force was much inferior to that of the enemy in numbers, but was animated by the best spirit. On the morning after the British made their appearance near, he ad- dressed his soldiers eloquently in a General Order ;^ and when he discovered the foe busy in erecting batteries on the opposite shore that would command his works, he began the construction of a traverse, or wall of earth, on the most elevated ground through the middle of his cainp, twelve feet in height, on a base of twenty feet, and three hundred yards in length. During its construction it was concealedby the tents. When these were suddenly removed to the rear of the traverse, the British ■engineer, to his great mortification, perceived that his labor had been almost in vain. Instead of an exposed camp, from which Proctor had boasted he would soon " smoke was elected President'of the United States, General Combs spoke to scores of vast assemblies in his favor. On one occasion he veas in.the neighborhood ofPaxton's residence, who toot a seat on the platform by the side of the speaker. Combs related the incident of the voyage down the Maumee and their joy at the 3ight of the old flag on that morning. " Here,*' said he, "is the man who was shot through the body. Stand ap, Joe, and tell me how many bullets it would have taken' to have killed you at that measure." : " JHorcthcm a peck !" exclaimed Paxton. 1 I met Qeneral Combs at Sandusky City in the autumn of 1860, when he gave me an interesting account of his opera- tions in the Mauriiee'Valley at that time. Speaking of his return to Defiance, he said, "BtackFish made his way to his native village, while! pushed on toward Defiance. It rained incessantly. 1 was compelled .to swim several swollen tributaries to- the Maumee, and was dreadfully chafed by walking in wet clothes. My feet were lacerated by traveling in moccasins over burnt prairies, and my month and throat were excoriated by eating bitter hickory-buds, the only food that I tasted for forty-eight hours. For days afterward I could not eat any solid food. I was placed on a cot in a boat, and in that manner descended the river with my gallant Kentucky friends.". 2 The above little picture, sketched in the autumn of 1860 from the ruins of Croghan Battery (so named in honor of the gallant defender of Fort Stephenson), Fort Meigs, looking northwest, shows the scattered village of Manmee City in the distance, with the site of the British batteries in fi*ont of it. This is indicated in the picture by the distant bluff with two houses upon it, immediately beyond the two little figures at the end of the railway-bridge in the middle- ground. When I visited the spot in 1860, the ridge on which the cannon were planted, lower than the plain on which "the village stands, was very prominent. Behind it was a deep hollow. In which the British artillerymen were securely posted. On the brow of the plain, just back of the British batteries, indicated by the second bluff with one house upon it, was afterward the place of encampment of Colonel Johnson. The railway-bridge, seen in the middle-ground of this picture, has a common passenger-bridge by the side of it. Between the extreme foreground and the railway :embank- ment is the ravine mentioned In a description of Port Meigs on page 474, and indicated in the map on page 488 by a stream of water. ^ "Can the citizens of a free country," he said, " who have taken arms to defend its rights, think of submitting to an army composed of mercenary soldiers, reluctant Canadians, goaded to the field by the bayonet, and of wretched, naked savages ? Can the breast of an American soldier, when he casts his eyes to the opposite shore, the scene of his coun- try's triumphs over the same foe, be infiuenced by any other feelings than the hope of glory? Is not this army com- posed of the same materials with that which fought and conquered under the immortal Wayne f Tes, fellow-soldiers, your general sees your countenances beam with the same fire that he witnessed on that glorious occasion ; and, Al- though it would be the height of presumption to compare himself with that hero, he boasts of being that hero's pupil.* To your pos ts, then, fellow-citizens, and remember that the eyes of your country are upon you 1" * Wayne's battle-gronnd in 1794, and the theatre of his victory, were in sight of the soldierathns addressed. Harri- son was Wayne's aid-de-camp on that occasion, and, as we have observed on page D3, was one of his most usefui officers. OF THE WAB OP 1812. 483 Brltisli,9nd Indians cross the River. A Gun-boat. Fort Meigs attacked. Colonel Christy. out the YaHkees" — in other words, speedily destroy it with shot and shell,, he saw nothing hut an immense shield of earth, behind which the Americans were invisible and thoroughly sheltered. Proctor accordingly modified his plans, and sent a con- siderable force of white men under Captain Muir, and Indians under Tecumtha, to the eastern side of the river, under cover of the gun-boats, with the evident intention of preparing for an attack on the fort in the rear. When night fell the British bat- teries were yet silent, and remained so.; but agun-boatj. towed up the river near the fort under cover of the. darkness, fired thirty, shots, without making any other im- pression than increasing the.- vigilance of the Americans, who reposed; on their arms. Early ii;i the, morning the g,un-boat went down the: river barren of all honor. •' • Late in the morning on .the 1st of May,* notwithstanding .heavy raiij-clou^a . , : . were driving down the Maumee Yalley, aud drenching every thing OKith fitful discharg.es,,the British opened a severe'cannonadeand bombardment. upon JFort Meigs, and continued the assault, vfith slight iatermissions, for about five days,' but without much injury to the fort and gairrison. The fire was returned occasionally by eight- een-pounders. The supply of shot for these and the twelve-pounders was very small, there not being more than three hundred and sixty of each. They were used with judicious parsimony, for it was not known how long the siege might .last. The Brit- ish, on the contrary, appeared to have powder, balls, and shells in great abundance, and they poured a perfect storm of missiles — not less than five hundred — upon the 1 A snryivor of the War of 1812, and one of the most active and remarkable men of the day when the late civil war broke ont, was Colonel William Christy. He was acting quarter-master at Fort Meigs,, and had charge of all the stores and flags there at that time. He was only twenty- two years of age, yet he had, by his energy and patriot- ism, secured the love and confidence of General Harrison in a remarkable degree. When the first gun was fired upon Fort Meigs, Harrison called him to his side, and said, " Sir, go and nail a banner on every battery, where they shall wave so long as an enemy is in view." Chris- ty obeyed, and there the flags remained during the en- tire siege. Mr. Christy was bom in Georgetown, Kentucky, on the 6th of December, 1791. At an early age he went with his father to reside near the Ohio, not far distant from Cin- cinnati He was left an orphan at the age of fourteen years. He studied law, and entered upon the duties of that profession in 1811. When war was declaredhe join- fed the army under Harrison. That officer knew his fa- ther, and kindly gave the son of his old friend a place in Ws military family as aid-de-camp, and, as we have just observed, he was made acting quarter-master at Fort Meigs. He behaved gallantly there in the sortie in which Captain Silver was engaged, and in which his company suffered terribly. Christy was in subordinate command in that fight, and received the commendations of his gen- eral. He was profl^oted to lieutenant m the old First Eegiment of United States Infantry. After the close of the Harrison campaign, which resulted in victory at the Thames, he was ordered to join his regiment, then at Sackett's Harbor. There General Brown appointed him adjutant, and he was in active service in Northern New Tork for some time. When the army was disband- ed, Christy was retained, and was stationed for a while in New Orleans. He left the army in 1816, and com- menced the career of a commission merchant in New Or- leans. He married there, and soon amassed a fortune, which he lost, however, by the dishonesty of a partner. He resumed the practice of the law, andin 1826 published his "Digest" of the Decisions of the Supreme Court of the State of Louisiana. Again he amassed a large f«r- tane. He espoused the cause of Texas, and soon after- ward lost his property, but gained the praise of being " the first filibuster in the' XJnit^d States." His nature was Im- pulsive, and during his residence of more than forty years in New Orieans he had several "affairs of honor," growing out of political quarrels" chiefly. He was a ready and ffuent speaker, and during the campaign when Harrison was candidate for the Presidency, Colonel Christy accompanied his chief in person throughout Ohitfj and made more than one hundred speeches in his behalf. His kindness of Jieart and ungrudging hospitality ever gained him hosts of warm friends. 484 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Nbw Battery opened on Fort Meigs. Harrison's Defenses. Critical Situation of tlie Fort and Garrison. BATTERY fort all of the first day, and until eleven o'clock at night.i One or two of the garri- son were killed, and Major Stoddard, of the First Eegiment, a soldier of the Revolu- tion, who commanded the fort when Leftwitch retired, was so badly wounded by a fragment of a shell that he died ten days afterward.^ On the morning of the 2d the British opened a third battery of three twelve- pounders upon the fort from the opposite side of the river, which they had completed durmg the night, and all that day the cannonade was kept up briskly. Within the next twenty-four hours a fourth battery was opened. ^ That night a detachment of artillerists and engineers crossed the river, and mounted guns and mortars upon two mounds for batteries already constructed ia the thickets by the party that crossed on the 30th, within two hundred and fifty yards of the rear angles of the fort. One of these, nearest the ravine already mentioned, was a mortar battery; the other, a few rods farther southward, was a three-gun battery. Expecting an operation of this kind, the Americans had constructed traverses in time to foil the enemy; and when, toward noon of the 3d, the three cannon and the howitzer opened suddenly upon the rear angles of the fort, their fire was almost harmless. A few shots from eighteen- pounders, directed by Gratiot, who was convalescing, soon silenced the gun -battery, and the pieces were hastily drawn off and placed in posi- tion near the ravine. Shot and shell were hurled upon the fort more thickly and steadily on, the 3d than at any other time, but with very little efiect. This seemed to discourage the besiegers, and on the 4th the fire was materially slackened. Then Proctor sent Major Chambers with a demand for the surrender of the post. " Tell General Proctor," responded Harrison, promptly, " that if he shall take the fort it will be under circumstances that will do him more honor than a thou- sand surrenders." Meanwhile the cannonading from the fort was feeble, because of the scarcity of ammunition. " With plenty of it," wrote Captain Wood, " we should have blown John Bull from the Miami." The guns were admirably managed, and did good execution at every discharge. The Americans were well supplied with food and water^ for a long siege, and could well afford to spend time and weary the assailants by merely defensive warfare suflBcient to keep the foe at bay. They ex- hibited their confidence and spirit by frequently mounting the ramparts, swinging their hats, and shouting defiance to their besiegers. Nevertheless, Harrison was anxious. Hull and Winchester had failed and suffered. The foe was strong, wily, and confident. So he looked hourly and anxiously up the Maumee for the hoped-for re-enforcements. Since Navarre and Oliver went out, he had heard nothing from ■ As the enemy were tlirowing large numbers of cannon-balls into the fort from their batteries, Harrison offered a gill of whisky for every one delivered to the magazine-keeper, Thomas L. Hawkins. Over one thousand gills were thus earned by the soldiers.— Howe's Historical CoUectiona of Ohio, page 532. An eyewitness (Reverend A. M. Lorraine) re- lates that one of the militia took his station on the embankment, watched every shot, and forewarned the garrison thus: "Shot," or "bomb," as the case might be ; sometimes " Block-house No. 1," or "Look out, main battery," "Now for the meat-house," " 6ood-by, it you will pass." At last a shot hit him and killed him instantly. 2 Amos Stoddard was a native of Massacfiusetts, and was commissioned a captain of artillery in 1798. He was re- tained in 1802. In 1804 and '06 he was governor of the Missouri Territory. He was promoted to major in 1807. He was deputy quarter-master in 1812, but left the staff in December of that year. He died of tetanus, or lockjaw, on the 11th of May, 1813. He was the author of " Sketches of Louisiana," published in 1810. ' These were named as follows, as indicated on the above map : a. Mortar j b, Queen's ; c, Sailor's ; and d, King's. * This plan is from a sketch made by Joseph H. Larwell, on the 19th of July, 1813. All the dotted lines represent the traverses, a a a a a indicate the block-houses ; & 6, the magazines ; c c c c, minor batteries. The grand and mortar batteries and the well are indicated by name. = During the first three days of the siege the Americans were wholly dependent upon the rain for water. Those who were sent to fetch it were exposed to the Are of the enemy. On the fourth they had completed a well within the fort which gave them an ample supply. PLAN OF POET MBIGS.* OF THE yVAK OF 1812. 485 General Clay moving down the Maumee. Harrison's P lana developed. Movements near Port Meigs. abroad. ^ His suspense was ended at near midnight on the 4th, when Captain Oliver, with Major David Trimhle and fifteen men who had come down the river in a hoat, made their way into the fort as bearers of the glad tidings that General Clay and eleven hundred Kentuckians were only eighteen miles distant, and would probablj^ reach the post before morning. Captain Oliver had found Clay at Fort Winchester on the 3d. The cannonading at Fort Meigs was distinctly heard there, and Clay pressed forward as speedily as possible 'with eighteen large flat scows, whose sides were ftimished with shields against the bullets of Indians who might infest the shores of the river. It was late in the evening when the flotilla reached the head of the Rapids, eighteen miles from the scene of conflict. The moon had gone down, and the overcast sky made the night so intensely dark that the pilot refused to proceed before daylight. It was then that Trimble and his brave fifteen volunteered to accompany Captain Oliver to the fort, to cheer the hearts of Harrison and his men by the tidings of succor near. It did cheer them. Harrison immediately conceived a plan of operations for Clay, and dis- patched Captain Hamilton and a subaltern in a canoe to meet the general, and say to him with delegated authority, " You must detach about eight hundred men from your brigade, and land them at a point I will show you, about a mile or a mile, and a half above Camp Meigs. I will then conduct the detachment to the British batteries on the left bank of the river. The batteries must be taken, the cannon spiked, and carriages cut down, and the troops must then return to the boats and cross over to the fort. The balance of your men must land on the fort side of the river, opposite the first landiug, and fight their way into the fort through the Indians. The route they must take will be pointed out by a subaltern ojficer now with me, who will land the canoe on the right bank of the river, to point out the landing for the boats." This explicit order reveals much of Harrison's well-devised plan. He knew that the British force at the batteries was inconsiderable, for the main body were still near old Fort Miami, and the bulk of the Indians with Tecumtha were oh the eastern side of the river. His object was to strike simultaneous and effectual blows on both banks of the stream. While Dudley was demolishing the British batteries on the left bank, and Clay was fighting the Indians on the right, he intended to make a gen- eral sally from the fort, destroy the batteries in the rear, and disperse or capture the whole British force on that side of the river. It was almost sunrise when Clay left the head of the Rapids. He descended the river with his boats arranged in solid column, as in a line of march, each officer hav- ing position according to rank. Dudley, being the senior colonel, led the van. Hamilton met them, in this order, about five miles above the fort. Clay was in the thirteenth boat from the front. When Harrison's orders were delivered, he directed Dudley to take the twelve front boats and execute the commands of the chief con- cerning the British batteries, while he should press forward and perform the part as- signed to himself. Colonel Dudley executed his prescribed task most gallantly and successfully. The current was swift, and the shores were rough, but his detachment effected- a landing in fair order. They ascended to the plain on which Maumee City stands unobserved by the enemy, and were there formed for marching in three parallel columns, the right led by Dudley, the left by Major Shelby, and the centre, as a reserve, by Acting Major Morrison. Captain Combs, with thirty riflemen, including seven friendly In- dians, flanked in front full a hundred yards distant.' In this order they moved through the woods a mile and a half toward the British batteries, which were playing briskly upon Fort Meigs, when the columns were so disposed as to inclose the enemy iij a I At the reqnest of General Clay, Captain Combs famished him with minute information respecting the operations nnder Dudley, In a letter dated May 6, 1815. The writer has kindly furnished 'me with a copy of that letter, from which the main facts of this portion of the narrative have been drawn. 486 PICTOEIAL PIELD-BOOK Dndley half wins Victory, and loses it. Sad Result of Ze al and Hmnanity. Amerieansdefeated and made Prisoners. crescent, with every prospect of capturing the whole force. Dudley had failed to in- form his subalterns of his exact plans, and that remissness was a fatal mistake. Shel- by's column, hy his order, penetrated to a point between the batteries and the Brit- feh camp below, when the right column, led by Dudley in person, raised the horrid Indian yell, rushed forward, charged upon the enemy with wild vehemence, captured the heavy guns and spiked eleven of them without losing a man. The riflemen, meanwhile, had been attacked by the Indians, and, not aware of Dudley's designs, thought it their duty to fight instead of falling back upon the main body. This was the fatal mistake. The main object of the expedition was fully accomplished', a;l- though the batteries were not destroyed. The British flag was pulled down, and as it trailed to earth loud huzzas went up from the beleaguered fort. Harrison had watched the moment with intense interest from his chief battery, and when he saw the British flag lowered, he signaled Dudley to fall back to his boats and cross the river, according to explicit orders. Yet the victors lingered, and sharp firing was heard in the woods in the rear of the captured batteries. Harrison was indignant because of the disobedience. Lieutenant Campbell volunteered to carry a peremptory order across to Dudley to retreat, btit when he arrived the victory so gloriously won was changed into a sad defeat. Humanity had caused disobedienbe, and terrible was the penalty. At the moment when the batteries were taken, as we have just observed, Indians in ambush attacked Combs and his rifiemen. With quick and generous impulse, Dudley ordered them to be re-enforced. A greater part of the right and centre columns instantly rushed into the woods in considerable dis- order, accompanied by their Colonel. Thirty days in camp had given therii very little discipline. It was of little account at the outset, for, disorderly as they were, they soon put the Indians to flight, and relieved Combs and his little party. That work acconiplished, discipline should have ruled. It did not. Inipelled by the enthusiasm and confidence which is born of victory, and forgetful of all the maxims of prudence, they pursued the flying savages alniost to the British camp. Shelby's column still held possession of the batteries when this pursuit commenced, but the British artil- lerists, largely re-6nforced, and led by the gallant Captain Dixon, soon returned and recaptured them, taking some of the Kentuokians prisoners, and driving the others toward their boats. ^ Meanwhile the Indians had been re-enforced; and had turned fiercely upon Dudley. His men were in utter confusion, and all attempts at command were futile. Shelby had rallied thei remnant of his column and marched to the aid of Dudley, but he only participated in the confasion and flight.' The Kentuckians were scattered in every direction through the woods back of where Maumee City now Stands, making but feeble resistance, and exposed to the deadly fire of the 'skulking savages. The fiight became a rout, precipitate and disorderly, and a greater part of Dudley's command were killed or captured, after a contest of about three hours. Dudley, who was a heavy, fleshy man, was overtaken, tomahawked, and scalped, and his captive companions, including Captain Combs and his spies, were marched to old Fort Miami as prisoners 'of war. Of the eight hundred^ who followed him from the boats, only' one hundred and seventy escaped to Fort Meigs. ' I When Proctor was ajiprised of the approach of the detachment under Dndley, he supposed it to be the advance of the main American army, and he immediately recalled a large portion of his force on the eastern side of the river. About seven hundred Indians were among them, led by Tecumtha. They did not arrive in time to participate in the battle, but they allowed Proctor to send WrgB re-enforcements from his camp. = The exact number of officers and private soldiers were, of Dudley's regiment, 761 ; Boswell's, 60, and regulars 45^ total, 866.— Manuscript Reports among the Clay papers. ' = General Harrison censured Colonel Dudley's men in General Orders on the 9th of May, signed by John O'Fallon his acting assistant adjutant general. " It rarely occurs," he said, "that a general has to complain of the excessive ardor of his men, yet such appears always to be the case whenever the Kentucky militia are engaged. Indeed it is the source of all their misfortunes." After speaTtlhg of the rash act in pursuing the enemy, he remarked, " Such temer- ity, although not so disgraceful, is scarcely less fatal than cowardice." In a letterto Governor Shelby on the 18th Gen- eral Harrison censured Colonel Dudley. "Had he retteated,"he Said, " after taking the batteries, or had he made a disposition to retreat in case of defeat, all would have been well. He could have crossed the river, and even if hehad OS THE WAR OF 1812. 43^ Caay'8 Encoimter with the Indians. A Sallying-party and their FeiilB. A gaHant Messenger. While these tragic, scenes were transpirmg on the left bank of the river, others equally stirring were in progression in the vicinity of Fort Meigs. General Clay had attempted to land the six remaining boats under his command nearly opposite the place of Dudley's debarkation, but the swiftness of the current, swollen by the heavy rains, drove five of them ashore. The other, containing General Clay, with Captain Peter Dudley and fifty men, kept the stream, separated from the rest, and finally land- ed on the eastern bank of the river opposite to HoUister's Island. There they were assailed by musketry from a cloud of Indians on the left flank of the fort, and by round shot from the batteries opposite. Notwithstanding the great peril, Clay and his party returned the Indians' attack with spirit, and reached the fort without the loss of a man. Colonel Boswell's command in the other boats, consisting of a part of the battalions of Kentucky militia under Major William Johnson, and two other ^ S^^^ /^ companies of Kentucky levies, land- ^^(/^^ (o^ /C^ <^^^ CC'^'^tf'^tJ ed near Turkey Point. He was im- mediately ordered by Captain Hamilton, General Harrison's representative, to fight his way into the fort. The same Indians who assailed Clay disputed his passage. Boswell aiTanged his men in open order, marched boldly over the low plain,^ engaged the savages on the slopes and brow of the high plateau most gallantly, and reached the fort without sufiering very serious loss. There he was greeted by thanks and shouts of applause, and met by a sallying-party^ coming out to join him in an imme- diate attack upon that portion of the enemy with whom he had just been engaged, pursuant to Harrison's original plan of assailing the foe on both sides of the river at the same time. There was but a moment's delay. Boswell on the right. Major Al- exander and his volunteers on the left, and Major Johnson in the centre, was the or- der in which the party advanced against their dusky foe. They fell upon the sav- ages furiously, drove them half a mile into the woods at the point of the bayonet, and utterly routed them. In their zeal the victors were pursuing with a recklessness that, if continued, would have resulted in disaster like that which overwhelmed Dudley. Fortunately, General Harrison, always on the alert, had taken a stand, with a spy- glass, on one of his batteries, from which he could survey the whole field of opera- tions. He discovered a body of British and Indians gliding swiftly along the bor- ders of the woods to cut off the retreat of the pursuers, when he dispatched a volun- teer a,id (John T. Johnson, Esq.) to recall his troops. It was a perilous undertaking. The gallant aid-de-camp had a horse shot under him, but he succeeded in communi- cating the general's orders in time to allow the imperiled detachment to return with- out much loss. General Harrison now ordered a sortie from the fort against the enemy's ,works on the right, near the deep ravine. For this purpose three hundred and fifty men were lost one or two hundred men, he would have brought over a re-enforcement of six hundred, which would have enabled me to take the Whole British force on this side of the river." Harrison did not then know that Dudley had sacrificed the greater portion of his little army and Ms own life in the humane attempt to save Combs and his party from destruc- tion. Combs afterward called General Harrison's attention to the injustice of his censure. It was too late ; it had passed into history, and has been perpetuated by the pens of successive chroniclers. William Dudley was a citizen of Fayette County, Kentucky, at that time, but was a native of Spottsylvania County, Virginia. He was a magistrate in Kentucky for many years, and was highly esteemed. He was overtaken, as we have observed in the text, by the Indians, and shot in the body and thigh. When last seen he was sitting on a stump in a swamp, defending himself against a swarm of savages. He was finally killed, and his body was dreadfully mutilated. I was Informed by Abraham Miley, of Batavia, Ohio, who was in Fort Meigs at the time of the siege, that when the body of Dudley was found a large piece had been cut from the fleshy part of his thigh by the savages, which they doubt- less ate. » See picture on page 481, and note 3 qn the same page. s Composed of Pennsylvania and Virginia Volunteers (the former, except a small company, knovm as the fiUxymrg Bhtea, and the latter the Petersburg Vdhmteers), a company of the Nineteenth United States Hegiment under Captain Waring, and Captain Dudley's company, who had followed Clay into the fort. The Pittsburg Blues were commanded by Captain James Butler, son of the General Butler who fell at St. Clair's defeat in 1791. See pages 47 and 48. The Vir- ginians were under Captain M'Crea. 488 PICTOEIAL FIEED-BOOK Sortie from Fort Meigs. Proctor disheartened. He is deserted by his Pellow-savageSi detailed, and placed under the command of ColonelJolin.Miller,> of the regular serv- ice. They consisted of the companies of United States troops und«r Captains Lang- ham, Croghan, Bradford, Nearing,^ Elliott,^ and Gwynne,* and Lieutenant Campbell; Major Alexander's^ volunteers, and a company of Kentucky militia under Captain Se- bree.s Miller was accompanied by Major George Todd, of the Nineteenth Infantry, and led his command with the greatest bravery. They charged with the fiercest im- petuosity upon the motley foe, eight hundred and fifty strong, drove them from their batteries at the point of the bayonet, spiked their guns, and scattered them in confu- sion in the woods beyond the ravine toward the site of the present village of Perrys- burg. The enemy fought desperately, and Miller lost several of his brave men. At one moment the utter destruction of Sebree's company seemed inevitable. They were surrounded by four times their number of Indians, when Gwynne, of the Nineteenth, perceiving their perU, rushed to their rescue with a part of Elliott's company. They were saved. The object of the sortie was accomplished, and the: victors returned to the fort with forty-three prisoners, followed by the enemy, who had rallied in con- siderable force.' After these sorties on the 5th the siege of Fort Meigs was virtually abandoned by Proctor. The result of that day's fighting, combined with the iU success of all preceding efforts to reduce the fort, were so disheartening that his In- dian allies deserted him, and the Canadian militia turned their faces homeward. ^ The splendid Territory of Michi- gan had been promised to the Prophet as a reward for his services in the capture of Fort Meigs, and Tecumtha was to have the pei'son of General Harrison, whom he had hated intensely since the battle of Tippecanoe in 1 811, as his pe- culiar trophy. These prom- SIEGE OF FORT MEIGS. I Colonel of the Nineteenth Eegiment of Regulars. He was a native of Ohio, and was commissioned colonel on the 6th of July, 1812. He was transferred to the Seventeenth Infantry in May, 1814. In 1818 he left the army. He was gov- ernor of Missouri from 1828 to 1832, and a representative in Congress from 1837 to 1843. He died at Horisant, Missouri, on the 18th of March, 1846. ' Abel Nearing was from Connecticut. He survived the siege, but died on the 13th of September following from the effects of fever. 3 Captain Elliott was a nephew of the notorious Colonel Elliott in the British service, andtlien with Proctor, and of Captain Jesse Elliott, of the United States Navy, on Lake Erie at that time. ' David Gwynne, as first lieutenant and regimental paymaster, had accompanied Colonel J. B. Campbell against the Missiasinawa Towns (see page 346). He was made captain in March, 1813. In August he was made brigade m^'or to General M'Arthur, and in 1814 was raised to ma jor of riflemen. He left the army in 1816, and died near St. Louis in 1849. = Major Alexander was a brave officer. He commanded a rifle company, Pennsylvania Volunteers, in Campbell's ex- pedition against the Mississinawa towns in December, 1812. n Uriel Sebree was a captain in Scott's Kentucky Volunteers in August, 1812, and was with Miy or Madison at French- ' ■• town, nnder Winchester. He was a gallant officer. ' The Americans lost in this sortie 28 killed and 25 wounded.— JIfS. Report. ' "I bad not the option ofretaining my position on the Miami. Half of the militia had left ns. . . . Before the ord- nance could be withdrawn from the batteries I was left with Tecumtha and less than twenty chiefe and warriors— a circumstance which strongly proves that, wnder present circumstances at least, our Indian force is not a dispoaaile one, or permanent, tlwugh occasionaUy a moat powerful o«i."— Proctor's Dispatch to Governor Prevost. In his dispatch to Sir George Prevost from Sandwich on the 14th of May Proctor fairly acknowledged himself defeat- ed, and, admitting that he had no data for judging how many the Americans had lost in killed, " conceived" the num- ber to have been between a thousand and twelve hundred ; whereupon Sir George deceived the Canadians and falsified history by asserting, in a General Order, hp had " great satisfaction in announcing to the troops the brilliant result of an action which took place on the banks of the Miami River,"' and " which terminated in the complete defeat of the me- my, and capture, dispersion, or destruction of thirteen hundred men 1" By a comparison of the most reliable accounts Oi' THE WAR OF 18 12. 439 flight of the British and Indians. Massacre of Prisoners at Fort Miami. Tecumtha's Hebuke of Proctor. ises were all unfulfilled. The Indians left in disgust, and probably nothing but Te- cumtha's commission and pay as brigadier in the British army secured his farther services in the cause. Proctor's eyes saw his savage allies leaving him and his Canadian militia discon- tented, and his ears heard the startling intelligence that Fort George, on the Niagara frontier, was in the hands of the Americans, and "that re-enforcements were coming from Ohio for the little army at Fort Meigs.' He saw nothing before him, if he re- mained, but the capture or dispersion of his troops and he resolved to flee. With the design of concealing this fact that he might move off with safety, he again sent Captain Chambers to denj3,nd the surrender of the fort. Harrison regarded the ab- surd message as an intended insult, and requested that it shouWf not be repeated. It was the last friendly communication between the belligerents.^ Proctor attempted to bear away from his batteries his unharmed cannon, but a few shots from Fort Meigs made him withdraw speedily. A parting response in kind from one of his gun-boats, in return, slew several, among them Lieutenant Robert Walker, of the Pittsburg returned to Amherstburg Blues, whose grave may yet ^ ^ with the remains of his lit- he identified within the re- ^8Kj^^"<^L^ ^kilL^J ^^^ ■ ^^^J' leaving behind mains of the fort by a plain, ^^^H^I^^M^^^ him a record of iniimy on rough stone, with a simple ^^MW^ "'^ fiMB^g' the shores of that stream inscription, that stands at ^¥^-^ y i g iii f tlliiii i HP^ ^^ *^® wilderness equal in its head. 3 This was the last j^^^^^^S^S^k^ blactoess to that upon the life lost in the siege. In the ^^^^^^^^Bpl^w- banks of the Raisin.* Here, same vessels that brought '**^P™*''S'*'*'"^" ' in few words, is the record, hun to the Maumee, Proctor attested by Captam Wood, - of the Engineers, and others.^ On the surrender, of Dudley's command the prisoners were marched down to Fort Miami with an escort, and there, under the eye of Prbo- tor and his officers, the Indians, who had already plundered them and murdered many on the way,^ were allowed to shoot, tomahawk, and scalp more than twenty of them. This butchery was stopped by Teoumtha, who proved himself to be more humane than his British ally and brothcK officer, Henry Proctor.'' on both sides, the loss of the Americans during the: siege.' may;fairly, it seems, be- put down at about 80 killed, 270wotind- ed, and 470 prisoners. The British loss was 15 killed, 47 wounded, and 44 made prisoners. ' We have observed (page 478) that Peter Navarre was sent from Port Meigs with a letter to the Governor of Ohio. That energetic man immediately sent messengers in all directions for volunteers, and he was very soon on his way to the relief of the beleaguered garrison. His march was arrested by the flight of the besiegers* 2 Harrison's dispatches to the Secretary of War, May 9, 1813 ; Proctor's dispatch to Sir George Prevost, May 14; 1813 ; M'Afee's History of the Late War; Perkins's and Thomson's Sketches, etc. ; Captain Wood's Narrative, cited by M'Afee-; Major Richardson's Narrative ; Auchinleck's BMmry qf the War of 1812 ; General Clay's Letter to General Harrison, May 13, 1813 ; Captain Combs's Letter to General Ciay, May 5, 1815 ; General Harrison to Governor Shelby, May 18, 1813 ; Armstrong's ISotuiea of the War of 1812 ; Onderdonk's MS. Life of Teawmaeh; Speech of Eleutheros Cook, Esq., of San- . dusky City, at Fort Meigs, June 11, 1840 ; Narratives of Eev. A. M. Lorraine and Joseph E. Underwood, eyewitnessesj quoted by Howe ; Hosmer's Early History of the- Mavmiee Valley; oral statements to the Author by Peter Navarre. 3 The little monument, which contained only the words. Lieutenant Walker, May 9, 1813, had been greatly mutilated, when I visifed the- spot in the autumu.of 1860, by relic-seekers, those modem iconoclasts whose business, when thus pursued, is simply infamous. The remains of the stone, as delineated in the picture, was only about five inches abdve the ground. It is of limestone, and was wrought by a stone-cutter in the garrison not long after his buiial. A few rods east of it is the grave of Lieutenant M'Culloch, who was killed during the summer by Indians while out hunting. * See the close of Chapter XVII. 5 In Howe's Bistoriad Collections of Ohio, page 533, may be found a very interesting narrative of the horrid events at ^ Fort Miami, by Joseph E. Underwood, who was present. It is more circumstantial than the letter of Captain Combs to General Clay, mentioned below. ^ « Major Richardson, of the British army, who wrote an account of events under Brock and Proctor in the West, says that the Indians who made the attack, in spite of the efforts of the guard, were some who had taken no part in the bat- tle. "An old and excellent soldier,"he says,!'of the name 01 Eussell, of the Forty-flrst, was shot through the heart while endeavoring to wrest a victim from the grasp of his assailant." ' Major Eichardson, just quoted, says, in speaking of the massacre : "More than forty of these unhappy men had fall- en beneath the steel of the infuriated party, when Tecumtha, apprised of what was doing, rode up at full speed, and, raiding his tomahawk, threatened to destroy the first man who resisted his injunction to desist. General Leslie Combs, then, as we have seen, a captain of spies, and one of the prisoners, in a letter to General Clay, already alluded to, gave a very particular account of the affah-. A copy of that letter, farnished by General Combs in 1861 is before me. He says that the prisoners, on their march toward Port Meigs,' met a body of Indians, who, in the 490 PICTOEIAI. FIELD-BOOK A Visit to the Maumee Valley. Interesting traveling Companions. Peter Navarre. I visited tlie theatre of events just de- scribed, on the 24th of September, 1860, and had the singular good fortune to be accompanied by L. H. Hosmer, Esq., of To- ledo, author of The, Early EUstory of the- Maumee, Valley, and the venerable Peter Navarre (a Canadian Frenchman), General Harrison's trusty scout, already mention^ ed.' Navarre resided about *vrenty miles: from Toledo, and had come into the city: on business two or tHtee days before. Mr. Hosmer, aware of my intended visit at -that time, had kindly detained him until myari ' rival. Only tw'o days beforfe, I had enjoyed a, long conversation iat the " West House,", in Sandusky. Gity,: with General Leslie CombSj'who had just/ visited Fort Meigs for tbe first tinie since he Was there as a soldier and .prisoner in 1813. That visit had recalled the incidents of the campaign most vividly to his mind, and he related them to me with his usual enthusiasm and perspicuity. With thg soldier's description in my memory, and the historian and scout at my side, I visited Fort Meigs and its historical surroundings under the most favorable circumstances. The night of my arrival at Toledo had been a tempestuous one — wind, lightning, rain, and a sprinkle of hail. The following morning was clear and cool, with a blus- tering wind from the southwest. We left the city for our ride up the Maumee Val- ley at nine o'clock, in a light carriage and a strong team of horses. Mr. Hosmer vol- unteered to be coachman. Our road lay on the right side of the river ; and when nearly seven miles from Toledo we came to the site of Proctor's encampment, on a level plateau a short distance from the Maumee, upon land owned, when we visited PET££ MATABBE. presence and without the interference of General Proctor, Colonel Slliott, and other oificers, as well as the British guard, commenced robhing the captives of clothes, money, watches, etc Combs showed his wound as a plea for con- sideration, but without effect. He too was stripped. As they passed on, the prisoners saw ten or twelve dead men, naked and scalped, and near them two lines of Indians were, formed from the entrance of a triangular ditch in ftont to the old gate of the fort, a distance of forty or fifty feet Between these the prisoners were compelled to run the gaunt- let, and in that race many were killed or maimed with pistols, war-clubs, scalping-knives, and tomahawks. The nuin- ber of prisoners thus slaughtered, without Proctor's attempt at interference, was estimated at a number nearly, if not quite equal to those slain in battle. When the sm'viving prisoners were all inside, the savages raised the war-whoop and commenced loading their guns. The massacre already accomplished, and this preparation for a renewal of it, were made known to Tecumtha, who has- tened to the fort with all the rapidity of his horse's speed, and, more humane than his white ally, instantly interposed and saved the lives of the remainder. Elliott then rode iuj waved his sword, and the savages retired. Drake, in his I/ife of Teeumtha, says that the warrior authoritaively demanded, "Where is General Proctor 1" Seeing him near, he sternly inquired of him why he had not put a stop to the massacre. " Your Indians can not be command- ed," replied Proctor, who trembled with fear in the presence of the enrag>ed chief. "Begone I" retorted Tecumtha, in perfect disdain. " You are unilt to command ; go and put on petticoats I" The half-naked prisoners were taken in a cold rain-storm that night, in open boats, to the mouth of Swan Creek, and thence to Maiden. After a brief confinement there they were sent across the river, and at the mouth of the Huron were left to find their way to the nearest settlement in Ohio, fifty miles distant. 1 Peter Navarre was a grandson of Robert Navarre, a French oflticer who came to America in 1T45. He settled at De- troit, and there Peter was bom about the year 1T90, and, with his father and family, settled at the month of the Maumee in 1807. At that time Kan^-t^uik-es-riun, the widow of Pontiac, was living there with her son, Otuasa. She was very old, and was held in great reverence. Navarre was at the Prophet's Town, on the Wabash, with a French trader, when Har- rison arrived there just before the battle of Tippecanoe, but escaped. He joined Hull's army at the Kapids, was with him atDetroit, and, after the surrender, returned to the Baisin and enlisted in Colonel Anderson's regiment. He was there when Brock was ordered to surrender (see page 291), but was afterward compelled to accompany the British as a guide up the Maumee, where, as we have seen, he deserted and fled to Winchester's camp. He was an eyewitness of the massacre at the River Raisin. After that, Navarre and his brothers were employed as scouts, and performed ex- cellent sei-vice. He is a stout-built man, of dark complexion, and is now [1867] about eighty years of age. He speaks English Imperfectly, as the Canadian French usually do. The above portrait is flam a daguerreotype taken in Toledo when he was about seventy years of age, and kindly presented to me by Mr. Hosmer. OF THE WAE OF 1815: 491 Eemains of Fort Miami. Manmee City and its historical Elm-tree. Fresque Isle Hill. BTTINS OF rOKT MIAMI. It, by Henry W. Hoi-ton. Across a small ravine, a few rods farther southward, were the remains of old Port Mjami, famous, as we have seen^ in "Wayne's time, as one of the outposts of the British, impudently erected in the Indian country within -the acknowledged' territory of the United States. ^ It was upon the land of Benjamin Starbird, whose, dwelling was just beyond the south- ern side of the fort. It was a regular work, and covered about two acres of land. The embankments were from fif- teen to twenty feet in heiglit. They were covered with heavy sward, and fine hon- ey-loouBt and hickory trees were growing upon them. These were in full leaf, and the grass was very green, when we were there. From the northwest angle of the fort I made the aceonlpany- ing sketch, which includes the general appearance of the mounds. On the right is seen a bam, which stands within the triangular outwork, at the sa,lly-port mentioned by Captain Combs in his narrative, substantially given in Note 1, page 489, where he was compelled to run the gauntlet for his life ; and on the left a glimpse of the Mau- mee. All about the old fort is now quiet. For more than fifty years peace has smiled upon the Maumee Valley ; and Proctor and Teoumtha, Elliott and The Prophet, and the other savages of the war, white and red, are almost forgotten, except by' those families who sufiered from their cruelty. From Fort Miami we rode up to Maumee City, opposite Fort Meigs, a pleasant lit- tle village of about two thousand inhabitants, situated at the head of river-naviga- tion, eight iniles from Toledo. It is the capital of Lucas County, Ohio, and Was laid out in 1 817 by Major William Oliver and others, within a reservation of twelve miles square. The bank of the river; curving gracefully inward here, is almost one hund- red feet in height. Nearly opposite lies the little village of Perrysburg, and between them is a fertile, cultivated island of two hundred acres, with smaller islands around it. Directly in front are seen the mounds of Fort Meigs and a forest back of them; and up the Maumee are the considerable islands known respectively as HoUister's and Button wood, or Peninsula. The latter view is delineated in the sketch on the next page, taken from the main road along the brow of the river bank in front of the village. In it is seen the magnificent elm-trge that stood near the old " Jefierson Tavern ;" and in the middle, in the distance, over HoUister's Island, is seen Turkey Point, memorable in connection with the adventures of Combs and the landing of Bos well. That elm is famous. We have observed that, at the beginning ■ of the siege', the Water used by the garrison was taken from the river at great risk. From the thick foliage (jf this elm several bullets from rifles in the hands of Indians Went oh death-errands across the. river to the water-carriers. These were returned by Kentucky riflemen, and tradition says that not less than six savages were brought to the ground out of that tree by those sharp-shooters. From Maumee City we rode three miles up to Presque Isle HilP (the scene of Wayne's operations), wandered, over the battle-ground of The Fallen Tiniber,^ and 1 See page 54. 2 See page 65. 3 See Map-on page 65. 492 BemainB of Fort Meigs. PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The Well. Political Eeminiscenoes. sketched Turkey-Foot's Rock, given on page 55. "We then returned to the bridges (com- mon carriage and railway bridge), and crossed to Fort Meigs, the form of which we found dis- tinctly marked by the mounds of earth. That of the Grand Traverse^ was from four to six feet in height, and all were covered with green sward. The fort originally included about ten acres, but was somewhat reduced in size before the second siege, which we shall no- tice presently. The places of the block- houses were visible, and the situation of the well, near the most easterly angle of the fort, was marked by a shallow pit, and a log in an upright position, seven or eight feet in height ^ UP THE MATIMEE, FEOM MAUMEE OITY. On leaving the fort we strolled along the ravine on its right and rear to the site of the British battery captured by Colonel Miller. There yet stood the primeval for- est-trees — the very woods in which Tecumtha and his Indians were concealed. A lit^ie brook was flowing peacefully throjigh the shallow glen, and the high wind that 1 See Plan of Fort Meigs. on page 484. 2 That log has a history. In 1840, General Harrison, then living at North Bend, on the Ohio, was nominated for President of the United States. It was said that the hero lived in a log cabin, was very hospitable, and was ever ready to give the traveler a draught of hard cider. Politicians, who are al- ways anxious to find something to charm the popular mind, took the hint, and when the partisans of the general, during the political canvass that en- ■ sued, held large meetings, they erected a log cabin, and had a barrel of cider for the refreshment of all corners.' In a short time there were log cabins in eyery city arid village in the land. The partisans of the general made a cap- ital " hit," and he was elected by an overwhelming majority. Dui-ing that ^^^^^ canvass a mass meeting of his' partisans in Northern Ohio was appointed to \ .3^ ^^^''^^^^^^3^^!^V^ ■ ^^ "^^^ at Fort Meigs, and, on the .day previous to the time appointed for it, Jlaj^ffi a^V^^4' ci''3^^(^ P^ '"SS were taKen there for the purpose of building a cabin. On that night , some political opponents in the neighborhood spoiled the logs by sawing them in two. The cabin-building was abandoned. One of the logs was placed in an upright position in the nearly-filled old well, a large hole was bored in the end, a small pole was inserted, and upon it was raised a banner before the eyes of the assembled multitude,* having on it a rude picture of a man sawing a log, and the words "logo pooo zeal." In those days the Dem- ocratic party were called Loco Focos, the origin of which name was as follows : A faction of the Democratic party met to organize in the city of New York, when some opponents suddenly turned off the gas. This trick had been played be- fore, and they were prepared. In an instant loco foco matches were produced from their pockets, and the gas-lamps relighted. From that time they were called the Loco Foco Party, and it became the general name, in derision, of the whole Democratic party. * This meeting was held on the 11th day of Jane. It was estimated that forty thousand persons were present. The orator of the day was Eleutheros Cooke, Bsij., of Sandusky City. The Reverend Mr. Badeau, the clergyman who offi- ciated, was the chaplain of Harrison's army, and in the fort at the siege. WELL AT POET MEIOS. OF THE WAK OF 1812. 493 Visit to Fort Meigs and its Vicinity. Journey back to Toledo. Adieu to the Gaide and Historian. made the great trees rock was scarcely felt in the quiet nook. There we three — his- torian, scout, and traveler— had a " picnic" on food brought from Toledo, and clear water from the brook,- and at one o'clock we departed for the city, passing down the right bank of the Maumee. Just after leaving the fort we rode through Perrysburg, a pleasant village about the size of Maumee City, and the capital of Wood County, Ohio. It was laid out in 1816, and named in honor of the gallant victor on Lake Erie three years before. When we arrived at the ferry station opposit'e Toledo, the boat had ceased running because of low water. The wind had been blowing stiffly toward the lake all day, and expelled so much water from the river that the boat grounded in attempting to ■ cross, so we left our team to be sent for, were borne over in a skiff at the moderate price of three cents apiece, and were at the " Oliver House" in time for a late 'dinner, and a stroll about the really fine little city of Toledo^ before sunset. At that hour I parted compaify w:ith Mr. Navarre, with heartfelt thanks for his services, for he had been an authentic and intelligent guide to every place of interest at and around Fort Meigs. , I spent a portion of "the evening with General John E.Hunt (a brother-m- law of General Cass),, who was bom in Fort Wayne in 1198. . His father was an offi- cer under General Wayne at the capture of Stony Point, on the Hudson, in 1779, and composed one of the " forlorn hope" on that occasion. Although General Hunt was only a boy at the time, he was attached to General Hull's military family during the entire campaign Which ended so disastrously at Detroit at midsummer. . At ten o'clock in the evening I bade gOod-by to kind Mr. Hosmer, and went up the Maumee Valley by railway to Defiance, where I landed at midnight, as already men- tioned;^ in a chilling fog; ' Toledo is on tlie left bank of the Manmee Eiver, near its entrance into Maumee Bay, at the lake terminus of the Wabash and Erie Canal. It covers the site of Port Industry, a stockade erected there about the year 1800, near what is now Summit Street. It stretches along tbe river for nearly a mile and a half, and .the business was originally concen- trated at two points, which were two distinct settlements, known respectively as Port Lawrence and Vistula. Toledo was incorporated as a city in 1836, and has now [1867] almost twenty thousand inhabitants. Little more than thirty years ago Ohio and Michigan disputed firmly for the possession of Toledo— a prize worth contending for, for it is a port of great importance. They armed, and an inter-state war seemed inevitable for a while. It was finally settled'by Con- gress, and Toledo is vrithin the boundaries of Ohio. For a full account of this " war," see Howe's Historical Collections ' of Ohio, and Major Stickney's narrative in Hosmer's Early History of the Maumee Valley. ' See page 332. 494 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK HarriBon'B ProTision Spr tlie frontier Defense. At his Head-quarterB in Ohio. Colonel Johnson's propoaed Campaign; CHAPTER XXIV. 'Sound, oh sound CoIumbia's.Bhell ! High the thundering psean raise ! Let the echoing bugle's swell, Loudly, answering, sound his praise I 'Tis Sandnsky's> warlike boy, Crowned with Victory's trophies, comes ! High arise, ye shouts of joy, Sound the joud triumphant sound. And beat the drams." 0. L. S. Jokes. S soon as General Harrison was certain that Proctor had abandoned the attempt to gain possession of the Maumee Valley and had re- turned to Maiden, he placed the command of the troops at Port Meigs in charge of the competent General Clay, and started for Lower Sandusky and the interior, to make provision for the de- fense of the Erie frontier against the exasperated foe. He left^ the fort under an escort of cavalry commanded by Major Ball, whose horses had been sheltered by the traverses during the siege.- He arrived at Lower Sandusky on the 12th of May, where he met Governor Meigs with a large body of Ohio volunteers pressing forward to his relief Believing that their services would not be needed immediate- ly, he thanked them cordially for their promptness and zeal, and directed them to be disbanded. He then hastened toward Cleveland, and ordered the country along the shores of Lake Erie, from the Maumee to the Cuyahoga, to be thoroughly reconnoi- tred. Having thus provided for the immediate safety of the frontier settlements, he took up his quarters again at Franklinton, and inaugurated measures for meeting the future exigencies of the service in that region by the establishment of military posts not far from the lake, one of the most important of which was at Lower Sandusky. The general was delighted with the evidences of spirit, courage, and patriotism that appeared on every side. The Ohio settlements were alive with enthusiasm. The advance of Proctor had spread general alarm throughout the state, and hundreds, discerning the peril that menaced their homes, had hastened to the field at the call of the patriotic Governor Meigs. These revelations of strength and will assured Harrison that when he should call for aid, the sons of Ohio would immediately ap- pear in power. While these events were occurring in. the extreme Northwest, the naval prepara- tions were going on vigorously at Presque Isle (Erie), and another and efficient arm of the service had been created, or rather materially strengthened. Richard M. John- son, a representative of Kentucky in Congress, who had been with Harrison the pre- vious autumn, had proposed to the Secretary of War the raising of a regiment of mounted men in his state, to traverse the Indian country from Port Wayne along the upper end of Lake Michigan, round by the Illinois River, and back to. the Ohio near •1813 ■'-'''"isTiUe. The secretary approved the plan, and early in January* laid it before Harrison. The general perceived its utter impracticability in winter. Campbell's expedition to the Mississiniwa Towns^ had taught him that. " Such an expedition in the summer and fall," he said, " would be highly advantageous, because the Indians are then at their towns, and their 'com can be destroyed. An attack upon ' See page 347. OF THE WAR OE 1812. 495 JohnBon-B Monnted Kentockians. Diaaatiafaction ofthe Volnnteers. Proct or and the Indiana. a particular town in the winter, when the inhabitants are at it, as we know they are at Mississiniwa, and which is so near as to enable the detachment to reach it with- out killing their horses, is not only practicable, but, if the snow is on the ground, is perhaps the niost favorable. But the expedition is impracticable to the extent pro- posed. "* The projected incursion was abandoned, but Johnson was authorized" . pebmary 26 to raise a full regiment of mounted men in Kentucky, to serve under Gen- i^is. eral Harrison. As soon as Congress adjourned, he hastened homeward and entered zealously upon the busiaess of recruiting. He published his authority with a stirring address." The regiment was soon raised ; and toward the close of May, Johnson was at the head, of several companies, on their way to the appoint- ' ^*'°'' ^^' ed general rendezvous at Newport, opposits Cincinnati, when a note from one of General Harrison's aids was handed to him. It had already been read to the, com- manders of the advanced companies, and produced the greatest dissatisfaction among the troops. After thanking all patriotic citizens who had taken up arms in defense of the country in general terms, the note assured them that as the enemy had " fled with precipitancy from Camp Meigs," there was no " present necessity for their longer continuance, in the field." Disappointment, chagrin, anger, and depression took the place of patriotic zeal for a moment; but Johnson soon allayed these feelings. He did not choose to regard the note as an order for disbanding his troops, and he pressed forward to Newport. There he met General Harrison, when arrangements were made for the regiment to enter the United States service, to traverse a portion of the Indian country according to Johnson's original plan, and to rendezvous at Fort Vinchsster on the 18th of June. It was believed that the fleet on Lake Erie, designed to co-op- erate with the army, would be ready at that time for a movement against Maiden and Detroit. The regiment arrived at Dayton on the 28th of May, and there the final organization was completed.^ Under the brave Johnson that regiment performed im- portant service.' Proctor appears to have been disbeartened, for the moment, by his failure before Fort Meigs, and on his return to Maiden he disbanded the Canadian militia, and tan- toned the Indians at difierent places in the neighborhood. Some of them were em- ployed as scouts, others hunted, but the most of them lived upon rations furnished by the British commissariat. Meanwhile British emissaries, white and red, were busy among the tribes of the Northwest, stirring them up to make war on the Aiiiericans. A Scotchman and Indian trader, named Dickson, was one of the most efficient of these agents. He was sent, before Proctor moved for the invasion of the Maumee Valley, 1 General Harrison's Letter to the War Department, January 4, 1813. ' Hichard M. Johnson was appointed Colonel; James Johnson, lAeMtenant Coloml; Duval Payne and David Thomp- son, Majors; R. B. M'Afee (the author of a History of the Wa/r in the West, already quoted frequently), Richard Matson, Jacob EUiston, Benjamin Warfleld, John Payne, Diyah Craig, Jacob Stucker, James Davidson, S. E. Combs, W. M. Price, and James Coleman, Captains; Jeremiah Kertly, Adjiitant; B. S. Chambers, (Quarter-mast^; Samuel Theobalds, Judge Advocate; L. Dickinson, Sergeamt^major ; James Suggett, Chaplain and Major of (he Spies; L. Sandford, Quarter- master general; Doctors Ewing, Cobuni, and Richardson, Swgeov£, ' Richard Mentor Johnson was born at Bryant's Station, five miles northeast of Lexington, Kentucky, on the 17th of October, 1781. At the age of fifteen years he acquired the rudiments ofthe Latin language, and then entered Transylvania University as a student. His mental and physical energies were remarkable. He chose the law / / ■ // jf jW • / / ^^^ ^ 1 for a profession, and he soon took a conspicuous place // J/n, ',^1^1^ S^'w ^lyt"^!^ ^~#^'^' in that avocation. During the excitement in the South- west at the beginning of the present century, when hostilities between the Spaniards at New Ojleans and the settlers ofthe Mississippi Valley seemed imminent, young Johnson took an active part, and volunteered, with others, to make an armed descent on New Orleana. Before he was twenty-two years of age he was elected to a seat in the Kentucky Legislature, where he served two years. He was elected to Congress in 1807, and took his seat when he was just twenty-flve years of age. He took a prominent posi- tion from the beginning. He held that seat by continued re-election until 1819. In the debates in Congress and move- ments in the field he was very active during the Second War for Independence. These will find proper notice in the text. When, in 1819, Colonel Johnson retired from Congress, he was immediately elected to a seat in the Kentucky Legislature. He was chosen a representative of his state in the Senate of the United States, where he served his coantry faithiblly '^'^fyU^-H 496 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Dickson and Us Savages. Tecnmtha restive in Inaction. Fort Meigs to Ve again attacked. to visit all the tribes for that purpose on the Illiiiois and Mississippi Rivers, from Prairie du Chieh to Green Bay, making desolated Chicago the grand rendezvous for his savage recruits. There he had collected more than one thousand of them early in June." He marched them across Michigan to Detroit, and barely missed falling in with Colonel Johnson and his mounted men at White Pigeon's Town on the way.' His influence had been such that the Indians were incited to many acts of violence in the Territories of Illinois and Missouri.' They were even so bold as to invest Fort Madison, and at one time it was apprehended that the powerful Osage nation would rise in open war against the Western frontier. But that calam- ity was arrested by prompt measures in Illinois and Missouri. Tecumtha had not ceased, since their return to Maiden, to urge Proctor to renew the attempt to take Fort Meigs. Proctor was reluctant ; but, toward the close of June, he consented, andan expedition was organized for the purpose. At about that time, a Frenchman, taken prisoner on the field of Dudley's defeat, and kept at Mai- den ever since,. escaped. As the enemy suspected, he fled to Fort Meigs, and inform- ed General Clay of the preparations to attack him. Clay immediately communicated the fact to Harrison at Franklinton, and Governor Meigs at Chillicothe. It was ru- mored that the expected invading force was composed of nearly four thousand In- dians and some regulars from the Niagara frontier. The vigilant Harrison was quickly in the saddle. He did not believe Fort Meigs to be the object of attack, but the weaker posts of Lower Sandusky, Cleveland, or Eiie. He ordered the Twenty- fourth Regiment of United States Infantry, under Colonel Anderson, then at Upper Sandusky, to proceed immediately to Lower Sandusky. -Major Croghan, with a part of the Seventeenth, was ordered to the same post, and also Colonel Ball with his squadron of cavalry.^ Harrison followed, and on the evening of the 26th he over- ten years. Tlien [18292 he again took a seat in the Lower Honse, and held that position until 1837, when, having been elected Vice- president of the United States, he took his place as President of the Senate. At the end of his official term he retired from pub- lic life, and passed the remain- der of his days on his farm in Scott County, Kentucky, except- ing a brief period, when he was again in the Legislature of that state. While engaged in that service at Frankfort, he was prostrated by paralysis, and ex- pii'ed on the 15th of November, 1850. In the cemetery near Frankfort, Kentucky, is a splen- did monument erected to the memory of soldiers of the Com- monwealth who had fallen in battle. Within its inclosure is a beautiful monument, made of slightly clouded Italian marble, to the memory of Colonel John- son, bearing the following in- scriptions: on one side of the pedestal, "Etohabd Mbntob JoHNSOK, born at Bryant's Sta- tion, Kentucky, on the ITth day of October, 1781 ; died in Frank- fort, Kentucky, on the 15th of sented by eyewitnesses as being the most savage and cruel in their nature. i^ock, whose girdle was covered with human scalps as trophies of his prowess, JOHNSON S MONTTMENT. November, 1850." On the oppo- site side: "To the memory of Colonel Richard M. Johnson, a faithful public servant for near- ly half a century, as a member of the Kentucky Legislature, and Representative and Senator in Congress; author of the Sun- day Mail Report, and of the laws for abolishing imprisonment for debt in Kentucky and in the United States. Distinguished by his valor as colonel of a Ken- tucky regiment at the battle of the Thames. For four years Vice-president of the United States. Kentucky, his native state, to mark her sense of his eminent services in the cabinet and in the field, has erected this monument in the resting-place of her illustrious dead." On the northeast side of the pedestal is abnst of Johnson in low relief; and on the southwest side an historical group, in the same style, iu which he is repre- sented as shooting Tecumtha at the battle of the Thames. Some remarks on that subject will be found in our account of that bat- tle. 1 Dickson's recruits are repre- The principal chief among them was Ma- ■ ' It is remarkable," says M'Afee, 'that after the savages joined the British standard to combat fdr ' the Defenders of the Faith,' victory never asain A^ clared for the allies in the Northwest. For the cruelties they had already committed, and those which were threat ened by this inhuman association, a just God frowned indignant on all their subsequent operations "-Bixi^, nfthl Late ITor, page 298. t- =. a^^mrry oj me ■■> General Harrison had just held an important council with the Shawnoese, Delaware, Wyandot, and Seneca Indians OF THK WAK OF 1812. 497 Johnson's Reconnoiasapce to the Raisin. A t Fort Stephenson. Departure for the Wilderness, and Recall: took Colonel Anderson. Scouts had reported the appearance of numerous Indians on the Lower Maumee, and the general selected three hundred men to make a forced march to Fort Meigs. He arrived there himself on the; 28th, and then ordered Col- onel Johnson, who had come down from Fort Winchester with his seven hundred men after forty days of hard service in traversing the Wilderness, to make a recon- noissance toward the Raisin to procure intelligence. Obedience followed command. The movement was successful. Johnson ascertained that there was no immediate danger of an invasion from Maiden in force. Satisfied of this, Harrison left Fort Meigs on the 1st of July, escorted by seventy mounted men under Captain M'Afee as far as Lower Sandusky. From there he went to Cleveland, escorted by Colonel Ball, to make farther defensive provisions. There he left Ball and his cavalry in charge, and returned to his head-quarters after ordering Colonel Johnson, with his mounted men, to take post at the Huron River. That efiicient officer again prompt- ly obeyed. He arrived at Lower Sandusky on the 4th of July. Flags were flymg, and music filled the air. The garrison of Fort Stephenson,^ under Major Croghan, were abdut to celebrate the day with appropriate ceremonies, and, at their request, Colonel Johnson delivered a patriotic oration. Toasts were given, and good cheer abounded. But duty called from pleasure, and the mounted men resumed their sad- dles to press onward to the Huron. An order from the War Department arrested them. Johnson was directed to turn back, and hasten to the defense of the Illinois and Missouri Territories, then, in the opinion of the authorities there, seriously "men- aced by Dickson and his savage followers. He was disappointed and mortified ; but, after writing to Harrison expressing his strong desire to remain in the army destined for Detroit and Maiden, he turned his horse's head again toward the Wilderness. The commander-in-chief urged the Department to comply with Johnson's wishes, as- suring the Secretary that Dickson's savages were on the Detroit. The order was countermanded, and, when far on his way toward the Mississippi as an obedient sol- dier, Johnson was recalled. ■ It was well for' the country that he was left to serve under the direct command of General Harrison at that time. Late in July the British had collected :on the banks of the Detroit nearly all of the warriors of the Northwest, full "twenty-five hundred in number. These, with Proc- tor's motley forqe already there,^ made an army of about five thousand men. Early in the month bands of Indians.began to appear in the vicinity of Fort Meigs, killing and plundering whenever opportunity offered. Tecumtha, meanwhile, had become at his head-quarters at Franklinton. Circumstances had made him suspect their fidelity to their promises of strict neu- trality. It was a crisis when all should be made plain. He required them to take a decided stand for or against the Americans ; to remove their families into the interior, or the warriors must accompany him in the ensuing campaign, and fight for the United States. The venerable Ta-he, who was the acknowledged representative of them all, assured the general of their unflinching friendship, and'that'the chiefs and warriors were anxious to take part in the campaign. He accepted their assurances as true, and told Ihem-he would let them know when he wanted them. " But," he said, "you must conform to our mode of warfare. 'You are not to kill defenseless prisoners, old men, women, or children. By your good conduct I shall be able to tell whether the British can restrain their Indians if they wish to do so." He then told them that'he had heard of Proctor's promise to deliver him into the hands offecumtha. "Now,"he said, jocularly, " if I can succeed in taking Proctor, you, shalLhave him for your pjisoner, provided you will treat him as a squaw, and only put petticoats upon him, for he must be a coward who would kill a defenseless prisoner." 1 Port Stephenson was erected in the summer of 1812. Lower Sandusky (now the village of Fremont) was a mere trading-post, the only buildings being a government store and a Roman Catholic mission-house in charge of two priests. Thomas Butler, who had been in Wayne's;arroy, was charged with the duty of selecting the site and superintending the constraction of a stockade at that plaice.; He drew the lines of the fort around the store-house, about one hundred yards in one direction, and about fifty yards in the other. The men employed in the work were a company under Cap- tain. Norton, of Connecticut, who were ordered to Lower Sandusky by Governor Meigs for the purpose. Sergeant Eras- tns Bowe, of Tiflln, Ohio, one of the three known survivors of the detachment in 1860, was the first to break ground, saying, " Captain, I don't think there will be much fighting here, but I believe I will make a hole here." His remark was/ caused by the general belief that the British would never be able to penetrate so far. The pickets for the fort were cut near the present railway station, and in the course of twenty-five days they were all set. A block-house was constructed on the northeast corner, and another in the middle of the north side of the fort. Croghan strengthened the fort in the summer of 1813 by the erection of two more block-houses, one of which was built against the middle block- house on the north side, and the other on the southwest comer. He also constructed an embankment and ditch, and in the block-house on the northeast angle placed his six-pounder.— Stafemm* of Erastua Bowe in the "Sani'mk!/ Demo- crat," July 11, 1860. The other two known survivors of the constructors of the fort at that time were Samuel Scribner, of Marion, and Ira Carpenter, of Delaware, Ohio. Ti 498 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Tecnmtha'B Plan for Captuiing Port Meigs. Vigilance of the Americans. The Attempt a Failure. very restive under the restraints of inaction, especially when he saw so large a body of his countrymen ready for the war-path, and he at last demanded that another at- tempt should be made to capture Fort Meigs. He submitted to Proctor an ingenious plan by which to take the garrison by stratagem and surprise. He proposed to land the Indians several miles below the fort, march thi-ough the woods, unobserved by the garrison, to the road leading from the Maumee to Lower Sandusky in the rear, and there engage in a sham-iight. This would give Clay an idea that some approach- ing re-enforcements had been attacked, and he would immediately sally out with the garrison to their aid. The Indians would form an ambuscade, rise, and attack the unsuspecting Americans in their rear, cut off their retreat, and, rushing to the fort, gain an entrance before the gates could be closed!^ Proctor accepted the plan and arranged for the expedition, but the vigilance and firmness of General Clay defeated the well-devised scheme and saved the fort. On the 20th tf July Proctor and Tecumtha appeared with their combined forces, about five thousand strong, at the mouth of the Maumee.^ General Clay immediately dispatched a messenger to Harrison, at Lower Sandusky, with the information. The commander-in-chief, doubtful what post the enemy intended to attack, sent the mes- senger (Captain M'Cune) back with an assurance for General Clay that he should have re-enforcements if needed, and a warning to beware of a surprise. He then re- moved his head-quarters to Seneca Town,^ nine miles farther up the Sandusky River, froni which point he might co-operate with Fort Meigs or Fort Stephenson, as cir- cumstances should require. There, with one hundred .and forty regulars, he com- menced fortifying his camp, and was speedily joined by four hundred and fifty more United States troops -under Lieutenant Colonel Paul,* of the infantry, and Ball, of the dragoons; also by M^ Arthur and Cass, of Ohio, who had each been promoted to brigadier' general. Colonel Theodore Deye Owings was also approaching with five hundred regulaifS from Fort Massac, on the Ohio River. Tecumtha attempted to execute his strategic plan. On the afternoon of the. "July, 25th,* while the British were concealed in the ravine already described, just ^^^^- below Fort Meigs, the Indians took their prescribed station on the Sandusky road, and at sunset commenced their sham-fight. It was so spirited, and the yells of the savages were so powerful, that the garrison had no doubt that the command- er-in-chief, with re-enforcements, had been attacked. They were exceedingly anxious to go out to their aid. Fortunately, General Clay was better informed. Captain M'Cune had just returned from a second errand to General Harrison, after many hair- breadth escapes in penetrating the lines of the Indians swarming in the woods. Al- though Clay could not account for the firing, yet he was so certain that no Americans were engaged in the contest, whatever it might be, that he remained firm, even when ofiicers of high rank demanded permission to lead their men to the succor of their friends, and the troops were almost mutinous because of the restraint. Clay's firm- ness saved them from utter destruction. A heavy shower of rain, and a few cannon- ' statement of Major Sicliardson, of the British army. = Proctor commandea the white troops in person. Dixon, of the Royal Artillery, commanded the MacHnaw and oth- er Northern tribes ; Tecumtha those of the Wabash, Illinois, and St. Joseph ; and Eonnd-Head (see page 291) those of the Chippewas, Ottawas, and Pottawatomies of Michigan.— Harrison's Letter to the Secretary of War Seneca Town August 4, 1813. ' ' s The Indians who occupied this region were called "the Senecas of Sandusky"— why does not appear for they were composed of Cayugas chiefly, with a few Oneidas, Mohawks, Onondagas, Tnscaroras, and Wyandots. They numbered about four hundred souls at the close of the war, and were the remnant of the tribe of Logan, the chief immortalized by Mr. Jefferson. In 181T and 1818 forty thousand acres of land lying on the east side of the Sandusky Elver were granted to them. In 1831 they ceded their lands to the United States, and went west of the Mississippi Seneca County of which Tiffin is the connty seat, derived its name from these so-called Seneca Indians. The fortified camp of Harri- son assumed the foi-m of a regular work known as Fort Seneca, having a stockade and ditch, and occupied several acres of a plam on the bank of the Sandusky. Slight remains of the work were yet visible in 1860. 4 George Paul was a major of Pennsylvania militia under General Harrison. He afterward resided in Ohio and en tered the service again early in the war. He was commissioned a lieutenant colonel in April, 1813 and cnlon'cl .,t tho close of June following. He resigned in October, 1814. ' '-'»™'=' ■>! tne OF THE WAR OF 1812. 499 Port Stephenson to be attacked. Major Croghan'a luBti'actlons. A Council of War. shot hurled from the fort in the direction of the supposed fight, put an end to the filing, and that night was as quiet at Fort Meigs as in a time of peace. The strategy of Tecumtha had failed, to the great mortification of the enemy. Ignorant of the strength of the fort and garrison,' they did not attempt an assault. After lingering around their coveted prize about thirty hours, the besiegers withdrew"' to .juiy2-, Proctor's old encampment, near Fort Miami, and on the 28th the British ^^^^- ' embarked with their stores and sailed for Sandusky Bay, with the intention of at- tacking Fort Stephenson. A large number of their savage allies marched across the country for the purpose of co-operating with Proctor in the siege. . Intelligence of this movement was promptly communicated to Harrison by General Clay. Fort Stephenson was garrisoned by one hundred and sixty men, under the command, as we have observed, of a gallant young Ken- tuckian. Major George Croghan, of the Regu- lar Army, then only twenty-one years of age. Their only ordnance was an iron six-pounder cannon, and their chief defenses were three block - houses, circumvallating pickets from fourteen to sixteen feet in height, and a ditch about eight feet in width and of equal depth. Already an examination of Fort Stephenson by General Harrison had convinced him that it would be untenable against heavy artillery, and, in orders left with Major Croghan, he said, " Should the British troops approach you in force with cannon, and you can discover them in time to effect a retreat, yon will do so immediately, destroying all the public stores. You must be aware that to attempt to retreat in the face of an Indian force would be vain. Against such an enemy your gar- rison would be safe, however great the num- ber." On the receipt of the intelligence fi'om General Clay, General Harrison called around him in council* M' Arthur, Cass, Ball, Wood, Hukill, Paul, Holmes, and Gra- ham, and it was unanimously agreed that Fort Stephenson was untenable, and that, as the approaching enemy had cannon, Major Croghan ought immediately to comply with the standing order of his general. Believing that the innate bravery of Croghan would make him hesitate, General Harrison immediately dispatched to him an order to abandon the fort.^ The bearers started at midnight, and lost their way in the dark. They did not arrive at Fort Stephenson before eleven o'clock the next day, when the forest around was swarming with Indians. Major Croghan consulted his officers concerning a retreat, when a majority agreed with him that such a step would be disastrous, and that the post might be maintain- ed. A few moments after the conference, he placed in the hands of the mes- c juiyso sengers from General Harrison the following answer to his chief:" " Sie, — isis. ' ' July 29. 1 The garrison numbered, in rank and file, only about eighteen hundredmen. There were a little over two thousand at the close of May, but full two hundred had died of camp fever. ' The order was sent by a white man (Conner) and two Indians, who found some difflcillty in the performance of their mission. The following is a copy of the order: " Sie,— Immediately on receiving this letter you will abandon Fort Stephenson, set fire to it, and repair with your command this night to head-quarters. Cross the river and come up on the opposite side. If you should deem and find it impracticable to make good your march to this place, take the road to Huron, and pursue it with the utmost circumspection." The order was dated 29th July. 500 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Croghan disobeys Orders. His Explanations justify the Act. Colonel Ball's Fight with Indians. I have just received yours of yesterday, ten o'clock P.M., ordering me to destroy this place and make good my retreat, which was received too late to be carried into execution. We have determined to maintain this place, and, by heavens ! we can." This positive disobedience of orders was not intended as such. The gallant young Kentuckian gladly perceived sufficient latitude given him in the clause of the earlier order, in which the danger of a retreat in the face of an Indian force was mentioned, to justify him in remaining, especially as the later order did not reach him until such force was apparent. But the general could not permit disobedience to pass unno- ticed, and he immediately ordered Colonel "Wells to repair to Fort Stephenson and supersede Major Croghan.' The latter was ordered to head-quarters at Seneca Town. He cheerfully obeyed the summons, and made so satisfactory an explanation to General Harrison that he was direct- ed to resume his command the next morning, with written instructions similar to the ones he had be- fore received. Croghan was now more determined than ever to maintain the post. General Harrison kept scouts out in iall direc- tions watching for the foe. Oh the evening of Sat- urday, the 31st of July, a reconnoitring party, lin- VIEW AT FEEMONT, OB LOWEE SANDUSKY.^ ' Colonel Wells was escorted by Colonel Ball, with his corps of dragoons, aUd bore the following letter to Major Croghan : " Sie,— The general has just received your letter of this date informing him that you had thought proper to disobey the order issued from this office, and delivered to you this morning. It appears that the'information which dictated the order was incorrect, and as you did not receive it In the night, as was expected, it might have been proper that you should have reported the circumstances and your situation before you proceeded to its execution. This might have been passed over, but I am directed to say to you that an officer who presumes to aver that he has made his res- olution, and that he will act in direct opposition to the order^ of his general, can no longer be intrusted with a separate command. Colonel Wells is sent to relieve you. Tou will deliver the command to him, and repair, with Colonel Ball's squadron, to this place. By command, etc., A. H. Holmes, Assistant Adjutant General." On the way, about half a mile southwest of the present village of Ballsville, Colonel Ball's detachment were attacked by about twenty Indians, and quite a severe skirmish ensued. Seventeen of the Indians were killed • and until within a few years, an oak-tree stood on the site of the contest, bearing seventeen marks of a hatchet, to indicate the number of Indians slain. 2 This view was taken from the verge of the hill, near where the howitzer, or mortar, of the British was planted after landing, so as to be brought to bear upon the fort. In the fi-ont is seen a magnificent elm-tree, of large "rowth at the time of the invasion. Tradition avers that an Indian, who climbed into its top to reconnoitre Fort Ste°phenson was shot by one of the Kentucky riflemen in the garrison. In this view we are looking down the Sandusky River In the ittle cove, seen nearly over the roof of the small "building nearest the left of the picture, is the place where thk British landed. The island opposite is seen more to the left. In the extreme distance are store-honses, at which noint the Bnhsh gun-boats were first discovered by the garrison. On the extreme right is the gas-house, and over ion the east side of the river, is the elevated plain where Croghanville was laid out, and where the Indians Were first =een OF THE WAR OF 18.12. 501 Fort Stephenson summoned to sun-ender. Incidents under a Flag of Truce. The Surrender refused. gering upon the shores of Sandusky Bay, ahout twenty miles from Fort Stephenson, discovered the approach of Proctor by water. They hastened back, stopping at the fort on the way at about noon the next day.* Croghan was on the alert. , Already many Indians had appeared upon the eminence on the eastern side of the Sandusky River (where Croghanville was laid out in 1817), and had scamp- ered away after a few discharges of the six-pounder in the fort. At four o'clock that afternoon the British gun-boats, with Proctor and his men, appeared at a turn in the river more than a mile distant. In the face of shots from the six-pounder they advanced, and, in a cove not quite a mile from the fort, the Brit- ish landed, with a five-and-a-half-inch howitzer, opposite a small island in the stream. At the same time the Indians displayed themselves in the woods in all directions, to cut off a retreat of the garrison. General Pi'octor entered immediately upon the business of his errand.- His attack- ing force consisted of a portion of the Forty-first Regiment, four hundred strong, and several hundred Indians. Tecumtha, with almost two thousand niore, was stationed upon the roads leading from Fort Meigs and Seneca Town, to intercept, apprehended re-enforcements from those directions. Having disposed of his forces so as to cut off Croghan's retreat. General Proctor sent Colonel Elliott, accompanied by Captain Chambers with a flag of truce, to de- mand the instant' surrender of the fort. These officers were accompanied by Cap- tain Dixon, of the Royal Engineers, who was in command of the Indian allies. Major Ci'oghan sent out Second Lieutenant Shipp,' as his i-epresejotative, to meet the flag. After the usual salutations, Colonel Elliott said : "I am instructed to demand the instant surrender of the fort, to spare the effusion of blood, which we can not do should we be under the necessity of reducing it by our powerful force of regulars, Indians, and artillery." '*-My commandant and the garrison," replied Shipp, " are determined to defend the post to the last extremity, and bury themselves iii its ruins, rather than surrender it to any force whatever." "Look at our immense body of Indians," interposed Dixon. "They can not be restrained from massacring the whole garrison, in the event: of our undoubted suc- cess." " Our success is certain," eagerly added Chambers. "It is a gi-eat pity," said Dixon, in a beseeching: tone, " that so fine a young, man as you, and. as your commander is represented to be, should fall into, the hands of the savages. Sir, for God's sake, surrender, and prevent the dreadful massacre that will be caused by your resistance." Shipp, who had lately dealt with the same foe at Fort Meigs, coolly replied : " When the fort shall be taken, there will be none to massacre. It will not be given up while a man is able to resist." Shipp was just turning to go back to the fort, when an Indian sprung from a bushy ravine near and attempted to snatch his sword from him. The indignant American was about to dispatch the savage, when Dixon interfered. Croghan, who had stood upon the ramparts during the conference, observed the insult, and shouted, " Shipp, come in, and we will blow them all to hell !" The ensign hastened into the fort, the flag returned, and the British opened a fire immediately from their gun-boats, and from the five-and-a-half-inch howitzer which they had landed. For some reason, never 1 MmnTid ShiDU Jr was a native of Kentnclfy, and was appointed ensign of the ITth regiment of infantry in May, 1R19 He was nromoted to second lieutenant in March, 1813, and distinguished himself in the defense of Fort Meigs fhP fnllowin" year After the affair at Fort Stephenson he became General M'Arthur's brigade major. In March, isii L was nromoted to first lieutenant, and to captain in May, and at the close of the war was retained in the serv- ,Vp ll dfed at Sontaine, Ohio, on the 22d of April, 181T. On the 13th of February, 1835, the Congress of the United Sta'tervoted ^ sword, to be received by his nearest male relative, in testimony of their sense of his services at Fort Ste- phenson.— Gardner's Blfitimaryof the Army. 502 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Fort Stephenson besieged. The Garrison. Approach for an AsBault. until recently explained, they commenced the attack in great haste, before proper ar- rangements were made.' All night long, five six-pounders, which had been landed from the British gun-boats, and the howitzer upon the land, played upon the stockade without serious eflfect. They were answered occasionally by the solitary cannon in the fort, which was shift- ed from one block-house to another, so as to give the impression that the garrison had several heavy guns. But their supply of ammunition was small, and Major Croghan determined to use his powder and ball to better advantage than firing at random in the dark. He silenced the gun, and ordered Captain Hunter,^ his second in command, to place it in the block-house at the middle of the north side of the fort, so as to rake the ditch in the direction of the northwest angle, tlie point where the foe would doubt- less make the assault, it being the weakest part. This was accomplished*before day- light, and the gun, loaded with a half charge of powder and a double charge of slugs and grapeshot, was completely masked. During the night the British had dragged three six-pounders to a point of woods on ground higher than the fort, and about two hundred and fifty yards from it (near the spot where the court-house in Fremont now stands, westward of Croghan Street), and early in the morning they opened a brisk fire upon the stockade from these and the howitzer. Their cannonade produced but little effect, and for many hours the little garrison made no reply. Proctor became impatient. That long day in August was rapidly passing away, and he saw before him only a dreary night of futile effort in his present position. His Indians were becoming uneasy, and at length he resolved to storm the fort. At four o'clock in the afternoon he concentrated the fire of all his guns upon the weak northwest angle. His suspected purpose was now apparent. Toward that weak point Croghan directed his strengthening efforts. Bags of sand and sacks of flour were piled against the pickets there, and the force of the cannon- ade was materially broken. At five o'clock, while the bellowing of distant thunder in the western horizon, where a dark storm-cloud was brooding, seemed like the echo of the great guns of the foe, the British, in two close columns, led by Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Short and Lieu- tenant Gordon, advanced to assail the works. At the same time a party of grena- diers, about two hundred strong, under Lieutenant Colonel Warburton, took a wide circuit through the woods to make a feigned attack upon the southern front of the fort, where Captain Hunter and his party were stationed. Private Brown, of the Pe- tersburg Volunteers, with half a dozen of his corps and Pittsburgh Blues, happened to be in the fort at the time. Brown was skilled in gunnery, and to him and his com- panions was intrusted the management of the six-pounder in the fort. As the British storming-party under Lieutenant Colonel Short advanced, their ar- tillery played incessantly upon the northwestern angle of the fort, and, under cover of the dense smoke, they approached to within fifte.en or twenty paces of the out- works before they were discovered by the garrison. Every man within the fort was at his post, and these were Kentucky " sharp-shooterg !" They instantly poured upon the assailants such a shower of rifle-balls, sent with fatal precision, that the British line was thrown into momentary confusion. They quickly rallied. The axe-men 1 The late Hon. Elisha Whittlesey, in his address at Fremont (Lower Sandusky), on the forty-fifth anniversary of the defense of Fort Stephenson, explained the cause. Aaron Norton, of Portage County, Ohio, told him that on that Sun- day afternoon, in total ignorance of the proximity of the British and Indians, he was approaching the fort on the oppo- site side of the Sandusky, when he discovered quite a large body of Indians scattered along the bank of the river, half concealed by bushes. He wheeled his horse and fled in- the direction of Seneca. The startled Indians flred several shots at him, but without eflfect. This occurrence was dopbtless communicated to the British commander. He knew Harrison was near, and feared that he might sally forth from his fortified camp with re-enforcements from Cleveland or Mansfield, beat back Tecumtha, and fall upon him at Sandusky; hence his haste In assailing the fort. 2 James Hunter was a native of Kentucky, and was adjutant of the Kentucky mounted riflemen in the battle of Tip- pecanoe. He was wounded there. He was promoted to captain in the 17th regiment of infantry in March 1812 He left the army in May, 1814. On the 13th of February, 1835, the Congress of the United States voted him a' sword be- cause of his distiuguished services at Port Stephenson.— Gardner's Dictionary of the Army. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 503 Storming of Fort Stephenson. Slaughter of the Assailants. The British and Indians repulsed. PLAN OP I'OET STEPUEKSON.l bravely pushed forward over the glacis, and leaped into the ditch to assail the pick- . ets. Lieutenant Colonel Short was at the head of the gallant pai-ty, and when a suf- ficient number of men were in the ditch behind him, he shouted, " Cut away the pick- ets, my brave boys, and show the damned Yankees no quarter !" Now was the mo- ment for the voice of the unsuspected six-pounder to be heard. The masked port flew .open instantly. The gun spoke with terrible efiect. Slugs and grapeshot streamed along that ditch overflowing with human life, and spread terrible havoc there. Few escaped. A similar attempt was made by the second column of the storming-party, when another discharge from the six-pounder and a destructive volley of rifle-balls ended the contest. Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Short and Lieutenant Gordon, of the Forty-first Regiment, Laussaussiege, of the Lidian department, and twenty-five pri- vates, were left dead in the ditch,^ and twenty-six of the wounded were made pris- oners. Captain Dixon and Captain Muir, and Lieutenant M'Lityre, of the Forty-first Regiment, were slightly wounded and escaped. A precipitate and confused retreat immediately followed this repulse. Warburton and his grenadiers did not reach the south front of the fort until after the disaster. They were assailed with a destruc- tive volley from Hunter's corps, and fled for shelter to the adjacent woods. The whole loss of the garrison was one man killed and seven slightly wounded. The loss of the British in killed and wounded, according to the most careful estimates, was one hundred and twenty. The cowardly Lidians, as usual when there was open 1 Explanation o^ the Plan. — 1, line of pickets ; 3, embankment from the ditch to and against the pickets; 3, dry ditch ; 4, outward embankment or glacis ; A, block-house first attacked by cannon ; B, bastion or block-house from which the ditch was raked by the six-ponnder in the fort ; C, guard block-bouse ; D, hospital while attacked ; B E E, military etore-honses ; P, commissary's store-house ; G, magazine ; H, fort gate ; K E E, wicker gates ; L, partition gate : 5, position of the five six-pounders of the British on the night of the 2d of August ; P, the graves of Lieutenant Colonel Short and Lieutenant Gordon, who were killed in the ditc^. The mortar or howitzer shifted position, as indicated on the plan. In the first assault there were four six-pounders in battery, only one being left in the first position near the river. This Plan was first published, from the ofiicial drawing, in the Port Folio for March, 1815, and soon afterward in Thomson's carefully prepared Historical Sketches of the Late War. The graves of the two British ofdcers are a few yards northeastward from the junction of High and Market Streets. 2 It is said that Lieutenant Colonel Short, when he fell, twisted a white handkerchief on the end of his sword as a supplication for that mercy which his battle-cry a moment before denied to his foe. 504 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Dead and Wounded home away. The Night Bncceeding the Stroggle. fighting or great guns to face, kept themselves out of harm's way in a ravine near by, and the whole battle was fought by the small British force, who behaved most gallantly. During the night Proctor sent Indians to gather up the dead and wound- ed, and at three o'clock in the morning* the invaders sailed down the San- • August 3. ^jjgjj.^^ leaving behind them a vessel containing clothing and military stores. At about the same hour the gallant Major Croghan wrote a hurried note to General Harrison, informing him of his victory and the retreat of Proctor. The assault lasted only about half an hour. The dark storm-cloud in the west passed northward, the setting sun beamed out with peculiar splendor, a gentle breeze from the southwest bore the smoke of battle far away over the forest toward Lake Erie, and in the lovely twilight of that memorable Sabbath evening the brave young Croghan addressed his gallant little band with eloquent words of praise and grateful thanksgiving. As the night and the silence deepened, and the groans of the wound- ed in the ditch fell upon his ears, his generous heart beat with sympathy. Buckets filled with water were let down by ropes from the outside of the pickets; and as the gates of the fort could not be opened with safety during the night, he made a com- munication with the ditch by means of a trench, through which the wounded were borne into the little fortress and their jiecessities supplied.^ Intelligence of this gallant defense caused the liveliest sentiments of admiration throughout the country, and congratulations were sent to Major Croghan from every quarter. His general, in his official report, spoke of him in words of highest praise.^ The ladies of Chillicothe, Ohio, purchased and presented to him an elegant sword ;^ and the Congress of the United States voted him the thanks of the nation.* Twenty- two years later the Congress gave him a gold medal, in commemoration of his signal service on that day. Posterity will ever regard his name with honor.* 1 Major Croghan's Report to General Harrison, August 5, 1S13 ; Genera! Harrison's Eeport to the Secretary of War, August 6, 1313 ; M'Afee's History of the Late War, pages 322 to 328 ; Anchinlecli's Bistory of the War of 1812, pages 184 to 18T ; James's Military Occurreiuxs, etc., pages 262 to 266 ; Mles's Register, August 14, 1818 ; The Port Folio, March, 1815 ; The War, volume ii., pages 39, 43, 4T, 49, 61, 61 ; Address of Colonel Elisha Whittlesey at Fremont, August 2, 1858 ; Ad- dress of Homer Everett, Esq., at Fremont, Feijruary 24th and 26th, 1860 ; Perkins's History of the Late War, pages 223, 224 ; Sketches of the War (Eutland, 1815), pages 166 to 168 ; Atwater's Bistory of Ohio, pages 22ito 229 ; Dawson's Life of General Barrison, pages 249 to 251 ; MS. of Dr. Brainerd, quoted by Homer Everett, Esq. 2 "lam sorry," wrote General Harrison to the Secretary of War on the 4th of August, "that I can not transmit you Major Croghan's official report. He was to have sent it to me this morning, but I have just heard that be was so much exhausted by thjrty-six hours of continued exertion as to be unable to make it. It will not be among the least of Gen- eral Proctor's mortifications to find that he has been baffled by a youth who has just passed his twenty-first year. He is, however, a hero worthy of his gallant uncle. General George Rogers Clarke." ' This gift, at their request, was presented to him by Samuel Finley and Joseph Wheaton, with the following letter bearing the signatures of the donors : " CniLuooxHE, August 13, 1813. "Sra,— In consequence of the gallant defense which, under Divine Providence, was effected by you and the troops Under your command, of Fort Stephenson, at Lower Sandusky, on the evening of the 2d inst., the ladies of the town of Chillicothe, whose names are undersigned, impressed with a high sense of your merits^s a soldier and a gentleman, and vntb great confidence in your patriotism and valor, present you with a sword. Mary Finley, Mary Sterret, Ann Creighton, Eliza Creighton, Eleanor Lamb, Nancy Waddle, Eliza Carlisle, Mary A. Southward, Susan D. Wheaton, of Washington City, Richamah Irwin, Judith Delano, Margaret M'Lanburg, Margaret Miller, Elizabeth Martin, Nancy M'Arthur, Jane M'Coy, Lavina Fulton, Catharine Fullerton, Rebecca M. Orr, Susan Wake, Ann M. Dunn, Margaret Keys, Charlotte James, Esther Doolittle, Eleanor Buchannan, Margaret M'Farland, Deborah Ferree, Jane M. Evans, Prances Brush, Mary Curtis, Mary P. Brown, Jane Heylin, Nancy Kerr, Catharine Hough, Eleanor Worthington, Mar- tha Scott, Sally M'Lean." To this letter Major Croghan replied at Lower Sandusky on the 25th of August; " Ladies op CmLLicoTirB,— I have received the sword which you have beenpleased to present to me as a testimonial of your approbation of my conduct on the 2d instant. A mark of distinction so flattering and unexpected has excited feelings which I can not express. Tet, while I return you thanks for the unmerited gift you have thus bestowed, I feel well aware that my good fortune (which was bought by the activity of the brave soldiers under my command), has raised in you expectations from my future efforts which must, I fear, be sooner or later disappointed. Still, I pledge myself (even though fortune should not be again propitious) that my exertions shall be such as never to cause you in the least to regret the.honors you have been pleased to con^r on your 'yonthftil soldier.' " * On the 8th of February, 1814, the Committee on Military Affairs reported a resolution, among others similar, to re- quest the President to present an elegant sword to Colonel Croghan. This resolution was passed by at the time, and never called up again. 5 George Croghan was a son of Major William Croghan, of the Revolutionary army. His father was a native of Ire- land ; his mother was a sister of General George Rogers Clarke, sometimes called the Father of the Northwest. He was bom at Locust Grove, near the Falls of the Ohio (now Louisville), in Kentucky, on the 15th of November, 1791. He of;the war of 1812. 505 Medal preseoted to Croghan. A Visit to Sandusky. A Bide to Castalian Springs. • September 24, ISOO. GOLD MEDAL AWAEDED TO GENEEAL OKOGHAN-l It was a soft, hazy, half sunny day, late in September,* when I visit ed the site of Fort Stephenson and the places of events that made it fa- mous. I had come up by railway during the early hours of the morning from pleas- ant Sandusky City, where I had spent two or three days with friends,, vainly en- deavoring to visit Put-in-Bay, where Perry's fleet rendezvoused before the battle which gave him victory and immortality. The excursion steam-boat to that and other places had been withdrawn for the season, and the wind was too high to make a voyage thither in a sail-boat safe or pleasant. I was less disappointed than I should otherwise have been, by the discovery that an artist (Miss C. L: Ransom), then in Sandusky City, had made careful drawings of the historical points about Put-in-Bay. I had the pleasure of meeting her, and availing myself of her courteous permission to copy such of her drawings as I desired. Of these more will be said when giving an account of the naval battle near there. In company with Mr. Bai-ney, with whom I was staying, I visited the famous Cas- ' talian Springs, at the village of Castalia, five or six miles south from Sandusky City. They flow up from subterranean fountains, almost as limpid as air, and in volume so great that along the outlet, which is called Cold Creek, in its course of three miles through a beautiful prairie of three thousand acres to Sandusky Bay, no less than was graduated at William and Mary College, in Virginia, in the summer of 1810 ; entered its law scbool, and remained there until the fall of 1811, when he joined the army under Harrison at Vincennes. He was volunteer aid to Colonel Boyd at the battle of Tippecanoe. On account of his services in the Wabash expedition, he was appointed a captain of infantry in the spring of 1812, and in August he marched with the forces under General Winchester to the relief of Gen- eral Hull in Canada. In March, 1813, he was promoted to major, and became aid-de-camp to General Harrison. In that capacity he distinguished himself in the defense of Fort Meigs, and the sortie on the 5th of May under the gallant Col- onel Miller. For his gallantry at Fort Stephenson he was breveted a lieutenant colonel, and was appointed colonel of a rifle corps in Febraary, 1814. At the close of the war he was retained in service, but married in ISIT and resigned. In 1824 he was appointed postmaster at New Orleans, and returned to the service in 1825 as inspector general, with the rank of colonel. In 1835 Congress awarded him a gold medal for his gallantry at Fort Stephenson. He died at New Orleans on the 8th of January, 1849. 1 On Tuesday, the 27th of January, 1835, a joint resolution passed the House of Representatives, authorizing the Pres- ident of the United States to "present a gold medal to General Croghan" (he was then inspector general of the army), and swords to several officers under his command. These were Captain Jamss Hunter, and Lieutenants Benjamin Johnson and Cyrus A. Baylor, of the Seventeenth Eegiment, Lieutenant John Meek, of the Seventh Begimeut, and En- signs Edward Shipp and Joseph Duncan. The latter was afterward Governor of Illinois. Lieutenant Johnson was promoted to captain of a rifle corps in March, 1814, and left the service at the close of the war. Lieutenant Baylor also left the service at the close of the war. Lieutenant Meek resigned in May, 1814. He was appointed military store-keeper at Little Bock, Arkansas, in the summer of 1838, and was removed, on a change of ad- ministration, in 1841. Ensign Duncan was promoted to first lieutenant of infantry in July, 1814, and was disbanded in 1S15. He was a representative in Congress from Illinois from 1827 to 1835, Governor of Illinois from 1834 to 1838, and died at Jacksonville on the 15th of January, 1844. It is proper to observe that the representation of the fort and its surroundings, on this medal, presented to General Croghan, is incorrect. It was not a regular fort, but a picketed inclosnre, with rudely-built block-houses. The San- dusky Eiver is here a narrow stream, and not such an expanse of water as the place of the vessels represent. It may have been intended for Sandusky Bay. 506 PICTOEIAL FI'EXD-BOOK Appearance and Character of the Castalian Springs. An Evening in Sandusky. Journey to Fremont, fourteen sets of mill-stones were kept in motion hj it. LOW'EB CASTALIAN SFBIMG. In a rough scow we hovered over the centre of the spring, and, peering down into its clear, ^E= mysterious depths, ^ saw logs, and plants, 5p^ and earth in grotto form, made iridescent by the light in the aqueous prism.' We intended to visit the somewhat marvelous cave in the range of limestone about two miles from the springs,? but the day was too far spent when I had completed my sketch of the fountains to allow us to do so. We returned to the town by the way of Mr; Barney's fine vineyard, and arrived at sunset. I spent the evening with General Leslie Combs at the " West House," and in a public meeting.^ The next day was the Sabbath, and on Monday morning I started by railway for Lower Sandusky with impressions which have crystallized into pleasant memories of a delightful little city on a slope overlooking one of the finest bays that indent the southern shores of Lake Erie.' On our way we stopped a few minutes at the little village of Clyde, where the railways from Cleveland and Toledo and from Cincinnati and Sandusky City cross each other. There a crowd had collected to see and hear the late Judge Doug- las, then one of the candidates for the presidency of the United States, who was trav- eling for his political health, weary and wayworn. Eager eyes, vociferous shouts, loud huzzas, and the swaying of a little multitude, is the picture of a few minutes of time impressed upon the memory. An hour later I was in Fremont, as the old vil- lage of Lower Sandusky was named a few years ago in honor of the accomplished explorer in earlier years, and general in the army of the republic during a portion of the late Civil War. Very soon after my arrival I was favored with the company of Messrs. Sardis Birch- ard and Homer Everett (residents of the village, and familiar with its history) in a pilgrimage to places of interest in and around that shire-town of Sandusky County.* 1 The Castalian Springs are great natural curiosities, and are much visited. There are two, known respectively as Upper and Lower. They are about one fourth of a mile apart, and are connected by a race. At the lower one, where Messrs. Cochrane and Weston had a flouring-raill, a dike had been raised (seen in the above sketch) to give more fall to the water. The two springs are of about equal dimensions. That of the lower one, which I visited, Is about sixty feet in depth. The water is so limpid that a white object an inch in diameter may be plainly seen lying on the bottom. The temperature of the water is abont iO° Fahrenheit, and holds in solution lime, soda, magnesia, and iron. It petri- fies every thing with which it comes in contact. This process makes the mill-wheels indestructible. About a mile and a half from the springs is a limestone ridge covered with alluvium. From beneath this these springs appear to flow, and are doubtless the first appearance on the earth of a little subterranean river, like that of the Eutaw in South Caro- '™»- 2 See page 490. 3 Sandusky City is the capital of Erie County, Ohio. It was named Portland when It was first laid out in 1817, when there were only two log houses there, one on the site of the "Veranda Hotel," and the other about sixty rods east of it. The town stands upon an Inexhaustible quarry of the finest limestone. It was a favorite resort of the Indians, and previous to the War of 1812 It was known as Ogontz's Place, Ogontz being the name of a Wyandot chief who resided there. A writer in the American Pioneer, 1., 199, says the name of Sandusky is derived from that of a Polish trader who was with the French when they were establishing their line of trading-posts on the Maumee and Wabash Elvers. His name was Sanduski, and established himself near the present vjlljige of Fremont. His trading operations were con- fined to the river and bay there, and these became known to both Indians and Europeans as SandusM's Eiver and San- duski's Bay. Sanduski quarreled with the Indians, fled to Virginia, and was there killed by some of those who followed him. On the peninsula, across the bay opposite Sandusky, is a rough monument, erected there by the order and at the ex- pense of the late Honorable Joshua E. Giddings, to perpetuate the memory of the spot where he and twenty-one others had a skirmish with the Indians on the 29th of September, 1812. He was a substitute for an older brother, and was only fourteen years of age. The regiment to which he belonged was commanded by Colonel Eichard Hayes' and the little company, who had been ordered on duty on the peninsula after the defeat of General Hull, was led by Captain Colton They had two skirmishes with the savages, in which, of the twenty-two soldiers, six were killed, and an equal number were wounded. Mr. Giddings was the youngest soldier of the regiment. 4 This town stands at the head of the navigation of Sandusky Elver, eighteen or twenty miles ftom Sandusky Bay OF THE WAR OF 1812. 507 Site of Fort Stephenson. Its Locality and Appearance. Tlie Six-pounder "Good Bess." ^ The site of Fort Stephenson is in the bosom of the village of Fremont. It occu- pies about two thirds of the square bounded by Croghan, High, Market, and Arch SITE OP FOKT STEPUENBON.^ Streets. The dwelling of the late Honorable Jacques Hurlburd stands within the area of the old stockade, and a few yards south of the block-house in which was placed the cannon that swept the ditch. The northwest angle, where the British made their chief assault, is at the junction of High and Croghan Streets. Near the house of Dr. J. W. "Wilson, on Croghan Street, was the head of the ravine and small stream of water (see Plan of Fort Stephenson on page 503) between the stockade and the British battery. It was to the shelter of that ravine l^hat the affrighted Indians fled after the first discharge of rifle-balls from the garrison. From the site of the fort we went to the brow of the hill overlooking the landing- place of the British. When I had finished my sketch (printed on page 500) we vis- ited the Qood Hess, the iron six-pound cannon that performed such fearful service in the defense of the fort.^ I then rode, in company with Mr. Birchard, to old Cro- by its course. Here, at the Lower Bapids of the Sandusky, the Indians were granted a reservation by the treaty pf Greenville. The French had a trading-station here at an early day. Here was the residence of a hand of Wyandot In- dians, called the Neutral Nation. They had two villages. They were " cities of refuge" for all. Whoever sought safe- ty in them found it. During the bloody wars between the Iroquois and the Europeans, this band of Indians were al- ways peace-makers. Their two towns were walled, and remains of their works may yet be seen. Indian tribes at war recognised them as neutral. Those coming from the West might enter the Western City, and those from the East the Eastern City. The inhabitants of one city might inform those of the other that war-parties had been there, but who they were, or where from, must never be mentioned. At length the inhabitants of the two cities quarreled, and one de- stroyed or dispersed the other. — Stickney's Lecture at Toledo, 1846, quoted by Howe. 1 This view is from the northern side of Croghan Street, opposite the residence of Dr. J. W. Wilson. The building where the body of Lieutenant Colonel Short was found. In 1850, when the street and side-walk were being regulated, the brass piece at the top of a sword-scabbard was found upon that spot, supposed to have belonged to Lieutenant Colonel Short. It is now in the possession of Sardis Birch- ard, Esq., of Fremont. The ground occupied by Fort Stephenson be- longs to Chester Edgerton, Esq. The citizens have manifested a laudable desire to purchase the prop- seen in the centre is the late residence of Honora- ble Jacques Hurlburd. Croghan Street descends to the left, to the business part of the village, and High Street passes to the right. On the extreme left, on High Street, is seen a bam. This is just beyond the southwest angle of the fort, where Croghan placed a block-house. At the foot of the bank on Croghan Street is the site of the ditch swept by the Six-ponnder, and a little way east- ward from the corner. of High Street is the place erty, that it may be converted into a public square, and the site kept free from buildings. ' The garrison named the piece the Good Bess. It was taken to Pittsburg, where it remained until it wajpresented to the Corporation of Lower Sandusky (Fremont) in 1850. It was then nicely mounted as a fleld-piece, and is used on the anniversary of the battle for salutes, and sometimes by political parties. The breech is somewhat mutilated, it having been spiked by contending political parties' at different times. It was carefully preserved in a small building on Cro- ghan Street, between Forest Street and the site of the fort. PAKT OF SHORT S SWOBD-SOABBAED. 508 PIGTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK Works of Art. Journey to Toledo. General Harrison's Military Character assailed and vindicated. ghanville, on the eastern side of the Sandusky, and afterward to the place of Ball's skirmish with the Indians, mentioned in Note 1> page 500. It was between the dwelling of Mr. Villetti (the residence of Mr. Birchard) and Mr. Piatt Brush, on the road from Fremont to Tiffin and Columbus. The oak-tree, with the hatchet-marks, stood on the west side of the road, near Mr. Brush's house. At Mr. Villetti's I enjoyed the pleasure of seeing some valuable paintings belong- ing to Mr. Birchard, among them the fine picture of The Dog and Bead Duck, a work of art of the Dusseldorf school that attracted much attention during the exhibition in the Crystal Palace in New York in 1854. Leaving his attractive gallery, we re- turned to the village, stopping on the way in the " Spiegel Wood," a lovely spot not far from the banks of the winding Sandusky, where he was erecting an elegant sum- mer mansion. The day was now far spent. Dark clouds were gathering in the western sky, and in that direction I was soon moving swiftly over the railway toward Toledo, thirty miles distant. I arrived at the " Oliver House," in that city, a few minutes before a heavy thunder-storm burst upon it and the surrounding country. On the following day I made the visit to Fort Meigs, up the Maumee Valley, already described on pages 490 to 493 inclusive. After the repulse of the British at Fort Stephenson, very little of importance oc- curred in. the Northwest until the battle on Lake Erie, at near the middle of Septem- ber, when the aspect of affairs in that quarter was entirely changed. Harrison's reg- ular force in the field did not exceed two thousand men, yet he considered them suf- ficient for all present purposes. The din 6f a second invasion of the state had again aroused the. people, and hundreds of volunteers had flocked to the field only to be again disbanded. These volunteers were offended. They regarded the action of the general as an indication that he believed them to be, as soldiers, unworthy of his con- fidence; and their indignant officers, ia published resolutions, attacked the military character of General Harrison, and declared that they would never again rally to his flag. His personal and political enemies joined in the hue and cry ; and men sitting at honje in ease, utterly ignorant of military affairs, assailed him with jeers as an im- becile or a coward, because he did not, with his handful of regulars and a mass of raw troops, push forward against Maiden and Detroit, before the tardily-building navy Was completed. Misrepresentation followed misrepresentation, for the purpose of poisoning the public mind. Fearing their effects, his general, field, and staff officers, » Angnst 14, fourteen in number,' held a meeting at head-quarters. Lower Seneca Town," ^^^- and in an address to the public, drawn up by General Cass, they expressed their entire confidence in the military abilities of their chief, and their belief that his course " was such as was dictated by military wisdom, and by a due regard to our circumstances and to the situation of the enemy." Up to this time General Harrison's efforts had been mainly directed to defensive measures ; now^, the fleet at Erie being nearly ready, and Captain Perry, who was to command it, having received orders to co-operate with Hixrrison, the latter bent all his energies to "the creation of a well-appointed army for another invasion of Canada. Let us leave General Harrison for a while at his head-quarters at " C.atrip Seneca," and consider the naval preparations to co-operate with him. We have observed that General Hull's advice respecting .the_ creation of a fleet pn Lake Erie, before attempting an invasion of Canada, was unheeded,^ and that the army of the Northwest was involved in disaster, and its commander was covered with a cloud of disgrace. The event taught the rulers wisdom, and they profited by 1 General "Cass ; Colonels Wells, Owings, Paul, and Bartlett ; Lieutenant Colonels Ball and Morrison ; Migors Todd Trigg, Smiley, Graham, Croghan, Hukill, and Wood. The gallant Croghan, in a special letter on the 2Tth, silenced the slanderers who were making political capital of Harrison's order for him to evacuate Fort Stephenson, and his disohe- dience. "The measures recently adopted hy him," wrote Croghan, "so far fl.-om deserving censure, are the clearest proof a of hie keen penetration and able gemraXship." a See pa" e 251 OP THE -WAR OP 1812. 609 Captain Perry ordered to Lake Erie. His Journey thitlier. Preequ' iBle and Captain Dobbins. the lesson. They resolved to dispute the supremacy of the lakes with the British, and to^ Commodore Chauncey was intrusted the necessary preparations. During the summer and autumn of 1812, Captain Oliver H. Perry, of Rhode Island, a zealous naval officer twenty-seven years of age, was in command of a flotilla of gun- boats on the Newport station. He was very. anxious for service in a wider field of action— on the lakes or the broad ocean — where he might encounter the enemy and win distinction. In November" he offered his services for the lakes ; and on • isia. the first of February following'' he received a cordial letter from Chauncey, in " isis. which that gentleman said, "You are the very person that I want for a particular service, in which you may gain reputation for yourself and honor, for your, country." This service was the command of a naval force on Lake Erie. Perry was delighted ; and his joy was complete when, on the IVth of the same month, he received orders from the Secretary of the Navy to report to Commodore Chauncey, at Sackett.'s Har- bor, with all of the best men of :his flotilla in Narraganset Bay. Before Sunset that day he had dispatched Sailing-rmaster Almy, with fifty men and officers, for the east- ern shore of Lake Ontario. Two days afterward an- other company of fifty men were sent to the same des- tination, under Sailing-master Champlin ; and on the 21st fifty more, under Sailing-master Taylor, left Providence and followed their companions. Twen- ty hours later Perry left his pleasant home in New- port, with his little brother Alexander, then only thirteen years of age, and was on his way in a sleigh. He stopped part of a day at Lebanon, in Connecticut, to visit his parents, and on the 28th he met Chauncey at Albany. They journeyed together northwardly through the Wilderness, and arrived at Sackett's Har- bor on the evening of the 3d of March. There Perry remained a fortnight on account of an expected at- tack by the British. The menaces of danger ceased, and the young commander was ordered to proceed to Presqu' Isle (now Erie), and hasten the equipment of a little squadron then in piocess of construction there. ^ He arrived at Buffalo on the 24th, I Perry's house, a well-preserved mansion, stood, when the writer sketched it in 1S48, on the south side of Washington Square, Newport, a few doors from Thames Street. It was a spacious, square building, and was erected almost a century ago by Mr. Levi, a Jew. To that house Perry took his bride, a daugh- ter of Dr. Mason, of Newport, and there she lived a widow al- most forty years. She died in Febraary, 1858. .,' Erie was chosen for this purpose on the recommendation of Captain Daniel Dobbins, one of the most experienced naviga^ tors on Lake Erie. He suggested its advantages as a place for building gun-boats early in the autumn of 1812. The bay being completely land-locked, and its only entrance too shallow for large vessels to enter, but deep enough for the egress of gun- boats, he regarded it as the safest place on the lake for the con- struction of small vessels. He was appointed sailing-master in the navy at the middle of September, 1812,* and received instnic- tions from the government to commence the construction of gun- boats at Erie. On the 12th of December he informed the De- partment that, nnder the lead of Ebenezer Crosby, a good ship- wright, and such house-carpenters as he could supply, he had two of the gun-boats— 50 feet keel, IT feet beam, and 5 feet hold —on the stocks, and would engage to have them all ready by the time the ice was out of the lake. PEBKX'S EESIDEKOE.l ^ (XryoCfyC /V-'^^^fA/^, ' On his return from Detroit he was sent by General David Mead with dispatches to Washington. There be was summoned to a Cabinet council, and was fully inteiTogated concerning the lakes. His opinions were received with deference; andenchwas the confidence of the Cabinet in his judgment that he was ap- pointed sailing-master, and directed to construct gun-boats at Erie. , . .'. 510 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The Harbor of Erie or Presqu' Isle. History of the Locality. Village of Erie. spent the next day in examining vessels on the stocks at the navy yard at Black Hock, then superintended by Lieutenant Pettigru, and made arrangements for having stores forwarded to him. He pressed onward by land, and at an inn on the way he was informed by the keeper, who had just retui-ned from Canada, that the British were acquainted with the movements at Erie, and would doubtless soon attempt to penetrate the harbor, and destroy the naval materials collected there. The harbor of Erie is a large bay, within the embrace of a low, sandy peninsula that juts five miles into the lake, and a bluff of main land on which the pleasant vil- lage of Erie, the capital of Erie County, Pennsylvania, stands. The peninsula has sometimes been an island when its neck has been cleft by storms, and the harbor has been entered from the west by small vessels. Within the memory of living men Presqu' Isle (the peninsula) has been a barren sand-bank; now it is covered by a growth of young timber. It is deeply indented toward its extremity by an estuary called Little Bay. The harbor is one of the finest on the lake when gained, but at the period in question, and until lately, its entrance was by a shallow channel, tortu- ous and difficult on account of sand-bars and shoals. Although Presqu' Isle was a jilace of historic interest in colonial times,^ it was an insignificant village in 1812, and less than twenty years of age.^ Many miles of wilderness, or a very sparsely-popu- lated country, lay between it and the thick settlements ; and the supplies of every Captain Dobbins was an efficient man and faithful officer. He was duly appointed, a sailing-master in the navy, and was highly esteemed by Commodore Perry. He was bom in Mifflin Coimty, Pennsylvania, on the 6th of July,. 1 7T6, and first visited Erie, with a party of surveyors, in 1796. It was then a wilderness. He was there with General Wayne at the time of his death. He settled there, and became a navigator on the lakes. He was at Mackinaw with his vessel, the Salina, when that place was captured by the British in 1812, and, with E. S. and William Eeid, of Erie, he was pa- roled. At Detroit he was again made prisoner, and paroled unconditionally. He was very efficient in fitting out the squadron at Brie, and in the expedition, under Commodore Sinclair, that attempted to retake Mackinaw. After the war he was in command of the Washington, and in 1816 he conveyed troops in her to Green Bay. She was the first vessel, ex- cept a canoe, that ever entered that harbor. A group of islands in that vicinity were named Dobbins's Islands in honor of him. He was ordered to sea in 1826, when he resigned his commission in the navy, but remained in the government employment. In 1829 President Jackson appointed him commander of the revenue cutter Rush. He left active service in 1849, and died at the age of almost eighty-one, February 29, 1856. The likeness of Captain Dobbins, given on the pre- ceding, page, is from a portraitpainted by Moses Billings, of Erie, when he was seventy-five years of age. 1 Here was erected one of the chain of French forts in the wilderness which first excited the alarm and jealousy 'Of the Engljjsii colonies in Ainerica and. the government at home. The remains of the ramparts and ditches, seen in the sketch on the .opposite page, are very prominent upon a point overlooking the entrance to the harbor, which it com- mands, and a deep ravine, thro'ngh which Mill Creek flows, within the eastern limits of the'borongh of Erie. The fort is supposed to have been erected early in 1T49, that being the year when the French sent armed emissaries throughout the Ohio Valley to drive off the English traders. It was constructed under the direction of Jean Cojur (commonly writ- ten Jonoaire in history), an influential Indian agent of tire French governor general of Canada. This was intended by the French for an important entrepiH of sup- plies for the interior forts ; but when Canada passed into the possession of the English, a hundred years ago, the fort was abandoned, and fell into decay. • ^^_^ General Wayne established a small garrison there ^g= in 1794, and caused a block-house to be built on "^ the bluff part of Mill Creek, at the lake shore of Garrison Hill. On his return as victor over the Indians in the Maumee Valley, he occupied a log house near the block-house. There he died of gout, and, at his own request, was buried at the foot of the flag-staff. His remains were removed to Badnor Church -yard, Pennsylvania, in 1809. The block-house fell into decay, and, in the win- ter of 1813-'14, another was bnilt on its site ; also one on the Point of the Peninsula of Presqu' Isle. The former remained until 1853, when some mis- creant burnt it. It was the last relic of the War of 1812 in that vicinity. I am indebted to B. F. Sloan, Esq., editor of the Erie Observer, for the ac- companying sketch of the block-house, made by Mr. Chevalier, of Erie. The view is fi'om the edge of the water at the mouth of Mill Creek, just below the old mill. On the left is seen the open lake, and on the right of the block-house, where a small building is seen, was the place of the flag-staff and Wayne's grave. 2 It was laid out in 1795, when reservations were made of certain lots for the use of the United States. The first white settler there was Colonel John Heid, from Rhode Island, who built a log cabin, enlarged it, and called it the Presqu' Ixle Hotel, entertained travelers, soldiers, traders, speculators, and Indians, and laid the foundation of a large fortune His son built the "Eeid House," in Erie, one of the finest hotels in the country out of the large cities. WAYNE'S BLOOK-noUSE AT ERIE. OF THE WAR OP 1812. 511 Perry's Arrival at Erie. CoDBtraction of a. Fleet begun. Cascade Creek, and Block-house near. TIEW OF THE SITE OF THE FEKNOU FOET AND ENTKANOE TO EKIE IXAKUOJi. kind, but timlaer, for naval preparations, had to be brought from far-away places with great labor. Zeal and energy overcame all difficulties. Perry arrived at Erie, as we have observed, on the 27th of March. He established his quarters at Duncan's " Erie Hotel," and entered upon the duties of his important errand by calling around him the employes of the government there. Much pre^ lirninary work had al- ^_ ready been done under the direction of the energetic Sailing-mas- ter Dobbins and Noah Brown, a shipwright from New York. For- est-trees around Erie had been felled and hewn; the keels of two twenty-gun brigs and a clipper schooner had been laid at the mouth of Cascade Creek; two gun -boats were nearly planked up at the mouth of Lee's Run,between the pres- ent Peach and Sassa- fras Streets ; and a third, afterward call- 1 This view of the entrance to Erje Harbor was t!(ken from the site of the old J'rench Fart de la Preiqu' Isle, mentioned in the note on the ijrecedjngpage. The mounds indicating thp remains of the fort are seen oh the right, and hear them; in the centre of the picture, is a small building used. as,a powder-house. On the bluff on the extreme right is seen a little str^icture, indicating the site of the block-house mentioned in the note on the preceding page, which is net far from the present light-hcirase. On the left, in the extreme, distances .is. Presqu' Isle Point, and in the water, piers that have been constructed for the improvement of the entrance channel, and a light-house. 2 This is a view of the site of the navy yard at the mouth of the Cascade Creek, and of a portion of the harbor- of JErie, made by the author early in September, 1860. The creek and the gentle cascade, whioli gives its appropriate name, are seen in the foreground. Beyond it, and the small boats seen In its waters, is the beach where the Lawrence, Niagara, Kai Ariel were built. On the clay and gravel bluff at the extreme right, the fence marks the site of a block-house built to ■protect the ship-yard, whose stout flag-staff, with cross-pieces for steps, served as an observatory. From its top a full view of the lake over Presqu' Isle could he seen. The lower part of the block-house was heavy, rough logs ; the upper, or battery part, was made of hewn timber. In the distance, in the centre of the picture, is seen the landing at Erie, and on the left the pier and light-house at the entrance to the harbor. Just behind the bluff, in the distance, is the month of Lee's Run, where the Porcupim and Tigress were built. The cascade is about fifteen feet in perpendicular fall in its passage over a ledge of slate rock, and is about one mile from the public square in Erie. MOUTH OF OASOAUE OBEEJi.2 BLOOJtcHOUBE. 512 PICTORIAL riELD-BOOK A Gnard at Brie. Perry hastens to Chanpcey. Events on the Niagara Frontier. cd Scorpion, was just commenced. To guard against surprise and the destruction of the vessels by the British, a volunteer company of sixty men, under Captain Fos- ter, had been organized. Captain Dobbins had also formed a guard of the ship-car- penters and other mechanics engaged on the vessels. On the arrival of Sailing-master Taylor, on the 3d of March, with officers and men, Perry hastened to Pittsburg to urge forward supplies of every kind for the comple- tion and equipment of his little squadron. He had already ordered Dobbins to Buf- ■ April 10, falo for men and munitions ; and on his return* he was gratified to find that ^^1^- faithful officer back and in possession of a twelve-pound cannon, four chests of small arms, and ammunition. The vessels, too, were in a satisfactory state of for- wardness. They were soon off the stocks. Early in May the three smaller ones were launched, and on the 24th of the same month the two brigs were put afloat.^ At sunset of the day before the launching of the brigs," Perry left Erie in an open four-oared boat, to join Chauncey in an attack upon Fort George, at the mouth of the Niagara River. The commodore had promised him the command of the marines in the enterprise. All night he buffeted the angry waves of Lake Erie, and arrived at Buffalo the next day. Perry was accompanied from Erie as far as Lewiston by his faithful coadjutor. Captain Dobbins. From that point the latter was sent back to Schlosser, to prepare boats for seamen who were to be sent up after the reduction of Fort George, and to the Black Rock navy yard; to hasten the equipment of some government vessels that were to join the growing squadron at Erie. Fort George fell," Fort Erie was evacuated and burnt, and the British o Hay 27 abandoned the entire line of the Niagara River. This enabled Perry to take safely from that stream into Lake Erie and the sheltering arms of Presqu' Isle five vessels which Henry Eckford Tiad prepared for warlike service, and which had been detained below Buffalo by the Canadian batteries. They were loaded with stores at the Black Rock navy yard ; and on the morning of the 6th of June, oxen, seamen, and two hundred soldiers, under Captains Brevoort and Younge, who had been de- tailed to accompany Perry to Erie, with strong ropes over willing shoulders com- menced warping or " tracking" them up the swift current. It was a task of incredi- ble labor, and occupied full six days. The little flotilla^ sailed from Buffalo on the 13th. Perry was in the Caledonia, sick with, symptoms of bilious remittent fever. Head winds prevailed. " We made twenty-five miles in twenty-four hours," wrote Doctor Usher Parsons, Perry's sur- geon, in his diary.^ It was not until the 19th that they entered the harbor of Erie, just in time to avoid the little cruising squadron of the enemy under the gallant Captain Finnis, of the Royal Navy, which had been on the look-out for them. Of this Perry had been informed, on his way, by men in a small boat that shot out from the southern shore of the lake, and he had prepared to fight. When the last vessel of the flotilla had crossed the bar at Erie, the squadron of the enemy hove in sight off Presqu' Isle Point.* Three or four days afterward the flotilla went up to the mouth of the Cascade Creek, where the two brigs and a gun-boat lay. Perry's fleet was completed and finished on the 10th of July; but, alas! he had ' The timber for the vessels was fonnd on the spot. Their frames were made Df white and black oak and chestnut, the outside planking of oak, and the decks of pine. Many trees found their places as timber in the vessels on the very day when they were felled in the forest. = It consisted of the prize brig Caledonia (see page 336) ; the schooner Somers (formerly Catharine), carrying one long 24 ; schooner Amelia (formerly Tigress), carrying one long 18 ; and schooner Ohio, carrying one long 24 ; the sloop Con- tractor (now called Trippe), carrying one long IS. The commanders of this flotilla from Buffalo to Erie were Perry, Almy, Holdup, Darling, and Dobbins. = Doctor Usher Parsons, of Providence, Rhode Island, is the last surviving commissioned officer of Perry's fleet. I am greatly indebted to him for many valuable contributions to this portion of my work, both oral and written, especially for the use of his dial? kept during the campaign of 1813. We shall meet him presently as the surgeon of the Law- rence, Perry's flag-ship, in the battle of the lOth of September. * This cruising squadron consisted of the ship Quam Charlotte, mounting IT guns ; the fine schooner Ladv Frevost mounting 18 guns ; the brig Hunter, a smaller vessel of 10 guns ; the schooner lAUle Belt, of 3 guns j and the Chirmcma of 1 gun. ^-^ ' OF THE WAR OF 1812. 513 Brig Lawrence to be the Flag-ship. Lack of Men. Perry's Earuestneaa and TJnselfiehness. only men enough to officer and man one of the brigs, and he was compelled to lie idle in the harbor of Erie, an unwilling witness of the insolent menaces of the enemy on the open lake. The brig that was to bear his broad pennant was named (by order of the Secretary of the Kavy, received on the 12th) Lawrence, in honor of the gallant captain of the Chesapeake, who had just given his life to his country.* The ' . june, other brig was named Niagara, and the smaller vessels constructed at Erie i^^^-/ were called respectively Arid (the clipper schooner), Porcup,ne, and Tigress. But what availed these vessels without officers and crews ? The two hundred soldiers lent as a guard for the flotilla on its voyage from Buffalo had been ordered back. Only Captain Brevoort, who was familiar with the navigation of the lake, remained, and he was assigned to the command of the marines of the Niagara. Perry was sick, and almost one fifth of his men were subjects for the hospital in the court-house, under Doctor Horsley, or the one near the site of Wayne's block-house, under Doctor Roberts, And yet. the government, remiss itself in furnishing Perry with men, was calling loudly upon him to co-operate with Harrison. Twice within four days he re- ceived orders to that effect from the Secretary of the Treasury.* Harri- ^ - , . son, too, was sending messages to him recounting the perils of the situation " ^ of his little army, and intelligence came that a new and powerful vessel, called Detroit, was nearly ready for service at Maiden. This was coupled with the assurance that the veteran Captain Robert H. Barclay, who had served with Nelson at Trafalgar, had arrived with experienced officers and men, and was in chief command of the hos- tile squadron seen off Presqu' Isle. In the bitterness of a mortified spirit Perry wrote to Chauncey," his chief, saying, " The enemy's fleet of six sail are now off the bar of this harbor. What a golden opportunity, if we had men ! Their object is, no doubt, either to blockade or attack us, or to carry provisions and re-enforcements to Maiden. Should it be to attack us, we are ready to meet them. I am constantly looking to the eastward ; every mail and every traveler from that quarter is looked to as the harbinger of the glad tidings of our men being on the way. Give me men, sii-, and I will acquire both for you and myself honor and glory on this lake, or perish in the attempt. Conceive my feelings : an enemy within strik- ing distance, my vessels ready, and not men enough to man them. Going out with those I now have is out of the question. You would not suffer it were you here. Think of my situation : the enemy in sight, the vessels under my command more than sufficient and ready to make sail, and yet obliged to bite my fingers with vexation for want of men.'" Again, on the 23d of July, when Sailing-master Champlin had ar- rived with seventy men. Perry wrote to Chauncey : " For God's sake, and yours, and mine, send me men and officers, and I will have them all [the British squadron] in a day or two. Commodore Barclay keeps just out of the reach of our gun-boats The vessels are all ready to meet the enemy the moment they are officered and man- ned. Our sails are bent, provisions on board, and, in fact, every thing is ready. Bar- clay has been bearding me for several days; I long to be at him." Then, with the most generous patriotism, he added, " However anxious I am to reap the reward of the labor and anxiety I have had on this station, I shall rejoice, whoever commands, to see this force on the lake, and surely I had rather be commanded by my friend than by any other. Come, then, and the business is decided in a few hours." Perry's importunities were almost in vain. Few and mostly inferior men came to him from Lake Ontario, and, so far as the government was concerned, he was left to call them itom the forest or the deep. When he gave Harrison the true reason for failing to co-operate with him, the Secretary of the Navy reproved him for exposing 1 Two days afterward Mnly 21] the enemy were becalmed off the harbor, when Perry went out with three gnn-boats from Cascade Creek to attack him. Only a few shots were exchanged, at the distance of a mile. One of Perry's shots struck themizzen-mast of the Qu^n Charlotie. Abreeze: sprung up, and the enemy's squadron bore away to the open lake. ._ Ke 514 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Belations of Channcey and Perry. Erie menaced. Preparations for an Attack. his weakness ; and when he complained to Channcey of the inferiority of the men sent to him—" a motley set, blacks, soldiers, and boys"— he received from the irritated commodore a letter so filled with caustic but half-concealed irony, that he felt con- strained to ask for a removal from the station, because, as he alleged, he " could not serve longer under an officer who had been so totally regardless of his feelings.'" A manly, generous letter from Chauncey soon afterward restored the kindliness of feel- ing between them. In the mean time the post of Erie had been seriously menaced. General Porter, at Black Eock, sent word that the enemy were concentrating at Long Point, on the Canada shore of the lake, opposite Erie. At about the same time a hostile movement was made toward Fort Meigs, and the British fleet mysteriously disappeared. No doubt was entertained of a design to attempt the capture of Erie, with the vessels and stores, by a combined land and naval force. A panic was the consequence. The families of many citizens fled with their valuables to. the interior.. Already .a block- house had been erected on the bluff east of Cascade Creek to protect the ship-yard,^ and a redoubt mounting three long twelve-pounders had been planted on the heights (now called Garrison Hill), near the present light-house, and named Fort Wayne. Barracks had been erected in the village,^ and a regiment of Pennsylvania militia were encamped near Eort Wayne. The vessels were as well manned as possible, and boats rowed guard at the entrance to the harbor. But these means of defense were not considered sufficient, and Perry called on Major General David Mead, of Mead- ville, to re-enforce the troops with his militia. This was done,* and in the course of a few days upward of fifteen hundred soldiers were concentrated at a rendezvous near. But an invasion from the lake was not attempted, owing, as was afterward ascertain- ed, to the difficulty of collecting a sufficient number of troops in time at Long Point. At the close of July Perry had about three hundred effective officers and toen at 1 Letter to the Secretary of the Navy, dated on board the Lawrence, at Brie, Angnst 10, 1818. ' See note 2, page 511. = Tbeee occupied a portion of the space now bounded by Third and Fifth and State and Sassaftas Streets. These objects and localities, and others, are indicated on the above map. In the construction of which I acknowledge aid kindly afforded me by Giles Sanford, Esq., of Erie. The public square is indicated by the white space on the village plan, and the court-house by the shaded square within it. * Doctor Parsons wrote in his diary, under date of August 1, 1813, "General Mead, otMeadvllle, arrived two or three days ago, and, with his suite, came on board the Lawrence under a salute of thirty-two guns." OF THE WAR OF 1812. 515 Passage of YeBsela over Erie Bar. First Crnise of Perry's gleet. Be-enforcementa u nder Captain Elliott. Erie, with which to man two 20-gun hrigs and eight smaller vessels. The enemy disappeared and the lake was calm. He was so restive under the bearding of Bar- clay and the chafing from superiors, that he resolved with these to go out upon the lake and try the fortune of war. On Sunday, the first of August, he moved his flo- tilla down to the entrance of the harbor, intending to cross early the next morning. The lake was lower than usual, and the squadron would not float over the bar. Even the smaller vessels had to be lightened for the purpose, and at one time it was con- sidered doubtful whether the Lawrence and Niagara could be taken out of the har- bor at all.^ The flag-ship was tried first. Her cannon, not " loaded and shotted," as the historians have said (for they had been discharged in saluting General Mead), were taken out and placed on timbers on the beach, while the Niagara and smaller vessels lay with their broadsides toward the lake for her protection, in the event of the reappearance of Barclay.' By means of "camels"^ the Lawrence was floated over on the morning of the 4th, and by two o'clock that day her armament was all on board of her, mounted and pre-, pared for action. The Niagara was taken over in the same way with very little trouble, and the smaller vessels reached the deep water outside'' without ^AugnstB, much difficulty. The labor of this movement had been exciting and ex- i™. hausting, and the young commander scarcely slept or partook of food during the four days. The enemy was expected every moment. Should he appear while the flotilla was on the bar, all might be lost. Fortunately, Commodore Barclay's social weakness — the inordinate love of public festivities— prolonged his absence, and his squadron did not heave in sight until the 5th, just as the Niagara was safely moving into deep water.^ The Ariel^ Lieutenant Packet, and Scorpion, Sailing-master Cham- plin, were sent out boldly to engage and detain the squadron. Barclay was surprised at this movement, and perceiving that his golden opportunity was lost, he bore away toward Long Point. The whole of Perry's flotilla was in perfect preparation before night. That evening it weighed anchor," and stood toward Long Point on its first cruise. Perceiving no farther use for the militia, who were anx- °^^ ious to get into their harvest-fields, General Mead discharged them, and the armed citizens of Erie resumed their accustomed avocations. Perry cruised between Erie and the Canada shore for two or three days, vainly searching for the enemy, who had gone to Maiden to await the completion of the Detroit, a ship that would make the British force superior to that of the Americans. But the latter now received accessions of strength. On the 9th the squadron was joined at'Erie by Captain Jesse D. Elliott,* who brought with him about one hundred officers and superior men. With these he manned the Niagara and assumed com- mand of her. Thus re-enforced, Perry resolved to sail up the lake and report himself ready to co-operate with Harrison. The squadron left Erie on the 12th'= in double column, one line in regular = Angust. battle order,^ and rendezvoused in an excellent harbor called Put-in-Bay,* " August 15. 1 Manuscript corrections of the text of M'Kenzie's Life of Perry, by Captain Daniel Dobbins, who assisted in the movement. I am indebted for the use of these notes to his son, Captain W. W. Dobbins, of Erie, Pennsylvania. 2 A "camel" is a machine invented by the Dutch for carrying vessels over shallow places, as bars at the entrance of harbors. It is a huge box or kind of scow, so arranged that water may be let in or pumped out at pleasure. One of them is placed on each side ot a vessel, the water let in, and the camels so sunken that, by means of ropes under the keel and windlasses, the vessel may be placed so that beams may bear it, resting on the camels. The water in the camels is then pnmped ont, they float, and the vessel, raised by them, is carried over the shallow place. 3 Captain Dobbins, in his MS. notes on M'Kenzie's Life of Commodore Perry, says that the Citizens of Port Dover, a small village on Ryason's Creek, a little below-Long Point, in Canada, oflTered Commodore Barclay and his ofllcers a public dinner. The invitation was accepted. While that dinner was being attended Perry was getting his vessels over the bar, and thereby acquired power to successfully dispute the supremacy of Lake Erie with the British. At the din- ner Captain Barclay remarked, in response to a complimentary toast, "I expect to And the Yankee brigs hard and fast on the bar at Erie when I return. In which predicament it will be but a small Job to destroy them." Had Barclay been more mindful of duty, his expectations might have been realized. Captain Dobbins makes this statement on the au- thority of an old lake acquaintance, Mr. Kyason, who was at the dinner. .^ i See page 388. : 5 Perry's aggregate force of officers and men was less than four hundred. His squadron was composed as follows : 516 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Islands around Pat-in-Bay. Harrison visits Perry on his Flag-ship. Sickness in the Fleet. formed by a group of islands known as the North, Middle, and South Bass, Put-in- Bay, Sugar, Gibraltar, and Strontian,i and numerous small islets, some of them con- taining not more than half an acre. These lie off Port Clinton, the capital of Ottawa County, Ohio. Nothing was seen of the enemy ; and on the following day, toward evening, the squadron weighed anchor and sailed for Sandusky Bay, when a strange sail was discovered off Cunningham (now Kelly) Island by Champlin, of the Scor- pion, who had been sent out as a sort of scout. He signaled and gave chase, fol- lowed for a short time by the whole squadron. It was a British schooner reconnoi- tring. She eluded her pursuers by darting among the islands that form Put-in-Bay, under cover of the night. A heavy storm of wind and rain came with the darkness. The Scorpion partly grounded, the schooner ran ashore in the gale, and the squadron lay at anchor all night.^ On the following morning the point of the peninsula off Sandusky Bay was reached, when Perry fired signal-guns, according to agreement, to apprise Harrison at his quarters at Camp Seneca of his presence. That evening Col- onel E. P. Gaines, with a few officers and k guard of Indians, appeared on board the Lawrence, and informed Perry that Harrison, with eight thousand men — militia, rbg- alars, and Indians — was only twenty-seven miles distant. Boats were immedia.tely dispatched to bring the general and his suite on board. He arrived late in the even- ing of the 19th, during a heavy rain, accompanied by his aids, M'Arthur and Cass, and other officers composing his staff, and a large number of soldiers and Indians, twenty-six of the latter being chiefs of the neighboring tribes, whose friendship it was thought important to maintain. The plan of the campaign was then arranged » August, by the two commanders. The 20th,'' a bright and beautiful day, was spent 1813. jjj reconnoitring Put-in-Bay, with the view of concentrating the army there for transportation to Maiden, and on the 21st the general returned to his camp. As Harrison was not quite ready for i" August 23. ^lA^'VLey^ ;;i;r ^," , . :r cj ■ To meet with tjiat foe they so lately, did dread."— Old Ballad. '. rj^, ' f ■ A light wind was blowing from the southwest.; Clouds came upon it. from over the Ohio wilderness, and in passing dropped a light shower of. rain. Soon the sky be- came serene, and before ten o'frlock, when, by the aid of the gentle breeze in beat- prepared for that monument he caused to be erected, in 1866, a'small one, composed" of yellowish limestone. Itis about ten feet in height, and surmounted by a bronze vase foriflowers. "Onitg sides arenayal devices of the same inetah ' Henry Brevoort, of New York, was comnissioned' Second 'Lieutenant in Third Infantry in 1801. He commanded transports on Lake Erie, and in' May, 1811, was proiuofed'to captain. He distinguished himself in the battle of Magua- ga (see page 2T9), and also as commander of marines in the Niagara in the battle of Lake Erie. He received a silver medal for his gallantry there. He was promoted to major-in 1814, and was disbanded in 1815. In 1822 he was made United States Indian Agent at Green Bay.'— Gardner's Z)J '■' ' ''i\'!'- 2 Samuel Hambleton was a native of Talbot County, Maryland, where he was bom in 1T7T. He was first a merchant, then a clerk in the Navy Department, and in 1806 was appdinted purser in the navy. After the battle of Lake Erie, the officers and crews of the American squadron appointed him' pri^e agent, and more than $200,000 passed through- his hands. He left the lake in 1814, and performed good service afloat and ashore for many years. He died at his resi- dence in Maryland; near St. Michael's, called " Perry's Cabin," January IT, 1861. 3 This is a picture of the flag as seen in the Trophy Room of the Sanitary Fair in the City of New York in the month of April, 1864. It is between eight and nine feet square. The form of the letters is preserved in the engraving. They are about a foot in length, and might be seen at a considerable distance. The following lines, in allusion to this flag, are from a flue poem on The Hero of Lake Erie, by Henry T. Tuckerman, Esq. : "Behold the chieftain's glad, prophetic smile, As a new banner he unrolls the while ; Hear the gay shout of his elated crew When the dear watchword hovers to their view, And Lawrence, silent in the arms of death. Bequeaths deflance with his latest breath I'' 520 PICTORIAL PIELD--BOOK Perry's Determination to flght. Names and Character of the opposing Vessels. Signal for Battle . ing and strong arms with oars, the squadron had passed out from the lahyrinth of islands into the open lake, within five or six miles of the enemy, not a cloud was hanging in the firmament, nor a fleck of mist was upon the waters. It was a splen- did September day. Perry was yet weak from illness when the cry of" Sail ho !" was repeated to him by Lieutenant Dulaney Forrest. That announcement gave him strength, and the ex- citement of the hour was a tonic of rare virtue. The. wind was variable, and he tried in vain to gain the weather - gage of the enemy by beating around to the wind- ward of some of the islands. He was too impatient to fight to long brook the waste of precious time in securing an advantage so small with a wind so light. " Run to the leeward of the islands," he said to Taylor, his sailing-master.' " Then you will have to engage the enemy to, leeward," said that officer, in a slightly remonstrant manner. " I don't care," quickly responded Perry ; " to windward or to leeward, they shall fight to-day." The signal to wear ship followed immediately, when the wind shifted suddenly to the southeast, and enabled the squadron to clear the isl- ands, and to keep the weather - gage. Perceiving this, Barclay hove to, in close or- der, and awaited Perry's attack. His vessels, newly painted and with colors flying, made an imposing appearance. They were six in number,^ and bore sixty-three car- riage-guns, one on a pivot, two swivels, and four howitzers. Perry's squadron num- bered nine vessels, and bore fifty-fqur carriage-guns and two swivels.^ Barclay had thirty-five long guns to Perry's j?/)5eew, and possessed greatly the advantage in action at a distance. In close action, the weight of metal was with the Americans, and for that reason Perry had resolved to close upon the enemy at once. The British com- mander had one hundred and fifty men from the royal navy, eighty Canadian sailors, two hundred and forty soldiers, mostly regulars, and some Indians. His whole force, officers and men, was a little more than five hundred. The American commander had upon his muster-roll four hundred and ninety names. Of these the bearers of one hundred and sixteen were sick, and most of them too weak to go upon deck. About one fourth of Perry's crew were from Rhode Island; one fourth were regular seamen, American and foreign ; about one fourth were raw volunteers, chiefly from Kentucky ; and about another fourth were negroes. At a little past ten o'clock Perry's line was formed according to the plan arranged the previous evening, the Niagara in the van. The Lawrence was cleared for ac- tion, and the battle-flag, bearing th'e words " don't give up the ship," in letters large enough, as we have observed, to be seen by the whole squadron, was brought out and displayed. The commodore then addressed his officers and crew a few stirring words, and concluded by saying, "My brave lads ! this flag contains the last words of Captain Lawrence. Shall I hoist it ?" " Ay, ay, sir !" they all shouted, as with one voice, and in a moment it was run up to the main-royal mast-head of the flag- ship, amid cheer after cheer, not only from the Lawrence, but the whole squadron. It was the signal for battle. > William Vigeron Taylor was of French descent. He was a captain in the merchant service, and entered that of the navy under Perry as sailing-master. Perry esteemed him highly, and made him sailing-master of his flag-ship on Lake Erie. He rendered efficient serrice in the fitting out of the squadron. In the hattle on the 10th of Septemher he re- ceived a wound in the thigh, but kept the deck until the close. On the return of the Lawrence to Erie, Mr. Taylor was sent with dispatches to Chauncey. In 1814 he was commissioned a lieutenant in the navy. He was promoted to com- mander in 1831, and to post captain In 1841. He commanded the sloops Warren and Erie in the Gulf of Mexico. After his promotion to post captain he was placed in command of the ship-of-the-liue Ohio, and took her around Cape Horn to the Pacific;. He was then sixty-eight years of , age. On the 11th of February, 1851, he died of apoplexy, in the seventy- eighth year of his age. It is proper here to mention that most of the biographical sketches of the officers of Perry's squadron contained in this chapter are compiled from a paper on the subject from the pen of Dr. Usher Parsons, published in the Sew England Historical and Genealogical Register for January, 1863. ' These were as follows : Ship Detroit, 19 guns, 1 in pivot, and 2 howitzers ; ship Queen Charlotte, 17, and 1 howitzer ; schooner Lady Prevost, 13, and 1 howitzer ; brig Hunter, 10 ; sloop lAttle Belt, 3 ; and schooner Chippewa, 1, and 2 swivels. =, These were as follows: Brig iatwema, 30 gnns; brig JRograra, 20 ; brig Caledonia, %\ schooner .Ariel, 4 ; schooner' Scorpion, 2, and 2 swivels ; sloop Tnppe, 1 ; schooner Tigress, 1 ; and schooner Porcupine, 1. The Ohio, Captain Dob- bins, had gone to Erie for supplies, and was not in the action. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 521 Perry's Care for his Men. Change in the Order of Battle. Biographical Sketch of Perry. As the dinner-hour would occur at the probable time of action, the thought- ful Perry ordered refreshments to be dis- tributed. The decks were then wetted and sprinkled with sand so that feet should not slip when blood should begin to flow. Then every man was placed in proper position. As the squadron moved slowly and silently toward the enemy, with a gentle breeze, at the rate of less than three knots, the Niagara, Captain Elliott, leading the van, it was discovered that Barclay had made a dis- position of his force that required a change in Perry's prescribed order of battle. It was instantly made, and the American squadron moved to the at- tack in the order best calculated to cope with the enemy. Barclay's vessels were near together. The flag-ship Detroit, I Oliver Hazard Perry was bom in South Kingston, Ehode Island, on the 23d of August, 1785. His father was then iri the naval service of the United States. Bloop-of-war General Greme, when war with lYance seemed inevitahle. He first saw active service before Tripoli, in the squadron of Commodore Preble. He was commissioned a lieutenant in 1810, and placed in command of the schooner Reven^s, attached to Com- modore Eodgers's squadron in Long Island Sound. She was wrecked, but his conduct in saving public property was highly applanded. Early in 1812 he was placed la command of a flotil- la of gun-boats in Newport Harbor. After his victorious battle on Lake Erie in 1813, he was promoted to post- captain, and at the close of the war he was placed in command of the Java^ 44, a flrst-class frigate, and sailed with Decatur for the Mediterranean Sea. He entered the navy as midshipman at the age of fifteen years, on board the On his return, while his vessel was ^^^ii^-^*^g^g^ VIEW OF PEERY S BIETH-PLACE. lying in Newport Harbor, in mid-win- ter, a fearful storm arose. He heard of the wreck of a merchant vessel upon a reef six miles distant. He immedi- ately manned his barge and said to his crew, " Come, my boys, we are going to the relief of shipwrecked seamen ', pull away !" He rescued eleven almost exhausted seamen from death. On account of piracies in the West Indies, the United States government determined to send a little squadron there for the prbtection of American commerce. Perry was assigned to the command of it, and in 1819 he sailed in the John Adams, accompanied by the Namsuch. In August he was at- tacked by the yellow fever, and on his birthday (Angust 23d) he expired, at the age of thirty-four years. He was bur- ied at Port Spain, Trinidad, with military honors. His death produced a most profound sensation throughout the United States, for it was regarded as a great public calamity. Tributes of national grief were dis- played, and the Congress of the United States made a liberal provision for his fam- ily, and his mother, who was dependent on him for support. In 1826 his remains were conveyed from Trini- dad to Newport in the sloop- of-war Lexington, and land- ed on the 27th of Novem- ber. On Monday (December 4th) following he was Inter- red with funeral honors due to his rank. His cofSn rest- ed in a sort of catafalco, the lower part being in the form of a boat. The canopy was oATAPALoo. decorated with stars and trimmed with black curtains, and at each comer were black plumes. The State of Ehode Island afterward caused to be erected a substantial granltp monument to his memory. It stands upon a grassy mound on the west side of the Isl- and Cemetery, and at the base rest the remains of the commodore and the deceased of his family. The monument bears the following inscriptions. Bast side : " Olivek Hazaed Pekkt. At the age of ST years he achieved the victory of Lake PEKEY S MONpMENT. 522 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Eelative Position of the two Squadrons. Opeumg of the Battle. Choice of Antagonists. 19, was in the van supported by the schooner Chippewa, with one long 18 on a pivot, and two swivels. Next was the brig Hunter, 10 ; then the Queen Charlotte, 17, com- manded by Finnis. The latter was flanked by the schooner Lady Prevost, 13, and the Little Belt, 3. Perry, in the brig Lawrence, 20, moved forward, flanked on the left by the schooner Scorpion, -andier Champlin, bearing two long guns (32 and 12), and the schooner ^r«W, Lieutenant Packet, which carried four short 12's. On the right of the Lawrence was the brig Caledonia, Captain Turner, with three long 24's. These were intended to encounter the _ 3 Chippewa, Detroit, and Hunt- f>i ^1i I J^' I ^^' C^aptain Elliott, in the fine W- / Mr^ '^M jfj. ^"g Niagara, 20, followed, ■s, * A .r ^ -^^ L with instructions to fight the r g °™ ""^ faithfulness were' perfect. His respect for his wife amounted to on rZ?.: ™d he was ever ready to acknowledge her salutary influence Doctor Parsons relates thrtLXst remark &^Na^^;^::rmSroft^h^xa^rhfb:?tr OF THE WAR OF 18 12. 523 The first Shot fired by the Americana. Sailing-master ChampUn. First Position of the Vessels in the Fight. then less than twenty-four years of age, who still (1867) lives to enjoy a well-earned reputa- tion,i had already fired the first (as he did the last) shot of the battle from the guns of the Scorpion. " But see that silver wreath of ending smok£ — 'Tis Barclay'^ gnn ! The silence now is broke. Champlin, with rapid move and steady eye, Sends back in thnnder-tones a bold I'eply." This was followed by a cannonade from Pack- et,^ of the Ariel; and then the Lawrence, which had begun to suffer considerably from the enemy's missiles, opened fire upon the De- troit with her long bow-gun, a twelve-pounder. The action soon became general. The small- er, slow-sailing vessels had fallen in the rear, and when the battle began the Trippe was more than two miles from the enemy. The Scorpion and Ariel, both without bul- warks, fought bravely, and kept their places with the Lawrence throughout the entire ac- tion. They did not suffer much, for the en- emy concentrated his destructive energies upon the Lawrence and neglected the others. From the Detroit, the Hunter, the Queen Charlotte, -^-MA -1 TI s FIBST POSITION IN THE ACTION. 3 and even from the Lady Prevost, shots were hurled upon the Amer- ican flag-ship, with the determin- ation to destroy her and her gal- lant commander, and then to cut up the squadron in detail. No less than thirty-four heavy guns were brought to bear upon her. The Caledonia, with her long guns, was enabled to do good ex- I Stephen Champlin was bom in South Kingston, Khode Island, on the ITth of November, 1789. His father was a volunteer soldier in the Revolution. Hie mother was a sister of Commodore Perry's father, making the two command- ers first cousins. He went to sea as a sailor at the age of sixteen years, and at the age of twenty-two, having passed through all grades, he was captain of a ship that sailed from Norwich, Connecticut. On the 22d of May, 1812, he was appointed sailing-master in the navy, and commanded a gun-boat, under Perry, at Newport. As we have seen, he was sent to Lake Erie. On his arrival Be was appointed to the command of the Scorpion, which he gallantly managed throughout the battle. Subsequently to the battle he was placed in command of the Qium Charlotte and Detroit, two " prize-ships taken from the enemy. In the spring of 1814 he was placed in command of the Tigress, under Commander Sinclair, and, with Captain Turner, he blockaded the port of Mackinaw. His services on the Upper Lake will be noticed in the future text. Suffice it to say here that he was severely wounded in the thigh while in that service by canister- shot, and taken prisoner. That wound has been troublesome to him until this hour. In 1816 he was appointed to the command of the Porcupine, andconveyed a party of topographical engineers to the Upper Lakes, who were to consider the boundary-line between the United States and Great Britain. Hie wound prevented his doing much active, service. He was ordered to the steam-ship FuUxm at New York, and had left her but a short time when she blew up. In 1842 he was placed in command of the naval rendezvous at Buffalo, and was successful in shipping apprentices for the service. In 1845 he was ordered to the command of the Michigan at Erie, and continued there about four years and a half. A few years ago he was placed on the reserve list, with full pay, and remains so. He now bears the title of commodore. He resides at Buffalo, and, with the exception of the sufferings caused by his wound, he is in the enjoyment of fair health, at the age of seventy-eight years. He is a stout, thick-set man, of middle size. He is the last survivor of the nine com- manders in Perry's squadron in the great battle in 1813. s John H. Packet was a native of Virginia. He received his warrant as midshipman in 1809, and was commissioned a lieutenant a few days before this battle. He was with Bainbridge when the Constitution captured the Java^ He served at Erie some years after the battle, and died there of fever. The acting sailing-master of the Arid in the battle, Thomas Brownell, was from Rhode Island, and went to Erie as master's-mate, where he was promoted. He was commissioned a lieutenant in 1843, when he was placed on the retired list. He now (1867) resides at Newport, Rhode Island. He was always an active and esteemed oiBcer. = This diagram shows the position of the vessels at the beginning of the action. The British vessel?. A, are indicated by Roman numerals, and the American vessels, B, by Arabic. I., Chippewa; IL, Detroit; IIL, Hunter; ivi, Qiteen 524 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Pei-ry closes upon Barclay. Progress of the Fight.' Scenes on board the Z,tttw.««. ecution from the beginning, but the shot of the carronades from the Niagara fell short of her antagonist. Of her twenty guns, only a long 12 was serviceable for a while. Shifting another, Elliott brought two to bear with effect, and these were served so vigorously that nearly all of the shot of that calibre were exhausted. The smaller vessels meanwhile were too far astern to be of much service. Perry soon perceived that he was yet too far distant to damage the enemy mate- rially, so he ordered word to be sent from vessel to vessel by trumpet for all to make sail, bear down upon Barclay, and engage in close combat. The order was transmitted by Captain Elliott, who was the second in command, but he failed to obey it himself ' His vessel was a fast sailer, and his men were the best in the squad- ron, but he kept at a distance from the enemy, and continued firing his long guns. Perry meanwhile pressed on with the Lawrence, accompanied by the Scorpion, Ariel, and Caledonia, and at meridian exactly, when he supposed he was near enough for execution with his carronades, he opened the first division of his battery on the star- board side on the Detroit. His balls fell short, while his antagonist and her consorts poured upon the Lawrence a heavy storm of round shot from their long guns, still leaving the Scorpion and Ariel almost unnoticed. The Caledonia meanwhile en- gaged with the Hunter, but the Niagara kept a respectful distance from the Queen Charlotte, and gave that vessel an opportunity to go to the assistance of the Detroit. She passed the Hunter, and, placing herself astern of the Detroit, opened heavily upon the Lawrence, now, at a quarter past twelve, only musket-shot distance from her chief antagonist. For two hours the gallant Perry and his devoted ship bore the brunt of the battle with twice his force, aided only by the schooners on his weather- bow and some feeble shots from the distant Caledonia when she could spare them from her adversary the Hunter. During that tempest of war his vessel was tembly shattered. Her rigging was nearly all shot away ; her sails were torn into shreds ; her spars were battered into splinters ; her guns were dismounted ; and, like the Guer- riere when disabled by the Constitution, she lay upon the waters almost a helpless wreck. The carnage on her deck had been terrible. Out of one hundred and three sound men that composed her officers and crew when she went into action, twenty- two were slain and sixty-one were woiinded. Perry's little brother had been struck down by a splinter at his side, but soon recovered.^ Yamall,^ his first lieutenant, had come to him bleeding, his nose swelled to an enormous size, it having been perforated by a splinter, and his whole appearance the impersonation of carnage and ill luck', and said, " All the officers in my division are cut down ; can I have others ?" They were sent ; but Yamall soon returned, again wounded and bleeding profusely, with the same sad story. " I have no more officers to furnish you," replied Perry ; " you must endeavor to make out by yourself" The brave lieutenant did so. Thrice wounded, he kept the deck, and directed every shot from his battery in person. Forest, the second lieutenant, fell stunned at Perry's feet ;* and the gallant Brooks, CliarloUe; Y.,Ladji Praiost; Yl., LitUe Belt. 1, Scorpion; 2,Ariel; 3,Lawremx; 4, Caledonia; 5, Niagara; 6, Sonwrs; 7, Pormvpi'm; 8, Tigress; "9, Trippe. 1 Dr. Usher Parsons's Discourse on the Battle of Lake Erie, delivered before the Bhode Island Historical Society, Feb- ruai7 16, 1852, page 10. 2 Two musket-halls had already passed through his hat, and his clothes had been torn by splinters. 3 John J. Tamall was a native of Pennsylvania, and was commissioned a lieutenant in July, 1813, having been in the service as midshipman since 1809. lost at sea with all on board. Ten days after the battle on Lake ^..^ ^ ''2^ >»^ The State of Virginia presented Erie he was sent to Erie with the d:iier in 1815. She was at Cleveland, on the occasion of the dedication of the statue of Perry in that city in September, 1S60. 1 copied the following inscription from the blade : " In testimony of the undaunted gallantry of Lieutenant John J. Tamall, of the United States ship Lawrence, under Commodore Perry, in the capture ofthe whole English fleet on Lake Erie, September 10, 1813, the State of Virginia be- stows this sword." It was brought from Wheeling to Cleveland by Mr. Fleming, of the former place. * He was struck in the breast by a spent grape-shot. PeiTy raised him np, assured him that he was not hurt as there OF THE "WAR OF 1812. 525 Death otLieutepant Brooks. Terrible Scenes on board the Lawrence. Strange Conduct of Captain Elliott. SO remarkable for his personal beauty,^ a son of an honored soldier of the old war for independence, and once governor of Massachusetts, was carried in a dying state to the cockpit, where balls were crashing through, his mind more exercised about his be- loved commander and the fortunes of the day than himself When the good surgeon, Parsons, who had hastened to the deck on hearing a shout of victory, returned to cheer the youth with the glorious tidings, the young hero's ears were closed — the doors of the earthly dwelling of his spirit were shut forever.^ While the Lawrence was being thus terribly smitten, officers and crew were anx- iously wondering why the Niagara — the swift, stanch, well-manned Niagara — kept aloof, not only from her prescribed antagonist the Queen Charlotte, now battling the Lawrence, but the other assailants of the flag-ship. Her commander himself had passed the order for close conflict, yet he kept far away ; and when afterward cen- sured, he pleaded in justification of his course his perfect obedience to the origmal order to keep at " half-cable length behind the Caledonia on the line." It may be said that his orders to fight the Queen Charlotte, who had left her line and gone into the thickest of the fight with the Lawrence and her supporting schooners, were quite as imperative, and that it was his duty to follow. This he did not do until the guns of the Lawrence became silent, and no signals were displayed by, nor special orders came from Perry. These significant tokens of dissolution doubtless made Elliott be- lieve that the commodore was slain, and himself had become the chief commander of the squadron. He then hailed the Caledonia, and ordered Lieutenant Turner^ to were no signs of a wonnd, and, thus encouraged, he soon recovered from the shock. The hall had lodged in his clothes. "I am not hurt, sir," he said to the commander, "but this is my shot," and coolly put it in his pocket. 1 John Brooks was a native of Massachusetts. He studied medicine with his father. Having a military taste, he ob- tained the appointment of lieutenant of marines, and was stationed at Washington when the war broke out. He wa9 sent to Lake Erie under Perry ; and at Erie, while the squadron was a-bnilding, he was engaged in recruiting for the service. There he raised a company of marines for the squadron. He was an excellent drill officer, and gave great promise of future distinction. So intense was Ms agony when he fell, his hip having been shattered by a cannon-ball, that he begged Perry to shoot him. He died in the course of an hour. " Mr. Brooks," says Doctor Parsons, "was prob- ably surpassed by no officer in the navy for manly beauty, polished manners, and elegant personal appearance." 2 The scenes on board the Lawrence, as described to me by Doctor Parsons, must have been extremely terrible. The vessel was shallow, and the ward-room, used as a cockpit, to which the wounded were taken, was mostly above water, and exposed to the shots of the enemy ; while nothing but the deck-planks separated it from the terrible tumult above, cansed by the groans and shrieks of the wounded and dying, the deep rumbling of the gun-carriages, the awful explo- sions of the cannon, the crash of round-shot as they splintered spars, stove the bulwarks, dismounted the heavy ord- nance, and cut the rigging, while through the seams of the deck blood streamed into the surgeon's room in many a crimson rill. When the battle had raged half an hour, and the crew of the Lawrence were falling one by one, the com- modore called from the small skylight for the doctor to send up one of his six assistants. In Ave minutes the call wa? repeated and obeyed, and again repeated and obeyed, until Parsons was left alone. " Can any of the wounded pull a rope ?" inquired Perry. The question was answered i)y two or three crawling upon deck to lend a feeble hand in pull- ing at the last guns in position. Midshipman Lamb had his arm badly shattered. While moving forward to lie down, after the doctor had dressed the wound, a round-shot came crashing through the side of the vessel, struck the young man in the side, dashed him across the room, and killed him Instantly. Pohig, a Narraganset Indian, badly wounded, was released from his sufferings in the same way by another ball that passed through the cockpit. No less than six round-shot entered the surgeon's room during the action. Some of the incidents witnessed by the doctor were not so painful. A cannon-ball passed through a closet contain- ing all the brig's crockery, dashing a greater portion of it in pieces. It was an illustration— that ball from John Bull— of "a bull in a china-shop." The commodore's dog had secreted himself in that closet when the war of battle com- menced, and when the destructive intruder came he set up a furious barking— "a protest," said the doctor, "against the right of such an invasion of his chosen retirement." We have observed that Lieutenant Tamall was wounded, yet kept the deck. He had his scalp badly torn, and " came below," said the doctor, " with the blood streaming over his face." Some lint was applied to the wound and confined by a handkerchief, and the lieutenant was then directed to come for better dressing after the battle, as he insisted upon returning to the deck. It was not long before he again made his appearance, having received a second wound. On the deck were stowed some hammocks stuffed with reed-tops, or "cat-tails," as they are popularly called. These filled the air like down, and had settled like snow upon the blood-wet head and face of Yarnall. When he made his appearance below his visage was ludicrous beyond description ; his head appeared like that of a huge owl. The wounded roared with laughter,^and cried out, "The devil has come among us 1" 3 Daniel Turner was a native of New York. He was appointed a midshipman in ISOS, and in 1S13 was commissioned a lieutenant. He was efficient, in getting the little lake squadron ready for service. In its first cruise across the lake,. young Turner, less than twenty-one years of age, commanded the Niagara. On the arrival of Captain Elliott, he was ordered to the third ship, the Caledonia, and managed her gallantly during the action. He continued in the lake service the following year, and was made a prisoner and sent to Montreal. He was exchanged, and accompanied Perry in the Java to the Mediterranean. For his services in the battle of Lake Erie his native state presented him with an elegant sword. He was at one time commander of the naval station at Portsmouth ; at another of the Pacific squadron, and always performed his duties with the greatest promptness. He was temperate, brave, generous, and genial. He was 526 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The Niagara's Treatment of t he Lmm-ence. Coniition ot the Lawrerm. Perry abandoDB her. leave the line and bear down upon the Hunter for close conflict, giving the Niagara a chance to pass for the relief of the Lawrence. The gallant Turner instantly obeyed, and the Caledonia fought her adversary nobly. The Niagara spread her canvas be- fore a freshening breeze that had just sprung up, but, instead of going to the relief of the Zawrence, thus silently pleading for protection, she bore away toward the head of the enemy's squadron, pass- ing the American flag-ship to the windward, and leaving her A exposed to the still galling ^ iji . L ^j fire of the enemy, because, as Lf' * was alleged in extenuation of ^^i=9 this apparent violation of the 7* "^ ^ rules of naval warfare and sEooM> POSITION IN THE BATTLE.! ^j^g clalms of humanlty, both squadrons had caught the breeze and moved forward, and left the crippled vessel floating astern. Elliott seemed to notice her only by sending a boat to bring round shot from her to replenish his own scanty store. As the Niagara bore down she was assailed by shots from the Queen Charlotte, Lady Prevost, and Hunter, and returned them with spirit. It was while she was abreast of the Lawrences larboard beam, and nearly half a mile distant, that Perry performed the gallant feat of transferring his broad pennant from one vessel to the other. He had fought as long as possible. More than two hours had worn away in the Conflict. His vessel lay helpless and silent upon the. almost unrufiled bosom of the lake, utterly incapable of farther defense. His last effective heavy gun had been fired by himself, assisted by his purser and chaplain. Only fourteen unhurt persons remained on his deck, and only nine of these were seamen. A less hopeful man would have pulled down his flag in despair ; but Perry's spirit was too lofty to be touched by common misfortunes. From his mast-head floated the admonition, as if audibly spoken by the gallant Lawrence, Don't give up the ship. ' In the dash of the Cal- edonia and the approach of the long-lagging Niagara he felt the inspiration of hope ; and when he saw the latter, like the priest or the Levite, about to " pass by on the other side," immindfnl of his wounds, resolutions like swift intuitions filled his mind, and were as quickly acted upon. The Niagara was stanch, swift, and apparently unhurt, for she had kept far away from great danger. He determined to fly to her deck, spread all needful sail to catch the stiffening breeze, bear down swiftly upon the crippled enemy, break his line, and make a bold stroke for victory. With the calmness of perfect assurance. Perry laid aside his blue nankeen sailor's jacket which he had worn all day, and put on the uniform of his rank, as if conscious that he should secure a victory, and have occasion to receive as guests the conquered commander and officers of the British squadron.^ " Yarnall," he said, " I leave the Lawrence in your charge, with discretionary powers. You may hold out or surren- der, as your judgment and the circumstances shall dictate." He had already ordered his. boat to be lowered, his broad pennant, and the banner with its glorious words, to be taken down,' but leaving the Stars and Stripes floating defiantly over the battered made master commander ]n 1825, and post-captain In 1835. He died on the 4th of February, 1850, leaving a widow and one daughter, who still survive him. ' This shows, the relative position of the two squadrons at the time when the JViOf/orabore down upon the head of the British line, the change of her course after Perry took command of her, and the penetration of that line by her. One dotted line, from 4 to 4, shows the attack of the Cdkdonia on the HunUr, and the other, from 6 to 6, the course of the Niagara as described on this and the next page. The vessels of the British squadron. A, are designated by Boman nu- merals, thus: I., Chippewa; II., Detroit; 111., Hunter; IV., Queen Charlotte; V.jLadyPrmost; YI., Little Belt. Thoseof the American squadron, B, are designated by Arabic numerals, thus : 1, Scorpion; 2, Ariel; 3, Laioreiux; 4, Caledonia; 5, Niagara ; 6, Somera ; 7, Pamipine ; 8, Tigress ; 9, Trippe. " Letter of Hev. Francis Vinton, D.D., son-in-law of Commodore Perry, to the Author. ' 3 This was rolled up and cast to him, after he had entered his barge, by Hosea Sargent, now [1807] living at Cam- bridge, Massachusetts. ■ ■ OF THE WAR OF 1812. 527 Perry's Voyage from the Lawrence to the Xiagara. Its Perils and its Success. A British Survivor of the Battle. hulk. With these, his little brother, and four stout seamen for the oars,' he started upon his perilous voyage, anxiously watched by Yarnall and his companions. " A soul like Ws no danger fears ; His pendant from the mast he tears, And in his gallant hosom beat's, To grace the. bold Niagara. See I he quits the LawrcTme^s side. And trusts him td the foaming tide. Where thundering navies round him ride. And flash their red artillery."— Old Sonq. He stood upright in his boat, the pennant and the banner half folded around him, a mark for the anxious eyes of his own men and for the guns of the enemy.^ The latter discovered the movement. Barclay, who was badly wounded, and whose flag- ship was almost dismantled, well knew that if Perry, who had fought the Lawrence so gallantly, should tread the quarter-deck of the fresh Niagara as commander, his squadron would be in great danger of defeat. He therefore ordered great and~little guns to be brought to bear upon the frail but richly-laden vessel — laden with a hero of purest mould. Cannon-balls, grape, canister, and musket-shot were hurled in show- ers toward the little boat during the fifteen minutes that it was making its way from the JLavirence to the Niagara.'^ The oars were splintered, bullets traversed the boat, and the crew were covered with Spray caused by the falling of. heavy round and grape-shot in the water near. Perl-y stood erect, unmindful of danger. His men en- treated him to be seated, for his life at that critical moment seemed too precious to be needlessly exposed to peril. It was not foolhardiness nor thoughtlessness, but the innately brave spirit of the man, that kept him on his feet. At length, when his oars- men threatened to cease labor if he did not sit down, he consented to do so. A few minutes later they were all climbing to the deck of the Niagara, entirely unharmed, and greeted with the loud cheers of the Americans, who had watched the movement 1 One of these was Thomas Penny, vfho died in the Naval Asylum, near Philadelphia, in 1S63, at the age of eighty-one years. . ! Perry's portrait belonging to the city of NewTork, and hanging in the Governor's Eoom, from vphich ours on page 621 was copied, is what artists call a kit-kat, or three-quar- ters length. It was painted by John Wesley jarvis, and rep- resents Perry standing, with the banner floating like a huge scarf from his shoulders. 3 Among the survivors of the Battle of Lake Erie whom I have met was John Chapman, a resident of Hudson, Ohio, a small, energetic man, who related his past {Experience in an attractive, dramatic style. He was in the British fleet as gunner, maintop-man, and boarder In the Qmen Charlotte, and claimed the distinction of having fired the first shot at the Lawrence from a 24-pounder. He also said that he aim- ed a shot at Commodore Perry when making his perilous passage from the Lawrence to the Siatjara. Mr. Chapman was u native of England. He came from there in the transport Boetwich early in 1812, and landed at Quebec. Prom that city he went up the St. Lawrence in May, and took post in Fort George, on the Niagara Eiver. He afterward went up to assist in the erection of Port Erie. He was present at the surrender of Hull, and participated in the battle of Queens- ton Heights. In the summer of 1S13 he was placed on board the schooner Lady Prevoat, at Long Point, and arrived at Maiden about three weeks before the battle of Lake Brie. He was with Proctor at the attack on Port Stephenson. He was one of the survivors In the fatal ditch (see page 603), and. escaped to the woods under cover of the darkness. On the return of Proctor to Maiden he went on board the Quein Charlotte, and was with her in the battle. He was sent to Ohio with other prisoners, and was one cf those who were held as hostages for the safety of the Irishmen under Scott who were sent to England, as mentioned on page 408. He was released on the 20th of Octo- ber, at Cleveland. He went immediately to Hudson, a few miles distant, where he resided until his death in 1865. I am indebted to the Kev. T. B. Pairchild, of Hudson, for the substance of the above brief sketch of the pub- lic career of Mr. Chapman, and to the soldier himself for his likeness, taken in the spring o'f 1862. 528' PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Meeting of Perry and Elliott. Snrrender of the helpless Lawrence. Perry strikes the British Line. with breathless anxiety. Perry was met at the gangway by the astonished Elliott. There stood the hero of the fight, blackened with the smoke of battle, but unharmed in person and unflinching in his determination to win victory— he whom the com- mander of the Niagara thought to be dead. There were hurried questions and an- swers. "How goes the day ?" asked Elliott. " Bad enough," responded Perry ; " why are the gun-boats so far astern ?" " I'll bring them up," said Elliott. " Do so," respond- ed Perry. Such is the reported substance of the brief conversation of the two command- ers,^ at the close of which Elliott pushed off in a small boat to htfrry up the lagging vessels. Having given his orders to each to use sails and oars with the greatest vigor, he went on board the Somers, and behaved gallantly until the close of the action. At a glance Perry comprehended the condition and capabilities of the Niagara. There had been few casualties on board of her, and she was in perfect order for con- flict. He immediately ra;n up his pennant, displayed the blue banner, hoisted the signal for close action, and received quick responses and cheers from the whole squad- ron; hove to, altered the course of the vessel, set the proper sails, and bore down upon the British line, which lay half a mile distant. Meanwhile the gallant Yarnall, after consulting Lieutenant Forrest and Sailing-master Taylor, had struck the flag of the Lawrence, for she was utterly helpless, and humanity required that firing upon her should cease. As the starry flag trailed to the deck a triumphant shout went up from the British. It was heard by the wounded on the Lawrence. When informed of the cause, their hearts grew almost still, and in the anguish of chagrin they refused to be attended by the surgeon, and cried out, " Sink the ship ! sink the ship ! Let us all sink together !"^ Noble fellows ! they were worthy of their commander. In less than thirty minutes after they had offered themselves a willing sacrifice for the honor of their country's flag, they were made joyful by hearing the step and voice of their beloved commander again upon the deck of the Lawrence. Perry's movement against the British line was successful. He broke it ; passed at half pistol-shot distance between the Lady Prevost^ and Chippewa on his larboard, and the Detroit, Queen Charlotte, and Hunter on his starboard, and poured in tremendous broadsides right and left from double-shotted guns. Ranging ahead of the vessels on his starboard, he rounded to and raked the Detroit and Queen Charlotte, which had got foul of each other.* Close and deadly was his fire upon them with great guns and musketry. Meanwhile, the Lawrence having drifted out of her place in the line, her position against the Detroit was taken by the Caledonia, Captain Turner ; the latter's place in line, as opposed to the Sunter, was occupied by the Trippe, com- manded by Lieutenant Holdup.* These gallant young ofiicers had exchanged signals ^ Mr. Hambleton, the purser of the Lawrence^ has left on record an account of this interview between Perry and El- liott, "As Perry reached the deck of the l^ictgara" ^Q says, "he was met at the gangway by Captain Elliott, who in- quired how the day was going. Captain Perry replied, Badly ; that he had lost almost all of his men, and that his ship was a wreck, and asked what the gun-boats were doing so far astern. . Captain Elliott offered to go and bring them np : and. Captain Perry consenting, he sprang into the boat and went off on that duty, — Hambleton*s Jtmrna\ cited by M'Kenzie. 2 Oration by George H, Calvert, at Newport, Rhode Island, on the 10th of September, 1853, on the occasion of the cel- ebration of the fortieth anniversary of the Battle of Lake Brie. 3 Lieutenant Buchan, the commander of the Lady Prenoet, was shot through the face by a musket-ball from Perry's marines. Perry saw him standing alone, leaning on the companion-way, his face resting on his band, and looking with fixed gaze toward the Niagara. His companions, unable to endure the terrible Are, had all fled below. Perry immedi- ately silenced the marines on the quarter-deck. He afterward learned that the strange conduct of Buchan was owing to sudden derangement caused by his wound. Poor fellow ! he was a brave officer, and had distinguished himself un- der Kelson. * The position of the Detroit and Qaeen CkarJctte at this time may be seen by reference to II. and IV. In the diagram on page 526. In the same diagram the course of the Magara in breaking the British line may be seen along the dotted line from 5 to 6. 5 Thomas Holdup wasanativeofSonth Carolina, and was an inmate and pupil of the Orphan Asylum in Charleston. He became a.protegi of General Stevens, of -,^;-__^ .^. that city, who obtained a midshipman's _S^ Si'''^ warrant for him in 1809. He was on board the John Ada«M, at Brooklyn, in 1812, OF THE WAR OF 1812. '52.9 Perry breaks the British Line. British Vessels attempt to escape. Perry's Victory complete. to board the Detroit, when they saw the Magma with the . commodore's pennant bearing down to break the British line. Turner followed her closely with the Cal- e^oma; and the freshened breeze having brought up the Somers, Mr. Almj,^ the ngress, Lieutenant Concklin,^ and the. Porcupine, Acting Master Senat,^ the whole American squadron except the Lawrence was, for the first time, engaged in the con- flict. The fight was terrible for a few minutes, and the combatants were completely enveloped in smoke. Eight minutes after Perry dashed through the British line the colors of the De- troit were struck, and her example was speedily followed by all the other vessels of Barclay's squadron, excepting the lAttle Belt and Chippewa (I. and IV. in the annexed diagram), which A -411 1 -41 I a , POSITION OF THE BQTTAnRONS AT THE CLOSE OF THE BATTLE.* attempted to escape to leeward. Champlin with the Scorpion, and Holdup with the Trippe, made chase after the fugitives, and both were overtaken and brought back to grace the triumph of the victor, the Little Belt by the former, and the Chippewa by the latter. It was in this chase that Champlin fired the last gun in that memo- rable battle. " So near were they to making their escape," says Champlin in a letter to the author, "that it was 10 o'clock in the evening before I came to an anchor un- der the stern of the Lawrence with the Little Belt in tow." It was three o'clock in the afternoon when the flag of the Detroit was lowered. The roar of cannon ceased ; and as the blue vapor of battle was borne away by the .breeze, it was discovered that the two squadrons were intermingled.* The victory was complete. The flag of the Lawrence had indeed been struck to the enemy, but she had not been taken possession of. She was yet free, and, with a feeble shout and, with others, volanteered for thelake service. He performed gallant service near Buffalo toward the close of the year, and was commissioned a lieutenant. In April, 1813, he went to Erie with men, and assisted in fitting out the squadron there. He fought his vessel brave- ly in the action of the 10th of September, and he and Champlin pursued the two fugi- tives of the British squadron. He was in service on the upper lakes the following year, and there was invited to the Java by Perry. He had married, and declined the offer of a good post on that vessel. He sub- sequently commanded several different ves- sels, and was promoted to master command- ant in 1825. He was commissioned post-cap- tain in 1836. He died suddenly while in com- mand of the Washington Navy Yard, in Jan- uary, 1841. His widow, who was a Miss Sage, died soon afterward. By act of the Legisla- ture of South Carolina he assumed the name of his benefactor, with a- promise that he should inherit his fortune. From that time [1S15] he is known as Thomas Holdup Ste- vens, He was possessed of a high order of literary ability, and was beloved by all. His son^ Thomas Holdup Stevens, behaved gal- lantly in the naval action off Hilton Head in the late civil war. 1- Thomas C. Almy was a native of Rhode Island, of Quaker parentage. He became a sailor in early life, and at the age of twenty- ALMY'S SWORD. Erie, and Was efficient, useful, and brave there. He died at Erie in December, 1818, only three months after the battle that has made his name immortal. Els disease was pneumonia. The annexed engraving is a picture of the hilt of thfe sword awarded to Almy, and which was given to his next of kin. On one side of the blade are the words " Thomas C. Alait, Sailing-master commanding. Lake Erie, 10th September, 1813." On the other side the words "Altius ibdmt qui ad sum- ma MiTTTHTEfi," With a little view of ships-of- war. ' Augustus H. M. Concklin was a native of Virginia. He was appointed midshipman in 1809, and lieutenant in 1313. He followed El- liott to Erie. On a dark night in 1814 his ■ vessel was captured by a party in boats off Eort Brie. He left the service in 1820, while stationed at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. = George Senat was a native of New Or- leans, of French extraction. He commenced active life as a sailor, but of his career pre- vious to his joining the squadron at Erie nothing appears on record. He served on the upper lakes in 1814. On his return to Erie he became involved in a quarrel with Sailing-master M'Donald. , A duel ensued. one years he was commander of a ship. He was in the flotilla at Newport, went to Lake and yonng Senat was killed. They fought at what is now the corner of Third and Sassafras Streets, Erie, * In this, as in the preceding diagrams, furnished by Commodore Champlin, the British vessels are designated by Ro- man numerals, and the American vessels by Arabic numerals. This diagram shows the relative position of the vessels of the two squadrons at the close of the battle. The respective numbers indicate the stme vessels as in the other dia- grams. Ll ° See the above diagram and note of explanation. 530 PICTOEIAL FIELD. BOOK Ferry-B Triumph a remarkable one. Hifl famoas Dispatch to HarriBon. HJB Diepatch to Mb Qovermnent. that floated not far over the waters, her exhausted crew flung out the flag of their country from her mast-head. ' This triumph was a remarkable one in American and British history. Never be- fore had an American fleet or squadron encountered an enemy in regular line of bat- tle, and never before, since England created a navy, and boasted that " Britannia rales the wave," had a whole British fleet or squadron been captured. It was a proud moment for Perry and his companions. " Ab lifts the smoke, what tongue can fitly tell The transports which those manly bosoms swell, When Britain's ensign down the reeling mast Sinks to proclaim the desperate struggle past ! Electric cheers along the shattered fleet, With rapturous hall, her youthful hero greet ; Meek in his triumph, as in danger calm. With reverent hands he takes the victor's palm ; His wreath of conquest on Faith's altar lays.s To his brave comrades yields the meed of praise."— H. T. Tuokeeman. When Perry's eye perceived at a glance that victory was secure, he wrote, in pen- cil, on the back of an old letter, resting it upon his navy cap, that remarkable dis- patch to General Harrison whose first clause has been^so often quoted — " We have met the enemy, and they are ours : two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop. Tours, with great respect and esteem, O. H. Pbeky." FAO-SIMILB OF PERET S DIBPATCH. A few minutes afterward, when, as Bancroft says, " a religious awe seemed to come over him at his wonderful preservation in the midst of great and long-continued dan- ger,"^ he wrote to the Secretary of the Navy as follows : " 0. S. Brig Niagara, off the Western Sister,* Head of Lake Erie, September 10, 1813, i P.M. " SiE, — ^It has pleased the Almighty to give to the arms of the United States a sig- nal victory over their enemies on this lake. The British squadron, consisting of two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop, have this moment surrendered to the force under my command after a sharp conflict. " I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, "O. H. Peeby. "Honorable William Jones, Secretary of the Navy.'' 1 "The shattered Laiorence" says Dr. Parsons, "lying to the windward, was once more able to hoist her flag, which was cheered by a few feeble voices on board, making a melancholy sound compared with the boisterous cheering that preceded the hattle."— Discourse, page 13. 2 See Perry's Dispatch to the Secretary of the Navy, printed above. 3 jVew York Ledger. * This is the most southwardly of three islands near the western end of Lake Erie, named respectively Eastern Sister, Middle Sister, and Western Sister, lying in a line from the southwest to the northeast. It was a little westward of the island named in the dispatch that the battle occurred. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 531 Perry retgrns to the Lawrerux. Surrende r of the British Officers. Burial of the Dead ifl the Lalce, These hurried but admirably-worded dispatches were sent by the same express to both Harrison and the Secretary of the Navy.^ Then the ceremony of taking pos- session of the conquered vessels, and receiving the formal submission of the vanquish- ed, was performed. Perry gave the signal to anchor, and started for his battered flag-ship, determined, on her deck, and in the presence of her surviving officers and crew, to receive the commanders of the captured squadron. "It was a time of con- flicting emotions," says Dr. Parsons, "when he stepped upon deck. The battle was won and he was safe, but the deck was slippery with blood, and strewn with the bodies of twenty officers and men, seven of whom had sat at table with us at our last meal, and the ship resounded every where with the groans of the wounded. Those of us who were spared and able to walk met him at the gangway to welcome him on board, but the salutation was k silent one on both sides ; not a word could find utterance. "2 The next movement in the solemn drama was the reception of the British oflicers, one from each of the captured vessels. Perry stood on the after-part of the deck, and his sad visitors were compelled to pick their way to him among the slain. He received them with solemn dignity and unafiected kindness. As they presented their swords, with the hilts toward the victor, he spoke in a low but firm tone, with- out the betrayal of the least exultation, and requested them to retain their weapons. He inquired, with real concern, about Commodore Barclay and his fellow-sufferers from severe wounds ; and he made every captive feel, at that sad and solemn mo- ment, the thrill of pleasure excited by the conduct of a Christian gentleman in the moment of the adversity of the recipient of his kindness. " A chastened rapture, Perry, fills thy breast ; Thy sacred tear embalms the heroes slain ; The gem of pity shines in glory's crest More brilliant than the diamond wreath of fame." When this sad ceremony was over, the conqueror, exhausted by the. day's work upon which he had entered with fever-enfeebled body, lay down upon the deck in the midst of his dead companions, and, surrounded by prisoners, and with his hands fold- ed over his breast, and his drawn sword held in one of them, he slept as sweetly as a wearied child. ^ There was yet another sad service to be performed. The dead of the two squad- rons were yet unburied. When twilight — the rich, glowing twilight at the end of a gorgeous September day — lay upon the bosom of the lake like a luminous, deepening mist, the bodies of all the slain, excepting those of the officers, wrapped in rude shrouds, and with a cannon-ball at the feet of each, were dropped, one by one, into the bosom of the clear lake, at the close of the beautiful and impressive burial serv- ice of the Anglican Church. " 'Neath the dark waves of Erie now slumber the brave. In the bed of its waters forever they rest ; The flag of their glory floats over their grave ; The sonls of the heroes In memory are blessed."— W. B. Tappan. 1 The gallant Lieutenant Dnlaney Forrest was Perry's chosen courier. He was a native of the District of Columbia, and had been in the service since 1809, when he was appointed midshipman. He was with Bainbridge when the Con- stitution captured the Jaea. He was acting lieutenant on board Perry's flag-ship, and was chief signal officer. His con- duct was brave, and he was greatly beloved by his companions. He bore to Washington not onlythe dispatches of his commander, but the flags captured from the British. Forrest also took with him the blue banner with the words of Lawrence, mentioned on page 520. FoiTeet accompanied Perry to the Mediterranean in the Java. He was commission- ed a lieutenant at that time. He died of fever in 1825. Colonel Peter Force, of Washington City, has a piece of every flag captnred in this battle, and of nearly every trophy- flag of the war. They were all taken to Washington, where, in course of time, through neglect, they fell into decay. .The pieces in the possession of Mr. Force are carefully preserved in a scrap-book, with the place and date of their cap- ture recorded, and make an interesting collection of bits of bunting. The intelligence of the victory on Lake Erie was carried to Pennsylvania fi'om Detroit by Samuel Doclne, Samuel Burnett, and Cyrus Bosworth. The first was a mail-carrier from Detroit to Cleveland ; the sebond from Cleveland to Warren, Ohio, and the third from Warren to Pittsburgh They were all three living at the time of the inauguration of Perry's statue at Cleveland in September, 1860. Mr. Bosworth participa,ted In that celebration. ' Discourse, page 14. ' Calvert's Oration, page 21. 532 PICTOETAL TTELB-BOOK Burial of Officers on the Shore. Sad Effects of the Battle. 'Ill luck" of the British. ' September 11, 1313. " Septemher 12. THE BUUIAL-PLAOB. The moon soon spread her silver sheen over their common grave, and all but the suffering wounded slumbered until the dawn." The two squadrons weighed anchor at nine o'clock and sailed into Put-in-Bay Har- bor, and there, twenty-four hours afterward, on the margin of South Bass Island, from which, on the right, may be seen the channel leading out toward Canada, and on the left the open way toward Detroit, where now willow, hickory, and maple- trees cast a pleasant shade in summer, three American and three British officers' were buried^ with the same solemn funeral rites, in the presence of their respective countrymen.^ The light of the morning of the 11th revealed sad sights to the eyes of the bel- ligerents. Vessels of both squadrons were dreadfully shattered, especially the two flag-ships. Sixty-eight persons had been killed and one hundred and ninety wound- ed during the three hours that the battle lasted. Of these, the Americans lost one hundred and twenty-three, twenty-seven of whom were killed ; the British lost one hundred and thirty-five, forty-one of whom were killed.' Barclay, of the Detroit (the British commander), who had lost an arm at Trafalgar, was first wounded in the thigh, and then so severely injured in the shoulder as to deprive him of the use of the other arm. Finnis, of the Qiceen Char- lotte, the second in command, was mortally wounded, and died that evening. Both were gallant men ; and justice to all demands the acknowledgment that the Ameri- cans and British carried on that terrible conflict with the greatest courage, fortitude, and skill. It is also just to say that the British experienced what is called " ill luck" from the beginning. First, the wind suddenly turned in favor of the Americans at the commencement of the action, giving them the weather- gage ; then the two prin- cipal British commanders were struck down early in the action ; then the rudder of the ift(?y Preoost was disabled, which caused her to drift out of the line ; the entan- glement of the Detroit and Queen Charlotte gave the Niagara, under Perry, an oppor- tunity to rake them severely ; and, lastly, the men of the British squadron had not, with the exception of those from the Royal Navy, received the training with guns ' These were Lieutenant Brooks and Midshipmen Lnnt and Clarke, of the American service, and Captain Knnia and Lieutenants Stokoe and Garland, of the British service. The view here given of the burial-place of these officers I cop- ied, by permission, from one of the paintings of Miss C. L. Ransom, already mentioned. 2 Samuel R. Brown, who arrived at Put-in-Bay Island on the evening of the 9th, and from the bead of it was a wit- ness of the battle at about ten miles distant, was present at the burial. " An opening on the margin of the bay," he says, " was selected for the interment of the bodies. The crews of both fleets attended. The weather was fine ; the elements seemed to participate in the solemnities of the day, for every breeze was hushed, and not a wave ruffled the surface of the water. The procession of boats— the neat appearance of the officers and men— the music— the slow aid regulated motion of the oars, striking in exact time with the notes of the solemn dirge— the mournful waving of the flags— the sonnd of the minute-guns from the different ships in the harbor— the wild and solitary aspect of the place — the stillness of nature— gave to the scene an air of -melancholy grandeur better felt than described. All acknowledged its influence, all were sensibly aft'ected." — Vinm on Lake Erie, printed in Albany in 1814. ,3 The American loss was distributed as follows : On the Lawrence, 83 ; Niagara, 27 ; Caledonia, 3 ; Somers, 2 ; Ariel, 4 ; Trippe and Scorpion, 2 each. Besides the officers mentioned in Note 1, above, the British lost in wounded Midship- man Foster, of the Queen Charlotte;' Lieutenant Commanding Buchan and First Lieutenant Roulette, of the Lady Fre- vost; Lieutenant Commandant Brignall and Master's Mate Gateshill, of the Hunter; Master's Mate Campbell, com- manding the Chippetsa; and Purser Hoifmeister, of the Detroit. Doctor Horseley, the surgeon of the squadron, being ill, the duties devolved wholly upon his young assistant, Doctor Usher Parsons, then only twenty-five years of age. During the action he removed six legs, which were nearly divided by canpon-balls. On the morning of the 11th he went on board the Niagara to attend to her wounded, and then those of the other vessels requiring surgical attention were sent to the Lamrence. The skill of Doctor Parsons is attested by the fact that of the whole ninety-six wounded only three died. He modestly attributed the result to fresh air, good spirits caused by the victory, and the " devoted attention of the commodore." OF THE WAR OF 1812. 533 Importance of Perry's Victory. Its Effects. How his Cannon were afterward used. that most of the Americans had just experienced, for they came out of port the morn- ing of the battle.^ Perry's victory proved to be one of the most important events of the war. At that moment two armies, one on the north and the other on the south of the warring squadrons, were waiting for the result most anxiously. Should the victory remain with the British, Proctor and Tecumtha were ready at Maiden, with their motley army five thousand strong, to rush forward and lay waste the entire frontier. Should the victory rest with the Americans, Harrison, with his army in the vicinity of San- dusky Bay, was prepared to press forward by land or water for the seizure of Maiden and Detroit, the recovery of Michigan, and the invasion of Canada. All- along, the borders of the lake within sound of the cannon in the battle (and they were, heard from Cleveland to Maiden^), women with terrified children, aind decrepit old men, sat listening with the deepest anxiety; for they knew not but with the setting sun they would be compelled to flee to the interior, to escape the fangs of the red blood-hounds who were ready to be let loose upon helpless innocency by the approved servants, of a government that boasted of its civilization and Christianity. Happily for Ameri- ca — happily for the fair fame of Great Britain^happily for the, cause of humanity — C the victory was left with the Americans, and the savage allies of the British were not allowed to repeat the tragedies in which they had already been permitted to en- gage. Joy spread over the northwestern frontier as the glad tidings went from lip to lip. That whole region was instantly relieved of the most gloomy forebodings of \ coming evU. That victory led to the destruction of the Indian confederacy, and wiped out the stigma of the surrender at Detroit thirteen months before. It opened the way for Harrison's army to repossess the territory then surrendered, and to penetrate Can- ada. It was speedily followed by the overthrow of British power in the Canadian peninsula and the country bordeiing on the upper lakes, and the absolute security forever of the whole northwestern frontier from British invasion and Indian depreda- tions. From that moment no one doubted the ability of the Americans to maintain the mastery of our great inland seas, and the faith of the people in this ability was well expressed by a poet of the time, who concluded an epic with the following lines : " And thougli Britons may brag of their ruling the ocean, And that sort of thing— by the Lord I've a notion — , I'll bet all I'm worth— who takes it f— who takes ?— Though they're lords of the sea, we'll be lords of the lakes."^ The effect of this victory upon the whole country was electric and amazingly in- 1 The great guns need by PeiTy, and those captured by him from the British, remained in the United States Naval Depot at Erie until the autumn of 1825, when they were transferred to the Naval Station at Brooklyn. They were about to be removed through the agency of Dows, Cary, and Meech, who had prepared a line of boats for the just com- pleted Erie Canal. The happy thought occurred to some one that these cannon might be used for telegraphic purposes in connection with the celebration of the first opening of the canal. They were accordingly placed at intervals of about ten miles along the whole line of the canal. When the first fieet of boats left Buffalo on that occasion, the fact was an- nounced to the citizens of New York in one hour and twenty minutes by the serial discharges of these cannon. This announcement, literally conveyed in " thnnder-tones" from the lake to the sea-board, was responded to in like manner and in the same space of time.— Statement of Orlando Allen to the Buffalo Historical Society, April, 1863. The authorities consulted in the preparation of the foregoing account of the Battle of Lake Brie are the official dis- patches of Perry and Barclay : Niles's Register ; The War ; Port Folio ; Analectic Magazine ; Political Register ; M'Ken- zie's Life of Perry ; Life of Elliott, by a citizen of New York ; Cooper's Naval History ; Discourses by Parsons, Bur- gess, and Calvert; oral and written statements communicated to the author by the survivors; Brovra's Fifewsomiaie Srie, and Log-book of the Lawrence, kept by Sailing-master Taylor. 2 1 was informed by Captain Levi Johnson, whom I met at Cleveland in the autumn of 1860, that he and others were engaged in the last work upon the new court-house, which stood in front of the present First Presbyterian Church, on the day of the battle. They thought they beard thunder, but, seeing no clouds, concluded that the two squadrons had met. He and several others went down to the lake bank, near the present residence of Mr. Whittaker, on Water Street. Nearly all the villagers assembled there, numbering about thirty. They waited until the firing ceased. Although the distance in a straight line was full seventy miles, they could easily distinguish the souiids of the heavier and lighter guns. The last five reports were from the heavy guns. Knowing that the Americans had the heaviest ordnance, they concluded that victory remained with them, and with that conviction they gave three cheers for Perry. Miss Reynolds, sister of the venerable Robert Reynolds, of the British army, whom I also visited in the autumn of 1860, told me that she listened to the firing during the whole battle. The distance was less than forty miles. A letter dated at Brie, September 24, 1813, says that a gentleman from the New York state line heard at his house the cannonading on the lake one hundred amd mxty miles distant ! It was heard at Erie, and at first was supposed to be distant thunder. ' AnakcticMagazim, iii., 84. 534 PICTOEIAIi FIELD-BOOK Public Celebrations. Songs and Caricatures. Exaltation of the Americans. ^ spiriting. There had been a prevailing apprehension that the faUures of 1812 were to be repeated in 1813. This victory dissipated those forebodings, and kindled hope and joy all over the land. " OV the mountains the snn of our fame was declining, And on Thetis' billowy breast The cold orb had reposed, all his splendor resigning, Bedimmed by the mists of the West. Thef prospect that rose to the patriot's sight Was cheerless, and hopeless, and dreary ; . But a bolt burst the clond, and illumined the night That enveloped the waters of Brie."— Old Sons. It is difficult at this time to imagine the exultation then felt and exhibited every where. Illuminations,' bonfires, salvos of artillery, public dinners, orations, and songs were the. visible indications of the popular satisfaction in almost every city, village, and-bamlet within the bounds of the republic. The newspapers teemed with eulo- gies of the victor and his companions, and the pulpit and rostrum were resonant with words of thanksgiving and praise. The lyre^ and the penciP made many con- 1 The City Hall and other buildings in New York were splendidly illuminated on the evening of Saturday, October 23, 1813. There was a band of mtsic in the gallery of the portico, and transparencies were exhibited showing naval battles- also the words of Lawrence, "dom't give up the ship," and those of Perry's dispatch, "we have met the ENEMY, AND THEY AEE ODES.'?, The last-HBmcd transparency was exhibited at the theatre, with a picture of the flght between the Hornet and Peacock. 2 Many songs were written and sung in commemoration of Perry's victory. One of the most popular ol these was Ameriemi Perry, which commences thus : "Bold Barclay one day to Proctor did say, I'm tired of Jamaica and Cherry; So let us go down to that new floating town, And get some American Perry.* Oh, cheap American Perry ! ' Most pleasant American Perry ! We need only all bear down, knock, and call. And we'll have the American Perry." - ' Among the caricatures of the day was one by Charles, of Philadelphia, representing John Bull, In the person of the king, seated, with his hand pressed. upon his stomach, indicating pftin,' which the fresh juice of the pear, called perry. 3,iteBn GiaMi'imd^ihm^'BuU jot cheir' dose of &erru. will produce. Queen Charlotte, the king's wife (a fair likeness of whom is given), enters with a bottle labeled pebbt, out of which the cork has flown, and in the foam is seen the names of the vessels composing the American squad- ron. She says, "Johnny, won't yon have some more Perry V John Bull replies, while writhing in pain produced by ■ perry, " Oh ! Perry ! ! ! Curse that Perry ! One disaster after another— I have not half recovered of the bloody nose I got at the Boxing-match." This last expression refers to the capture of the Boxer by the American schooner Enter- prise. This caricature is entitled " Queen Charlotte and. Johimy Bvilgot their doee of Perry." This will be better per- • See the next note on this page. OP THE WAE OF 1812. 535 Honors awarded to Perry. Congress preseits a Sold Medal to both Perry and Elliott. tnbutions to the popular demonstrations of joy, and public bodies testified their grat- itude^by appropriate acts. The Legislature, of Pennsylvania voted thanks and a gold medal to Perry ; also thanks and a silver medal to every man engaged in the battle. ' THE PEEET MEDAL. The corporate authorities of New York ordered the illumination of the City Hall in honor of the victory ;2 and the National Congress voted thanks and a gold medal to both Perry and Elliott, to be adorned with appropriate devices,^ and silver ones, with IWa ELLIOTX MEDAl.. the same emblems, to the nearest male relatives of Brooks, Lamb, Clarke, and Clax- ton, who were sl^in. Three months' extra pay was also voted for each- of the com- missioned officers of the navy and army who served in the battle, and a sword to 1 .^ . — ■ , — ■ _ ceived by remembering that one of the principal ressels of the British squadron was named the Queen Charlotte, in honor of the royal consort. In a ballad of the day occurs the following lines : ' " On Erie's wave, while Barclay brave, With Clw/rlotte making merry, He chanced to take the belly-ache. We drenched him so with Perry." 1 The War, page 12T. » See note 1, page B34. 3 On one side of Perry's medal is a bnet of the commodore, surrounded by the following words: "olivieub h. PEBET. PBiNOEFS STAGNo EBiEKBE. oLAssAM TOTAM ooNTUBiT." On the reverse a squadrou of vessels closely engiiged, and the legend "viam invknit vietus aut paoit." Exergue: "intbe class, ameei. et beit. die x. sep. MDooqxhi." On one side of Elliott's medal is a bust of the commander, and the words ' ' jebse d. eliiott. nii, actum beputams si QUID. suPBEBSET AGEKDjjM." Gu the rcvBrse a squadron engaged, and the legend " viam ikvbnit vietus adt paoit." The exergue the same as on Perry's. 536 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Effect of the Victory on the British. A Plea for a British-In dian Alliance. Waehington Irving'a Predictiona. each of the midshipmen and sailing-masters " who so nobly distinguished themselves on that memorable occasion."^ In after years, when the dead body of Perry was buried in the soil of his native state, her Legislature caused a monument to be erect- ed to his memory ,2 for she claimed, with much justice, a large share of the glory of the battle of Lake Erie for her sons.' The effect of this victory was deeply impressive on the British mind, and the news- papers in the provinces and the mother country indulged in lamentations over the want of vigor in the prosecution of the war manifested by the ministry. " We have » October, been conquered on Lake Erie," said a Halifax paper," " and so we shall be ^^^^- on every other lake, if we take as little care to protect them. Their success is less owing to their prowess than to our neglect." A London paper consoled the people by saying," " It may, however, setve to diminish our vexation at °^ ™ ■ the occurrence to learn that the flotilla in question was not any branch of the British Navy. .... It was not the Royal Navy, but a local force — a kind of mercantile military." Others, conscious of the inability of the British force in Can- ada to cope with the Americans, urged the necessity of extending the alliance with the Indians. " We dare assert," said a writer in one of the leading British Reviews,* " and recent events have gone far in establishing the truth of the proposition, that the Canadas can not be effectually and durably defended without the friendship of the Indiarjs, and command of the lakes and the River St. Lawrence." He urged his countrymen to consider the interests of the Indians as their own ; " for men," he said, " whose very name is so very formidable to an American, and whose friendship has recently been shown to be of such great importance to us, we can not do too much." The name of Perry is cherished with iacreasing reverence by successive genera- tions ; and the vast population that now swarm along the southern borders of Lake Erie regard the battle that has made its name immortal in history as a classical pos- session of rare value. Only a few weeks after the victory, Washington Irving, in a chaste biographical sketch of Commodore Perry ,^ said : " The last roar of cannon that died along her shores was the expiring note of British domination. Those vast in- ternal seas will perhaps never again be the separating space between contending na- tions, but will be embosomed within a mighty empire f and this victory, which de- cided their fate, will stand unrivaled and alone, deriving lustre and perpetuity from its singleness. In future times, when the shores of Erie shall hum with busy popu- lation ; when towns and cities shall brighten where now extend the dark and tangled forests ; when ports shall spread their arms, and lofty barks shall ride where now the canoe is fastened to the stake ; when the present age shall have grown into venera- ble antiquity, and the mists of fable begin to gather round its history, then will the inhabitants look back to this battle we record as one of the romantic achievements of the days of yore. It will stand first on the page of their local legends and in the marvelous tales of the borders." This prophecy of the beloved Irving has been fulfilled. The archipelago that em- braces Put-in-Bay has become a classic region. At Erie, and Cleveland, and San- dusky, and Toledo, where the Indian then " fastened his canoe to a stake," " ports ' We have cbBcrved in Note 2, page 619, that Mr. Hamhleton, purser of the Lawrmce, was chosen prize agent. A board of officers from Lake Ontario, assisted by Henry Eckford, naval constructor, prized the captured squadron at $226,000. Commodore Chauncey, the commander-in-chief on the lakes, received one twentieth of the whole sum or $12,760. Perry and Elliott each drew $7140. The Congress voted Perry $6()00 in addition. Each commander of a gun-boat, sailing-master, lieutenant, and captain of marines, received $2295 ; each midshipman, $811 j each petty officer, $447; and each marine and sailor, $209.— Miss Laura G. Sanford's Hiitory of Erie, page 273. 2 See page 621. = Perry took with him from Ehode Island, as we have seen (page 609), a large number of men and officers. It was by them chiefly that the vessels built at Erie were constructed. The commodore and three of his commanders— Champlki, Almy, and Turner, and five other officers— Taylor, Brownell, Breese, Dunham, and Alexander Perry, were from Ehode Island. In the flght forty-seven of the flfty-flve guns of the squadron were commanded by Ehode Islanders. ♦ New Quarterly Revieu> and Britiah CoUmial Register, No. 4 ; S. M. Richardson, Comhlll, London. " Analectic Magazine, December, 1813. « He.had just heard of Han-ison's victorious invasion of Canada, and'it was believed at that time that the upper prov- ince would assuredly become a portion of the United States. OF THE WAR OF 1812. ' 537 ^urney to Cleveland. Historic Places at EHe. Night Travel. spread their arms;" and every year the anniversary of the battle is somewhere cel- ebrated with appropriate ceremonies. Already the corner-stone of a monumental shaft in commemoration of the battle has been laid upon Perry's Look-out on Gibral- tar Island ;i and in the beautiful city of Cleveland— an insignificant hamlet on the bleak lake shore in 1813, now [186V] a mart of commerce with about fifty thousand inhabitants— a noble statue of Perry, wrought of the purest Parian marble by a resi- .dent artist, has been erected by the city authorities.^ I was present, as an invited guest, at the inauguration of that statue of Perry on the 10th of September, 1860. Never will the impressive spectacles of that day, and the influence of the associations connected with them, be eflTaced from memory. The journey thither, the mementoes of history seen on the way, and the meeting of scores of veterans of the War of 1812 at the great gathering, made a deep impression on the mind. I left my home on the Hudson, with my family, on the morning of the eth," with the intention of stopping at Erie (where a portion of Perry's » se'ptember, squadron was built) on my way to Cleveland. It was a day like one in ^*'"- midsummer — sultry and showery ; yet in the railway carriage, whose steeds never grow weary, and wherein shelter from sun and rain are ever afforded, we traversed during the day, with very little fatigue or inconvenience, more than the entire length of the State of N"ew York, through the Hudson and Mohawk valleys and the great levels westward, to Buffalo, a distance of three hundred and seventy miles. There I left my family in charge of the veteran Captain Champlin, one of the heroes of the fight, to accompany him by water to Cleveland; and early the next morn- ing" I pushed on by railway to Erie, where I had the good fortune to meet Captain W. W. Dobbins, son of the gallant officer of that name al- ' ^^p'^""^' ^• ready mentioned. He kindly accompanied me to the places of interest about Erie — the site of Fort Presqu' Isle^ — of "Wayne's block-house — of Fort Wayne, on Garrison Hill, by the light-house* — of the navy yard at the mouth of Cascade Creek,* and the old tavern whei-e Perry made his head-quarters before and after the battle. When, at the close of the day, we returned to the village, heavy black clouds were brooding over the lake in the direction of the great conflict, and the deep bellowing of the dis- tant thunder gave a vivid idea of the tumult of the battle heard from that very spot almost half a century before. I had completed my sketches and observations, and I spent the evening pleasantly and profitably with Captain Dobbins and his venerable mother, to whom I am indebted for kind courtesies and valuable information.^ At almost two o'clock in the morning" I left Erie in the railway cars for Cleveland, just after a heavy thunder-shower had passed over that re- gion, making the night intensely dark, and drenching the country. We arrived at Cleveland at six o'clock in the morning. Heavy mists were scurry- ing over the lake upon the wings of fitful gusts, and dashes of rain came down fre- quently like sudden shower-baths. For almost three hours I waited at the wharf where the passengers on the boat from Buffalo were to land. She was The Western Metropolis — a magnificent vessel — one of the finest ever built on the lakes. All night ' See picture on page 518. On the 4th of Jnly, 1862, the national anniversary was celebrated on Put-in-Bay Island by flye companies of Ohio volunteer militia. Their encampment was the first ever seen there since Harrison left it with his troops in the aatnmn of 1813. At that time it was agreed to take measures for erecting a monument in commemo- ration of the victory, and Th&Bai£t& of Lahe,Erie Monwrnent Assoeiatwn was form-ed. A Constitution was adopted, and General Lewis Cass, of Detroit, was appointed president of the association. J. O. Camp, B. Cooke, B. Bill, A. P. Ed- wards, and J. A. Harris, were appointed a provlsioiial executive committee. ' The project of erecting a statue of Perry at Cleveland originated with the Hon. Harvey Eice, of that city, who, as member of the Common Council, brought the subject before that body in June, 1857, in a series of resolutions. A com- mittee was appointed to take the matter in hand, composed of Harvey Eice, O. M. Oviatt, J. M. Cofflnberry, J. Kirkpat- rick and C. D. Williams. They contracted with T. Jones and Sons, of Cleveland, -to erect a monument surmounted by a statue of Perry, for the sum of eight thousand dollars. The designs of monument and statue were made by William Walcntt, the sculptor, of Cleveland, and the figures were executed by him. a See pageSU. » See note 1, page 510.; s gee page 511. ■ 6 Mrs. Dobbins is of English and Irish extraction, and was married to Mr. Dobbins at Oannonsbufg, PennsylvaHia,- early in the year 1800, by whom she had ten children. 538 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The Pilot of the Ariel. Crowds fill Cleveland. ' Camp Perry" on Sunday. long she had battled with the storm, yet she was so stanch that her passengers had slept securely and soundly. A fine state-room had been assigned to Captain Champ- lin. Among the survivors of the war who accompanied him was Captain Asel Wil- kinson, of Golden, Erie County, New York, who was the pilot of the Arid— a tall, slender man, seventy-two years of age. He stood at the helm of Ms vessel all through the battle of the 10th of Sep- tember. His cartridge-box, ^'t^y^'yi^ ■^^s shot from his side by a cannon-ball, and the thunder of the great guns brought the blood from his ears and nose, and permanently impair- ed his hearing. I received many reminiscences of the fight from his lips during a brief hour that I spent with him. His vigor of mind and body gave promise of years of future usefulness, but his days were nearly numbered. On the 4th of July, 1861, he was in Bufialo with his wife to participate in the celebration of the day. Wlen they were passing the corner of Pearl and Mohawk Streets he suddenly fell to the pavement and expired. In the midst of a furious thunder-storm we rode to the residence of a gentleman on Euclid Street, to the hospitalities of which we had been invited, and there we found a pleasant home during our brief sojourn in Cleveland. It was the last day of the week. On Monday the appointed ceremonies were to be performed, and visitors were pouring into the " Forest City" by thousands from every direction. That evening the hotels and large numbers of private houses were filled with guests. Mr. Bancroft (the historian), who was one of the chosen orators for the occasion, had arrived; also a large delegation from Rhode Island, including Governor Sprague, Mr. Bartlett, the Secretary of State, Dr. Parsons, Bishop Clarke, and Captain Thomas Brownell, who was the acting sailing-master of the Ariel in the battle. Members of the Perry fam- ily and scores of the survivors of the war were also there, and the bright and beau- tiful Sabbath found Cleveland full of strangers. It was indeed a bright and beautiful Sabbath. The storm-clouds were gone, and the first cool breath of autumn came from the lake and gave, warning of the ap- proaching season of hoar-frost. At an early hour Euclid Street — magnificent Euclid Street — was full of animation. Crowds were making their way to " Camp Perry," on the county fair-grounds; the head-quarters of the military, who were under the command of Brigadier General J. W. Pitch. In the spacious marquee of that officer we met, just before the hour for morning religious services (in which Bishop Clarke led), most of the Rhode Island delegation, Governor Dennison, of Ohio, and his staflF, and Benjamin Fleming, of Erie, a lively little man, then seventy- eight years of age, who was a maintop- man in the Niagara during the battle. He was yet living in 1863, and was one of thi-ee survivors of the battle who are residents of Erie.i Fleming was a native of Delaware.^ He was dressed in full saU- BENJAMIN FLBUING. ^ The Other two were John Murray, a marine from Pennsylvania, aged about seventy-three, and Jesse Wall, a colored man.aged about seventy-four years, who was a flfer on board the Nia{)ara. ' Benjamin Fleming was bom in Lewiston, Delaware, on the 20th of July, 1782. He entered the naval service on OF THE WAR OF 1812. 639 SiiiTiving Soldiers o( the War of 1812. Inauguration of the Statue of Perry. Preliminary Proceedings. or's costume, and on his right breast, in the form of a shield, on which was inscribed his name and the occasion, was the silver medal presented by the State of Pennsylvania.' There we also met Dr. Nathan Eastman, of Medina, Ohio, who, as volunteer surgeon, as- sisted in dressing the wounds of those injured iu the battle who were taken to the marine hospital at Erie. He was after- ward appointed assistant sur- geon, and spent the dreary winter of 1813-14 in that ca- pacity on board the prize-ships Detroit and Queen Charlotte, PESST S 1.ANTEBN, for some soldiers were on those vessels and upon Put-in-Bay Island. There was also Hosea Sargent, of Cambridge, Mas- sachusetts, a survivor of the Lawrence, -who handed Perry his flag as he was leaving his vessel for the Niagara. A mute relic of the battle was also on the ground. It was Perry's signal lantern, and be- longed to Lieutenant Selden, of the " "Wayne Guai-ds" of Erie, who were present. It Was made of tin, with win- dows of scraped horn, and had a venerable appearance. Monday dawned gloomily. The sky was lowering with heavy clouds, the tem- perature was chilling, and as the time approached for the commencement of the pub- lic ceremonies there were indications of early rain. But these hindered nothing. At an early hour I went to the City Hall, the head-quarters of the " soldiers of 1812," and assisted in the interesting task of making a register of the names and ages of those who were present, about three hundred in number. ^ The air was full of mar- tial music, the streets and buildings were gay with banners, and as the appointed time for uncovering the statue drew near, the public square of ten acres, in the cen- tre of which it stood, began to fill with people. I had made my way with difficulty through the crowd from the old soldiers' head-quarters to the stage erected for the conductors of the pageant and invited guests. Mr. Bancroft soon arrived, alone, but was followed almost immediately by the mayor of the city, the committee of arrange- ments, Dr. Parsons (the associate orator), the Perry family, and other invited guests. Very soon the immense military and civic procession came filing into the square in gay and sombre costumes, accompanied by a miniature brig Lawrence, on wheels, drawn by four horses. The inclosure was filled with the living sea, and broad On- tario and Superior Streets were crowded with people as far as the eye could reach. "All Cleveland is out!" exclaimed a gentleman at my elbow. "All creation, you had better say," responded another. It was estimated that fifty thousand strangers were present. The ceremonies before the statue were opened by prayer from the lips of the Rev- erend Dr. Perry, of Natchez, Mississippi. Then Mr. Walcutt, the sculptor, unveiled the statue. There it stood, upon a green mound, surrounded by an iron railing, im- posing, beautiful, and remarkable because of, its extreme whiteness.^ Tens, of thou- sands of voices sent up loud cheers as that chaste work of art was clearly revealed, for, just as the coveriag was removed, rays of sunlight, that had struggled through board the frigate Essex in 1811, and at New Tork volunteered for the lake service. He was with Elliott at the capture of the CaMtmia tod Adaima. See list of names in Note 5, page 385. He had lived in Erie ever since the war. • Two of hia sons were in a Pennsylvania regiment during the late Civil War, and hoth w^re wounded in the battles before Richmond. -, . i See page B35. a Among these were Benjamin Le Eeaux, aged seventy-seven years. He was frota La Sa,lle City, Illinois. He was a small lively, sparkling-faced man, and was dressed in. the same military suit of gray in whicji, as orderly sergeant, he fongh't under General Scott in the battle of Niagara, or Lundy's Lane. He was in Jesup's command. A history of that gray uniform will be given hereafter. Mr. Le Eeaux's father was a Frenchman, and served as captain under Lafayette. s The monument and statue, represented on the following page, present to the eye one of the most chaste memorials of greatness to be found in the country. Indeed, it is believed that nothing equals it. The pedestal is of Rhode Island grtaite twelve feet in height, on one side of which is sculptured, in low relief, the scene of Perry's passage from the Lawrence to the Niagara. On one side of It Is a small statue of a Sailer-boy, bareheaded, and on the other one of a Mid- shipman with his cap on, in the attitude of listening. The statue is of Parian marble, and remarkable for its purity. It Is eight feet in height, but at the altitude of the top of the pedestal or monument it appears life-size. The entire height of the monument, including the base, is twenty-flve feet. 540 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK The Statue unveiled. Orations by Bancroft and Parsons. A remarkable Dinner Party. the clouds, fell full upon it. Mr. Walcutt made a brief addi-ess, which was responded to by Mayor Sehter. Then followed Mr. Bancroft's oration,' and an historical dis- course by Dr. Parsons.^ Oliver Hazard Per- ry, the only Surviving son of the commo- dore, addressed the people briefly^ when the masonic ceremonies of dedication were per- formed. The proceedings closed with a song, written by E. G. Knowlton, of Cleveland, and sung by Ossian E. Dodge. I had been invited to dine with the vet- erans of 1812, and when the ceremonies be- fore the statue were ended, I hastened from the crowded city to the old soldiers' ban- quet-hall in the railway buildings on the margin of the lake. The scene was a most interesting and remarkable one. Almost three hundred survivors of the war, who had been participants in its military events, were seated at the table, with their commander for the day (General J. M. Hughes), and Deacon Benjamin Rouse, the president of the Old Soldiers' Association, at tlieii- head. There were very few among them of feeble step. Upon every head not disfigured by a wig lay the snows that never melt. It was a dinner-party, I venture to say, that has no parallel in history. The ages of the guests (excepting a few younger men, like myself, who were permitted by courtesy to be pres- ent) "ranged from fifty-seven to ninety years.^ The average was about seventy years ; and the aggregate age of the company was about twenty thousand years I - When I left the banquet-hall a spectacle of rare beauty met the eye. The high banks of the lake in front of the city were covered with men, women, and children, thousands in number, who had come out to be witnesses of a promised sham-fight on the lake, in nearly exact imitation of the real one forty-seven years before. I climbed the steep bank, up a long flight of stairs at the foot of Warren Street, to a good po- sition for observation, and found myself by the side of Mr. Fleming, the jolly little maintop-man pf the Niagara, with his sailor's dress and silver medal. The clouds had dispersed, and the afternoon was almost as bright and serene as when the old battle was waged. One by one the vessels representing the belligerent squadrons of Perry and Barclay went out from the mouth of the Cuyahoga, not " with a light breeze" alone, but by the more certain power of steam-tugs. Captain Champlin com- manded the mock- American squadron, and Mr. Chapman* that of the mock-British. pebby'b statue. 1 Immediately after the conclnsion of Mr. Bancroft's address, he was presented with a cane, made of the timber of the Lawremx, by the "Wayne Guards,',' of Erie. The head is of gold, and the femle a spike fl-om the Lawence. ' During the delivery of Dr. Pareons's discourse, an intelligent old man, named Qninn, from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, came upon the stand, and reported himself as the man who made the cordage used in rigging the vessels of Perry's squadron. He had with him, in a box, the identical tools that were used in that service. ' The oldest man among them was a colored soldier named Abraham Chase. He was ninety. Two of them bourse of the- day after th6 battle Perry visited the wounded Barclay on board- the battered Detroit They met there for the first time face to faccj and it was the beginning of a lasting personal friendship. His kindness to Barclay and his men on this occasion elicited the praises of that officer in his official dispatch. Every thing that friend could do for friend was performed by the victor toward the captive. ^ Perry now prepared for the transportation of Harrison's army to Canada. For that purpose he placed all the wounded Americans on board the Lawrence, and the wounded British on board the Detroit and Qv^n Charlotte,^ and arranged the Ni- agara and the lighter vessels of both squadrons as transports. He made the Niag- ara his flag-ship; and on board of her, on the 13th, while a furious gale from the southwest was sweeping over the lake, he wrote a detailed account of the battle for the Secretary of the Navy.^ The shattered British vessels were made to suffer by that storm. It drove heavy swells into the harbor, which so shook the Detroit that her masts fell upon her decks with a terrible crash, wrecking every thing near them. The main and mizzen masts of the Queen Charlotte also fell ; and there lay the three vessels helpless hulks. They were converted into hospital ships. The crippled Law- rence, devoted to the same uses, sailed sluggishly for Erie on the 21st,° and was soon followed by the Detroit and Queen Gharhtte.*' She arrived Captain Shales is the subject of an extraordinary physiological change. For fifty years he was bald and wore a wig. Then he was afflicted with severe headache, for the relief of which cloths dlpped'lu warm water and wrung ont were applied. The pain ceased and a new growth of hair commenced. In the summer of 1864, as I was informed by his pas- tor, Eev. Mr. Byers, his head was thickly covered with glossy, snowy-white hair, so long that it was combed back from the forehead and tied with a ribbon at his neck. His face, also, which was formerly much wrinkled, had become smooth, "with much of the restored fairness of youth." « 1 While Perry was on the Detroit, two savages, who had been concealed in the hold of the vessel, were brought to Mm. They were Indian chiefs, and had been taken on board clothed in sailors' suits, and, with others, were placed in the tops as sharp-shooters. The noise of great guns and the dangers of the fight unnerved them, and they had fled to the hold in terror. When brought before Perry they expected torture or scalping. Their astonishment was great when he spoke kindly to them, directed them to be fed, and sent them on shore with assurances of protection from the Indians friendly to the Americans. = The prisoners conveyed to Brie were sent to Pittsburg, in the interior, for greater security. The wounded were well cared for. 3 In this dispatch Perry spoke in terms of praise of all his oflicers who were conspicuous in the battle. Captain El- liott received a bountiful share, contrary to the judgment and wishes of many of Perry's officers. They expressed their opinions freely in disparagement of Elliott. A quarrel between the two commanders and their friends ensued. The controversy was revived in after years by Mr. Cooper, the historian of the United States Navy, and old animosities were " September. awakened to unwonted vigor. They have now slept for many years, and I do not choose to disturb them by any remarks here. The public verdict has determined the relative position' of the two command- ers in the history of the country. So let it be. * The LamrenKe, Detroit, and (^ueen Char- lotte were afterward sunk in Little Bay (see map on page 514), on the northerly side of the harbor of Erie. The Niagara was kept at Erie as a receiving ship for a long time. She was finally abandoned, and also sunk in Little Bay. Here her bottom, partly covered by sand, may still be seen. In 1837 the Detroit and Queen Clia/rlotte were purchased of the government, and raised by Captain George Miles, of Erie. They were converted into merchant ships, but in the course of five or six years they became use- less. The Detroit lay at Buffalo some time, when she was purchased by the hotel-keep- ers at Niagara Falls, with which to make a spectacle for the visitors there in the sum- mer. They placed a live bear and other animals on board of her, and sent her adrift above the Falls, in the presence of a great crowd of people, who expected to see her plunge over the great cataract. But she lodged in the rapids above, and there went to pieces. Such was the end of Com- mander Barclay's flag-ship Detroit. Pieces of the Lawrence have been sought for as relics by the curious,^ and many canes and OE" THE WAE OB 1812, 543 Perry and Harrison at Erie. Their Beception, Incidents at Erie. Execution of Bird. tebey's qcaetebb. at Erie on the 23d, and was greeted by a salute of seventeen guns on shore. A month • October 22, later,"' when Canada had been ^^^^- successfully invaded by Harri- son, and Perry, as his volunteer aid, had shared in the honors of victory, the ^ne? sailed into Erie with these commanders, who were accompanied by Commodore Barclay, then admitted to his parole, and Colonel E. P. Gaines. These officers took lodgings at Duncan's, Perry's old head- quarters, yet standing (glorious because of its associations, though in ruins), on the corner of Third and French Streets.^ They were received with the booming of can- non, the shouts of the people, and the kind- ly greeting of every loyal.heart. The town was illuminated in the evening, and the streets were enliveneiby a torch-light pro- cession, bearing transparencies, made at the suggestion and under the direction of the accomplished Lieutenant Thomas Holdup. 2 On one of these were the words "Commodore Perry, 10th of September, 1813;" on another, " General Harrison, 5th of October, 1813;" on another, " Free Trade and Sailors' Rights;" and on a fourth, " Erie." The Niagara arrived the same afternoon, and other vessels soon fol- lowed.' The succeeding winter was passed in much anxiety by the inhabitants of Erie on account of an expected attack by the British and Indians, who, it was reported, were preparing to cross the lake on the ice from the Canada shore. False alarms were frequent, and midnight packings of valuables preparatory to an exodus were quite common. The summer brought guaranties of repose, and during the last half of the year 1814 only a company of volunteers were stationed there, most of them at the block-house at Cascade Creek.* otlier articles have been made of the wood. Captain Champlin and Dr. Parsons, survivors of the battle, both have chairs made from the oak wood of the flag-ship. Om' little engraving on the opposite page shows the form of Cham- nlin's chair. I saw the stem-post of the Lawrenee in possession of Captain W. W. Dobbins, at Brie. 1 This is known as the " Brie Hotel." The above picture shows its appearance when I sketched it in September, 1360 The most distant window of the second story, seen in the gable of the main building, and boarded up, was point- ed out to me as the one that lighted the room occupied bf Perry, ^o *j. irw *!- • 3 See Note 5 page B28 ' Doctor Parsons's Diary. Miss Laura G. Sanford's Bwtory of Erie. t Three men were executed at Erie for desertion in the autumn of 1814. One of them was a young man of some standinff named Bird, who had fought gallantly on the Niagara in the battle on Lake Erie. His offense could not be overlooked and he was shot. It was thought by some that his pardon; under the circumstances, might not have been detrimental to the public good. A doleful ballad, called The mmmful Tragedy of James Bird, was vpritten, and became verv noDUlar throughout the country, drawing tears from unrefined and sensitive listeners. Older readers will doubt- less remember with what pathos the singers would chant the followihg, which was the last of the eleven verses of the " See, he kneels upon his coffin I sure his death can do no good. Spare him I Hark I Oh- Gtod 1 they've shot him ; his bosom streams with blood. Farewell, Bird I farewell forever ! Friends and home he'll see no more ! But his mangled corpse lies buried on Lake Erie's distant shore." THOMAS HdLDUP STEVENS. 544 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Arrangements for InTading Canada. Harriaon's DisinterestednesB. Governor Shelby and his Followers. CHAPTER XXVL " 'Twas on La Tranche's fertile banks A gallant host appeared ; But fourteen hundred formed their ranks- No chance of war they feared. Their country's cause had called them forth To battle's stormy field ; , They deemed the man of little worth Whose mind but thought to yield. There our Columbia's warrior bands , The star-stud ensign bear, And General Harrison commands The men to yalor dear." ^ H E N Peny's victory gave the sovereignty of Lake Erie to the i-,\^ Americans, General Harrison had completed his arrangements for invading Canada. He had called on Governor Shelby, of Kentucky, for fifteen hundred men, and, with the generosity of an unselfish patriot as he was, invited that veteran to the field and to the chief command, saying, " Why not, my dear sir, come . in person ? You woul4 not object to a command that would be ■^ nominal only. I have such confidence in your wisdom, that you, in fact, should ' be the guiding head and I the hand.' The situation you would be placed in would not be without its parallel. Scipio, the conqueror of Carthage, did not disdain to act as the lieutenant of his younger and less experienced brother, Lucius." This invitation roused the martial spirit of Shelby, and he resolved to lead, not to send his people against the foe. He called for mounted volunteers to assemble at •July 31, Newport, opposite Cincinnati, at the close of July.* "I will meet you there 1813. jjj person," he said ; " I will lead you to the field of battle, and share with you the dangers and honors of the campaign." His words were electrical; Kentucky instantly blazed with enthusiasm. " Come," said the young men- and veterans, " let us rally round the eagle of our country, for Old King''s Mountaim} will certainly lead us to victory and conquest." Twice the required number flocked to his standard; and with Major John Adair,^ and the late venerable United States senator John J. Crittenden,^ as his aids, and wearing upon his thigh a sword just presented to 1 Governor Shelby was one of the leaders of the militia who defeated the banded Tories under Major Ferguson on King's Mountain, on the upper borders of South Carolina, on the 7th of October, 1781. Shelby's valor on that occasion was conspicuous, and he was known in later years by the familiar name of Old Kintj's Mountain. " John Adair was a North Carolinian, and emigrated to Kentucky in 1786, at the age of thirty-one years. He was an active officer in the Indian wars on the Northwestern frontier. He held the commission of major in 1793. He was pop- ular in his adopted state until 1807, when his unfortunate connection with Bm'r obscured his reputation for a while. He seems not to have been aware (like other of Burr's dupes) of the traitor's real designs. In politics he was a Federalist. His conduct during the campaign of 1813 was every way prafeeworthy. He was afterward appointed adjutant general of the Kentucky troops, with the brevet rank of brigadier general. In that capacity he commanded the Kentuckians in the battle of New Orleans. In 1820 he was elected Governor of Kentucky, and was often a member of the State Legis- lature. He had been United States senator in 1805 ; in 1831 he was elected a member of the lower house of Congress. He died on the 19th of May, 1840, at the age of eighty-three years. = John J. Crittenden was born in Woodford County, Kentucky, in September, 1786. His father was an early settler in that state. Young Grittepden studied law, and commenced its practice in Kussellville, Logan County. He was among the first volunteers, raised by Governor Shelby for Harrison in 1812. He accompanied General Hopkins imhis expedi- tion on the Wabash (see page 330), and the next year was with Harrison on the Northwestern frontier. He performed gallant service in the battle on the Thames, after which he resumed his professiou at Kussellville. He was several times a member of the State Legislature, and was elected United States senator in 1817. He afterward removed to Frankfort, where he practiced his profession until 1835, serving hie constituents as legislator occasionally. That year OF THE WAR OF 1812. 543, Sword presented to Goveraor Shelby. Army of the Northwest in Motion. Ite Embarkation for Canada. him by Henry Clay, in the name of the State of North Carolina, in testimony of ap- preciation of his services in the old war for independence,' he led thirty-five hund- red mounted men, including Colonel R M. Johnson's troop, in the direction of Lake Erie. At Urbana he organized his volunteers into eleven regiments,^ and on the 12th of September reached Upper Sandusky. From that post Shelby pushed forward with his staff, and at Fort Ball (Tiffin) he heard of Perry's victory. He dispatched a cour- ier to Major General Henry, whom he had left in command at Lower Sandusky, giv- ing him the glorious news, and directing him to press forward with the troops as fast as possible. The intelligence of success nerved them to more vigorous action ; and on the 15th and leth" the whole army of the Northwest, excepting the •September, troops at Fort Meigs and minor posts, were on the borders of Lake Erie, ^^^'■ on the pleasant peninsula between Sandusky Bay and the lake below the mouth of the Portage River, now Port Clinton. ^ Shelby arrived there on the 14th, a few min- utes before a part of Perry's squadron appeared bearing three hundred British pris- oners. These were landed at the mouth of the Portage, placed in charge of the in- fantry, and a few days afterward were marched to Franklinton and Chillicothe, es- corted by a guard of Kentucky militia under Quartermaster Payne. Preparations were now made for the embarkation of the army. Harrison had been joined at Seneca by about two hundred and sixty friendly Wyandot, Shawnoese, and Seneca Indians under chiefs Lewis, Black Hoof,* and Blacksnake. General M' Arthur, Clay's successor in command of Fort Meigs, was ordered to embark artillery, provis- ions, and stores from that now reduced post, and to march the regulars there, with Clay's Kentuckians, to the Portage. Colonel Johnson was directed to remain at Fort Meigs with his mounted regiment until the expedition should sail, and then march toward Detroit, keeping abreast of the army on the transports, as nearly as possible. The embarkation of the army commenced on the 20th.'' The weather was delightful. On the 24th the troops rendezvoused on Put-in-Bay Isl- he was elected to the United States Senate. He was called to the cabinet of President Harrison, in 1841, as attorney general. He was again elected to the Senate, and in 1848 was chosen Governor of Kentucky. President Fillmore called him to his cabinet in July, 1850, as attorney general. He entered the United States Senate agUn as a member in 1854, and held his seat there until 1861, when his term of office expired. He took an active part, as a Union man, in legisla- tive measures pertaining to the Great Kebellion, and his proposition for conciliation will ever be known in history as The Crittenden Compro-nme. In 1861 he was elected a representative of the lower house of the Thirty-seventh Congress, which position he occupied until the close of the sessioii on the 3d of March, 1863, when he was agam put in nomina- tion for the same office. But he did not live until the time for the election. His physical powers had been gradually giving way for some time, and at half past three o'clock on Sunday morning, July 26, 1863, he died at his residence at Frankfort, without a straggle, at the age of almost seventy-seven years. ' I have before me Mr. Clay's autograph letter to Governor Shelby on the subject. The following is a copy: " Lexington, 22d August, 1813. "My dear Sib, — ^I have seen by the public prints that you intend leading a detachment from this state. As you will want a sword, I have the pleasure to inform you that I am charged by Governor T'umer and Mr. Macon with delivering to you that which the State of North Carolina voted you in testimony of the sense it entertained of your conduct at King's Mountain. I would take it with me to Frankfort, in order that I might personally execute the commission, and at the same time have the gratification of seeing you, if I were not excessively oppressed with fatigue. I shall not fail, however, to avail myself of the first safe conveyance, and if any should offer to you I will thank you to inform me. May it acquire additional lustre in the patriotic and hazardous enterprise in which you are embarking I " Tour friend, H. Clay." The sword was placed in the hands of Mr. W. T. Barry, a mutual friend, on the day when the letter was written, who conveyed it to Governor Shelby, at Frankfort. 2 The regiments were officered respectively as follows: Lieutenant Colonels Trotter, Donaldson, Poague, Mountjoy, Beinick, Davenport, Paul, Calloway, Simrall, Barbour, and Williams. They were formed into five brigades, under Brig- adiers Calmes, Chiles, King, Allen, and Caldwell. The whole were formed into two divisions, under Major Generals William Henry and Joseph Desha. W. T. Barry was appointed the governor's secretary, Thomas T. Barr judge advo- cate general, and Doctor A. J. Mitchell hospital surgeon. 3 The Portage is a deep, slnggish stream. It rises in the Black Swamp, and flows between thirty and forty milesi There is a good harbor at Port Clinton. * Black Hoof was a fkmons Shawnoese chief. He was bom in Florida, and remembered his tribe moving from there to Pennsylvania and Ohio. He was prominent in the fight against Braddock in 1755, and was in all the Indian wars with the Americans in the Northwest toward the close of the last century, until the treaty of Greenville in 1795. Up to that time he had been the bitter enemy of the white man ; afterward he remained faithful to that treaty. Tecnmtha tried to seduce him, but failed, and by his influence he kept a greater portion of his tribe from joining the British in the War of 1812. He became the ally orae United States, but bodily infirmity kept him from active service. In the in- stance of his friendship just mentioned, he simply brought his people to Camp, and left younger chiefe to conduct them in the campaign. Mm 546 PICTOEIAL riELD-BOOK The Army crosses Lake Erie. It lands w ithout Opposition. Vengeance of the Kentuckiaps and Fears of Proctor. and, and on the 25th they were upon the Middle Sister, an island containing six or seven acres. Upon that small space almost five thousand men were encamped. The Kentuokians had left their horses on the peninsula, and Were acting as infantry.' The elements were favoring. There was a fresh breeze from the south, and General Har- rison and Commodore Perry sailed in the Ariel to reconnoitre the enemy at Maiden. They accomplished their object fully and returned at sunset. Directions were at once given for the embarkation of the troops the next morning, and in a general or- der issued that evening, the place and manner of landing, the arrangement of the order of march, the attack on the foe, and other particulars, were prescribed with great minuteness. It was believed that the enemy would meet them at the landing- place. This order was signed by E. P. Gaines, the adjutant general, and contained the following exhortation : " The general entreats his brave troops to remember that they are the sons of sires whose fame is immortal ; that they are to fight for the rights of their insulted country, while their opponents combat for the unjust pretensions of a master. Kentuckians ! remember the River Raisin ! but remember it only while victory is suspended. The revenge of a soldier can not be gratified upon a fallen enemy."^ ' September, The final embarkation took place on the morning of the 2'7th.* Ifo love- 1S13. jjgj. autumnal day ever dawned upon the earth. The sky was cloudless, the atmosphere balmy, and a gentle breeze from the southwest lightly rippled the waters. In sixteen armed vessels and almost one hundred boats that little army was put afloat. All was in motion at nine o'clock, and as the great flotilla moved north- ward toward the hostile shore, Harrison's stirring address was read to the men on each vessel. From these went up a hearty shout of Harrison and Victory, and then all moved on silently into the Detroit River. The spectacle was beautiful and sublime. Hartley's Point, three or four miles below Amherstburg (Maiden), and opposite the lower end of Bois Blanc Island, had been selected by Harrison and Perry as the landing-place. The debarkation took place at about four o'clock, on a low, sandy beach there, which stretched out in front of high sand-drifts, behind which it was be- lieved the enemy lay concealed. The army landed in perfect battle order, the Ken- tucky Volunteers on the right, the regulars on the left, and Ball's Legion and the friendly Indians in the centre. But no enemy was there. Proctor, who was in com- mand at Maiden, taking counsel of Prudence and Fear,^ and contrary to the solemn advice, earnest entreaties, and indignant remonstrances of his more courageous broth- er ofiicer Tecumtha,* had fled northward with his army, and all that he could take 1 There were not vessels enough to transport the horses with forage, and they were left behind. A strong fence of brush and fallen timber was constructed across the isthmus from near Port Clinton, a distance of not more than two miles, making the whole peninsula an inclosure for the horses to pasture in. One of every twenty Kentuckians were drafted to form a guard for the horses, and these were placed under the command of Colonel Ohristopher Hife. 2 The terrible massacre at the River Baisin, and the circumstances attending it, inspired the Kentuckians with almost . savage desires for vengeance. One of their songs sung around camp-fires recounted the cruelties of the Indians and th^ inhumanity of Proctor on that occasion. The following is one of the stanzas : " Freemen I no longer bear such slaughters ; Avenge your country's cruel woe ; Arouse, and save your wives and daughters I Arouse, and smite the faithless foe 1 ' Choetts.— Scalps are bought at stated prices, Maiden pays the price in gold." = Proctor, like the KentnckianB, rmumlered the River Raisin, and was afraid of falling into the hands of those whose sons and brothers had been butchered a few months before by his permission. His scouts had seen the Americans on the Sandusky Peninsula, and had reported their number ^if^teen thousand, at least ten thousand of whom were Ken- tuckians burning with revenge. The fear of these gave fleetness to his feet. * The defeat and capture of the British squadron had been foolishly concealed from Tecumtha for fear of its demoraliz- ing effect on his savage followers. The Indian leader was therefore greatly astonished when he observed Proctor prepar- ing to flee. He had been delighted when the British vessels went out to fight. He crossed over to Bois Blanc Island to watch the first appearance of them returning with the vanquished Amerii^ squadron— an apparition which Proc- tor's boasting had made him believe would certainly be revealed. He was disappointed, bewildered, and perplexed ; and, with great vehemence of manner, he addressed ]?roctor, saying, " Fatlicr, listen ! Our fleet has gone out j we know they have fought ; we have heard the great gnus ; but we know OF THE WAE or 1812; 547 Tecnmtha's ecoinfal Rebuke of Proctor. The British and Indians fly toward the Thames. The Americans pursue. with him, leaving Fort Maiden, the navy buildings, and the store-houses smoking ruins. As the Americans approached the town, with Governor Shelby in advance, they met, not valiant British regulars nor painted savages, but a troop of modest, well- dressed women, who came to implore mercy and protection. The kind-hearted vet- eran soon calmed their fears. The army entered Amherstburg with the bands play- ing Yanlcee Doodle. The loyal inhabitants had fled with the army. The ruins of Fort Maiden, the dock-yard, and the public stores were sending up huge volumes of smoke. Proctor had impressed into his service all the horses of the inhabitants to facilitate his flight, yet Harrison wrote courageously to the Secretary of War, on the evening after his arrival at Amherstburg,* saying, " I will pursue the enemy to- . September 2t, morrow, although there is no probability of overtaking him, as he has ^^^' upward ofa thousand horses, and we have not one in the army. I shall think my- self fortunate to collect a sufiiciency to mount the general officers." Only one, and that a Canadian pony, was procured, and on that the venerable Shelby was mounted. When Harrison's vanguard arrived at Amherstburg, the rear-guard of the enemy had not been gone an hour. Colonel Ball immediately sent an officer and twenty of his cavalry after them, to prevent them destroying the bridge over the Aux Canards, or Ta-ron-tee. They had just fired it when the Americans appeared. A single vol- ley scattered the incendiaries, and the bridge was saved. The next morning Harri- son's army, excepting a regiment of riflemen under Colonel Smith left at Amherst- burg, crossed it, and encamped in the Petit Cote Settlement,^ and at two o'clock on the 29th they entered Sandwich. At the same time the American flotilla reached Detroit ; and on the following day. Colonel Johnson and his mounted regiment ar- rived there. M' Arthur, with seven hundred effective men, had already crossed over, driven off a body of Indians who were hovering around the place, and retaken the ■ town. General Harrison had also declared the martial law enforced by Proctor at an end, and the civil government of Michigan re-established, to- the great joy of the inhabitants.^ On the arrival of Johnson the general-in-chief sent on one of his aids-de-camp. Captain C. S. Todd,^ to order the colonel to cross immediately with his troops, for he nothing of what has happened to our father with one arm [Captain Barclay]. Our ships have gone one way, and we are much astonished to see our father tying up every thing, and preparing to run the other way, without letting his red children know what his intentions are. Tou always told us to remain here and take care .of our lands. Tou always told us you would never draw your foot off British ground ; but now, father, we see you are drawing back, and we are sorry to see our father doing so without seeing the' enemy. We must compare our father's conduct to a fat dog that carries its tail upon Its back, but when affrighted it drops it between Its legs and runs off. "Father^ listen! The Americans have not yet defeated us by land, neither are we sure that they have done so by water; we therefore wish to r&main hffre'ancl fight our enemy, sfiouldtheynuLke tti^ir appearance. If they defeat. us we will then retreat with our father. . . . Ton have got the arms and ammunition which our great father, the king, sent for his red children. If you have an idea of going away, give them to us, and you may go and welcome for. us. Our lives- are In the hands of the Great Spirit. We are determined to defend our lands, and, if it be his will, we wish to leave onr bones upon them." This speech was addressed to Proctor at a council held on the 18th of September in one of the store-houses at Am- herstburg. Its effect was powerful. The Indians all startgd to their feet, and brandished their tomahawks in a men- acing manner. Proctor had resolved to flee to the Niagara frontier, but this demonstration made him hesitate. He finally quieted Tecumtha and his followers by promising to fall back only to the Moravian Towns, on the Thames, and there make a stand. These were about halfway between Amherstburg and the outposts of the centre division of the British army, on the western borders of Lake Ontario. On the day of the council Proctor left Amherstburg with alarge portion of his force. M^or Warburton remained, charged with destroying the public property on the appearance of the Americans. ' ' See Map on page 266. ! Before the Americans landed, the joyous inhabitants ran np the United States flag. They had suffered dreadAiUy. For months the insolent savages had made their dwellings free quarters. When they fled the Indians fired the fort. The flames were soon extinguished. 3 Harrison's gallant.aid-de-camp, Charles Scott Todd, is yet [1867] living in his native state, Kentucky, where he was born on the 22d of January, 1791. I met him in Washington City at near the close of 1861, when he was almost seven- ty-one years of age. His mental and physical vigor seemed equal to those of most men at fifty. He was there to offer his services In the field to his government in its war against the Great Bebellioij. Colonel Todd is one of the most em- inent of. the public servants of this country. He. was educated atthe College of William and Mary, in Virginia, where he was graduated with distinction in 1809. Law became his profession, but on the breaking out of the war he entered the militai7 service as ensign of a cbmpany of volunteers raised for Harrison at Lexington, where he was engaged in his profession. He became acting quarter-master and judge advocate of Winchester's wing of the Northwestern Army, and was exceedingly active in the wilderness. "He combined," said Harrison at that time, "the ardor of youth Witt PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK 548 . JotoBon and hia Horsemen cross Detroit Eiver. YigoronB Parenit of the British. Ferry's Sqnadron in the Thames. was resolved to push on in pursuit of the enemy as quickly as possible. He called a council of his general officers, informed them of his intention, and consulted with them concerning • the hest route to pursue, only two being feasible, namely, by land in rear of the British, or by Lake Erie to Long Point, where the Americans might make a rapid march across the country, and intercept the fugitives. The land route was chosen. Johnson and his mounted men cross- ed the river to Sandwich on the even- ing of the Ist,"' and on the » October, following morning the pur- •'^^^• suit was commenced. M' Arthur and his brigade were left to hold Detroiti; Cass's brigade and Ball's regiment were left at Sandwich ; and about one hundred and forty regulars, Johnson's mounted corps, and such of Shelby's Kentucky Volunteers as were fit for long and rapid marches, the whole three thousand five hundred in number, left Sandwich, and pressed on toward Chat- ham; on the Thanies,^ near whichj it was alleged, Proctor was encamped. General Marquis Calmes, and Adjutant General Gaines were compelled by illness to remain at Sandwich; and General Cass accompanied Harrison as volunteer aid. Information had been received two days- before" that some small ves- sels, with the enemy's artillery and baggage, were escaping up Lake St. Glair toward the Thames, when Commodore Perry dispatched a portion of his squad- ron, consisting of the Niagara, Lady Prevost, Scorpion, and Tigress, under Captain Elliott, in pursuit. Perry soon followed in the Ariel, accompanied by the Caledonia; and on the day when Harrison left Sandwich^ the little squadron appeared off the mouth of the Thames, having in charge the baggage, provisions, and ammunition-wagons of the American army. The enemy's vessels, having much the start, escaped up the Thames.^ Proctor seems not to have expected pursuit by land, and the Americans found all the bridges over the streams that fall into Lake St. Clair uninjured. Harrison pressed cy£i7^(^a "■ September 30. = October 2. the maturity of age." In May, 1813, he was commissioned a captain in the United States army, and Harrison appointed him his aid. His conduct in the campaign in the autumn of that year was highly commended, especially at the battle on the Thames. He succeeded Major Huliill as deputy inspector general of the Eighth Military District, and was adju- tant general of the district the following year, when he served with General M'Arthur with great acceptance. He be- came inspector general in March, 1815, with the rank of colonel, but left the array in June following ; and after the war Harrison said that "Colonel Todd was equal in bravery and superior in intelligence to any ofBcer of his rank in the army." He resumed his practice of the law at Frankfort, where he married a daughter ai Governor Shelby. He soon became secretary of state, then a member of the Legislature, and was finally sent by President Monroe on a confidential mission to Colombia, South America. His services there were very important. In the spring of 1840 he assisted, by re- quest, in the preparation of a Life of General Harrison, and, as editor of a Cincinnati paper, he warmly advocated the general's election to the presidency. In the summer of 1841 he was appointed United States minister to Bussia, and served his country in that capacity to the perfect satisfaction of both governments. It was while he was there that the portrait from which the above likeness was taken was painted. In private, as in public lite. Colonel Todd is a model of a Christian gentleman. 1 This considerable stream was called ha, Tranche by the French. It is sometimes called the !ZVen«,.bnt now is known only by the name of Thames. In the poetic epigraph to this chapter it is called La Tranche. 2 M'Afee (page 383) says that when the American army arrived at the month of the Thames, an eagle was seen hov- ering over it. "That," said Harrison, " is a'presage of success." Perry, who had landed and was with the general, remarked thatan'eagle hovered over his squadron on the morning of the 10th of September. OF THE WAR OF 181'2. 549 Pnrsuit up the Thames. A Halt at Dolsen's. The Americau Troops, at Chatham, forward rapidly along the good road by the borders of the lake for twenty miles, when seven British deserters informed him that Proctor, with seven hundred white men and twelve hundred Indians, was encamped at Dolsen's farm, about fifteen miles from the mouth of the Thames, on its right or northern bank, and fifty-six miles from Detroit by water. This information stimulated the Americans to greater exertions, and when they halted at night on the banks pf the Ruscom, they had marched twen- ty-five miles from Sandwich. At dawn the next morning the pursuit was renewed, and near the mouth of the Thames Johnson's regiment captured a lieutenant of dra- goons and eleven privates, who had just commenced the destruction of a bridge over a small tributary of the river. This was the first intimation to Harrison that Proc- tor was aware of the pursuit. The capture of this little party was considered a good omen. The pursuit was continued, and that night the Americans encamped on Drake's farm, on the left bank of the Thames, about four miles below Dolsen's. The Scorpion, commanded by the gallant Champlin, the Tigress, and the Porcupine, had followed the army up the river as convoys to the transports, and to cover the passage of the troops over the mouths of the tributaries of the Thames, or of the river itself At this point the character of the stream and its banks changed. Below, the channel was broad, the cur- rent sluggish, and the shores were extended flat prairies ; here the country became hilly, the banks high and precipitous, the chan- nel narrow, and the current rapid. On these accounts, and because of the expo- sure of the decks to Indian sharp-shooters from the lofty wooded banks, it was conclud- ed not to take the ves- sels higher than Dol- sen's. Perry now left the vessels, ofiered his services as volunteer . T . • /-H 1 TT • dolsen's. 1 aid to General Harri- souj and joined the army in the exciting pursuit of the fugitives. Harrison pressed forward on the morning of the 4th. Proctor fled up the Thames from Dolsen's, cursed by Tecumtha for his cowardice, to Chatham, two and a half miles, where an impassable stream, called M'Gregor's Creek, flows into the Thames between steep banks. There Proctor promised Tecumtha he would make a final stand. " Here," he said on his arrival, " we will defeat Harrison or lay our bones." These words pleased the warrior, and he regarded the position as a most favorable one. " When I look on these two streams," he said, " I shall think of the Wabash and the Tippecanoe." A bridge at the mouth of the creek, and another at M'Gregor's mill, a mile above, had been partially destroyed, and a considerable body of Indians 1 The above sketch Is a view of Dolsen's house, made when I visited the spot in the autumn of 1860. It is a hevra log structure, and stands very near the right or north bank of the Thames. It is about two miles and a half below Chatham. The owner and resident there in 1813, Isaac Dolsen, Esq., was then living in Chatham, but was absent at the time of my visit. He was then about eighty years of age. He and his brother John were natives of the Mohawk Yalley, of Dutch descent. On their return, after the battle some miles above, the American army encamped on the farm of John, half a mile below Isaac's. The Thames is here sluggish, and about three hundred yards Wide. 550 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Skirmish at M'Gregor'e Mill. Destruction of Property. The British nearly overtaken. TIBW AT JtJNOTION OP THE THAMES AWD m'GEEQOe'S OEEEK.l were at each, to dispute the passage of the pursuers or their attempts to make re- pairs. Two six-pound can- nons, under the direction of Major Wood, soon drove the savages from the bridge at Chatham, and a dash of Colonel Johnson and his horsemen upon the dusky foe at M'Gregor's also sent them flying after Proctor. Johnson lost two men kill- ed and six or seven wound- ed. The Indians had thir- teen killed and a large number wounded. Both bridges were speed- ily repaired, and the troops were about to push forward, when Walk-in-the-water, the Wyandot chief already mentioned, who had left the banner of ^=^— _ — . -— = Proctor with sixty warriors, came to Har- ^ ^^ rison and oifered to join his army condi- ^=^__ ^'^ tionally. The general had no time to treat ^P^^' _ with the savage, so he told him that if he ^ left Tecumtha he must keep out of the way of the American army. He did so, and re- turned to the Detroit River. The enemy spread destruction in their flight. Near Chatham they fired a house containing almost a thousand muskets. The flames w6re quenched and the arms were saved. Half a mile farther up the river they burned one of their own ves- sels laden with ordnance and military stores ; and opposite Bowles's farm, where Harrison encamped, two more vessels and a distillery, containing ordnance, naval and military stores, and other property of great value, were in flames. The Americans secured two 24-pounders and a quantity of shot and shell. Certain intelligence was received that the enemy were only a few miles distant, and that night Harrison intrenched his camp and set a double guard. At midnight Proctor and Tecumtha reconnoitred the camp, but prudently refrained from attacking it. ■ This sketch is a view of the junction of the Thames and M'Gregor's Creek, from the present bridge at Chatham, looking up the river. The Thames is seen on the left, and M'Gregor's Creek on the right. The upper termination of the bridge, mentioned in the text, was between the two clumps of trees on the bluff. In the distance is seen the court- house and jail of Chatham. On the flat between it and the creek the British built two or three gun-boats, txnder the superintendence of Captain Baker, the same person who constructed the barge that bore Washington ftom Elizabeth- town to New York in 1789, when going there to be inaugurated President of the United States. Looking beyond the point of the bluff, up the Thames, is seen the residence of Henry Jones. It is upon the site of the building, mentioned in the text, in which -were a large quantity of muskets saved fi'om the flames by the Americans. Farther up the stream lay a sunken steam-boat, that craft being in the habit of plying between Detroit and Chatham. On the opposite side of the Thames is seen a tannery. The plain on which the gun-boats were built is now a military reserve. ' This little sketch shows the appearance of the mins of M'Gregor's mill when I visited it in the antunm of 1860. The timbers of the ends of the dam are seen on the shores. The bridge carried by Johnson crossed the stream very near the mill. In this view we are looking east from the southwest side of the creek. A beautifully shaded ravine, with a small creek, is seen here. M'GBEGOE'B MILL.^ OF IHE WAR OF 1812. ■. 551, Tlie fugitive Britis h and Indians discovered. The chosen Battle-ground. Tecumtha's chief Lieutenant. The Americans were in motion at dawn, the mounted regiments in front, led by General Harrison and his staff. The Kentuckians, under Shelby, followed. They soon captured two of the enemy's gun-boats and several bateaux, with arniy supplies and ammunition, and several prisoners. At nine o'clock they reached Arnold's Mill, at the foot of rapids, where the Thames was fordable by horses. There Harrison de- termined to cross the river and follow directly in the rear of Proctor. The mounted men each took one of the infantry behind him, and a,t meridian, by this means and the bateaux, the whole American army was on the north side of the Thames, and press- ing on vigorously after the fugitives. Every where_ on the way evidences of the pre- cipitation of the retreat were seen in property abandoned. At two o'clock, when eight miles from the crossing place, the Americans discovered the smouldering embers of the recently-occupied camp of the enemy's rear-guard, un- der Colonel Warburton. It was evident that the fugitives were nearly overtaken. Colonel Johnson dashed forward to gain intelligence. Within about three miles of the Moravian Town' he captured a British wagoner, and from him learned that Proc- tor had halted across the pathway of the pursuers, only three hundred yards farther on. Johnson, with Major Janies Suggett and his spies, immediately advanced cau- tiously, and found the enemy awaiting the arrival of the Americans in battle order. He obtained sufficient information respecting their position to enable General Harri- son and a council of officers, held on horseback, to determine the proper order for at- tack. His force was now little more than three thousand in number, consisting of one hundred and twenty regulars of the 27th Regiment, five brigades of Kentucky volunteers under Governor Shelby, and Colonel Johnson's regiment of mounted in- fantry. The ground chosen by the enemy to make a stand was well selected. On his left was the River Thames, with a high and precipitous bank, and on his right a marsh running almost parallel with the river for about two miles. Between these, and two and three hundred, yards from the river, was a small swamp, quite narrow, with a strip. of solid ground between it and the large marsh. The ground, over which the road lay, and indeed the whole space between the river and the great swamp, was covered with- beech, sugar-maple, and oak trees, with very little undergrowth. The British regulars (a part of the Forty-first Regiment) were formed in two lines, be- tween the small swamp and the river, their artillery being planted in the road near the bank of the stream. The Indians were posted between the two swamps, where the undergrowth was thicker, their right, commanded by the brave Oshawahnah,? a Chippewa chief, extending some distance along and just within the borders of the larger marsh, and so disposed as to easily flank Harrison's left. Their left, command- 1 This village is in the tovraship of Oxford, Canada West, on the right bank of the Thames. The settlers were In- dians converted to Christianity by the Moravians, who fled to Canada from the Mneklngnm, in Ohio, in 1792. By an order of the Provincial Council in 1793, a large tract of land, comprising about fifty thousand acres, was granted for their use, on which they proceeded to' build a church and village. The Eev. John Scott, of Bethlehem, ministered there for some time. At the period we are considering this Christian-Indian village had nearly one hundred houses, mostly well built. Many of the Indians spoke English. They had a school-house and a chapel, and very fine gardens. Village and crops were destroyed by the American troops, it having been alleged that some of the Indians residing there had been foremost in the massacre on the Baisin. In 1836 the Indians surrendered a large portion of their lands to the Ca- nadian government, for an annuity of one hundred and fifty pounds sterling. The present Moravian Town is back from the Thames, about a mile and a half from the original site. 2 The likeness on the next page of this chief, Tecumtha's lieutenant, or second in command, in the battle on the Thames is from a daguerreotype taken from life at Brantford, in Canada, in September, 1888, and presented to me by G. H. M. Johnson, chief of the Six Nations on the Grand Biver (see page ml), in the summer of 1860. The old chief at- tended a grand council of all the Indians in Canada, at Brantford, and was the guest of Mr. Johnson. In the council he appeared vrith all his testimonials of bravery— his "stars and garters"— as seen in the picture. Around his hat was a silver band. He also displayed a silver gorget, medals, etc, a sash of bead-work, strings of wampum, and an orna- mented tomahawk pipe, like the one on page 421. He was then about ninety years of age. He had been a famous war- rior— the hero of fifteen battles. He was a mild-spoken, pleasant man, very vigorous in mind and body. He Was yet living in 1861, the principal of seven or eight chiefs, on Walpole Island, in Lake St. Clair, opposite the town of Algomac, Michigan fifty miles above Detroit. Walpole Island is about ten miles in length. The Indians are Chippewas, Potta- watomies', and Ottawas. They weresettled here by the Indian Agent of the British government at , the close of the War of 1812. they were placed in charge of a superintendent in 1839. The number, now (1867) is about one thousand. Their principal business is hunting in the conntry around the Canadian borders of Lake St. Clair. , . 552 PiCTOEIAL PIELD-BOOK Harrison's Arrangements for Battle. The British Line of Battle. OSHAWAUNAJi. ed in person by Tecumtlia, occupied the isthmus, or narrowest point be- tween the two swamps. In the disposition of his army for battle, General Harrison made arrange- ments for the horsemen to fall back, allow the infantry to make the attack, and then chai'ge upon the British lines. For this purpose General Calmes's brigade, five hundred strong, under Colonel Trotter,! -^^s placed in the front line, which extended " from the road on the right toward the greater marsh. Parallel with these, one hund- red and fifty yards in the rear, was General John E. King's brigade, and in the rear of this was General David Chile's brigade, posted as a reserve. These three brigades were under the command of Major General Henry. Two others (James Allen's and Cald- well's^) and Simrall's regiment, form- ing -.General Desha's^ division, were formed upon the left of the front line, so as to hold the Indians in check and prevent a serious flank movement by them. At the crotchet formed by Desha's corps and the front line of Henry's division (see map on page 564), the venerable Gover- nor Shelby, then sixty-six years of age, took his position. In front of all these was Johnson's mounted regiment in two columns (one under the colonel, and the other commanded by his brother James, the lieutenant colonel*), its right extending to within fifty yards of the road, and its left resting on the smaller swamp. A small corps of regulars, under Colonel Paul, about one hundred and twenty in number, were posted between the road and the river for the purpose of advancing in concert with some Indians under the wooded bank, to attempt the capture of the' enemy's cannon. These Indians, forty in number, were to stealthily gain the British rear, fire upon them, and give them the fearful impression that their own savage allies had turned upon them. The defection of Walk-in- the- water would be instantly remembered. When every preparation for attack was completed, Major Wood, who had just been reconnoitring the enemy's position, kiformed General Harrison that the British lines were drawn up in 0|pen order. This information induced the general, contrary 1 George Trotter was then lieutenant colonel. He was a captain In Simrall's regiment, and was distinguished and wounded in the action of Colonel Campbell at the Mississiniwa Towns in December, 1812. He was acting brigadier general in the battle on the Thames. He was a native of Kentucky, and died at Lexington, in that state, on the 13th of October, 1816. 2 Samuel Caldwell was a distinguished Kentuckian. He was a major of Kentucky levies in 1791, and distinguished himself with Wilkinson in the Wabash country in August of that year. He was lieutenant colonel commanding volun- teers in the autumn of 1812, and was in General Green Clay's brigade the following year. He was made brigadier gen- eral of volunteers in August, 1813, and as such commanded in the battle on the Thames. 3 Joseph Desha was a descendant of a Huguenot family. He was bom in Western Pennsylvania in December, 1T68, and emigrated to Kentucky, with his father, in 1781. In 1790 he settledpermanently in Mason County, Kentucky. He performed military service under Wayne in 1794 and '95, having, at the" early age of iifteen, been engaged in conflicts with the Indians. He represented Mason County in the State Legislature and in 1816 was cbosen a member of Con- gress. His only military service in the War of 1812 was under Harrison in the campaign in Canada. In 1824 he was elected governor of Kentucky, and held the office four years. He then retired to private life. He died at Georgetown, Scott County, on the 11th of October, 1842. * The spirit of the Kentnckians who formed that corps may be inferred by the fact that Lieutenant Colonel James Johnson had with him his two sons, Edward P. and William, the one seventeen and the other only fifteen years of a<'e. James Johnson was a representative in Congress in 1825 and '26. He died in August, 1826. ° .: OP THE WAR- 01' 1812, 553 Change of Battle Order. Battle of the Thames. Flight of Proctor. to all precedent, to incur the peril of changing the prescrihed mode of attack at the last moment. Instead of having Henry's division fall upon the British front, he or- dered Johnson to charge their line with his mounted riflemen. > That gallant officer made immediate preparations for the bold movement, but; found the space between the river and the small swamp too limited for his men to act efficiently. In the ex- ercise of discretion given him, he led his second battalion across the little swamp to attack the Indian left, leaving the first battalion, under his brother James and Major Payne, to fall upon the British regulars. The latter were immediately formed in four columns of double files, with Major Suggett and his two hundred spies in front. Col- onel Johnson formed the second battalion in two columns, in front of Shelby, with a company of footmen before him, the right column being headed by himself, and the left by Major David Thompson. Harrison, accompanied by Acting Adjutant Gen- eral Butler ,2 Commodore Perry, and General Cass, took position on the extreme right, near the bank of the river, where he could observe and direct all movements. A bugle sounded, and the Americans immediately moved forward with coolness and precision in the prescribed order, among huge trees, some undergrowth, and over fallen timber. They were compelled to move slowly. When at some distance from the front line of the British regulars, the latter opened a severe fire. The horses of the mounted Kentuckians were frighten- ed, recoiled, and produced some confusion at the head of the columns. Before order was restored, another volley came from the enemy. With a tremendous shout the American cavalry now boldly dashed upon the British line, broke it, and scattered it in all directions. The second line, thirty paces in the rear, was broken and confused in the same way. The horsemen now wheeled right and left, and poured a de- structive fire upon the rear of the broken columns. The terrified foe surrendered as fast as they could throw down their arms, and in less than five minutes after the first shot of the battle was fired, the whole British force, more than eight hundred strong, were totally vanquished, and most of them made prisoners. Only about fifty men and a single officer (Lieutenant Bullock), of the Forty-first Regiment, escaped. Proctor fled in his carriage, with his personal staff, a few dragoons, and some mounted Indians, hotly pursued by a part of John- son's corps under Major Payne. " When Proctor saw lost was the day, He fled La Tranche's plain ; A carriage bore the chief away, Who ne'er returned again."— Old Soko. The battle on the right was over before the advancing columns of General Henry were fairly in sight of the combatants. When the bugle sounded for attack on the right, the notes of another on the' left rang out on the clear autumn air. Colonel Johnson and the second battalion of his 1 " The measure," said General Harrison, in his report to the Secretary of War on the 9th of October, " was not sanc- tioned by any thing that I had seen or heard of, but I was fUIly convinced that it would succeed. The American back- woodsmen ride better in the woods than any other people. A musket or rifle is no impediment,'they being accustomed to carrying them on horseback from their earliest youth. I was persuaded, too, that the enemy would be quite unpre- pared for the shock, and that they could not resist it." .. 2 We shall meet Adjutant Eobert Butler hereafter in the battle of New Orleans. 3 This view is from the road-side, on the high river bank, at the point where the British left rested on the Thames, and a few rods from the residence occupied by Mr. Watts. VIEW Oi* THE THAMES.^ 554 PICTORIAL riELD-BOOK The Contest with the IndianB. The Fight a flei'oe one. The Savages defeated. troops moved against the Indians almost simultaneously with. the attack on the Brit- ish line. The savages, under the immediate command of Tecumtha, reserved their fire until the Americans were within a few paces of them, when they hurled a most deadly shower of bullets upon them, prostrating a greater portion of the vanguard, or forlorn hope, and wounding Colonel Johnson very severely. " Sudden, from tree and thicket green, From trunk, and mound, and bushy screen. Sharp lightning flashed with instant sheeu, A thousand death-bolts sung ! Like ripen'd fruit before the blast. Eider and horse to earth were cast, Its miry roots among ; Theu wild, as if that earth were riven, And, poured beneath the cope of heaven, All hell to upper air was given. One fearful whoop was rung ; And, bounding each from covert forth. Burst on their front the demon birth." , The branches of the trees and the undergrowth in this part of the field were too thick to allow the mounted riflemen to do much service on horseback. Perceiving this, Johnson ordered them to dismount, and carry on the conflict on foot at close ■-''"I''/, .,1111/, ' V, BATTLE OF THE THAMES. quarters. For seven or eight minutes the battle raged furiously, and there were many hand-to-hand fights between the Kentuckians and savages, while the former raised the fearful cry, at times, " Remember the River Raisin !" Victory was poised for a while. Perceiving this, Shelby ordered Lieutenant Colonel John Donaldson's regiment to the support of Johnson, and directed General King to press forward to the front with his brigade. The Indians had already recoiled from the shock of the Kentucky rifles, and only a part of Donaldson's regiment participated in the fight. The savages fled, and a scattering, running fire was kept up for some time along the swamp in front of Desha's division, and by the fugitives pursued by Major Thompson and his men. Other movements were ordered by Governor Shelby, but the Indians had given up the contest, and the battle was over before they could be effected. The OF THE WAR OF 1812. 553 Escape of Proctor. Death of Tecnmtha, W^o killed Tecumtha ? pagan allies of the British scattered through the forest in rear of the greater swamp, while Proctor and his few followers were flying like hunted deer before Payne and his horsemen, who pursued him far beyond the Moravian Town, killing some Indians, capturing some prisoners, and securing valuable spdils. Among the latter were six brass cannon, three of which were taken from the British in the War of the Revolu- tion, and were retaken from Hull at Detroit. Majors John Payne, E. D. Wood, C. S. Todd, John Chambers, and A. L. Langham, and Lieutenants Scroggin and Bell, with three privates, continued the pursuit of the fugitive general until dark, but could not overtake him. He abandoned his carriage, left the road, and escaped by some by-path. Within twenty-four hours he was sixty-five miles from the battle-ground ! His carriage, sword, and valuable papfers were captured by Major Wood,^ and the party returned to Moravian Town, taking with them sixty-three prisoners. They found the little village deserted. So panic-stricken were some of the women that, when they left, being unable to carry their children in their flight, they threw them into the Thames to prevent their being butchered by the Americans 1^ The loss in this short, sharp, and decisive battle was not large. The 6.xact number was not ascertained. That of the Americans was probably about fifteen killed and thirty wounded. The British lost about eighteen killed, twenty-six wounded, and six hundred made prisoners ; of these, twenty-five were oflScers. Harrison estimated the number of small-arms taken from the enemy during the pursuit and the battle, with those destroyed by them, at more than five thousand, nearly all of which had been captured from the Americans at Detroit, Frenchtown, and Dudley's defeat on the Maumee.. The Indians left thirty-three of their dead on the field. How many they lost by death and wounds in the contest was never ascertained. Tecumtha, their great leader, and reaUy great and noble man, all things considered, was among the slain. He was much superior to Proctor in manhood, military genius, and courage, and is worthy to be remembered with profound respect. He was killed early in the action, while inspiriting his men by words and deeds. Tradition and History -relate that he had just wounded Colonel Johnson with a rifle-bullet, and was springing for- ward to dispatch him with his tomahawk, when that officer drew a pistol from his belt and shot the Indian through the head. " The moment was fearfal ; a mightier foe Had ne'er swung his battle-axe o'er him ; Bat hope nerved his arm for a desperate blow, And Tecumtha fell prostrate before him. He fought in defense of his kindred and king, With a spirit niost loving and loyal, And long shall the Indian warrior sing The deeds of Tecumtha the royal." The statement of tradition and history has been made in enduring marble by the sculptor on Johnson's monument in the cemetery at Frankfort, Kentucky.^ It has been questioned, and positively denied ; and during the political campaign when Johnson was a candidate for the chair of Vice-President of the United States, the question caused much warm discussion. Johnson, it is said, never affirmed or denied the story. He killed an Indian under the circumstances and in the manner just re- lated, on the spot where two red warriors, stripped naked, were found after the bat- tle, one of whom it was believed was Tecumtha.* 1 In a letter to the author, Captain Stanton Sholes (see page 541), who was in the battle of the Thames, says, " I had a very pleasant ride back to Detroit in Proctor's beautiful carriage. I found in it a hat, a sword, and a trunk. The latter contained many letters, mostly written in the handsomest writing I ever saw, by Proctor's wife to her ' dear Henry.' " ' " I had this fact," says Samuel E. Brovra, in his Views on Lake Erie, page 63, " from an 'American gentleman who was at Oxford when Proctor and the Indians passed through there. The sqnaws were lamenting the loss of their children." s See page 496. * The solution of the question, "Who killed Tecnmtha?" is ofnohistoricimportance, yet, it having been the subject of much discussion, a few facts bearing upon it may be appropriately introduced here. These fatts have been drawn chiefly from a very interesting written commimication made to me in January, 1861, by Dr. Samuel Theobald, who was Johnson's judge advocate, and with him In the battle. When Dr. Theobald (see a sketch of him in note 2, page 6C6) 556 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The Gallantry of Colonel Johnson in the Battle. His Wounds. Samuel Theobald. Johnson behaved most gallantly in the action. He was mounted on a white pony- that his servant had ridden, his own horse having been disabled. This made him a conspicuous mark for the enemy. At the sound of the bugle charge he dashed for- ward at the head of his Forlorn Hope, and at- tacked the Indian left, where Tecumtha was stationed. ^ The first volley of bullets from the foe wounded him in the hip and thigh. He almost immediately received another bul- let in his hand from the Indian that he shot, which traversed his arm for some distance. He was disabled, and said to Dr. Theobald,^ one of his staff, who was dismounted, and fighting near him, " I am severely wounded ; where shall I go ?" " Follow me," answered Theobald. He did not know where to find the surgeon of the regiment, so he led him across the smaller swamp to the road, and about three hundred rods in the rear, to the stand of Dr. Mitchell, Governor Shelby's sur- geon general. The colonel, faint with the loss of blood, was taken from his horse, when the little animal, having performed its duty to the last, fell dead, having been wound- ed in seven places. Theobald ran to the Thames for water, which revived the colo- nel. His wounds were dressed, and he was conveyed to a vessel a few miles below, wrote to me he was residing near Greenville, Washington County, Mississippi. He says that, early iii the campaign, Johnson organized a small corps, composed of the staff of his regiment, which he denominated the Forlorn Hope. It was designed to accompany him immediately in the event of a battle. One of these was the venerable Colonel William Whitely, who had been distinguished in conflicts with the Indians in the early years of settlements in Kentucky, and then over seventy years of age. He had volunteered as a private in Captain Davidson's company. The others who composed the Forlorn Hope, and charged upon the enemy at the opening of the battle, were Bei^amin S. Chambers, Robert Payne (a nephew of Colonel Johnson), Joseph Taylor, William Webb, Garrett Wall, Eli Short, and Dr. S. Theo- bald. Whitely was killed, and was found lying near the two Indians mentioned in the text by Theobald and Wall, after the battle. They found the bodies of the two Indians lying a little way apart. On the folloviing morning the news spread that the body of Tecumtha had been fonnd. One of the Indians alluded to was designated as the fallen chief. Theobald felt a desire to identify the body of the chief, and took Anthony Shane, a half-breed Shawnoese, who knew Tecumtha well, to view it. The body was entirely naked, and several strips of skin had been taken from the thighs by some of the Kentuckians, who had reason to remember the River Baisin, and, as I was informed by a soldier who was in the battle, these strips were used for making razor-strops 1 Shane did not recognize the body as that of Te- cumtha. The late Colonel John Johnston, of Dayton, Ohio, who, as Indian agent, often employed Shane, informed me that he told him that Tecumtha once had his thigh-bone broken, and that a sort of ridge had been formed around the fracture tbat might be easily felt. No such ridge was observed in the thigh of the Indian claimed to be Tecumtha, found on the ground where the charge of the Forlorn Hope was made and Johnson was wotmded. Dr. Theobald far- ther informs me that his friend. Captain Benjamin Warfleld, commander of a company in Johnson's regiment, told him that he was directed to search the battle-field for wounded soldiers. He found a British soldier, named Clarke, lying there mortally wounded. He was the Indian interpreter for Proctor, and asserted positively that Tecnmtha was killed, and his body was carried off by the Indians. I have since been informed by Colonel C. S. Todd, one of Harrison's aids at that time (see page M7), that he was told by the celebrated chief Black Hawk that he was present at that battle, and that Tecnmtha's body was certainly carried off by his followers. These facts show that, while Colonel Johnson may have shot Tecumtha, the body supposed to be his, and so barbarously mutilated by the exasperated Kentuckians, was that of another warrior. ' Teoumthar as we have seen, had reason to doubt the word and courage of Proctor. He doubtless took his position at the Junction of the British and Indian lines, so as to have a near and direct communication between himself and Proctor. He knew that Proctor was flying through fear. The Canadians on the route of the retreat had told him that Proctor Would not flght if he could help it. Proctor knew that Tecumtha would compel him to fight here, or feel the force of savage resentment, so he fled at the commencement of the battle ; and no doubt the haste of his white troops to surrender was to secure themselves from the vengeance of Tecumtha and his followers. 2 Samuel Theobald was bom near Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky, on the 22d of December, 1790. He was " gradu- ated in medicine" at Transylvania University, at Lexington, and in that borough practiced medicine for twenty years. For the last thirty years he has been engaged in cotton-planting, most of the time residing near Greenville, Missis- sippi. His ancestors, paternal and maternal, were Kentucky pioneers. His younger brother, James, was with him in the battle of the Thames, and another brother, Thomas S., was in the military service on the frontier for twelve months as a lieutenant of rangers. OF THE WAE -OF 1812. 557 Johnson conveyed Homeward. Eejoicings because of the Victory. Harrison and Proctor properly rewarded. under .charge of Captain Champlin, of the Scorpion, which that gallant officer had captured from the British. In that vessel he was conveyed to the Scorpion, at Dol- sen's, and in her to Detroit. There he remained a short time, and then, with much suifering, he made his way homeward. ' He reached Fra,nkfort early in November, and in February, after kind and skillful nursing by Major C. S. Todd, although una- ble to walk, he resumed his seat in Congress, at Washington. His journey thither was a continued ovation, for his gallantry on the Thames was known to the nation.^ Harrison's successes, and the annihilation of the allied armies of the foe westward of Lake Ontario, produced great rejoicing throughout the United States.^ All that Hull had lost had now been recovered, and more. The hopes of the Americans were stimulated. They felt that a really able general was in the field, and all the arts of Harrison's political and personal enemies could not blind them to the fact that, by the exercise of military genius, indomitable perseverance, and unflinching courage, he had accomplished more than all the other leaders, and had fully vindicated his coun- try's honor. His praises were on every honest lip. In the chief cities, from Maine to Georgia, bonfires and illuminations attested the public satisfaction, and in many places joint honors were paid to the heroes of Lake Erie and the Thames^Perry and Harrison.* As usual, songs written for the occasion were heard in theatres and in the streets, and at every festive table Harrison was toasted as The Hero of Tippeca- noe and of the Thames. The Congress of the United States, in testimony of their appreciation of his services, afterward gave him their cordial thanks, and voted him a gold medal.' Proctor received his reward in the form of the censure of his superiors, the severe rebuke of his sovereign, and the scorn of all honorable men. He had the meanness to shift the disgrace of defeat from his own cowardly shoulders to those of his gal- lant regulars, and there it remained for more than twelve months. Upon his mis- representations Sir George Prevost severely censured the detachment of the Forty- first Regiment that were in the battle, in a general order issued at Montreal on the 24th of November.^ But they were vindicated by the trial of Proctor in De- msis. cember the next year,*" when the cause of his defeat and the loss of the West- "isu. em province were found to be in his own demerits as a soldier. He was found guilty of misconduct in not providing measures for a retreat, while the court, with singular inconsistency, acquitted him of any lack of personal bravery or indiscretion at the 1 He remained several days under a surgeon's care at TJrbana, in a commissary office near Doolittle's tavern, then the head-quarters of Governor Meigs. a The authorities from which I have drawn the chief materials for the foregoing narrative in this chapter are the ofB- cial reports of General Harrison to the Secretary of War ; the several histories of the period already cited ; written and oral statements of survivors ; official reports of the British officers ; the newspapers of the day, and biographies of Har- rison, Johnson, Cass, and Tecumtha, etc. 3 Harrison, in his official letter to the War Department, spoke in the highest terms of his officers and troops. " I am at a loss," he said, " how to mention the conduct of Governor Shelby." After paying a well-merited compliment to the veteran, and the major generals and brigadiers, he said, " Of Governor Shelby's staff, his adjutant general. Colonel M'Dowell, and his quarter-master general. Colonel Walker, rendered great services ; as did his aids-de-camp. General Adair, and Majors Barry and Crittenden. The military skill of the former was of great service to us, and the activity of the two latter gentlemen could not be surpassed." He highly commended Acting Adjutant General Butlerj and said, "My alds-Se-camp, Lieutenant O'Fallon and Captain Todd, of the line, and my volunteer aids, John S. Smith and John Chambers, Esquires, have rendered me most important service from the opening of the campaign. I have already stated that General Cass and Commodore Perry assisted me in forming the troops for action. The former is an officer of the highest merit, and the appearance of the brave commodore cheered and animated every breast." He highly com- plimented the officers and men of the mounted regiment, and Major Wood, of the Engineers. « On the 23d of October the new City Hall in New York was splendidly illuminated in honor of thpse two victories. Also Tammany, Washington, and Mechanics' Halls, the theatre, the City Hotel, and hundreds of private residences, were illuminated. In the windows of the City Hall were several transparencies. One of them represented the battle on Lake Erie and the words "Don't givjs cp the Ship 1" In front of Tammany Hall was a superb painting exhibiting ^ fnll- length portrait of Harrison, and the figures of several Indian warriors, the chief of whom was on his bended knees su- ing for peace, and offering at the same time a squaw, and her papoose on her back, as hostages for their fidelity. On it was also represented the naval engagement on Lake Erie. 5 On one side is a bust of General Harrison, and the words Majok Gbneeal William H. Harbison. On the reverge is seen a woman placing ?i vyreath around two bayonets fixed on muskets, and a color-staflT, stacked over a drum and cannon bow and quiver. - Her right hand rests upon the Union shield; and holds a halbert. From the point of union of the stack hangs a hanner, on which is inscribed Poet Meigs— Battle op the Thames. Oyer these, in a semicircle, are the words, Eesolction of Congeess, Apeil 4, 1818. Beneath, Battle of the Thames, Ootobek B, 1813. 558 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Proctor's Puniuhment considered too mild by the Prince Begent. Tlie Bemnant of Proctor's Army. THE HARBISON MEDAL. time of the battle. He was sentenced to Tbe "publicly reprimanded, and suspended from rank and pay for six months." So notorious was the fact of his cowardly aban- donment of his army at the very beginning of the battle that the Prince Regent se- TnE SUELET MEDAL. verely reprimanded the court for its " mistaken leniency," expressed his « regret that ajiy ^officer of the length of service and the exalted rank" attained by General Proc- tor « should be so extremely wanting in professional knowledge, and deficient in those active, energetic qualities which must be required of every officer," and that the charges and finding of the court should "be entered in the general order-book, and read at the head of every regiment in his majesty's service." General Proctor IS represented as a stout, thick-set, fine-looking man. He died in Liverpool m 1858 or 1859. ^ The few British regulars and militia who escaped after the battle of the 5th of October fled in confusion through an almost unbroken wilderness toward Lake On- tario. They rendezvoused at Ancaster, seven miles westward of Hamilton and the head of the lake, on the IVth, when their numbers, inclusive of seventeen officers amounted to two hundred and fifty-six. Their flight spread consternation over all tnat region. tv'^T^ J^°*°^^ "^ ^^^^^^ ^^^ ^*^ subsequent effects was most complete. It broke un the Indian confederacy of the Northwest, and caused the disheartened warriors to - OF THE:wAE of 1812. 559 Effecta of the Vietoriea of Perry a nd Harrison. Disposition of the Troops. A Journey to the Thames. forsake their white • allies, and sue humbly for peace and pardon at the feet of the Americans. Their very personal existence compelled them to endure this humilia- tion.^ The -winter was approaching, and they and their farailies were destitute of provisions and clothing, without the means of procuring either. Their prayers were heard and heeded ; and those whom they had fought against at the instigation of a professed Christian government, hecame their saviors from the deadly fangs of hun- ger and frost.' The base conduct of Proctor, and the kindness of Harrison, gave a fatal blow to British influence among the Indians of the Northwest. The American troops occupied the battle-ground on the Thames, and on the Tth* General Harrison departed for Detroit, leaving Governor Shelby in .October/ command. The army commenced moving that day in the same direction, ^^^^• taking with them the property they had captured and the prisoners. On the 10th they arrived at Sandwich in the midst of a furious storm of wind Eind snow, during which several of the vessels from the Thames were injured, and much of the captured property was lost. Harrison and Perry had planned an immediate attack on Mack- inack, and Captain Elliott had volunteered to command the naval force, but the ex- treme cold and the blinding storm warned them of the near approach of winter and the dangers that might be encountered, and they prudently abandoned the enter- prise. Rumors came that the enemy had fled from Mackinack ; so, after concluding an armistice with the chiefs of several of the hostile tribes, among whom was Mai- pock, the fierce and implacable Pottawatomie, and receiving hostages for their faith- fulness,^ Harrison prepared to go down the lake with MArthur's brigade, a battal- ion of regular riflemen under Colonel Wells, and mounted men under Colonel Ball, to join the American forces on the Niagara frontier. The Kentuckians returned home, after stopping at the Raisin to bury the. whitened bones of their massacred countrymen, and on the Sandusky: peninsula to recover their horses,^ isnfiering much from fatigue, hunger, and cold on the way. > General Harrison appointed General Cass military and civil governor of Michigan, and directed him to retain his brigade (about one thousand in number) to keep the Indians in check, and hold possession of that portion of Canada la;tely ;conquered by the Americans west of Lake Ontario. Harrison arrived at Bufialo on the 24th of October, with about thirteen hundred men, only one thousand of them effective sol- diers. There he joined General M'Clure in active preparations against the enemy. I visited the battle-ground on the Thames on a cold, blustering day in Octo- ber," 1860, accompanied by Miles Miller, Esq. , of Chatham, Canada West, b October ii, formerly editor of The Western Planet newspaper. I left Detroit in the ^^^''■ morning with my family, crossed the river, took seats in a carriage on the Great Western Railway, and, after a swift journey of an hour and a half, over a space of fifty-four miles along the borders of Lake St. Clair, through oozy swamps, broad prairies, tangled forests, and wealthy farms to the Thames, following the route of Harrison's pursuing army, we alighted at Chatham, a pleasant village of six thou- sand inhabitants, on the left or south bank of the Thames, and the capital of the county of Kent. It lies upon a plain in the midst of a fine agricultural country, at the head of steam-boat navigation on the Thames. It was originally laid out by 1 An eye-witness says : " A few days after Proctor's defeat, Detroit was so fall of famished savages that the issne of rations to them did not keep pace with their hunger. I have seen the women and children searching about the ground for bones and rinds of pork which had been thrown away by the soldiers. Meat in a high state of putrefaction, which had been thrown into the river, was carefully picked up and devoured. The feet, heads, and entrails of the cattle slaugh- tered by the public butchers were collected and sent off to the neighboring villages. I have counted twenty horses in a drove fancifully decorated with the offals of the slaughter-yard."— Finos on hake. Erie, by Samuel E. Brown, page 95. a We have already observed that Walk-in-the-water, and many of his followers, deserted Proctor at Chatham. While Harrison was in pursuit of the enemy up the Thames, chiefs of the Miamis, Ottawas, Pottawatomies, Chippewas, and Kickapoos proposed to General M'Arthur, at Detroit, a suspension of hostilities, and agreed to " take hold of the same tomahawk with the Americans, and to strike alKwho are, or may be enemies of the United States, whether British or Indians." They brought in their women and children, and offered them as hostages for their own good behavior." 3 See page 546. 560 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK A Visit to the Battle-field on the Thames. EecollectioDS of an old Besident. Tecnmtha and Ws Pistol. Governor Simcoe, -who reserved six hundred acres for a town plot. On the opposite side of the river, in the township of Dover, is the little suburban village of North Chatham, connected with the main town by a toU-bridga' We took rooms at the Royal Exchange Hotel, and, as soon as a vehicle could be procured, I started with Mr. Miller for the Thames battle-ground, about eighteen miles distant. The sky was overcast by broken masses of clouds, and a biting north wind came from the great Canadian wilderness, with Winter Tales upon every blast. We followed the route of the American army, sketching the ruins of M'Gregor's mill (see page 550) on the way, and at about one o'clock in the afternoon were at the lit- tle village of Tecumseh (Thamesville Station), within a mil© and a half of the historic ground. There we dined, and had the pleasure of seeing David Sherman, Esq., a life-long resident of that spot, who was a lad nine or ten years of age when the bat- tle occurred, and had a clear recollection of the events of the day which came under his observation. > He informed us that the Americans encamped on his father's ferm, where the village of Tecumseh now stands, on the night before the battle. His fa- ther was a soldier with Proctor, and left home twenty-fojur hours before. During the forenoon of the day of the battle, young Sherman went up to within half a mile of the place where Johnson discovered the British line, and saw Tecumtha sitting on a log near where a white cow that belonged to a neighbor had been killed and was then a-roasting. Tecumtha asked him whose boy he was. He told him,, when the chief, who was acquainted with his father, said, "Don't let the Americans know that your father is in the army, or they'll burn your house. Go back, and stay home, for there will be a fight here soon." Mr. Sherman said he scanned the great chief with the wide-open eyes of wonder and curiosity of a boy of his age, and, among other things, saw two pistols in the warrior's belt, unlike the English ones he had been accustomed to. Having satisfied his curiosity, he took Tecumtha's advice, and hastened homeward. He saw the Americans passing rapidly onward toward the place where he left the chief, and heard the din of battle during the afteraoon. All was quiet before sunset and dur- ing the night ; and early the next morning he ventured to go upon the battle-ground, where he saw the two Indians, one of whom was supposed to be Genei-al Tecumtha. On that spot a pistol precisely like one of those that he saw in Tecum- tha's belt was found by a neigh- bor, and was in his possession. He has no doubt of its being one of the great leader's weap- ons, and cherishes it as such. TEOTOITHa's pistol. I Ti ■ ^ A ™ • J? y. It is 01 American manufacture, fourteen inches in length, has a flint-lock, is rifled, and bears the name of "H.Al- bright," maker. I made a sketch of it, and, upon the circumstantial evidence of Mr. Sherman, present it to the reader as a picture of one of the pistols of the great Shaw- noese chief From Mr. Sherman we learned some interesting facts concerning the locality of the battle-ground, but he refused to indicate the exact place where Tecumtha fell, giving as a reason for his reticence on that point that he had been making efforts to induce the provincial government to erect a monument on the spot, and, until that should be accomplished, he should keep the secret in his own bosom. I think the place desig- nated on the map on page 554 is the correct one. After dinner we rode up to the dwelling of the old Watts Farm, on which most of the battle was fought, while the troops under Shelby occupied a portion of the lands OF THE WAR OF 181.2. 661 Appearance of the Battle-fleld of the Thames. , Moravian Town.. Eetarn to Chatham. owned by James Dixon at the time of our visit. We had very little trouble in find- ing the places sought., The forest had disappeared, and nothing remained of the grand old trees except a few ravaged and mostly dead stems, many of them ■ black- ened by hre The smaller swamp had also disappeared, but its place was distinctly marked by deep black mould. In the rear is the great swamp still, and in front, be- tween lofty wooded banks, flows the beautiful La Tranche or Thames, near which are graves of the slam. From a corn-field between the smaller and larger swamps near the spot where Johnson and Teoumtha met, I made a sketch, of the battle-field TW^W^*''^ THAMES BATTLE-GUOtTNlJ. 1 Around us were golden pumpkins and wealthy shocks of Indian corn, and in the re- cently-cleared field, where the small swamp lay, cattle were quietly grazing on the frost-nipped grass. It is an attractive spot for the historical student, and our visit was an item in the fulfillment of the poet's prophecy, that " Of t to La Tranche's battle'-fleid ' In future times stall traveler come, ' ':•■'; ,, To mute reflection's pojver to yield,, . ,-[ - . And gaze on lowlywarriors' tomi). ' ' ', ' ' ' • 'jH«re,' shall he say, ' our soldiers stood ; There were the Indians' numerous host ; Here flowed the gallant Johnson's blood ; There died the Shawnoean boast.' " . -, We intended to visit the Moravian town,^ but, after sketching the battle-ground, and the little view of the Thames printed on page 553, the day was so far speiit' that we felt compelled to turn back toward Tecumseh, where we partook of refreshments, aiid at twilight started on our return to Chatham. We arrived at the " Royal Ex- change" at nine in the evening, Cisld and weary, but fiill of satisfaction. Before sunrise on the following morning I sketched the view at the mouth of M'Gregor's Creek, printed on page 550, and after an early breakfast, again accompa- > In this sketch the spectator is looting southward, toward the Thames. Its line is marked by the distant trees. The fence seen along the edge of those trees indicates the position of the, road that leads to Detroit, across which stood Proctor's regulars, and on which were his cannon. The line of Proctor's army was north and south, across the upper edge of the smaller swamp, near where the cattle are seen. ' ' ' ■ !■ I was infoi-med that the Moravians there were all Indians except their minister, the Eev. Mr. Vogler. There .we;;e about fifty families, mostly Delawares, and descendants, of .the enrly settlers. .Each family had a plank house and forty acres of land, furnished by the government. The houses appeared very much like those of th6 pensioners afAm- fie"rstT)arg, mentioned'on page 299. They had a neat church. Some-of thelog houses of-the original-townra mile and a half from the present village, not destroyed in 1813, were yet standing. The chief or military leader of the Indians was Philip Jacobs, who lived on the site of the old town. He was about sixty years of age at the time of my visit. N N 562 PICTORIAL EIELD-BOOK Dolsen's. Journey eastward. Harrison on t he Northern Frontier. nied by the courteous Mr. Miller, crossed the river, and rode down to Dolsen's to pro- cure a drawing of his residence, made famous by the events of the campaign of Har- rison against Proctor. We returned in time for myself and party to take the cars for the East at half past nine o'clock. We passed through London (a flourishing town of about seven thousand inhabitants, pleasantly situated at the confluence of the north and east branches of the Thames) at noon, and arrived at Paris, forty-seven miles far- ther eastward, in time for dinner. There we left the railway, and traveled in a pri- vate carriage to N^orwichville, twenty-five miles southward, where we were received at twilight by relatives — descendants of the first settlers of that region, who built log huts, and felled the primeval forest there only a little more than fifty years ago. Now it is a fertile, well-cultivated, and highly-picturesque country, bearing few traces of a settlement so new that many of the inhabitants remember its beginning. We tarried there a few days, and then returned to our home on the Hudson by way of the Niagara Suspension Bridge, after an absence of more than five weeks, bearing rich treasures from the historic fields of the Northwest. As the campaign that closed on the banks of the Thames was the last in which General Harrison was engaged, we will here consider a brief outline of his career from his arrival on the Niagara frontier until he left the service in the spring of 1814. Harrison, as we have observed, arrived at Bufialo on the 24th of October. He went immediately down to Newark, the head-quarters of General M'Clure, of the New York Militia, and soon afterward commenced active operations, by order of the Secretary of War, for an expedition against the British at Burlington Heights, at the west end of Lake Ontario, the " capture or destruction of which," the Secretary said in his letter, " would be a glorious ^wafe to his campaign." While in the midst of these preparations, another letter came from the same functionary, written only four days later than the former, requiring General Harrison to send M' Arthur's brigade to Sackett's Harbor, as Montreal, not Kingston, would be the point of attack on the en- emy by Wilkinson's army, by which the country eastward of Lake Ontario might be exposed to the incursions of the British from the latter place. There were valuable stores at Sackett's Harbor, and it was thought to be more important to save these than to assail the enemy farther west. Like an obedient soldier, Harrison obeyed. His troops were embarked on Chauncey's fleet at the middle of November. The pro- gramme having been changed, the Secretary of War gave General Harrison permis- sion to visit his family near Cincinnati. The general accompanied his troops to Sack- ett's Harbor, and then journeyed homeward by the way of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, every where receiving the plaudits of his countrymen. The campaign under the old generals (Dearborn, Hampton, and Wilkinson) on the northern frontier in 1813 having been fruitless of much good to the American cause, the eyes of the people were turned in expectation toward General Harrison, the suc- cessful leader, as the future acting commander-in-chief of the American army, or at least of that portion of it on the northern frontier. Such was the expectation of his companions in arms. " Yes, my dear friend," Perry wrote to him, " I expect to hail you as the chief who is to redeem the honor of our arms in the North." " You, sir," wrote M' Arthur to him from Albany, in New York,' " stand the highest with the mi- litia of this state of any general in the service, and I am confident that no man can fight them to so great an advantage, and I thiak their extreme solicitude may be the , means of calling you to this promotion." These expectations were not realized. For reasons unexplained, the feelings of General Armstrong, the Secretary of War, appear to have been suddenly and greatly changed toward General Harrison, and his treatment of that officer deprived the country of his military services at a most critical time. He persistently interfered ' M'Arthur was then in attendance as a witness upon the court-martial for the trial of Brigadier General Hull. See page 294. OP THE WAK OF 1812, 563 Treatment of Harrieou by the Secretary of War. Harrison leaves the Army. A Journey in Ohio. with Harrison's prerogatives as oommander-in-oMef of the Eighth Military District, and the general became convinced, by circumstances not necessary to detail here, that the secretary disliked him, and was determined to deprive him of all active command. He remembered Armstrong's unasked permission to visit his family at Cincinnati, and he now construed it as a deliberate hint that he might retire from the army a while. These suspicions were fostei'ed and confirmed by subsequent events, and on the 11th of May, 1814, Harrison, in a letter to the Secretary of War, and another to the Presi- dent of the United States, offered to resign his commission. When Governor Shelby heard of the movement he wrote an earnest letter to the President, urging him not to accept the resignation, and saying, " Having served in a campaign with General Har- rison, by which I have been enabled to form some opiQion of his military talents and capacity to command, I feel no hesitation to declare to you that I believe him to be one of the first military characters I ever knew, and, in addition to this, he is capable of making greater personal exertions than any ofiicer with whom I have ever served."^ Harrison was then forty years of age. Unfortunately for the country, the President was absent from Washington, at his home in Virginia, when the letters of Harrison and Shelby reached the oapit^. They were both forwarded to Madison. Meanwhile the Secretary of War, without con- sulting the President, accepted the general's resignation. This was an assumption of authority never exercised before nor since. In a letter to Governor Shelby, the President expressed his sincei-e regret that the valuable services of General Harrison could not have been secured to the government for the approaching campaign. Har- rison left the army, and during the ensuing summer he was appointed, in conjunction with Governors Shelby and Cass, to treat with the Indians of the Northwest concern- ing all things in dispute between the tribes and the United States. As we shall not meet General Harrison again in active military service, nor men- tion his name except incidentally, I will take this occasion to notice a short journey in Ohio, in the autumn of 1860, while collecting materials for this work, in which was included a visit to the home and grave of that faithful public servant at North Bend, on the banks of the Ohio. In a former chapter (see page 542) I have mentioned my departure from Cleveland after the inauguration of Perry's statue, for Columbus, the capital of Ohio. The rail- way between the two places lies, much of the distance from Cleveland to Delaware, through a flat, not very fertile, and a newly-cleared country, the latter fact being at- tested by a profusion of stumps of trees in most of the clearings. On the summit of the water-shed between Lake Erie and the Ohio River, the country is more rolling and fertile. We journeyed one hundred and thirty-five miles in. the course of five hours and forty minutes, an^ reached Columbus at about two o'clock in the after- noon of a delightful September day." At three I left for Newark, the » September 12. capital of Licking County, thirty-three miles eastward of Columbus, for ^^^''■ the twofold purpose of visiting an old and highly-esteemed friend,^ and viewing, in the neighborhood, one of the most remarkable of the tuniuli, or ancient mounds, with which the Ohio country abounds. I found my. friend very ill— too ill to endure more than a few minutes' conversation. During the evening,, in company with his son, I visited Mr. David T\^yrick, a resident of the village, an engineer by profession, and an enthusiastic antiquary, who had lately been made famous as the discoverer of a stone, with Hebrew inscriptions, in a portion of the ancient earth-works that abound in the neighborhood of Newark I found him a plain, earnest man, and bearing, among those who know him best, a character above reproach for truth and sincerity. He showed me a large number of curious things taken from mounds in' the neighboi-- I Governor Shelby to President Maaison, May IS, 1814. , ,^ , -r., ,^ . . , „ = Samnel G. Arnold, Esq., editor and proprietor of the Newari North Ammmn, and author of a Life of PatrickHenry, and one or two other small volumes. 564 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Ancient Monnds and Eelics at Newark, Ohio. Ancient Coffin and Inscribed Stones. hood. Among them was a portion of a coffin, made of a hollowed oak log, found beneath a truncated circular pyramid for- ty feet in height, with a base one hundred and eighty-two feet in diameter, evidently constructed by a people ignorant of metal- liSMAiNS OP AN ANCIENT ooFi'iN. Hc-edged tools.^ But the most curious of all the relics was the stone upon the four sides of which are words in Hebrew let- ters. Mr. Wyrick found them while searching for human remains in the centre of a small depression of the earth connected with the system of ancient earth-works in that region. The stone is in the form of a trunc- ated cone, five inches in length, with two sides broader than the other two sides,' and a neck and knob, evidently formed for suspending it by a ■ cord or chain. It has thfe appearance, in. texture and color, of a novaciilite, or " hone-stone," and is finely polished. The let- ters (said by those who are competent to decide to be ancient Hebrew) are neatly made in intaglio upon each of the four sides. How, and when, and for what prac- tical or symbolical purpose that stone was deposited in the earth there, may forever remain a mystery.^ 1 This coffin is quite shallow, and more like the hollowed platform of a scaffolding. It bears evidence of having been TUE TOVS. SIDES OP TUE HOLY BTONE. hollowed by the procijsses employed by the aborigines when Europeans first vis- ited America, namely, by fire and stone axes. With these they felled trees and hollowed out logs for canoes. They first burnt the timber, and then removed the charred part with the blunt stone axe, for these could not be made sharp enough to cut, and endure. These processes were re- peated until the requisite depth was ob- tained. Evei*y part of the hollowed por- tions of the ancient coffin that I saw bore cleAr marks of these operations. STONE AXES. The coffin, when found, was in a con- cavity of earth lined with clay made im- pervious to water. It lay in water twelve inches in depth, resting upon seven pieces of small timber, these resting upon two larger pieces, as seen in the above sketch. These, like the coffin, were completely " water-sogged." The coffin was lined with a fabric resembling old carpeting, so fragile that it cruin,bled at the slight- est touch. On this the body of the de- ceased had been laid; and thereon was found the skeleton in fragments, locks of beautiful black hair, and ten copper rings lying near where the hands might have been folded over the breast. The whole were imbedded in clay, over which was an arch of small and large stones. Over this was a mound of clay, mak- ing the whole structure inclosing the coffin about seven feet in height. The remainder of the pyramid was composed of stone. These the State of Ohio purchased for constructing the " Licking Summit Reservoir" for the use of the Ohio Canal, and removed about fifty thousand wagon-loads. The sepulchre was found when these stones were removed, and was explored by Mr. Wyrick. The clay was brought from a distance, for there is none like it in the vicinity. The annexed diagram, kindly drawn for me by Mr. Wyrick, shows a sectional view of the clay mounds, the small stone arch, and the position of the coffin. A the up- per part of the clay mound, and B the lower portion. In these the open dots indicate the places where it was evi- dent timbers had been placed, and had rotted away. C the arch of stone, 1111 indicating two layers of small stones from six to ten inches in diameter, and 2 a layer of broad flat stones. H the' coffin and skeleton, and E the concavity filled with water, in which they rested. The clay had evidently been formed into a kind of mortar, and was as bard as sun-dried brick. The pyramid was on an em- inence seven miles south of Newark, and five hundred feet above the level of any stream of water near. = The cavity in which Mr. Wyrick found this stone was about twenty feet In circumference, and about two feet in depth at the centre. When be had excavated through dark and rich alluvium about fourteen inches, he came to a light- er soil of a clayey nature, in which were pebbles. One of these, of oblong form, composed of reddish qnartz, first at- •tracted his attention. Soon afterward he found the inscribed stone imbedded in the clay. Gentlemen of learning ex- amined it, and proved the letters to be obsolete Hebraic. The Eevereiid J. W. M'Carty, of Newark, a Hebrew scholar, translated the words on three of the fonr sides as follows : "Boly of Holiex ;" " Tlie Word of tlie Law ;" and " The Word of the Lord." At a meeting of some of the leading citizens of Newark, held at the Court-house about two months after ■my visit there, to consider the character and the circumstances of the finding of the " Holy Stone," General Dille pre- sided, and Mr. M'Carty gave an interesting account of the whole matter. It wa3 stated that only four or five of the SEOTIONAT. VIEW OP THE PYEAMID. OF THE WAR OF 1812. An ancient, stone Box and its Contents. 505 An immense ancient Earth-work near Newark visited and described. Eai-ly the following morning, accompanied by my young friend, I visited the '' Old J^ort, as the people there call one of the most magnificent of the ancient' earth-works that abound m that section of Ohio. It is a mile and a half from Newark, in the midst of a primeval forest, and forms a pleasant resort in summer. It is composed ot a continuous mound, that sweeps in a perfect circle a mile in circumferehee,broken f 4if 7^ entrance to it, where the banks, higher than any where else, turn outward tor fttty feet or more, and form a magnificent gateway. The embankment averages GttEAT EAETH-WOaii MEAR NEWARK. from fifteen to twenty feet in height, and is covered with maple, beech, and hickory trees of every size, from the huge Anak of the forest to the lithe sapling— the former indicating the origin of the structure to be far more remote than the advent of Euro- peans in the New World. These also cover the area inclosed by the mound. The ditch from which the earth was thrown is within the embankment, and is visible around the entire line of the work, proving it not to have been a fortification. In the centre of the area (which is perfectly level) is a slight elevation, in the form of a spread eagle, covering many yards, and is called the Eagle Mound.' characters correspond to those now in use in the Hebrew books, but tliese furnished a key to the translation. It had al- ready been stated by a gentleman familiar with the history and practice of the Freemasons, and who was a member of the fraternity, tliat the stone was of the kind used by masons of a certain grade in the East soon after the building of the first temple by Solomon. It has in their system, Ije said, a well-known meaning, its principal use in ancient times be- ing for deposit beneath whatever structure the master mason might superintend. This symbol, he said, was not nec- essarily furnished with Inscriptions, but masons entitled to use it might put such sentences upon it as that one has. It would be placed in the northeastern part of the fonndation, and if it stood on its point would indicate that something more was deposited beneath. If it lay on its broadest face, the point or small end would indicate the direction where other deposits would be found. These, if found, would disclose facts connected with the building. Was not the cavity in which the stone was found the foundation of a structure never erected ? A few weeks subsequent to my visit, Mr. Wyrick found, in one of the mounds in that vicinity, a stone box, nearly egg-shaped, the two halves fitting together by a joint which nins around the stone lengthwise. Within this box was a stone seven inches long and three wide, on a smooth surface of which is a figure, in bas rdief, well cut, and surrounded ■ by characters thus described by the Rev. Mr. M'Carty : " The words over the head of the human figure contain three letters. Two of them are Hebrew, Sheir and Be (or Heth). The third I inferred to be jiftm— a conjecture most readily suggested by its form, itbeing exactly that of the old Gaelic Mum (M), and afterward fully borne out by its always an- swering thereto. This gave the word Moaheh (Moses) or Meshiach (Messiah)." Of the characters Mr. M'Carty said " some looked like the Hebrew coin character, some like the Phoenician alphabet, a few bore resemblance to those on the Grave Creek stone,* and some 1 could not identify with any known alphabet." He at last found that the language was really Hebrew, much like that found in the Bibles of the German Jews, and, after great aud patient labor, he discovered that the whole constituted an abridged form of the Ten Commandments. This is not the place, nor has the writer the knowledge requisite for a discussion of the matter. I have simply stated the curious facts — facts well worthy of the earnest investigation of archaeologists, for they raise the ethnological and historical question whether the mound-builders of this continent were of Asiatic origin, or were related to the Indian tribes whose remnants still exist. 1 Other mounds in this vicinity are in the shape of animals. One of the most curious and extensive of these is about four miles from Newark, on the road to Granville. It is in the shape of a lizard, and covers the whole summit of a hill. Its dimensions, in feet, are as follows : Length of the head and neck, 32 ; of the body, 73 ; of the tail, 105 ; width from the ends of the fore feet over the shoulders, 100 ; from the ends of the. hind feet over the hips, 92 ; between the legs, across the body, 32 ; across the tail, close to the body, IS ; height at the highest point, 7 ; whole length, 210. It appears to be mainly composed of clay, and is overgrown with grass. Visitors have made a path from the nose, along the back, to where the tail begins to curl, at which point stands a large black walnut-tree.— See Howe's Historical Cotteitiom of " Ohio, page 298. ' A small stone tablet, found in a large mound near Grave Creek, in the vicinity of Winchester, Virginia, having an inscription in cuneiform characters like the ancient Phoenician. PICTORIAL riELD-BOOK Thoughts concerning the Mon nd-bnildere. City of Colgmbus. Jonmey down the Scioto Valley. The ground covered by this ancient work is owned hy the Licking County Agri- cultural Society, and within the earth-walled inclosure their annual fairs are held, for the accommodation of which some buildings have been erected. These, with the gen- eral appearance of the work, and the trees upon the banks, as seen from the entrance, may be observed in the picture on page 565. After finishiag that sketch, and ex- ploring every part of this strange old structure by an unknown people in an unknown age, I returned to Newark, the quickened imagination filling the mind with wondrous visions of the earlier ages of our continent, while Memory recalled those suggestive lines of Bryant in his "Prairie," in which, turning to the Past, he soliloquizes concern- ing the mound-builders, saying, as introductory, "And did the dust Of these fair solitudes once stir with life And burn with passion ? Let the mighty mounds . That overloolc the rivers, or that rise In the dim forest, crowded with old oaks. Answer. A race that long has passed away Built them ; a disciplined and populous race Heaped with long toil the earth, while yet the Greek Was hewing the Pentelicus to forms Of symmetry, and rearing on its rock The glittering Parthenon." I returned to Columbus in time to visit the magnificent State-house, dine, and leave in the stage-coach at two o'clock for Chillicothe, forty-five miles down the Scioto Val- ley, toward ths Ohio River. Columbus is a beautiful city, of almost twenty thousand inhabitants, standing upon a gently-rolling plain on the eastern side of the Scioto River,' about half a mile below its confluence with the Olentangy. The streets are broad, its public buildings are attractive, and many private mansions display great elegance. It is pleasant in every feature as the political capital of a great state. Where it now stands was a dark forest when Harrison had his head-quarters at'Frank- linton, on the opposite side of the Scioto, in 1812 and 1813. Then a settlement was commenced there, and in 1816 it was made the seat of the state government. The county seat of Franklin was removed to Columbus from Franklinton in 18S4, and the present city was chartered in 1834. ^ The journey from Columbus to Chillicothe, in an old-fashioned elliptical stage-coach drawn by four horses, was a very delightful one. The day was perfect in purity of air and in temperature ; the sky was unflecked by the smallest cloud, and the whole country was green with verdure. I was granted the privilege of a seat by the side of the driver, and thus I secured uninterrupted views of the country, which exhibited all the picturesque beauty possible without the charms of mountains or high hUls. Our route lay along the gentle slopes on the eastern side of the Scioto until we reached Shadeville, a pleasant little embowered village, where we first struck the bot- tom of the Scioto Valley, nine miles from Columbus. There we changed horses, and, eight miles farther On, stopped at Bloomfield, another little village, where fresh horses were waiting our arrival. A little before sunset we rode into Circleville, a large town at the head of the great Pickaway Plains.^ Our route had been through one of the most beautiful regions of Ohio, and would increase in interest, we were told, as we advanced toward Chillicothe. But the night was near. We had passed broad fields of Indian corn, plants full twelve feet in height, heavily laden with ears, beneath which droves of swine were frequently seen. The streams were fringed with heavy-foliaged trees and shrubbery, interspersed with magnificent sycamores, while the little forests ^ According to a statement of Eev. David Jones in his journal in 1774, Scioto, in the Shawnoese language, signifies hairy river, so called because that stream in the spring was filled with hairs, from the immense number of deer that came to it to drink when shedding their coats. = Circleville is the capital of Pickaway County, situated on the Ohio Canal and Scioto Eiver. It stands upon the site of one of the ancient earth-works that abound in that region, which was of circular form, and gave the name to the vil- lage. The court-house stood in the centre of the circle, and tlie town grew up around it. For an interesting account of the mounds in that vicinity, the reader is referred to Howe's Biatorical Collections of Ohio, page 410. OF, THE WAK OF 1812. 56'7 Circlevllle. An-ival at Chillicothe. Its Site and early Buildings. and pleasant groves through -which we rode presented to the eye timber-giants of a size seldom seen eastward of the Alleghany Mountains. We found Circleville crowded with people of every sex, coloi', and condition, in atr tenidance upon a county fair — so crowded that our most earnest endeavors to pro- cure some supper at the tavern where the coach stopped failed. We tarried there tut a short time, and at sunset resumed oui'journey with fresh horses. To avoid the heavy dew and chilly night air, I took a seat inside the coach, with eight other adults and two children, and enjoyed a delightful ride across the Pickaway Plains' during the strangely luminous twilight that lingered long at the close of that lovely Septem- ber day. Just as night fell upon the landscape, we diverged from the Plains to pass through the village of Kingston, and at ten o'clock in the evening we sat down to an excellent supper, with keen appetites, at the " Valley Hotel" in Chillicothe. Chillicothe, the capital of Ross County, and centre of the trade of the Scioto re- gion, is delightfully situated on a perfectly level plain, at a narrow and picturesque part of the valley, with lofty and rugged hills rising around it. In ancient times it was a place of great attraction for the inhabitants, and was one of the principal ren- dezvous of the Shawnoese when the white man began to seat himself in the Ohio country. It was early settled, and in the year 1800 the seat of government of the Northwestern Territory was removed from Cincinnati to Chillicothe. The building of a state-house there was commenced the same year, and was completed early enough in 1801 for the Territorial Legislature to meet ia it.^ In the same room, the Convention that framed the Constitution for the State of Ohio met in the au- tumn of 1802. It was built of stone, and was the first public edifice made of that material in the Territory. That venerable and venerated structure was demol- ished about the year 1850, and on its site was erected the present court-house for the county, of light brown freestone, and remarkable as one of the most beautiful public buildings west of the Alleghanies. The old jail, also built in 1801, was yet standing when I visited Chillicothe. The above sketch of the state-house is copied, by permission, from Howe's Sistorical Collections of Ohio, page 436. Chillicothe was an important rendezvous of United States soldiers during the War of 1812, as we have already incidentally observed. They were stationed at Camp Bull, about a mile north of the town, on the west side of the Scioto. There several hundred British prisoners, captured by Perry and Harrison, were confined for some time. On the morning after my arrival I rode out to " Fruit Hill," the residence of Gen- eral Duncan M' Arthur during a greater portion of his life, and then (1860) the prop- erty and dwelling of his son-in-law. Honorable William Allen, late member of Con- gress. It was about two and a half miles from the court-house in Chillicothe, upon the lofty plain between the Scioto and Paint Creek Valleys, and was so situated as to com- 1 Tlieee plains lie Bontli of Circleville, on the east side of the Scioto, and are said to contain the richest body of land i,n Ohio. They are called respectively npper and lower plains. The black soil is the result of vegetable decomposition during many ages. Beneath it is a bed of pebbles and gravel, and the surface of the Plains is from forty to fifty feet above the Scioto. These plains were the resort not only of the mound-builders, but of the Indians before the Europe- ans came. There they had a general council-flre for all the associated tribes in- that region ; there it was that the war- riors assembled to confront the army of Lord Dunmore in 1774, and there the horrid rites of torturing prisoners were frequently performed. There, on that classic Indian ground, Logan, the bereaved Mingo chief, made the famous speech preserved by Mr. Jefferson; and there was "Camp Charlotte," on Soippo Creek, seven miles southwest from Cirele- ville, where, by treaty, Dunmore's campaign was brought to, a close. For a full account of Dunmore's expedition, and Logan and his famous speech, the reader is referred to Jipssiugjs Pictorial Field-iook of the Revolution, ii., 281 and 284 in- clusive. ' The first two sessions of the Territorial Legislature were .held in a small, two-storied log house that stood on the comer of Second and Walnnt Streets. This had a wing, in which wpre public offices. This building was used for bar- racks during the War of 1812. THE OLD STATE-UOTJSB. 568 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Visit to "Fruit Hill" and " Adena." Governor Worthington. inand a fine view of the town and the surrounding coun- try. It was reached from the valley by a winding road among the hills. The man- sion was of hewn sandstone, spacious and elegant in fin- ish within and without. It was ■ erected in 1802, and stood in the midst of a pleasant grassy lawn, dot- ted with a variety of orna- mental trees and fruit-bear- ing Osage orange- trees. I was disappointed in not find- ing the proprietor at home, but this was lessened by the kind hospitalities of a young woman, a member of the FEUIT HILL, GENERAL M'AETnUE'6 EESIUENCE. family, who ledme to the observatory on the top of the house, from which may be obtained charmmg views of the Scioto and Paint Creek Yalleys Havmg sketched the "Fruit Hill" mansion,' I rode to "Adena," the fine old res- idence of Governor Thomas Worthington, chief magistrate of Ohio from 1814 to 1818. It is situated upon the same ridge, two hund- red feet above the Scioto, and half a mile porth from M'Arthur's'mansion. It overlooks the same valleys, and, because of the beauty of its situation, it was called "Adena," or Par- adise. The building is of hewn sandstone, and was erected in 1805, at great expense, under the supervision of the elder Latrobe, of Washington City. Its elegance and nov- elty were such, in its form, its large panes of glass, its papered rooms, and marble fire- places, that persons came from long distances to see it, and considered its name appropri- ate.^ It was the finest mansion in all that region; and, so much was Worthington re- spected, that all agreed that man and dwell- ing were worthy of each other. He was an early settler in the vi- cinity.~ In 1198 he built the first frame house, with glazed win- dows, erected in Chillicothe, oiled paper being then the substitute for glass.2 He erected a saw and grist mill for the accommodation of the inhabit- ants, and in every way was a very public-spirited man.^ I Thi^iT^l^ ^''v™ 'J"" '"■^' '""king toward Chillicothe, a glimpse of which is seen on the extreme left of the picture. 3 Th^,;.» w i"^ . " '''"''' "'"' "° ""^ ^"^ °f Chillicothe was a hark cabin erected hy General M'Arthur. him to the O^o^r^^ "^f " '? J^Tf «™ County (then Berkeley), Virainia, about the year 1T69. He took with m?pr» M fw ° ^ 3'"*^ " '"""^<='" "' '"'™-'' ■"''<"" •>« emancipated. He was one of the most energetic of the ni- ormea tne Constitution of the State of Ohio in 1803. Soon after that he was chosen to represent.the new state in the y^^^^^^:^^^^ OF THE WAR OF 1812. 569 Description of " Adena.' M'Arthur's Portrait. A Visit to Cincinnati and its Vicinity. ADENA, GOVERNOK WORTHIMGTON S BESIDEKOE. Adena was then owned by Governor Worth- ington's son, General James Worthington. The court in front of the mansion was filled with trees, shrubbery, and flowers. On the right was an enormous cherry-tree, planted in 1798 hj the side of the log cabin in which Governor Worthington and his family lived until the house in Chillicothe was coriipleted. There was a fine garden attached to the man- sion, and from various points in the vicinity most charming views of-the Scioto Valley may be obtained. The proprietor was not at home at the time of my visit, but I have very pleasant recollections of the kind courtesy I received from his family in showing me works of art and curiosities, and imparting information. Among the relics of the past which I saw there was a hatchet-pipe, almost precisely like the one shown me at Brantford, in Canada, and delineated on page 421. It was presented to Governor Worthington by Tecumtha, and is highly valued by the family. Leaving " Adena," I passed down the winding road through the hills to the plain, by a beautiful little lake at the foot of the wooded acclivity, and, on reaching Chilli- cothe, called at the residence of the Honorable C. A. Trimble, member of Congress, and son-in-law of M' Arthur, who owns the fine portrait of the general from which the engraving on page 267 was copied. He, too, was absent, but, through the kind ofiices of his brother, I was permitted to have a daguerreotype of the painting made. This was completed just in time to allow me to take the cars oh the Marietta and Cincin- nati Railway for the latter place at about three o'clock in the afternbon. We reach- ed the " Queen City" at seven in the evening, having journeyed ninety-six miles through an interesting country from the Valley of the Scioto to that of the Little Miami. During the three succeeding days I visited men and places' of interest in and about Cincinnati. I crossed the Ohio to Covington and Newport, cities on the Kentucky shore, flanking the mouth of the Licking Rivei'. I also rode out to Batavia, tTie cap- ital of Clermont County, about twenty miles distant, one hot afternoon, fortunately occupying a portion of the driver's seat on a stage-coach. Our route lay along the Ohio through Columbia, a suburban village (settled before the seed of Cincinnati was planted), to the mouth of the Little Miami, the eye every where delighted with the picturesque beauty of the shores of the great river, covered with vineyards then wealthy with immense stores of grapes, on the Ohio side. "There grows no vine By the liaunted Eliine, By Danube or Guadalquivir, Nor on island or cape. That hears such grape As grows by the Beautiful Kiver."i We crossed the Miami, and made our way along the level country on its eastern side a few miles, when our course bent more eastward among lofty cultivated hills. Toward sunset we looked down from a rugged eminence into the fertile vale of the east branch of the Little Miami, then flooded with the evening sunlight, which Senate of the United States, and was an active supporter in Congress of Jefferson's administration. He was elected Bovernor of the state in 1814, and held the office four years. After his retirement from the chief magistracy he was Ap- pointed a member of the first board of Canal Commissioners, and held that office until his death in the year 1821, hav- ing been in public station about thirty years. 1 Ohio is the Shawnoese word for Beautiful Eiver. The Pi'ench called it La Belle Riviere. 570 PICTOEIAL riEIvD-BOOK Yeterane of the War of ISia at B'atavia. An Evening with a Daughter of General Harrison. brought out, in luminous relief, against the green verdure back of it, the quiet village of Batavia, that lay nestled in the lap of the hills at the head of the valley. There, at the houses of relatives and friends,! passed the Sabbath, and met three surviving soldiers of the War of 1812, namely, John Jamieson, Abraham Miley, and James Car- ter. Mr. Jamieson was from Kentucky, and belonged to a company of spies in Por- ter's regiment. He was active on the frontier in the vicinity of Detroit during a greater portion of the war. In 1814 he saw the infamous Simon Girty on the rack of severe rheumatism at his house a few miles below Maiden. The villain's cabin was decorated with scalps. Mr. Miley was a rifleman in Fort Meigs at the time of the siege in May, 1813. Mr. Jamieson and Mr. Carter confirmed the horrid story of the conversion of some of the sMn of Tecumtha into razor-strops. One of them had seen pieces of the skin in the hands of a Kentuckian who took it from Tecumtha's thigh ! • September 18, On the evening after my return to Cincinnati from Batavia'' I de- 1860. ' parted for North Bend, fourteen miles westward, on the Ohio and Mis- sissippi Railway, where General Harrison was wedded while yet a subaltern in the army of the United States, where he lived when he bore the honors of a gallant gen- eral of that army, and where he was buried while the laurels which composed the most precious civic crown in the power of a people to bestow were yet fresh upon his brow. The annual fair of the United States Agricultural Society was about to close in-Cin- cinnati, and thousands of visitors were making their way homeward. The cars were densely packed, and, because of some detention in the lower part of the city, we did not reach JSTorth Bend until after dark. The nearest public house was at the little village of Cleves, a mile distant over the hills, and thitherward I made my way on foot, accompanied by a grandson of General Harrison, son of W. W. H. Taylor, Esq., at whose house I supped and spent the evening. Their dwelling is pleasantly situ- ated on a slope overlooking the village of Cleves and the Great Miami Valley at that point, and is only, half a mile from the tomb of Harrison. Mrs. Taylor is a daughter of the generaL She kindly invited me to pass the night under their roof, but cir- cumstances made it proper for me to take lodgings at the tavern in Cleves. In the possession of Mrs. Taylor were portraits of her father and mother, the former painted in the winter of 1840-41 by J. G. H. Beard, of Cincinnati, and pronounced a faithful likeness by the family. The latter, an equally faithful likeness, was painted in 1828 by a young artist named Corwin, who died in New York when about to embark for Italy. It is the portrait of a small and beautiful woman at the age of fifty-three years. Mrs. Taylor kindly furnished me with photographic copies of the portraits. When I visited North Bend,, Mrs. Harrison, who had just passed the eighty-fifth year of her age, w^s residing with her son, Scott Harrison, Esq., ^ at Lawrenceburg, five miles farther down the Ohio. I was informed that she had not received visits from strangers for a long time, her sensitive nature instinctively shrinking from the notoriety which her husband's exalted position had given her. It was said that she retained much of the rare beauty of her earlier years, and that the portrait of her given on the opposite page is a fair likeness of her in her extreme old age.^ She was Anna Symmes, daughter of the Honorable John Cleves Symmes, of New Jersey, who, as we have observed (page 36), purchased an immense tract of land between 1 Mr. Harrisonhad in his possession the telescope used by Commodore Perry in the engagement on Lake Erie, which that gallant commander presented to General Harrison as a token of his regard. 2 Mrs. Harrison died on the 25th of February, 1864, when lacking exactly five months of being eighty-nine years of age. She was born in Sussex County, New Jersey, on the 25th of July, 177S. Her remains were taken to the house of her daughter, Mrs. Taylor, at Cleves, and at, the Presbyterian Church in that village the Reverend Mr. 3nshnell preach- ed a funeral sermon, from the text which she had selected for the occasion a year before — " Be still, and know that I am God." Her remains were then laid in the vault overlooking the North Bend, by the side of those of her hiisband. Mrs. Harrison was distinguished for personal courage, good sense, modesty, and sincere piety. Her life was made up of alternate excitement and repose. She was loved most dearly by all who knew her. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 571 Settlement at Worth Bend. Symmes's City to be the future Capital of Ohio. A successful Rival. the Great and. Little Miami Rivers, and who, early in February, 1790, landed with some settlers at the most northerly bend of the Ohio River in its course below Wheeling, and proceeded to found a set- tlement by laying out a village upon the el- evated plateau through which the White- water Canal courses at the present Forth Bend Station. He commenced the con- struction of hewn-log huts, with substan- tial stone chimneys, and the town was named " Symmes's City." The first house erected is yet [1867] standing on the bank of the canal, a few rods from the Ohio, and about eighty rods from the North Bend Station. The chimneys of two others might be seen at the time of my visit nearer the station and the river. Settlers on the "Miami Purchase" had already built %...,w^- huts at Columbia and on the site of Cincinnati, but at North Bend Judge Symmes designed to plant the fruitful seed of a commercial city ; but the choice of the site of Cincinnati for a block-house to protect the Miami settlers deranged all the judge's plans and destroyed his hopes. The settlers that came preferred to place their families un- der the immediate wing of military protec- tion, and Cincinnati, instead of" Symmes's City," or North Bend, became the great emporium of the Ohio region.' There Fort Washington was built and a garrison sta- tioned,^ and there, after the treaty of Greenville^ in 1795, Captain Harrison was stationed as commander. Meanwhile a block-house had been erected at North Bend, and about a quarter of a mile above the present railway station, on the bank of c-'t/L't-cr cy^^. PIONEEE HOUSE, NORTH BEND. BLOCK-HOTTSE AT NOETU BEND.* > We have observecl in Note 4, page 40, that Ensign Luce, of the United States Army, in the exercise of his discre- tion, chose the site of Cincinnati for the block-house in opposition to the powerful influence of Judge Symmes. Ac- cording to common tradition, it was passion, not judgment, that fashioned the ensign's decision. He had fonned an acquaintance with the beautiful yonng wife of one of the settlers at the Bend. When the husband discovered the gal.' lant officer's too great attention to his black-eyed spouse, he removed to Cincinnati, that she might be beyond the power of the tempter. This movement suddenly changed the mind of the ensign. He had resolved to build|the block-house at the Bend ; now he discovered that Cincinnati was a much more eligible site. He accordingly marcned his troops to that little settlement. Judge Symmes warmly remonstrated, but in vain. The ensign was fairly captivated by the sparkling eyes, and they decided the question. "Thus we see," says Judge Burnet, from whose "Notes" these facts have been gleaned, " the incomparable beauty of a Spartan dame produced a ten years' war which terminated in the destruction of Troy, and the irresistible chai'ms of another female transferred the commercial emporium of Ohio from the place where it had been commenced to the place where it now is. If this captivating American Helen had remain- ed at the Bend the block-house would have been erected there, population, capital, and business would have centred there, and there would have been the Queen City of the West!" = See page 40. = See page 6T. * This is copied, by permission, from a sketch in Howe's Historical CoUeetlons of Oftio, page 236. 5'72 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Captain Harrison and Anna Symmes as Lovers. Tlieir Marriage opposed. Its Consnmmation and Eesult. the riter, Judge Symmes had erected quite a commodious house for himself, the ruins of whose chimney and fire-place might yet be seen in 1860. To that dwelling came his family in January, 1Y95, one of whom was the beautiful Anna, then a girl twenty years of age. The block-house was a dependency of the post at Cincinnati, and it received the early personal attention of Captain Harrison, then a young man twenty- two years of age. He was the son of a leading citizen of Virginia, and bearing the highest praises of his commander. General Wayne, as a gallant soldier. He was a welcome guest in the hospitable house of Judge Symmes; and his visits, which be- came more and more frequent, were especially pleasing to the gentle Anna, who had first met him at the house of her sister, Mrs. Major Short, near Lexington, Kentucky. The young friends soon became lovers, and the judge gave his consent to their mar- riage. Hearing some slanderous stories concerning Captain Harrison, he withdrew that consent, but the loving Anna, like a true woman, had implicit confidence in her affianced. 'She resolved to marry him, and her faithfulness verified the saying that " Love will find its way Through paths where wolves would fear to prey." On the morning of the day fixed for the marriage. Judge Symmes, without any sus- picion of such an event then, mounted his horse and rode to Cincinnati The lovers ■ November 22, were United at his house,^ in the presence of Anna's step-mother and ^™'*- many friends, by Dr. Stephen Wood, then a magistrate. The judge did not see his son-in-law until a few weeks afterward, when he met him at a dinner-par- ty given by General Wilkinson, then in command of Fort Washington, to General Wayne. " Well, sii-," the judge said, somewhat sternly, " I understand you have mar- ried Anna." " Yes, sir," responded Captain Harrison. " How do you expect to sup- port her?" the father inquired. "By my sword and my own right arm," quickly an- swered the young officer. Judge Symmes was pleased with the reply, and, like a sensible man, was reconciled, and gave them his blessing. He lived to be proud of that son-in-law as governor of the Indiana Territory, and the hero of TijDpecanoe, Fort Meigs, and the Thames; and the devoted wife, after sharing his joys and sorrows for five-and-forty years, laid him in the grave within sight of the. place of their nuptials, while the nation mingled its tears with hers, for he was crowned with the unsurpass- able Honor of being the chief magistrate of this r€public.' ■ William Hemy Harrison, the youngest of flfteeii children, was born at Berkeley, on the James Eiver, in Virginia, on the 9th of February, 17T3. He was descended from a celebrated leader of the same name in Cromwell's army. He was educated at Hampden-Sydney College, In Virginia. On the death of his father, Robert Morris, of Philadelphia, became his guardian. Contrary to the advice of that gentleman, he entered the army. He hastened to the Northwest,'but too late to share in the horrors of St. Clair's defeat. His sei-vices with Wayne have already (page 63) been noticed. Soon after his marriage he resigned his commission, and entered upon the duties of civil life, at the age of twenty-four asSecretary of the Northwestern Territory. In 1T99 he was elected the first delegate in Congress for that extensive region. Soon afterward, when Indiana was erected into a separate Territory, he was appointed governor, and clothed with extraor- dinary powers. He entered upon the duties of his office at the old military post of Vincennes in 1801 and discharged his duties for several years with great wisdom and fidelity. His troubles with the Indians, and his military movements in the Wabash Valley, are recorded in Chapter X. of this work. In subsequent chapters may be found a detailed ac- count of his conduct as a military commander. His services in the field ended with the battle on the Thames in Octo- ber, 1813, and in the following spring he retired to his farm at North Bend. He was frequently called to serve his adopt- ed state in public capacities. He was a member of the Ohio Legislature and of the United States House of Represent- atives. In 1824 he was elected to a seat in the United States Senate, and m 1828 was appointed minister to Colombia Differing with President Jackson in some views respecting Panama, he was recalled. In 1840, after living ui retirement many years, he was nominated by the party then called Whig for the chief magistracy of the United States, and was elect- ed by an overwhelming vote. He was inaugurated on the 4th of March, 1841, being then a little past sixty-eight years of age. Precisely a month afterward he died, leaving behind him a clean record of almost fifty years of public service. " Calm was the life he led, till, near and far. The breath of millions bore his name along. Through praise, and censure, and continnous jar—" But long as on Ohio's coursing wave Is borne one freeman toward the glowing West, His eye and tongue above the chieftain's grave Shall hail the marble honors of his rest ! And, long as Dian lifts her waning crest Where Liberty yet holds what she hath won, A pensive thought shall haunt the patriot's breast OF THE WAli OIT 1812. 573 An early Settler ia Ohio. A Visit to the Tomh of General Harrison. Captain Symmes and his Theory. I passed the night, as I have uitimated, at, the tavern in Cleves, and in the morn- ing had the good fortune to meet the venerable Daniel G. Howell, who was the first man-child born on " Symmes's Purchase." That event occurred at North Bend, on the 23d of August, 1V90. A child of the opposite Sex, the first in the settlement, was born nine days earlier. Mr. Howell's family were from New Jersey, and came West with Judge Symmes. He gave me some interesting particulars concerning the hard- ships of the early settlers, and his adventures as one of the volunteers for the relief of Fort Meigs. At first the settlers could not spare land enough for raising flax, but they fortunately found a useful substitute in a species of nettle that grew on the open glades in the Miami Valley to the height of about three feet. The autumn winds would prostrate it, beneath the winter snows it would rot, and in the spring all the boys of the settlement would be engaged ip carrying the crop to North Bend, where it was treated like flax, spun by the women, and woven into cloth for summer wear. This was all the linen in use there for some time. It was very dark at first, but was sus- ceptible of bleaching. They used dressed deer-skin for external clothing, and wild tur- keys came over from Kentucky in abundance, like the quails to the Hebrews, and sup- plied them with much food. After breakfast I called at Mr. Taylor's, and his son ac- companied me to the tomb of Harrison. On an adjacent hill, about thirty rods west- ward from it, is a family bu- rial-ground, in which is the grave of Judge Symmes, cov- ered by a marble slab, rest- ing a little above the ground, on brick- work. ' From this little cenietery we crossed a •grassy hollow and ascended to the tomb of HarriBon, on a beautiful knoll about two hundred feet above the Ohio River. It was built of brick, haekisoh's geave. _ - . Of him, whose reign in her brief year was done, And from his heart shall rise the name of Haekison."— Gboese H. Coiton. ' The following is the inscription on the slab: "Here rest the remains of John Cleves Symmes, who, at the foot of these hills, made the first settlement between the Miami Rivers. Bom on Long Island, New York, July 21, A.D. 1742. Died at Cincinnati, February 26, A.D. 1814." John Cleves Symmes was born at Eiverhead, Long Island, and in early life was a surveyor and school-teacher. He married a daughter of Governor William Livingston, of New Jersey, and sister of the wife of John Jay. He was active during the Revolution, and in 1T77 was made an associate judge of the Supreme Court of the State of New Jersey. On his removal to the Northwestern Territory he was appointed one of the United States district judges. Near the present village of Cleves he built a fine house, at a cost of $12,000, the brick for which was burned on the spot. A political enemy, named Hart, set it on flre on the 1st of March, 1811, and it was entirely consumed. Judge Symmes died, as his monument says, in 1814, at the age of about seventy-four years. A nephew and namesake of Judge Symmes attracted much public attention and consid-> erable ridicule, about forty years ago, by the promulgation of his belief that the earth was open at the poles, and that its interior was accessible and habitable. He had held the of- fice of captain in the army in the War of 1812, and performed gallant service at Fort Erie. He petitioned Congress in 1822 for aid in performing a voyage of discovery to the inner earth, setting forth the honor and wealth that would accrue to his country from a discov- ery w-hich he deemed certain. His memorial was presented by Colonel Richard M. John- son, of Kentucky, but was laid on the table. He found very little encouragement or sup- port from any quarter. His arguments were ingenious, and he had a few believers. He died at Hamilton, Butler County, Ohio it in 1856 'in a wall of the Hasbrouck estate on Ford Street. In the above sketch of the site of Fort Preseutatjon, taken from in front of Judge Ford's mansion, the position of the stone fiuildings above mentioned is in- dicated by the two little figures seen between the low one^story building toward the right of the picture and the more distant landing-place at Ogdensburg. Toward the left of the picture, on the point projecting into the St. Lawrence, is seen the llght-honse, and aci-oss the river a glimpse of Prescott and Fort Wellington. Toward the extreme right, on the distant shore, are seen the ruined 'buildings on Windmill Point, desolated during the " Rebellion" of 1837. The land- ing-place of the British, on the marshy shore, to. attack Forsyth, was directly beyond the clump of trees on the extreme left of the picture. 1 The British struck the shore at the foot of Caroline (now Franklin) Street, and marched up that street trfWashing- ton, along Washington, past Parish's house, to State Street, and halted ; then to the Arsenal in Ford Street, between State and Isabella Streets. ■ 580 PICTORIAL FIELD-300K Bravery of Sheriflf Yprk. Sketch of his Lite. Flight JOt Citizens. Patriotism, Courage, and Fidelity of Mrs. York. JiAV OF UPEliATlONS AT OUlilfKtiUUl.G. and joined Forsyth, leaving the indomitable York to maintain the fight alone.' The sheriff continued to fire until two of his men were mortally wounded, and himself and the remainder of his party were made prisoners. The village was now in full possession of the enemy,' and the citizens fled, mostly in the direction of Remington's, now Heuvelton. M'Donell proceeded at once to 1 Joseph York was born in Claremont, New Hampshire, on the 8th of Jan- uary, 1781, and when quite young settled with his father in Randolph, Ver- mout. At the age of seventeen years (1798) he joined the Provisional Army under Lieutenant Nathaniel Leonard, and served until the army was dis- banded in 1800. He emigrated to Ogdensbnrg in 1805. He was deputy sher- iff three years, and sheriff four years. When made prisoner on the occasion above noted, he was taken to Preseott, and thence to the Johnstown jail, where, through the active exertions of his wife, he was paroled, and a few weeks afterward exchanged. Mr. York's residence at that time was in the court-house, a frame build- ing that stood on the corner of Knox -^. ^ ^,^ .„ and Euphemia (now State) Streets. His " ' widow was living when I visited Og- densburg in the summer of 18G0. She was a small, delicate, and highly-intel- ligent woman, and I remember my in- terview with her with great pleasure. She gave me a graphic account of the events of the invasion, and kindly al- lowed me to make a copy of the silhou- ette likeness of her hnsl)and. She said she did not leave her home in the court- house until the British had fired several shots into it, and almost reached it, when she took some money and table- spoons, aifd ran as fast as she could into the country, with a number of other women. They retreated about fifteen miles. The next day she returned, and found the house plundered, the fur- niture broken, and her husband a prisoner. The heroic little woman (who had made many cartridges for the soldiers) immediately resolved to go over into Canada lu search of her husband. She crossed the river in a skiff, went to the house of a friend (Mrs. Yates) at Johns- town, having a British oflScer as escort, made personal applica- tion to Lieutenant Colonel M'Donell, procured the release of her. husband on parole, and took him back with her. Sheriff York was very highly esteemed in St. Lawrence County. Three successive years he represented that county in the Legislature of New York. The town of York, in Livingston County, was named in honor of him. He died on the 0th of May, 1827, at the age of forty-six years. Mrs. York died in July, 1802; consT-Honsis, ogdehskubg. OF THE WAR' OF 1812; 531 Retreat of the Attiericans from OgdeDSbarg. Plunder of the Village. Prisoners carried to Canada. complete the conquest by dislodging Forsyth and his party. He paraded his troops on the northern shore of the Oswegatchie, and sent a flag to Forsyth summoning him to surrender instantly. " If you surrender, it shall be well ; if riot, every man shall be put to the bayonet," was a message sent with the summons. " Tell Colonel M'Donell," replied Forsyth, "there must be more fighting done first." The bearers of the flag had just reached their line on Ford Street, near Hasbrouck's, when Church and Baird fired the two six-pounders that stood before the gate of the fort, both charged with grape and canister. The effect was severe, but less frightful than it might have been had not Forsyth peremptorily ordered Church to elevate his piece a little' higher. The discharge frightened the enemy, and they took shelter behind Parish's store-house and other buildings, and began picking off the Americans in de- tail, while another party, overwhelming in numbers, were preparing to storm the old fort. Forsyth's quick eye and judgment comprehended the impending peril. It was heightened by the wounding of Church and Baird, and he gave orders for a retreat to Thurber's Tavern, on Black Lake, eight or nine miles distant, where, on the same day, he wrote a dispatch to the Secretary of War, in which he gave a brief account of the affairs of the morning, and said, " If you can send me three hundred men, all shall be retaken, and Prescott too, or I will lose my life in the attempt." Lieutenant Baird was too severely wounded to be taken away, and he was left at the mansion of Judge Ford,' where he was made a prisoner. The town now being in full possession of the enemy, the work of plunder commenced. Indians and camp-fol- lowers of both sexes came over from Canada, and these, with resident miscreants, defying the earnest efforts of the British ofiicers to prevent plunder, carried off or de- stroyed a great amount of private property. Every house in the village except three was entered. The public property was carried over to Canada. Two armed schoon^ ers and two gun-boats fast in the ice were burned, the barracks near the river were laid in ashes, and an attempt was made to fire the bridge over the Oswegatchie. ^ Fifty-two prisoners were taken to Prescott, where those who were not found in arms were paroled and sent back.^ Some of the prisoners were confined in the jail at Johns- town, three miles below Prescott,* and others were sent to Montreal. . Fourteen of the latter escaped from prison at Montreal, and the remainder were sent to Halifax: The Americans lost in this affair, besides the prisoners, five killed and fifteen woiund- ed. The British lost six killed and forty-eight wounded. As the eiieniy immediiately evacuated the place, the citizens soon returned. From that time until the close, of the war Ogdensburg remained in an entirely defenseless state, which exposed the. in- habitants to occasional insults from their belligerent neighbors over the river'.-^ A little east of Prescott, on the bank of the St. Lawrence, the Bi-itish erected a small fortification during the war, which commanded Ogdensburg. It was called Fort Wellington. The present fort of that name was built upon an eminence back of:the other, in 1838, at the time of the " Rebellion" in Canada." 1 This mansion stood-on a pleasant spot not far from the left bank of the Cswegatchie Eiver. ' Nathan Ford, its own- er was among the earliest settlers of Ogdensburg. He was born in Morristown, New Jersey, on the 8th of December, iriss. He servedin the Continental army, and in 1794 and 1T96 hewas employed by Ogden and others, who had! piir- chas'edlands in Northern New York, to look after their affairs in that quarter. He was a nianof inddinitable enel-gy, and early foresaw prosperity for the little settlement at the mouth of the Oswegatchie. He died in April, 1829, at the age of sixty-six years. 2 The plunder of public property consisted of 1400 stand of arms, with accoutrements, 12- pieces of artillery, 2 stands of colors, 300 tents, a large quantity of ammunition and camp equipage, with some beef, pork, flour, and other stores. 3 The prisoners in the jail at Ogdensburg represented to the British that they were only political offenders, and then were all released. Most of them accompanied the invaders back to Prescott, when it was ascertained that they had de- ceived the British officers. Some were given up at once, and Sheriff York finally recovered the most of them. * This jail was used as a place of public worship for a long tiine, to which the inhabitants of Ogdensburg frequently resorted before the year 1S12„ Previous to that time there was no regular place of worship in Ogdensburg. 5 In May, 1813, an officer came over from Prescott for deserters, and insolently threatened to bumOgdensburg if they were not ^ven up. " You will do no snch thing," said Judge Ford. " No sooner will I see the incendiaries landing ' than I will set Are to my own house with my own hands,' rally, my neighbors, cross the river with torches, and bum ev- ery house from Prescott to Brockville." The British officer, perceiving the consequences that might ensue, afterward. apolciAd for his conduct.— Hough's UMonj of St. Lawrence Coim^,.page 635.. 582 PICTOEIAL PIELD-BOOK A Day on the St. Lawrence. A Visit to Ogdensburg and Prescott. The " Rebellion" in Canada. I visited the theatre of scenes just described, and places of interest in their neigh- horhood, in July, 1860, after spending a day or two among the Thousand Islands, in • Jniy36, the vicinity of Cape Vincent. At dawn on a beautiful morning" I embarked I860. Qj^ ,(.jjg steam-boat JVew York at that point for Ogdensburg, and had the pleasure of meeting an old acquaintance (Captain Van Cleve), a veteran commander of steam-boats on Lake Erie and the St. Lawrence, and who was an involuntary actor in the stirring scenes in the neighborhood of the Oswegatchie in 1838, which will be noted presently. Familiar with every island, rock, and bush on the route, I found him a most instructive companion during. that delightful voyage among the Thou- sand Islands. Another passenger was Mr. Pierpont, of Pierpont Manor, Jefferson County, New York, who was one of the United States commissioners that fixed the boundary-line between the former and Canada soon after the close of the War of 1812-'16. With these two gentlemen as companions willing to impart information, I lacked nothing. Just above Brockville, as we emerged from the Thousand Islands, a settlement of Tories of the Ke volution was pointed out to me, and the house in which a grandson of Benedict Arnold lived, and where he died a few years ago. We arrived at Ogdensburg early in the day, and I went out immediately to visit places of historic interest there, accompanied by Messrs. Westbrook and Guest, to whom I am indebted for kind attentions while there. The landing-places of the Brit- ish fi-om the ice ; the sites of the " stone garrison" and other military works; the. ar- senal, court-house, and old burialrground, on an eminence south of the Oswegatchie, were all visited before dinner.' Afterward I went alone over to Prescott,''and, in company with a citizen of that village, rode to Wind-mill Point, a mile below,' to visit .the scene of a serious tragedy late in the autumn of 1838. Allusion has already been made several times to the " Rebellion" in Canada in 1837 and 1838. It was a violent effort on the part of leaders and followers in both prov- inces to cast off the rule of an oligarchy and establish constitutional government, whose administrators should be responsible to the people. The most conspicuous leader in the upper province was the late William Lyon M'Kenzie, a Seotehman, and m the lower province the late Louis Joseph Papineau, a wealthy French. Canadian, These, with many followers, assumed the position of open insurrection against the provincial authorities. They were joined by many sympathizers from the United States frontier, and in the autumn of 1838 the affair had grown to alarming proper- tions— so alarming that, on account of the active sympathy of the Americans with the Canadian "Patriots," it threatened to disturb the friendly relations between the United States and Great Britain. All the frontier towns on both sides of the line were kept in continual excitement, and none more so for a time than Ogdensburg and Prescott. Matters were brought to a crisis there in this wise. One of the most act- ive of the "Patriots" on the American side was William Johnson, of Frenchtown (now Clayton), commonly known as "Bill Johnson," and sometimes called the "Patriot" and sometimes the " Pirate" of the Thousand Islands. Of him we shall have occasion to speak more in detail hereafter, for he was an active partisan in the War of 1812 Johnson's knowledge of the St. Lawrence from Cape Vincent to Ogde^nsburg made Jum a valuable auxiliary to the Canadian insurgents, and he engaged with them in co-Operative movements for seizing Port Wellington, which had just been completed at Prescott. _ For this purpose a large number of "Patriots" went down the St Law- rence eariy in November, 1838. On the 12th, the steam-boat United States, Captain Van Cleve, just mentioned, took as passengers for Ogdensbu rg about two hundred OF THE WAE OF 1812. 583 An Americap Steamer pres sed into the Service of the " Patriots." • Siege of a garrisoned Wind-mil]. and fifty " Patriots" from Sackiett's Harbor. On the way down the St. Lawrence, Van Cleve discovered two schooners becalmed. One of his passengers, a stranger of gen- teel appearance, asked him to take them in tow, as they were laden with goods for Ogdensburg, and he should be glad to have them reach port the next morning. The decks were covered with boxes and barrels, and only men enough to navigate the ves- sels were visible. The schooners were taken in tow, when Van Cleve was speedily undeceived. Full two hundred armed men came from them on board of his vessel. The schooners were a sort of Trojan horses. Van Cleve was perplexed. He resolved to " lay to" at Morristown,- and send word to the authorities at Ogdensburg. This becoming known to the " Patriots," about one hundred of those on the United States who took passage atSackett'&'H!arbOr,'and all who had come from the schooners, went, on board of the latter, w'hen they cast off from the steam-boat and sailed down the St. Lawrence. On the following morning they were at anchor in the river be- tween Ogdensbiirg and Prescott, and created the greatest excitement in both towns. The Bi'itish armed steamer Experiment was lying at Prescott, and made immediate arrangements' to -attack: the schooners. One of them meanwhile had run aground, and the other had gone down to Wind-mill Point and landed her armed men. At about the same time the United States arrived at Ogdensburg. The " Patriots" pressed her into their service, and, with the assistance of the American steam ferry-boat Paw? TVy, rescued the stranded schooner, and conveyed the other to a place of safety near Ogdensburg. She was also employed in carrying over some " Patriots" whom John- son had persuaded to accompany him to Wind-milt Point, in which service she lost her pilot, Solomon Foster, an excellent young man,'who'was instantly killed by a ball from the Experiment that passed through the wheel'-house of the United States. That evening Colonel Worth arrived at Ogdensburg with United States troops, accompa- nied by a marshal, who seized all vessels in the "Patriot" service, including the United States^ and effectually cut off supplies of men, arms, and provisions frOm Wind- mill Point. The "Patriots" at the Point made a citadel of the strong stone wind-mill there, took possession of some stone dwellings, and cast up breast- works. They were under the command of a brave -young Polander named Von Schoultz. On Ihe morning of the • November, 13th* they were attacked with shot and shell by ^^??-. . the Experiment and two other armed steamers • that had arrived. These were replied to by the battery that' }i had been constructed on the shore near the wind-mill during ^ the night. There were cowards among the " Patriots." So | many had fled that when the cannonade ■ commenced only f, one hundred and eighty were left. When, soon afterward, " British regulars and volunteers to the number of more than i six hundred went out from Fort Wellington and attacked the _ " Patriots" in the rear, only one hundred and twenty-eight '^'^ were left ; and yet these fought so desperately that, accord- .*i ing to Dr. Theller's account,^ they drove the British back to |' the fort, killing one hundred of them and wounding many, ffl'^y.^gsi^ after a conflict of an hour. Little but burying the dead occupied the next day.^" That night, four ^ ^^^^^^^^ „ hundred British regulars, sixteen hundred volunteers, cannon, and gun- boats arrived from Kingston. The "Patriots" were doomed; Food, ammunition, and physical strength were exhausted, and they surrendered. They had lost thirty- six killed- ninety were made prisoners. Von Schoultz, only thirty-one years of age, and several Americans, were hanged in less than a month -afterward. Some were -re- ^ ^ ' ~ 1 Theller's Canada, in lS3T-'38. ^^ THE BAl'TEEKD WIND-MILL. 584 PICT OKI AL FIELD-BOOK Fate of the captured "Patriots." Fort Wellington. Eetnm to Ogdensbnrg and Departure eastward; WIND-MILL AifD EUINS NEAR ritESOOTT. leased, and twenty-three were sent to En- gland, and from thence to the British pen- al colony in Van Diemen's Land. Eleven years later they were all released by a declaration of amnesty by the crown. The British burned the wood-work of the wind-mill and stone houses. In that desolated condition they yet remained when I visited the spot in 1860, and made the sketch from which our little engrav- mg was copied. The wind-mill still ex- hibits many indentations made by the cannon-balls during the siege. It was toward evening when I returned to Prescott, stopping on the way to visit Fort Wellington, a strong work covering about three acres of ground. It was not garrisoned, and every thing within seemed . neglected. The citadel,. in the form of a block-house, seen in the engraving, is a strong work, the lower part of stone, the upper of hewn timbers. The bar- racks are in good condition. A, few can- non were on the ramparts, and on the river side of the fort lay a brass one, on which was inscribed the words and char- acters " S. K Y., 1834. Taken from the rebels in 1837." It was a trophy. When I recrossed the St. Lawrence at near sunset, heavy clouds were floating down from the region of the Thousand Islands, and low thunder-peals were heard in the far southwest. I stopped on the International Terry wharf just FOKT WELLINGTON IN ISOO.^ long enough to sketch the Parish store-house, and arrived at the Seymour House a few minutes before a heavy shower of rain began to fall. I passed part of the short summer evening with Mrs. York, already mentioned, at the house of Mr. Chapin, her son-in-law, and at four, o'clock the next morning, when the clouds, after a night of tempest, were breaking, departed in the cars for the eastward, to visit French Mills (now Covington), Malone, Odelltown, Champlain, Chazy, and Plattsburg. Of those visits I shall hereafter write. A second invasion of Canada, as we have observed, was a principal feature in the programme of the campaign of 1813. Quebec, on account of its military strength and accessibility to large vessels from the sea, was held to be unassailable ; but Mon- treal, the emporium of the vast Indian trade in the immense country, westward of it, seemed to promise an easy conquest. The possession of that city, and of the entire Upper Province, was the prize for which the Army of the North was expected to contend. But the same lack of sagacity on the part of the cabinet, to which much of the disasters of 1812 were chargeable, now reappeared. Instead of sending a com- petent force, for the capture of Montreal before the ice in the St. Lawrence should move and permit British transports to bring re-enforcements from Halifax, it was de- termined first to reduce Kingsto n and York (now Toronto), on Lake Ontario, and liei m""'^ ''^°''' '""^'"^ '°™'* *^'^ ^'' Lawrence, the village of Ogdensbnrg is seen in the extreme distance, on the OF THE WAR OF 1812. - 583 Dearborn and Chauncey on Lake Ontario. Flans for invading Canada. Preparationsfor active Movements; Forts George and Erie, on the Niagara River, recapture Detroit, and recover the Michigan Territory. The latter enterprise was successful, as we have seen in the last chapter; it now remains for us to consider the events oohnected with the prosecu- tion of the former, namely, the capture of York, Forts George and Erie, and King- ston, in the order hei-e named. Early in the winter of 1813, Dearborn, who was in the immediate command of the Army of the North, had about six thousand troops under his control, and was em- powered to call out as many of the local militia as might be needed to supply any de- ficiencies in the regular army. Commodore Chauncey, by operations described in a former chapter,^ had acquired such complete control of Lake Ontario that he could confine all the British vessels of war to the harbor of Kingston. Orders were given for the concentration of four thousand troops at Sackett's, Har- bor, and three thousand at Buffalo. The former were to cross the ice to Kingston, capture that place, desti'oy all the shipping that might be wintering there,- and then, as soon as practicable, either by land or water, proceed to York, seize the army stores collected there, and two frigates said to be on the stocks. Dearborn received a general outline of this plan from the War Department on the 10th of February. He was then at Plattsburg with two brigades wintering there, amounting in the aggregate to about twenty-five hundred efiective men. " Noth- ing shall be omitted on my part," he wrote on the 18th,* "in endeavoring •peijruary,- to cari-y into effect the expedition proposed."^ Major Forsyth, who re- ■'^^'' turned to Ogdensburg after the British left it, was ordered to Sackett's Harbor. General Brown was directed to call out several hundred militia ; and Colonel Zebu- Ion M. Pike (who was made a brigadier general a month later) was ordered to pro- ceed from Plattsburg to the Harbor with four hundred of his best men in sleighs. But Chauncey was detained in New York, and the expedition against Kingston was abandoned, partly on that account, and .partly because the arrival at that place of Sir George Prevost wjith Pierson's escort^ from Prescott gave foundation for a report that the British there had received large re-enforcements.* When, about the 1st of Marchj Dearborn arrived at. Sackett's Harbor, the story was current there, and generally believed, that Sir George, with six or eight thousand men, collected from .Quebec, Montreal, and Upper Canada, was at Kingston, engaged in active prepara- tions for offensive measures. Dearborn found only about three thousand troops at the Harbor, and he sent ex- presses to hasten foi-ward those on the way. On the 9th of March he wrote to the Secretary of War, saying, " I have not yet had the honor of a visit from Sir George Prevost," and expressed some doubts whether the knight would make his appearance at all. A week afterward all causies for apprehensions of an attack from Kingston had disappeared, and at a council of officers" the expedition against that ^ ^^^^^ ^^ place was formally abandoned until the lake should be open and the co- operation of the fleet should be secured. To the strengthening of that arm of the service on the lake, the genius and industry of Henry Eekford, the naval constructor, were now earnestly directed, the President having, on the 3d of March, directed six sloops of war to be built on Lakes Ontario and Erie, and as many purchased as the exigencies of the service might require. The pay of seamen was advanced twen- ty-five per cent., and many of them were sent to the lakes for active service there. Early in April the brig Jefferson was launched"' at Sackett's Harbor, and the - April t. keel of the Generaimke was laid.* On the 14th the British launched two -April 9. large vessels at Kingston, and at about the same time received for the service on the 1 a.,= r>,»„tor TVTII- 2 General Dearbomto the Secretary of War. 'See page 677. 4 "Pl^nncev hts not returned," Dearborn wrote to the Secretary ofWar on the 25th of February. "I am satisfied that if he had arrived as soon as I had expected him, we might have made a stroke at Kingston on the ice; but his presence was necessary for having the aid of the seamen and marines." 586 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The Troops at Sackett's Harbor. Expedition against Little York. Tlie Britisli Defenses. water large numbers of seamen from the Royal Navy. On- the I5th the ice m the lake disappeared, and two days afterward Chauncey sent out the Gr-owUr to recon- noitre. Brigadier General Chandler had lately arrived. The effective force at Sack- ett's Harbor at this time consisted of about five thousand regulars and twelve months' volunteers, two thousand militia, and thirteen hundred sailors. At the middle of April Dearborn and Ohauncey matured a plan of OperatioHs. A joint land and naval expedition was proposed, to first capture York, and then to' cross Lake Ontario and reduce Fort George. At the same time, troops were to cross the Niagara from Buffalo and Black Rock, capture Forts. Erie and Ghippewa, join the fleet -and army at Fort George, arid all proceed to attack Kingston. Every thing being arranged, Dearborn emfcarked about seventeen hundred men on Chauncey's fleet at Sackett's Harbor on the 22d of April, and on the 25th the fleet, crOw'ded with soldiers, sailed for YorL* After a boisterous passage, it appeared before the little town early in the morn- ing of the 2'7th, when General Dearborn, suf- fering from ill health, placed the land forces under charge of'Gener- al Pike,^ and resolved to remain on board the commodore's flag-ship during the attack. The little village of York^ was then chiefly at the bottom of the bay, near a marshy flat through which the Don, coming down from beautiful fertile valleys, flowed slug- gishly into Lake Ontario, and, because of the softness of the earth there, it was often called " Muddy Little . York." It gradually grew to the westward, and, while deserting the Donf it wooed the Humber, once a famous salmon stream, that flow^ into a broad bay two or three miles west of Toronto. In that direction stood the re- mains of old Fort To- ronto, erected by the French, and now (ISeV) an almost shapeless heap. On the shore eastward of it, between the present new bar- racks and th e city, were two batteries, the most east- erly otie being in the form of a crescent. A little far- ther east, on the borders of 1 Clianncey's fleet consiatefl of the flag-ship MaAisim, commanded by Commander Elliott ; tbe OmMa, Lieutenant Com- manding Woolsey; the Fair jluwr^TC, Lieutenant Ohauncey ; theBamiI((m,LieuteiiautM'Pherson; the GowerTior Tom^- fcinfl, Lieutenant Brown ; the C(mquest^ Lieutenant Pettigi'ew ; the A&p, Lieutenant Smith ; the Perf, Lieutenant Adams ; the Jwha, Mr. Trant ; the GvowUr^ Mr. Mix ; the Ontario^ Mr. Stevens ; the Scourge, Mr. Osgood ; the Lady of the Lake, Mr. Plinn; and /tareTC, transport. " Zebulon Montgomery Pike was one of the earlier explorers of the wilderness around the head-waters of the Missis- sippi River. He was born in Lamberton, New Jersey. His father was an army oiHoer, and young Pike entered the army while yet ahoy. His whole life was devoted to the military profession. Soon after the purchase of Louisiana, in 1803, President Jefferson decided to have the vast unknown territory explored, and sent Captains Lewis and Clarke to accomplish a portion of it. At the same time, young Pike (who was bom on the 5th of January, 1779) was commissioned to explore the present Minnesota region. That was in 1805. In the following year he made a.perilonsbut successful reconnoissance of the wilderness in the direction of Northern Mexico, and, returning in the summer of 1807, he received the thanks of CongreSs. He reached the rank of colonel of infantry in 1810, and in March, 1813, he was commissioned a brigadier. He lost his life in the attack on York (Toronto), in April, 1813, when he was little more than thirty-four years of age. His name and memory are perpetuated, not only on the pages of History, but in the titles often counties, and twenty-eight townships and villages in the United States, chiefly in the Western country. On the day before he left Sackett's Harbor, General Pike wrote as follows to his father : " I embark to-morrow in the fleet, at Sackett's Harbor, at the head of a column of 1600 choice troops, on a secret expedition. Should I be the happy mortal destined to turn the scale of war, will you not rejoice, oh my father f May heaven be propitious, and smile on the cause of my country. But if we are destined to fall, may my fall be like Wolfe's— to sleep in the arms of victory." His wish was gratifled. ' York, or " Little York," as it was generally called, was a village of about nine hundred inhabitants, situated on the nortb shore of Lake Ontario, a little west of the meridian of the Niagara Eiver. It was founded by Governor Simcoe, was made by him the seat of government in 1797, and designed to be, what it has since become, a large and flourishing city. In front of it is a beautiful bay, nearly circular, a mile and a half in diameter, formed by the main and a curious" OE THE WAB OE 1512. 587 Neglect of Defenses. General Pike's Instructions. His Troops confronted at tlieir Landing-place. a, deep tavine and small stream, was a pjeketed blocik- house, some intrenchments with cannon,, and a garrison of about eight hundred men, under Major General Sheaffe. On, Gibraltar Point, the- extreme western end of the peninsula, that embraced .the Harbor with its pro- tecting arm, , was a small block - house ; and another, seen in the engraving, stood on the high east bank of the Don, just be- y o n d the present bridge at the eastern YOKK LN 1813,, FBOM THE BLOOK-HOTJSE EAST OF THE DON. termination of King and Queen Streets. These defenses had been strangely neglects ed. Some of the cannon were without trunnions ; others, destined for the war vessel then on the stocks, were in frozen mud and half covered with snow. Fortunately for the garrison, the Duke of Gloucester was then in port undergoing. some repairs, and her guns furnished some armament for the batteries. These, however, amounted to only a few six-pounders. The whole: country around, excepting a few spots on the lake shore, was covered with a dense forest. On the day when the expedition sailed from Sackett's Harbor General Pike issued minute instructions concerning -the manner of landing and attack. " It is expected," he said, "that every corps will be mi«dful of the honor of the American arms, and the disgraces which have recently tarnished our arms, and endeavor, by a cool and determined discharge of their, duty, to support the one and wipe off the other." " The unoffending citizens of Canada," he continued, " are many of them our own country- men, and the poor .Canadians have been forced into this war. Their property, there- fore, must be held sacred ; and any soldier who shall so far neglect the honor of his profession as to be guilty of plundering the inhabitants, shall, if convicted, be pun- ished with death. But the commanding general assures the troops that, should they capture a large quantity of public stores, he will use his best endeavors to procure them a re ward, from his government." With such instructions the Americans pro- ceeded to invade the British soil at about eight o'clock on the morning of the 2i7th of April, 1813. It was intended to land at a clearing near old Fort Toronto. An easterly wind, blowing with violence, drove the small boats in which the troops left the fleet full half a mile farther westward, and beyond an effectual covering by the guns of the navy. Major Forsyth and his riflemen, in two bateaux, led the van, and when with- in rifle-shot of the shore they were assailed by a deadly volley of bullets by a com- pany of Glengary Fenoibles and a party of Indians under Major Givens, who were concealed in the woods that fringe the shore. " Rest on your oars ! prime !" said Forsyth, in a low tone. Pike, standing on the deck of the Madison, saw this halting, and impatiently exclaimed, with an expletive, " I can not stay here any longer ! Come," he said, addressing his staff, "jump into the boat." He was instantly obeyed, shaped peninsnla, which, within a few years, has become an island. It was only a few rods wide, where, in 1858, a storm cut a channel and made most of the peninsula an island, while at its western extremity it was very broad, and embraced several ponds. See map on page 590. It is low and sandy— so low that, from the moderate elevation of the town (fifteen or twenty feet above the water), the darli line of the lake maybe seen over it. TTpon it were, and still are, some trees which at first glance, seem to be standing on the water. This gave the name of Tarantah, an Indian word signifying " trees on the water," to the place; When the French built a fort there, westward of the extreme western end of the peninsula (which was called "Gibraltar Point"), they named it Port Tarontah, or .Toronto. In pursuance of his plan of Anglicizing the Upper Province, Simcoe named it York. The people, at a later day, with, singular goodtaste, resumed the Indian name of Tarontah, or Toronto. 588 PICTOEIAL PIELD-BOOK Battle in the Woods. Cowardly Flight of the Indians. The British driven to Toronto. and very soon they and theij- gallant commander were in the midst of a fight, for Forsyth's- men had opened fire, and the enemy on the shore were returning it brisk- ly. The vanguard soon landed, and were immediately followed, in support, by Ma- jor King and a battalion of infantry. Pike and the main body soon followed, and the whole column, consisting of the Sixth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Twenty-first Reg- iments of Infantry, and detachments of light and heavy artillery, with Major For- syth's riflemen and Lieutenant Colonel M'Clure's volunteers as flankers, pressed for- ward into the woods. The British skirmishers meanwhile had been re-enforced by two companies of the Eighth, or King's Regiment of Regulars, two hundred strong, a company of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, a large body of militia, and some Indians. They took position in the woods, and were soon encountered by the ad- vancing Americans, whose artillery it was diflScult to move. Perceiving this, the British, led by General SheaflTe in person, attacked the American flanks with a six- pounder and howitzer. A very sharp conflict ensued, and both parties sufiered much. Captain M'Neil, of the King's Regiment, was killed. The British were overpowered, and fell back, when General Pike, at the head of the American column, ordered his bugler to sound, and at the same time dashed gallantly forward. That bugle blast thrilled like electric fire along the nerves of the Indians. They gave one horrid yell, then fled like frightened deer to cover, deep into the forest. That bugle blast was heard in the fleet, in the face of the wind, and high above the voices of the gale, and evoked long and loud responsive cheers. At the same time Chauncey was sending to the shore, under the direction of Commander Elliott, something more effective than huzzas, for he was hurling deadly grape-shot upon the foe, which added to the con- sternation of the savages, and gave fleetness to their feet. They also hastened the retreat, of Sheaflfe's whitetroops to their defences in the direction of the village, while the drum and fife of the pursuers were briskly playing Yankee Doodle. The Americans now pressed forward as rapidly as possible along the lake shore in platoons by sections. They were not allowed to load their muskets, and were com- pelled t9 rely upon the bayonet.' Because of many ravines and little streams, the ar- tillery was moved with difiiculty, for the enemy had destroyed the bridges. It was a strong right arm, and essential in the sei-vice at hand; and by great exertions a field-piece and a howitzer, under Lieutenant Fanning, of the Third Artillery, was moved steadily with the column. As that column emerged from thick woods, flank- ed by M'Clure's volunteers, divided equally as light troops, under Colonel Ripley, it was confronted by twenty-four pounders on the Western Battery, the remains of BJiJaAtNS OF TUB WESTEBN BATTERY. 1 which are now (1867) plainly visible between the present New Barracks and the city on the lake shore. Upon that battery the gun s of some of Chauncey's vessels, ■ In this sketch the appearance of the mounds in 1860 is given. On the left, in the distance is seen a ^limnRP „f » whai-f and part of Torontb'. On the right a poHion- of the peninsula, now an Islknd. In the centre of the nfctn^/?» 1^ opening between the island and the remainder of the peninsula, looking out upon the lake lTi78team boatr^^^^^^^^^ fhe present channel, wWch is narrow and not very deep. a i- u la^e. a ne steam-boat indicates OF THE WAR OF 1812. 589 Battle at York. EzplOBiou of the British Powder-magazine. Death of Geueral Pike and others. which had beat up against the wind, in range of the enemy's works, were pouring heavy shot. Captain Walworth was ordered to storm it with his grenadiers, of the Sixteenth. They immediately trailed their arms, quickened their pace, and were about to charge, when the wooden magazine of the battery, that had been carelessly left open, blew up, killing some of the men, and seriously damaging the defenses. The dismayed enemy spiked their cannon, and fled to the next, or Half-moon Battery. Walworth pressed forward, when that, too, was abandoned, and he found nothing within but spiked cannon. Sheaffe and his little army, deserted by the Indians, fled to the garrison near the governor's house, and there opened a fire of round and grape shot upon the Americans. Pike ordered his troops to halt, and lie flat upon the grass^ while Major Eustis, with his artillery battery, moved to the front, and soon silenced the great guns of the enemy. The firing from the garrison ceased, and the Americans expected every moment to see a white flag displayed from the block-house in token of surrender. Lieutenant Riddle, whose corps had brought up the prisoners taken in the woods, was sent for- ward with a small party to reconnoitre. General Pike, who had just, assisted, with his own hands, in removing a wounded soldier to a comfortable place, was sitting upon a stump conversing with a huge British sergeant 'who had been taken prisoner, his staff standing around him. At that mdment was felt a sudden tremor of the ground, followed by a tremendous explosion near the British garrison. The enemy, despairing of holding _ the place, had blown up their powder-mag- azine, situated upon the edge of the water, at the mouth of a ravine, near where the build- ings of the Great West- ern Railway stand. The effect was tei-rible. Fragments of timber, and huge stones of which the magazine walls were built, were scattered in every direction over a space of several hundred yards.' When the smoke floated away the scene was appalling. Fifty-two Ameri- cans lay dead, and one hundred and eighty others were wounded.^ So badly had the affair been managed that forty of the British also lost their lives by the explo- sion. General Pike, two of his aids, and' the British sergeant were mortally hurt,^ while Riddle and his party were unhurt, the missiles passing entirely over them. The terrified Americans scattered in dismay, but they were soon rallied by Brigade Major Hunt and Lieutenant Colonel Mitchell. . -The column was roformed,:and the "■eneral command was assumed by the gallant Pennsylvanian, Colonel-. Crom;w;ell 1 The magazine was about twenty feet square. It contained- five hundred barrels of gunpoWdSr, and aii-immense quantity of shot' and shells. It was built of heavy stone, close by the lake shore, with a heavy stone wall on-itswater front. Its roof was nearly level with the surface of the giround; The descent to its vaults was by stone steps inside of the vral). It was so situated that the Americans did not suspect its existence there. The pictrirfe of it-above given, as it appeared before the: explosion, is from a pencil sketch by an English officer. It is said that some of .the fragments of the magazine were thrown'by the explosion as far as the decks of Ohauncey's vessels, and, says IngersoD, "the water was shocked as with an earthquake." _ - " A late provincial writer, whose pages exhibit the most bitter spmt, says, m speaking of this destruction of life, "We heartily agree with James [the most malignant and mendacious of the British writers on the War] ' that, even had the whole Column been 'destroyed, the Americans would but have met their deserts ;• and if disposed to commiserate the DQor soldiers at least, we wish, with him, 'that their places had been filled by the American President and the ninety- eight members of the Legislature_^iW«>ted for the war.' "—A History of the Late Wm tetivem Great Britain and the JTmfted States o/^merfco, by Gi^nchmlefils^'ronto, 1855. ...... ,^ , ,..,..... 3 One of General Pike's offlSefTSHerward wrote : " I was so much injured m the geueral crash that it is surprievng how I survived. Probably I owe my escape to the corpulency of the British sergeant, whose body was thrown upon mine by the concussion."' " ' "' ' i-^ >— i i- ... .. ..* . ™.™. ^•kAJJiIS'-"*'"'' ' POWDEE-MAGAZIME AT TORONTO. -Letter in Tlie Aurora, qaoted by Hongh in hia History of- Jefferson County, page 4S2. I 590 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Surrender of- York. Escape of General Sheaffe and his Hegnlars. The Americans in Possession of the Post. Pearoe, of the Sixteenth, the senior officer, i After giving three cheers, the troops pressed forward toward the village, and were met by the civil authorities and militia officers with propositions for a capitulation, in response to a peremptory demand for surrender made by Colonel Pearoe. An arrangement was concluded for an absolute surrender, with no other prescribed conditions than that all papers belonging to the civil, officers should be retained by them, that private property of all kinds should be respected, and that the surgeons in, attendance upon: the British regulars and Cana- dian militia should not be considered prisoners of war.^ General Sheaflfe's baggage and papers were captured. Among the former was a musical snuff-box that attract- ed much attention. Taking advantage of the confusion that succeeded the explosion, and the time in- tentionally consumed in the capitulation. General Sheaffe and a large portion of his regulars, after destroying the vessel on the stocks and some store-houses and their contents, stole across the Don, and fled along Dundas Street toward Kingston. When several miles from York they met. a portion of the King's Regiment on their way to Fort George.. These turned back, covered Sheaffe's retreat, and. all reached King- ston in safety. Sheaffe (who was the military successor of Brock) was severely cen- sured for the loss of York, and was soon afterward superseded in command in Upper Canada by Major General De EottenbUrg. He retired to Montreal, and took com- mand of the troops there. On hearing of the death of General, Pike," General Dearborn, went on shore, and as- sumed command after the capitulation. At sunset the work was finished; and at the same hour, (eight o'clock in the evening), both Chauncey and Dearborn wrote brief dispatches to the government at Washington, the former saying, "We are in 1 Cromwell Pearce was bom in Willistown, Chester County, Pennsylvania, on the 13th of August, 1772, on the farm where the celebrated " Paoli massacre" occurred in the autumn of 1777. His father was a native of Ireland. Cromwell was brought up a farmer. At the age of twenty-one years Governor Mifflin commissioned him a captain of militia, and in 1799 he entered the regular army of the United States as first lieutenant In the Tenth Eegiment of Light Infantry. He was commissioned a colonel of the Sixteenth Infantry in July, 1812, and marched to the Northern frontier. He bore a distinguished part in the-capture of York, and yet his name was not mentioned in General Dearborn's report of the af- fair.' Only Chauncey, in his official report, speaks of him. Pearce was brave, modest, and unassuming,' and performed his duties nobly throughout the war. In the autumn of 1813 he was in the battle of Chrysler's Field, on the St. Law- rence, when, on the fall of the com'mander,he again became the leader of the contending forces. At the close of the war he retired toprivate life. In 1816 he was elected sheriff of his native county. In 1824 he was chosen a presidential elector, and was deputed to carry to Washington City the electoral vote of the state. In 1825 he was appointed an as- sociate judge of theCounty Court,which office he held until 1839. He died suddenly on the 2d of April, 1852, in the eight- ieth year of his age.—XotcB Cestriengta, by William Darlington, M.D., LL.D. 2 The following were the commissioners who arranged the terms of capitulation : Americam ; Lieutenant Colonel E. G. Mitchell ;' Major Samuel S. Conner, aid-de camp to General Dearborn ; and Com- mander Elliott, of the Navy. BrUuh: Lieutenant Colonel W. Chewett, of the York Militia ; Major W. Allen, of the same corps ; and Lieutenant F. Gaurreaa. OF THE WAE OF 1812. ggj York abandoned by the Americana. General P ike'a last Moments. A Scalp adorning the Parliament-house. full possession of tMs place," and the latter, " I have the satisfaction to inform you that the American flag is flying upon the, fort at York." The post, with ahout two hundred and ninety prisoners besides the militia, the war-YeaseLi^Mfe of -Gloucester, and a large quantity of naval and military stores, passed into the possession of the Americans. Such of the latter as could not he carried away by the squadron were destroyed ; and before the victors left, the public huUdiags were fired by some un- known hand, and consumed.! Four days after the capitulation the troops were re- embarked, preparatory to a descent upon Fort George. The post and village of York, possessihgMittle value to the Americans, were abandoned.* The British re- .Mays, possessed themselves of the spot, built another block-house, and on the site- i^^^- ' of the garrison constructed a regular fortification. The loss of the Americans in the capture of Yoi-k was sixty-six killed and two hundred and three wounded on land, and seventeen killed and wounded on the ves- sels. • The British lost, besides the prisoners, sixty killed and eighty-nine wounded. General Pike was crushed beneath a heavy mass of stone that struck him in the back. He was carried immediately after discovery to the water's edge, placed in a boat, and conveyed, first on board the Pert, and then to the commodore's flag-ship. Just as the surgeons and attendants, with the wounded general, reached the little boat, the huz- zas of the troops fell upon his benumbed ears. " What does it mean ?" he feebly asked. " Victory," said a sergeant in attendance. " The British union-jack is comino- down from the block-house, and the stars and stripes are going up." The dying hero's face was illuminated by a smile of great joy. His spirit lingered several hours, and then departed. Just before his breath ceased the captured British flag was brought to him. 1 He made a sign for them to place it under his head, and thus he expired. His body was taken to Sackett's Harbor, and with that of his pupil and aid. Captain Nicholson, was buried with military honoi-s within Fort Tompkins there. Of his final resting-place I shall hereafter write.^ . When I visited the site of York and the theatre. of events there in 1.813, in August, 186(3,-1 found on the borders of that harbor the .beautiful^really beautiful city of Toronto, containing between fifty ^arid sixty thousand souls. I arrived there by the Toronto branch of the Great Western Railway at eight o'clock in the evening, having left Paris, on .the Grand River, .at about five in the afternoon; We reached Burling- ton Station at six, and occupied about an hour and a half in traveling the remaining 1 The Parliament-houses ^ood on the site of the present jail in Toronto. It is said that the incendiary was instigated by the indignation of the Americans, who found hanging upon .the walls of the legislative chamber a Jmman scalp ! British writers, ever ready to charge the Ameridans with all manner of crimes, have not only affected to disbelieve this story, but have charged American writers who have stated the fact with deliberate falsehood. It is not pleasant to re- late facts sp shameful to the boasted civilization of that country as this incident furnishes; but as one of the latest of British his'torians has. Without the ' shadow of ah excuse, intimated that the scalp in question had been taken by Com- modore jChauncey from the head of a British Indian; "'shot while in a tree," during the advance of the Americans on the town (see A^chdnleck's.flijstorj/ of the War 0/1312, published in Toronto in 1855), I feel compelled, by a sense of jus- tice, to submit the proofs of this evidence of the barbarism of the British authorities in Canada at that time. • Gn the 4th of June, 1813j Commodore Chauncey wrote from Sackett's. Harbor to the Secretary of the Navy, saying, "I have the honor to present to you,.by the hands of Lieutenant Dudley, the British standard taken at Tork on the 27th of April last, accompanied by the mace, ov&r which huTig a hit/man sccUp, These articles were taken from the Parliament- houses by, one of mij officers and presented to me. The scalp I caused to be presentedto General Dearborn." — Autograph Letter,,Navy Department, Washingtou City. Armstrong, who was Secretary of War, at th^t time, writing.in 1836, says, "One regimental standard was (by some strange confusion of ide^s) sent to, the Navy Department, and one human scalp, a prize made, as we have understood, by the commodore, was offered, but not accepted, as a decoration to the walls of the War Department;"— iVoiJces of the War 0/1812, i., 132. General Dearborn wrote, "A scalp was found in the execu- tive and legislative "council-chamber, suspended near the speaker's chair, accompanied by the mace."— Niles's Register, iv., 190. .Commenting on this, Niles says, " The mace is the emblem of authority, and the scoip's position near it is truly symbolical of the British power in Canada." The Canadian peppfe had no part nor lot in the matter, and shouldnot bear any of the odium. If British writers would fairly condemn the wrong-doings of their rulers, they would be more just to their fellow-subjects. a.The chief authorities consulted in the-preparation of the foregoing narrative in this chapter are the official reports of the commanders oil both sides ; the histories of the events by Thompson, Perkins, James, Anchinleck, Armstrong, Christy, Ingersoll, and minor writers ; Whiting's Biography of General Pike i Hough's Histories of Jefferson, Franklin, and St. Lawrence Counties; Bogers's History of Canada ; Smith's Canada, Past and Present ; Cooper's Naval History of the TJnited States; TheWar; NUies'sEegistec; thePort Folio ; Analectic Magazine ; manuscript notes of Dr. Amasa Trowbridge ; autograph letters of actors in the scenes, and notes from the lips of survivors. 592 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK A Jonmey to Toronto. Experience in that City. A Veteran of the War of 1812. thirty-nine miles. Lieutenant Francis Hall, who traveled the same route in 1816, more than ten. years before the first railway was huilt for the conveyance of passen- gers, says, "It took us three hours to accomplish the five miles of road betwixt the head of the lake and the main road, called Dundas Street, which runs from York to- ward Lake Erie and Amherstburg. .... The face of the country from the head of the lake to York is less varied than that of the Niagara frontier. The thread. of set- tlements is slender, and frequently interrupted by long tracts of hemlock swamp and pine barrens." ' Cultivation has somewhat changed, the features of.the counti^ since then, but,.after leaving the glimpses of Lake Ontario on our right, we found the route rather uninteresting, the country, being generally flat. We crossed the rocky bed of the Humber at twilight, and before nine o'clock, iav- ing supped,! was settled as a guest at the "Rossin House" for two days. During the night a fearful thunder-storm burst over the city, and the lightning fired two buildings. Amid the din of the tempest came the doleful pealing of the fire-bells. At the midnight hour, " Oh, the belle, bells, bells ! • What a tale their terror tells Of despair ! How they clang, and clash, and roar ; What a horror they outpour On the bosom of the palpitating air 1"— Edsae A. Pos. For more than two hours I lay wondering when the tumult would cease. All things have an end, and so did this unwelcome disturbance — unwelcome, because I was worn and weary, and needed full rest for another hard day's work on the morrow. The sun, at rising, peered longitudinally through a veil of mist that hiing over the land and the lake. . There was great sultriness in the air. I went out early to find the venerable. John Ross, one of the oldest inhabitants of Toronto, then in his seven- , ^ tieth year. He settled.there in the year aft- ^j, y/ ' ' y^y a^x^y^ ®^ ^* ^^® made the seat of the, provincial ///^l^'^^y /y'^ ^^/J /J government, and for sixty^two years he had <=^. '^ -^ watched its growth from a " few scattered huts to a stately city. He was born, at "Butler's Barracks," just back of IsTewark, now Niagara. Some of Butler's Rangers, those bitter Tory marauders in Central New York diu'ing the Rev61ution,.who.ui cruelty often shamed Brant and Jiis braves, settled in Toronto, and were mostly men of savage character, whomet d«ath by vio- lence.i In the War of 1812 Mr. Ross belonged to a company of York Volunteers. He was with Brock at Hull's surrender, and in the battle: of Queensto,wn, two mqnths later, where his loved commander fell. He assisted in the burial of the hero in Fort George, and he gave me many interesting incidents connected with the event. Mr. Ross gave me such minute and clear directions concerning the interesting places in and around, Torontp, that I experienced , no difficulty in finding them. I hired a horse and light wagon, and a young man for driver, and spent a greater por- tion of the day in the hot sun. We, first rode out to the plain westward of the city, to visit the landing-place of the Americans and the remains of old Fort Toronto. The latter, delineated on the next page, were on the margin of the lake, where the bank is only about eight feet above the water. The spot is about sixty rods west- ward of the present inilitary post called the New Barracks. The principal remains of the fort (in which may be seen some timber-work placed there when the fort was partially repaired in the winter of 1812-'13) are seen in the foreground. They pre- sented abrupt heaps covered with sod. On the right, in the distance, is seen Gibraltar Point, with the trees springing from its low, sandy surface. On the. left are the New Barracks. A few rods westward of the fort were the remains 'of a battery, the . ' Mr. Boss knew a Mr. D , one of these Rangers, who, when intoxicated, once told Mm that ■" the sweetest eteak he ever ate was the breast of a. woman, which he cut off and broiled!" OF THE WAR OF 1812. 593 Eemaius of Old Fort Toronto. An Adveuture among the Fortifications at Toronto. Displeasure of a Britisli Official. BEMAINS OF 0LI> FOKT TOKONTO. mounds of which were four or five feet in height. Passing on toward the city, near the lake shore, we came to the remains of the Western Battery (see map on page 590), delineated on page 588, ten or fifteen rods eastward of the New Barracks; and, still nearer to the town, the mounds of the Half-moon Battery. Riding into the city, we passed through the old garrison, where a few of the One Hundredth Regiment occupied a portion of the barracks. The gates were away, and the public road passed directly through the fort. For the purpose of obtaining a sketch of the old block-house of 181 3, 1 mounted the half-ruined parapet on the north side, when I was accosted by the fort adjutant just as I had set my pencil at work. With great discourtesy of manner he informed me that it was a violation of law to OLD roST AT TOBOMTO IN IStjO. make sketches of British fortifications, and that I ougljt to think myself fortunate in being allowed to escape without a penitential day in the guard-house. I assured him that had I for a moment dreamed that a few old mounds of earth, two deserted block- houses, and some tumble-down barracks, with a public road crossing the very centre of the group, constituted a fortification in the sense of British military law, I should not have been a trespasser. This intimation that a man with his eyes open could not, in the chaos around him, discover a British fort, did not increase the amiability of thfe adjutant, and, with the supercilious hauteur of ofiended dignity, he gave me to under- stand that he wished no farther conversation with me. This was the only instance Pp 594 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK A conrteonB Sergeant. Visit to the Don. Chief Justice Robinson and William Lyon M'Kenzie. of incivility that I received during all my travels in Canada. I closed my portfolio, passed out at the eastern gateway, and from the causeway that crosses the ravine at the foot of Bathurst Street, a short distance from the site of the powder magazine that exploded, I obtained a much more interesting sketch than I should have done from the parapet.' This was full compensation for the fort adjutant's incivility. When I had finished my sketch I started into and through the fort, and fell in with Sergeant Barlow, a most courteous young man, who invited me to his quarters to see his bride. There he showed me a number of relics of the War of 1 81 2, lately thrown Tip by the excavators in the employ of the railway company. Among them was a military button marked "P. R." — Pennsylvania Rangers — some silver and copper coins found with a skeleton, and the remains of an epaulette. There I also met Ser- geant Robertson, a veteran Scotch soldier, who was one of the Glengary Regiment during the War of 1812. He had served in the British army twenty years previous to that war. He was tall and vigorous, but somewhat lame, and about ninety years of age. He gave me some curious details of the operations of the famous Glengary men during the strife. From the old fort we rode out to the River Don, at the eastern extremity of the city. It is there about seventy feet wide, and was spanned by a bridge at the junction of King and Queen Streets, made of heavy open timber-work. There General Sheaffe crossed in his flight, burning the bridge behiad him. Looking up the Don from it about three fourths of a mile, where its wooded banks are high, may be seen St. James's Cemetery, in the northeast comer of which is the site of the first palace or dwelling of the governor, which was built of logs and called Castle Frank. The spot still retains that name. I intended to visit it, but when we were at the bridge the day was waning, and a thunder-shower was gathering in the west ; so we turned our faces cityward, and arrived at the hotel in time for a late dinner and a stroll around the city to view its very beautiful public buildings before dark. On the following morning I called upon Sir John Beverly Robinson, chief justice of Upper Catiada, at his pleasant residence on the southeast corner of John and Queen Streets. He was an aged man, small ia stature, and elegant and affable in manners. His father was a member of Simcoe's corps of Queen?s Rangers during our old War . for Independence, and, with other Loyalists, fled to Nova Scotia at its close. He aft- erward settled in Upper Canada, where the chief justice was bom. The son was des- tined for the legal profession, and finished his education in England, where he was admitted to the bar. When the War of 1812 broke out he abandoned his profession temporarily, joined the army in Canada, and was with Brock, in gallant service, at Detroit and Queenston. He was rewarded with the ofiice of solicitor general, and was afterward made attorney general and chief justice of the province. He died at Toronto early in 1863, at the age of seventy-one years. In the course of the morning I met the famous leader of the revolt in Upper Canada in 1837, William Lyon M'Kenzie, with whom I had been acquainted several years. He was still engaged in his favorite profession of editing and publishing a newspaper, and, th9ugh at near the end of the allotted age of man, he seemed as vigorousas ever, and was -conducting his paper with that boldness that ever characterized his career. He, too, has since been laid in the grave. Mr. M'Kenzie accompanied me to the res- idence of the governor general, the Parliament-house, and the wharf, where great preparations were making for the reception of the Prince of Wales, who was then at Montreal on his way to the Upper Province. Workmen were engaged in the con- struction of an immense amphitheatre and triumphal arch, not far from the Parlia- ^ In this view is seen the causeway and bridge over the ravine, and the general appearanse of the fort In 1S60. In the embankment ia seen a frawe, or pickets placed horizontally. On the left is the old block-house of 1813. In the cen- tre, to the right of the open gateway, 16 another block-house with a flag on it, built after the Americans left York. On the right is the governor's house, built after the war, with a poplar-tree near it. In the ravine, a little to the left of the cannon and horses, was situated the magazine that exploded. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 595 passage across Lake Ontario. The Railway to Lewiaton. Arrival at Niagara Falls. ment-house, at the foot of wide Brook Street, I tMnk The veteran agitator was to leave for Montreal that afternoon for the purpose of meeting the prince, and so we soon parted, he to dash off some spicy editorials — to hurl a. shot at some political or social evil — and I to dine and prepare for a voyage across the lake to the Niagara River. We left Toronto toward evening,* hoping to reach Lewiston in time to . Angust 23, take the train that would connect with one leaving Niagara Falls early "*"■ for the East, but in this we were disappointed. The voyage was a delightful one in a stanch steamer. "We passed out of the harbor through the channel across the for- mer neck of the peninsula,^ and in a short time we were out of sight of land. All along the western and northern horizons heavy clouds wete drifting, and the watery expanse back of us was as black as the Styx. Before us, as we approached the mouth of the Niagara River, the white mist, which is eternally rising from the Great Cataract, was seen above Queenston Heights, at least twenty miles distant. When we entered the river a heavy thunder-shower was rapidly rising in the direction of Burlington Bay. It burst upon us at Lewiston, where we entered the railway cars. It was short and se- vere. As we moved along the fear- ful shelf in the rocks forming the perpendicular banks of the Niagara River — rocks a hundred feet above and a hundred feet below the rail- way that overlooks the rushing wa- ters—the setting sun beamed out in splendor, and revealed clearly the whole country from Queenston Heights to Lake Ontario. Just as we had passed a small rocky tunnel, we were detained for a few minutes by some obstruction, when, from the back window of the last car in the train at which I was standing, I made the accompanying sketch. It will convey to the reader an idea of the nature of the road. Below is seen the waters of the Niagara, span- ned by the suspension bridge at Lewiston, and, by a somewhat wind- ing way, flowing into Lake Ontario in. the far distance. We ran into Niagara Falls village at dark in the midst of another heavy thunder- shower, and late in the evening de- parted in the cars for the East. I rested at Rochester that night, and on the following day reached my home on the. Hudson, after a weari- some but most interesting tour of a fortnight in Canada and along the Niagara frontier. We have observed on page 591 that the victors at York abandoned that post pre- paratory to an att ack upon Fort George, at the mouth of the Niagara River. On ac- 1 See note 3, page 686. VIEW ON THE niAQASA, MEAB LEWISTON. 596 PICTORIAL PIELD-BOOK E^edition against Fort George. Preparatlone for an Attack. The respective Forces there. count of adverse winds, the expedition did not leave York Harbor untU the 8th of May, when the whole fleet crossed the lake and anchored off the mouth of Four-mile Creek four miles eastward of Fort Niagara. Dearborn and Chauncey, and other army 'and naval commanders, had preceded the fleet in the pilot schooner Lady of the Lake, and selected the place for an encampment near the mouth of the creek. There the troops were debarked, and Chauncey sailed for Sackett's Harbor with most of his fleet, to obtain supplies and re-enforcements for the army. He arrived there on . May the 1 1th.* The smaller vessels were continually employed in conveying stores 1813.' and troops to Dearborn's camp ; and on the 22d the Madison, with the com- modore's pennant flying in her, sailed for the same point with three hundred and fifty troops, including Macomb's artillery corps. She arrived at Four-mile Creek on the 25th, and on the evening of the same day Commander Perry, who had oome down hastily from Erie, joined Chauncey, to the great delight of that officer. At the mo- ment of his arrival, all the officers of the squadron were assembled on board the flag- ship to receive orders. "No person on earth," Chauncey said to Perry, as he cor- dially grasped his hand, " could be more welcome at this time than yourself" On the following morning the commodore and Perry, in the Lady of the Lake, recon- noitred the enemy's batteries with care, planted buoys for the government of the smaller vessels which it was intended to send close in shore, and arranged other pre- liminaries for the attack. They then called upon General Dearborn, who was quite ill at his quarters, when Chauncey urged the importance of making the attack the next morning. The general assented, and issued an order to that efiect, which was signed by Winfield Scott, adjutant general and chief of stafi". The last clause of the order placed the landing of the troops in charge of Commodore Chauncey, and that specific duty was intrusted to Commander Perry. Information of this arrangement was communicated to the commanding general, who, it appears, had no definite plan of attack. 1 Fort Niagara and the troops there were under the command of Major General Morgan Lewis, of New York. During the occupancy of the camp at Four-mile Creek re-enforcements had come in from various points, and on the return of Chauncey, pre- pared for attacking the British post. The American land force fit for duty was over four thousand in number, under the general command of Dearborn. He was too ill to take the field, and issued his orders part of the time from his bed. He was sup- ported by Generals Lewis, Boyd, Winder, and Chandler, and eminently so by Colonel Scott, whose skill and industry in disciplining the troops during their detention in camp was of the greatest service. The British force in the vicinity was composed of about eighteen hundred regulars, consisting of the Forty-ninth Regiment; and detachments from the Eighth, Forty-first, Glengary, and Newfoundland Corps, under the command of Brigadier General John Vincent. Eight companies of the Forty-ninth, five companies of the Eighth or King's, three companies of the Glengary, and two of the Newfoundland Regiment, and a por- tion of the artillery, were stationed at Fort George and its immediate vicinity, with three hundred and fifty militia and "fifty Indians. The right, from Fort George to Brown's Point (the first below Vrooman's, near Queenston), was commanded by Colonel Harvey ; the left, from the fort to Four-mile Creek, on the Canada side of the Niagara liiver, was commanded by Colonel Myers, the deputy quarter-master gen- eral ; and the centre, at the fort, by General Vincent. In the rear of Fort George, in the several ravines, companies were stationed so as to support each other when re- quired.^ Besides Fort George, the British had several smaller works along the shores of the Niagara River and Lake Ontario, in the vicinity. Five of the twenty-four-pounders • 1 Letter of Commodore Perry, supposed to be to his parents, cited Ijy M'Kenzie in his Vife of Perry, ii., 138. a Merritt's MS. Narrative. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 597 Cannonade between Ports George and Niagara. The American Sqnadron off the Niagara Hiver. taken from Hull had been brought to that frontier, four of which had been mounted in Fort George, and the fifth had been placed en barbette,^ about half a mile from New- . ark, on or near the site of the present Fort Mississagua. They had another battery at the mouth of the Two-mile Creek. The Americans had quite a powerful work, called the Salt Battery, in the lower part of Yoiingstown, opposite Fort George. There were two other batteries above it, and two between it and Fort Niagara. Arrangements were made for the attack on Fort George on the morning of the 27th of May. A large number of boats had been built at Five-mile Meadow, on the Niagara River, and orders were sent for them to be brought round to Four-mile Creek. "When they were launched, toward evening on the 26th, a small battery opposite the Meadows opened upon the workmen. This brought on a general cannonading be- tween the two forts and their dependent batteries, during which the Salt Battery at Youngstown inflicted severe injury upon every wooden building in and near Fort George, while the return fire from the fort was slow and feeble, owing, it is said, to a scarcity of powder. Meanwhile night came on, and under its cover the boats went down the river and reached the American encampment in safety. During the night, all the heavy artillery, and as many troops as possible, were placed on the Madison, Oneida, and Lady of the Lake, and instructions given for the remainder to follow in the smaller war vessels and boats, according to a prescribed plan. Generals Dearborn and Lewis went on board the Madison, and between three and four o'clock in the morning the squadron weighed anchor. The troops were all em- barked at a little past four, and the whole flotilla moved toward the Niagara with a very gentle breeze. The wind soon failed, and the smaller vessels were compelled to employ their sweeps. A heavy fog hovered over land and water from early dawn until the sun broke forth in splendor, when a magnificent sight was opened to view on the lake. The large vessel?, filled with troops, were all under way, and the bosom of the water was covered with scores of boats, filled with soldiers, light artillery, and horses, grandly advancing upon the enemy, who had been greatly perplexed by the fog. The breeze had now freshened a little, and all the vessels took their designated positions without difficulty. The Julia, Sailing-master Trant, and the Growkr, Sailing-master Mix, took a posiT tion at the mouth of the Niagara River, to keep in check or silence a battery near the light-house (on or near the site of Fort Mississagua), in the vicinity of which it was EMTBANOE TO THE NIAGAKA BITEB.* intended to land some of the troops. The Ontario, commanded by Mr. Stevens, took a position north from the light-house, so as to enfilade the same battery and cross the I That is, on the top of an embankment, withont embrasures or openings in the banks by wOiich the cannon Is shel- 'Ttms view irfrom a drawing made in 1813, previous to the attack on Port George, and published in the Port S'olio in Julv 1817 On the extreme left is seen Fort Niagara, and at a greater distance, across the river. Fort George and the vilage^ Newark. To the right of the light-house, over which is a flag. Is seen the battery which the JvXia and GrowVir controlled. 598 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Opening of the Batteries^ Landing of the American Troops. Gallantry of Commodore Perry. fire of the, other two. The Governor Tompkins, Lieutenant Brown, and the Conquest, commanded hy another lieutenant of the same name, took position near Two-mile Creek, so as to command a battery which the enemy had erected there. Near this was the designated place for the debarkation of most of the troops. For the purpose of covering them in that movement, %h& Hamilton, Lieutenant M'Pherson, the Asp, Lieutenant Smith, and the Scourge, Sailing-master Osgood, took stations near the oth- er two, but closer to the shore. While the vessels were taking their positions, arid the troops were preparing to land, the batteries upon both sides were playing briskly. Colonel Scott, on accept- ing the position of adjutant general, had stipulated that he should be allowed to com- mand his regiment (Second Artillery) on extraordinary occasions. This he considered an extraordinary occasion, and he was placed in the command of the vanguard or for- lorn hope of five hundred men destined to make the first a'ttack. The troops were to land in three brigades, from six divisions of boats. Scott's advance was composed of his own corps acting as infantry, Forsyth's riflemen, and detachments from infantry regiments. These were to.be followed by General Lewis's division and Colonel Moses Porter with his light artillery, and these, in turn, by the commands of Generals Boyd (who had succeeded General Pike), Winder, and Chandler. The reserve consisted of Colonel Alexander Macomb's regiment of artillery, in which the marines of the squad- ron, under Captain Smith, had been incorporated. Four hundred seamen were also held in reserve, to land, if necessary, under the immediate command of Commodore Chauncey. Before the expedition reached the place of intended debarkation the wind had in- creased, and a rather heavy sea rolling shoreward made the landing difficult. The Tomphins swept gracefully into her designated position. Lieutenant Brown coolly prepared for action, and then opened a fire upon the' British battery with so much precision that it was silenced, and its people driven away in less than ten minutes. The boats now dashed in under the skillful management of Perry; and so eager were the troops of the van, under Scott, to meet the foe, that they leaped into the water and waded to the shore. Captain Hindman, of the Second Artillery, being the first man who touched the beach.* They had already been under fire ; for, as the first bri- gade, under Boyd, with Scott in the van, approached the shore, they were unexpect- edly assailed by volleys of musketry from more than two hundred of the Glengary and Newfoundland regiments under Captain Winter, and about forty Lidians under Norton, who was conspicuous at Queenston the year before. These had been con- cealed in a ravine and wood not far from the battery that had been silenced. The shot passed over the heads of the Americans ; and, a few minutes afterward, Scott and his party were on the beach, sheltered by an irregular bank, varying from six to twelve feet in height, where they formed for immediate action. The enemy, fi-om apprehension of the fire from the schooners, did not approach the shore again imme- diately, but kept back, with the intention of assailing the invaders when they should ascend the bank to the plain above. . The conduct of Perry on this occasion was remai-kable. Unmindful of personal danger, he went from vessel to vessel in an open boat, giving directions personally concerning the landing. With Scott he leaped into the water, and rushed ashore through the surf, and soon had the satisfaction of seeing the whole first brigade, un- der Boyd, landed in perfect order on the beach, flanked by M'Clure's Baltimore and Albany Volunteers. Meanwhile the schooners were not firing briskly enough to suit the young hero. He pushed off to the Hamilton, of nine guns, and while Scott and his party were attempting to ascend to the plain, he opened a tremendous discharge of grape and canister shot on the British, who were now advancing to repel the Americans, full one thousand strong, infantry and artillery, under Colonel Myers. The struggle of the Americans in ascending the bank was most severe. Three OF THE WAR OF 1812. 599 A severe Contest on the Shore. Betreat of the British. Capture of Port George. times they were compelled to fall back, hard pushed by the bayonets of the foe. In the first attempt, Scott, at the head of his men, was hurled backward to the beach. Dearborn, who was anxiously watching the movement with his glass from the Madi- son, and who placed more reliance on Scott than any other man, seeing him fall, ex- claimed in agony, " He is lost ! he is killed !" Scott soon recovered himself, rallied his men, rushed up the bank, knocked up the bayonets of the enemy, and took and held a position at a ravine near by. He was supported by Porter's fieM train and a part of Boyd's brigade, in which service the Sixth Regiment, three hundred strong, under Colonel James Miller, performed a conspicuous part. A severe and gallant ac- tion ensued — gallant on both sides — which was chiefly sustained by Scott's corps, and the Eighth (King's) British regiment, under Major Ogilvie. The contest lasted only about twenty minutes, when the severe cannonade from the Sdmilton and the well- applied fire of the American troops caused the British to break and flee in much con- fusion. The whole body of the enemy, including the Forty-ninth Regiment, which had been brought forward by Colonel Harvey as a re-enforcement, fled toward Queens- ton, closely pursued by Colonel Scott. Colonel Myers, their commander, was wound- ed and taken from the field ; and the whole corps, officers and men, who fought brave- ly, suffered severely. General Vincent was satisfied that the victory of the Americans was complete, and that Fort George was untenable, so he ordered its guns to be spiked, the ammunition to be destroyed, the fort to be abandoned, and the whole force under his command to retreat westward, by the way of Vrooman's and St. David's, to a strong position among the hills, at a place called the Beaver Dams, about eighteen miles distant, and rendezvous there. Information of the im- pending destruction of the fort was communica- ted to Scott while pass- ing it with his pursuing column by some prison- ers who came running out. He immediately de- tached two companies, under Captains Hind- man and Stockton,^ and, wheeling to the left, dashed on at their head toward the fort to save the guns and ammuni- tion, if possible. When he was about eighty paces from the works one of the magazines ex- ploded, and a piece of flying timber threw the impetuous leader from his horse, and hurt him severely. He soon recovered from the shock, and pressed forward. The gate was forced, the light- ed trains for firing two smaller magazines were extinguished, and, with his own hands, Scott hauled down the British fiag. The whole manoeuvre occupied but a few minutes, and Scott was soon again at the head of his column, in hot pursuit of the PLAN OF OPEBATIONS AT THE MOUTH OF THE MIAGABA BITEE. 1 Thomas Stoctton was a native of Delaware, and was appointed captain of artillery in 1813. In 1814 he became ma- jor of the Forty-second Infantry, and at the close of the war was retained as captain, with the brevet rank of major. He afterward served in the artillery. He resigned in 1825. In 1844 he was governor of Delaware, and died at New- castle in March, 1846. PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK 600 Purenit of the British checked. Their Flight to the Beaver Dams and Burlington HeighK flybg enemy, satisfied that he would overtake and capture them. Twice he disre- garded an order from General Lewis to give up the pursuit, saying to Lieutenants Worth and Vandeventer, the messengers, "Your general does not know that I have the enemy within my power ; in seventy minutes I shall capture his whole force." Just then Colonel Burn,' his senior, was crossing the Niagara River from the Five- mile Meadows with precisely the troops which Scott deemed necessary to make his successful pursuit of the enemy secure. While waiting for these he was overtaken by General Boyd, who gave him peremptory orders to relinquish the chase and re- turn to Fort George. He obeyed with regret. He had followed the enemy five miles, and was then so near them that he was in the midst of the British stragglers. Lieutenant Riddle, who was not aware of the order, pursued the fugitives almost to Queenston, and captured and brought back several prisoners. At meridian. Fort George and its dependencies, with the village of Newark, were in the quiet possession of the Americans, the attack and conquest having occupied only three hours. The Americans had been eleven hours on duty since embarking at Four- mile Creek. Only a small portion of them had been actually engaged in the conflict.^ Their loss was about forty killed and one hundred wounded. The only officer slain was Lieutenant Henry A. Hobart, of the Light Artillery. The loss of the British reg- ulars was fifty-one killed, and three hundred and five wounded, missing, and prison- ers. The number of British militia made prisoners was five hundred and seven, making the entire loss of the enemy eight hundred and sixty-three, with quite a large quantity of munitions and stores saved from destruction at Fort George and the ibatteries. General Vincent and most of his troops reached the Beaver Dams toward sunset, and during the evening he was joined by a " battalion company" of the Eighth, and a " detachment of the royal navy" under Captain Barclay, who had been escorted by the gallant Captain Merritt, of the mounted militia, from the Twenty-mile Creek. ' Between midnight and dawn, the troops from Fort Erie, under Lieutenant Colonel Bisshopp, and from Fort Chippewa, under Major Ormsby, reached the camp, orders having been sent to those commanders to abandon the entire Niagara frontier. Early in the morning Vincent resumed his march toward the head of Lake Ontario, his whole force being about sixteen hundred men. From Fo^y-mile Creek (now Grims- by) he wrote an official dispatch to Sir George Prevost that evening, giving an ac- count of his disasters, and suggesting the propriety of establishing a communication with the army on Burlington Heights (whither he was marching) " through the me- dium of the fleet." On the 29th he took post on the heights, and was soon joined by troops from Kingston. •May, On the morning of tlie 28th,^ when it was known that Vincent had fallen 1^1^- back to his deposit of provisions and stores at the Beaver Dams, General Lewis was sent in pursuit of him with the brigades of Chandler and Winder. They accom- plished nothing. Ascertaining that Vincent had fled westward, they made a circuit • James Burn was a native of South Carolina. He was a captain of cavalry in 1T99. He settled in Pennsylvania, and in the spring of 1812 was appointed colonel of the Second Light Dragoons. He left the service on the disbanding of the army in 1815. He died at Frankfort, near Philadelphia, in 1823. 2 General Dearborn, in a second dispatch to the Secretary of War, written on the 8th of June, spoke In the highest terms of all the officers and men engaged in the affair, especially of the " animating examples" of Scott and Boyd, and the services of Colonel Porter, Major Armistead, and Lieutenant Totten, in their "judicious and skillful execution in demolishing the enemy's batteries." Lieutenant Totten finally became a brigadier general, and was the Chief Engi- neer of the United States Army for several years before his death. 3 " We formed again at the Council-house" [see plan on page 599], says Captain Merritt, "when I was sent np to or- der down the light company of the King's, who, we understood, were at the Eight-mile Creek, I rode through the woods, around the American regiineiits, followed up the lake to the Twenty-mile Creek (was two hours on the road), where I met Commodore Barclay with his sailors, and the King's. We hurried on to Shipman's, wliere I learned the army had retreated to De Con's [the Beaver Dams]. I took the party through the woods, and arrived there at nine o'clock in the evening. Next morning the militia were allowed to remain or follow the army. This was a bad day for many as well as myself. I went home, prepared my *kit,' and with a heavy heart bid adieu, as I thought, to the place of my nativity for a long time. I was determined to share the fate of the army."— MS. Narrative. OF THE WAE OF 1812. 601 British Property destroyed hy themselves. - Injurious Delay. Expedition sent toward Burlington Heights. ' of many miles to assure themselves of the British evacuation of the frontier, and then returned to camp. Forts Erie and Chippewa, and all pubUc property from the former down to Niagara Falls, were doomed to destruction by an order received from General Vincent on the afternoon of the 2'7th. In pursuance of that order, Major Warren, in command of the batteries opposite Black Rock, was ordered to open fire upon that place, and keep it up all night, until the troops should move off. He did so ; and in the morning the magazine at Fort Erie was blown up, and magazines, bari-acks, and store-houses all along the frontier were fired. In the evening of Friday the 28th, Lieutenant Colo- nel James P. Preston, the commandant at Black Rook (who was Governor of Virginia in 1816), crossed over with the Twelfth Regiment and took possession of Fort Erie. He at once issued an admirable proclamation to the people of Canada, by which he allayed their apprehensions and disarmed all resentment.' Two or three days were now consumed in apathy at Newark, Dearborn and Chaun- cey not having been able to agree respecting future movements. The latter, who had anchored his fleet in Niagara River, sailed for Sackett's Harbor on the 31st. Mean- while a rumor came that Proctor was marching from the Detroit frontier to assist Vincent in recovering that of the Niagara. This determined the American com- mander to send troops in pursuit of Vincent immediately, for the purpose of attack- ing him among the hills or arresting his flight westward. For this purpose he de- tached General Winder, at his own request, on the 1st of June, with about eight hund- red men, including Burn's dragoons, and Archer's and Towson's artillery. He took the Lake Road, and marched rapidly to Twenty-mile Creek, where he was informed of Vincent's position at Burlington Heights and his re-enforcements from Kingston. Winder prudently halted, sent to Dearborn for re-enforcements, and waited for their arrival. He was joiued on the 5th by General Chandler and about five hundred men. Chandler, being the senior oflacer, took the chief command, and the whole body moved 1 "The Albany steam-boat which arrived yesterday (Sunday) brings intelligence that Port Erie had surrendered to the troops of the United States, under Generals Dearborn and Lewis, with little or no resistance on the part of the. en- emy." This announcement appeared in a New York paper on Monday morning, the Tth of June, 1813. This form of announcement of war news from the North and West at that time was very common. Expresses from the army at dif- ferent points were sent to Governor Tompkins, the chief magistrate of the State of New York, living at Albany, and the steam-boat was the most rapid method for conveying intelligence then known. Every few days the New York pa- pers would say, " The Albany steam-boat brings intelligence," et cetera. It must be remembered that steam navigation was then in its infancy. It was not six years since Fulton's first successful experiment had been made._ There were only three steam-boats on the Hudson at that time, whose owners had, by legislative grant, the monopoly of that kind of navigation. These were the Paragon, Car of Neptune, and North River. The average length of the passage from New York to Albany was then about thirty-six hours." • The following advertisement, taken from the New York Bvming Post of the date under consideration, with a fac- simile of a cut of " the steam-boat" at its head, will seem very curious to the traveler now, at the distance of sixty years : HUDSON EIVBK STEAM-BOATS. ,^^^^», » for the Iiifomation of the Public. | ^^^^^^^^B The Paragon, Captain Wiswall, will leave New York J ^^^^^p^^^^ every Saturday afternoon, at 5 o'clock. TheOaro/A'ep- y^ r~C^^ ^r' tune. Captain Eoorback, do., every Tuesday afternoon, ^1 \ ^^"""■^~-^^%» // at 5 o'clock. TheifbriftiJfea-, Captain Bartholomew, do., J: \ ^~'~""~^L //f every Thursday afternoon, at S o'clock. , /^' 1 1 \ H^M // -i The Paragon will leave Albany every Thursday mom- _yy /// ]^ W-lj'^^sr- ing, at 9 o'clock. The Car of Neptune, do., every Satur- p ~-"--~r--~-^ — Z'l:'^ I ' ^ ^^jSS day. morning, at 9 o'clock. The North River, do., every '^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^L^ Tuesday morning, at 9 o'clock. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ PBICES OF PASSAGE. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Prmn Nets York to Verplanck's Point, $3 ; West Point, *2 50 Newbnrg,$3; Wappinger'sCreek,$3.26; Poughkeepsie, $3.50 ; Hyde Park, $4; Esopns,$4.25,- Red Hook, $4.50 : PaVatin *5- Hudson. $5; Coxsackie, $5.50 ; Kinderhook, $5.T5 ; Albany, $7. V^lmanvTi^^ Hudson, $2; Catskill, $2.25 , Bed Hook, $2.76; Bsopus,$3; Hyde PaTk!^ SsTpoughkeepsie, $3.30: Wappinger's Creek, $4, Newburg, $4.25, West Pohit, $4.75; Verplanck's Point, ^^JUI otoeTwry paslengers to pay at the rate of one dollar for every twenty miles. No one can be taken on board and nuf on shore however short the distance, for less than one dollar. ,,...„ Young persons from two to ten years of age to pay half price. Children under two years, one fourth price. Servants who use a berth, two thif ds' price ; half price of none. 602 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Encounter at Forty-mile Creek. Americans at Stony Creek. Preparations to surprise their Camp. forward briskly to Forty -mile Creek, where they rested, after driving oflf a patrol of mount- ed militia under Captain Merritt. They then moved forward to Stony Creek, ten miles far- ther westward and within about seven miles of Vincent's camp, where they encountered a British picket-guard. These were dispersed, and hotly pursued by the American advance- guard, consisting of light infantry under Cap- tains Hindman, Biddle, and Nicholas, part of a rifle corps under Captain Lyttle, and a detach- ment of dragoons under Captain Selden. Near the present toll-gate, a little eastward of Ham- ilton, they encountered another picket. These, too, were driven in, and the victors pushed on in pursuit until they saw Vincent's camp on the great gravelly hill at the head of Burlington Bay. Then they wheeled, and made their way leisurely back to camp at Stony Creek. The main body of the army encamped upon ground rising slightly above a meadow, through which flows a branch of Stony Creek, and occu- pied the space from the main stream north of the village to the house of Mr. Gage, at the foot of the hills, on the site of which, when I visited the spot in 1860, stood the residence of Nelson Miller. The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Regiments, and a com- pany of artillery under Captain Archer,^ took post on the lake shore, near the mouth of the creek, about three miles from the main body. The troops in both camps, ex- pecting a night attack, slept on their arms, and every precaution was taken by Chand- ler in the posting of pickets, throwing out patrols, etc., to prevent a surprise. Ex- plicit directions were given by him where and how to form the line of battle in the event of an attack. The cannon were properly planted, and the horses that drew them were unharnessed. There was equal vigilance in the British camp. The audacity of the American vanguard in pursuing the pickets amazed and alarmed VIHcentT He was anxious to obtain immediate knowledge of the numerical strength and the disposition of his foe, and sent out Lieutenant Colonel Harvey, with the light companies of the Eighth and Forty-ninth Regiments, to reconnoitre the American camp. The duty was well performed, notwithstanding the night was very dark, and Harvey reported, be- fore midnight, *hat " the enemy's camp -guards wei-e few and negligent ; that his line of encampment was long and broken ; that his artillery was feebly supported ; and that several of the corps were placed too far in the rear to aid in repelling a blow which might be rapidly and vigorously struck at the front." He advised a night attack, and Vincent, heeding it, made immediate preparations to execute the movement. At midnight the British commander left his camp with about six hundred men, composed of five companies of the King's (Eighth) Regiment and the whole of the ,, Forty-ninth, and marched for Stony Creek. Harvey's scout joined them, and at about two o'clock in the morning they all halted within a mile of the American camp. Harvey had discovered the centre to be the weakest point in Chandler's line. By one of the inhabi tants of the neighborhood, who had treacherously joined the Amer- y,^jTr^ ?■ ^r^t^- ^^^ " '"'"™ °^ Virginia. He was a captain in Scott's Second Regiment of artUleiT and was and ^ l'?tl ■'' ^'?°* "™^™' "*^''^' «™^S« ™ t"^ ^^* "fMay, 1813. He was retained in the semceTnlMS and in 1821 became inspector general, with the rank of colonel. He died on the 11th of December, 1323. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 603 Assault on the American Camp. Confusion and Disaster in the Darkness. BATTLE-GBOUMD OP STOMY OEEEK.l icans and deserted, Vincent had obtained the countersign for that night, and through it he was enabled to secure the sentinels without giving alarm. It was now two o'clock in the morning* — a warm Sabbath morning — and . jnne 6, the little army of Americans were sleeping soundly, unconscious of impend- ^^^^■ ing danger. Clouds covering a moonless sky made the gloom deep, but not impen- etrable. Five hundred British regulars loaded their muskets, fixed their bayonets, and, led by General Vincent in person, rushed upon the American centre at double- quick, with the appalling Indian war-whoop, and plied the bayonet so fearfully that the line was cut, and that portion of it scattered to the winds. This furious charge was immediately followed by Major Plenderleath at the head of forty men of the Forty-ninth, who fell upon the alrtillery, bayoneted the men at the guns, captured two six-pounders, and turned them with fearful effect upon the camp. The greatest con- fusion prevailed. Chandler's centre and the assailants becoming almost inextricably mixed in the dark, and each was unable to distinguish friends from foes. In the mean time Major Ogilvie, with a part of the King's Regiment, had fallen upon the American left, composed of the Fifth, Sixteenth, and Twenty-third Regu- lars, and some riflemen under General Winder, to which was attached Burn's dra- goons, who were too far in the rear to render immediate assistance. This attack was at first gallantly resisted, the Twenty-fifth, of the centre, lending their aid ; but a fire in the rear, from a detachment of the assailing party that broke through the line, threw them into great confusion. While Chandler^ was making preparations to meet this unexpected assault, a heavy 1 This view, sketched in the morning sunlight, is from the residence of Daniel Lewis, Esq., lieutenant colonel of the Wentworth Militia, who was in the battle. In the foreground is seen the meadow through which flows a branch of Stony Creek. Beyond it, on the left, is a gentle eleration, the estate of Mr. Thomas Waddle, of Hamilton, and near the Tillage, on which lay the encampment. -MUler's (Gage's) house is seen on the extreme right, with a veranda and grove of trees in front. In the distance is the range of hills which extend westward from Queenston, and are called the Mountain" by the Canadians. ■« „ , „ i > ^^ ^ ,,•», s John Chandler was born within the bounds of the present State of Maine {Kennebec County), then a part of Massa- chusetts, in the year 1760. His parents were vety hnmble, and he became an itinerant blacksmith. His residence was in General Dearborn's settlement of Monmouth, about fifteen miles west from Augusta. It is recorded, in a late His- tory and Deseription of Mw England, by Coolidge and Mansfield, that " he was the poorest man in the settlement." By industry and perseverance he became wealthy. His talents were of a high order. He was a representative in Congress from 1805 to 1808, and when the war broke out and he was commissioned a brigadier general, he was major general of militia His military career ended at Stony Creek, and he was disbanded in 1815. He represented Maine in the Senate of the United States from 1820 to 1829. He died at Augusta, Maiiie, September 25, 1841, at the age of eighty-one years. 604 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Capture of Generals Chandler and Winder. Narrow Escape of General Vincent. Eetreat of the Americans. fire was opened on the right flank of the Americans. Perceiving this, he hastened in that direction to prevent its being turned, when, in the darkness, his horse stum- hled and fell, and the general was severely hurt. He soon recovered his feet, suc- ceeded in providing for the safety of his right, and was returning to the centre, mov- ing with difficulty on foot, when he was attracted to the artillery, where there was much confusion. He was not aware that the two cannon were in possession of the enemy ; and, under the impression that those in confusion around the pieces were some of his own command, he gave orders for them to rally. To his utter astonish- ment he found himself among the enemy, and in a moment he was disarmed and made a prisoner of war. At about the same time General Winder and Major Van De Ven- ter' fell into the same trap and were made prisoners.^ At this moment there was the wildest confusion every where. Towson's artillery had poured a destructive fire .upon the assailants and had broken their ranks. Col- onel Burn, with his cavalry, had cut his way through the British Forty-ninth, and was performing the same feat with the American Sixteenth, when he discovered that he was fighting his own friends. They had combated severely for several minutes be- fore the fatal mistake was discovered. Meanwhile General Vincent, the British com- mander, had been thrown from his horse in the darkness, and being unable to find either his animal or his troops, had wandered off in the woods. His friends supposed him to be killed or a prisoner. The command devolveci upon Colonel Harvey, who, finding it impossible to drive the Americans from their position, collected his scat- tered forces as quickly as possible, and while it was yet dark hastened back toward Burlington Heights with his notable prisoners. He sent Captain Merritt back to look for General Vincent. He was unsuccessful, but captured two Americans, and ■June 6, took them into camp as trophies.^ During the ensuing day^' Vincent was ^^^^- found by his friends in the woods, four miles from the place of confiict, with- out hat or sword, and almost famished. His horse and accoutrements had fallen into the hands of the Americans. In this confused and terrible night-battle the Americans lost seventeen men killed, thirty-eight wounded, and ninety-nine missing. The British lost twenty-three killed, one hundred wounded, and fifty-five missing. Notwithstanding the Americans held the ground, it was a substantial victory for the British, and the loss of the two gen- erals a severe one for the former. Through the gallantry of Lieutenant M'Chesney one piece of artillery was immediately recovered, and the other the enemy was not able to take away for the want of horses.* They were endeavoring to do so when they were overtaken by Lieutenant Macdonough, and the piece was seized by him. The Americans, fearing a renewal of the attack, retreated so precipitately that they left their dead unbuiied. Under the command of Colonel Burn they fled to Forty- mile Creek, near which they were met by Colonel James Miller and four hundred men sent to re-enforce them. " I can assure you," Colonel Miller wrote to his wife, " I can scarce believe that you would have been more glad to see me than that army » Jnne T. "^'^^'^ ^^ *'^® following day,* in the afternoon, they were joined by Generals Lewis and Boyd, with their stafis, and the little army encamped there, on a Chnstopher Van De Venter was a native of New York. He was appointed lieutenant in Scotfs regiment of artil- lery m 1809. In 1812 he was assistant military agent at Fort Columbus, in New York Harbor. He was afterward den- uty quarter-master, with the rank of major, and in that capacity sei-ved on the-Niagara frontier. He was taken a nris- w h n"l ■« ^ ° ^°? "? ^ ^^ ™' '^^^^^ '" *''^ =®'-'™«' ™'J '° 1816 was ald-de-camp to Brigadier General ^r^t \^ f^J^^Tf " ^"S"'' *■"" '■•=''••■ *"* f™"" 18" ™«1 182f •>« ™« -^Mef clerk In the Wa? Department. He died at Georgetown, D. C, on the 22d of April, 1838. ^ i.mcm. = Colonel William Fraser (then a sergeant), who was living at Perth, back of Brockville, in Canada, in 1860, took both tne generals prisoners. He advanced upon the artillery, he said, with forty-six men, but when they drew near it thev had only twenty-five men. The American cannon in their front was loaded with all sorts of missiles. The priming f„v„ ' l"! i"^ p° was not discharged. They then rushed forward, shouting " Come on. Brant !" The cannon werl anfl wVre i!^wT ™' mounded. Fraser was binding uphis wounds, when Chandler and Winder fell into the snare and were captured. a Men-itfs MS. Narrative. 4 The same 5 Autograph letter to his wife, dated Fort George, June 13, 1813. OF THE WAR OF 1812. B05 A British gleet In Sight. Pursuit of the Americans. The British at Sodus Bay. plain, its right flank on the lake, and its left on a creek which skirts the base of a very steep but not lofty mountain. At six o'clock that evening a British squadron under Sir James L. Yeo appeared in the distance. The Americans lay on their arms all night, and in the morning the hostile vessels were near. There was a dead calm. At six in the morning an armed schooner was towed in, and opened a fire upon the American boats in which most of their baggage and camp equipage was transported, which lay on the shore. Mean- while the artillery companies under Archer and Towson had placed four cannon in defensive position, and Lieutenant Totten had constructed a temporary furnace for heating shot. The hostile vessel was soon driven off. At about the same time some savage allies of the British appeared on the bald brow of the mountain, and fired in- effectually into the camp, and intelligence came that the British were moving east- ward from Burlington Heights. Sir James sent an officer, with a flag, to demand from General Lewis an immediate surrender of his force, reminding him that a Brit- ish fleet was on his front, a savage foe in his rear, and an approaching British army on his flank. Lewis answered that the summons was too ridiculous to merit a serious reply. He had not lost a man in the whole affair of the morning. The schooner had been driven away, and he was prepared to send off the boats with baggage and camp equipage, accompanied by a guard of two hundred men under Colonel Miller. The boats started prematurely — before the troops were ready, They were chased by an armed schooner. A dozen of them were captured, and the remainder were run ashore and abandoned by the crews. At ten o'clock in the morning the whole army com- menced a retrograde movement, the savages and local militia constantly hovering on their flank and rear. They reached Fort George after losing several prisoners cap- tured by pursuers, and General Vincent came forward and occupied their camp at Forty-mile Creek. Lieutenant Colonel Bisshopp, who was placed in command of the right division of the British force, pushed forward with detachments, and took posi- tions which commanded the cross-roads from a little west of the present Port Dalhou- sie, on the lake shore, to the mountain passes at the Beaver Dams.' The British squadron in the mean time hovered along the lake coast, and interfered greatly with the supplies for the American camp. On the evening of the 12th* . jxme, they captured two vessels laden with valuable hospital stores in the mouth ™^- of Eighteen-mile Creek, eastward of the Niagara River ; and on Tuesday evening, the 15th, they made a descent upon the village of Charlotte, at the head of the naviga- tion of the Genesee River, and carried off a large quantity of stores. Sailing . east- ward, they appeared off Sodus Bay on Friday, the 18th, and on the following even- ing a party of about one hundred, fully armed, landed at Sodus Point (now in Wayne County) for the purpose of destroying the American stores known to be deposited there. These had been removed to a place of concealment a little back of the village. The enemy were exasperated on finding the store-houses empty, and threatened to destroy the village if the place of the concealment of their contents should not be re- vealed. The women and children fled in alarm. A negro, compelled by threats, gave the enemy the desired information, and th6y were marching in the direction of the stores, when they were confronted at a bridge over a ravine by forty men under Captain Turner, of Lyons. A sharp skirmish ensued, in which each party lost two men.2 Both parties fell back, and the foiled British, as they returned to their vessels, 1 The chief authorities consulted are the official dispatches of commanders on hoth sides, and the several histories of the war already mentioned ; Mansfield's Life of General Scott ; autograph letters of Colonel James Miller ; MS. state- ment of Captain William H.Merritt; Armstrong's Notices of the War of 1812; Niles's Weekly Eegister; The War, and oral statements of survivors. ■„,.■. ^^ .. ,. ^ An account of my visit to the battle-grounds of Stony Creek and the Beaver Dams will be given m the next chapter. 2 Statement of Captain Luther Eedfleld, of Clyde, Wayne County, New York, in a letter to the author in February, 1860 when the old soldier was about eighty-six years of age. He says that in a log house a few rods north of the pres- ent Presbyterian church, in the village of Junius, public worship was held. The attack of the British at Sodus was on Saturday evening. The next day, just as the afternoon service was about to commence at the house above mentioned. 606 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Destruction of Property at Sodns. British Fleet off Oswego. burned the public store-houses, five dwellings, and the old Williamson Hotel. They laid waste by fire property valued at about twenty-five thousand dollars. •June 20, From Sodus the British squadron sailed eastward, and appeared off Os- 1813. wego,^ with a wish to enter the harbor and seize or destroy stores there; but Sir James, who was a cautious commander, did not venture in, and on the morn- ing of the 21st his squadron turned westward, and for several days lay off the Ni- agara River. a horseman came dashing up at full speed with the news of the British invasion. Bedfleld was a captain In the regi- ment of Colonel Philetus Swift. There were several non-commissioned officers in the church. These were sent to arbuse the military of the neighborhood, and by five o'clock Captain Bedfleld was on the march with about one hund- red men. They halted most of the night a few miles north of Lyons, and resumed their march by moonlight toward morning. They arrived at Sodus at a little after sunrise on Monday morning, when they met a funeral procession with the body of Turner's slain soldier. The British had gone, but the fleet was in sight. The company remained about a week at Sodus, and were then discharged. OF THE WAK OF 1812. ggy British Deafgns against SacketfB Harbor. The Defenses there. QeneralJacob Biwn. CHAPTER XXVm. " To Sackett's Harbor Teo steered, -with Prevost's chosen blood-hounds, But Brown his dogs of valor cheered, militia blood, but good hounds. He chased them from the bloody track, and Yeo's bull-dogs slighting, Though Chauncey was not there, he show'd Sir James the art of fighting. , Bow, wow, wow I Fresh-water dogs can tutor them with bow, wow, wow !" Old SoKfl — A irew Bow Wow. )HEN the military and naval authorities at Kingston were in- formed of the weakening of the important post at Sackett's Har- bor by the withdrawal of troops and vessels for the expedition against York, they resolved to attempt the capture of the place, or to destroy the new ship-of-war then on the stocks,^ and other public property there. The capture of York made them circum- spect, for the flushed victors might turn their faces toward King- ston ; but when it was known that Dearborn and Chauncey were about to attack Fort George and its dependencies, it was resolved to assail Sackett's Harbor immediately. The prize was more attractive now than ever before. Besides being the principal place of deposit on the lake for military and naval stores, and a fine vessel was there nearly completed, all the property captured at York^ was de- posited there. The possession or destruction of these by the British would have given them the command of Lake Ontario, and a decided advantage during the whole campaign. With singular remissness of duty on the part of the commanding gen- eral, these had been left exposed. IThe guard detailed for their protection, under Col- onel Barker, was utterly inadequate for the task. It consisted of parts of the First and Second Regiments of Dragoons, numbering about two hundred and fifty men, fifty or sixty artillerists, and from, eighty to one hundred infantry, composed chiefly of invalids, recruits, and fragments of companies left behind when the expedition sailed for York. The dragoons, dismounted, manned Fort Tompkins, a considerable work on the blufi", on the west side of the Harbor,^ and covering the site of the present residence and garden of the naval commandant of the station. The artillerists, un- der Lieutenant Ketchum, were also there. A little north of the village, on the east side of the Harbor, opposite Fort Tompkins, was a small work, erected principally by the labor of a company of exempts, called Fort Volunteer. General Jacob Brown,* 1 After the death of the gallant leader in the attack on York, this vessel was named General Pike. 2 See page 591. 3 This consisted of a strong block-house and surrounding intrenchments, and occupied the place of the battery on which the iron thirty-two-pounder that drove oflT the British in 1812 was mounted. See page 368. The single cannon with which it was armed at the time we are now considering was the same iron thirty-two-pounder. The fort was named Tompkins in honor of Daniel D. Tompkins, then governor of the State of New York. The bluff on which it stood overlooks Navy Point, within which is the Harbor, where the ship-yard was. The place was named in honor of Augustus Sackett, the first settler. Its Indian name was along one, and signified "fort at the mouth of Great River." * Jacob Brown was born of Quaker parents, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, on the 9th of May, 1775. He was well educarted early. When he was sixteen years of age his father lost his property, and the right-minded youth resolved to earn his own livelihood. He taught school in the Quaker settlement of Crosswicks, in New Jersey, from his eighteenth to his twenty-first birth-day. For a while he was a surveyor in the vicinity of Cincinnati, and in 1798 was a school- teacher In the city of New York. He commenced the study of law, but it was distasteful to him, and he abandoned it. He then purchased some land on the Black Eiver, in Jefferson County, and adopted the pursuit of a farmer. In 1809 he was appointed colonel of a regiment of militia in that section, and on his estate a settlement was formed and named Brownsville. In 1811 the Governor of New York commissioned him a brigadier general of militia, and, as we have seen (see page 366), he was intrusted with important command. From that time until the close of the war General Brown's public career formed an important part of the history of the times, and the record may be found in these pages. He 608 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Brown's Position. Approach of the British. Brown assumes Command at Sacl^ett's Harbor. of the New York Militia, who, having finished the six months' service for which he was call- ed to the field at the beginning of the war, as we have seen, was residing at his home in Brownsville, on the Black River, a few miles from Sackett's Harhor, had been requested by General Dearborn, and urged by Colonel Macomb, to assume chief command in that region. He was unwilling to interfere with his esteemed friend. Colonel Backus, and agreed to take command only in the event of actual invasion. He went to head-quarters frequently to advise with Backus concerning preparations for defense, and it was under- stood between them that if the enemy should threaten the post. Brown was to call the neigh- boring militia to the Harbor and take chief command. On the evening of the 27th of May, the Xady of the Lake, which bad been cruising ofi" Kingston to watch the movements of the enemy, came into Sackett's Harbor with the startling informa- that a strong British squad- ron, under Sir James L. Yeo, had just put to sea. Colonel Backus sent an express to General Brown with the in- telligence. That vigilant ofiicer immediately dispatched messengers to the militia officers of his district with orders to hasten, with as many men as possible, to the Harbor. This accomplished, he mounted his horse, and before the dawn of the 28th he entered Backus's camp, took command, ordered alarm . ^ - guns to be fired to arouse the country, and sent off ex- S^ _^^^^ presses in various directions to militia officers, and to was retained in the army at the close of the war, and was appointed to the com- mand of the Northern Division. He became a general-in-chief of the armies of the TJnited States in 1821, and held that office until his death, at his head-qnar- ters in the City of Washington, on the 24th of February, 1828, at the age of fltty- three years. His widow, yet (1867) living, resided, until recently, in the fine man- sion erected at Brownsville by the general in 1814. General Brown's remains were interred with imposing oeremonies in the Congressional Burial-ground, and over them stands a beautiful white marble mouument, composed of a truncated fluted column and tableted base, on which are the following inscriptions : Emt Si(fe.—" Sacred to the memory of Major General Jacob Beown, by Birth, by Education, by Principle, devoted to Peace. In defense of his country, and in vindication of her rights, a Warrior. To her he dedicated his life— wounds re- ceived in her cause abridged his days." Smith Side.— "Be was bom in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, on the 9th of May, 1T75, and died at the City of Washington, commanding general of the army on the 24th of February, 1828. " Let him whoe'er in after days Shall view this monument of praise, For Honor heave the Patriot sigh. And for his country learn to die." West Side.— "In both by the thanks of the Nation and a golden medal from the hands of their chief magistrate— and by this marble erected to honor him, at the command of the Congress of the TJnited States." Jfcrth Side — " In War his services are attested by the fields of Chippewa, Ni- agara, Erie ; in Peace by the improved organization and discipline of the army." The monument stands very near that of General Macomb, his successor in the chief command of the armies of the United States. qekeeal bbowh'b mohdment. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 609 Assembling of the MUlHa. The British Force approaches Sackett' s Harbor. An Alarm.j Colonel Tuttle, who was advancing with regulars. During the day the people of the surrounding country continually arrived at head-quarters. Some were armeA, and some were not, and all were entirely without discipline, and almost without or- ganization. As fast as they appeared they were armed and sent to Horse Island, a mile distant, where Colonel Mills and about two hundred and fifty Albany Volun- teers had been stationed for a week. The island (on which the light-house stands^) LIOHT-HOUBE ON HOBBE IBLAMD. commands the entrance to the Harbor, and there it was believed the enemy would attempt to land. Then, as now, it was separated from the main by only a shallow strait, always fordable, and sometimes almost dry. Between it and the village was a thin wood that had been partly cut over, and was encumbered with logs, stumps, and brush. The main shore is a ridge of gravely about five feet in height, and at that time formed a natural breast-work. At midday on the 28th,'' the British squadron, which left Kingston on the « May, evening of the 2'7th, appeared ofi" Sackett's Harbor. It consisted of the Wolfe, ^*^'- 24, just finished; Boyal George, 24; Earl of Moira, 18 ; schooners Prince Regent, Simcoe, and Seneca, mounting from ten to twelve guns each, and about forty bateaux. The land troops, ten or twelve hundred strong, consisted of the grenadier company of the One Hundredth Regiment, two companies of the Eighth or King's, a section of the Royal Scots, four companies of the One Hundred and Fourth, one company of the Glengary Regiment, two of the Canadian Voltigeurs, a detachment of the New- foundland Regiment, and another of the Royal Artillery, with two 6-pounders. There was also a considerable body of Indians attached to the expedition, and who accompa- nied it in canoes. Sir James Lucas Yeo commanded the squadron, and the whole expe- dition was under the direction of ^ir George Prevost, the Governor General of Canada, who accompanied it as leader of the land forces. He was with Yeo on the Wolfe. The British squadron lay to about six miles from the Harbor, and a large number of troops were embarked in boats for the purpose of landing. "While anxiously wait- ing for the signal to pull for shore, the soldiers were perplexed by an order to return to the squadron. They were still more perplexed when that squadron, without appa- rent cause, spread its sails to the light breeze and turned toward Kingston. The se- cret was soon known. A flotilla of nineteen American gun-boats had been seen off > This is a view of the light-honse as it appeared when I visited the island in 1855. It stands upon the spot where the enemy landed, and the keeper at the time of my visit was Captain Samuel M'Nitt, of whom I shall hereafter speak. The island contains about twenty-seven acres. "" Q Q 610 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Chase and Capture of American Vessels. Position of the Militia. A Panic ana Flight. Six-towns Point, approaching from the westward, and Sir George Prevost did not doubt their being filled with armed men destined to re-enforce Sackett's Harbor. It was even so. They were conveying part of a regiment under Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Aspinwall from Oswego to the Harbor. The apparition had made Sir George nervous. The Indians were not so easily frightened as their pale-faced ally. They darted in their canoes toward the American flotilla. This movement shamed Sir George. He listened to the advice of Sir James, turned the prows of his vessels once more in the direction of Sackett's Harbor, and sent several boats with armed men to join the canoes. Aspinwall and his party, closely chased, made for the shore. Twelve of his boats and seventy of his men were captured. The other seven boats, more fleet than their companions or pursuers, reached the haven in safety. The escaped party on shore made their way thither by land. They arrived at nine o'clock in the even- ing, and added one hundred men to the effective forcfe at Sackett's Harbor. •May, The night of the 28th'' was spent by the Americans in active preparations 1813. fQj. ^^jjg expected attack. Toward midnight, about forty Indians, under Lieu- tenant Anderson, were landed on the shore of Henderson Bay, for the purpose of at- tacking the American militia in the rear. They were discovered, and Colonel Mills and his force, about four hundred strong, were withdrawn from Horse Island and placed behind the gravel ridge, at a clearing of five or six acres on the main, with a 6-pounder field-piece. The remainder of the militia, under Colonel Gershom Tuttle, were posted on the edge of the woods, a little farther back ; and Colonel Backus, with his dismounted dragoons, was stationed on the skirt of the same woods, nearer the village. Lieutenant Colonel Aspinwall was posted on the left of Backus, and the ar- tillerists, under Lieutenant Ketchum, were stationed in Fort Tompkins, whose only armament was a 32-pounder mounted on a pivot. Not a zephyr rippled the waters of the Harbor on the morning of the 29th, and not a cloud flecked the sky. Calmness, serenity, and beauty were visible on every side. The sails of the enemy's squadron could not catch the slightest breeze, and it was im- possible for the large vessels to approach near enough to join in the attack. At dawn, thirty-three boats, filled with armed men, left the British squadron and made for Horse Island, where they landed under cover of two gun-boats directed by Captain Mulcas- ter, of the royal navy. As the flotilla rounded the island, the huge pivot gun in Fort y , Tompkins hurled murder- ^4/^ /0_ p^ ^ A^ ous enfilading shots in their near the shore they re- ceived a scattering fire from the muskets of the militia. This was promptly respond- ed to by Mulcaster's great guns, loaded with grape and canister, and by his first fire Colonel Mills, who was standing near his men, was shot dead. The British formed in good order on the island, and with the grenadiers of the One Hundredth at their head, commanded by Colonel Baynes, they pressed rapidly across the shallow strait. The rank and file of the American militia had suffered no mate- rial injury, but the sound of bullets a,mong the bushes, and the din of the oncoming foe, struck the whole line with an extraordinary panic, and before they had time to give a second fire they rose from their cover behind the gravel bank and fled with precipitation, leaving their 6-pounder behind. The efforts of the gallant Major Her- kimer to arrest their flight were vain.^ This disgraceful retreat astonished and perplexed General Brown, who was on the 1 It is said that one of the militia commanders, who had talked very valiantly and hopefully, became much discour- aged as soon as he saw the enemy's boats approaching the shore. As they came forward in a swarm he became less and less hopeful, until at length he told his men that he doubted the ability of the American force to cope with the en- emy. " I fear we shall be compelled to retreat," he said. After a panse he continued, "I Itnow we shall, and as I am a little lame I'll start now," and away he went upon the road leading to Adams, as fast as his legs could carry him, juEt as Mulcaster's guns opened their Are. He was among the " missing" at the close of the battle. OF THE WAR OF 1812. gil Cowardly Flight of Militia. Gallantry of Captain M'Nitt. Destruction of Public Stores. left of his little army. He expected the militia would have remained firm until the enemy were finally on the main. But their movement was so sudden, general, and rapid, that he found himself completely alone, not a man standing within several rods of him. Stung by this shameful conduct, he ran after the fugitives and endeavored to arrest their flight. His efforts were unavailing. Forgetful of their promises of courage, and unmindful of the orders they had received to rally in the woods in the event of their being driven back, they continued their flight until they were sure of being out of harm's way. Some of them were not heard of again during the day. Those under Colonel Tuttle were equally recreant to duty, and joined in the dis- graceful flight, although they had not in any way been exposed to the enemy's fire. But there was an honorable exception. Captain Samuel M'Nitt, with unflinching courage, had maintained his position on the extreme left, and stood blazing away at the enemy after his companions had fled. Seeing the panic, he started in pursuit of the fugitives, and, with the aid of Lieutenant Mayo, succeeded in rallying almost one hundred of them behind some fallen timber. From that cover they annoyed the en- emy exceedingly, who were then marching through the woods toward the town.' Meanwhile Colonel Backus and his regulars had advanced, and, with the Albany Vol- unteers, who had stood firm when the militia fled, and had retired slowly along a wagon-road by the margin of the lake before superior numbers, was disputing the march of the invaders inch by inch. These demonstrations of courage revived the sinking hopes of the commanding general. In hastening from M'Nitt's gallant band to Backus's line, his affrighted horse had broken from him in the woods. Fortunately, he soon met a man on horse- back, whose animal he seized and mounted, and then pushed forward to the extreme right. There he found Colonel Backus with his dismounted dragoons on the right) assisted by Major Lavall, the gallant Albany Volunteers on the left, and infantry and artillery in the centre, while the gun at Fort Tompkins was playing upon the advanc- ing column of the foe. For an hour the conflict continued, and so great was the weight of the enemy that the American line was constantly pressed baok. Lieuten- ant Fanning, in command at Fort Volunteer, perceiving no danger of an attack there, had led his little force forward and engaged gallantly in the fight. Still the foe bore heavily upon them, and when the Americans were most in want of encouragement a disheartening event occurred. Dense smoke arose in their rear, and it was soon as- certained that the store-houses on the margin of the Harbor, filled with the spoils of York and a vast amount of other valuable property, also the new ship General Pike, were in flames. Had a portion of the enemy landed in the rear and applied the torch ? No. In the almost universal panic that prevailed when the militia fled. Lieutenant Wolcott Chauncey, of the Navy, who had the stores in charge, was informed that all was lost, and that the victorious enemy was rapidly marching upon the post. A train prepared for the emergency was lighted, and in a few minutes stores and ship were in flames. The friendly incendiary was soon named to General Brown, much to his relief, and he hastened to inform and reassure Colonel Backus. He arrived just in time to see that gallant ofiicer fall, mortally wounded, and to wipe his pallid brow with his own hand.^ Pressed back, back, back, the wearied and worried Americans took refuge in some new log barracks in an open space near the town. The enemy made desperate efforts to dislodge them. Brown saw that all would be lost should they be driven from that 1 Samnel M'Nitt was a Scotchman, and a brave and active man. He was for some time a member of Forsyth's corps, and, as such, saw much active service at the beginning of the war. He commanded a militia company at the time we are now considering. He was in Wilkinson's expedition that went down the St. Lawrence in the autumn of 1813, and was in command of a company of regulars in the battle at Chrysler's Field. He died on the 9th of September, 1861, at Diepauville, in Jefferson County, at the age of about ninety years. ' Electns Backus was a native of New York. He was commissioned major of the First Light Dragoons in October, 1808 and in February following was promoted to lieutenant colonel. He died eight days after the battle (June T, 1813), and was buried at Sackett's Harbor with military honors. 612 PICTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK The Militia reassembled. Prevost alarmed. His disgraceful Eetreat. shelter, and he determined to rally the fugitive militia, if possible, who, he was in- formed, were on the outskirts of the village and on the roads leading from it, and with them feign a descent upon the enemy's boats. He sent out mounted dragoons instructed to proclaim a victory gained, knowing that in the supposed absence of dan- ger most of them would return. The stratagem was successful About three hund- red of them were collected, though in great disorder, on the eastern side of the vil- lage, about three fourths of a mile from the place where the battle was still raging. There they were addressed by the commanding general, who loaded them with re- proaches, and informed them that measures had been taken to shoot every man of them who should be found attempting to run again. Many of them, stung by the words of the general, begged to be led into the thickest of the fight, and almost two hundred of them formed under the direction of Westcott, a Saokett's Harbor butcher, and Caleb, a volunteer, and, while others went toward the British landing-place, they attacked a flanking party of the enemy under Captain Grey, the adjutant general, just as they were about to assail the log barracks. Grey was a gallant soldier. He was walking backward, waving his sword, and had just shouted " Come on, boys ; re- member York ! The day is ours !" when a drummer-boy among the rallied militia cried out, " Perhaps not yet !" and shot him. Grey fell, and instantly expired.-' This rallying of the fugitive militia and menacing of the enen^'s boats decided the fortunes of the day in favor of the Americans. Sir George Prevost, sweeping the ho- rizon with his glass from a high stump, perceived the militia on his flank and rear, and supposing them to be re-enforcements of regulars in large numbers, immediately sounded a retreat while the way to their boats was open.'* It was commenced in good order, but soon became a disorderly flight. It was so precipitate that the fa- tigued Americans could not overtake them. They reached the squadron in safety, leaving a large portion of their dead and wounded behind.^ At about ten o'clock in the morning, Sir George, with cool impudence, sent a flag to demand the surrender of the post which he had failed to capture. The summons was treated with deserved contempt. He then asked permission to send surgeons to take care of his wounded. This was denied ; but an assurance was given by General Brown that Americans were " distinguished for humanity as well as bravery." It was believed that the enemy intended to renew the attack. His squadron con- tinued at anchor, and his boats remamed filled with soldiers for some time not far from Horse Island. At noon they returned to the squadron, and the whole flotilla sailed for Kingston. It entered that port on the morning of the 30th, to the great mortification of the inhabitants, who had expected to see the expedition return with 1 Captain Grey was a son of General Grey, the commander of the corps in the massacre of a part of Wayne's detach- ment at Paoli, in Pennsylvania, in September, 17TT. s Oral statement of E. Camp, Esq., of Sackett's Harbor. 3 The British lost 50 killed and 211 wonnded. The Americans lost 47 killed, 84 woonded, and 36 missing. Most of the latter were the cowardly militia, who were ashamed to show their faces again. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 613 How public Property was sMei. Conceit and Inefficiency of Sir George Prevoet. A Sort of "Greek Fire." all the garrison at Sackett's Harbor and the public property there. ^ The whole af- fair, on the part of the British, was pronounced at the time, and has been by their own writers since, " in a high degree disgraceful. "^ The skill, courage, and energy of Gen- eral Brown, under the most appalling difficulties, seconded by the like qualities in a part of the troops, made it a brilliant achievement for the Americans, and a subject for just praise of the commanding general.' As soon as the battle was ended the efforts of the men were turned to the salva- tion of the public property from the flames. Because of the greenness of the timber of the General Pike she had burned but little, and was saved. The Duke of Glouces- ter, captured at York, also escaped destruction. She was saved by the gallantry of Lieutenant Talman, of the army, who, notwithstanding he knew there was a large quantity of gunpowder on board of her, hastened to her deck, extinguished the kind- ling flames, and brought h^r from under the fire that was consuming the store-houses. The Miir American and JPert had cut their cables and retreated up the Black Riv- er. Several of the guns on Navy Point were spiked. The value of the property de- stroyed by the fire was about half a million of dollars. The loss was severely felt, because the distance from Albany, from which most of these stores were drawn, was such that they could not be seasonably replaced.* No further attempts were made by the enemy to capture Sackett's Harbor, and it remained, as it had been from the beginning, the most important place of deposit for the army and navy stores of the Americans on the Northern frontier. During the sackett's haebok in XS14.5 1 James's Military Ocamrenees, i., 173. 2 The conduct of Sir George Prevost in tliis and other occurrences where he became military commander was severely criticised. Wilkinson, in his Memmra, i., 585, declares that Sir James Teo was averse to the retreat. He says he was informed'that Major Dmmmond (afterward Lieutenant Colonel Drummond, killed at Fort Erie), when Sir George gave the order to retreat, stepped up to him and said, "Allow me a few minutes, su:, and I will put you in possession of the place." To this the haughty baronet replied, " Obey your orders, sir, and learn the first duty of a soldier." The con- tempt for Sir George on the part of the army, which his conduct on this occasion engendered, wfts much intensified by his inglorious retreat from Plattshurg the following year. 3 The authorities consulted in the preparation of this narrative are the official reports of the respective commanders ; the several American histories of the war ; Auchinleck, Christie, and James on the British side ; Wilkinson's Memoirs ; Cooper's Naval History of the United States ; manuscript statement found among General Brown's papers, and narra- tives of survivors. • . ^ i. i ■> *i, -vt *v, 4 In a letter to the author in October, 1863, the late venerable Robert Carr, who was a heutenant colonel on the North- ern frontier, gave the following account of a sort of" Greek flre" that was exhibited at Sackett's Harbor at about the time of the events recorded in the text. " At Sackett's Harbor," says Colonel Carr, " in September, 1813, a person from New England called on General Brown to exhibit some preparation which he called liquid flre, or some such name.. General Covington called at my tent and invited me to go with him to witness the trial to be made that mornmg ; but as I was a member of a court-martial then sitting, I could not go with him. On his return he informed me Hiat the af- fair was most astonishing. The liquid resembled ink, and he had it in two small porter-bottles, one of which he threw flffalnst a small hemlock-tree, which was instantly in a blaze from top to bottom. The other bottle he also broke agamst another tree with a similar result. He asserted that water would not extinguish it. General Covington remarked that " frws ^^ewl's^frlm i'^priut from a drawing by Birch, published in the Pwt Folic in 1815. On the left is seen Pike's 614 PICtORIAL FIELD-BOOK Sackett'8 Harbor, and Occurrences there. Description of its Defenses. Map of the Same. summer and autumn of 1813 several expeditions were fitted out there, which we shall hereafter consider, and labor was vigorously applied by the troops stationed there in the autumn, and by the sailors in the winter, in strongly fortifying the post. Fort Tompkins was strengthened, and several other works were constructed, and before the midsummer of 1814 the post seemed to be secured against any force the enemy might bring to bear upon it.' cantonment, where were Imrracks erected by Major Darby Noon. See page 292. On the rocky bluff at the right is seen Fort Tompkins. Near Pike's cantonment is seen a block-house, ou the site of Fort Volunteer, and immediately back of it, a circular building with battlemented top represents Fort Chauncey. The little figures near the small boat, toward the centre of the picture, are on Navy Point, where the ship-house now stands. 1 Joseph Bouchette, one of the most eminent writers on the statistics of the Canadas, gave the following description of the place at the close of 1814 : " A low point of land runs out from the northwest, upon which is the dock-yard, with large store-houses and all the requisite buildings belonging to such an establishment. Upon this point is a very pow- erful work, called Fort Tompkins, having within it a sti-ong block-house two stories high ; on the land side it is covered by a strong picketing, in which there are embrasures ; twenty guns are mounted, besides two or three mortars, with a furnace for heating shot. At the bottom of the harbor is the village, that contains from sixty to seventy houses, and to the southward of it a barrack capable of accommodating two thousand men, and generally used for the marines belong- ing to the fleet. On a point eastward of the harbor stands Fort Pike, a regular work surrounded by a ditch, in advance of which there is a strong line of picketing. In the centre of the principal work there is a block-house two stories high. This fort is armed with twenty guns. About one hundred yards from the village, and a little to the westward of Fort Tompkins, is Smith's cantonment or barrack, strongly built of logs, forming a square, with a block-house at each cor- ner. It is loop-holed on every side, and capable of making a powerful resistance. Twenly-flve hundred men have been accommodated in it. A little farther westward another fort presents itself [Fort Kentucky], built of earth and strongly palisaded, having in the centre of it a block-house one story high. It mounts twenty-eight guns. Midway between these two works [a little farther inland] is a powder magazine, inclosed within a very stong picketing, "By the side^of the road that leads to Henderson Harbor stands Fort Virginia, a square work with bastions at the angles, covered with a strong line of palisades, but no ditch. It is armed witb sixteen guns, and has a block-house in the middle of it. [See sketch on p. 617.] Fort Chauncey is a small circular tower, covered with plank, and loop-holed for the use of musketiy, intended for a small-arm defense only. It is situated a small distance from the village, and commands the road that leads to Sandy Creek. In addition to these works of strength, there are several block-houses in different situations, that altogether render the place very secure, and capable of resisting a powerful attack ; indeed, from recent events, the Americans have attached much importance to it, and, with their accustomed celerity, have spared no exertions to render it formidable."— Bouchette's Caavula, page 620. To this account may be added the statement that, after the battle in May, 1S13, a breastwork of logs was thrown up around the village from Horse Island to the site of Madison Barracks. The above map, showing a plan of Sackett's Harbor and its defenses in 1814, as described by Bouchette, is from a manuscript drawing by Patrick May, a soldier who was stationed there for two years. The topography may not be pre- OE THE WAR OF 1812. gig A Visit to Sackett'3 Harbor. Commodore Tattnall. Historical Localities. Henry Eckford. I visited Sackett's Harbor in the summer of 1860. I rode up from Sandy Creek during a sultry morning, through the wealthy agricultural towns of Ellisburg and Henderson, after a heavy rain. Before noon the sky was almost cloudless, and I spent the afternoon in visiting places of interest around Sackett's Harbor. Commo- dore Josiah Tattnall, one of the most accomplished men in the navy, and then in com- mand of the naval station at the Harbor, accompanied me. I found him an exceed- ingly courteous man, of medium size in stature, and in the sixty-fourth year of his age. He had been commander of the East India squadron for some time, having the Powhatan for his flag-ship, in which he brought over the seas the Japanese embassa- dors in the spring of 1 860. Having been for several years in arduous service, the government had kindly ordered him to the Sackett's Harbor station to enjoy a season of rest. There he deserted the flag of his country, under which he had been cherished for almost half a century. He resigned his commission, joined the traitors in the slave-labor states who were then in open rebellion against his government, and be- came commander-in-chief of the " Confederate Navy.''^ Yet I can not forget the commodore's kindness. He accompanied me to the ship- house on Navy Point, in which is the New Orkans,j\ist as she was left in her unfin- ished state at the end of the war in 1815. He also went with me to the site of Fort Pike, to Madison Barracks and the burial-ground, and to visit the widow of Captain William Vaughan, whose exploits have already been mentioned in these pages.^ Mrs. Vaughan (a small, delicate woman) occupied the Sackett mansion, which was her resi- dence in 1812. At the time now under consideration, Colonels Backus and Mills board- ed with her there. The house was near the site of Fort Tompkins. It was a substan- tial frame building, with a fine portico, and was embowered in shrubbery and trees. The JVew Orleans was to have been a huge vessel, made to cope with the St. Law- rence., a three-deck man-of-war of 120 guns, which the British launched at Kingston in the autumn of 1813. Henry Eckford^ was the constructor, and Henry Eagle, late of Oswego, was foreman of the navy yard. Time was precious, and Eckford applied cisely correct, Tint it gives a general idea of the pains taken, and the method adopted for making the post as secure from capture as possible. It shows the localities of the fortifications, and of the vessels in the harbor in the autumn of 1814. 1 Josiah Tattnall was born at Bonaventure, four miles from Savannah, Georgia, in November, 1T96. He is a grandson of Governor Tattnall. He entered the navy as a midshipman in 1812, and was commissioned a lieutenant in 1818. He was promoted to commander in February, 1SS8, and to captain in February, 1850. He first served in the frigate Constel- lation, and was in the affair at Craney Island in June, 1813. He was in the Algerine war under Decatur, was with Perry on the coast of Africa, and with Porter in his expedition against the pirates in the Gulf of Mexico. He was in command of the Spitfire in the bombardment of Vera Cruz in the war with Mexico, and in the attacks on Tuspan, Tampico, and Alvarado. He was in command of the Bast India squadron during the trouble with the Chinese in the summer of 1858, and in the spring of 1860 brought the Japanese embassadors to this country. He resigned his commission in 1861, and accepted one from the "government" of the so-called " Confederate States of America." He was in command of the ves- sels of the rebels at Norfolk when the Merrimaclc was destroyed, and in 180S was in command of the " musquito fleet" at Savannah, Georgia. His services were soon afterward dispensed with, and he suuk into obscurity. " See page S68. 3 Henry Eckford was born in Scotland on the 12th of March, 1775, and at the age of sixteen became an apprentice to his uncle, John Black, an eminent naval constructor at Quebec. In 1796 he com- menced the business of ship-building in the city of New York, and soon rose to ' A^/ ^ l^^ /y^ / '' — \ the head ofhis profession, and New York- >^/^%^i^''?'"Z^-^ /^^ ^^^^^'-''C/y')-, /-^ / ) built ships were most sought after. Eck- / •'^ J7 C.,-^^^^^'/'!^^ C^^ tit—' ford had become thoroughly identified ^ «^ yy with the interests and destiny of his / ^J // adopted country when the war com- \ ^ ^^ /^ ^ menced in 1812, and he made large con- tracts with the government for vessels on the Lakes. His achievements were wonderful, considering the theatre on which they were performed. At the close of the war, his accounts with the government, involving several millions of dollars, were promptly and honorably settled. Soon after that he constructed the Sshurt Fultmi, a steam-ship of a thou- sand tons, to run between New York and New Orleans. He became naval constructor at the Brooklyn dock-yard of the government. His genius was too much hampered by government interference, and he soon left the position and en- gaged extensively in his profession. Orders came to him from foreign governments to construct war vessels. At the request^ General Jackson he furnished a plan for a new organization of the navy. He had now amassed an ample fortune and had set aside $20,000 for the endowment of a professorship of Naval Arcbitecture in Columbia College, when an unfortunate connection with an insurance company reduced him almost to penury. "In 1831 Mr. Eckford built a sloop of war for the Saltan of Turkey, and he sailed in her to Constantinople. The sultan made him chiefnaval con- structor of the empire. He died suddenly at Constantinople on the 13th of November, 1S33, in the lif tj -ieveuth year of his age. 616 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The Mw Orleans Frigate. Madison Barraclzs. A neglected Monument. THE "mkW OSLEANS.' to the work all the force that he could command. So vigorous were his efforts, that ' Jannary and within twenty-seven days" from the time when the axe was first laid to February, 1815. ^.f^g timber in the surrounding forest for the great ship she was almost ready to be launched. She was to have been a three-decker, pierced for 110 guns, but capable of carrying 120 eighteens and forty -fours. Her frame was all com- pleted, and planks nearly all on, when tidings of peace caused work upon her to cease. In the condition in which she was then left she has ever since re- mained. She was never launched. A spacious house was built over her, and so well has she been taken care of that her timbers remain perfectly sound. Her keel, according to a statement of Mr. Henry Metcal^ the ship-keeper, is 183 feet 7i inches; breadth of beam, 56 feet ; depth, 47 feet ; length over all, 214 feet; tonnage, 3000. She was to draw 27 feet. "Within the time above mentioned all the timbers for other pur- poses connected with the vessel were got out. The annexed sketch shows the appearance of her bow as seen at the entrance to the ship-house. Near this building, on the south side, may be seen the sunken hulk of the Jefferson. From the Neio Orleans we went up to Madison Barracks, on the high ground over- looking the village, the harbor, Black River Bay, and the wooded country beyond. These barrapks are spacious stone buildings, covering three sides of a square, near the remains of P'ort Pike. They were erected soon after the war, under the direction of Deputy Quarter-master General Thomas Tucker, at an expense of $85,000. They have not been occupied by troops for a number of years. We strolled into the burial-ground attached to the barracks, and visited the wooden monument erected to the memory of General Pike and others who gave their lives to their country during the war. That monu- ment, utterly neglected, was rapidly crumb- ling into dust. I was there five years be- "Juiy, fore,*" when it was more leaning than ^^^- the Pisa tower, and fortunately made a sketch of it and copied the fading inscriptions upon it. Sergeant Gaines, who was then tak- ing charge of the barracks, accompanied me, and assisted in deciphering the inscriptions. He had placed a copy of them, written on parchment, in a bottle, which was tightly sealed, and was then hanging under the urn, as the best way to preserve the precious rec- ords on the spot. When I was there in 1860 the urn and the bottle had disappeared, the panels were much decayed, and the inscrip- tions were illegible. The remains of the gal- lant dead were collected there during the ad- minstration of Colonel Hugh Brady, who commanded the post for ten years after the PIKIi. h MONUMENT. war; and the monument, which was about seven feet in height to the top of the urn. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 617 Forts Pike and Vliginia. An evening Eide to Watertown. A Visit to the Widow of General Brown. was erected by the officers of the garri- son. ' How long will our national gov- ernment suffer just reproach for neglect in not erecting enduring monuments over the graves of these heroes ? On leaving the barracks we went out to the remains of Fort Pike, south of them, whose grassy mounds skirt the brow of the high bank. Within these were a mag azine, a few cannon, and heaps of balls , and across the parade, the declining sun, shining brightly, was casting long shad ows of the poplar-trees which were plant- ed there when the fort was built in 1814. It was a beautiful spot, and we lingered as long as time would permit, when we returned to the village and went to the site of Fort Virginia, whose block-house, EEMAINS OF PORT PIKE. BLOOE-HOnSE, SACKETX's KAEBOH. made of heavy hewn timber, was yet stand- ing in perfect preservation, and used as a barn. It was on the premises of Mrs. Tisdale, about twelve rods south from Washington Street. We returned to the commodore's residence at five o'clock, and after tea I started in a light wagon for Watertown, on the Black River, about twelve miles distant, where I spent the Sabbath"' with the fam- aAu. At the Woodruff House, in Watertown, I met Captain Hollins, of the navy, a stout, thick-set man, sixty-one years of age. He was a midshipman in our navy toward the close of the WaT of 1812, and in the course of long years rose to the rank of captain. He, too, deserted his flaig in the hour of his country's peril, went South, and, during the Great Eebellion, played traitor with all the vigor his abilities would allow. ^ His accomplished wife, who was with him in Watertown, was a daughter of the pa- triotic Colonel Sterett, of Baltimore, and, true to her family instincts, tried, it is said, to persuade her husband to stand by his flag. She was in Poughkeepsie, New York, when he arrived at Boston from a cruise in the Massachusetts in May or June, 1861, and hastened to him to prevent his apprehended purpose. She failed, and he fell. I left Watertown on Monday evening for Cape Vincent, for the purpose of visiting places of historic interest on the St. Lawrence. Concerning my visit to Carleton Isl- and, French Creek, and other places near the Thousand Islands, I shall hereafter write. Let us now return to the Niagara frontier, and consider the hostile movements there soon after the battles at Sackett's Harbor, Fort George, and Stony Creek. We left the Americans, under General Dearborn, at Fort George, and the enemy's advance, at the same time, occupied a strong position at the Beaver Dams, among the hills, and at Teh-mile Creek (now Homer village, three miles eastward of St. Catha- rine's), nearer the lake shore. At the former place, De Cou's house, a strong stone building, was made a sort of citadel by the enemy, where supplies were collected from the surrounding country, especially from those of the inhabitants who favored the American cause. The character and position of the place had been ascertained by a scout of mounted riflemen under Major Cyrenius Chapin, of the New York Vol- unteers, who was under Towson in the capture of the ■ Caledonia at Fort Erie the preceding autumn. ^ It was an important post, and General Dearborn determined to attempt its capture. For that purpose he detached five hundred and seventy men, in- cluding Chapin's corps, some artillerymen, and two field-pieces, under Lieutenant Col- 1 A minnte account of this affair, with a portrait of Mr. Fairbanlcs, may be found in Hough's History of Jeferson C DE cod's stoke HOrSE. A fourth of a mile below BATTLE-GEOtrHD. way to its wild depths, and obtained a favorable position for a sketch of the Falls, on the crown of which, shaded by ce- dars and hemlocks, were the remains of an old mill. was another fall of thirty feet, where the ravine deepens and darkens, for the whole declivity down which the stream pours toward the plain is covered with a dense forest. We made our way along a most picturesque road among the hills to the fertile rolling plain below, and stopped at the little log cottage of Captain James Dit- trick, a bachelor of seventy -five, /f and a veteran of /^//Xn/^'T^ the War of 181 2. ^-^ ^ He was commander of the Fourth Lincoln company, and was in the battles at Queenston, Fort George, and Ni- agara, or Lundy's Lane, and was active on the frontier and over the peninsula during tlie whole of the war. He arrived at the Beaver Dams a few minutes after the sur- render of Boerstler, and participated in the joy of the oc- casion. Captain Dittrick was a bald-headed,' heavy man, very pleasant and communicative — ready to " fight his battles o'er again" by his hearthstone. Our visit was made too short for our pleasure and profit by the rum- bling of thunder. We rode on to St. Catharine's, where we arrived in time to escape a drenching shower. I dined with Mr. Merritt and his father's family, and had the pleasure of meeting at the table the widow of the eminent Jesse Hawley who was a distmguished citizen of Western New York, to whom Governor De Witt Clin- ton (autograph letter now before me) gave the credit of being the chief proiector of that great work of internal improvement, the Erie Canal. He published a series of UE cod's falls. OF THE WAU OF 1812. _^ 625 Visit to Hamilton and Stony Creeh. A Refugee from the Wyoming Talley. Depart ure for Brautford. able letters over the signature of "Hercules," whose wise suggestions led to the con- struction of that mighty work which immortalized the name of Clinton, and added millions to the wealth of New York.' I left St. Catharine's toward evening for the beautiful city of Hamilton, at the head of the lake. ^ The railway passes through a most charming country lying between the " Mountain" or ancient shore of Ontario and the lake. This mountain approaches the lake within three fourths of a mile at Hamilton, and then, turning more, south- ward, assists in forming the deep valley in which Dundas lies nestled. I passed the night at the Royal Hotel,in Hamilton, and at six o'clock the next morning started in a light wagon for Stony Creek, seven miles eastward, over a fine stone road. I was directed to Colonel Daniel Lewis for information concerning the battle and its local- ities. His residence was a little northward of the village, but he was absent. From Mr. Heales, residing there, I obtained all needful knowledge respecting the place of the encampment and the combat. After making the sketch on page 60.3, 1 returned to the village, made my way half a mile southward of it, and took a hasty glance at the pouring down of Stony Creek from the " Mountain" in a perpendicular fall of one hundred and thirty feet into a "deep, narrow gorge. Wishing to depart from Hamil- ton for Paris at twelve o'clock, I did not linger long at the falls. On my way back I stopped at the house of Mr. Michael Aikman to obtain some information concerning the place of the British encampment on Burlington Heights. He too was absent, but I spent a most interesting half hour with his mother, Mrs. Hannah Aikman, a small, delicate woman, then ninety-one years of age. She was the daughter of Michael Showers, a Tory refugee from the Wyoming Valley. She and her family were in Wintermoot's Fort, and her father was one of Butler's Rangers. After the battle there they were compelled to fly. They went up the Susquehanna, and across the country by way of the Genesee, intending to go to Niagara by the lake in a small boat which they took with them. It was so injured that it could not be used. The father walked to Fort Niagara for relief, and for a week his family subsisted on roots which they dug from the soil. They were timely relieved by some Mississagua In- dians. Her father was one of the settlers with Butler's Rangers on the Canadian peninsula, and for almost seventy years she had lived at her then place of abode.^ When I told her of my visit to Wintermoot's house, and described it as she remem- bered it, and spoke of the Wintermoots, the Burnets, the Hallenbecks, the Dorrances, and others whom she knew, her eyes brightened, and she said it seemed as if one of her old neighbors had come to see her. I reached Hamilton^ just in time to take the cars for the West, and, as I have al- ready mentioned, arrived at Brantford, on the Grand River, that evening. Of my visit to the Indian settlements in that vicinity I have elsewhere written.* 1 It is proper to say here that the project of a canal to connect the waters of Lake Brie with those of the Hudson Eiver was contemplated by General Philip Schuyler, Elkanah Watson, and Christopher CoUes, many years before Mr. Hawley wrote his convincing letters. ' I have before mentioned in this work that, after the Eevolntion, Butler's Rangers and other refugees from the United States settled on the Canadian peninsula. Bach one of Butler's Rangers, almost five hundred in number, was presented with a thousand acres of land in this then wilderness, and that district, of which there were four in the prov- ince, was called Nassau. Governor Haldimand, a German, named the four districts respectively, beginning at the De- troit, Hesse, Nassau, Mecklenburg, and Lunenburg. Haldimand was a great friend of the Canadians ; but Simcoe, de- sirous of making the province as English as possible, and denoting native nationality, gave British names to almost every place. In this spirit he changed the name of Toronto to York, in honor of a victory by the Duke of York on the Continent. 3 Hamilton was laid out in 1813, and is situated on the southwestern extremity of Burlington Bay. It is the chief city of West Canada, having a population of about 24,000. Burlington Heights are composed of an immense deposit of gravel, sand, and loam. The village of Burlington was the germ of the city of Hamilton, and stood on its site. The Great Western Railway passes along the shore of the bay, at the foot of the heights,.and' crosses the Des Jardins Canal, which is cut directly through the great hill north of the cemetery and the residence of the late Sir Allan M'Nab. The present railway bridge over the canal is of iron, and seventy feet above the water. The first one was of wood. It gave way, with a train of cars upon it, in March, 1867, when fifty-six persons were killed. In the cemetery may be seen the remains of General Vincent's fortified camp. They form a ridge across the grounds (which comprise about twenty-seven acres), i-unning east and west. The palatial residence of the late Sir Allan M'Nab is called Dunduni Castle. It is built of limestone, fronts southeast, overlooking the bay and Hamilton, and is surrounded by about forty acres of land, * See pages from 420 to 425, inclusive. Re 626 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Kaids on the Niagara Fiontier. A Massacre by Western Indians. Statement of Captain Merritt and others. General Boyd, being the senior officer on the Niagara frontier, became temporary commander-in-chief there after the departure of General Dearborn. He found his po^ sition an important and arduous one. The success of the British at the Beaver Dams made them bold, and they were gradually closing upon the Americans at Fort George and Newark. Frequent picket skirmishing occurred, and bold raids into the Ameri- can territory were performed. One of these occurred on the night of the 4th of July.* A party composed of Canadian militia and Indians, and led by Lieu- tenant Colonel Thomas Clark, crossed the Niagara from Chippewa to Schlosser, captured the guard there, seized a large quantity of provisions, one brass 6-poundei' cannon, several stands of arms, and some ammunition. With th^se spoils they rer turned in triumph to the Canada shore. Four days later a sad tragedy was performed near the residences of John and Peter Ball,' about a mile and a half from Fort George. The gallant young leader, Merritt, then just twenty years of age, was sent with a small party to recover some medicines near Ball's which the British had concealed when they fled from Fort George in May. A body of one hundred and fifty savages, just arrived from the Western wilderness, under Captain M. Elliott, and led by the bloody Blackbird, of Chicago fame,^ were employed as a covering party. Merritt was encamped, and while breakfasting at Ball's a skirmish with an American picket-guard took place not far oflf. Lieutenant Eldridge (then adjutant), with thirty-nine volunteers, went out to the, relief of the guard, and a larger force, under Major Malcolm, prepared to follow. The impetuous Eldridge dashed forward into the thick wood, and fell into an ambush prepared for him by Blackbird and his followers. The foe was repulsed at first, but overwhelm- ing numbers crushed Eldridge and his little party.^ Only five escaped. The prison- ers and wounded were butchered and scalped by the Western savages, whose con- duct on the occasion was marked by the most atrocious barbarity.* This was so shocking and exasperating that General Boyd resolved to adopt Washington's plan of having " Indians fight Indians," and to accept the services of the Senecas and Tus- ' The Ball family still occnpied this dwelling, I was informed, when I visited Niagara in 1860. They have, as a cher- ished relic, the military chapeau worn hy the gallant Brock when he fell at Queenston. 2 gee page 308. 3 Joseph C. Eldridge was a native of New York. He entered the army as second lieutenant in the Thirteenth Hegu- lar Infantry in the spring of 1812. A year afterward he was promoted to first lieutenant, and appointed adjutant. He was distinguished for bravery at Stony Creek a month earlier, and was a young officer of great promise. * There are statements by American and British writers concerning this affair too widely differing to admit of recon- ciliation. Some of the American writers say that the force which fell upon Eldridge was composed of British and In- dians, while British writers declare that no white man was present. The only statement that I have ever met from an eye-witness is that of the late Hon. William Hamilton Merritt in his MS. narrative, now befoi;e me, and from that I have drawn the facts up to the ambush. He says that he had no expectation of being in the flght, and that he and John Bell were the only two white persons engaged in it except a boy thirteen years old, whose father was a prisoner and dan- gerously wounded, and whose eldest brother was killed at Port George. "This little fellow," says Merritt, "was de- termined to revenge the loss his family had sustained, and would not be persuaded to leave the field until his mother [Mrs. Law, whose house was on the ground] came out and took him away in her arms by force." An American officer, writing from Fort George the next day, said that two of the five survivors, and who were at first taken prisoners, stated that there were British soldiers in the ambush, painted as Indians, " with streaks of green and red around their eyes." — Nihs's Begiater, iv., 352. Mr. Merritt says that his whole attention, after the fight, was given to the prisoners in the hands of Blackbird and his followers, and that his own life was threatened because he made intercession for those of the captives. " The poor devils," he says, " were crying and imploring me to save their lives, as I was the only white man they saw." He says that the Indians, after getting an interpreter, promised him that " the lives of the prisoners should be spared— would only frighten them a great deal, to prevent them coming again. I made a solemn vow," he continues, " if a prisoner was killed, never to go out with an Indian again." The savages violated their pledge, and butchered their prisoners with a barbarity too revolting to be repeated here. The American officer above alluded to says : "I break open this letter for the purpose of stating that the body (as is supposed) of Lieutenant Eldridge, the adjutant of the Thirteenth, has been brought in this moment, naked, mangled in the manner mentioned of the other." The excuse made for the murder of Eldridge was that, after he was made prisoner, he treacherously drew a concealed pistol and shot one of the chiefs through the head. This was Blackbird's reason for murdering all. Mr. Merritt speaks of Eldridge as " the offi- cer who forfeited his life by firing at an Indian while a prisoner." He does not speak from his own knowledge. An investigation proved the assertion of the savage leader to be wholly untrue, and this crime (strange as it may appear) stands, uncondemned by British writers, one of pure barbarian cruelty. The following least revolting recital is from a letter from an American officer to his friend in Baltimore, dated at Fort George, July 12 : "A recital will make you shudder. I will merely mention the fate of a young officer who came under my notice, whose body was found, the day after the action, cut and mangled in the most shocking manner, his entrails torn from his body, and ms heart stuffed in his iiouru ! We are resolved to show no quarter to the Indians after -.Mas."— mUs's Weekly Eegist£r,\y.,m. OF THE "WAR OF 18 12.' 627 ES:peaition against Black Rock. General Porter hurries to its Defense. Repnlse of tlie British. caroras, who had proffered them, under certain conditions which humanity would impose. Clark's su'coess at Schlosser suggested another and more important expedition. It was the surprise of the American naval station and deposit for stores and munitions of war at Black Rock, near Buffalo. It was organized by the gallant Lieutenant Colonel Cecil Bisshopp, of the British Forty-first. He left his head-quarters at Lundy's Lane on the afternoon of the lOth,^ with detachments from the Royal Artillery, and » juiy, the Eighth, Forty -first, and Forty -ninth Regiments, and at Chippewa was ^^^^• joined by Lieutenant Colonel Clark, with a body of Lincoln militia and volunteers, making his whole force between three and four hundred in number. They embarked at Chippewa early m the evening, and at half an hour before dawn'' landed ^ ^ , , , unperceived on the American shore, a short distance below Black Rock. The block-house there, called Fort Tompkins, was in charge of less than a dozen ar- tillerists ; and the only other available military force at the station was about two hundred militia, under Major Adams, with two or three pieces of artillery. At Buf- falo, two miles distant, were less than a hundred infantry and dragoon recruits from the South, on their way to Fort George, and a small body of Indians under Henry O'Bail, the young Corn-planter, who had been partially educated at Philadelphia, but who, Indian-like, could not brook the restraints of civilization, and had gone back to his blanket and feather head-dress. These forces w^re under the command of Gen- eral Peter B. Porter, who was then residing at his house near Black Rock.' Bisshopp was accompanied by Colonel Warren. They surprised Major Adam's camp, and he and his alarmed militia fled precipitately to Buffalo, leaving the artil-^ lery unharmed on the ground. General Porter narrowly escaped capture in his own house. He made an unsuccessful attempt to reach Adam's camp when he learned of the flight of the militia and the garrison at the block-house. He followed on foot toward Buffalo, and on the way met Captain Cummings, with one hundred regulars, who, having heard of the invasion, was advancing toward Black Rock. In the mean time the enemy had fired the block-house and barracks, attacked the navy buildings and a schooner lying there, and the principal ofiicers had gone to the house of Gen- eral Porter, where they ordered breakfast. Their followers, and the re-enforcements continually coming over from the Canada shore, were employed meanwhile in plun- dering the inhabitants and public stores not destroyed by fire. On meeting Captain Cummings, Porter ordered him to halt. Then, mounting the horse of one of the dragoons, he hastened to Buffalo, rallied about one half of Major Adam's militia, and, with these and about fifty volunteer citizens, he soon rejoined Cummings. With the united force and about forty Indians, he attacked the invaders, at eight o'clock, from three different points. The Indians, who were concealed in a ravine, arose from cover, and gave the appalling war-whoop at the moment of the attack', and added much to the surprise and confusion of the British, who did not ex- pect the return of the Americans. After a short, spirited contest, the foe were beaten, and driven in confusion toward their boats, now moored near the present ferry, where* they rallied. Porter now concentrated his own forces, and fell upon Bisshopp with so much power that, after a contest of not more than twenty minutes, he fled with precipitation to his boats, leaving nine killed and sixteen or eighteen prisoners, among whom was Captain Saunders, of Bisshopp's regiment, who was badly wounded.^ He was carried gently by the Indians in blankets to General Porter's house. ^ The Brit- 2 Stone'f Life 'of Brant, page 242 ; Lieutenant Colonel Clarke's Official Eeport to Lientenant Colonel Harvey, dated ChiDDewa Jiilv 12 1813 Mr. Stone says that, after he had written his account of the affair at Black Rock, he placed his raannscrip't in the' hands of General Porter, who was then living. The general not only corrected it, but rewrote the whole narrative, the substknce of which is given in the text. ' ' __ „*„_., 3 The Indians after taking from Captain Saunders his cap, epaulettes, sword, and belt, carried him gently to Porter s house. He was'wounded by a rifle-ball passing through his chest and lungs, and another shattering his wrist. He re-. 628 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Death of Bisshopp. His Monument Expedition to Bgrlington Heights. Descent on York. ish suffered a greater loss after they had reached their boats.' Among those mor- tally wounded was the commander of the expedition, a gallant young man, thirty years of ao^e. He was conveyed in sadness to his head-quarters at Lundy's Lane, where after lingering five days, he died. He was huried in the bosom of a green slope, in a small cemetery on the south side of Lundy's Lane, a short distance from the great cataract of the Niagara, by his brother oflBcers, who erected over his grave a neat monument. In the course of time it fell into decay, and thirty-three years afterward the sisters of the young soldier replaced it by another and more elegant one. Upon the recumbent slab that surmounts it is an appropriate inscription.^ During the remainder of the summer there were fre- quent skirmishes in the neighborhood of Port George, caused by attacks upon American foraging parties, but no enterprise of much importance was undertaken ex- cepting an attempt to capture the British stores at Bur- BissHopp's MONUMENT. UngtoH Heights, known to be in charge of a feeble guard under Major Maule. This was attempted toward the end of July. Colonel Win- field Scott had just been promoted to the command of a double regiment (twenty companies), and had resigned the ofiice of adjutant general. He was eager for dis- tmction and useful service, and he volunteered to lead any land force that might be sent to the head of Ontario. Chauncey was then making gallant cruises about the lake. He had twelve vessels, and felt strong enough to cope with any force that might appear under Sir James Yeo. The expedition to Burlington Heights was under the chief command of Chauncey. He appeared at the mouth of the Niagara River with his fleet on the 27th of July, ' and on the following day he sailed for the head of Ontario, with three hundred land troops under Colonel Scott. Meanwhile Colonel Harvey had taken measures for the security of the British stores at Burlington. Lieutenant Colonel Battersby was or- dered from York with a part of the Glengary corps to re-enforce the guard under Major Maule. By forced marches Battersby joined Maule before Chauncey's arrival. That officer and Scott soon perceived that their force was insufficient for the pre- scribed work. Convinced of this, and informed of the defenseless state of York on account of the withdrawal of Battersby's detachment, Chauncey spread his sails, went across the lake, and entered that harbor on the 31st. Colonel Scott landed his troops without opposition, took possession of the place, burnt the barracks, public store- houses and stores, and eleven transports, destroyed five pieces of cannon, and bore mained at Porter's, kindly treated and attended by his wife, who was sent for, for abont three weeks, when he was suf- ficiently recovered to be sent to the rendezvous of prisoners at Williamsville. — Stone's Life of Bed Jackei^ page 246. 1 The entire loss of the British during 'this expedition, in killed, wounded, and missing, must have been almost sev- enty. Some estimated it as high as one hundred. The loss of the Americans was three killed and five wounded. Two of the latter were Indians. The destruction of property was not so great as has been generally represented. The Americans did not lose, by destruction or plunder, more than one third of the valuable naval stores at Black Eock, col- lected for Commodore Perry, nor did they reach a particle of the military stores for the use of the army, then deposited at Buffalo. . The enemy destroyed or captured i cannon, 17T English and French muskets, 1 three-poun der traveling car- riage, 6 ammnnition kega, a small quantity of round and case shot, 123 barrels of salt, 46 barrels of whisky, considerable Clothing and blankets, and a small quantity of other stores.— Clark's Official Report. ^ The following is a copy of the inscription : "Sacred to the memory of Lieutenant Colonel the Honorable Cecil Bisshopp, 1st Foot Guards, and inspecting field- officer in Upper Canada, eldest and only surviving son of Sir Cecil Bisshopp, Bart., Baron de la Fonche, in England. After having served with distinction in the British army in Holland, Spain, and Portugal, he died on the 16th of July, 1813, aged 30, in consequence of wounds received in action with the enemy at Black Bock on the 11th of the same month, to the great grief of his family and friends, and is buried here. " This tomb, erected at the time by his brother officers, becoming much dilapidated, is now (1846) renewed by his af- fectionate sisters, the Baroness de la Fouche and the Honorable Mrs. Hechell, in memory of an excellent man and be- loved brother." Lieutenant Colonel Bisshopp received a severe, but not mortal wound while on shore, and four or five others after he entered his boat. The gallant Fitzgibbon took charge of him, and conveyed him as tenderly as possible from Chip- pewa to Lundy's Lane. OP THE WAE OF 1812. 629 General Dearborn succeeded by General Wilkinson. Arrival of the Latter at Washington. Indian skirmishiug. away as spoils one heavy gun and a considerable quantity of provisions, chiefly of flour. The expedition returned to the Niagara on the 3d of August, carrying with them the sick and wounded of Boerstler's command found in York. No military movements of much importance occurred on that frontier after this until late in the year.i Four days after the return to the Niagara, while Chauncey's fleet was lying at an- chor in the mouth of the river, a British squadron under Sir James Yeo made its ap- pearance. Chauncey went out to attack the baronet. They manoeuvred all day, and after midnight, during a heavy squall, two of the American vessels were capsized and lost, with all on board excepting sixteen. This movement we shall consider 'here- after, in giving a connected account of the naval operations on Lake Ontario dur- ing the year 1813. We have noticed the retirement of General Dearborn from the command of the Northern Army. That measure had been decided upon by General Armstrong, the Secretary of War, full six months before it occurred. He considered the command of that army " a burden too heavy for General Dearborn to carry with advantage to the nation or credit to himself," and two remedies were suggested to the Secretary's mind — " the one a prompt and peremptory recall, the other such an augmentation of his stafi" as would secure to the army better instruction, and to himself the chance of wiser councils."^ The former remedy was chosen, and General James Wilkinson, then in command in the Gulf region, and General Wade Hampton, stationed at Norfolk, in Virginia, were ordered to the Northern frontier. These men had been active officers in the old War for Independence, the first on the stafi" of General Gates, and the sec- ond as a partisan ranger in South Carolina in connection with Marion. Unfortunate- ly for the good of the public service, they were now bitter enemies, and so jealous of each other that they would not co-operate, as we shall observe, at a critical moment. It was early in March when the Secretary's orders were sent to Wilkinson, and with them was a private letter from the same hand, breathing the most friendly spirit, and saying, " Why should you remain in your land of cypress when patriotism and ambition equally invite you to one where grows the laurel .^ .... If our cards be well played we may renew the scenes of Saratoga."^ Wilkinson was fiattered, and as soon as he could make his arrangements he left the " land of the cypress," jour- neyed through the Greek country by way of Fort Mims to the capital of Georgia, and thence northward to Washington City, where he arrived, weary and worn with several hundreds of miles of travel, and weak with sickness, on the 31st of July. He was cordially received by Armstrong and the President, and, after being allowed to rest a few days, and becoming formally invested with the power of commander-in- chief of the Army of the North in place of Dearborn, a plan of the proposed opera- tions of that army during the remainder of the campaign, which the Secretary had laid before the Cabinet on the 23d of July,* was presented to him for con- «i8i3. sideration,'' with an expressed desire that if he should perceive any thing ' August 6. objectionable in the plan he would freely suggest modifications. At the beginning of the campaign Armstrong was anxious to secure the control 1 There were freqnent picket skirmishes. Among the most conspicnons of these was one that occurred near Fort George on the 16th of August while the belligerents were near each other. It was the first, of any account, in which the Indians of Western New York engaged after their alliance with the Americans, which had been made with the ex- plicit understanding that they were not to kill the enemy who were wounded or prisoners, or take scalps. The occa- sion referred to was an effort to capture a strong British picket. About three hundred volunteers and Indians under Major Ohapin and General Peter B. Porter, and two hundred regulars under Major Cummings, were sent out by General Boyd for the purpose. The primary object was defeated by a heavy rain, but a severe skirmish ensued, in which the enemy was routed, and twelve British Indians and four white soldiers were captured. The principal chiefs who led the American Indians were Parmer's Brother, Eed Jacket, Little Billy, Pollard, Blacksnake, Johnson, Silver Heels, Cap- tain Half-town, Major Henry CBaU (Complanter's son), and Captain Cold, chief of the Onondagas.— £oj/(J'« Dispatch. 2 Notices of theWar of lSl%ii.,23. s Armstrong to Wilkinson, March 12, 1813. Armstrong and Wilkinson were both members of General Gates's mili- tary staff during the campaign which resulted in the capture of Burgoyne at Saratoga in the autumn of 1777. 630 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Secretary Armstrong and General W ilkinson. Generals Wilkinson and Hampton. Hanghtineas of Hampton. of the St. Lawrence by the capture of Kingston, but circumstances, as we have seen,i prevented an attempt to do so. That project was now revived, and had received the approval of the Cabinet. It did not strike Wilkinson favorably, and on the 6th of August, in a written communication to the Secretary, the general freely suggested modifications, saying, " Will it not be better to strengthen our force already at Fort George, cut up the British in that quarter, destroy Indian establishments, and (should General Harrison fail in his object) march a detachment and capture Maiden ? After which, closing our operations on the peninsula, razing all works there, and leaving our settlements on the strait in tranquillity, descend lite lightning with our whole force on Kingston, and, having reduced that place, and captured both garrison and shipping, go down the St. Lawrence and form a junction with Hampton's column,^ if the lateness of the season should permit."^ The object of that junction was to make a combined attack on Montreal. The Secretary of War, always impatient when his opinions were disputed, at once conceived a dislike of his old companion in ai-ms, whom he had invited so kindly to come North and win laurels, and from that time a widening estrangement existed. Long years afterward the Secretary wrote, " This strategic labor of the general had no tendency to increase the executive confidence in either his professional knowledge or judgment. Still the President hoped that if the opinions it contained were mildly rebuked, the general would abandon them, and, after joining the army, would hasten to execute the plan already communicated to him."* Armstrong replied courteously to Wilkinson. He adhered to his own plan, but al- lowed that the fall of Kingston and the attainment of the control of the St. Lawrence might be as efiectually accomplished indirectly by a quick movement down the river against Montreal, masked by a feigned attack on the f6rmer place. But he decidedly objected to any farther movements against the enemy on the Canadian peninsula, as they would but " wound the tail of the lion ;"= and Wilkinson departed for Sackett's ■August 11. Harbor* without any definite plan of operations determined upon, while 1813. Armstrong sent instructions to General Boyd to keep within his lines at Fort George, and simply hold the enemy at bay, notwithstanding the American force was much larger than that of the British. On his way to Sackett's Harbor Wilkinson sent from Albany his first orders to Hampton, as commander-in-chief of the Northern Army. This aroused the ire of the old aristocrat, whose landed possessions in South Carolina and Louisiana were almost princely, and whose slaves were numbered by thousands. His anger was intensified i A t October 13, When Scott left Fort George" it was believed that the British troops 1813- had been called from the west end of Lake Ontario to re-enforce the gar- rison at Kingston. Such order had been sent to Vincent by the timid Sir George Prevost when he heard of Proctor's disaster. On the receipt of it Vincent called a council of officers, when it was resolved to disobey it, and not only hold the penin- sula, but endeavor to repossess every British post on the Niagara frontier. Mean- while M'Clure was sending out foraging parties, who greatly alarmed and distressed the inhabitants. They appealed for protection to General Vincent, and he sent a de- tachment of about four hundred British troops under Colonel Murray, and about one hundred Indians under Captain M. Elliott, to drive the foragers back. The work was accomplished, and the Americans were very soon hemmed within their own lines by the foe, who took position at Twelve-mile Creek, now St. Catharine's. While affairs were in this condition at Fort George General Harrison arrived there, as we have seen,^ with the expectation of leading an expedition against Burlington Heights. But he was speedily ordered to embark, with all his troops, on Chauncey's ' November 10 squadron, for Sackett's Harbor. M'Clure was again alone'' with his vol- unteers and militia. The time of service of the latter was about to ex- pire, and none could be induced to remain.^ Gloomy intelligence came from the St. Lawrence — Wilkinson's expedition had failed. Startling intelligence came from the westward — Lieutenant General Drummond, accompanied by Major General Riall, had lately arrived on the Peninsula, with re-enforcements from Kingston, and as- sumed chief command ; and Murray, with his regulars and Lidians, was moving to- ward Fort George. Its garrison was reduced to sixty effective regulars of the Twen- ty-fourth United States Infantry. These were in great peril, and M'Clure determ- ined to abandon the post, and place his little garrison in Fort Niagara. The weather was extremely cold. Temperature had been faithful to the calendar, and winter had commenced in earnest on the 1st of December. Deep snow was upon the ground, and biting north winds came over the lake. " Shall I leave the foe comfortable quar- ters, and thus increase the danger to Fort Niagara ?" he asked of the Spirit and Usage of War. They answered No, and with this decision, and under the sanction of an or- der from the itinerant War Department,* he attempted to blow up the fort while his "December 10. ^^^ ^^^^ Crossing'' the icy flood.= Then he applied the brand to the beautiful village of Newark. One hundred and fifty houses were speed- ily laid in ashes.* The inhabitants had been given only a few hours' warning ; and, District of New York. It was first called Old Fort Schnyler Village. At the time we are considering it had about 1700 mhabitants, and was a central point for all the principal avenues of communication. Its population now is about 25 000 1 The present Jefferson County was then known as the Black Eiver country. 2 See page'559' 3 " I offered a bounty of two dollars a month," says M'Clure, in the Buffale Gazette, " for one or two months, but with- out effect. Some few of Colonel Bloom's regiment took the bounty, and immediately disappeared " * From Sackett's Harbor the Secretary of War wrote as follows : "q™ tt j . j- l^ ^.^ , , . "WarDepartment, October!, 1813. bin,— understanding that the defense of the post committed to your charge may render it proper to destroy the tmm of Newark yon are hereby directed to apprise the inhabitants of this circumstance, and invite them to remove them- selves and their effects to some place of greater safety. j„hn Abmstbong. Brigadier General M'Clure, or officer commanding at Fort George." Behind this order General M'Clure took shelter when assailed by the public indignation. 5 Mr E. Giddinga, a printer, kept the ferry between the fort and Youngstown opposite at that time, and for many years succeeding the war he had charge of Fort Niagara. He narrowly escaped capture when the British took the fort in De- r 1,°?'/ ""Jf ^°™^ "^^ '^'' standing. Mr.Merritt, in his Narrativ.e, says: "Nothing but heaps of boats and streets full of furniture that the inhabitants were fortunate enough to get out of their houses, met onr eyes. My old Quarters Gordon's house, was the only one standing." J"y oiu qnariers. OF THE WAK OF 18 12. 633 Sufferings of the Inhabitants. Just Indignation of the British. Fort Niagara surrendered. ^ t ■ with little food and clothing, a large numher of helpless women and children were driven from their homes into the wintry air houseless wanderers.^ Oh ! it was a cruel act. War is always cruel, but this was more cruel than necessity demanded, j It excited hot indignation and the spirit of vengeance, which soon caused the hand / of retaliation to work fearfully. It provoked the commission of great injury to Amer-/ ican property, and left a stain upon the American character. Murray was at Twelve-mile Creek when he heard of the conflagration of Newark. He pressed on eagerly, hoping to surprise the garrison. He was a little too late, yet his swift approach had caused M'Clure to fly so precipitately that he failed to hlow up the fort or destroy the barracks on the bank of the river ; and he left behind tents sufficient to shelter fifteen hundred men. These, with several cannon, a large quan- tity of shot, and ten soldiers, fell into the hands of the British; That night the red cross of St. George floated over the fortress, and Murray's troops slumbered within its walls. " Let us retaliate by fire and sword," said Murray to Drummond, as they gazed, with eyes flashing with indignation, upon the ruins of Newark. . " Do so," said the commander, " swiftly and thoroughly ;" and on the night of the 1 8th of December — a cold, black night — Murray crossed the river at Five-mile Meadows, three miles above Fort Niagara, with about a thousand men, British and Indians. With five hundred and fifty regulars he pressed on toward the fort, carrying axes, scaling-lad- ders, and other implements for assault, and shielded from observation by the thick cover of darkness. They captured the advanced pickets, secured silence, and, while the garrison were soundly sleeping, hovered around the fort in proper order for a sys- tematic and simultaneous attack at difierent points. Five companies of the One Hundredth Regiment, under Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton, were to assail the main gate and escalade the adjacent works ; three companies of the same regiment, under Captain Martin, were to storm the eastern demi-bastion ; the Royal Scots Grena- diers, Captain Bailey, were to assault the salient angle. of the fortification; and the flank companies of the Forty-first Regiment were ordered to support the principal attack.^ These preparations were unnecessary. Gross negligence or positive treachery had _ exposed the fort to easy capture. M'Clure had established his head-quarters at Buf- falo, and when he left Niagara on the 12th,* he charged Captain Leonard, . December, commander of the garrison, to be vigilant and active, for invasion might ^^^^■ be expected. This vigilance and activity the invaders had prepared for ; but when, at about three o'clock in the morning, Hamilton went forward to assail the main gate, he found it. standing wide open and unguarded ! Leonard had left the fort the even- ing before at eleven o'clock, and spent the night with his family at his house three miles in the rear. He gave no hint to the garrison of exp'ected assault, and his de- parture was without their knowledge.^ They were between three and four hundred strong in fairly efiective men, and, with a competent and faithful commander, might have kept the invaders at bay. They had neither, and when the foe came there was no one to lead. The sentinels were seized, and in fear gave up the countersign to the foe and the fort was entered without much resistance. The occupants of the south- eastern block-house, and the invalids of the Red Barracks, made such determined op- position for a few minutes that Lieutenant Nowlan and five men were killed, and Col- > The unsornpulous James (11., 8) says : " General M'Clure gave about half an hour's notice to the Inhabitants of New- ark that he should bum down their village," and says very few believed him to be in earnest. General M'Clure, in a communication to the Buffalo Gazette, says : "The inhabitants had twelve hours' notice to remove their effects, and those who chose to come across the river were provided with all the necessaries of life." s Colonel J.Murray's Report to Lieutenant General Drummond, December 19, 1813. 3 Captain Leonard was suspected of treason. It was stated by General M'Clure, six days after the capture ofthe fort, that he had given himself up to the enemy, " and that his family are now on the Canada side ofthe strait." It is known that he returned to the fort and' became a prisoner. He was " disbanded," or drdpped from theservice not long after- ward. 634 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Massacre at Fort Niagara. Savage Atrocities near Lewlston. Desolation of tlie Niagara Frontier. IMTEKIOK OF rOHT MIAGAEA. onel Murray, three men, and a surgeon were wounded. This conflict was over before the remainder of the garrison were fairly awake to the cause of the tumult, and the fort was in possession of the foe. It might have been an almost bloodless victory had not the unhallowed spirit of revenge for the outrage at Newark demanded vic- tims. Murray did not restrain that spirit, and a large number of the garrison, many of them invalids, were bayoneted after all resistance had ceased !> This horrid work was performed on Sunday morning, the 19th of December, 1813. When Murray had gained full possession of the fort, he fired one of its largest can- non as a signal of success for the ear of General Riall, who, with a detachment of British regulars and about five hundred Indians, was waiting for it at Queenston. Eiall immediately put his forces in motion, and at dawn crossed the Niagara to Lew- iston, and took possession of the village without much opposition from Major Bennett and a detachment of militia who were stationed on Lewiston Heights at Fort Grey. At the same time a part of Murray's corps plundered and destroyed the little village of Youngstown (only six or eight houses), near Fort Niagara. Full license was given by Riall to his Indian allies, and Lewiston was sacked, plun- dered, and destroyed — made a perfect desolation.^ This accomplished, the invaders pushed on toward the little hamlet of Manchester (now Niagara Falls Village) ; but, when ascending Lewiston Heights, they were met and temporarily checked and driv- en back by the gallant Major Mallory, who, with forty Canadian volunteers, came down from Schlosser and fought the foe for two days as they pushed him steadily back toward Buffalo.^ He could do but little to stay the marcti of the desolatoi". The whole Niagara frontier on the American side, from Fort Niagara to Tonewanta Creek, a distance of thirty-six miles, and far into the interior, was swept with the be- 1 Tlie loss of the Americans was 80 killed— many of them hospital patients — 14 -wonnaeai and 344 made prisoners. Of the entire garrison only 20 escaped. The spoils consisted of 27 pieces of cannon, 3000 stand of arms and nyiny rifles, an immense amount of ordnance and commissariat stores, and a large quantity of clothing and camp equipage of every description. 2 A lettfer to the editor of Niks^s Weekly Hsgister from a gentleman on thq frontier said : " They killed at and near Lew- iston eight or ten of the inhabitants, who, when found, were all scalped with the exception of one, whose head was oat off. Among the bodies was that of a boy ten or twelve years old, stripped and scalped." = General M'Clure's Eeport to Governor Tompkins, dated at Buffalo, December 22, 1813. OF THE WAE OF 1812. 635 Desolation of the Niagara Frontier. New York Militia at Baffalo! The British at Black Eock. som of destruction placed by British authority in the hands of savage pagans. ^ Man- chester, Schlosser, and Tuscarora Village shared the fate of Youngstown and Lewis- ton. » Free course was given to the blood-thirsty Indians, and many innocent persons were butchered, and survivors were made to fly in terror through the deep snow to some forest shelter or remote cabin of a settler far beyond the invaders' track. Buf- falo, too, would have been plundered and destroyed had not the progress of the foe been checked by the timely destruction of the bridge over the Tonewanta Creek. But the respite for doomed Buffalo was short. Riall and his followers returned to Lewiston, crossed over to Queenston, and on the morning of the 28th appeared at Chippewa, under the command of Lieutenant General Drummond. In the mean time the alarm had spread over Western New York, and the inhabitants were thoroughly aroused. General M'Clure had sent out a stirring address'' to the "in- « December is, habitants of Niagara, Genesee, and Chautauqua," urging them to repair ^^^^- ', immediately to Lewiston, Schlosser, and Buffalo.^ General Amos Hall, with his usual alacrity, called out the militia and invited volunteers. His head-quarters were at Batavia, where the government had an arsenal, thirty or forty miles eastward from Buffalo, and there General M'Clure resigned his command, and took orders from Hall. As fast as men were collected they were sent to Black Eock and Buffalo, and thitherward Hall hastened on the morning of the 25th. He reached Buffalo twenty-four hours after his departure from Batavia, and there found " a considerable body of irregular troops of various descriptions, disorganized and confused. Every thing wore the appearance of consternation and dismay."* He ordered their immediate organization ; and when, on the 27th, he reviewed the troops, he found their number to be a little more than two thousand at Buffalo and Black Rock.^ General Drummond advanced to a point nearly opposite Black Rock on the 29th, and reconnoitred the American camp. At midnight General Riall crossed with reg- ulars, Canadians, and Indians, about a thousand strong, and landed where Bisshopp (Jid, about two miles below Black Rock. Moving immediately forward, they encoun- tered mounted pickets under Lieutenant Boughton, who, after a brief skirmish with the British vanguard, fled across Shogeoquady Creek. « The enemy took possession of the " Sailors' Battery" there and the bridge, and then paused, while Boughton 1 This was a hamlet. Augnstus Porter, Esq., had valuable mills there. These were destroyed. 2 A handbill printed at Montreal on the 28th of December, and cited by the Plattsburg Republican of January 1, 1814, contained an extract of a letter from " an officer of high rank" (Lieutenant General Drummond 1) at Queenston, written on the 19th, in which the following passage occurs : "A war-whoop from five hundred of the Tnost savage Indians (which they gave just at daylight, on hearing of the success of the attack on Fort Niagara) made the enemy take to their heels [at Lewiston], and our troops are in pursuit. We shall not stop until we have cleared the whole frontier. The Indians are retaliating the conflagration of Newark. Not a house within my sight but is in Jlaffnes. This is a melancholy but j ust retaliation." 3 This address was issued on the day preceding the capture of Fort Niagara, M'Clure having been informed by his scouts of the preparations of the British to make a descent upon the American side of the Niagara. 4 Hall's Eeport to Governor Tompkins. 5 There were 129 mounted volunteers, under Lieutenant Colonel Boughton ; 433 exempts and volunteers, under Lieu- tenant Colonel Blakeslee, of Ontario; 136 Buffalo militia, under Colonel Chapin ; 97 Canadian volunteers, under Major Mallory ;* 332 Genesee militia, under Major Adams. These were at Buffalo. At Black Hock were stationed 382 effect- ive men, under Brigadier General Hopkins, coinposed of corps commanded by Lieutenant Colonels Warren and Church- ill, exclusive of a body of 3T mounted infantry under Captain Bansom ; 83 Indians, under Lieutenant Colonel Granger ; 25 artillery, under Lieutenant Seely, with a 6-pounder ; and about BOO Chautauqua Indians, under Lieutenant Colonel M'Mahon.— Hall's Report to Governor Tompkins, Januai-y 6, 1814. « See map on page 382. * Major Benajah Mallory had been, in early youth, in the military service toward the close of the Bevolutibnary War. He had'settled in Canada, but, with others, took sides with his own country, and became the commander of the famous partisan corps known as the " Canadian Eefugees." He was in the severe battle at Niagara Falls, or Lundy's Lane, and assisted General Scott from the field after he was wounded. He resided many years in Lockport, New York, and when, in 1852, Scott stopped there on a journey, he recognized the veteran as one of his loved compauions in arms. 636 l^ICTOEIAL PIELD-EOOK Bad Conduct of the Militia. Battle near Blacl: Eock. The Americans repulsed. hastened with news of the fact to General Hall's quarters, between Buffalo and Black Rock. The night was very dark. The troops at head-quarters were paraded, and . Lieutenant Colonels Warren and Churchill (General Hopkins was absent from camp) were ordered to go forward with their corps and feel the position and strength of the enemy. They met the foe, and at the first fire they broke and fled, and were no more seen during the following day. Hall then ordered Adams and Chapin, with their commands, to the same duty, and the same result ensued ; and at the dawn of the 30th he found himself in command of eight hundred troops less than at the evening twilight of the 29th. They had actually deserted. Hall now advanced with his whole force, and ordered Lieutenant Colonel Blakeslee to move forward and commence the attack on the enemy's left. They marched to- ward Black Rock on the Hill Road, and in the dim light of early dawn saw a flotilla of British boats making for the shore near General Porter's mansion. These bore the Royal Scots, eight hundred in number," who landed under cover of a five-gun battery on the American shore, in the face of severe opposition. Their plan of attack was soon revealed to the American general, and he made his dispositions accordingly. Colonel Gordon, of the centre, with about four hundred Scots, commenced the attack, while the British left wing attempted to flank the American right. Hall quickly foiled this design by throwing Granger and his Indians, and Mallory and his Cana- dian Refugees, in the way of the enemy's advancing left wing. At the same time Blakeslee and his Ontario militia confronted the centre, and M'Mahon and his Chau- tauqua troops were posted as a reserve at the battery of Fort Tmripkins,' which was commanded by the gallant Lieutenant John Seely. _ The batteries on the Canada shore and the cannon of the Americans opened fire simultaneously and vigorously, while Blakeslee's men, cool as veterans, disputed the ground with the foe inch by inch. But the Indians and Canadians, lacking moral strength, gave way almost before a struggle was begun, and M'Mahon and his re- serves were ordered to the breach. They, too, gave way and fled, and could not be rallied by their officers. Hall's power was thus completely broken, and he was placed in grealt peril. Deserted by a large portion of his troops, opposed by veter- ans, vastly outnumbered, and almost surrounded, he was compelled, for the safety of the remnant of his little army, to sound a retreat, after he had maintained the un- equal conflict for half an hour. He tried to rally his troops, but in vain. The gal- lant Chapin, with a few of the bolder men, retired slowly along the present Niagara Street toward Bufialo, keeping the enemy partially in check,^ while Hall, with the remainder, who were alarmed and scattered, retired to Eleven-mile Creek,' where he rallied about three hundred men, who remained true to the old flag. With these he was enabled to cover the flight of the inhabitants, and to check the advance of the invaders into the interior. The British and their Indian allies took possession of Buffalo,^ and proceeded to plunder, destroy, and slaughter. Only four buildings were left standing in the town These were the jail (built of stone), the frame of a barn, Reese's blacksmith-shop, and the dwellmg of Mrs. St. John, a resolute woman, who, more fortuna te than her neigh- ,,i»A"^^!"f ^', °'^)T I?""' '"' o™ *!. '^'^ of William Bird's house, and Fort Tompkins was on ground now occn- Tefe the stables of the Niagara Street Railway Company. It had six pretty heavy guns, and was^h^argesT woi <.tL'It^"T *''°f T' "f '«°™' J<"'° Seely, a carpenter and joiner, who lived on the comer of Auburn and Niasara Streets, and was lieu enant of a company of artillery at Black Eock. He had fought his pieces onthe brow of fhe hill ZZ^l'^^Z ""^Ti^^ ^'f'.'' •""" "" ""•* ""' ^^™° ■"«" «"d <"=« hovselelt. Mounting the borer wh^ch wis MoT V « ?^ ?™^?-^ ''™"'^" " ^™'' ^"^ "'"' «™S °P™ ">« ^"^y wheuever occasion offered Near wh"re Mohawk Street jmns Niagara was then a slough. Here Seely turned upon his foe. The gun was thrown off frrmit» carnage by the discharge, but was quickly replaced, and taken to the village-^^^fflto dunZZwrn^^lSli- IZ^tl read before the Buffalo Historical Society, March 13, 1S03, by William Doesheimb'I Esq ^ ' ^^^' Uh Z-I'J ^"^ was unofacially surrendered by Colonel Chapin to prevent farther bloodshed. He approached the Brit tr? T''' '"*'' ?."■' "'/ ""S "' *''™"' ''°* ''Sreed to surrender on condition that privatrpropTty shonS b^ re spected. It was agreed to, and he and some other citizens became prisoners. When Gene™RM7fouua tZ rh!.- had no authority to surrender the city, he declared his own agreement void, and gave his marauder free play ^ OF THE WAR OF 18»li'I 637 Destruction of Buffalo and Black Kock. Murders by tke Indians. Horrors of retaliatory Warfare. bor, Mrs. Lovejoy (who was murdered and burnt in her own house), saved her own life and her property.^ At Black Rock only a single building escaped conflagration. It was a log house, in which women and children had taken refuge. The Ariel, lAt- tie Belt, Chippewa, and Trippe, vessels that performed service in the battle on Lake Erie a little more than a hundred days before, were committed to the flames. Fear- ful was the retaliation for the destruction of half-inhabited Newark, where not a life was sacrificed! Six villages, many isolated country houses, and four vessels were consumed ; and the butchery of innocent persons at Fort Niagara, Lewiston, Schlo8~ ser, Tuscarora Village, Black Rock, and Buffalo, and in farm-houses, attested the fierce- ness of the enemy's revenge.^ I Mrs. St. John was a stout, resolute wofnan. I was informed by the venerable Dr. Trowbridge, of Buffalo, who was there at the time, that he went to the house of Mrs. St. John, begged her to leave because the Indians would kill her, offered her the use of his horse for the purpose, and assured her that he would take care of her children. She said, " I can't do it ; here is all I have in the world, and I will stay and defend it." She did so, not "by force but kindness of manner, and her life and property were spared. Mrs. Lovejoy was not so prudent. She, too, was resolute, but resisted *ie Indians by force when they came to the house. They killed and scalped her, and left her body, covered with the silk in which she was dressed, upon the floor. On the following day, when the savages came into the town again to complete their work of destruction, her house and corpse were consumed. The latter had been laid out across the cords of a bedstead by a neighbor. Her son, Henry Lovf^oy (see note 2, page 387), now (1867) living in Buffalo, was then a lad twelve years of age, and was in the affair at Black Eock when Bisshopp was repulsed, where he carried a flint-lock musket, too huge for his strength to bear it long. When the enemy approached at the time we are considering, this brave-hearted woman said to the boy, " Henry, you have fought against the British ; you must run. They will take you prisoner. I am a woman ; they'll not harm me." He fled to the woods. Her house stood on the site of the pres- ent Phoenix Hotel. = In a letter of a gentleman to his wife in Albany, written on the 6th of January, 1814, from Le Eoy, he says : " Nu- merous witnesses testify to the following facts : The Indians mangled and burned Mrs. Lovejoy in Buffalo ; massacred two large families at Black Eock, namely, Mr. Luffer's and Mr. Lecort's ; murdered Mr. Gardner ; put all the sick to death at Tonngstown, and killed, scalped, and mangled sixty at Port Niagara after it was given up. Many dead bodies are yet lying unbnried at Buffalo, mangled and scalped. Colonel Marvin counted thirty-three this morning. I met be- tween Cayuga and this place upward of one hundred families in wagons, sleds, and sleighs, many of them with nothing but what they had on their backs ; nor could they find places to stay at." The suffering of the fugitives was terrible. The almost universal condemnation of General M'Clure for the destruction of Newark, andthe manifold greater enor- mities committed in retaliation, caused Sir George Prevost to hasten before the world with an assurance that he should endeavor to stop that sort of warfare. He well knew that the judgment of mankind would pronounce farther prosecu- tion of war on that plan to be atrocious, and, in a proclamation issued on the 12th of January, 1814, after justifying the retaliation thus far, said : " To those possessions of the enemy along the whole line of frontier which have hitherto re- mained undisturbed, and which are now at the mercy of the troops under his command, his Excellency has detei-mined to extend the same forbearance, and the same freedom from rapine and plunder which they have hitherto experienced ; and from this determination the future conduct of the American government shall alone induce him to depart" 638 PICTORIAL PIELD-BOOK Wilkinson concentrates his Forces. The Secretary of War at Sackett's Harbor. ColonelJ. G. Swift. CHAPTER XXIX. "For a nautical knight, a lady— heigh-ho 1— Pelt her heart and her heart-strings to ache ; To view his dear person she looked to and fro. The name of the knight was Sir James Lncas Yeo, And the Lady—'tv/HB she of the Lake." , Old Sono — The Coubteofs Knight, oe the Flting Gallant. "^^ ENERAL WILETN'SON", as we have seen, arrived at Sackett's Harbor on the 20th of August, 1813, where he formally assumed command of the Northern Army, and, with the co-operation of a council of oflScers, formed a general plan of operations against the eneniy at Kingston and down the St. Lawrence. His first care was to concentrate the forces of his command, which were scattered over an extensive- and sparsely-settled country, some on the Niagara frontier, some at the eastei;n end of Lake Ontario and on the St. Lawrence, and some on Lake Champlain. He accordingly directed those on the Niagara and at Sackett's Harbor to rendezvous on Grenadier Island, in the St. Lawrence, about eighteen miles from the Harbor, and at Erench Creek (now Clayton), about the same distance further down the river. Those composing the right wing, on Lake Champlain, were directed to move at the same time to the Can- ada border, at " the mouth of the Chateau- gay, or other point which would favor the junction of the forces and hold the ene^ my in check." For the purpose of promoting harmony of action between Wilkinson and Hamp- ton, as we have observed, and to add effi- ciency to projected movements, the Secre- tary of War, accompanied by the adjutant general. Colonel Walbach, established the seat of his department at Sackett's Har- bor.- He, and Wilkinson, -Septembers, and the late venerable Gen- i^^^- eral Joseph Gardner Swift (then chief en- gineer of the Northern Army, and bear- ing the commission of colonel') held con- sultations with Governor Tompkins at Albany, who, from the beginning, had em- ployed his best energies for the promotion of the general good, and especially for the defense of his commonwealth against in- vasion. Before considering Wilkinson's expedi- tion, let us turn back a little, and take a <^^-^. Tsr^i^f F^? 1 T ^ T- TcZ '^ "■ Nantncket on the last day of the year 1T83. He entered the army as a cadet at Newport, Ehode Island, m ISOO, and was the first graduate of the Military Academy at West Point. He became attached of W.^Pnlf^'l States Engineers and in 1807 having attained the rank of captain, he was appointed commandant of West Point. He was mi^tary agent at Port Johnson. South Carolina, early in 1812, and was soon afterward made S OF THE WAK OF 1812. 639 Governors Tompkins and Galnsha. General Dearborn moves into Canada. glance at military and naval operations on Lake Champlain up to the autumn of 1813. We shall then Letter understand several aspects of that expedition. When war was declared in June, 1812, zealous supporters of the national adminis- tration were governors of New York and Vermont,^ between which- lay important Lake Champlain. These magistrates, sustained by their respective Legislatures, sec- onded the administration in all its measures. The Legislature of Vermont prohibited all intercourse with Canada except with the permission of the governor, and they adopted measures for calling out the militia of the state when needed. New York was not a whit behind her sister of the Green Mountains in zeal and efficiency. During the summer of 1812 Brigadier General Bloomfield was sent to the Cham- ^f^r-^ CX^-w.^. plain frontier with several regiments, and on the 1st of September had collected about eight thousand men at Plattsburg — regulars, volunteers, and militia — besides some small advanced parties at Chazy and Champlain. General Dearborn arrived there soon afterward, and assumed direct command; and on the 16th of November he moved toward the Canada line with three thousand regulars and two thousand militia, and encamped upon the level ground near the present village of Rouse's Point. There he advanced across the line toward Odell Town, for what ultimate ob- ject no one knew, and on the banks of the La Colle, a tributary of the Sorel, he was confronted by a considerable force of volti- geurs, chasseurs, militia, and Indians, under Lieutenant Colonel De Salaberry, an active British commander. On the morning of the 20th, just at dawn. Colonel Zebulon M. Pike, with about six hundred men, crossed the La Colle, and sur- rounded a block-house which had been occupied by a strong picket-guard of Cana- dians and Indians. These had fled during the previous evening. At about the same time a body of New York militia, who had been detached by another road, approached for the same purpose, and in the dim light of the early morning were mistaken by those at the block-house for enemies. Pike's men opened fii-e upon them, and for aid-de-camp to Major General C. C. Plnckney, of South Carolina, with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He succeeded Jonathan Williams as commander of the United States corps of Engineers, with the rank of colonel. For his valuable services on the St. Lawrence frontier in 1813 and 1814, and in defense of the city of New York, he was breveted as briga- dier general. He was connected with the Military Academy at West Point for several years after the war, and in 1818 he, with several officers of the corps, left the service because of the appointment of General Bernard, a French officer of dis- tinction, to the control of important engineering services on the coast. For nine years General Swift was Surveyor of the port of New York, and from 1839 to 1845 he was superintendent of the harbor improvements on the Lakes. He was in charge of several important works as civil engineer, among which may be named the Baltimore and Susquehanna Railroad, the New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain Eailroad, and the Harlem Eallroad. He went on a mission of peace, by order of President Harrison, to the British American Provinces in 1841, and in 1852 he made a tour in Europe. Gen- eral Swift contributed many valuable papers to publications on scientific subjects. After 1830 he resided in Geneva, New York, spending his winters in Brooklyn, Long Island. I am indebted to hini for many valuable letters relating to the subject of this work. He retained his mental faculties in great perfection until near the time of his death, whicb occurred at Geneva on the 23d of July, 1865. ' Daniel D. Tompkins was Governor of New York, and Jonas Galusha of Vermont, 640 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Eepulse of the British at La Colle. They raUy and defeat the AmericanB. Lient. Vard and.Lient. Col. Carr. nearly half an hour a sharp contest was sustained. When they discovered their mistake, they found De Salaberry ap- proaching in force with a strong ad- vance guard, when Lieutenant Ward,* of the Twenty-ninth New York Militia, with his company of fifty men, moved slowly upon the enemy, and, after re- ceiving three discharges from them without returning a shot, gave the or- der to fire and charge. This was promptly obeyed, and the appalled foe, taken completely by surprise, were driven back to the main body. This gallant performance of the lieutenant elicited the highest praise from his su- periors. But De Salaberry's force was too overwhelming to be successfully withstood. To the Americans a re- treat was sounded, and they fled so precipitately, that they left five of their number dead and five wounded on the field.^ It was a fruitless expedition, and the army returned to • November 23, Plattsburg" out of humor and de- 1S13. pressed in spirits. Three of the regiments of regulars went into winter 1 Lieutenant Aaron Ward received his commission on the 30th of April, 1813. He was promoted to Captain a year later. At the close of the war he was charged with the conducting of the first detachment of British prisoners from the States to Canada. Law was his chosen profession, and in 1825 he became a law-maker by being elected a representa- tive of his district in the State o^New York in the National Congress. He was an active and efficient worker, and his constituents were so well satisfied with his services that he kept his seat twelve out of eighteen consecutive years. He assisted in framing the new Constitution of the State of New York in 1846, and after that he declined to engage in pub- lic life. He traveled extensively abroad in 1859, and afterward published a very interesting volume, entitled ^roMTid the Pyramids. For many years he was major general of the militia of Westchester County. He died early in 1867. His res- idence was at a beautiful spot overlooking the village of Sing Sing, and the Hudson and its scenery from the Highlands to Hoboken. ' MS. Journal of Colonel Robert Carr. Christu's History of the War in the Canadas, page 90. Robert Carr, whose jour- nal is here cited, was born in Ireland on the 29th of January, 1778. He came to America at the age of six years, and set- tled, with his father, in Philadelphia. They lived next door to Dr. Franklin, and he was often employed by that great man as an errand-boy. He learned the art of printing with Benjamin Franklin Bache, a gi'andson of Dr. Franklin, with whom he commenced his apprenticeship in 1792. He rose to the head of his profession, and in 1804 received a first premium as the best printer in Philadelphia. He printed Wilson''8 Ornithology iVom manuscript ; also Eees's Cyclopedia. In March, 1812, he received the commission of major in the Sixteenth Regiment of Infantry, and in August, 1813, was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of the Ninth, from which he was transferred to the Fifteenth. He was disbanded in 1815, and for several years he was the last surviving fleld-oflicer of the army of 1812 in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, or Delaware. He was a member of the M'Pherson Blues of Philadelphia, and one of the firing party on the occasion of the Congressional funeral of Washington in that city. See note 4, page 110. Colonel Carr married a daughter of William Bartram, proprietor of the celebrated Botanical Gardens near Philadel- phia, and, in right of his wife, carried on the establishment ttom the year 1808 to 1860, a period of more than thirty years. Prom 1821 to 1824 he was adjutant general of the State of Pennsylvania ; and, by order of the Legislature, he compiled a work on "Rules and Regulations for the Field Exercise." He was a long time an alderman and a justice of the peace in Philadelphia, and has ever been held in the highest esteem by his fellow-citizens. Deprived of his prop- erty in his old age by the vicissitudes of fortune, he was for some time gate-keeper at the Pennsylvania Asylwmfor th£ Imam., situated in a beautiful spot beyond the Schuylkill. There I visited him on a blustry afternoon late in Novem- ber, 1861, when he was almost eighty-four years of age. He was in excellent health and spirits, and assured me that he had not been sick in more than sixty years. He had led a strictly temperate life, never having been intoxicated biit once. It was when he was a boy, and was produced by eating rum-cherries. A month before I visited him he had been among the American camps in Virginia, near Arlington Heights, where he walked seventeen miles in one day, and attended a theatre in Washington the same evening. "I could have danced a cotillon after that," he said. He attend- ed the celebration of Bradford's birth-day by the New York Historical Society in May, 1863, as a delegate from Phila- delphia, and was then doubtless the oldest printer in the United States. On the 22d of February, 1864, Colonel Carr, then past eighty-six years of age, read Washington's Farewell Address before the veteran soldiers of the War of 1812, at the Union soldiers' celebration in Philadelphia. He never used spectacles, excepting when his photograph was taken, yet he wrote with grace and facility nntil the time of his death, which occurred in Philadelphia on the 16th of March, 1866. He kindly lent me his Diary, kept during the War of 1812. It is written in a fine hand, and contains much valu- able matter. I shall ever remember with pleasure my interview with an erranA-hoy of Dr. Franklin, and « Twenty-ninth Regiment United States S near jZsW« 1 t,,^w ^"^ "''I «"™ents of General Wool for many of the facts given concerning the Itete of New Yorranra, ?h„r ^? "S^f ■ ^."i" ^'"'''''"■^' ^- ^«'^'™' °^ !-"«« ^«"«> ^^^ ^ork, late Auditor of the company enlalefiktMsaff^iV tt ^T^ "fBerUm^ ComAy a^ the Upper Mohawk VaUe,j, was captain of a militia -six feet informed me that his company numbered 109 men, and all of them his own height ' eoii.tz;:rf^^;"ii°ti?:j^^^^^^^^^^ OF THE WAR OF 1812. 649 American Camp at French Creek. The attacking British repulsed. Wilkinson pursued down the St. Lawrence. the same result, the enemy in the two engagements having suffered much loss. That of the Americans was two killed and four wounded. It was with much difficulty that the British saved one of their brigs from capture. Troops were coming down from Grenadier Island in the mean time, and landing upon the point on which Clayton^ now stands, and along the shore of French Creek as far as the lumber and rafting yard on what is still known as Wilkinson's Point. Wilkinson arrived there on the 3d, and on the 4th* he issued a general or- « November, d# preparatory to final embarkation, in which he exhorted his troops to -^^^^^ sustain well the character of American citizens, and abstain from rapine and plunder. " The general is determined," he said, " to have the first person who shall be detected ia plundering an inhabitant of Canada of the smallest amount of property made an example of."^ MOUTH OF TKEMCH ORPEK * On the morning of the 5th, a clear, bright, crisp morning, just at dawn, the whole flotilla, comprising al- most three hundred boats, moved down the river from French Creek with banners furled and music silent, for they wished to elude dis- covery by the British, who, until now, were uncertain whether the expedition was intended for Kingston, Pres- cott, or Montreal. 3 The vig- ilant foe had immediately discovered their course, and, with a heavy armed galley and gun -boats filled with troops, started in pursuit. The flotilla arrived at Morristown early in the evening. It had been annoyed by the enemy all the way. Several times Wilkinson was dis- posed to turn upon them ; and at one time, near Bald Island, about two miles below Alexandria Bay, he was compelled to engage, for the enemy's gun-boats shot out of the British channel on the north, and attacked his rear. They were beaten off, and Wilkinson determined to run by the formidable batteries- at Prescott during the night. It was found to be impracticable, and his boats lay moored at Morristown until morn- ing. A corps of land troops from Kingston had also followed Wilkinson along the northern shore of the river, and arrived at Prescott before the American flotilla reached Ogdensburg. For the purpose of avoiding Fort Wellington and the other fortifications at Pres- cott, Wilkinson halted three miles above Ogdensburg, where he debarked his am- munition and all of his troops," except a suflacient number to man the "November 6. 1 This was formerly called Cornelia, and is yet called by the name of French Creek. It was named in honor of Senator John M Clayton of Delaware, in 1833. French Creek was called by the Indians PaUm Fort, from the circumstance that, long before a white man was ever seen there, a fort had been captured on its banks by the Oneidas. 2 General Order, French Creek, November 4, 1813. . , , ^. ,, ,„■„. 3 The boat that conveyed Wilkinson and his military family was commanded by the now venerable William John- ston who was an active spy on that frontier during the war. He is better known as "Bill Johnston,"by some called the " Hero," and by others the " Pirate," of the Thousand Islands. Of Mr. Johnston and his remarkable career I shall write ^'4 Twin's from a sketch made in the summer of 1860, from the place of Brown's encampment, at the lumber and raft- in? vard on Wilkinson's Point. In the water, in the foreground, is seen a raft partly prepared for a voyage down the St T awrence The bluff in the distance, beyond the little sail-Vessel, Is Bartlett's Point, on which M'Pherson's battery was nlaced The vessel without sails indicates the place where the British squadron lay when it was repulsed. The ^nd seen beyond is Grindstone Island, from behind which the British vessels came. The point in the middle distance, on the extreme right. Is the head of Shot-bag Island. 650 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Difficulties in Wilkinson's Way. A Council of Officers. Number and Position of the British Force. BALD X8LAK1> AKD WILKINSON'S FLOTILLA. boats. These were to be conveyed by land to the " Red Mill," four miles below Og- densburg, on the American shore, and the boats were to run by the batteries that night. At the place of debarkation he issued a proclamation to the Canadians, in- tended to make them passive f and there, at noon, he was visited by Colonel King, Hampton's adjutant general. By him he sent orders to Hampton to press forward to the St. Lawrence, to form a junction with the descending army at St. Regis. By the skillful management of General Brown, the whole flotilla passed Prescott safely on the night of the 6th, with the exception of two large boats heavily laden with provisions, artillery, and ordnance stores,^ which ran aground at Ogdensburg. They were taken off under a severe cannonadiag from Fort Wellington, and soon ■ November T, joined the Others" at the " Red Mill." Wilkinson was now informed that 181^- the Canada shore of the river was lined with posts of musketry and artil- lery at every eligible point, to dispute "the passage of the flotilla. To meet and re- move these impediments. Colonel Alexander Macomb was detached, with twelve hundred of the ^lite of the army, and on Sunday, the 7th, landed on the Canada shore. He was SQon followed by Lieutenant Colonel Forsyth and his riflemen, who did ex- cellent service in the rear of Macomb. The flotilla arrived at the " White House," opposite Matilda,* about eighteen miles below Ogdensburg, on the 8th, and there Wilkinson called a council of his oflScers, consisting of Generals Lewis, Boyd, Brown, Porter, Covington, and Swartwout. Aft- er hearing a report from the active chief engineer. Colonel Swift, concerning the re- .ported strength of the enemy ,^ the question. Shall the army proceed with all possible rapidity to the attack of Montreal ? was considered, and answered in the affirmative. ' This is from a sketch by Captain Van Cleve (see note 1, page S17), who kindly allowed me the use of it. Bald Island is one of the Thousand Islands, and lies on the left of the American or eteam-boat channel of the river. It is mostly bare, and rises to the height of about thirty or forty feet above the water in the centre. At some distance beyond it, northward, is the British channel. The gun-boats that attacked Wilkinson's flotilla came out at the lower end of Bald Island, through a lateral channel In which the sail-vessel lies. 2 He assured them that he came to invade, and not to destroy the province— " to subdue the forces of his Britannic Majesty, not to war against unoffending subjects. Those, therefore," he said, "who remain quiet at home, should vic- tory incline to the American standard, shall be protected in their persons and property ; but those who are found In arms must necessarily be treated as avowed enemies. To menace is unmanly ; to seduce, dishonorable ; yet it is just and humane to place these alternatives before you."— Proclamation, November 7, 1813. ' The flotilla moved at eight o'clock in the evening, under cover of a heavy fog, General Brown, in his gig, leading the way. There was a sudden change in the atmosphere, when the general's boat was discovered at Prescott, and almost fifty 24-pound shot were flred at her, without efifect. The gleaming of bayonets on shore, in the light of the moon in the west, caused a heavy cannonade in the direction of the American troops on the march, also without effect. Brown halted the flotilla until the moon went down, but its general movement was perceived by the enemy. For three hours they poured a destructive Are upon it, and yet, out of about three hundred boats, not one was touched, and only one man was killed and two wounded.— General Wilkinson's Journal, November 6, 1813. According to the statement of Captain Mordecai Myers, already referred to (note 1, page 646), there were traitors in Ogdensburg, He says that the British at Prescott were apprised of the approach of the flotilla by the burning of blue lights in one or more houses in Ogdensburg. » Matilda is a post village in Dundas County, Canada West, on the Point Iroquois Canal. The "White House" had disappeared when I visited the spot in 1855, when the place belonged to James Parlor. 5 Colonel Swift employed a secret agent, who reported to him that the enemy's forces were as follows in number and position : 600 under Colonel Murray, at Coteau du Lac, strongly fortified with artillery ; about 300 men of the British line of artillery, but without ammunition, at the Cedars j 200 sailors, 400 marines, and an unknown number of militia at Montreal, with no fortifications ; 2500 regular troops expected daily from Quebec; and the militia between Kingston and Quebec, 20,000. Wilkinson reported his own force to be 7000 men, and that he expected to meet 4000, under Hamp- ton, at St. Eegis.— Journal of Dr. Amasa Trowbridge, quoted by Dr. Hough in his Biatmy qfSt.Lamenee Countr/, page 63B. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 651 General Brown invades Canada. Wilkinson in Peril. Preparations for Battle at Chrysler's Farm. General Brown was at once ord'ered to cross the river with, his brigade and the dra- goons, for the purpose of marching down the Canada side of the river in connection with Colonel Macomb, and the remainder of the day and night was consumed in the transportation.^ Meanwhile Wilkinson was informed that a British re-enforcement, full one thousand strong, had been sent down from Kingston to Prescott, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Morrison. They had come in the armed schooners Beresford and Sidney Smith, and several gun-boats and bateaux under Captain Mul- caster, which had eluded Chauncey's inefficient blockading squadron. They were joined at Prescott by provincial infantry and dragoons under Lieutenant Colonel Pearson, and on the morning of the 9th they were close upon Wilkinson with the vessels in which they came down the river, and a large portion of the land troops were debarked near Matilda for the purpose of pursuing the Americans. General Boyd and his brigade were now detached to re-enforce Brown, with orders to cover his march, to attack the pursuing enemy if necessary, and to co-operate with the other commanders. Wilkinson now found himself in a perilous position. The British armed vessels were following his flotilla, and a heavy British force was hanging upon the rear of his land troops, ready to co-operate with the water craft in an attack upon the Amer- icans. They constantly harassed Brown and Boyd, and occasionally attacked the rear of the flotilla. The forces on the shore also encountered detachments coming up from below, and were compelled to make some long and tedious circuits in their march because of the destruction of bridges in the front. On the morning of the lOth,^ when Wilkinson was approaching the "November, " Longue Saut," a perilous rapid in the St. Lawrence, eight miles in extent, ■'^^^^■ he was informed that a considerable body of the enemy had collected near its foot, constructed a block-house, and were prepared to attack him when he should come down. General Brown was ordered to advance at once and dislodge them, and at noon cannonading was heard in that direction for some time. At the same hour the enemy came pressing upon Wilkinson's rear, and commenced cannonading from his gun-boats. The American gun-barges were so slender that the eighteen-pounders could not be worked efiectively, so they were landed, placed in battery, and brought to bear upon the enemy so skillfully that his vessels fled in haste up the river. In these operations the day was mostly consumed. The pilots were unwilling to enter the rapids at night. It was necessary to hear from Brown, for when the flotilla should once be committed to the swift current of the rapids there could be no retreat. These considerations caused Wilkinson to halt for the night, and his vessels were moored a little below Chrysler's Island, nearly in front of the farm of John Chrysler (a British militia captain then in the service), a few miles below Williamsburg, while Boyd, with the rear of the land force, encamped near. At ten o'clock in the morning of the 11th Wilkinson received a dispatch from Brown, addressed from " five miles above Cornwall," announcing his success in his attack upon the British post at the foot of the rapids, informing him of the wounding of Lieutenant Colonel Forsyth and one of his men, and urging him to come forward with the boats and supplies as quickly as possible, because his wearied troops were " without covering in the rain."^ This dispatch found Wilkinson extremely ill, and his reply, in which. he told Brown of the presence of the eneniy upon his rear, and his apprehensions that he intended to pass him with his gun-boats and strengthen the British force below, was addressed " From my bed." " It is now," he said, " that I feel the heavy hand of disease — enfeebled and confined to my bed while the safety 1 A part of this force landed on the property of Christian Delabough, near Matilda, owned, in 1855, by Daniel Shaw. Another portion landed at Snyder's, now Pillar's Bay. ' a General Brown's MS. letter-book. Colonel Carr, in his MS. Journal before me, says : "We are wet to the skin, and, ha,v.iiig no tents or shelter but bashes, must pass a very uncomfortable night." Dated " Near Cornwall, November 10, 10 P.M." . 652 PIGT'ORIAL FIELD-BOOK Position of the British on Chrysler's Farm. Character of the Ground. Assault on the British Vanguard. OHEYSLEK S IN 16S8 1 of the army intrusted to my command, the honor of our armies, and the greatest in- terests of our country are at hazard."^ Wilkinson now ordered the flotilla to proceed, and Boyd and his command to re- sume their march. At that moment information reached the commanding general that the enemy were advancing in column, and that firing from their gun-boats was heard. He immediately sent Colonel Swift with an order for Boyd to form his de- tachment into three columns, advance upon the enemy, and endeavor to outflank him and capture his cannon. At the same time the flotilla was ordered to lie moored on the Canada shore,just below Weaver's Point, while his gun-boats lay off Cook's Point. The brave Boyd, anx- ious for battle, instantly obeyed. Swartwoutwas detached with the fourth brigade to assail the van- guard of the enemy, which was composed of light troops, and Cov- mgton was directed to take position at supporting distance from him with the third brigade. Swartwout, on a large brown horse, dashed gallantly into woods of second growth, followed by the Twenty-first Eegiment, commanded by Colonel E.W.Ripley, and with them drove the light troops of the enemy back upon their main line in open fields on Chrysler's farm, below his house.^ That line was well posted, its right rest- ing on the St. Lawrence, and covered by Mulcaster's gun-boats, and the left on a black-oak swamp, supported by Indians and gathering militia, under Colonel Thomas Fraser. They were advantageously formed back of ravines that intersected the ex- tensive plain and rendered the advance of the American artillery almost impossible, and a heavy rail-fence.* rir.wtiL^T'r' "f 9''T'^'''^ ^°™^ ™^ *^ outbuildings as they appeared when I visited the spot in August, 1S55, a seen fs tSe fln?hi T "'^ V':^^<^f^y. The house fronted the St. Lawrence. The road, in which the oxen Z carTare 3 Thl .Lflil ■^''™T, If 'Al"!" f™™ Cornwall to Prescott. » General Brown's MS. Letter-book, village beTT,»-»?i„.r>i^™"''^''''^"' of Chrysler's Field. It is sometimes called the battle of Williamsburg, that "ThoZtitT ^'""".'=™"»°:»l'<>t ™"ge of the battle-fleld. Chrysler's name is ftequently spelled with a t and had thfr^Jh^^' r ." ™'f r' ™ ' '^''"'' ™P'="" '" '"""''«". "omtiDg its Indian allies, to the Americans, Sea?Mi™e ^L iTf'^' °f ?"'°°.? ."w''! ?" """"^ "'™"= ™* <" f^-^s^nesB, for the Americans had undergone farced ban ^oth/r^r^oi?^^" ^'"'' Wellington called m ichelon, or the figure of steps, with one corps more ad- vanced than another, as follows: Three companies of the Eighty-ninth Eegiment were posted on the extreme right, OF THE WAR OF 1812. z> 653 Battle on Chryaler's Farm. Incidents of the Contest. The Ameri cans repulsed. Swartwout's sudden and successful dash was quickly followed by an attack on the enemy's left by the whole of the fourth brigade, and a part of the first, under Colonel Coles, who advanced across plowed fields, knee-deep in 'mud, in the face of a heavy shower of bullets and shrapnel-shells. ^ At the same time General Covington, mount- ed on a fine white horse, gallantly led the third brigade against the enemy's left, near the river, and the battle became general. By charge after charge, in the midst of diflaculties, the British were pushed back almost a mile, and the American cannon, placed in fair position by General Boyd, under the direction of Colonel Swift, did excellent execution for a few minutes. The squadron of the Second Kegiment of Dragoons was early on the field, and much exposed to the enemy's fire, but, owing to thp nature of the ground, was unable to accomplish much. At length Covington fell, severely wounded,^ and the ammunition of the Americans began to fail. It was soon exhausted, and the fourth brigade, hard pushed, fell back, foUowed by Colonel J. A. Coles. This retrograde movement afiected the third brigade, and it too fell back, in considerable disorder. The ff /^ /'j!^ British perceived this, and followed up the advantage gained '^.. ■ ^ > CiTLe^ with great vigor, and were endeavoring by a flank movement C^ ^ ^-- to capture Boyd's cannon, when a gallant charge of cavalry, ^ led by Adjutant General Walbach, who had obtained Arm- ' strong's permission to accompany the expedition, drove '^ c^-^i^^tA^ them back and saved the pieces. The effort was re- newed. Lieutenant Smith, who commanded one of the cannon, was mortally wounded, and it fell into the ene- my's hands. 5 , The conflict had lasted about five hours, in the midst of cold, and snow, and sleet,^ when the Americans were compelled to fall back. During that time victory had swayed, like a pendulum, between the combatants, and would doubtless have rested with the Americans had their ammunition held out. Their retreat was promising to be a rout, when the flpng troops were met by six hundred men under Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Upham,* of the Twenty-first Regiment of Infantry, and Major Mal- colm, whom Wilkinson had sent up to the support of Boyd. These checked the dis- orderly flight, and, taking position on the ground from which Boyd's force had been driven, they gallantly attacked the enemy, seized the principal ravine, and, with a se- .vere fire at short musket range, drove the British back and saved the day.^ Mean- while Boyd had reformed his line in battle order on the edge of the wood from which Swartwout drove the foe at the beginning, and there awaited another attack. It was not made. Both parties seemed willing to make the excuse of oncoming darkness a warrant for suspending farther fighting. The Americans, under cover of night, re- tired unmolested to their boats, and the British remained upon the field. Neither party had gained a victory, but the advantage was with the British.^ resting on the river, with a 6-pounder, and commanded by Captain Barnes. On their left, and a little in the rear, were flanking companies of the Forty-ninth and a detachment of fencibles, with a 6-pounder, under Lieutenant Colonel Pear- son. Still further to the left and rear were other companies of the Forty-ninth and Bighty-nluth Eegiments, and a 6- pounder, under Lieutenant Colonel Morrison, whose left rested on a pine forest. In front of all were voltigeurs, under Major Herriott, and some Indians, under Lieutenant Anderson. 1 Shells containing a quantity of musket-balls, which, when the shell explodes, are projected still farther. 3 Covington was killed a short distance from Chrysler's barn (see picture on page 652), which was yet standing, well bored by bullets, when I visited the battle-ground in 1855. The British flred from that barn, and it is believed that a bullet from it was the one fatal to the general. The place where he fell was on the site of a nursery of thrifty trees in 1856. 3 William Wallace Smith was a cadet in 1809. He was a native of New Jersey. He was commissioned second lieu- tenant of light artillery on the 1st of June, 1813, and promoted to first lieutenant in October, 1813. In the battle on Chrysler's Field he was serving his field-piece himself, having lost all of his men, when he was mortally wounded. He died, a prisoner, at Fort Prescott, on the 13th of December, 1813. ■4 tTpham was a gallant soldier. We shall meet him again on the Niagara frontier. 6 MS. sketch of the military career of Colonel Timothy Upham, by an officer of the army. s Official dispatches of Wilkinson and Boyd, and Lieutenant Colonel MoiTison; Wilkinson's Journal; Life of General Macomb, by Captain George H. Eiohards ; General Brown's MS. letter-book ; Colonel Robert Can's MS. journal ; the 654 PICTORIAL riELD-BOOK The American Flotilla descends the St. Lawrence. Bad Conduct of General Hampton. On the morning after the battle the flotilla and gun-boats passed safely down the Long Rapids without discovering any signs of an ene- my, and at the same time the land troops marched in the same direction unmolest- ed. At Barnhart's, three miles above Cornwall, they form- ed a junction with the forces under Gen- eral Brown, and Wil-' kinson expected to hear of the arrival of ■ Hampton at St. Re- gis, oh the opposite shore of the St. Lawrence. But he was disappointed. General Brown had written to Hampton the day before informing him of rumors of a battle above, and saying, " My own opinion is, you can not be with us too soon," and beg- ging him to inform the writer by the bearer when he might be expected at St. Regis.' Soon after Wilkinson's arrival. Colonel Atkinson, Hampton's inspector general, ap- peared as the bearer of a letter from his chief, dated the 11th, in which the command- er of the left of the grand army of the North, who had fallen back to Chateaugay Four Corners, declared his intention not to join Wilkinson a^ all, but to co-operate ■ in the attack on Montreal by returning to Champlain and making a descent from that place. ^ Wilkinson was enraged, and declared that he would " arrest Hampton, and direct Izard to bring forward the division." He was top feeble in mind and body to execute his threat, or do any thing that required energy ; and, after uttering a few various published Histories of the War ; oral statements to the author in 1855 by Peter Brouse, a surviving British sol- dier in the battle, living near the ground ; Dr. Amasa Trowbridge's narrative, quoted by Hoqgh. The loss of the British in, this engagement was 22 killed, 150 wounded, and 15 missing. The Americans lost 102 killed and 23T wounded. Among the killed and mortally wounded were General Covington, and Lieutenants Smith, Hunter, and Olmstead ; and their wounded officers were Colonel Preston, Majors Chambers, Cummlngs, and Noon, Cap- tains Foster, Campbell, Myers, Murdoch, and Townsend, and Lieutenants Heaton, Pelham, Lynch, Williams, Brown, and Crary. Among the ofttcers specially mentioned with praise were General Covington, Colonel Pearce, who took command of his corps when he fell, Colonels E. P. Gaines, E. W. Eipley, and Walbach, Lieutenant Colonel Aspinwall, Majors Cummlngs, Morgan, Grafton, and Gardner, and Lieutenants Whiting (his aid) and (late Major General) W. J. Worth. The wounded in the battle were placed in barns and log houses, and the mansion of Chrysler was made a hospital. A bullet passed through Captain Myers's arm, near his shoulder, while at the head of his men in assailing the British be- hind the stone wall. The desperateness of the encounter may be conceived when the fact is stated that of 89 men he lost 23. He shared General Boyd's quarters at French Mills. Dr. Man, a noted physician, took him to his house, ten miles distant, where he remained four months. He there became acquainted with the daughter of Judge William Bai- ley, of Plattsburg, and in March following they were married in that town. Mordecai Myers was born at Newport, Ebode Island, on the 1st of May, 1776, and is now (1867) in the ninety-second year of his age. He was educated in New York City, and became a merchant in Eichmond, Virginia. There he served in a military company under Colonel (aft- erward Chief Justice) Marshall. He soon returned to New York, engaged in bus- iness there, and served in an artillery company under the command of Captain John Swartwout. He was afterward commissioned an officer of infantry, and for two years studied military tactics assiduously. When war was threatened he was . . active in raising volunteer companies, and in March, 1812, he was commissioned a captain in the Thirteenth United States Infantry, and ordered to report to Colonel Peter B. Schuyler. During the war he performed laborious and gallant services under several commanders in the Northern Departmenf, and in 1815 the disabihty produced by his wound caused him to be disbanded and placed on the pension roll for the half pay of a cap- tain. Then ended his military career. He has resided many years in Schenectady. He has been mayor of that city, and representedNewYorkcityintheLegislatureoftheStateforsixyears. i Brown's MS. Letter-book ' Letter of General J. G. Swift to the author of this work, dated " Geneva, N. Y., February 13, 1860." '^-Jri OF THE WAE OF 1812. 655 The American Army at the French Milla. Character of its chief Leaders. Hampton censured. curses, he called a council of war, and left Hampton to do as he pleased. That coun- cil decided that the " conduct of Major General Hampton, in refusing to join his di- vision to the troops descending the St. Lawrience, rendered it expedient to remove the army to French Mills, on the Salmon River.'" "The opinion of the younger members of the council was," says General Swift, " that, with Brown as a leader, no character would be lost in going on to Montreal ;"2 but the majority said no, and on the following day,* at noon, when information came that there was a • November 13, considerable British force at Goteau du Lac, the foot soldiers and ar- ■'^^^■ tillerymen were all em- barked on the transports, under the direction of General Brown, and de- parted for the Salmon.^ The horses of the dra- goons, excepting about forty, were made to swim across the cold and rap- idly-flowing river, there a thousand yards wide, and the squadron pro- ceeded to TJtica. The flotilla passed up the Big Salmon River about six miles to its confluence with the Little Salmon, near the French Mills, when it was announced that the boats were scuttled, and the army was to go into winter quarters in huts.* Thus ended in disaster and disgrace an expedition which, in its inception, prom- ised great and salutary results. It was composed of brave and patriotic men ; and justice to those men requires the humiliating confession from the historian that their failure to achieve complete success is justly chargeable to the incompetency of the chief commanders, and the criminal indulgence on the part of those commanders of personal jealousies and animosities. The appointment of Wilkinson to the command of the Northern Army was a criminal blunder on the part of the government. His antecedents were well known, and did not recommend him for a responsible position. The weakness of his patriotism under temptation, and his too free indulgence in in- toxicating liquors, were notorious. Hampton was totally unfitted for the responsible station in which he was placed f and Armstrong, who was a fellow-soldier with them both in the old War for Independence, lacked some of the qualities most essential in the administration of the extraordinary functions of his office in time of war. His presence on the frontier during the progress of the expedition was doubtless detri- mental to the service, and he left for the seat of government at a moment when the counsel and direction of a judicious Secretary of War was most needed.' I'LAOE OF DEBABKATION OM THE SALMON KIVEE.* I !' The grounds on which this decision was taken were— want of bread, want of meat, want of Hampton's division, and a belief that the enemy's force was equal, if not greater than our own."— General J. G. Swift to General John Arm- strong June IT, 1836. ' General Swift's Letter to General Armstrong, June IT, 1S36. 3 In a general order issued on the morning of the 13th, General Wilkinson said, " The commander-in-chief is com- pelled to retire [from the Canada shore] by the extraordinary, unexpected, and, it appears, unwarrantable conduct of Major General fiampton in refusing to join this army with a division of four thousand men under his command agree- able to positive orders from the commander-in-chief, and, as he has been assured by the Secretary of War, of explicit in- structions from the War Department." j mv t, * » • »i. . * This is a view of the place where Wilkinson's flotilla was moored. The boats were soon frozen m the ice, and m Febrnarv apprehensions being felt of their capture by the enemy, they were cut and burnt down even with the surface of the ice,' and snnk when it melted in the spring. ' Colonel Robert Carr's MS. Diary. . = See page e&O. 1 On the 24th of November, General Brown, then in command of the army at Fi-ench Mills, wrote, with considerable 656 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Death and Burial of General Covington. Head-quarters of General Officers. Hampton's Disobedience of Orders. On arriving at Salmon Kiver the army- was immediately debarked on the frozen shores, and set to work in the construction of huts for winter quarters. Their first la- bor was the sad task of digging a grave for the remains of General Covington. He was shot through the body; on the 11th, and died at Barnhart's on the morning of the 13th, just before the flotilla departed for French Mills. ^ Wilkinson at once left for Malone, after transferring the command «NoTemiieri6, of the army to General Lewis,^ 1813. who, with General Boyd, made lewis's Amu botd's head-qtjaetebb. BBOWN 8 irBAD-QUAETEES. his head-quarters at a long, low building, yet standing in 1860, a dingy red in color, on the left bank of the Salmon, near the present lower bridge over the river at French Mills or Fort Covington.^ Lewis and Boyd obtained leave of absence, and the command of the army devolved upon Brigadier General Brown, who made his head-quarters on the right bank of the riv- er, in a house built by Spafford in 1811 (store of P. A. Mathews in 1860, comer of Water and Chateaugay Streets)^ and there he received his commission* of b February ii, major general of the United ■^®^*' States Army. Hampton, in the mean time, had retired to Plattsburg with his four thousand men. By special orders, sent from Malone by the hand of Colonel Swift (when on his way to Washington with dispatches),' Wilkinson directed Hampton to join the army at French Mills. This, like other orders, were utterly disregarded by feeling to the Secretary of War, saying, " Tott have learned that the grand army of the United States, after marching and countermarching most ingloriously, aiTived at this place on the 13th instant. I must not express to you my indig- nation and sorrow. Ididnot expect you would have left ns." In the same letter he aaid, " Colonel Scott will hand you this, and can give you all the information you wish relative to our movements since he joined us [see page 633], and the present situation of our army. The public interest would be promoted by the advancement of such men as Scott." —MS. Letter-book. 1 Leonard Covington was a brave soldier. He was a native of Maryland, and bom in October, 1768. In 1792 he was a cornet of cavalry, and was distinguished for bravery tinder Wayne in the defense of Fort Eecovery (see page 52) in June, 1794. He was in the battle at the Maumee Kaplds in August following, where Wayne achieved a victory over the Indians. At the time of the first engagement he held the commission of lieutenant ; in the last he was captain. He resigned in 1795. From 1805 to 1807 he represented a district of his native state in the National ^Congress. In 1809 he was commissioned colonel of light dragoons, and in August, 1813, was breveted brigadier general. He accompanied Wilkinson in his unfortunate expedition that ended at the French Mills. At the time of his death, on the 13th of No- vember, 1813, he was about forty-five years of age. 2 There was a block-house at French Mills situated on the property, owned, when I visited there in 1860, by Mr. M'Crea. General Covington's body was buried just outside of the block-house, in the-present garden of Mr.M'Crea. There also was buried the remains of Major John Johnson, of the Twenty-first Infantry,* who died at the station on the 11th of December, 1813. The block-house was named Fort Covington In honor of the slain general, and the village that grew up around the French Mills was also called Fort Covington. The place was first settled by a few French Canadians, who built mills there, and from this circumstance it was called French Mills until after the war. 3 " I found Mr. Madison much grieved by the failure of the campaign," General Swift wrote to the author in Febrn- ary,1860. "It was generally believed that, had younger officers been placed in command of the armies, of Wilkinson and Hampton, Montreal would have been taken without the inconsequential conflict at Chrysler's Field, thongh that affair gave distinction to several officers for meritorious services." Major Totten succeeded Colonel Swift as chief en- gineer after he left, of whom Brown spoke in the highest terms. * Major Johnson was from Pennsylvania. He entered the service as a marine in 1800, and was first lieutenant under Preble at Tripoli in 1804. In April, 1818, he was assistant adjutant general with the rank of major. In June he Was commissioned major. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 657 The Army relieved of Hampton's Presence. Sufferings of the Army at the French Mills. Departure of the Troops. Hampton. He had accomplished the defeat of efforts to take Canada,^ and, leaving General Izard, of South Carolina, in command, he abandoned the service, and returned to his immense sugar plantations in Louisiana,^ followed by the contempt of all vir- tuous and patriotic men. General Brown at once adopted measures for making the troops as comfortable as possible. Huts were constructed, but this was a work of much labor, and consumed several weeks. Meanwhile severe winter weather came. They were on the forty- fifth parallel, and at the begianing of December the cold became iatense. Most of the soldiers had lost their blankets and extra clothing in the disasters near Grenadier Island, or la the battle on Chrysler's Field. Even the sick had no shelter but tents. The country in the vicinity was a wilderness, and provisions were not only scarce, but of inferior quality. A great quantity of medicines and hospital stores had been lost through mismanagement, and these could not be procured short of Albany, a dis- tance of two hundred and fifty miles. The mortality among the sick became fright- ful, and disease prostrated nearly one half of the little army before they were fairly housed in well-regulated cantonments. ^ Taking advantage of this distress, British emissaries tried, by the circulation of written and printed placards, to seduce the suf- fering soldiers from their allegiance. One of these written placards (see a fac-simUe on the next page), found one morning upon a tree in one of the American camps, and presented to me by Colonel Carr, reads thus : "Notice. — All American Soldiers who may wish to quit the unnatural war in which they are at present engaged will receive the arrears due to them by the Amer- ican Government to the extent of five month's pay, on their arrival at the British out Posts. 'No man shall be required to serve against his own country." It is believed that not a single soldier of American birth was enticed away by such allurements. The enemy frequently menaced the cantonment at French Mills, as well as at Plattsburg, and toward the close of January Wilkinson received orders from the War Department to break up the post on Salmon River. Early in February the move- ment was made. The flotilla was destroyed as fully as the ice in which it was frozen would permit, and the barracks were consumed. The hospital at Malone was aban- doned ; and while Brown, with a larger portion of the troops, marched up the St. Law- rence and to Sackett's Harbor, the remainder accompanied the commander-in-chief to Plattsburg. The enemy at Cornwall were apprised of this movement, and crossed the river on the ice on the day when the last American detachment left French Mills. They were regulars, Canadian militia, and Indians, and plunder seemed to be their chief object. In this they were indulged, and the abandoned frontier suffered much. No discrimination seemed to be made between public and private property, and it was estimated that at least two hundred barrels of provisions were carried away. Thus closed the events of the campaign of 1813 on the Northern frontier. I visited the theatre of the scenes described in this chapter partly in the year 1855, 1 See note 3, page 259. ... - , . 2 Hampton had immense sugar plantations in Louisiana, and was doubtless the most extensive planter and wealthiest man in the Southern States. He owned at one time five thousand negro slaves. He was a native of South Carolina, and was horn in 1754 He was an active partisan soldier with Snmter and Marion. In 1808 he was commissioned a colonel of light dragoons, and a brigadier general in 1809. On the 2d of March, 1813, he was promoted to major general. His inefficient career is recorded in the text. In April, 1814, he resigned his commission, to the great joy of the North- em Army, with whom his deportment and habits had made him unpopular. He died at Columbia, South Carolina, on the 4th ofFebraary, 1835, at the age of eighty-one years. 3 The army was cantoned as follows on the 1st of January, 1314: The artillery under Colonel Alexander Macomb, of the Engineers, at the block-house on Mr. John M'Crea's property. The wounded from Chiysler's were taken into the block-house. This was called the Centre Camp. The East Camp, un- der the charge of Colonel B. W. Eipley, was on Seth Blanchard's property. The North Camp, under Colonel James Mil- ler was on the property of Allen Lincoln. The West Camp, under Colonel Campbell, was on W. L. Manning's property. The South Camp was on Hamlet Mear's property. The owners above mentioned were the proprietors of the land when I visited Fort Covington in the summer of 1860. T T 65S PIGTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Attempt to seduce the American Soldiers from tlieir Allegiance. and partly in 1860. In the evening of Monday, the 23d of July, in the latter year, I journeyed with a friend, as already mentioned on page 619, from Watertown to Cape OF THE WAK OF 1812. 659 Visit to Carleton Island. Bemains of Fortiflcations there. Their History. Vincent' by railway, and lodged in an inn connected -with the roa,d station there, standing on the margin of the St. Lawrence. It was a chilly night. The next mom- ■ ing was clear and blustering, and the surface of the river was dotted with the white caps of the waves. After an early breakfast we started for Carleton Island, three miles down the St. Lawrence, in a skiff rowed by a son of the proprietor of the hotel. As we approached the rocky bluff at the head of the island we observed several chim- neys standing alone (built of stone, some perfect, some half in ruins), which mark the remains of strong and somewhat extensive fortifications erected there by both the French and English during the last century, that post being a key to the internavi- gation of the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario. We moored our boat in a small sheltered creek by which the head of the island is made a pleasant peninsula of eight or ten acres. On this stand the residences of Mr. Charles Pluche, an intelligent French Canadian (who owns five hundred acres of the western end of the island^), and of his brother. That creek separates the peninsula from the higher bluff on which the ruins of Fort Carleton are seen. Mr. Pluche kindly accompanied us to these ruins and other interestiug places near, and, but for the increasing violence of the wind, which became almost a gale at noon, our visit would have been one of unmixed satisfaction. The ruins of Fort Carleton are upon the most elevated portion of the island, and from the ramparts may be viewed some of the most picturesque scenery of the famous Thousand Islands and the New York shore. At what precise time fortifications were first erected there is not positively known. The English found it quite a strongly fortified post at the time of the conquest of Canada, at a little past the middle of the last century, and, perceiving its value in a military point of view (for it commands the main channel of the St. Lawrence), they greatly strengthened it.^ They occupied it until 1812. On the declaration of war that year most of the barracks to which the now standing chimneys belonged were in good order, and before Cape Vincent was settled two or three families resided on the island. A garri- son, composed of a ser- geant and three invalid soldiers, and two women, occupied the fort when the war broke out. As soon as intelligence of the declaration reached the frontier. Captain Ab- ner Hubbard, of Hub- bard's (now Millen's) Bay, a soldier of the Rev- olution, started in a boat, with a man and boy, to EEUAINS OF rOET OABLETON.* 1 This was known as Gravelly Point at the time of the War of 1812. It was laid out as a village in 181T. It is the northernmost town of Jefferson Connty, and is the terminus of the Home, Watertown, and Cape Vincent Eailway. From this point is a ferry to Kingston, passing through Wolf or Grand Island by a canal dug for the purpose a few years ago. The railway wharf is 3000 feet in length, with large store-houses and a grain-elevator. 2 The island contains 12T4 acres. The portion here alluded to was a military class-right, located there in 1786. The island forms, a part of Cape Vincent Township, Jefferson County, New York. The island received its name from Gov- ernor Sir Guy Carleton. 3 Long, in his Voyages, printed in London, 1T91, after speaking of Oswegatchie (Ogdensburg), says, " Carleton is higher up the river, and ha's greater conveniences to it than Oswegatchie, having an excellent harbor, with strong fortiflcations, and well gaiTisoned, excellent accommodations for shipping, a naval store-house for Niagara and other ports." » This view is from the N. N. E. point of the fort, and shows eight of the nine chimneys yet standing. On the ex- treme right, beyond the little vessel, is seen Cape Vincent. 660 PICTOKIAL PIELD-BOOK IMOJIAIf AKULET. First Seizure of a Military Post. Interesting Relics on Carleton Island, Perilous Voyage on the St. Lawrence. capture Fort Carleton. He succeeded, and this was the first seizure of a military- post after the declaration of war. He sent a boat ou the following day to bring away the stores, and soon afterward the barracks were burned. Nine bare chimneys have stood there ever since, gray and solitary tokens of change. There were about twenty originally within the fort, some of which are in ruins. There were also chimneys on the little peninsula near Mr. Pluche's house, and along the shore northward, where, on a fine grassy point, vestiges of the gardens that were attached to the officers' quarters may yet be seen. The moat that surrounded the fort was dug in the rock, and so was the well in the northwestern portion of the works. A little northward of the fort was the garrison cemetery ; and beyond this, a fourth of a mile from the ramparts, is an ancient Indian burial-ground, in a grove of small trees on the verge of the river. In a grave that was opened there in the spring of 1860 was found the skeleton of a chief, bearing evidence that the body was first wrapped in the hide of a bufialo, then swathed in birch-bark, and next deposited in a board coffin. With the skeleton was found a sil- ver gorget, on which was engraved a running deer ; also a fine silver armlet (now in possession of the writer) bearing the royal arms of England,' silver ear-rings, and other trinkets. Near this burial- ground was found, the year before, a silver medal given by the British government to Colonel John Butler. It is known that Butler and Sir John Johnson encamped, with the Indians from the Mo- hawk Valley, on Carleton Island in 1776, when on their way to join the British at Montreal. The medal was doubtless lost there at that time, and the chief who bore the armlet and gorget was probably one of the expedition, who perished there. After partaking of some refreshments from the hands of Mrs. Pluche and daughter, ■ we re-embarked in our little boat at noon. The wind was blowing almost a gale from the direction of Lake Ontario, bringing down waves that made the voyage a dangerous one. At times, when in the trough, we could not see the land. Our oars- man, a stout, resolute young man, labored faithfully, with the boat's bow up stream, but he could not make an inch of headway toward Cape Vincent ; so, after heavy ex- ertions and some anxiety, we were driven to the southern shore of the river at a point opposite our place of departure. There we abandoned the boat and started on foot for Cape Vmcent, when we met a farmer, with his wagon and rick, going to his held for hay. We hired him to take us to the Cape, and on soft, sweet dried grass we lay and rested m the cool air to the end of the wagon journey. The remainder o_t the afternoon was spent at the Cape in strolling about the little village, for the river was too rough to make a wished-for voyage to Grenadier Island either safe or pleasant. There we met General William Estes, who was conspicuous in the « Patriot War in Canada m 1838, and visfted the dwelling of Dr. Webb, the kftchen part of which IS the remnant of the house of Richard M. Esseltyne, which, with others, was destroyed by the British. In ft an American was shot. _ We lodged at Cape Vincent that night, and at five o'clock the next morning departed m a lake steamer for Clayton (French Creek), sixteen miles below, where we landed, and breakfasted at the " Walton House," kept by a son of William Johnston, known among his Brftish contemporaries in 1838 as "the Pirate of the Thousand Islands." wor™\nTaaition^^^^^^^^^ ,!f ""f '"^^™^"' ""* '™ ''"* " '""^ '° ''^^^^' "^^ '^^ ornamentatiori is embossed the latter bearinrthe etter^G K thl mnl?^ ^TS "T^"'^^ °' •'«"°"' *"^ '="™^^' '=''"™' ^P^''^'"- ^^ 1««>"«^^. loyalty. Thegor^rratenfprarr.^^^^^^^^^^^ OF THE WAR OK 1812. 661 Visit to Bock Island, tlie Home of Johnston of the Thonsand Islands. Pe?l Island and its Associations. There we were informed that the hero of many a romantic legend of the frontier was still living, in the light-house of which he was keeper, on a solitary island a few rods in circumference, five miles below, where, in company with two young ladies — trav- eling companions — I had visited him two years before. Hiring a boat, and a good fisherman as oarsman, we set out after breakfast to visit Mr. Johnston, prepared with fishing tackle to indulge in sport on the way. We trolled faithfully, but only a sol- itary pickerel of moderate size rewarded our watchfulness of the lines. Our dreams of mighty masquelonges, forty pounds in weight, which some young ladies, they say, sometimes " hook," were dispelled ; but the kindly oarsman came to the assistance of our humbled pride as sportsmen with the pleasant suggestion that the late storm of wind had so roiled the water that " nobody couldn't do nothin' at fishin' when the creeturs couldn't see the spoon." And we were no more successful in catching a hero. Silence reigned on Rock Isl- and.' Not a living thing was seen. Johnston lived there entirely alone, at the age of seventy-eight years. He was now absent, and the island was deserted.^ After making a sketch of the light-house and Its locality, we left in disap- pointment, and again trolled unsuccessfully as we floated down the current about two miles to Peel Island, the scene of Johnston's exploit which caused him to be declared an outlaw by his own govern- ment, and gave him the name of "Pirate." This exploit was the destruction of the British mail steamer Sir Rolert Peel at this place on the night of the 29th and 30th of May, 1838, by Johnston and some disguised associates, who were engaged with the Canadians in their armed re- sistance to government. The immediate object of the assailants appears to have been the capture, and not the destruction of the steamer, and with her aid to seize, on the following day, the steamer Great Britain, and convert the two into cruisers on the lake. Johnston had but thirteen men with him, but was promised that two _ . _ hundred should ' be within call on the shore of the neigh- boring main. They were not there. He had not sufficient men to manage the powerful steamer, and, toward morn- ing, he committed her to the flames. She was seized at LIGHT-HOUSE KEPT BT JOHNSTON. PEEL IBIAJJD. 1 This is an appropriate name. It is a group of bare rocks, with a few trees and shrubs growmg in the interstices. Johnston had AM some of the hollows with earth, brought from the mam shore m his boat, and we found them cov- „^A -«M\> vflirptablea and flowers. The barren island possessed a pleasant MIfc garden. TtWs is ta the midst of the Thousand Islands, five miles below Clayton; on ftie south side of the steam^boat channel. At the tiSe of my visit there in 1858 1 ascended to the lantern, and from that elevation counted no less tnan seventy islands, varying from rods to miles in circumference. 662 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Johnston's Exploits among the Thousand Islands. His Arrests and Imprisonments. His Commission as Commodore. Ripley's dock on Wells's Island, taken into the stream, set on fire, and floated down and lodged against a small island near (represented in the sketch on the preceding page), which has since been known as Peel Is land.' ^ 1 From the liDS of Mr Johnston I received a very minute and particular account of this transaction. He was living at Clayton when the "Patriot" war broke oat. Being a bold, adventurous man, and cordially hatmg the Britsh gov- ac ^.layion wubu tu emment and its employes, he was easily persuaded by the American sympathizers with the "Patriots" to engage in the strife. His thorough knowledge of the St. Lawrence from Kingston to the Longne Sault pointed the " Patri- ots" to him as a valuable man for the service on that front- ier. He says that the leaders promised him ample asBist^ ance in men and means, but disappointed him. They em- ployed him to capture the Peel and seize the Great Britain. The former was a new and stanch vessel, built at Brock- ville in 183T. She was 30 feet wide and 100 in length, and was commanded by Captain John B. Armstrong. On the evening of the 29th of May, 1838, she was on her way up from Prescott to Toronto, with nineteen passengers, and stopped atM'Donnell's Wharf, on Wells's Island, for wood. Johnston and thirteen men in disguise were lying ill wait at Eipley's wood wharf near by. They were armed with muskets and bayonets, and painted like Indians. They rushed on board, crying oat, " Bememier the Caroline !" (an American vessel that the British had destroyed at an Amer- ican wharf a few months before), and compelled the passen- gers, in terrible alarm, and in their night-clothes, to go on shore. Their baggage was taken on shore likewise, and in this plight they remained, in a woodman's shanty, until morning, when they were conveyed to Kingston by the Oneida. When the insurgents had taken possession of the Peel, they hauled her out into the stream, expecting, as we have observed in the text, to be joined by a large number of others from the main. They did not appear. Johnston and his men, who, he says, " looked like devils," could not manage her, and she was set on fire. Governor Marcy de- clared Johnston an outlaw, and offered a reward of $500 for his person, and small- er sums for each of bis confederates who might be convicted of the offense. The Earl of Durham, governor of Canada, offered $5000 for the conviction ot any person concerned in the "infamous outrage." Johnston boldly avowed himself the leader of that party, in a proclamation which he issued from "Port Wallace" on the 10th of June, 1838. He declared that the men under his command were nearly all Englishmen, and that his head- quarters were on an island in the St. Lawrence, not within the jurisdiction of the United States. " I act under orders," he said. "The object of my movements is the independence of the Canadas. I am not at war with the commerce or property of the United States." " Port Wallace" was a myth. It was wherever Johnston happened to be. Johnston was now placed in peril between the officers of the two governments, and for several months he was a ref- ugee, hiding among the Thousand Islands, and receiving food at night from his daughter, a beautiful girl eighteen years of age, small in stature and delicate in appearance, who handled oars with skill, and who, in a light boat, sought his hiding-places under cover of darkness. She was often watched and followed by persons in the interest of the United States government, but her thorough knowledge of the islands and skill in rowing allowed her to elude them. Finally Johnston joined in the expedition to Prescott, to "keep out of the way of both parties," he said. After the de- feat' of the insurgents at Windmill Point [see page 583], he was seen publicly in the streets of Ogdensburg, where he had many sympathizers, and was not arrested. He saw that all was lost, and, weary of hiding, he resolved to give him- self up to the authorities of the United States, and oast himself upon the clemency of his country. He made an arrange- ment with his son John to arrest him and receive the $500 reward. On the 17th of November (1838) he left Ogdens- burg in a boat, with his son, when Deputy Marshal M'Culloch pursued him in aboat over which floated the revenue flag. Johnston was overtaken about two miles above Ogdensburg. He was armed with a Cochran rifle, two large rifle-pistols, and a bowie-knife. He agi'eed to surrender on condition that he should give up his arms to his son. He was then con- ducted back to the village, and delivered into the custody of Colonel Oate Major General) Worth. He was taken to Syracuse, tried before Judge Conklin on a charge of violating the neutrality laws of the United States, and acquitted. He was again arrested, and escaped, when a reward of $200 was offered for his arrest. He gave himself'up at Albany, and, after lying three months in jail, was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to one year's imprisonment, and a fine of $250. His faithful daughter, who had acquired the just title of the " Heroine of the Thousand Islands," hastened to Albany, and shared prison life with her father. After being there six months, with his faithful child at his side, he found means, by making a key of some zinc furnished him by a fi*iend, to escape. The plan was made known to his daughter, who left the prison, and waited for him at Home. One evening, at eight o'clock, he left the jail, and before daylight had walked forty miles toward Rome. When he arrived there, finally, at the house of a friend, he was dread- fully exhausted. He went home, and was unmolested ; but the " Patriots" were determined to drive him into active service, and he received a commission creating him commander-in-chief of all the naval forces in "Patriot service" on the lakes.* This position had been accorded to him by common consent the year before. But he had seen enough of that kind of service, and he declined the office. A year or more afterward, when the agitation on the fl'ontier had pretty * Johnston's commission as commodqpe is before me, printed and vpritten on thin paper. On the margin of it, occu- pying nearly one half of the space, is a rough engraving, a copy of which is given on the opposite page, reduced to half the size. Above this design (in which the American eagle is seen bearing off the British lion, whose crown has fallen, a maple leaf, symbolic of Canada, and two stars representing the two provinces) were little pictures of the arms of the ^^^ i^^^ OF THE WAR OF 1812. 663 Johnston^s heroic Daughter, Ilia Birthplace. His Services iu the War of 1812. We returned to Clayton, and there found " Commodore" Johnston, a hale man, full of spirit, but suffering some from recent illness. I spent two hours pleasantly and profitably with him and his courageous daughter, listening to narratives of the stir- ring scenes in which they had been engaged twenty-two years before, and of which I have given a meagre outline in note 1, page 662. The "Heroine of the Thousand Islands" was now Mrs. Hawes, an intelligent and interesting woman, and mother of several children. Mr. Johnston is a man of medium size, compactly built, and full of pluck. His life-history was a stirring one previous to th& " Patriot War." During the War of 1812 he was employed by Chauncey and Wilkinson in active service on the frontier waters ; and he gave the British, whom he cordially disliked, a great deal of trouble. He was a native of Canada.' On the breaking out of the war he was residing at Bath, above Kingston, and conveyed some Americans across the lake to Sackett's Harbor in a large bark canoe. Not being satisfied with the militia service, in which he had been engaged, he remained on the American side, and from that time until the close of the war was engaged in the secret service on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence, with a permit to capture all British public property that he might find afloat. His vessel was a gig, or light, swift boat, called the Ridgdey, and, his com- panions were a corporal and five armed seamen. With these he captured bateaux and stores ; with these he conveyed Wilkinson down the St. Lawrence, beyond the Longue Sault f and with these he bore the body of the gallant Covington from Barn- hart's to the French Mills. ^ On one occasion he captured the Canadian dispatch mail on its way from Governor Prevost at Montreal to the lieutenant governor at Toronto, which, on delivery to Chauncey, was found to contain information of great value to the American commander. On another occasion he was out in Chauncey's boat, and much ceased, a petition for his pardon was numerously signed. He took it to Washington himself, and, just at the close of Mr. Van Buren'B administration in March, 1841, presented it to the President. "Mr. Van Buren," he said, "scolded me for presuming to come there with such a petition ; but I waited ten days, presented it to President Harrison, and he pardoned me." Mr. Johnston has lived afCIayton ever since. His offense was Anally overlooked, and for several years the govern- ment that offered a reward of $500 for him as an outlaw has been paying him $850 a year for taking charge of one of its light-houses, in sight of the spot (Peel Island) where the offense was committed ! Time makes great changes. When the late Hebellion broke ont in 1861, Johnston, then about eighty years of age, went to Washington City, called on Gen- eral Scott, and offered his services to his government. State of New York, and below two others representing an eagle on its nest arrang- ing ears of wheat. The commission runs thus : "Head-quarters, Windsor, V. 0., September 5, 1839. " Wn.T.IAM JOHNBTOII, EsQ. : " Sra,— By authority of the Grand Council, the Western Canadian Association, the great Grand Eagle Chapter, and the Grand Eagle Chapter of Hpper Canada, on Patriot Executive duty— Ton are hereby Commissioned to the Rank in Line of a Commodore of the Navy, Commander-in-Chief of all the Naval forces of the Ca- nadian Provinces, on Patriot service in Hpper Canada. "Yours with respect, H. S. Hamd, " Commander-in-chief of the Northwestern Army on Patriot service in Upper Canada. " E. J. EoBEBTS, Adjutant General, N. W. A. P. S." This commission is indorsed by "John Montgomery, of the Grand Eagle Chap- ter of Upper Canada, on Patriot Executive duty. "EoBEET EoBEKTSON, Secretary." " Sworn to before me, at Windsor, U. C, this 25th day of September, 1839. "H. S.Hand." The seal attached to the commission appears to have been impressed by a com- johkston'8 commission. ^^^ ^^^^ signet, on which are the words, "Omiamher mt to allfnenda."- These "Chapters" refer to the secret leagues of sympathizers with the insurgents that were formed along the entire frontier un der the name of " Hunters' Lodges." These were suppressed by President Tyler, who issued a proclamation for the Durpose on the 5th of September, 1841. 1 He was bom at Three Eivers on the 1st of Eebruary, 1T82. His father was an Irishman, an d his mother was a Dutch ffirl from New Jersey After the war he lived at Sackett's Harbor and Watertown, and kept a tavern for a while in the latter village He finally settled at French Creek (now Clayton), where he and most of his family have since resided. 2 See naee 6.51 Johnston was well acquainted with Chrysler, and tried to get the army below his residence, that it miffht not suffer during the engagement that seemed inevitable. During the battle of Chrysler's Field or Farm, John- ston can-ied powder from the boats to the dragoons, who delivered it to those in the fight. It is well known that Gen- eral Wilkinson indulged too freely in spirituous liquors. Johnston assured me that, at the time of the battle of Chrys- ler's Field the commander-in-chief was so intoxicated ("indisposed," as charity phrases it) that he could not leave his boat. ' 'Seepage 656. 664 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Johnston's Perils in Canada. Journey from Clayton to Malone. Visit to French Mills or Fort Covington. ■was wrecked on the Canada shore in a stornj. The boat was a ruin. They were dis- covered. Johnston was identified, and a body of militia and Indians were sent out from Kingston (where he had been hung in eflBgy) to arrest him. He directed his men not to avoid capture, but to affirm that they had been sent out for deserters, and were returning home when struck by the storm. Their story was believed, and within a week they were sent home on parole. Johnston meanwhile concealed himself in a huge hollow stump, in a field of oats, for several days, and it was three weeks before he found a way to return to Sackett's Harbor. There was a crowd of visitors at the " Walton House," for it is a favorite place of summer resort for those who love good fishing, boating, and the most picturesque scenery of the Thousand Islands. The St. Lawrence, filled with these islands, is there about nine miles wide. During an afternoon I visited the place of Brown's encamp- ment when attacked by the British,' and made the sketch on page 649. Toward sunset the quiet of the little village was disturbed, and the faces of all the inhabitants were turned skyward to observe the passage over them of a man in a balloon, a thousand feet in the air, who had ascended from Kingston, and, as we were informed next day, descended far toward the Sorel, the outlet of Lake Champlain. On the fol- lowing momiag I went down the St. Lawrence to Ogdensburg, and made the visits there and in the vicinity recorded in Chapter XXVIH. On Friday, the 27th, I break- fasted at Malone,2 and after a brief interview with Sidniey W. Gillett, Esq., whose ele- gant new mansion stood fronting on Main Street m that village, on the site of the arsenal established there in 1812,1 rode out to Fort Covington (French Mills), about fourteen miles northward, in a light wagon drawn by a span of fleet black ponies. FEENOH MILLS IH 1800.^ ■HT-Ti^^ Honorable James Campbell, who was an ensign, and was stationed at French Mills and vicinity during a greater portion of the war, in the service of the .Quarter- master's and Commissary Departments, was yet living, and residing with his daugh- ^^'"/q 'S"* Covington. I had been at his house, on the road between Massena Springs and St. Kegis, a few years before ; and I found him now, as then, able to say that he had never been sick in his life, though almost fourscore years of age. His mental ' See page 648. raM ^l^w'^^^r^""^'*"^ ^T?'']," ^°'"'^^' ""^ ^ pleasantly situated on the Salmon Eiver. It was the only incorpo- arl ™iea and ^ItZ^l^i »f ^ population of about 2000. The banks of the river there, below the railway bridge, aie rugged and picturesque. Settlements were made there at the beginning of this century. ihe bmldmg on the right, with its gable next to the dam, Is the original mill erected there by the French Canadians OF THE WAK OF 1812. THE BLOOK-HOTTSB WELL. 665 Yetei-an Soldiers at Fort Covington. Jonrney to Ronae'e Point. La Colle. Passage of St. Lawrence Ea pide. vigor seemed perfect, and his memory of events in his experience was vivid. He was stationed at French Mills early in the war, a in charge of rations, which were served H/y^ regularly to the St. Regis Indians in order jC^ /PyLK /S ^- , ,u t^iyr^ to keep them quiet. * He was assistant J " \Z^y~/ — store-keeper, and when Wilkinson left there u^ he was placed in charge of all the provisions of the army. He continued in that serv- ice until its departure in February, 1814. Judge Campbell kindly accompanied me to places of interest about Fort Covington, namely, the original mill -f the head-quar- ters of Boyd and Brown ;' the place of debarkation, where the gun-boats were destroyed ;* the site of the respective cantonments of the army ; and of the block- house on the M'Crea property ,= whose well, contained within the building, was yet standing. While on the lower bridge over the Salmon, sketch- ing the picture of the Mills on the opposite page, an old gentleman approached, and was introduced to me by Judge Campbell. He was Colonel Ezra Stiles, the dep^ Tity collector of the port at Fort Covington,^ who en- listed in the Eleventh Regiment in December, 1812, when a little more than fourteen years of age. He was with Hampton in the affair at Chateaugay, and was with Gen- eral Brown in all of his military operations on the Niagara frontier during the re- mainder of the war. He left the service when the army was disbanded in 1815. I returned to Malone in time to take the cars for Rouse's Point at about three o'clock P.M. It was a bright and very delightful day. In that journey, fifty-seven miles, we crossed the foot of the great Adirondack slope, the northernmost portion of the Alleghany or Appalachian range of mountains, that traverse the sea-board states from Georgia to the St. Lawrence level. The lofty peaks of the Adirondacks were in sight southward, while the eye, glancing northward over an immense wood- ed prairie, rested upon the Mountain back of Montreal. At near six o'clock I took a huiTied meal at the vUlage of Rouse's Point, and hiring a light wagon, fleet horse, and intelligent driver, rode to La Colle River, a tributary of the Sorel, and made a sketch of a block-house there before sunset. By a slight circuit we rode through La Colle village and Odelltown in the twilight. I spent the night at Rouse's Pdmt, and on the following morning journeyed to Champlain, Chazy, and Plattsburg. Of the events which have made all the places just, named famous in our history, and of my visit there, I shall hereafter write. In the summer of 1855 I spent a short time at Massena Sulphur Springs, on the Racquette River, seven miles by road from the St. Lawrence. While sojourning there I visited St. Regis, as already mentioned, and, on. leaving, crossed the St. Law- rence from Lewisville, at the head of the Longue Sault, for the purpose of visiting the battle-field on Chrysler's Farm. It was a warm and pleasant day late in Au- gust,* and a friend accompanied me. At Lewisville we hired a water- .AngnBt22, man, who engaged to take us safely across the swift and, in some places, "^*- turbulent stream, there divided by two or three islands. We shot obliquely across and down the first channel, rounded the lower cape of an island, went up its farther shore in an eddying current, and in a similar manner shot across to another island. Lj this zigzag way we made the really perilous passage of the rapids to the village of Chrysler, where we lunched on apple-pie, cheese, and cold water, and hired a con- veyance to the battle-ground and Williamsburg beyond. > See page 376. = See picture on page 664. ' See pictures on page 656. ♦ See page 655. = See note 2, page 666. s Fort Covington is a port of entry ; but tlie steam-boats seldom go above Dundee, a small village a mile below, and about balf way between the Mills and the boundary-line between the United States and Canada. 666 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK t^^^^^^^-J^i^^^ Visit to the Battle-ground on Chrysler's Farm. A British Soldier and his Medal of Honor. Scene on the St. Lawrence. We were kindly welcomed at the Chrysler mansion, delineated on page 652, by Mr. James Croile, the proprietor, who pointed oat the various localities of the battle, and accompanied ns to the house of his nearest neigh- bor, Peter Brouse, who was a soldier in the Dun- militia, and partici- pated in the fight. Mr. Brouse related with much self-satisfaction the exploits of the British on that day, and, with much genuine pride, exhibited a small silver medal, suspended by a ribbon, which he had lately received. These had been presented to the surviving soldiers of that and other battles, from 1793 to 1814,by the British queen as a sort of "Legion of Honor." The picture here given is the exact size of the original, and exhibits both sides. On one side is the effigy of the queen and her name ; and on the other a repre- sentation of her majesty crowning a soldier with a civic wreath, and the words," To the BRITISH ARMY 1814-1793." One of Chrysler's barns, pierced and battered by bullets, was yet standing, and appears the larger (though the most re- mote) in the group of outbuild- ings in the picture on page 652. In the orchard, between the mansion and the river, may be seen the burial-places of the killed in the battle. We dined with Mr. Croile and his family in the Chrysler mansion, and at two o'clock started for Williamsburg, four and a half miles up the river. Our road lay along the margin of the stream, through one of the most fertile districts of Canada. We had not proceeded far before a small cloud, whose gathering we had scarcely no- ticed, sent down a violent shower of rain. We sought shelter under a wide-spread- ing tree in front of a plain dwelling, from which came the giggling of girls who were amused at our plight. The tree was no shelter, and we unceremoniously took ref- uge from the storm in the house, where those who had innocently made merry over our drenching kindly regaled us with strawberries and cream, and made the balance- sheet of courtesy in their favor. The storm was brief. The sun burst forth in sudden splendor, and its rays, wedded to the retiring rain-drops, wove a gorgeous iridescent vail, marked, like the bow on the cloud, with specific curves, but lying prone upon the bosom of the St. Lawrence, and bathing its surface and islands in prismatic beauty. It was a charming spectacle, and has left an inefiaceable picture on the memory. At four o'clock we reached Williamsburg (whose name had just been changed to Morrisville, in honor of a distinguished officer in the postal department of Canada), where we dismissed our carriage, intending to go by water to Prescott. We were directed to the " Grand Trunk Hotel" as the best in the village, which is remarkable in our recollection for swarms of files, fiocks of spiders, and an obliging host. There we supped and lodged, and before dawn took passage in a Montreal steamer for Prescott, where we breakfasted. Crossing to Ogdensburg, we spent the day and night there, and on the following day ihade a voyage through the Thousand Islands to Cape Ymcent, from whence I journeyed by railway to my home on the banks of the Hudson, TIOTOEIA MEDAL. OF THE WAR OF 1812. ■ 661 The British resolve on vigorous War. Blockade of Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. The Blockading Squadron. CHAPTER XXX. "She comes ! the proud invader comes To waste our country, spoil our homes ; To lay our towns and cities low, And bid our mothers' tears to flow ; Our wives lament, our orphans weep- To seize the empire of the deep !"— Auotts Umpheaville. |HASTISE THE Ambeicans into submission ! was the fiat of the British Cabinet at the close of 1812, and it was determined to send out a land and naval force sufficient to do it. It was evi- dent that efforts such as have been recorded in preceding chap- ters would be made by the Americans for the invasion and con- quest of Canada, iand that the successes achieved by them on the ocean would stimulate them to the performance of more daring exploits on the waves which Britannia claimed to rule. These efforts must be met, and Great Britain put forth her strength for the purpose. It was determined to blockade and desolate the coasts of the United States, lay waste their sea-port towns, destroy their dook-yards, and thus not only endeavor to divert their military strength from the Canada frontier, but destroy the centres of their com- mercial and naval power, dispirit the people, intensify the domestic resistance to the farther prosecution of the war, and secure the absolute submission of the nation to British insolence and greed. Admiral Warren's fleet in American waters was re-en- forced, and Sir George Cockburn, a rear admiral in the British navy, and willing in- strument in the accomplishment of work which honorable English commanders would not soil their hands with, was made his second in command. He was specially com- missioned to wage a sort of amphibious and marauding warfare on the coasts, from the Delaware River southward. On the 26th of December, 1812, an order in Council declared the ports and harbors inr the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays to be in a state of rigorous blockade. Soon afterward additional ships of war and transports arrived at Bermuda, bearing a con- siderable land force, and well fui-nished with bomb-shells and Congreve rockets, to be used in the conflagration of sea-board towns.' A part of the land force consisted of French prisoners of war, who preferred to engage in the British marine service to risking indefinite confinement in Dartmoor Prison, in England. The first appearance of blockading vessels was on the 4th of February,^ when four 74-gun ships and several smaller armed vessels^ entered the Virginia Capes and bore up toward Hampton Roads. The fleet was under the command of Admiral Cockburn (whose flag-ship was the Marlborough), assisted by Commodore Beresford, whose pennant was over the Poictiers.^ They bore a land force of about eighteen hundred men, and were well supplied with small surf-boats for landing. Their ap- i:)earance alarmed all lower Virginia, and the militia of the Peninsula and' the region about Norfolk were soon in motion. An order soon went out from the Secretary of 1 This rocket is a very destructive species of flre-work, invented by Sir William Congreve, an English artillery offlcer, in 1804, and first used against Boulogne in ISOO. The body of the machine is cylindrical, and its head conical. It is filled with very inflammable materials, on the combustion of which, as in the common sky-rocket, the body is impelled with continued acceleration. 2 Marlborough, Admiral Cockburn ; Drofion, Captain Berry ; Poictkirs, Commander Beresfdrd ; and Victorious, Captain Talbot, were the H's. These were accompanied by the Acaeta, 44, Kerr ; Jurwn, 38, Kerr ; Stalira, 38, Stackpole j Maii- stcme, 30, Burdett ; Bdvidera, 36, Byron ; Narcissus, 32, Aylmer ; Lauristimus, 21, Gordon ; Tartarus, 20, Paseo. Others soon joined these, making a very formidable fleet. 5 ggg p^gg 45^^ PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Defenses of Norfolk and Hampton Eoads. Discretion of the Blockaders. Patriotism on the Shores of Delaware Bay. ' March 16, 1813. INTEEIOR OP OLD FOKT UORFOLK IN the Treasury" for the extinguishment of all the beacon-lights on the Ches- apeake coast. It was supposed that Hampton and Norfolk would be attacked. The latter place was pretty well defended by fortifications which General Wade Hampton had caused to be thrown up on Craney Island, five miles below the city, under the superin- tendence of Colonel Armistead. The masters and mates of merchant vessels in Norfolk harbor joined themselves into volunteer military companies and garri- soned old Fort Norfolk. The frigate Constellation, 38, Captain Tarbelle, was lying near; supported by a flotilla of gun- boats. Old Point Comfort soon bristled with bayonets ; and the British com- manders thought it more prudent at that time to destroy the small merchant craft found in Chesapeake Bay than to enter Hampton Roads. They did little more than this for several weeks, when Com- modore Beresford was sent, with the Poictiers, Belvidera, and some smaller vessels, to blockade the Delaware Bay and River, and teach the inhabitants along their shores the duty of submission. He found his unwilling pupils very refractory ; for when, on the 16th of March, he pointed the guns of the Poictiers toward the vil- lage of Lewis, near Cape Henlopen, and said, in a note to " the first magistrate" of that little town, " You must send me twenty live bullocks, with a proportionate quan- tity of vegetables and hay, for the use of his Britannic majesty's squadron," ofiering to pay for them, but threatening, in the event of refusal, to destroy the place, the ^' first magistrate" of Lewistown, and all the people, from Philadelphia to the sea, said in substance, as they every where prepared for resistance, " We solemnly refuse to commit legal or moral treason at your command. Do your worst." They had heard of his comiag, and had already, on both sides of the bay and river, assembled in armed bodies at expected points of attack to repel the invaders. The spirit of the fathers was aroused, some of whom, full of the fire of the flint, were yet abiding among them. At Dover, on the Sabbath day, the drum beat to arms, and men of every denomina- tion in politics and religion, to the number of almost five hundred, responded to the call. Among them was Jonathan M'Nutt, an age-bent soldier of the Revolution, who exchanged his staff for a musket and engaged in the drill. Pious Methodist as he was, he did not regard the day as too holy for patriotic deeds, and he spent the whole afternoon in making ball-cartridges. ^ This was the spirit every where manifested. At Smyrna, New Castle, and Wilmington, the inhabitants turned out with spades or muskets, prepared to cast up the earth for bat- teries and trenches,^ or to be soldiers to meet the foe. At the latter place, the venerable soldier of the Revolution, Allan M'Lane, took the direction AT n ^1 J TTT., of military affairs.3 The specie of the banks of ^ew Castle and Wilmington was sent to Philadelphia for safety; and in the latter city Captam William Mitchell and his Independent Blues, and Captain Jacob H. Fis- 1 Niles'e WeeUy Register, Iv., 68. vli^^^rM\^y^lfS^oT.,T'^flVV°'^T''^ *"' Christians. Creek, at Wilmington, which was called Port •5, «««; rr ™ . 3 Niles's Weekly Begixber, iv., 68. OF THE WAE OF 1812. 669 The British threaten and hesitate. Attack on Lewistown. Cockbnm's Operations. ler and his Junior Artillerists, formed in three days for the occasion^ volunteered to garrison Fort Mifflin. Beresford was astonished by the spirit of the people, and held the thunders of his threat at bay for almost three weeks. Governor Haslet, in the mean time, summoned the militia to the defense of the menaced town, and on his arrival at Lewis on the 23d he reiterated the positive refusal of the inhabitants to furnish the invaders with supplies. Beresford continued to threaten and hesitate ; but at length, on the even- ing of the 6th of April, he sent Captain Byron, with the Belvidera and smaller ves- sels, to attack the village. They drew near, and the £elvidera sent several heavy round-shot into the town. These were followed by a flag of truce, bearing from By- ron a renewal of the requisition. It was answered, by Colonel S. B. Davis, who com- manded the militia. He repeated the refusal, when Byron sent a reply, in which he expressed regret for the misery he should inflict on the women and children by a bombardment. " Colonel Davis is a gallant officer, and has taken care of the ladies," was the verbal answer. This correspondence was followed by a cannonade and bom- bardment that was kept up for twenty-two hours. So spirited was the response of a battery on an emiaence, worked by Colonel Davis's militia, that the most dangerous of the enemy's gun-boats was disabled, and its cannon silenced. Notwithstanding the British hurled full eight hundred of these eighteen and thirty-two pound shot into the town, and many shells and Congreve rockets were sent, the damage inflicted was not severe. The shells did not reach the village ; the rockets passed over it ; but the heavy round shot injured several houses. 'No lives were lost. An ample supply of powder was sent down from Dupont's, at Wilmington, while the enemy supplied the balls. These fitted the American cannon, and a large number of them were sent back with effect.* On the afternoon of the Vth the British attempted to land for the purpose of seiz- ing live-stock in the neighborhood, but they were met at the verge of the water by the spirited militia, and driven back to their ships. For a month the squadron lin- gered, and then, dropping down to Newbold's Ponds, seven miles below Lewistown, boats filled with armed men were sent on shore to obtain a supply of water. Col- onel Davis immediately detached Major George H. Hunter with a few men, who drove them back to the ships. Failing to obtain any supplies on the shores of the Delaware, the little blockading squadron sailed for Bermuda, where Admiral Warren was fitting out re-enforcements for his fleet in the American waters. The blockaders within the Capes of Virginia were very busy in the mean time. The fleet was under the command of Admiral Cockbum, and took chief position in Lynn Haven Bay.^ He continually sent out marauding expeditions along the shores of the Chesapeake, who plundered and burnt farm-houses, carried off negroes and armed them against their masters, and seized live-stock wherever it could be found. The country exposed to these depredations was extensive and sparsely settled, and it was difficult to concentrate a military force at one point in sufficient time to be effective against the marauders. In some instances they were severely punished, but these were rare. More felicitous and more honorable exploits were sometimes undertaken by the blockaders under Cockbum. On the 3d of April ^, a flotilla of a dozen armed boats from the Brit- /^ /y y^ y/ ish fleet, under Lieutenant Polkingthorne, of the 8t. Domingo, 74, entered the mouth of the Rappa- hannock River, and attacked the Baltimore pri- vateer Dolphin, 10, Captain Stafford, and three armed schooners prepared to sail for France. The assault was unexpected and flerce. The three smaller vessels were soon taken, but the struggle for the Dolphin was severe. She was finally boarded, 1 Niles's Weekly Begiater, iv., 118. = See page 156. 6Y0 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Cockbm'n's Desires restrained by Fear. The British capture Frenchtown. Havre de Grace threatened. and for fifteen minutes the contest raged fearfully on her deck. ■ Overpowered by numbers, Captain Stafford was compelled to submit.^ In this affair the loss was much heavier on the British than on the American side. No official account of the casualties were ever given by either party, but contemporary writers agree that the capture of the Dolphin cost the victors many lives. Emboldened by this success, Cockburn resolved to engage in still more ambitious adventures. He thought of attacking Annapolis and Baltimore, and even dreamed of the glory and renown of penetrating the country forty or fifty miles and destroy- ing the national capital. Prudence restrained obedience to his desires. His friends among the "Peace men" of Baltimore doubtless informed him that the vigilance of the people of that city, under the eye of the veteran General Smith, was sleepless ; that look-out boats were far down the Patapsco; that riflemen and horsemen were stationed along the shores of the river and bay ; that Fort M'Henry was being strengthened by the mounting of thirty-two-pounders ; that the City Brigade num- bered almost two thousand men; and that an equal number of volunteers for the de- fense of the place were within trumpet-calL He wisely concluded to pass by the po- litical and commercial capitals of Maryland, and fall upon weaker objects. With a large force he menaced Baltimore as a feint on the 16th of April, and on the 29th, with the brigs Fantome and Mohawk, and tenders Dolphin, Racer, and Highflyer, \q entered Elk Kiver, toward the head of Chesapeake Bay, and proceeded to destroy Erenchtown, on the Delaware shore. It was a village of about a dozen buildings, composed of dwellings, store-houses, and stables. The blockading vessels had driven the trade between Philadelphia and Baltimore from the ordinary line of water-travel, and this place had become an important entrepot of traffic between the two cities. Admiral Cockburn made the Fantome his flag-ship, and sent First Lieutenant West- phall, of the Marlborough, with about four hundred armed men in boats, to destroy the public and private property at Frenchtown. The only defenders were quite a large number of drivers of stages and transportation wagons who were assembled there, and a few militia who came down from Elkton. The former garrisoned the re- doubt, which had just been erected, upon which lay three iron four-pounders, first used in the old War for Independence. They fought manfully, but were compelled to retire before overwhelming numbers. The store-houses were plundered and burnt, but no dwelling was injured. The women and children were treated with respect. Property on land to the amount of twenty-five thousand dollars was consumed, and on the water five small trading-vessels.^ This incendiary work accomplished, the in- vaders withdrew, and on the Fantome, the following day. Sir George wrote an ac- count of the affair to Admiral Warren, taking care to assure that humane commander that he was following out his orders in giving a receipt for property taken from non- combatants. Havre de Grace, near the mouth of the Susquehanna River, was the marauding knight's next object for visitation. It was a small town, two miles up from the head of Chesapeake Bay, and contained about sixty houses, built mostly of wood. It was on the post-road between Philadelphia and Baltimore, as it now is upon the railway between the two cities. For some time the enemy had been expected there, not be- cause there were stores or any other seductions for him, but because the love of plun- der and wanton destruction appeared to be Cockburn's animating spirit. Several companies of militia had been sent to the v icinity ; and upon the high bank of the 1 Niles's VeMy Rigisttfr,vi., 119. nelSuhe^S^5*!f 'i^-'K l*- / ''"'' " "^ ^'^ '■'■' ""> ^^^^ = " 0" ^^'^ «ri"' ^t ^e Stage Tavern, which was ertv nnfl „rl t /i^^' *^- ■;"* "f'"' *'"'' '"^ '*'"^'**y -°' '° ^^ frightened, as they would not hurt her or her prop- offtP sw« lf/,Ti"T *"^eale himself. Soon afterward some under officers came in and said they had possession the^mtht take it „nr> tri'l, '''.f T''^ ^° "^^ '^''°- ''"« °^'" ■•^P"^* '"^t " '"ere was any thing they wanted form ™fer wh^.h th?v ift^ T ""^ ^T''^' ^° " ''^^ "'""'^^ «™^ British sailor was rigged in an American nni- A L";ater nori on nfThf^ V'"^-' °° "'^' ""^ <^°''s™'=a them and all the goods in them tfa considerable amount." A gieatei poition of the merchandise consumed was private property. OF THE WAR OP 1812. 6V1 Preparations for the Invaders at Havre de Grace. Cockbum assails the Village. Plight of the Inhabitants. riverjust below the village, near the site of the present (1867) iron-works of Whitta. ker & Co.j a battery was erected, on which one eighteen-pounder and two nine-pound- ers were mounted. This, for reasons unexplained, was called the "Potato Battery." On the lower, or Concord Point, where the light-house now stands, was a smaller bat- tery, and both were manned by militia exempts. Patrols watched the shores all the way to the Bay looking for the enemy, and for about three weeks this Yigilance was unslumbering. The enemy did not appear. All alarm subsided ; and the spirit that brought out armed men began to flag. Some returned home, and apathy was the rule. Cockburn was informed of this state of things at Havre de Grace, and prepared to fall upon the unsuspecting villagers on the night of the 1st of May. A deserter car- ried intelligence of his intentions to the town, and the entire neighborhood was speed- ily aroused. The women and children were carried to places of safety, and about two hundred and fifty militia were soon again at their posts. But Cockburn did not come. He purposely lulled them into repose by a postponement of the attack. The deserter's story was disbelieved. It was thought to be a false alarm. What is there to call the British here ? common sagacity queried. The militia again became dis- organized, and many of them returned home. On the night of the 2d of May there was perfect quiet in Havre de Grace. The inhabitants went to sleep more peacefully than they had done for a month. They were suddenly awakened at dawn by the din of arms. It was a beautiful serene morning ; " not a cloud in the sky nor a ripple on the water," said the venerable Mr. Howtell, of Havre de Grace, to me, in the autumn of 1861, as we stood upon the site of the " Potato Battery." He was there at the time, and participated in the scenes. Fifteen to twenty barges, filled with British troops, were discovered approaching Concord Poipt, on which the light-house now stands. The guns on higher Point ^ , Comfort, manned by a few lingering militia, opened upon ij^S* them, and these were returned by grapeshot from the ene- jtjpf^M^ ^ my's vessels. The drums in the village beat to arms. The afirighted inhabitants, half dressed, rushed to the streets, the non-combatants flying in terror to places of safety. The confusion- was cruel. It was increased by a flight of hissing rockets, which set houses in flames. These were followed by more destructive bomb-shells ; and while the panic and the fire were raging in the town, the enemy landed. A strong party debarked in the cove by the present light- house, captured the small battery there, and pressed forward to seize the larger one. All but eight or ten of the militia had fled from the village ; and John O'Keil, a brave Irish- man, and Philip Albert, alone remained at the battery. Al- ,-s355;«g LANDIMS-PLAOE 01' THE BBITISH. bert was hurt, and O'Neil attempted to managfe the heaviest gun alone. He loaded and discharged it, when, by its recoil, his thigh was injured, and he was disabled. They both hurried toward the town, and used their muskets until compelled to fly toward the open common, near the Episcopal Church, pursued by .a British horse- Q12 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Landing of the British at Havre de Grace. Their cruel Conduct. Destruction of private Property. man. There O'Neil was captured, but Albert escaped. The brave Irishman was carried on board the frigate Maidstone, and in the course of a few days was set at liberty. The guns of the captured battery were turned upon the town, and added to the destruction. A greater portion of the enemy (almost four hundred in number) went up to the site of the present railway ferry landing, and debarked there. They rushed up to the open common, separated into squads, and commenced plundering and de- stroying systematically, officers and men entering into the business with equal alac- rity.^ Finally, when at least 'J'^^i^ . ^^ -'^L^:^^*. _ _ one half of the village had '"" ' been destroyed, Cockbum, the instigator of the crime, went on shore, and was met -jir on the common by several ladies who had taken refuge in an elegant brick house, some distance from the vil- lage, known as the Pringle mansion. They entreated him to spare the remainder of the village, and especially the roof that sheltered them. He yielded with reluctance, and at length gave an order for a stay of the plundering.^ Meanwhile a large detach- ment of the enemy went up the Susquehanna about six miles, to the head of tide-water, and there destroyed the extensive iron-works and cannon foundery belonging to Colonel Hughes. A numbei of vessels that had escaped from the Bay and were anchored there were saved from the flames by being sunk. At a point be low, Stump's large warehouse was burnt. Finally, when all possible mischief had been achieved along the river bank — when farm-houses had been plundered and burnt a long distance on the Baltimore road — when, after the lapse of four hours, forty of the sixty houses in the village had been destroyed, and nearly all the remainder of the edifices, except the Episcopal Churoh,^ were more or less injured, the marauders assembled in their vessels in the stream. Tn^ PEINGLE HOTJSE. KPIBOOPAI. OHDROH, 1 The late Jared Sparks, LL;D., was an eye-witness of the conduct of the marauders, and has left on record, in the North American Bevm (July, 181T), an account of real barbarities committed by them ; and William Charles, the cari- caturist, perpetuated their cruelties and robberies with his pencil. A few of the British officers, who did not share in the spirit of Cockbum, remonstrated, but in vain. = Among those who took shelter there were the wife of Commodore Eodgers, Mrs. William Pinkney, and Mrs. Golds- borough. The latter begged the officer who had been sent up with a detachment to burn Mr. Pringle's house to spare It, tor she had an aged mother in it. He replied that his orders were from Admiral Cockbum himself, and that she must see him. This was the occasion of the deputation of women meeting him on the common. When they returned the house was on Are, and men were leaving it with plunder. By great exertions the flames were extinguished. Such was the statement of a lady living near to her brother in Baltimore, published in Niles's Register, iv., 19G. She mentions sev- eral instances of vandalism. = This buildmg is of brick, and stands on the corner of Union Street and Congress Avenue. It was two stories m OF THE WAR OF 1812. 673 A Visit to Havre de Grace. Historical Localities there. John O'Neill, his Sword and Dwelling. and at sunset sailed out into the Bay to pay a similar visit to villages on the Sassa- fras River.' Havre de Grace was at least sixty thousand dollars poorer when they left than when they came twelve hours before. It was a sunny but blustery day* when I visited Havre de Grace and . November 22, the scenes around it, made memorable by its woes. I arrived in the ^^^'■ evening by railway from Baltimore, where I had spent three days in visiting the battle-ground at North Point and other interesting places hereafter to be described. The town was full of soldiers, many being stationed there to guard the ferry and public property from the violence of the sympathizers with the rebels in Maryland. The only hotel in the place was entirely filled with lodgers, and private houses were in like condition. The prospect for a night's repose was unprordisihg. ' For myself, a settee or an easy-chair might have sufficed ; but I had a traveling companion (a young woman and near relative) who required better accommodations. The obliging pro- prietor of the hotel, after much effort, succeeded in placing us in the unoccupied fur- nished house of his son-in-law, where we passed a dreary night, the windows of my room clattering continually at the bidding of the gusty wind. Early the next morn- ing I went out in search of celebrities, and, after sketching the old residence of Com- modore Rodgers, printed on page 182, 1 fortunately fell in with Mr. Howtell, already mentioned, who became my cicerone. Under his direction I was enabled to find every place sought after. While sketching the landing-place of the British near the light-house (page 671), the keeper of the j)haros came to know my business. He was an aged man, and I soon discovered that he was one of the' oldest resi- dents of the place, having been a half-grown boy at the time of the Brit- ish visitation. " Did you know John O'Neil, who behaved so gallantly at the Potato Battery ?" I asked. " I ought to," he replied, " for he was my father." Can you tell me any thing about the sword presented to him by the authorities of Philadelphia for his bravery on that occasion ?" I in- quired. " If you will go with me to the house," he replied, " it will speak for itself" "When I had finished my sketch of the weather-beaten light- house (from which most of the stucco had been abraded) and the cove, with the distant Turkey Point, Spesutia Island, and the Maryland main on the right, I followed Mr. O'lSTeil to his little cottage near by, and there not only saw and sketched the honorary sword, but from the brave John O'Neil's own family Bible obtained a few facts concerning his personal history. He was born in Ireland on the 23d of November, 1 768, and came to America at the age of eighteen years. He was in the military service under General Harry Lee in quelling the Whisky Insurrection in Western Pennsylvania, and in 1798 entered the naval service against the French. He became an extensive nail-maker at Havre de Grace, sometimes em- : ploying as many as twenty men, The destruction of the place ruined his \ business. When the present light-house was built on Concord Point in 1829 he became its keeper; and on the 26th of January, 1838, he died in the house where his son and successor resides. The sword had a hand- somely-ornamented gilt scabbard, on which was the following inscription : "Pbesentbd to the gallant John O'Nbil fob his valoe at Havre DE Grace, by Philadelphia— 1813." In Charies's caricature just men- tioned, a British officer, who has arrested the bold cannonier and con- JOmi O NEIL 8 SWOET). .jo,-„>f o* tho HtnP Of the destruction of Havre de Grace. Between thirty and forty years ago it was fired by a lightning !trn?e ^dnSlv Consumer The square spaces in the walls over the windows show the lower portions of the old SwTfnresSndstor Although the British did not apply the torch to the church, they amused themselves by ■""'in thtSr'rt hI™ ^^^^ one man (Mr. Webster), killed by a rocket. The British lost three killed and two wounded. Uu 674 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK The "Pringle House." Its Owner a Veteran of the War. Plvmder and Destruction of Villages by Cockbnra. fronts him, is made to say, " I tell you what, Mr. O'Neil, you are certainly a brave fellow, but as a prisoner of war must go on board with us." They did not keep him long, for on the 10th, seven days after his capture, he wrote to a friend in Baltimore, saying, " I was carried on board the Maidstone frigate, where I remained until re- leased three days since." His letter opened with the quaint sentence, " No doubt be- fore this you have heard of my defeat /' and this was followed by a brief narrative of the affair. Toward noon I rode up to the " Pringle House," the residence of the Honorable Elisha Lewis, who had just been elected a member of the State Legislature by the Unionists of his district. His estate is called Bloomsbury, an old English title, and contains six hundred acres of land, with a front of a mile on Chesapeake Bay. When the mansion was built in 1808 by Mark Pringle, a wealthy Baltimore merchant, it was the finest country residence in the state, and even when I visited it few rivaled it either in appearance or comfort. It stood upon an eminence overlooking Havre de Grace, the Susquehanna River, and Chesapeake Bay. It was very large, and sub- stantially built of pressed brick. Mr. Lewis was one of the brave defenders of Balti- more in 1814, when that city was threatened by General Ross and his army. He served as a volunteer sergeant in Captain Perring's company, Twenty-seventh Regi- ment — the brave Twenty-seventh-^Maryland Militia, which did such gallant service in the battle of North Point. His gun was disabled by a shot through the stock, when he took the musket of a slain companion by his side, and continued the fight. Founder of a commercial house in Baltimore, he was engaged thirty years in trade, and passed much of his time in England. For sixteen years he had been enjoying the quiet of country life; After spending an hour pleasantly at Bloomsbury I rode back to the village, and to the quarters of Colonel Rodgers, son of the commodore, who was then raising a Maryland regiment for the war. At half past three we left Havre de Grace, and were with friends in Philadelphia in time for supper. Let us resume the historical narrative. Cockburn and his marauders went up the Sassafras River, that separates Cecil and Kent Counties, Maryland, and attacked the villages of Fredericktown and George- town, lying on opposite banks of that stream, about eleven miles frt)m its mouth. The former is in Cecil County, the latter in Kent County. Both of them at that time, and especially Georgetown, had a flourishing trade with Baltimore. These vil- lages contained from forty to fifty houses each, and at Fredericktown several small vessels that had run up from the bay for shelter were moored. It was on the 6th of May, a warm and beautifdl morning, that Cockburn, with six hundred men, in eighteen barges, went up the Sassafras. He first visited Frederick- town, on the northern shore of the stream. Less than one hundred militiamen, under Colonel Veazy, were there, with a little breastwork, and a small cannon to defend it. "When the enemy opened his great guns all but thirty-five of them fled. With these Veazy made stout resistance, but was compelled to retire. The marauders landed, and the entreaties of the women to spare the town, especially the more humble dwell- ings of the poor, were answered by oaths and coarse jests and the application of the fire-brand. The store-houses, the vessels, and the beautiful village were set in fiames after the invaders were glutted with plunder. The marauders then crossed over to Georgetown, and served it in the same way. So delighted was Cockburn with his success in plundering and destroying unprotected towns, that, with characteristic swagger, he declared he should not be satisfied until he had burned every building in Baltimore. After having plundered and destroyed these quiet villages, and despoiled them of an aggregate of at least seventy thousand dolfars, Cockburn and his pirates returned to their ships. This kind of warfare, so disgraceful to a civilized goyernment, created OF THE WAR OF 1812. e'ZS The blockading Force strengthened. Norfolk menaced. Stirring Scenes In Hampton Eoads. the most intense hatred of the enemy, and aroused a war spirit throughout the land that for a time appalled the cowardly " Peace Party," and nearly silenced the news- papers" in their interest. On the 26th of May a British order in Council extended the blockade to New York and all the Southern ports ; and on the 1st of June Admiral Warren entered the Ches- apeake with a considerable naval re-enforcement for Cockburn and Beresford, bearing a large number of land troops and marines under the command of Sir Sidney Beck- with. The British force now collected within the Capes of Virginia consisted of eight ships of the line, twelve frigates, and a considerable number of smaller vessels, and it was evident that some more important point than defenseless villages would be the next object of attack. The citizens of Baltimore, Annapolis, and Norfolk were equally menaced, but when, at the middle of June,* three British frigates entered ^ Hampton Roads, and sent their boats up the James River to destroy some small American vessels there and plunder the inhabitants, it was evident that Nor- folk would be the first point of attack. The Constellation^ and a flotilla of twenty gun-boats, as well as Forts Norfolk and Nelson (one on each side of the Elizabeth River), and Forts Tar and Barbour,^ and the fortifications on Craney Island, were all GENEEAL TIEW OF CBAHEY ISLAND. put in the best state of defense possible ; while Commodore Cassin, then in command of the station, ordered Captain Tarbell to organize an expedition for the capture of the frigate that lay at anchor at the nearest distance from Norfolk. Toward midnight on Saturday, the 19th of June," Captain Tarbell, with ^^^^^ fifteen gun-boats, descended the Elizabeth River in two divisions, one under Lieutenant J. M. Gardner, and the other under Lieutenant Robert G. Henley. Fifteen volunteer sharp-shooters from Craney Isl- ~ and were added to the crews of the boats. Because of head winds the flotilla did not approach the nearest vessel until half Because of head winds the flotilla did not j^^'^^ cy^Sc^^-^^^^^^Ct — - approach the nearest vessel until half ^^"'^ past three in the morning. She lay about y^ 4^v.«nn Tviiloo firim tliA nt.hprs and nnder ^""^ and were added to the crews of the boats, Because of head winds the flotilla did nol approach the nearest vessel until hall past three in the morning. She lay abou1 three miles from the others, and under cover of the darkness just before daylight, and a heavy fog, the Americans approached within easy range of the vessel without being discovered. At four o'clock Tarbell opened fire upon her. She was taken by surprise, and her response was so feeble and irregular that a panic on board was indicated. The wind was too light to fill her sails, while the gun-boats, managed by sweeps, had every advantage. They were formed in crescent shape, and duruig a <;onflict of half an hour Tarbell was contin- ually cheered by sure promises of victory. It was snatched from his hand by a breeze that suddenly sprung up from the north-northeast, which enabled the two frigates anchored below to come up to the assistance of the assailed vessel, supposed to be 1 Thirins the soring efforts had been made by officers of the British blockading sqnadron to capture the Comma&m, then in.command of the now (186T) venerable Admiral Stewart. Some stirring events had occurred in connection With *'^fpo^H?Ir was a small redoubt south of Armistead's Bridge. Fort Barbour was east of Church Street and south of the Princess Anne Boad. These were to defend the land-side approaches of the enemy. 676 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Skirmish in Hampton Goads. A Britisli Fleet enters the Roads. Admiral Shubrick's public Life. the Junon, 38, Captain Sanders. These opened a severe cannonade on the flotilla, and the Ameri- cans were obliged to haul off". As they retired in good order, they kept up a fire on the British ves- sels for almost an hour.^ They damaged their enemy seriously, while some of their own boats were badly bruised. Master's Mate Allison was killed, and two seamen were slightly wounded. These composed the entire loss of the Americans. How much the British seamen suffered is not known. This attack brought matters to a cri- sis. Efforts for the capture of Norfolk, with its fortifications, the armed vessels there, and the navy yard, were imme- diately made by the British admiral. The cannonade had been distinctly heard, and with the very next tide aft- er the conflict on that foggy Sunday morning fourteen of the enemy's ves- sels entered the Roads, ascended to the mouth of the James River, and took position between the point called New- port-N ewce and Pig Point, at the mouth of the Nansemond. These vessels had on board the One Hundred and Second Regiment of British Infantry, the Roy- al Marine Brigade, and two companies of French volunteer prisoners, who, in compliment to their language, were called Chasseurs JBritanniques. These ,. . land troops were /^ T // ^^ ^.^ commanded by Gen- ^^7-^,_^>Z-'Z.*---2^-^a--'<=^2i(:: — eral Sia- Sidney Beck- with, assisted by ' In this affair Lieutenant (now Admiral) W. B. Shubrick performed a gallant part. I was informed by Commodore Tattnall that after the engagement had continued about an hour Captain Tarbell made general signal to withdraw from the contest. The boat commanded by Shubrick at that time happened to be nearest the enemy, and that brave young officer, then twenty-three years of age, satisfied that a few more shots would damage the enemy, obeyed the order very slowly, and continued to blaze away at the frigate. This caused the concentration of the enemy's fb-e upon his single boat. Still he moved off slowly, firing on his retreat, until a signal made specially for him directed him to leave, and take in tow a disabled gun-boat. This he did without losing a man.— ^otes of Conversation with Crnnmodore TattnaR in July, 1860. William Branford Shubrick was bom near Charleston, South Carolina, on the 31st of October, 1T90. He was at school in New England about three years, from his twelfth to his fifteenth year, the latter part of the time in Harvard Univer- sity, from which he was called home, and in Charleston was instructed in the science of navigation. In June, 1806, he entered the navy as midshipman, but continued his studies until 180T, when he joined the sloop of war Wasp at Norfolk. She left that port about three days before the attack of the Leopard on the Chesapeake. He was actively engaged in, service until the war broke out, when he made a cruise in the Hornet with Commander Lawrence, when he was trans- ferred to the ComtMaiimi, then under the command of the now venerable Admiral Stewart. He then bore the commis- sion of a lieutenant. He behaved gallantly in the attack on the Jumm and in the defense of Craney Island. After that he followed Stewart to the Comtitutimn., and in that vessel he served until the close of the war, always taking an active part in her brilliant conduct. Pursuant to a resolution of Congress (February 22, 1816), he received a silver medal as one of Stewart's oflcers. In 1834 the Legislature of South Carolina presented him with an elegant sword in testimony of their appreciation of his gallant services in the Constitution when she captured the Ci/ane and Levant. He was acting first lieutenant during her remarkable escape from the British squadron, hereafter to be recorded in these pages. At the close of the war he was commissioned first lieutenant, and in the WasMmfttm, T4, under Channcey's flag, he cruised in the Mediterranean. He was promoted to master commandant in 1820. Eleven years later, after several well-con- ducted cruises, he was promoted to captain, and until 1838 was engaged in service on shore. He was afloat again in 1838 as commander of a squadron in the West Indies. In 1846, on the breaking out of the war with Mexico, he was as- signed to the command of a squadron in the Pacific, and actively participated in events there. In 1853 he was in com- mand of a squadron on our Eastern coast for the protection of the fisheries, an important and delicate duty. In 13B8 he commanded a powerful squadron sent to demand satisfaction for injuries from the government of Paraguay, and having discretionary power to commence hostilities should that satisfaction not be made to the United States Commiesloners. OF THE WAR OF 1812. &11 Virginia Militia near Norfolk. Craney Island. American Forces there. General Taylor. Lieutenant Colonel Napier and other eminent leaders. The whole force of the ene- my, including sailors, was about five thousand men. James Barbour was then Governor of Virginia. He was patriotic and active, and by untiring energy he had assembled several thousand militia. A large portion of these, with some United States regulars under Captain Pollard, were at old Fort Nor- folk and vicinity. They had been drawn chiefly from the coast districts most imme- diately menaced by the enemy. The governor had been zealously seconded in his efforts by the Richmond press and leading provincial journals, who, as usual, appealed vehemently to state pride. The appeal was effectual, and gallant men flocked to the standard of their common country. Craney Island, then in shape like a painter's pallet, and rising a few feet above the water, was separated from the main by a strait that was fordable at low or half tide. Across this a temporary foot-bridge had been constructed, which led to Stringer's farm-house. The island at that time contained about thirty acres of land. On the southeastern side of it, and commanding the ship channel, were intrenchments, on which two 24, one 18, and four 6 pound cannon were planted. These formed the most remote outpost of Norfolk, and were the key to the harbor. The defense of this island was demanded by stem necessity, and to that end the efforts of the leaders in that vicinity were directed. The chief* of these was Brigadier General Robert B. Taylor, the commanding officer of the dis- trict. The whole available force on the island when the British entered Hampton Roads consisted of two companies of ar- tillery from Portsmouth, led by Captaius Emerson and Richardson, under the com- mand of Major James Faulkner, of the Vir- ginia State Artillery; Captain Roberts's company of riflemen ; and four hundred and sixteen mUitia infantry of the line, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Henry Beatty, assisted by Major Andrew Wag- sroner. These were so situated that, if attacked and overpowered, they had no means for escape, and yet, as one of the newspapers of the day said, they were " all cool and collected, rather wishing the attack." On the arrival of General Taylor^ at Norfolk he perceived the necessity of re- enforcing the troops on Craney Island, President Lopez complied with the demand, and he retnmed in 1859. Before leaving he visited General TJrquiza, Pres- ident of the Argentine Eepnblic, who presented him with a splendid sword. The United States Congress by joint res- olution authorized him to accept it. This closed his sea service, in which he has held every rank and exercised every command, from midshipman to rear admii-al. He has also performed faithful shore service of eveiy kind pertaining to his rank. He has commanded three different navyyards, and held two bureaus in the Navy Department. He has been chairman of the Light-house Board since its establishment in 1863, and in a service of over sixty-one years has been only six years and eight months unemployed. His father was an officer of the Eevolntion. 1 Eobert Barnard Taylor was an eminent man. He was bom on the 20th of March, 17T4, and was educated at Wil- liam and Mary College, Williamsburg. He studied law with Judge Marshall, and was associated at the bar with Wil- liam Wirt, L W. Tazewell, and other eminent lawyers. In 179&-'99 he was a member of the Virginia Assembly, of the Federal school. He was one of the grand jurors (John Randolph, foreman) in 180T who found a bill of indictment against Aaron Burr, charged with treason. During the same ySar he was counsel for Commodore Barron, after the af- fair of the Chesapeake and Leopard. He took pride in military affairs, and at the breaking out of the War of 1812 he was aODointed to the command at Norfolk as brigadier general- of the Virginia forces. He was very efficient in defense of that city in the summer of 1813. He retired from the commandin February, 1814, when General Parker succeeded to his place On that occasion the citizens of Norfolk gave him a public dinner, and from the military he received the most flatterinir testimonies of their esteem and affection. When, as. the national guest, General Lafayetta visited the 678 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Landing of tlie British. Preparations for Battle. ^.<>^^^^3 ArtilleriBts on Craney Island. where the first blow of the coming battle was likely to fall. He accordingly sent down thirty regulars under Captain Richard Pollard, from Fort Norfolk, and thirty volunteers under Lieutenant Johnson, of Culpepper, and Ensign Archibald Atkinson (member of Congress in 1849), of Isle of Wight, most of them riflemen. These were followed by about one hundred and fifty seamen, under Lieutenants B. J. Neale, W. B. Shubrick, and James Sanders, and fifty marines under Lieutenant Breckin- ridge. These, on the solicitation of Gen- eral Taylor, were sent by Tarbell to work the heavy guns. The whole force on the island, on the evening of the 21st, num- bered seven hundred and thirty-seven men. At midnight the camp was alarmed by the crack of a sentinel's musket. He thought he discovered ^ boat in the strait. ^ The troops were called to arms, and stood watching until dawn, when a bush, and not a boat, was found to have been the cause of the commotion. The troops were dismissed, but they had scarcely broken ranks when a horseman came dashing across the fordable strait, and reported that the enemy were landing in force near Major Hofleur's, a little more than two miles dis- tant. The drum beat the long roll, and as the daylight increased the British were seen passing continually in boats from the ships to the shore. Major Faulkner at once ordered the three heavy guns in the southeastern portion of the island to be trans- ferred to the northwestern part, and had them placed in battery there with the four 6-pounders. These seven pieces constituted a pretty formidable battery. A short distance in the fear of it, the infantry, riflemen, and Richardson's artillerymen acting as infant- ry, were formed in line, so as to face the strait at the mouth of Wise's Creek. The command of the 18-pounder was given to Lieutenant B. J. Neale, assisted by Lieuten- ants Shubrick and Sanders, and about one hundred sailors and marines, chiefly from the Constellation. The two 24's and four 6's were under the charge of Captain Emerson, with his company of artillery, and aided by Lieutenants Godwin and Howie, Sergeants Young and Liv- ingston, Coi-poral Moffatt, and Captain Thomas Rooke, master of the merchantman Manhat- tan, who had been of great service in transfer- ing the heavy guns from one end of the island to the other. These heavy guns were worked chiefly by the men from the navy. The entire battery was under the supreme command of Major Faulkner, a cool and skillful artiller- ist.2 The whole force on the island was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Beatty. United States in 1824, and a grand reception was given him at Torktown, in Virginia, the scene of his warfare and tri- umph in youth. General Taylor was the chosen orator for the assemhled maltitade. " In all my time I never heard snch eloquence," said a veteran to me in the spring of 1853. " In all my time I never saw so many mefn in tears." General Taylor filled the position of judge and legislator with distinction. He was in the Convention in 1829-'30, ■ charged vrith amending the Constitution of Virginia. In that body he introduced enlightened measures in regard to the elective franchise. In the winter of 1831-'32 he was made judge of the General Court of Virginia, and held the ofBce ' until his death on the 13th of April, 1834. 1 This sentinel was William Shutte. He was stationed upon a small island that once lay near the month of Wise's Creek. See map on page 679. Shutte made the usual challenge, and, receiving no answer, flred, and continued to fire until the camp was fiilly aroused. 2 James Faulkner was born in Ireland in 17T6, and came to America when a boy under the charge of a distant rela- ^i/'* •>« «a"i«a off some cattle and a number of slaves ; and Savannah was much agitated for a time with the ffiar of his grasp. uumoer OF THE WAR OF 1812. ft91 Cockburn on the Coast of Georgia. Decatur rnns the Blockade at New York. He Is driven Into the Thames. miles from Savannah, the property of the Tattnall family, on "which, in a grove of live-oak draped with the Spanish moss, is one of the most pic- turesque cemeteries in the world, the en- trance to which .is seen in the picture, made from a sketch by the artist T. Ad- dison Richards. While Cockhurn, the marauder, was on the Southern coast, Hardy, the gentle- man, was blockading a portion of the New England coast. The harbors from the Delaware to Nantucket were regularly watched, and ingress and egress were very difficult. We have given an account of the arrival at New York of the frigates United States and Macedonian,^ the former in the American service, under Decatur, and the latter a prize captured by him from the British in the previous autumn. These had been repaired and fitted for sea, and the gallant Captain Jones had been placed in com- mand of the Macedonian. At this time the Poictiers, Captain Beresford, and a num- ber of other vessels, were carefully guarding the entrance to New York Harbor through the Narrows, but Decatur, anxious to get out upon the, ocean, resolved to run the blockade. He found it unsafe to attempt it at the Narrows ; so, with his two frigates, accompanied by the sloop of war Hornet, Captain Biddle, which was anxious to join the Chesapeake at Boston, he passed up the East River and Long Island Sound for the purpose of escaping between Montauk Point and Block Island.^ For a month Sir Thomas Hardy, with his ENTEA2?0E TO BONATBHTUKE. ^./m. Qi/c&i^ G^^^ flag-ship the MamilUes, the Orpheus, Captain Sir Hugh Pigot, the Valiant, Acasta, and smaller vessels, had been keeping vigilant watch in that region. During that time Sir Thomas had won the good opinion of the inhabitants along the coast because of his honorable treatment of them. When Decatur approached the mouth of the Thames,* he was met by the . jnne i, Valiant and Acasta, and, knowing that the Bamillies and Orpheus were ^^'^^• near he deemed it prudent to run into New London Harbor. He was pursued by the enemy as far as Gull Island, at which point the British anchored in position to command the mouth of the Thames. Then commenced a regular blockade of New London, which continued full twenty months, and was raised only by the proclama-. tion of peace. The squadron in sight of New London was soon strengthened, and when at the latter part of June, Hardy assumed command of it, it consisted of two 74's, two frigates, and a number of smaller vessels. 1 See page 456. , , 2 This is out at sea, eonth of Ehode Island, and forma a part of that State's juiisdiction. The British had now raised their standard on this island. 692 PICTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK Blockading Squadron off New London. Alam of the Inhabitants. Decatnr flnds a Place of Safety. NEW LOHDOM IM 1813.1 The presence of this fleet created much anxiety. The more aged inhabitants, who remembered Arnold's incursion in 11S1, were filled with apprehensions of a repetition of the tragedies of that terrible day. It was generally expected that the enemy would enter the river and attack Decatur's squadron, and the neighboring militia were summoned to the town ; the specie of the banks was conveyed to Norwich, at the head of tide-water ; and women, and children, and portable property were sent into the interior. The character of Sir Thomas was a sufficient guaranty that neither life nor private property would be wantonly destroyed ; but, in the event of the bom- bardment of the ships, the town could not well escape destruction by fire. Decatur, in anticipation of such bombardment of his vessels, after lightening them, took them five or six miles up the river, beyond the reach of the enemy, and upon an eminence near AUyn's Point, from which he had a fine view of the Sound and New London Harbor, he cast up some intrenchments, and placed his cannon upon them. The spot was named Dragon Hill.^ At about this time an event occurred off New London which caused great exas- peration in the blockading squadron, and came near bringing most disastrous effects upon the New England coast. It was the use of a torpedo, or submarine mine, whose invention, construction, and character have already been given in these pages.^ The government of the United States, it will be remembered, refused to employ them. It was left for private enterprise to attempt the promotion of the public good by their use in weakening the power of the enemy. One of these enterprises was undertaken in New York city. In the hold of the schooner Eagle, John Scudder, junior, the orig- inator of the plot, placed ten kegs of gunpowder, with a quantity of sulphur mixed with it, in a strong cask, and surrounded it with huge stones and other missiles, which, in the event of explosion, might inflict great injury. At the head of the cask, on the inside, were fixed two gun-locks, with cords fastened to their triggers at one end, and two barrels of flour at the other end, so that when the flour should be removed the 1 In this view, looking down the river, the old conrt-houee, yet standing on State Street, is seen near the centre of the picture. . Upon the rocky peninsula farther to the right (erroneously made to appear like an island) is seen Port Trum- bull. Beyond it, in the distance, at the mouth of the river, is seen the light-house, and in the open sound the British blockading squadron. In the extreme distance is seen, as if In connecting line. Gull and Piaher's Island. On the ex- treme left are the Heights of Groton, east of the Thames. 2 Eistary of New London, by Miss Frances Manwaring Caulkins, author of a Bialory of Norwich, Connecticut. These volumes justly rank among the best arranged and most interesting of the local histories of our country. 2 See pages from 238 to 240 inclusive. OF THE WAR OP 1812. 693 A Torpedo Vessel off New London. Alarm and Precantions of tlie British. Otlier Torpedo Vessels. locks would 'be spning, the powder ignited, and the terrible mine exploded. Thus prepared, with a c^rgo of flour and naval stores over the concealed mine, the Eagle, Captain Riker, late in June, sailed for N^ew London, where, as was expected and de- sired, she was captured by armed men sent out in boats from the jRamillies. The crew of the Eagle escaped to the shore at Millstone Point, and anxiously awaited the result. The wind had fallen, and for two hours unavailing efforts were made to get the Eagle alongside the Mamillies for the purpose of transferring her cargo to that vessel. Pinally boats were sent out as lighters, the hatches of the Eagle were opened, and when the first barrel of flour was removed the explosion took place. A column of fire shot up into the air full nine hundred feet, and a shower of pitch and tar fell upon the deck of the Hamillies. The schooner, and the first lieutenant and ten men froni the flag-ship on board of her, were blown into atoms, and most of those in the boats outside were seriously, and some fatally injured. The success which this experiment promised caused others to be tried. A citizen of Norwich, familiar with the machine used by Bushnell in attempts to blow up the Eagh, British ship-of-war, in the harbor of New York during the Revolution, invented a submarine boat in which he voyaged at the rate of three miles an hour. In this he went under the Hamillies three times, and on the third occasion had nearly com- pleted the task of fixing a torpedo to her bottom, when a screw broke, and his effort was foiled. He was discovered, but escaped. A daring fisherman of Long Island, named Penny, made attempts on the Mamillies with a torpedo in a whale-boat, and Hardy was kept continually on the alert. So justly fearful was he of these mines, that he not only kept Hs ship in motion, but, according to Penny, who was a prisoner , on the Mamillies for a while, he caused her bottom to be swept with a cable every two hours night and day. He finally issued a warning to the inhabitants of the coasts that if they did not cease that cruel and unheard-of warfare, he should proceed to destroy their towns and desolate their country. ^ An attempt of Mr. Mix, of the navy, in July, to blow up the Plantagenel, 14, lying off Cape Henry, Vtrginia, was almost successful. The torpedo was carried out, under cover of intense darkness, in a heavy open boat called The Chesapeake Avenger, and dropped so as to float down under the ship's bow. It exploded a few seconds too soon. The scene was awful. A column of water, twenty-five feet in diameter, and half luminous with lurid light, was thrown up at least forty feet, with an explosion as terrific as thunder, and producing a concussion like the shock of an earthquake. It burst at the crown. The water fell in profusion on the deck of the Plantagenet, and at the same moment she rolled into the chasm made by this sudden expulsion of water, and nearly upset. Toi-pedoes were also placed across the Narrows, below New York,'and at the entrance to the harbor of Portland. This fact made the British commanders exceedingly cautious in approaching our harbors, and they and their American sympathizers expressed great horror at this mode of warfare. It was re- plied that the wanton outrages committed on the defenseless inhabitants of the coast, from Havre de Grace to Charleston, fully justified any mode of warfare against such marauders, and that stratagem in the horrid business of war was always justifiable.^ 1 Hardy had been in the habit of allowing trading vessels to pass, the blockade being chiefly against Decatur's little sanadron ■ but on the morning after the explosion of the EagT^ he informed General Isham, the commander of the mi- litia at New London, that no vessel would thereafter be allowed to pass the British squadron except flags of truce. And on the 28th of August, after an attempt upon the Bmniim by Penny from the south side of Long Island, Hardy wrote to justice Terry of Sonthold, desiring him to warn the inhabitants along the coast that if they allowed a torpedo boat to remain another day among them, he would " order every house near the shore to be destroyed " The leniency and courtesy extended to the inhabitants by Captain Hardy.gave him claims to their respectful consideration iThe Philadelphia Awrm'a said, in speaking of the complaints of the mischievous " Peace party" of that day, "We would respectfully solicit the picm ^nm to explain to us the difference between waging war with mbmanm macUrm Tnd with aerM destructive weapons-fighting under water or fighting m the air f The British too cowardly to meet us orshoM (except when they are certain of finding little or no opposition) like men and soldiers, send us Corwe^c ZSs to burn our towns and habitations; we, in turn, dispatch some of our tmpe^MS to rub the copper off the bottoms of their ships." 694 PICTORIAL PIELD-BOOK Vigorous Blockade of the Coast of Connecticnt. The local Militia. Colonel Burbeck. LIGIlT-llODSE AT NEW LONDOJJ. Although Hardy did not execute his threats, he made the blockade more rigorous than ever, and many trading vessels became prizes to the British cruisers. A tiny warfare was kept up along the Connecticut coast, for, whenever a chased vessel was =^ driven ashore, the inhabitants would turn out to defend it. One of these encounters occurred a little west of the light-house late in the autumn.* The sloop Roxana was chased » November 28, ashore by three British barges, and grounded. ■'*^'' "Within half an hour a throng of people had assembled to rescue her, when the eneniy set her on fire and retreated. The Amer- icans attempted to extinguish the flames, but a heavy cannonade from the ships drove them ofi". Although many were exposed to the cannon-balls on that occasion, not one was hurt. " Dur- ing the whole war," says Miss Caulkins, " not a man was killed by the enemy in Connecticut, and only one in its waters on the coast."' ;^ _^,^ ^^^^ ^ ^ . At near the close of June, the veteran colonel of artillery in the' regular service, Henry Burbeck, who had been stationed at, New- port, ai-rived at New London to take charge of that military de- partment. ^ He found the militia, who were strongly imbued with the mischievous doctrine of state supremacy, unwilling to be trans- ferred, according to late orders from the Secretary of War, from the service of the state to the service of the United States. He accordingly, under instructions from Washington, dismissed them all. The people, misconstruing the movement, were alarmed and exasperated. They re- garded themselves as unwarrantably deprived of their defenders, and betrayed to .the enemy, who might come and plunder and destroy to his heart's content. At the same time, it was known that Hardy's fleet had been re-enforced by the arrival of the Endymion and iStatira, vessels equal in strength to the United States and Mace- donian. A panic of mingled fear and indignation prevailed, and it was only allayed by the quick response of the Governor of Connecticut to the invitation of Colonel 1 History of New London^ page 634. 2 Henry Burbeck was bom in Boston on the 8th of Jane, 1T54. He was a soldier of the Revolution, and in 178T, under the ■ Confederation, he was commissioned a captain. He was appointed captain of artillery in 1789, and promoted to major in 1T91. He was raised to lieutenant colonel of artillery and engineers in 1798, and to colonel in 1803. . During his service at New London, on the lOlh of September, 1813, he was breveted a brigadier general, and held that commission until the close of the war, when, after thirty-eight years of military service, he re- tired from the army, and took up his abode in New London . He died there on the 2d of October, 1848, at the great age of ninety-four years. He was buried in the Cedar Grove Cemetery at New iondon, and over his grave the Massa- chusetts Society of the Cincinnati, of which, at the time of his death, he was president, and last survivor but one of the original members, erected a hand- some granite monument, under the direction of Honorable E. G. Shaw, of Bos- ton, the late General H. A. S. Dearborn, of Eoxbury, and the Eeverend Alfred L. Banry, of Newton Lower Falls, a committee of the society. Upon the ftont of the obelisk, on a shield, is the following inscription: "Brigadier General Henet Bdbbeok, bom in Boston, Mass., June 8, 1754. Died at New London, October 2, 1848." Upon the cube on which the obelisk stands the following words are deeply engraven: "The Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati dedicate this monument to the memory of their late honored President. He was an oflcer of the TJnited States from the commencement of the Eevolu- tionary War until near the close of his life. By a patriotic and faithful dis- charge of the high and responsible duties of a Gallant Soldier, and an Ex- emplary Citizen, he became as justly and eminently distinguished as he was bubbeck's momdmext. rightfully and universally respected. Erected MDCCCL." OP THE WAR OF 1812. 696 Decatur endeaTore to get to Sea. The Bine-lig hts and the " Peace Party." A Challenge. Tour in New England. Burbeck to call out the militia for the temporary defense of the menaced town. Brig- adier General Williams was appointed to the command of the militia, and the alarm subsided. Decatur watched continually during the summer and autumn for an opportunity to escape to sea with his three vessels ; and hoping, as the severely cold weather came on, to find the enemy at times somewhat lax in vigilance, he slowly dropped down the river, and at the beginning of December was anchored in New London Harbor, opposite Market Wharf. With great secrecy he prepared every thing for sailmg. He fixed on Sunday evening, the 12th,» for making the attempt to run the « December, blockade. Fortunately for his plan, the night was very dark, the wind ^^^^• jvas favorable, and the tide served at a convenient hour. When all things were in readiness, and he was about to weigh anchor, word came from the row-guard of the Macedonian and Hornet that signal-lights were burning on both sides of the river, near its mouth. They were J^we-lights, and Decatur had no doubt of their being signals to warn the enemy of his movement, which was known in the village that evening. Thus exposed by " Peace Men," of whom there were a few in almost every community, he at once abandoned the project, and tried every means to discover the betrayers, but without effect. The Opposition, as a party, denied the fact, while oth- ers as strongly asserted it. In his letter to the Secretary of the Navy'' on the subject, Decatur said, " Notwithstanding these signa,ls have been ^®'*™^«'" ^"• repeated, and have been seen by twenty persons at least in this squadron, there are men in New London who have the hardihood to afiect to disbelieve it, and the ef- frontery to avow their disbelief." The whole Federal party, who were traditionally opposed to war with Great Britain, were often unfairly compelled to bear the odium of actions which justly pertained only to the " Peace" faction. They were compelled to do so in this case, and for more than a generation members of that party were stigmatized with the epithet of " Blue-light Federalist." The United States and Macedonian were imprisoned in the Thames during the re- mainder of the war.' In the spring of 1814 they were dismantled, and laid up about three and a half miles below Norwich, and their oflBcers and men made their way by land to other ports and engaged actively in the seryice. The Hornet lay at New London almost a year longer, when she slipped out of the harbor and escaped to New York. Of the more stirring operations of the blockading fleet in this vicinity the follow- ing year I shall hereafter write, and it remains for me now only to make brief men- tion of the circumstances of my visit at New London and its vicinity late in the au- tumn of 1860. I had been on a tour East as far as Castine, at the mouth of the Pe- nobscot, and up that river to Bangor, and was thus far on my way homeward, after spending Thanksgiving-day with the acting surgeon of Perry's fleet. Dr. Usher Par- sons, at his house in Providence, Rhode Island. I had reached New London at an early hour, and, with a pleasant day before me, went out to visit places of historic in- terest in the town and its neighborhood. Before doing so, I called on the accom- plished author of the History of New London (Miss Caulkins^), and, after the brief in- 1 In January, 1814, Captain Moran, master of a sloop that had been captured by the blockaders, reported that Hardy, in his presence, expressed a desire that the Macedcmia/n and Statira should have a combat, they being vessels of equal povf er, but that he would not permit a challenge to that effect to be sent. Decatur at once informed. Hardy (ITth of January, 1814) that he was ready to have a meeting, of the Macedmdan and Statira^ and' the United Staim and Endyynion, and invited him to the contest. This message was sent by Captain Biddle, of the Hornet, who was informed that an answer would be sent the next day. The crews of the two American frigates were assembled, and when the pr6posi- tion was submitted to them they received it with hearty cheers. They were eager for release, and did not dottbt,th.eir ability to secure a victory. On the following day an answer came. The challenge was accepted so far as the'jfacaio- donimi and Statira were concerned, but a meeting between the United States and Endyr^wn was decliijed be(!ause.9fjan alleged disparity in strength, which would give great advantage to the Atoerican vessel. Decatur, being under sailing orders, and anxious to get his little squadron to sea, would not consent to its separation by'deliacbing \ixe McuxilKmifm for a duel, so the matter dropped. ' Miss Caulkius is also the author of an admirable History of Norwich, Connecticut. 696 PICTORIAL PIELD-BOOK OOJUIJODOKB EODQEES'S MOMUAIENT. Cemetery at New London and its Occnpants. Commodore Kodgers. New London Harbor and Fort Trombnll. terview which limited time allowed, I was well prepared to find the places (and ap- preciate the interest attached to them) in and around that pleasant little city of ten- thousand inhahitants. I shall ever remember that interview with pleasure. Near New Londoh is the " Cedar Grove Cemetery," in which are the graves of many of the honored dead. Among these, over which affection has reared monu- ments, may be found those of General Burbeck and Commodore George W. Rodgers. I made sketches of the monuments erected to the memory of each, and present them to the readers of these pages. Commodore Rodgers was a gallant officer of the navy, and died in the service of his country at Buenos Ayres, in South America, on the 21 st of May, 1832, at the age of forty-six years. He was then in com- mand of an American squadron-on the coast of Brazil. He was a veteran officer, having been a midshipman in 1804, and a lieuteiiant in active service during the War of 1812. ^ By order of the Kavy Department, his remains were brought home in the ship Lexington in 1850, and conveyed to New London in charge of Commodore Kearney. Their re-interment in " Cedar Grove Cemetery"^ was the occasion of a great civic and military display, in which the Governor of Connecticut and his suite joined.^ His monument is a plain obelisk of freestone, on which is a simple inscription. From the -cemetery I rode back to the town by another way, which passed by the older part of the place, and the " Hempstead House," the last remaining of the three original houses built at New London. It was erected and occupied by Sir Robert Hempstead; whose descendants yet own it. It was fortified against the Indians at one time, and was the nearest neighbor to the mansion of Governor Winthrop,-at the head of the Cove— that cove out of which, within twenty rods of the "Hempstead House," sailed the first vessel that went from New London to the West Indies. From the "Hempstead House" I rode down to the light-house at the mouth of the Thames', sketched the view of it on page 694, and, returning, visited Fort Trumbull, so called in honor of the first Governor of Connecticut of that name. It is a most delightful drive along the river from the light-house and Pequot House to the city, and it is much traveled for pleasure during the summer season. Outward is seen the broad expanse of the Sound, with Fisher's and Gull Islands in the distance ; while up the river is seen the fort and city on one side, and Fort Griswold, the Groton Monu- ment and village, and the green hills stretching away toward Norwich on the other. Fort Trumbull is a strong work, built chiefly of granite from the quarry at Millstone Pomt. _ It IS the third fortress erected on the spot. In 1Y75 a strong block-house was built upon that rocky point, some embankments were cast up around it, and the whole was named Fort Trumbull. In 1812 these embankments were only green mounds. These were cleared away, and a more formidable work was erected leav- ing the old block-house within the lines. This fort, retaining the original name, fell into decay, and all but the ancient block-house was demolished preparatory to the commencement of the present structure. There the block -house still stands, a monument to the memory of the patriotism of our f athers of the Revolution. The was WlXTSfo i^Hi!f of rT'' u**°' '^ '^^^ ^"* ^P'*'" '" ^^^- ^^ "^^'^ ^™« (Lieutenant Alexander P. Eodgers) wasKiiied at the battle of Chapultepecm Mexico, in September, 1847 terJeut o? ?np™n7liv-!f'* T *-T "''• ^''■?"° ®'™^ '" "" "^^-"^'Wio" i" I860, and consecrated in 1851. The tot in- terment of a person living when it was laid out was that of Joseph S. Sistare.-Miss Caultius. = Canlkms's BiaUiry of Connecticut, 662. v-aummo. OP THE WAR OF 1812. 697 Block-house erected In 1812. The old Conrt-honse and its ABSociatiuns. new fort was built under the superintendence of (then) Captain George "W. Cullum, of the United States Engi- neers, and was completed in 1849, at a cost of about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The views from its battlements are extensive ; and from the grassy espla- nade sloping to the water AMOIEMT BLOOK-EOUaE, FOST TBTTMBU1.1.. NEW LOMDON HAIffiOB FKOM FORT TEtJMBTILL. southward may be obtained a very pleasant view of the harbor, the mouth of the riv- er, and Long Island Sound beyond. The last object of interest visited in New London was the old court-house built in 1784, three years after its predecessor was burnt at the time of Arnold's invasion.^ It stands at the head of broad State Street, upon a rocky foundation. It had an ex- ternal gallery around it at the second story, but this was removed at the be- ginning of the present century, and it now bears the appearance that it did "at the close of the Second War for Inde- pendence, when it was the scene of joy- ous festivities immediately after the Pres- ident's proclamation of peace reached the town in February, 1815. ^ Friendly greetings between the British blockading squadron and the citizens then took place. The latter soon went to sea, and the Unit- ed States and Macedonian departed for New Tork after an imprisonment of about twenty months. Then " the last shadow of war departed from the town." I left New London for Stonington by railway at evening, whither I shall invite the reader before long. "We have now considered the military events during the year 1813 in the North and West, on the Lakes, and along the Atlantic coast ; let us now look out upon the ocean, and observe the hostile movements of the belligerents there. In the mean time sounds of war with the Indians come up from the Gulf region. 1 See Miss Canlkins's History of Sew London, page 626. 2 Admiral Hotham, whose flag-ship was the Superb, then commanded the blockading squadron off New London. On the 2l6t of Fehrnary the village was splendidly illuminated. Hotham determined to mingle in the festivities. An- no'nnelng the parole on the Superb to be " America," and the countersign "Amity," he and his ofHcers *ent ashore and. mingled freely and cordially with the inhabitants. The admiral was received with distinguished courtesy, for, like Hardy, he had won the merited esteem of the citizens by his gentlemanly conduct. At about this time the Paefolua and Sarciaaua came into the harbor, bringing Commodore Decatur and Lieutenant (now Admiral) W. B. Shubrick, who had beep! captured in the frigate President. A public reception, pai'taklng of the character of a ball, was held at the court-house, to which all the British officers on the coast were invited. Several were present, and the guests were received by Commodores Decatur and Shaw. Tmfl OLD OOtlET-HOUSE. PICTOEIAL EIELD.-BQOK The Hornet on the Coast of South America. Her Contest with the Peacoch. CHAPTER XXXI. ' O, Johnny Bull, my joe, John, your Peawcks keep at home, And ne'er let British seamen on a Frolic hither come, For we've Hornets and we've Wmps, John, who, as you doubtless know, Can7 stingers in their tails, 0, Johnny Bull, my joe." Bbothee Jonathan's Epistle to Johnny Boll, 1814. " Then learn, ye comrades of the illustrious dead, Heroic faith and honor to revere ; For Lawrence slumbers in his lowly bed, Embalm'd by Albion's and Columbia's tear." Monody on the Death of Laweence. ^FTER the destruction of the Java off the coast of Brazil in De- cemher, 1812, Commodore Bainhridge, as we have observed, sailed for the United States,* leaving the Hornet, Cap- . January 6, tain James Lawrence, to blockade the Bon Citoyeniie, '^^'^■ a vessel laden with treasure, in the harbor of San Salvador. ^ On the 24th of January, the British ship of war Montagu, 74, made her appearance. She came up from Rio Janeiro to raise the blockade. The Hornet was driven into the harbor, but es- caped during the very dark night that followed, and went cruising up the coast. She was thus employed for a month, and captured a few prizes. Finally, on the 24th of February, at half past three o'clock in the afternoon, while chasing an English brig off the mouth of the Demerara River, Lawrence suddenly discovered a vessel, evi- dently a man-of-war, with an English ensign set, just without the bar.^ He determ- ined to attack her. The Carobana bank lay between the Hornet and this newly-dis- covered enemy. While she was beating around this another sail was discovered, bearing down cautiously on her weather quarter. When she drew near she proveid to be a man-of-war brig, displaying British colors. The men of the Hornet were called to quarters. The ship was cleared for action, and as the American ensign was flung out she tacked, contended for the weather-gage unsuccessfully, and then stood for her antagonist. The latter was on a like errand, and both vessels, with their heads different ways, and lying close to the wind, passed within half pistol-shot of each other at twenty-five minutes past five, delivering their broadsides from larboard batteries as the guns bore. Immediately after passing, the stranger endeavored to wear short round, so as to get a raking fire at the Hornet. Lawrence closely watched the movement, and promptly imitating it, and firing his starboard guns, compelled the stranger to right his helm. ~ With a perfect blaze of fire the Hornet came down upon hei", closed, and in this advantageous position poured in her shot with so much vigor for fifteen minutes that her antagonist not only struck her colors, but raised the union down in the fore rigging as a signal of distress. Very soon afterward th€ mainmast of the vanquished fell, and went over her side. Lieutenant J. T. Shubrick was sent to take possession of her, and ascertain her name and condition. She was the British man-of-war brig Peacock, 18, Captain William Peake. Her commander was slain, a great portion of her crew had fallen, and she was in a sinking condition. Sh^ already had six feet of water in her hold. Lieutenant David Connor, and Mid- shipman Benjamin Cooper were immediately dispatched with boats to bring off the wounded, and endeavor to save the vessel. For this purpose both vessels were an- 1 See page 461. ^ She was the ISspiegle, mounting sixteen 32-pound carrouades and two long ,9's. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 699 The Destraction of tlie Peacock. Conduct of Captain Lawrence. Prowess of the Americans respected. chored. The guns of the Peacock were thrown overboard, the holes made by shot were plugged, and every exertion was made to keep the battered hulk afloat until the wounded could be removed. Their efibrts were not wholly successful. The short twilight closed before the work of mercy was accomplished. The vessel filled rapidly; and while thirteen of her crew and several men belonging to the Hornet were yet on board of her, she suddenly went down. Nine of the thirtedh, and three of the Hornets men,' perished. Connor and several other Americans, and four of the Peacock^s crew, had a narrow escape from death. The latter saved themselves by running up the rigging to the foretop, which remained above water when she set- tled on the bottom, for she sunk in only about five fathoms. Four prisoners, in the confusion of the moment, had lowered the Peacock's stern boat and escaped to the shore. Those who were saved received every attention from the victors. The crew of the Hornet cheerfully divided their clothing with those of the Peacock; and so sensible were the officers of the latter of the generosity of the American commander and his men, that, on their arrival in New York, they expressed their gratitude in a public letter of thanks to Captain Lawrence.^ The loss of the British in this engagement, besides ship and property, is not ex- actly known. Captain Peake and four men were known to be killed, and four offi- cers and twenty-nine men were found wounded. Nine others were drowned. The entire loss of life on the part of the enemy was probably not less than fifty.. The Somet was scarcely touched in her hull, but her sails and rigging were considerably - cut, and her mainmast and bowsprit were wounded. Of her crew only one man was killed^ and two wounded in the fight, and three, as we have observed, went down with the Peacock.'^ Two others were injured by the explosion of a cartridge. The strength of the Somet in men and metal was slightly greater than that of the Pea- cock. She carried eighteen 32-pound carronades and two long 12's. The Peacock was armed with sixteen 24-pound carronades, two long 9's, one 12-pound carronade in the forecastle, one 6-pounder, and two swivels. Her men numbered one hundred and thirty, and those of the Hornet one hundred and thirty-five. Captain Lawrence found himself with two hundred and seventy-seven souls on board, and short of water. He determined to return immediately to the United States ; and he did not cast anchor until he reached Holmes's Hole, Martha's Vine- yard, on the 19th of March. On that day he wrote an official letter to the Secretary of the Navy giving an account of his success, and on the 25th he arrived at the Brook- lyn Navy Yard. Intelligence of the exploits of the Hornet went over the land, and produced the liveliest joy, as well as the most profound sensation in both countries. The prowess and skill of American seamen were fully vindicated and acknowledged, and the " Mistress of the Seas" found it necessary to move with the humiliating cau- tion of a doubter conscious of danger. " If a vessel had been moored for the sole purpose of experiment," said a Halifax (British) newspaper, " it is not probable she could have been sunk in so short a time. It will not do for our vessels to fight theirs single-handed. The Americans are a dead nip." The President of the United States, in his message to Congress at the special session in May, said, " In continuance of the brilliapt achievements of our infant navy, a signal triumph has been gained by Cap- J John Hart, Joseph Williams, and Hannibal Boyd. a " So much," they said, "was done to alleviate the uncomfortable and distressing situation in which we were placed when received on board the ship yon command, that we can not better express our feelings than by saying we ceased to consider ourselves prisoners ; and every thing that friendship could dictate was adopted by you and the officers of the Bornet to remedy the inconvenience we otherwise should have experienced from the unavoidable loss of the whole of our property and clothes by the sndden sinking of the Peacoch." This was signed by the first and second lieuten- ants, the master, the surgeon, and the purser of the Peacock. s John Place, who was in the top. It is a singular fact that there was scarcely a mark of a ball seen below the main- top. The captain's pennant was shot from the mainmast at the beginning of the action. « To this fact a poet of the time, in an elegy on the death of Lawrence, wrote : " For 'twas the proud Peacock to the bottom did go ; He lost more in saving than conquering his foe." 700 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Honors to Captain Lawrence and his Men. Public Dinner in New York. Tlie Lawrence Medal. tain Lawrence and Ms companions, in the Hornet sloop-of-war, with a celerity so un- exampled, and with a slaughter of the enemy so disproportionate to the loss ia the Sornet, as to claim for the conqueror the highest praise."! The Common Council of New York resolved to present the "freedom of the city," with " a piece of plate with appropriate devices and inscriptions," to Captain Law- rence, and t(5 give a public dinner to the officers and crew of the Sornet.'^ Afterward, "January 4, when Lawrence was slain, the Congress of the United States requested^" '181*- ' the President to present to his nearest male relative a gold medal com- memorative of his services,^ and a sUver medal to each of the commissioned officers. MEDAL AWAEDED TO CAPTATN LAWEENOE BY 00NGEEB8. who served under him in the Hornet. Every where throughout the land the name of Lawrence was honored ; and, as usual after a victory. Art and Song made contri- butions to the garland of praise with which the people delighted to crown the chief, victor.* 1 Message to Congress, Special Session, May 25, 1813. In the Memoirs of Sir Charles Napier may be found the fol- lowing paragraph : ' ' When in Bermuda, in 1813, with his regiment, Colonel Napier, writing to his mother, says : * Two packets are quite due, and we fear they have been taken, for the Yankees swarm here ; and when a frigate goes out to drive them olf by force they take her ! Yankees fight well, and are gentlemen in their mode of warfare. Secatnr re- fused Carden's sword, saying, " Sir, you have used it so well I should be ashamed to take it from you." These Yankees, though so much abused, are really flne fellows.' " 2 This dinner was given at Washington Hall, on Tuesday, the 4th of May. I have before me one of the orignal in- vitations Issued by Augustus H. Lawrence, Elisha W. King, and Peter Mesier, Corporation Committee. It has a small wood-cut at the head representing a naval battle, which was drawn and engraved by Dr. Alexander Anderson, who is yet (1867) engaged in his profession, though in the ninety-third year of his age. "In the evening the gallant .tars were treated to a seat in the pit of the theatre," says rZielfar, "by the managers, and roused the house by their Jollity and applause during the performance. The representations were adapted to suit the taste of the visitors and gratify the patriotic enthusiasm of the audience. Captain Lawrence, with General Van Rensselaer, General Morton, and' a num- ber of other official characters, filled one of the side boxes, and made the house ring with huzzas on their appearance." 3 The above is a picture of the medal, proper size. On one side is seeu the bust of Captain Lawrence, with the legend "lAO LAWEENOE. DTTLOB ET DECOETTM EST PEO PATEIA MOEi." On the reverse is seen a vessel In the act of sink- ing — her mizzen mast shot away ; a boat rowing toward her from the American ship. Legend — "MANsnETtrD. MAJ. QTJAM VIOTOEIA." ExergUC — " INTEB nOEftET NAV. AMEEI. ET PEAOOOK NAV. ANG. DIE XXrv. FEB. MDOOOXin." * Amos Doolittle, an engraver of New Haven, Connec- ticut, who engraved on copper, immediately after the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord, four illustra- tions of the events of that day, drawn on the spot by Earl, engraved and published a caricature concerning the fight of the Hornet and Pemocky of which the annexed picture is a miniature copy. An immense hornet, crying out "Free trade and sailors' rights, yon old rascal," is seen alighting on the head of a bull (John Bull) with the wings and tail of a peacock, and, by piercing his neck with his sting, makes the mongrel animal roar " Boo-o- o-o-hoo 1 1 1" HOENET AMU PEACOOii. OF THE WAB OP 1812. -701 Craise of the Ches apeake. Her Character. Lamence in Command of her. A Challenge. While the Hornet was making her way homeward, the Chesapeake, 38, Captain Evans, which had been lying in Boston Harbor for some time, was out on an extensive cruise. She ^L ^^'^ left Boston toward the close of February, passed .^f/^^^^'Tiy^ OC-^^-^^^^t^ the Canary and Cape Verd Islands, crossed the equator, and for six weeks cruised in that region. She then went to the coast of South America, passed the spot where the Peacoclc went down, sailed through the West Indies, and up the coast of the United States to the point of departure. During all that long cruise she met only three ships of war, and accomplished nothing except the capture of four merchant vessels. As she en- tered Boston Harbor in a gale she lost a top-mast, and several men who were aloft went overboard with it and were drowned. The Chesapealee had the reputation of being an " unlucky" ship before the war, and this unsuccessful cruise and melancholy termination confirmed the impression. A superstitious notion prevailed in the navy concerning " lucky" and " unldcky" vessels, and officers and seamen were averse to serving in the Chesapeake on account of her " unlucky" character. ' Captain Evans was compelled to leave the service at the close of this cruise on account of the loss of the sight of one of his eyes, and danger that menaced the oth- er. Lawrence, who had just been promoted frorb. master commandant to captain, was assigned to the command of the Chesapeake. He accepted it with reluctance, because the seamen would not sail in her with the spirit that promised success. British vessels were now blockading the harbors of Massachusetts. Hitherto that blockade had been very mild on the New England coast, for the British Cabinet be- lieved that the people of that section, being largely opposed to the war, would, if properly cajoled, prove recreant to patriotism, and either join the enemy outright, or separate from and thus materially weaken the remainder of the States. This delusion now began to yield to the stern arguments of events, and the blockade was made more rigorous every hour. Blockading ships hovered like hawks along the New England coast, and the Shannon, 38, and Tenedos, 38, were closely watching Boston Harbor at the close of May. The Hornet was now commanded by Captain Biddle, and had been placed under the orders of Captain Lawrence. They were to cruise together if possible, going east- ward and northward from Boston for the twofold purpose of intercepting the British vessels bound to the St. Lawrence, and ultimately to seek the Greenland whale-fish- eries. Every thing was in readiness at the close of May, when the Shannon, the com- plement in strength of the Chesapeake, appeared alone ofi" Boston, iu the attitude of a challenger. She was observed by Lawrence, and on Tuesday, the 1st day of June, that commander wrqte as follows to the Secretary of the Navy : " Since I had the honor of addressing you last I have been detained for want of men. I am now getting under weigh, and shall endeavor to carry into execution the instructions you have honored me with. An English frigate is now in sight from my deck. I have sent a pilot boat out to reconnoitre, and should she be alone I am in hopes to give a good account of her before night. My crew appear to be in fine spir- its, and, I trust, will do their duty."^ (See fac-simile on page 702.) At a later hour Captain Philip Vere Broke, the commander of the Shannon, wrote a challenge to Captain Lawrence, saying : " As the Chesapeake appears now ready for sea I request you will do me the favor to meet the Shannon with her, ship to ship, to try the fortunes of our respective flags. To an officer of your character it requires some apology for proceeding to farther particulars. Be assured, sir, it is not from 1 "In the navy at this particular juncture, the ComOtutim, Cfymtellatiqn, and Mlnta^tae were the ZweSj/ vesseja Qf,the service and the Chesapeake and Presm«t the imlwiky. The different, vessels named went into the War.of 1812 with these characters, and they were singularly confirmed by circum8tances."-Coope»', ii., 246. 2 Autograph letter in the Navy Department, Washington City. This was the last letter written by Captain Lawrence. 102 PICTOKIAL PIELD-BOOK Captain Lawrence's last OMcial Letter. any doubt I can entertain of your wishing to close with my proposal, hut merely to provide an answer to any objection which might be made, and very reasonably, upon the chance of our receiving any unfair support." Captain Broke then, in a long appendix to his challenge, explained his object, men- tioned his own strength, the disposition of other British vessels in the neighborhood, OF THE WAR OF 1812. 703 Captain Brake's Challenge. The Sluxnnmi. designated the place of com'bat,' asked for a plan of mutual signals, offered arrange- ments concerning the presence of other vessels, and assured him that the Chesapeake could not get to sea without " the risk of being crushed by the superior force of the British squadron" then abroad.^ The Shannon ranked as a 38-gun ship, but mounted fifty-two guns.^ According 1 *'I will send all other ships heyond the power of interfering with ns, and meet you wherever it is most agreeahle to yon, within the limits of the nnder-mentioned rendezvous, viz.. From six to ten leagues east of Cape Cod Light- house, from eight to ten leagues east of Cape Ann's Light, on Cashe's ledge, in lat. 43° N., at any bearing and distance you please to flr, off the south breakers of Nantucket, or the shoal on St. George's Bank."— J/S. Challenge. » MS. Letter, with Captain Broke's signature, in the Navy Department, Washington City. This letter was sent by the hand of Captain Slocum,'of Salem. He was lauded at Marblehead, and made his way to Boston as speedily as possible. "Che Chesapeake had gone to SBa, and he placed the letter in the hands of Commodore Bainbridge, the commandant of the station. 3 The Shanrum was built at Chatham, in England, in 1806. She was also known as " unlucky" by the British seamen because two ships of the same name had been previously lost. One, a 32-gan frigate, was built in 1796, and lost by shipwreck in 1800 ; the other, of thirty-six guns, was built in 1803, and in the same year struck the ground in a gale, and was wrecked imder the batteries of Cape la Hogue.— James's JTotb! Ocmrreneea. 704 PICTOBIAL FIELD-BOOK Condition of (he Chempmhe. A mutinous Feeling discovered. Lawrence accepts Brolte's Challenge. to Broke's challenge, she " mounted twenty-four guns on her broadside, and one light boat-gun; 18-pounders on her main-deck, and 32-pound carronades on her quarter- deck and forecastle ; and was manned with a complement of three hundred men and boys, besides thirty seamen" who had been taken out of captured vessels.^ She was perfectly equipped, and her men were thoroughly disciplined ; and officers and men had unwavering confidence in each other. Quite different was the case of the Chesapeake. The seamen, as we have observed, naturally superstitious, regarded her as " unlucky," and this opinion was disheartening. Captain Lawrence had been in command of her only about ten days, and was unacquainted with the abilities of her *■ officers and men. Some of the former were absent on account of ill health. First Lieutenant Octavius A. Page, of Virginia, a very superior officer, was sick with a lung fever, of which he died in Boston soon afterward. • Second Lieutenant Thompson was absent on account of ill health, and Acting Lieutenants Nicholson and Pearce were also' absent from- the same cause. The consequence was that Lieutenant Augustus Ludlow, who was the third officer under fivans in the last cruise of the Chesapeake, became Lawrence's second in command. . He was _ very young, and had never acted in that capacity, yet he was an officer of merit, and already distinguished. There was but one other commissioned sea .officer in the ship. Captain Lawrence was beset with other difficulties. The crew were almost mutin- ous because of disputes concerning the prize-money won during the last cruise. There were also a large number of mercenaries on board, among them a troublesome Por- tuguese, who was a boatswain's mate. Many of the crew had but recently enlisted ; and in every way the Chesapeake was wholly unprepared for a conflict with an equal in men and metal. But in armament she was almost equal to the Shannon. She mounted twenty-eight long 18-pounders on the main-deck, sixteen 32-lb. carronades on the quarter-deck, and four carronades of equal weight and a long 18-pounder on the forecastle.2 After Captain Broke had dispatched his challenge to Salem he prepared his ship for combat, displayed his colors in full, and lay off Boston light-house under easy sail. Captain Lawrence understood this as a challenge, and when the pilot-boat, sent out to reconnoitre, returned with the assurance that the S/iatmon was alone, he determ- ined to accept it. He well knew his disabilities, and told his officers that he would rather fight the Shannon and Tenedos in succession, after a twenty days' cruise, than to fight either alone on first putting to sea, when the thoughts of homes just left, sea- sickness, and other depressing circumstances would seriously affect his men. Yet, innately brave, and always self-reliant, he acted upon his own impulses, and, without consulting any one on shore, he weighed anchor toward noon.^ Captain Lawrence attempted to conciliate his crew by giving them checks for their prize-money, and addressed them eloquently for a few minutes. He then ran up three ensigns, one on the mizzen-royal-mast-head, another on the peak, and a third in the starboard main-rigging, and attempted to stimulate the quickened enthusiasm of his men by unfurling at the fore a broad white flag bearing the words first used on the JEssex,^ Feee Tkade and Sailoks' Eights. Yet they still murmured, for the Portu- guese was rebellious, and active in fomenting discontent. ■ Captain Broke s MS. Letter to Captain Lawrence. Lieutenant George Badd, who became a purser on board the Shan'nm, said, m his dispatch from Halifax to the Secretary of the Navy, that she had, in addition to her complement, an officer and sixteen men belonging to the Bette Poule, and a part of the crew of the Teruidos." The guuB of the Chesapeake were all named. James, in his Aam! Occurrences, page 232, has preserved the names of those composing one broadside of the main-deck, and some of those on the quarter-deck and forecastle, as follows- /aZ Z^ °J^,'^T ?:.^?* ^'™' ^""^'^ ProUction, Pvimm, Sagmg Eagle, Viper, Oomral Warren, Mad An- fir^^<>-r^I>awemi,Bmmge,Buri]cer'am%PomlwrUa8,Towser,wmfulll[urda-. sels of h^cfa'sf" '''" """' "* ^°'*'°"'' ''^^^^ *" "'^' »' ^ »^' »f iim,m, and was considered one of the finest ves- loostd heTforPtnnM'li^ ^^"^ ?P'°'^«1* ^"1' «<''"'<>°« "« Boston Light. The Cftmpeofo saw this, fired a gun, and loosed her foretop-saU as a signal for putting to sea. I See p^ge 4l OF THE WAE OP 1812. 705 The Clmapeake goes out to flght. Great Excitement in Boston. Beginning of t he Battle. It was now noon— a pleasant day in early summer,^ after a chilling mist . jnnei had brooded for a week over Boston Harbor. The anchor of the Chesapeake i^is. ' was lifted, and she rode gallantly out into the bay in the direction of her menacing foe, followed by the eager eyes of thousands.^ As her antagonist was in sight, her decks were immediately cleared for action, and both vessels, under easy sail, bore away to a position about thirty miles from Boston Light, between Cape Cod and Cape Ann.2 At four o'clock the Chesapeake fired a gun, which made the Shannon heave to. She was soon under single-reefed top-sails and jib, while the Chesapeake, under whole top- sails and jib, was bearing down upon her with considerable speed. The breeze was freshening, and as the latter approached her movements were watched on board the Shannon with great anxiety, because it was uncertain on which side she was about to close upon her antagonist, or whether she might not commence the action on her quarter. Having the weather-gage the Chesapeake had the advantage ; and " the history of naval warfare," says Mr. Cooper, " does not contain an instance of a ship's being more gallantly conducted than the Chesapeake was now handled."^ Onward came the Chesapeake, mitil she lay fairly along the larboard side of the Shannon, yard-arm and yard-arm, within pistol-shot distance. It was now between half past five and six o'clock in the evening. The Chesapeake was luffed, and ranged up abeam, and as her foremast came in a line with the Shannon's mizzen mast the latter discharged her cabin guns, and the others in quick succession from aft forward. The Chesapeake was silent for a moment until her guns bore, when she poured a de- structive broadside into her antagonist. Now came the tug with heavy metal. For six or eight minutes the cannonade on both sides was incessant. In general effect the Chesapeake had the best of the action at this juncture, but she had suffered dread- fully in the loss of officers and men. Compared with that of the foe, it was as ten to one.* While passing the Shannon^ broadside, after a contest of twelve minutes, the Clies- apeake^s foretop-sailTtie and jib-sheet were shot away. Her spanker-brails were also loosened, and the sail blew ont. Thus crippled at the moment when she was about to take the wind out of the' Shannon! s sails, shoot ahead, lay across her bow, rake her, and probably secure a victory, the Chesapeake would not obey her helm ; and when the sails of her antagonist filled, she by some means got her mizzen rigging foul of the Shannon's fore-chains. Thus entangled, the Chesapeake lay exposed to the raking fire of the foe's carronades. These almost swept her upper decks. Captain Lawrence was slightly wounded in the leg ; Mr. White, the sailing-master, was killed ; Ludlow, the first lieutenant, was badly wounded in two places by grape-shot ; and Mr. Brown, the marine officer, Mr. Ballard, the acting fourth lieutenant, and Peter Adams, the J There was great excitement at Boston and in its neighborhood when it was known that the CJieaapeake had gone ont to meet the STiannon. Thousands of hearts beat (Juiclcer with the desire that Captain Lawrence should add new laurels to those he had already won.in his combat with the Pmcochj and the harbor was soon swarming with small craft making their way out to the probable scene of action. Yet there were those who were moved by opposite feelings. The party opposed to the war was strong in Massachusetts, and when, a fortnight afterward, it was proposed in the Legislature of that state to pass a vote of thanks to the then slain Lawrence for his gallantry in the capture of the Pea- cock, a preamble and resolution were adopted by the Senate declaring that similar attentions already given ^o military and naval officers engaged in a like service had "given great discontent to many of the good people of the Common- wealth, it being ponsidered by them as an encouragement and excitement to the continuance of the present unjust, un- necessary, and iniquitous war. The resolution was as follows : " Resolved, as the sense of the Senate of Massachusetts, that in a war like the present, waged without justifiable cause, and prosecuted in a manner which indicates that conquest and ambition are its real motives, it is not becoming a moral and religious people to express any approbation of military or naval exploits which are not immediately connected with the defense of our sea-coast and soil."— Jwns 15, 1813. 2 From the high grounds near Salem the inhabitants had a distant view of the engagement, and the booming of the cannon was heard far inland. 3 Cooper's Naval Bistory of the United States, ii., 248. * " Of one hundred and fifty men quartered on the upper deck," said Lieutenant Ludlow to an officer of the Shanmm, " I did not see fifty on their legs after the first fire." The Shamum's topmeu reported " that the hammocks, splinters, and wrecks of all kinds driven across the deck formed a complete nlovA."— Statement of Captain R. B. King, of the Royal Navy, Yt 706 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Battle of the Chesapeake and Sltunnon. Captain Lawrence mortally wounded. 'Don't give up the Ship.' THBi OUESAPEAKE niBAULKD BY THE SHANNON'S BEOADSrDES.^ boatswain, were all mortally wounded. The latter was boatswain of the Constitution in her action with the Guerriere. When Captain Lawrence perceived the entanglement of the ships he ordered his boarders to be called up. Unfortunately, a negro bugler was employed to give the signal instead of the drummer, as usual. Dismayed by the aspect of the fight, the bugler skulked under the stern of the launch, and when called to duty he was so ter- rified that he could not give even a feeble blast.^ Oral orders were immediately, sent to the boarders, but these were imperfectly understood amid the din of battle. At that moment, while Captain Lawrence was giving directions concerning the dam- aged foresails, that the ship might be rendered manageable, he was fatally wounded by a musket-ball, and carried below by Lieutenant Cox, aided by some of the men.' His last words when he left the deet were in substance, " Tell the men to fire faster and not give up the ship. Fight her till she sinks !" These words of the dying hero were remembered, and " J)o7i't give up' the Ship" was the battle-cry of the American Navy during the whole war. It was the motto upon the banner borne by Perry's flag-ship in battle three mpnths later, and is still a proverbial word of encouragement to the struggling and faltering in life's various battles.* The keen and experienced eye of Captain Broke quickly comprehended the weak- 1 This is from a sketch by Captain E. H. King, of the Eoyal Navy, who was with Captain Broke in the Shxmnan from 1806 until 1814, excepting a short time in the spring of 1813. He rose to the rank of commander in 1828, and to captain in 1839, when he withdrew from service afloat. 2 His name was George Brown. He was exchanged. Afterward he was tried at New London, found guilty of cow- ardice, and sentenced to the punishment of three hundred lashes on his bare hack. 3 Lieutenant Cox commanded the middle division of the gun-deck. He heard the oral orders for the hoarders, and ran up at the moment when Lawrence fell. 4 The following are the first and last stanzas of a stirring poem by R. M, Charlton : " A hero on his vessel's deck " Oh, let these words your motto be. Lay weltering in his gore, Whatever ills befall ; And tattered sail and shattered wreck Though foes beset, and pleasures flee. Told that the fight was o'er ; And passion's wiles enthrall. But e'en when death had glazed his eye, Though danger spreads her ready snare His feeble, quivering lip Tour erring steps to trip, Still uttered, with life's latest sigh, Eemember that dead hero's prayer, ' Don't, don't give up the ship 1' And ' don't give wpthe ship P " OF THE WAR OP 1812. 101 A desperate Struggle. Treachery of a Portuguese. Capture of the Chesapeake. ness of the Chesapeake at tMs niDment, she having no oflacer on the quarter-deck above the rank of miidshipman. He immediately ordered his boarders forward. Placing himself, with his first lieutenant, at the head of twenty of them, and passing cautiously from his fore-channels, he reached the quarter-deck of the Chesapeake without opposition, for the gunners, finding all their officers fallen, and themselves exposed to a raking fiise without the means of returning a shot, had left the guns and fled below. Meanwhile Lieutenant Budd had ordered the boarders to follow him up. Only fifteen or twenty obeyed, and with these he gallantly attacked the British at the gangways. He was almost instantly disabled by a severe wound, and thrown down on the gun-deck. His followers were driven toward the forecastle. These disasters aroused the severely-wounded young Ludlow. Having laid his commander in the guard-room, he hurried upon deck, where he almost instantly received a fatal sabre-wound, and was carried below. Broke now ordered about sixty marines of the Shannon to join him. These kept down the Americans who were ascending the main hatchway. Provoked by a shot from below by a boy, they fired down the hatches, and kilted and wounded a great many men. The victory was soon made easy by treachery. The boatswain's mate (the mutinous Portuguese already mentioned) removed the gratings of the berth- deck, and then, running below, followed by a large number of the malcontents of the morning, he shouted, maliciously, " So much for not paying men prize-money !" This act gave the British complete control of the vessel ; and while a few gallant marines, animated by the injunctions of the bleeding Lawrence, were yet defending the ship, First Lieutenant Watts, of the Shannon, hauled down the colors of the Chesapeake and hoisted the British flag. At that instant he was slain by a grape-shot from one of the foremast guns of his own ship, which struck him on the head.^ History has recorded but few naval battles more sanguinary than this. It lasted only fifteen minutes, and yet, as Cooper remarks, " both ships were char- nel-houses." They presented a most dis- mal spectacle. The Chesapeake had lost forty-eight men killed, and ninety-eight wounded. The Shannon had lost twen- ty-six killed, and fifty -eight wounded. Among the killed were Lieutenant "Watt, already mentioned, Mr. Aldham, the pur- ser, and Mr. Dunn, the captain's clerk.^ Both ships presented a most dismal ap- pearance. Marks of carnage and desola- tion every where met the eye.^ Captain Broke, who had ordered the slaughter to cease when the victory was gained, had become delirious. Lawrence, too severe- PUILIP BOWBS VEKE BBOKE. 1 Captain Broke behaved most gallantly in this conflict. He received, according to his report, "a severe sabre- wound at the first onset while charging a part of the enemy who had rallied on the forecastle," yet he continued his orders until he was assured of victory, when he partly fainted from loss of bloodj While a seaman was tying a hand- kerchief around the captain's wounded head, there was a cry, " There, sir, there foes up the old ensign over the Yankee colors '" Washington Irving, in an account of the engagement, in the Armlectie Magazine, says that Samuel Livermore, of Boston who from personal attachment to Lawrence, had accompanied him as chaplain, attempted to avenge his fall. He shot at Captain Broke, but missed him. Broke made a stroke at Livermore's head with his sword, which the latter warded off but in so doing received a severe wound in the arm. = Captain Broke's Report. 3 There is a carious coincidence in the history (^the Slumnon and the American frigate Conatitutum. Withm a few davs of each other in the summer of 1860, these two vessels, whose names are dear to their respective nations, and both, in maritime parlance ranking as invalids, were equipped and sailed on a cruise. The conqueror of the ChesapeaJce left Portsmouth Englanii a°^ »' """""t '*'« ^^""^ *™® '''* Constitution left Portsmouth, Virginia, on a short cruise, prepara- 708 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The Chempmhe taken to Halifax. Biographical Sketch of Captain Lawrence. ly wounded to be carried to his shattered cabin, was left in the ward-room with his own surgeon, seldom uttering a word except to indicate his wants. White lay- dead,' Ballard,2 Broome,3 and Adams were dying, and the gallant Ludlow was suf- fering severely- from a mortal wound. THE SHANBOS AND OHESAPEAKB ENTEBING THE HAEBOE OF HALIFAX.* As soon as the two ships were disentangled, the Shannon started for Halifax with ■June, her prize, where she arrived on the Vth.* Lawrence had expired the day be- 1813. fQYe, and his body, wrapped in the flag of the Chesapeake, lay upon the quar- ter-deck.' As the ships entered the harbor, the men-of-war there manned their yards tory to her taking her station at Annapolis as a school-ship. Each was about to be broken up many years ago, and each was saved by poetical remonstrances — one by Tennyson, and the other by Holmes. The stirring poem by Holmes may be found on page 437. 1 William Augustus White was a native of Butland, Vermont, and was only twenty-six years of age. He was repre- sented as a noble and generous young man. His loss was greatly deplored by his friends, who regarded him as a young man of great promise. A frjendly hand wrote : " Columbia's page in gen'rous strain shall tell Those deeds of courage where her Lawrence fell ; Honor shall gild the hero's spotless shrine, And thine, O White ! with kindred lustre shine." 2 Edward J. Ballard was an active and very promising young man. He was appointed a midshipman in February, 1809, and vpas commissioned a lieutenant on the day after the action in which he lost his life. The commission vras is- sued beforfe news of the action reached the Department. " Anxious to render himself useful, and to share in the glory acquired by our naval heroes," wrote a friend, "he left (though scarcely recovered from an indisposition of several months) the peaceful asylum of friendship for his home on the ocean, and terminated vrith honor a well-spent life of virtue." 3 James Broome, the commander of the marines, was a native of New Jersey. He was appointed a midshipman in July, 180T. Of the forty-four marines under his command on board the Chesapeake, twelve were killed and twenty wounded. » From a sketch by Captain E. H. King, H. N. 5 James Lawrence was bom at Burlington, New Jersey, on the Ist of October, ITSl. He was left to the tender care of two sisters, his mother having died a few weeks after his birth. He exhibited a passion for the sea at the age of twelve years, but his father designed him for the profession of the law. He entered upon a course of studies with his brother John at Woodbury at the age of fourteen years, and soon afterward lost his father. Law was dlstasteflil to him. He longed for the sea, and his brother gave him the opportunity of acquiring preparatory knowledge. He ap- plied for a situation in the navy at the age of eighteen years, and entered the service as a midshipman in the ship Ganges, Captain Tingey, in the antumn of 1798. He was transferred to the Adams. He was commissioned a lieutenant, and was first oiHcer of the Enterprise in the war with Tripoli. Decatur, in his official reports, acknowledges his serv- ices in the bombardment of Tripoli. After his return from the Mediterranean he was for some time attached to the Navy Yard at New York. He became first lieutenant on the Constitution, and in succession commanded the Vixen, Wasp, Argus, and Hornet He married in New York in 1808. At the commencement of the war in 1812 he sailed in OP THE WAR OF 1812. Tog Hot ot the British. Admiral Warren's Thanks to Captain Broke. Effect of the Victory in England. in honor of the conqueror. The eager inhab- itants crowded to the water-side, and cov- ered the wharves and houses. Shout after shout went up from the multitude, and joy- filled every heart on shore, except of those who mourned friends among the slain, i The capture of a single ship of war prob- ably never produced a greater effect upon the contending parties than this victory of the Shannon over the Chesapeake. The re- cent almost uninterrupted success of the lit- tle navy of the United States had made the Americans- believe that it was invincible, and a similar idea was taking hold of the British mind. The spell was now broken. The Americans were desponding, the British jubi- lant. In his letter of thanks to Captain Broke and the men of the Shannon, Sir John Borlase Warren, the com- mander-in-chief of the Brit- ish N"avy on the Ameri- can station, observed that they had " restored the re- nown which had ever ao companied the British Navy from the foul and false aspersions endeavored to be BIGNATTTBE Am) SEAL OF ADMIBAL WABBBN. thrown upon it by an insidious enemy, and had by their exer- tions added one of the brightest laurels to the wreath which had hitherto encircled the British arms." The joy in England was intense. It was evinced by public speeches in and out of Parliament,^ bonfires, and illuminations. The Tower guns were fired as in the event of a victory like those of the Nile and Trafalgar. The freedom of the city of London and a sword of the value, of one hundred guineas ($500) were voted to Captain Broke^ by the Corpora- command of the Tlvmet, having been made master commandant in November, 1810. Off Demerara he fought the Pm- cock and sunk her. He returned to New York, where he was soon ordered to Boston to take command of the Chem- peake. In her he died on the 5th of June, 1813. 1 Cooper's Naval Hiatory of the United States; Thomson's Sketches of the War; Perkins's History of the late War; James's Ifaval Oceurrences; Memoir of Captain Broke, in Naval (London) Chroniek; Irving's Memoir of La-wrence, AnaUctic Magazine; Niles's Register; The War; Captain Broke's Report of the Battle ; Auchinleck's Hiatory of the War ; Lieutenant Budd's Eeport to Secretary of the Navy ; O'Byrne's Naval Biography ; The Bssas Megiater, Soeton Chronicle, and National Intelligencer. ' Mr. Croker, principal secretary to the Lords of the Admiralty, said in his place in the House of Commons, "It was not— and he knew it was a bold assertion which he made— to be equaled by any engagement which graced the naval annals of Great Britain." 3 Philip Bowes Vere Broke was born in Suffolkshire, England, on the 9th of September, 1776. He was educated at the Eoyal Academy in Portsmouth, and entered the navy in 1792. He seiTed in the war between Prance and England, and commanded the Shannon in cruises for the protection of the British whale fisheries in the Greenland seas. He was in that service when war between the United States and Great Britain was declared. He was then dispatched with a small squadron to blockade the New England ports. Because of his services in the capture , of the Chesapeake he was raised to the dignity of baronet, and made Knight Commander of the Bath. Sir Philip married in early life Sarah Lou- isa, daughter of Sir William Eowle Middleton. He was one of the most active and useful officers of the British Navy.un- 710 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Honors to Captain Broke. Silver Plate presented to him by his Neighbors. tion of that city. He was knighted hy the Prince Regent ; compliments were show- ered upon him from every quarter; and the inhabitants of Suffolk, his native county, presented him with a gorgeous piece, of silver plate as a testimonial of their sense of his eminent services.' SILYEE PLATE PRESENTED TO CAPTAIN BEOKE. tilhisretirement, bearing the commission of Rear Admiral of tho-Ro,! ti« /i-„j ■ a ^ i, r, ^ x^ .^ ,, ary, 1841, at the age:of siity-flve years. -a-omual ol the Red. He died m Suffolk County on the 3d of Janu- ' A picture of this plate was published in London on thp p,1 nf Tio^o^v^ 1010 i, ... ^ , , , is given above. The plate is described as being made of sUve/n .Tr^^ i^^*-' \™''^ "i^^'"^,' ™ ? "*""^^ ^'^-^I with emblematical devices commemorative of th! ZTntifZ-' ™ , ^''^^*'"^ ^^-^^ ™ diameter. It was enriched These devices are described as follows Thfcttif^rlLVlTv;™' °° ^^^ "."""f °° °^^'' "^P'"* ""''" Chesapeake. Nereids and Tritons, presents the splctacle of thp h^fH» w ?/ '^r''"' "^ P"'"" ™* '''""^ '"""=• ^"'^ sroups of ished border composes the exteriofof tL circirfn wtlh ^^ ■''° « ' ^^T"^ ""* Chesapeake. A deep and highly-fln- compartment, in the form of aTLalon sheH Is s J„ w» T '"S"'^?''?* ^f ™^^ '° f°" P^oiP^' d™Gions. In the first sea with his Attendants, and preseS totiV Urn , v,^ T "°"™^ *''' '"''"''"■• "^^^ ^°"^^ ^ '^™'°S from the erty bearing the British fla^^ ?h! f„ 1 "'^''^™ ("'''O '^ ""ri^e in a triumphal car, attended by Britannia and Ub- in/thrt™dent of Nentune fn nnl if ^°Ttl ? *''" compartment opposite Britannia is seen on a sea-horse, hold- is expfrSgafherSrt^^^^^ other hurts the thmider of her power at the American eagle, which ^ctor^ The w^nfed Zfl^^ ^ """"' ^,^'"^'- ^" ^ *"■•* compartment the device represents the triumph of to the vanSd Kwf^ ''TT^' »PP'-™«'>es in her shell-car drawn by ocean steeds, and offers peace sembled nndefthe protectiorofVe SS '"' T"" '""*'" ""''' ™"' '" *' '"^ °'''^'^' '^■ sides these are thp fi».?,i. nf^„ f^f i r !? ' commerce having been secured to the worid by British prowess. Be- British nation ^ of I-ortitude, Justice, Wisdom, and Peace, intended to represent the characteristics of the and capt^e of the Ameriia^frtn Wh r^ commander of his Majesty's frigate, the Slumnm, in the attack, boarding, aistinShed cantoin ofTht S^ «'«/^*f «*f ^ of superior force in men and metal, and nnder the command of a aiBtinguished captam of light horse, on the 1st of June, 1813, achieved in the short space of fifteen minutes, the inhabit- OF THE WAK OF 1812. -^n Hespect for the Bemains of Lawrence and Ladlow. Funeral Ceremonies. The Bodies of the Slain taken to Salem, The most gratifying respect was paid to the remains of Captain Lawrence on their arrival at Halifax, and also to those of Lieutenant Ludlow, who died, there on the 13th of the month.^ The garrison furnished a funeral party from the Sixty-fourth Regiment three hundred strong. The navy also furnished a funeral party, with. pall- bearers, and at the appointed hour the body was taken in a boat from the Chesa- peake to the King's Wharf, where, it was received by the military under Sir John Wardlow. Six companies of the Sixty-fourth Regiment preceded the corpse. The oflScers of the Chesapeake (headed by Lieu- tenant Budd,^ who became the command- ^^^^ ^_y y^P V er after the fall of his superiors) followed -^;e-<^'^'^^>^ C'^M^cCy^K^ it as mourners. The officers of the Brit- ^ ish Navy were also in attendance. These were followed by Sir Thomas Saumerez, the staff, and officers of the garrison. The procession was closed by a number of the in- habitants of the town. The.fun^-al services were performed by the rector of St. Paul's Church, and three volleys were discharged by the troops over the grave. The feeling of depression in the American miad passed away as soon as reflection asserted its dignity. AH the circumstances were, so unfayo?.-able to the Chesapeake that it was reasonable, to suppose that such a misfortune would not occur again. The deep mortification that assumed the features of censure was momentary, and the gallant Lawrence and his companions were honored with every demonstration of re- spect. The most remarkable of these was exhibited in; the patriotic and successful efforts of Captain George Crowninshield, Jr., of Salem, Massachusetts, to restore the bodies of Lawrence and Ludlow to their native land. He, with others, had seen the contest in the distance from the heights around. Salem, an^ the feelings then excited were deepened by the intelligence of the fate of the gallant Lawrence and Ludlow, and some of their companions. He opened a correspondence with the United States government, asking permission to proceed to Halifax in the brig Henry, of which he was master, with a flag of truce, to Solicit from the authorities there the teniains of the honored dead. Permission was granted. The President of the United States gave him a passport for the purpose," a,nd on the 7th of August he and some . jniy28, associates sailed in the Henry from Salem for Halifax.^ He arrived there on ^^i^- the 10th. His errand was successful, and on the 13th of the same month he sailed from Halifax for Salem with the remains of Lawrence and Ludlow. The Henry reached Salem on the 18th of August, and on the following day Captain Crownin- shield wrote to the Secretary of the ISTavy informing him of the fact, and saying, " The relatives of Captain Lawrence have requested that his remains might ultimate- ly rest in New York, but that funeral honors might be paid here, and, accordingly, the ceremonies will take place on Monday next at Salem. Commodore Bainbridge has been consulted on the occasion." The funeral obsequies were performed at Salem on Monday, the 23d of August. The morning was beautiful. The brig Henry lay at anchor in the harbor bearing her precious freight, and near her the brig Rattlesnake. Almost every vessel in the wa- ante of Suffolk the victor's natire county, anxious to evince their sense of his spirited, judicious, and determined con- duct in thus adding another brilliant trophy to the unrivaled triumphs of the British Navy, with a spontaneous burst offeeling voted him this tribute oftheir affection, gratitude, and admiration." „ ^ , . .„„ „ , , 1 AuOTStns C Ludlow was son of Robert Ludlow, Esq., and was born at Newburg, New York m 1T93 He entered the nalv as a m'idshipman in April, WtA, and in the summer of that year sailed in the Pres*fen« for the Mediterranean Sea He returned home in the Conaitution, then commanded by Captain Campbell, in 180T. He remained in her, under Commodore Eodgers, until promoted to lieutenant, in June, 1810, when he was placed in the Bormt When Lawrence became her commander he was charmed with Ludlow's character, and his knowledge of his young friend's worth made ^ him .-hPPrfullv continue him in his service on the Chempeahe as his first lieutenant. "l?t S4u Lrt Tdd's^^^ to the Secretary of the Navy from Halifax, June 15, 1813, see Brannan's 0#m!ieJ- for. j«7,Y/,™ and Naml Washington, 1823, page 16T. He was appointed midshipman in the autumn of 1805, commis- .ttVd a StenantrMryf 812, and master commandant in March, 1820. He died on the 3d of September, 183T. riLse wer°Holton J. Breed, first officer; Samuel Briggs, second ofScer ; and John Sinclair, Jeduthan Upton, Ste- phen Bnrchmore Joseph L. Lee, Thomas Bowditch, Benjamin Upton, and Thorndike Proctor, all masters 6f vessels. Mark Messurrey.'cQOk, and Nathaniel Cummings, steward. 112 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Faneral Ceremonies at Salem. Eemoval of the Bodies to New York. Testimonials ofEegardi ters, and flag-staff in the town, exhibited the American ensign at half-mast, and nu- merous flags were displayed in the streets through which the funeral procession was to pass. Thousands poured into the town from the surrounding country at an early hour. The streets were thronged. . The Boston South End Artillery were there with the " Adams" and " Hancock," brass cannon of the Revolution, and men of distinction in every pursuit of life participated in the funeral obsequies. At a little past meridian the bodies were taken from the JBenry and placed in barges, accompanied by a long procession of boats manned by seamen in bluejackets and white trowsers, their hats bearing the words on Lawrence's white flag, Feee Trade and Sailoes' Rights. At India Wharf hearses were ready, to receive them, and at the same time the Henry and Rattlesnahe were firing minute-guns alternately. ^ The bells commenced tolling at one o'clock,^ and an immense procession moved to slow and solemn music, escorted by a company of light infantry under Captain J. C. Kingj They passed through the principal streets to the Rev. Mr. Spalding's meeting-house. ^ The corpses were received by the clergy at the door, and placed in the centre of the large aisle by the sailors who bore them to the shore. These stood leaning upon the cofiins dur- ing the services. The coffins were covered with -black velvet, with the monograms of the heroes inclosed in wreaths, swords crossed, and a marginal border all embroidered in silver. The interior of the church was hung in black, and decorated with cypress and evergreens ; and in front of the sacred desk the names of Laweence and Ludlow appeared in letters of gold. An eloquent and touching funeral oration was delivered by the Honorable Joseph Story, and the rites of sepulture were performed by the Masonic societies and the military, when the bodies were placed in a vault.* Preparations were soon made for removing the remains of Lawrence and Ludlow to New York. Because of some delay in procuring an extension of the passport of the Henry (so as to allow her to go to New York) from Acting Commander Oliver, of the British blockading squadron off New London, they were conveyed to the navy yard at Charleston on the 3d of September, and from thence taken to New York by land. They were placed on board the United States sloop of war Alert, lying in New York Harbor, while the city authorities made arrangements for a public funeral.* THE COFFINS. 1 A company under Captain Peabody flred minnte-gnns in Washington Square. » The bells in Boston, fifteen miles distant, were tolled at the same time, and the flags upon the shipping in the har. bor were displayed at half-mast. Minute-guns were flred by the ConstUwtion and other vessels there 3 The committee of arrangements applied for the use of the North Meeting-house (Dr. Barnard's)', "particularly on account of its size and the flue organ which it contained." They were refused, the committee of the proprietors saying that they had no authority "to open the house for any other purpose than public worship." * The death of Lawrence was the theme of several ele- giac poems written and published in diflferent parts of the country. Some of them were printed on satin, with em- blematic devices, and were framed and hung up in houses. The annexed rough picture is a fac-simile of one of these devices, one third the size of the original, designed and en- graved by A. Bowen, of Boston, and printed at the head of an elegy, on satin, at the ofBce of the Boston Chronide. I am indebted to the kind courtesy of Miss Caroline F. Orne, of Cambridgeport, for a copy of the original, and for other interesting papers made use of in this work. 6 In the arrangements made for the funeral a substan- tial testimonial of regard was agreed to, in the form of an appropriation of one thousand dollars each for the two children of Captain Lawrence, to be vested in the Com- missioners of the Sinking Fund of the Corporation, the interest to be applied to the use of the recipients, and the principal to be given to the daughter when she should arrive at the age of eighteen years, and to the son at the age of twenty-one years. "^ lawbenoe mfmokial. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 713 Funeral Ceremonies in New York. Monuments to the Memory of Lawrence and Ludlow. The Inscriptions on thenr. These were completed on the 14th, and on Thursday, the 16th, the remains of the gallant dead were laid in their resting-place near the southwest comer of Trinity Church burying-ground, far removed from public observation.^ Soon after the war the Cor- poration of the City of New York erected an elegant marble monument over the re- mains of Lawrence, bearing appropriate inscriptions.^ In the course of time it be- came dilapidated, and in 1847 the Corpo- ration of Trinity Church resolved to re- move the remains to a more conspicuous place. They were deposited near the southeast corner of the church, a fSw feet from Broadway, and over them the vestry erected a handsome mausoleum of brown freestone in commemoration of both Law- rence and his lieutenant.^ Eight trophy cannon were placed around the mauso- leum, which, with chains attached, form an appropriate inclosure.* 1 This was the third time that faneral honors had been paid to the remains of the hero. On this occasion the proces- sion, composed of members of both branches of the military service and civilians, was very large, and move^ from the Battery through Greenwich Street to Chambers, up Chambers to Broad- way, and down the latter street to Trinity Church-yard. 2 The design of the monument was simple and-appropriate, for Lawrence was a young man at the time of his death. It was a broken column of white marble, of the Ionic order, the capital broken off and lying on the base. The Inscription, simple and dignified, was as follows : "In memory of Captain James Lawrence, of the United States Navy, who fell on the Ist day of June, 1S13, in the thirty-second year of his age, in the action between the frigates Chesapeake and Shannon. He distin- guished himself on various occasions, but particularly when he command- ed the sloop of war Hornet, by capturing and sinking his Britannic Majes- ty's sloop of war Peacock after a desperate action of fourteen minutes. His bravery in action was only equaled by his modesty in triumph and his mag- nanimity to the vanquished. In private life he was a gentleman of the most generous and endearing qualities; and so acknowledged was his public worth, that the whole nation mourned his loss, and the enemy con- tended with his countrymen who most, should honor his remains." Onthereversewere the words: " The hero whose remains are here de- posited, with his expiring breath expressed his devotion to his country. Neither the fury of battle, the anguish of a mortal wound, nor the horrors of approaching death could subdue his gallant spirit. His dying words were, ' Dom't GIVE HP THE Ship 1' " , . .. i,. .j ., „ ,. ■,,■ I saw fragments of this old monument lying by the side of a small building in Trinity Church-yard late in the autumn of 1863. The slabs bearing the above in- scriptions were afterward deposited in the Library of the New York Historical So- LAWfiBNOE AKD LUDLOW'S MONUMENT. ciety, where they may now be seen carefully preserved. 3 Tf ^aofa thu fnllnwiTiD' inscriiitions : Niyrth Sid£. — " In i LAWEENCE S EAB- LY MONUMENT. ■ Side.- 3 it bears the following inscriptions : Nm-th Sm.-" In memory of Captam James Lawrence, of the United States Navy, who fell on the 1st day of June, 1813, in the thirty-second year of his age, m the action between the Chesapeake and Shcmnon. He was distinguished on various occasions, but espe- cially when, commanding the sloop of war Bornet, he captured and sunk his Britannic Majesty's sloop of wa; Peacock after a desperate action of fourteen minutes. His bravery m action was equaed only by his remarkable modesty in triumph and his magnanimity to the vanquished. In private Me he was a gentleman of the most generous and endearing qualities ; the whole nation mourned his loss and the enemy contended with his countrymen who should most honor his remains." East The heroic commander of the frigate Chesapeake, whose remains are here deposited, expressed with his expir- ing breath his devotion to his country. Neither the fury of battle, the anguish of a mortal wound, nor the horrors of approaching death could subdue his gallant spirit. His dying words were, 'Don't give up the Ship 1' " We^Side-A w rp^?pf srulrture rebresenting the hull of a double-decked ship of war. South Sm.-" In memory of Lieutenant Au- Sc Mlow of tfe™ Bom in Newbnrg, im. Died at Halifax, 1813 Scarcely was he twenty- fne years of age ^hen, like the blooming Buryalus, he accompanied his beloved commander to battle. Never could it hsve been mofe truly said, 'Bic amor unus eratpwritarqm in iella r-uetanf The favorite of Lawrence, and second in cZ^aM "e emulated the patriotic valor of his friend on the bloody decks of the Ch^apeake, and when requn-ed, like "f^hSfSn\reT.XSK%^^^^^^^^^ York, and by Wm presented to the Corporation of Trinity Church for the use to which they are devoted. They were Y14 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Stirring Scene in Che sapealiie Bay. Capture of the Asp. The Argus bears Minister Crawford to France. The loss of the Chesapeake was followed by the capture of the little schooner Asp and the sloop of war Argus, the former in the waters of Virginia, and the latter off the British coast. The career of each was brilliant— the former in its death-struggle, and the latter in its bold cruise just previous to its capture. Their misfortunes were so tempered, in the estimation of the American mind, with deeds of great prowess, that they did not seriously affect the hopeful feelings of the nation. • The Asp was one of the small vessels fitted out by the United States government for the purpose of defending the harbors and tributary streams of the Chesapeake from the British marauders. She carried three small guns, and was commanded by Midshipman Segauny. She and the Scorpion were in the Yeocomico Creek at the middle of June, and went out together on the morning of the 14th on a cruise of ob- servation. At ten o'clock they were discovered by a flotilla of British light vessels, which immediately gave chase. Their number was overpowering; The Seotpion fled up the Bay, and escaped ; but the Asp, being a slow sailer, ran back to the Yeocomico, hoping to find shelter in shallow waters beyond the reach of the enemy. She was fol- lowed by two hostile brigs. They anchored at the mouth of the strea,m, and sent armed boats' after the little fugitive. She was overtaken 'by three of them, when a sharp fight occurred. The assailants were repulsed, and retreated to the brigs. In the course of an hour, five boats, filled with three times as many armed men as the ofiicers and crew of the Asp, attacked her. A desperate engagement followed. Midshipman Segauny and one half of his companions were disabled by death or wounds. Fifty of the enemy boarded the little vessel, overpowered her people, and refused to give quarter to those who remained. The unhurt fled from her, when the enemy, in full possession, set her on fire and returned to the brigs. On their departure. Midshipman M'Clintock, the second officer of the Asp, who had escaped to the shore, returned to her, and, after great exertion, extinguished the flames. ^ Her commander's body was consumed on the deck where he was barbarously murdered.^ The Argus sailed from New York on the 18th of June,^ bearing William H. Crawford, of Georgia, who had recently been appointed resident minister at the French Court in place of Joel Barlow, deceased. She had lately returned from a cruise under the command of Lieutenant Commanding Arthur St. Clair, and was now in charge of Lieutenant William Henry Allen, a brave Rhode Islander, who had re- cently served in the United States frigate as Decatur's second in command. She was a fine vessel of her class,, and carried twenty 32-pound carronades and two bow guns. She eluded the British cruisers, and, after a voyage of twenty-three days, landed Mr. Crawford in safety at L'Orient.* At that time the merchant marine in the waters around the British Islands was under no apprehensions of danger from American cruisers, and there was no na- val force in the British or Irish Channels for the protection of commerce there. In- formed of this, Allen resolved to repeat the exploits of Paul Jones in the Honhomme Richard. He tarried only three days at L'Orient, and then sailed on a cruise in Brit- selected by him from among the cannon at the navy yard which had been captured from the English during the war, as most appropriate for the purpose. The strict requirements of the law were complied with in the transaction. Each gun bore its national insignia, with an inscription declaring the time and place of its capture. When the cannon were planted in the place they now occupy, the vestry of the church, with singular courtesy, put them so deep in the ground that the insignia and trophy-marks are out of sight. The reason given was that, in a community like New York, where there are so many English residents, it might seem like an unfriendly act to parade such evidences of triumph before the public eye. ' Midshipman M'Clintock's Letter to the Secretary of the Navy, July 13, 1813. ' Thomson, in his Historical Sketches of the War, page 225, says that Commander Segauny was shot through the body with a musket-ball, and was sitting on the deck against the mast when the British brought down his colors. In this attitude, and while suffering severely, he animated his men in the fight around him to repel the boarders. Seeing this, a cowardly British marine stepped up and shot him through the head, killing him instantly. Observipg this, and con- cluding no quarter was to be given, M'Clintock ordered a retreat for shore. This was safely accomplished by about half of the twenty-one defenders of the Asp. J. B. Segauny was from Boston, and had served under Lawrence in the Hornet. He was only about twenty-one years of age at the time of his death, and had been five years in the service. OF THE WAR OF 1812. ns The Argus in British Waters. Her Destruction of Property there. Her Combat with the Pelican. WILLIAM HENRY Fallen. ish waters. He roamed the " chops" of the Channel successfully. "When satisfied with operations there, he sailed around Land's End, and by celerity of move- ment, audacity of action, and destructive energy, spread consternation throughout commercial England.' In the course of thirty days he captured and destroyed no less than twenty valuable British mer- chantmen, valued at two millions of dol- lars. Too far away from friendly ports into which he might send his prizes, Allen burned them all. He was a generous foe, and elicited from the enemy voluntary acknowledgments of justice and courtesy. He allowed all non-combatant captives to remove their private property from the captured vessels before he applied the torch. All prisoners were paroled, and sent on shore as speedily as possible. The Argus, after playing a winning game, for a month, became the loser. On the 13th of August she captured a ship from Oporto laden with wine. Some of her cargo was taken secretly on board the Argus in the evening, and was so freely partaken of by her exhausted crew that many of them were disabled for a time when their best energies were required. She had set fire to her prize, abd was moving away under easy sail, just before dawn, when a British brig, which had discovered her by the light of the blazing vessel, was seen bearing down upon her under a cloud of canvas. The British authorities had been aroused to vigorous action by the daring of the Argus, and had fitted out several cruisers to attempt her capture. The hostile vessel that now appeared was one of them, the Pelican, 18,^ Captain J. F. Maples. She came dashing gallantly on, and Commander Allen (then master commandant by a commis- sion dated July 24, 1813), finding it impossible to get the wind of his enemy, short- ened the sail of the Argus to allow the brig to close. He flung out her colors, and at six o'clock wore and delivered a larboard broadside at grape-shot distance. The fire was immediately returned, and Commander Allen's left leg was carried away by a round-shot. ' He bravely refused to be carried below, but in a few minutes, when un- conscious from loss of blood, he was taken to the cock-pit. First Lieutenant "Watson took command. He too was soon disabled and carried below, having been stunned by a grape-shot that struck his head. Only one lieutenant ("William Howard Allen) now remained. He continued to fight the brig gallantly under the most discoura- ging circumstances. Her main-braces, main-spring-stay, gafi", and try-sail mast were shot away, yet never was a vessel more admirably handled. The enemy attempted to get under the stem of the Argus so as to give her a raking broadside, but young Al- len,^ by a skillful mancEuvre, gave his antagonist a complete and damaging one. The 1 Her operations were so alarming that for a while very few vessels left British ports, and the rates of insurance rose to ruinous prices. In several instances insurances could not be effected at all, so great was the risk considered. 2 She carried one 12 and sixteen 32 pound can'onades, and four long 6's. 3 William Howard Allen was not nearly, if at all, related to Commander Allen. His career in the navy was an honor- able one. He was in command of the United States schooner Alligatm in 1822, and in the autumn of that year he lost his life in a contest with pirates. The main incidents of his life are given briefly in the following inscriptions on his monument, a structure eighteen and a half feet in height, erected to his memory in the Hudson Cemetery, in the city of Hudson, Columbia County, New York, his birth-place : Vut Side.— "To the memory of William Hovvabd Allen, lieutenant in the United States Navy, who was killed in the act of boarding a piratical vessel on the coast of Cuba, near Matanzas, on the 9th of November, 1822, -jE. 32."* * On her way home, after this encounter with the pii-atee, the Alligator was wrecked. This accident was the occasion of a poem by John G. C. Brainerd. '716 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Surrender of the Argus. Her Loss in Men. Monument to tlie Memory of Lieutenant Allen. Commander Allenl Argus was sadly wounded, and began to reel. All her braces were shot away, and she could not be kept in position. The Pelican now crossed her stem and raked her dreadfully, and at twenty-five minutes past six, her wheel-ropes and nearly all her running rigging being gone, the Argus became unmanageable. Five minutes later Lieutenant Watson came on deck, when the Pelican, lying under the ArguSs stern, was pouring in a terrific fire without resistance. Farther contest seemed useless, yet an efibrt was made to lay the crippled American alongside of the vigorous enemy for the purpose of boarding her. The effort failed, and, after a most determined combat for about three fourths of an hour, when the Sea Horse, the Pelican! s consort, hove in sight, the colors of the Argus were struck. At that moment the enemy boarded her at the bow and took possession. The loss of the Argus was six killed and seventeen wounded. Of the former were Midshipmen Delphy and Edwards, and of the latter Commander Allen, Lieutenant Watson, Boatswain M'Leod, and Carpenter White. The Pelican lost two killed and five wounded. Commander Allen survived until the next day, having in the mean time been taken into Plymouth, and placed in the Mill Spring Prison Hospital with the rest of the wounded of ihs, Argus. On the 21st his remains were buried in a Plymouth church-yard with military honors.^ A month before the intelligence of the loss of the Argus reached the United States, a naval victory had been gained by the Americans within sight of the !N"ew England coast, which compensated, in a measure, for the loss of the Chesapeake. Among the smaller vessels of war, such as the Nautilus and Yixen, each 14, was the Enterprise, 14, whose reputation for being "lucky" has already been mentioned. Her sisters, with the Siren, 16, of the class of the Argus, had been unfortunate. The JVautilus, as we have observed, was captured by the enemy at the beginning of the war. The South Side. — " William Howabd Allen. His remains, first buried at Matan- zas, were removed to this city by the United States government, and interred, under the direction of the Common Council of this city, beneath this marble erected to his honor by the citizens of his native place, 1833." Sast Side " William Howard Allen was bom in the city of Hudson, July 8, 1790 ; appointed a midshipman in 1801 and a lieutenant in 1811, he took a con- spicuous part in the engagement between the Argus and Pelican in 1813, and was killed while in command of the United States schooner AUigottor." North Side "Pride of his country's banded chivalry, His fame their hope, his name their battle-cry ; He lived as mothers wish their sons to live — He died as fathers wish their sons to die !" A beautiful model of this monument may be seen in the navy yard at Charles- town, Massachusetts. William Leggett wrote a poem on the death of Allen, in which occurs the fol- lowing stanza : "Mother of Allen, weep not for your son ! His race was glorious, but too soon 'twas run. Yet weep not! Vengeance sleeps. She is not dead ; She yet will thunder on his murderer's head. Sisters of Allen, dry your tearful eyes ; The hero's soul hath flown to yonder skies. And long his name, in memory's holiest shrine. Will wear the wreath which matchless virtues twine 1" 1 William Henry Allen was'bom at Providence, Rhode Island, on the 21st of LiTOTEMiNT ALLEN'S MONUMENT. P'^tot", 1784. His father was attofflccr in the Bcvolution. He entered the navy m his eighteenth year (April, 1800), and made his first cruise with Bainbridge in the Wmhington, In 1805 he was acting lieutenant in the Constitution, under Eodgers, and was the lieutenant of the Chesapeake when she was attacked by the Leopard In 1807, who touched ofl", by means of a live coal, the only gnn fired at the enemy on that occasion. See page 158. He was with Decatur In the capture of the Macedonian, and gained great credit at that time as executive officer of the ship, and for his skill and celerity in repairing the damage to the prize. See page 456. He was esteemed as one of the best men of his class in the navy. He was very gentle in his deportment, and, as we have observed in the text, he won the esteem of the British nation while spreading consternation through- out its commercial circles. That esteem won for him an honorable burial among those who were his enemies only in war. He was not quite twenty-nine years of age at the time Of his death. A London paper of August 27, 1813, contained a long account of the ceremonies on the occasion of the funeral of Com- mander Allen. OiHcers of the EoyaJ Marines formed a guard of honor, attended by the Royal Marine Band. Bight cap- tains of the Royal Navy were pall-bearers. Allen's own officers were chief mourners. The American vice-consul was in attendance, and a large procession of the inhabitants followed the hearse. The coffin was covered with the Ameri- can flag. In the church (St. Andrew's) to which it was taken the vicar read the funeral service of the Anglican Church. OF THE WAR OF 1812. ^17 Cruise of the Enterprise' Her Combat witli the Boxer. Death of the two Commanders. Vixen, after cruising a while on the Southern coast and among the islands, command- ed first by Captain Gadsden, of South Carolina, and Captain Washington Reed, was captured by the Southampton, 14, Commodore Sir James Lucas Yeo, of Lake Ontario fame. Both vessels were soon afterward wrecked on the coast of one of the Bermuda Islands, where Captain Reed perished by the yellow fever. The Siren performed very little service, and in the summer of 1814, while cruising far southward, under Lieutenant Nicholson (her commander. Captain Parker, having died on the voyage), she was captured by the British ship Medway, 14, Captain Bruce, and taken into Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope. These, as we have seen, had won renown in the Mediter- ranean Sea.i Better was the fortune of the " lucky" Enterprise. She cruised for a long time off the New England coast, the terror of British provincial privateers, under Johnston Blakeley, until he was promoted to the command of the new sloop of war Wasp, when Lieutenant William Burrows became her commander. She continued on her old cruising ground, watching for the enemy from Cape Ann to the Bay of Fundy. On the morning of the 1st of September" the Enterprise sailed from Ports- mouth, New Hampshire, and chased a schooner, suspected of being a British privateer, into Portland Harbor on the morning of the 3d. The next day she put to sea, steering eastward in quest of British cruisers reported to be near Manhegan Isl- and, off Lincoln County, Maine. When approaching Pemaquid Point on the 5th, Burrows discovered in a bay what he supposed to be a vessel of war getting under way. He was not mistaken. She was a British brig. On observing the Enterprise she displayed four British ensigns, fired several guns as signals for boats that had been, sent ashore to return, and, crowding canvas, bore down gallantly for the Enter- prise. Burrows accepted the challenge, cleared his ship for action, and after getting at proper distance from land to have ample sea-room for conflict, he shortened sail and edged toward the stranger. It was now three o'clock in the afternoon. At twenty minutes past three the brigs closed within half pistol-shot, and both vessels opened fire at the same time. The wind was light, there was little sea, and the cannonading was destructive. Ten min- utes later the Enterprise ranged ahead of her antagonist, and, taking advantage of her position, she steered across the bows of the stranger, and delivered her fire with such precision and destructive energy that, at four o'clock, the British officer in command shouted through his trumpet that he had surrendered, but his fiag, being nailed to the mast, could not be lowered until the Enterprise should cease firing. It was done. The brig was surrendered, and proved to be the Boxer, 14, Captain Samuel Blyth, who, in the engagement, had been nearly cut in two by an 18-pound ball. Almost at the moment when Blyth fell on the Boxer, Burrows, of the Enterprise, was mortally wounded. He was assisting the men in running out a carronade, and, in doing so, placed one foot against the bulwark to give lever power to his efforts. While in that position, a shot, supposed to be a canister ball, struck his thigh, and, glancing from the bone into his body, infiicted a painful and fatal wound. Both commanders were young men of great promise, and were highly esteemed in the service to which they respectively belonged. Blyth was killed instantly. Bur- rows lived eight hours.^ He refused to be carried below until the sword of the com- > See Chapter VI. aPortland^roMS, September 8, 1813; Perkins, page 181. 1, „ , ^ „„. „. . ^. William Burrows was bom at Kenderton, near Philadelphia, on the 6th of October, 1785. Hie father was wealthy, and he was left mostly to the guidance of his own inclinations concerning life pursuits. He gave early indications of a love for the naval service. In November, 1799, he entered the service as a midshipman. He was in active service until the close of difficulties on the Barbary coast, and applied himself diligently to the study of his profession. He contin- ned in service until the breaking out of the war, when, on his way to the United States from the East, he was made a Drisoner He reached home in June, 1813, and went immediately into the service. His movements with the Bntcrprise are recorded in the text. His death was a cause for sincere grief throughout the land. No portrait of the young hero was ever painted, and for that reason the medal struck in honor of the victory of the Enterprise does not contain his effigy, as usual. 718' PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Gallantry of Lieutenant M'Call. Funeral of Burrows and Blyth. Their Monuments;.' mander of the vanquished vessel should be presented to him. He grasped it eagerly, and said, " 'Now I am satisfied ; I die contented." Both received their death-wounds ; at the beginning of the action ; and the command of the £Interprise devolved upon the gallant Lieutenant Edward R. M'Call, of South Carolina, who conducted his, part of the engagement to the close with great skill and courage. ^ He took both vessels into Portland Harbor on the morning of the 7th, and on the following day the re- mains of both commanders were conveyed to the same cemetery, and buried side by side, with all the honors which their rank and powers could claim. The remains of Midshipman Kervin Waters, of the Enterprise, the only one of her people mortally wounded except her commander, were laid by the side of those of his gallant leader in less than twenty days afterward, and over the graves of all commemorative mon- uments have been erected.^ » Ed.ward Eutledge M'Call was bom at Charleston, South Carolina, on the 6th of August, 1790, and was five years the junior of his commander. He entered the navy as a midshipman at the age' of fifteen years, and was first on duty in the Hornk, Captain Dent. He joined the Enterprise, under Blakeley, in ISll, as a lieutenant, and was serving in that capacity under Burrows at the time, of the battle above recorded. He wrote to Commodore Hull a very interesting ac- count -of that engagement. ' He was afterward transferred, first to the Ontario, and then to the Java, Commodore Perry, and with that officer. cruised in the Mediterranean Sea until 181T. • On his return he took command of the sloop of war Pea^ck, also preparing to cruise in the Mediterranean. In March, 1825,,he was promoted to master commandant, and in March, 1835, he received the commission of captain. ' The funeral ceremonies on the occasion were solemn and imposing. I am indebted to the Honorable William Wil- lis, of Portland, who participated in them, for much information concerning the event. At his solicitation, Mr. Charles K. Beckell, of the same city, kindly furnished me with the sketch of the tombs of Burrows, Blyth, and Waters printed below. The two bruised vessels lay at the ei^d of the Union Wharf, and from them the coffins of the two deceased officers were received by the civil and military procession, which had been formed at the court-house at nine in the morning of the 9th of September, under the direction of Robert Ilsley and Levi Cutter, assisted by twelve marshals. The coffins containing the bodies were landed from the vessels in barges of ten oars each, rowed by minute strokes of ship-masters and mates, accompanied by most of the barges and boats in the harbor. When the barges commenced to move, and during the solemn march of the procession from the wharf up Fore and Pleasant Streets" to High Street, thence down Main and Middle Streets to the Rev. Mr. Payne's meeting-house, minute-guns were fired by the artillery companies of Captains Bird and Varnum. These were continued while the procession marched from the meeting-hotise to the East- ern Cemetery, about a mile distant. The chief mourners who followed the corpse of Lieutenant BniTows were Dr. Washington, Captain Hull, and officers of the Enterprise. Those who followed the corpse of Captain Blyth were the officers of the Boxer, on parole. Both were followed by naval and military officers in the United States seiTice, the crews of the two vessels, civil officers of the state and city, military companies, and a large concourse of citizens. Cap. tain Blyth was one of the pall-bearers at the funeral of Lawrence, at Halifax, a few weeks before. The remains of Burrows, Blyth, and Waters were buried by the side of each other. Over their graves stand oblong monuments about six feet in length, two and a half feet in width, and about the same in height. Blyth's, seen nearest in the accompanying sketch by Mr. Beckell, is a brick foundation covered with a marble slab, on which is the following inscription: "In memory of Captain Samuel Blyth, late commander of his Britannic Majesty's brig £oicer. He nobly fell, on the 5th day of September, 1813, in action with the United States brig Enterprise. In life, honorable ; in death, glorious ! His country will long deplore one of her bravest sons, his friends long lament one of the best of men ! JE. The suiTiving officers of GEAVEB or liUEEOWS," ULYTH, AMD WATEE8. his crew oflter this feeble tribute of admiration and respect." Burrows's monument is com- posed of red sandstone, form- ing deep, broad panels on sides and ends, and bearing a recum- bent marble slab. It is the mid- dle one in the sketch. On the slab is the following inscription — "Beneath this stone mould- ers the body of William Btns- Eows, late commander of the United States brig Enterprise, who was mortally wounded on the 6th of September, 1813, in an action which contributed to increase the fame of American valor, by capturing his Britan- nic Majesty's brig Boxer after a severe contest of forty-five min- utes. M. 28. A passing stran- ger has erected this memento of respect to the manes of a pa- triot who, in the hour of peril, obeyed the loud summons of an injured country, and who gal- lantly met, fought, and con- quered the foeman." j OP THE WAR OF 1812. ^19 Medals awarded to Burrows and M'Call. The Grave of Burrows. On the 6th of January following-,* the Congress of the United States, by ^ ^^^^ joint resolution, requested the Chief Magistrate of the Republic to present to the nearest male relative of Lieutenant Burrows " a gold medal, with suitable em- blems and devices, in testimony of the high sense entertained by Congress of the gal- lantry and good conduct of the officers and crew in the conflict with the British sloop Boxer on the 4th of September, 1813."i By the same joint resolution Congress re- THE BTJEEOWS MEDAL. quested the President to present to Lieutenant M'Call, " as second in command of the Enterprise in the conflict with the Boxer, a gold medal, with suitable emblems and d'cvices.^ In this engagement the ^oa;er was very much cut up both in hull and rigging, while the Enterprise sufiered very little. The battle was a fair test of the compara- tive nautical skill and good gunnery of the combatants. Justice accords the palm for both to the Americans. A London paper, speaking of the battle, said, " The fact seems to be but too clearly established that the Americans have some superior mode The "passing stranger" above mentioned was Silas M. Burrows, of New York, who, being in Portland, visited the cemetery, saw the neglected condition of the young hero's grave, and ordered a monument to be built. A poet nnknown to the author afterward wrote thus : " I saw the green tnrf resting cold On Bnrrows's hallowed grave ; No stone the inq;uiring patriot told Where slept the good and brave. Heaven's rains' and dew conspired to blot The traces of the holy spot. At length a ' passing stranger' came. Whose hand its bounties shed ; He bade the sparkling marble claim A tribute for the dead ; And, sweetly blending, hence shall flow The tears of gratitude and woe."' - , - The tomb of Midshipman Waters is a marble slab resting on fonrronnd sandstone-pillars. On the slab is the following inscription : " Beneath this marble, by the side of his gallant commander, rest the remains of Lieutenant Kervin Waters, a native of Georgetown, District of Columbia, who receiived a mortal-wound, September S, 1813, while a midshipman on board the United States brJg JEnterpriae, in an action with his Britannic Majesty's, brig Boxer, which terminated iiithe capture of the latter. He languished in severe pain, which he endured with fortitude, until Septeniber 25tb, 1813, when he died with Christian calmness and resignation, aged eighteen. The young men of Portland erect this stone as a tes- timony of their respect for his valor and virtues." 1 The picture above given is the exact size of the medal. On one side is seen an urn standing upon an altar, around which are gronped military and other emblems, on one of which (a trident) hangs a victor's chaplet of laurel leaves. Upon an elliptical panel on the side of the altar is seen " W. Bubbows," in prominent letters. Around the whole is the legend " Vioioeiam tibi olaeam. patkijE m.f.stam." On the reverse is seen the two brigs engaged in combat, the main- top-mast of the Boxer shot away. Over them the legend " Viteeic bat vihoeee." Exergue, " Ihtee Ehteepeize kav. Ameei. et Boxbe NAT. Beit. niE IV Sept. MDOoooxm.", The date should be the 5th instead of the 4th. 2 On one side the bust of Lieutenant M'Call and the legend "EdwaedR. M'Call HAVisBNTEEPEisErE^a'EoiTO." Ex- ergue, " Sio iTDE Ai) ASTEA." The reverse the same as on that of Burrows. 720 PICTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK Loss of Life on the two Vessels. Last Cruise of the Enterprise, 7HE m'OALL UEDAL. of firing, and we can not be too anxiously employed in discovering to what circum- stances that superiority is owing." The loss of the Boxer was a great mortification ; and there can be no doubt that Captain Blyth felt full assurance of victory when he went into the contest. Indicative of this was the nailing of the flag to the mast, al- ways a most foolish andperilous boast in advance.^ The loss of the Boxer was sev- eral killed besides her commander, and seventeen wounded. The Enterprise lost only one killed besides her commander, and ten wounded; This was the Boxer's last cruise as a war vessel. She was sold in Portland, aiid sailed from that port for sev- eral years as a merchantman. The Enterprise made only one more cruise during the war, under the command of Lieutenant Renshaw. She sailed southward as far as the "West Indies in company with the fast-sailing brig i2aJif?esnafe,' Lieutenant Creighton. While off the coast of Florida she captured a British privateer, and both vessels were chased by an English seventy-four. The Rattlesnake soon fled from the sight of both consort and pursuer, while the Enterprise was hard pressed by the Englishman for seventy hours. Renshaw cast all her guns overboard in order to increase her speed. It was of little avail. N"othing saved the "lucky" little brig from capture but a fa- vorable shifting of the wind. Not long afterward she sailed into Charleston Harbor, and was there made a guard-ship. She did not appear again at sea during the war. The melancholy tolling of the funeral bells over the slain Burrows and Blyth had scarcely died away when merry peals of joy were heard all over the land in attesta- tion of the delight of the people caused by Perry's victory on Lake Erie, already Mly recorded in these pages. With that victory ceased- rejoicings over the exploits of the vessels of the regular navy during the remainder of the year, because, with a sin- gle exception, they were not remarkable ; but the privateers then swarming upon the ocean were doing excellent service every where. The history of their doings may be found toward the close of the volume. 1 Cooper relates (ii., 260, note) that, when the Bnterpriae hailed to know if the Boxer had struck, as she kept her flag flying, one of the officers of the British vessel leaped upon a gun, shook both fists at the Americans, aud shouted "No, no, no !" at the same time using some strong opprobrious epithets. The excited gentleman's superiors were compelled to order him down. His movement created much merriment on board the jEnterprise. OF THE WAR OE 1812. 721- Weakness of the American Navy. Beginning of the wonderfnl Cruise of the Essex,' CHAPTER XXXn. " War-doom'd the wide expanse to plow Of ocean mth a single prow, Midst hosts of foes with lynx's eye And lion fang close hovering by, Ton, Porter, dared the dangerous course. Without a Jiome, without resource. Save that which heroes always find In nautic slsill and power of mind ; Save where your stars in conquest shone, And stripes made wealth of foes your own." Ode to David Fobteb, 1814. S we take a survey from a stand-point at mid-autumn, 1813, we observe with astonishment only three American frigates at sea, namely, the President^ 44 ; the Congress, 38 ; and the Es- sex, 32. The Constitution, 44, was undergoing repairs ; the Constellation, 38, was blockaded at Norfolk ; and the United States, 44, and Macedonian, 38, were prisoners in the Thames above New London. The Adams, 28, was undergoing altera- tions and repairs, while the John Adams, 28, New York, 36, and Boston, 28, were virtually condemned. All the brigs, ex- cepting the Enterprise, had been cap- tured, and shfe was not to be trusted at sea much longer. The Essex, Commo- dore Porter, was the only government vessel of size which was then sustain- ing the reputation of the American Navy, and she was in far distant seas, with a track equal to more than a third of the circumference of the globe be- tween her and the home port from which she sailed. She was then making one of the most remarkable cruises on rec- ord. Let us here consider it. We have observed the^sea; starting from the Delaware in the autumn of 1812,* with orders to seek a junction with the Constitu- tion and Ebrnet, under Commodore Bainbridge, at designated places, but al- lowed, in the event of failure to do so, to follow the dictates of the judgment of her commander.^ She did not fall in with her consorts of Bainbridge's little squadron, and she sailed on a long cruise in the South Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. In anticipation of such cruise Captain Porter took with him a larger ' See page 458. Zz » October 28. 722 PICTORIAL riELD-BOOK The Nbcton a Prize to the Sssm. A Search for Bainbridge. An English Governor deceived. number of officers and crew than was common for a vessel of that size. Her mus- ter-roll contained three hundred and nineteen names ; and her supplies were so am- ple that she sank deep in the water, which greatly impaired her sailing quality. The Essex took a southeast course for the purpose of crossing the tracks of vessels bound from England to Bermuda, but met only a few Portuguese traders with whom she had no hostile business. On the 2'7th of November she sighted the bold mount- ains of St. Jago, and ran into the harbor of Port Praya in search of the commodore. There Porter received unbounded hospitalities from the Portuguese governor; and when he had waited a proper time for the expected arrival of Bainbridge, he depart- ed with his ship loaded with pigs, sheep, fowls, and tropical fruits of every kind. He concealed his destination from the governor, and, sailing eastward when he left port, gave the impression that he was bound for the coast of Africa. When beyond tele- scopic range he changed his course, stood to the southwest, and crossed the equator on the 11th of December in longitude 30° west. On the following day he captured his first British prize, the Nocton, 10, a government packet, with a crew of thirty-one men, bound for Falmouth. She had fifty-five thousand dollars in specie on board. This treasure and her crew were transferred to the Essex, and Lieutenant Finch (aft- erward Captain William Compton Bolton), with a crew of seventeen men, was direct- ed to go to the United States with her. She was captured by a British frigate be- tween Bermuda and the Capes of Virginia. Only the specie of the Nocton was se- cured by Porter. ' ' December 14, Two days after this victory" the pyramidal mountain peak of the 1812. dreary penal island of Fernando de ISToronha, whereon no woman was allowed to dwell, loomed up sullenly from the waste of waters. This was one of the specified places of rendezvous of Bainbridge's squadron. Disguising the Essex as a merchantman, and hoisting English colors. Porter sailed close to the island, anchored, and sent Lieutenant Dowftes to the governor with a polite message, asking the priv- ilege of procuring water and other refreshments. Downes soon returned with a pres- ent of fruit from the governor, and intelligence that only the week before the British ships Acasta, 44, and Morgiana, 20, had sailed from the island, and left with the mag- istrate a letter for Sir James Yeo, of His Majesty's ship Southampton. Porter was satisfied that the " British ships" spoken of were the Constitution and Hornet; that the writer of the letter was Commodore Bainbridge, and the Sir James Yeo address- ed was himself. With this conviction, he sent Do"wnes back to the governor with the truly English present of porter and cheese, and the assurance that a gentleman on board his vessel, intimately acquainted with Sir James, and who intended to sail directly to England from Brazil, would be happy to carry the letter to the baronet. The governor sent the letter to Porter. The latter broke the seal and read as follows : "Mt dear MEDITBEEANBATiT FeIBND, " Probably you may stop here. Don't attempt to water ; it is attended with too much difficulty. I learned before I left England that you were bound to the Brazil -coast ; if so, we may meet at St. Salvador or Rio Janeiro. I should be happy to meet and converse on our old aifairs of captivity. Recollect our secret in those times. "Your friend of His Majesty's ship Acasta, Keee." The last clause in this letter gave Porter a needed hint. He called for a lighted •candle, and, holding the sheet of paper near the flame, the following note, written in :sympathetic ink,^ was revealed by the heat : " I am bound oflF St. Salvador, thence oflT Cape Frio, where I intend to cruise until .. I Sympathetic ink is composed of componnds which, when written with, will remain invisible until heated. Soln- itions of cobalt thus become bine or green, lemon-jnice turns brown, and a very dilute sulphuric acid blackens. OF THE WAH OF 1812. 723 PaUme to And Bainbridge. The Sesex sails for the Pacific Ocean. Her Arrival at Valparaiso. the 1st of January. Go off Cape Frio, to the northward of Rio Janeiro, and keep a look-out for me. Youe Feiend."' With these instructions Porter sailed for Cape Frio. He came in sight of it three days before the Oonstitution captured the Java,^ and for some time cruised up and down the Brazilian coast between Cape Frio and St. Catharine. He met many Por- tuguese vessels, but could obtain no reliable information concerning the squadron. His situation was becoming more and more perplexing. English influence was pow- erful all along the coasts of the South American continent, while the power of his own government was little known or respected. He was, in a degree, in an enemy's waters, with no friendly port into which he might run for shelter, carry prizes if he should catch them, or procure necessary supplies. He was compelled, as he says in his Journal, to choose between " capture, a blockade, or starvation." He was left to his own resources, for he could not find the commodore, and he resolved to sweep around Cape Horn, pounce upon the English whalers in the Pacific Ocean, and live upon the enemy. The specie obtained from the Nocton would be a reliable resource in an hour of need, and he could not doubt his success. With this determination he spread the sails of the Essex to the breeze in the harbor of St. Catharine on the 26th of January, 1813, and after a most tempestuous and perilous voyage made Cape Horn on the 14th of February. Ac the close of that month the pleasant southwest breezes came over the calmer ocean, and under their gentle influence the inhospitable coasts of Patagonia and Lower Chili were soon passed. On the 5th of March the glittering peaks of the Andes were seen hundreds of miles distant, and on the evening of that day the anchor of the Essex, was cast at the island of Mocha, ofi" the coast of Arauca- nia, for the first time after leaving St. Catharine. Its solitary mountain peak towered more than a thousand feet in the clear blue firmament ; immense flocks of birds hov- ered over its unpeopled shores, and in its surrounding waters shoals of seals were sporting in the surf A joyous hunt for a day by the delighted crew brought to the ship an ample supply of coveted fresh meat, for the island, inhabited by Spaniards before the reign of the buccaneers in that region, abounded with fat wild hogs and horses. The flesh of the latter proved more savory than that of the former, and was preferred by the people of the Essex. Porter had now spent two months without falling in with a hostile vessel. His supplies of naval stores were portentously diminishing, and he anxiously hoped for prey by which he might replenish his exhausted materials. With that hope he cruised northward, enveloped for several days in thick fogs, when suddenly, on the 14th of March, as the Essex swept around the Point of Angels, the city of Valpa- raiso, the chief sea-port town of Chili, burst upon the vision like the creation of a ma- gician's wand. She had been running gallantly before a stifi" breeze ; now she was suddenly becalmed under the guns of a battery, so unexpectedly and near had the turning of that point brought her to the town. The harbor and its shipping were in full view. Several Spanish vessels were about departing ; and an armed American brig, heavily laden, seeing the English colors at the mast-head of the Essex, had triced up her ports and prepared for action. Unwilling to have a knowledge of the arrival of an American frigate in those waters spread by the Spanish vessels along the coast, and perceiving a British whaler preparing for sea. Porter bore ofi" to the northward, and in an hour or two lost sight of the town. He returned on the following day, ran into port and anchored, and soon learned two important facts, namely, that Chili had • just become independent of Spain, and the people were prepared to give him a cor- dial reception ; and that the Viceroy of Peru had sent out cruisers against the Amer- ican shipping in that quarter. Porter's appearance with a strong frigate was there- I Journai of a Cruise made to the Padfie Oceam by Captain David Porter, in the United States Frigate JEaaex, in the Years 1812, 1813, and 1814, i., 36. = See page 400. 724 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Friendliness of the Chilicns. The Essex in Search of British Whalers. Cmise among the Galapagos Islands. fore exceedingly opportune, for American commerce lay at the mercy of English pri- vateers among the whalers, and the Peruvian corsairs. The JEssex was welcomed by the Chilian authorities by a salute of twenty-one guns at the forts, and of nine guns from the American brig, which proved to be the OoU, 18 • and Mr. Poinsett, the American Consul General, hastened from Santiago, the cap- ital of Chili, to join in the festivities which had been arranged for giving' Porter a formal reception. Dinners, balls, excursions on land and water followed, and the offi- cers of the Msex never forgot the delightful hours which they spent with the Chilian beauties, by whom they were exceedingly petted. In this welcome, these entertain- ments, and the bright prospects of usefulness to their countrymen and a profitable cruise for themselves, the people of the £!ssex found full compensation for all their hardships during the terrible voyage from the stormy Atlantic around the dark cape into the Pacific Sea. As soon as she was tolerably victualed the Essex put to sea, and on the 25th fell in with an American whaler, from whom Porter learned that two other vessels, the Walker and Barclay, had just been captured by a Peruvian corsair ofi" Coquimbo, ac- companied by an English ship. Porter pressed on up the coast, and soon overhauled the corsair. She was the Nereyda. He took from her all her captured Americans, and, after casting her cannon, ammunition, and small-arms overboard, sent her to Cal- lao with a letter to the Peruvian viceroy, in which he dencunced the piratical con- duct of the commander of the cruiser, and asked for punishment due for his crime. The Essex then looked into Coquimbo, but, seeing nothing discernible, sailed for Cal- lao. As she neared the harbor she recaptured the Sarday, and, making her her con- sort, sailed for the Galapagos Islands, the alleged resort of English whalers. From the master and crew of the Barclay Porter ascertained that there were twenty-three American and about twenty English whale-ships in that region. The latter were, in general, fine vessels of between three and four hundred tons burden, and would af- ford good prizes for the Essex. The most of them were armed, and bore letters of marque. On his way over the quiet Pacific toward the Galapagos, Porter made preparations for fierce struggles with the armed English whalers. The ships were put in perfect order, and then seven small boats were arranged as a flotilla and placed under the command of Lieutenant Downes.? They made Chatham Island on the I7th of April, but found no enemy there. Similar disappointment awaited them at Charles Island on the following day. Lieutenant Downes went ashore, and found a box nailed to a post, over which was a black sign with the words Hatha way's Posivoffice painted on it in white letters. The contents of the post-office were conveyed on board the Essex, and gave, by a list of English whalers that had touched there a few months before, positive evidence that those islands were a resort for British vessels in that service. With this assurance Porter cruised eagerly among the Galapagos, but al- most a fortnigbt was spent without seeing a single vessel. On the morning of the 'ApiTi, 29th'' the welcome cry of "Sail, ho!" was heard, and a ship was seen to the 1813. westward. Soon afterward two others were observed a little farther to the south. Porter immediately gave chase to the first-seen vessel, and at nine o'clock in the morning she was his prize. She was the English whale-ship Montezuma, with fourteen hundred barrels of oil on board. Placing a prize-crew in her, he made sail after the other two vessels. The wind fell, and there was a dead calm. The flotilla of small boats under Downes pushed forward. They pulled for the larger of the two 1 John Downes was born in Massachusetts. He entered the naval service as midshipman in 1802, and was active in the attack on the shipping in the harbor of Tripoli. He accompanied Porter, as lieutenant, in the entire cruise of the Bssex, and became commander of the Essex Junior. In 1831 he was promoted to captain, and commanded the PoWmac in the punishment of the Quallah Battoo people for outrages on American commerce. His last sea service was in 1834. He died in Boston on the Uth of August, 1854, and was buried with the honors due to his rank. Secretary Dobbin di- rected the officers of the Navy and Marine Corps to wear crape on the left arm for thirty days. OF THE WAE OF 1812. 725 Capture of the Qeargiana and other Englisli armed Wiallng-shlps. Porter in Command of a Squadron. vessels, which kept training her guns upon the flotilla as it approached ; but between two and three in the afternoon she surrendered without firing a shot. She was the English whale-ship Georgiana. Her companion was captured in like mannei-. She was the Policy, also a whaler. These three prizes furnished Porter with many need- ed supplies. Among these were beef, pork, cordage, water, and a large number of the huge Galapagos turtles, whose flesh is delightful to the appetite and healthful to the stomach. .;V Captain Porter fitted up the Georgiana as a cruiser. She had been built for the service of the East India Company, and had the reputation of being a fast sailer. She was pierced for eighteen guns, and had six mounted when taken. The Policy was also pierced for eighteen guns, and had ten mounted. These were added to the ar- mament of the Georgiana, and she became a fitting consort of the JEssex, with sixteen light guns, under the command of the gallant Lieutenant Downes, with forty-one men. He raised the American pennant over her on the 8th of May,* and it was saluted by seventeen guns. The crew of the Essex, officers and men, was ■ ' now reduced to two hundred and sixty-four souls. The reputation of the Georgiana for fleetness was unmerited, yet Porter expected to make her useful. She and the JEssex parted company on the 12th of May, with a clear understanding concerning places for rendezvous at specified times. The Ess&a,' accompanied by the Policy, Montezuma, and Barclay, did not cruise far from the Gal- apagos, and it was sixteen days before a strange sail was seen by her. On the after- noon of the 28th'' one was seen ahead, and a general chase was made. At sun- ^ set she was visible from the frigate's deck, and she was still in sight on the ^' following morning. It was not long before the Essex got alongside of and captured her. She was the English whale-ship Atlantic, mounting eight 18-pounder carron- ades, and manned by twenty-three men, under the command of a renegade Nantucket captain. She was pierced for twenty guns. During this chase another vessel was seen. With characteristic energy, Porter placed Lieutenant M'Knight, of the Montezuma, in command of the Atlantic, and or- dered him to chase the newly-discovered stranger. The Essex also joined in the pur- suit, and the Greenwich,& vessel little lighter than the Atlantic, mounting ten guns, and manned by twenty-five men, was added to the list of prizes in Porter?s hands. The Atlantic and Greenwich had letters of marque, and, being fast sailers, were very dangerous to American commerce. With all his prizes but the Georgiana, now five in number. Porter sailed for the mouth of the Tumbez, in the Gulf of Guayaquil, on the South American Continent, where he anchored on the 19th of June, off the miserable village of Tumbez. There the little squadron was joined by the Georgiana,'- bringing with her two ^^^^ ^ prizes, the jBec^or, 11, and CaJAanwe, 8. Downes had captured a third, the Mose, 8, which he had filled with the superabundant prisoners and sent to St. Helena. She was a dull sailer. He removed her oil, threw her guns overboard, and gave the prisoners the ship on condition that they should sail for that rocky isle in the At- lantic. Porter now found himself, at the end of eight months after he sailed from the Del- aware, in command of a squadron of nine armed vessels ready for formidable war- fare. The Atlantic being every way superior to the Georgiana, Lieutenant Com- manding Downes was transferred to her, with his crew. Twenty guns were mount- ed in her, and she was named ^ssot Junior. She was manned by sixty picked men. The Georgiana was also armed with twenty guns, and converted into a store-ship, under the command of" Parson" Adams, the chaplain of the Essex. The squadron left Tumbez on the 30th of June, the Essex and Essex Junior sailing in company until the 9th of July,* when the latter was dispatched for Val- ^ ^^^^ paraiso with the Catharine, Sector, Montezuma, Policy, and JBarday in con- 1Q6 PICTOHIAL EIEL.D-BOOK Capture of the dreaded Sermgapojtam. SuccesBful cmlsing among the Galapagos Islands. Port er warned of Danger. voy. Tke Essex at the same time, accompanied by the Georgiana and Greenwich, •July, sailed westward toward the Galapagos. On the 13th» she captured the En- ^^'^- glish whale-ship Charlton, armed with ten guns, and manned by twenty-one men. Two other vessels had "been seen in her company, the larger of which, the pris- oners from the Charlton said, was the Bering ajpatam, mounting fourteen guns, and manned by forty men. She had been built in England for the Sultan Tippoo Saib for a cruiser, and was the most formidable enemy of American shipping in the Pacific Ocean. Porter longed for her capture, and was soon gratified. The Greenwich bore gallantly down upon her, and, after exchanging a few broadsides, the English vessel surrendered. She soon afterward made an unsuccessful effort to escape. The small- er vessel, called the New Zealander, was captured without difficulty. Porter's prisoners were now so numerous that he was compelled to admit a large number to parole. These were placed in the Charlton, and sent to Rio de Janeiro under a pledge of honor. The guns were taken out of the JVew Zealander and placed in the Seringapatam, giving her an armament of twenty-two heavy pieces, but with an insufficient crew. She was thus converted into a formidable cruiser. The Geor- giana, with a hundred thousand dollars worth of spermaceti oil, was sent to the United States, bearing in irons the captain of the Seringapatam, who was found with- out a commission as privateer, and liable to the penalties of piracy. The Essex, with the Greenwich, Seringapatam, and New Zealander, now sailed for Albemarle Island, the largest of the Galapagos group. On the morning of the 28th'' they discovered a strange sail. Chase was given, and continued all ^' day, but she eluded her pursuers during the ensuing night. This was the first time that the Essex had failed to place herself alongside of an antagonist since she entered the Pacific Ocean, and Porter and his people were much mortified. The cruise contipued, and on the 4th of August the little squadron anchored off James's Island, a short distance from Albemarle. There they remained more than a fortnight, and on the 22d anchored in Banks's Bay, between Narborough Island and the north head of Albemarle, where the prizes were moored, and from whence the Essex pro- ceeded" on a short cruise alone. After sailinsr for some time alona: the Galapagos without meeting any vessels. Porter was gratified by the ap- parition of a strange sail on the 15th of September, apparently lying to, far to the southward and to the windward. The Essex, disguised, approached her, and discov- ered her to be aii English whale-ship engaged in the process of "cutting in," or get- ting on board the ship the blubber of the great fish. When the Essex was within about four miles of the whaler, the latter became alarmed, cast off her fish, and made sail. The Essex threw off her disguise and pursued, and at four o'clock in the after- noon had the stranger within range of her guns. A few shots brought her to, and she became a prize. She was the Sir Andrew Hammond, armed with twelve guns, and manned by thirty-one men. She was the vessel that escaped the Essex on the night of the 28th of July. She had on board a large supply of beef, pork, bread, wood, and water, of which the Essex was in need. With this prize she returned to Banks's Bay, where she was soon afterward joined by the Essex Junior from Val- paraiso. Downes had there moored three of the prizes, and sent the fourth, the Pol- icy, to the United States with a cargo of spermaceti oil. While at Valparaiso Downes learned two important facts, namely, that the exploits of the Essex had produced great excitement in the British Navy, and caused the gov- ernment to send out the frigate Phoebe, with one or two consorts, to attempt her cap- ture ; and that the Chilian authorities were becoming more friendly to the English than to the Americans. Surveying the situation in the light of this information, Por- ter resolved to go to the Marquesas Islands, refit his vessels, and return to the United States. His cruise had been remarkably successful. He had captured almost every English whale-ship known to be off the coasts of Peru and Chili, and had deprived OF THE WAK OF 1812. Y27 Porter, -with his Squadron, sails for the Marquesas Islands. Arrival at Nooaheevah. White Eesidents on the Island. the enemy of property to the amount of two and a half millions of dollars, and three hundred and sixty seamen. He had also released the American whalers from danger, and inspired the Peruvians and Chilians with the most profound respect for the American Navy. Accordingly, on the 2d of October, he spread the sails of the Es- sex to the breeze, and she sailed westward from Banks's Bay, followed by the Essex Junior, Seringapatam, New Zealander, Sir Andrew Hammond, and Greenwich. Most of these were slow sailers, and kept the Essex back. The impatient Porter, fearing the delay might cause him to miss an English vessel bound for India of which he had heard, sent the Essex Junior forward to the Marquesas with instructions to at- tempt to intercept and capture her. Meanwhile the squadron crept lazily over the calm sea, and on the 23d of October the group of the Marquesas was seen looming up from the western horizon. On the following day they neared the shores, and saw the natives thronging the beaches and swiftly navigating the waters in light canoes. After passing among the islands a few days, the Essex finally anchored in a fine bay of Nooaheevah with her prizes, except the Essex Junior, which came in soon after- ward. " The situation of the Essex," says Cooper,' " was sufficiently remarkable at this moment to merit a brief notice. She had been the first American to carry the penr nant of a man-of-war around the Cape of Good Hope, and now she had been the first to bring it into this distant ocean. More than ten thousand miles from home, with- out colonies, stations, or even a really friendly port to repair to, short of stores, with- out a consort, and otherwise in possession of none of the required means of subsist- ence and efficiency, she had boldly steered into this distant region, where she had found all that she had acquired through her own activity ; and having swept the seas of her enemies, she had now retired to these little-frequented islands to refit with the security of a ship at home. It is due to the officer who so promptly adopted and so successfully executed this plan, to add, that his enterprise, self-reliance, and skill indi- cated a man of bold and masculine conception, of great resources, and of a high de- gree of moral courage — qualities that are indispensable in forming a naval captain." The bay in which the squadron was moored, and its surroundings, presented very picturesque scenery to the navigators. A beautiful valley was seen extending back from it among the lofty hills, and here and there a native village dotted its margins: Rich vegetation crowned the eminences, and cultivated fields smiled along the slopes and beautiful intervales. The natives every where among the group of islands had appeared very friendly, and Captain Porter expected nothing but quiet and full suc- cess in fitting his vessels for his long homeward voyage. In this he was disappoint- ed, for during his stay he was compelled to engage in a military campaign, and take possession of Nooaheevah by force of arms. It happened in this wise : The anchor of the Essex had just been cast when a canoe shot out from the shore and came alongside the frigate. It contained three white men, one of whom was naked and tattooed like the natives. This man was an Englishman, named Wilson, and had been on the island twenty years. One of his companions was Midshipman John Maury, of the United States Navy, who had been left on the island to gather sandal-wood while the merchant vessel that bore him to it should go to China and return. He was accompanied by a seaman. These were the only white men on Nooaheevah. They informed Porter that war was raging on the island between the native tribes who inhabited the difierent valleys, and that it was quite fierce between the Taeehs, who dwelt in the one before them, and the Happahs over the mountains. He was farther informed that he would probably be compelled to take the part of the Taeehs against the Happahs in order to get from them such supplies as he de- sired and the island afibrded. Wilson understood the native language well, and became Porter's interpreter. 1 Kami History of the United States, ii., 222. 728 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Civil War in Nooaheevah. Porter threatens to engage in it. The "mighty Gattanewa." With him the captain landed, and was met on the beach by a throng of men, women, and children, who not only welcomed him, but gave cordial greetings to the marines, who followed him with beating drums, and fired volleys of musketry in the air. These unusual sounds brought swarms of the Happahs to the crest of the mountain, where they brandished their spears and clubs in the most threatening manner. They had lately spread desolation through portions of the valley of the Taeehs, destroying houses, plantations, and bread-fruit-trees. Porter immediately sent them word that he had come with force sufficient to take possession of the whole island, and that if they ventured into the Tienhoy Valley as enemies while he remained he would pun- ish them severely. He gave them permission to bring hogs and fruit to the shore, and promised them protection while trafficking. This bold message delighted the Taeehs, and filled the Happahs with awe, because of the powerful ally which good fortune had brought to their enemies. Porter had just returned to his ship when he was informed that the great Gatta- newa, the mighty King of the Taeehs, a descendant of Oateia, or Daylight, through eighty-eight generations, had returned from a tour of inspection to one or two of his strong-holds among the mountains. A boat was sent to bring the monarch on board the JEssex, and all hands waited in expectation of seeing a most digni- fied personage, for their eyes had already seen the really beautiful and stately granddaughter of the monarch. They were disappointed. Be- fore them appeared a totterinsr man leaninsr upon a rude stick, bent with the weight of years, naked, excepting tem- ples covered with with- ered palm -leaves and loins swathed in dirty tappa or native cloth, his skin black with tattoo- ing, and made almost leprous in appearance by the effects of excessive indulgence in the use of kava, a native intoxicat- ing drink. He was then stupefied by its effects, and it was not until aft- er he had slept long in the cabin of the Essex that he was able to talk of public affairs. Porter agreed to assist Gattanewa against the Happahs and Typees, his chief enemies. He established a camp m a shady plam not far from the beach, and at the same time active labor was commenced m the service of preparing the JEssex for her long voyage. Days passed on, and so peaceful did the Americans appear that the Happahs were emboldened THE MieUTY UATTAi^EWA. OP THE WAK OF 1812. '729 Battles with the Natives. Porter victoiioue. Change iu the Name of the Island and HarDor. They poured into the valley, menaced the cstmp, and seiit a messenger to Porter to tell him that he was a coward. The old monarch and his chief warriors urged Poi^ ter to strike a withering hlow. He complied with their request. He landed a 6- pounder cannon, and the natives carried it to the summit of the mountain. He then sent Lieutenant Downes, with forty men with muskets, to attack the Hajipahs; They were driven from hill to hill until they reached one of their forts on the brow of an eminence. There, four thousand strongj they made a stand, and hurled spears and stones at the assailants. The fort was stormed and captured, and the awe-struck Happahs fled in every direction. Their hostility was overcome, and they hastened to send messengers with prayers for peace. Within a week envoys from almost ev- ery tribe on the island appeared bearing tribute-treasures and tokens of friendship. Porter's power was supreme. He took possession of a conical hill overlooking his encampment and the harbor, cast up a breastwork formed of water-casks filled with earth, mounted four guns upon it, raised the American flag over it, and on the 19th of November took formal possession of the island. He named Nooaheevah Madison Island, and the breastwork Fort Madison, in honor of the President of the United States; and to the beautiful expanse of water before him he gave the name of Mas- sachusetts Bay, in token of his attachment to his birth-place The fort was placed THE ESSEX AMD HBE FRIZES IN MA8SAOH0SETTS BAT, JJOOAHEEVAH.l in command of Lieutenant John M. Gamble, of the Marines, and Messrs. Feltus and Clapp, midshipmen, with twenty-one men, were placed under his orders, and remained there until the squadron was ready to sail. This was wise precaution to secure the speedy repairs of the Essex. The powerftil Typees had remained hostile, and became more and more defiant, to the- great discomfort of Gattanewa's people and the annoyance of the Americans. At length Porter resolved to make war upon them. An expedition, consisting of ■ thirty-five Americans, including Captain Porter and five thousand Taeehs and Hap- pahs, moved against the incorrigibles. The Typees, armed with slings and spears, met them with such overwhelming numbers and fierce determination, that at the end of the first day they were compelled to fall back to the beach, and numbering among their casualties a shattered leg belonging to Lieutenant Downes, caused by a blow from a sling-man's stone. That night the valley of the Typees resounded with shouts of victory, and the sonorous reverberations of many beaten drums. Porter renewed the attempt the next day, and led his motley army boldly over the rugged hills into .the T ypee Valley, in the midst of great exposure to hostile nlis- ' From a ara^^SIlg by Captain Porter. 730 PICTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK The Typee Valley desolated. The Women of NooaheeYali. Porter arrives at Valparaiso . siles from concealed foes, and many privations. Village after village was destroyed until they came to the principal town, in which were fine buildings, a large public square, temples and gods, huge war-canoes, and other exhibitions of half-sav- age life. These were all reduced to ashes, and by the broom of desolation that beautiful valley, four miles in width and nine in length, was made a blackened desert. The Typees, utterly ruined and humbled, now submissively paid tribute, and Porter could say ' ' I am monarch of all I survey ; My right there is none to dispnte." maeqdesas dbtim. Porter had allowed his crew full indulgence while at Nooahevah. The natives were lavish in that species of savage hospitality which gives concubines to strangers in the persons of their wives and daughters. The women of that island were really beautiful in figure and feature, and not much darker in complexion than most Spanish women. Warm attachments were formed between them and the seamen, and when, on the eve of departure. Porter forbade his men going on shore, they were greatly discontented. For three days during this restraint they became almost mutinous. " The girls," says Porter in his Journal, " lined the beach from morning until night, and every moment importuned me to take the taboos off" the men, and laughingly ex- pressed their grief by dipping their fingers into the sea and touching their eyes, so as to let the salt water trickle down their cheeks. Others would seize a chip, and, hold- ing it in the manner of a shark's tooth, declared they would cut themselves to pieces in their despair ; some threatened to beat their brains out with a spear of grass, some to drown themselves, and all were determined to inflict upon themselves some dread- ful punishment if I did not permit their sweet-hearts to come on shore."' Porter's men did not take the deprivation so good-naturedly. Their situation, they said, was worse than slavery ; and a man named Robert White declared, on board the JEssex Junior, that the crew of the Essex had come to a resolution not to weigh her anchor, or, if they should be compelled to get the ship under weigh, in three days' time after leaving the port to seize the ship and hoist their own flag. Porter thought it neces- sary to notice the affair. He assembled his men and addressed them kindly. He spoke of the reported threat, expressed his belief that the rumor could not be true, but added, " should such an event take place, I will, without hesitation, put a match to the magazine and blow you all to eternity." He added that perhaps there might be some grounds for the report, and said, " Let me see who are and who are not dis' posed to obey my orders. You who are inclined to get the ship under weigh, come on the starboard side; and you who are otherwise disposed, remain where you are."' All hastened to the starboard side. The men showed great willingness to be obe- dient. Then White, the ringleader of the mutineers, if there were any, was called out. After informing the crew that this was the man who had slandered them. Por- ter sent him ashore in one of the numerous canoes in which the natives were swarm- ing around the ship, and left him behind. The Essex was thoroughly fitted for her long voyage and for encountering ene- • 1813 "^^^^ ^^^'^^ ^° December, and on the 12th'' she sailed, with her prizes, from Nooaheevah, taking with her Mr. Maury and his companion. They stretched away eastward to the South American continent, and early in January the peaks of "1814 ^^^ Andes were visible. On the 3d of February" Porter entered the harbor of Valparaiso, exchanged salutes with the fort, went on shore to pay his re- spects to the governor, and on the following day received a visit from his Excellency and. his wife, and some other ofiicers. Meanwhile the Essex Junior cruised off the port as a scout to give warning of the approach of any man-of-war. Notwithstand- 1 See Porter's Jmtmalt ii., 137. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 731 Incidents in the Harbor of Valparaiso. Porter's Generosity. Retries to flght,or run the Blockade. ing the friendly demonstrations of the governor, it was evident to Captain Porter that the English were in higher favor than the Americans with the Chilian government. Porter had not heen long in Valparaiso when two English men-of-war were report- ed in; the. offing; They sailed into the harbor all prepared for action, and seemed ready to violate the hospitalities of a neutral port. These vessels were the Phoebe, 36, Captain Hillyar, and the Cherub, 20, Captain Tucker. The former mounted thirty lohg 18-pounders, sixteen 32-pound carronades, and one howitzer, and six S-pounders in her tops: Her crew consisted of three hundred and twenty men and boys. The Cherub mounted eighteen 32-pound carronades below, with eight 24-pound carron- ades and two lorig O's above, making a total of twenty-eight guns. Her crew mus- tered one hundred and eighty. The Essex at this time could muster only two hund- red and twenty-five souls, and the Essex Junior only sixty. The Essex had forty 32- pound carronades, and six long 12-pounders ; and the Essex Junior bore only ten 18- pound carronades, and ten short 6's. The weight of men and metal was heavily in favor of the British vessels. As the Phoebe came sweeping into the harbor with her men all at quarters, and ran close alongside the Essex, Porter warned Hillyar that if his vessel touched the Amer- ican frigate he should open upon her, and much blood would be shed, for he was fully prepared for action. "I do not intend to board you," exclaimed the Englishman, who perceived Porter's readiness to fight, but as he lufied up his ship was taken aback, and his jib-boom was thrown across the forecastle of the Essex in a menacing manner. Porter summoned his men and bade them spring upon the Phoebe, cutlasses in hand, the moment when the two vessels should touch each other. She was com- pletely in the power of the Essex, and with the aid of the Essex Junior the American frigate might have sunk the Phoebe in fifteen minutes. Hillyar saw his helplessness, and, throwing up his hands in consternation, declared that his present position was an accident. The chivalrous Porter accepted the apology, and the frightened En- glishman was allowed to pass on. It was afterward generally believed that Hillyar had positive orders to attack the Essex, even in a neutral South American port, and that his intentions were hostile until the moment when he discovered his imminent peril in the power of the gallant American. After obtaining some supplies, the English vessels went out and cruised ofi" Val- paraiso. During a period of more than six weeks Porter tried in vain to bring on an engagement with the Phoebe singly, or with the Essex Junior in company. On the 27th of February he felt sure of a fight, for the Phoebe stood close in for the harbor, displaying a banner on which were the words " God and our Country ; British Sailors' best Rights ; Traitors ofiend both." Porter accepted this as a challenge, quickly pre- pared his vessel, and hoisting a banner under his old motto, " Free Trade and Sailors' Rights," with the words " God, our Country, and Liberty ; Tyrants offend them," he sailed boldly out. Hillyar, who had doubtless been instructed not to fight the Essex alone, quickly showed the stern of his ship, and ran down to the Cherub, to the great disgust of the Americans. Informed that other English cruisers might be expected soon, Porter determined to run the blockade and put to sea. On the 28th of March he spread his sails to a stiff southwest breeze, and made a bold dash for the open Pacific. A heavy squall struck the Essex as she rounded the Point of Angels, carrying away the maintop- mast, and over into the deep the men who were aloft reefing. They were lost. The British ships, lying in wait outside, immediately gave chase, while the crippled frig- ate crawled toward the friendly port to repair damages. She could not reach her old anchorage in time to escape the enemy, so she took shelter in a bay not far from a battery, and anchored within pistol-shot of the shore. Notwithstanding that was neutral ground, the enemy's vessels bore down updn the Essex, and Captain Hillyar, unmindful of the courtesy of Porter when the Phoebe was within his power, proceeds 732 PICTOEIAL PIELD-BOOK The Esaex crippled. Porter's Generosity not reciprocated. Battle between the Essex and two Britisli Ships-. , ed to attack her. The Msex prepared for conflict, and endeavored to place a spring; on her cable. Before this could be accomplished the Fhoebe got in an advantageous • March 28, position, and, at a few minutes before five o'clock in the afternoon," opened 1814. ' gj.g ypQjj (.jjg g^gj.jj of the American frigate with his long guns. The Cher- ub at the same time assailed the starboard bow of the Msex, while the Maex Junior was unable to render her consort any assistance. The Cherub was soon driven off by the bow-guns of the Msex, and joined with the Phoebe in a severe raking fire on the American. For a while the latter was unable to reply, but at length three of her long twelves were run out of her stern ports, and were handled with so much dexterity and power that, at the end of half an hour aft- er the action commenced, both of the English ships were compelled to haul off and repair damages. The Essex had been much bruised in the conflict, and many of her crew were killed or wounded. Her ensign at the gaff and her battle-flag had been shot away, but her banner, inscribed " Free Tbajde and Sailors' Rights,''^ was still flying at the fore. Every man, from the commander down, resolved to defend her to the last. The Phoebe and Cherub soon renewed their attack in a position on the starboard quarter of the Essex where she could make no effectual resistance, the distance be- tween her and her antagonists being too great to be reached by her carronades* Their fire was very galling, and Porter was driven to the alternative of surrendering, or running down to close quarters with his enemy. He decided on the latter move- ment, notwithstanding his ship had suffered a farther loss of impOrtaHt^ spars and rigging. So badly was she crippled that the only sail that could be made available was the flying jib. This was hoisted, the cable was cut, and slowly the Essex edged away toward^ the Phoebe until she was withrQ range of the^ frigate's carronades, when for a few minutes the firing on both sides was tremendous. The Phoebe changed her position to a long range, and kept up a terrific cannonade upon her helpless antago- nist, whose deck was now strewn with the dead, her cockpit and ward-room filled with the wounded, and a portion of her hull in flames. Many of her guns were disabled ; and at one of them no less than fifteen men — three entire crews — fell dead or mor- tally wounded. Yet she drove off the Cherub, and for two hours maintained the terrible combat with her principal antagonist. Porter now perceived no chance for boarding the Phoebe, and the raking of her long guns was producing horrible carnage in his ship. He resolved to attempt to run her ashore, land her people, and set her on fire. The wind was favorable ; but when she was within musket-shot distance from the beach, it shifted, paying the ship's head broad off, leaving her exposed to a raking fire from the Phoebe. At this moment of extreme peril, Lieutenant Downes came from the Essex Junior in an open boat to receive orders. He was directed to defend, or, if necessary, to destroy his own vessel. He returned with some of the wounded, and left three sound men who came with him. The slaughter on the Essex continued, the enemy's shot hulling her at almost every discharge. Still Porter held out, hoping to lay his ship alongside the cautious Phoebe. He let go an anchor, by which the head of his vessel was brought round and enabled to give his enemy a broadside. It was effectual. The Phoebe was crippled by it, and began drifting away with the tide. Porter was hopeful of success, when his hawser parted, and the Essex, an almost helpless wreck and on fire, floated toward her antagonist. The flames came up both the main and forward hatchways. There was no longer a chance for saving the ship. The magazine was threatened. Already an explosion of powder had added to the confusion. Porter was unhurt. He called a council of officers. Only one man (Lieutenant Stephen D. M'Knight^) came ! The 1 See page 441. 2 Stephen Deoatnr M'Knight waff a native of Connecticut. After the captnre of the Essex, he, with a companion OF THE WAE OF 1812. 733 Surrender of the ^sseas. The Conduct of the British Commander. Porter returns Home. rest were either slain or wounded. He then told his men that those who preferred to take the risk of drowning by jumping overboard and swimming for the shore, to the certainty of being blown up, might do so. Many accepted the offer. Some reached the beach ; a large number were drowned. Porter hauled down his flag. The ves- sel was surrendered, and the flames were extinguished. Of the two hundred and twenty-five brave men who went into the fight, only seventy-five effective ones re- mained. Fifty-eight had been killed, sixty-six wounded, and thirty-one were missing. The two vessels of the enemy lost, in the aggregate, only five killed and ten wounded. ACTION BETWEEN THE ESSEX AND TKE PHCKBE AND OHESTTB.^ Thus ended the wonderful and brilliant cruise of the Essex. Her closing exploits were as gallant as her former career. " We have been unfortunate, but not dis- graced," wrote her noble commander. "The defense of the ^sseas has not been less honorable to her ofllcers and crew than the capture of an equal force; and I now consider my situation less unpleasant than that of Commodore Hillyar, who, in vio- lation of every principle of honor and generosity, and regardless of the rights of na- tions, attacked the Essex in her crippled state within pistol-shot of a neutral shore, when for six weeks I had daily offered him fair and honorable combat. "^ By an arrangement with the victorious Hillyar the Essex Junior was made a car- tel, and in her Porter and his surviving companions sailed for the United States. Aft- er a voyage of seventy-three days they arrived on the coast off Long Island, and fell in with the Saturn, a British ship of war, whose commander (Nash) questioned the papers of the Essex Junior, and detained her. The indignant JPorter considered this treatment a violation of his arrangements with Hillyar, and escaped in a whale-boat. After sailing and rowing about sixty miles, he landed near Babylon, on the south side of Long Island, where he was suspected of being a British officer. His commission settled the question, and he enjoyed unbounded hospitality. He made his way to' New York, where he was received with demonstrations of most profound respect ; and when intelligence went over the country of the exploits of the Essex, every city, nanied James Lyman, were sent to Eio de Janeiro as prisoners of war, where they were shipped for England in a Swed- ish vessel. They were never heard of afterward. The vessel arrived in safety, hut the captain of the vessel never gave imy account of them. ' From a drawing by Captain Porter. . 2 Porter's Dispatch to the Secretary of the Navy, July 3, 1813. Porter relates that when he was about to part with Hillyar at Valparaiso, he alluded to his conduct in attacking the JEssex under such circumstances, when the British com- iflander, vrith tears in his eyes, said, " My dear Porter, you know not the responsibility that hung over me with respect to your ship. Perhaps my life depended on taking her." " I asked no explanations at the time," says Porter, when writing of the affair several years afterward. "If he can show that the responsihility rests on his government, I shall do him Justice with more pleasure than I now impeach his conduct."— JoMrnof, ii., 16T. '734 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Honors to Commodore Porter. His subsequent Career. His Death and Monument. village, and hamlet was vocal with his praises. Municii^al honors were lavished upon him f and several State Legislatures and the National Congress thanked him for his services. By universal acclamation he Avas called the Hero of the Pacific. Philip Freneau, the popular bard of the Eevolution, wrote a dull ode on " The Capture of the Essex •"' and a livelier poet, in his " Battle of Valparaiso," thus sang : "From the laurel's fairest bough Let the muse her garland twine, To adorn our Porter's brow, Who, beyond the burning line, Led his caravan of tars o'er the tide. To the pilgrims fill the bowl. Who, around the southern pole. Saw new constellations roll, For their guide." This cruise was Porter's most eminent service afloat. He aided iu the defense of Baltimore a few weeks after his return home ; and at the close of the war he was ap- pomted one of the commissioners on naval affairs. In 1817 he commanded a small fleet sent to break up a nest of pirates and freebooters in the Gulf of Mexico. In 1826 he resigned his commission in the navy, and afterward became the representa- tive of the United States in Turkey, as resident minister, at Constantinople. He died near that city in 1843, at the age of sixty-three years. His remains were brought to the United States; landed at Philadelphia ; borne to St. Stephen's Church, South Tenth Street, wherein religious services for the occa- sion were performed ; and he was buried on the north side of that church. They were afterward removed to the grounds of the Naval Asylum on the banks of the Schuylkill, and buried at the foot of the flag-stafli'. Once more they were re- moved, and now find a resting-place be- neath a beautiful monument in Wood- lawn Cemetery, Philadelphia. His coun- trymen remember him with jtist pride.' While Commodore Porter was in the Pacific with the Essex, Commodore Rodgers was on a long cruise in the North Atlantic in his favorite frigate, the President, 44. He left Boston on lilEK B MuryUMrNT 1 David Porter was born in Boston on the 1st of February, 17S0. His first experience in the navy was in the frigate Constellation, in which he entered as midshipman iu 1708. lie was in the action between that vessel and L' Tn^urgente, in February, ITOO, when his gallantry was so conspicuous that he was immediately promoted to lieutenant. He accom- panied the first United States squadron that ever sailed to the Mediterranean in ISOG, and was on board the Philadelphia when she struclt on the rock in the Harbor of Tripoli. There he sulTered imprisonment. In ISOG he was appointed to the command of the Entcr2rri.ie, and cruised in the Mediterranean for six years. On his return to the United States he was placed in command of the flotilla station near New Orleans, where he remained until war was declared in 1812, when he was promoted to captain, and assigned to the command of the frigate Essex. Hie exploits in her have been recorded in the text of this chapter. The follomng arc the inscriptions on Porter's monument in Woodlawn Cemetery, Philadelphia : ^orth Side.—^' Commodotie I) ..win Portek, one of the most heroic sons of Pennsylvania, having long represented his country with fidelity as minister resident at Constantinople, died at that city in the patriotic discharge of his duty, March 3, 1843." Sov,th Side.— "la the War of 1812 his merits were exhibited not merely as an intrepid commander, but in exploring new fields of success and glory. A career of brilliant good fortune was crowned by an engagement against superior force and fearful advantages, which history records as an event among the most remarliable in naval warfare." We.^t ,?;'dc.— "His early youth was conspicuous for skill and gallantry in the naval services of the United States when the American arms were exercised with romantic chivalry before the battlements of Tripoli. He was on all occasions OP THE WAR OF 1812. 735 BodgerB's nnsnccesefiil Crnisc. Capture of Merchant Vessels and the Highflyer. the 27th of April, 1813, and President Road on the 30th, in company with the Gon- ffress, 38, and, after a cruise of one hundred and forty-eight days, arrived at Newport, Rhode Island, having captured eleven sail of merchant vessels and the British armed schooner Highflyer. Rodgers sailed northeasterly, in the direction of the southern edge of the Gulf Stream, until the 8th of May, when the President and Congress parted company,^ the former cruising off more to the southward in quest of the British commercial ships in the West India trade. She was unsuccessful, and Rodgers turned her head in a direction that promised the good fortune of intercepting vessels trading hetween the West Indies and Halifax, St. John's and Quebec. Again there was no success ; and after beating about among almost perpetual fogs, the President was off the Azores early in June. Rodgers now determined to try his fortune in the North Sea in search of British merchantmen. Much to his astonishment, he did not meet with a single vessel until he made the Shetland Islands, and there he found only Danish ships trad- ing to England under British licenses. Rodgers's supplies now began to fail, and he put into North Bergen, in Norway, for the purpose of replenishment. In this, too, he was disappointed. An alarming scarc- ity of food prevailed over all the country, and he was able to obtain only water. He put to sea, and cruised about in those high latitudes with the hope of falling in with a fleet of English merchantmen which were to sail from Archangel at the middle of July. At the moment when he expected to make prizes of some of them, he fell in with two British ships of war. Unable to contend with them, the President fled, hotly pursued by the foe. Owing to the perpetual daylight (the sun at that season being there several degrees above the horizon at midnight), they were enabled to keep up the chase more than eighty hours, during which time they were much nearer the President than was desirable on the part of the pursued. She finally escaped ; and Rodgers, neither daunted nor disheartened, and having his stores somewhat re- plenished by those of two vessels which fell into his hands just before the appearance of the war-ships, turned westward to intercept merchantmen coming out of and going into the Irish Channel. Between the 25th of July and the 1st of August he captured three vessels, when, finding that the enemy had a superior force in that vicinity, he found it expedient to change his ground. After making a complete circuit of Ire- land, and getting into the latitude of Cape Clear, he steered for the Banks of New- foundland, near which he made two more captures. From one of these he learned that the BeUerophon, 74, and Hyperion frigate (both British vessels) were only a few miles from him. He did not fall in with them, however, and soon stood for the coast of the United States. 2 On the 23d of September the President toward evening fell in with the British armed schooner Highflyer, tender to Admiral Warren's flag-ship 8t. Domingo. She w^as a fine vessel of her class ; a fast sailer, and was commanded by Lieutenant Hutchinson. When discovered she was six or seven miles distant. By a stratagem Rodgers decoyed her alongside the President, and captured her without firing a gun. She did not even discover that the President was her enemy until the stratagem had succeeded. It was done in this wise : Previous to his departure on this cruise Rodg- ers was placed in possession of some of the British signals. These he had ordered to be made on board his ship, and he now resolved to try their efficacy. He hoisted an English ensign over the President. The Highflyer answered by displaying an- other and at the same time a signal from a mast-head. To Rpdgers's delight, he dis- among the bravest of the brave ; zealous in the performance at every duty ; ardent and resolute in the trying hour of calamity ; composed and steady in the blaze of victory." EaM Side.— 'So inscription. On the upper part of the column the vrord " Poktbb," in a wreath. On the lower part a trident and anchor crossed. 1 The Comjress continued at sea until the 12th of December, having cruised in the far-distant waters of the South American coast. She captured several British vessels, among them two armed brigs of ten guns each. a Letter of Commodore Eodgers to the Secretary of the Navy, dated Newport, September 27, 1813. 736 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK How Eodgers captured the Highflyer. Astonishment of her Commander. Eodgers's Service to his Country. covered that he possessed its complement. He then signaled that his vessel was the Sea JSbrse, one of the largest of its class known to be then on the American coast. The Sighflyer at once bore down, hove to under the stern of the President, and re- ceived one of Eodgers's lieutenants on board, who was dressed in British uniform. He bore an order from Rodgers for the commander of the Highflyer to send his sig- nal-books on board to be altered, as some of the Yankees, it was alleged, had obtained possession of some of them. The unsuspecting lieutenant obeyed, and Rodgers was put in possession of the key to the whole correspondence of the British ISTavy.^ The commander of the Highflyer soon followed his signal-books. He was pleased with every thing on board the supposed Sea Horse, and admired even the scarlet uniform of Eodgers's marines, whom he mistook for British soldiers. When invited into the cabin, he placed in the commodore's hands a bundle of dispatches for Ad- miral Warren, and informed his supposed friend that the main object of the British naval commander-in-chief on the American station at that time was the capture or destruction of the President, which had been greatly annoying British commerce, and spreading alarm throughout British waters. The commodore inquired what kind of a man Rodgers was, when the lieutenant replied that he had never seen him, but had heard that he was " ah odd fish, and hard to catch." " Sir," said Rodgers, with start- luig emphasis, " do you know what vessel you are on board of?" " Why, yes, sir,'-' he replied, " on board His Majesty's ship Sea Horse !" " Then, sir, you labor under a mistake," said Rodgers. " You are on board the United States frigate President, and I am Commodore Eodgers, at your service !" At the same moment the band struck up Yankee Doodle on the President's quarter-deck, and over it the American ensign was displayed, while the uniforms of the marines were suddenly changed from red to blue !^ The British commander could hardly be persuaded to believe the testimony of his own senses ; and he was astounded when he found Hmself in the hands of Com- modore Eodgers. He had been one of Cockburn's subalterns when that marauder plundered and burned Havre de Grace^ a few months before. ; and it is affirmed that Lieutenant Hutchinson had now in his possession a sword which he carried away from Commodore Eodgers's house on that occasion.* He had been warned by Captain Oliver, when receiving his instructions as commander of the Highflyer, to take care and not be outwitted by the Yankees. " Especially be careful," said Oliver, " not to fall into the hands of Commodore Eodgers, for if Ae comes across you, he will hoist you upon his jib-boom and carry you into Boston !"° But Eodgers treated the sin- ner with all the courtesy due to a prisoner of war, and he was soon allowed to go at large on parole.^ Three days after the capture of the Highflyer'' Eodgers sailed into Newport Har- bor, accompanied by his prize, her commander, and fifty-five other prisoners. His cruise, as he said, had not been productive of much additional lustre to the American Navy, but he had rendered his country signal service by harassing the enemy's com- merce, and keeping more than twenty vessels in search of him for several weeks. He had captured eleven merchant vessels, and two hundred and seventy-one prisoners. All of the latter, excepting the fifty-five, had been paroled, and sent home in the cap- tured vessels. 1 See a description of signals on pages 182-184. 2 Statement of Commodore Eodgers after the war to a friend at his own table in Washington City. Letter of Com- modore Eodgers to the Secretary of the Navy, September 2T, 1813. = See page 672. 4 National Advocate, November, 1813. 6 Mles's Begister, v., 129. 6 George Hutchinson entered*the British navy as midshipman in 1796, and was active in the various oificial grades through which he passed up to that of commander in the autumn of 1821. He was commissioned a lieutenant in 1806, and in 1811 he was assigned to a station on the St.Domingo, preparing for the American coast. He first commanded the Dolphin, a vessel captured by the British from the Americans at the mouth of the Eappahannock early in April, 1818, and converted into a tender of the St.Domingo. See page 669. He was afterward commander of another tender of the flag-ship, the Highjlyer, and was captured in her, as we have observed in the text, on the 26th of September, 1813. Aft- er his promotion to commander in the British navy in 1821, he retired from active service, and was yet on the half-pay list in 1849. See O'Byme'e Kaval Biography. ' This was the only man-of-war ever captured by Eodgers. OF THE WAK OF 1812. 737 Another Cruise of the President. She runs the Blockade at New York. Honors to Commander Kodgors; Commodore Rodgers sailed from Newport on another cruise in the President on the 5th of December,* with a stiff breeze from the nprth-northwest, and got well to sea without falling in with a British squadron, as he expected to. On the following day he captured the Cornet, which had been taken from the Americans by British cruisers, and then sailed southward. In the vicinity of Barbadoes he captured a British merchantman on the 5th of January,* on the ^th anoth- b isu. er, and on the 9th another. He remaiaed to the windward of Barbadoes until the 16th,° when he ran down into the Caribbean Sea, and cruised ''■^™°*'y- unsuccessfully in that region for a while. He finally captured and sunk a British merchantman, and then sailed for the coast of Florida. Proceeding northward, he was off Charleston Bar on the 11th of February,* but did not enter. He con- tinued his voyage up the coast, chasing and being chased, and, dashing through a vigilant British blockading squadron off Sandy Hook, he sailed into New York harbor on the evening of the ISth.^ He was greeted with honors by the citizens of New York ; and on the 'Zth of March a dinner was given in compliment to him at Tammany Hall. Most of the notables of the city were present ; and it was on that occasion that Rodgers gave the following toast, which was received with great en- thusiasm by the company present, and praised by the administration newspapers throughout the country : " Peace — if it can be obtained without the sacrifice of na- tional honor or the abandonment of maritime rights ; otherwise war until peace shall be secured without the sacrifice of either." More than three hundred gentlemen were at the dinner, among whom were many ship-masters. A toast to the commodore elicited eighteen cheers, and a song hastily written that morning was sung by one of the guests.^ The President being in need of a thorough overhauling, the Secretary of the Navy offered to Commodore Rodgers the command of the Guerriere, which might much sooner be made ready for sea.^ The commodore accepted the offer, and repaired to Philadelphia, where the Guerriere, 44, was being fitted out. Finding her not so near- ly ready as he had supposed her to be,* the commodore informed the secretary that he preferred to retain command of the President. But the Secretary, in the interim, had offered the President to Decatur. Rodgers courteously allowed that command- er to take his choice of vessels, when he chose that which had borne the broad pen- nant of Commodore Rodgers for several years.'' Here closes the story of the naval operations of the war for the year 1813. An- other field of observation now claims our consideration. I Letter of Commodore Eodgers to the Secretary of the Navy, February 19, 1813. = See NUea's Register, vi., 44. s "Commodore Eodgers," said a writer at this time, " is, we conjecture, between forty and forty-five years of age ; a man of few words, and not conspicuous for the love of parade or dress ; but his ship, for interior order, neatness, ele- gance, and taste, may vie with any that floats on the ocean. It is said that his discipline is perfect ; and this, perhaps, may account for the opinion that he is distant and very reserved to those under him ; but his reserve in company car- ries the air of the reserve of the studious man, without theleast trait of haughtiness, for humanity and great attention to the care of the yonth under his command is a pleasing trait in this brave man's character."— rAe Polyanthus, Boston. 4 The Guerriere was launched on the 20th of July.'and was the first two-decked ship that ever properly belonged to the American Navy.— Cooper. 5 Eodgers's evasion of the blockade was a cause of deep mortification to the British, for three of their large ships of war were on the alert, the nearest of which was the Plamtagenet, T4, Captain Lloyd. Eodgers expected a brush with them, and cleared his ship for action. He even fired a gun to windward as a proof of his willingness to fight, but he was not molested. On returning to England, Lloyd excused himself by alleging a mutiny in his ship, and on that charge several of the sailors were executed. 3 A >f38 PICTOEIAL PIELD-BOOK Louisiana and the Floridas. Insnrrectionary Movements. Events at Baton Eonge.. CHAPTER XXXm. " Oh, dim waned the moon through the flitting clotlds of night, With a dubious and shadowy gleaming. Where the ramparts of Mims rose stilly on the sight, And the star-spangled banner was streaming. And far still that wild horde of savage birth they deem'd, And far every fearful intrusion. Till the war-hatchet swift o'er their fated fortress gleam'd, Midst despair, havoc, death, and confusion." A SOUVENIE OF FOET MlUS, BY C. L. S. JONES. ^ITHERTO, in the course of our narrative, we have only observed hints of hostile operations in the more southern portion of the republic, beginning with the endeavors of Tecumtha to induce the Creeks, Cherokees, Choctaws, and other tribes in the Gulf region' to become a part of his great Indian Confederacy against the white people. We have now reached a point in the story where a consideration of the events of the war in that region is necessary to the unity of the history. Let us first consider the geographical and political aspect of the Gulf region. In a former chapter we have considered the purchase by and cession to the United States of the vast Territory known as Louisiana.^ Eastward of that Territory, at the time of the breaking out of the war in 1812, and bordering on the Gulf of Mexico, was a region in possession of the Spaniards, known as East and West Florida. The former extended from the Perdido River (now the boundary-line between the states of Florida and Alabama) eastward to the Atlantic Ocean, including the great penin- sula lying south of Georgia, and stretching over almost six degrees of latitude. The latter extended westward from the Perdido to (as the Spaniards claimed) the island of Orleans, on the Mississippi. The northern boundary was partly on and partly a little below the thirty-first parallel. During the autumn of 1810, and winter of 1810 and 1811, movements were inangU' rated which finally led to the absolute possession of both Floridas by the United States. In October, that portion of the claimed Spanish territory lying on the Mis- sissippi became the theatre of insurrectionary operations. It was inhabited chiefly by persons of British and American birth. These seized the old fort at Baton Rouge ; met in Convention ; declared themselves independent of Spain ; and adopted a flag with a lone star upon it, as the revolutionists in Texas did many years later. ^ The 1 These families came under the general name of Mobilian tribes ; and their territory originally was next in extent to that of the Algonquins, stretching along the Gulf of Mexico from the Atlantic to the Mississippi Eiver more than six hundred miles, up the Mississippi to the mouth of the Ohio, and along the Atlantic to the Cape Fear. It comprised a greater portion of the present State of Georgia, a part of South Carolina, the whole of Florida, Alabama, and Mississip- pi, and portions of Tennessee and Kentucky. The nation was divided into three grand confederacies, namely, llusco- gees or Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickmaws. The Creek confederacy included the Creeks proper, the Seminoks of Florida, and the Yammsees, or Savannahs, of Georgia. The Creeks occupied the country from the Atlantic westward to the high lands which separate the waters of the Ala- bama and Tombigbee Rivers. The Choctaws inhabited the beautiful country bordering upon the Gulf of Mexico, and extending west of the Creeks to the Mississippi. The Cherokees were the mountaineers of the South, and inhabited the very beautiful land extending from the Caro- lina Broad Eiver on the east to the Alabama on the west, including the whole of the upper portion of Georgia from the head waters of the Alatamaha to those of the Tennessee. It is one of the most delightful regions in the United States. 2 See page 131. ' There was a family named Kemper in that region who had suffered mnch at the hands of the Spaniards. They were OF THE WAR OF 1812. 739 Weat Florida claimei.by tlie United States. Military Movements therein. Intermeddling of a Britisli OlBcial. Spanish Loyalists made slight resistance, but it was soon overcome ; and the insur- gents asked the government of the United States to give them aid and recognition. Already that government had claimed a right, under the act of cession, to the entire Territory of West Florida, and that claim was a topic for dispute between it and that of Spain. Instead, therefore, of countenancing the insurgents in their efforts to set up for themselves, the President issued a proclamation on the 27th of October, in which he declared the Territory of West Florida, as far east as the Pearl River, to be in the possession of the United States. W. C. C. Claiborne, the governor of the Orleans Territory (afterward called the State of Louisiana), then in Washington, was hurried off to take possession of it, avowedly not only as a right, but as a friendly act toward Spain, whose rights were as much jeoparded by the revolutionary move- ment as was those of the United States. Claiborne was clothed with powers to em- ploy troops then in the Mississippi Territory, if necessary, to enable him to take and hold possession of the country. Not long after this, a body of men, chiefly Americans from Fort Stoddart, on the Mobile River, led by Colonel Reuben Kemper^ who professed to be acting under the authority of the Florida insurgents, menaced the port of Mobile. ^ They were driven away, but still threatened that post; and the Spanish governor, Folch, thoroughly alarmed, wrote a letter to Mr. Monroe, the American Secretary of State, in which he expressed a desire, in the event of his not being speedily re-enforced from Havana gi Vera Cruz, to treat for the surrender of the whole province of Florida. At about the same time, Morier, the British Charge d' Affaires, residing at Baltimore, formally pro- tested against such acquisition on the part of the United States as an act unfriendly to Spain, then struggling with the gigantic power of Napoleon. When Congress assembled in December," the question of the occupation of ^^g^^. Florida by the United States had assumed a very important aspect in the pub- lic mind. The Federalists- were vehemently opposed to all farther acquisition of ter- ritory ; and when, early in January,'' the letter of the Spanish governor «. Januarys, and the protest of the British charg^ were laid before Congress, they pro- ^^^^■ duced considerable excitement. Morier's protest was considered simply an imper- tinence by the government party, while -the intimations of Folch were pondered se- riously, and acted upon after some debate. In secret session a resolution was adopt- ed,™ which was expressed an unwillingness on the part of the United States to al- low the Territory in question to pass from the possession of Spain into that of any other power. An act was also passed in secret session'' authorizing the ,j^^^^ President to take possession of both Floridas under any arrangement that might be entered into with the local authorities; or, in the event of an attempt to do the same by any foreign power, to take and hold possession by force of arms. It was believed, and with reason, that the British were about to assume control of that country, under the provisions of some secret arrangement with Spain ; and, to fore- flarinff men (Eenben and Samuel), and resolved to get rid of their hated rulers. Impatient of the delay of the United States in taldn<' possession of West Florida, they excited the people of Bayou Sara, and others in the neighborhood, to take UD arms °They assembled at St. Francisville, marched upon Baton Eouge, took it by surprise after a slight skirm- ish in which Governor Grandpre was killed, and the town and fort became the possession of the insurgents. The Sniniarfls fled eastward, some to Mobile, and some to Pensacola. The revolutionists then assembled m Convention ; prepared and issued a declaration of independence, modeled after that composed by Jefferson, and declared their right and intention to form treaties and establish commerce with other nations. „ ^. , ^^ , ,. ,. 1 His nrofessions were true. He was dispatched to the Tombigbee by the Convention for the purpose of enlisting ™»T, tn P^nel the Soaniards from the Mobile district. In that business he was assisted by a wealthy citizen. Colonel Tames Caller who like most of the residents in that region, hated the Spaniards. Troops were secretly raised. Flat- boSs w^th D'rovi8ions,were sent down the Tensaw River to Smith's plantation. Daring spirits gathered around the ■ leaders and a company of horsemen, under Captain Bernard, scoured the country for arms, ammunition, and provi- sions Avoune man, named Sibly, was sent to demand the surrender of the fort, then commanded by Governor Folch. The invaders gathered near Mobile, and there drank and frolicked to their hearts' content An old man, who drank their whisky fnd won their confldence, betrayed their weakness to the governor The latter sent two hundred regu- lar soldiers, under a competent leader, who surprised them at near midnight, and broke up their camp. This was in November 1810 Major Hargrove and nine men were captured, ironed, and sent to Havana, where they suffered Ave years in the dungeons of Moro Castle.-See Pickett's UisU/ry of AMama, ii., 235. 740 PICTORIAL PIELD-BOOK Events near Mobile. Admisaion of Louisiana. Insurrection in East Florida,' Stall such action, Governor Claiborne had already asserted the jurisdiction of the United States over a considerable portion of Florida eastward of the Mississippi, aft- er some opposition from Ful- war Skipwith, formerly a dip- J! — -7'~ — —"^ // jp lomatic agent of the United '-^ I /^ ^Jy ' , '" ^yf — ' States inFrance, who hadbeen ] i/Pf/f/hy elected governor of their do- ^ main by the insurgents. Find- ing himself supported chiefly by the dregs of society only, Skipwith yielded, and retired to private life. Soon aft- erward, a small detachment of American regulars, under Captain (afterward Major General) Edmund P. Gaines, appeared before Mobile and demanded its surrender. Governor Folch refused. Presently Colonel Gushing arrived from New Orleans with gun-boats, artillery, and troops, and encamped three weeks at Orange Grove, when he marched up to Fort Stoddart, and formed a cantonment at Mount Vernon. He came professedly to defend the Spaniards against the in&urgents, who made no farther efforts to obtain possession of Mobile. Louisiana was admitted into the Union as a state on the 8th of April, 1812. By a separate act, that part of Florida, as far eastward of the Mississippi River as the ■ April 14, Pearl River, was annexed to that new state f and by another act the re- ^^^^- maining territory, as far as the Perdido River, eastward of Mobile Bay (with the exception of the post of Mobile, yet in the hands of the Spaniards), was b jjay 14 annexed to the Territory of Mississippi," then asking for admission as a state. An insurrection had broken out in East Florida in the mean time. Its chief theatre was on the coast, near the Georgia border. Brigadier General George Mathews, of the Georgia militia (a soldier of the Revolution), who had been appointed commis- sioner under the secret act of the session in 1810-'ll,to secure the province should it be offered, was the chief instigator of the disturbance, for the Georgians were anx- ious to seize the adjoining territory. Amelia Island, lying a little below the bound- ary-line, seemed to be a good as well as justifiable base of operations. The fine harbor of its capital, Fernandina, was a place of great resort for smugglers during the days of the embargo ; and, as a neutral port, might be made a dangerous place. The pos- session of this island and harbor was therefore important to the Americans. A pre- text for seizing it was not long wanting. The insurgents planted the standard of revolt on the bluff opposite the town ofSt.Mary's, on the border-line, in March, 1812. Some United States gun- boats, under Commodore i^ ^ ^y ^y^ ^ ^ >^ Campbell, were in the KJ J^^^^v__^£^''^^;^^'^^ St. Mary's River, and Ma- --'<- 'y-^'-<-^y^ , '~tCj ~'^^'''^^> thews had some United ^ ^*- ^^^ "^^^ States troops at his command near. » 1812. *-*° ***^ ^"^^^ of March-^ the insurgents, two hundred and twenty in number, sent a flag of truce to Fernandina demanding the surrender of the town and island. The American gun-boats came down at about the same time. The author- ities bowed in submission, and General Mathews, assuming the character of a pro- tector took possession of the place in the name of the United States. Commodore Campbell declared, in a letter to Don Justo Lopez, the commandant of Amelia Island, that the naval forces were not intended to act in the name of the United States, "but to aid and support," he said, "a large proportion of your countrymen in arms, who have thought proper to declare themselves independent.'" A flag was raised over Fernandina on which were inscribed the wor ds "■Vox po- ' MS. Letter in the Navy Department. OF THE WAR OF 1812. -741 Seiznre of East Florida by United States OfflciaK Expedition against Mobile. General Wilkineon : ^U lex salutis," and on the 19th the town was formally given up to the United btates authorities. A custom-house was immediately established ; the floating prop- erty in the harbor was considered under the protection of the United States flag, and smuggling ceased. Then the insurgents, made eight hundred strong hy re-en- torcements from Georgia, and accompanied by some troops furnished by General Ma- thews, besieged the Spanish governor in St. Augustine, for it was feared that the Brit- ish might help the Spaniards in recovering what they had lost in the Territory. This was a kind of filibustering which the United States government would not counte- nance, and David B. Mitchell," governor of Georgia, was appointed to supersede Ma- thews=' as commissioner. But the change of men did not efiect a change « April 10, of measures. Mitchell believed that Congress would sanction Mathews's ^®^^- ' proceedings. The Lower House did actually pass a bill," in secret session, ' ^™^ ^^■ authorizing the President to take possession of East Florida. The Senate rejected It, for it was not desirable, at the moment when war had been declared against Great Britain, to provoke hostilities with another power unnecessarily. There was incon- sistency in it, which the Opposition were not slow to perceive and make use of. " Say nothing now," they said, " about Sir James Craig, of Canada, and John Henry,^ or Copenhagen."^ They denounced the whole movement of the government in Flor- ida, East and West, as dastardly — a seizure of the possessions of a friendly power "by Madison's army and navy." We have observed that the United States claimed, under the act of the cession of Louisiana, ^,11 of West Florida, including Mobile; and that a large portion of that territory had been annexed to that of Mississippi. When the Congress and the Cabinet had determined upon war with Great Britain in the winter and spring of 1812, the importance of the post of Mobile to the United States was very apparent, and as early as March in that year. General Wilkinson, then in command of the United States troops in the Southwest, was ordered to take possession of it. At near the close of March" he sent Commodore Shaw, with a detachment of gun-boats, to occupy the Bay of Mobile and cut ofi" communications with Pensacola ; and ° ^^^^' Lieutenant Colonel Bowyer, then stationed with a respectable number of troops at Fort Stoddart, about forty miles above Mobile, was ordered to march on the latter post at a day's notice, for the purpose of investing Fort Charlotte. Wilkinson left New Orleans on the 29th of March, and embarked on board the sloop Alligator. The troops were ordered to rendezvous at Pass Christian. The weather was unfavorable for the schooner, and the general took a barge. He came near losing his life by the upsetting of this little vessel. He and his fellow-passen- gers clung to its upturned keel a long time, when, exhausted and famishing, they were picked up by some Spanish fishermen, who towed their barge ashore and right- ed it, and allowed the rescued men to proceed. They reached Petit Coquille at mid- night, and on the following morning an express was sent to Boyer with, orders for him to come down the river, and take a position opposite the little village of Mobile. The troops from New Orleans arrived in Mobile Bay on the 12th of April,* and at two o'clock the next morning landed opposite the site of the Pavilion, not far from the fort, then commanded by Captain Cayetano Perez.* The garrison was surprised. The first intimation given them of the presence of an enemy was the sounding of Wilkinson's bugles for an advance. Six hundred men, in column, ap- peared before Fort Charlotte at noon, and demanded its surrender. The negotia- ' David B. Mitchell was a native of Scotland, and at this time waij forty-seven years of age. He arrived at Savannah in 1783, to take possession of property there which had been bequeathed to him, where he studied law. He became so- licjtor general of Georgia in 1T95, and for several years held various offices civil and military. He was elected governor of Georgia in 1809, and held that office until 1813. ' He was re-elected in 1815. He was active in public affairs until his death, which occurred in Baldwin County, Georgia. ' See pages 219 to 221 inclusive. 3 Note 4, page 177. . * On the 13th, General Wilkinson issued a proclamation and sent it into the town of Mobile, in which he assured the inhabitants that he came not to injure, but to protect them, and to extend over them the rightful jurisdiction and laws of the United States. He gave permission to those who chose to leave the place, to go, with their goods, in safety. 742 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Surrender of Mobile by the Spaniards. Tennesseeans under Andrew Jackson preparing for War. tions to that end were, short, and on the 15th the Spaniards evacuated the fort and retired to Pensaoola. The Americans at once entered, took possession, and proceeded to strengthen the post. Wilkinson sent nine pieces of artillery to Mobile Point, which were placed in battery there, and, marching to the Perdido, began the con^ struction of fortifications there under the superintendence of Colonel John Bowyer. This work was soon abandoned, and Fort Bowyer was commenced on Mobile Point by some workmen under Captain Reuben Chamberlain. Such was the beginning of movements which resulted in the acquisition of all Florida by the Americans. When the war broke out there was an already famous militia general in Tennessee, well known all over the settled portion of the Mississippi Basin. It was Andrew Jackson, who, as we have observed, became somewhat entangled in the toils of the wily spider, Aaron Bun-, for a while.' He was living on a fine plantation a few miles from Nashville. War was declared on the 19th of June by the proclamation of the President. Ti- dings of it reached Jackson on the 26th, and on the same day he authorized Go vemor Blount to tender to the President of the "United States the services of himself and twenty-five hundred men of his division as volunteers for the war. Under other cir- cumstances the offer would have been rejected. Jackson was no " court favorite ;" on the contrary, he was obnoxious to the President and his Cabinet. He had soundly berated the government, when Madison was chief minister, in a speech in the streets of Richmond, as the "persecutor of Aaron Burr." He had openly shown his prefer- ence for Monroe over Madison, and had called the Secretary of War, an " old granny." But the government needed strength, and was not willing to reject any that might be offered. The President received Jackson's generous offer with gratitude, and ac- cepted it, he said, " with peculiar satisfaction." The Secretary of War wrote a cordial « April 11, letter of acceptance to Governor Blount,^ and that officer publicly thanked 1812- Jackson and his volunteers for the honor they had done the State of Tennes- see by their patriotic movement. ^ For several weeks Jackson remained on his farm impatiently awaiting orders to go to the field. All was calmness in the Gulf region, for the energies of the government were bent to the one great labor, apparently, of invading and subjugating Canada. When that effort failed, and Hull's campaign ended in terrible disaster at Detroit, sagacious men believed that the British, not needing so many troops on the Northern frontier, would turn their attention to the seizure of Gulf ports and an invasion of the sparsely settled country in that region. The government was also impressed ' October 21. ^^^^ *^® Surmise, and late' in October" called on Governor Blount for fif- teen hundred Tennesseeans to be sent to New Orleans to re-enforce Gen- eral Wilkinson. Blount made a requisition upon Jackson for that purpose, and the general at once entered upon that military career which rendered his name immortal. On the 10th of December, a day long remembered in Middle Tennessee because of deep snow and intense cold, Jackson's troops, over two thousand in number, assem- bled at Nashville, bearing clothing for both cold and warm weather. When organ- ized, they consisted of two regiments of infantry of seven hundred men each, com- manded respectively by Colonels William Hall and Thomas H. Benton, and a corps of cavalry six hundred and seventy in number, under Colonel John Coffee. William B. Lewis, Jackson's near neighbor and friend, was his quartermaster ; and his brigade inspector was William Carroll, a young man from Pennsylvania. The troops were composed of the best physical and social materials of the state, many of the young men bemg representatives of some of the first families in Tennessee in point of posi- tion; and on the Ith of January, 1813, when every thing was in readiness, the little army went down the Cumberland River in a flotilla of small, boats, excepting the mounted men, whom Coffee led across the country to join Jackson at Natchez, on the • J See page 136. a Parton's Life o/Andretv Jackaon, l, 365. OF THE WAR OF 1812. . 1743 The TennesBeeans on tlie MiBBissippi Eiver. Their Treatment by the Goyemment. JackBon's KindneBS. Mississippi. With sly sarcasm, whose shaft was pointed at some New York and Pennsylvania militiamen on the Niagara frontier at that time, the energetic leader, in a letter to the Secretary of War, said: "I am now at the head of 20'70 volunteers, the choicest of our citizens, who go at the call of their country to execute the will of the government, who have no constitutional scruples, and, if the government orders, will rejoice at the opportunity of placing the American eagle on the ramparts oi Mo- bile, JPensacola, and Fort Augustine, effectually banishing from the Southern coasts all British influence." Jackson was then in his prime of manhood, being forty-six years of age. After many stirring adventures among the ice in the Cumberland and the Ohio, and the floods and tempests of the Mississippi, for nine-and-thirty days, the little flo- tilla reached Natchez,'' a thousand miles, by the route it had taken, from » February 16, its place of departure. Colonel Cofiee, with his mounted men, was al- ^^^^- ready near there to welcome them. The troops were in glorious spirits. The love of adventure had,been heightened by its gratification, and all were impatient to push forward to New Orleans, a land of warmth and beauty as it appeared to their imag- inations. The ofiicers, especially, wished to go rapidly forward, for they dreamed of glory in the conquest of Mobile and Pensacola, and delicious resting-places among the orange groves of the Gulf shore. They were disappointed. A messenger had ar- rived at Natchez with orders from Wilkinson for them to remain where they were, as he had no instructions concerning them or their employment in his department, nor had he any quarters prepared for their accommodation. He was evidently fearful of being superseded by Jackson, who was a major general of volunteers in the United States service, for he said in his letter to that leader that caused him to halt, that he should not think of yielding his command until regularly relieved by superior au- thority. Jackson disembarked his troops, and encamped them in a pleasant spot near Natchez, to await farther orders. February passed by, and the early flowers of March were budding and blooming, and yet the Tennessee army was at Natchez. On the first of that month Jackson wrote an impatient letter to the Secretary of War. He saw little chance for the em- ployment of himself and his followers in the South, and suggested that they might be useful in the North. He had gone to the field as an unselfish patriot, and, as he said in his letter to Wilkinson, " had marched with the spirit of a true soldier to serve his country at any and every point where service could be rendered." Day after day he waited anxiously for orders to move. At length he was cheered by the receipt of a letter from the War Department. His heart beat quickly with the thrill of delight- ful expectations as he broke the seal. Icy coldness fell upon his spirits for a moment when his eyes perused the contents. It read thus : " SiE, — The causes of embodying and marching to New Orleans the corps under your command having ceased to exist, you will, on the receipt of this letter, consider it as dismissed from public' service, and take measures to have delivered over to Major General Wilkinson all the articles of public property which may have been put into its possession." To this was appended a cold tender of the thanks of the President to Jackson and his corps, and the signature of John Armstrong, the new Secretary of War, who, on the date of the letter, had been only two days in ofiice. That was practically a cruel letter, under the circumstances. It placed the little army in a sad plight, for it was dismissed from service without pay, suflBcient cloth- ing means of transportation, provisions, or accommodations for the sick, more than five hundred miles from their homes by the nearest land route, which lay much of the way throu'gh a wilderness roamed by savage.s. Jackson instantly resolved on diso- bedience. He detennined not to dismiss the men until they were restored to their homes ; and with that decision and courage in assuming responsibility which always marked his career, he made every necessary preparation possible for a return to Ten- 744 J>ICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Jackson's flery Letterfl. Eeturn of his Troops to NashvUle. His pecuniary Troubles on tlieir Account. nessee, at large expense, and without any money. He impressed wagons and teams, and gave orders for pay on the quarter-master of the Southern Department. In like manner he incurred other expenses. So confident were the merchants of Natchez in his integrity and the justice of their government, that they turned over to him large quantities of shoes and clothing, telling him to pay for them at Nashville when con- venient. Meanwhile Jackson had written fiery letters to the President, the Secretary of War, Governor Blount, and General Wilkinson. ' He despised the latter, and suspected him of sinister designs ; and when, in due time, he received a reply from that officer, in which he suggested that great public service might be rendered by promoting enlist- ments into the regular army, Jackson's anger knew no bounds. He watfched for re- cruiting officers with hawk-eyed vigilance, and when one was found in his camp, he notified him that if he should catch him trying to seduce one of his volunteers into the regular army, he would have him instantly drummed beyond his lines.^ The Sec- retary of War, on the other hand, by a courteous and explanatory letter, mollified his passion by assuring him that when he wrote the letter that appeared so cruel, he did not suppose that the little army had moved far from Nashville. Late in March Jackson commenced his homeward movement. It was an under- taking of great hazard and difficulty, but was well accomplished in the course of a month, for they traveled at the rate of eighteen miles a day. He shared all the pri- vations of the soldiers, and he was beloved by them as few men have ever been be- loved. His endurance was wonderful during the march, and his men declared that he was " as tough as hickory." From that day until his last on earth, he was famil- iarly and affectionately called " Old Hickory." Finally, on the borders of his state, Jackson sent a messenger to Washington to convey an offer of the services of himself and volunteers on the Northern frontier, whither Harrison had been sent as chief commander. No response came, and on the 22a of May he drew up his detachment on the public square in Nashville, where they were presented with an elegantly wrought stand of colors by the ladies of Knoxville.^ There they were dismissed, and dispersed to their homes with feelings of great dis- satisfaction toward the national government. Such was Jackson's first effort to serve his country in the field in the War of 1812, and it resulted in holding the fear of absolute pecuniary ruin over his head for some' time. His transportation orders were dishonored, and the creditors looked to him for pay. He was prosecuted for amounts in the aggregate much larger than his entire fortune. The suits were postponed to give him an opportunity to appeal to the na- tional government for justice and protection. The late Thomas H. Benton was his messenger and advocate on that occasion; and when it was intimated to him that nothing could be done for the general's relief, he boldly assured the President and his cabmet that if the administration desired the support of Tennessee in the war, the .tanZrd'%'k'ev fiZwrt ™.T„1^ '« ^'"^T'Tn' " ^*^''' ™" "^ *«'■" "'"""'■'y' voluntarily rallied around its insulted standard. They followed me to the field ; I shall carefully march them back to their homes. It is for the aeents of the leTaXme™ "° ''°™™' *° "' ''"'' of Tennessee and the whole world for their singular and unusuarcoXftftu: slmKSfbarer ^r/ ""/. r^r^r""'^ """' ^.""'" '^" '^^P^^'"^ """^ '^OP^ fo™ Nashville. One was a irthe most exnn r, LI ! ' ""t?.""" "^"^ ^ «g™«°tal standard. The embroidery, performed by the ladies crfor dTnoti.^Zl i ^''l f 7*"'" '"'"■ N"""' ""= *»P> ^ '^ <=™'=«"' fo™. were eighteen stare in orange «tjs " C^ ^ F^r«Z.w f"'T- ^^^"^"'"^ ^^'^ t^" ^P"g^ of laurel lying 'athwart.^ Under these were "he r^fe/feJ™Zl!?l7j^^ i'^^fTL'' T. "fT °-^""' ^"^^ rnnintavnedon th^battle-grmni of m Republic. The (Zt^l, f ^ ^ ^- ^'^''^ 'V th^ Ladies of East Tennessee, Knoxville, February 10th, 1813 "Below all ZX?mlred ,X;Sea''n7tS ™°^''- ^'' ^'"^ "' '"« ^""^ ™^ '-^^'^' ^^^J^Z^e ■r^t wSmanshin'S thl.t!.'°.n,''"'''' '"''"'° .'?'' '^' ^'^ "' <^°^^™°^ ^'O""*' J»*»° ™d : ■• While I ivdmire the ele- f^w Z^^rf?!'^ I t T^ "'' veneration is excited for the patriotic disposition that prompted the ladies to be- Stow tnem on the voluDteers of Wetw.T-w'''fr^ °^^^- "^^T ™°' °'"- ^^"^ Kobertson, who was bom in thi fort, and the first white cnild whose birth was in West Tennessee, died at Nashville in 1864 denr^i'T/i.lTTM ^l " Jlf !l5 ''.""'^"' ™^ " distinguished member of the bar at Augusta, his place of resi- ?h™ w ■ ^ '""''i"' *' *'' '™'' *°^ ^'^ f°™ ™^ inadequate to perform the arduous services required of W?1k;„»o« Z! '=<'»™^8"™ed a brigadier general on the ISth of June, 1812, and resigned in September, 1814. When Wilkinson *as summoned to the Northern frontier, Plonmoy was made his successor in the Gulf region. In 1819 'SO he was a commissioner to treat with the Creek Indians. 'es>"n. in isist- at OF THE WAR OF 1812. 749 The Militia in the Field. March of M'Qn een and his Followers from Pensacola. Battle of Burnt Corn Creek. lowers, crossed the Tombigbee into Clarke County, passed through Jackson, and biv- ouacked on the right bank of the Alabama River, at Sisemore's Ferry, opposite the southern portion of the present Monroe County, Alabama. He crossed the river on the following morning," and marched in a southeasterly direction across .jniyze, the Escambia River into the present Conecuh County, Alabama, toward the ^^i^- ' Florida frontier. He had been joined m Clarke County by the famous bordei-- er, Captain Sam Dale, and fifty men, who were en- gaged in the con- struction of Fort Madison, toward the northeast part of Clarke, and was now re-enforced by others from Tensaw Lake and Little River, under various leaders, one of whom wais Captain Dixon Bailey, a half-blood Creek, who had been educated at Philadelphia. Caller's command, now numbered about one hundred and eighty men, divided into small companies, well mounted on good frontier horses, and pro- vided with rifles and shot-guns. During that day they reached the Wolf Trail, cross- ed Burnt Corn Creek, and bivouacked. On the morning of the 2'7th Caller reorganized his command. Captains Phillips, M'Farlane, Wood, and Jourdan were appointed majors, and Captain William M'Grew was created lieutenant colonel. ^ They were now on the main route for Pensacola, and were moving cheerily forward, down the east side of Burnt Corn Creek, when a company of fifteen spies, under Captain Dale, who had been sent in advance to recon- noitre, came galloping hurriedly back with the intelligence that M'Queen and his party were only a few miles distant, encamped upon a peninsula of low pine barrens formed by the windings of Burnt Corn Creek, engaged unsuspectingly in cooking and eating. A hurried council was held, and it was determined to attack them. For this purpose Caller arranged his men in three columns, the right led by Captain Smoot, the left by Captain Dale, and the centre by Captain Bailey. They were upon a gentle" height overlooking M'Queen's camp, and down its slopes the white men moved rapidly, and fell upon the foe. M'Queen and his party were surprised: They fought desperately for a few minutes, when they gave way, and fled toward the creek, followed by a portion of the assailants. Colonel Caller was brave but overcautious, and called back the pursuers. The re- mainder of his command were engaged in capturing the well-laden pack-horses of the enemy, and when those in advance came running back, the former, panic-stricken, turned and fled in confusion, but carrying away their plunder. N^ow the tide turned. M'Queen's Indians rushed from their hiding-places in a cane-brake with horrid yells, and fell upon less than one hundred of Caller's men at the foot of the eminence. A severe battle ensued. Captain Dale was severely wounded by a ball that sti-uck his breast-bone, followed the ribs around, and came out near the spine, yet he continued to fight as long as any body. Overwhelming numbers at length compelled him and his companions to retreat. They fled in disorder, many of them leaving their horses behind them. The flight continued all night in much confusion. The victory in the Battle of Burnt Corn Creek — the first in the Creek war — crested with the Indians. Only two of Caller's command were killed, and fifteen wounded. The casualties of the enemy are unknown. For some time it was supposed that Colonel Caller and Major Wood had been lost. They became bewildered in the forest, and wandered about there some time. When they were found they were almost starved, and were > The principal subordinate officers were Phillips, Wood, ■ M'Farlane, Jourdan, Smoot, Dixon, Heard, Cartwright, Creagh, May, Bradberry, Robert Caller, and Dale. 750 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK General Claiborne in the Creek Country. Befng ee Settlers. Mims's Honse fortiflefl. nearly senseless. They had been, missing fifteen days ! Caller's command never re- assembled. M'Queen's retraced their steps to Pensacola for more military supplies.' But for the fatal word " retreat" the Indians might have been scattered to .the winds; While these events were transpiring in the Indian country above Mobile, General P. L. Claiborne,^ who had been a gallant soldier in Wayne's army in the Indian coun- try north of the Ohio, was marching, by orders of General Flournoy, from Baton Rouge to Fort Stoddart, on the Mobile River, with instructions to direct his princi- pal attentions to the defense of Mobile. He reached Mount Vernon, in the north- ern part of the j)resent Mobile County, three days after the battle of Burnt Corn • July 30, Creek^ He found the whole population trembling with alarm and terrible 1813. forebodings of evil. Already a chain of riide defenses, called forts, had been built in the country between the Tombigbee and Alabama Rivers, a short distance from their confluence where they form the Mobile River,^ and were filled with a& frighted white people and negroes, who had sought shelter in them from the impend* ing storm of war. Claiborne's first care was to afibrd protection to the menaced people. He was anx- ious to march his whole force into the heart of the Creek nation, in the region of the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers, but this Flournoy would not allow. " If Governor Holmes [of the Mississippi Territory] should send his militia into the Indian coun- try," he wrote, " he must, of course, act on his own responsibility ; the army of the United States, and the oiScers commanding it, must have nothing to do with it." Claiborne was compelled to do nothing better than to distribute his troops through- out the stockades for defensive operations. He sent Colonel Carson, with two hund- red men, to the confluence of the Tombigbee and Alabama Rivers, and dispatched Captain Scott with a company to St. Stephen's, in the northeast part of Washington County, where they occupied an old Spanish block-house. Major Hinds, with dra- goons, was ordered to scour the country in various directions for information and as a check; and some of the militia of Washington County were placed in the stock- ades in Clarke County, between the Tombigbee and Alabama. Captain Dent was sent to Okeatapa, within a short distance of the Choctaw frontier, and assumed the command of a fort there. Previous to Claiborne's arrival, wealthy half-blood families had gone down' the Ala- bama in boats and canoes, and secreted themselves in the thick swamps around Ten- saw Lake. There they united with white refugees in constructing a strong stockade around the house of Samuel Mims, an old and wealthy inhabitant of that region, situ- ated a short distance from the Boat-yard on Tensaw Lake, a mile east from the Ala- bama River, ten miles above its junction with the Tombigbee, and about two miles below the Cut-off.* The building was of wood, spacious in area, and one story in height. Strong pickets were driven around it, and fence-rails placed between them ; and, at an average distance of three feet and a half from the ground, five hundred port-holes for musketry were made. The pickets inclosed an acre of ground, and the stockade was entered by two ponderous gates, one on the east and the other on the west. Besides Mims's house there wer e several other buildings within the pickets ; 1 Pickett's AUiamd, ii., 265. Life amd Times of General Sam Dale, by J. F. H. Claiborne, pages 65 to S2 inclusive = Ferdinand Leigh Claiborne, a brother of William C. C. Claiborne, at that time governor of the Orleans Territory, was bom m Sussex County, Virginia, in 1T78. His family was one of the oldest in that commonwealth. In his twen- tieth year he was appointed an ensign in Wayne's army, and became much attached to Major Hamtramck. One of his sons, now (1804) living, bears the major's name. He was in the battle of the Fallen Timbers, at the Eapids of the Mau- mee,inl.94. He was stationed at Richmond and Norfolk after the war, holding first the rank of lieutenant and then ?Lo "i ^^ ™''° P™™'''^'! to captain, and was active as such, and adjutant general in the Northwest, untU 1802, when he was ordered to Natchez. He resigned, settled in the Mississippi Territoiy, presided over the deliberations ot Its Legislature, and in 1811 was appointed brigadier general of the Mississippi militia. In March, 1813, he was commis- sionea a brigadier general of volunteers in the United States Army, and ordered to the command of the post at Baton Konge. He was active, as the text avers, during the Creek War. He was a legislative councilor of the Mississippi Ter- nto^ immediately after the close of the Creek War in 1814, and died the following year. ^ These were Forte Curry, Madison, Eevier, Sinquefleld, and White, situated upon a curve sweeping eastward of Bas- sett s Creek and across its head waters. * See Map on the opposite page. OF THE WAK OF 1812. 751 Map of a Part of the Creek Country. Fort Mims and its Occupants. also cabins and board shelters. At the southwest corner was a partially-finished block-house. The whole work, which was called Fort Mims, was upon a slight ele- vation, yet not eligibly situated ; but such confidence had the people of the surround- ing country in its strength, that, as soon as it was finished, they poured into it in large numbers with their efiects. It soon became the scene of a terrible tragedy that dis- pelled the pleasant dream of Creek cirilization and fliendship, and inflamed the peo- ple westward of the Alleghanies, who had suffered much from savage cruelty and treachery, with a thirst for vengeance. PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Claiborne's Anxiety about the Settlers. Humors of impending Indian Hostilities. Pacification of the ChoctawB. Two days after he reached Mount Vernon General Claiborne 'asked Flournoy's per- mission to call for the militia. " I am not myself authorized to do so," his command- er replied, " as you will perceive if you turn to the late regulations of the War De- partment." Again foiled in his generous endeavors by ofiBcial interference, Claiborne resolved to do what he might in strengthening Fort Mims. Already Lieutenant Os- ' July 28, borne, and sixteen soldiers under him, had taken post there.* He now dis- ^^^^' patched Major Daniel«Beasley thither, with one hundred and seventy-five vol- unteers, who was accompanied by Captains Jack, Batcheldor, and Middleton. They ' August 6. found seventy citizens there on volunteer duty,* under Captains Dunn and ° August T. Plummer, who were inexperienced officers. On the following day" the little garrison was cheered by the presence of General Claiborne, who had come to make a personal inspection of the fort. He saw its weakness, and issued orders for it to be strengthened by the addition of two block-houses. " To respect an enemy," he said, wisely, " and prepare in the best possible way to receive him, is the certain means of success." He also authorized Major Beasley to receive any citizens who would assist in the defense of the station, and to issue rations to them with the other soldiers un- der his command. Under this order the seventy citizens just mentioned were en- rolled, and they immediately elected the brave Dixon Bailey their captain — the*half- blood who distinguished himself at the battle of Burnt Corn Creek. Claiborne also organized a small company of scouts under Cornet Rankin, composed of that officer, one sergeant, one corporal, and six mounted men. Every day the war-cloud thickened. Rumors came to Claiborne from the north- ward that there was growing disaffection among the powerful Choctaws, and he per- ceived the value of an immediate blow at the Creeks before they should be ready to strike one themselves, or draw over to the interest of the war-party their more peace- ably-inclined neighbors. He again applied to Plournoy for permission to penetrate the heart of the Creek nation, but with no better success than before. " I have to entreat you," Flournoy wrote to Claiborne, " not to permit your zeal for the public good to draw you into acts of indiscretion. Your wish to penetrate into the Indian country with the view of commencing the war -does not meet my approbation, and I again repeat, our operations must be confined to defensive operations."^ Flour- noy was impressed with tie belief that the hostile movements in the Creek country were only feints in the interest of the Spaniards, to draw the American troops from Mobile, so that the former might, while that post was weakened and uncovered, at- tempt its capture with a chance of success. Again foiled, Claiborne addressed himself to the important task of securing the neutrality, at least, of the Cherokees, for every day gave signs of their constantly- growing disaffection. A belief was gaining ground, and with good reason, that a general Indian war in the southwest was possible, and even probable, and the whole country from the Perdido to the Mississippi was filled with alarms. The stockades were crowded with refugees from their menaced homes early in August, and doubt, and dread, and great fear filled the hearts of the white people, tilaiborne went up to St. Stephen's, and from thence dispatched a deputation to Pushamataha, the prin- cipal chief of the Choctaws, who was balancing between equally powerful inclina- tions toward peace and war. He listened, and was finally induced to visit Claiborne's -August 15. lie'is^he general that the gar- rison and refugees in Fort Madison, in the eastern part of Clarke County, were likely to share the horrid fate of those in Mims from a combined attack of the savages. Under the direction of General Flournoy, he ordered Colonel Carson, the commander, to abandon the fort and hasten to the relief of St. Stephen's, if his judgment should sanction such movement. Carson left Madison reluctantly, followed by about five hundred settlers of both sexes, and all ages and conditions, and marched westward. He had arrived on the banks of the Tombigbee, on his way to St. Stephen's, when an^ other letter from Claiborne reached him, in which he was urge(i(^ tadQ abandon the fort [Madison] unless it was clear that he could not maintain P 1 w«encea"iitoo late. He crossed the river and entered St. Stephen's. ^ " ■ \ '■"'^ice of 1 ",'" ^aae only a fourth of a mile distant. The leader was Captain Sam Dale,^ litwas still suffering from the effects of his wound received at Burnt Corn Creek. When Carson's drum beat for his troops to march. Dale beat his for volunteers to remain ; and when the last of the United States soldiers marched out of the fort, Dale marched in at the head of eighty brave citizens, among them Captain Evans Austill. Dale received a note from General Flournoy advising him to repair to Mount Vernon, as he was sure to be attacked by an overwhelming force. Dale replied that he had sworn to defend the women and children under his charge ; that he had a " gallant set of boys" under him ; and that when the general should hear " of the fall of Fort Madison, he would find a pile of yellow-hides' to tan if he could get his regulars to come and skin them l"^ Dale maintained his position with boldness, and was not attacked.* 1 See page TSO, and Map on page T51. a See page 749. 3 Life and Times of General Sam Dale, pages 116 and 117. Dale says Flournoy was opposed to the stockade system, and was determined to concentrate his troops at Mobile, Mount Vernon, and St. Stephen's. Claiborne's order for the evacuation of Fort Madison, inspired by Flournoy, was cursed by the settlers in the forks of the Alabama and Tombig- bee, who considered themselves cruelly abandoned. * "During the day," says Dale, "sentinels were posted around the fort. At night I illuminated the approaches for a circuit of one hundred yards by a device of my own. Two poles, fifty feet long, were firmly planted on each side of the fort ; a long lever, upon the plan of a well-sweep, worked upon each of these poles ; to each lever was attached a bar of iron about ten feet long, and to these bars were fastened with trace-chains huge fagots of light wood. The illnmina- 5:62 PICiTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The Choctaw Allies. Speech of Pushamataha. Coffee's Expedition against Tallasehatche. While there was still a doubt ia every mind whether the Choctaws would remain friendly to the Americans, Pushamataha removed every suspicion by suddenly ap- pearing at St. Stephen's and offering to enlist several companies of his warriors to take up arms under the banner of the United States. He was conducted to Mobile by George S. Gaines, where he had an interview with General Flournoy. That strangely blind officer declined the chief's offer, and Gaines and Pushamataha went back to St. Stephen's filled with mortification and disgust. The assembled citizens had be- gun to curse the commanding general without stint, when a courier appeared riding in haste. He bore authority from Flournoy for Gaines to recruit in the Choctaw nation. His advisers had caused him to repent of his folly in refusing the generous offer of Pushamataha. Gaines and the brave chief started northward for the Choctaw country. They were met at John Peachland's by Colonel John M'Kee, agent of the Chickasaws, with whom they held a consultation. Pushamataha and Gaines then went forward. The former called a council of his people of the eastern district of the nation.' He ha- rangued the assembled multitude in an admirable speech ; and it was so effective that when, at the conclusion, he said, "If you have a mind to follow me, I will lead you to glory and victory," a warrior arose, slapped his hand upon his heart, and said, " I am a man ! I am a man ! I will follow you !" All the others did likewise, and raised a shout that filled the heart of Gaines with joy.^ Colonel M'Kee was equally successful with the Chickasaws. A large body of them volunteered to follow him, and did so to the Tuscaloosfl^Ealls, for the purpose of attacking a Creek town there. They found it in ashes, 'siOLoiiap centre of a solitude wherein no Indian was visible. M'Kee returned to Peachlarici s, at tbe mouth of the Octibaha, where his dusky follow- ers separated, some going to their homes, and others making their way to join the standard of General Claiborne, then at St. Stephen's.^ It was while the consternation of the inhabitants on the Alabama and Tombigbee was most iatense that Jackson was making his way toward the sanguinary theatre on which, as we have seen, he appeared at the close of October. He now became chief actor in the terrible drama. On his avijyaka at'rn the Coosa, Jackson was informed that the Creeks were assem- bled at aiain — ^^l^le, a town in an open woodland only thirteen miles from the cami:- in the ?'4lle jsl to attack them at once, and on the morning of the 2d of N"o- veffifbv i^je ».mpd the stalwart Coffee to his presence. That brave officer had • September 2^"^* ••< /latbeen promoted to the rank of brigadier.'' He was anxious to be ^^^- on me wing with his mounted men, and was soon gratified. The com- manding general ordered him to take one thousand horsemen, and fall suddenly and fiercely upon the offending town in which blood-thirsty enemies were harbored, and destroy it. He left camp for the purpose toward evening, his troops accompanied by Captain Richard Brown and a company of friendly Creeks and Cherokees, whose tion from such an elevation was brilliant, and no covert attack could be made upon my position. As a precaution against the Indian torch, I had my block-houses and their roofs well plastered with clay. We displayed ourselves in arms frequently, the women wearing hats and the garments of their husbands, to impress upon the spies that we knew were lurking around an exaggerated notion of our strength. For provisions we shot such cattle and hogs as grazed within the range of our guns, but I carefully noted the marks and brands, and afterward indemniHed the ovmera."— Life o/Daie, page 117. » ' The Choctaw nation was then composed of three distinct governments. The Eastern district was ruled over by Pushamataha, the Western by Puckshenubbee, and the Northwestern by MushelMuhba. 2 "You know Tecumtha," said Pushamataha. " He is a bad man. He came through our nation, but did not turn our heads. He went among the Muscogees [Creeks], and got many of them to jdin him. You know the Tensaw peo- ple. They were our friends. They played ball with us. They sheltered and fed us whenever we went to Pensacola. Where are they now? Their bones rot at Sam Mims's place. The people at St. Stephen's are also onr friends. The Muscogees intend to kill them too. They want soldiers to defend them. [Here he drew his sword and flourished it.] You can all do as yon please. You are all freemen. I dictate to none of you. But I shall join the St. Stephen's people. If you have a mind to follow me, I will lead you to glory and victory."— Pickett's Alabama, ii., 291. 3 Pickett's Alabmna, ii., 292. ♦ Not far flrom the present village of Jacksonville, the capital of Benton County, Alabama, on the eontheast side of Tallasehatche Creek. OF THE WAR OF 1812. "^es Battle of- Tallasehatche. Annihilation of the Town and the Warriors. Jackson's Army on the Coosa. heads were tastefully ornamented with white feathers and deer's tails. They forded the Coosa at the Fish Dam, four miles above the Ten Islands, and at dawn on the morning of the 3d halted within half a mile of the doomed town. There Coffee quickly divided his forces into two columns, the right composed of cavalry, com- manded by Colonel Allcorn, and the left of mounted riflemen, under Colonel Cannon. With the latter the newly-made general marched. Allcorn was directed to encircle one half of the town with his cavalry, while Cannon and his riflemen should encircle the other half This was promptly accomplished at sunrise, when the foe sallied out with beat of drums and savage yells, their prophets being in the advance. The battle that speedily began was brought on at about eight o'clock by the com- panies of Captain Hammond and Lieutenant Patterson, who had made a manoeuvre for the purpose of decoying the foe from the shelter of their houses. It was success- ful. The Indians fell upon them furiously, when the two companies, according to in- structions, fell back, pursued by the enemy, until the latter encountered the right of Coffee's troops. These first gave the Indians a deadly volley of bullets, and then charged them violently, while the left division closed in upon the doomed foe. Never did men fight more gallantly than did the Creeks. Inch by inch they were pushed back to their houses by the ever-narrowing circle of assailants. They fought desper- ately and with savage fury. They were shot and bayoneted in and out of their houses. Not one would ask for quarter, but fought so long as he had strength to wield a weapon. None survived. Every warrior was killed. In falling back to their dwellings they mingled with the women and children, and in the fury of the contest some of these were slain. The victory for the>a8sailants was complete; and at the close of this short, sharp battle, one hundred and eighty-six Indian warriors lay dead around the victors.^ It was believed that full two hundred perished. Eighty-four women and children were made prisoners. ■ The loss of the Americans was only five killed (no oflicers) and forty-one wounded, most of them slightly. Having destroyed the town and buried liis dead, the victorious Coffee marched back in triumph to the camp on the Coosa, followed by a train of sorrowful captives. It was a terrible sight for the eye of Pity. Retributive justice, evoked by the slain at Fort Mims, was satisfied. Tallasehatche was wiped from the face of the earth, and every survivor was sent a prisoner to Huntsville.^ Thus commenced the fearful chastisement of the infatuated Creeks who had listened to the siren voice of Tecum- tha, and the wicked suggestions and false promises of the Spaniai-ds i«id BritlsTi at Pensacola. Jackson now made his way over the Coosa Mountains to the Ten Islands, and on the right bank of the Coosa commenced the construction of a second fortified deposit for supplies. Strong pickets and block-houses soon began to rise, and the work was well advanced when, just at sunset on the 1th. of November, an Indian chief from the Hickory Ground, who,^by stratagem, had made his way from the beleaguered fort, came with swift foot and informed the general-in-chief that one hundred and sixty 1 General Coffee said in his report (November 4, 1813) : ' ' They fought as long as one existed ; and when the last of (ie devoted band, still struggling for the mastery, had fallen beneath the hatchets and hunting-knives of his enemies, one hundred and eighty-W warriors were stretched lifeless on the fine open woodland in which their village was slt- ■ " A touching tale of truth is told in connection with the battle of Tallasehatche. Among the slain was found an In- dian mother and upon her bosom lay her infant boy, vainly efldeavoring to draw sustenance from the cold breast. The omhan was carried into camp, and Jackson tried to induce some of the mothers among the captives to give it nourish- ment " No " they replied ; "all his relatives are dead, kill him too." The little boy was taken to the general's own tent fed on brown sugar and water until a nurse could be procured at Huntsville, when it was sent to Mrs. Jackson. The'^eneral was a childless man, and he adopted the forest foundling as his son. Mrs. Jackson watched over him with a mother's care and he grew to be a beautiful youth, full of promise. But consumption laid him in the grave among the shades of the " Hermitage" before he reached manhood, and his foster-parents mourned over him with a grief as ^^W^bOT wa8°no exception to the rule of Indian instinct for wild and forest life. He delighted to roam in the woods, decorate his head with fefthersi and start out f*om ambush and frighten children with loud yells and horrid :grimaces. He was apprenticed to a harness-maker in Nashville. ,_ 1 , 764 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Port Strotlier In Peril. Jackson goes to the Relief of Talladega. He surrounds the Besiegers at Talladega. friendly Creek warriors, with their families, were hemmed in at Talladega, in Lash- ley's Fort,' thirty miles distant, with no hope of escape. The besiegers were a thou- sand strong, and they so completely surrounded the little stockade that no man could leave it unobserved. The inmates had but little food and water, and must soon perish. The foe was well provided, and, feeling sure of their prey at the hands of Ifamine if by no quicker way, were dancing around the doomed people with demo- niac joy. This messenger, who was a prominent man, had made his escape by cov- ering himself with the skin of a hog, and in the darkness of night, while imitating its gait, and grunting, and apparent rooting, was allowed to pass slowly through the hostile camp until he was beyond the reach of their hearing and arrows. Then he cast away his disguise, and with speed heightened by desperation, he fled to Jack- son's camp on the Coosa. The commander-in-chief resolved to give immediate relief, to the people at Talla- dega. He had just heard of the near approach of General White with the van of General Cocke's division of East Tennessee troops, so he ordered his whole force, ex- cepting a small guard for the camp, the sick and the wounded, to make immediate preparations for marching. He wrote a hasty note to General White, informing that oificer that he should expect him to protect Fort Strother and its inmates during « November 8, his absence, and at little past midnight* he commenced fording the Coosa ^^^- a mile above the fort, with twelve hundred infantry and eight hundred mounted men, each of the latter taking a foot-soldier on his horse behind him. All were across at four o'clock in the morning, and then they commenced a very weary- ing march through a perfect wlderness. At sunset they were within six miles of Talladega, when the general commanded his followers to seek repose, for active work would be required- of them in the morning. The chief slumbered not. All night long he was on the alert for the reports of spies whom he sent out on scouting expeditions. At midnight he received a note by an Indian runner from General White, telling him that General Cocke had recalled him, and he would not be able to protect Fort Strother. Jackson was perplexed. Strother and Talladega both needed his presence. He resolved to rescue the latter, and then fly to the defense of the former. Silently his troops were put in motion in ' November 9 *^® dark, and before four o'clock in the morning" they had made a wide circuit and surrounded the enemy, who, a thousand and eighty strong, were concealed in a thicket that covered the margins of two rivulets flowing out from springs.^ Jackson disposed his troops for action so as to inclose the foe in a circle of armed men. The infantry were in three lines, the militia on the left, and the volunteers on the right. The cavalry formed the two extreme wings, and were ordered to advance in a curve, keeping their rear connected with the advance of the infantry lines, so that there should be no break in the circle. In this position were the troops at sunrise, when Colonel William Carroll was sent forward with the advanced guard, composed of the companies of Captains Dederich, Caperton, and Bledsoe, to commence the at; tack. He delivered a heavy fire, when the savages rushed forth, with horrid yells and screams, in the directio n of the militia under General Eoberts, from whose brigade • This fort was a little eastward of the Coosa River, in Talladega County, Alabama ; and a portion of its site Is now covered by the pleasant village of Talladega, the capital of the county, which had a population of about two thousand When the late Cml War broke out in 1861. It is in a delightful valley, with very attractive scenery in view. ine order of march is seen in the upper part of the diagram on pageTflS. The cavalry were commanded by Colonel ^"T'l . 1 mounted riflemen by Colonel Cameron. The infantry were commanded by Brigadier Generals Hall* and Hobert8,t assisted by Colonels Bradley, Pillow, M'Crorsney, Carroll, and Dyer. The position of the troops In the auacK, When they had surrounded the enemy, is seen in the lower part of the diagram, commencing with the resei-ves unoer ^.olonel Dyer. This diagram is copied, by permissio n, from Bicketfs History of Alabama, ii., 292. i,."„3^"'!?™ ^"^ ^''l''.««° " <=ol™el 'h the Tennessee militia who followed Jackson from Nashville to Natchez and back, and was made brigadier general of three-months' volunteers on the 26th of September,J813. tober^l813 ""^ commissioned brigadier general of three-months' Tennessee Volunteers on the 4th of Oc- OF THE WAR OF 1812. 165 Temporary Panic among the Militia. Battle at Talladega. Destrttction of the Indians. =s^ Carroll had been detached, and who, pursuant to or- . j ^ ders, had fallen back, so as to bring the enemy upon g pi ' pATTLE the main body. Their horrid noise and devilish ap- ^fT „ „ „ „'^^^ pearance so terrified the militia that some of them gave way. Seeing this, Jackson ordered Colonel Bradley to fill the chasm with his regioient, which was lagging behind the line. Bradley failed to obey, and Lieutenant Colonel Dyer, in command of reserves composed of the companies of Captams Smith, Morton, Axune, Edwards, and Hammond, was ordered to that duty with his men. These were immediately dismounted, and met the yelling savages so resolutely that the fugitive militia took courage, resumed their station, and fought gallant- ly. The battle now became general, and had lasted about fifteen minutes, when the Indians, who had fought well, suddenly broke, and fled in all direc- tions toward the surrounding mountains. But for the giving way of the militia, and the forming of a gap in the circle by the tardiness of Bradley, and a too wide circuit made by AUcom and his cavalry, it is believed that not a warrior would have escaped. They were hotly pursued, and the woods for miles became a resting-place for the bodies of dead savages. Two hundred and nine- ty of the slain were counted. Many were, doubtless, not seen. The number of the wounded could not be ascertained, but they were numerous. The loss of the Americans amounted to fifteen killed and eighty-five wounded. Four were badly hurt, and only two of the latter died from the effect of injuries received. Among the wounded were Colonels Wil- liam Pillow and James Lauderdale, Major Kichard Boyd, and Lieutenant Samuel Bar- ton, the last mortally.i These and other wounded men were placed on litters, and when the dead were all buried the victorious little army marched with the maimed to Fort Strother, followed by the grateful rescued Creeks.^ Among the few trophies of victory borne back to the Coosa was a coarse banner on which were the Spanish arms. This evidence of the complicity of the Spaniards with the hostile Creeks was sent by Jackson to the ladies of East Tennessee, who, as we have observed, presented a stand of colors to the Tennessee Volunteers.^ When Jackson and his troops reached Fort Strother, wearied and half famished, they found the place almost destitute of provisions. None had been brought in during the absence of the little army, and now starvation threatened all. Almost mutinous ' General Jackson's Dispatch to Governor Blount, November 11, 1S13. Eeport of Adjutant General Sitler, Novem- ber 16. 2 These consisted of one hundred and sixty friendly Creek warriors, with their wives and children. The crushing blow was to have fallen upon them on that very day. They were almost ready to die of thirst. Their gratitude and joy were commensurate with the distress from which they had been relieved. ' See page 744. The following note (printed in Parton's Life o/ Jackson, i.,448) accompanied the colors, and contains a history of the affair : ',' General Andrew Jackson, with compliments to Governor Blount, requests him to inform the ladies of Bast Ten- nessee, who presented the colors to the Tennessee Volunteers, that Captain Deaderich, who, with Captain Bledsoe's and Captain Caperton's companies, under the direction of Major Carroll, were sent to bring on the attack, and lead the en- emy, by a regular retreat, on the strongest point of my infantry, went into action with their colors tied round him, and that they were well supported. And, in return, I send yon a stand of colors (although not of such elegant stuff or mag- nificent needle-work) taken by one of the volunteers, which I beg you to present to them as the only mark of gratitude the volunteers have it in their power to make. With his own hand he slayed the bearer. They will be handed by Mr. Fletcher, who I send for that purpose." A letter dated Nashville, November IT, 1813, said, " Mr. Thomas H. Fletcher, of this town, has just arrived from General Jackson's army. He was the bearer of a stand of coloi-s taken from the en- emy, and hearing the Spanish cross." V66 PICTOEIAL PIELD-BOOK A divided Command. Tlie Indians, dispirited, sue for Peace. Separate Action of General Coclse and hiS' Command, murmurs were heard Among the suffering soldiers, hut their general's words and ex- ample kept them within the bounds of obedience. He was ever cheerful, and shared with his soldiers in all their privations, eating, like them, the acorns found in the for- est, to sustain life. It was a very critical period in the campaign, but it was passed in safety and honor to all concerned. The severe chastisement administered upon the Creeks at Tallasehatche and Tal- ladega had an immediate and powerful effect upon the spirit and temper of the sav- ages, and promised a speedy termination of the war. That desired end was. post- poned by an unfortunate circumstance growing out of the ever-dangerous fact of a divided command in the campaign. There was an existing jealousy between the East and West Tennessee troops ; and, notwithstanding Jackson was the senior offi- cer, and properly commander-in-chief of the campaign against the Creeks, General Cocke maintained, up to the time in question, a separate and independent command, and attempted to operate against the hostile Indians at first even without consulta- tion with General Jackson. This produced trouble, as we shall observe presently. Many of the warriors who fought at Talladega were from the Hillabee towns on the Tallapoosa River, in the present Cherokee County, Alabama. Those who escaped to the mountains on that dreadful morning were so thoroughly convinced of the futil- ity and danger of making farther resistance to the Tennesseeans, that they resolved to sue for peace and reconciliation. For this purpose they sent Robert Grayson, an aged Scotchman and old resident among them, to make peaceful propositions to Gen- eral Jackson at Fort Strother. Jackson cordially responded to the proposition, but at the same time told the messenger, in firm language, that he had come to chastise those who had committed gross wrongs toward the white people and friendly Indians in the Creek country, and that he must have full evidence of the sincerity of peace professions before he would consent to stay his hand. " The prisoners and property which they have taken from us and the friendly Creeks," he said, " must be returned ; the instigators of the war and the murderers of our citizens must be surrendered-; the latter must and will be made to feel the force of our resentment. Long shall they remember Fort Mims in bitterness and tears. Upon those who are disposed to re- main friendly I neither wish nor intend to make war." Grayson hastened back with the conciliatory message. It was never delivered for destrudtion had fallen upon the Hillabee people while the messenger was away on his errand. That destruction came from the East Tennesseeans under Generals Cocke arid White, who had come down in a separate column, and encamped on the bank of the Coosa, seventy miles above Fort Strother, late in October. There Cocke, with the main body, awaited supplies and built a fort, which he named Armstrong, in hon- or of the then Secretary of War. It was in the present Cherokee County, Alabama, not far westward of the Georgia line. But the supplies came not. The continued low water in the Tennessee would not allow the contractor to fulfill his promises. Famine stared the little army in the face. Cocke was sorely perplexed. He knew that Jackson, who depended upon the same source of supplies, must be as much em- barrassed as himself by lack of food. What shall be done ? was a very serious ques- tion that needed an immediate answer. Jackson had called for a junction of the armies. Shall we go forward and increase the dangers of famine by having a com- bined army of five thousand men in the wilderness ? was another pertinent and im- portant question. ^ A council of officers was held. The question. Shall we follow Jackson ? was decided in the negative by unanimous vote. Shall we cross the Coosa and proceed to the Creek settlements on the Tallapoosa ? was a second question, and it was unanimously decided in the affirmative. <3-eneral White was then within a day's march of Jackson's camp, and Cocke sent an order for him to return immediate- ly to Fort Armstrong. "It is the unanimous wish of the. officers and men also," he said. "If we follow General Jackson's army," he continued, " we must suffer for OF THE WAR OF. 1812. 'JQ'J General Cocke falls upon a Hillabee Town. Massacre of its People. Exasperation of the Indians. supplies ; nor can we expect to gain a victory. Let us, then, take a direction in which we can share some of the dangers and glories of the field." This message, and the note from General Jackson, already mentioned, urging him to hasten to the protec- tion of Fort Strother, reached White at the same time. He considered his obedience due first to his immediate superior, General Cocke, and he marched his half-starved brigade back to Fort Armstrong. General Cocke, too i-emote from General Jackson to act in concert with him, was, consequently and unfortunately, ignorant of the peaceful mood of the Hillabee peo- ple. He had been informed that one of the most energetic of the Creek leaders (Bill Scott, who commanded the Indians at Talladega), was among them, filled with the hellish purpose of massacring every white person and friendly Creek in all that re- gion. He accordingly dispatched General White, with some mounted men and a band of Cherokee allies, to attack the Hillabee town. White took only three days' rations with him, and marched with, great rapidity toward the principal village of the Hillabee, on the border between the present Talladega and Randolph Counties, Alabama, full a hundred miles from Fort Armstrong. He spread desolation in his path. Ockfuske and Genalga, two deserted towns, one of thirty and the other of ninety houses, were laid in ashes, and at dawn on the morning of the 18th of Novem- ber — the very day when Grayson left Jackson's camp — White appeared before 'the chief village. The inhabitants were unsuspicious of danger, and made no resistance ; and yet White, for the purpose- of inspiring terror in the minds of the Creek nation, fell furiously upon the non-resistants, and murdered no less than sixty warriors before his hand was stayed. Then, with two hundred and fifty widows and orphans as pris- oners in his train, he returned to Fort Armstrong, without a drop of a Tennesseean's blood being shed. The inhabitants of the other Hillabee towns, ignorant of any other commander than General Jackson, regarded this massacre as the most foul perfidy on his part, and were intensely exasperated. They felt that their humble petition for peace had been cruelly responded to only by the sword and bullet, and thenceforth they carried on hostilities with the most malignant feelings and fearful energy. Jackson's anger against General Cocke was equally hot. In the absence of correct information, he regarded him as a rival, willfully withholding supplies, and seeking glory-on his own account. This was unjust, and the irate commander was convinced of the fact in the course of two or three weeks, when, in a friendly letter, he invited the East Tennesseean to join him with his army at Fort Strother on the 12th of De- cember. Cocke cheerfully complied, and was there on the appointed day, having in the mean time scoured the Cherokee country for provisions, and caused a considera- ble qua,ntity of supplies to be hauled from the Tennessee to the Coosa for.the use of the combined army. He found that of Jackson greatly demoralized. Disappointed, starving, inactive, the troops at Fort Strother were dreadfully homesick, and filled with a mutinous spirit. This the courage and tact of the commander controlled, but with great difficulty. The militia, on one occasion, prepared to go back to the set- tlements. They started in a body, when the yet faithful volunteers, with Jackson at their head stood in their path. Then the volunteers attempted to leave the camp and go home — the vei-y men to whose fortunes their leader had so tenaciously ad- hered at Natchez the year before — when the militia, with Jackson at their head, stood in the path of the new mutineers. At length almost the entire army of West Ten- nessee despairing of relief, determined to abandon the expedition and go home. Some of the militia actually started, and the volunteers were about to follow. The general had no sufficient force to restrain them, and he was compelled to rely upon himself alone. He mounted his horse, seized a musket with his right hand, while the disabled arm was yet in a sling, and, placing himself in front of the malcontents, ^yith the weapon resting upon his horse's neck, he declared that he would shoot the first 768 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Mutineers checked. The Creek Couutry invaded from Georgia. Battle of Auttoee. man who should take a step in advance. Amazed at his boldness, they gazed at him in silence. Fortunately, at that moment. Coffee and two companies of faithful mount- ed men came up, and the mutineers, after consultation, agreed to return to duty. Yet discontent was not allayed, and Jackson finally allowed all volunteers so disposed to return to their homes, and he organized a force out of other materials. Could he have had sufficient supplies after the battle at Talladega, and been met by immediate concert of action by the East Tennessee troops, he might have ended the war within a fortnight. It was protracted for months ; and for ten long and weary weeks he was compelled to lie in idleness at Fort Strother, suffering the vexations which grew out of positive demonstrations of discontent. In the mean time the Creek country was invaded from another quarter. The cry for help had filled the ears of the Georgians, and late in November, Brigadier General John Floyd, at the head of nine hundred and fifty militia of that state, and four hund- red friendly Indians, guided by Mordecai, a Jew trader, entered the region of the hostiles from the east. He crossed the Chattahoochee into the present Russell Coun- ty, Alabama, on the 24th of November,* and pushed westward toward the Tal- lapoosa, where he was informed a large number of hostile Indians had collect- ed in the village of Auttose, on the " holy ground," on which the prophets had taught the Indians to believe no white man could set foot and live. This town was on the left bank of the Tallapoosa, about twenty miles above its confluence with the Coosa, at the mouth of the Calebee Creek. Floyd encamped within a few miles of it on the evening of the ^8th, and at an hour past midnight marched to the attack. At dawn he was before the town with his troops arranged for battle in three columns. The right was composed of Colonel Booth's battalion ; the left of Colonel Watson's ; and the centre of the rifle companies of Captains Adams and Merriweather, the latter commanded by Lieutenant Hendon. The artillery, under Captain Thomas, was post- ed in front of the right column. The friendly Indians were led by William M'ln- tosh,^ a half-blood, and a chief called The Mad Dog's Son. Floyd intended to surround the town, but the morning light revealed the fact that there were two villages in front of the invading column, and that it was necessary to change at once the disposition of the forces. This was skillfully done. One town was below the other, a hundred rods apart. To the lower one three companies of in- fantry, Merriweather's rifles, and two troops of dragoons, under Irwin and Steele, were sent, while the remainder of the troops marched upon the upper town. Imme- diately after the attack commenced the battle became general The Indians ap- peared at all points, and fought gallantly for a while, when the booming of heavy ar- tillery, and a furious bayonet charge, so terrified them that they fell back and sought shelter in the out-houses, thickets, and copses in the rear of the towns. Overpowering numbers pushed them hard, and they at length fled to cane-covered caves cut in the bluffs of the river. Their dwellings, about four hundred in number, some of them commodious and containing valuable articles, were fired and destroyed, and the poor smitten and dismayed savages were hunted and butchered with a fiendish barbarity which ought to have made the cheeks of the actors burn with the blushes of shame. It was estimated that full two hundred Indians were murdered. Floyd lost eleven killed and fifty-four wounded.^ The loss of the friendly Indians, who held back at the beginning, but fought bravely toward the last, is not mentioned in the official re- ports. 1 William M'IntoBh was the chief of the Coweta tribe of the Creek nation. He was the son of a Scotchman by a Creek woman. He was conspicuous in the memorable battle at Horse-shoe Bend in March, 1814. In 1823 he lost cast with his people because of his having evidently been bribed to make a certain treaty for the giving up of Creek terri- tory. He and an adherent were afterward shot as they attempted to escape from M'Intosh's dwelling, which some ex- asperated Indians had fired. His residence was on the Chattahoochee. See Drake's Book of the Indians, eleventh edi- tion, page 391. 2 General Floyd's dispatch to Major General Pinckney, the commander-in-chief of the Southern Department, Decem- ber 4, 1813 ; Pickett's iKstory o/.4iabaTOo, ii., 300. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 769 Claiborne ordered into the Creels Country. Expedition under Captain Dale. Scene on tlie Alabama. In the space of seven days Floyd had marehed one hundred and twenty miles and committed the massacre. He was now sixty miles from a deposit of provisions, and his rations were nearly exhausted ; so, after burying his dead and preparing litters for his wounded, he hastened hack to Fort Mitchell, on the Chattahoochee. On his de- parture, and when, a mile eastward of the ruined towns, his rear was attacked hy some desperate survivors of Auttose, who were dispersed after receiving a few volleys. While these events were transpiring in the upper country of the Creeks, stirring scenes were witnessed in the present Clarke County, in the forks of the Tombigbee and Alabama, and vicinity. The Indians, under the direct influence of Weathersford and the British and Spanish officers, were very active and sanguinary in that region, and General Flournoy, who had kept General Claiborne on the defensive, was at last aroused to a sense of the necessity of ofiensive measures. Accordingly, on the 12th of October, he ordered that officer to advance with his army into the heart of the Creek country for the purpose of defending the citizens while gathering their crops yet in the field ; " to drive the enemy from the frontiers ; to follow them up to their contiguous towns, and to kill, burn, and destroy all their negroes, horses, cattle, and other property that could not conveniently be brought to the d6p6ts." This san- guinary order was justified by the Georgia general, by the conduct of Great Britain, and the acts of her Indian allies. Claiborne instantly obeyed. He crossed the Tombigbee from St. Stephen's, and scoured the country on its eastern side in all directions with his detachments, meeting and dispersing bands of Indians here and there, but without bringing them to battle any where. In the mean time Captain Sam Dale, who had recovered from his wounds, was preparing for active operations. He had held Fort Madison ; and, on the return of Colonel Carson to that post early in November, he had obtained his leave to go out and drive the small bands of marauding savages from the frontier. He was joined by a detachment of thirty of Captain Jones's Mississippi Volunteers, under Lieutenant Montgomery, and forty Clarke County militia, having for his lieutenant Gerrard W. Creagh, who was attached to his company in the battle of Burnt Corn Creek. They marched southeasterly to a ferry, where Caesar, a free negro of the par- ty, had two canoes concealed. In these the party crossed the river, and on a frosty night, with very thin clothing, they lodged in a cane-brake. At dawn* .November 12, they marched up the river, the boats in charge of five picked men each, ^^^^• and keeping abreast of the party on shore. Some Indians were soon encountered on land and water, and, after a brisk skirmish, the dusky foe fled up the stream out of sight. Dale's party were then separated, some following the trail on the east side of the river, and others following that on the west side. At half past ten they reached Eandon's Landing,^ where they found evidences of Indians near. Directly a large canoe, made from the trunk of an immense cypress-tree, came floating down the stream, bearing eleven naked and hideously-painted savages. They were about to land at a cane-brake, when Dale, calling his men to follow, dashed for the spot to con- test their landing. They shot two of the Indians, and the others backed the great canoe out into deep water, three of the Indians swimming on the side not exposed to the bullets, and the remainder lying flat on its bottom. A stirring scene now ensued. One of the warriors in the water called out to Weathersford, who was in the neighborhood, for help. Dale stopped his voice by putting a bullet in his brain, when the great canoe, deprived of the guidance of the three Indians in the stream, who had been killed, floated sluggishly down with the current. Dale ordered six men on the eastern bank to fetch the boats for the pur- 1 On thP Wnff above this landing Fort Claiborne was afterward bnilt, on or near the site of the village of Claiborne, in WonrnP Ponntv Alabama. The picture on page 770, Eandon's (now Claiborne) Landing, is from a sketch by the Author, mSe fro^t^e^t k Ta steame'r in April, 18?6. The covered way is for cotton-bales and other things to slide down from the™mmit of the bluff, two hundred feet, to the margin of the river, whence merchandise and agricultmal products are taken on board of steamers. Here was the scene of the canoe fight recorded in the text. 3 C V70 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK A terrible Eucounter in Canoes. Dale's hand-to-hand Fight. He wins the Victory. pose of attacking the Indians in their huge craft. As they approached and looked into it, one of them screamed, "Live Indians, by God! Back water, boys ! back wa- ter !" and they went back to the place of embarkation faster than they came. Dale was exasperated by their cowardice, and quickly oi-- dered Coesar to bring a ca- noe. He jumped into it, fol- lowed by Jeremiah Austill and James Smith. It would hold no more safely. Caesar paddled it within forty yards of the craft of the savages, when Dale and his compan- ions rose to pour a volley into the great canoe. Each gun missed fii-e. Water had spoiled the priming. A mo- ment afterward and the two vessels were side by side, when the stalwart Dale, or- dering Cajsar to hold them together, clubbed his mus- ket, and, placing one foot in his own canoe and the other in that of the enemy, com- menced a furious contest. Austill and Smith joined in the fray with clubbed mus- kets, but CiBsar could not hold the boats together, the current was so strong. They parted, leaving Dale alone in the canoe of the savages, one of whom lay wounded in the stern, and four others, strong and fierce, confronted him as he stood defiantly in the middle of the great canoe. ^ Two warriors lay dead at his feet. At the instant when Dale planted himself in the middle of the great canoe, the sav- age nearest to him directed a terrible blow at his head, which the soldier parried skill- fidly with the barrel of his gun, and, as quick as lightning, slew his assailant with his bayonet. The next one instantly sprang forward, when a bullet from Austin's rifle, sent from the boat that was drifting a few yards off, pierced his heart, and he fell in the bottom of tlie canoe. The third then made for Dale with his tomahawk, when he too fell, pierced by the brave captain's bayonet. The last warrior was Tar-cha-chee, a noted wrestler of powerful frame. He and Dale were old acquaintances. As the savage's keen glance met that of Dale, he shook himself, gave the horrid war-whoop, and then cried out, " Big Sam, I am a man — I am coming — come on !" He then bound- ed over his dead companions with a terrific yell, and directed a furious blow at the head of Dale with his clubbed rifle. Dale dodged it, but it fell upon and dislocated Ills shoulder. At the same moment Dale darted his bayonet into the body of the In- dian, who exclaimed, as he tried to escape, "Tar-cha-chee is a man ! He is not afraid to die !" Dale then turned to the wounded warrior, who had been snapping his piece ■ It was das ont of a hiifje cypress-tree. It was between thirty and forty feet long, four feet deep, and three feet abeam. It had been need for the special pnrpose of transporting corn. ilANDON S OE OLAIUOK.NE L.VNnilSU. OF THE WAK OF 1812. V71 Fame of the " Canoe Fight." Consfniction of Fort Claiborne at Eandon's Landing. Anatill and Dale. at him during the whole conflict, and was now defiantly exclaiming " I am a warrior ! I am not afraid to die !" and pinned him to the canoe with his bayonet. " He fol- lowed his ten comrades to the land of spirits," said the rugged Indian fighter after- ward.^ Thus resulted, after a straggle of about ten minutes, one of the most remarkable of naval and personal combats on record. Just as it ended, Dale's men came running to the bank, and shouted " Weathersford is coming !" He immediately crossed with his whole party, and made his way with them safely to Fort Madison. The fame of this exploit made Dale a hero of history, and the " canoe fight" is yet a theme for ro- mance and song among the common people in the South west.^ At about this time Claiborne pushed across Clarke County to the Alabama for the purpose of establishing a deposit for supplies at Randon's Landing,^ awaiting there the arrival of Georgia and Tennessee troops, and to act as much as possible on the de- fensive, as circumstances might require. He marched with three hundred volunteers, some di'agoons and militia, and a band of Choctaw Indians under General Pushama- taha and Chief Mushullatubba. He crossed the Alabama on the l'7th of November and encamped, and there he was joined on the 28th by the Third Regiment of national troops, under Colonel Gilbert C. Russell, from Mount Vernon. There Claiborne con- structed a strong stockade two hundred feet square, with three block-houses and a half-moon battery that commanded the rear. It was intended as a deposit of provis- ions for the Tennessee troops above. It was completed before the close of Novem- ber, when it received the name of Fort Claiborne, in honor of the commander. On its site, as we have observed, stands Claiborne, the capital of Monroe County, Alaba- ma. From that point early in December Claiborne apprised General Jackson and Governor Blount of the establishment of this dep6t, and also of the arrival of more English vessels in Pensacola Bay, with many soldiers and Indian supplies. He said he " wished to God that he was authorized to take that sink of iniquity [Pensacola], the depot of Tories and instigators of disturbances on the Southern frontier."^ Claiborne now determined to penetrate the Creek country toward its heart, and share with Jackson and Cofiee the honors of bringing the savages into subjection.^ 1 Pickett's History of Alabama, ii., 809. Claiborne's Life and Tiinea of Omeral Sam Dale, page 12t. When Claiborne wrote in 1860, Jeremiah Austin, one of Dale's companions, was a highly-esteemed commission merchant in Mobile, and he was still living when the writer of these pages visited that city in the spring of 1806. He had been a state senator , of that district. All of the; circumstances of the canoe fight here given were verified before the Alabama Legislature in 1821. Austin is a native of Pendleton District, South Carolina, where he was born on the 10th oi August, 1794, and was only nineteen years of age at the time of the canoe fight. He is a son of Captain Evans Austill, already mentioned as one who remained with Dale in Fort Madison. He afterward became colonel of the militia, and is represented as a powerful man physicaHy. James Smith, his companion in the canoe with Caesar, was a native of Georgia, and was then twenty-five years of age. He was a daring frontier man, and died in Bast Mississippi several years ago. He and Aus- tin tried hard to bring their canoe into the fight in aid of Dale, but the cuiTent prevented. " Their guns had become useless, and their only paddle had been broken," said Dale. " Two braver fenows," he continued, " never lived. Aus- tin's first shot saved my life." .J „ i ■■,.., • = Samuel Dale was a remarkable man. He was of Irish extraction, and was bom in Rockbridge Connty, Virgmia, in 17T2. His father removed with his family to Glade Hollow, on the Clinch River, in 17T5, and in 1784 emigrated to the vicinity of Greensburg, Georgia. Not long afterward Dale and his wife died, leaving eight children, Samuel being the eldest He took part in movements for keeping in check the hostUities of the Creek Indians in the time of Washing- ton's administration. He became a famous borderer and Indian fighter, and afterward a trader among the Creeks and .Cherokees He was also a guide to parties emigrating to the Mississippi Territory from Georgia. During the war with the Creeks now under consideration, he was very active and efficient. He received the commission of brevet brig- adier general After the war he settled at Dale's Perry, on the Alabama, and engaged in merchandising. In 1816 he was a member of the Convention called to divide the Mississippi Territory, and the foUowing year he was a delegate to the iirst General Assembly of the Territory of Alabama-the eastern portion of Mississippi. He served several terms in the Legislature of Alabama, and in 1824 he was on a committee of the body appointed to escort Lafayette to the cap- ital of the state. He was engaged mnch in pnbHc life until his death, which occurred at his residence in Daleville, Lau- derdale County, Mississippi, on the 24th of May, 1841, when he was in the seventieth year of his age. 3 See note 1 page 769 This was named from its owner, who perished in Fort Mims. It was m the county whence the hostile Indians procured most of their supplies. . ♦ Pickett's ^tatomo,ii., page 320. • 5 This enterprise was deemed so hazardous that a memorial against it was signed by nine captains, eight lieutenants, and five ensigns of the Mississippi Volunteers in behalf of themselves and their men. They urged the feeble condition of the men lack of provisions, clothing, blankets, and shoes, the inclemency of the weather, and the want of trans- nortation throu-'h a country where there was not even a hunter's traU. Yet they expressed their willmgness to fol- low the eenerafif he should resolve to proceed. He did so resolve, and they cheerfully followed. "Not a murmur was heard • not a complaint was made," said General Claiborne afterward. " Subordination to their officers marked -^72 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Claiborne traverses the Creek Country. Battle of Econoehaca. Escape of Weathersford. On the 12th of December he left Fort Claiborne with a little army about one thou- sand strong, and marched in a northeasterly direction toward the present Lowndes County, Alabama. His force consisted of a detachment of Colonel Russell's regulars ; Major Cassell's battalion of horse ; a battalion of militia under Major Benjamin Smoot, of which Patrick May was adjutant, and Dale and Heard captains ; the twelve months' Mississippi Volunteers under Colonel Carson; and one hundred and fifty Choctaws un- der General Pushamataha. After marching eighty miles he halted, and built a sta- tion for provisions, which he called Fort Deposit. It was in the present Butler Coun- ty, Alabama. When this was completed, he pushed on nearly thirty miles farther through a pathless wilderness, with as little baggage and provisions as possible, and approached Econoehaca, or Holy Ground, which was situated upon a blufi" on the left bank of the Alabama, just below the present Powell's Ferry, in Lowndes County. The village had been built in an obscure place by Weathersford a few months before, and dedicated by the Shawnoese prophets whom Tecumtha had left to inflame the Creeks as a place of refuge for the wounded and dispersed in battle, fugitives from their homes, and women and children. 'No path or trail led to it, and the prophets assured their dupes that the ground on which Econoehaca, like that of Auttose, stood, was so holy that no white man could tread upon it and live. There these savage priests per- formed horrid incantations, and in the square in the centre of the town the most dread- ful cruelties had been already perpetrated. White prisoners, and Creeks friendly to them, had been burned to death there by the directions of those ministers of the Evil Spirit. Claiborne was before Econoehaca in battle order on the morning of the 23d of De- cember.* It was pretty strongly guarded in the Indian manner, and the in- mates had no suspicion of danger. The prophets were busy with their incan- tations, and at that very hour a number of friendly half-bloods of both sexes were in the square, surrounded by resinous wood, ready to be consumed ! The troops advanced in three columns, with mounted men under Captains Lester and Wells acting as reserves. The right column was commanded by Colonel Carson, and consisted of twelve-months' volunteers ; the centre was composed of a detach- ment of the Third Regiment United States Infantry, and some mounted riflemen un- der Lieutenant Colonel Russell ; and the left of militia, and some Choctaws under Major Smoot. Their duty was difficult, for the town was almost surrounded by swamps and deep ravines, and the Indians, regarding the place as holy, and having property there of great value, were prepared to fight desperately. They had, on the approach of the invaders, conveyed their women and children to safe places in the thick forests of what is now known as the Dutch Bend of Autauga County, and they had no hinderances to a vigorous defense. The three columns closed upon the town by a simultaneous movement. Carson's came in sight of it at noon, and was furiously attacked. It resisted the assault with great spirit, and before those of Russell and Smoot could get fairly into the fight, the dismayed Indians broke and fled. A larger portion of them escaped, owing to the failure of Major Cassell to occupy the bank of the Alabama, westward of the town, with his battalion of horse. They fled in droves along the bank of the river, and by swimming and the use of canoes, escaped to the other side, and joined their families in the Autauga forests. Weathersford, when he found himself deserted by his war- riors, fled swiftly on a fine gray horse for the salvation of his own life. He was hotly pursued to a perpendicular bluif flanked by ravines, when his powerful steed made a mighty bound from it, and horse and rider disappeared beneath the water. They immediately rose, Weathersford grasping his horse's mane with one hand, and his their every act, and no snffering conid sednce them from their dnty. Their patience was eqnal to their conrage." Most of them were young men accustomed to the comforts and luxuries of life. Among them were Gerard W. Brandon and Abraham N. Scott, both afterward governors of the state.— Claiborne's I/ife of Da^ page 138. OP THE WAR OF 1812. >!>j3 Destruction of Eoonochaca. Dissolution of the Armies io the Creek Country. Gathering of new Volunteers. rifle with the other. He regained his saddle in a moment, and the noble animal bore him safely to the Autauga shore. ^ General Claiborne laid Econochaca in ashes after it was plundered by the Choc- taws. At least two hundred houses were destroyed and thirty Indians killed. The loss of the assailants amounted to only one killed and six wounded. After spending a day and two nights in the vicinity, completing the work of destruction and disper- sion, and suffering much from wet and cold, the little army turned southward, and on the 29th* reached Fort Claiborne. They had suffered much on the a December, way, the officers and men alike subsisting chiefly on boiled acorns until ^*^- they reached Fort Deposit. The term of Carson's Mississippi Volunteers and cavalry had now expired, and they were mustered out of the service. W^ this process the little army of volunteers and militia melted away, and on the 23d of January General Claiborne was com- pelled, in writing to the Secretary of War from Mount Vernon, to say that he had only sixty men left, and their time would soon expire. Colonel Russell and his reg- ulars garrisoned Fort Claiborne, and did what they could in furnishing supplies to the Tennessee troops above ; at the same time they made some unimportant raids in the Indian country, but without accomplishing any great results. Let us now observe the movements of Jackson in the region of the Coosa and Tal- lapoosa Rivers. We left him at Fort Strother, comparatively inactive because of a lack of supplies and the discontents of his troops. Nor was this all. The terms of enlistment of most of his men were near expiration, and he saw before him, in the temper of his troops, the inevitable disintegration of his army at the moment when their services were most needed. He was urged by his chief. General Pinckney, to hold all the posts in his possession, for it was of vital importance to deprive the Brit- ish of these new Indian allies. The skies at that moment appeared lowering. Seven sail of British vessels, with troops and two bomb-ships, were off Pensacola. New Orleans was menaced, and Mobile was in imminent danger. St. Augustine would doubtless be soon occupied by a British force, with the consent of the treacherous Spaniards ; and in every direction clouds seemed gathering, portentous of dismal events in the southwest. Thus closed the year 1814, while Jackson, with his army substantially disbanded, was looking anxiously toward Tennessee for another. He had written most stirring appeals for men and food, and the patriotic Governor Blount was doing all in his power to provide both. General Cocke had gone back to East Tennessee with or- ders to raise fifteen hundred men and rejoin Jackson in the Creek country; and a band of Cherokee Indians were garrisoning Fort Armstrong, on the upper waters of the Coosa. Jackson himself was continually in motion. Almost alone he traversed the wilderness between the Coosa and Tennessee, backward and forward, in endeav- ors to hasten onward supplies for the new army. At length the advance of that army began to appear. First came two (mostly mounted) regiments to Fort Strother, commanded by Colonels Perkins and Higgins, numbering about nine hundred men, who had been enlisted for only sixty days. They were raw recruits, yet Jackson de- termined to put them in motion toward the banded enemy immediately. That en- emy recovered somewhat from the late disasters, was showing an aggressive disposi- tion which must be checked; and accordingly, on the 15th of January,'' <, jsii. Jackson led his new troops across the Coosa to the late battle-field at Talladega, where he was joined" by two hundred Cherokee and Creek In- ° ™°"y 8. dians and Chief Jim Fife. He had brought with him an artillery company who had remained at Fort Strother when the other troops left, and a six-pounder. His whole force exclusive of the Indians, was nine hundred and thirty. With these he made a raid (" excursion" the general called it) toward the Tallapoosa, preceded by two com- iFi(ikett'aEietoryo/Alabcima,ii.,Sii. IJIJ4:, PICTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK JacksoD on the War-path again. Battle of Emncfaa. Bravery of the Creeks. panies of spies. He was accompanied by General Coffee, whose men had all deserted him but about forty, who now followed as volunteers. He reached the Hillabee Creek, on the eastern line of the present Talladega County, on the 20th, and encamped that nio-ht at Enotochopco, in the southern part of Randolph County. On the follow- ■ Jairaary 21 ing moming* he pushed forward toward Emucfau, twelve miles distant, 1814. ' Qjj ^}je i)end of the Tallapoosa, and toward evening, when near Emucfau Creek, fell upon a mucli-beaten trail, which indicated the proximity of a large force of Indians. Jackson thought it prudent to halt and reconnoitre. He disposed his troops in a hollow square, doubled his sentinels, sent out spies, and in every way took measures to meet an attack during the night. Toward midnight the savages were observed prowling about, and at the same time the general was informed that a large body of Indians were encamped within thfee miles of him, some engaged in a war- dance, and others removing the women and children. An immediate attack seemed impending, and Jackson, fully prepared, calmly awaited it. The night wore away, and the dawn approached, when, at six o'clock,'' the Indians fell suddenly and with great fury upon the left flank of Jack- son's camp, occupied by the troops under Colonel Higgins. General Coffee was with them, and, under his direction, assisted by Colonel Sitler, the adjutant general, and Colonel Carroll, the inspector general, these new recruits fought gallantly, and kept the assailants in check. At dawn, when the whole field might be seen, they were re- enforced by Captain Ferrill's company of infantry, and the whole body were led to a vigorous charge upon the savages by General Coffee, supported by Colonels Higgins and Carroll, and the friendly Indians. The savages were discomfited and dispersed, and fled, hotly pursued by the Tennesseeans, with much slaughter, for full two miles. Inspirited by this success, Jackson immediately detached General Coffee, with four hundred men and the whole body of the Indians, to destroy the encampment of the foe at Emucfau. It was found to be too strongly fortified to be taken without artil- lery, so Coffee marched back for the purpose of guarding the cannon on its way to a position to bear upon the town. This retrograde movement encouraged the In- dians, and a strong party of them fell upon the right of Jackson's encampment. Cof- fee at once asked and obtained leave to lead two hundred men to the support of that wing, and to fall upon the left of the foe, while the friendly Indians should fall upon their right flank at the same moment. By some mistake only fifty-four men followed Coffee. The gallant general fell upon the Indians with these, and Jackson ordered two hundred of the friendly Indians to co-operate with him by attacking the right flank of the savages. " This order was promptly obeyed," said Jackson in his report, " and on the moment of its execution what I expected was realized. The, enemy had intended the attack on the right as a feint, and, expecting to direct my attention thither, meant to attack me again, and with their main force, on the left flank, which they had hoped to find weakened and in disorder. They were disappointed." The general, with wise discretion, had not only ordered his left to remain firm, but had repaired thither himself, and directed a part of the reserves, under Captain Ferrill, to hasten to its support. In this way the whole main body met the advancing enemy. They gave the foe two or three volleys, and then charged them vigorously with the bayonet. Th,e Indians broke, and fled in confusion, hotly pursued some distance ; and the friendly Indians, unable to withstand the temptation, left their post on the right flank and joined in the chase, all the while pouring a harassing fire upon the fugitives. , General Coffee in the mean time was struggling manfully against the assailants on the right of the encampment. The desertion of his Indian supporters placed him in a critical situation, for the odds were greatly against him. He was soon relieved by the return from the chase of Jim Fife and a hundred of his warriors, who were imme- diately summoned to his support. The aid was timely. Coffee and his little party OF THE WAR OF 18 12. 1>J5 Jackson's retrograde Movement. Battle on Enotochopco Creek. A severe Contest. charged the savages vigorously, who, dispirited by the flight of their main body, gave way, and ran for their lives in every direction, many of them falling before the de- structive weapons of the pursuers. The victory, in the form of a repulse, was com- plete, but it had been won at the cost of a severe wound in his body by General Cof- fee, and the loss of his aid-de-camp. Colonel A. Donelson, and two or three others. Several of the privates were also wounded. Jackson was astonished at the courage and bravery of the Creeks, and thought it prudent to abandon any farther attempts to destroy the encampment at Emucfau. His movement was simply a raid, with the twofold object of striking a quick and de- structive blow at the enemy, and to make a diversion in favor of General Floyd, then in the vicinity of the Chattahoochee. He therefore determined to return to Fort Strother. At ten o'clock on the morning of the 23d the retrograde march commenced, and the little army reached Enotochopco Creek before sunset, and there planted a forti- fied camp for the night. Great vigilance was exercised, and no serious molestation was observed during the darkness. Well rested, the troops moved forward early the next morning. The savages, who had interpreted this movement as a flight, had fol- lowed stealthily, and, just as the advanced guard and part of the flank columns, with the wounded, had crossed the creek,* they appeared suddenly in force on . January 24, their rear. The firing of an alarm-gun brought them to a halt, when Jack- ^®^*- son immediately changed front, and prepared to meet the foe in good battle order. He placed Colonel Carroll at the head of the centre column of the rear-guard, its right commanded by Colonel Perkins, and its left by Colonel Stump. He chose his own ground for battle, and expected to have entirely cut off the enemy by wheeling the right and left columns on their pivots, recrossing the creek above and below, and fall- ing in upon their flanks and rear. To Jackson's great astonishment, his troops, who had behaved so well at Emucfau, now failed ; and when the word was given for Car- roll to halt and form, and a few guns had been fired, the right and left columns of the rear-guard precipitately gave way and made a disastrous retreat. They drew along with them a greater part of the centre column, leaving not more than twenty-five men to support Carroll. These maintained the ground gallantly, and order was soon restored. The battle was now sustained by only this handful of the rear-guard under Captain Quarles, the artillery company under Lieutenant Robert Armstrong, and Captain Russell's company of spies. The solitary 6-pounder that composed the heavy ordnance of the expedition was dragged to the top of a hill in the midst of a galling fire from ten times the number of the Tennesseeans engaged, when they poured upon the foe a sto»m of grape-shot that sent them yelling with affright in every direction.^ They were pursued more than two miles by Colonels Carroll and Higgins, and Cap- tains Elliott and Pipkin. The venerable Judge Cocke, then sixty-five years of age, was in the engagement, and joined in the pursuit with all the ardor of youth. The slaughter among the Indians was heavy, while that among the Tennesseeans was comparatively light. The exact number of casualties among the latter was not re- corded. Captain Hamilton, from East Tennessee, was killed, and Lieutenants Robert Armstrong, Bird Evans, Hiram Bradford, and Jacob M'Givoek, and Captain Quarles, were wounded. Evans and Quarles soon afterward died. In the two engagements, Emucfau and Enotochopco, Jackson's entire loss was twenty killed and seventy-five I The sallantrr of two young men in this engagement deserves a.record. These were Constantme Perkins and Craven Tackaon The former was a graduate of Cumberland (Tennessee^ College, was with Jackson at the battle of Talladega, and was' one of the few who refused to desert him at Fort Strother. In tbe-hurry and confQsioh in separatmg the can- non from the limber, the rammer and picker of the piece were left behind. In the midstof the shower of bullets from the Indians Jackson coolly pulled out his iron ramrod from his musket andused it as a picker, primed with a cartridge from his side and flred the cannon. Perkins then slipped off his bayonet, nsed his musket for a rammer, and drove flown the cartridee for another discharge. These two brave young men kept the field-piece working, and 4rove the savages to the deep forest. ' Armstrong lay wounded near by, and^called outtothose around'the piece, "My brave fel- lows, some of you may fall, but you must save the cannon 1" 776 PICTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK Jackson at Port Strother. Battle on the Calebee Eiver^ The Georgians retire to their Frontier. wounded. The loss of the enemy was not accurately ascertained. One hundred and eighty-nine of their warriors were found dead.' ■ January 28 Jackson made his way back to Fort Strother* after an absence of twelve 1^1*- ' days, not perfectly satisfied with the results of his raid, yet he presented it to the public in the best aspect possible. His force was almost double that of the Indians, for at that time the larger proportion of them were below, watching the movements of Floyd and his Georgians, while a considerable force were strongly for- tifying the Horseshoe, and other places, preparatory to a desperate defensive war. His expedition, however, had been useful, and General Pinckney, in a letter to the War Department,'' said, " Without the personal firmness, popularity, and e raary . gj^gy^jQjjg of ^iiat officer, the Indian War on the part of Tennessee would have been abandoned, at least for a time." We will leave Jackson at Fort Strother a few moments while we consider the movements of Floyd below. We left that officer at Fort Mitchell, on the Chatta- hoochee. Floyd reposed more than six weeks awaiting supplies, and during that time recov- ered of his wound received at Auttose. Then he marched toward Toockabatcha, on the Tallapoosa, with over twelve hundred Georgia volunteers, a company of cavalry, and four hundred friendly Indians. He established communicating posts on the way, and at length, on the night of the 26th of January, encamped on the Calebee or Chal- libee River, on the high land bordering the swamp of that name, in Macon County, Alabama, fifty miles west of Fort Mitchell. The camp was carefully watched, but in the gloom, more than an hour before the dawn of the following morning, a band of Creeks, who had stealthily assembled in the swamp during the night, shot the sen- tinels, and pounced like fierce tigers on Floyd's front and flank. The attack was sud- den, yet not unprepared for, and the savages were gallantly opposed, in the front, by the artillery under Captain Jett Thomas, riflemen commanded by Captain William E. Adams, and a picket-guard led by Captain John Broadnax. The foe rushed desperately up within thirty yards of the cannon, and smote the troops severely. Broadnax and his party were cut off from their companions for a while, but with the aid of the half-blood chief Timpoochy Barnard, leader of some Ucheee,.they cut their way through the encircling savages. Most of the other In- dians took shelter in the camp, and were scarcely felt in the battle, which was con- tested fiercely in the darkness, which was rendered more intense by the umbrageous branches of the heavy pine forest in which they were fighting. When daylight came, and Floyd was enabled to survey the field of action, the contest was soon end- ed. The general ordered the right wing of his little army, composed of the battalions commanded by Majors Booth, Cleveland, Watson, and Freeman, and a troop of cav- alry under Captain Duke Hamilton, to charge on the foe. The Indians were dismayed by the glittering bayonets, and fled in great terror. The infantry pursued, and the cavalry joined in the exciting chase, followed by the friendly Indians and Meriweath- er's and Ford's riflemen. They were chased through the swamp, and many of the fii- gitives were slain. They left thirty-seven dead in the pathway of their flight. The Georgians lost seventeen killed and one hundred and thirty-two wounded, and the friendly Indians had five men killed and fifteen wounded. Colonel Newman, a gal- lant officer, was wounded by three bullets and disabled, at the beginning of the action. Floyd's wounded were so many, and the hostile Indians in his vicinity were so nu- merous, and might be speedily re-enforced, that he prudently concluded not to pene- trate the country farther, but to fall back to the Chattahoochee. On the day of the battle he retired to Fort Hull, one of his newly-erected stockades, and on the following day the Indians occupied the late battle-field. Leaving a small garrison at Fort 1 General Jackson's official Letter to General Pinckney, January 29, 18l4. OF THE WAR OF 1812. >j>j>j Bast Tennesseeans on their Way to the Creek Country. The Choctaw Allies in Arms. Preparation of the Creeks. Hull, tte general continued his retrograde movement to Fort Mitcliell, where his men were honorably discharged, their term of service having expired. No other ex- pedition against the Creeks was organized in Georgia. Let us now return to Jackson at Fort Strother. On his return from his twelve days' " excursion" or raid to the Tallapoosa, Jackson set his few militia that remained to constructing flat-hoats in which to bring supplies down the Coosa, and to transport them to regions below, where materials for his new army were rapidly approaching from Tennessee. He discharged the troops who had been with him on the late expedition, their term of service being about ready to ex- pire. They left for home full of admiration of and enthusiasm for their general, and their return gave a new impetus to volunteering. At the beginning of February two thousand troops from East Tennessee were in the shadows of Lookout Mountain, pressing on toward the Coosa, and at about the same time as many more West Ten- nesseeans arrived at Huntsville. Intelligence of these approaching troops filled Jackson's heart- with gladness. His joy was increased by the arrival on the 6th, at Fort Strother, of Colonel Williams and the Thirty-ninth Regiment of the United States Army, six hundred strong, who had been induced to hasten to the relief of Jackson by the late Honorable Hugh L. White, of East Tennessee. Very soon afterward a part of Coffee's brigade of mounted men came into Fort Strother, and also a troop of East Tennessee dragoons. The Choctaw Lidians now openly espoused the cause of the United States ; and before the close of February Jackson found himself at the head of an army of five thousand men, lacking nothing to enable them to sweep the whole Creek country with the besom of destruction but adequate supplies of food. Great exertions were put forth suc- cessfully to that end, and at the middle of March every thing was'in readiness for a forward movement. The hostile Creeks were aware of the formidable preparations for their subjugation, and were, at the same time, taking measures to avert, if possible, the impending blow. They had suffered severely at the hands of Jackson, Floyd, and Claiborne, and had already begun to have such premonitions of national disaster that they determined to concentrate their forces, and rest their fortunes upon the cast of the die of a single battle with the foe. For this pui-pose the warriors of the Hillabee, Ockfuske, Eufau- lahache, New Touka, Oakchoie, Hickory Ground, and Fish-pond towns had gathered in the bend of the Tallapoosa, in the northeast part of Tallapoosa County, Alabama, called Tohopeka, or the Horseshoe, the river there assuming the shape of that object, forming a peninsula of about one hundred acres. By the aid of white men from Pen- sacola, and some hostile half-bloods, they built a very strong breastwork of logs across the neck of the peninsula, and pierced it with two rows of port-holes arranged in such manner as to expose the assailants to a cross-fire from within. Back of this breast- work was a mass of logs and brush ; and at the bottom of the peninsula, near the river, was a village of log huts, where hundreds of canoes were moored at the banks of the stream, so that the garrison might have the means of escape if hard pushed. A greater portion of the peninsula was covered with forest. The Indians had an am- ple supply of food for a long siege. Their number was about twelve hundred, one fourth being women and children. There the Indians determined to defend them- selves to the last extremity. They regarded their breastwork as impregnable, and were inspirited by recent events at Emuckfau (about four miles distant) and Enoto- chopco. When Jackson was informed by some friendly Indians of the gathering of the Creeks at the Horseshoe, he resolved to march thither immediately and strike an exr terminating blow. He sent his stores down the Coosa in flat-boats, in charge of Col- onel Williams and his regiment of regulars, and leaving a garrison of four hundred and fifty men in Fort Strother, under Colonel Steele, he commenced his march with 118 PICTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK Seat of the Creek War in Upper Alabama. M8U. *^^ remainder of his army toward the Tallapoosa on the 16th of March," the only musical instrument to cheer them on the way being a solitary drum. The OF THE WAR OF 1812. 779 Jackson marches upon the Savages at the Horseshoe. A desperate Battle there. Bravery of both Parties. journey was slowly performed, for much of the way a road had to be cut through the woods. On the 21st they were at the mouth of Cedar Creek, where they were joined by the supply-boats the next day, and there Fort Williams was built to keep open the communication with Fort Strother. Then Jackson pushed on eastward, and early on the morning of the 27th halted within a few miles of the breastworks at the Horseshoe, and sent out parties to reconnoitre. His army now numbered about two thousand effective men. Jackson's spies informed him of the position of the Indians, and he at once compre- hended the folly which had permitted them to assemble in a pen, as if offering facili- ties for him to carry out his threat of extermination. He sent General Coffee, with all the mounted men and friendly Indians, to cross the river about two miles below the Bend, and take position on the bank opposite the village and boats. When, by signal, he was certified of the execution of his order, he went forward with the .main body of his army toward the peninsula, and planted two field-pieces upon a little hill within eighty yards of the nearest point of the fortifications on the neck. At a little past ten o'clock these opened fire on the works, under the direction of Captain Brad- ford, chief engineer, but without seriously affecting the wall. As the small balls were buried in the logs and earth, the Indians set up a shout of derision, and the general was fairly defied. Simultaneously with the attack on the Indians' breastworks, some of the Cherokees with Coffee swam across the river, seized the canoes, paddled back in them, and full two hundred men were at once conveyed over the stream, aiid, under the direction of Colonel Morgan and Captain Russell, set the little town on fire, and moved against the enemy in the rear of their works. The smoke from the burning huts assured Jackson that all was going on well in that quarter, but the slackening of the assail- ants' musketry gave evidence that they were too few to dislodge the savages, and were probably in peril. The general at once determined to storm the breastworks which he had been battering for full two hours with cannon-balls almost in vain. The Thirty-ninth United States Infantry, under Colonel Williams, formed the van of the storming party. They were well supported by General James Doherty's East Tennessee brigade under Colonel Bunch, and the whole assailing party behaved most gallantly. They pressed steadily forward in the face of a deadly storm of bullets and arrows, and maintained for some time a hand-to-hand fight at the port-holes. This desperate conflict lasted several minutes, when Major L. P. Montgomery leaped upon the breastwork, and called upon his men to follow. They did so, and at the same moment he fell dead with a bullet in his head. Ensign Sam Houston, a gallant youth at his side, was severely wounded in the thigh at the same time by a barbed arrow, but he leaped boldly down among the savages, and called upon his companions to fol- low. They did so, and fought like tigers. Very soon the dexterous use of the bay- onet caused the Indians to break, and flee in wild confusion to the woods and thick- ets. They had fought bravely under great disadvantages, and believing that torture awaited the captive, not one would suffer himself to be taken, or asked for quarter. Some attempted to escape by swimming across the river, but were shot by the uner- ring bullets of the Tennesseeans. Others secreted themselves in thickets, and were driven out and slain ; and a considerable number took refuge under the river bluffs, where they were covered by a part of the breastworks and felled trees. To the lat- ter Jackson sent word that their lives should be spared if they would surrender. The summons was answered by a volley that sent the messenger (an interpreter) back bleedino- from severe wounds. A cannon was then brought tQ bear upon the strongs hold but it made little effect. Then the general called for volunteers to storm it, and the wounded Ensign Houston^ was the first to. step out.. While reconnoitring 1 This was the afterward soldier and statesman, General Sam Houston, one of the bravest of the leaders in the Texas Eevolntion, first President of the independent Republic of Texas, and for many years a member of the National Legis- 180 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK The Creeks defeated at the Battle of the Horseshoe. NoTB. — The above plan of the battle of Cholocco Litabixee, or the Horseshoe, is arranged from one in 'Pickett's His- tory of A labama. A shows the position of the hill from which Jackson's camion played upon the breastworks. C C C represent the position of Coffee's command. the position aliove, he received from the concealed savages two bullets in his shoul- der, and he was borne helpless away. Others lost their lives ia attempts to dislodge the foe. It was conceded that the place -was impregnable to missiles, so the torch was applied, and the savages, as they rushed wildly from the crackling furnace, were shot down without mercy by the exasperated riflemen. The carnage continued untU late iu the evening, and when it was ended five hundred and fifty-seven Creek war- riors lay dead on the little peninsula. Of the thousand who went into the battle ia the morning not more than two hundred were alive, and many of these were severely wounded. 1 Jackson's loss was thirty-two killed and ninety-nine wounded. The Cher- okees lost eighteen killed and thirty-six wounded. Among the slain were Major Mont- gomery^ and Lieutenants Moulton and Somerville. The spoils of victory were over lature of the United States. He was a remarkable man. He was bom in Eockbridge County, Virginia, on the 2d of March, 1793, and, while yet a child, he went with his widowed mother to Tennessee. He spent several years with the Cherokee Indians, and became enamored with their roving, restless life. He enlisted in the army in 1813, and at the close of the war had reached the position of lieutenant. Then he studied law at Nashville, and there commenced his long political life. In 1823 he was elected to Congress, and continued in that body until 1827, when he became Governor of Tennessee. Before the expiration of his term he resigned, and took up his abode among the Cherokees in Arkan- sas, where he befriended them much in their intercourse with dishonest agents of the Government. He became com- mander-in-chief of the little, army of revolutionists in Texas,which achieved its independence in 1836. He was tvrice elected president of that republic, and when Texas was annexed to the United States he was sent as her representative to the Senate, where he remained until just before the breaking out of the great Civil War, when he was Governor of Texas. He died in November, 1863, aged seventy years. 1 Pickett relates {Eistory of Alabama, ii., 343) that many suffered long from grievona wounds. "Manowa," he says, " one of the bravest chiefs that ever lived, was literally shot to pieces. He fought as long as he could. He saved him- self by jumping into the river where the water was fonr feet deep. He held to a root, and thus kept himself beneath the waves, breathing through the long joint of a cane, one end of which he held in his mouth, while the other end came' above the surface of the water. When night set in, the brave Manowa rose from his watery bed, and made his way to the forest, bleeding from many wounds. Many years after the war we conversed with the chief, and learaed from him the particulars of his remarkable escape. His face, limbs, and body, at the time we conversed with him, were marked with scars of many horrible wounds." ' Lemuel Pnmell Montgomery was bom in Wythe County, Virginia, in 1786, and was distantly related to the hero of OF THE WAE OF 1812. 781 Jackson retires from the Melds of Conflict. The snbdued Indians sne for Peace. Weathersford in Jackson's Tent. three hundred mdo-ws and oi-phans who were made prisoners. The blow was appall- ing, and fatal to the dignity and power of the Creek nation. On the morning after the battle'' at the Horseshoe Jackson commenced . March 28, a retrograde march toward Fort Williams, carrying his wounded with him ^*^*- on litters, and leaving the bodies of most of his dead beneath the waters of the Coosa, safe from desecration by savage hands. They were five days on the way, and during as many more they rested there. They encountered some hostile Indians on the march, but they generally fled at their approach. The spirit of the proud Creeks was broken, and they had no heart to make a defensive stand any where. From Fort Williams Jackson pushed on toward the Hickory Ground of the Creeks, at the confluence of the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers, over a country flooded by spring rains and swollen streams, and halted at the head of the peninsula, where the rivers approach each other within six hundred yards before uniting four miles below. There, on the sight of Fort Toulouse, erected by Governor Bienville a hundred years before, he built a stockade, cleaned out and deepened the old French entrance, and raised the national standard over a fortification named, in his honor. Fort Jackson. Thither dep- utation after deputation of humiliated Creek chiefs made their way to sue for pardon and peace in behalf of themselves and their people. They were received with court- esy, yet with sternness. " Give proof of your submission," said the general, " substan- tially by going and staying above Fort Williams, where you will be treated with, and the final demands of my Government will be made known to you. But you must first bring in Weathersford, the cruel leader of the attack on Fort Mims, who on no account can be forgiven." They cheerfully complied ; but little did Jackson know the true character of Weathersford, or the plasticity of his own nature at that time. Weathersford did not wait to be caught and dragged like a felon to the feet of the leader of the pale faces. He was a stranger to fear, and sagacious in plans. He saw clearly the flight of hope for his nation, at the Horseshoe, and resolved to sub- mit. Mounting his fine gray horse, with whom he leaped from the bluff at the Holy Ground,' he rode to Jackson's camp. He arrived just at sunset.* The gen- „ . ^ j, eral was alone in his tent when the chief entered it, drew himself up to his full height, and, folding his arms, said, " I am Weathersford, the chief who command- ed at Fort Mims. I have nothing to request for myself. You can kill me if you de- sire. I have come to beg you to send for the women and children of the war-party, who are now starving in the woods. Their fields and cribs have been destroyed by your people, who have driven them to the woods without an ear of corn. I hope that you will send out parties who will conduct them safely here, in order that they may be fed. I exerted myself in vain to prevent the massacre of the women and children at Fort Mims.* I have come now to ask peace for my people, but not for myself"^ Jackson expressed astonishment that (Jne so guilty should dare to appear in his presence and ask for peace and protection. " I am in your power ; do with me as you please," the chief haughtily replied. " I am a soldier. I have done the white people all the harm I could. I have fought them, and fought them bravely ; and if I had an army I would yet fight, and contend to the last. But I have none. My people are all gone. I can now do no more than weep over the misfortunes of my nation." the same name who fell at Qaebec at the close of 1775. Hie family settled originally in North Carolina, and were Scotch- Irish. In early life the major became a resident of Bast Tennessee, near Knoxville. He studied law, and became a rival of the eminent Felix Grundy. He was a daring horseman, and fall of soldierly qualities. President Madison ap- pointed him major of the Thirty-ninth Regiment, and he fell at their head when storming the breastworks at the Horseshoe, as we have observed in the text. Jackson wept over his hody like a child, and exclaimed, " I have lost the flower of my army !" He was buried near where he fell, and in long after years the citizens of Tallapoosa County hon- ored his memory by exhuming his remains, and burying them with military ceremonies at the capital of the county. The County of Montgomery and the political capital of the State of Alabama were named in honor of this brave sol- dier.— Pickett. ' See page 772. ' See an account of his exertions on page 760. s Weathersford's appeal for the women and children was kindly responded to, and not only to the women and chil- dren bnt to the remnant of the nation succor was given. For a considerable part of the ensuing summer, five thousand Creek Indians drew rations from the public stores. But for this aid a large number of them must have perished by starvation. 782 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK ■Weathersford'B manly Talk. Jackson admires and releases him. The Creek Nation ruined. Here was a man after Jackson's own heart. A patriot who loved his people, had fought to protect the land of his birth from the invader, and now fearlessly expressed his patriotism in the presence of one who had power over his life. Jackson imme- diately informed him that submission and the acceptance of a home beyond the Mis- sissippi for his nation was the only wise policy for him to pursue. He added, " If, however, you desire to continue the war, and feel prepared to meet the consequences, you may depart in peace, and unite yourself with the war-party, if you choose." Half scornfully, half sorrowfully, Weathersford replied, " I may well be addressed in such language now. There was a time when I had a choice and could have an- swered you ; I have none now — even hope is ended. Once I could animate my war- riors to battle, but can not animate the dead. My warriors can no longer hear my voice. Their bones are at Talladega, Tallasehatche, Emucfau, Econochopco, and To- hopeka. I have not surrendered myself thoughtlessly. While there was a chance for success I never left my post nor supplicated peace. But my people are gone, and I now ask it for my nation, not for myself On the miseries and misfortunes brought upon my country I look back with deepest sorrow, and wish to avert still greater calamities. If I had been left to contend with the Georgia army, I would have raised my corn on one bank of the river and fought them on the other. But your people have destroyed my nation. You are a brave man ; I rely upon your generosity. You will exact no terms of a conquered people but such as they should agree to. Whatever they may be, it would now be folly and madness to oppose. If they are opposed, you will find me among the sternest enforcers of obedience. Those who would still hold out can be influenced only by a mean spirit of revenge, and to this they must not and shall not sacrifice the last remnant of their country. You have told our nation where we might go and be safe. This is good talk, and they ought to listen to it. They shall listen to it."^ Thus spoke the truly noble Weathersford for his nation. Words of honor respond- ed to -tf-ords of honor, and Weathersford was allowed to go freely to the forest to search for his scattered followers and counsel peace. But there was no safety for him in that region, for the relatives of those massacred at Fort Mims sought to kill him. He fled, and remained away until the end of the war, when he returned, and became a respected citizen of Alabama.^ General Pinckney arrived at Fort Jackson on the 20th of April with troops from North and South Carolina. Informed of the general submission of the Creeks, and considering the war virtually at an end, he directed the West Tennesseeans to march home, and four hundred of General Doherty's brigade to garrison Fort Williams. The order to the West Tennesseeans was so gladly and promptly obeyed that within ■April 21, two hours after its utterance^ they were in motion up the Coosa. They ^^^*- pushed forward with great celerity, crossed the Tennessee River, and at Fay^tteville were discharged. There Jackson bade them farewell in a stirring ad- dress, and then hastened to his own home at the " Hermitage," near Nashville, and indulged a short time in needed repose. Here we will leave the consideration of the fearfully-smitten Creeks for the pres- ent, with the remark that they showed themselves to be a brave people, and, on many accounts, deserving of the respect of mankind. 1 Drake''8 Book of the Indians, eleventh edition, page 390. 2 Weathersford settled npon a farm in Monroe County, Alabama, well supplied with negro slaves, where he maintain- ed the character of an honest man. Soon after his return he married, and General Sam Dale, frequently mentioned in this chapter, was his groomsman. His birth-place was the Hickory Ground, but he could not live there. He said that his old comrades, the hostile Creeks, ate his cattle from starvation , the peace-party ate them from revenge ; and the squatters because he was " a damned Eed-skin ;" so, he said, "I have come to live among gentlemen. "— See iift Ista, a factions and at times treasonable efforts to destroy the pnblic credit, and to so paralyze the sinews of war as to compel the government to make peace on any terms which the enemy might dictate. Of these efforts and their results I shall hereafter write. I See page 409. Scott was faithful to his promise. As adjutant general and chief of Dearborn's staff, he selected from the prisoners captured by himself at Fort George [see page 599] twenty-three men aa hostages for the unfortunate Irishmen sent over the sea. These were placed in close confinement, to await the action of the British government, and to be treated accordingly. Sir George Prevost immediately commimicated this fact to the home government, and at the same time addressed a note to our government through General Dearborn. The latter was so negligent that it was three months before his letter reached Washington. Of this Sir George complained, and had even commenced sending prisoners to Halifax because of his inability to keep the large number which had accumulated on his hands in Canada while waiting a reply from our government. This neglect caused distress and inconvenience to the prisoners in Canada. They complained of their long detention, and Prevost gave them proof that Dearborn alone was to blame. * An^nst iq Then General Winder, who was captured at Stony Creek [see page 604], wrote to the Secretary of War" 1813 * on the subject. After expressing a hope that Prevost would be promptly answered, he said, " Bat such nnaccountable neglect or omission in answering the communications of Sir George has already taken place on the part of General Dearborn that I feel fearful that the same fatality may also attend that last communica- tion." Winder's letter stirred the government to action, for already, as we have observed, prisoners had been sent to iumigt 9 Halifax from Canada," and Sir George Prevost -threatened to send a large number to England. The whole business concerning the exchange of prisoners was placed in charge of General J.Mason, commis- sary general of prisoners, under the direction of the Sec- retary of State. That officer at once dispatched the now [186T] venerable Colonel Charles K. Gardner to Canada as agent for the prisoners, empowered by the proper au- thorities to negotiate their exchange. While these movements were in progress, an order for retaliation came to Sir George Prevost from the Prince Eegent, through Earl Bathurst, Secretary of State. It was ' 1813 promulgated at Montreal on the 2Tth of October" by a proclamation from the baronet, in which he stated that he was commanded " forthwith to put in -^. f Qi^vy^^ /mUv>^ close confinement forty-six American officers and non-commissioned ofBcers, to be held as hostages for the safe keep- ing of the twenty-three British soldiers stated to have been put in close confinement by order of the American govern- ment." He was also instructed to apprise General Dearborn that " if any of the said British soldiers shall suffer death by reason that the soldiers now under confinement in England have been found guilty, and that the known law, not only of Great Britain, but of every independent state under similar circumstances, has been in consequence executed, he has been instructed to select out of the American officers. and non-commissioned officers put into confinement as many as double the number of British soldiers who shall have been so unwarrantably put to death, and cause such offi- cers and non-commissioned officers to suffer death immediately." He farther stated that he was commanded to de- clare that instructions had been sent to the British commanders on land and sea " to prosecute the war with unmiti- gated severity against all cities, towns, and villages belonging to the United States," if, after a reasonable time from this proclamation, the American government should " not be deterred from putting to death any of the soldiers who now are, or who may hereafter be kept as hostages for the purpose stated." Prevost obeyed orders, and imprisoned forty-six American offi- cers in Beanport jail, near Quebec. Among these was Major 0. Van De Venter (afterward chief clerk in the War Department), who was captured with General Winder. He and two room companions es- caped, and had almost reached the State of Maine, when they were captured and taken hack. Under the humane care of General Glasgow, these and the other prisoners were well treated, but chafed under the long detention while the two governments were menacing the prisoners of each with peril. . Madison re- ^^ 1, IT sponded to the order of the Prince Regent jNovemoer ii. ^^ aii.ecting" the imprisonment of a like number of British oncers. This fact was communicated to Prevost at Montreal by Colonel Macomb, who had been sent for the purpose by General Wilkinson under a flag of truce. Wilkinson assured the baronet that the American government intended to adhere strictly to the principles and purposes avowed in relation to the twenty-three Irishmen sent to En- gland j whereupon Prevost, by a genera! order by Adjutant General Baynes, on the 12th of December, directed o!Z Amer- ican officers, without distmction of rank, then prisoners in his department, to be placed in close confinement Hitherto Generals Winchester, Chandler, and Winder had been allowed a wide parole around Beanport ; now they were com- manded not to go beyond the premises of their respective boarding-houses in that village, which lies on the St Law- rence, in full view of Quebec* * Letter of General Winder to the Secretary of War. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 789 Campaign on the Northern Froptier. P roposed Expedition to the Upper Lakes. Preparations on Lake Champlain. Let US now consider the military events of 1814, which occurred more in accord- ance with the necessities of developing exigencies as the seasons passed on than with that of any well-digested plans excepting as to the Northern frontiers. It had been agreed in cabinet council that an expedition under Colonel Croghan, the hero of Fort Stephenson, with the co-operation of Commodore Sinclair, should proceed against the British on the upper lakes, and attempt the recovery of Mackinaw and St. Joseph's, which were lost at the beginning of the war.i ^^ army, under Major General Brown, was to be collected on the desolated Niagara frontier of sufficient strength to seize the Canadian peninsula between Lakes Ontario and Erie, while General Izard, in com- mand in the Lake Champlain region, should cut the connection on the St. Lawrence between Montreal and Kingston. It was at the close of March" when the campaign was opened on the North- em frontier by the incompetent General Wilkinson, who, we have observed, took post with a part of the Army of the North, at Plattsburg, when the cantonment at French Mills was broken up.^ There were indications that effiDrts would be made in the spring by the British in Canada to gain possession of Lake Champlain, penetrate the State of New York to the valley of the Hudson, and attempt, by a movement similar to the one unsuccess- fully put in operation by Burgoyne in 17 V7, to separate the New England common- wealths (where, they foolishly supposed, an overwhelming majority of the people were their friends) from the rest of the Union. To meet and frustrate such efforts countervailing measures were adopted. Vessels of war were constructed at the mouth of the Onion River, in Vermont, under the superintendence of Captain Macdonough ; and General Wilkinson sent Captain Totten, of the Engineers, to select a site for a strong battery at or near Rouse's Point for the purpose of keeping the little British squadron, then lying at St. John's, on the Sorel, within the limits of Canada. Before this work could be accomplished, the breaking up of the ice in the streams earlier than common changed the aspect of affairs materially. Intelligence reached Wilkin- son that a British force of twenty-five hundred men was about to be concentrated These retaliatory measares were relaxed toward epring.' At the middle of January Sir George Prevost al- ^ ^„ lowed General Winder to go home on parole, with a promise not to reveal any thing of obvious disadvantage to the British, and to return to Quebec by the 15th of March. The general took that occasion to communicate freely in person vrith his government on the subject of an exchange of prisoners. He deprecated the retaliatory measures, and through his Influence the Senate, first on the 2d of February and then on the 9th of March, by resolution, requested the President to cause to be laid before them such information as he might possess concerning the subject of prisoners and retaliatory measures, and "of the cases, with their circumstances, in which any civilized nation had punished its native subjects taken in arms against, and for which punishment retaliation had been inflicted by the nation in whose service they had been taken." Also, " on what grounds, and under what circumstances. Great Britain has refused to discharge native citizens of the United States Impressed Into her service ; and what has been her conduct toward Amer- ican seamen on board her ships of war at and since the commencement of the present war with the United States." This was a task of no ordinary labor ; and the Secretary of State, to whom the resolutions were referred, remarked. In a report which he submitted on the 14th of April, that a full answer from him on the subject of retaliation would require more extensive research into the history and juri^rndence of Europe than proper attention to his official duties would allow before the close of the session — an event then just at hand. He gave reasons, however, in justification of the com'se of the United States in the matter so satisfactory that a bill was introduced similar to the one at-the last session of the Twelfth Congress giving the President full powers to retaliate. For reasons then presented, It did „ Anril 18 not become a law. Four days after the presentation of this report Congess adjourned." General Winder promptly returned to Quebec at the middle of March, bearing to Sir George Prevost from Mr. Mon- roe, Secretary of State, a letter, dated the 9th of March, In which a mutual exchange of prisoners was solicited. Gen- eral Winder was clothed with full powers to negotiate for such exchange. Prevost met the proposition with a friend- ly spirit, and appoipted Colonel Baynes, his adjutant general, a commissioner for the purpose. The negotiation was commenced, but temporarily suspended, when. In a letter to General Winder, dated the 2Zd of March, Mr. Monroe posi- tively prohibited any consent to the release of the twenty-three British prisoners who were held as hostages for the Irishmen sent to England eighteen months before, unless it should be stipulated that they, too, should be released. The negotiation was resumed, and on the ISth of April Winder and Baynes signed articles of a convention for the mutual release of all prisoners of war, hostages or others, except the twenty-three Qneenston prisoners, the twenty- three Fort George prisoners held by the Americans in retaliation, and the forty-six American officers who were held for the last-named twenty-three. The mntual release took place on the 15th of May. Soon after that, Mr. Beasley, agent for the American government in England, sent word that no proceedings had ever been instituted against the Qneenston prisoners, and that they were restored to the condition of ordinary prisoners of war. The hostages on both sides were immediately released, and early in July a cartel for the exchange of prisoners was ratified and executed. Thus ended a controversy unwarrantably begun by Great Britain, and which had produced much su^ring. The just position taken by our government was firmly maintained. ' See page 2T0. ' See page 687. 790 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Wilkinson crosses the Canada Border. Tlie Britisli at La Colle Mill. Positions of the opposing Forces. at La Colle Mill, on La Colle Creek, a small tributary of the Sorel, three or four miles below Rouse's Point. For the puipose of preparing for a march on Montreal, and to confront the expect- ed force at La Colle, Wilkinson advanced his little army to Champlain, and on the 30th of March" crossed the Canada border, and pressed on toward La Colle. It was composed of about four thousand effective men. Five miles from Cham- plain, at a hamlet called Odelltown, the army stopped for refreshments; and, on re- suming their march, they encountered the enemy's pickets, and drove them back. At about three o'clock in the afternoon they came in sight of La Colle Mill, a heavy stone structure, with walls eighteen inches in thickness, and its windows barricaded with heavy timbers, through which were loop-holes for muskets. It stood on the south- ern bank of La Colle Creek, at the end of a bridge. On the opposite bank was a block-house and a strong barn, and around them were intrenchments. For two hund- red yards southward from the mill, and half that distance northward from the block- house, was cleared land, surrounded by a thick primeval forest which covered the country in every direction. The flat ground was half inundated by melting snows, and the highway was so obstructed by the enemy with felled trees and other hinder- • ances that the Americans were compelled to diverge some distance to the right of it. The advance of Wilkinson's army was commanded by Colonel -Isaac Clark and Major (at that time lieutenant colonel by brevet) Benjamin Forsyth. These were followed by Captain M'Pherson, with two pieces of artillery, covered by the brigades of Generals Smith and Bissell. General Alexander Macomb commanded the reserves under Colonels Melancthon Smith and George M'Feely. Clark and Forsyth, with portions of their commands, crossed La Colle Creek some distance above the mill, fol- lowed by Colonel Miller's, regiment of six hundred men, and took post in the rear of the enemy to cut off his retreat. At this time the British garrison at the mill consisted of only about two hundred men, chiefly regulars, under Major Hancock, of the British Thirteenth. Re-enforce- ments were on the way, and it was important for Wilkinson to dislodge the enemy at the mill before their amval. Macomb endeavored to send forward an 18-pound cannon to breach the walls, but failed on account of the softness of the ground. Hoping to perform the same service with M'Pherson's heavy guns, which consisted of a 12-pound cannon and a SJ-inch mortar, these were placed in battery at the dis- OF THE "WAR OF 1812. 791 Wilkinson attacks the Britisli Garrison. Tlie Latter re-enforced. Tlie Americans repulsed. The Battle-ground. tance of two hundred and fifty yards from the mill. They opened fire upon that citadel, but their missiles were harmless. They were responded to by Congreve rockets ; and the whole American line, being in open fields, wds exposed to the gall- ing fire of the enemy. M'Pherson was wounded under the chin, but fought on until his thigh-bone was broken by a musket ball, when he was carried to the rear. Lieu- tenant Larrabee, his next in command, was shot through the lungs, and Lieutenant Sheldon kept up the fire with great gallantry. The conduct of these officers was so conspicuous as to attract the admiration and comment of their brethren in arms. While this contest was waging, two flank companies of the British Thirteenth, un- der Captains Ellard and Holgate, arrived from Isle aux JVoix, seven miles distant, and gave-much strength to the beleaguered garrison. Major Hancock now determ- ined to storm the American battery, and gave orders for an immediate and vigorous sortie by the two companies just arrived. They made several- desperate charges, and were as often repulsed by the infantry supports of the artillery under Smith and Bis- selL They were finally driven back across the bridge, and compelled to take refuge in the block-house on the northerly side of the stream. There they were soon joined by some Canadian Grenadiers and Voltigeurs from Burtonville, only two miles dis- tant. These joined the companies of Ellard and Holgate in another sortie more des- perate than the first, which, after a severe struggle, was repulsed by the covering brigades, and the cannonade and bombardment went on. They made no impression, however, upon the walls of the mill. The garrison had been augmented by re-en- forcements to almost a thousand men, and, after a contest ol two hours, Wilkinson withdrew, having lost thirteen killed, one hundred and twenty-eight wounded, and thirteen missing. The enemy lost eleven killed, two officers and forty-four men wounded, and four missing. I visited the scene of this conflict on a pleasant evening toward the close of July,'' 1860. I had been to French Mills (Fort Covington) in the morning, .j^^^^ and had arrived at Rouse's Point, as before observed (page 665); toward evening. In a light wagon, behind a fleet horse, I rode from the village to La CoUe Mill in time to make a sketch of the scene^the bridge, and the block-house, then part LA OOLLE MILL AND BLOCK-HOIISB. of a dwelling, the property of Mr. William Bowman — and to obtain from that gentle- man so exact a description of the form and size of the old mill, which had been de- 792 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Graves of the Slain in the Battle. End of Wilkinson's military Career. Brown ordered to the Niagara Frontier. molished only two years before, as to enable me, by observing the relative position of its ruins to the bridge, to reproduce the likeness of it given in the picture on the preceding page. Mr. Bowman accompanied me to the Ferry-road, opened by himself, a little southward of the bridge, where, about thirty rods southeast from the highway, might be seen the mounds which cover the remains of the slain in the battle there. Those of the Americans were buried on the right side of the road, and those of the British on the left side, about twenty feet from each other. Only one grave was made for the dead of each nation. At twilight I passed through La Colle village and Odelltown, the road running through a level, well-cultivated region, which was covered by forest at the time of the war. I spent the night at an indifferent inn at Rouse's Point village, and on the following morning journeyed to Champlain and Plattsburg. Of this journey I shall hereafter write. With the discreditable affair at La Colle Mill the military career of General Wil- kinson was closed. By an order from the War Department, issued a week previous ' March 24, to that affair,'' he was relieved of the command of the army in the Depart- ^^^*- ment of the North, and his conduct while in command of that district was subsequently committed to the scrutiny of a court-martial. He proved that during the most important operations of the disastrous campaign, which ended at French Mills, the War Department, in the person of Minister Armstrong and Adjutant Gen- eral Walbach, was on the Northern frontier, and that he acted under the Secretary's immediate instructions ; that the failure of Hampton to meet him at St. Regis' justi- fied his abandonment of an attack on Montreal ; and that his encampment and stay at, and departure from French Mills, was in accordance with the views of the Secre- tary of War. These proofs being positive, Wilkinson was acquitted, and the public placed the chief blame, where it seemed to properly belong, on the War Department. Like Harrison, who had felt the baleful effects of the administration of that depart- ment, Wilkinson threw up his commission in disgust. Many official changes were necessary. Dearborn was in retirement on account of ill health ; Hampton had left the service in disgrace ; and Winchester, Chandler, and Winder were still prisoners of war in the hands of the enemy in Canada. On the 24th of January Brigadier Generals Brown and Izard were commissioned major gen- erals ; and Colonels Macomb, T. A. Smith, Bissell, Scott, GaineS, and Ripley were ap- pointed brigadiers. On the retirement of Wilkinson, Brown became chief commander in the Northern Department. General Brown, as we have seen, left French Mills with a division of the army for Sackett's Harbor at about the middle of February.^ He arrived there on the 24th, after a rather pleasa^t march for that season of the year. There he received a letter » February. ^™"^ *^® Secretary of War, dated on the 28th,* informing him that Colonel Scott, who was a candidate for a brigadiership, had been ordered, with the accomplished Major Wood, of the Engineers, to the Niagara frontier. " The truth is," Armstrong said, " public opinion will not tolerate us in permitting the enemy to keep quiet possession of Fort Niagara. Another motive is the effect which may be expected from the appearance of a large corps on the Niagara in restraining the enemy's enterprises to the westward." After expressing doubts concerning the abil- ity of the force under Scott to recapture Fort Niagara, the Secretary, " by command of the President," as he said, directed Brown to convey, with the least possible delay, the brigades which he brought from French Mills to Batavia, where " other and more detailed orders" would await him.^ On the same day, by another dispatch, the Sec- retary directed Brown to cross the ice at the foot of the lake, and attack the enemy at Kingston, if, on consultation with Chauncey, it should be considered practicable. 1 See page 654. " s gee p^ge 65T. 3 MS. Letter of Secretary Armstrong to General Brown, Febraary S8, 1813.— General Brown's Letter-book, OF THE WAR OF 1812. "^gS Brown moviug toward the Niagara. Bidiculous Orders from the War Department. Public Property in Danger. In that event he was directed to use the instructions in the first letter of that date as a mask. The two commanders considered the force of four thousand men at the Harbor in- sufficient for the capture of Kingston under the circumstances ; and, mistaking the real intentions of the government, which was to make the movement on Kingston the main object, and that toward Niagara a/emf. Brown put his troops in motion to- ward the latter at the middle of March. They numbered about two thousand, con- sisting of the Ninth, Eleventh, Twenty-first, and Twenty-fifth Regiments of Infantry, the Third Regiment of Artillery, and Captain Towson's company of the Second Ar- tillery. ^ These troops- had reached Salina, in Onondaga County, and Brown was at Geneva, when General Gaines thought he discovered his commander's mistake. Brown acquiesced in his opinion, and resolved to retrace his steps. He hastened back to Sackett's Harbor " the most unhappy man alive. "^ There Chauncey " and other confidential men" convinced him that his first interpretation of the Secretary's in- struction was correct. " Happy again," he hastened back to his troops^ and resumed the march westward. At the close of the month they arrived at Batavia, where they remained about four wefiks, when they moved toward Buffalo. In the mean time Armstrong had written a soothing letter to the perturbed Brown, saying, "You have mistaken my meaning If you hazard any thing by this mistake, correct it promptly by returning to your post. If, on the other hand, you left the Harbor with a competent force for its defense, go on and prosper. Good consequences are sometimes the result of mistakes."^ While at Batavia and vicinity Brown was made very uneasy by alarming letters from Chauncey, and also from General Gaines, who had been placed in command at Sackett's Harbor. The British were in motion at Kingston early in April, the ice havingbroken up, and there were indications of another attack on the Harbor. With this impression, and feeling the responsibility laid upon him by the grant of discre- tionary power given 'him by the Secretary of War, Brown hastened back to that post, leaving General Scott in command of the troops on the Niagara frontier during his absence. Observation soon taught him that an attack on the Harbor was " more to be desired than feared,"* and that the real point of danger was Oswego, at the mouth of the Oswego River. At the Great Falls of that stream, twelve miles from the lake, where the village of Fulton now stands, a large quantity of naval stores had been col- lected during the autumn and winter for vessels on the stocks at Sackett's Harbor. These would be very important objects for the British to possess or destroy ; and, ex- cepting the partly-finished vessels at Sackett's Harbor, they formed the most attract- ive prize for Sir James Yeo, the British commander on Lake Ontario. For the pro- tection of this property. Lieutenant Colonel Mitchell, with a battalion of light artil- lery, was sent to garrison the fort at Oswego. At the beginning of May Sir James Yeo sailed out of Kingston Harbor with an ef- fective force of cruising vessels. Chauncey was not quite ready for him. Both par- ties, one at Kingston and the other at Sackett's Harbor, had been bending all their energies during the preceding winter in making preparations for securing the com- njand of Lake Ontario, an object considered so important by the two governments I MS Letter to Colonel E. Jenkins, March 12, 1814. ' MS. Letter to the Secretary of War, March 24, 1814. 3 Ms' Letter March 20 1814 ' It mnst he confessed that many of the orders issued from Washmgton at this time were exceediudv perplexing to the ofBcers in the field. A great portion of the frontier was yet in a wilderness state, and the topolraphy and geography of the country was very imperfectly known. In a letter hefore me fVom the venerable lohn E Kellogg of Allegan, Michigan, dated 15th March, 18G4, some amusing anecdotes hearing upon this subject are riven He sals that he heard Captain (afterward Commodore) Woolsey relate to Chauncey and other ofBcers, in the oM two-storv wood tavern at Oswego, the fact that he had received the following order from Washington : " Take the ta*; of the Lake and proceed to Onondaga, and take in, at Nicholas Mickle's Furnace, a load of ball and shot, and pro- ceed at once to Buffalo." In other words, go over Oswego Falls, then up the Oswego and Seneca Elvers to Onondaga Lake to Salina or Syracuse, and then two miles south of that city by land, where the furnace was situated, and, return- ing to Oswego, proceed to the Niagara, and up and over Niagara Falls to Buffalo 1 4 MS. Letter to the Secretary of War, April 25, 1814. 1U PICTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK The Navy on Lake Ontario. Naval Stores. The British Squadron leaves Sackett's Harbor. OltATJNOEY B DISMANTLED FLAQ-SHXP SUPEKIOE. that they withdrew officers and seamen from the ocean to assist in the lake sei"vice. The American goyernment also added twenty-five per cent, to the pay of those en- gaged' in ttat service. In February Henry Eckford' had laid the keel of three vessels, one a frigate de- signed to carry fifty guns, and two brigs of five hundred tons each, to carry twenty- two guns. Deserters who came in reported heavy vessels in great forwardness at Kingston ; and Chauncey, who returned from the national capital at the close of February, ordered the size of the frigate to be increased sO as to carry sixty-six guns. The brigs, named respectively Jef- ferson and Jones, were ready for service^ except their full armament, at the close of April ; and the frigate, which was named T/ie Superior, was launched on the 2d of May, just eighty days after her keel was laid !^ . But the naval stores and heavy guns designed for her were yet at Oswego Falls, to- which point they had been car- ried by tedious transportation from Al- bany up the Mohawk, and through "Wood Creek and Oneida Lake into the Oswego River, the roads across the country from Utica to Sackett's Harbor being impassable with heavy ordnance. They were kept at the Falls for security from the enemy, un- til schooners' employed by Captain Woolsey for the purpose could be loaded and dis- patched singly from Oswego. The ice, as we have remarked, broke up earlier than usual, and the British made attempts to destroy the large frigate at the Harbor. On the night of the 25th of April, Lieutenant Dudley, while out with two guard-boats, discovered three others in Black River Bay. Not answering his hail, he fired. They fied. On searching, six barrels of gunpowder were found, each containing a fuse, and slung in pairs by a rope in a way that a swimmer might convey them under a ship's bottom for the pur- pose of explosion. A few days afterward the British squadron was seen in sailing trim at Kingston ; and on the 4th of May Lieutenant Gregory, in the Xady of the Xake, saw six sail of the enemy leave Kingston Harbor and move toward Amherst Bay. This was the squadron of Sir James Yeo, bearing a little more than one thou- sand land troops, under Lieutenant General Sir George Gordon Drummond. The active cruising force of Sir James consisted of eight vessels, ranging from 12 to 62 guns, making in the aggregate 222 pieces of ordnance, besides several gun-boats and other small craft, whose armament, added to the others, gave to the British much su- periority in the weight of metal. 'When Sir James sailed his squadron was so much superior in strength to the one that Chauncey could then put to sea that the latter prudently remained in Sackett's Harbor, and the enemy moved unimpeded against Oswego on the morning of the 51ii of May. His vessels were seen at reveilU from that port, and preparations were speed- ily made to dispute his landing. The village, standing on the west side of the har- 1 See page 615. 2 On the 1st of June the American squadron consisted of the following vessels : SuperJOT, 66, Lieutenant Elton, Chauncey's flag-ship; Pife, 28, Captain Crane; jlfoftowil;, 42, Captain Jones; Madiam, 24, Captain Trenchard; Je^ersora, 22, Captain Ridgeley ; Jimes, 22, Captain Woolsey ; Si/IpA, 14, Captain Elliott ; Oneicia, 18, Lieutenant Commandant Brown ; and Lady of the Lake, 2, Lieutenant Mix, a look-ont vessel. Besides these were several gun-boats and other small craft, among the best known of which were the Governor TampMna, B, Midshipman Elliott ; Pert, 3, Lieutenant Adams ; Conquest, 2, Lieutenant Wells ; Fair American, 2, Lieutenant Wolcott Chauncey ; Ontario, 2, Sailing-master Stevens ; Asp, 2, Lieutenant Jones ; Hamilton, 8 ; Growler, 5 ; Julia, 2 ; Elizabeth,'! ; and bomb-' vessel JUay. The aggregate number of guns was 262. OF THE WAE OF 1812. 195 The Defenses and Defenders of Oswego. Attack on Fort Ontario. Lauding of British Troops. BIB JAMES LUCAS YEO. bor formed b J the mouth of the Oswego Eiver, contained less than five hundred inhabitants. Upon a bluff on the north side of the river was old Port Ontario, partly built in colonial times, spacious, but not strong. It then mounted only six old guns, three of which were almost useless because they had lost their trun- nions. The garrison consisted of Mitch- ell's battalion of less than three hundred men. The schooner Growler, having on board Captain Woolsey and Lieutenant Pearce, of the N"avy, was in the river for the purpose of conveying guns and naval stores to the Harbor. To prevent her falling into the hands of the enemy she was sunk, and a part of her crew under. Lieutenant Pearce joined Mitchell, who had sent out messengers to arouse and bring in the neighboring militia. Mitchell had too few troops for the defense of both the village and the fort, so he ordered all the tents in store there to be pitched near the town, while with his whole force he took position at the fort. The deception had the desired effect. To the en- emy the .military array seemed much stronger on the side of the village than at the fort, and the British proceeded to assail the latter position. Leaving the absolutely defenseless village unmolested, the British troops, in fifteen large boats, covered by the gun-boats and small armed vessels, moved toward the shore, near the fort, early in the afternoon, while the cannon pn the larger vessels opened fire on the fort. Mean- while Captain James A. Boyle and Lieutenant Thomas C. Legate had been sent down to the shore with an old iron 12-pounder, and as soon as the enemy's boats were within proper distance they opened on them with deadly effect. Some of the boats were badly injured ; some were abandoned, and all of the remainder hastily retired to the ships. Just then a heavy breeze sprung up, and the entire squadron put to sea. Drummond, in a general order, stated that he did not intend to attack on that day; He was only feeling the position and strength of the Americans. On the morning of the 6th the fleet again appeared off Oswego, and the larger ves- sels immediately opened a heavy fire on the fort. The Magnet took station in front of the village, and the Star and CharweU were towed in near the mouth of the river for the purpose of covering the spot selected for the landing of troops. Under this shield were landed the flank companies of De Watteville's regiment, under Captain De Bersey ; a light company of the Glengary Regiment, under Captain M'Millan ; a battalion of marines under Lieutenant Colonel Malcolm ; and two hundred seamen, armed with pikes, under Captain Mulcaster. The whole force, about twelve hundred in number, was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Fischer. A reserve of troops was left on the vessels. The enemy effected a landing early in the afternoon, and were compelled to ascend a long, steep hill in the face of a heavy fire of the Americans in the fort, and of a small body of the militia, who had been hastily summoned, and were concealed in a wood.i These, however, fled when the enemy had secured a footing on the shore. Finding it impossible to defend the fort with so few men, Mitchell left the works, and met the invaders in fair fight, covered only by woods. With the companies of Cap- tains Romeyn andMelvin, he gallantly moved forward and attacked the front of the 1 The British landed near where the City Hospital now stands, and the battle was just in the rear of it. '796 PICTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK The British capture Oswego. The Fort dismantled aod Barracks burned. Conduct of Yeo and Drammond. ATTACK ON oswEQO. — (From an old Print.) enemy, while the remainder of his command, under Captains M'Intyre and Pierce of the heavy artillery, annoyed them prodigiously on the flank. By desperate fight- ing the enemy was kept in check for a long time, but overwhelming numbers finally compelled Mitchell to fall back. The British took possession of the fort and all the works and stores in the vicinity. Mitchell retired up the river to a position where he might protect the naval stores should the enemy attempt to penetrate to the Falls in search of them. In this gallant but hopeless defense the Americans lost the brave Lieutenant Blaney, and five killed, thirty-eight wounded, and twenty-five missing. The British lost nine- teen killed and seventy-five wounded. Among the latter were Captain Mulcaster, of the Princess Charlotte, severely, and Captain Popham, of the Montreal, slightly. At five o'clock on the morning of the Vth the invaders withdrew, after having, em- barked the guns and few stores found there, dismantled the fort, and burned the bar- racks. They also raised and carried away the Growler and two sunken boats ; and, under circumstances not at all creditable to Sir James Yeo as an ofiicer and gentle- man, several citizens, who had been promised protection and exemption from all mo- lestation, were abducted and borne away by the squadron. Among these was the aft- erward eminent merchant of Oswego, "C^-i-z^ ^f"!^ /^ Honorable Alvin Bronson, who was then the public store-keeper, and who is still (1867) a resident of that place, i After the capture of the post, and while Yeo was personally superintending the load- ing of his boats with salt and public stores, that ofiicer applied to Mr. Bronson for pilots to conduct the boats out to the squadron. When he replied that all the men had left the place, and that he had none under his control. Sir James angrily growled out, with an oath, " Go yourself, and if you get the boat aground I'll shoot you." The gallant and gentlemanly Colo nel Harvey, who was standing on the bank above, ' His cleric, Carlos Colton, then a boy, was taken with him. Mr. C. was clerk of the County of Monroe, Michigan, iu OF THE WAR OF 1812. "797 Firmness of Store-keeper Bronson. His Captivity and Release. Sarvivors of tlie War in Oswego. called out to Sir James, "That, sir, is the public store-keeper, and may be useful to us." Sir James called Mr. Bronson back, and said, " You are my prisoner, and I shall expect you to inform me what Stores have recently been forwarded for the army a,nd navy, what remains in the rear of the post, and what, if any, are secreted in its neigh- , borhood. " My books and papers," replied Mr. Bronson, have been removed for safe- ty, and I can ijot, therefore, give you the desired information ; nor would it be proper for me to do so if I could." Sir James threatened to take him off with him if he withheld the coveted information. " I am ready to go, sir," was Mr. Bronson's calm reply. This was followed by an order to Captain O'Connor to take him on board the flag-ship Prince Regent. At midnight the naval and military officers came on board the Begent. Among them was General Sir George Gordon Drummond, who lavished upon the captive store-keeper such coarse and vulgar abuse that Colonel Harvey, as soon as an opportunity was afforded, apologized for the brutality of his superior officers, of whom he was evidently ashamed.' Mr. Bronson was confined a short time in the guard-house at Kingston, and again taken to the squadron when it proceeded to the blockade of Sackett's Harbor. He was well treated, and associated familiarly with the subordinate officers. He was soon afterward released. Among the survivors of the war, besides Mr. Bronson, whom I had the pleasure of meeting in Oswego, were the late Henry Eagle and Matthew M'Nair; the ven- erable bookseller James Sloan; the lively but aged light-house- keeper Jacob M. Jacobs ; and the late Abram D. Hugunin. Mr. Eagle was a Prussian by birth, and possessed a fine figure when more than threescore and ten years of age. He learned the bus- iness of a ship-carpenter of a Scotchman on the border of the Baltic Sea, and worked his passage to America as such. He was the constructor of the Oneida at Oswego in 1808, and he accompanied Eckford to the frontier in 1812-'13. He became pur- ser at the Navy Yard at Sackett's Harbor, where he was very active. He gave me many interesting particulars concerning the building of the New Orleans. Five hundred and fifty-three men were emj)loyed on her. The timber for her masts was cut near Watertown, in Jefferson County, and the cost of their transportation to the Harbor was one hundred and sixty dollars apiece. They were afterward used in the construction of the ship-house. Mr. M'Nair, a Scotchman, was government commissary at Oswego, and had a store- house there and at the Falls. At the time of the British attack he had twelve hundred barrels of bread and other provisions in store at Oswego, and a quantity of whisky.2 These became spoils for the enemy. Mr. Jacobs had been a companion in cruises with Commodore Rodgers, and went to Lake Ontario in 1812 with a midship- man's warrant. Although, when I last saw him [1864], he was eighty-eight years of age his complexion was so fresh and his step so elastic that he appeared like a man less than sixty years old. Mr. Sloan was Macdonough's clerk on the Saratoga at 1 Colonel Harvey was as generons as he was brave. He was governor of Nova Scotia in 1839 when General Scott was sent bv his government to settle the dispute concerning the boundaryiline between that country and the State of Maine either by arms or negotiation. Scott and Harvey were adjutant generals in their respective armies on the Niagara frontier and at that time formed an intimacy which ripened into friendship. On going to the capital of Maine, Scott opened a friendly correspondence with Governor Harvey, which resulted in an amicable settlement of a difficulty which threatened to involve the United States and Great Britain in war. .._ ., „, , 2 Mr. M'Nair died at Oswego on the 31et of March, 1862, at the age of eighty-oight years. He had resided m Oawego sixty years. 798 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK The British retnm to Kingston. Sacketfe Harbor blockaded. Woolsey's Expedition. the time of the battle of Plattsburg in the autumn of 1814. Mr. Hugunin, who died at Oswego in February, 1860, had lived in that place since 1805. He was m the mil- itary service when Oswego was captured in 1814, and was made a prisoner. The conduct of Lieutenant Colonel Mitchell in his defense of Oswego received the commendation of his superiors. His prudence and gallantry secured the large amount of ordnance and naval stores at the Falls,' and the British derived very little advan- tage from their attack With their small booty they returned to Kingston, and Os- wego was not again attacked during the war. The dilapidated fort was repaired, the garrison strengthened, and the enemy was defied. For many years that fort has.been a strong and admirably-appointed fortress, but without a garrison, and in charge of a, sergeant. Its situation and appearance, as seen from the lantern of the light-house, is given in the little engraving below from a sketch made in 1855. The place where the British landed is seen at the point on the extreme left of the picture. FOET AT OSWEGO IK 1855. The British troops were landed at Kingston, and the vessels were thoroughly over- hauled during the succeeding fortnight. On the 1 9th the renovated squadron again weighed anchor, and, a few hours afterward, drove Chauncey's look-out. Lady of the Lake, into Sackett's Harbor, and established a strict blockade of that port, to the great discomfort of the American commander, who was making untiring efforts to get his squadron, and especially the Superior, ready for sea. Heavy guns and cables destined for her were yet at the Oswego Falls. The roads were in such condition that they could not be taken to the Harbor by land, and the blockade made a voyage thither by water extremely perilous. But something must be done, or Sir James Yeo would roam over Ontario unrestricted lord of the lake. The ever-active and gallant Woolsey was sufficient for the occasion. He declared his willingness to attempt car- rying the ordnance and naval stores to Stony Creek, three miles from Sackett's Har- bor, where they might be carried across a narrow portage to Henderson Harbor, and reach Chauncey in safety. The commodore gave Woolsey permission to attempt the perilous adventure, and before the close of May he had a large number of the heavy guns sent over the Falls in scows, preparatory to an embarkation when the vigilance of the blockading squadron should be relaxed. At sunset on the 28th of May Woolsey was at Oswego with nineteen boats heav- ily laden with twenty-two long 32-pounders, ten 24's, three 42-pound carronades, and twelve cables. One of the latter, destined for the Superior, was an immense rope. The flotilla went out of the harbor at dusk, and bore Major Appling and one hundred and thirty riflemen under his command. About the same number of Oneida Indians were engaged to meet the flotilla at the mouth of Big Salmon River, near the present village of Port Ontario, and traverse the shore abreast of it, to assist in the event of an attack by the British gun-boats. Woolsey found it unsafe to attempt to reach Stony Creek, for the blockaders were 1 The public store-houses at the Palls (now Fulton) were on the east side of the river, a little above the Cascades. The surrounding land belonged to the government. When I visited the spot in 1854, the land belonged to Timothy Pratt, Esq., a large land-holder at the Palls. The stores were demolished after the war, and not a vestige of them now remains. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 799 Wooleey's Force on Big Sandy Creek. The confident British in Pursuit. Preparations to receive Them. vigilant, so lie determined to run up Big Sandy Creek, within a few miles of the Har- bor, and debark the precious treasures there. The night was very dark, and there was little danger of discovery under its friendly shadows. By dint of hard rowing, all the boats reached the Big Salmon at dawn excepting one which had fallen out of the line during the night. It was bewildered in the fog, and was captured by the British at sunrise the next morning. The Oneidas were there, and flotilla and In- dians moved on toward the Big Sandy, where they all arrived at noon.* Sir . May 29, James, meanwhile, had gained information of the flotilla from the crew of ^^^^ the lost boat. He immediately sent out two gun-boats, commanded respectively by Captain Popham, of the Montreal, and Captain Spilsbury, also of the Royal Navy, ac- companied by three cutters and a gig, to intercept them. They cruised all day in vain, but at evening learned that Woolsey and his boats had gone up the Big Sandy. Confident of their ability to capture the whole flotilla, and ignorant of the presence of Major Appling and his riflemen, or of the Indians, the British cruisers lay off the mouth of the creek all night, and entered *it early in the morning. In the door of a fisherman's house (yet standing when I visited the spot in 1860) Popham saw a wom- an, and ordered her to have breakfast ready for himself and ofiicers when they should return. She knew how well Woolsey was prepared to receive his pursuers, and said, significantly, " You'll find breakfast ready up the creek." The British passed on in jolly mood up the creek, but soon became very serious. PLACE or BATTLE AT SANDY CBEBK.' For two miles or more the Big Sandy winds through a marshy plain, and empties into the lake through a ridge of sand dunes cast up by the winds and waves of Onta- rio. That plain is now barren of timber, but at the time we are considering the stream was fringed with trees and shrubbery. In these, about forty rods below a bend in the creek, seen in the engraving, and half a mile below where the flotilla was moored. Major Appling ambushed his riflemen and the Indians. At the same time, a squadron of cavalry under Captain Harris, and a company of light artillery under Captain Melvin, with two 6-pound field-pieces and some infantry, about three hund- red in all, whom General Gaines had sent down from Sackett's Harbor, were stationed near Woolsey's boats. The confident and jolly Britons approache d with little caution, and when they came ' This view is ftom the bridge, about one hundred and fifty rods above the point where the engagement took place. The stream is about eight rods wide, and the portion of it seen in the foreground was the position of the flotilla. The lisht striD seen in the extreme distance is Lake Ontario, and the irregular shore-lme shows the sand dunes spoken of. The fisherman's house alluded to is seen between two of them, toward the extreme left of the picture. 800 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Battle on Big Sandy Creek. The British defeated and captured. John Otis. The great Cable for the Superior. in sight of tlie flotilla they commenced hurling solid shot uponlt, ¥ut -with slight ef- fect. At the same time strong flanking parties were landed, and marched up each side of the stream, their way made clear, as they supposed, by discharges of grape and canister shot into the bushes from the gun-boats. These dispersed the cowardly Indians, but the gallant young Appling's sharp-shooters were undisturbed.' It was now ten o'clock. When the invaders reached a point within rifle range of the ambuscade, Appling's men opened destructive volleys upon them, and occasional shot came thundering from Melvin's^ field-pieces, stationed on the bank, near the pres- ent bridge. So furious and unexpected was the assault on front, flank, and rear, that the British surrendered within ten minutes after the first gun was fired in response to their own. They had lost Midshipman Hoare and seventeen men killed, and at least fifty men dangerously wounded. The Americans lost one rifleman and one Indian warrior wounded, but not a single life. They gained the British squadron,^ with of- ficers and men as prisoners, in number about one hundred and seventy. A negro on one of the gun-boats, who had been ordered to throw the cannon and small-arms over- board in case of danger, did so when the fight was ended. The Americans called on him to desist or they would shoot him. He paid no attention to them, and, with a sense of duty, had cast overboard one cannon and many muskets, when he fell dead, pierced by twelve bullets. The wounded British were taken to the house of John Otis, yet standing,* and still occupied by the then owner when I visited the spot in — _ ::^_ "July 20, I860. It was the second house above the "^^ "''^ I860.. bridge. Otis, a venerable man when I saw him, gave Woolsey the first notice of the presence of pursuers. He had been out upon the lake since mid- night, watching for the enemy, and, discovering them at early dawn making for the mouth of the creek, he hastened up the stream with the information. He pointed out to me the place, near a large chestnut-tree in a lot adjoining his garden, where the British dead were buried. He took care of many of the wounded for more than a fortnight, for which service and expenses his country rewarded him after a lapse of forty-three years. In 1857 Congress voted him a little more than nine hundred dollars ; but one of those harpies known as lobby agents, who know how to approach legislators of easy virtue, took one half of it as compensation for his serv- ices in procuring the " appropriation." The cannon and cables were landed safely from the flotilla, and transported by land sixteen miles to the Harbor. The great cable for the Superior had occupied, in pon- derous coils, one of the boats of ten tons burden. The cable was twenty-two inches in circumference, and weighed nine thousand six hundred pounds. No vehicle could be found to convey it over the country to the Harbor; and, after a delay of a week, 1 Baniel Appling was bom in Columbia County, Georgia, in 17S7, and entered the army as second lieutenant of rifle- men in 1808. He was promoted to captain in the spring of 1812, and major of the First Rifle Corps in April, 1814. For hie gallant conduct at Sandy Creek he was breveted lieutenant colonel in August. He was breveted colonel for distin- guished services at Plattsburg in September following. He was retained on the peace establishment in 1815, but re- signed in June the following year. He died at Montgomery, Alabama, in March, 181T, at the age of only thirty years. 2 George W. Melvin was a native of Georgia. He entered the military service as second lieutenant of artillery at the close of 1803. In August, 1812, he was commissioned captain. He was retained on the peace establishment, and re- signed in August, 1820. ' One of the boats mounted a OS-pound carronade ; one a long 32-pounder ; one a long 24 ; one two long 12's, and another two small brass howitzers. * Dr. Alfred Ely, who was an assistant of Surgeon Amasa Trowbridge, was at Sandy Creek, and attended the wound- ed British at the house of Mr. Otis. I had the pleasure of meeting him at the inauguration of the statue of Perry, at Cleveland, in September, 1860. He is now (1867) a resident of Oberlin, Ohio. OTIS S HOUSE, SANDT OBEEJC. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 801 Carrying the great Cable to Sackett'B Harbor. Visit to tlie Sandy Creek Begion. SnrviVors of the War met there. men belonging to the militia regiment of Colonel Allen Clark, who had hastened to the creek on hearing the din of battle, volunteered to carry it on their shoulders.' About two hundred men were selected for the labor. They left the Big Sandy at noon, and arrived at the Harbor toward the evening of the next day. They carried it a mile at a time without resting. Their shoulders were terribly bruised and chafed by tlie great rope. They were received by loud cheers and martial music. A barrel of whisky was rolled out and tapped for their refreshment, and each man received two dollars extra pay. In less than a fortnight from the time of the battle all the cannon and naval stores were at Sackett's Harbor.* But many difficulties had to » jnneio, be overcome, and the fleet was not ready to leave the Harbor on a cruise ^^^*' until the 1st of August. It was a sultry morning in July when I visited the theatre of events just described. I arrived at Little Sandy Creek Village on the previous evening, and there met Har- ^y mon Ehle, a sprightly little man, now (1867) 'yid'^n^yi^ rry^ T^f^^^^ eighty-seven years of age, who was one of the ' ^ two hundred who carried the great cable to Sackett's Harbor. From him I learned most of the facts concerning it just related. I spent the evening very pleasantly with him. For forty-nine years he had lived there, and had seen the country transformed from a wilderness to the pleasant abode of civilized man. ^ The night succeeding our interview was tempestuous. At dawn . a heavy thunder-shower drenched that whole region ; yet at an ,early hour I started in a light wagon for Sackett's Harbor, on the road that would lead to the battle- ground on the Big Sandy. When within about a mile of it, we saw standing at a rustic gate, resting upon crutches, a venerable man of seventy-five years, with palsied legs, beard of a fortnight's growth, a slouched felt hat on his head, and a blue linen sack covering all that we could see of him. It was Jehaziel Howard, a native of Vermont, an old seaman of the lake, who was with Woolsey at the time of the battle of the Big Sandy. , He had been with him since early in the war, and was with Chauncey at the tak- ing of Fort George.^ > He saw the negro shot on the Brit- ish gun-boat in the Big Sandy, and assisted in taking the British wounded to Otis's. Bidding him good-morning, we rode to the bridge, where I made the sketch on page 799. T^ere we spent half an hour with Mr. Otis, and then rode on to EUisburg, where we breakfasted between nine and ten o'clock. Meanwhile very heavy clouds were gath- ering in the west, and we had ridden only two or three miles from the village, through the " garden of Jefferson County," when a thunder-storm burst upon us with great jehaziel howabd. fury. We took refuge in a tavern by the way-side, and arrived at Sackett's Harbor at little past meridian, in pleasant sunshine, as already mentioned.^ Let us now leave the more easterly shores of Lake Ontario, and consider events on the Niagara frontier, where the broom of destruction during the year 1813 had swept away almost every thing worth contending for excepting territory. But Canada was to be conquered by one party and defended by the other, if possible, and the posses- sion of the Ontario and Erie peninsula was of vast importance to the contestants. For that possession the military movements we are about to consider were com- menced. 1 In February, 1861, Congress granted Mr. Ehle a pension of $15 a month during his natural life. 2 See page 699. ' See page 615. 3E 802 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK The Army on the Niagara Frontier. Ita CompoBition. Bed Jacket and JiiB Medal. ' We left a portion of the Army of the North on its march, from Batavia to Buffalo, under the command of Brigadier General Scott, while Major General Brown, the com- mander-in-chief, hastened back to menaced Sackett's Harbor. That post and others on Lake Ontario were soon considered safe from attack^ and,.with the bulk of his army. Brown stood on the east bank of the Magara Eiver at the close of June, 1814. He made Buffalo his head-quarters, and on the 1st of July he found himself at the head of a military force strong enough, in his judgment,: to carry out the orders and wishes of the War Department by invading Canada. His ai-my consisted of two brigades of infantry, commanded respectively by Generals Scott and Ripley, and to each of these was attached an efficient train of artillery, commanded by Captain Nathan Towson and Major Jacob-Hindman, and a small squadron of cavalry under Captain Samuel D. Harris. These troops were well equipped and highly disciplined.' They were the regulars. There was also a brigade of miscellaneous troops, composed of five hundred Pennsylvania Yolunteers ; six hundred New York Volunteers, of whom one hundred were mounted ; and between five and Bix hundred Indian warri- ors, embracing almost the entire military force of the Six Nations theij remaining in the United States. These had been ai'oused to; action by the stirring eloquence of the tlien venerable Red Jacket, the great ^erieca orator, chief, and Bache;m,^ whose in- ■ General Scott had taken special pains to discipline these troops thoroughly. General Jesnp (then m^'or), In a man- uscript "Memoir of the Campaign on the Niagara" now before me, says that "he [Jesup] began^ under the orders of General Scott, a course of instruction, and kept his coihmand [Twenty-fifth Infantry] under arms from seven to ten honrs a day. A similar course was pursued by the chiefs of other corps. The consequence was, that when we took the field In July our corps manffiuvred in actioU and under the flre-ot the enemy's artUlery^with the accuracy of parade." " Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket, was born about the year 1T50 wh§re the city of Buffalo now stands, that being the chief residence of the leaders of the Seneca tribe of the Six NationsT"«ft was a swift-footed, fiuent-tongued being. During the Eevolution he, in common with his tribe, Wk part with the Britilh and Tories. His business was more In the way of arousing his people to action by Us eloquence than the performance of great actions himself. Indeed, Brant spoke very disparagingly of him, and called him a traitor and dishonest m!\n ; and he was charged with having been found in a place of safety cutting up a cow belonging to another Indian (Whic^i he had killed) yhile Sullivan was march- ing through the Seneca country in 17T9, flghting^Ke warriors whom Hed Jacket had aroused by his eloquence. He first appears conspicuoii^n histqry at the treaty of fojJr Stanwix (now Home, New York) in 1784, when, by certain conces- sions of territory by the Six Nations, those of the tribes who had not emigrated to Canada were brought under the pro- tection of the govemment pf the TTnited States. 'It was on that occasion that Eed Jacket's fame as a great orator was established. Two years afterward he was prominent at a council held at the mouth of the Detroit Elver ; and in all the disputes between the white people and Indians respecting land-titles in Western New York Eed Jacket was ever the eloquent defender of the rights of his/race. Hiapaganismnever yielded to the (nflpenoe of Christianity, -and he was the most inveterate enemy to all niis8iona_fy efforts among the [Senecas. Under his leadership the Senecas became the al- lies of the Americans against the ^rjtish in the War of 1812, and in the battle of Chippewa in the summer of 1814 he be- haved well as a soldier, although ;t(e seems to-have been constitutionally timid, and always graver in council than iu the field. For many years he wi>B the head chief of the Senecas. The Influence of Christianity and the civilization that affected, his people disturbed the latter years of his life, and he was made more unhappy by the intemperate use of in- toxicating liquors. So great and disgusting became his excesses that in 182T he was formally deposed by an act in writing signed by twenty-six of the leading men of the Senecas. This blow was severe. He went to the National cap- ital for redress, and he returned to his people with such evidences of reform that he was reinstated. But ie soon he- came an Imbecile, and in a jonmey to the Atlantic sea-board he permitted himself to be exhibited for money. Bow his proud spirit in its vigor wouldhaye scorned such degradation I He died on the 20th of January, 1830, at tli0 age of almost eighty years. His remains were buried in tb^ ehnrch-yard of the Seneca mission, three or four miles from Bufl'alo, and over his grave Henry Placide, the comedian, furnishej with funds by a subscription which he set on {bpt among the actors connected with the Buffalo theatre, placed a slab of marble in 1839, upon which were engraven these words: "Sabovewatha (He -keeps -them - awake), Red Jacket : chief of the Wolf Tribe of the Senecas ; the friend and protector of the people. Died January 20, 1830, aged seventy-eight years." Toward the close of the Eevolution aBrit- ish olBcer gave the young chief a richly-em- broidered scarlet jacket, from the wearing of which he derived his Bnglish name. In his later years he wore, with pride, a large medal, which waa presented to him by Pres- ident Washington in 1792 on the conclnslon of a treaty of peace and amity between the EKD JAOKKT's medal. OK THE WAR OF 18 12. 803 The Volunteers aud Indians. Chief Engineer M'Eee. Fort Erie and the Invasion of Canada, fluence among his people had been very great since the close of the Revolution, in which he took a part, not, however, very much to his credit as a soldier. The volunteers and Indians were under the chief command of General Peter B. Porter, who was then quarter-master gen- eral of the New York Militia, and, as we have seen, was not only an eloquent ad- vocate of the war in Congress' before it was commenced, but a ready and patriotic actor in its more stirring and dangerous scenes in the field. The accomplished Ma- jor William M'Ree, of North Carolina, was the chief engineer in Brown's army,^ and he was assisted by the equally accomplished and gallant Ma- jor Eleazer D. Wood, with whom we have become well acquainted while following General Harri- son in his campaign in the far Northwest. On the Canada shore, at the foot of Lake Erie, nearly opposite Buifalo, stood Fort Erie, then garrisoned by one hundred and seventy men, mostly of the One Hundredth Regiment, under the command of Major Buck, of the Brit- ish army. It was the most serious impediment in the way j of our invasion of Canada in that quarter ; but when, on the 1 St of July, Brown received orders from the Secretary of War to cross the river, capture Fort Erie, and march on Chippewa, at the mouth of Chijjpewa Creek, where some fortifications had been thrown up, menace Fort George, and, if assured of the co-operation of Chauncey's fleet, and its capability of with- EED JAOItET. United States and the Six Nations after the Revolution. It is made of silver, with a heavy rim, and is five inches in width, and nearly seven inches in length. The devices upon it were engraved, it is said, by the eminent David Ritten- house, the philosopher/ who, as a jeweler in his younger days, had acquired some facility in the use of the burin. It will be observed that the painter of the above portrait did not correctly draw the device on the medal which is given in the engraving on the preceding page from a photograph. The medal is now [1867] in the possession of Brevet Brigadier General Parker, of General Grant's staff, chief Sachem of the Six Nations. I saw it in his possession at City Point in 1S64. Ked Jacket's children being all dead at the time of his death, this insignia of leadership passed out of the pos- session of his immediate family. The stricken chief regarded the death of his eleven children as a punishment for his drunkenness. The late venerable Mr. Hoemer, of Avon, Livingston County, told the writer in 1855, that on one occasion a lady at his table with Red Jacket, who did not know of his bereavement, inquired after his children. The old chief, with deep sadness, replied with unsurpassed eloquence, " Red Jacket was once a great man and in favor with the Great Spirit. He was S. lofty pine among the smaller trees of the forest. But, after years of glory, he degraded himself by drlnkini' the flre-water of the white man. The Great Spirit has looked down upon him in his anger, and his lightning has stripped the pine of its branches." ' See page 212. a William M'Ree was bom in Wilmington, North Carolina, on the 13th of December, 1787, He was of Irish descent. His father was an active officer in onr old War for Independence, and this son was educated at the Military Academy at West Point, He entered the corps of Engineers in 1806, and was commissioned a major, and assigned to the duty of chief engineer of the Northern Army in 1813, He was conspicuous in the events on the Northern and Niagara frontier daring the war, at the close of which his government sent him on a tour of military inspection in Europe, After serv- ing on a commission of engineers to detei-mine upon a system of fortifications for the United States, he retired from the army in 1819, He became United States surveyor general, and was almost continually in public employment until his death, which occurred at St, Louis, Missouri, in May, 1833, He was never married. The silhouette from which the above eniraving was made is the only likeness of him extant. I am indebted for its use to his nephew, Griffith J. M'Ree, of ' Wflmingtou. 804 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Plan ofthe new Invasion of Canada, General Eipley. American Troops cross the Niagara. ' Major Gardner. standing that of Sir James Teo, to seize and fortify Burlington Heights, at the head of Lake Ontario, he did not hesitate a moment to set about its execution. If these results could be obtained, the Americans would not only hold the peninsula in their grasp, but might proceed leisurely to the conquest and occupation of all Upper Canada. In obedience to his instructions. General Brown issued orders on the 2d of July for his troops to cross the Niagara River from Black Rock. Accompanied by Generals Scott and Porter, he made a reconnaissance of Fort Erie and the upper part of the Ni- agara, and concerted a plan of attack. His means of transportation were few. The arrangements for embarking and debarking were made with the brigadiers and the senior engineers, M'Ree and Wood. General Scott was to cross with one division through a difficult pass in the Black Rock Rapids, and land about a mile below Fort Erie, and at the same time General Ripley was to cross from Buffalo, and land at the same distance above the fort. This was to be accomplished by the dawn of the 3d, and the fort was to be immediately invested. The boats that conveyed these divi- sions were to return immediately to Black Rock, and transport the residue of the army, ordnance, and munitions of war to the Canada shore. ^ Toward the evening of the 2d, when the arrangements were all completed. General Ripley expressed a desire for a change. He believed that his division would have to bear the brunt of battle should the enemy oppose the crossing, and he asked for a larger number of troops. He complained that he could not cross with sufficient force to promise success ; and when General Brown, who knew that delay would be peril- ous, endeavored to convince him that his force would be adequate, and assured him that no change could then be made in the arrangement, Ripley was angry, and ten- dered his resignation. It was not accepted, and the movement went on. General Scott crossed the river while it was yet dark on the morning of the 3d, with the Ninth, Eleventh, part of the Twenty-second, and the Twenty-jBfth Regi- ments, and a corps of artillery under Major Hindman, and landed below Fort Erie' unmolested. His movements were so prompt that in less than two hours after he embarked, his brigade was formed on the Canada shore. General Brown, with his suite, consisting of his adjutant general (the now venerable Colonel Charles K. Gard- ner, of Washington City'), Major Jones, the assistant adjutant general. Majors M'Ree and Wood, of the Engineers, and Captains Austin and Spencer, his aids-de-camp, pre- pared to follow in a small boat. He would have landed on the Canada shore as early as the rear of Scott's division did, had not Ripley been tardy in his obedience of or- ders. It was broad daylight before that officer's brigade was embarked. Brown was disappointed. He pushed across the river, leaving orders for Ripley to follow as soon as possible, and join Scott, who by that time had formed his troops on the Canadian beach. I In his general orders announcing the contemplated invasion General Brownprescrihed stringent rnles for his troops in the treatment of the inhabitants and their property. All fonnd in arms were to be treated as enemies, and all oth- ers as friends. Private property was to be held sacred, and public property, when seized, was to be disposed of by the commanding general. He prescribed the punishment of death for all plunderers. a Charles K. Gardner was born in l^onis County, New Jersey, in 1T8T, and in 1T91 removed with his parents to New- burg, on the Hudson, where he finished his education. He was a student of medicine with Dr. Hosack, in New York, when he received the appomtment of ensign in the old Sixth Regiment of Infantry in 1S08. In the following year, while on duty at Oswego, he was appointed adjutant of his regiment. He~ served as such at various points, and at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, General Wade Hampton appointed him his brigade inspector. In July, 1812, he was appointed cap- tain of the Third Artillery, and in the following month General Armstrong, then in command at New York, made him his brigade inspector. In March, 1813, he was in charge of the adjutant general's office at Washington as assistant, but was soon afterward promoted to major of tie Twenty-fifth Infantry, and ordered to the Northern frontier at Sacketfs ?''!^'"' S^ ™.^ i?.,', l^ o*"? °^ Chi-ysler's Field. In the following spring he accompanied General Brown's division first from French Mills to Sacketfs Harbor, and then to Buffalo, and in April received the appointment of adjutant gen- eral, with the rank of colonel. For distingnished services on the Niagara frontier he was breveted lieutenant colonel, bnt, bemg then colonel, he declmed it. In May, 1816, he was recommissioned adjutant general of the Army of the North, and in 1818 he married and resigned. In 18a2-'3 he edited the New York Patriot, and was appointed corresponding clerk in the Post-^ce Department. In 1829 he became assistant postmaster general. He became auditor of the treas- ury for the Post-offlce Department in 1836, and was afterward postmaster at Washington City, and surveyor general of Oregon. Colonel Gardner is now (186T) a resident of Washington City. He is the author of a Compend oflnfantn Tac- tics, and a very comprehensive Dictionary/ of the Army. OP THE WAR OF 1812. 605 Port Erie captiirefl by the Americana. . Ke-enforcements for it sent too late. Oeueral Biall. Brown ordered Scott to push for- ward a battalion nearer the fort, to observe the movements of the garri- son. This battalion, consisting of light troops and a few Indians, were under the command of Major Jesup, of the Twenty-fifth. They drove in the ene- my's pickets ; and so favorable to suc- cess was every appearance, that Brown resolved to invest the fort with Scott's brigade, without waiting for the land- ing of Eipley's. Taking with him a corps just formed by Major Gardner, he pushed into the woods, in the rear of the fort, where he seized a resident, and compelled him to act as guide. h He then directed Gardner to press for- ward through the forest to the lake shore above the fort, extend his left so as to connect with Jesup's command, and in that manner inclose the post. This movement was adcomplished be- fore Ripley, at a late hour, crossed the river with the Nineteenth, Twenty- first, and Twenty-third Regiments, and met at the landing the adjutant general with orders for his brigade to take the investing position in connection with Scott's forces. This was promptly done. No time was lost in crossing the ordnance and selecting positions for batteries un- der the direction of Chief Engineer M'Ree. A long 18-pound cannon was mounted and ready for action upon an eminence called Snake Hill, when Brown demanded the surrender of the fort, giving the commander, Major Buck, two hours for considera- tion. Very soon afterward a white fiag came out, and was received by Major Jesup ; the fort, which was in a very weak condition, was surrendered ; and at six o'clock in the evening the British soldiers, almost two hundred in number, including seven offi- cers marched out and stacked their arms, became prisoners of war, were sent across the river, and posted immediately for the Hudson. During the morning the British had fired cannon from the fort, which killed four Americans, and wounded two or three others. When the pickets were driven in the British had one man killed. These were all the casualties attendant upon the capture of Fort Erie. Prompt measures were taken to secure the advantage gained by the capture of Fort Erie. Had Ripley's desire for delay prevailed, the prize would not have been won, for the British commander on the frontier, Gen- eral Riall,i had been apprised of the danger impend- ing over the fort, and at eight o'clock that morning had sent forward five companies of the Royal Scots to re-enforce it. In front of Chippewa they were met and checked by intelligence of the surrender of the fort. General Riall then determined to make an immediate at- tack on the Americans, but was induced to forbear by the assurance that the Eighth Regiment was hourly expected from York, now Toronto. He agreed to postpone the . attack until t he next morning. 1 Historyis almost silent concerning the character of General Elall. A contemporary who senred under him at the «^rw» ,;p now considering, speaks of him as a gallant man, bnt possessed of very little military skill ; who had " at- fataerhis raThrthe pSse of all purchasable grades." He was ftom Tipperary, in Ireland, a little less than mid- die age, and a man of fortune. 806 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Scott moves down the Niagara. Preparations for Battle at Street's Creeli. - Origin of the " Cadet's Gray." stbeet's OBEBK uaLDQE.^ To confront and drive back this force of British regulars, Scott was sent toward Chippewa with his brigade, accompanied by Captain-Towson's artillery corps, on the morning of the 4th. It was late in the afternoon, before the second brigade, under Ripley, and Hindman's artillery, were prepared to move. Scott marched down the Canada shore of the Ni- agara River to a posi- tion on a plain behind Street's Creek, opposite the lower end of Navy Island, and little more than a mile above Chip- pewa. On the way he met a considerable Brit- ish force under Lieu- tenant Colonel Pearson, and, after a sharp skirm- ish, he drove them be- yond Street's Creek. In fact, the march, for sixteen miles, according to Jesup, was " a continual skirmish,"^ chiefly with the British One Hundredth Regiment, under the^ Marquis of Tweeddale, who were driven to their intrenchments beyond the Chippewa. Believing Scott's troops to be only " Buffalo militia," the marquis could account for their bravery only by the fact of its being the anniversary of American Independence, which gave them patriotic inspiration and courage. He was undeceived on the fol- lowing day.' On the plain between Street's Creek and the Chippewa River, Captain Turner Crocker, of the Ninth, with a detachment of light infantry, received and re- pulsed a detachment of the Nineteenth British Dragoons. Finding the enemy strong- ly posted beyond the Chippewa, General Scott called in his light troops, and took a position behind Street's Creek, where he encamped for the night. At about midnight the main body of Brown's army, embracing Ripley's brigade, a field and battery train, and Major Hindman's artillery corps, came up, accompanied by the commanding gen- eral. "With only the small creek between them, the belligerent armies slumbered that hot July night. The morning of the 5th of July dawned gloriously. The positions of the two ar- mies were simple. On the east was the Niagara River, along the margin of which was a road. On the west was a heavy wood, and between the parties coming in from the woods were two streams, namely, Street's and Chippewa Creeks, the latter, some- times called the Welland Creek, being the larger in volume.* Below the Chippewa^ and about two miles from Scott's camp, was that of Riall. On one side of it was a block-house, and on the other was a heavy battery. At the mouth of the Chippewaj on the south side, some fortifications had been thrown up to cover the bridge, called a tSte-de-pont (or head of the bridge) battery, whose ruins are still (186'7) visible. A little farther up the river the British had a small navy yard and some barracks. 1 This is a view of the hridge at the month of Street's Creek looking np the Niagara, from a sketch made hy the an- thor in the summer of 1860. On the extreme right is seen a chimney, which composes the remains of the house of Mr. street, from whom the stream derives its name. In the distance, on the left, is seen Grand Island. " Jesup'B MS. Memoir, etc. 3 General Scott explained to the writer the cause of the marquis's mistake. While at Buffalo Scott wrote to the quar- termaster for a supply of new clothing for his regulars. Word soon came hack that hlue cloth, such as was used iii the army, could not be obtained, owing to the stringency of the blockade and the embargo, and the lack of mannfactHies in the country, but that there was a sufficient quantity of gray cloth (now known as "Cadet's Gray") in Philadelphia. Scott ordered it to be made up for his soldiers, and in these new gray suits they marched down the Niagara on Canada soil. Believing them to be only militia, Eiall regarded them with contempt when preparing for battle on the Bth. Be- cause of the victory, won chiefly by them, at Chippewa on the 5th, and in honor of Scott and his troops, that style of cloth was adopted at the Military Academy at West Point as the uniform of the cadets. It has been used ever since, anxl is known to be the best color tqr field service. * The Chippewa is navigable with small boats for about forty miles. It is obstructed, however, by its connection with the Welland Canal, about nine miles from its mouth. OF THE WAR OP 1812. 807 Scott re-enforced. ' British Ught Troops and Indians dislodged by Porter. Captain Joseph Treat. BRAINS OF T^TE-UE-POMT BATTBET.l At about noon of the 5th Scott was joined bythree hundred Pennsylvania Volun- teers, and about four hundred Indians under Caftain Pollard and the famous Red Jacket. The whole were commanded^by General Porterj who had been aoeompariied from Black Rock by Majors Wood and Joiies, of Brown's staff. The British were re- enforced during the night by the expected Eighth, or King's Regiment, from York or Toronto, and small parties went out from their line at dawn on the beautiful plain between the Chippewa and Street's Creek — a plain then bounded on the west, three fourths of a mile from the river, by a dense wood. For several hours the belligerents were, feeling each other, the pickets and scouts of each keeping up a desultory fire all the morning.^ Finally the American pickets on the extreme left of Scott's line be- came so annoyed by a heavy body of British light troops and Indians in the woods, that at four o'clock in the afternoon General Porter was sent with his coi-ps to dis- lodge them. He was successful. The enemy fled in affright toward Chippewa, dread- fully smitten by the pursuers. There Porter found himself within a few yards of the entire British force advancing in battle order. In this affair, up to the meeting of the British in force, the Indians behaved well. They were in the woods, on the left of Porter's column, with Red Jacket on their ex- tremity in the forest. Porter, with Captain Pollard, the Indian leader, took post in the edge of the woods, between the pale and dusky soldiers. The Indians, led by 1 The engraving represents the remains of this battery when I visited the spot and sketclied them in the summer of 1860. In the front, between the two figures and the monnds, are seen the waters of the feeder of the Welland Canal. On the left is the month of Chippewa Creek, and beyond, the Niagara Eiver at the head of the Great Eapids. Beyond that is the New Tork shore ; and to the left, looking by the head of Goat Island, is seen Niagara Falls Village. Over, the most westerly point of the remains of t6te-de-pont battery, on the New Tork shore, is seen the residence of Colo- nel Peter Angnstus Porter, son of the general, who accompanied me at that time. This gentleman lost his life while at the head of his regiment fighting for the republic inthe.Battle of the Wilderness, Virginia, in 1864. 2 It was dming these movements early in the morning that Captain Treat, in command of a picket-gnard of forty men and a patrol of ten, " retired disgracefully, leaving a wounded man on the ground," as General Brown said in his re- port. For this alleged offense, Brown ordered Treat, on the spot, to retire from the army ; and, in his report of the af- fair, he advised the dismissal of the captain and one of his lieutenants from the service. "This punishment " says Brown, in a manuscript "Memorandum of Occurrences; etc., connected with the Campaign of Niagara," "though severe, was just, and at the moment indispensable. It had the happiest effect upon the army." This affair gave rise to much feeling in and out of the army. Captain Treat was a most valuable officer, and had been highly esteemed bf General Brown. On the day after his disgrace he called on General Brovm and demanded a court-martial. It was finally granted, after long and tedious delays, _,^ but the result was not reached until the 8th of May, 1816, when the V ^ X? court declared, " After mature deliberation on the testimony deduced, ^fi^Jj^ y^ C, / the court find the accused, Captain Joseph Treat, not guilty of the - ■" charge or specification preferred against him, and do honorably acquit him." This finding of the court was approved by Major General Brown at Sackett's Harbor on the 3d of July following. At about the same time Captain Treat published a vindication " against the atrocious calumny," which was dedicated to President Madison. It contains a report of the proceedings of the court-martial, and occupies sixty-two pages. The vindication of his character as a soldier was triumphant. Captain Treat was the son of one of the earliest settlers on the Penobscot, in Maine. He entered the army as captain of the Twenty-first Hegiment of Infantry in the spring of 1812. With his company, recruited chiefly at Bangor, he Joined the Northern- Army. On the day of his disgrace on Chippewa Plain he volunteered to fight as a private ; and such was the confidence of Major Vosei of the Twenty-first Kegiment, in Captain Treat, that he requested him to take command of a platoon in the fight. He declined, but fought bravely in the ranks. He became brigadier general of militia in his. native state in 1820, and the memory of General Treat is cherished with the most cordial respect. PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK 808 Porter's Troope and the Indians retreat. Scott advaBce. to meet the British. Co napositlon of the British gorce. their war-chiefs, were allowed to conduct their share of the battle as they pleased; and, when the enemy had delivered his fire, they rushed forward with hornd yells, spreading consternation in the ranks of the foe, and making fearful havoc with toma- hawk and scalping-knife. They fought desperately, hand-to-hand m many mstances, and in every way they won the applause of their commanding general. But the tide of fortune soon changed. The heavy line of the foe, after an exchange of two br three rounds of musketry, charged Porter's troops with the bayonet fuiiously. Heanng nothing of General Scott, and finding no support against an overwhelmmg force near. Porter gave an order to retreat and form on the left of Scott's brigade, beyond Street's Creek. The retreat became a tumultuous rout. Riall it seems, had intended to fall upon the American camp with his whole force, and for that purpose he had led it across Chippewa Creek. There Porter had con- fronted it, as we have observed. General Brown was on the extreme left, watching Porter's movements at this time, and, seeing an immense cloud of dust in the direc- tion of Chippewa, at once comprehended its meaning. He correctly supposed the whole force of the enemy to be advancing, and at once dispatched Colonel Gardner with an order to General Ripley to put in motion the Twenty-first Regiment of In- fantry and Biddle's Battery. He also or- dered Captain Ritch- ie, with his artillery company, to follow him to the plain, where he properly posted him, and then rode to the quarters of General Scott to direct him to cross Street's Creek at once with his whole bri- gade and Towson's artillery to meet the advancing foe. He found Scott almost ready, with his horse before his tent, to lead his brigade over for the pui-pose of drilling them on the plain. He did not believe the enemy to be so near in force, but, like a true soldier, he obeyed the order promptly, rather captiously remarking that he would march and drill his brigade, but did not believe he would find three hundred of the enemy there.^ Just then Porter's flight was observed. It uncovered Scott's left, and exposed it to great peril ; but Ripley had been ordered to advance cautiously through the woods, under the direction of Colonel Gardner, and produce a diversion in Scott's favor by falling on the rear of the British right. General Riall's advancing army was composed of the One Hundredth Regiment, commanded by the Marquis of Tweeddale ; the First, or Royal Soots, under Lieuten- ant Colonel Gordon ; a portion of the Eighth, or King's Regiment, under Major Evans ; a detachment of the Royal Artillery, under Captain Macconnochie ; and also of the ' This is a ylew of the bridge over Street's Creek, looking down the Niagara Elver. Across the Niagara, in the ex- treme distance, Immediately to the right of the figures on the bridge, is seen Schlosser Landing, and, nearer, the foot of Navy Island. The house beyond the willow-tree, on the left, is on a portion of the battle-ground, and belonged, when I was there, to Mr. William Gray. It was the scene of a tragedy during the troubles in Canada in 183T and 1838. Some miscreants came over from Navy Island one night (among them the scoundrel Lett, who destroyed Brock's Mon- ument), and, after enticing a Mr. Bdgworth Usher, who was at this house, to come to the door, shot him through the side-lights as he was seen approaching with a candle in his band. ' General Brown's MS. Memoir qfEvmta in the Niagara Campaign. btebet's okeek beidgb, lookiug moeth.^ "or THE WAR OF 1812. 809 Beginning of the Battle of Chippewa. Charge of the Eleventh Eeglment. Nathan TowBOn. Royal Nineteenth Dragoons, under Major Lisle ; a regiment of Lincoln militia, under Lieutenant Colonel Dixon, and a body of Indians. These were supported by a heavy battery of nine pieces. He advanced from his intrenchments at Chippewa in three columns, his vanguard being composed of light companies of the Royal Scots and of the One Hundredth Regiments, and the Second Regiment of Lincoln militia. These were commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Pearson. On his right, in the edge of the woods, were about three hundred Indian warriors. It was these, with the vanguard, who fell upon Porter. On the road that skirts the Niagara River, Riall placed two light 24-pounders and a 5^-inch howitzer. Scott in the mean time had crossed Street's Creek over the bridge with the great- est coolness, in the face of a heavy cannonade from the enemy's full battery within point-blank range, and formed in battle order with the Ninth and part of the Twenty- second Regiment, under Major Leavenworth, covered by Towson's artillery, on the extreme right, the Eleventh Regiment, under Major M'Neil (Colonel Campbell, its commander, having received a severe wound in the knee), in the centre, and the Twenty-fifth Regiment, commanded by Major Jesup, on the extreme left. In this movement Scott was greatly aided by Towson,i whose artillery, placed near the bridge, kept the enemy at bay, and at times caused him to slacken his cannonade. When Porter's corps came flying in confusion from the enemy's right, they were partially checked by Captain Harris's cavalry behind a ravine fronting Brown's camp, and Jesup, by an oblique movement, covered Scott's left, while Ripley was making un- availing efforts to gain the position to which he was ordered by Brown. Jesup was joined by Porter and his staff, and some of the more courageous volunteers, and as the conflict became general, the major engaged and held in check the enemy's right wing. The battle raged with fury along the entire line of both armies. Several times the British line was broken, and then closed up again ; and it often exposed as many flanks as it had regiments in the field. This unskillful manoeuvring had been ob- served by Scott, who had advanced, halted, and fired alternately, until he was within eighty paces of his foe. 'W^e: Ss.^^^ Observing a gap in his lines which made a new flank, he ordered a quick movement in that direction by M'Neil's Eleventh Regiment. He shouted with a voice that was heard above the din of battle, " The enemy say that we are good at long shot, but can not stand the cold iron ! I call upon the Eleventh instantly to give the lie to that slander ! Charge .'"^ This move- ment was immediately made, with the most decisive effect. A similar charge was made by Leavenworth,. • Nathan Towson was one of the most useful officers of the army at this time. He was horn in Maryland in 1784, and was appointed captain in the Second Eegiment of Artillery in March, 1813. He aided Lieutenant Elliott, of the navy, as we have seen (page 386), in capturing the CaUdmia at Fort Erie in October of that year, and for his gallant conduct there he was brevet- ed a m^or. In repelling the attack of the British on Port George, Upper Canada, in July, 1813, he was wounded. He greatly distinguished himself un- der Brown as an artillery officer, and was breveted lieutenant colonel for his good conduct in the battle of Chippewa. He performed equally distinguished service at Niagara and Fort Erie. In the latter a bastion was named in his honor, after the Americans took possession of it, early in July, IBM. He was retained in the service at the close of the war, and was made paymaster gen- eral in 1819. In 1834 he was breveted brigadier general; and for his distin- guished services in the Mexican War he was breveted m^or general in March, 1849. He died in Washington City on the 20th of July, 1854, at the age of seven- ty years His remains lie interred on a pleasant slope in Oak Hill Cemetery, Georgetovra, District of Columbia, by the side of those of his wife, and over them is a beautiful white marble monument on which is the following simple inscription : "Nathan Towson, Brevet Major General and Paymaster Gen- eral, United States Army. Sophia Towsos, wife of Nathan Towson." " Mansfield's Life of Scott, page lOT. 810 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK M'Neil's flank Mov^ent. The British routed. The Losses of the Combatants; who held an oblique position on the American right. At the same time ToW- son's battery poured in an oblique fire of murderous canister-shot, after sUeno^ ing the enemy's most efiective battery by blowing up an ammunition-wagon; and presently the whole left and centre of the British broke and fled in confu- sion. That effective flank movement by M'Neil was the one, there can be no doubt, which gave the victory to the. Americans. "He deserved,'' said Gen- eral Scott in his report, " every thing which conspicuous skill and gallantry can win from a grateful country." He, was soon afterward breveted a lieuten- ant colonel " for his intrepid behavior on the Sth day of July, in the battle of Chippewa." At this time Jesup, hotjy pressed by the British right^ and finding his men falling thickly around him, ordered his soldiers to " support arms and advance !" In the face of a deadly and destructive fire this order was obeyed, and a more secure position was gained, when Jesup opened such a terrific fire on the enemy that they broke and fled toward their in- trenchments beyond the Chippewa. Cap- tain Ketchum, with one of the light com- panies of the Twenty-fifth, hotly pur- sued the fugitives, and halted only when within half musket -shot of Chippewa Bridge, where they received some dam- age from the tSte-de-pont battery. They captured many prisoners. The British did not cease their flight until they were fairly behind their breastworks be- low Chippewa Ci-eek, and taken up the planks of the bridge. The pl&in was strewn with the dead and the dying of both nations. The American loss dur- Nora.-The above map indicates the movements of the ing the moming skirmishinff and in the troops in the battle of Chippewa. A H show the position of „„°„; „ ■r„^.^.^ ^ 4.1, ,. i r. ^ r i M'Neil and Leavenworth when they made the flnal charge. ^Venmg battle On that long, hot July a, a, a, th? point to which Porter drove the British and In- day, was sixtV-One killed, two hundred dians (see page SOT). 6, Street's bam. j /.-v ^ *' , ' , . and firty-nve wounded, and nmeteen missing. The British lost two hundred and thirty-six killed, three hundred and twenty-two wounded, and forty-six missing.' The horrors of the battle-field were $ 9 )ATTLE p'l^ cmrmwh I The American musketry was very effective. Over each hall, in loading, the Americans placed three buckshot, which scattered and did severe execution. The British lost largely in officers. A member of the Marquis of Tweeddale's One Hundredth Hegiment afterward stated that two officers of that regiment were killed and twenty wounded. Amonff the latter was the marquis himself. Fourteen of the British were made prisoners. These, added to the prisoners captared' at Fort Erie two days before, made the number 15t. The writer above alluded to says that the American officers were, seen on the fleld fi-eely exposing themselves in front of their men. " As to General Eiall, as soon as his line fled he OS" THE WAK QF 1812. - gn Bravery of Adjutant o!-Conner. The British Poeition at Chippewa. The AmericaPB fall back. Indiana diehe arteped; mitigated by a gentle shower, that came like an angel of mercy at the close of the conflict to cool the throbbing temples and moisten the feverish lips of the wounded. At the close of the battle on the plain, when Scott was about to commence a vig- orous pursuit of the enemy, Porter was ordered forward to his support with two hundred Pennsylvania militia who had been left in camp as reserves. These, took post on Scott's left, where they awaited the arrival of Ripley's brigade, which had not reached the field in time to participate in the action. The gallant Adjutant O'Con- nor' dashed forward alone to reconnoitre the enemy's position. He saw them tear- mg up Chippewa Bridge, and comprehended the situation at a glance. Having satis- fied himself, he wheeled his horse and galloped back to the lines, followed by several bullets from the men at the bridge, which did no harm. Scott pressed forward, and at a point of woods came into an open field in full view of the enemy. The guns at the Ute-d&pont battery and at the British camp opened upon them, the corps of Por- ter receiving the first discharge. Just then a building near the bridge, touched by A British torch, burst into flame ; and at the same moment a thunder-gust, followed by gentle rain, went skurrying up the river, filling the air with blinding clouds of dust. The commanding general resolved to bring up all his ordnance, and force the enemy's position by a direct attack, when Major Wood, of the Engineers, and Captain Austin, the general's aid, who had been forward and made observations, assured him that the position of the enemy was too strong to be easily moved. This report, and the ad- vice of Scott and Wood, caused the general to issue an order for a retrograde move- ment. The victorious little army marched slowly back through mud where deep dust had lain only an hour before, and at sunset reached their encampment behind Street's Creek. On that eventful night- Chippewa Plains were deserted, and the two armies occupied the same relative position which they did at dawn. In the morn- ing General Brown had assured General Porter that not a British regular would be seen on the south side of the Chippewa that day, and in this belief Scott had shared.^ But they had been there, left a sanguinary record, and were gone ; and the stars look- ed down that night on a scene of repose, tranquil and profound, where the horrid de- tonations of fierce conflict had been heard, and the smoke of battle had obscured the light of the evening sun. There was joy in the American camp that night. A decisive battle had been fought by small numbers,^ and gallantly won by the Americans. The chief glory properly belonged to General Scott, whose brigade was the principal instrument in the achieve- ment.* It was very important in its results — more important, perhaps, than any pre- ceding battle of the war. The Indian allies of the British were disheartened. Their disafiection, begun at the Thames, was now made complete. Nearly all of the sav- rode up straight to the enemy's line, as if to court death ; but, as is usual in such cases, he failed to find it, while his fashionable and well-dressed aid-de-camp, obliged to accompany him in what he must have thought not a very agreea- ble enterprise, was seriously wounded in the thigh."— See The Spirit of our Times, Montreal, March 16, 1861. Among the American officers who were wounded was Colonel Campbell, and Captains King, Bead, and Harrison. The flrst-named fell, as we have seen, at the very beginning of the action. Captain Harrison had his leg shot off by a cannon-ball, but heroically refused to allow a man to be taken from the ranks to bear him off until the British retreat- ed. Lieutenants Palmer, Barron, De Witt, Patchin, and Brimhall were also wounded. ' 1 John Michael O'Connor was a native of New York. He was commissioned first lieutenant in the Third Artillery in MarQh, 1812. He was soon aftei"ward appointed regimental quartermaster, and in the spring of 1813 was promoted to captain. On the 20th of June, 1814, he was appointed assistant adjutant general, under Gardner, on General Brown's staff, and held that office at the time of the battle of Chippewa. He was retained in the army at the close of the war, and left it in 1821. In 1824 he translated for the Military Academy at West Point Guy de Vernon's Science of War and ' Manuscript Narrative of the Battles of Chippewa and Niagara, by General Porter. General Brown expressed this belief to General Porter while the latter was marching from Black Eock to Scott's encampment. He informed Porter that the British militia and Indians were annoying his pickets very much, and when proposing to that officer to em- ploy his Indians in driving the former from the woods he promised him ample. support, and gave him the assarance that no regulars would be seen.— See Stone's I4fe of Bed Jacket, page 25T. 'According to the most careful estimates, the whole number of troops actually engaged in the battle did not exceed 3000, namely, 1300 Americans and 1700 British. * ''Brigadier General Scott," said Brown, in his report to the Secretary of War on the Tth of July, "is entitled to the highest praise Qur, country can bestow ; to him more than any other man I am indebted for the victory of the 6th of July. Hisbrigadehas covered itself with glory The family of General Scott were conspicuous in the fleld—Liea- 812 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK The People inepirited. Eecruiting active. Sketches of subordinate Officers. 3 ages, who had been a terror to all in every district in the West in -which military movements occurred, now left the British army and returned to their homes. The victory also gave a needed impetus to enlistments. It created great joy throughout the country. The people were amazingly inspirited, and recruiting became so active that almost any number of men might have been added to the army for another cam- paio-n. This victory also won more genuine respect for the Americans from the ene- my than had ever been accorded before; and among the peevish expressions of mor- tenant Smith, of the Sixth Infantry, major of brigade,* and Lientenante Wortht and Watts,t his aids. From General Eipley and his brigade I received every assistance that I gave them an opportunity of rendering." He gave equally warm praise to General Porter and his command, and all the other officers and troops. Of Gardner and Jones,§ of his own military family, he made particular mention, and said, " I shall have occasion again to speak to you." * Gerard D. Smith, who was made adjutant in 1813, was now Scott's brigade major, having been appointed In March. He was a native of N'ew York. He had been promoted to captain in June, but his commission had notiyet been made known to General Brown. In the battle of Niagara he so distinguished himself that he was breveted a msgor. He was wounded there, with his chief. He was retained in the army at the peace, but resigned in 1819. t William Jenkins Worth was a native of Columbia County, New Tork, and died a m^or general by brevet in the anny of the United States. He entered the army as first lieutenant, and was aid-de- camp to Major General Lewis in 1813. In March, 1814, he became aid to Brigadier General Scott, and was breveted captain for his gallant services in the battle of Chippewa. For his distinguished conduct In the battle of Niagara, twenty days later, he was breveted a major. In that battle he was severely wonnded. He was com- missioned a captain the next month, and was retained in the service at the close of the war. In 1842 he was breveted brigadier for his valuable services in Florida, having previously attained to the rank of full colonel of the Eighth In- fantry. He commanded with distinction during the Seminole War ; and for his gallant con- duct at Monterey, in Mexico, he was breveted a major general. In March, 1847, the Con- gress of the United States voted him a sword for his meritorious conduct there. His ca- reer in Mexico was highly honorable to him and his country. It was he who received the ■ message from the authorities of the city of Mexico, on the night of the 13th of September, 1848, offering to surrender the capital. He died at his head-quarters at San Antonio, Texas, on the 7th of May, 1849. Nine years afterward, a monu- ment, composed of Quincy granite, fifty-one feet in height, on which is inscribed the names of the several battles in which he had been engaged, was erected in the city of New Tork, at the junction of Broadway and Fifth Avenue. Anthony Street, in the same city, was named Worth Street at about the same time, in honor of the hero. t George Watts, who was a native of New York, greatly distinguished himself on this occasion. In a letter to General Brown, written tea days after the battle, General Scott spoke in the high- est terms of Worth and Watts. " They both ren- _ dered essential services," he said, " at critical mo- , iij^p ments, by assisting the commandant of corps in .i.^h forming the troops under circumstances which -s precluded the voice from being heard. Their conduct has been handsomely * acknowledged by the officers of the line, who have joined in requesting that It might be particularly noticed." Young Watts was breveted first lieutenant for his good behavior on that occasion. He belonged to the First Light Dragoons, of which he was third lieutenant. In Brown's sortie fl-om Fort Erie, a few weeks later, he distinguished himself. He was retained in the army as first lieutenant ofinfantry in 1816, but resigned the following year. A fine portrait of him is in the possession of General J. Watts Depeyster, of Tivoli, New York. {Eoger Jones was a native of Virginia. On the southern border of the Congressional Burying-gronnd at Washington City, overlooking the eastern branch of the Potomac, is a beautiful clojided Italian marble monument, erect- ed to his memory, upon which is inscribed the following brief history of his life: "Bom in Westmoreland County, Virginia ; died at Washington on the 15th day of July, 1853, in the 64th year of his age. He entered the service of his country as a lieutenant of marines in 1809, and was appointed captain of artillery at the commencement of the war with Great Britain, and served with honor 43 years. He was twice breveted for distinguished gallantry and con- duct on the field of battle— at Chippewa and the sortie at Fort Erie. A brave soldier and a good man." For his services at Chippewa Jones was breveted a major, and at Fort Erie lieutenant colonel. He was retained in the army, and was made ald-de-camp to General Brown in June, 1815. He was appointed adjutant general, with the rank of colonel, in 1818, and in 1824 was breveted colonel for ten years' faithful service. In June, 1832, he was breveted a brigadier general, and relinquished his rank in line in 1835. He engaged in the Mexican War, and for his services there was breveted major general in March, 1849. On the west side of Jones's monument are the names of the battles in which he was engaged in the War of 1812, namely. Fort George, Stony Creek, Chippewa, Niagara, and Fort Erie sortie. On the east side of the obelisk is sculp- tured, in high relief, a straight sword, garlanded by laurel and olive leaves. WOETH'S MONUMENT. JONEBB MONITMBNT. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 813 " July. = Jnly. Brown expects the Co-ope ration of Channcey. Preparations to cross the Chippewa. Tardiness of General Eipley. tification which it elicited from English writers and speakers were found honorable acknowledgments of the prowess and genius of American soldiers.' It was late in the evening after the hattle* before the wounded of both ar- . j^iy 5, mies could be taken care of 2 The dead remained unburied all night, but early i^^*' on the morrow they were sought foi» over the open battle-field and in the woods, and committed to the earth with great respect. Much of the 6th and tth* was oc- cupied in this business, while General Brown was impatient to advance, for he expected the arrival of Chauncey at the mouth of the Niagara River to co-operate With him. He was satisfied that the passage of the Chippewa Bridge in the face of the intrenched enemy would be too hazardous to warrant the undertaking, and, in- formed that an interior route for Queenston would lie through a heavy forest, almost impassable because of a lack of roads and paths, he sent a small reconnoitring party in search of a place to cross the Chippewa not far above the camp of the enemy. A:^ inhabitant informed them that an old and deserted timber road, seen at the rear of Street's house, led by a circuitous route to the Chippewa, at the mouth of Lyon's Creek, about a mile above the British camp. Early on the morning of the '7th,° G/eneral Brown, accompanied by General Porter and Colonel M'Ree, the senior engineer, went out to explore it, and were satisfied that it might soon be made pass- able for artillery. A heavy detail was sent out for the purpose, and before evening /the way from Street's to Lyon's Creek was ready for the contemplated movement. Anxious to difiuse the right spirit of emulation throughout his army, General Scott resolved to send Ripley in advance, as he was not able to participate in the fatigues and honors of the battle on the 5th, while Scott, who had already won laurels, should keep the left of the enemy at Chippewa Bridge in check. Ripley was accordingly ordered to lead his own brigade and that of Porter, with two companies of artillery under Hindman, to the extreme right of the enemy, cross the Chippewa at the mouth of Lyon's Creek, and fall upon his flank. This order did not suit General Ripley, and he hesitated in obe- • dience. The day was rapidly wearing away, and General Brown, impressed with the im- portance of a prompt movement, rode to the front and took com- mand in person. The materials for the con- struction of a tempo- rary bridge over the Chippewa were soon on its southern bank, and Hindman posted his artillery on a rise of ground so as to cover the field of operations.^ ' Riall in the mean time had discovered Brown's movement, and perceii^ed his own peril involved in it ; and while a few troops, with some field-pieces, that w;ere sent up MOUTH OV LY024'B CHEEK IN 1S60. 1 "The important fact is," said an English writer quoted by Mansfield, "that we have now got an eilemy who fights as bravely as ourselves. For some time the Americans cut no figure on land. They have now proved to us that they only wanted time to acquire a little discipline. They have now proved to us what they are made of ; that they are the same sort of men as those who captured whole armies under Burgoyne and Comwallis ; that they are neither to be frightened nor silenced." 2 Among the British offtcers who were wounded was the present [1867] Sir James Wilson, governor of Chelsea Hospi- tal.' He received five wounds in the battle of Chippewa. He has been over sixty years in the British military service. 'When t visited the spot in 1860, the rise of ground on which Hindman placed his guns was occupied by the steam saw-mill of Mr. Barnabas Crane, whose smoke-stack is seen in the above picture rising like a steeple aibove the trees of an intervening orchard. Lyon's Creek, a small stream named after the first settler there, is seen in the foreground, making its way through a boggy swale, and the Chippewa beyond the two trees. This is about a mile from the mouth of Chippewa Creek. 814 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Passage of the Chippewa. Eiall re-enforced. Brown advances toward Port George. to oppose the passage of the Chippewa by the Americans, were performing that duty, he broke camp and fled with his whole army to Queenston. Brown's opponents, aft- er a brief cannonade, retired, the bridge-building was abandoned, and Ripley's brigade was marched down the Chippewa and formed a junction with Scott's, which had ad- vanced to the southern margin of the stream. The British had destroyed the Chip- pewa Bridge, but by the use of boats both brigades and some of the artillery crossed •July, the stream before the morning of the 8th.* On that day the whole American 1814 force urfder Brown, excepting Porter's brigade, which was left to guard the baggage and rebuild Chippewa Bridge, pursued the flying enemy down the Niagara River. They encamped at Queenston on the lOth,*" and toward the evening of that day Porter, who had been re-enforced by some New York Volunteers, came into camp with the baggage from Chippewa. Riall had retired on the approach of Brown, thrown part of his troops into Forts George and lately-constructed Missis- sauga, and established his head-quarters at Twenty-mile Creek. Brown resolved to wait at Queenston for the arrival of Chauncey, for he could draw no supplies from the Genesee or Sodus without the fleet. The government had assured him of its co- operation, and the 1 0th of July was the day appointed for its arrival. The general anxiously watched from the heights of Queenston for its approach, and hour after hour he spent in expectation of seeing its white sails on the waters of Ontario, which were only seven miles distant. But word soon came that Chauncey was sick, and his fleet blockaded in Sackett's Harbor. Expected re-enforcements were also detained there. Riall in the mean time had marched with fifteen hundred men for Burlington Heights, at the head of Ontario, leaving some veteran soldiers of the Forty-first and Eighth Regiments, and seamen and marines from two of Yeo's vessels in the Niagara River, to garrison the forts. Riall expected to be re-enforced at Burlington, and was agreeably surprised by meeting the One Hundred and ThiM, and the flank companies of the One Hundred and Fourth Regiment on the way. He turned back, took posi- tion at Fifteen-mile Creek (only thirteen miles from Brown's camp), and there watched the movements of his foe. At that time General Brown was contemplating an advance upon Fort George. On the 14th he called a council of officers to consider the matter. A majority were in favor of attacking Riall that very night, before he should receive re-enforcements ; while the minority, coinciding with the wishes of the commanding general, advised an immediate investment of Fort George, notwithstanding there was no competent siege-train with the army, nor provision made for the safe transportation of supplies from Bufialo.i In the mean time foraging and reconnoitring parties were out contin- ually. One of the latter, composed of the venerable John Swift, of the New York militia, and one hundred and twenty volunteers, advanced toward Fort George to ob- tain information. They captured a picket-guard of five men near an outpost of the = Jan 12 ^'''■*'° *"^ ^"^^^ "^^^ conducting them back to head-quarters, when one of them, who had begged and obtained quarter, murdered the general by shoot- ' mg him through the breast. The discharge of this gun brought out fifty or sixty of the enemy. Terribly wounded as he was, the brave Swift, who had served his coun- try m the field during the entire War of the Revolution, formed his men, and ad- vanced at their head to attack the foe. He fell, exhausted. The enemy were driven back to Fort George, and the dying general was conveyed to Queenston.^ "After serving his country seven years in the War of the Revolution," said General Porter m his brigade order the next day, "he again stepped forward as a volunteer to give 1 According to Wilkinson (JMemofrs, i., 669 and 6T1), Brown's engineers (M'Ree and Wood), and Generals Einlev and Porter, advised an immedmte attack on Biall, while General Scott and Adjutant GeneToartoerXsed an invest ment of Fort George. Major Hiudman declined to give any opinion warimer aavisea an invest- T " '^Tni ^•'jr?r' B^'sade Orders, dated Queenston, July 13, 1864. " General Swift was a brother of the late General Joseph G. Swjft, the accomplished engineer officer in the War of 1812. "»"""=' "i me lace uenerai OF THE WAE OF 1812. 815 St David's Village burnt. Fort George approached. Brown falls back to Chippewa. the aid of Ms experience in support of the violated rights of his country ; and never was that country called on to lament the loss of a firmer patriot or braver man." A few days after this sad occurrence, Colonel Stone, of the New York militia, while out on a foraging expedition, wantonly burned the little village or hamlet of St. Da- vid's, a short distance from Queenston ; and similar unwarrantable acts caused great exasperation against the Americans. General Brown promptly dismissed Stone from the service as a punishment for his crime, in accordance with the sentence of a court- martial. ^ While Brown's council of officers were debating, word came of the retrograde movement of Riall to Fifteen-mile Creek, but no intelligence was received of his re- enforcements. Brown evidently did not believe that any were near, for on the pre- ceding day" he wrote to Chauncey, saying, " All accounts agree that the . j^iy is_ force of the enemy in Kingston is very light. Meet me on the lake-shore •'^•'*- north of Fort George with your fleet, and we will be able, I have no doubt, to settle a plan of operations that will break the power of the enemy in Upper Canada, and that in the course of a short time I doubt not my ability to meet the enemy in the field, and to march in any direction over his cbuntry, your fleet carrying for me the necessary supplies. We can threaten Forts George and Niagara, and carry Burlington Heights and York, and proceed directly to Kingston and carry that place. For God's sake let me see you. Sir James will not fight." With such opinions and expectations General Brown prepared to invest Fort George. Generals Porter and Ripley were ordered to reconnoitre the position of the enemy, one along the river, and the other in the interior, by way of St. David's ; and on the 20th the military works at Queenston were blown up, and the whole army left that post and advanced toward Fort George. There Brown was apprised of the arrival of Riall's re-enforcements, when he withdrew, and occupied his old posi- tion at Queenston on the 22d. On the morning of the 23d Brown received a letter from General Gaines at Sack- ett's Harbor apprising him of the sickness of Chauncey, the blockade of the fleet, and the peril to be apprehended to re-enforcements that might be sent by water in small vessels hugging the coast. Abandoning all hope of co-operation by the fleet, or the speedy reception of re-enforcements, the general changed his plan of operations, and at once ordered a retreat to the Chippewa, there to be governed by circumstances. He expected by this retreat to draw Riall on to the Niagara again, or, failing in this, to draw a small supply of provisions from Schlosser, on the opposite shore, disencum- ber his army of all baggage which could possibly be dispensed with, march against Riall by way of Queenston, and fight him wherever he might be found. The army reached the Chippewa on the 24th, encamped on the south side of it, on the battle- ground of the 5th, and prepared to make the 25th a day of rest. On the night of the 24th General Scott, ever anxious for duty and ambitious of renown, requested leave to lead his brigade immediately in a search for Riall, not doubting his ability to win ' victory for his troops, glory for himself, and renown for the army. He repeated the request on the morning of the 25th, and was vexed because General Brown would not consent to divide his army;^ He had an opportunity to try his powers and skill in combat with the enemy sooner than he expected, and in that trial he won fadeless laurels. The story is told in the following chapter. 1 " Thp militia have burnt several private dwelling-houses," wrote the gallant M^or Daniel M'Farland, of the Twenty- thirrt Tnfantrv Who was killed a few days afterwaM at Niagara Palls, " and on the 19th burnt the village of St. David's, conVisting, of about thirty or forty houses. This was done ^thin three miles of the camp . I never witnessed such a seine ; and had not the commanding officer, Colonel Stone, been disgraced and sent out of the army, I shonl^ ''^'^GeSBrfl^wn^s m"iSo"ipt Henwramtmn oJOoewrmaii oftM Campaign on tU magma Frontier. 816 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Rumors of an Advance of the British. They appear in Force at Lnndy's Lane. Their Advance nnsnspected. CHAPTER XXXVI. "O'er Huron's wave the sun was low, The weary soldier watch'd the bow Fast fading from the cloud below The dashing of Niagara. And while the phantom chain'd Ms sight. Ah ! little thought he of the flgh^- The horrors of the dreamless night, That posted on so rapidly."— Olb Sous. lEAUTIFTJL to the senses was tte morning of the 25th of July, 1814, on the banks of the Niagara River — a day memorable in the annals of the Republic. It was serene and sultry. Not a cloud appeared ill the heavens, nor a flake of mist on the wa- ters. The fatigued American army lay reposing upon the field of its late victory, with the village of Chippewa in front, and had enjoyed half a day of needed rest, when a courier came in haste with intelligence from Colonel Philetus Swift at Lewis- ton that the enemy were in considerable force at Queenston and on the Heights^ that five vessels of Teo's fieet had arrived during the night ; and that a number of boats were in sight moving up the river. A few minutes afterward another courier arrived from Captain Denman, of the quartermaster's department, with a report that the enemy, a thousand strong, were landing at Lewiston, and that the American bag- gage and stores at Schlosser were doubtless in imminent danger of captui-e. These rumors were true only in part. Vessels had arrived in the river, boats had ascended it, and a considerable British force was occupying Queenston. Lieutenant General Sir George Gordon Drummond had arrived with re-enforcements from Kings- ' ton, composed in part of some of Wellington's veterans, and landed at Fort Niagara, and in boats many of them had gone up and disembarked at Queenston. In the mean time the troops under Riall had been put in motion. Loyal Canadians had early informed him of the retreat of the Americans to Chippewa ; and at near mid- night of the 24th he sent forward a column under Lieutenant Colonel Pearson, com- posed of a regiment of the ever-active Glengary militia, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Battersby ; the incorporated and sedentary militia, under Lieutenant Colonels Robinson (late chief justice of Canada) and Parry; detachments from the Royal Ar- tillery, with two 24-pounders, three 6-pounders, and a howitzer ; and the One Hund- red and Fourth Infantry, under Lieutenant Colonel Drummond, and a troop of the Nineteenth Light Dragoons. Pearson moved forward with celerity, and at seven o'clock on the morning of the 25th took position on an eminence in and near Lundy's Lane, a public highway leading directly westward into the heart of the peninsula and the head of the lake from the road along the river from Chippewa to Queenston. The position was a short distance from the great cataract of Niagara, and a com- manding one. Of Pearson's movement Brown seems to have had no intelligence, and his efforts to counteract the supposed invasion at Lewiston were rather tardily begun. He heard of the invasion at noon, but it was quite late in the afternoon before he ordered a forward movement of any of his troops. At two o'clock Major Jesup, who had crossed Chippewa Bridge, brought him word from Lieutenant Colonel Leavenworth,' ' Henry Leavenworth was bom in Connecticut, December 10, 1783, and was made captain in the Twenty-flfth Eegi- ment United States Infantry la April, 1812. He was promoted to major in the Ninth Infantry in August, 1813. For OF THE WAR OF 1812 817 Scott ordered to march on Fort George. The Widow Wilson's Story. Scott snddenly confronted by the British. the officer of the day, that a considerable body of the enemy had been seen at Niag- ara Falls, not more than two miles distant ;i but so impressed was the general with the idea that the enemy were after his supplies at Schlosser that he would not be- lieve that more than a few light troops on a reconnoissance were in front. Conceiv- ing the best plan for recalling the foe would be a menace of the forts at the mouth of the Niagara River, he ordered General Scott to march rapidly upon them with his brigade, Towson's artillery, and all the cavalry and mounted men at command. This order was issued between four and five o'clock in the afternoon,* and with- . juiy as, in twenty minutes afterward the impatient Scott had all his troops in mo- ^^^' tion. He crossed Chippewa Bridge between five and six o'clock, and pushed on to- ward the great cataract, fully impressed with the belief that a large force of the en- emy was on the other side of the river, and not directly before him. His battalion commanders were Lieutenant Colonel Leavenworth, Major M'Neil, Colonel Brady, and Major Jesup. Towson was with his artillery, and Captains Harris and Pentland commanded the mounted men. The whole force numbered full twelve hundred persons. A widow named Wilson lived in a pleasant white house at the great Falls, near Table Rock; and when the vanguard of Scott's command came in sight of her dwell- ing they discovered a number bf British officers there, who mounted their horses and rode hastily away after surveying the approaching column of Americans with their glasses.^ The widow, with the skill of a diplomat, assured Major Wood, of the En- gineers, who were in the van, that she extremely regretted their tardiness, as they might have captured General Riall and his staff, whom they had seen riding offi She also assured them, with more truthfulness, that eight hundred regulars, full three hundred militia, and two pieces of artillery were just below a small strip of woods near. Scott, who had come up with his staff and heard her story, did not believe it. Had not the British army been beaten on the 5th ? And was there not in the pos- session of the commander-in-chief positive information that a large part of that army had been thrown across the Niagara at Lewiston ? He believed that only a remnant of it was in his front, and he r^olved to obey his instructions to " march rapidly oil the forts." He sent a message to his general by Lieutenant Douglass, to inform him of the appearance of the enemy, and then dashed gallantly into the woods to dis- perse the foe. What was his astonishment on finding the story of the widow literally true ! Riall had been re-enforced, and there he was, with a larger number of troops than Scott had encountered twenty days earlier, drawn up in battle order in Lundy's Lane — a highway, as we have observed, running from the Niagara River to the head of Lake Ontario. His position was one of extreme peril. To stand still would be fatal ; to retreat would be very hazardous. The latter movement might jeopard- ize the whole army by the creation of a panic, especially among the reserves under Ripley, who were not in the former battle. There was no time for reflection, for ,a heavy fire of musketry and qannon had been opened upon him. From that wonder- ful wealth of resource, at the moment of great nefed, which always distinguished him, Scott drew immediate inspiration, and resolved to fight the overwhelming number of the enemy, and impress Riall with the conviction that the whole American army was at hand. ____^ his bravery at Chippewa he was breveted lieutenant colonel, and for his distlngnished services at the battle of Niagara Falls he was breveted colonel. He was retained in the anny, and made lieutenant colonel of the Fifth Infantry in Feb- iiiarv 1818 He performed able service in the wilderness westward of the Mississippi, far np the Miesom-i, and a fort in that region bears his name. In Jnly, 1824, he was breveted brigadier general for ten years' service, and the follow- ing year he was made full colonel. He died near the Cross Timbers, on the False Washita River, July 21, 1834. I Jesnp'a ittannscript Memoir, etc. j ^ . , mu s Within three or four days the British had erected beacons in this nmnity m order to give alarms. These were con- structed under the direction of Lieutenant Colonel Myers, an officer who was made, prisoner at Fort George the year before and afterward exchanged. Writing to Captain James Cummings (apw of Chippewa) on the 21st of Jnly, he said, "The 'best place at Wilson's is on the cleared point, near the paling of Wileqn's garden, and not far ftom the head of the path that goes down to the Table Kock."—iMtoS'TOpft iettw. 3 F 818 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Junction of British Forces. Their Line of Battle. Scott attacked. The British flanked. Trusting to rumor instead of actual observation through, scouts, Brown was wholly uninformed, or at least misinformed, concerning the movements of the British. Not a soldier of that army had been sent across the Niagara at Lewiston. Every man left fit for service since the late battle was with Riall preparing for this advance movement. On the night of the 24th Lieutenant General Sir George Gordon Drum- mond, as we have observed, had arrived at the mouth of the Niagara River in the British fleet from Kingston. He brought eight hundred men with him, and sent Lieutenant Tucker, with about five hundred of them and a body of Indians, to dis- perse or capture a small American force at Lewiston. This movement gave rise to the report of invasion. Drummond had apprised Riall of his intentions ; and these officers, with their respective commands, had formed a junction on "the Niagara with- out discovery by General Brown. These united forces, not less than four thousand five hundred strong, with the exception of a portion of the re-enforcements, were con- fronted by Scott and his " twice six hundred men," with two field-pieces. When, forty minutes before sunset, the battle began, the line that opened fire on Scott was full eighteen hundred in number, well-posted on the slope and brow of an eminence over which Lundy's Lane passed. The enemy's line was a little inclined to a crescent form, the wings being thrown foi-ward of the artillery in the centre. Its left rested on the Queenston Road, and extended over the hill, on the brow of which was planted a battery of seven guns, nearly in the rear of the Meth- odist church on Lun- dy's Lane, and not far south of the house of Mr. Fraleigh when. I visited the spot in 1 860. Into the bowl of this crescent Scott sudden- ly found himself ad- vancing with his little force, within canister- shot distance of a greatly superior army and powerful field-bat- tery. His quick eye instantly discovered a VIEW AT LTJNDY'S LANE IN 1860. blank space between the British extreme left and the river of two hundred yards, covered with brushwood. He saw the advantage it afibrded, and directed Major Jes- up to creep cautiously behind the bushes in the twilight, with his command, and at- tempt to turn the enemy's left flank. Jesup obeyed with alacrity. In the mean time Scott was hotly engaged with" the British veterans, some of them from WellingtoH's army, while the battery on the hill poured destruction upon his men. Towson, with his little field-pieces right gallantly handled, could make but a feeble impression. Brady, and Leavenworth, and M'Neil managed their battalions with skill, and fought bravely themselves ; not, however, with the expectation of conquering the enemy, but only of keeping him in check until the reserves should come up. This was done and more. There they stood, the brave Ninth, Eleventh, and Twentieth, mere skeletons of regiments, hurried into battle without warning or preparation, while Jesup's Twen- ty-fifth, unaided, was battling manfully and successfully with more than a thousand of the enemy to gain possession of the Queenston Road. OF THE WAR OF 1812, 819 Capture of General Kiall. Brown advances from Chippewa. He orders a formidable Battery to be taken. The sun went down, the twilight closed, and the da,rkneB» of night, relieved hy a waning moon, enveloped the combatants. Jesup had gallantly turned the British left, gained his rear, kept approaching re-Snforcements of Drummond in check, and secured many prisoners. Among the latter was General Riall, several officers of his staff, and one of General Drummond's aids. Captain Loring. Their capture was an accident. One of Riall's aids saw one of Jesup's flanking parties, commanded by Captain Ketchum, and, mistaking them for a company of their own troops, called out, " Make room there, men, for General Riall !" Captain Ketchum immediately replied, " Ay, ay, sir !" allowed the aid to pass by, and then directed a portion of his own men, with fixed bayonets, to surround the general and his officers, seize the bridles of their horses, and make them prisoners. Riall was astonished, but made no resist- ance. He was, indeed, quite badly wounded. Ketchum delivered him to General Scott in person, who ordered him to be taken to the rear, and every attention to be given to his comfort. Jesup, perceiving that his own position was not tenable, gal- lantly charged back through the British line, and took his place in that of the Amer- icans. It was now nine o'clock in the evening. The British right, which made a furious assault, had been driven back by General Scott with a heavy loss ; their left had been turned and cut off by Jesup's bold movement, and their centre, on the ridge, support- ed by the artillery, alone remained firm. The most of Drummond's re-enforcements had come up, and the remainder were only a short distance off, and pressing forward. Let us leave the battle-field a moment and turn back to Chippewa. We have seen that a messenger had been sent to apprise General Brown of the presence of the en- emy. This messenger was immediately followed by another (Major Jones), who bore the startling intelligence that the whole British army was within two miles, and that General Scott had attacked them to keep thfim in check. Already the cannonade and musket-firing had been heard in the camp, and General Brown had ordered Gen- eral Ripley, with his brigade and all the artillery reserve, to press forward to the sup- port of Scott. Mounting his horse, and leaving Adjutant General Gardner to see that his orders were promptly executed, he rode forward, and met Major Jones near the Falls with the exciting message from Scott. Brown ordered Jones to continue his journey to the camp with directions for Porter and his volunteers to follow Ripley as speedily as possible. On his arrival upon the battle-field, accompanied by Major Wood, General Brown sought and obtained correct information^ of the situation of affairs from Gene;ral'Scott himself. By this time Jesup had accomplished his bold operations on the^ ienemy's left, and Ripley's brigade was near. Convinced that the men in action were greatly exhausted, and knowing that they had suffered severely, the commanding general de- termined to form and interpose a new line with the fresh troops, disengage Gener- al Scott, and hold his brigade in reserve for rest. Orders to this effect were given to General Ripley, and the second brigade advanced in the pale moonlight on the Queenston Road toward the enemy's left. It was now perceived that the key of the enemy's position was their battery on the hill, and Colonel M'Ree assured General Brown that he could not hope for success until that height was carried and the can- non taken. General Brown instantly turned to the gallant Colonel Miller (now of the Twenty-first, and former leader of the Fourth in the campaigns under Hull and Harrison) and said, " Colonel, take your regiment, storm that work, and take it." " I'll try, sir," responded Miller, promptly, and immediately moved forward to the perilous task.i ^t that moment the First Regiment, under Lieutenant Colonel I "Who gave this order to Miller?" has been an unsettled question. A late writer on this battle says, "I am con- strained to believe, , '"^^^ Queenston Road, where the village of Drummondsville Mfcr^^^^^^^^^Bs now stands, while the second brigade, skillfully handled ^^^^^■^^^^■^^^E by Ripley, bore the brunt of the battle in the fierce con- ^^^^^^^S^^^^^^j.' tention for the battery on the height. Yet the others .:^^^^^^^^^^^^^^1 were by no means idle. Every corps was engaged in ^^^^^^^ ^ ^ ^^^^p the desperate struggle, which had continued for more ^ ^ ^^^ ^f" than two hours, the way of the combatants lighted only " ''^"^IZ/ZT \ bv fitful gleams of the moon darting through the murky ^ ,'', ,°, 1,11 '1^1 J? 1J" J TUE FLAG OF THE TWEMTY-PIFTH.^ battle-clouds, and the lurid flashes of explodmg powder. Both parties were re-enforced during the struggle ; the British by Colonel Scott's coming faint from loss of blood, he was carried off the field, a cripple for life, and his iron constitution shattered. He was retained in the army at its reduction as major of the Fifth Infantry, and served upon the Western frontier. He was breveted brigadier general in 1824, and in 1826 promoted to the rank of full colonel. He was appointed an Indian com- missioner in 1829. In 1830 he resigned his commission, and was appointed by President Jackson surveyor of the port of Boston, which office he held until his death at Washington City, on the 23d of February, 1850. He married a half- sister of Franklin Pierce, the fourteenth President of the United States. He was a powerful man, standing six feet six inches in his stockings. I Hugh Brady was a Pennsylvanian by birth, and was born in Northumberland County in 1768. He entered the army as ensign In 1T92, and served in the Northwest under General Wayne. He was captain of the Fourth Infantry in 1799, and was out of service from June, 1800, until July, 1812, when he was commissioned colonel of the Twenty-second Infantry. He was distinguished at both Chippewa and Niagara Falls. He was retained in 1815, and in 1822 was bre- veted a brigadier general. He was in the war with Mexico, and for meritorious conduct there, at the age of eighty years, he was breveted major general. He died at Detroit on the 15th of April, 1861, aged eighty-three years. 3 Thomas Sidney Jesup was a native of Virginia, and was born in ItSS. He entered the army as second lieutenant of Infantry in May, 1808. He was General Hull's brigade major in the campaign of 1812, in which he was also acting adjutant general. He was promoted to captain in January, 1813, and major of the Nineteenth Infantry in April follow- ing. Early in 1814 he was transferred to the Twenty-flfth-^a regiment which he had raised mostly by his ovm exer- tions In Hartford, Connecticut, and its vicinity. For his gallant conduct at Chippewa he was breveted lieutenant col- onel, and for like distinguished conduct in the battle of Niagara, where he was wounded, he was breveted colonel. He was retained in the army in 1815, and was made lieutenant colonel of the Third Infantry in 1817. The following year he was made adjutant general, with the rank of colonel, and shortly afterward quartermaster general, with the rank of brigadier general. In May, 1828, he was breveted major general for ten years' faithful service. In 1836 he was appoint- ed to the command of the army in the Creek Nation, and the same year succeeded General Call in command of the army in Florida. He was active during the war with the Seminole Indians, and was wounded in one of the battles. He was succeeded by Colonel Zachary Taylor, and retired to the duties of the quartermaster general's department, in the performance of which he continued until his death at Washington City, at the age of seventy-two years, on the 10th of June, 1860. 3 This picture of the tattered banner and its broken staff of the Twenty-flfth Eegiment, as it appeared on the day aft- er the battle of Niagara Falls, is from a drawing made then, belonging to the Rochester Light Guard, and hanging in their armory in the spring of 1852, when a carefhl copy was kindly sent to me by Mr. Jeremiah Watts, one of the mem- bers of the Guard. The flag was white silk, with a yellow fringe, and the words " The Twektt-fifth EEQmKNi of TJ. S. Ihfahtby" were inscribed upon a blue ribbon, with gilt scrolls at each end. OF THE WAU OF 1812. 823 Generals Brown and Scott wounded. The Troops fallback to Chippewa. Injurious Tardiness of General Eipley. command, as we have seen, and the Aimericans by a part of Por- ter's brigade, which took post on Ripley's left, and participated in the closing events of the battle. The enemy was beaten off by sheer hard blows given by the muscle of indomitable Persever- ance, but at the expense of pre- cious blood. Generals Brown and Scott were severely wound- ed and borne from the field, and the active command devolved on General Ripley, the senior officer on duty.^ When the absolute repulse of the enemy was "manifest, and General Brown observed great numbers of stragglers in all di- rections from the broken regi- ments, he ordered the new com- mander to fall back with the troops to Chippewa, there reor- ganize the shattered battalions, give them a little rest and re- freshments, and return to the field of conflict by daydawn, so as to secure the fruits of victory by holding the ground and se- curing the captured cannon, which, on account of a lack of horses, harness, or drag-ropes, could not be removed at once. Ripley had not moved from Chippewa when the day dawned, and Brown, disappointed and angered by his tardiness, ordered his own staff to go to the commanders of corps and direct them to be promptly prepared to march. It was sunrise before the army crossed the Chippewa, and they were halted by Rip- ley at the Bridgewater Mills, a mile from the battle-ground, where he was informed that the enemy was again in possession of the heights of Lundy's Lane and his can- non, had been re-enforced, and was too strong to be attacked by a less force than the entire army of the Niagara with any promise of success. With this information Rip- ley returned to head-quarters. The commanding general was irritated. He resolved not to trust the brigadier with the command of the army any longer than necessity required ; and he dispatched a courier to Sackett's Harbor with an order for General 1 Tlie eallant Major M'Farland was mortally wounded while fighting at the head of his battalion of the Twenty- third Beeiment Daniel M'Farland was a Pennsylvanian, and entered the army as captain in the Twenty-second In- fantry In March, 1813. In August, 1813, he was promoted to major in the Twenty-third, and was killed In the battle of cfntains*BWaie and Ritchie, of the artillery, were both wounded in that battle early in the action, and the brunt of thf artiUerv service fell on Towson. Thomas Biddle, Junior, was a gallant officer from Pennsylvania. He entered the army as captain of infantry in the spring of 1812, but joined the Second ArtiUery^oon afterward. He was distinguished in the capture of Fort George, and also at Stony Creek in May and June, 1813. In September he was brigade m^or un- der General wmiams. He was slightly wounded at Niagara, and for gallant service at Fort Erie afterward he was bre- veted?mlr There he was again wounded. In December following he was aid-de-camp to General I.ard. He re- mataed ta tte army some years, and was finally killed in a duel atSt. Louis, Missouri August 29, 1831 John Hitchie! who was also in this battle, was a Virginian. He entered the army m the sprmg of 1812 as captam m the Second Art llery. Although severely wounded in the battle of Niagara Falls, he stuck to his gun and was killed. He haTdeclared that hf woullnever leave his piece, and, true to that declaration, he fell by it, covered with wounds. 824 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Circnmstancea of the Battle of Niagara. Number of Troopaengaged In it. Tlie Victory claimed by both Parties. Gaines to come and take the temporary leadership of the Niagara forces.^ Ripley's delay had doubtless deprived the Americans of all the substantial advantages of vic- tory, for the enemy was allowed to return, reoccupy the field of battle, and retake the captured cannon, excepting one beautiful brass 6-pounder, which was presented" to Colonel Miller's regiment on the spot. This they bore away with them as a pre- cious trophy of their prowess. The remainder were retaken by the British a few hours afterward.^ Thus ended the sanguinary Battle oi- Niagaea Falls, sometimes called JDundy^s Lane, and sometimes Bridgewaier? It has few parallels in history in its wealth of gallant deeds. It was fought wholly in the shadows of a summer evening between sunset and midnight. To the eye and ear of a distant spectator it must have been a sublime experience. Above was a serene sky, a placid moon in its wane, and innu- merable stars — a vision of Beauty and Peace ; below was the sulphurous smoke of battle, like a dense thunder-cloud on the horizon, out of which came the quick flashes of lightning and the bellowing of the echoes of its voice — a vision of Horror and Strife. Musket, rocket, and cannon cracking, hissing, and .booming ; and the clashof sabre and bayonet, with the cries of human voices, made a horrid "din that commin- gled with the awful, solemn roar of the great cataract hard by, whose muffled thun- der-tones rolled on, on, forever, in infinite grandeur when the puny drum had ceased to beat, and silence had settled upon the field of carnage. There the dead were buried, and the mighty diapason of the flood was their requiem. According to the most careful estimates, the number of troops engaged in the bat- tle of Niagara Falls was a little over seven thousand, the British having about four thousand flve hundred, and the Americans a little less than two thousand six hund- red. Both parties lost heavily. The Americans had one hundred and seventy-one killed, flve hundred and seventy-one wounded, and one hundred and ten missing — a total of eight hundred and fifty-two. The British lost eighty-four killed, five hund- red and fifty-nine wounded, one hundred and ninety-three missing, and forty-two pris- oners — a total of eight hundred and seventy-eight. A large proportion of those taken by Jesup on the British left, and by Miller on the height, escaped during the night. Both parties claimed a victory, the Americans because they drove the enemy from the field and captured his cannon, and the British because their foe did not retain the field and the cannon he had won. While the American people rejoiced over the af- fair as a genuine triumph, as ft undoubtedly was, as a victory in battle, the governor general of Canada was right in complimenting his troops for their steadiness and valor ; and the Prince Regent did a proper thing when he gave permission to one of the regiments to wear the word Niagaba upon their caps. Major General Brown was twice severely wounded, yet he kept the saddle until the victory was won. First a musket-ball passed through his right thigh ; and a few 1 General Brown's Manuscript Menwir, etc. He says, "General Brown entertained no doubt of the intelligence or bravery of General Eipley," but his conduct on the morning of the 26th was such that " his confidence In him as a com- mander was sensibly diminished. The general believed that he dreaded respanamitty more than danger. In short, that he had a greater share of physical than moral courage." 2 Miller's Autograph Letter to his Wife, July 28. Brown's Memaramitwm, etc., and his Official Eeport to the Secretary of War, dated "Buffalo, August, 1814." In that report the commanding general spoke in the highest terms of all his officers and troops. He particularly mentioned the gallant services of Scott, Porter, Jesup, Towson, Hindman, Biddle, Ritchie, Gardner, his adjutant general, M'Eee and Wood, his engineers. Us aids-de-camp Austin and Spencer, and Lieu- tenant Randolph, of the Twentieth Regiment, " whose courage was conspicuous." " The staff of Generals Eipley and Porter," he said, "discovered great zeal and attention to duty." 3 The battle was fought within sight and hearing of the great Falls of Niagara, and should bear that dignified name. It was so called in one of the first published accounts of it. " The battle of Niasaba," said the Albany Axgus at the beginning of August, " commands, like the achievements of our naval heroes, the admiration of all classes of the Amer- ican people, a few excepted." The hottest of the contest having occurred in the struggle for the battery In Lundy's Lme caused the battle to be called after the name of that road. Abont a mile above the field of battle, on the hanks of the Niagara, were mills called The BrMgewater MiOa. A person attached to the American army, but not in the battle, wrote while It was in progress to some friend In the interior of New York, saying that a great battle was then raging near the Bridgewater Mills. This letter was published extensively, and the conflict was called the BattU of BridgeunUer. It. was so announced in Mles's Register, August 13, 1814. OF THE WAR OF 1812. _^ 825 Offlcera wounded in the Battle of Niagara. Scott proceedB to Waahingtop. Honors confer red npon him. minutes afterward the gallant Captain Spencer, his aid-de-camp, received a mortal wound. 1 Then came a ball of some kind which struck Brown in the side, not lacer- atmg, but severely contusing it. Both hurts were so severe that the general felt doubtful of his ability to keep his seat, and so informed Major Wood, his confidential friend. That brave officer, deeply engaged in the battle, exclaimed) " Never mind, my dear general, you are winning the greatest battle ever gained for your country !" The enemy were soon repulsed, and the general, supported by Captain Austin, his only remaining aid, moved from the field, leaving the command, as we have seen, with General Ripley. Brown rapidly recovered, and was able to resume the command of the army of the Niagara early in September. General Scott was wounded by a bullet that entered his left shoulder while he was conversing with Major Jesup on the extreme right. He had been exposed to death on every part of the field, and had two horses shot under him. ,He was spared until the last struggle of the battle, when his aid, Lieutenant Worth, and Brigade Major Smith, were very severely wounded. His own hurt was so great that he could no longer remain on the field, and he was borne first to the Chippewa camp, then to Buf- falo, and finally to Williamsville, a hamlet in the east part of the present town of Java, Wyoming County, New York. At the latter place he found the wounded General Riall well-cared for. Scott suffered intensely, and for a month his recovery was considered doubtful. He was finally removed to the house of a friend (Mr. Brisbane) in Batavia, where kind nursing made his convalescence rapid. At length, when able to bear the motions of a litter, he was carried on the shoulders of gentlemen of the country from town to town, to the house of a friend (Mr. Nicholas) in Geneva, where he remained until he was able to resume his journey, when he went to Philadelphia, and placed himself in charge of the eminent Doctors Physic and Chapmah, of that city. He was every where received with demonstrations of the warmest respect and admiration for his personal achievements, and as the representative of the now glorious army of the Ni- agara. '•= From Philadelphia he passed on to Baltimore early in September, then threatened by the British, who had just destroyed the public buildings of the na- tional capital; and on the 16th of October he' was so far recovered as to be able to take command of the Tenth Military District, whose head-quarters were at Washing- ton City. Honors were conferred upon him by public bodies in many places. The Congress' of the United States, by a resolution on the 8th of November, 1814, voted him the thanks of the nation, and requested the President to have a gold medal, with suitable devices, struck in his honor, and presented to him.^ The Legislatures of I Ambrose Spencer, of Kew Tork, was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Twenty-ninth Infantry in April, 1813 and promoted to captain in Pebrnary, 1814. He had been made aid to General Brown in Angnst, 1814, and remained in his family until his death. He was greatly distinguished in the battle of Niagara Falls. General Brown relates, in his Mannscript Menudr, etc., already cited, that when the last heavy re-enforcements of the British were coming np in the dim moonlight, and he was watching them with intense Interest, Captain Spencer suddenly put spurs to his horse, and rode directly to the front of the advancing foe. Then, turning to the enemy's right, he inquired, in a firm, strong voice, "What regiment is that?" He, was promptly answered, "The Royal Soots, sir." "Halt! Eoyal Scots," he re- plied, and they obeyed. With this informatipn he returned to his general, and soon afterward received a woimd which caused his death, at Fort Erie, on the 5th of August. General Drummond had sent a message to Brown asking an ex- change of their aids. Spencer was mortally wounded, hut Loring was well. Aifection for his aid caused Brown to de- part from the usages of war, and he complied. On the very day that Spencer was brought to Fort Erie he died, and Captain Loring was sent back to his general. ' It was the annual Commencement at the College of New Jersey, at Princeton, when General Scott arrived there on his way to Philadelphia. The faculty of the college invited him to attend the ceremonies at the church. He was carried thither on a litter, pale and emaciated from suffering, and was placed upon the stage among the professors and invited guests. He was greeted by both sexes with the greatest enthusiasm. The orator of the day was the now deceased brother of Bishop M'llvaine, of Ohio, and his subject happened to be " The public duties of a good citizen in peace and war" — an appropriate one for the occasion ; and toward its close he turned to Scott and pronounced a most touching eulogy of his conduct. This compliment was followed by the conferring upon the wounded hero the honorary degree of Master of Ai-ts. With grateful heart Scott passed on, and was met, when approaching Philadelphia, by Governor ■ Snyder and a division of militia.— See Mansfield's Life of Scott, Chapter XI. ? Our engraving on the following page is a representation of the medal, a trifle smaller than the original. On one side is a bust of General Scott, with his name. On the other side, surrounded by a wreath, composed of palm and olive leaves entwining a snake, emblem of youth and immortality, are the words "kesolbtio!? olf oohgbesb, movembee S, 826 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Medal awarded to Scott. Other Gifts. Biographical Sketch. Appointed Brevet Lieutenant General. aoLD AlEDAL AWABDED TO GENBBAL SOOTT. » Tebruary 13, 1816. ' Peteuary, 1816. ' 1815. Virginia* and 'New York*" thanked him, and each voted him an elegant sword. 1 The Society of the Cincinnati, founded hy Washington and his companions in arms, elected him an honorary memher," and many towns and counties were named in his honor in the course of time. He was breveted a major general; and for almost fifty years longer he served his country actively in its military operations, ten of them as general-in-chief. When, in the au- tumn of 1861, the great Civil War assumed immense proportions, the Nestor of the republic, feeling the disabilities of increasing physical infirmities, retired from act- ive service, bearing the commission given him a few years before of lieutenant gen- eral. ^ 1314. Battles of ohippewa, jult B, 1814 ; niagaea, jtjlt 25, 1814." This medal was not presented until abont the close of Mr. Monroe's administration (February 26, 1825), when the President, in the presence of his cabinet, handed it to him with a brief address. Many years afterward, while it was in the City Bank for. safe keeping, the safe of that cor- poration was entered one night by robbers. They carried off $250,000, but left the medal. Several years afterward, one of the rogues, when on trial for another offense, said that "when he took the money from the City Bank he saw and well knew the value of the medal, but scorned to take from the soldier what had been given by the gratitude of his country." The profile of General Scott on the medal is said to be the best likeness extant of the hero at the time he won the honor. ' The New Tork sword was presented to General Scott by Governor Tompkins in the City Hall, New York, on "Evac- uation Day" {November 25), 1616. The Virginia sword was not presented until 1825, when it was bestowed by Govern- or Pleasants. It was an elegant weapon, with suitable devices on the scabbard, hilt, and blade. On one side of the blade is seen Scott, just as Miller had carried the Lundy's Lane battery, mounting a charger, another having been torn in pieces under him. Below this is an eagle between two scrolls, bearing the names and dates of his two battles. On the opposite side of the blade are the words " Presented by the Commonwealth of Virginia to General Winfleld Scott, 12th February, 1816 ;" and below this the arms of Virginia. ' Winfleld Scott was born in Petersburg, Virginia, on the 13th of June, 1786. He was left an orphan in his boyhood, and was educated, under the care of friends, at WlDiam and Mary College. He chose the law for a profession, but soon changed it for that of arms. He entered the United States Army as a captain of light artillery in 180S, and was stationed at Baton Eonge, Louisiana, under General Wilkinson. He had some difficulty with that officer, and during a temporary suspension from duty returned to his profession in his native st^te. He rejoined the army, and, as lieu- tenant colonel, went to the Canada frontier in 1812. His career there until the close of the battle of Niagara Falls has been delineated in the text of this work. As we have observed, he took command of the Tenth Military District, with his head-quarters at Washington City, late in the aittumn of 1814, when he held the commission of major general by brevet. His wound was very severe. It was in the left shoulder, and his arm was left partially disabled. He was offered and declined a place in the cabinet as Secretary of War. After assisting in the re- duction of the army to a peace establishment, he was sent to Europe in a military and diplomatic capacity, where he met some of the most distinguished of Napoleon's generals. He compiled some useful military text-books, and was in active service wherever there was a speck of war until that with Mexico broke out, in which he was chief actor on the part of the United States. He was then general-in-chief of the armies of the United States, with the rank of major gen- eral. For his distinguished services in that war he received many civic honors. In 1852 he was an unsuccessM can- didate for the Presidency of the United States. In 1855 the brevet rank of lieutenant general was revived and confer- red upon him. When the great Civil War broke out he was found, unlike a great proportion of the officers of the reg- ular army who were born in the Slave-labor states, a powerful supporter of his government, and by his skill and cour- age secured the peaceful inauguration of Mr. Lincoln as President of the United States at a time when the national capital and the life of the chief magistrate elect were menaced by banded rebels. He retired ftom active service in the autumn of 1801, and died at West Point, on the Hudson^ May 29, 1SS6. OF THE WAE OF 1812. 827 Visit to the Niagara Frontier. Colonel CgmmingB. Battle-ground of Niagara at Lnndya L ane. I Visited the theatre of events described in this and a part of the preceding chap- ter in the summer of 1860. I was at Niagara Falls, as already observed (page 412), on the evening of the 16th of August. On the following morning, accompanied by Peter A. Porter, Esq., son of General Peter B. Porter (and conveyed in his carriage), 1 crossed the Niagara on the great Suspension Bridge, and rode up to the Chippewa battle-ground. We went over the great chasm at about ten o'clock, and halted at Chippewa Village, where we were joined by Colonel James Cummings, a venerable Canadian, seventy-two years of age, who was an aid to General Riall in the battle of the 5th of July, 1814.1 He seemed as vigorous as most men at sixty, and we were fortunate in having the company of so good a cicerone, for he was familiar with ev- ery place and event of that battle. He owns a part of the land whereon it was' fought; has resided near there for more than fifty years, and is full of reminiscences of the past. He cherishes, as a precious heir-loom for his family, the cocked hat and plume which he wore when he was fighting for his king and country. After viewing the difierent portions of the battle-ground at Street's Creek and Chip- pewa Plains, and making the sketches printed on pages 806, '7, and '8,2 we returned to the village, where I made a drawing of the remains of the Ute-de-pont battery ,3 not far from the mansion of Colonel Cummings. There we partook of some refreshments, and, accompanied by the colonel, rode up to the mouth of Lyon's Creek, where the Americans prepared to cross the Chippewa and flank the British, causing Riall, as we have observed,'' to hasten back to Queenston. On returning to Chippewa we spent an hour with Colonel Cummings and his family, and then left with enduring recollections of time spent pleasantly and profitably We rode slowly by the great cataract, observing the site of the Widow Wilson's house, near Table Rock, the stu- pendous falls, and the grand fiood as it rushes in wild and resistless energy toward the great bend in the river at the seething whirlpool. At Drummondville, a pleasant little town of about five hundred inhabitants, skirt- ing the highway from Chippewa to Queenston, we turned into Lundy's Lane, and rode to the top of the hill on which stood the British battery captured by Miller. It is a pleasant spot, and sufficiently elevated to command extensive views of the coun- try in Canada and New York. On the crown of the hill was the dwelling of Mr. Fra- leigh and a Methodist church ; and on the slope toward Drummondville was a small cemetery, a view of which may be seen on page 818. A little to the left of the large tree in that picture was the site of the British battery taken by Miller. Near the mid- dle of that cemetery was the grave and monument of Lieutenant Colonel Bisshopp, de- lineated on page 628 ; and on its western margin, close by the fence, was the grave of Captain Abraham F. Hull, who appears somewhat conspicuously in the narrative of the surrender of Detroit by his father. General William Hull, in the summer of 1812. On the spot where he fell, gallantly fighting in the battle of Niagara, the brother officers of Captain Hull erected a wooden slab, with a suitable inscription, to mark the spot f and in after years his friends erected the one of marble, which, with an I Colonel Cammlnga is yet (1867) living at Chippewa, at the age of eighty^ears. He entered the military service as lieutenant of a volunteer flank company in 1812, and was stationed on the spot where the hattle of Chippewa was fought two years later. He was promoted to the cavalry, but ' was soon called to Port George by General Brock, and ^^' -t^^ ' appointeddeputyquartermastergeneralofmilitia.with ^^^^^^r^'i^H^^i-^^S ~22>2<^-;?j,T,^.^^_^^.^^^^^ the rank of captain. He was in the hattle at Stony ^^--;;;;^^^^^^ /^^"^ Creek, the taking of Bosrstler at the Beaver Dams, and was the one who received Colonel Chapin's sword when he surrendered there. He was with Lieutraiant Colonel Bis- shopp at the taking of Black Eock, and was near him when he fell. He was in several skirmishes, and participated in the battles of Chippewa and Niagara as aid to General Biall. He was an active officer, and between these battles had charge of the establishing of beacons between Chippewa and Queenston, under the direction of Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Myers. These beacons were made by setting up a pole, from which was suspended an iron basket filled with resinous bark. 2 Nothing of Samuel Street's house was left but the chimney, as delineated on page 806. His orchard, on the south side of the stream, which was young at the time of the battle, now appeared venerable, but vigorous. -S See page SOT. * See page 813. 5 The cut on the following page represents the board slab which I found near the grave of Captain Hull, on which 828 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Objects seen from it. Daring Feats at the Niagara Suspension Bridge. Observatory at Lundy's Lane. inscription, now (1867) stands at the head of his grave, seen near the fence in the pic- ture on page 818.^ , ™ , ■^. r j.-. t> v i. Fronting on Lundy's Lane, a little northwestward of the position of the 13ritish battery was an observatory, made of timbers, and latticed. It was one hundred and thirty feet in height, and was ascended on the interior by one hundred and twenty- five steps. "We climbed wearily to the top, and were richly rewarded for the toil by a magnificent panoramic view of the surrounding country, including in the vision, by the aid of a telescope, the statue of Brock on its lofty pedestal on the Heights of Queenston. Westward we looked far over the Canadian peninsula to the broken country around the Beaver Dam region, and eastward as far over the cultivated lands of the State of Ifew York, while at our feet was the great cataract, which gave a tremor to the pile of timber work on which we stood, and formed a conception in the mind of the amazing power of that mighty pouiing flood. An elderly man, who acted as guide to the surrounding scenery as seen from the observatory, ascended with us, and, in monotonous tone, began his well-learned task of repeating the record of historical events there. "We only wanted to know the exact locality of certain in- cidents of the battle, and, after four times preventing him going farther in his tedi- ous details than the words " In the year one thousand eight hundred and fourteen," we obtained what we wished, and descended. "We climbed into the little cemeteri^, and I sketched the tomb of Bisshopp and the view on page 818, and at the same time Mr. Porter made a neat pencil drawing _ — for me of a small house in Drummondville, which was used as a hospital after the battle, as seen from Bisshopp's grave. It is copied in the annexed engraving. On returning to the Suspension Bridge to recross the river, we observed large crowds of people on both banks, above and below the aerial highway, who had come to see the peril- =°^''"^^ '•^^'' '■™''^'« ""=■ ous feats of Blondin and a rival upon slack ropes stretched across the river from bank to bank. They were both performing at the same time, cheered on by their re- spective friends, one above and the other below the bridge. Beneath these daring acrobats was the foaming river, rushing down hill to the great whirlpool at the rate of thirty miles an hour. It was an unpleasant spectacle, for a sense of fearful danger oppressed the mind of the beholder. "We rode slowly across the bridge, viewing the foolish and yet heroic performances of both young men, and arrived at Niagara Falls village in time for a late dinner. Toward evening I rode down to Queenston, behind a blind horse, to make the visits on the Canadian peninsula described in pre- ceding chapters.^ Let us now resume the narrative of events in which the Army of the Niagara was engaged in the summer and early autumn of 1814. General Ripley's tardiness, if not absolute disobedience, as we have observed, left the battle-field of Niagara, so gloriously wonby^jthe^Americans, in the possession of was the following Inscription : " This was erected by his brother ofBcers to mark the spot where Captain Hull, TJ. S. Army, fell in the memorable action at Lnndy's Lane, 25th July, 1814,' gallantly leading his men to the charge." ' This is a plain stone, two and a half feet in height, which bears the following inscription ; " Here lies the body of Abraham Hull, captain in the Ninth Begiment TJ. S. Infantry, who fell near this spot in the battle of Bridgewater [see note 3, page 824], July 25, 1814, aged twenty- eight years." Captain Abraham Fuller Hull entered the army as captain in the Ninth Infantry on the 14th of April, 1812, and was with his father during the march of the army from Bayton to Detroit. He was made aid-de-camp to his father in May, 1812, and served as such until the surrender in August. When he again assumed his place in the line, he took command of his old company in the Ninth, under Major Leavenworth. He was an excellent officer, and his loss was much lamented. ' See page 413. WOODEN SLAS. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 829 Rlpiey attempts to abanclou Canada. Brown's Indignation. He orders the Army to Fort Erie. the foe on the morning of the 26 th of July. At that time Generals Brown and Scott, Major Jesup, and other wounded officers, were placed in boats for conveyance to Buf- falo, and they departed with the expectation that Ripley would hold the strong po- sition at Chippewa until the arrival of re-enforcements. The commanding general had scarcely disappeared behind Navy Island in his upward voyage when Ripley ordered the destruction of the inilitary works and bridge, and some of his own stores at Chippewa, and made a precipitate flight with the whole army to the Black Rock Ferry, a short distance below Fort Erie. His intention was to lead the whole army across the river, and utterly abandon Canada. This design would have been accom- plished had not the firmness of the principal officers, by a vehement opposition, pre- vented. Ripley crossed the river to Black Rock, where Brown lay, to get from him an order for the army to pass over ; but that indignant commander not only refused, but treated the brigadier with scorn.' Ripley returned, and, by order of General Brown, he led the army to a good position, just above Fort Erie, along the lake shore, encamped it there, and proceeded to strengthen the old works, and to construct new and more extensive ones preparatory to an expected siege.^ General Porter, at about the same time, issued a stirring appeal to his fellow-citizens, asking for four thousand volunteers. The labor at Fort Erie for that purpose was commenced with great zeal and en- ergy by the engineers, and from the 2'7th of July until the 2d of August the troops were employed in the business day and night, casting up intrenchments, constructing redoubts, making traverses, and preparing abatis. Fortunately for the Americans, Drummond did not know their real weakness, and he remained quietly at Lundy's Lane and vicinity, resting his men and receiving re-enforcements for two or three days. Finally, on the 29th, having been re-enforced by about eleven hundred men of General De Watteville's brigade, he prepared to push forward and invest Port Erie. At this : time Fort Erie was an indifierent affair, small and weak, standing on a plain about twelve or fifteen feet above Lake Erie, at its foot. Efforts to strengthen it having been made ever since it was captured at the beginning of July, it was be- ginning to assume a formidable* appearance. On the extreme right of the American encampment, and near the lake shore, a strong stone work had been erected, and two guns mounted on it, en barbette, or on the top without embrasures. It was called the Douglass Battery, in honor of Lieutenant David B. Douglass, of the Engineer corps, under whose superintendence it was built. From the left of this battery to the right of the old fort continuous earthworks were thrown up, seven feet in height, with a I "While the wounded," says Major Jesnp, "were moving by water to Buffalo, the army abandoned its strong posi- tion behind the Chippewa, and, after destroying a part of its stores, fell back, or, rather, fled to the ferry opposite Black Eock but a shott distance below Fort Erie ; and General Ripley, but for the opposition made by M'Eee, Wood, Tow- son Porter and other officers, would have crossed to the American shore. Had the enemy availed himself of this blun- der' not a man of our army could have escaped The American general could have maintained his position [at Chippewa], and have held General Drummond in check during the remainder of the campaign. -Jesup s Manuscnpt Memoir of tJie Niagwa Campaign. a . j ..,, ^ iv x. ;, i ^■, t. ■, Early on the morning of the 27th the commanding general at Black Eock "was advised that the army had fallen back in haste, and was then near him on the opposite Side of the strait. This piovement was unexpected, and greatly af- fected the general; General Eipley intended to have proceeded with the army immediately to the American side of the strait, but the honorable stand taken by the officers whom he consulted induced him to shrink from this intention. Maiors M'Eee, Wood, and Towson, as well as General Porter, deserve particular honor for their high-mmded conduct rathis occasion. General Eipley left the army, and came to General Brown with a hope of obtaining an order for him tn cross with the forces. No proposition could have been more surprising to the major general ; and perhaps, at this interview, he treated General Eipley with unjustifiable indignation and 8Corn."-General Brown's Manuscript Memo- raniumof Occurrerwes ammeted with th^Campaigmi of Niagara. .v *v n J When General Eipley left General Brown's chamber and went below, he remarked to persons there that he would not be responsible for the army if it remained in Canada, and insisted that a written order should be gives him. When informed of this, Brown sent to Eipley the following note: -Head-quarters, Buffalo, mh July, 18U. " SiE -All the sick and wounded, and the surplus baggage, will be immediately removed to this place. Those men who are sound and able to flght will encamp at Port Erie, so as to defend that post and at^e same time, hold the ferry below until the wounded, sick, and surplus baggage have crossed. You will send Major Wood or Major M'Eee to me immediately."— General" Brown's Manuscript Letter-book. 830 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Fort Brie and its KevetmentB. The British attack Black Eock. Incidents of the Movement. ditch in front and slight ahor tis ; and from the left of the fort, and in a line nearly paral- lel with the lake shore, strong parapet breastworks were commenced, with two ditches and abatis in front. At the southwestern extremity of this line of works, on a natural BEMAIN8 OF DorroLAss's nATTEBY A»D FOBT EBiB.' saud-mound Called Suake Hill, a sort of bastion, twenty feet in height, was cast up, five guns mounted on it, and named Towson's Battery, in honor of the gallant artillery captain in whose charge it was placed. From this battery to the lake shore, near which lay at anchor the three armed schooners Porcupine, Somers, and Ohio, was a line of abatis, thus completing the inclosure of the Amferican camp, with defenses on land and water, within an area of about fifteen acres. All of these works, excepting old Port Erie, were incomplete when, on the 2d of August, it was discovered that the British army was approach- ing. They moved steadily onward in considerable force, drove in the American pick- ets, and in the woods, two miles from Fort Erie proper, formed a camp, and com- menced casting up double and irregular lines of intrenchments, and constructing bat- teries in front at points from which an effectual fire might be poured upon the Amer- ican works. Drummond perceived the importance of capturing the American batteries at Black Rock, and seizing or destroying the armed schooners in the lake, before proceeding to the business of besieging Fort Erie ; and before dawn on the morning of the .3d of August, he sent over Lieutenant Colonel Tucker with a detachment of the Forty- first Regiment, in nine boats, to attack the batteries. They landed about half a mile below Shogeoquady Creek, where they found themselves unexpectedly confronted by a band of riflemen, two hundred and- forty in number, and a small number of mi- litia and volunteers, under Major Morgan. That officer had been intrusted with the defense of BuflTalo. He had perceived the advance of the British on the 2d, and be- lieving their intention to be to feign an attack on Fort Erie, but really to attempt the capture of Buffalo and the public stores there, and the release of General Riall, he had hastened to Black Rock, destroyed the bridge over the creek, and during the night had thrown up a breastwork of logs. Morgan's movement was timely and fortunate, "When the British commenced an attack at dawn, and a party moved forward to repair the bridge, the Americans of- fered very little resistance until the foe were within full and easy range of their rifles, when they poured upon them such destructive volleys that the invaders recoiled. In the mean time Drummond sent over re-enforcements, which swelled the number of Tucker's troops to about twelve hundred. With these he attempted a flank move- ment, but was gallantly met at the fords of the creek by a small party under Lieu- tenants Ryan, Smith, and Armstrong, who disputed their passage with success. Aft- er a severe contest the British fell back, withdrew to Squaw Island, and with all pos- sible dispatch recrossed the Niagara and joined in the investment of Fort Erie. The British lost a considerable number, of which no official record seeins to have been given. The Americans lost two private soldiers killed, and Captain Hamilton, Lieu- tenants Wadsworth and M'Intosh, and five private soldiers wounded. While Tucker was busy in the invasion at Black Rock, Drummond opened fire with some 24-pounders in fi-ont of Fort Erie ; but from that time until the 7th can- 1 This little sketch shows the general appearance of the remains when I visited the spot in the summer of 1860. In the front, on the extreme right, are the crumhled walls of Donglass's Battery, and In the extreme distance those of Fort Erie. Intermediately are seen the mounds of the intrenchments which connected the old fort with Towson's Battery. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 831 Preparations for Battle. General Gaines takes Command of the Army, A Eeconnoissance and its Effects. nonading was seldom heard. Both parties were laboring intensely in preparing for the impending battle, Drummond in constructing works for a siege and assault, and Ripley in preparations for a defense. On that day most of the new works about Fort Erie were completed. Towson's and Douglass's batteries were in readiness for action. The parapeted breastworks from Fort Erie to Towson's Battery were com- pleted ; two ditches were dug in front of them, and abatis were laid in continuous line from Douglass's Battery around the front of the fort and breastworks to Tow- son's, and from thence to the lake shore. Between Towson's and the old fort two other batteries had been constructed. One,- mounting two guns, was placed in com- mand of Captain Biddle, and the other, also two guns, was put in charge of Lieuten- ant Fontaine. The dragoons, infantry, riflemen, and volunteers were encamped be- tween the southwestern ramparts and the water ; and the artillery, under Major Hindman, were stationed in the old fort.^ General Gaines^ arrived at the camp at Fort •Aiigiist, Erie on the 5th,* and was welcomed , 1814. iffit\), delight by the little army. He immediately assumed the chief command, and his presence inspired them with confidence and courage. General Ripley, who had labored faithfully in preparations for defense, yet not without gloomy forebodings, resumed the com- mand of his brigade, and perfect good feeling prevailed. Gaines soon made himself acquainted with the condition and position of his force, and on the morning of the 6th'' he sent out Major Morgan and his riflemen (who had been called over from Bufialo) to recon- noitre the enemy, and, if possible, draw him out from his intrenchments. Morgan soon encoun- tered some of the British light troops, and at- tacked and drove them back to their lines ; and for two hours he manoeuvred in a way calculated to draw the main body out, but without suc- cess. He returned to the camp with a loss of five men killed and four wounded. This recoimoissance was followed by the British, early on the morning of the Uh," hurling a tremendous storm of round shot upon the American works ^ ^^^^^ from five of their heavy cannon. This drew from the assailed a severe response from all their heavy guns that could be brought to bear on the enemy, and from that day until the 13th the siege went slowly and steadily on, the garri- son, on all occasions, behaving most gallantly. Having on that morning completed ' Angnst. ^/Z^^^-t-e^^ a Edmnnd Pendleton Gaines was bom in Culpepper Connty, Virginia, on the 20th of March, ITTT. At the close ofthe Revolution Ms father returned to North Carolina, where he had resided, and there the son toiled on a small farm. When he was about thirteen years of age the family emigi-ated to Tennessee, and at the age of eighteen young Gaines was elected a lieutenant of a rifle company. He entered the tJnited States Army as an ensign in January, 1809. He re- mained in the army six years, and then became collector of the port of Mobile. He was promoted to captam in the arrav and in that capacity was placed in command of Port Stoddart, and was actiye in the arrest of Burr (see page 137). nTwas commissioned a mbjor in 1812, and rose through the various grades to brigadier general in March, 1814 He was breveted a major general for his gallant conduct at Port Erie, where he was wounded. Congress rewarded him with thanks and a gold medal. He was retained in 1815. He was active m the Southern Indian country, particularly in the Seminole War He died at New Orleans on the 6th of June, 1849, at the age of seventy-two years. The signa- ture here given is from a letter to Judge Hugh L. White, dated "Port Brie, Upper Canada, Angnst 24, 1834. 832 PICTORIAIi FIELD-BOOK Attack on Fort Brie. Preparations to receive an Assault. Situation of the American Troops. Secret Order. the mounting of all his heavy ordnance, Drummond commenced a cannonade, bom- bardment, and rocketeering, which was continued throughout the day, and renewed on the morning of the 14th. It ceased at seven o'clock in the evening, when very little impression had been made on the American defenses. Gaines was convinced that Drummond intended to resort to a direct assault should his cannonading prove ineffectual, and, with this impression, he kept the garrison con- tinually on the alert. Men were detailed for night service in such manner that part were resting and part were under arms continually. The guns in the batteries had been charged afresh several evenings in-succession with a variety of shot ; dark lan- terns were kept burning, and linstocks ready for firing were near every cannon. The engineers and the commanding officer watched every movement with the eyes of ex- perts, and they agreed in the belief that an assault would be made on the night of the 14th. On that evening Gaines visited and inspected every part of the works, gave explicit directions to every officer, and words of encouragement to the men ; and En- gineers M'Ree and Wood examined every part of the intrenchments most carefully. In the mean time, while the garrison were on evening parade, a shell came screaming across the space between the hostile camps, fell within the American lines, and lodged in an almost empty magazine, which was blown up with a tremendous report. The enemy huzzaed long and loud, supposing they had destroyed one of Gaines's chief magazines. Hoping to profit by the confusion and loss, they prepared at once to as- sail the American works. Their gun-fiints were removed from their muskets, scaling- ladders were collected, and the arrangements of the columns for attack were carefuUy made in accordance with a secret order^ issued by Drummond, and special secret in- structions given to Lieutenant Colonels Scott, Fischer, and Drummond. At that time the Americans were situated as follows : Small, unfinished Fort Erie, with a 24, 18, and 12 -pounder, forming the northeast angle of the intrenched camp, was under the command of Captain Williams, with Major Trimble's Nineteenth Reg- iment of Infantry. The Douglass Battery, with an 1 8 and 6 pounder, and forming the southeast angle, was commanded by Lieutenant Douglass, whose own name it bore. On the left, forming the southwest angle, was Towson's Redoubt Battery, on the little 1 Tliree copies were made ot this secret order hy Lieutenant Colonel Harvey, Drnmmond's assistant adjutant general, for the use respectively of Lieutenant Colonel Drummond, Lieutenant Colonel Fischer, and Colonel Scott. A copy of the one given to Drummond is before me. It is in the handwriting of Harvey, and was found on the body of Drum- mond after his death, with another paper mentioned in the subjoined paragraph in a letter of General Oaines to Judge Hugh L. White, of Tennessee, the original of which is also before me. It is dated at Fort Erie, August 24, 1814. Gen- eral Gaines says : "The inclosed papers, numbers one and two, were in the pockets of Colonel Drummond. The ball that killed him passed through the latter, and a bayonet through the former. I send them to you as trophies, and curi- osities which I wish preserved." The paper number one, through which the bayonet was thrust, was the secret order above mentioned. Number two is a rough topographical pencil-sketch of Fort Erie, the position of the British works, that of the three vessels on the lake, and the relative position of Buffalo and Black Eock. Through this the fatal bul- let went, and left a fracture in each of its four folds, around which the blood-stain may be still seen, having the appear- ance of sepia in color. These interesting mementoes of the sanguinary field of Brie are in the possession of Samuel Jaudon, Esq., of New York, a relative of Judge White by marriage, to whose courtesy I am indebted for their use. In the secret order is the following paragraph, of which I have made a fac-sii^ile : " The lieutenant general most strongly recommends a free use of the bayonet." The bayonet that wounded Drummond passed through the paragraph immediately above this, and left a fracture in the paper about an inch in length and half an inch In width. In the i cret order the parole was " Steel," and the countersign " Twenty." OF THE WAR OF 1812. 833 Fort Brie Garrison expecting an Attack. The Fort assailed, The British repulsed. eminence called Snake Hill ; and the two two-gun batteries in front, already men- tioned, were in charge of Captains Biddle and Fanning, the latter outranking Fon- taine. The whole of the artillery was in .charge of Major Hindman. Parts of the Ninth, Eleventh, and Twenty-fifth Regiments (the remnants of Scott's veteran bri- gade) were posted on the right, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Aspinwall. General Ripley's brigade, consisting of the Twenty-first and Twenty-third, was post- ed on the leftj and General Porter's brigade of New York and Pennsylvania Volun- teers, with the riflemen, occupied the centre. .An ominous silence prevailed in both camps at midnight of the 14th. It was the lull before the bursting forth of the tempest in its fury. It was not the silence of inactivity on the part of the British ; on the contrary, there was uncommon but cau- tious stirring within their lines. In the American camp alone, where, as the night wore away, a doubt of immediate danger and the effects, of great fatigue were wooing the garrison, to slumber, did the quiet of rest prevail. It was soon broken. At two o'clock in the morning an alarm came from a picket-guard of one hundred men, com- manded by Lieutenant Belknap, of the Twenty-third Infantry, who were posted in the direction of the enemy's camp to watch their movements. The duties of .this picket were important and perilous, but were intrusted to good hands. Belknap managed the affair with skill and bravery.^ The sky was overhung with clouds. Sound, not sight, gave intelligence of the approach of the enemy. Belknap iii-ed an alarm, and then fell steadily back to camp. The enemy came dashing on in the gloom, full fifteen hundred strong, under Lieutenant Colonel Fischer, and charged fu- riously upon Towson's Battery and the abatis on the extreme left, between that work and the lake shore. They expected to find the Americans asleep; but were mistaken. Colonel Miller's brave Twenty-first Regiment, then in charge of Major Wood, of the Engineers, was behind the abatis, and Towson's artillerists, gallantly supported on the right by the Twenty-third Regiment, were on the alert. ' At a signal, Towson's long 24-pounders sent forth such a continuous stream of flame from the summit of Snake Hill that the foe called it the " Yankee JLight-house." At the same instant a bright flame beamed forth from the line of the Twenty-first, and sent a brilliant illu- mination high and far, and revealed the position of the enemy to the garrison. It was as evanescent as the light of the Roman candle of the pyrotechnic, and in a few moments heaviest gloom settled upon the scene, relieved only by the flashes of the cannon and musketry. While one assailing column was endeavoring by the use of ladders to scale Tow- son's embankment, the other, failing to penetrate the abatis, waded in the shallow water of the lake under cover of darkness, and attempted to charge the Twenty-first in the rear. But both columns failed. After a desperate struggle, they were re- pulsed and fell hack. Five times they came gallantly to the attack, and were as often driven away. Finally, having suffered great loss, chiefly from the destructive effects of grape and canister shot, they abandoned the entei-prise. Almost simultaneously with this movement on the extreme left, an assault was 1 William Gold«mith Belknap was horn in Newbnrg, Orange County, New York, on the Mth of September, 1T04. He entered the army as third lieutenant in the Twenty-third Eegiment of United States Infantry m the spnng of 1814, and in the followino- autumn was in Wilkinson's expedition down the St. Lawrence. He followed the fortunes of General Brown and was with him on the Niagara frontier in 1814. His services at Fort Erie, where he was severely wounded, received the warm commendations of his superior officers.' He was retained in the army at the peace as first lieuten- ant in the Second Eegiment, Colonel Brady. At the reduction, of the army in 1821 he was transferred to the Third, and the followiuK year was promoted to captain. He was promoted to major in 1842, and, having been active and useful in the Seminole War in Florida, he was breveted lieutenant colonel. He was with General Taylor in Texas and Mexico, and in the battles of Palo Alto and Eesaca de la Palma he gallantly commanded a brigade. During the remainder of ti,» «prvirp he was Taylor's inspector general. For his gallant conduct at the battle of Buena Vista he was breveted Wadto Ereneral He was with General Taylor in all his battles. From December, 1848, to May, 1851, General Bel- knan was in command of Fort Gibson, in the Cherokee nation, and his memory is cherished with gratitude by that peo- ple He died near Pres ton, Texas, on the 10th of November, 1851. • Tn a letter to Major Belknap in 1S41 quarter /' " 2 Statement of " A Veteran of 1812, in Porter's Corps," who was a participant in the flght, writing from Troy, New York. See Old Soldiers' Advocate, Cleveland, Ohio, October, 1859. Alluding to the capture of Lieutenant Fontaine, of the artillery, who fell among the Indians, and was kindly treated by them, General Gaines in his report said, " It would seem, then, that these savages had not joined in the resolution to give no quarter." 3 General Gaines's official Dispatch to the Secretary of War. OP THE WAR OF 1812. 836 A BaBtion, with the British, blown up. The Actors in the Matter. An American maranding P arty. tremor beneath our feet, like the first heave of an earthquake. Almost at the same instant the centre of the bastion burst up with a terrific explosion, and a jet of flame, mmgled with fragments of timber, earth, stone, and bodies of men, rose to the height of one or two hundred feet in the air, and fell in a shower of ruins to a great distance all around."! This explosion, so destructive and appalling, was almost the final and decisive blow to the British in the contest.^ It was followed immediately by a galling cannonade, opened by Biddle and Fanning, and in a few moments the British broke and fied to their intrenchments, leaving on the^ field two hundred and twenty-one killed, one hundred and seventy-four wounded, and one hundred and eighty-six prisoners. Some * of their slightly wounded were borne away. The loss of the Americans was seven- teen killed, fifty-six wounded, and eleven missing. Among the officers lost were Cap- tain Williams and Lieutenant Macdonongh, killed ; Lieutenant Watmough, severely wounded, and Lieutenant Fontaine, who was blown into the ranks of the Indians when the bastion exploded, but was not severely hurt. These were of the artillery, and were all injured in defending the bastion. Captain Biddle, of the artillery, had been previously injured, and Watmough had also received a contusion. Of the in- fantry officers injured were Captain Birdsall, Lieutenants Bushnell and Brown, and Ensign Cisna, wounded in defending the fort, and Lieutenant Belknap, wounded in defending the picket-guard which he commanded. General Gaines called the afiair a " handsome victory," not merely a defense and a repulse,^ and in this opinion the impartial historian must agree. He spoke in high- ^ est terms of all his officers and men, and particularly of the good conduct of Generals Ripley and Porter, Captain Towson, and Majors Hindman, M'Ree, and Wood. The intelligence of the event was received with great joy throughout the country; and for his gallant conduct and valuable services at this time, and in the second siege of Fort Erie, which soon followed. General Gaines received substantial honors. On the 14th of September he was breveted a major general; and on the 8d of November the President approved of the action of the national Congress in voting him the thanks of the nation and ordering a gold medal, with suitable devices (see next page), to be struck and presented to him. The three great states of New York, Virginia, and ^ Tennessee each rewarded him with resolutions and an elegant sword. There were drawbacks upon the joy and the honors of the victory besides those of the loss of life in the confiict, for two of the three schooners that lay at anchor ofi" the fort, as we have observed, were captured by the enemy, and on the day succeed- ing the victory a marauding party brought dishonor upon the American name at Port Talbot, on the Canada shore. The schooners Ohio and Somers were captured on the night of the 12th of August by Captain Dobbs, of the Royal Navy, and sev- enty-five men in nine boats. They were taken down the river half way to Chippewa and secured, but the Porcvpine beat off her assailants.'' The marauders referred to 1 Manuscript Eeminiscences of Major (then Lieutenant) Douglass, quoted by Dawson in his Battles of the United States hy Sea and Lamd^ ii., 368. s " The cause of this explosion," says an eye-witness (one of Porter's men), "has never been officially explained. His- tory ascribes it to accident ; and perhaps it would not be proper for me to state what I learned at the time. Even if it was design, I think the end justified the means. It was that mysterious explosion which, through Providence, saved our gallant little army from the horrors of a general massacre." The venerable Jabez Msk, now (1867) living near Adrian, Michigan, who was in the fight, is not so reticent concern- ing the explosion. In a letter to me, dated May 20, 1863, he writes : " Three or four hundred of the enemy had got into the bastion. At this time an American officer came running up, and said, ' General Gaines, the bastion is full. I can blow them all to hell in a minute I' They both passed back through a stone building, and in a short time the bastion and the British were high in the air. General Gaines soon returned, swinging his hat, and shouting ' Hurrah for Little York !' " This was in allusion to the blowing up of the British magazine at Little York, where General Pike was killed. See page 589. 3 Letter of General Gaines to the Secretary of War, August 26, 1814. "It is due," he said, " to the brave men I have the honor to command that I should say that the affair was to the enemy a sore heating and a defeat; and it was to ns a ha/ndsome victory." * In this affair the Americans lost one seaman killed; and three officers and four seamen wounded. The enemy lost two seamen killed and four wounded. The Porcupine sailed for Erie. 830 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Honors to General Games. Cannonade of Fort Brie. Brown resumes Command of the Army. GENERAL GAINES's MEDAL. * were a party of one hundred Americans and Indians, who landed at Port Talbot on the night of the 16th, and robbed about fifty families of valuable property, such as horses, household furniture, and wearing apparel, and several respectable citizens were carried off as prisoners of war ; one of them, Mr. Barnwell, was a member of the Canadian Assembly. As a dutiful historian I record the affair, but with shame. Happily, such conduct on the part of the Americans was so rare that these pages have not been often stained by the recital. Both parties at Fort Erie immediately prepared for another struggle, and during the remainder of August and until the middle of September each received and cre- ated strength by the arrival of re-enforcements and completing of their respective defenses. The Americans had by that time mounted twenty-seven heavy guns, and had over three thousand men behind them. Drummond also received re-enforce- ments a few days after his defeat on the 15th, and from some new batteries he opened a cannonade and bombardment of Fort Erie with the design of compelling the Amer- icans to evacuate it. Almost daily, until the close of August, he threw hot shot, shells, and rockets into the fort, and annoyed the garrison much; and finally, on the 28th, a shell fell through the roof of Gaines's quarters, destroyed his writing-desk, and, explodmg at his feet, injured him so severely that he was compelled to relinquish his command and retire to Buffalo. When General Brown, then at Batavia, heard of this accident, he became exceed- ingly uneasy, and vith shattered health and unhealed wounds he hastened to Buf- falo, and on the 2d of September crossed over to Fort Erie. He found the garrison in charge of Colonel James Miller, whose rank was not sufficient for the position. Unable to remain himself with safety, he at once issued an order for General Eiplev the senior officer, to take command; and, returning to Buffalo, he established there the head-quarters of the Army of thfe Niagara, of which he now resumed control. Some of his officers followed him directly, and gave him such assurance of the unpop- ularity of Ripley with the army, and the dangers therefrom to be apprehended, that, though weak and suffenng much, he returned to Fort Erie, and assumed the com- mand in person. The fort was still closely invested, and Brown perceived tha t peril was impend- ing a laurel wreath on the e^d of a casnon wh;I ,■= f i^ ^^^ ''.'■™* ™ °°^ ''*°''' ^"'^ '''* ^'^^ "'her is plac- inscribed "bete." On one trunnion resHrW^W^ '^°f T'l"'' "' ""=''='« downward. Around it is a scroll, of the cannon lies rho^tM "efand ball^^^ ^If'^.^ ""^ '"' "'"^ " «'"P«°aed a broadsword. By the side words "EESOLUTION OF oo^Brss ^^^^EB f 1814 an^hlw"';?"™ '' '"'" '"'*'^"''- ^"""'^ ^^^ ^"ole are the uu«uB,,bs, i>o\EMiiEB s, ibi4; and below, "battle op eeie, ArausT IS, 1814." OF THE WAR OF 1812. 837 British Woi-kB and Port Erie. Brown determines on a Sortie. Preparations for it. ing. The British camp was in a field encircled by woods, two miles from their works, beyond the range of shot and shell from the fort or Black Rock. The army was divided into three brigades of from twelve to fifteen hundred- men each ; and one of these, daily relieved by another, was constantly at the works, with artillery. These works had now been advanced to within four or five hundred yards of the old fort, and at that distance two batteries had already been completed, and a third, from which almost certain destruction might be hurled, was nearly finished. Brown saw this impending danger, and took measures to avert it. Circumstances were favor- able. Heavy and continuous rains had flooded the country for several days. Drum- mond's camp was on low, marshy ground ; and stragglers from it, who had been picked up by the American pickets and deserters, informed Brown that the British force was so much weakened by typhoid fever that the lieutenant general was con- templating a removal of the camp to some healthier position. So broken was his power by camp sickness that for several days he had been unable to make an ofiensive movement. Now was Brown's golden opportunity, and he improved it. A sortie" was planned, and the time appointed for its execution the morning of the 1 7th of September. He ■resolved, as he said, " to storm the batteries, destroy the cannon, and roughly handle the brigade upon duty before those in reserve [at the camp] could be brought into action."! His preparations were made with great secrecy. He knew the hazards of the enterprise, and desired the full co-operation of his officers. He sounded their opin- ions as well as he might without fully disclosing his designs. They were not in con- sonance with his own; and he made his preparations in a manner to conceal his in- tentions from the army until all should be in readiness, for he determined to attempt the bold design as soon as Porter should join him with his militia re-enforcements. ^ These came, two thousand strong, and on the morning of the 17th the commanding general explained his plans to General Ripley (his second in command), his adjutant general, and engineers. All evinced a desire for hearty co-operation excepting Gen- eral Ripley, who considered the enterprise a hopeless one, and desired to have noth- ing to do with it.^ Toward noon Brown's sallying troops were in motion in the friendly and fortunate obscurity of a thick fog. They were separated into three corps. One, under General Porter, and composed of his Volunteers, under the immediate command of Major Gen- eral Davis, of the New York militia : detachments from the First and Fourth Rifle Regiments, under Colonel Gibson ; detachments from the Twenty-first and Twenty- third Infantry, and a few dismounted dragoons acting as infantry, under Major Wood, of the Engineers, was directed to move from the extreme left of the American camp, by a circuitous route, through the woods (which had been stealthily marked and pre- pared by Lieutenants Riddle and Frazer), of the Fifteenth Infantry, to within pistol- shot distance of the enemy's right wing, and attack the British right flank. The sec- ond division, composed of fragments of the Ninth, Eleventh, and Nineteenth Regi- ' General Bro^vn's Letter to the Secretary of War, September 29, 1814. 2 The council of officers was held on the 9th. Major Jesup, then recovering from his wounds, was at Buffalo, and was invited to participate in the conference. The lake was so rough that he did not get over until after the meeting had broken up. " General Brown," says Jesup in his manuscript ilf emow-, etc., "was evidently much disappointed at the result of the council. In the course of the evening he expressed himself with great warmth In regard to his disap- pointment, and in relation to some of the officers who had been present at the council. But he added, in a manner pe- culiarly emphatic, 'We must keep our own counsels ; the impression must he made that we are done with the affair ; but, as sure as there is a God in heaven, the enemy shall he attacked, in his varies, and, beaten too, as soon as all the volunteers shall havepassed over!^" "From this time," says the vmmuBcript Memorandum already quoted, "the major general acted and spoke as though he relied for safety on the defense of his camp ; and, to confirm this opinion in the army, he took measures to floor the tents, and in every way to improve the condition of his fol-ces in quarters, as if they were to remain stationary for a long time." He sent spies, as deserters, to the British camp to give information of these move- ments in the American camp ; and so adroitly was the whole affair managed, that a spy was sent on the day of the sor- tie, at the very hour when the American forces moved, and was received by the British without suspicion. = " General Eipley contented himself with saying that the enterprise was a hopeless one, and he should be well sat- isfied to escape from the disgrace which, in his judgment, would fall upon all engaged in it."— Brown's Manuscript Mem- aramium, etc. 838 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Brilliant Success of General Porter. Death of valuable Oflicers. Biographical Sketch of Porter. ments (the first commandBd by Lieutenant Colonel Aspinwall, and the last by Major Trimble), under James Miller (who had been breveted a brigadier general three days before for his gallantry in the battle of Niagara Falls), was ordered to move from the right by way of a ravine between Fort Erie and the enemy's batteries, and attack the British centre. The remainder of the Twenty-first Regiment, commanded by General Ripley, was posted as a reserve near the fort, and out of sight of the enemy's works. General Porter' and his command moved from the encampment at noon, and, following Lieutenants Riddle and Frazer through the woods, reached a position within a few rods of the Brit- ish right wing at a quarter befoi-e three o'clock, before their movement was even suspected by the enemy. An assault was immediately commenced. It was a complete surprise, and the startled en- emy on that flank fell back and left the Americans in possession of the grouitfd. The batteries N os. 3 and 4 were imme- diately stormed, and, after a close and fierce contest for about thirty minutes, both were earned. This triumph was followed by the capture of the block-house in the rear of No. 3. The garrison were " 'made prisoners, the cannon and carriages were destroyed, and the magazine blown up. Porter's victory was complete, but it ■vtas obtained at a fearful cost. His three principal leaders, namely. General Davis, Golonel Gibson, and Lieutenant Colonel Wood, all fell mortally wounded ; and the commands of the two latter officers devolved respectively on Lieutenant Colonel M'Donald and Major Brooks. , i ^^ -fi ?"^,1 K°"" ''f J?"? ,^ Salisbury, Connecficnt, on the 14th of August, ITTS. He was graduated at Tale Col- ^ge with high honors studied law, and entered upon its practice in his native town. He removed, to Western New York m 1T9S was elected to Congress in 1808, and in that body, as we have observed (page 212), he became promin^ as a supporter of the administration, and conspicuous as a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations when the country was approachmg a war with England. His residence was at Black Eock, near BuffSo, on the NiaS^a Eiver, when the war broke out, and he at once engaged in the military service of his countiy. He was appoi^ el "v Governor Tompkms Major General of New York Volunteers in July, 1813, and in that capacity he performed sisiS service for his country during that and the succeeding year, as our record in the te^t attests. In 1816 he wasS ejected to Congress, and was appointed a commissioner to ^ run the boundary-line between the United States and Can- ada. He remained in public life much of the time until 1829, when, having served a year in J. Q. Adams's Cabinet as Secretary of War, he left government employment for the quiet of private life. He possessed large estates on the Niagara frontier, and the wealth accumulated thereby is now enjoyed by his descendants. His name and serv- ices are identified with the growth and prosperity of West- ern New York. He died at his residence at Niagara Palls on the 20th of March, 1844, in the seventy-flrat year of his age. His remains rest in a quiet cemetery there, under a beautiful monument, on which is the following inscription : "Peteh Buei. Poetib, a pioneer in Western New York ■ a statesman eminent in the annals of the nation atd the state; a general in the armies of America, defending in the field what he had maintained in the council. Bom in Salisbury, Connecticut,'AngUBt 14, 1773. Died at Niao-ara Palls, March 20, 1844, known and mourned throughout that extensive region which he had been among the foremost to explore and to defend." I am indebted to the pencil of his son, the late Colonel Peter Augustus Porter for the accompanying sketch of the monument. ^ "^ ^ "*ciiL. rOBTEES TOMB. OF THE WAR OP 1812. 839 Plan of Siege and Defense of Fort Erie. Triumph of Miller and Vphtaa. Bxpi,AMATioii OF THE ABOTE Map.— A, old FoH Erie ; a, a, demi-bastions ; b, a ravelin, and c, c, block-houses. These were all built by the British previous to its capture at the beginning of July, d, d, bastions built by the Americans dur- ing the siege ; c, e, a redoubt built for the security of the demi-bastions, a, a. B, the American camp, secured on the right by the line g, the Douglass Battery, i, and Fort Erie; on the left, And in front, by the lines/,/,/, and batteries on-the extreme.right and left of them. That on the right, immediately under the letter i. in the words level plain, is Towson's ; ft, ft, etc., camp traverses ; m, main traverse ; o, magazine traverse, cov- ering also the head-qnarters of General Gaines ; y, hospital traverse ; q, grand parade and provost-guard traverse ; r, General Brown's head-qnarters ; s, a drain ; t, road fl'om Chippewa up the lake. C, the encampment of Volunteers outside of the intrenchments, who joined the army a few days before the sortie. d', D, the British works. 1, 2, 3, their flrst, second, and third battery, v, the route of Porter, with the left column, to attack the British right flank on the 17th ; Xi the ravine, and route of Miller's command. I am indebted to the late-Chief Engineer General Joseph G. Totten for the manuscript map of which this is a copy. In the mean time, General Miller, aided by the gallant Lieutenant Colonel Upham, had execiited his orders well. He penetrated between the British first and second bat- teries, and, by .the aid of Porter's successful operations, carried them both, and block- 840 PieTOBIAE FIELD-BOOK Result of the Sortie at Fort Erie. The Hopes of the British blasted. The American People inspirited. houses in the rear. One was abandoned before the assailants reached it. Within forty minutes after the attack commenced by Porter and Miller, four batteries, two block-houses, and the whole line of British intrenchments were in the possession of the Americans. Just after the explosion of the magazine, and at near the close of the action, General Ripley was ordered up with his little band of reserves, and while engaged in observations he received such a severe and dangerous wound in the neck that he fell to the ground. His aid. Lieutenant Kirby, caused him to be removed to the fort, and the command of the reserves was given to Lieutenant Colonel Upham. Notwithstanding Drummond sent strong re-enforcements from his camp to the imperiled British line of action, the object of the sortie was fully accomplished. The British advanced works were captured and destroyed, and Fort Erie was saved, with Buffalo and the public stores on that frontier, and possibly all Western New York.' In this memorable sortie the Americans lost almost eighty killed, and more than four hundred wounded and missing. The loss of the British in killed, wounded, and missing was about five hundred, exclusive of three hundred and eighty-five who were made prisoners. " Thus," said General Brown, in his letter to the Secretary of War twelve days afterward, " one thousand regulars, and an equal portion of militia, in one hour of close action, blasted the hopes of the enemy, destroyed the fruits of fifty days' labor, and diminished his effective force one thousand men at least." The " hopes of the enemy" were indeed " blasted ;" and, after hastily collecting his scattered forces, Drummond broke up his encampment on the night of the 21st, and retired to Riall's old and partially demolished intrenchments behind Chippewa Creek. So sudden and precipitate was his flight that he abandoned some of his stores in front of Fort Erie, and destroyed others at Frenchman's Creek, on the line of his retreat. It has been said, in praise of British courage and pugnacity, that they " never know when they are whipped," and such seems to have been the case in the present instance, foi- General L. De Watteville, writing in the camp two days after the action, spoke of the " repulse of the Americans at every poiig; ;"^ and General Drummond, in a later dispatch, also spoke of a " repulse of an American army of five thousand men by an inconsiderable number of British troops."^ This victory, following so soon those at Chippewa and Niagara Falls, and occur- ring so nearly simultaneously with the glorious one on land and water at Plattsburg, and the expulsion of the enemy from before Baltimore, diffused unusual joy through- out the country, and dispelled, in a measure, the gloom which had overspread the whole land because of the capture of the national capitalby the British less than a month before.'' General Bro-mi, in his official report of the affair,"' gave a generous list of . September 29, heroes, with allusions to their ^^"• gallant deeds,' and the loyal public hastened WOOD S MONUMENT. ' Major Jesup, in his MS. Memoir, etc., says: "The sortie from Fort Erie was by far the most splefcdid achievement of the campaign, whether we consider the boldness of the concep- tion, the excellence of the plan, or the ability of the execution. No event in military history, on the same scale, has ever sur- passed it. The whole credit is due to Geiieral Brown. The writer was in a situation to know that the conception, plan, and execution were all his own." " L. De Watteville to General Drummond, September 19, 1914 = Thomson's Historical Sketches of the lata War, page 32T. '' See Chapter XXXIX. = General Brown spoke in terms of warm eulogy of his en- gineers M'Eee and Wood. " No two ofBcers of the grade," be said, " could have contributed more to the safety and honor of this army. Wood, brave, generous, and enterprising, died as he had lived, without a feeling but for the honor of his country and glory of her arms. His name and example will live to guide the soldier in the path of di>ty so long as true heroism is held OF THE WAR OF 1812. 841 Honura awarded to General B rown. The Freedom of the City of New York conferred on him. The Certificate, etc. to ■ honor them individually and collectively. The national Congress, by a resolu- tion, approved by the President of the Republic on the 3d of November," awarded the thanks of the nation and a gold medal, with suitable devices, to ' ^"*' each of the general officers, i To General Brown, of whom it has been truthfully said GENEBAL BE0WH*8 MEDAL. that " no enterprise undertaken by him ever failed,"^ the Corporation of the City of New York gave him the honorary privilege of the freedom of the city in a gold box ;3 in estimation." . The general not only admired Wood as a soldier, but loved him as a friend ; and he cansed a hand- some marble monument to be erected at West Point (see opposite page) in his memory, with the following inscription upon it : North Side : "To the memory of Lieutenant Colonel E. I). Wood, of the corps of Engineers, who fell while leading a charge at the sortie of Fort Erie, Upper Canada, 17th September, 1814, in the thirty-first year of his age." We8t Side : " He was exemplary as a Christian, and distinguished as a soldier." South Side: "A pupil of this institution, he died an honor to his country." Bast Side: " This memorial was erected by his friend and commander, Hajor General Jacob Brown." On the uneven north slope of West Point, near the Laboratory Buildings, this monument is seen, upon a grassy knoll, shooting up from a cluster of dark evergreen trees. , ^ On one side of the commanding general's medal is the bust and name of Major General Brown. On the other the Boman fasces, indicative of the Union, the top encircled with a laurel wreath, from which are suspended three tablets bearing the inscriptions chippkwa, miaqaea, and eeie, surrounded by three stands of British colors. Below is seen a mortar, cannon-balls, and bomb-shells, and in front of all is the American eagle with wings outspread as if about to soar. Below these are the names and dates of the above battles. 2 See Memoirs of the Generals and Commodores, and other Commanders, etc., o/ the American Army and Navy, by Thomas Wyatt, A.M., page 133. ' 3 The certificate of that freedom and the gold box with wliich it was presented are in the possession of his widow, yet (1867) living. The box, delineated in the engraving, is of fine gold, elliptical in form, three iiiches in length, two and a half in width, and three fourths of an inch in depth. On the under side of the lid is the following inscription : " The Corporation of the City of New York to Major Gen- eral Jacob Brown; in testimony of the high sense they enter- tain of his valor and skill in defeating the British forces, su- perior in number, at the battles of Chippewa and Bridgewa- ter, on the 5th and 25th of July, 1814." . The following is a copy of the certificate, or diploma (en- tirely executed with a pen), giving General Brown the free- dom of the city of New York. At the head is a fancy design of the battle of Chippewa, and then the words : " To all to whom these presents shall come, De Witt Clin- ton, Esq., Mayor, and the Aldermen of the City of New York, send greeting : At a meeting of the Common Council, held at the Common Council Chamber in the City Hall of the City ,. of New York, the following resolutions were vmanimonsly agreed to : " 'Whereas the Corporation" of the city entertains the most lively sense of the late brilliant achievements of General Jacob Brown on the Niagara frontier, considering- them as * Here is inserted a device of a spread eagle in the middle ; an ancient war-chariot on the right ; cannon, flag, and drum on the left. * genekal bkqwn b gold box. 842- PICTORIAL pi:eld.book Medal awarded to Generals Porter and Eipley by Congress. Eipley honored by Gifts from several States.. not long after the National Congress voted him a medal.. An elegant sword was also presented to him by Daniel D. Tompkins, governor of the State of New York, in the name of that commonwealth.' To Generals Porter^ and Ripley,^ as well as to Scott, Gaines, and Miller, as we have already observed, the National Congress awarded the thanks of the nation, and a gift ^- __ . of a gold medal to each; and to Ripley the States of New Y^, ^4/yj'//tyA,^^^y York, Massachusetts, South Carolina, and. Georgia each t ^ ^ gave expression of approbation, and visible honorary to- kens of their appreciation of his services. The spirits of all the general officers in &ENBEAL POETEE'S MEDAL. proud eTidences of the skill and intrepidity of the hero of Chippewa and his brave companions in arms, and affording ample proof of the superior valor of our hardy farmers over the veteran legions of the enemy, " 'Resolved, That, as a tribute of respect to a gallant officer* and his intrepid associates, who have added such lustre to our arms, the freedom of the city of New York be presented to General Jacob Brown, that his portrait be obtained and placed m the gallery of portraits belonging to this city.t and that the thanks of this Corporation be tendered to the officers and men under his command.' " Know ye that Jacob Brown, Esquire, is admitted and allowed a freeman and a citizen of the said city, to have, to hold, to use, and enjoy the freedom of the city, together with all the benefits, privileges, franchises, and immunities whatsoever granted or belonging to the said city. " By order of the Mayor and Aldermen. " In testimony whereof the said Mayor and Aldermen have caused the seal of the said city to be hereunto affixed. " (Witness), De Witx Clinton, Esquire, Mayor, the fourth day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifteen, and of the Independence and Sover- eignty of the United States the 39th. '' J. MoETON, Clerk." ' The following inscription is upon the scabbard : ^IZ'^'^Tf "^ ^'? Excellency Daniel D. Tompkins, Governor of the State ofNewTork, pursuant to resolutions of the i" v! and Assembly of the said state, as a testimony of gratitude, to Major General Jacob Brown, for his eminent S "f^ ^ n" ™T"'i ?> '"^ 'T J'^? """'""'^ obtained by him over the enemies of his countr^." On the other side, "Major General Jacob Brown, V. S. Army." »"" j. "" i.uc 01.1101 i„!.°v,°„i°^°' '-^^ °' I""!''' T^t' '' ''? ^?' '° P™*'^' """''■ »°* ™«' ""fl °" *!>« other the figure of Victory, stand- vSv nf ^l""' "* * palm branch and wreath, and in the other three little fiags, on which Ire the name" espect- wnlL " '=°'^''=^*' ^i^'^AZ^, and EEiE. Sitting near, the Muse of History is record ng the events. Around are the To , "if^Z^T^^^ T™^f ', NO VEMBEE 8, 1814," and below the names and dates of the three battles. at^l^^S^^^^^^^^^^ SllJn^ru^r/orYertmfd^l.^^^^^''"'''-^''^''^^^ 1 nS'iL'f Wheelock Eipley was bom in kanover, New Hampshire, in 1T82, and was a grandson of the Eev Dr Whee- l^DCk (Whose name he bore), the founder of Dartmouth College. Hewas a lineal descend°ant Tmes Stand7sh hTw^ wL^aroL^rkrrn^cSg-rr^ZmfnraM t^^^^^^^ ^ ™-'" ^^"^^ - — "= - ^^^ <">>- ^ t This portrait, acopy of which may be seen on page 008, is in the Governor's Room in the City Hall, New York. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 843 But few of the Army of the Niagara now alive. Two remarkable Sarvivors. How they were wouncled. GENEEAL EIPLEY's MEDAL. the Army of Niagara at that time, and of nearly all of the subordinate officers, have passed away from earth, but their memories are cherished with honor and affection. And of all the r^nk and file of that army, whose existence as an organization ended soon after the siege and defense of Fort Erie, very few remain among us, and these are men "with the snow that never melts" upon their heads. Fifty-three years or more have elapsed since they were there in arms for their country.^ Major General George Izard, who was in command on Lake Champlain, having, as educated at Dartmouth, and was graduated in the year 1800. He adopted law as a profession, and in 180T was elected a member of the Massachusetts Legislature, he being a resident of Winslow, in that state. He succeeded the late Judge Story as its speaker. He entered the army as lieutenant colonel of infantry in March, 1812. He rose to brigadier gen- eral in the spring of 1814, and was breveted major general for his gallant conduct in the battle of Niagara. He was severely wounded at Fort Erie, when he was removed to Buffalo. For three months his life was despaired of. He was a brave, skillful, and patriotic soldier. He did not do himself or his country justice q^ the Niagara frontier owing to a very serious misunderstanding between himself and General Brown, which became an open quarrel after the war. General Eipley was retained in the army at its reduction, but resigned in 1820. He became a resident of Louisiana, and represented that state in Congress. He died at West Feliciana on the 2d of March, 1839, at the age of fifty-seven years. 1 There are two survivors of that army yet (1867) living with whom I have had correspondence, who are worthy of no- tice here because of their remarkable escapes from death, having been wounded so desperately that no hope could have been entertained of their recovery. Tet for over fifty years since they have lived as useful members of society. I refer to Robert White, of Morrisson, Whiteside County, Illinois, and Jabez Fisk, mentioned in note 2, page 835, living near Adrian, Michigan. The former had both arms shot off above the elbows, and the latter was shot through the neck and cast upon a brush-heap as a dead man. White was wounded on the evening of the 15th of August, Fisk during the sor- tie on the ITth of September. "Just at twilight," says White, in a letter to a friend (Lorenzo D. Jdhnson), " as my arms were extended in the act of lifting a vessel on the fire, a 24-pounder came booming over the ramparts and struck off both my arms above my elbows ! The blow stmck me so numb that at first I did not know what had happened, and the dust and ashes raised by the force of the ball so filled my face that I could not see. My left arm, as I vpas subse- quently informed, was carried from my body some two rods, and struck a man in his back with such force as nearly brought him to the ground. This same shot took off the right arm of another soldier standing not far from me, and, passing on to the other side of the encampment, killed three men ! It was the most destructive shot of any that the enemy sent into our works." Fisk, who was with General Porter, says in a letter to me in May, 1863, "Immediately after attacking the block-house General Porter was taken prisoner. The companies of Captains Harding [in which Fisk was] and Hall rushed forward and retook him. In this manoeuvre I was shot through the neck. The ball passed between the windpipe and the gul- let, cutting both. Passing obliquely, it came out near the backbone. I fell' as if dead. All appeared dark as midnight. I was conscious, but thought I was dead and in the other world. I was throvm on a brush-heap, and should have found a final resting-place in a mud-hole near by had not Solomon Westbrook, a member of our company, discovered and taken me to the fort."* • When the surgeons dressed Mr. Fisk's wounds they had no idea that he would survive until morning ; hut he rap- idly recovered. He was taken to the general hospital at Williamsville, and then to Batavia, Where he was discharged, and weak and penniless, started for his home in Tioga County, New York. He worked and begged his way. He was afterward pensioned, and received bounty-land. On the latter he settled, and now owns it. He was bom in Franklin County Massachusetts, and is the son of a Revolutionary soldier. His family moved to Albany in 1802, and soon aft- erward settled in Tioga County. There he enlisted in Captain Harding's company, under General Porter. He was with the Army of the Niagara during the entire campaign of 1814 until he was wounded. He was present when Gen- eral Swift was shot at Fort George, and assisted in carrying him back to Queenston. " Every member of -Captain Hard- ing's company is in heaven," Mr. Fisk writes in a letter to me in May, 1863, "excepting Solomon Westbrook and my- self." He visited Mr. Westbrook, in the State of New York, in ^62. They had not met since the latter bore young Fisk from the battle-field. Mr. Fisk is now nearly eighty,years General Izard's Official Correspondence, page 104 ; General Bissell's Eeport to General Izard, October 22, 1S14 ; Iz- ard's GeneralOvder, October 23, 1S14. 2 To cover and protect the stores at Batavia, Major Helms was stationed there with a battalion of dismonnted dra- goons. Lieutenant Colonel Eustis, with a battalion of light artillery, was stationed at Williamsville to gaard the ex- tensive hospital there. Colonel Ball's squadron of dragoons were stationed on the Genesee River, near the village of Avon, for the convenience of forage ; and the whole of the remaining infantry were cantoned on the margin of the wa- ter between Buffalo and Black Eock Izard's Letter to the Secretary of War, November 26, 1814 ' Our engraving shows the appearance of the mins of Fort Erie from Towson's Battery on the southwestern angle, looking toward Buffalo, which is seen in the extreme distance toward the right. Tie water in the foreground is in the ditch. This was its appearance when I visited the spot in 1860. The main portion of the ruins, seen toward the right, with windows, is that of the mess-house finilt by the British. This was not fortified by tbem, but was intrenched by the Americans. On the left is seen the ruins of the magazine, between which and the mess-house a portion of Buffalo ap- pears. Just back of Towson's Battery, a part of which is seen in the foreground on the left. Lieutenant Colonel Drum- mond and others were buried. * See Chapter XXIV., and his portrait and biography on page 523. \ OF THE WAR OF 1812. 847 FOBT EBIE MILLB, FOUT EBIE. Visit to Fort Erie and historic Places in and near Buffalo. Veterans of the War in that City. Forest Lawn Cemetery. ing his light carriage, he took lie to every place of interest to the historian, the stu- dent, and the stranger. "We first rode to Fort Erie, crossing the head of the swift-flowing Niagara River from the Frontier Mills at the old Black Rock Ferry to the village of Fort Erie, which was once called Waterloo. The ruins of the fort are some distance up the Canada shore from the village. On our way we passed old Fort Erie Mill, on the margin of the foot of the lake, which stood there during the war, as many scars and ball-holes still in its clap- boards fully attest. On the left of the mill, delin- eated in the engraving, across the river, upon a high bank, is seen Fort Porter, and in the ex- treme distance on the right is 'seen the wharf of the Buffalo and Lake Huron Railwa^Company. On our right, as we passed on to the fort, an elevated ridge was pointed out, on which the British batteries were erected for the siege of Fort Erie. No. 1 (see map on page 839), nearest the fort, was on property belongiag to Captain Murray, of the Royal Navy, and No. 2 on the premises of Mr. Thompson. I did not ascertain on whose land were the mounds of No. 3. The ruins of all were quite promiaent. We spent about two hours in the hot sun on the site of Fort Erie and the battles, examining the theatre of scenes described in this chapter, and sketching some of the ruins; and, returning to Black Rock, we visited the site of the oldnavy yard,' a lit- tle way up Shogeoquady Creek, and called on the venerable James Sloan, the last sur- vivor of the captors of the Galedo- /j/ /O/? n '**'^ ^^^ Adams in the autumn of ^yXiyry^U^ Sc/^OCt-'y^ <^^^t^ I8I2.2 He was then past seventy- >^y ^^ one years of ^age.. From his lips we heard an interesting narrative of some of the events of that daring enterprise, illus- trative of the courage, fortitude, and skill of the actors. Leaving Mr. Sloan, we rode to the office of Dr. Trowbridge, of whom I have already spoken as a physician in Buffalo when the British destroyed it. He was seventy-five years of age, yet vigorous in mind and body. He gave us some interesting particu- lars of his own experience, and the bravery of the widow St. John. His son accom- panied us to the room of the City Councils, where we saw the portrait of Mrs. Mer- rill (Miss Ransom), who was the first white child born in Western New York, on the domain of the Holland Land Purchase. At a late hour we returned, heated and weary, to the delightful residence of Captain Champlin, in the midst of gardens, and dined ' There I saw the elegant straight sword presented to the hero,^ and the rich- ly-carved easy-chair made of the wood of the Lawrence, Perry's flag-ship, delineated on page 542. On the following morning* I rode out with Captam Champlin to a beau- tiful depository of the dead in the suburbs of Buffalo, called Forest Lawn Cemetery. The ground is pleasantly undulating, is much covered with trees of the primeval forest, and is really a delightful resort during the heats of summer for those Angnst 16, 1S60. 2See page 386. » ThefolMowtag is the inscription on one side of the blade of the sword.- " Stephen CnAMPLm, Aotinq Sailimq Mas- TEB, La^ Ebie, 10th Septembee, 1813." On the other side, " AiTms ibtint qot aj> sumna „rTUKTEB." 848 PICTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK Soldiers' Mo.iumeut. Other Monuments, and Inscnptlons on thejb. who are not saddened by the sight of graves. There, in an elevated open space, within ground one hundred feet square, slightly in- closed, stands a fine monument, of marble, twenty-two feet in height, which was erected by the corporate authorities .of Buffalo in the autumn of 1852 in commemoration of several ofiicers of the United States Army who were engaged in the War of 1812; also of a cele- brated Indian chief, and to mark the spot where the remains of over one thousand per- sons, which were removed from the city, lie buried.' Near the monument (and seen in the foreground on the right) is a tomb of brick, bearing a recumbent slab of marble, over the grave of Captain Williams, who lost his life, at Fort Erie. The inscription on it is historical and briefly biographical.^ Southward of this is a handsomely-carved slab, lying on the ground, placed there in commemoration of a Connecticut soldier killed in the battle of Niagara.^ North easterly of the monu- ment is another slab, over the grave of Captain Wattles ;* and south of it is another over the grave of Captain Dox.* Not far from this public monument, on a gentle, shaded slope, is the grave of Gen- eral Bennet Riley, who was a soldier in the War of 1812, and was distinguished in the Seminole War and the contest with Mexico. Over it is a handsome marble mon- ument, bearing a brief inscription.^ Near this, in the cool shadows of the trees, we ' The followihg are the inscriptions on the monument : West Side.— "In memory of Major Lodowick Morgan,* Captain Alexander Williams, Captain Joseph Kenney, Captain Simeon D. Wattles, Captain Myndert M. Dox, and Sergeant Tay- lor,t officers of the United States Army, who were engaged in the War of 1812." North SMe "Farmer's Brother, Chief of the Seneca Nation of Indians."} South Side "The remains of 1168 persons are buried in this lot, all of which were removed from the old burial-ground on the west side of Delaware Street, between Church and Eagle Streets, in the city of Buffalo." JEast Side.—" Erected October, 1862, by the Common Coancil of the City of Buffalo— Hiram Bar- ton, Mayor." 2 The following is a copy of the inscription: "Sacred to the. memory of Captain Alexander John Williams, of the Twenty-first Regiment United States Artillery, son of General Jonathan? and Marianne Williams, of the city of Phila- delphia, who was killed in the night attack by the British on Fort Erie, August 14-15, 1814. In the midst of the con- flict, a lighted port-flre in front of the enemy enabled them to direct their fire with great precision upon his company. He sprang forward, cut it off with his sword, and fell mortally wounded by a musket-ball. He sacrificed himself to save his men. Born October 10, 1790. Died August 15, 1814. Pratri Dilecto." = His name is on the monument. The following inscription is on the slab : "Memorial tribute to Joseph Kinney, of Norwich, Connecticut, senior captain in the Twenty-fifth Regiment United States Army, shot through the breast at the battle of Bridgewater, July 25, 1S14. To the friendship of George Coit, Esq., his relatives are indebted for his burial at this place. Erected by a brother, July, 1829. * His name is on the monument. The following is the inscription on the slab : " In memory of Captain Simeon D. Wattles, of the United States Army, who was killed in the memorable sortie of Fort Erie on the ITth of September, 1814, M. 33 years. As a Christian, he was pious and exemplary i as a Soldier, brave and magnanimous ■ as a Citizen, benevolent and sincere." Below this was a verse of poetry, but it tvas too much effaced to be deciphered. 5 His name is on the monument. The following is the inscription on the slab : "The grave of Myndert M. Dox, late captain in the Thirteenth Regiment United States Army, son of Peter and Cathalina Dox, of Albany. Born January 6, 1790. DiedSeptember8,1830, in the forty-first year of his age." 6 The following is the inscription : " Major General Bennet Riley, United States Army. Died June 9, 1853, in the sixty-sixth year of his age." General B ile y was a native of Maryland, and entered the army as ensign i n a rifle corps in January, 1813. He re- ' Lodowick Morgan was a native of Maryland, and entered the army as second lieutenant in a rifle corps in May, 1808. He was promoted to captatn in July, 1811, and to major in January, 1814. He was a very efficient officer, and received the highest praise for his conduct m repelling the British invasion near Black Rock on the 3d of August, 1814, already mentioned in the text He was killed, as we have seen, in a skirmish before Fort Erie on the 12th of the same month. t The graves of all of these, excepting Morgan and the sergeant, as observed in the text, are marked by inscribed slabs. t Ho-na-ye-wuo, or Parmer s Brother, was a conspicuous contemporary of Cornplanter and Red Jacket. He was es- te. He was probably born about the year 1730. He was in the battle with Braddock in 1755, and during his whole the antumn'oflsiT '""^'^'"™^ *^ Senecas. He was eloquent in speech, and brave on the war-path. He died in t,,l MlnTrt'*"//' '"^ ?w'^ of the Engineer Department.of the United States Army, and was one of the founders of the Military Academy at West Point. See page 235. He superintended the construction of many fortifications. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 849 Expedition df Captain Holmes into Canada. Battle at the Longwoods. Lost Posts to be recaptured. lingered some time, when a thunder-jpeal from the direction of Lake Erie warned us of the approach of a summer shower. "We rode back to the city delighted with the morning's ex- perience, and between two and three o'clock I left for Niag- ara Falls in a railway coach, where I arrived, as before ob- served, in the midst of a heavy thunder-storm. While the events we have been relating were occurring on the Niagara frontier, others of great importance were occur- ring in other portions of the wide field of action, especially on Lake Champlain, and on and near the sea-coasts. Before we proceed to a consideration of these, let us take a hasty glance at movements in the Northwest, which closed active military operations in the region of the upper lakes.. For many weeks after Harrison's victory on the Thames nothing of great importance occurred in that region. The most stirring event was an expedition under Captain Holmes, a gallant and greatly beloved young officer, sent out by Lieu- tenant Colonel Butler in February,* where he was in a 1814 '' temporary command at Detroit. It consisted of one hundred and sixty men, including artillerists, with two 6-pounders, and its object was the capture of Fort Talbot, a British outpost a hundred miles down Lake Erie from Detroit. Difficulties caused Holmes to change his destination, and he proceed- ed to attack another outpost at Delaware, on the River Thames. In that movement, too, he was foiled by the watchfulness and strategy of the foe, who lured him from his expected prey. Finally they came to blows toward the evening of the 3d of March," at a place called the Longwoods, in Canada, where they fought more ^ than an hour, and thenr each gladly withdrew under cover of the night-shad- ows. In this affair the Americans lost seven men in killed and wounded, while the GENERAL Hir.EY 8 MONUMENT, UUFPALO. enemy's loss, including the Indians, was much greater.^ The expedition was fruitless of good to any body. 2 In former chapters we have a record of the capture of Fort St. Joseph and the post and island of Michillimackinack, or Mackinaw, by the British, immediately preceding (and partly inducing) the fall of Detroit in the summer of 1812.3 Tj^g latter post, with all Michigan, as we have observed,* was recovered from the British in 1813. For the better security of these acquisitions against British and Indian incursions, Gen- eral M' Arthur, the commandant of the Eighth Military District, caused works to be erected at the foot of Lake Hui-on, or head of the Straits or River St. Clair. It was called Fort Gratiot, in honor of the engineer of that name who superintended its con- struction. ^ The Americans were not contented with the recovery of Michigan only, but de- termined to recapture Mackinaw and St. Joseph. The latter was the key to the vast traffic in furs with the Indians of the Northwest, and the British, knowing its im- portance in its commercial and political relations to their American possessions, as resolutely resolved to hold it. Accordingly Lieutenant Colonel M'Douall was sent thither with a considerable body of troops (regulars and Canadian militia) and sea- mained in the army, and in 1828 was breveted a major for ten years' faithful service. He was breveted a colonel for KOod conduct in Florida, brigadier general for his bravery at Cerro Gordo, and major general for his gallant conduct at Contreras. He was made military commander of the Department of Upper California, and was ex oficio governor in 1849 and 1850 ' Captain Holmes's Dispatch to Lieutenant Colonel Butler, March 10, 1814. a A similar expedition had been sent out by Butler a short time before. Butler was informed that a considerable number of regulars, Canadians, and Indians were collected on the Eiver Thames, not far from Chatham. He sent Cap- tain Lee with a party of mounted men to reconnoitre, and, if feasible, to attack and disperse them. Lee gained the rear of the enemy unobserved, fell upon them, and scattered them in all directions. He took several of them prisoners. Among them was Colonel Babie (pronounced Bawbee), whose house, we have observed, was the head-quarters of Gener- al Hull and vet standing in the village of Windsor, opposite Detroit. See page 263. Colonel Babie had been a leader of Indians in the invasion of the Niagara frontier at the close of 1813. « See Chapter XIV. t See page 687. 3 H PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK 850 Expedition to the Upper Lakes. OperatioDB at the Sant St. Marie. Battle on Mackinaw M^ men, accompanied by twenty-four bateaux laden with ordnance. There he found a large body of Indians waiting to join him as allies. The Americans planned a land and naval expedition to the upper lakes ; and so early as April, when M'Douall ^ /C) /P went to Mackinaw, Commander /T-"^^ ^^.--'•^-^^ Arthur St. Clair was placed in / " - - ^ charge of a little squadron for the purpose, consisting of the Niagara, Caledonia, 8t. Laiorence, Soorpion, and Tigress, all familiar names in connection with Commodore Perry on Lake Erie. A land force, under Lieutenant Colonel Croghan, the gallant defender of Fort Stephenson, was pre- pared to accompany the squadron. Owing to differences of opinion in Madison's Cabinet, the expedition was not in readiness until the close of June.. It left Detroit at the beginning of July. Croghan had five hundred regular troops and two hundred and fifty militia; and on the ar- rival of the expedition at Fort Gratiot on the 12th he was joined by the garrison of that post, composed of a regiment of Ohio Volunteers, under Colonel William Cot- greave. Captain Gratiot also joined the expedition. They sailed for Matchadach Bay to attack a newly-established British post there. A lack of good pilots for the dangerous channels among islands, rocks, and shoals leading to it, and the perpetual fogs that lay upon the water, caused them to abandon the undertaking after a week's trial, and the squadron sailed for St. Joseph, in the direction of Lake Superior. It anchored before it on the 20th. The post was abandoned, and the fort was commit- ted to the flames. This accomplished. Major Holmes, of the Thirty-second Infantry, and Lieutenant Turner, of the l^avy, were sent with some troops and cannon to de- stroy the establishment of the British Northwest Company at the Saut St. Marie, or Falls of St. Mary. That company had been from the beginning, because of its vital interest in maintaining the British ascendency among the Indian tribes, with whom its profitable trafiic was carried on, the most inveterate and active enemy of the Americans. Its agents had been the most effective emissaries of the British author- ities in inciting the Indians to make war on the Americans ; and, in every way, it merited severe chastisement at the hands of those whose friends had suffered from the knife and hatchet of the cruel savages. « joiy, Holmes arrived at St. Mary's on the 21st.'' John Johnson, a renegade mag- 1^**- istrate from Michigan, and an Indian trader, who was the agent of the North- west Company at that place, apprised of his approach, fled with a considerable amount of property, after setting on fire the company's vessel above the Rapids. She was saved by the Americans,' but every thing valuable on shore that could not be carried away was destroyed. Holmes then returned to St. Joseph, when the whole expedi- tion stairted for Mackinaw, where it arrived on the 26th.'' It was soon ascer- t> July. , ^^ tained that the enemy there were very strong in position and numbers, and the propriety of an immediate attack was a question between Croghan and St. Clair. The post could not be carried by storm, nor could the guns of the vessels easily do much damage to the works, they were so elevated. It was finally decided that Cro- ghan should land with his troops on the back or western part of the island, under cov- er of the guns of the ships, and attempt to attack the works in the rear. This was done at Dowsman's farm on the 4th of August, without much molestation, but Cro- ghan had not advanced far before he was confronted by the garrison under M'Douall, who were strongly supported by Indians in the thick woods. M'Douall poured a storm of shot and shell from a battery of guns upon the invaders, when the savages fell upon them. A sharp conflict ensued, carried on chiefly on the part of the enemy by the Indians under Thomas, a brave chief of the Fallsovine tribe, when Croghan ' They endeavored to bring this vesBel away with them, bnt she bilged while passing down the Kapids, and was then destroyed. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 851 Blockade of Mackinaw. Capture of the blockading Vessels. Commander Ghamplin wounded. was compelled to fall back and flee to the shipping, with the loss of the much-be- loved Majgr Holmes, who was killed, and Captains Van Horn and Desha, and Lieuten- ant Jackson, who were severely wounded. He also lost twelve private sdldiers killed, fifty-two wounded, and two missing. The loss of the enemy is unknown. Croghan and St. Clair abandoned the attempt to take Mackinaw ; and as they were about to depart, they heard of the successful expedition of Lieutenant Colonel M'Kay, who, with nearly seven hundred men, mostly Indians, had gone down the Wisconsin River and taken from the Americans the post at Prairie du Chien, at the mouth of that stream.* Yet they were not disheartened, and resolved not to return .juiyi7, to Detroit empty-handed of all success. They proceeded to the mouth of ^^^*' the Nautawassaga River, assailed and destroyed a block-house three miles up from its mouth, and hoped to capture the schooner Nancy, belonging to the Northwest Company, and a quantity of valuable furs. They failed. The furs had been taken to a place of safety, and the schooner was burnt by order of. Lieutenant Worseley, who was in command of the block-house. Very soon after this the squadron sailed for Detroit; with the exception of the Ingress, Captain Champlin, and Scorpion, Captain Turner, which were left to block- ade the Nautawassaga, it being the only route by which provisions and other sup- plies might be sent to Mackinaw. They cruised about for some time, effectually cut- ting off supplies from Mackinaw, and threatening the garrison with starvation. Their useful career in that business was suddenly closed early in September, when they were both captured by a party of British and Indians, sent out in five boats (one mounting a long 6, and another a 3 pounder) from Mackinaw to raise the blockade, under the general command of Lieutenant Bulger, his second being Lieutenant Worse- ley. They fell first upon the Tigress, off St. Joseph's, when her consort was under- stood to be fifteen miles away. She was at anchor near the shore. The attack was made at nine o'clock in the evening of the 3d of September. It was intensely dark, and they were within fifty yards of the Tigress when discovered. The assailants were warmly received, but in five minutes the vessel was boarded and carrie^d by overwhelming numbers, her force being only thirty men, exclusive of officers, and that of the assailants about one hundred. "The defense of this vessel," said Bulger, in his report of the affair, " did credit to her officers, who were all severely wound- ed."i Her officers and crew were sent prisoners of war to Mackinaw the next mom- ing.^ Bulger and his men remained on board the Tigress, (ger position was unchanged, and her pennant was kept flying. On the 5th the Scorpion was seen approaching. Bulger ordered his men to hide. The unsuspecting vessel came within two miles, and anchored for the night. At dawn the next morning" the Tigress .g^^t^^^^^g ran down alongside of her, and then the enemy, starting from his con- cealment, rushed on board, and in a few minutes the British flag was floating over her. The loss on each side in these captures was slight. Vessels and prisoners were taken to Mackinaw, and their arrival produced great joy there. So exhausted were the supplies of the garrison that starvation would have compelled a surrender in less than a fortnight. These captures were announced with a great flourish by the Brit- ish authorities ; and Adjutant General Baynes actually stated, in a general order, that the vessels " had crews of three hiindred men each !" He oiily exaggerated five hundred and seventy in stating the aggregate of the crews of the two schooners. Croghan and St. Clair reached Detroit, on their return, late in August, and for a while no military movement 'was undertaken in that region. At length General . Lientenant Bnlger to Lieutenant Colonel M'Douall, September 7, 1814. Ciytain Champlin had his thigh-bone shat- tered bv a ball in that fight, and he has not only been a cripple ever since, but a pamful sufferer from a seldom-healed wound In the year 1863 several pieces of bone were taken from his thigh. ' Champlin's Report to Lieutenant Turner, commanding. 852 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK M'Arthur's Eaid in Canada. Afitight of the Canadians. Skirmishes. M'Ai'thur's Retnrn. M' Arthur made a terrifying raid into Canada. He had been ordered to raise mount- ed men for the purpose of chastising the Indians around Lake Michigan, and on the 9th of October he had arrived at Detroit with about seven hundred mounted men from Kentucky and Ohio, accompanied by Major Charles S. Todd as adjutant gen- eral. The critical situation of the American army under General Brown, at Fort Erie, at that time induced M' Arthur first to make a diversion in favor of that general Accordingly, late in the month, he left Detroit with seven hundred and fifty men and five field-pieces, and, to mislead the enemy, passed up Lake and River St. Clair toward Lake Huron. On the morning of the 26th he suddenly crossed the St. Clair River into Canada, pushed on to the thriving Baldoon settlement of Scotch families, and then made his way as rapidly as possible to the Moravian Towns, on the scene of Har- rison's exploits a year before, spreading great alarm in his path. On the 4th of No- vember he entered the village of Oxford. He came unheralded, and the inhabitants were greatly terrified. He disarmed and paroled the militia, and threatened instant destruction to the property of any one who should give notice to any British post of his coming. Two men did so, and their houses were laid in ashes. On the follow- ing day he pushed on to Burford, where the militia were casting up intrenchments. They fled at his approach, and the whole country was filled with alarm. Fear mag- nified the estimate of his number, and the story went before him that he had two thousand men in his train. m'aethde's eaid. Burlmgton, at the head of Lake Ontario,- was M'Arthm-'s destination. On he pressed from Burford, but when he arrived on the bank of the Grand River, at Brant- ford, he found his passage of that considerable stream disputed by a large force of f^^.^^\Y^^'°'^^ ^^° reside^ear, with militia and dragoons. He was informed that Major Muir was not far distant, in a dangerous defile on the road to Burlington with a considerable force of regulars and Indians, and some cannon. M'Arthur concluded It would not be prudent to attempt to go farther eastward, so he turned down the .l§ , ,"*, ^"x^*?' ^""^ proceeded to attack some militia, who had a fortified camp at Malcolm s Mill, on the Grand River. Thfey fled at his approach, and in his pur- suit of them M'Arthur killed and wounded seven, and took one hundred and thirty- one prisoners. His own loss was only one killed and six wounded. The mill was burned, with all the property in it. This accomplished, the invaders pushed on to Dover, destroying several mills on the way, which were making flour for Drum- monds army There he was informed of the evacuation of Canada by Izard, and of a web of pevils that were gathering around; so he turned his face westward and hastened toward Detroit, by way of St. Thomas and the Thames, pursued some dis- tance by eleven hundred British regulars. He arrived at Sandwich on the nth of November, and there discharged his brave band we^kf be'hlVf ''''. T f f' Y^''' ''P^™*'""^ «f *^^ ^^'- For almost four weeks he had skurried hundreds of miles through the enemy's country, spreading tZrrr " r;.'"^ ^^'^^^^ *^^ '""^^'^^ ^^"^ Drummond's ranks fSoS property here and there that might be useful to the enemy, and then -eturninltf OF THE WAR OF 1812. 853 M'Ai'thur's Bravery and Generosity. the place of departure with the loss of only one life P He was generous as well as bold ; and he publicly acknowledged that much of his success was due " to the mili- tary talents, activity, and intelligence of Major Todd," his adjutant general, who yet [1867] lives in nis native Kentucky, in the vigor of a green old age. 1 M'Afee's History of the late War in the Westem^oimtry, page 446. eXNERAI. WLNlflELD BOOTT IN 1860. 694 PICTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK General Izard in Command in Xnrthem New York. Napoleon'a Fortunes change. Washington Benevolent Societies. CHAPTEE XXXVn. " Hail to the day which, in splendor returning, Lights us to conquest and glory again ! Time, hold that year 1 Still the war-torch was burning, And threw its red ray on the waves of Champlain. Eonsed by the spirit that conquered for Perry, Dauntless Macdonough advanced to the fray ; Instant the glory that brightened Lake Brie Burst on Champlain with the splendor of day. Loud swells the cannon's roar On Plattshurg's bloody shore, Britons retreat from the tempest of war, Prevost deserts the field, While the gallant ships yield ; Victory ! glory, Columbians, huzza 1" Old Soso — ^Eeii; amb Champlaih. fllOM the Niagara frontier and the portion of the Army of the North engaged there we will now turn to the consideration of the events upon Lake Champlain and its vicinity during the year 1814, where the other portion of that army was in active service. We have already taken a brief glance at military op- erations in that quarter to the close of the campaign of the pre- vious year, when General Wilkinson, relieved of command, re- tired from the army, and General Hampton, another incompe- tent, also left the service for his country's good.i His lieutenant. General George Izard, of South Carolina, was soon afterward" placed in command of the right wing of the Army of the North, with a competent staff,^ and made his head- quarters at Plattsburg. Since the opening of the campaign in the spring a great change had occurred in the aspect of foreign affairs— a change which made a deep impression on the Ameri- can mind in its contemplations of the war. We have already alluded to the disasters of Napoleon at Leipsic in the autumn of 1813. Notwithstanding brilliant achieve- ments on his part after that, the Allied Powers finally pushed him back, and not only confined him to the soil of France, but hemmed him and his army almost within the walls of Paris. There was no chance for his escape. On the 31st of March, 1814, the Emperor of Eussia and the Duke of Wellington entered the city as conquerors, and^on the 11th of May Napoleon abdicated the throne of Fran,ce and retired to the island of Elba.^ His downfall was hailed with great joy, not only in Europe, but by the great Federal party in the United States," who considered his ruin as the most 1 See page 65T. 2 Brigadier General Winder, just exchanged, was appointed his chief of staff; Alexander Macomb and Thomas A. Smith were his brigadier generals ; William Gumming was adjutant general, and Major Joseph G. Totten was chief engineer. ' 3 The fickle populace of Paris received the conquerors of Napoleon with acclamations of joy, and the French Senate, lately Napoleon's pliant instrument, now declared that, by arbitrary acts and violations of the Constitution, he had for- feited his right to the throne. . » The Waahington Beneoolent Soeielles* (Federalist associations) had made Napoleon's disasters the subject of orations * These Washington Benevolent Societies originated in Philadelphia very soon after the declaration of war in the summer of 1812. They were political organizations, with attractive social and benevolent features. The first organ- ization was fully completed on the 22d of February, 1813, under the title of the Washington Benevolent Society of Pennsylvania, and each member was required to sign the Constitution and the following declaration : "We, each of us, do hereby declare that we are firmly attached to the Constitution of the United States and to that of Pennsylvania ; to the principles of a free republican government, and to those which regulated the public conduct of Geoeqe Wasuing- lON ; that we will, each of us, to the best of our ability, and so far as may be consistent with our religious principles ' May 4, 1814. OF THE WAE OP 1812. 85gi The Downfall of Napoleon celebi-ated. English Troops released for Service in America. damaging blow that could be given to their political opponents and the war party. Pulpits, presses, public meetings, and social entertainments were pressed into the serv- ice as proclainiers of their satisfaction, notwithstanding it was evident that the release thereby of a large British army from service on the Continent would enable the com- mon enemy to send an overwhelming force across the Atlantic that might crush the American armies, and possibly reduce the states to British provinces. Their hopes and the limit of their wishes doubtless were that the changed aspect of foreign af- fairs, and the consciousness of the great peril that might reasonably be apprehended, would cause the administration to seek peace on any terms. They were mistaken, as the sequel will show. The retirement of Napoleon to Elba did release from Continental service a large body of English troops, and several thousands of them were immediately dispatched to Canada to re-enforce the little army there. They were sent from the Garonne, in Spain, and many of them were Wellington's veterans, hardy and skillful. They ar- rived at Quebec late in July and in August," and were rapidly pushed up to Montreal. In the mean time, the forces under Prevost, the Governor of Cana- da and general-in-chief, had been very busy in preparations for an invasion of New York, and the little flotilla in the Richelieu, or Sorel River, had been greatly aug- mented in numbers and strength during the winter and spring. '' b jgu. On the 9th of May" General Izard was informed that the enemy were in mo- 'mi. tion below. Captain Pring, of the Royal Navy, was moving up the Sorel. in the brig Linnet as his flag-ship, accompanied by five armed sloops and thirteen row-galleys. On the following day he anchored his flotilla behind Providence Island, in Lake Cham- plain, where he remained until the ISth,'' preparing for an attack on thg Amer- ^ ican flotilla, then nearly ready for sea at Vergennes, in Vermont, at the head ,.. ' of the navigation of Otter Creek.' Captain Macdonough, who was an. command of the little squadron, was apprised of this movement, and sent Lieutenant Cassin, with a party of seamen, to re-embrce Captain Thornton, who had been ordered from Bur- lington with a detachment of light artillery to man a battery of seven 12-poundei's .^ 1 : '• and toasts on the anniversary of Washington's birthday (22d of February, 1814) ; and in Albany, where the Dutch ele- ment was very predominant in the population, the emancipation of Holland from his thrall was celebrated. Eelig- ions services were held in the Dutch church on the occasion, and a sermon was preached by the pastor, Eev. Dr. Brad- ford. These were followed by a dinner at the Eagle Inn. General Stephen Van Rensselaer presided, assisted by John H. Wendell as vice-president. Several songs were sung, and toasts given, in Dutch. In June and Jnly following, the downfall of Napoleon was celebrated in several of the commercial cities of the United States. In Boston and New York it was celebrated by religious ceremonies and public dinners. In New York the dinner was in the Washington Hotel, then the principal public house in the city, which stood on the site of Stewart's marble store, on- Broadway, between Chambers and Eeade Streets. It was on the 29th of June. Three hundred gen- tlemen sat down to the table. Enfus King presided. The vice-presidents were Generals Nicholas Fish, Ebenezer Ste- vens, Mr., Clarkson, John B.Coles, and Cornelius J.Bogart. All the foreign consuls but the French were present. Eichard Stockton, of New Jersey, gave as a toast : " Louis XVIII., King of France and Navarre, heir-at-law to Ameri- can gratitude." ^ . ,. t, . On the 4th of July the event was celebrated by religious services and public dinners. Eev. Timothy Dwight, Presi- dent of Yale College, presided at a dinner at Butler's Hotel, in Hartford, where ohe hundred gentlemen were assembled at table. Among tUe toasts were the following : " The. Minority in Congress.— Had they appealed to patriots they would have been heard." " TJie Adminiatration.—'Prod.igaX enough, but too proud to return." " The Soyal Family of France.— Owr friends in adversity,' we rejoice at their prosperity." " The DemomaMe Party ccf Ameriea.—lt not satisfied with their own country, they may seek an asylum in the island 1 The flotilla then at Vergennes consisted of the following vessels : 1 ship of 26 guns, 1 schooner of 20 guns, 2 sloops of 8, 6 row-galleys of 2, and 4 gun-bo ats of 1 each. ^^^^ resnectivelv preserve the rights and libertiea of our country against all foreign and domestic violence, ftand, and usur- pation : and that, as members of the Washington Benevolent Society, we will in all things comply with its regulations, support its principles, and enforce its vic^ws." ^ ^^ ■ . ■,■ :, . ^^ The funds of the society were used for the purposes of charity among its members and their families, and for other purposes which might be prescribed. They had anniversary dinners on the birthday of Washington. Such econ- omv was used that all the members might afford to participate in the festivities. The cost of the dinner to each, with a bountiful supply of beer and choice ardent spirits, was seventy-five cents. They built Washington Hall, on the west side of Third Street betwefen Walnut and Spruce Streets. It was dedicated with religious ceremonies, led by Bishop .White, in the autumn of 1816. These associations rapidly multiplied throughout the country daring the war, but di& appeared with the demise of the old Federalist party. 856 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Skii'miBh at Ottev Creek, Vermont. The British repulsed. Straggle for the Control of Lake Champlain. on sea-carriages at the mouth of the creek. Governor Chittenden also ordered out a biigade of Vermont militia to oppose the threatened invasion ; and when, on the morning of the 14th, eight ofPring's gal- leys and a homb-sloop anchored off the mouth of the creek, they found ample preparations for their reception. A brisk fire was opened from' the battery. It was answered from the water, and for more than an hour a cannonade was kept up, when the British vessels were driven off. They then entered the Bouquet River for the purpose of destroying flour at the falls of that stream. Oiitheir return they were compelled to run the gauntlet of a shower of bullets from some militia, who had has- tily assembled. Many of the British were killed and wounded. ; Foiled and dlsheart- , ened, Pring returned to Isle aux Noix a wiser man, for he had learned that even in Vermont, whose governor was a zealous member of the "Peace Par- ty," .the joeopfe were ready to fight the common enemy any where. A few. days, afterward. Macdonough sailed out of- the creek with his flotilla, and anchored it in Cnmberlaud.Bay, off.Plattsburg. Both parties now prepared for a struggle for supremacy on Lake.Ohamplain. The British, as we have observed, had adopted in a degree the plan of Burgoyne for sep- arating New England from the rest of the Union, while the Americans were as de- termined to resist the meditated invasion at the very threshold, and defend the lake region and the valley of the upper Hudson at the gates of Canada. Both parties were also re-enforced during the remainder of May, and General Izard caused'a bat- tery of four 18-pounders to be planted on Cumberland Head instead of at Rouse's Point, at the entrance to the Sorel River, as directed by the Secretary of War,^ and urged by Major Totten, his chief engineer. At the middle of June Izard disposed his troops for a movement into Canada. He sent Brigadier General Thomas A. Smith, with a light brigade of about fourteen hund- red men, to occupy the village of Champlain,^ five miles below the Canada line. Col- onel Pearce, of the Sixteenth, was at Chazy with about eight hundred men composed of consolidated regiments, and about twelve hundred men occupied the cantonment at Plattsburg, on the peninsula between the lake and the Saranac, the works on Cum- berland Head, and a position at Dead Creek, about two miles below Plattsburg. Macdonough, with his fiqtilla, was below Cumberland Head, watching the little Brit- ish squadron, which lay at the Isle aux T&tes. The British had thirty-six hundred troops at La CoUe ; Meuron's Swiss regiment, a thousand strong, was at L'Acadie, and two brigades of artillery and three hundred cavalry were at Chambly, making a total of five thousand five hundred and fifty men. There was also a reserve of two thou- sand regulars at Montreal. There was feverishness among the people and the soldiery along the Canada bor- der, which was frequently manifested. The armed belligerents were eager for a trial = Thi!fLw^ Secretary of War May 28, 1814, in Izard's OjlMul Correspondm^, page 23. t.he?welfthCde7MaTMorin Ti' ^"""l n 1 ^"°'*' K»g™«"'« consolidated, and conimanded by Colonel Pnrdy, Branch ' ^ ' I-'™'™™' Colonel Forsyth's riflemen, and a company of artiUeiV under Capt^ OF THE WAR OF 1812. 85t Invasion of Canada. Death of Forsyth. Vengeance. Preparations to meet an Invasion from Canada. of prowess; Finally, on the 22d of June, Lieutenant Colonel Forsyth, the accom- plished partisan commander, with seventy riflemen, crossed the. frontier line, and at a little hamlet northwesterly from Rouse's Point, called Odell Town, he;was attacked by two hundred of the enemy's light troops. Forsyth beat them off, and retired in good order to Champlain with the loss of one man killed and five wounded. A few days afterward he was again sent in that direction for the purpoSe of drawing the enemy across the lines. He formed an ambuscade, and then sent a few men forward as a decoy. They were soon met, and immediately_ fell back, followed by Captain Mahew and one hundred and fifty Canadians and Indians. > When the pursuers were near the ambuscade, Forsyth stepped upon a log to watch: -the movement, when he was shot through the breast by an Indian. His men immediately arose, "and poured such a deadly fire upon the foe that they retreated in wild.confusion, leaving seven- teen; of their dead-.upon the field. , .' ■ ,,.);-,,;,: . Forsyth was, greatly: Jbe- loved byhis followers.; Hot- ly incensed because of the employment of savages by the British, they resolved to avenge the death of their own leader by taking the life of the leader of the In- dians. A few days after- ward some of them crossed the line and shot Mahew, that leader. He was taken to the house of Judge Moore, m Champlain, 1 where he died about a week afterward.^ K^kirmishing along the bor- der was a frequent occurrence, but no movement of importance took place until the close of July, when General Macomb's brigade, composed of the Sixth, Thirteenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Twenty-ninth Regiments, embarked in boats at Cumberland • July 31, Head* for Chazy Landing, at the mouth of Chazy Creek. On the same day ^^^ ' General Bissell's brigade, composed of the Fifth, Fourteenth, Thirtieth, Thirty-first, Thirty-fourth, and For- ty-fifth Regiments, started for Chazy Village by land. Two hundred effective men and a corps of invalids of Macomb's brigade were left to complete the works on Cumberland Head, and a fatigue party four hundred strong, taken from Bissell's brigade, was left in command of Colonel Fenwick to complete three redoubts on the peninsula between the lake and the Saranac River at Plattsburg. There were now four thousand five hundred effective men at Champlain, within five miles of the Canada border. But these were few compared to the numbers of the enemy, which were constantly augmenting. During the months of July and August not less than fifteen thousand troops, chiefly veterans from Wellington's armies, as we have observed, arrived at Montreal. Only one brigade was sent westward, and the remainder were kept in reserve for the con- templated invasion of New Yor k, in such overwhelming force as to overbear all op- 1 This house the residence of thg late Judge Pliny Moore, is a fine old mansion on a pleasant shaded slope in the vil- laffe of Champlain, not faritom the banks.of the Big Chazy, just north of the bridge, in the village. It was the head- miartera of the British commander whenever that yjllage was occupied by him s and Dearborn, Wilkinson, and Izard were in turn sojourners ni^der its rpof. This is from a sketch made by the author in 1860. It was then the residence JITDOE MOOKQ S UOCSE of Pliny, son of Ju^ge Moore. ' Palmer's History <^ Lake Champlain, page 184. 858 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Prevost commatLding in Person. Alarming Order from the War Department. Izard'B Protest. position. These newly-arrived troops were encamped in the, level country between Laprairie on the St. Lawrence, and Chambly on the Sorel. Very soon after the advance of the Americans to Chazy and Chainplain, Sir George Prevost^ arrived at the Isle aux Keix, where he had concentrated a considerable - body of veterans, and took chief command in person; and strono- detachments of seamen were sent from Quebec, by order of Sir James L. Yeo to strenc^then the naval power at the same place. It was evident that a speedy invasion of Northern New York was in contemplation; and yet, with full informa- tion on the subject, the American government, as if fearful of a conquest of Oanada whenever a spirited general was in command near assailable points,^ ordered Izard at that critical moment, when danger was never more apparent, to march a larger portion of his force westward to co-operate with the Army of Niagara. It was an open invitation to invasion ; and the army and people, expecting a great battle soon at the foot of Lake Champlain, and hoping for a decisive victory, were astonished by the order. The disappointed Izard could scarcely restrain his indignation. On the 1 1 th of August he wrote : " I will make the movement you direct, if possible ; but I shall do it with the apprehension of risking the force under my command, and with the certainty that every thing in this vicinity but the lately erected works at Platts- burg and Cumberland Head will, in less than three days after my departure, be in the possession of the enemy. He is in force superior to mine in my front ; he daily threatens an attack on my position at Champlain ; we are all in hourly ex- pectation of a serious conflict. . . . Let me not be supposed to hesitate about ex- ecuting any project whiaih the govern- ment I have the honor to serve think proper to direct. My littfe army will do its du'ty."^ ■ Izard continued to protest against the movement as unwise and perilous,* but, like a tru^ soldier; he made preparations \' for it as speedily as his limited transpor- ' tation would allow. He set about four thousand men in motion by the way of the head of Lake George, Schenectady and the Mohawk Valley ,= and, as we have observed, arrived with them at Sackett's Harbor at the middle of the month, and immediately started a portion of theln by land and wa- iih:P-e^2^ ' George Prevost was bom in the city of New York on the 19th of May, 176T. His father was a native of Geneva, Switzerland. His mother was a Batch woman. He Was created an English baronet in 1805. 2 See note 3 on page 259. = Izard's OiBcial Correspondence, page C5. * On the 26th of August Izard wrote to the Secretary of War : " I must not be responsible for the consequences of abandoning my present strong position. I will obey orders and execute them as well as I know how. Major General Brisbane" commands at Odell Town. He is said to have between five and six thousand men with him.' 'At Chambly (ire said to be about four thousand." , ■ - ■ 6 This route was chosen because the upper route by ChateaUgay and Ogdehsburg would be altogether too perilous. He Submitted the question of route to his olBcers, wlio decided Unahiibously to go by the way of Schenedtady.— See feard's Official Correspondence, page 73. OF THE WAK OF 1812. 859 The Militia called ont. Concentration of Troops near Plattsburg. The British invading Force. ter* for the Niagara front-. . September it, ier.i He left all his sick ^^w. and convalescents, and about twelve hundred effective men, to garrison Piatt's Point, as the peninsula was called, and Cumberland Head. In obedience to an order of the War Department, he made a requisition upon Major General Mooers, the commander of the militia in tjiat district, for the assembling, without delay, of one regiment of infantry and one troop of light dragoons at the vil- lage of Chazy, riflemen to be accepted as infantry. Brigadier General Alexan- der Macomb was left in chief command, with his head-quarters at Plattsburg. Immediately after General Izard left, Macomb concentrated all his troops at Plattsburg, and worked vigorously in preparations for de- fense. He had, at the close of August, about three thousand five hundred troops under his control,^ but they were in a weak condition, for there was only one organized battalion among them, and full fourteen hundred of them were invalids and non-combatants: The garrisons at the different points were composed of convalescents and new recruits ; the condition of the ordnance and stores was chaotic, and the defensive works were all unfinished. On the day when Izard left his camp at Champlain,'' General Brisbane ° August "b. advanced from Odell Town, and occu- pied that villa,ge and its vicinity ; and on the 3d of September full fourteen thousand British troops were gathered there, under the general command of Sir George Prevost, assisted by General De Rottenburg as his second. There he avowed his intention to take and hold possession of the country as far down as Ticonderoga; and he issued orders and proclamations inviting the people to cast off.their allegiance to their government, and to furnish shim with supplies. On the following day they moved forward to Chazy Village ; and on the 5th they encampednear Sampson's, now (1867) oc- bampsom's.3 ^ SeE! Da?e S44 2 These troops were composed of detachments of the regiments that had left, amonpting to 70 in number; Captain Leonard's company of light artillery, 100 ; Captain M'Glassin's company of the Fifteenth Eegiment, SO ; the Sixth, Twenty-ninth, Thirtieth, Thirty-third, and Thirty-fourth Eegiments, 1771 ; Captain SprouU's detachment of the Thir- teenth Regiment, 200 ; sick and invalids, 803 ; two companies of artillery under Captain rAlexander Brooks ; and about 200 infantry on board the fleet serving as marines. ,- . ^ ^^ . ,. , , • 3 This is a view of the Sampson. House looking north toward ,Chazy,.which is six miles distant.. It is.brick, and when I sketched itin 1860 it was still a tavern, and kept by Mr. Harvey Bromley. ■ The old barn, just,a8 it wos in 1814, is seen jnst beyond the house. 860 PICTOKIAL; FIELD-:BOO.K Indications of an Advance of the British Army. Position of American, Works at Plattsburg. cupied as a tavern, about eight miles from Plattsburg. Captain Pring, with the British squadron, moved at the same time, anchored oSJsle la Motte, and on the west side of that island erected a battery of three long 18-pounders to cover the landing of supplies for Prevost's troops. Macomb, at the same time, was straining every muscle at his command in preparations for defense, for the impressment of trains by the British at Champlain and Chazy, and loading wagons with heavy baggage, indi- cated a speedy advance upon Plattsburg. By great exertions (the soldiers working day and night), the redoubts and block-houses were completed and manned before the enemy appeared before them, for he made short and cautious marches. These were on the high level peninsula bet^Y^een the Saranac and the lake, gently sloping toward the latter. The redoubts were on a curved line across the neck of the penin- sula, and were named respectively Forts Brown, Moreau,i and Scott. The first- named stood on the bank of the river, at its head, about halfway between the lower bridge at the village and near its mouth, and the upper bridge, a mile higher up, on the road leading to the Salmon River. Fort Moreau, the principal work, was half way between the river and the lake, fifty rods eastward of Fort Brown; and Fort Scott was near the bank of the lake. Northward of it were store-houses and a hos- pital. Between the lower bridge, and some distance above Fort Brown, the right bank of the Saranac is steep, and from fifty to sixty feet in height ; and about sixty rods above the lower bridge it is cleft by a deep ravine that extends from the river almost to the lake. Near this ravine a block-house was built, and on the point near Foquet's Hotel, overlooking the modern steam-boat landing, was another block-house. At the mouth of the river, a short distance from the lower bridge, stood (and yet stands) a stone mill, which served an excellent defensive purpose. To create a spirit, of emulation and zeal among the troops. General Macomb di- fr^ France wansl ofTA^L^'l'f " "T! "^ "■ f '^^rated French general of that name, whom Bonaparte eziied ^^rTl^lZZ^ltCT^T:'^^^'^'^ '""'' ^'S?'^™ *"* °*"^ '° » conspiracy against the newly-created Ea/edS his SrfTl., ■. ^">'?f States nme years. The Emperor Alexander invited him to Russia, and while en- o?whiS he dTed Mao3, ;r".K ''''^*'''\T''™-''^" "•"■" Napoleon's guard broke both his legs, from the effects cernre^^ltntfyrre^SrCrLfZoVh^^ OF THE WAK OF 1812. 861 Occupants of the Platteburg Ports. Position of the Troops. The British advance on Plattsbnrg. vided them into detachments, declaring in orders that each detachment was the gar- rison of its own work, and bound to finish it and defend it to the last extremity. Colonel Melancthon Smith,^ with the Sixth and Twenty-ninth Regiments, was placed in command of Fort Moreau. Fort Brown was intrusted to Lieutenant Colonel Storrs, with detachments of the Thirtieth and Thirty-first Regiments ; and Major Vinson, with the Thirty-third and Thirty-fourth Regiments, garrisoned Fort Scott. Captain Smith, of the Rifles, with a part of his company and the convalescents, occu- pied the block-house near the ravine ; and Lieutenant Fowler, with a detachment of artillery, held the block-house on the Point. The light artillery, under Captain Leon- ard, were ordered to annoy the enemy whenever and wherever an opportunity should offer. The main body of Macomb's army lay within the triangular portion of the peninsula formed by the ravine, the river, and the lake. When the British advanced to Chazy, Macomb ordered Captain SprouU to take a position near Dead Creek Bridge, on the lake road, with two hundred of the Thir- teenth Regiment^ and two field-pieces, while Lieutenant Colonel Appling, the hero of Sandy Creek, was sent farther in advance, with a little more than a hundred rifle- men, and a ti-oop of New York Cavalry under Captain Stafford and Lieutenant M. M. Standish. Their business was to watch and annoy the enemy, and obstruct his march by felling trees in the road. It was their appearance that caused his halt at Sampson's. General Mooers had called for the entire militia force of his district to repel the invasion, and Macomb made an earnest appeal for troops to Governor Chit- tenden, of Vermont. On the evening of the 4th Mooers had seven hundred men under his command, and with them, by order of Macomb, he advanced a few miles northward on the Beek- inantown Road, on an errand similar to that of SprouU and Appling. He was -in- structed to watch the enemy, skirmish with his vanguard, break up the bridges, and obstruct the roads with felled trees. He went forward on the morning of the 5th, and bivouacked that night near the stone church in Beekmantown. On the morning of the 6th the British army, full fourteen thousand strong, mostly veteran troops, marched upon Plattsburg in two columns from their encampment near Sampson's, the right crossing over to the Beekmantown Road, and the left fol- lowing the lake shore that led to Dead Creek Bridge. General Edward Baynes was tbe adjutant general, and Sir Sidney Beckwith, who was conspicuous at Hampton and in Hampton Roads the previous year,^ was quartermaster general. The right column was composed of General Powers's brigade, supported by four companies of light infantry and a half brigade under Ma- jor General Robinson. The left was composed of General Brisbane's brigade, and was led by » Melancthon Smit)i was commissioned a major of the Twenty- ninth Infantry on the 20th of Febraary, 1813, and was promoted to colonel on the 12th of April following. He left the army at the close of the war, and died at Plattsburg on the 18th of Au- gust, 1818. In the eastern extremity of the old bnrial-gronna at Plattsburg I found his grave in 1860, and at the head of it an elab- orately-wrought tombstone, of blue limestone, on which is the following Inscription : " To the memory of Colonel Meianothon Smith, who died August 18, 1818, aged 38 years. As a testimony of respect for his virtues, and to mark the spot where rests the ashes of an excellent Father, this stone is erected by his son Eioii- liiLi.. United with many masculine virtues, he had a tear for pi^ty, and a hand open as day for melting charity." 2 This was always a famous regiment. We first met portions of it following the gallant Captain Wool up Queenston Heights. See page'39t. At this time [186T] only three of its officers sur- vive, namely, Major General Wool, Dr. M'Call (then surgeon's 'mate, and liow Buperintendent of the Lunatic Asylum at Utica), and Captain Myers, mentioned in the note on page 664. 3 See page 683. COLONEL SMITHS MONUMENT. 862 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Major Wool sent to meet the British. A Skirmish at Beekmaxttown. Engagement on Culver's Hill. him in person. The whole were under the immediate command of Major Genera,l De Rottenbnrg. Macomb was informed of this movement being in contemplation on the evening of the 5th, and prepared to meet it. The gallant Major John E. Wool, ever ready for- a daring enterprise, volunteered to lead some regulars to support the militia and op- pose the advance of the foe. At about the time in the early morning of the 6th when the British broke c^mp at Sampson's, Wool moved from Plattsburg with two hundred and fifty regular infantry and thirty volunteers, with orders to set the mi- _ _ litia an example of firm- ness. This was done. He reached Beekman- town before the enemy appeared, and took po- sition near the residence of Ira Ho we. There the first collision occurred. The enemy came march- ing on rapidly, anticipa- ting no resistance, when they were suddenly checked by a heavy vol- ley of musketry from Wool's little corps. The militia broke and fled toward Plattsburg, but IRA Howe's, beekmamtown.i the regulars stood firm. The enemy was in over- whelming numbers, but Wool moved slowly back toward Culver's Hill, disputing the way inch by inch in desperate skirmishing. On that hill, a short distance below Beekmantown, he made a stand, and as the British advance ascended the slope, fill- ing the entire road, he made another gallant attack upon them. Some of the militia had been rallied, and were in position behind the stone wall that bounded the road.^ The enemy's advance was driven back upon the main body, and their leader. Lieu- tenant Colonel Willington, of the Third Regiment of Buifs, and Ensign Chapman of the same regiment, were killed.^ Captain Westropp, of the Fifty-eighth, was severe- ly wounded. Captain Partridge, of the Essex militia, and several other Amei-icans, were killed. The fight was severe, but very short. The heavy column of the enemy came pressing steadily onward with irresistible force, filling the entire roadway. At the same time Wool discovered a formidable movement to turn his flank and gain his rear, when he again fell back in order to Halsey's Corners, within a mile and a half of Plattsburg Bridge. There he was joined at about eight o'clock in the morning by Captain Leonard with two pieces of artillery. These were immediately placed in battery at an angle in the road. They were masked by Wool's infantry and a small body of militia, and as the enemy came steadily on in heavy mass, Leonard opened upon them, and his balls cut fearful lanes through their ranks. Three times that battery hurled its deadly missiles through the lines of the foe, yet it. did not check them. The British bugles sounded, and the men, throwing away th«ir knapsacks, rushed forward at double quick to charge with the bayonet. Leon- ard was compelled to fl y toward the village. He carried his guns with him, turning l^^it ''""^^ "■"! ""^ residence of Mr. Joel Smith when 1 visited Beekmantown in 1860. It was used as a hospital, with others, after the skirmish there and at Culver's Hill. 2 This heavy stone wall, built by some Vermonters before the war, was yet standing when I rode over Culver's Hill in the summer of 1860. - , . o = To Samuel Terry, who was living at Pern, Clinton County, New York, is awarded the fame of having shot WilUngtoii; OF THE WAE OF 1812.: 863 Loss of the British. They press on to Plattsburg. Fight in and near the Village. Stone-mill Citadel. ISAAO O. PLATt'b KE8IDEN0E.2 them occasionally upon the pursuing foe, and, crossing the Saranac at the lower bridge, he planted them in battery on a gentle eminence in the road, near the stone mill, to cover the crossing of the rest of the Americans, if they should find it neces- sary to retreat. In the affair at Halsey's Corners several of the British were killed. Among them was Lieu- tenant Kingsbury, of the _=__ ^^ « ij_* . J Third.Buffs,whowasmoi- ~ tally wounded, and tak- en into the farm-house of the now (1867) venerable Isaac G. Piatt, Esquire, near by, where he soon afterward died.' The more rapid march of the British right col- umn imperiled the de- tachments of Appling and Sproul, who were await- ing the approach of the left. Macomb perceived this, and ordered them, to fall back toward Plattsburg, and attack the enemy's flank. They did so, and their riflemen galled the foe severely. They reached the lower bridge just in time to avoid being cut off by the British right, and to cross it with Wool's retiring troops. When all were safely over, the bridge was torn up, in the face of a heavy fire from the head of the enemy's right, which had reached the little village. . The militia in- the mean time had fled across the upper bridge, and destroyed that in the same way. The British left column soon afterward appeared. It crossed the Dead Creek Bridge, and, while making its way along the beach of Plattsburg Bay to unite with, the right, it was severely harassed by an enfilading fire from some of Macdonough!s galleys which liad been sent to the head of the bay for the purpose. A heavy blow came on,, and Macdonough sent Midshipman Silas Duncan in a gig to order, the galleys to return to the fleet. His boat was fired upon by the enemy, and he was severely wounded, but he delivered the order and escaped with his life. ,, , The British were checked at the village by the destruction of the lower bridge, whose timbers were used in the construction of a breastwork for the infantry. They took position in some store-houses near the Saranac. Upon these Captain Brooks hurled some hot shot, and burned out the enemy. / Their light troops endeavored during the day to force a passage of the Saranac, but were each time repulsed by the guards at the bridge and a small company known as Aiken's Volunteers, of Platts- burg, who were stationed in the stone mill (see engraving next page) already men- tioned. These young men had been out on the Beekmantown Road in the morning and behaved gallantly, and they garrisoned that mill-citadel most admirably.^ In the mean time a division of the British had pressed toward the upper bridge, where General Mooers and his militia, as we have observed, crossed the bridge, tore it up, ■ Palmer's Bistary of Lake Chrnnplain, page 192. Statement to the author by Mr. Piatt in 1860. = This was the appearance ,of Mr. Piatt's honse in 1860. The main building is of brick. The immense bnttemnt- tree near the house was a fine bearing tree at the time of the battle, and two ballet scars upon its trunk were pointed ont to me. We shall notice this house and its owner hereafter. 3 The following are the names of these young men, or rather lads, for none of them were old enough to be legally called into the military service : Martin J. Aiken, Azariah C. Flagg, Ira Wood, Gustavus A. Bird, James Trowbridge, Hazea Mooers. Henry K. Averill, St. John B. L. Skinner, Frederick P. Allen, Hiram Walworth, Ethan Everest, Amos Soper, James Patten, Bartimeus Brooks, Smith Bateman, Melancthon W. Travis, and Flavins Williams. They were highly praised by Macomb for their gallantry, and he promised that each of them should receive a rifle. This promise Congress redeemed in 1826 by ordering a rifle to be presented to each member of thatlittle volunteer company. Sev- eral of these lads afterward became distinguished men. 864 I'ICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The Bi-itisli checked at the Bridge in Plsttsburg. Preparations for Battle on Land and Water. OLD STOKE MIL1.2 and used its timbers for a breastwork. The en- emy n®de. extraordina- ry efforts to force a, pas- siage there, but Mooers and his men stood firm, and kept. them, at bay. Finding, the. passage of the stream impossible under the, circumstan- ces, Preyost ordered his troops to encamp' upon an elevated ridge about a mile back from the river j and upon the high ground north of the village. He made his head - quarters at Al- len's farm-house on the I'idge,' and gave orders for vigorous prepara- tions for attack. Not- withstanding he was at the head of overwhelm- ing numbers, the events of that day* convinced him that the task before him was not a light one. He had lost, in killed and wounded, since the dawn, over two hundred men, while the loss of the Americans did not exceed forty-five.^ Prevost employed the time between the 7th and 11th in bringing up his battering trains and supplies, and in erecting several works that might command the river, the bay, and the American forts and block-houses on the peninsula.* The Americans in the mean time were not idle. They labored without ceasing in strengthening their works. They removed their sict and wounded to Crab Island, two miles distant, in the lake, and there erected a two 6-pound gun battery, and manned it with convales- cents. While these preparations were under way on land, the belligerents were making ready for a combat on the water. A greater portion of the British flotilla, under Captain Pring, had advanced, as we have seen, to Isle la Motte, where they were joined" by the remainder of the squadron and Captain George Downie, of the Royal Navy, late of the Montreal on Lake Ontario. Macdonough, at the same time, had the American squadron at anchor in Plattsburg Bay, and calm- ly awaited the approach of his enemy. For almost five days the seamen waited for a general movement of the landsmen, which was to be a signal on the part of the British for the weighing of anchors and 1 This was a large two-storied frame house, nearly square, and stood on the site of the residence of John H. Sanbonx, Esquire, in 1860, when I visited Plattsburg. It was on a little hill west of the villager General Robinson made his head-quarters at the house of the Honorable William Bailey, not far distant. Judge Bailey (mentioned In the note on page 660) took refuge, with his family, in the house of Dr. Man (mentioned in the same note), some distance from Platts- burg. Judge Bailey married the daughter of Zephaniah Piatt, a patentee of Plattsburg, and was the father of Admiral Bailey, of our navy, who performed gallant service in the battle of Forts Jackson and Philip, below New Orleans, in the spring of 1862. " This was the appearance of the old stone mill when the writer sketched it in 1860 from the gallery of the United States Hotel. On the left is seen a portion of Plattsburg Bay, and Cumberland Head In the distance. ' Palmer's History of Lake Champlam, page 194. * These consisted of three block-houses erected at points within range of the American works ; a battery on the lake shore, just north of the mouth of the Saranac ; another on the steep bank above the mill-pond ; a third near the burial- ground ; and one for rocketeers on a hill opposite Fort Browu. ' September 6, 1814. ' September 8. OF, THE WAR OF 1812. 865 Brave Bxplolt of Captain M'Glasaia. A British Battery captured. Britisli land and naval Forces in Motion. VIEW DP TUE SAKAMAO, ^EOM FOET BfiOWM.:* preparing ships for action, and during that time no military (Operation: of great im- portance occurred. There were some minor movements worthy of notice. One of theni, on the part of the Americans,, was a bold one. On the night -of the '9th there was tempestuous; weather. There was lightning,, and rain, and wind,and thick dark- ness. The British had been seen at sunset busily engaged in the erection of the rocket ;batter3r /Opposite Fort Brown. Captain M'Glassin.rwho Tvas described to me as a "little beardless Scotchman" anxious to distinguish himself, asked. General Ma- comb to allow him to lead fifty men that night to an attack on the builders. Ma- comb complied, and M'Glassin, who had arisen from a sick-bed, sallied out in the gloom with his men, from whose gun-locks the flints were removed, crossed the Sar- anac about half way between .Fort Brown and the upper bridge, and, unobserved, reached the foot of the hill on which the battery was rising. There he divided his men into, two parties. One went to the rear of rthe battery by a circuitous route, and, when all was ready, he shouted " Charge ! men, charge ! upon the front and rear !" His men rushed forward with frightful yells. The British, believing over- whelming numbers were upon them, fled precipitately to their main body. The work was taken, the guns were spiked, and M'Glassin returned without the loss of a single man. Over three hundred veteran troops had been surprised and frightened into flight by only fifty men, and Sir George Prevost was much mortified. The morning of the 11th dawned brightly, and at an early hour in the forenoon the British land and naval forces were in motion for a combined attack on the Americans. Preyost had arranged the movement with Downie. It was agreed that when the Biit- ish squadron should be seen approaching Cumberland Head, the advance of the army, under Major General Robinson, should press forward, force the fords of the Saranac, climb the steep banks, and with ladders escalade the American works on the penin- sula, while the several batteries around Plattsburg village should open a brisk fire. Between seven and. eight o'clock the squadron was seen advancing, and at eight it rounded Cumberland Head. It consisted of the frigate Gonfiance, 38, Downie's fiag- ship ; the brig Linnet, 16, Captain Pring ; the sloops Chub, Lieutenant M'Ghee, and Finch^ Lieutenant Hicks, carrying 11 guns each; and twelve gun-boats, manned by 1 Tliis view is from the mounds of Fort Brown, looking np the Saranac. The buildings in the extreme distance are at the upper bridge, where Mooers's militia were stationed. M'Glassin forded the Saranac at the point indicated by the drift-wood lodged in the stream. He crossed the little narrow plain where the cattle are seen, and up the slope to the right. = These were the VagU and Grimier, captured from the Americans on Late Champlain by the British, who changed their names to Chub and Finch. 3 I see PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The Force and Position of the hostUe Fleets. Macdonoagh implores divine Aid. Beginnipg of the Battle. about forty-five men each. Eight of them carried 2 guns, and four of them 1 gun each. At that moment Macdonough's squadron lay in Cumherland or Plattsburg Bay, on a line north from Crab Island, and almost parallel with the shore, at an aver- age distance of two miles from it. On the extreme left, and at the head of the line, were two galleys at anchor, and next to them lay the brig Eagle, 26, Captain Henley, just within the point of Cumberland Head. Next south of her was the Saratoga, 26, Macdonough's flag-ship ; and the next in line was the schooner Ticonderoga, 11, Lieu- tenant Cassin. Next southward in the line lay the Preble, Lieutenant Charles Budd, armed with 1 guns.^ This vessel lay so near the shoal extending northeast from Crab Island, that it was impossible for the enemy to turn that end of the line. In the rear of these larger vessels were ten gun-boats or galleys, six of them mounting one long 24-pounder and one 18-pound Columbiad each, and the other four carrying each a 12-pounder. These were so arranged as to fill up the openings between the larger vessels in the line, making the order of battle in two lines, about forty rods apart. The larger vessels were at anchor, while the gun-boats were kept in position by the use of oars. ^ The American line of battle had been formed with great skill by the young com- mander, reference being had to the conformation of the land. It extended completely across the entrance to Plattsburg Bay from Crab Island to Cumberland Head, and the enemy, rounding the latter, was compelled to approach the American squadron with his bows on, giving the latter a great advantage at the beginning.^ The firgt vessel that made its appearance was a sloop, which, it is said, carried a company of amateurs, who kept out of the action that ensued. It was immediately followed by the Finch, which led the van of the British squadron, and made for the right of the American line, in the direction of the Preble, near Crab Island. At the same time the Chub moved toward the head or left of the Americans, near Cumberland Head, keeping well to the windward of the Eagle, to support the JLinriet in a direct attack on that vessel, while the gun-boats coming up in order, their commanders received from Commodore Downie final instructions for action. He then attempted to lay the Gonfiance athwart ih.^ Saratoga, -winiQ the Finch and the gun-boats should attack the Ticonderoga and Preble. He was baffled by shifting winds, and was compelled to anchor his vessel within two cables' length of its antagonist. Macdonough, in the mean time, had thoroughly prepared to receive the enemy. When his vessels were cleared for action, springs placed on his cables, and all was in readiness, he knelt upon the deck of the Saratoga, near one of its heaviest guns, with his officers- and men around him, and, in few words, asked Almighty God for aid, and committed the issue into his hands.* He arose with assured courage, and as the en- emy came bearing down upon him, his vessels sprang their broadsides to bear, and the Eagle opened the action by hurling the first shot. It discharged in quick suc- cession its four long 18-pounders in broadside. This was followed by the fire of a long 24-pounder on the Saratoga, which the young and gallant commodore had sight- ed himself The ball entered the outer hawse-hole of the Gonfiance, the enemy's flag- ship, and went crashing through every obstacle the entire length of her deck, killing ' The Saratoga was bmlt at Vergennes in the spring of 1814. The Tiamderoga was in course of construction for a steam-boat when she was taken for the public service by Macdonough and converted into a sloop-of-war. The Eagh was also bmlt at Vergennes in the summer of 1814. So rapid was her construction that she was launched in nineteen days after her keel was cut in the woods. She joined the squadron early in August. 2 The American force consisted of one ship, one brig, one schooner, one sloop, and ten gun-boats, carrying 86 guns m all, and manned by 882 men. The British had one fl-igate, one hrig, two sloops, and twelve gun-boats, carrying In all 98 guns, and manned by a little more than 1000 men. The metal of each was unusually heavy. That of the Amer- icans was as follows : Fourteen long 24's, sir 42's, twenty-nine 32's, twelve long IS's, twelve long 12's, seven long 9's, ana SIX 18-pound Columbiads. The British had thirty-one long 24's, seven 18's, sixteen 12's, five 6's, twelve 82-pound carronades, six 24's, seventeen 18's, and one 18-ponnd Columbiad. a see Map on page 8T1. At a pubhc dinner given to Macdonough at Plattsburg a few days after the battle, the following toast was offered atter ne had left the table : "The pious and brave Macdonongh-the professor of the religion of the Redeemer— prepar- ing tor action, he called on God, who forsook him not in the hour of danger: may he not be forgotten by his country " OF THE WAR OF 1812. 867 Cock crowing on Macdonon gh'B Plag-sMp. Fight between the Flagrships. The Battle general. several men on its way, and demolishing the wheel. The Linnet, as she was passing to attack the Eagle, gave the Saratoga a broadside, but without serious effect. One of her shots demolished a hen-coop on the Saratoga, in which was a young game- cock which some of the seamen had lately brought on board. The released fowl, startled by the noise of cannon, flew upon a gun-slide, and, clapping his wings, crow- ed lustily and defiantly. The sailors cheered, and the incident, appearing to them as ominous of victory for the Americans, strengthened the courage of all. ^ The Confiance made no reply to the Saratoga's savage 24-pounder until she had secured a desirable position, notwithstanding the entire American line had become engaged in the combat. When ready, she exhibited a sheet of flame. Her entire larboard broadside guns, consisting of sixteen 24-pounders, double-shotted, leveled point-blank range, coolly sighted, and favored by still water, were discharged at one time. The effect was terrible. The Saratoga shivered from round-top to hull as with an ague, and forty of her people, or almost one fifth of her complement, were disabled. But the stunning blow was felt only for a moment. Almost immediately Macdonough resumed the conflict, and the fire of the Saratoga was steady, and gal- lantly conducted. Among her lost was her first lieutenant, Peter Gamble, who was on his knees sighting a bow-gun, when a shot entered the port, split the quoin, drove a part of it against his breast, and laid him dead without breaking the skin. Fifteen minutes afterward an American ball struck the muzzle of a 24-pounder on board the Confiance, dismounted it, sending it bodily inboard against the groin of Commodore Downie, killing him also without breaking the skin.^ The battle had now become general, steady, and active between the larger vessels. The Chub, while manceuvring near the head of the American line, received a broad- side from the gallant Henley,^ of the Eagle, which so crippled her that she drifted helplessly, and, after receiving a shot from the Saratoga, she struck, and was taken possession of by Mr. Piatt, one of the midshipmen of that vessel,* who had her towed ' statement to the author by Commodore Samuel L. Breese, who was commander of the gun-boat NMeij in the ac- tion,* and JameB Slfcan, of Oswego, who, as we have observed [page 797], was Macdonough's clerk, and was a witness to the affair. He says that some of the sailors were fond of cock-flghting. This particular bird, owned on shore, had been a formidable antagonist, and, by " hook or by crook," they had obtained possession of him. The following allusion to this event is contained in a rhyming " EpiaUe of Brother Jonathan to Johnny Bull, said to have been written at near the close of 1814 : "O, Johnny Bull, my joe, John, Behold on Lake Champlaln, With more than equal force, John, Tou tried your fist again ; But the cock saw how 'twas going, And cried ' Cock-a-doodle-doo,* And Macdonough was victorious, O, Johnny Bull, my joe !" ' Cooper's Naval History of the United States, ii., 434. 3 Bobert Henley was born in James City County, Virginia, on the 5th of January, 1783. He was educated at William and Mary College. He obtained a midshipman's warrant .in 1799, and made his first cruise. with Commodore Trux- tun in the Constellation. He showed much gallantry in several engagements, especially with La Vengeance (see page 104) when Truxtun sa^d, "That stripling is destined to be a brave officer." He was appointed to the command of the 'sagle in the spriilg- of 1814, and after the battle of Plattsbnrg in September, his commander, Macdonough, said, in his official report : " To Captain Eobert Henley, of the brig Eagle, much is to be ascribed ; his courage was conspicu- ous, and I most earnestly recommend him as worthy of the highest trust and confidence." The National Congress thanked him, and gave him a gold medal.t He was also promoted to captain. He died at Charleston, South Carolina, ™* The late Commodore Charles T. Piatt, who died at Newbnrg, New York, on the 12th of December, 1860. He was a native of Plattsbiwg, and a gallant officer. He entered the navy as midshipman in 1812 on Lake Champlain. During the battle here recorded he passed three times through the line of the enemy's flre in an open boat carrying orders. He was promoted to lieutenant, and accompanied Commodore Porter to the West Indies in 1822, in command of the schoon- « Samuel L Breese is a native of New York. He entered the navy as midshipman in December, IMO. He was pro- moted to lieutenant in the spring of 1816; to commander In December, 1835 ; to captain in September, 1841 ; and to rear admiral in 1862. He is on the retired list, and is now (1867) light-house inspector. t The picture on the next page is a representation of Henley's medal. On one side is abnst of Captain Henley in pro- file with the legend, " kob. otnlet, haqle ph^fkot. pai-ma vietu. pek ^teenit fi.okibit." On the reverse Is a repre- sentation of a fleet engaged before a town (Plattsbnrg), enveloped in smoke. Several small boats are seen on the lake. Legend— "UNO lATEBEPEnousso.AiTEBBM. bupeeavit." Exergue— " ikteb olass. ameei. et bkit. die xi. sept., MDOOOXIIII." 868 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Capture of the Fineh. British Gun-boats in Action. Gold Medals awarded by Congress. HENIET'S XEVJtJU, into Plattsburg Bay, and anchored near the mouth of the Saranac. She had suffered very severely. Almost half of her people were killed or wounded. An hour later the Finch was driven from her position by the Ticonderoga, commanded by the in- trepid Lieutenant Cassin;. and, being badly injured, drifted upon Crab Island shoal CA88IK*B MEDAI.. of rocks, and grounded. The invalid corps on the island brought their little two-gun battery to bear on her, when she struck, and surrendered to this small band of con- valescents.^ The' British gun-boats now entered vigorously into the action, and soon compelled the Preble, Lieutenant Budd, to cut her cables and flee to a safer place near the shore, where she anchored, and was of no farther service in the fight. This success embold- ened the British galleys, and they made a combined and furious attack on the Ticon- deroga, fourteen in number, with an average of fifty men in each.^ Cassin walked the taffrail in a storm of grape and canister shot, watching the movements of the assail- ev BeagU. In thk war against the pirates Piatt distinguished himself. He was attached to the steam tMgate Futtm when she blew upland was severely injured. His last service was in command of the Navy Yard at Memphis. > That inaccurate historian, Sir Archibald Alison, in hie Biatory of England, in vrritmg of this event, remarks, "The Finch, a British brig, grounded out of shot, and did not engage I" Again, he speaks of her getting on rocks, and not being able to engage iu the action. Her commander. Captain Pring, In his official report, says truly that she struck on a reef of rocks to the eastward of Crab Island, about the middle of the engagement, which prevented her rendering such assistance, etc., etc. Alison, with these facts before him, calls a sloop-of-war with eleven guns and forty men a brig, and keeps her from action altogether ! a statement to the author by Admiral Paulding. OF THE WAR OF 1812, 869 Victory doubtful. The Flag-ships disableiJ. Surrender of the ConJUmce. Casein and Paulding. ants, and directing effective discharges of musket-l)alls and other light missiles, which kept the enemy at bay.' Several times they were within a few feet of the sides of the Tieonderoga with the intention of boarding her. They behaved with the utmost gallantry, but with equal gallantry the Americans repulsed them. The Tieonderoga maintained her position, and covered her extremity of the line to the last, winning from the commodore and all beholders unqualified praise for her commander and people.^ While the fortunes of the day were thus fluctuating at the lower end of the line, the Americans were suffering at the other extremity. The Eagle lost the springs of her. cable, and became exposed to the combined fire of the Linnet and Confiance, Henley at once dropped her between and a little astern of the Saratoga and Ticorir deroga, and, anchoring her there, opened his larboard guns afresh on the Confianee and the British galleys. But the Saratoga was left exposed to the whole fire of the Linnet, which sprang her broadsides in such a manner as to rake the bows of her an- tagonist. Very soon the two flag-ships became disabled. The Saratoga had not a single serviceable starboard gun left, and was silent. The Confiance was not much better off. Now was the moment for Macdonough to exhibit his splendid seamanship. He did so, quickly and effectively. "With the aid of Philip Brum, his skillful sailing-mas- ter, he wound the ship, by means of a stream anchor and hawsers, so that he brought the guns of his larboard quarter to bear on the Confiance, which had vainly endeav- ored to imitate the movement. Under the direction of Acting Lieutenant Lavallette, these poured such a destructive fire on the British flag-ship that she soon surren- dered. The Saratoga's fire was then directed upon the Linnet, and in the course of 1 Stephen Cassin, eon of Commodore John Cassin, of the navy, was bom in Philadelphia on the 16th of February, 17S3. He entered the navy as a midshipman in the year 1800, and was in the PMktddphia with Decatur in the Mediter- ranean. He was active, and behaved bravely in the naval operations in that quarter from 1801 to 1804-'6. He was ap- pointed to the command of the Tieonderoga in the spring of 1814, and Macdonough, in his official report of the tattle off Plattsburg, in September of that year, said, "The Twanderoga, Lieutenant Commandant Stephen Cassin, gallantly sustained her full share of the action." For his good conduct on that occasion Cassin was promoted to a post cap- taincy, and received from Congress a vote of thanks and a gold medal. The latter is delineated in the engraving on the opposite page. On one side Is a bust of Cassin in profile, with the legend "step, cassin tioohbeeooa PE^EraoT. f. United States Hoterat Plattsburg as it appeared in 1814. The clap-boards on the visible gable exhibited the perforations of bullets from British muskets on the left bank of the Saranac when I saw it in 1860. On the right is seen Plattsburg Bay, and Cumberiand Head in the distance 3 The victories of Macdonongh and Macomb were the subject of one of the most popular songs written and sung dur- ing the war. It was vvritten^by Micajah Hawkins for the proprietor of a theatre in Albany, and sung by him hi the t^^f3 °Ii °^?™ '^ ■■• ^"""Jt"' Tompkins was present when it was first sung. Hawkins gained great applause of the fiimousMIad^ °°^' ™' afterward a grocer in Catharine Street, New York. The foUoW is a copy SIEGE OP PLATTSBURG. Tune— Bo^w Water. '"^mnXnl^/^Iutn ^»'^« Champlai". On Lake Chaniplain Uncle Sam set he boat, Pl^ Ilr *, I ," ™''''. . An' Massa Macdonough he sail 'em; To™!n >.» "' ■='"'^.5°° ^? f f " ' , While Gineral Macomb make Plat-te-bnrg he home Town small-he grow bigger, do', herearter. wid de army, whose courage nebber f^l 'em ■yfr OENEBAL ilOOERH 8 QBATE. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 811. Honors to General Macomb. Biographical Sketcli of him. His Monument Tompkins, in the name of the State of Few York, presented General Macomb with a super!? sword. De Witt Clinton, Mayor of New York, presented him, in the name of the Coi-poration, the " freedom of the city" in a gold box similar in character to the one given to General Brown ;^ and he was requested by the same body to sit for his portrait, to be placed in the gallery of distinguished men. Congress gave him the thanks of the nation, and voted him a gold medal.^ He was commissioned by the President major general by brevet. When he returned to his family at Belleville, New Jersey, the village was illuminated, and he was received with the most gratify- ing tokens of respect. " Never, on the return of any hero to the peaceful bosom of his family," said the New York JEkening Post, an opposition paper, " was evinced so •universal a sense of sincere joy and heartfelt satisfaction." " On 'lebenth day Sep-tem-ber, In eighteen hnn'red and fourteen, Guhbemor Probose and he British soj-er Come to Plat-te-burg a tea-party courtin' ; An' he boat come too, arter Uncle Sam boat. Massa 'Donough, he look sharp out de winder ; Den Gineral Macomb (ah ! he always a-home) Cotch fire too, sirs, like a tinder. " Bang ! bang I bang ! den de cannons 'gin to roar, In Flat-te-burg and all 'bout dat quarter; Gnbbemor Probose try he ban' 'pon de shore, While he boat take he luck 'pen de water j 1 See page 61T. But Massa Macdonongh knock he boat in he head. Break he heart, break he shin, 'tove he caff in, An' Gineral Macomb start ole Probose home — To't me soul den I muss die a laffin'. "Probose scare so he lef all behine. Powder, ball, cannon, tea-pot, an' kittle ; Some say he cotch a cole — trouble in he mine -Cause he eat so much raw an' cole vittle. Uncle Sam berry sorry, to be sure, for he pain. Wish, he nuss heself up well .an' hearty, . For Gineral Macomb and Massa 'Donough home When he notion for anudder tea-party I" » A representation of this medal is given on the next page. On one side is a bust of Macomb in profile, with his name and title. On the reverse a battle on land, in sight 01 a large town, troops crossing a bridge! ^"^^ war-vessels 'fighting on a lake. Above this scene are the words "EEBOi-trTiON of oonqbbsb, nov. 3, 1814." The exergue — "battle OF PLATTSBUBG, SEPT. 11, 1814." Alexander Macomb was the son of a fur merchant of Detroit, who married one of the highly respectable family of Na- varre. Their sou was bom in Detroit on the 3d of April, 1782. He became a resident of New York in infancy, and was educated in New Jersey. He was a member of the " New York Eangers,'.' a volunteer corps raised in 1T79, when war vrith France was expected. General North, of the Eevolution, placed him on his staff. He became permanently at- tached to the army as a dragoon, and was very useful. He was with Wilkinson in the Southwest, and, being after- ward attached to a corps of engineers as first lieutenant, he was sent to West Point, where he compiled a treatise on martial law. He became captain in 1805, and was ordered to superintend the erection of fortifications on the frontiers. He was promoted to major in 1808, and when the war commenced in 1813 he was placed in command of an artillery corps. We have already met him sev- eral times in the course of this narrative of the war. His crowning achievement was at Plattsburg. After the war he was stationed at Detroit. He was made chief engineer In 1821, and removed to Washington. He remained in that bureau until 1836, when, on the death of General Jacob Brown, he was promoted to general - in - chief of the army of the United States. He died at Washington City on the 26th of June, 1841, aged fifty-nine years. He was buried vrith mil- itary honors in the Congressional Burying-ground at Washington, and over his grave now stands a beautiful white marble monument bearing the fol- lowing inscriptions : West Side. — "Alexandee Maoomb, Major General Commanding-in-chief United States Army. Died at Washington, the seat of government, 25th June, 1841." East Side.—" It were but small tribute to his mem- ory to say that, in youth and manhood, he served his country in the profession in which he died, during a period of more than forty years, without stain or blemish upon his escutcheon." South 5i(Je.— "The honors conferred on him by President Madison, received on the field of victory for distinguished and gallant conduct in defeating the enemy at Plattsburg, and the thanks of Congress, bestowed with a medal commemorative of this tri- umph of the arms of the Republic, attest the high estimate of his gallantry and meritorious services." On the west side, over his name, is an olive wreath ; on the south side an honr-glass with wings, and a scythe ; on the east side a simple cross, and on the north side a serpent and butterfly. In the above sketch, the little .monument to Commodore Patterson is seen in an iron railing. Over one comer of tt, in the distance, js seen William Wirt's monument, and between it and Macomb's is seen that of Commodore Channcey. MAOOMB S MONUMENT. 818 PICTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK Honors and Gifts to Macdonongh. Medals presented by Congress to the Commanders. MACOMB S MEDAL. Macdonough, too, was nobly honored. The State of New York gave him two thou- sand acres of land. The State of Vermont purchased two hundred acres on Cumber- land Head and presented it to him. It was on the borders of Cumberland, or Platts- burg Bay, and the farm-house upon it overlooked the scene_ of his gallant exploits. The cities of New York and Albany ^ch gave the hero a valuable lot of land. "Thils," said Macdonough to a friend, while tears stood in his eyes, "in one month, from a poor lieutenant I became a rich man." Congress, gave hind the thanks of the nation, and with his brave commanders, Henley and Cassin, voted him a gold medal, with suitable devices and inscriptions.^ MACDONOrGU'S MBDAT.. hern?^ Sr^fiiftfth tv, t ^ u '' '^P'^^^'^tion Of the medal given to Macdonongh. On one side is a bust of the rhr^nm^X^W^in ^Jl -^ « ™0- MAODONOtTGH, BTAGNO OHAMPLAn. OLAS. BEG. BRIT. 8UPEBAVIT." The reverse beM the same device and inscriptions as those of Henley and Cassin, given on page 868. a nhvTcian a^fl°r,^f„r° ^^'V" '^' """"^ °' ^^^ <^''^«^' Del^wre, on the 23d of December, 1783. His father was SS^ln thTMedrr™^»n ^^TS't' "™^- ^""'"''^ ™'"«1 '^^ "''^ ^ midshipman in 1798. He was with pte 120 His ™wfw„»T ' ?^*v ^l "f "^^ '''"' Sreat gallantry, especially in the affair of the PhOaMpMa. See N^r her'lafan AmpX?.^ /"» K^-''^'^°'' "' *^'''™"" ^ ™'' <«^<"'^''"'- He was then first lieutenant of the Sirm. rseaman who w^^ »t^»T ''"^''■r-^; ^''™* ^""' " ="«^'' "''n-of-war went alongside of her, and its crew seized armeTZ manned ht 21/ '^ ^"v* '"^J'"*" Macdonongh saw it. His comman^der was absent. He instantly and took him Cktnthi^rff"''^- ^e overhauled the boat under the guns of the British fHgate, released him, MacdonLrhow hi rt»r jr? V ' ^'''"- J"' ^""'^ "^^P'^*"' '" g'«»t rage, appeared on the SiA aid inquired of was mv du^v " was the r^nlv w>k """ '^°" ^'' ^°^*- " ^^ ^''^ ™«^^ t^e protection of my country's flag, and it Z™'^" While she swims^vo,, T.n ^/^ °^^}^ '"" ™P'^'" ^^"« •>« ^™°'« '"^ "' ^'^^^^ alongside and Snk the min " reioined the En^Zr^^ ? «""' ^""^ ""^ "*° '" '*'* Macdonough. "Tou'll repent of your rashness, young man, rejomed the Englishman. Suppose I had been in that boat, wonld you have dared to commit such an actf" OF THE WAE OF 1812. 879 The Cost of Prevost'6 Expedition. Effect of the Victory at Plattsbuvg. Graves of British Officers. MAODONonaa's faem-hodsb; on oijmbeblaiid heas.' The result of the battle of Plattsburg was deeply mortifying to the Brit- ish. The Canadian news- papers offered many jere- miads, and Sir George Prevost was censured in unmeasured terms for Ms incompetency and coward- ice. It was estimated that he left. behind him in his flight munitions and stores worth alniost one hundred thousand pounds sterling, and that his fruitless expedition cost at least five hundred thousand pounds, or two million five hundred thousand dol- lars. It was disheartening to the enemy, and was a powerful instrumentality in the speedy restoration of peace. Prevost abandoned all idea of renewing the attempt at invasion, and retired to Quebec. He was soon afterward dismissed and dishonored by his government, and he did not long survive the anxiety it occasioned and his ef- forts to get home to England and vindi- cate his character. Three days after the battle, when it was ascertained that the British were making their way toward the St. Lawrence, Gener- al Macomb discharged the New York and Vermont militia, and the solemn rites of burial were accorded to the dead of both nations. Fifteen officers, including Com- modore Downie, were laid in the Platts- burg Burying-ground, and a neat marble slab, with the name of the commemorated cut upon it, was placed at the head of each grave. On each side of Downie's grave a pine-tree was planted. These were noble in stature when I made the annexed sketch, but one has since disappeared. A few years ago a near relation of the British commander laid a recumbent marble slab, suitably iiiscribed, upon brick walls, over his remains.^ Around it are the graves of the other officers. downie's GKAVB.3 " I should have made the attempt, sir !" " What 1 would you interfere if / were to impress men from that brig f" "Ton have only to try it, sir," was Macdonongh's cool reply. He did not try it. Macdonongh was sent to Lake Ohamplain when the War of 1812 broke ont There he won unfading laurels, as we find recorded in the text. Prom the close of the war his health gave way, yet he lived for more than ten years with the tooth of consumption undermining the citadel of his life. On the 10th of November, 1825, he died in Middletown, Con- necticut, where he married his wife, the excellent Miss Shaler, and who had died only a few months before. He was only forty-two years of age. His portrait on page 856 is from the one painted from life by John Wesley Jarvis for the Corporation of the City of New York, and now occupies a place in the Governor's Boom. ' This picture is from the title-page of the twelfth volume of the Analeetic Magazine. On page 88 is some poor verse intended as an accompaniment. In the distance is seen the mouth of the Saranac and the village of Plattsburg. On Cumberland Head at that time was the Plattsburg port of entry, and the leading men of that section resided on that pleasant promontory. Among them was General Melancthon Woolsey (whose house is yet standing), General Mooers, Peter Sailley, Major Adams, and others. ' The following is a copy of the inscription : "Sacred to the memory of Geoegb Downie, Esq., a post captain in the Koyal British Navy, who gloriously fell on board his B. M. S. the Confiance while leading the vessels under his command to the attack of the American flotilla at anchor in Cumberland Bay, off Plattsburg, on the Uth of September, 1814. ' " To mark the spot where the remains of a gallant officer and stocere friend were honorably interred, this stone has been erected by his affectionate sister-in-law, Maby Downie, 1851." ' In the above picture Downie's tomb is seen between the trees. The head-stones of the other officers are seen 880 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Visit to historical Places in Northern New York. Journey to Flattsbarg. Graves of slain Officers. I visited the theatre of the British invasion of Northern New York, and points of interest at Plattsburg and in the vieimity, in August, 1860. _I have already men- tioned the passing of a night at Rouse's Point' Village after visiting Xa Colle Mill, and journeying on the next morning toward Plattsburg.^ . I went to Champlg/jn, five miles south of the Canada border, by railway, and there strolled over the plaice of Dearborn and Wilkinson's encampments on the hill eastward of the railway sta- tion, then (I860) the land of Francis Nye. I also went to the site of Izayd^s encamp- ment, on rising ground South of the village, and of his battery on ihe. brow of a bill, then (1860) the property of Noadiah Moore. After sketching the'mansioii of Judge Moore, which was used for officers' quarters by both parties,^ I left for Plattsburg in a light wagon, accompanied by a very intelligent elderly gentleman of Champlain,* whose name I regret I can not now recall. He was familiar with the "whole region, and the events and localities which make it notable. > VIEW IN JJEEKMAJSTOWN. We passed through Chazy, upon the Little Chazy River. Just before reaching' it, we saw at his >ouse Captain Hiram Ferris, an old lake pilot, who gave us some of his reminiscences of adventure as commander; of a sloop in which Vermont militia were taken across the lake- to Plattsburg before the battle. We rode on to Sampson's, ■^JjtgfunLX^ ■tW ro t L- ^ s. J^^maLL dO '^"^W^BiWHWtfpp^** ^ grdaped around it. The annexed diagram shows the position of each ^JJjjjUjj^ of the graves, indicated by numerals as follows : 1. Commodore Dow- nie ; 2. Boatswain Charles Jackson ; 3. Lieutenant William Gunn ; 4. Lieutenant William Paril; 5. Captain Alexander Anderson, of the Ma- rines ; 6. Captain John Purchase. These \yere of the British Navy, except Purchase, who was of the British Army. T. Pilot Joseph Bar- ron; 8. Lieutenant Peter Gamble 1 9. Lieutenant John Stansbnry ; 10. Sailing-master Eogers Carter ; 11. Midshipman James M. Baldwin. These were of the American Navy. 12. Lieutenant George W. Eunk, of the American Army ; 13. Colonel WiUington; 14. Lieutenant John Chapman, of the British Army. A, A, the pine-trees. I am indebted to Captain J. Van Cleve for the diagram. It was made by him in 1856. He has omitted the grave of Lieutenant E. Kingsbury, of the British Army. It is near No. 12 In the diagram, ' Nanled from Jacques Rouse, a French Canadian, who settled thete 1° If 83. 3 See page T92. ' See engraving on page 867. * Champlain is a lively post-village of less than two thousand inhab- itants, on the Chazy Eiver, or Creek, and contains fine water power. It is the southern terminus of the Northern Railroad from Ogdensburg-,- and from it most of the lumber brought down on that road la shipped. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 881 Hide through Beekmantown and over Culver's Hill, and dined' there ;i and a mile southward of the tavern, the place of the British encamp- ment from the 5th to the 6th of Septem- ber* was point- ed out to us, on the farm ofMr. Phelps. We soon afterward turned- westward to- ward BBekaaantown,2 and in that little vil- lage, and upon Cul- ver's Hill southward of it, we spent about two hours. I sketch- ed the house of Ira Howe' in the upper part of the village; and in the delightful shadow of grand old elms, which were flour^ ishing trees in the time of the war, I made the sketch on the preced- ing page, on the left of which is seen the stone meeting-house, built by the Method- ists in 1 830, and in the distance the road pass- ing over Culver's Hill,, on which Wool fought his second battle with the invaders ' See sketch of the house on page 859. = Named in honor of William Beekman, to whom, with twenty-nine others, the township was granted in the spring oflT69. = See page 3 K 582 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Battle-ground on Culver's Hill. Arrival at Plattsburg. Visit to Cumberland Head. -.V ' September, 1814. on the morning of the 6th.* A little south of the church (at a spot indi- cated by the two figures), we were shown a spring, by the side of the road near which Colonel Willington was buried ; and directly in front of Francis Culver's house, on Culver's Hill, a flat rock was pointed out as the spot where Wil- lington fell.' It is said that the stains of his blood were upon it a long time. There, too, we saw the moss-covered stone fence, built before the war, which formed an ad- mirable shelter for the American militia during the fight on the hill.^ Plattsburg was now eight miles distant, and the long summer day was passing away. We rode on, without stopping, by Halsey's Corners, where Leonard made a stand with his cannon,^ and at near sunset entered Plattsburg. I became the guest • of a kinsman (Philander C. Moore), and passed a part of the evening profitably with P. S. Palmer, Esq., the historian of Lake Champlain. At an early hour the next morning, accompanied by my kinsman, I went out to visit the historical localities in and about Plattsburg; and just at twilight, after a day of incessant labor, we returned, having fully accomplished the object of my er- rand. We first rode up to the site of Pike's cantonment (where the British forced a passage of the Saranac), crossing the river at the upper bridge, and traversing a rough road most of the way for about two miles. The cantonment was on a low, narrow plain at the foot of rapids in the river, which are seen in the little sketch on page 874. We returned on the lake road by the United States military station, visiting the re- mains of Forts Moreau, Brown, and Scott, and sketching the old store-houses on the margin of the lake, which were erected in 1813 for the use of the Ameri- can troops. We rode back to the village, and, after sketching the stone mill* and the United States Hotel,' we crossed the Saranac, and made our way along the lake shore road toward Cumberland Head. Soon after crossing Dead Creek Bridge over the sluggish stream, and among sand dunes drifted by southerly winds from the bay shore, we passed the site of Macdonough's farm- house^^ on a rise of ground at the left of the road, a mile and a half from the light-house. The place of the cellar was marked by a luxuriant growth of weeds and bushes. Near there we met a farmer on his way to Plattsburg, who, to our mutual surprise, proved to be Mr. J. J. Mosher, who was my school- master when I was a boy twelve years of age. It was an agree- able meeting. He turned back, accompanied us to various plar ces of interest on the Head (where he has a farm), and en- STOBE-HOUSES. OEiyEBAL MOOEBb's HOUSE, ODMBEBLAND HEAD. ' See page 862. = The old Culver mansion, built of wood, was on the site of the present brick mansion of Samuel Andrews on the southern slope of the hill. = See page 862. ^Seepages:*. = See page 8T6. "See page 879. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 883 BeBldenccB of Mooers and Woolsey. Kemains of " Wilkinson's Folly.' Mr. Piatt and Us Beminiscences. WOOLSEY UOUBE. tertained us with an excellent dinner and pleasant intercourse with his family. Taking the inner road to the light-house on the extreme point of the Head, we pass- ed the pleasantly situated old mansion of General Mooers (page 882), where he lived many years, and where he died. It over- looks the bay and the lake. We visited and sketched the light-house, and from its lofty gallery obtained a fine panoramic view of the entire theatre of the naval battle near.i Passing along the lake side of the Head, in full view of Grand Island and the Green Mountains, we came, at the distance of a mile from the light-house, to the residence of General Woolsey, father of the active commander on Lake Oatario. Near it was Colonel Durand's, the dep- uty collector (when this was the place of the Plattsburg port of entry), which was the custom-house ; and between Woolsey's and the light-house is the dwelling of Mr. Mosher. It was a tavern during the war, and in front of it was the landing-place of the troops brought over by Captain Ferns. When the British galleys were escaping down the lake, and were passing this tavern, several men were sitting on its porch. One of them called out to the fugitives in derision, when a British marine fired a mus- ket-ball at the group. It passed just over their heads, and through a door, which Mr. Mosher preserves as a memento of the incident. About three fourths of a mile from the light-house, on the farm of J. T. Hagar, we saw the prominent remains of the ramparts and ditch of a large redoubt cast up by HamptoHj and which received the name of " Wilkinson's Folly." It is about forty rods from the lake, on high ground, and on the shore in front of it was a water bat- tery. Its ramparts were of earth and stone. From its top we had a fine view of the surrounding country, and we lingered some time in the shadow of a tree that over- hung one of its bastions. The day was now far spent, and we turned back toward Plattsburg, where we arrived at dusk, well satisfied with our day's excursion. On the following morning I visited the venerable Isaac C. Piatt, then in his eight- ieth year, whose residence is on the Beekmantown road, not far from Halsey's Cor- ners. He was living there at the time of the British invasion, and took his family over to Middlebury, in Vermont. On his return the skirmish had occurred at Hal- sey's Comers. He found his house in possession of the enemy, and used as a sort of hospital.'^ He asked and obtained from General Brisbane protection for himself and his property. That officer gave him a general parole of honor to go where he pleased. When' the British fled they left about forty horses in his fields, and these he consid- ered a fair equivalent for hay and other property which they had appropriated to their own use. The British behaved very honorably, he said, generally paying for whatever they procured from the inhabita,nts. During a delightful interview of an hour with the humorous octogenarian, he related many stirring incidents of the inva- sion^ which limited space will not allow me to record. He still [186 7] lives in the enjoyment of good health. Leaving Mr. Piatt's, we passed, a huge old butternut-tree between his house and Halsey's Corners, its trunk terribly scarred by the passage of one of Leonard's can- non-balls completely through it. It stands as a memento of the afiair at that point We passed on to the burial-ground, and visited and sketched the freestone memorials ofDownie and the slain, already mentioned; of Colonel Melancthon Smith; and of 1 See page 870. : See page 863. gg^ PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK The Grave of Miss Davidson. T A Shot in Macomb's Head-quarters^ Channcey kept from active Service. General Benjamin Mooers.' There, too, I found the grave of the wonderfully preco- cious child-poet, Lucretia Maria Davidson, who was the author of a volume entitled Amir Khan, mid other Poems? and yet she died before she was- seventeen years of age A neat white marble monument marks the resting-place of her remains, and bears those beautiful lines written by William Cullen Bryant on the occasion of her " In the cold moist earth we laid her when the forest cast its leaf, And we wept that one so lovely should have a lot so brief; Tet not unmeet it was that one, like that young friend of ours, So gentle' and so beautiful, should perish with the flowers." In the course of the day I called on General A. C. Moore, whose fine mansion, not far from the old stone mill, was the head-quarters of General Macomb before the bat- tle. In the hall, near the foot of the staircase, and protruding from the, upper edge of the wains- coting, was a 24-pound iron ball, which British cannon hurled across the Saranac. . It had come crashing through the house, and lodged there. With good, taste and patriotic feeling, it had been left undisturbed. It was painted black and var- nished, and on it, in white letters, were the words September 11, 1814. Toward evening of the same day I embarked at Plattsburg in a steamer for Whitehall, and on the following evening I was at my home on the / Hudson. BALI. n. Mo&E's HODsu, PLATTSBCI18. ^.^j^ ^^ ^^^^ ^f Prcvost Rud Hs army from Lake Champlain ended all military movements of importance on the Northern front- ier. Hostilities soon afterward ceased on the Niagara frontier, as we have observed ; and during the entire season, Chauncey, one of the most vigilant and active of naval commanders, had been compelled ]3y circumstances to remain almost inactive at Saek- ett's Harbor a greater part of the time. He was blockaded by a British squadron until early in June, when the completion of the armament of the Superior .ra&^^'^vc James Yeo prudently withdraw his blockading vessels. And when tbe Mohawk, ■ June 11 which was launched* in thirty-four working days aifter her keel was laid, was .1814. ' prepared for sea, and the movements on the Niagara frontier with which Chauncey was to co-operate had commenced, that commander was prostrated by severe illness at the Harbor. His re-enforcements came tardily, wbile the. enemy, was increasing his strength in vessels, arms, and men. It was the last of July before the squadron was ready for sea. ■ ■ ^ Meanwhile Chauncey had set in motion minor operations. Supplies for the Brit- ish were continually ascending the St. Lawrence in small boats. He resolved to at- tempt the capture of some of them, and sent Lieutenant (late Rear Admiral) Fran- cis H. Gregory,^ with Sailing-masters Vaughan and Dixon, in three gigs, for that pur- 4 About a rod north of General Mooers's grave is that of Samuel Norcross, who, with two other unarmed citizens, met three British soldiers oh. the retreat on the morning of the 12th, and simultaneously sprang upon them and seized their guns. A desperate struggle ensued. His antagonist wrenched the gun from Norcross, and with it shot him, kill- ing him almost instantly. This occurred not far from the place where his body was buried. 2 This volume was published in 1829, and contained a biographical sketch of the author by Professor Samuel F. B. Morse. She was born in September, 1808 ; was educated at Mrs. Willard's seminary in Troy, and died in August, 1829. She was very beautiful. 3 ^Francis H. Gregory was born at Norwalk, Connecticut, on the 9th of October, 1789. He entered the merchant serv- ice in 1802', and the navy as a midshipman in 1809 in the Revenge, commanded by Lieutenant O. H. Perry. He was pro- moted to acting master in 1811, and in the spring of 1812 he was placed under Chauncey's command on Lake Ontario. In that service he performed many gallant exploits as acting lieutenant, for his skill and bravery were so conspicuous that he was employed in the most dangerous and difficult service. In August, 1814, he was captured and sent to En- gland a prisoner of war, and was kept there until the close of the contest ; not in close confinement, but on wide pirble ill Devonshire, where the " vivacious little Yankee" was a great favorite with the ladies, and graced many a festal occa- sion. In 1825 Lieutenant Gregory commanded the Brandymine when she conveyed Lafayette to this country ; and in OF THE WAR OF 1812.: 88S Exploits of Lieuteuiint Gregory. Chauncey's Squadron leaves Sackett's Harbor. Its Compositioni pose at the middle of June. They lay in amhush among the Thousand Islands, he- low Alexandria Bay, on the 19th. They were discovered, and a British gun-boat sent to attack them. They did not wait for her approach, but boldly dashed upon and captured her. She was the Black Snake, Captain Landon, carrying an 18- pound carronade and eighteen men, chiefly Royal Marines. Gregory returned to the Harbor with his prisoners, but was com- pelled to destroy the Black Snake to pre- vent her recapture. For this gallant serv- ice the National Congress, thirty years J" May 4, afterward," gave Gregory and his ^^^- companions three thousand dol- lars.' Ten days afterward, Gregory and the same assistants started in two gigs for Nicholas Island, seven miles from Presque Isle, on the Canada coast; to intercept some transports expected to pass there for York and Fort George. They did not come ; so, finding his presence was known to the British authorities, Gregory landed at Presque Isle, burned a schooner pierced '^-^^y^^^^ Z(^/y^^-^ for fourteen guns and nearly ready to be launched, and a building containing her stores, crossed the lake, and reached Sack- ett's Harbor on the 6th of July* ^ b 1814, without the loss of a man. Chauncey was -carried on board the Su- perior in a convalescent state on the 31st of July, and on that day his squadron left the Harbor. It consisted of the flag-ship Superior, 62, Lieutenant Elton; jFVAe, 28, Captain Crane, Chauncey's second in com- mand;^ J/bAaw^, 42, Captain Jones; Mad- ison, 24, Captain Trenchard ; Jefferson, 22, Captain Ridgeley; Jones, 22, Captain Woolsey; Sylph, 14, Captain Elliott; Oneida, 16, Lieut. Commanding Brown; and the look-out boat Lady of the Lake. They appeared ofi" the mouth of the Niag- ara River (then in possession of the Brit- ish) on the 5 th of August." Leav- ing the Jefferson, Sylph, and Onei- da to blockade some British vessels in the ' 1814. 1826 he commanded the 64-gun ship sent to the Greeks from New York. He was promoted to commander in 1828 ^d was in active sei-vice afloat until 1852, when he was placed in charge of the Boston Navy Yard. When the Eehellron hmkP out he was anxious to enter into active service, but he was more usefully employed as general superintendent of the ranstrnction of the iron-clad or armored vessels engaged in. the Civil War. He was promoted to the rank of reair admiral in 1802 and died in Brooklyn, October 4, 1866, at the age of seventy-seven years. Few men hold a more worthy admiral ™ ^""^^ *™ "^^ ^^^ ^^^^ i Hough's HUtorg of Jefersm Countij, page 615. ^ » Mr'crane was one of Chauncey's most intimate friends and active cpmmanders. He was bom in Elizabethtown, x™ Tprsev on the 1st of February,lT84, and was a son of General William Crane, who was one of Montgomery's army; TOd made a'pri8on« in Quebec. He entered the navy in 1799 as midshipman, and was in active service in the Mediter, 886 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Channcey tries to draw out Yeo. A heavy Britisli Ship on the Lake. Americans prepare to match her. river Chauncey crossed the lake with the remainder of the squadron, looked into ■AnJstg York, and then sailed for Kingston,^ where, with four of his vessels.he ilii. ' idockaded the squadron of Sir James Yeo for six weeks. He vainly tried to draw him out for combat ;» and in the mean time, as we have seen, he conveyed a part of Izard's troops to the Genesee River.^ During this blockade, Lieutenant Gregory, while reconnoitring, was captured. At the close of September it was ascertained that the St. Lawrence, pierced for one hundred and twelve guns, which had been all the season in preparation at Kingston, was ready for sea. Chauncey prudently raised the blockade, retired to Sackett's Harbor, and prepared for attack. On the 15th of October the St Lawrence saUed, bearing Sir James Yeo and more than a thousand men.^ She was accompanied by four ships, two brigs, and a schooner, and from that time the baronet, with his great ship, was lord of the lake. The Americans resolved to match the St. Lawrence before the opening of the lake the following spring, and the keels of two first-class frigates were speedily laid— one at Sackett's Harbor, to be Called the Mw Orleans, and an- other at Storrs's Harbor, farther up the bay, to be called the Chippewa. Of the for- mer we have already taken notice on page 616. These vessels were partly finished, when the proclamation of peace caused work upon them to cease, as well as all far- ther hostilities in that quarter. Yeo did not venture to attack Chauncey* in Sackett's Harbor; but so imminent ranean early in the present century. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1803, and rose to the rank of captain in 1804. He was in command of the Nautilus when she was captured (see page 436), and after his exchange was in continual service on Lake Ontario. He was in the service of his government, afloat and ashore, un- til his death, when he was chief of the Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography. Commodore Crane was buried with naval honors in the Congressional Burying- ground in Washington City, and over his remains is a fine white marble monu- ment with the following inscriptions : ^ West Side.—" Sacred to the memory of William Montgomeet Cba»e, a c».ptain f0- in the navy, who was born in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, on the 1st of February, 1T84, and died at Washington on the ISth of March, 1846." South SUe.—^- En- dowed with uncommon judgment, skill, and ability, he was conspicuous amongst the most distinguished of his professional compeers." East Side.— "The manly qualities which he on all occasions exhibited endeared him to his associates, and forty-seven yearff of arduous service proved his devotion to his country." JVorift Side.—" In the war with France, with the Barbary Powers, and with England, he was actively engaged, and with undiminished reputation." 1 The fact that Sir James Yeo, after boasting of his desire to meet Chauncey's fleet, and his look-outs often feigning a design to encounter the Lady of the Laike^ Chauncey's gallant little scout, caused many squibs. Among others was a short poem entitled " The Courteous knight, or the Flying Gallant,." After stating that a British knight (Sir James) of high reputation had jilted an American lady who had already made some noise in the world (Jj>dy of the Lake), the poet said : "He fled like a truant; the lady in vain Her ogling and glances employed : She aimed at his heart, and she aimed at his brain. And she vowed from pursuing she ne'er would refrain — The knight was most sadly annoyed. At length from love's fervor the recreant got dear, And may have for a season some rest ; But if this fair lady he ever comes near. For breaking his promise he'll pay very dear, The price gallant Chauncey knows best." Sec epigraph at the head of Chapter XXIX. » See page 884. a Soon after the St. Lawrence sailed, Mr. M'Gowan, a midshipman, accompanied by William Johnston, the " Hero of tlie Thousand Islands" (see page 663), went with a torpedo to Kingston Harbor to blow her up. Her departure toiled the enterprise. See Cooper's Naval History, ii., 423. , * Isaac Chauncey Was a native of Fairfield County, Connecticut, and was bom in 1773. He went to sea early in life from the port of New York, and was master of a vessel at the age of nineteen years. He made several successful voy- ages to the East Indies in vessels belonging to John Jacob Astor, and in 1798 he entered the navy of the United States with a lieutenant's commission under Truxtun. He behaved gallantly In the Mediterranean, and for his good conduct there Congress presented him with an elegant sword. He was promoted to commandant in 1804, and in 1806 he re- ceived the commission of captain. He was appointed to the command of the embryo navy on the Lakes at the begin- ning of the War of 1812, and by his gallant and judicious conduct there he won imperishable fame. He commanded a squadron in the Mediterranean after the war. . He returned to the United States in 1818, and was soon afterward called to the post of navy commissioner at Washington City. He was afterward commander of the naval station at Brook- lyn, but was appointed navy commissioner again in 1833, which office he held until his death, when he was president ckane's monument. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 887 Ghauncey calls for Militia. Washington Irving's Eebuke. Close of Hostilities on the Northern Frontier. seemed the danger, when it was known that the St. Lavyrence was ready for sea, that a request was made by the com- manding oflScer at that post, of Govern- or Tompkins, to send thither some mili- tia re-enforcements, the entire military strength which had been left there by Izard being some artillery under Lieu- tenant Colonel Mitchell, and two battal- ions of infantry, commanded respect- ively by Majors Malcolm and Brevoort. The governor at once sent his aid, Col- onel Washington Irving,^ with orders for the commandant at the Harbor to mak6 such requisition on the militia as he should think best. The result was thai General Collins called out the en- tire body of the militia of Herkimer, Oneida, Lewis, and Jefferson counties, and at the close of October the mili- tary force at Sackett's Harbor was about six thousand. When the lake closed, and all apprehensions of an attack by the British subsided, the militia were disbanded, and the war was closed on the Canada frontier, r ; . ; of the board. He died at Washington City on the 2Tth of January, 1840, at the age of about sixty-flve years. He was interred with appropriate honors in the Congressional Bui'ying-ground, upon the slope overlooking the East 3ranch of the Potomac, and over his grave stands a superb monument made' of white clouded marble. On the pedestal, in relief, is the name CHAtmoBY. On another part are the names of several of his family. On the east side is the following inscription : *' Isaao Chatincey, United States Navy, died in this city January 2Ttb, 1840, while President of the Board of Navy Commis- sioners, aged sixty-seven years." The monument is about eighteen feet in height. Upon the obelisk is a wreath of laurel and a sword, cut in relief. 1 This was the beloved Washington Irving, one of the purest of the planet- ary lights of American literature. Mr. Irving was at that time editor^ of the Analeelic Magc^ine, for which he had fhrnished some brilliant biographies of the heroes of the war. Naturally peaceful and retiring, he felt no special am- bition to become a conspicuous actor; yet his soul was full of patriotic flame. It was increased intensely by a circumstance which occurred on a Hudson Eiver steam-boat late in August, 1814, when the news of the capture and de- struction of the national capital Syas fllling all loyal men with sadness. His biographer thus relates the story : " It was night, and the passengers had be- taken themselves 'to their settees to test, when a person came on board at Poughkeepsie, with the news of the inglorious triumph, and proceeded, in the darkness of the cabin, to relate the particulars : the destruction of the Presi- dent's House, the Treasury, War, and Navy Offices, the Capitol, the Depository of the National Library and Public Records. There was a momentary pause after the speaker had ceased, when some paltry spirit lifted his head from a settee, and, in a tone of complacent disdain, 'wondered what JJmntj/ Madison would say now f ' ' Sir,' said Mr. Irving, glad of an escape to his swelling In- dignation, ' do you seize on such a disaster only for a sneer f Let me tell you, sir, it is not nowa-question about Jmmy Madison or ./bftnny Armstrong. ■ -The pride and honor of the nation are wounded ; the country is insulted and disgraced by this barbarous success, and every loyal citizen would feel the ig- nominy, and be earnest to av^ngelt.* 'I could not see the fellow,* said Mr. Irving, but I let fly at him in the dark.' " — The Life omd Letters of Washington Irving^ by his nephew, Pierre M. Irving, i., 311. The fellow was cowed into silence. He was a prototype of a small class which obtained the name of Cop- perheads during the late Civil War, to whom the loyal men of the nation ad- ministered a similar rebuke. Mr. Irving's feelings were so much stirred by the incident that, on his arrival in New York, he ofifered his services to Governor Tompkins as his aid. They were accepted, and he became his excellency's aid and seoietary, with the rank of colonel. His name first appears attached to a general order dated September 2, 1814, He remained on the govern- or's staflruntiltheolose of the war, a fewmonths afterward. OHADSOJJY'S MONUMENT. PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK A trying Time for New England. The Blockade of New London. Commodore Lewis In Long Island Sound. CHAPTER XXXVm. "Then, warriors on shore, behrave, Yonr wives and homes defend ; Those precious boons be true to save, And hearts and sinews bend. Oh, think npon your fathers' fame, For glory marked the way ; And this foe aimed the blow. But victory crowned the day. Then emulate the deeds of yore. Let victory crown-the day." — Old Sono. ^EW ENGLAIfD exi^erienced very little actual war witMn its bor- ders, yet it felt its pressure heavily in the paralysis of its peculiar industries, the continual drain upon its wealth of men and money, and the wasting excitement caused by constantly impending men- aces and a sense of insecurity. From the spring of 1813 until the close of the contest, British squadrons were hovering along its coasts, and, in connection with the Embargo Acts, were double- barring its sea-ports against commerce, and threatening the de- struction of its maritime cities and villages. The year 1814 was a specially trying one for New England. The British govern- ment, as. we have observed, had determined and prepared, at the beginning of that year, to make the campaign a vigorous, sharp, and decisive one on land and sea. Hitherto the more northerly coasts of the United States had been very little molest- ed by the enemy excepting by threatenings, for Commodore Hardy's blockade of New London and its vicinity had been so mild that it was practically little more than a jailor's custody of two prisoners — ^Decatur's vessels — above that town. Now a sys- tem of petty invasions commenced, and were followed by more serious operations. . The blockade of New London was kept up in 1814, and as early as April a party of British seamen and marines, in several small vessels (each armed with a 9 or 12 pounder), under the command of Lieutenant Coote, of the Royal Navy, went up the • April 8, Connecticut River ia the evening, and at four o'clock the next morning* land- 1^1*- ed on Pautopaug Point, seven miles from the Sound, spiked the heavy guns found there, and destroyed twenty-two vessels, valued at one hundred and sixty thou- sand dollars. At ten o'clock they went down the river two or three miles to Brock- way's Ferry, where they indulged in similar incendiary sport. In the mean time a body of militia, with some marines and sailors from Decatur's vessels in the Thames, under Captain Jones and Lieutenant Biddle, gathered on the shore and endeavored to cut off their retreat, but, under cover of darkness that night, and with the silence of muffled oars, they escaped. At about this time Commodore Lewis made his appearance in the Sound with thir- teen American gun-boats for the protection of the coast-trade against the Ziverpool Packet privateer, which was cruising very mischievously all along the Connecticut shore. She fled eastward at Lewis's approach, and when he reached Saybrook he found more than fifty vessels there, afraid to weigh anchor for fear of this corsair. Lewis told them to follow his flotilla, and he would endeavor to convoy them safely "April. *° ^^'^ London. The entire fleet sailed on the 25th,'' and during the after- noon Lewis had a sharp engagement with a British frigate, sloop, and tender. OE THE WAR OF 1812. 889 Lewis attacks the Blockaders. Amphibious Warfare on the New Eugland Coast. New Bedford and Pair Haven. The merchant fleet entered the Thames in safety, and Lewis, inspirited by his suc- cess, determined to attack the blockading squadron with his gun-boats. He began by hurling hot shot, which set the British vessels on fire. He soon disabled the sloop, ■which, with the frigate, had attacked him while convoying the coasting vessels. He so maimed the frigate that she was on the point of surrendering, when night set in and the fire of the gun-boats ceased. It was excessively dark, and at dawn Lewis saw the enemy in the far distance towing away the wounded vessel. He was about to pursue, when several other frigates made their appearance, and he prudently aban- doned the design. Early in June the enemy commenced depredations on the coasts of Massachusetts. On the 1.3 th a detachment of two hundred men, in six barges, were sent from the Sic- perb and Nimrod, then lying in Buzzard's Bay, to destroy the shipping at Wareham, a village at the head of the bay. The elevated rocky neck at the mouth of the Nar- rows concealed the approach of the barges, and the inhabitants were taken by sur- prise. The enemy fired a ship, brig, and several schooners and sloops. The ship was partially saved, and so also was a cotton factory, which was set on fire by a Congreve rocket. The estimated value of the loss was $40,000. Quite a number of the, lead- ing inhabitants were seized and carried away as hostages, so as to prevent, the "mili- tia from firing on the vessels. These were released when the ships arrived at their anchorage. Similar destruction was inflicted at Scituate and smaller places. Some- times the militia would meet the marauders and drive them away, but in most cases the blow would be struck before a foil could be raised to avert it. On the 16 th of June the Bulwark, 74, Captain Milne, carrying about ninety guns, anchored off the mouth of Saco Rivei", in Maine, and her commander sent one hund- red and fifty armed men, in five large boats, to destroy property on the Neck belong- ing to Captain Thomas Cutts. That gentleman met them with a white flag, and pro- posed a money commutation. The matter was referred to Captain Milne, who soon afterward came ashore in his gig. He assured Cutts that he had positive orders to destroy, and could not spare. The torch was then applied, and two vessels (one fin- ished, the other on the stocks), valued at $15,000, were destroyed, and another one taken away, which the owner afterward ransomed for $6000. They also plundered Mr. Cutts's store of goods to the amount of $2000.' At about the same time the Nimrod and La Hogue were blockading New Bedford and Fair Haven, little villages on each bank of the Acushnet River, an inlet from Buzzard's Bay. They lay in Tarpaulin Cove, watching vigilantly the privateer Yan- kee, belonging to De Wolfe, of Bristol, Rhode Island, the great slave-merchant. This vessel, and all others of her class, were unwelcome to the New Bedford people, who were Federalists, but right welcome to those of Fair Haven, who were Democrats — a difference of opinion which led to the separation of thetiwo towns. The Fair Haven; people cherished all privateers and other enemies of the British, and had, moreover, a fort on their Point, built in the time of the threatened war with France in 1V98 on the site of a battery of the Revolution. It now had about a dozen iron cannon on its ramparts, and was guarded by a small garrison under Lieutenant Selleck Osborne, the poet.2 Of course, the British blockaders did not like the Fair Haven folk, and one dark night they planned an attack on the fort and the destruction of the village. Every thing was ready long before daylight, and the Nimrod was to be the executor of the plan. Just then the tin horn of a solitary mail-carrier was heard, and the clat- ter of his horse's feet as he galloped across the Acushnet bridge and causeway sound- 1 History of Saco and Biddeford, by George Folsora, page 309. a Selleck Osborne was a native of Connecticut, and a printer by trade. He printed a paper in Litchfield about the year 1806 H« was afterward an editor in Wilmington, Delaware. He was commissioned first lieutenant of light dra- goons in July, 1808, and made captain in 1811. His company was disbanded in May, 1814, and he was acting as lieuten- ant in garrison at Fair Haven. He went to Lake Champlain, and was engaged in the battle of Plattsburg. In 1823 he published a volume of poems. He died in Philadelphia on the 1st of October, 1826. 890 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Sea-port Towns of New Englaud blockaded. Appearance of Hardy's Sqaadron. -The British capture Eastpoit. ed loudly upon the night air. The horn was mistakgn for the braying of a trumpet sounding an advance, and the rattle of hoofs was interpreted as the forerunner of the approach of a large American force. The Nimrod hastened to withdraw to a safe distance from the fort, and New Bedford and Fair Haven were spared the notoriety of a battle. The fort and its iron cannon yet (1867) remain, monuments of the wis- dom of ample preparation for evil. Other places were menaced, and some were attacked. Formidable squadrons were kept before New York, New London, and Boston. Eastport and Castine fell into the hands of the British, and Stonington became the theatre of a most distressing bom- bardment. All along the eastern coast, from the Connecticut to the St. Croix, the enemy carried on this kind of warfare, in most cases marauding on private property in a manner which degraded the actors in the eyes of all honorable men to the level of mere freebooters. The more respectable portion of British writers condemned the policy, for it was damaging to the British interest. Hitherto lukewarm New En- gland now became intensely heated with indignation against the coTumon enemy, and burned with a war-fever which made the peace party in that region exceedingly cir- cumspect. A more serious invasion of the New England coast now occurred. Early in July. •July B, Sir Thomas M. Hardy sailed secretly from Halifax'' with a considerable force ^^^*' for land and sea service. His squadron consisted of the Mamillies, 14, his: flag-ship ; the sloop Martin, brig Borer, the Bream, the bomb-ship Terror, and several transports with troops, under Colonel Thomas Pilkington. The squadron entered Passamaquoddy Bay on the Ilth, and anchored off Fort Sullivan at Eastport,^ which was then in command of Major Perley Putnam, of Salem,^' with a garrison of fifty men and six pieces of artillery. The baronet demanded an instant surrender of the post, giving the commander only five minutes for consideration. Putnam promptly; refused compliance, but, on account of the vehement importunities of the. alarmed in- habitants, who were indisposed to resist, he yielded his own judgment, and gave up the post on condition that while the British should take possession of all public prop- erty, private property should be respected. When this agreement was signed, a thou- sand armed men, with women and children, a battalion of artillery, and fi.fty or sixty pieces of cannon, were landed on the main, and formal possession was taken of the fort, the town of Eastport, and all the islands and villages in and around Passama- quoddy Bay. Declaration was made that these were in permanent possession of the British,^ and the inhabitants were called upon to take an oath of allegiance, within seven days, or leave the territory.* Two thirds of them complied. The custom- house was opened under British officials ;» trade was resumed ; the fortifications around Eastport were completed, and sixty pieces of cannon were mounted; and an arsenal was established. Several vessels, and goods valued at three hundred thou- sand dollars, accumulated there to be smuggled into the United States, were made- prizes of by the British. The enemy held quiet possession of that region until the close of the war. Having established British rule at Eastport, and left eig ht hundred troops to hold nnder"fhe°trVaty of nT ^''''°^' '° ^'''^^"^'""'^^y Bay, which the British claimed as belonging to New Brunswick tJolTi^urcomtnti'' frlT '" ^T^^ T^' v'"? ^""'^ ^'"*"^ '^^P* "^ S""'^™ »' ^°^ Sullivan. At first there were ™trf States aZrw^rfltZ- ^^""^^^ '"v^"'^^ ™ '''^ Penobscot, under the command of Major Ulmer. The S"™ waX^futrtrfhrclTa^T^^^^^^^ ™'^"'"'^' "^''"^ *™°P^ '" """'"• 1= ">« -'-° °»«1^ M"^" ^-^ dysly'^iu c~enc'e If ^^^^^^ British government was to obtain possession of the islands ofPassamaquod- herbert o ^nerarBrewer „f thp w^ considered within their bonndary.line."_Letter from Lieutenant Colonel J Fitz- t i .. ^""» Brewer, of the Washmgton County Militia, July 12, 1814 " anpersonB Tp e^ent on"the?,L°f '' T"' """^^ ^^ Commodore Hardy on the 14th, in which notice was given that finished^:t--rM:^srrjrn:y?^^zi^-=^^^ OF THE WAK OF 1812. 891 Tne British Squadron off Portsmouth. Vigilance of General Montgomery. Attack on Boston expected. the conquered region, Hardy sailed west- ward with his squadron, spreading alarm along the coast. Preparations for his re- ception were made every where. Vigilant eyes were watching, and strong arms were waiting for the appearance of the foe at Portsmouth,, where little Fort Sumner was manned. The energetic General Montgom- ery, ' of New Hampshire, ordered every tenth man of his brigade to repair to Ports- mouth for its defense, and there he com- manded in person. Little Fort Lilly, at Gloucester, was armed. Fort Pickering, near Salem, and Fort Sewall, at Marble- head, were strengthened and garrisoned. Fort Warren, on Governor's Island, and Fort Independence, on Castle Island, in Boston Harbor, were put in readiness for action, and well garrisoned by Massachu- setts militia. An attack upon the important city of Boston was con-- fidently expected after intelligence was received of the bombardment of August 9, 1814. FOHT PI0KEBIMG.2 Stonington,* which we shall presently consider. It was the capital of New England, and the moral effect of its capture or destruction would be great. It Was a place for the construction of American war-vessels, which the enemy feared more than armies. On this account its destruction was desirable. It was also a wealthy town, and offered a rich harvest for plunderers. It was well known, too, that it was almost defenseless, for it was not until the descent of the enemy upon Eastport, and his hostile operations elsewhere, had a,roused the authorities of Massa- ' John Montgomery was bom in Massachusetts in 1T69, and was a relative of General Montgomery who was killed at Quebec. He became a spirited and snccessful merchant, and when the War of 1812 broke out he had just sent a heavy consignment of goods abroad, which were totally lost to him. At that time he was a brigadier general of New Hamp- shire militia. He was a Federalist in politics, but when his country was in danger he gave the government his support. When Portsmouth was threatened by the British squadron, he took command in person at that place, and there he re- mained nntil the danger disappeared. General Montgomery married a daughter of General Henry Knox; of the Eevolution, by whom he had six children, all daughters. He died at Haverhill; New Hampshire,' on the 29th.of February, 1826, at the age of flfty-six years. I am indebted to his daughter, Mrs. Samuel Bacbelder, of Cambridge, for the above portrait. ' This view is from the slope back of the fort, looking seaward. On the extreme left, in the distance, is seen Beverly. A little to the right. Misery Island. Still farther toward the right. Baker's Island light-house. On the extreme right Is Marblehead Point. 892 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Alarm yi Boston. Preparations for the Defense of the City. Citizens at WorlE on Fortifications. chusetts from their dreams of peace that any important preparations were made to repel an attack.' The people had seen the blockading squadrons from the tops of their houses, and trembled for the sg,fety of the town, but it was not until the close of August that any energetic measures were taken by the leading men of the city "August 30, toward providing for its defense. Then" a public meeting was called to 1814. consider the matter ; and a committee, consisting of Harrison Gray Otis, James Lloyd, Thomas H. Perkins, and others,, were appointed to wait on the govern- or, and present to him an address on the defenseless state of the city. They assured him. that the people were ready to co-operate in any way for the security of the cap- ital and the state. Governor Strong, whose opposition to the war was intense, listened to this appeal, and at once instituted measures for the defense of the whole line of the coast of Mas- sachusetts and of the District of Maine, its dependent. The high ground on Noddle's Island (now East Boston), known as Camp Hill,^ was chosen for the site of a new and heavy fort, and it was resolved to place its erection under the supervision of Laommi Baldwin, a graduate of Harvard College, as engineer. He issued his first official no- tice on the 10th of September, when he asked for tools and volunteers to work on the fortification. The response was patriotic. Large numbers of the inhabitants might be seen, day after day, toiling like common laborers with pickaxe, spade, shov- • el, and barrow. Every class of citizens was represented. " I remember," says an eye-witness, "the venerable Rev. Dr. Lathrop, with the deacons and elders of his church, each shouldering his shovel and doing yeoman's service in digging, shovel- ing, and carrying sods in wheelbarrows. "' The volunteers were soon numbered by hundreds. A regular system of employment was adopted, confusion was avoided, and the work went on rapidly.* The fort was completed at the close of October. On the 26th of that month it was formally named, in honor of Governor Strong, Fort Strong, Lieutenant Governor Phillips officiating as the chief actor in the ceremonies. The flag was hoisted amid the roar of artillery from Noddle's Island, North Battery, and India Wharf, and on the 29th the Selectmen of Boston announced that "the im- portant post of Fort Strong was completed," to the great joy of the people.^ Hap-' pily, it was never needed.^ A battery of heavy guns was placed on Dorchester Heights (South Boston), and other defenses were prepared on prominent points at Roxbury and Cambridge. When Commodore Hardy left Eastport he rejoined the blockading squadron off New London. He was not long inactive. He was charged with a part of the duty " 1814. enjoined in the terrible order of Admiral Cochrane, to destroy the coast toions and ravage the country, and on the 9th of August" he appeared off the bor- „n/™f th^'^Aflf "■?' i""" ^f ®*y'"'°»l' ™d i° Buzzard's Bay had caused some alarm iu Boston early in the summer ; Wnlr^l^.n!,™-f • , T^T^" ""* '='"""=" appointed the Honorable David Cobb. John Brooks, and Timothy Pickermg commissioners for the defense of the sea-coast hrlw^nfthf^r "'Pf^'™' Webster street, East Boston, near Belmont Square. The fort was between the square and brow of the hill, near the dwelling of Mr. lamson in 1860 = Funeral sermon at the burial of Dr. Lathrop, by his successor, Eeverend Dr. Parkman. Thelaw'r™/ni'j-« ^PP"J'««' y"" ^t^i-ea In a register the names of the inhabitants who offered their services, filled ^thalounf»„Ai ' f '^'^..P^'-"™!" a^ys assigned for particular classes. The newspapers of that period were ■five mlcLil Tnt f vf patriotic ardor of the people of all classes. Notices like the following appeared" "Twenty- lluo embaik frZ fr .™'''* '° ''"! v"™ '''" '*''°' °° t''^ fortifications on Noddle's Island This day (September hardware t^m«??,,„ TJJ'^^I *', '"'l^P'''* ^"^ o'clock."-S«iim,i, September 14. " Dealers in dry goods and in LLrmTned to Itf fV '^^"f.*"? ?«'") to do a day's work on Fort Strong," the name which it had already been cWilTr "aalzatiZ i^f„ f- '',?™''^^ °"""' ^^^^trial pursuits, trades, and professions, as well as military and Ste Of OcrberThkrfhP 5°°"°°^"y represented on the work. Citizens also came from the interior. The Bostin Oa- lZun^°nVthennmtr7f'^^'^^^^^^^^ On Saturday the citizens of Concord seized the highest nrre of ?w f S"""^'-*^' ^"^"'J^^^ >''l">f °° "i the punctuality of the patriotic husbandmen de- withltKm^unfedTesterty'totX^^^^^ ''"' "^'"'P""^- ^he v„,„.teers from ^ards 1, 3, and 4, together « Governor atrono- hn/i iTn^A^ 7 hundred. s Sumner's Bistary of East Boston, page 415. sage to that bodvaftltivii^^^^^ extraordinary session of the Legislature on the 5th of October, and in his short mes- war in its commeic^ment waf 1 n...^^^^^^^^ Government a blow, he said : " But, though we may be convinced that the clined to affoTo"r vTntr.;riZ nrn^r^ """""'' '*"- " ""'^ ^'""■Sh, in a war thus commenced, we may have de- ourdwellingsand^^tStairyT^rS^h^'^Sr^^^^^^ OF THE WAR OF 1812. 893 The British Squaaron off Stoaington. Surrender of the Town demanded and refused. It is bombarded. ough of Stonington, in Connecticut, for that purpose, with the BamiUies, 74, Pactolus, 44, bomb-ship Terror, the brig Dispatch, 22, and barges and launches. He anchored his little squadron within two miles of the town at four o'clock in the afternoon, a mile and a half being the nearest point to the village which the depth of water would allow the flag-ship to approach. He then sent a flag of truce ashore, bearing to the selectmen of the town the following message, dated half past five o'clock P.M. : " Not wishing to destroy the unoffending inhabitants residing in the town of Stonington, one hour is granted them from the receipt of this to remove out of the town.'" " Will a flag be received from us in return?" inquired the magistrates of the bearer of Hardy's letter. " No arrangements can be made," was the reply ; and in answer to a question whether it was the commodore's intention to destroy the town, they were assured. that it was, and that it would be done effectually. Satisfied that no accom- modation could be effected, the magistrates returned the following answer : " We shall defend the place to the last extremity; should it be destroyed, we will perish in its ruins !" The inhabitants were now in a state of great consternation. The sick and infirm, the women and children — all who were incapable of bearing arjns, left the village, and the most valuable articles were immediately removed or concealed. A few mi- litia under Lieutenant Hough were stationed on the point of the narrow peninsula on which Stonington stands, to watch the enemy and give notice of his nearer approach ; a precaution adopted none too soon, for toward sunset they reported the Terror mov- ing nearer the town by warping, accompanied by barges and launches each carrying a carronade. At eight o'clock the bomb-ship commenced throwing shell from a 13 and a 15 inch mortar, and the launches hurled rockets. This assault, grand in appear- ance but terrible in fact, was kept up until midnight, when it ceased, and it was as- certained that no life had been lost, and no serious damage inflicted on the shore. In the mean time an express had been sent to General Cushing, the United States commander of the district, who regarded the movement as a feint to cover a real at- tack on Fort Griswold, at Grdton, and an attempt to seize Decatur's frigates in the Thames above New London. He made corresponding arrangements with General Williams, the commander of the militia of the district. A regiment was ordered to Stonington; another to the head of the Mystic, to oppose the landing of the enemy there ; a company of artillery and one of infantry were sent to a point on the Thames above the frigates ; and another company of artillery and a regiment of infantry were ordered to re-enforce the garrison of Fort Trumbull, for the protection of New Lon- don. These prompt dispositions of troops disconcerted, the enemy's movements to- ward the Thames, if he ever had a design of making any. During the bombardment on the evening of the 9th, some bold spirits at Stoning- ton took measures for opposing the landing of the enemy. The only ordnance in the place consisted of two 18, one 6, and one 4 pound cannon. They dragged the 6 and one 18 pounder down to the extreme point of the peninsula, cast up some breastworks, and placed them in battery there. The other 18-pounder was left in a slight battery on the southwest point, near where the present breakwater leaves the shore. By the streaming light of the rockets they watched the approach of the enemy, reserving their fire until the barges and a launch came in a line near the southeast point of the peninsula, when they opened upon them with serious effect. The guns, loaded with solid balls were double shotted, and these so shattered the enemy's vessels that the little flotilla retreated in confusion toward the. larger warriors. From midnight until dawn quiet prevailed, and during that time considerable numbers of militia and vol- unteers assembled in the neighborhood. At daylight on the morning of the 10th the frigate Pactolus and brig Dispatch were seen making their way up nearer the town, and at the same time the barges and 1 Thiawas received by two magistrates, and Lieutenant Hough of the militia. 894 PICTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK Bombardment of Stonington. Captain Holmes and his Gun. His Flag nailed to its Staff. a launch had approached the eastern side of the peninsula, out of reach of the battery^ and commenced throwing rockets. A number of volunteers, with muskets and the 4-pounder, immediately crossed the peninsula to oppose an expected landing of the enemy, but they could effect little. The Dispatch came beating up, the Terror hurled her shells, and the rocketeers of the barges were industrious. The Pactolm ground^ ed too far distant to hurt or to be hurt, and she was not engaged in the fight that ensued. So severe was the bonibardment of the Terror that the mi- litia and volunteers who had assembled dared not enter the town. Most of the missiles went over the borough, but some of them went crashing through the village. One of them, called a carcass,' unex- ploded, may still (1867) be seen on a granite post on the corner of Main and Harmony Streets, in Stonington. It weighs two hundred and fif- teen pounds.^ At about six o'clock in the morning some bold volunteers came over from Mystic, among whom was the now (IBGY) venerable Captain Jer- emiah Holmes, who had been a prisoner in a British war-ship some years before, and had learned the art of gunnery well. He and his companions made their way to the battery on the point, when Holmes took charge of the old 18-pounder. At that moment the Dispatch was making her last tack preparatory to anchoring. Holmes sighted the gun, which was double-shot- ted with solid round balls, and at a favorable moment gave the word to fire. Both shots struck the hull of the brig. She at once cast anchor, with springs on her cable, and opened fire with 24-pound shot. The Terror sent shells in quick succession, while Holmes and his companions kept the old iron cannon busy. The fight was now fairly opened, and it continued briskly for about an hour, when Holmes's ammunition gave out, and the borough was searched in vain for more. At eight o'clock he ceased fir- ing; and to prevent the great gun, which they could not drag away, being turned upon the town by the enemy, he had it spiked. Stonington was now wholly defenseless, for the militia were at a respectful distance from danger. It was at the mercy of the invaders, and a timid citizen, who was at the battery, proposed a for- mal surrender by lowering the color that was floating over their heads. " No !" shouted Captain Holmes, indignantly, " that flag shall never come down while I am alive !" And it did not, in submission to the foe. When the wind died away, and it hung drooping by the side of the staff, the brave captain held out the flag on the point of a bayonet that the British might see it, and while in that position several shots passed through it. To prevent its being struck by some coward. Holmes held a companion (J. Dean Gallup) upon his shoulders while the latter nailed it to the staff. It was completely riddled by the British balls fired at the battery. I saw it in Stonington in the autumn of 1860, and the above engraving is a correct sketch of its appearance. The old cannon was not long silent. Six kegs of powder, taken from the privateer Halka, and belonging to Thomas Swan, had been concealed by sea-weed behind a > These carcasses -were generally made of iron hoops, canvas, and cord, of oblong shape, and filled with combusti- bles for burning towns and ships. This one is of cast-iron, and was one of the missiles filled with fetid substances, and called " Btink-pots." 2 Their weight varied from sixteen to two hundred and sixteen pounds. One of the carcasses was set on Are, and burned with a flame ten feet in height and emitting a horrible stench. Some of the rockets were sharp-pointed, others not, and all were made of thick sheet-iron, with a fuse. The rocket (which is still in use in modified form) contains in its cylindrical case a composition of nitre, charcoal, and sulphur, proportioned so as to burn slower than gunpowder. The head is either a solid shot, shell, or spherical case-shot. It has a guide-stick attached, like the common rocket in pyrotechnic displays. STONINGTON TLAQ. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 895 Captain Holmes reopens Are on the British. A Deputation sent to Hardy. The Result. Parting Shots. rock. Their hiding-place was revealed by a lad, and at about nine o'clock the pow- der was placed in care of Captain Holmes. The cannon was dragged by oxen to the blacksmith-shop of Mr. Cobb, the spiking taken out, and then it was drawn back again to the little redoubt and placed in position. To the astonishment of the Brit- ish, it reopened fire vigorously. The gun was always double-shotted, and so telling were its missiles that by noon the Dispatch was so much injure<^ that she slipped her cables and hauled off to a place of safety. The Terrw kept throwing shells until night, but she was out of reach of the little battery. During the day quite a number of militia assembled at Stonington, and General Isham took chief command. Order was soon restored, and many of the inhabitants, somewhat reassured, came back to their homes. During the afternoon, a deputation, consisting of Colonel Williams and William Lord, went with a flag to the Mamillies as bearers of a note from the authorities of the borough (signed Amos Denison, bur- gess, and William Lord, magistrate), in which Hardy was informed that all unoffend- ing inhabitants had left the village, and asked what was to be the fate of the place. They gave him assurances that no torpedoes had been fitted out from that port, and that none should be in the future ; and he agreed to cease hostilities and spare the town on condition that they should send on board the flag-ship, by eight o'clock the next morning, Mrs. Stewart, a resident of New London, and wife of James Stew- art, the late British consul at that place, who was then in the squadron. The depu- tation returned, and the Ramillies and Pactolus took station within cannon-shot of the village to await an answer, Hardy having threatened, in the event of noncompli- ance with his demand, to lay the village in ruins. At eight o'clock on the morning of the 11th, the authorities, under the direction of General Isham, sent a message to Commodore Hardy,' saying (what he already knew) that the borough of Stonington had no power to comply with the requisition. " I will wait till twelve o'clock to-day," said Hardy, " and if the lady shall not be on board my ship at that hour I shall renew the assault on the town." At three o'clock the Terror resumed the bombardment, and threw shells until even- ing. A sufficient military force had now arrived to prevent the landing of the ene- my, but they could do his shipping no harm. The night of the 11th was an anxious one for the inhabitants of Stonington. There was an ominous quietude on the water. It was broken at sunrise,* when . August 12, the Terror opened her mortars again. The BamiUies and Pactolus warped '^^*- up near the town, and at eight o'clock opened fire. At this time an order was given by General Isham for the cannon on the Point to be removed to the north end of the town where it was supposed the enemy would attempt to land. About twenty of the Norwich artillery, under Lieutenant Lathrop, volunteered to perform that peril- ous service. They did so without the slightest accident. In the mean time the BamiUies and Pactolus had given three tremendous broad- sides with spiteful vigor, which proved to be a parting salute, and quite harmless. They then withdrew, but the Terror kept up a bombardment until past noon. At four o'clock the assailants all withdrew, and the little squadron anchored far away toward Fisher's Island.^ During this whole series of assaults not a single life was lost. One person was mortally wounded,^ and five or six slightly. Among the latter was Lieutenant 1 It was signed Isaac Williams, William Lord, Alexander G. Smith, magistrates ; John Smith, warden ; George Hub- bard Amos Denison, burgesses. 2 Perkins's History, etc., of the laet War ; Reverend Frederick Denison's paper on the Bomhardmemt of Stonington^ in The Mvstic Pioneer; Oral statements to me by Captain Jeremiah Holmes j Report of General Cushing. 3 This was Frederick Denison, from Mystic Bridge, a highly-respected young man, nineteen years of age, who was in the battery with Captain Holmes. While outside of the battery relighting the match-rope with which to fire the old cannon he was struck by a ball from the Dispatch, which shattered his knee. He lingered in pain many weeks, and then died Over his grave -^ras placed a stone with the following inscription: "Jf thy country's freedom is dear to thee contempiate here congenial virtue. His life was short, but its sacrifice deserves a grnteftil recollection. His PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK THE OOBU HOUSE, Effects of the Bombardment at Stonin gton. The Numbers engaged in the Affair. The Impotency of the Attack. Hough. About forty buildings were more or less in- ^-=- - ^^ii.= jured, and two or three were nearly ruined. The rock- ets and shells set several of them on fire, but the flames were extinguished. Among the four houses then on the Point, only one remained unaltered when I visited the spot in 1860. This was known as the " Cobb House." It was ancient in form, covered on the sides with shin- gles instead of clap-boards, and presenting many a scar of wounds received during the bombardment. It stood on Water Street, not far from the site of the battery, and was owned in 1814 by Elkanah Cobb. Of my visit at Stonington and in its vicinity in the autumn of 1860 I shall write presently. The repulse of the Bi-itish at Stonington was one of the most gallant affairs of the war, and the spirit there shown by the few who conducted the defense caused Hardy and his commanders to avoid all farther attempts to capture or destroy Connecticut sea-port towns. The assailing squadron had about fifteen hundred men, while the number actually engaged in driving them away did not exceed twenty.' It was computed that the British hurled no less than fifty tons of metal on to the little pen- insula during the three days.^ The loss to the British was twenty lives, over fifty wounded, and the expenditure of ten thousand pounds sterling. The afiair spread a feeling of joy throughout the whole country, and the result was a deep mortificsr tion of British pride. The impotence of the attack was the point of many a squib and epigram.^ Hardy's easy conquest at Eastport and its vicinity encouraged the British to at- tempt the seizure of the whole country lying between Passamaquoddy Bay and the body moulders beneath this stone, but his spirit has fled to the seat of immor- tality. " There the brave youth, with love of virtue fired, Who gallantly in his country's cause expired, Shall know he conquered." In 1856 the State of Connecticut caused a handsome marble monument, eight- een feet in height, to be erected over his grave in the cemetery at Mystic, on which are the following inscriptions : Eastern Side : " Frederick Denlson, died Nov. 1, 1814, aged 19. He was mor- tally wounded by a shot from the enemy's brig-of-war Dispatch while acting as a volunteer in the defense of Stonington against the attack of the British squad- ron, August 10, 1814." Mrthem SicU: "Erected by the State of Connecticut, 1856, that the deed of patriotic devotion may be handed down to other genera- tions, inspiring them with fidelity to our liberties, and prompting them to such sacrifices as shall win their country's meed." Southern Side : "His life was his legacy, and his country his heir." The tablet with the earlier Inscription was lying near this monument. Toung Denlson was born in Stonington township on the 2Ttli of December, 1795. He heard the roar and saw the smoke of battle from Mystic on the morning.of the 10th, and, borrowing a gun, he crossed the river in a canoe, stopped a moment to speak with his sick father at the homestead, and hastened to the post of danger, where he received his death-blow. ' The following are the names which have been preserved of the most prominent of the defenders of Stonington : Jeremiah Holmes, George Fellows, Simeon Haley, Amos Denison, J. Deane Gallnp, Isaac Miner, Isaac Denlson, Hora- tio Williams, Jeremiah Haley, Asa Lee, William Lord, Nathaniel Clift, Ebenezer Denison, Frederick Denison, Pot- ter, John Miner. ' About fifteen tons were picked np by the inhabitants of Stonington, and sold to the United States government. The following advertisement appeared in a New York paper on the 19th of November following : " Jnst received, and offered for sale, about thkeb tons of botoid shot, consisting of 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, and 32 pounds, very handsome, being a small proportion which were fired from his Britannic majesty's ships on the unoffending iuhabitants of Stonington in the recent Irittiant attack on that place. Likewise a few careases, in good order, weighing about 200 pounds each. Apply to S. Tkumeui-l, 41 Pefk Slip." 3 The occasion was the theme of one of the most popular ballads of the time, written by Philip Freneau, the bard of the Eevolution, in which the impotence of the attack was set forth in the following verses : " The bombardiers, with bomb and ball, They dashed away— and, pray, what then f Soon made a farmer's barrack fall. That was not taking Stonington. And did a cow-honse sadly maul ..rm. v „ ^v ^^ , ^ ^ That stood a mile from Stonington. TT f T,? . ',wv' t'',! "•«''«'= Aew, ^ But not a shell of all they threw, " They killed a goose, they killed a hen, Though every house was full in view. Three hogs they wounded in a pen— Could burn a house in Stonington." DENISON 8 MOWTTMEKT. OF THE WAR OP 1812. 89.7 A British land and naval Expedition leaves Halifax. It appears off Castlne, at tbe Mouth of the Penobscot. Penobscot River. For this purpose a British fleet, consisting of the Buhodrje, Dragon, and Spencer, 74 guns each ; the frigates Bacchante (late from the Med- iterranean) and Tenedos ; sloops-of-w.ar SylpKa.ndL Peruvian ; and schooner Pic- ton, -with ten transports, sailed from Halifax on the 26th' of August, 1814.i The latter bore almost four thousand troops, under the command of Lieuten- ant General Sir John Cope Siierbrooke, governor of Nova Scotia, assisted by Major General Gerard Gosselin and Col- onel Douglass. The fleet was in com- ' mand of Rear Admiral Edward Griffith. It was the intention of Sherbrooke I and Griflith when they sailed to stop and take possession of Machias ; but on • August, the 30th* they learnedfrom the ^®^*- commander of the brig JRifle- man, with whom they fell in, that the United States corvette John Adams, 24, Captain Morris, had gone up the Penobscot, so they hastened to the mouth of that riv- er to blockade her. Passing up the Green Island channel, they ar- rived in the fine harbor of Castine, ofi" Cape Bigaduce,^ on which tbe pleasant village of Castine now lies, on the morning of the 1 st of September. Lieutenant Lewis, of the United States Army, with about forty men, was occupying a half-moon redoubt HALF-MOON KEDOUBT. — FOBT P0ETEB.3 which the Americans had erected in 1808. That redoubt, whose embankments were 1 The troops consisted of the 1st company of Royal Artillery ; two rifle companies of the 7th battalion of the Sixtieth Regiment ; detachments from the Twenty-ninth, Sixty-second, and Ninety-eighth Regiments— the whole divided into two brigades. 3 This is a corruption and diminutive of Ma^aMguaduce^ the Tndian name of the peninsula, which the Baron Castine, of whom I shall presently write, wrote Mcirchi-biguitiia, the « in the last syllable being prononnoed long. It is on the east side of Penobscot Bay, in full view of the ocean. 5 The engraving is a view of the remains of the Half-moon Redoubt as It appeared when I visited the spot In the au- tumn of ]860, looking southward. On the extreme left, in the distance, are Noddle's Island, Cape Rozier, and Hook's Inland. Directly, over the redoubt is seen the ocean ; on the right, the main, with a portion of the Camden Mountains. A little to the right of the redoubt is seen a snmll beacon at the eittrance tttthe March6<-bigaduce,' or Castine Cl-eek. This redoubt was to command that entrance. PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Flight of Americans from Caatine. The John AcUmc np the Penobscot Kiver. The Brifoh go np that Stream. very conspicuous on the edge of the water southward of the village when the writer was there in 1860, was armed with four 24-pounders and two field-pieces Lieuten- ant Colonel Nichols, of the Royal Engineers, who had been sent in a small schooner to reconnoitre, sent a summons to Lewis, at sunrise, to surrender. Lewis saw that resistance would be vain, so he resolved to flee. He gave Nichols a volley from his 24-pounders, then spiked them, blew up the redoubt, and, with the field-pieces^ he and the garrison fled over the high peninsula to its neck, and escaped up the Penobscot. Colonel Douglass immediately landed from the fleet at the back of the peninsula with a detachment of Royal Artillery and two companies of riflemen, and took quiet possession of Castine, and with it the control of Penobscot Bay. The number of troops landed was about six hundred. Governor Sherbrooke made the house of .Tudge Nelson his head-quarters, and the court-house and other suitable buildings were occupied as barracks for the soldiers. A number of women also were landed.^ The John Adams had just arrived from a successful cruise, and on entering Penob- scot Bay in thick weather had struck a rock and received so much injury that it was found necessary to lay her down for repairs. She was taken as far out of harm's way as possible. It was with great difficulty that she was kept afloat until she reached Hampden, a few miles below Bangor, when she was moored at Crosby's Wharf, with several feet of water in her hold. Some of her crew were disabled by scurvy, and she was almost helpless. This condition and position of the Adams was made known to Sherbrooke on landing at Castine, and he and Griffith immediately detached a land and naval force to seize or destroy that vessel, and treat the inhabitants of the towns on the Penobscot as circumstances might seem to require. The expedition consisted of the Sylph and Peruvian, a small schooner as a //^^^ ^ ^ • 9 tender, the transport brig Harmony, and nine (yt^6^. ^6/ eny^t^t^t^y launches, commanded by Captain Robert Barrie, • of the Royal Navy (commander of the Dragon, 14), who acted as commodore. The land forces, seven hundred strong, were under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Henry John, assisted by Major Riddle. The expedition sailed in the afternoon of the day of the • September 1, arrival at Castine,^ and, passing Buckston at twilight, anchored for the 1814. ' night in Marsh Bay. In the mean time Sherbrooke and Griffith had is- sued a joint proclamation, assuring the inhabitants of their intention to take posses- sion of the country between the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy, and offering them protection on condition of acquiescence. All persons taken in arms were to be pun- ished, and those who should supply the British with provisions should be paid and protected. There was no disposition among the in- habitants along the Penobscot to submit quietly unless absolutely compelled to. On the day when the expedition sailed up the river, information of the fact was conveyed by express to Captain Morris, at Castine, and he at once sent word to Brigadier General John Blake, at his home in Brewer, opposite Bangor, asking him to call out the militia immediately. Blake mounted his horse, and late in the afternoon was at Bangor, issuing or- ders for the assembling of the brigade of gbnueal blakk's kesidenob. 1 On thelst and 6th of September Sherbrooke and Griffith issued joint proclamations assuring the inhabitants ample protection and quietude if they should conduct themselves peaceably. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 899 The John Adams at Hampden. Preparations there to oppose the British. Gathering of the Militia. the tenth Massachusetts division, of which he was commander, and the same evening he rode down to Hampden. There he fjund Captain Morris engaged in preparations for defense. He had dismantled the John Adams, dragged her heavy guns to the summit of the high right bank of the Soadabscook, fifty rods from the wharf, and placed them in battery there, so as to command the river approaches from below. On the following morning Blake held a consultation with Morris, and citizens of Bangor and Hampden, on the best methods of defense, but opinions were so various that no specific determination was arrived at. Morris had not much confidence in the militia, and declined any immediate co-operation with them. He approved of a proposition to meet the foe at his landing-place, wherever that might be, and ex- pessed his resolution to destroy the Adams should the militia retreat. On the morning of the Sid, Belfast, on the western side of Penobscot Bay, was taken possession of by General Gosselin, at the head of six hundred troops, without resist- ance ; and, at the same time, the expedition under Barrie and John, after landing a detachment from the Sixtieth and Ninety-eighth Regiments at Frankfort, at the head of Marsh Bay, proceeded up the river. The detachment marched up the western side of the Penobscot unmolested, and the little squadron arrived at Bald Hill Cove, near Hampton, at five o'clock in the evening. The troops and about eighty marines were landed, and bivouacked there during the night in the midst of a drenching rain- storm. During the 2d, about six hundred raw militia, who had never seen any thing more like war than their own annual parade, assembled at Hampden, and General Blake posted them in an admirable position on the brow of the hill, where the residence of Mr. James A. Swett was standing when I visited Hampden in 1860. He had been joined by Lieutenant Lewis and forty regulars who fled from Castine. The artillery company of Blake's brigade, commanded by Captain Hammond, was there with two brass 3-pounders ; and an iron 18-pound carronade from Morris's vessel was placed in battery in the highway near the meeting-house, in charge of Mr. Bent, of the artillery. Many of the militia were without weapons and ammunition, and these were supplied, as far as possible, by Captain Morris. Such was Blake's position on the dark and gloomy morning of the 3d. Morris in the mean time had mounted nine short 18-pounders from the Adams upon his redoubt on the high bank over Crosby's Wharf, and placed the battery in charge O&OSBY'S WHAEF.l of Lieutenant Wadsworth, the first of the Adams, assisted by Lieutenants Madison and Purser. With the remainder of his guns he took position in person on the wharf, with about two hundred seamen and marines and twenty invalids, prepared to defend his crippled ship to the la st extremity. 1 This is a view of Crosby's Wharf from the mouth of the Soadabscook Creek, north side, looking south. The pi jce whpT-p th? ^Lms lav is indicated by the vessel at the end of the wharf. Hampden is seen m the distance over the wharf Toward the rieht is Crosby's old store-house, and the cleared spot to the right and above it is the place where MoiTiVs battery was pfanted. It is the property of the Honorable Hannibal Hamlin, late [1864] Vice-President of the UniSd States Another store-house, like the one seen in thepicture, stood on the end of the wharf, and was burnt when the John Adams was destroyed. 900 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The British arrive at Hampden. Panic and Flight of the Militia. The British march on Bangor; The whole region of the Penobscot was enveloped in a dense fog on the morning of the 3d The British at Bald Hill Cove had been joined by the detachment who landed at Frankfort, and at five o'clock all were in motion toward Hampden. They moved cautiously in the mist, with a vanguard of riflemen. On the flanks were de- tachments of marines and sailors, with a 6-pound cannon, a 6i-mch howitzer, and a rocket apparatus. The British vessels moved slowly up the river at the same time, within supporting distance. Blake had dispatched two flank companies to watch and annoy the approaching enemy. Between seven and eight o'clock they reported them crossing the little stream that divides Hampden Corners from Hampden, and ascending the hill to at- tack the Americans. The fog was so thick that no enemy could be seen, but Blake pointed his 18-pounder in the direction of the foe, and with his field-pieces blazed away with considerable effect, as was afterward ascertained. He had resolved to re- serve his musket-firing until the enemy should be near enough to be seriously hurt, but the ordeal of witing, without breastworks in front, was too severe for the un- tried militia. The enemy suddenly advanced at a " double-quick," finng volleys in rapid succession. The militia, panic-stricken, broke and fled in every direction, leav- ing Blake and his ofiicers alone. Lieutenant Wadsworth, at Morris's upper battery, perceived the disaster in its full extent, and communicated the fact to his chief on the wharf. Morris knew the impending danger. His rear and flank were exposed, and he saw no other way for salvation than flight. He ordered Wadsworth to spike his guns, and with his men retreat across the bridge over the Soadabscook while it was yet open, for that stream was fordable only at low water, and the tide was ris- ing. "Wadsworth did so, his rear gal- lantly covered by Lieutenant Watson with some marines. The John Adams was fired at the same time, the guns on the wharf were spiked, and the men under the immediate command of Mor- ris retreated across the Soadabscook bridge. Their commander was the last man to leaive the wharf Before he could reach the bridge the enemy were on the bank above him. He dashed across the stream, arm-pit deep, under a galling musket-firing from the Brit- ish, unhurt, and, joining his friends on the other side, retreated, with Blake, his ofiicers, and a bare remnant of his command, to Bangor. From there Mor- ris soon made his way to Portland over- land. The British took possession of Hamp- den without farther resistance, and a part of their force, about five hundred strong, with their vessels, pushed on toward Bangor. They met a flag of truce a mile from the town, witb a message from the magistrates asking terms of capitulation. ITo other was ' Charles Morris was horn in Woodstock, Connecticut, on the 26th of Jnly, 1784. He was one of the most useful men in the American Navy. He entered the service as midshipman in July, 1T99, and from that day nntll his death, a pe- riod of fifty-seven years, his furloughs and absences from active duty amounted only to two years. He was distin- guished in the Mediterranean during the wars with the Barbary powers ; and as a volunteer with Decatur in the de- OF THE WAE OF 1812. 901 Plundering at Bangor. Destruction of Vessels. Outrages at Hampden. Commodore Morris. promised excepting respect for private property. They entered the village at about ten o'clock,'' when Commodore Barrie gave notice that, if required, sup- plies should be cheerfully sent in, the inhabitants should be unharmed " s^P'^"'^^'^ ^■ in persons and property. This assurance was scarcely uttered before Barrie gave tacit license to his sailors to plunder as much as they pleased ; and almost every store on the western side of the Kenduskeag Creek, which there enters the Penobscot, was robbed of all valuable property. Colonel John, on the contrary, did all in his power to protect the inhabitants. The British remained at Bangor thirty-one hours, during which time they were quartered on the inhabitants, and compelled them not only to bring in and surrender all their arms, military stores, and public property of every kind — even a few dollars in the post-office — but to report themselves prisoners of war for parole, with the agreement that they would not take up arms against the British. They compelled General Blake to come to Bangor, surrender himself as a prisoner, and sign the same parole. One hundred and ninety citizens were thus bound to keep themselves from hostilities. When, this work was accomplished, the selectmen were required to give a bond, in the penal sum of $30,000, as a guaranty for the delivery of vessels on the stocks at Bangor to the commander at Castine by the end of October. The speedy appearance of peace canceled this bond. Having finished their work, and despoiled the inhabitants of property valued at $23,000, and destroyed several vessels,' the marauders left Bangor, and spent the 5th in similar employment at Hampden. There the soldiers and sailors, unrebuked by Barrie, performed scenes which had been enacted at Havre de Grace under the eye of Cockburn. They committed the most wanton acts of destruction. The village meeting-house (now the town-house — see engraving, next page) was desolated. They tore up the Bible and Psalm-books, and demolished the pulpit and pews. They de- stroyed cattle and hogs as at Havre de Grace. They carried away much private property, and compelled the selectmen to sign a bond for $12,000 as a guaranty for the delivery of vessels at Hampden to the commander at Castine.^ This bond shared struction of the PhUadelpMa, he was the first on her deck. He was a lieutenant when the War of 1813 broke out, and was the executive officer of the Ccm^itution at the time of her escape from a British squadron (see page 439), and her capture of the Guerriere: In that action he was shot through the body by a musket-ball. He was promoted to post captain in Septemberj 1813, for special services, and took command of the John Adajms sloop-of-war. The following year, as we have seen in the text, he was compelled to destroy his vessel. The war closed soon afterward, and he was employed in im- portant services. He was captain of the BrOftidyiviTiA when she conveyed La Fayette back to I^ance in 1825; and he afterward commanded squadrons on the Brazil and Mediterranean stations. His last cruise was in the Delaware in 1844, after which he was almost cbnflniially at the head of one of the bureaus in the Navy Depart- ment at Washington. At the time of his death, which occurred at Washington on the 2Tth of January, 1856, he waschiefoftheBureauofHydrographyandEepairs. No man in the navy ever stood higher in the estimation ; '} of his countrymen for wisdom and integrity. He was % " buried, with appropriate honors, upon a beautiful wood- - ,^ ed slope in Oak Hill Cemetery, near Georgetown, in the District of Columbia, and over his grave is a beautiful white marble monument, delineated in the engraving, with this simple inscription on its western side, under an anchor enwreathed : " Com. Chaei.es Mobbis. Eobn Jdiy 26, 1784. Died Jahuaey 27, 1856." • ' The number of vessels burned was fourteen, and six were carried away. The entire property destroyed or carried away from Bangor was valued at $46,000.— Wil- liamson's Hiatory of Maine, i\., 648, note *. " Hielory of Acadie, Penobscot Bay and, River, etc., by Joseph Whipple, 1816 ; MS. History of the British the Pemiscot, by. the late William D. Williamson, author of a History of the State of Maine. ooAiMonoKE morris's monume.vt. Operations mi 902 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Loss of Property at Hampden. General Blake censured, but acquitted. Castine in the Revolution. the fate of the one given at Bangor. The total loss of property at Hampden, exclu- sive of a valuable cargo of brandy, wine, oil, and silk which they found on board the schooner Commodore Decatur, was estimated at $44,000.1 The indignant sufferers OLD MEEII^■a-noroE (MOW Town-HouBB), HAMPMN.^ chargcd a greatcr portion of their misfortunes to the feeble resistance made by General Blake at Hampden. His tardiness ; his non-compliance with the wishes of Morris and others to attack the en- emy at their landing-place ; his neglect to throw up breastworks on the ridge at Hampden, and other evidence of inefficiency, were regarded as crimes; and he was charged with cowardice, and even treason. The clamor against him was vehement for some time. He was hung, shot, and burned in effigy f and for a while his per- sonal safety was not considered secure in some districts. The public indignation finally cooled, and sober judgment, on considering the crude materials of his little force, acquitted him of every other fault but a lack of competent military ability and experience for the extraordinary occasion. A court of inquiry investigated his con- duct, and acquitted him of censure or suspicion.* On the 12th of September Sherbrooke and Griffith, with most of the troops and a greater part of the fleet, left Penobscot Bay, and, after capturing Machias,^ returned to Halifax. General Gerard Gosselin, a gentleman ia manners and a brave soldier, was left in command at Castine, and immediately pi-epared to maintain his position by thoroughly repairing the fortifications there. Old Fort George, in the centre of the peninsula, which was built by the British in 1779,^ was repaired, fraised, and 1 In the midst of the rapine a committee waited on Barrie, andtold him th^t the people expected at his hands the common safeguards of hvmianitu, if nothing more, when' the brutal officer replied, " I have none for you. My business ia to bnra, sink, and destroy. Your town is taken by storm, and by the rules of war we ought both to lay your village in ashes and put its inhabitants to the sword. But I will spare your lives, though I don't mean to spare your hoases." — Fi'Mmmsfm's History o/Maiiie, ii., 646. = This is a view of the old meeting-honse, now used as a tovra-house, as it appeared in the autumn of 1860. On the left is seen the old hearse-house, and in the distance is seen the dwelling of Mr. Swett, mentioned on page 899 as the position of General Blake when attacked by the British on the morning of the 3d of September. 3 A small building was yet standing in Hampden when I was there in 1860, in which the eflBgy of General Blake was made. It was a cabinet-maker's shop, the property of George C. Eeed, standing about ninety rods from the town- house. In one corner of it I saw a post into which a cannon-ball entered dur- ing the action, and was still lodged. In the shop was a rade candelabra, used on the occasion of exhibiting the efflgy. That shop is one ofthe scarred relics of the flght, and is represented in the annexed engraving. * Williamsou's History of Mai'm, ii., 649. s Machias is on the west branch ofthe Machias Eiver, and capital of Wash- ington County, Maine. At the time we are considering, the fort at that place was garrisoned by fifty United States troops and ten militia, under the com- mand of Captain Leonard. When the British appeared, and it was evident that the fort conld not be held, it was blown up, and the garrison retreated to the block-house near. They were forced to fly from that, and escaped. ' In 1779, the British, under General Francis M'Lean, took possession of the peninsula of Bigaduce [see note 2, page 897], and commenced the erection of ^>,^^>ZJ'^^ m"'^ "^J™' "f,!' °^'5' '"°^ 7"^^ r""'^ of Massachusetts resolved to expel them, for they were on wltv wZ;!lr'f. vl ^'^ \?^P^"^^°' """^ Old Bay State. They sent a fleet of nineteen armed vessels and e^ri nvpripTZtr^ir -«^"'°'* four thousand men Commodore Saltonstall was the naval commander, and Gen- T}^^IaI • ,T\ ^^*" was informed of this expedition four days before its arrival in Penobscot Bay, and Zmf.- ™°Tv, ? Americans They arrived on the 25th of July, and landed on the 28th. They at once com- ?eorl m 3 °"''\^'"-'' ™a ''™'""'«d n until the 13th of August, when Lovell was informed of the arrival of Sir tm«T. ■ f7 °^™' '"'11 ^^ 5«"n«aiately re-embarked his troops on the transports, and had the flo- toe rfveToollTpfsX hn'ir -""f *^ f,^°''^««ot, to dispute the passage until the troops iu the boats could flee up to find tLir Iv Ll l^^i^h^^"' " nf * "" ^r"S"?'. "" "■" "™''' ^^^'^y^* «" ">eir vessels, and compelled them OT o? the Wnr wilderness. The British then completed the fort, which they iamed G^ge, in hon- The Twenty-ninth British Eegiment. that was at the taking of Castine, was the same that was stationed at Boston BEET) S SHOP. OF THE WAE OF 1812. 903' New military Works at Castine. armed. The half- moon re- doubt was rebuilt. In vari- ous parts of the peninsula new works were thrown up ;i and through the E"eck, from Hatch's Cove to Perkins's Back Cove, a canal was cut. General Gosselin issued a » October 31, proclamation,*, by ^^^*' which he directed all the male inhabitants be- tween the Penobscot and the boundary-lme of New Bruns- wick, above sixteen years of age, to take an oath of alle- giance to his majesty,^ and also of neutrality. By the latter they agreed that they would peaceably and quietly An Oath of Allegiance exacted. Popularity of General Gosselin. EEMAIMB OF FOET 0£01t&E. ^^^f-i:^^-'?-^ demean and conduct themselves while in that territory ; that they would not carry arms, harbor Brit- ish deserters, nor give intelligence to the king's enemies during the current war.3 The select- men of different towns were authorized to administer these oaths of allegiance and neutrality ; and the permanent occupation of the country by the British was quietly accepted by the inhabitants as an inevitable necessity. General Gosselin made himself very popular at Castine. The officers were quar- tered in private houses, and paid fairly for all they received from the inhabitants." The soldiers were housed in the court-house and public school building. The bam of Mr. Hook, the collector of the port,* was converted into a theatre, and play-act- ors from Halifax afforded much amusement. Had these new-comers been friends in- stead of enemies, the inhabitants of Castine would have enjoyed their visit, notwith- standing the citizens suffered many inconveniences. It was not very long. Peace was proclaimed early in 1815, and on the 25th of ApriP the British sailed out of Penobscot Bay.* The event was celebrated by the people with festivities at the time of the "massacre" there in 17T0. The celebrated Sir John Moore, whose Imrial was the subject of Wolfe's immortal poem, commencing "Not a ghn was heard, nor a funeral note," etc., was an ensign in this regiment, and, in a letter to a friend, said that the first time he ever heard an enemy's gun was at Castine on the occasion in question. He then commanded a picket. 1 The following defensive works garnished the peninsula at the close of the year : Fort George ; batteries Sherbrooke, Gosselin, Penobscot, Griffith, Fiirieuse, Oastine, and United States ; a redoubt called Fort Anne ; little batteries on North and West Points, and a block-house. Battery Castine was old Fort Castine, now in the village, and Battery United States was the half-moon redoubt blown np by Lewis. It was originally called Fort Porter, it having been construct- ed by an officer of that name in 1808. " The following was the form of the oath of allegiance, copied from an original, in manuscript, before me : " I, A. B., do swear that I will be faithful, and bear true allegiance to his majesty King George the Third. So help nie God." 3 The seal and signature of General Gosselin above given I copied from his proclamation in manuscript. * See note 1, page 904 ' Mr. Hook had the good fortune to escape from Castine with the public papers before the British landed. " Hiatory vf Acadie, Penobscot Say and River, by Joseph Whipple, 1816 ; Bistory of the State of Maine, by William D. Williams, in two volumes, 1832 : MS. Nwrratim of the War in Maine, placed in the author's hands by the Hon. Joseph Williamson, of Belfast ; Oral and written statements to the author by Dr. John Mason and the widow of the Eev. Wil- 904 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Departure of the British from Penobscot Bay. Visit to historic Places on the New England Coast. and rejoicings. Within a few days aft- ^ G? yr:;^7~^r\(n / t- ^^"^^'"'^ '^''* ^'i armed enemy remained ^C^CA.riftJ'hpJl, ^^j^^irO^AJl/ '^'^^4/ westward of the St. Croix River and y^ g I Passamaquoddy Bay. Peace, joy, tran- y lrk'^'==^ < quillity, and prosperity came with the \^ birds and blossoms in the spring of 1 8 1 5 ; and from that day until now no foreign enemy has ever appeared on our coast ' with hostile intentions, and probably never-Aviilr' ■ ^^ I visited most of the places mentioned in this chapter in the month of Novem- ber, 1860. Leaving New York in the afternoon of the 16th, I arrived in Bos- ton at midnight, and spent three days there visiting men and places associated with the War of 1812, in company with a friend,^ to whom I had been indebted MEMENTO OP THE BEITIBH AT OASTINE. , ' . xy^^Kjvx^y* for kind attentions and information while seeking materials for my Pictorial Meld-book of the Revolution twelve years before. In East Boston' we visited Mr. Samuel Dillaway, who was a soldier and a priva- teersman in the war. He was captured on board the privateer Sine qua non, put into a prison-ship at Gibraltar, sent to England, and finally exchanged. He informed us that the authorities in charge of the exchange of prisoners, and sending them in cartd ships to America, generally subjected their victims to as much annoyance as possible. They were in the habit of sending prisoners whose homes were in the Northern States to some Southern port, and those from Southern States to Northern ports. This produced exasperation, and in many instances the prisoners rose and took possession of the ship. That was the case when Mr. Dillaway came in the brig Shakespeare. The captain was ordered to a Southern port. The prisoners took pos- session of the ship and sailed her into Boston. We went to the site of Fort Strong, in East Boston,* saw some of its remaining mounds, and then started to visit Fort Warren, on Governor's Island, which became ' famous as a prison for political ofienders during the late Civil War. The sea was too rough for a skifi", and we contented ourselves with gazing at the venerable fort- ress from the highest part of East Boston. We turned, and in a two-wheeled chaise rode over to Charlestown, dined with Mr. Frothingham, the accomplished author of The Siege of Boston,^ who then lived in the shadow of Bunker's Hill Monument, on Monument Square, and with him visited Mr. Byron, one of the last survivors of the crew of the frigate Constitution: He was a Baltimorean and a musician. He en- tered the land service, but, preferring the sea, became a fifer on board the Constitu- tion, a^A was made a "minute-man;" that is to say, one ready to fight at a mo- ment s warnmg. As such he fought gallantly in the actions of that vessel, and was highly commended by his superiors. Mr. Byron was lively and fluent in conversa- tion, and entertained us for an hour with grave and humorous narratives of his expe- rience in the service. He has passed away since my visit. "S Judg^^'wiiiiltoSst"' """• "''""• "' ^^^P'^" ' "'• ■^°^«P'' ^- «'«™"^ -* «™-' ^- ^°y-' of yL''<^l^ri^^T°°^'}:^f^''},t ?''"." ™^ y^' '" ^^'^t^-x^^ ^ben I visited that place in 1860. It was an ont- lot, of the BrftSh Armv with „ .° '!>« American flag, and the words "Yankee Doodle upset," cut hy Lieutenant EI- were quartered T^^^^^ ,? * wrndow-pane in the honse of Mrs. Whitney, where some of the oflicers Se aZe engra^^nt is^aT. «fi v %Tf ^^^ °'^\ ^^ " *^^ '^''' "' '"^ *™« °^ ">? "=" »•>«* ™^ "<>« badly cracked. ;xX™s"^\rcotr^y,;rh=nt'^^^^^^^^^^^^ ireTof'^'^^"-"^'- 'ifM(or|,o/«AeSi^eo/B<,8to, etc., by Richard Frothingham, Jnn. rage 892. OP THE WAR OF 1812. Navy Yard at Charlestowri. 905 The Figure-head of the Constitution. The Place of her Construction. BILLET-HEAD. At Chai-lestown we visited the national dock-yard, and at the head of the di-y-dock saw upon a post, over a lamp, the billet-head which the Constitution had borne during her bat- tles in the War of 1812.' It was the one which Commodore Elliott removed in 1834 while she was lying at that station, and put in its place a bust of General Jackson, then President of the United States. The substitution of that image for the old billet-head which had braved the storms of battle and the seas during the War of 1812 was considered an unpatriotic act, and was vehemently denounced by the Opposition as a partisan outrage. Elliott was assailed in newspapers, hand- bills,2 and speeches, and was threatened with violence in anonymous letters if he did not remove the obnoxious efii- gy. He disregarded all complaints ; so, one night, early in July,^ during a fearful storm of wind, lightning, and rain, a daring young man from New York went out to ° "^*' the ship in a skiff, sawed off the head of the image, and car- ried it to Boston. Great efforts were made to "fiiscover the mutilator of a government vessel, but in vain. The excite- ment died away, and at near the close of Jackson's adminis- tration the iconoclast went to Washington City, called on the President, frankly acknowledged his exploit, and assured him that it was only a " young man's dare-devil adventure." He amused more than angered the President, who told him he should not be harmed.^ In the museum of the Navy Yard at Charlestown we saw a beautiful alabaster model of the monument erected to the memory of Lieutenant Allen, at Hudson, New York. Under it, in a glass-case, were a lock of Allen's hair, and the bullet which caused his death. We found little else of interest connected with the history of the War of 1812, and, after a brief visit to Bunker's Hill Monument, returned to Boston. On the following day the writer went out to Salem by railway, sixteen miles from Boston, and visited Fort Pickering, Marblehead, and other points of interest, in com- pany with a citizen of Salem. It was a cold November morning, and with difficulty the pencil was used in sketching the exterior of Fort Pickering, seen on page 891, and the view of the interior (see next page), drawn while standing on the southern ram- parts of the fortification, looking northward toward Beverly. This fort was built in 1798, and named in honor of the eminent Timothy Pickering, who was born in that town, and whose remains lie buried in its soil. It was an irregular work, occupied about an acre of ground^ and commanded the harbor and the entrance to the North ' The original figure-head of the Constitution was a bust of Hercules. It was shot away In the Tripolitan war [see Chapter VT], and its place supplied with the tillet-head delineated in the engraving. 2 One of these, posted about the streets of Boston, was headed, "Feeemen, awake! ob the Constitution will SINK ! !" It then went on to say that the President had issued orders "for a colossal figure of his royal self, in Boman costnme, to be placed as a figure-head on Old Ieonsides." It appealed to the most excitable people and passions to *' save the ship" by the cry of " all hands on deck." It asked the citizens to assemble at Faneuil Hall to take action against the outrage. "North Enders !" It exclaimed, " shall this Boston-built ship be thus disgraced without remon- strance ? Let this wooden god— this old Koman, bnilded at the expense of three hundred dollars of the people's money, be presented to the office-holders, who glory in such worship, but, for God's sake, save the ship from this foul disgrace." It was signed " A North Endee." The Constitution was built where Constitution Wharf now is, at what was. called, even before the Eevolution, The North End— that is, of Boston. It was the place for ship-building, and fl-om the Eevolution until the War of 1812 it was the focns of great political power. Samuel Adams was bom in that section of the town, and always had great influence with the people there. The caulkers were a numerous class, and with these Adams held many secret meetings when the revolutionary movements were going on from 1764 to 17t4. These were known as the " Caulkers' meetings," where revolutionary measures were proposed and perfected. From this fact has come the word caucus in our political nomen- clature— the private gathering of politicians to arrange for a political campaign. It is said that these caulkers of Adams's time were mostly descendants of the Huguenots. 3 Oral statement to the author by the adventurer. He is yet (1S67) living— a small, fearless, shrewd, energetic busi- ness man, with a character above reproach in private life. Upon his address card he yet has the device of a hand-saw, and the words of Csesar— "I came, I sato, I conquered," in allusion to the exploit of his earlier days. 906 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Foita Pickering and Lee. Salem Harbor and its Surroundings. Situation of Marbleliead. and South Rivers, as the es- tuaries are called which em- brace the peninsula. Its em- bankments, composed of earth and stone, excepting the brick wall in the rear (see picture on page 891), were about eight feet in height, and well preserved. The officers' quar- ters (seen on the right), built of brick, and shaded by balm of Gilead trees, were well pre- served. There the keeper. Sergeant Reuben Gaboon, re- sided. He was seventy-one years of age when I was there. He was a soldier on the North- • • loEi rioKEEiHG, HEAE SALEM, IK isco. gj.jj frontier lu 1812, and yet carried a ball in his leg which he received at the battle of Plattsburg. His wife was his only companion. Not far from Fort Picker- -_„-_^- -_- _ ^ ing we passed the remains of Port Lee, near the house- of Mr. Welch, at the western end of the causeway leading to Winter Island. It was an ir- regular work, built at the be- ginning of the War of 1812, and occupied a very com- manding position, egpeciallj^ as the guardian of Beverly Harbor. It also commanded Salem Harbor, in a degree. Prom its mounds, now eight or ten feet in height, we ob- tained fine views of Salem, Beverly, and the whole outer harbor. The water which it was chiefly designed to watch over and protect was the estuary called Bass River. It extends up to Danvers, or Old Salem Village,^ and was the one spanned by the famous "Leslie Bridge"^ of the Revolution. Returning to Salem, we rode out to Marblehead. After passing a fine avenue skirt- ed with lofty elms, we, crossed the Porest River, near the Porest City Mills, and, as- cending the gentle slope of Marblehead promontory, soon came to the village lying at the head of a bay m which there is a good harbor. The village is situated among roclfs.and the street Imes are so irregular in some places that it appears as if the houses might have dropped from the clouds, and the ways among them had been laid out atterward. It was quite natural for the celebrated Whitefield, on entering the Witl'craft "^lud Zr^fh?/'™" ^^"''fr"" "^^^'''^ «™' settlement in 1628. There was the scoie of" Salem « ton^a bim loose, and told him to go auTat rfnPh,n» H T.^ » ^ u K ^'^"X"^^ '" '^^''^ >>""• S™e benevolent white people helped Mm on to the Ohio, o??he famTnf hl.m <=°"f t'O" of houses around Port Washington, he took the name of Van Meter, borne by som^ ot the lamily of his kind master of the Shenandoah Valley mfnTe7and r^npltw,"" °^ "a T"!^ '" ^'^ ^^r?, ^'"'^' ™* '^"^^ ^ «>« '=<"»P''°y' ^ *"« Northwest, with that com- men wUh hortrh, wTTf^ r" ^^^IITJ"^ V?^' "' ""^^ "^"S " Chillicothe, and came East with some English- o rerd and writ'e '^ Wh»f ^ f ' ^''/''^'f ^'P^?- 1° the latter city some Quakers sent him to school, and he leLed fuslv be^n t^E ln7„» " '^ t- ^'°^ "'" ^^ '"'PP'^ "' * """""""^ «""" ™ the privateer LawreJe, having previ- Trt^h Xn h^rt'^hor/'l'^r '° fl ^r' "Tt^' ""* ^"^ "^^'^ *°"' nanmoor he held a pri.e ticket which was ^yl^;tver^rsrh?:fd xt r :r;ecov?ea"hist:st'^^^ " '"- ^^™"^ '"- ^'^'^^" ^°"''"- ^"^ -='" ^'^^ Bay'^^^t tantCrsituatd nin?™-'' ^"^^^"I-^^^"!' "^ ">e west side of the Acushnet Elver, an arm of Buzzard's nSed^trrh^hr'froi"^^^^ OF THE WAR OF 1812. ■913 The Fort at Fair Haven. Captain Lemuel Akin. Providence. New London. Stonington. rode into the parade of the ruined fortress as far as the rocks would allow. The re- mains of the fort were upon a very rough cape opposite New Bedford, and a mile be- low the Acushnet Bridge and causeway. It was called Fort Phoenix, and was little more than an 8 or 10 gun battery, whose walls were of hewn stone and earth. Sev- eral of the iron cannon (24-pounders) with which it was armed were lying within it, never having been removed since they were placed there in 1812. The storm was beating so furiously as it came driving in from the sea that our horse became very restive; so the kind Doctor stood out in the blind ing tempest, and held him in quietude while, t under the cover of the little carriage, I made the annexed sketch of the interior of the fort with all possible dis patch.i Then we re turned to Fair Haven village, and rode out to the residence of Cap tain Lemuel Akin, an exceedingly intelli gent and Well-read gen- tleman, whose home had been on the sea during a large portion of his long life.^ For the good cheer with which he welcomed us, and for much valuable information which he gave me then, and afterward in letters, I feel grateful. While at his house the storm abated somewhat. We rode back to New Bedford, and in the afternoon I traveled by railway to Providence, Rhode Island, where I passed Thanksgiving Day most profitably with Dr. Usher Parsons, the surgeon of the Lawrence, Perry's flag- ship at the time of the battle of Lake Erie, whose name and record of services are familiar to the readers of this volume. From this last survivor of Perry's commis- sioned officers I received much valuable and minute information concerning the army and navy on the Niagara frontier and on Lake Erie.^ Dr. Parsons is still (1867) liv- ing, in the enjoyment of excellent health of body and mind. Early on the morning of the 29th* I left Providence for New London, « November, on the Thames, fifty miles westward, where I spent the day, as already re- ^^**'- corded in the latter part of Chapter XXX. of this work. At sunset I left for Ston- ington, a few miles eastward, and became the guest of Dr. George E. Palmer, whose house bears evidence of the cannonade in 1814. On the following morning, accom- panied by Dr. Palmer, I visited places of interest about Stonington, among others the old arsenal at the upper end of Main Street, in which were two or three cannon. It KEMAIN8 OF FOET PHtEMIS, FAIB HAVEN. ' Between the walls of the fort and the wooden building more in the foreground is seen Ceres Island, with the city of New Bedford beyond. Since my visit the fort has been revived. " For five months," Dr. Swasey wrote to me in September, 1861 (six months after the great Civil War had begun), " the old fort has been thoroughly repaired, and gar- risoned by the Home Guard of New Bedford and Fair Haven. How little did yon or I dream of the events and neces- sities which have brought about this change, as we stood on that old place that day when yon sketched the fort ! How mild and gentle was even that storm that beat on our unsheltered heads compared with the tempest of war that has since ^burst over our beloved land 1" 2 Mr. Akin was engaged in the merchant service. He was captured off the Carolina coast by the British A'igate Severn, taken to Amelia Island, and sent from there to Bermuda, where he was exchanged. Captain Akin died In 1S67, at the age of seventy-five years. ' See^Chapter XXV. 3M 914 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK The Hero of Stonington and his Wife. The Elm Grove Cemetery. The Denison Family. AB8BNAL AT STOMINGTON. ward, the joyful news of peace came, and the men of Stonington and Mystic were celebra- ting the event at a public dinner, Mrs. Holmes, justly consid- ering her sex entitled to recognition in the public demonstrations of delight, procured some powder, and,with the aid of other young women, loaded and fired, with her own hands, a heavy cannon, in joyful commemora- tion of the great event. She bears the distinc- tion of having fired the first salute in that re- gion as a voice of wel- come to Peace. While at Mystic we was a brick building, somewhat altered since the war, when the door was in the centre where the arch is seen? To-ward noon we rode over to Mystic, to visit the ven- erable hero. Captain Holmes, who performed so conspic- uous a part in the defense of Stonington, as already re- lated in this chapter. We found him and his aged wife in the enjoyment of good health of mind and body, and such is still their condition.'' » December, Mrs. Holmes is a small woman, and retains •'^*^- many marks of the beauty of her earlier years. She was as energetic and patriotic as her husband, and did all a woman could do at the trying time when Stonington was attacked. When, several months after- bemison's gratb, mybtio. visited the beautiful Elm Grove Cemetery, in which, as we have observed in note on page 896, the State of Con- necticut erected a monument to the memory of Freder- ick Denison, who lost his life in defense of Stonington. Near that monument was one (delineated in the annexed engraving) in commemoration of the first of his family who resided in that vicinity ;i and near it (seen to the left of the monument in the picture) was the first tomb- stone erected in the town of Stonington.^ It is of dark famnv""™.!,' n.t '^iiTi»f '°^™lf ""^ "George Denison, a first settler in Stonington, and founder of the Denison S^pt 26, imfa^ed 97 e" s'"*^ ''^"'' ''™* '' "^"^^ *"■ "" «««'=™«'"i's ^ 1866. Ann B., his wife, died v.l,L'" °T^*! '■°".°™S Inscription: "Here lyes y" body of Ann Denison, who died Sept. y 26th, 1712, aged 97 years. This stone is about twenty inches to height. The modem monument is of granite, fifteen feet in height. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 915 Baron de Steuben's Gold Box. The faithful Daughter. Return Home. slate, with the cherub on the arched upper part, "which was a fashionable ornament a hundred and fifty years ago. We returned to Stonington toward sunset, and called on the Rev. Mr. "Weston, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, where we saw the beautiful gold box in which the freedom of the city of New York was publicly presented to the Baron de Steuben by the hands of his old friend and aid-de-camp. General North. Around its edge was the following inscription: "Presented by the Corporation of the City of New York, with the Freedom of the City.'''' On the lid are the arms of the city, engraved by Maverick. We also saw, in the course of the evening, the famous Stonington flag, delineated on page 894, bearing sixteen stars, the then number of States in the Union. It is bunting, about six yards in length and three yards and a half in width. It was in the possession of Captain Francis Amy, of Stonington. During that evening I heard many relations of stirring incidents connected with the attack on Stonington. I will repeat only one, a touching narrative of a dying mother and her faithful daughter. The mother (Mrs. Hall) was a poor woman, liv- ing in the old barracks near the " Cobb House" (page 896), in the last stages of con- sumption, and exposed to the British balls when they were hurled upon the town. The people had fled in terror, and none but Huldah, the daughter of the dying wom- an, remained. She was faithful. Sometimes, when the balls came crashing through the building, she would fly to the cellar, and sometimes to the garret, and then im- mediately return to the bedside of her mother. At length two or three soldiers rushed into the building, and bore the poor woman away on her bed to the burying- ground near the present Watawanuc^ Institute, by the railway, where they thought she would be safe. Just as they hadlaid her on the greensward, a bomb-shell struck near and exploded, by which a deep trench was scooped from the earth. The shock was too much for the poor woman, and she expired! In the grave dug by the shell she was hastily buried, and then the faithful Huldah hurried away to a place of great- er safety. At a late hour in the evening I bade adieu to Dr. Palmer and his excellent family, rode over to New London, and then embarked in a stanch steamer for New York, where we arrived the next morning at the beginning of the first snow-storm of the season. I had seen snow but once before since my departure from the city, and that was on the summits of the lofty Katahdin mountains of Maine, while viewing them from the hills around Bangor at a distance of almost a hundred miles in the far north- east. So ended a delightful and instructive visit to the eastern coast district of New En- gland, where I gleaned much valuable materials for History, and enjoyed open-hand- ed hospitality that can never be forgotten by the recipient. > Watawannc was the Indian name for the Bite of Stonington. 916 PICTOBIAL FIELD-BOOK The National Capital in Peril. Events suggesting Danger. Strange Apattiy of the Government. CHAPTER XXXIX. " A veteran host, by veterans led, With Hobs and Cockbum at their head, They came— they saw— they burned — and fled I They left our Congress naked walls- Farewell to towers and capitols ! To lofty roofs and splendid halls ! To conquer armies in the field Was, once, the surest method held To make a hostile country yield. The warfare now the invaders make Must surely keep us all awake, Or life is lost for freedom's sake. Philip Feeheait. , HILE the events recorded in the preceding chapter were occurring on the New England coast, others of a more important character in the vicinity of Chesapeake Bay were attracting public atten- tion. We have already observed how audaciously the British op- erated along the shores of the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays during the year 1813, continually menacing not only the smaller coast villages, but the larger cities. The national capitg,! itself, situated at the head of the navigation of the Potomac, was in peril at times, and yet the government seemed to have been paralyzed by a strange delusion— a conviction that the British would never attempt to penetrate the country so far as the city of Washington, and that the archives of the nation were safe there. Tokens of danger were not wantiag. Fir^t came intelligence, late in January, that four thousand Brit- ish troops destined for the United States had landed at Bermuda. This was followed by the appearance of Admiral Cockbum, the marauder, in Lynnhaven Bay, on the 1st of March, with a 74 line-of-battle ship, two frigates, and a brig, and who commenced at once the practice of his wicked amphibious warfare. At the close of April a ves- sel from Europe brought the startling news of the downfall of Napoleon; and soon afterward came the announcement of his abdication and retirement to Elba, and the probable release of a large British force that might be sent to America For several months previous to the advent of Cockburn, thoughtful men had called the attention of the President and his constitutional advisers to the exposed state of the entire District of Columbia, and especially the capital, and to the importance of adoptmg vigorous measures for its defense.' The President appears to have feared danger, but his cabmet were unmoved. Even when the foe was so near that the booming of his cannon could almost be heard, they could not be impressed with a sense of impending danger; and on the 14th of May the government organ (National Intelhgmcer^) said: "We have no idea of the enemy attempting to reach the vicin- ity of the capital; and if he does, we have no doub t he will meet such a reception as 1 So early as the middle of July, the previous year, when the enemy were no nearer the capital than at the time in /Cij/' I /7 question, General Philip Stuart, of the Maryland militia, of- ^1^ A A fered a resolution in Congress for the distribution of arms //^^ / /Y^ among the people of the District of Columbia and the mem- ^^ c-^t^C^^^ hers of Congress for the defense of the capital. f — in mf '"'"' '' '™ ^''"^ ^"'"'■'"^ "' Washington City, and. until recently, by Gales and Seaton, the proprietors q/cum/)V OF THE WAR OF 1812. 917 A Dearth of Troopa for the Def epse of Washington. The Government alarmed. The President's Plan for Defense. he had a sample of at Craney Island. The enemy knows hetter than to trust him- self abreast of or on this side of Port Washington." This idle boast and the govern- ment apathy were terribly rebuked a little more than three months afterward by British arms and British torches. At that very time hostile marauders were in the waters of the Potomac, and their leaders, employing competent spies, had made them- selves perfectly acquainted with the condition of the country, and of military affairs around "Washington. June came, and yet there was strange apathy in oflScial circles, and very little prep- aration for defense. In the entire Fifth Military District, of which the District of Columbia was a part, there were only two thousand one hundred and fifty-four effect- ive enlisted men, of whom one half were at Norfolk, one quarter at Baltimore, and the remaining quarter divided between An- napolis, Fort Washington, and St. Mary's. There were, besides, only a company of ma- rines in the barracks at Washington, and a company of artillery at Fort Washington (late Fort Warburton), on the Potomac, twelve miles below the capital. Five hund- red recruits for the regular army from North Carolina, under Lieutenant Colonel Clinch,^ who had been in camp near Washington for the purpose of drill and exercise, were al- lowed to leave for the Northern frontier quite late in June, when the public mind was filled with alarm because.of the men- aces of the enemy. At length the government was aroused to a sense of danger and responsibility by in- telligence that a number of the largest class of transports had been fitted out at Ports- month, England, " as well as all troop-ships in that port," for the purpose, it was believed, of going to Bordeaux and taking on board there the most effective of Wellington's reg- iments and conveying them to the United States. This was confirmed at near the close of June by the arrival at New York of a cartel from Bermuda, which brought intelligence that she left at- that port " a fieet of transports, with a large force, bound to some port in the United States, probably the Potomac." Official intelligence of this fact reached the government on the 26th, and on the 1st of July the President called a caTjinet council and laid before them a well-considered plan of defense against threatened invasion, which had been suggested, if not actually prepared, by General William H. Winder, who had lately been exchanged, and had returned from Canada.^ It contemplated the establishment of a camp of regular troops, two or three thousand strong, somewhere between the Eastern Branch of the Potomac- and the Patuxent Rivers, in Maryland, and the concentration of ten thousand militia in the vicinity of Washington City. ^,0^'-/r&^'^^>'^-'^^ 1 Duncan L. Clinch was one of the n}ost meritorious officers in the TTnlted States service. He was a native of North Carolina and' entered the army as first lieutenant of infantry in 1808, and was soon made regimental paymaster. He was promoted to captain in 1810, and lieutenant colonel in August, 1813. At the close of the war he was retained in the army and was promoted to colonel in 1819. In 1829 he was breveted brigadier general for ten years' meritorious serv- ices He was an efficient officer in the war with the Seminoles in 1835 and 1836. He resigned in September, 1836. Froin 1843 to 1845 he was a representative in Congress from Georgia, He died at Macon, Georgia, on the 28th of Octo- ber 1849. He was a brave soldier and noble-hearted man. I am indebted to his daughter, the wife of General Robert Anderson, of Port Sumter fame, for the above portrait. 2 Letter to the SecretaiT of War, June 30, 1814, in Winder's Letter-book. 918 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Preparations for defending tlie Capital. General Winder in military Command. Tlie States called on for Troops. The Cabinet approved the Presi- dent's plan.^ A new military district, entitled the Tenth, was formed, com- prising Maryland, the District of Co- lumbia, and the portions of Eastern Virginia lying between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers. Brigadier General Winder^ was appointed to the command of it, and the government made a requisition upon the several States for militia to the aggregate of ninety-three thousand men, who were to be organized at home and held in i-eadiness.3 The District of Columbia and the State of Maryland were called upon to furnish their respective quo- tas immediately, the former being two thousand men and the latter six thou- sand. Pennsylvania was directed to send five thousand and Virginia two thousand to the militia rendezvous at once. The naval defenses were in- trusted to Commodore Barney, a vet- eran commander, who was in the Patuxent with a small flotilla of gun-boats. In olBcial orders there appeared an army of fifteen thousand militia for the defense of Washington, and General Winder was envied as the fortunate commander of a larger force than had yet appeared in the field. But that army remained hidden in ^5>--*-:^^;-*lc^t^ ' The Secretary of War conld not be made to believe, even as late as Angust, when the enemy was almost at the door of the capital, that Washington City was his object. " What the devil will they do here ?" was his question to one who expressed a belief that the capital was in danger. "No, no ; Baltimore is the place, sir ; th^t is of so mnch more con- sequence."— Statement of General Van Ness before a Committee of Inquiry. In his Notices of thi War of 1S12, the Secre- tary says that the attack on Washington was an after-thonght of Admiral Cochrane when he had caused the destruction of Barney's flotilla. Cochrane, in a letter to the Board of Admiralty in September, says that the presence of a flotilla at the head of the Patuxent gave him a "pretext for ascending that river," while "the ultimate destination of the com- bined force was Washington, should it be found that the attempt might be made with any prospect of success." And at the beginning of August, a letter, written by some one on compulsory duty in the British fleet in the Chesapeake, dated July 27th, was placed in Winder's hands, and submitted to the Secretary of War, in which the intentions of the enemy to rush to the capital were fully revealed. "The manner in which they intend doing it is," said the writer, "to take advantage of a fair wind in ascending the Patuxent, and, after having ascended it a certain distance, to land their men at once and to make all possible dispatch to the capital, batter it down, and then return to their vessels immediately. In doing this there is calculated to be employed upward of seven thousand men." — Winder Papers. On the contrary, Mr. Gleig, the now (1867) venerable chaplain general of the British Army, who accompanied the in- vaders, says that the destruction of Barney's flotilla was the sole object of the passage up the Patuxent, and that the capture and destruction of Washington was suggested by Cockburn, the marauder, when that work was accomplished. ' William H. Winder was born in Somerset County, Maryland, on the 18th of February, 1775. His ancestors were among the earliest settlers in that state, and were influential men. He was graduated at the University of Pennsylva- nia, studied law, and entered upon its practice. He went to Nashville, Tennessee, to settle, but found so little encour- agement that he returned to his native state. At the age of twenty-three he was elected a member of the Maryland Legislature. In 1802 he took np his residence in Baltimore, and soon stood in the foremost rank at the bar in that city, where his rivals and friends were William Pinkney, Luther Martin, and men of that character. In March, 1812, he received the commission of lieutenant colonel of infantry, and was promoted to colonel in July following, and vrith troops from his state performed eminent service on the Niagara frontier. He was commissioned a brigadier in March, 1S4S, and in June following he was captured at Stony Creek, in Canada, and held as a prisoner of war until the spring of 1814. In May of that year he was appointed adjutant and inspector general, and at the beginning of July he was as- signed to the command of the Tenth Military District. He was active in efforts to defend Washington City, and after- ward Baltimore. After the retirement of the British he was ordered to the Northern frontier. He left the army in 1815, and returned to the practice of his profession with a ruined constitution. He was twice elected state senator. His health finally gave way, and he died in Baltimore on the 24th of May, 1824, at the age of forty-eight years. He was Grand Master of the Masonic Order in Maryland. No private citizen was ever before or since honored with such a fu- neral as his ; and the pen of William Wirt indited a most eloquent eulogy of his character. = The requisition upon the several States was as follows: New Hampshire, 3600; Massachusetts, 10,000- Ehode Isl- and, 500; Connecticut, 3000; New York, 13,500 ; New Jersey, 6000 ; Pennsylvania, 14,000; Delaware, 1000 ; Maryland, 6000; Virgmia, 12,000 ; North Carolina, 7000 ; South Carolina, 5000; Georgia, 8500; Kentucky, 5600; Tennessee 2500- Louisiana, 1000 ; Mississippi Territory, BOO. Of this force 8400 were to be artillery, and the remainder infantry OF THE WAE OF 1812. 919 Tardiness of the Secretary of War. Apathy of the People. Winder's Advice and Warnings. official paragraphs, and only a small portion of it confronted the invader, for he came before the States on whom the government had made a reqaisition for militia had moved in the matter. There was extraordinary tardiness every where, and indica- tions of the most fatal official apathy or weakness. The Governor of Maryland, re- siding within an easy day's ride of the "War Office, did not receive a copy of that req- uisition until six days after it was ordered ; and the Governor of Pennsylvania did not receive his until ten days afterward. And it was not until the day when the British appeared in heavy force in Chesapeake Bay (July 12, 1814) that the Secretary of War placed a copy of it in the hands of General Winder, and then it was accom- panied by a cautious order directing him, in the event of an invasion, to call for a part or the whole quota required of Maryland, but to " be careful to. avoid unneces-^ sary calls, and to apportion the call to the exigency.'" Five days afterward another order from the War Department reached him, which gave him authority to draw, in addition to the Maryland quota, two thousand men from Virginia and five thousand from Pennsylvania, and assuring him that the whole of the militia of the District of Columbia, amounting to about two thousand, were kept in a disposable .state, and subject to his orders. General Winder had comprehended the difficulties of the situation from the begin- ning. As early as the 9th of July, before* he had received notice of his appointment to the command, he wrote a letter to the Secretary of War, full of sound advice, wholesome warning, and sagacious predictions, but that functionary never deigned to reply to it.^ He issued orders in accordance with his own judgment alone, and with an apparent obliviousness to stern facts — orders which implied the organization and readiness of the troops mentioned when there was not a shadow of such force in existence. The Governor of Maryland (Levin Winder), after issuing drafts for three thousand men, found that scarcely so many hundreds could be collected ; and the Governor of Pennsylvania informed the Secretary of War that, in consequence of the defect of the militia laws of that commonwealth, the executive had no power to en^ force the draft. General Winder entered upon his duties with alacrity, under the inspiration of se- ductive promises by the government ; and, notwithstanding he was soon made to feel that he was the victim of official incompetency, he was untiring in his exertions to make the defense of the District, a certainty. He visited every part of the region to be defended, inspecting every fortification under his command, and reconnoitring every position thought to be favorable for the defense of the capital.^ He was in daily communication with the government, giving information, sounding notes of alarm, and making wise suggestions. " The door of Washington" (meaning Annapo- lis), he wrote on the 16th of July, "is wide open, and can not be shut with the few troops under my command." Fort Madison there was utterly defenseless, and too unhealthful for a garrison to occupy it. He warned the government that its heavy armament might be easily seized by the invaders, and turned upon the town and Fort Severn with fatal effect.* He begged in vain for efforts to save that post, and made stirring appeals to the people to come forward for the defense of the state. Yet,.not- withstanding the danger that threatened, and his great personal popularity, height- ened by good deeds on the Northern frontier. Winder was compelled to report on the 1st of August that he had actually in camp only one thousand regulars, and about 1 The Secretary of War, as we have seen, did not believe that the British would attempt to penetrate to Washington ; and on the day when he gave this cautions order, the Natimml InteUigmcer (the government organ) said, " It is not prob- able they will be required to be embodied unless the enemy should attempt to execute his threats of invasion." = Antoeraph Letter, Winder Papers ; Eeport of an Investigating Committee of Congress. 3 It is related that a farmer living near Bladensburg, who having, with some of his neighbors, followed some direc- tions for deep plowing given in a book, struck the gravel below his soil, and allowed all his manure to leadi through and thus ruin his land, saw General Winder one day, when the British were near, with a map in his hand, inspecting that region " He'll be whipped," said the farmer. " Why ?" asked a by-stander.. "Because he's goingto bpok-flght- ing the British, as we have been book-farming, and got whipped." * Autograph Lettei. ' 920 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK The British appear in Chesapeake Bay. Barney's Flotilla. General Winder's Calls for Troops. four thousand militia enrolled, a larger proportion of them yet to be collected. The government had neglected to call for cavalry and riflemen, very important branches of the service. While these feeble efforts were in operation the enemy appeared in strong force. On the 16th of August the small British squadron in the Chesapeake was re-enforced by a fleet of twenty-one vessels under Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane, the senior commander on the American station. These were soon joined by another under Commodore Sir Charles Malcolm. These vessels bore several thousand land troops commanded by General Ross, an Irish officer, and one of Wellington's most active leaders. Washington and Baltimore appear to have been chosen objects of attack simultaneously. A part of the British naval force, under Captain Gordon, went up the Potomac, and another portion, under Sir Peter Parker, went up the Chesapeake toward Baltimore. At that time Commodore Barney, with a flotilla of thirteen armed barges and the schooner Scorpion, with an aggregate of about five hundred men, was in the Patux- ent River. His vessels had been chased out of the Chesapeake, and blockaded in St. / . Leonard's Bay. Of this confinement /ynA> (L V • /Z> ft. vrj ^'^^y ^^^^ relieved by some artillery ^J(J(Jyk\,,/iy^ L'Cxy^^/'Wl^J under Colonel Henry Carbery,' with / f"^ which he drove away the Loire, the blockading frigate, when the released flotilla went up the Patuxent, first to Benedict, and then to Nottingham, that it might be within co-operating distance of both Washington and Baltimore. Seeing this, the British determined to capture or destroy it, and on the 1 8th of August a force of a , little more than five thousand men, composed of regulars, marines, and negroes,^ went up the Patuxent, and landed at Benedict with three cannon under cover of an armed brig. Most of the other large British vessels were below, some of them aground, and all too heavy to ascend the comparatively shallow stream. Barney, then at Nottinghamj^ promptly informed the Navy Department of this movement, and of a boast of the British admiral that he would destroy the American flotilla, and dine in Washington the following Sunday. General Winder, by direction of the War Department, immediately ordered General Samuel Smith's division (the Third) of the Maryland militia into actual service. He also called upon General John ■August 18, P- Van Ness," com- ^^^*- mander of the militia '/T, y ^^ ^/j of the District of Columbia, for /Myj ' //'f/yL two brigades, to be encamped /V^ /^^L^ U ^ ^'V^'^ near Alexandria ; and he sent a ^ 'August 19. circular letter" to all , T. 1^ J" ^"g^diers of the Maryland militia, asking for volunteers to the amount of one half of their respective commands. By his orders, his adjutant general, Kite, issued a stirring appeal to the citizens to come forward, "without re|ard to sacri- fices and privations," in defense of the national capital. Winder also asked General £ .?f ' t^'fT^"^^^ ^^"'^^:' Washington his volunteer regiments of infantry and his rifle battalion These calls for volunteers were approved by the Secretary of l^:^l\^^Z^^ '' *° "°^' "'^ '^'^'^^ - " *° ^-^ ^^--t ■^^^'^^^■ se:!'"" '""^'"^' "^^™"" '^^'^ '^^'^'^ ^"-^ "y *-^t^. -^ Mhea by'^romises of freedom, to enter the British JuV\Tw7ote1roSSS:ffrieL"ir^g "iS '"^ °'"^°^^°^ ^^P^^""™ """^ ^^^^^- ^ the 9th of in their force, so that I beHevTthey are tod o^f TheXwH^^f th""''' \^?.?'***" ^''^'^^' ''^'■^ ^^^^^^?. * Autograph Letter, Winder Papers ^ ^ * **' ^^^ """"^ °^ *« Patuxent."-Autograph Letter. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 92I Gathering of Troops. The British in the Patuxent. Destn\ction of Barney's Flotilla. The veteran patriot, General Smith, promptly responded to the call of the govern- ment. He at once issued a division order,* in which he gave notice of the . Angnst 19, invasion, and directed the whole of General Stansbury's brigade (the ^^"• yf"^ Third) to be held in readiness ^7 y^^ /^ /^'T^ — " j^ for active service, adding, "The >^?^ ^ (^ «/ ^.i^b-i^-'i^-i)^^^^'— T''*^>«=» third brigade is now under the /^ pay of the United States, in its service, and subject to the Ar- ticles of War."! That corps General Smith declared to be " the finest set of men he ever saw."^ They paraded at four o'clock the same day, and on the following morn- ing General Stansbury^ left Baltimore for Washington with thirteen hundred of his corps. Another force, un- der Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Sterett, consisting of the Fifth Regiment J^i^^ cJ^^»'"^^'<^ of Baltimore Volunteers, Major Pinkney's* rifle battalion, and the artil- lery companies of Cap- tains Myers and Magru- der, left Baltimore on the evening of the 20th, and joined Stansbury on the evening of the 23d. With wise precaution, General Smith ordered*" the eleventh ^ brigade and Colonel Moore's cavalry to hold themselves in readiness to march to Baltimore at a moment's warning, for it seemed probable that the enemy would strike at both cities simultaneously. They were ordered to Baltimore on, the 23d. The British in the mean time had moved up the Patuxent from Benedict, the land troops being accompanied by a flotilla of launches and barges that kept abreast of them. The naval forces were under the command of the notorious marauder. Cock- burn. They reached Lower Marlborough on the 21st, when Barney's flotilla, then in charge of Lieutenant Frazier and a sufficient number of men to destroy it if neces- sary, moved up to Pig Point, where some of the vessels grounded in the shallow wa- ter. Barney had landed with four hundred seamen and pushed on toward Winder's head-quarters, then at the Wood Yard, on the road between Upper Marlborough and Washington, and twelve miles from the latter, where he had established a slightly- intrenched camp. Frazier was instructed to destroy the flotilla at Pig Point rather than allow it to fall into the hands of the foe. This order was obeyed, and the flotil- la was blown up on the morning of the 22d, when the enemy moved up from Notting- ham in forty barges, and commenced flring upon it with cannon and rockets.* They found only the ruins of Barney's vessels at Pig Point. Their land force pressed for- ward to Upper Marlborough, whence a road led directly to Washington Cijy, and there encamped, leaving Cockbum and the British flotilla at Pig Point. Now let us see what forces were at the disposal of General Winder for the defense of Washington. There were two small brigades of District troops. One of these comprised the militia and volunteers of Washington and Georgetown, arranged in two regiments under Colonels Magruder and Brent, and was commanded by General Walter Smith, of Georgetown. Attached to the brigade were two companies of light 1 General Smith's MS. Order-book. I am indebted to the kind conrtesy of General John Spear Smith, of Baltimore, son of General Samuel Smith, and his aid-de-camp in 1814, for the use of his father's military papers of this period. s Autograph Letter to General Winder. ' Tobias E. Stansbury lived to the great age of ninety-three years. He was an active public man from the commence- ment of the Eevolutiou almost to the time of his death, which occurred in Baltimore County, Maryland, on the 25th of October 1849. He was repeatedly a member of the Maryland Legislature, and was Speaker of its House of Delegates. He always enjoyed the perfect confidence of his fellow-citizens. * See sketch of William Pinkuey on page 148. 6 Barney's autograph Letter to the Investigating Committee, October SO, 1814. 922 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The Forces gathered for the Defense of Washington and Baltimore. artillery, commanded respectively by Ma- jor George Peter, of the regular army, and Captain Benjamin Burch, a soldier of the Revolution. There were also two rifle companies under Captains Doughty and Stull. This brigade numbered, on ^__^ the morning of the 21st of August, one thousand and seventy men. The second bri- gade was commanded by General Robert Young, and numbered five hundred men. It comprised a company of artillery led by Captain Marsteller. It was chiefly em- ployed in defending the approaches to Fort "Washington, about twelve miles below the capital. Brigadier Gen- eral West, of Prince George's County, had troops on the look-out toward the Potomac. The troops from Baltimore comprised a greater portion of the brigade of General Stansbury, formed in two regiments under Lieutenant Colonels Ragan and Schutz thirteen hundred and fifty in number ; and the Fifth Regiment, under Colonel Ster- ett, with artillery and riflemen already mentioned, the latter under the celebrated "William Pinkney. The whole force from Baltimore was about two thousand two hundred, commanded by General Stansbury as chief. Besides these there were vari- ous detachments of Maryland militia, under the respective command of Colonels "W. D. Beall (of the Revolution) and Hood, Lieutenant Colonel Kramer, and Majors "Waring and Maynard— in all less than twelve hundred. There was also a regi- ment of "Virginia militia under Colonel George Mi- nor, six hundred strong, with one hundred cavalry. The regular army contributed three hundred men from the Twelfth, Thirty-sixth, and Thirty-eighth Regiments, under Lieutenant Colonel William Scott. To these must be added the sailors of Barney's flotilla, four hundred, and one hundred and twenty marines from the navy ^ , yard at Washington, furnished with two 18-pound- ers and three 12-pounders. There were also various small companies of volunteer cav- alry from the District, Maryland, and Vir- ginia, under Lieutenant Colonel Tilghman, and Majors O. H. Williams and Charles Ster- ett, three hundred in number, and a squad- ron of United States dragoons commanded by Major Laval. The whole force was about seven thousand strong, of whom nine hundred were enlisted men. _ The cavalry did not exceed four hundred in number. Ihe little army had twenty-six pieces of cannon, of which twenty were only 6-pound- 1; hL t\ ' ^^^""^'^^tr^t^^' ^«"W have been competent to roll back the in va- dent'and t SZe^ °^"^ '"" untrammeled by the interference of the Presi- uZ^^^i vigilance was sleepless after the appearance of the invaders in the Pa- morniL ^'ZZTl I "?l°^"^ ^''^ *^" '^^^^'^ ^^ reconnoitring; and on the MaS PeteS ni ordered Lieutenant Colonel Scott's command, Laval's cavalry, SdsL a t 7' ' *^-\"^' '"'"P'^y °^^*""' ^^<1 ^^'''^^'- --^^^ Captah: men1n;n2 /• "5T^ ""'f^^'^^ field-pieces, numbering about eight hundred The£r^u!:t^7 /'' '° Nottingham, where the enemy had encamped during force fn hind r?' ""Vf'Tr^*"" ""'^ ^^'''' *^^'°- The remainder of Winder'! torce m hand was directed to follow in their support. The general himself, accompa- OF THE WAR OF X812. 923 The British m ove on Washington. Alarming Note ftom Secretary Monroe. Eemoval of the Public Eecords. nied by his limited staff, proceeded in advance of the troops, and soon discovered the enemy moving up the river. He was convinced that an encounter with that over- whelming force would be perilous, and he ordered Scott and Peter ta fall back to the Wood Yard and wait for him. The main body of the troops, under General W. Smith, had arrived in the mean time within two miles of the advance ; and the whole American force, then within five miles of the invaders, including Barney's men and marines from the Washington E"avy Yard, numbered about twenty-five hundred, fair- ly armed with muskets and rifles, and five pieces of heavy artillery. On arriving at the junction of the roads leading respectively to Marlborough and the Wood Yard, General Ross, who led the British column in person, turned into the latter with the seeming intention of pushing on toward Washington. He was in- duced to do so by Cockburn, who thirsted for plunder, and who argued that the pres- tige which the British would acquire by the capture of the metropolis of the republic would be of immense advantage to the cause, and that no doubt the government, to save the city, would make a liberal offer of money, a circumstance that would greatly increase the marauder's amount of prize-money. After proceeding a short distance, Ross changed his course and proceeded toward Marlborough. Winder deemed it pru- dent to avoid an encounter, and in the afternoon he retreated toward the capital, and encamped at a place called Long Old Battalion Fields, about eight miles from the city, where he might be within easy striking distance of Bladensburg, the bridges over the East Branch of the Potomac, and the road leading to Fort Washington.^ Colonel James Monroe, the Secretary of State, who had been several days with Winder reconnoitring the enemy, and watching all military movements, believed that Washington was in great peril, for he well knew the weakness of the American forces. While Ross was yet advancing, and before he retraced his steps and went toward Marlborough, Monroe sent the following dispatch to the President : " The enemy are advanced six miles on the road to the Wood Yard, and our troops are retiring. Our troops were on the march to meet them, but in too small a body to engage. General Winder proposes to retire till he can collect them in a body. The enemy are in full march to Washington. Have the materials prepared to de- stroy the bridges. J. Moneob. " P.S.^You had better remove the records. "^ This message produced the wildest excitement in the national capital, then a strag- gling town of between eight and nine thousand inhabitants, and caused a sudden and confused exodus of all the timid and helpless ones who were able to leave. Winder's situation was an unenviable one. With a comparatively strong foe on his front, ready to fall upon him or the capital he was expected to defend, he had only about twenty-five hundred armed and effective men in camp, and many of these had been from their homes only three or four days. They were undisciplined and untried, and surrounded and influenced by a crowd of excited civilians, to whose " officious but well-intended information and advice" the general was compelled to listen. In addition to this intrusion and interference of common men, he was embar- 1 See Map on page 929. 2 Mr. S. Pleasanton, then employed in the office of the Secretary of State, made immediate arrangements for the re- moval of the books and papers of the State Department. He had linen bags made in which they were placed, and then conveyed in carts across the Chain Bridge, over the Potomac, two miles above Georgetown, to the grist-mill of Edgar Patterson, in Virginia. Considering them unsafe there, Mr. Pleasanton had them conveyed to Leesburg, thirty- five miles from Washington, where they were locked np in an unoccupied house, and the keys given to the Eev. Mr. Littlejohn who had been one of the collectors of the internal revenue. Thus the precious documents of the Eevolu- tionary period and other valuable papers now in the Office of the Eolls at Washington City were saved from destrnction. —Autograph Letter of S. Pleasanton to General Winder, August T, 1848. Mr. Pleasanton, in his account of this trans- action says : " While engaged in the passage-way of the buildings with the papers, the Department of State being on one side and the War Department on the other side of the passage. General Armstrong, then Secretary of War, on his way to his own room, stopped a short time, and observed to me that he thought we were under unnecessary alarm, as he did not think the British were serious in their intentions of coming to Washington." To this belief the Secretary adhered until they were in full march upon the capital. 924 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK PreparatlonB for Battle. Disposition of Troops. Battle-line formed near Bladensbnrg. rassed by the presence and suggestions of the President and his Cabinet ministers, the most of them utterly ignorant of military affairs. Better would it have been for Winder and the country if these civilians, from the President down, had kept away from the camp and the field, and prudently preserved silence. The fatigued little army at Long Old Fields had reposed but a short time when, at two o'clock in the morning (August 23), a timid sentinel gave a false alarm, and they were summoned to their feet in battle order. They were soon dismissed, and slept on their arms until dawn. At sunrise ^ey were ordered to strike their tents, load the baggage wagons, and have every thing in readiness to move within an hour. When every thing was prepared for marching they were reviewed by President Mad- ison. In the mean time Wkider had ascertained from scouts that the British were resting quietly in their camp at Upper Marlborough, and he resolved to concentrate all the troops within his reach at some point between his present camp and that of the enemy. He accordingly sent orders to General Stansbury, at Bladensburg,.tD march with his own and Lieutenant Colonel Sterett's troops, and take position in the road within seven miles of Marlborough. The same order was sent to Lieutenant Colonel Beall, supposed to be then approaching with his corps from Annapolis. A detachment from General Walter Smith's brigade, under Major Peter, composed of the same companies as the detachment sent forward the day before, was ordered to move from camp in the same direction and for the same purpose — ^^to approach as near the enemy as possible without incurring too much risk, and annoy him whether in motion or at rest. General Winder himself, accompanied by a troop of Laval's cavalry, started for Bladensburg at noon for the purpose of holding a conference with General Stansbury. When within four or five miles of that place, he was overtaken by Major M'Kenney with intelligence that Major Peter had met and skirmished with the vanguard of the advancing enemy, two or three miles from Marlborough, on the road toward the Wood Yard, had been driven back toward the Old Fields, and that General Smith had sent off the baggage toward Washington across the Eastern Branch, and had drawn up his own troops and Barney's seamen in battle order to await an attack from the foe. Winder immediately sent orders to Stansbury, now moving forward, to fall back toward Bladensburg, take the best position possible with his own and Sterett's troops in front of that village, and resist the enemy if attacked. If driven, he was to re- treat toward the cap- ital. He then hasten- ed back to the Old Fields, where he found Smith and Barney well posted. Stansbury's force took position in an orchard (near a mill yet standing near Bla- densburg) on a gentle eminence, and there, behind a slight breast- work, he placed six heavy guns in position to command the pass into the town and the bridge southwestward of it. About one hun- dred yards in the rear OLD WILL MEAE ULAUENSBITBa IN IStil.^ ■ This is a sketch of the old mUl made near the close of 1861. Bladensbnrg and the bridge are seen in the distance. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 925 Advance of the British. Eetreat of the Americans. Winder invites the Government to a Council. of this position, in the small dwelling on Tournecliffe's farm, the surgeons of the com- mand were placed, to receive and take care of the wounded soldiers.' General Boss rested at Upper Marlborough until after noon of the 23d, when, being joined by Cockburn and his seamen and marines, he moved forward at two o'clock, and, as we have observed, encountered and drove back Major Peter and his command. He then pressed steadily on unmolested to the junction of the roads leading respect- ively to Washington City and the Alexandria Ferry, on the Potomac River, not far above Fort Washington. There they halte^. The Americans were puzzled. Some believed that an attack on Fort Washington in the rear, simultaneously with an as- sault by the British fleet in front, was contemplated ; but more, and among these General Winder and Colond Monroe, believed the national capital to be the prize sought to be won#' Impressed with this conviction, Winder issued orders toward sunset for the troops to retire across the Eastern Branch Bridge and take position on the borders of the city, where greater facility would be aflTorded for assisting General Young, who was covering Fort Washington with a small force, and for drawing to himself Stansbury and Sterett if the enemy should advance rapidly upon the capital. Late at night the troops, greatly wearied and dispirited, encamped within the limits of the city. " Thus," said General Smith, " terminated the four days of service of the troops of this District. They had been under arms, with but little intermission, the ■ whole of the time, both night and day ; had traveled, during their different marches in advance and retreat, a considerable tract of country, exposed to the burning heat of a sultry sun by day, and many of them to the cold dews of the night, uncover- ed. They had in this period drawn but two rations, the requisition therefor in the first instance being but partially complied with, and it being afterward almost im- possible to procure the means of transportation, the wagons employed by our quar- termaster for that purpose being constantly impressed by the government agents for the purpose of removing the public records when the enemy's approach was known, and some of them thus seized while proceeding to take in provisions for the army." The night of the 23d of August was marked by great excitement in the National capital. The President and his Cabinet indulged in no slumbers, for Ross, the invad- er, was bivouacked at Melwood, near the Long Old Fields, about ten miles from the city, and Winder's troops, worn down and dispirited, were fugitives before him. La- val's horsemen were exhausted, and Stansbury's troops at Bladensburg were too wearied with long marching to do much fighting without some repose. What the morning would reveal no one could tell, and the dark hours were passed in great anxiety by the troops and people. The Secretary of State was in his saddle half the night ; and at midnight he had visited the head-quarters of Stansbury, acquaint- ed him with the relative positions of Winder and Ross, and advised him to fall in the rear of the latter. Fortunately the military leader did not follow the advice of the civilian. Winder's head-quarters were at Combs's, near the Eastern Branch Bridge, and at dawn the President and several of his Cabinet ministers were there.^ Before their arrival General Winder (who was greatly fatigued in body and mind, and had re- ceived a severe injury from a fall during the night) had sent a note to the Secretary of War, expressing a desire to have the counsel of that officer and of the government. This was a mistake. He had had too much of that bane to success already, and.it was now administered too liberally for the good reputation of himself and his coun- try. These government officers were so officious as well as fickle — fickle, because im- pulse, and not judgment, guided them— that the general's thoughts and plans were 1 1 have before me a very interesting narrative In manuscript of the events of the battle, which came under the ob- servation of Dr Samuel B. Martin, one of the surgeons stationed at Tournecliffe's house, where he was made a prisoner at the close of the battle. ' Secretaries of War, Navy, and Treasury, and the Attorney General. 926 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The British advance on Bladensbnrg. The Field of Action. The Secretary of War and General Winder. interfered with at a moment when one mind should control all movements, and that mind be free to act untrammeled and unbiased.^ While Winder and the government were in council, Ross moved toward Bladens- burg. Laval's scouts first brought intelligence of the fact to head-quarters. They were soon followed by an express from Stansbury, giving positive information that the British were marching in that direction, with the view, no doubt, of crushing the little force of Baltimoreans near the Bladensburg Mill. Up to that moment the coun- cil believed that Ross would move on F^rt Washington, or on the city by the very bridge near which they were in consultation. This delusive idea now vanished, and government, general, and troops all moved off toward the point of danger. Winder had now under his command at Washington and Bladensburg. five thousand one hundred effective men. The force of the enemy was about the salbe. It was ten o'clock in the morning when Winder ordered .General W. Smith, with the whole of his troops, to hasten toward Bladensburg. Barney was soon afterward ordered to move with his five hundred men, and the Secretary of State, who had seen some military service in the Revolution, was requested by the President and General Winder to hasten to Stansbury and assist him in properly posting his troops. ; Mr. Monroe was immediately followed by GeneralWinder and his staff. TheSecretary of War then followed; and lastly the President arid Attorney -General, accompanied by some friends, all on horseback, rode on toward the expected' theatre of battle.^ Stansbury seems not to have been well pleased with the aid of the Secretary of State, for he afterward intimated that " somebody," without consulting him, changed and deranged his order of battle. That " somebody" was Colonel Monroe, as we shall presently observe. Let us for a moment take a glance at the theatre on which the opposing forces were soon to meet face to face. It was the slopes and plain around Bladensburg, then a little straggling village at the head of small-craft navigation on the Eastern Branch of the Potomac, up which for four miles vessels of largest class might ride. The vil- lage is about six miles from Washington by the old post-road from that city to Bal- timore. Another road from Georgetown joined the Washington Road at an acute angle a few yards from the bridge less than a hundred feet long, that spanned the stream at Bladensburg. Above the bridge the creek was every where fordable. In the triangular field formed by the two roads just mentioned, and near the mill, General Stansbury's command was posted on the morning of the 24th. On the brow of a little eminence in that field, three hundred and fifty yards from the Bladensburg Bridge, between a large barn^ and the Washington Road, a barbette earth-work had been thrown up for the use of heavy cannon. Behind this work were the artillery companies from Baltimore, under Captains Myers and Magruder, one hundred and fifty strong, with six 6-pounders. These were too small for the high embankment, and embrasures were cut so that they might command the bridge and both roads. Major Pmkney's riflemen were, on the right of the battery, n ear "the junction of the r.Lw»Thv th5pl^=v.°L'f ?P"-^°'?."' testimony that, at the interview at Winder's head-quarters that morning, it was Ume the Prl^Lnt .wl^ h^f'- .' "T^"^! controlof military affairs to the Secretary of War, but that in a short rh^,o?L^w li^ ?^ his mmd, who told the Secretary that "the military functionaries shon d be left to the die- ton^irifnleJLiJ^LT f- It*''""" f"""" ^'■^^^'' "f New Orleans, who ^as at the seat of government at this ™VhasteTo re?a , Lnl .^^^^ <.""''' 'T v' f ^^ = " ^''" P^sldent left Washington atabont 9 AJI. [Angnst 24], in Generrwinlr L h?rf!l /"f /v,°°^' ''^°, ^^\^'^<^^^^ him abont an honr with the President's order to supersede GeLra rmstron. ^t t tnn If ' "T*"'' ""t '"""""^ *" S™""'^ » f*^ ""°°'«« I'^f™ '"e flght began, said to tTorSl where i?h'plJr,^«°° tIh f"^' ^r^^ "^^1^^ *^°'°" ^"'^ "«• ""^ '«»™ *e defense with the military an- YoTSrawZX^^lrf'-i«lV n V^I' ^T°^^' ^^^"^^^ «' 1848, in reply to one from that gentleman in the New BMjntbnt^tha'i'on^wtTth^f*''°'''^'^ '""V" ^"''^^"^ '"f"™^* him, when they were riding ont toward cl'aimTSr^eri:' ro^ranTof GlnrarlrmZnl '° ''^ ^''' "" *° "' °" """^ '" ^^« '"' '^"^^''^ --«» »° '"« e^aTlS^Si^^f^ht m^pTX^'m "" ''' ^"""''"^ ^ ''''■ ^ »""" ^'"^"^ °"' " -» '^ «>« -"» "^^^ 01- TSE war of 1812. 927 ArrangementB for Battle near Bladensburg. THE JiULDGE AT BLADJilN6BtrfiG IN 1861.1 roads, and concealed by the shrubbery on the low ground near the river. Two com- panies of militia, un- der Captains Ducker and Gorsuch, acting as riflemen, were station- ed in the rear of the left of the battery, near the barn and the Georgetown Road. About fifty yards in the rear of Pinkney's riflemen was Sterett's F i f t h Regiment of Baltimore Volunteers, while the regiments of Ragan and Schutz were drawn up en eche- lon^ their right rest- ing on the left of Ducker's and Gorsuch's companies, and commanding the George- town Road. The cavalry, about three hundred and eighty in all, were placed some- what in the rear, on the extreme left, and seem not to have taken any part in the bat- tle that ensued. This, all things considered, seems to have been a judicious arrangement ; but Colo- nel Monroe, without consulting General Stansbury, and in face of the enemy, then on the other side of the Eastern Branch, proceeded to change it, by moving the Balti- more regiments of Sterett, Ragan, and Schutz a quarter of a mile in the rear of the artillery and riflemen, their right resting on the Washington Road. This formed a second line in full view of the enemy, within reach of his Congreve rockets, en- tirely uncovered, and so far from the first line as not to be able to give it immedi- ate support in case of an attack. . This was a blunder that proved disastrous, but it was made too late to be corrected, the enemy was so near. General Winder in the mean time had arrived on the field, and posted a third and rear line on the crown of the hills, near the residence of the late John C. Rives, proprietor of the Washington Globe, about a mile from the Bladens- burg Bridge. This line embraced a reg- iment of Maryland militia, under Colonel BESIDENOE OF THE LATE JOHN 0. EIVES.3 ' This view is from the right bank of the Eastern Branch, on the road leading to Washington. ' See note 4, page 652. ' This mansion stands between the Baltimore and Washington Eailway and the turnpike leading ttom Washington to Bladensburg. It is about four miles from the national capital. Mr. Rives, who died there on Sunday, the 10th of April, 1864, at the age of sixty-nine years, was one of the founders of the Washington Glohe, the official organ of Presi- dent Jackson. His partner in the establishment of that paper, Mr. Blair, survives him. Mr. Blair was the editor of the Glohe, and Mr. Eives was the business manager. The latter was the publisher of the Ghhe at the time of his death. He was a noble and generous citizen. For a long time duringvthe great Civil War he gave from his private purse about $1000 a month to the families of the volunteer soldiers in the District of Columbia. 928 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Order of Battle near Bladensbnrg. Advance of the British. Dueling-ground at Bladeneburg. Beall, which had just arrived from Annapolis, and was^ivosted on the extreme right; Barney's flotilla-men, who formed the centre on the Washmgton Road, with two 18- pounders planted in the highway a few yards from the site of Rives's barn, a portion of the seamen acting as artillerists; and Colonel Magruder's District militia, regulars under Lieutenant Colonel Scott, and Peter's battery, who formed the left. About five hundred yards in front of this position the road descends into a gentle ravine which was then, as now, crossed by a small bridge (Toumecliffe's), on the north of which it widens into a little grassy level, and formed the dueling-ground where De- DTJELING-GEOUIID MEAK BLADEMSBimG. catur and others lost their lives. Overlooking it, about one hundred and fifty yards from the road, is an abrupt bluff, on which the companies of Captains StuU and Da- vidson were posted in position to com- mand that high- way. L i e u t e n- ant Colonel Scott, with his regulars. Colonel Brent, with the Second Regiment of General Smith's bri- gade, and Major Waring, with the battalion of Maryland militia, were posted in the rear of Major Peter's battery. Magruder was immediately on' the left of Barney's men, his right resting on the Washington Road ; and Colonel Kramer, with a small detachment, was thrown forward of Colonel Beall. Such was the disposition of Winder's little army when, at noon, the enemy were seen descending the hills beyond Bladensburg, and pressing on toward the bridge. At half past twelve they were in the town, and came within range of the heavy guns 1 This is a view of Toumecliffe's Bridge and the Dnellng-ground from the north side of the road from Washington to Bladensburg. The place where Decatur and Barron fought was on the low ground by the creek, seen immediately over the two figures in the picture, nearest the left of It. These officers fought with pistols on the 22d of March, 1820, when Decatur was mortally wounded, and died in the arms of his distracted wife at Kalorama, ne4r Georgetown, the same night, at the early age of forty years. The event is elsewhere mentioned in this volume. Here, also, a duel was fought by Jonathan CUley, of Maine, and W. J. Graves, of Kentucky (both members of Congress), on the 24th of Febru- ary, 1S3S. They fought with rifles at eighty yards' distance. Cilley was mortally wounded at the third fire. The higher ground seen toward the right of the picture is the place where Captains Davidson and StuU were posted. other duels have been fought on this ground. The first was in 1814, when one of the parties (Edward Hopkins) was killed. The next was in 1819, by A. T.Mason and John M'Carty. Mason was killed. Decatur and Barron fought there the next year. In 1822, Midshipman Locke, and Gibson, Chief Clerk of the Treasury Department, fought there. Gibson was shot. Key and Sherbom fought there in 1833, when Key was killed. The duel of Graves and Cilley, as we have seen, was in 1838. There was a duel there in 1845, when a lawyer named Jones killed Dr. Johnson. Hoole and Dallas exchanged shots there in 1860 or 1861. OF THE WAB, OF 1812. 929 Battle-ground at Bladensbui'g. of the first American line.' The British commenced hurling rockets at the exposed Americans, and attempted to throw a heavy force across the bridge, hut were driven back by their antagonists' cannon, and forced to take shelter in the village and be- hind Lowndes's Hill, in the rear of it.^ Again, after due preparation, they advanced in double-quick time ; and, -n^hen the bridge was crowded with them, the artillery of a Boss made the house of Mr. Lowndes-liis head-quarters ou that day. 3]sr > See Note on page 943. 930 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Battle near Bladensburg. Gallant and effective Stand by Commodore Barney. Winder's first and second lines opened upon them with terrible effect, sweeping down a whole company. The concealed riflemen, under Pinkney, also poured deadly vol- leys into their exposed ranks ; but the British, continually re-enforced, pushed gal- lantly forward, some over the bridge, and some fording the stream above it, and fell so heavily upon the first and unsupported line of the Americans that it was com- pelled to fall back upon the second. A company, whose commander is unnamed in the reports of the battle, were so panic-stricken that they fled after the first fire, leav- ing their guns to fall into the hands of the enemy. The first British brigade were now over the stream, and, elated by their success, did not wait for the second. They threw away their knapsacks and haversacks, and pushed u{) the hill to attack the American second line in the face of an annoying fire from Captain Burch's artillery. They weakened their force by stretching out so as to form a front equal to that of their antagonists. It was a blunder which Winder quickly perceived and took advantage of. He was then at the head of Sterett's reg- iment. With this and some of Stansbury's militia, who behaved gallantly, he not only checked the enemy's advance, but, at the point of the bayonet, pressed their at- tenuated line so strongly that it fell back to the thickets on the brink of the river, near the bridge, where it maintained its position most obstinately until re-enforced by the second brigade. Thus strengthened, it again pressed forward, and soon turned the left flank of the Americans, and at the same time sent a flight of hissing rockets over and very near the centre and right of Stansbury's line. The frightened regi- ments of Schutz and Ragan broke, and fled in the wildest confusion. Winder tried to rally them, but in vain. Sterett's corps maintained their ground gallantly until the enemy had gained both their flanks, when Winder ordered them and the sup- porting artillery to retire up the hUl. They, too, became alarmed, and the re- treat, covered by riflemen, was soon a disorderly flight. The first and second line of the Amer- icans having been dispersed, the British, flushed with success, pushed forward to attack the third. Peter's artillery an- noyed, but did not check them ; and the left, under the gallant Colonel Thornton, soon confronted Barney, in the centre, who maintained his position like a genu- ine hero, as he was. His 18-pounders en- filaded the Washington Road, and with them he swept the highway with sucli terrible effect that the enemy filed off into a field, and attempted to turn Bar- ney's right flank. There they were met by three 12-pounders and marines, under Captains Miller and Sevier, and were badly cut up. They were driven back to the ravine already mentioned as the dueling-ground, leaving several of their wounded ofiicers in the hands of the Americans. Colonel Thornton, who brave- ly led the attacking column, was severely wounded, and General Ross had his horse shot under him. ■ /(T^H-uVG) (^A/YVJt/y Z? OF THE WAE OF 1812. 931 Barney wounded, made Prisoner, and paroled. Biographical Sketch of Barney. The flight of Stansbury's troops left Barney unsupported in that direction, while a he,avy column was hurled against Beall and his militia, on the right, with such force as to disperse them. The British light troops soon gained position on each flank, and Barney himself was severely wounded near a living fountain of water on the estate of the late Mr. Rives, which is still known as Barney's Spring.' When it became evident that Minor's Vir- ginia troops could not arrive in time to aid the gallant flotilla- men, who were obstinately main- taining their position against fearful odds, and that farther re- sistance would be useless, Win- der ordered a general retreat. The commodore, too severely hurt to be moved, became a pris- oner of war,^ but was immediate- ly paroled by General Ross, and sent to Bladensburg after his wound was dressed by a British surgeon.^ There he was joined by his wife and son, and his own surgeon, and on the 27th was conveyed to at Elkridge, in Maryland. The great body of the Americans who were TIEW AT BABMEY*8 SrfiUStJ. his farm not dis- i The picture is a view at "Barney's Spring" when I visited and sketched it in December, 1860. It is a little south of the road leading between Washington and Bladensburg, and about two hundred yards southwest.from the mansion of the late Mr. Eives. Barney's battery was in the road near by ; and the stumps of two cedar-trees, a short distance from the site of the battery, indicate the spot where the commodore's horse,, which was shot under him, was buried. 3 Joshua Barney was bom in Baltimore, Maryland, on the 6th of July, 1769. . He went to sea when a smajl boy, and at the age of fourteen years was second mate of aWessel, and at sixteen was commander. After many adventures abroad, he arrivM in the Chesapeake in October, 1T7S. The following June he was appoint ■ ed a Untenant in the United States Navy, and was the first to unfurl the Amer- ican fla^ in Maryland. He was a very active officer during the whole war. He brought the first news of peace with Great Britain, on the 12th of March, 1783. Continuing in service, he was one of the six commanders appointed under the act of 1793, but he declined the honor. He went to Prance with Monroe, and was the bearer of the American flag to the National Convention. He entered the French sei-vice in command of two fine frigates. He resigned his French com- mission in 1802, and returned home. He again entered the naval service of the United States in 1812, and distinguished himself during the war that ensued. He died of a bilious fever at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, on the 1st of December, 1818, at the age of fifty-nine years. His remains were interred in the burying-gronnd of the First Presbyterian Church at Pittsburg, and over them a plain white mar- ble slab was laid by his widow. They were removed to the Alleghany Cemetery on the 12th of May, 1848, where they repose in the shadow of thrifty young trees, without a record there on wood or stone. The bullet which finally caused the death of Commodore Barney was never extracted during his lifetime. In obe- dience to his orders, it was sought for after his death, and found. It is preserved in a disc of brass, with an inscription, in the archives of the Navy Department at Washington City. The annexed engraving is a representation, the exact size, of the bullet, the disc, and the inscription. The portrait of Barney on the oppo- ..Hitpnaee was painted by Joseph Wood, of Washington City, in 1818. ^ ^ ^ , ^. . 3 Dr MaTSnfln his MS. Eeminiscences, already mentioned, says that when he and other pnsoners were going up the hill toward where Barney fell, they met a litter with the wounded commodore on it. He desired his guard to halt, and oa thrnrisrners to him. The leader called out to them, " Coom over here, Yankees, to see your coonthtyman, Barney ; he look^HkTa spread aigle, Yankees !» The prisoners shook hands with the brave old commodore, wl^o gave them words of cheer. 932 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Close of the Battle of Bladensbnrg. The British mareh on Waehington. An Excase for burning the City wanted. persed retreated toward Montgomery Court-touse, in Maryland, leaving the battle- field in full possession of the enemy, and their way to the national capital unobstruct- ed except by the burning of the two bridges over the Eastern Branch of the Poto- mac' The Americans lost twenty-six killed and fifty-one wounded. The British loss was manifold greater. According to one of their officers who was in the battle^ and yet living (Mr. Gleig, Chaplain General of the British Army), it was " upward of five hundred killed and wounded," among them " several officers of rank and dis- tinction." The battle commenced at about noon, and ended at four o'clock. Tip to this time the conduct of the British had been in accordance with the rules of modern warfare. Now they abandoned them, and on entering the national capi- tal they performed deeds worthy only of barbarians. In a proclamation issued by the President on the 1st of September he submitted the following indictment : " They wantonly destroyed the public edifices, having no relation in their structure to oper- ations of war, nor used at the time for military annoyance ; some of these edifices being also costly monuments of taste and of the arts, and others depositories of the public archives, not only precious to the nation as the memorials of its origin and its early transactions, but interesting to all nations as contributions to the general stock of historical instruction and political science." Let us briefly examine the testimony of history. When Ross was assured of complete victory^ he halted his army a short time on the field of battle, and then, with the fresh Third Brigade, which had not been in the „ conflict, he crossed the East- ern Branch Bridge. Assured of the retreat of the Americans beyond Georgetown, Ross left the main body a mile and a half from the Capitol, and en- tered the town, then contain- ing about nine hundred build- ings. He came to destroy the public property there. It was THE CAPITOL IT. 18U, FEOM TENNSTLVANiA AVE«im. ^jj grrand, it IS Said, uot at all coincident with his taste or habits, and what was done by him appears to have been performed as humanely as the orders of his superiors would allow. ^, When, on his arrival in the Chesapeake, he had been informed by Admiral Cochrane that he (the admiral) had been urged by Sir George Prevost, the Governor General of Canada (who was not satisfied with the terrible devastation of the Niagara frontier at the close of 1813),^ to retaliate in kind upon the Americans for the destruction of the gov- ernment buildings at York* and the village, of Newark,' he demurred, saying that they 1 The lower bridge, near the navy yard, had been left in charge of Captain Creighton, with orders to destroy it on the approach of the enemy. It was flred at four o'clock in the afternoon. = Hoping to spare the town, Eoss had sent an agent to negotiate for a pecuniary ransom. There was no competent authority to meet his agent, and if there was, the proposition would, as the President afterward said, have been treated with contempt. 3 gee page 634. * See page 638. 5 See page 632. Evidently ashamed of the barbarism committed by British hands. Vice Admiral Cochrane attempted to palliate it by a pitiful trick. After the destruction of the capital, and the invaders were safely back on their vessels in the Patuxent, Cochrane wrote a letter to Secretary Monroe, in which he said to him, "Having been called upon by the Governor General of the Canadas to aid him in carrying into effect measures of retaliation against the inhabitants of the United States for the wanton destruction committed by their army in Upper Canada, it has become imperiously my duty, conformably with the governor general's application, to issue to the naval force under my command an order to destroy and lay waste such towns and districts upon the coast as may he found assailable." Cochrane then expressed a hope that the "conduct of the executive of the United States would authorize him in staying such proceedings, by makmg reparation to the suffering inhabitants of Upper Canada," etc. This letter was mtedated August 18, or six days before the battle of Bladensbnrg, so as to appear like a humane suggestion, in the non-compliance with which might be found an excuse for the destruction of the national capital. It did not reach Mr. Monroe until the morning of the 31st of August, a week after Washington was devastated, when that officer, in a dignified reply, reminded the vice admiral that the wanton destruction by the British of Frenchtovra, Frederick, Georgetown, and Havre de Grace, and the out- rages at Hampton by the same people, had occurred long before the destruction of Newark. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 933 The British enter Washington. Cocltburn in his Element. DcBtiTiotion of the Public Buildings. had carried on the war on the Peninsula and in France with a very different spirit, and that he could not sanction the destruction of public or private property, with the exception of military structures and warlike stores.^ " It was not," says one of Ross's surviving aids. Sir Duncan M'Dougall, in a letter to the author in 1861, " until he was warmly pressed that he consented to destroy the Capitol and President's house, for the purpose of preventing a repetition of the uncivilized proceedings of the troops of - the United States." Fortunately for Ross's sensibility there was a titled incendiary at hand in the person of Admiral Sir George Cockburn, who delighted in such inhu- man work, and who literally became his torch-bearer. The bulk of the invaders, having crossed the Eastern Branch, halted upon the plain between the Capitol and the site of the Congressional Burying-ground, when General Ross, accompanied by Cockburn and a guard of two hundred men, rode into the city at eight o'clock in the evening. They were fired upon from behind the house of Rob- ert Sewall, near the Capitol, by a single musket, and the horse on which the general was riding was killed. Mr. Sewall's house was immediately destroyed. The same fate awaited the materials in the office of the National Intelligencer, the government organ, whose strictures on the brutality of Cockburn had filled that marauder with hot anger .2 These, and some houses on Capitol Hill, a large rope-walk, and a tavern, comprised the bulk of private property destroyed, thanks to the restraining power of General Ross. Several houses and stores were also plundered. The unfinished Cap- itol, in which was the library of Congress, the President's house, a mile distant, the Treasury buildings, the Arsenal, and barracks for almost three thousand troops, were soon in flames, whose light was plainly seen in Baltimore, about forty miles north- ward. In the course of a few hours nothing' of the superb Capitol and the Presiden- tial mansion was left but their smoke-blackened walls. ^ Of the public buildings only the Patent-office was saved. All the glory that the British had won on the battle-field was lost in this barbarian IB SEMAINS OF THE OAPITOL AFTEK THE FIEB. conflagration. " Willingly," said the London Statesman newspaper, " would we throw a veil of oblivion over our transactions at "Washington. The Cossacks spared Paris but we spared not the capital of America." The British Annual Register for 1814 denounced the proceedings as "a return to the times of barbarism." It can not be concealed," the writer continued, " that the extent of devastation practiced by the victors brought a heavy censure upon the British character, not only in America, but 1 -Dr Martin (see note 1, page 925) says : " General Eoss was the perfect model of the Irish gentleman, of easy and beauti'mi manners, humane and brave, and dignified in his deportment to all. He was beloved by all his officers, and hT» nrinnners had no reason to regret falling into such hands." 2 rnrkbnm was about to apply the torch, when he was prevailed upon by the women of adjoining residences not to An an as it would endanger their dwellings. He caused all the type and other printing materials to be thrown into the strPPt thenrintinE-presses to be destroyed, and the library, containing several hundred volumes, to be burned. He as- »i«tPfl'in this work with his own hands. His companions in the business were some sailors and soldiers. 3 Thpsp hnildinss were flred under the direct superintendence of Lieutenant George Pratt, the second of the Seorlwrse, who was shot in the gun-boat battle on Lake Borgne, near New Orleans, a few months afterward. 934 PICTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK The Barbarities of the British condemned by their Conntrymen. The Navy Yard deetroyed. The Long Bridge burnt KEMAINS or lUE PEESIBEM S HOUSE AFTEH THE FIEF on the Continent of Europe." Continental writers and speakers condemned the act in unmeasured terms ; and yet the government of England, which has seldom repre- sented the sentiments of the people, caused the Tower guns to be fired in honor of Ross's victory; thanked the actors through Parliament ; decreed a monument to that general in Westminster Abhey at his death ; and, making additions to his armorial bearingSj authorized his descendants forever to style themselves " Ross of Bladens- burg !'" . While the public buildings in Washington were in flames, the national shippmg, stores, and other property were blazing at the navy yard ; also the great bridge over the Potomac, from Washington City to the Virginia shore. Commodore Thomas Tingey was in command of the /'-\ r / y/y7 // C^ y f navy yard, and, before the bat- C } y^^^y ' /O ^Ay'K/^.^j^ ^j/ / *^^' ^^*^ received orders to set yc^_^^ / ^"^ \...^,^^ / A f^^yt/^-/ fire to the public property there in the event of the British gain- ing a victory, so as to prevent its falling into the hands of the invaders. Tingey delayed the execution of the order for four hours after the contingency had occurred. When, at half past eight in the evening, he was informed that the enemy was encamped within the city limits, near the Capitol, he applied the torch, and property valued at about a million of dollars was destroyed. The schooner lynx was saved, and most of the metallic work at the navy yard remained but little injured.^ The fine naval monument, delineated on page 124, was somewhat mutilated, but whether accidentally at the time of the con- ilagration, or wantonly by the British, who went there the next day to complete the destructive work, is an unsettled question.^ At the same time, the Long Bridge over the Potomac was fired at both ends. The Americans on the Virginia side thought a large body of British troops were about to pass over, and fired that end to foil them, while the British on the city side, perceiving, as they thought, a large body of Americans about to cross over from the Virginia side, fired the Maryland end of the bridge. The value of the entire amount of property destroyed at Washington by the > The London Times, then, as now, the exponent of the principles of the ruling classes in England, and the bitter foe of the American people, gloried over the deatrnction of the public buildings, and the expulsion of the President and Cabinet from the capital, and indulged in exulting prophecies of the speedy disappearance of the great republic in the West. "That ill-organized association," said the Timee, "is on the eve of dissolution, and the world is speedily to he delivered of the mischievons example of the existence of a government founded on democratic rebellion." In long after years, when Cockbum died at the age of eighty-two, the Timea landed him chiefly for his marauding exploits in this country, and his " splendid achievement" in firing our national capital. ' Letter of Commodore Tingey to the Secretary of the Navy, August 2T, 1814. The ofBcers and other persons at the navy yard fled in boats to Alexandria. ' On the day after the entrance of the British into Washington (August 20), a party of two hundred of them were sent to finish the work of destruction at the navy yard. A large quantity of powder, shot, and shell had been thrown into a well. A British artilleryman accidentally dropped a match into it, when a terrible explosion occurred, and com- municated fire to a small magazine of powder near by. That also exploded. Earth, stones, bricks, shot, shells, etc., were thrown into the air, and. falling among the invaders, killed twelve men, and wounded more than thirty others. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 935 Might of the President and his Cabinet. Mrs. Magjaon-B PatriotJBm. Jacob Barker at the Presidenfe House. British and Americans was estimated at about two million dollars. The walls of the Capitol and President's house stood firm, and were used in rebuilding. President Madison, and other civil oflS- cers who went out to see the fight and give such assistance as they might, re- mained on the field until Barney fell, when they fled to the city as fast as swift-footed horses could carry them, and were among the first to announce the startling intelli- gence that the British, victorious, were probably marching on the town.i Mrs. Madison^ had already been apprised of the danger. When the flight of Congreve rockets caused the panic-stricken militia to fly, the President sent messengers to in- form her that the defeat of the Americans and the capture of the city seemed to be promised, and to advise her jto fly to a place of safety. These messengers reached her between two and three o'clock. Mi-s. Madison ordered her carriage, and sent away in a wagon silver plate and other valuables, to be deposited in the Bank of Maryland. She anxiously waited for her husband, and in the mean time took meas- ures for preserving the full-length portrait of Washington, painted by Stuart, which hung in the presidential mansion.^ Finding the process of unscrewing the frame from the wall too tedious for the exigency, she had it broken in pieces, and the pic- ture removed with the " stretcher," or light frame on which the canvas was nailed. This she did with her own hands. Just as she had accomplished so much, two gen- tlemen from New York, one of whom was the now (1867) venerable New Orleans banker, Jacob Barker,* entered the room. The picture was lying on the floor. The sounds of approaching troops were heard. They might be the invaders, who would be delighted by the possession of so notable a captive as the beautiful wife of the President. It was time for her to fly. " Save that picture," she said to Mr. Barker and Mr. R. G. L. De Peyster, his companion — " save that picture, if possible ; if not possible, destroy it : under no circumstances allow it to fall into the hands of the M^A^^c ■&7l 5 1 The Opposition press and speakers were merry over the flight of the President and his Cabinet from the battle-fleld. A New York paper said : " Should some Walter Scott in the next century write a poem, and call it MaAimn, or the Bat- tle of Bladenebwg, we would suggest the following lines for the conclusion, to be put into the mouth of his hero: " ' Fly, Monroe, fly I run, Armstrong, run I Were the last words of Madison.' " ' Dolly Payne was the maiden name of Mrs. Madison. She was the daughter of Quaker parents, residents of Vii^ ginia, and was bom on the 20th of May, 176T, while her mother was visiting some friends in North Carolina. ^ Her fa- ther manumitted his slaves, and made Philadelphia his residence. There Dolly married a young lawyer named Todd, who was also a Quaker. He died, leaving her a young widow with an infant son ; and in 17M she married Mr. Madi- son, then a distinguished member of Congress, and Montpellier, in Virginia, became their home. She adorned every station in life in which she was placed. She died in July, 1850, at the age of eighty-three years, having survived her husband fourteen years. 3 Mrs. Madison wrote to her sister at intervals. At three o'clock she wrote: "Mr. Madison comes not. May God protect him I Two messengers, covered with dust, come to bid me fly, but I wait for him Our kind friend, Mr. Carroll, has come to hasten my departure, and is in a very bad humor with me because I insist on waiting until the large picture of General Washington is secured, and it requires to be unscrewed from the wall." * Jacob Barker is one of the remarkable mei^ of this country. He was bom in Maine on the 17th of December, 1779. His mother was a Quaker, and he has been a member of that Society 'through life. He entered early into mercantUe life, and became largely interested in commerce as an extensive ship-ovraer. He was a firm and efiicient supporter of the administration during the war, and aided the government largely in its financial operations. He was an intimate family friend of President Madison. He became extensively engaged in banking, and his long and active life has been a scene of many vicissitudes for him. He is now (1867), at the age of eighty-nine years, engaged in banking In the city of New Orleans. 936 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The Declaration of Independence saved. Original Object of this British Invasion. Their Fears of the aroused People. British." Then, snatching up the pre- cious parchment on which was written the Declaration of Independence and the autographs of the signers, Tj:hiph she had resolved to save also, she hast- ened to the carriage with her sister (Mrs. Cutts) and her husband, and two servants, and was borne away to a place of safety beyond the Potomac' Just as Barker and De Peyster had taken the picture from the stretcher and rolled it up, a portion of the flying American ai"my came up, and halted in front of the President's house. Some refreshments were given to them,, when they marched on toward Montgomery Court-house, the appointed place of rendezvous for the broken army, fol- lowed by those gentlenien with the pic- ture. They left it in charge of a farmer in whose house they lodged that night, and a few weeks afterward Mr. Barker restored the portrait to Mrs. Madison.^ It now hangs upon the wall in the Blue Eoom of the Presidential mansion. It was not thQ design of the British to hold the territory which they had, unex- pectedly to themselves, acquired. Indeed, the whole movement up the Chesapeake was originaUy intended as a feint— a menace of Baltimore and Washington, to en- gage the attention of the government and people, and to draw in that direction the military force of the country, while the far more important measure of invading Lou- isiana with a formidable force, and taking possession of the Mississippi Valley, should be matured and executed. Accordingly, when Winder's forces were defeated and routed the President and his Cabinet driven from the national capital, and the pub- lic buildmgs were destroyed, the invaders retreated precipitately, evidently in fear of a reactive blow. _ While the British Cabinet, judging from metropolitan influence in j;uropean countries, were disposed to believe that, with the loss of their capital, the Americans would consider all gone, and would yield in despair to their victors, those conquerors, on the spot, saw too well the danger to be apprehended from the spirit of a people aroused to greater exertions, and with more united energy, because ot that very misfortune. suS^"tan"/sXSe*Op»^^ ^T t^e I'--^entia. n>ansion, formed the of which I can now recaU It is Znrintw; „f m ^n,?^? ' ™' "" ™"'' P*'"'^'' °° ■^°''" »*'*'»'" •««'^ ™>y o°« s'»°^a the President! descriptive of Mrs. Madison's directions for the flight of the family, where she says to "Sister Cutts, and Cutts and I, And Cutts's children three. Shall in the coach— and you shall ride On horseback after we." oners, and Richard Rush Ihe Stomev Gen^r^'w "^'.°S' '"t ^■.f^'''^' ^"^ ^""^'^^ ^^^™' *« Commissary of Pris- the President's famHy to Loudon Suntv'^^^^^^^^ at Brookville, in Maryland: the Secretary of the Navy was with Frederick, in Maryland, on the Monoeacvile^^^^ ™^ the Secretary of War and Secretary of the Treasury were at their ships, he summoned hLcahZr^.^n-ni^ .w Vi"'' President was certified of the flight of the invaders to there on the 28th. Tb^TeZ^\ootll^ZZ!^^ ^^T"""' .?" ''™°'^''"' ^* '"« ^^^^'^^^ °^ ^tatc, arrived 27, 1814. ° ^°°^ place on the 29th.-Autograph Letters of Monroe and Armstrong, August 26 and Oral statement of Mr. Barker to the author at New Orleans in April, 1861. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 937 BritiBh. retreat from Washington. An Account by an Eye-witness. Effect of the Invasion. Impressed with a sense of this danger, Ross and Cochrane moved away with their forces with great secrecy on the night of the 25th of August, after order- ing every inhabitant of Washington to remain within doors from sunset till sun- rise, on pain of death, and increasing their camp-fires, so as to deceive the Ameri- cans. It was immediately after the pas- sage of a terrific tempest of wind, light- ning, and rain, during whichhouses were unroofed and trees were uprooted. Soft- ly these victors stole away in the gloom. " No man spoke above his breath," says one of the British officers who was pres- ent. " Our very steps were planted lightly, and we cleared the town without exciting observation."' At , midnight, just as the moon arose and cast a pale light over the scenes, they passed the battle-field and Bladensburg, leaving their dead unburied, and full ninety of their wounded to the humanity of Com- modore Barney and his men. It was hu- miliating to the British troops thus to steal away in the dark from the field of their conquest. They moved sullenly onward, so wearied with fatigue and loss of sleep that, when the columns halted for a few minutes, the roads would be filled with sleep- ing soldiers. At seven o'clock in the morning, finding themselves but little annoyed by pursuers, they halted for rest and refreshments for several hours. At noon they moved forward, encamped at Marlborough, and, marching leisurely, reached Benedict on the 29th, where they embarked on the transports the next day.*^ • Angnstso The loss of the battle at Bladensburg and of the national capital filled i^^*- the American people with mortification, and produced the most intense excitement throughout the country.^ Crimination and recrimination kindled widespread anger, that burned intensely while the actors lived. The public were disposed to hold the Secretary of War responsible for the misfortune, because of his alleged obstinacy and inefficiency, and on the 3d of September he left the Cabinet, and retired to private t^. ^ ^ Eev. George E. Gleig, now (1867) chaplain general of the British Army. He entered the army at an early age, was in the Peninsular War with Wellington, and served as a subaltern in America at Baltimore, and Washington, and New Orleans. He was severely wounded in the battle of Bladensburg. He has published two works on these campaigns, one entitled The Subaltern inAmerka, and the other Campaigns of Washington and New Orleans. To these books, writ- ten with great candor, I am Indebted for mnch information concerning the movements of the British in these cam- paigns. Mr. Gleig has been an industrious book-maker. After the war in this country he took orders, and was chap- lain of Chelsea Hospital for some time. He was made chaplain general to the forces in 1S46. A flue lithographed por- trait of him, from which the above picture was copied, and his signature, I received from him through the hands of a gentleman residing in London. 2 The chief authorities consulted in the preparation of the narrative of the capture of Washington are the official reports of the commanders; Wilkinson's Memoirs ; Armstrong's Notices of the War of 1812 ; files of the National In- telligencer ; Niles's Register ; Ingraham's Sketch of the Events which preceded the Capture of Washington ; IngersoH's historical Sketch of the Second War, etc. ; Williams's History of the Invasion and Capture of Washington ; the MS. Papers of General Winder and Commodore Barney ; Gleig's Campaign of Washington, etc. ; Statements of Survivors, etc., etc 3 Intelligence of the disaster reached Cincinnati on the 6th of September. General Harrison was there. Forgetful of the ill treatment which he had received from those In power, and anxious to save his country, he at once addressed a letter to the Governors of Ohio and Kentucky, to whom appeals had never been made in vain, suggesting the propri- ety of sending a volunteer force of dragoons and mounted riflemen to the aid of the people on the sea-board. Move- ments for that purpose were set on foot, when the repulse of the British at Baltimore, and their abandonment of expe- ditions (if ever conceived) against Philadelphia and New Tork, rendered farther operations in the West unnecessary.— AutoTaph Letter of General Harrison to Governor Shelby, September 6, 1814. 938 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Who was to blame for the Defeat at Bladensburg. Slavery the Culprit. Fort Washington. life.i The government gladly attempted to fix the odium upon the militia of Mary- land and the Distiict of Columbia, who were easily panic-stricken, and who, on being driven from the field, fled in disorder to their homes ; and General Winder received a full share of blame, how worthily let the preceding narrative determine. Only Bar- ney and his seamen were praised. Historians, puzzled by contemporaneous quarrels, have generally agreed in condemning both the government and the militia — the for- mer for imbecility, and the latter for cowardice. A culprit more culpable than either may be discovered by close research. The late Alvan Stewart, in a letter to Dr. Bailey on the 30th of August, 1845, gives us a clew to the identity of the criminal. He says: "General Smith,^ of Georgetown, District of Columbia, told me in 1818, while passing over this very ground [between Bladensburg and the national capital], in a journey I was taking to Washington City, that he commanded a brigade in the fleeing army of ours, and that the secret of our disgraceful flight was, that a story had been circulated through the District and adjacent counties of the two states, that on that day the slaves were to rise and assert their liberty,^ and that each man more feared the enemy he had left behind, in the shape of a slave in his own house or plan- tation, than he did any thing else.^ The officers and soldiers had their minds distract- ed with the possibility of this insurrection," said General Smith, " and therefore fled to their homes before an inferior force, and left Washington to the mercy of its cap- tors. "= Barney's men, having no such fears, fought gallantly and persistently. May we not look for the chief cause of the disaster at Bladensburg, and the loss of the na- tional capital in 1814, to the slave system, which has cursed every thing upon which the blight of its influence has fallen ? While Cochrane and Ross were making their way toward Washington, a portion of the British fleet, consisting of two frigates of thirty-six and thirty-eight guns, two rocket-ships of eighteen guns each, two bomb-vessels of eight guns each, and one schtfoner of two guns, sailed up the Potomac River, under Commodore Gordon, of the Sea-horse, to co-operate with them. The only obstruction to the passage of the fleet on which the Americans might place the least reliance was Fort Washington (late Warburton), on the Maryland side of the Potomac, about twelve miles below the Na- tional capital. It was a feeble fortress, but capable of being made strong. So eariy as May, 1813, a deputation from Alexandria, Georgetown, and Washington waited upon the Secretary of War, and represented the importance of strengthening that «:^C^ ^^y.^-^ ' yy ^°^*' "^^ engineer (Colonel Decius Wads- 0<:^ - //^ O^/^O^-Z^-y^^^ worth) was sent to examine it. He re- ^ ^^^ ported in favor of additional works in the rear, while he believed that the armament of the fort, and its elevated situation, would enable a well-managed garrison to re- pulse any number of ships of war that might attempt to pass up the river. Nothing more was done. In July, 1814, when a British fleet and army were in the Chesa- peake, the authorities of Alexandria again called the attention of the Secretary of War to the feeble condition of Fort Washington. The Secretary did not believe the enemy would push for the capital, and nothing was done. The Alexandr ians appealed ,I,°V^^ ^''"' "f ^"Suat President Madison informed General Armstrong that there was a high degree of excitement agamst him among the militia of the District, and that an officer of a corns had mvpn ^ntino fh.rtS !!„ il , vindication, m two small volumes, entitled JVoCfces of the War of 1812 eiaoorate 2 General Walter Smith. See page 922. 3 On several occasions dnring the war the British had offered libertv to the slnves if tho i«tf<.> ™„„ij ■ ■ iv s^h c^rZr "^ ™ '"^ "^ ''''' «'»'' ''-^-'"^°- -- -^'. ^^^^^^^o^tf^T,z^^z:'^z:t pageTlf ' *^='™'"'y °"<"'° K-^aolph on this point in a speech on the floor of Congress In the year 1811. See » Writir^s and SpeeoUs of Alvan Stewart o« Slavery, edited by his son-in-law, Lnther E. Marsh, page 372. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 939 Fort Washington neglected. It is deserted and blown up. British Ships pass up the Potomac, July 2B, 1814. to General Winder, who, in a letter to the Secretary of War," recommended the strengthening of the post. Three of the hanks of Alexandria offered to loan the government fifty thousand dollars for the construction of more defenses for the District. The money was accepted, hut nothing was done to Fort Washington. When the battle of Bladenshurg occurred, and the seat of government was left to the mercy of the invaders, Fort Washington was as feebly armed as ever, and its gar- rison consisted of only about eighty men, under Captain Samuel T. Dyson, who had received orders from General Winder to be very watchful, and, in the event of its be- ing approached by the enemy on land, to blow up the fortification and retreat across the river. The British squadron appeared before Fort Washington on the 2'7th of August, FOItT WABHIKGTON.l three days after the capture of the capital. Captain Dyson either misunderstood General Winder's order, or was infiuenced by mortal fear, for he blew up and aban- doned the fort without firing a gun.^ No doubt the British fleet could have been kept below by the heavy cannon of the fort. Dyson chose not to try the experiment, and for his injurious conduct he was dismissed from the service. The British squadron now had nothing to fear, and without hinderance it sailed on, and was anchored off Alexandria on the evening of the 28th. On the morning of the 29th it assumed a hostile attitude a hundred yards from the wharves, and was well prepared to lay every building in the town in ashes. The citizens had done what they could to protect their city.^ The able-bodied men and their heavy guns had been called to the defense of Washington City, and only exempts and a few others, not more than one hundred in all, were left. When the squadron came they had no effective means to oppose the intruders, and the citizens sent a deputation to Com- modore Gordon to ask upon what terms he would consent to spare the town. He replied that all naval stores and ordnance ; all the shipping and its furniture ; mer- chandise of every description in the city, or which had been carried out of it to a place of safety; and refreshments of every kind, must be immediately given up to him Also that the vessels which had been scuttled to save them from destruction must be raised, and delivered up to him. " Do all this," he said, " and the town of Alexandria, with the ex ception of public works, shall be spared, and the inhabitants 1 Thin is a view of Fort Washington from the rear, looking across the Potomac to the Virginia shore, as it appeared in November 1861. It is on the Maryland shore, about three miles higher up the river than Mount Vernon. = rr^Tetter to the Secretary of War, dated " Camp at Macon's Island, August 29, 1814," Captam Dyson excused his conduct by saving he had been Informed that the enemy had been re-enforced at Benedict by sir thousand men and were marching on Fort Washington to co-operate with the fleet. This was a false rumor. He acted too precipitately tnfir,i1 out the truth, hut not until it was too late to be useful. . ,. , , , 3 A?»W theWmewhen the British fleet appeared in the Potomac, General Winder received from an unknown hand o =vtf I „f ». simnle torpedo for blowing up vessels, with a description of its construction and use. The engravmg of Hont^enertmgelsa^a^^^^^^^ General Winder Hwpfl it was from General Guy, of Alexandria, who had conversed with him on the subject previously. Thltoroedo's construction and use were described as follows : Ascertain the depth of thexhannel in which a row of toroedoes are to be placed, and cut trees three feet in diameter of such length as will allow ships to pass over them wSn they stand perpendicular. Bore them out witji a pump auger, the hole being large enough for a 12-ponnd ball. 940 PICTORIAL PIELD-BOOK Alexandria plundered. Preparations to intercept the British Vessels in the Potomac. A Torpedo. shall remain unmolested. These were harsh and humiliating terms, and the inhabit- ants were allowed only one hour for consideration. They were powerless, and were compelled to submit. The merchandise that had been carried from the town and the sunken vessels could not be given up to the invader, so he contented himself by burn- ing one vessel and loading several others, chiefly with flour, cotton, and tobacco. With these in charge, the squadron weighed anchor and sailed down the Potomac.' On hearing of the surrender of Alexandria, the government determined to annoy, and, if possible, capture or destroy the British squadron in its descent of the Potomac. The Maryland and District militia could not be rallied in time, so the Secretary of the N"avy sent an express to Commodore Rodgers, at Baltimore,^ for him to hasten to the Potomac with as large a number of seamen as he could collect. These were placed under the command of Commodores Rodgers, Perry, Porter, and Creighton.^ Armed boats and fire-ships were soon prepared, and the seamen, in conjunction with the Vir- ginia militia, gave the enemy a great deal of trouble. Batteries were erected on the river bank at the " White House," a short distance below Mount Vernon, and on In- dian Head, both commanding points on the Virginia side of the stream. Musketeers were stationed on the thickly-wooded shores. Cannon were taken by District Volun- teers, and placed in battery with all possible dispatch, and for several days from the • 1S14 "^^* of September they kept the British war and plunder vessels from descend- ing the river. Meanwhile the batteries and the militia were strengthened by accessions of guns sent down from Washington and men from the neighboring coun- try, and at times there was heavy fighting. Finally the war vessels, ten in number, with an aggregate of one hundred and seventy-three guns, brought their concentrated Then fill the place with hot tallow, so that it will thorongh- •5 ly enter the pores of the wood, and make it impervious to wa- ter. Then bore it out again, and put in powder in flannel cartridges. Over the powder place two balls, and then pour in melted tallow again, so as to com- pletely inclose the powder. Over the balls put a wad of oakum, also covered at top with tallow. Before patting in the powder, a hole must be made in the log, and a wire inserted so as to penetrate the cartridge, and the hole then made water-tight. This wire was to extend to the shore. It was to be a conductor of an electric spark to the powder. To secure the trees from bursting with the powder explosion, they were to be hooped. The following are the directions for the working of the torpedo, given by the projector : 1, a tree on the shore, serving as a mark by day, and having a lantern hanging upon it by night. 2, position of a sentinel, who views an object on the water be- tween himself and the tree 1 through a fixed tube. 3, another tree, with a lantern at night. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, other sentinels on the shore, who look through fixed tubes ,, . „,..,. "P°° *''^® number 3, their vision crossing that of sentinel number 2 at different positions. The circles m the channel of the river show the position of five tree torpedoes. Thus stationed, the differ- ent sentinels would all seea vessel, as it crossed their vision between them and tree 3, at different points. When the sentinel at 4, 5, 6 7, or 8 sees an object on his line of vision, he will immediately pull a cord to convey information of the fact to number 2, and if, at the same time, that object covers the vision of the sentinel on line 1 and 2, the vessel f^» 1L°™%T f "^^'°'-P^*»««- Then number 2, having in charge the electric wire, will communicate the spark to the powder of the torpedo. = J 'Ji'^if '°^^ sustained by the Alexandrians by the surrender of the city consisted of three ships, three brigs, several and segYrs '""" " '"'™'^' °' ""'"'' ^'^° ^"^^^"^^ <" "'''»<:™> ^^ l^^'es of cotton, and $5000 worth of wines ^■2^^°^^ ^°^Bers was at Philadelphia when the British captured Washington. As early as the 26th he had re- sLrtp/™-rf ■■ 1°"^^% Secretary of the Navy to hasten to Washington with all tie force under his command. He hpfor»V TiT,.-** '*^'"^° ™^ ^"y '"™"'=" ''™^^ ^i'*! muskets, and four pieces of artillery (12-pounders), but before he reached Baltimore he heard of the fall of the capital. At Balthnore he awaited f.rth«,. nrders -Eodgers to .C^C^rc^^ PAC-SIMII.H OP DKAWING OF TOEPEnO. . „f the capital. Wmder— Autograph Letter among the Winder Papers. mln^a^rfthf f,?l'Ef r'^ '" Baltimore at the time, and accompanied Eodgers to Washington. The former was in maud 01 the frigate Jaxa, recently launched at Baltimore. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 941 British Ships pass American Batteries and escape. Visit to the Battle-gr'ound at Bladensbnrg. Oak Hill Cemetery. power to bear upon Porter's battery at the " White House" and its supports, and drove all away. Perry's battery at Indian Head received like attention. His guns were .skillfully .managed by Lieutenant (late Commodore) George C. Read ;i but Perry, like Porter, overwhelmed by a vastly superior force, was compelled to retire, and allow the enemy, with his plunder, to pass on to Chesapeake Bay.^ Thus ended the invasion which resulted in the capture of Washington City, the de- struction of its public buildings and navy yard, the surrender and plunder of Alexan- dria, and the profound regret and humiliation of the American people.^ 1 visited the theatre of many of the events described in this chapter, in the years 1860 and 1861. At the close of the former year I was in Washington City, on my way southward to go over the region of the Creek War in Alabama* from the Ten- nessee River to the Gulf of Mexico, and to view the grounds of conflict in the vicin- ity of New Orleans. I was met there by a letter from a distinguished South Caro- lina author, informing me that on a certain day a Convention would declare that state seceded from the Union,^ and advising me to defer my visit on account of the excitement and confusion that must inevitably follow such revolutionary action. On the day after receiving this letter, =■ and while conversing with the ven- . December 20, erable General Cass (who had lately left Mr. Buchanan's Cabinet in dis- ^^^''• gust) at his own house, a messenger brought to him the startling intelligence of the passage of the Ordinance of Secession by the South Carolina Conven- ^ jyg^g^],^^ 20 tion of politicians.*" I shall never forget the extreme sadness of counte- nance, voice, and words of the eminent statesman after that announcement. " I hoped," he said, " to leave to my children, as an inheritance from patriotic men, a united, prosperous, and happy country ; but all is over ! This is but the beginning of the end!" The political firmament was so cloudy that I concluded to defer my visit to the Gulf region until a more propitious time, and so I spent a week among the public records in the Departments at Washington, and in visiting the battle-ground at Bla- densburg. I had the good fortune to go over that field of strife with the late John C. Rives, whose residence, we have observed,^ was near the place where Barney fought and fell. Being his guest for a day, we spent nearly the whole time in exploring the battle-ground, and making the sketches on preceding pages. Not long afterward the great Civil War broke out, and it was a year after the visit now considered before I was again in the National capital in the prosecution of this work, when it was filled with soldiery and all the paraphernalia of war. Accompanied by a young kins- woman,! then visited localities of interest connected with the War of 1812 in and around 'Washington City, at Baltimore, North Point, Havre de Grace, and other places. . It was a bright day in November" when we rode over to Oak Hill Ceme- ^ ^^^^ tery, near Georgetown, to visit the graves of General Towson and Commodore Morris. It was a beautiful spot. The burial-places were spread over the slopes of a broad ravine that went down to Piney Branch Creek, where the gentle murmur of a small cascade was heard. The ground was covered with stately oaks, and among them stood many commemorative m onuments. I sketched those of Towson and Mor- " I Commodore Bead died at Philadelphia, where he was Governor of the Naval Asylum, in August 1863. 2 On the 6th of September twenty-six sail passed Point Lookout, and at four o'clock on the afternoon of the 9th twenty-one ships, six brigs, and three smaller vessels were seen beating up the Chesapeake.— Autograph Letters from Thomas Swann, at Point Lookout, among the Winder Papers. ,^ , , -^ j ,. 3 The slteht resistance offered to the invaders during their operations In the space of twelve days excited great sur- prise alarm, and indignation. They had been performed in the midst of a population most mterested m the events, Td canS of mmishing at least 20,000 able-bodied men for the defense of their homes and the National capital. The ^Hnnpl honor reanired an investigation, and early in the next session of Congress a committee for that purpose was national honor required ^f^^Hg^^' Their report exculpated the President and General Winder, but left Con- ^r^^fl the toSrto fSel ow udgment from the facts presented. * See Chapters XXm and XXIV. ^fCtuerCs wnil^rG«mo^^^^ His letter was dated December 13 1860. •■ In ten days Xre," he wrote, " South Carolina will have certainly seceded ; and in reasonable interval after this event, if the forts m our harbor are not surrendered to the state, they will be taken." See page 92T. 942 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Kalorama. Barlow's Vault. The Death of Decatur. Van Kensselaer'B Letter. THE UNKNOWN. slope, at the foot of which was a circular plain of ten or twelve acres, then beat- en hard by the tread of troops, for it had been made a camp-ground. On the edge of this plain, overlooking a steep slope covered with oaks, was the family vault of Mr. Barlow,^ in which the ris,' and a small uninscribed stone, with a cross upon it, near the latter, and then we rode back, crossed Piney Creek, and, a mile fi-om Georgetown, entered a pleasant lane shaded with oaks, that led to the beautiful mansion of Kalorama, on the brow of a hill, which was once the residence of the eminent Joel Barlow.^ At the time of our visit it was used as a hospital for soldiers sick with small-pox and measles. Before it was a gentle wooded' ,-»*; ' 1'.'" , '' . :^^^< "•-^^t--- JiAELOW S VAULT. body of Commodore Decatur was laid on the 24th of March, 1820, two days after he fell in a duel with Commodore Barron, near Bladens- burg.* It was followed to this tomb by a vast concourse of people, and was placed in it with military honors.^ We returned to "Washington just as the stars were appearing. Early the next day ■we rode out to the Congressional Burial-ground, which lies party upon a plain, and ' A picture of Towson's appears on page 809, and Morris's on page 901. ' See page 94. 3 On each side of the entrance door to the vault was a white marhle slab, suitably inscribed. Commencing on one, and running across to the other, are the words " Sacred to the repose of the dead and the meditation of the living." On the left-hand slab we read: "Joel Barlow, Patriot, Poet, and Philosopher, lies buried at Zarowitch, Poland, where he died, 26th December, 1812, aged flfty-seven years." " Judith Baldwin Barlow, his wife, died 29th of May, 1818, aged sixty-two." " Abraham Baldwin, her brother, died a senator in Congress from Georgia, 4th of March, 1S07, aged flfty-two years. His memory needs no marble ; his country is his monument ; the Constitution his greatest work." Mr. Baldwin was a member from Georgia of the Convention that framed the National Constitution in 178T. On the right-hand Bide are inscriptions commemorative of the Bomford family. * General Solomon Van Rensselaer, then in Washington City, wrote as follows to Mrs. Van Eensselaer: "Washington, March 20, 1820. "Deae Habeibt,— I have only time, after writing to several, to say that an affair of honor took place this morning between Commodores Decatur and Barron, In which both fell at the first fire. The ball entered Decatur's body two inches above the hip, and lodged against the opposite side. I just came from bis house. He yet lives, but will never see another sun. Barron's wound is severe, but not dangerous. The ball struck the upper part of his hip, and turned to the rear. He is ruined in public estimation. The excitement is very great." On the following day Van Eensselaer wrote of his death, and said: "His poor wife (they have no children) is dis- tressed beyond expression. She would suffer no one to be in her room, and, strange to say, she did not see him until after his death." General Van Eensselaer was misinformed, for she was present when he died. Mrs. Decatur survived her husband about forty years. She died at Georgetown, In the District of Columbia, in 18C0. = Decatur's remains were taken from his late residence in Washington City at four o'clock in the afternoon, and borne to Kalorama by the following officers : Commodores Tingey, Macdonongh, Eodgers, and Porter, Captains Oassin, Bal- lard, and Chauncey, Generals Brown and Jesup, and Lieutenant M'Pherson. The funeral was attended by nearly all the public functionaries in Washington, American and foreign, and a great number of citizens. While the procession was moving, minute-guns were fired at the navy yard. OF THE -WAR OF 1812. 943 The CongreBBional Burying-gronnd. A Visit to Fort Washington. Departure from the National Capital.' partly upon an uneven slope toward the Anacostia, or East- ern Branch of the Potomac. It contains many beautiful monuments, and also monotonous rows of small marble cen- otaphs erected to the memory of members of Congress who "%^ ^ _ died while representatives ~^^5C-^-=^- ^ of districts, but who were not buried there. Among the most elaborately wrought of the fine monuments is that of Elbridge Gerry, who died suddenly while he was Vice-President of the United States.' It is of white marble, about thirteen feet in height, with a neat iron railing around it.^ After sketching this monument and those of several other distinguished public servants, we returned to the city, and passed the evening pleasantly with Colonel C. S. Todd, one of General Harrison's stafi" in the "War of 1812, already mentioned,^ and the late ven- erable Elisha "Whittlesey, Comptroller of the Nation- al Treasury, who was also an active participant in the Second "War for Independence.* Having procured a special letter of permission from General M'Clellan, we started for old Fort "Washington, twelve miles down the Potomac, on the following morning, accompanied by Mr. Samuel Yorke At Lee, Librarian of the Treasury Depart- ment. Beyond the Potomac, from Arlington Heights to Alexandria and below, we saw the white tents of At Fort "Washington, which stands upon the high bank of the Potomac, on the Maryland side, at the mouth of the Piscataway Creek, we were courteously received by Major Haskin, the commander of the garrison; and while making the sketch seen on page 939, we heard the heavy guns of the Confeder- ates, who then blockaded the Potomac. It was twilight when we returned to "Wash- ington City. At an early hour the next morning we crossed the Long Bridge into Virginia, made a journey of almost twenty miles among camps and forts in the vicin- ity of the National capital, and returned to "Washington at dusk. On Monday morn- ing we departed for Baltimore, to visit places of historic interest there and in its vicinity. 1 Mr. Gerry was boarding at the honse of Mrs. Wilson, and was on his way from there to the Capitol when the death- enmmons came to him in the street. At his funeral his body was taken from Mrs. Wilson's to the hall of the House of Sepresentatives in charge of a committee of arrangements. From there it was conveyed to the Congressional Bury- ing-gronnd by Messrs. Tallmadge, Macon, Brower, Sevier, Wright, Findley, Nelson, and Brigham, chosen pall-bearers, followed by all the public functionaries in Washington, domestic and foreign. 2 Mr. Gerry was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and had ever been conspicuous in public life. The following Is a copy of the inscription on his monument : Saat Side—' ' The tomb of Elbbidoe Geeey, Vice-President of the United States, who died suddenly in this city, on his way to the Capitol as President of the Senate, November 23d, 1S14, aged seventy, thus fulfilling his own memorable injunction, 'It is the duty of every citizen, though he may have but one day to live, to devote that day to the good of his country.' " West Si(te—" Erected by order of the Congress of the TTnited States, 1823." = See page 648. i See page 3M. Note.— In the smaller section of the map on page 929 are figures which indicate the position of certain troops, as fol- lows : 8, Second Eegiment, of Smith's brigade ; 6, Major Peter's battery ; T, Major Waring's battalion ; 8, Scott's regu- lars; 9, companies of StuU and Davidson; 10, Eagan's regiment; 11, Schutz's; 12, Fifth Baltimore Eegiment; 13, Burch's artillery ; 16, militia and riflemen ; 17, Baltimore artillery ; 20, the British. GEEBTf'S MONUMENT. various military encampments. 944 PICTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK - — „ . . ^ . „^ r"Z ' An Attack on St. Michael's. The British m Chesapeake Bay. ^ CHAPTER XL. "The gen'ral gave orders for the troops to march down, To meet the proud Eoss, and to check his amhition ; To inform him we have decreed in our town That here he can't enter without our permission. And if life he regards, he will not press too hard, For Baltimore freemen are ever prepared To check the presumptnons, whoever they be, That may rashly attempt to evade our decree."— Old Sous. ^^ALTIMOBE was menaced while Washington was assailed. In-, deed, the whole coast of the Chesapeake Bay, from its mouth to the Patapsco, was continually harassed by the invaders during August and September, 1814. "Whenever a favorable oppor- tunity presented itself," wrote a British officer who participated in the capture of Washington, " parties landed, plundered or de- stroyed the government stores, andbrought off all the shipping which could be reached. In a word," he says, with great candor, " the hostilities carried on in the Chesapeake resembled the expeditions of the an- cient Danes against Great Britain rather than a modern war between civilized na- tions." He added, "But these hasty excursions, though generally successful, were not always performed without loss to the invaders."^ We will here record two events in proof of the truth of the last observation, in which the courage and spirit of the Maryland militia were very conspicuous. Among other places on the Chesapeake which received special attention from the British was the little village of St. Michael's, in Talbot County, on the eastern shore of the bay. It was founded by ship-builders, and was famous as the place where most of the swift-sailing privateers, called " Baltimore clippers," were constructed. At the time in question seven of these were on the stocks there. Cockburn, the ma- rauder, determined to destroy them, the ship-yards, and the town. Intimation of his intentions had been received at the village, and the veteran General Derry Benson, commander of the militia of Talbot County, prepared to receive them. He construct- ed two batteries, one at the entrance to the harbor or creek, mounting three 6-pound- ers and one long 9-pounder, and the other on an eminence in front of the town, armed with two 6-pounders. Two companies from Easton, and two or three from the adjacent country, were called to the defense of St. Michael's, numbering in the aggregate about three hun- dred souls. They were in readiness for some time, waiting for the invaders. They appeared early in August,^ in a small squadron, that entered Eastern Bay be- tween the Talbot County main and Kent Island. Between midnight and the dawn of the 11th, while the darkness was intensified by thick clouds, they made their way in eleven barges (each armed with a 6-pound field-piece), with oars muffled, so secretly that the booming of their cannon was the first intimation the Americans re- ceived of their near presence. The Marylanders were a little surprised, yet they be- haved most gallantly. They returned the fire with spirit from the lower battery. The 9-pounder was in charge of Captain William Dodson, of St. Michael's, and did terrible execution. He had literally crammed it with grape and canister shot, and 1 Campaigns of Washington ami New OrUans, hy the Hev. G. E. Gleig. See page 937. OF THE WAR OT 1812. 945 The DefePBe of St. MichaeVa. Exploits of Sir Peter Parker. Infamous Oon dnct of Admiral Cockbtirn. being well acquainted with every foot of the locality, he knew precisely, by sounds, where to fire most effectively in the gloom. The invaders, under cover of their heavy guns, had landed in a compact body for the purpose of storming the batteries, and when Dodson opened his great gun upon them, a wide swathe was cut through their Ime. Nineteen of the British were killed, and many were wounded. The Ameri- cans, finding themselves outnumbered, fled to the upper battery, whose guns, worked by Captains Viokers and Auld, kept up a continuous fire on the foe. The fight con- tinued until daylight, when the British fled to their boats and abandoned the enter- prise. They had spiked the guns in the lower battery, and this was the principal loss sustained by the Americans.^ St. Michael's and its ship-yards were saved by the gallantry of a few spirited militia, and no attempt to enter its harbor was ever after- ward made by a British armed vessel. It is yet a flourishing town of about eight hundred people, surrounded by fertile land and deep estuaries of the Chesapeake. Soon after the expulsion of the invaders from St. Michael's, Sir Peter Parker, of the Royal Navy, appeared in the Upper Chesapeake for the purpose of patrolling its wa- ters and blockading the harbor of Baltimore with two vessels under his command, while Cochrane, and Ross, and Cockburn were penetrating the country to "Washing- ton. His flag-ship was the frigate Menelaus, 38, and his deportment was so haughty, and his acts, under the direction of his superior, Cockburn, were so cruel,^ that the Americans became greatly exasperated. He frequently sent parties ashore to plun- der and destroy private as well as public property, and he swept domestic commerce from the bay. He boasted to his superiors that during the month of his blockading service not a single American boat crossed the waters of the Chesapeake. On the fall of Washington Sir Peter was ordered to proceed down the bay. "I must first have a frolic with the Yankees," he said.^ Accordingly, on the night of the 30th of August," after a jolly dinner with his officers, and indulgence in drinking and dancing, he proceeded, to engage in the sport. He had been in- formed that a body of Maryland militia were encamped at Moorfields, near the George- town Cross Roads, on the eastern shore of Maryland (not far from Chestertown), and he prepared to surprise them. They were less than two hundred in number, under the vigilant Colonel Read, who was fully apprised of the movement. The Menelaus ran into one of the numerous estuaries, and at eleven o'clock at night landed a force of seamen and marines, armed with muskets, pikes, and cutlasses. 1 Commnnications to the author by Messrs. Dr. Goldsborongh, M. Spencer, and William H. Groome, of Ea8ton,Mary- land, in March, 1860. 2 A British officer, who served with Cockbnm and Parker, published some spicy sketches of his experience in ma- rauding expeditions along the shores of the Chesapeake. He relates one, commanded by Cockburn in person, with Parker and General Eoss as "amateurs," as he expresses it. The object was, he says, "to destroy a factory village, which was not only the abode of innocent labor, but likewise the resort of some few militiamen guilty of the unnatural sin of defending their own county." Their approach being known, all but women and children had fled bom the town. "We therefore," he says, " most valiantly set fire to the unprotected property, iiotwithstanding the tears of the wom- en, and, like a parcel of savages, as we were, we danced round the wreck of ruin." The excuse was the necessity of re-, taliation for the destruction of Newark, in Canada. See pages 634 and 932. "Every house," he continues, "which we could by ingenuity vote into the residence of a military man, was burned." He then gives an account of scenes at a dwelling-house near the beach which they surrounded. "Like midnight murderers," he says, "we cautiously ap- proached the house. The door was open, and we unceremoniously intruded ourselves upon three young ladies sitting quietly at tea. Sir George Cockburn, Sir Peter Parker, and myself entered the room rather suddenly, and a simultane- ous scream was our welcome." Sir George, he said, was austere, but Sir Peter " was the handsomest man in the navy," and to the latter the ladies appealed. Cockbnm told them that he knew their father to be an American officer— a col- onel of militia, and that his duty being to burn their house, he gave them ten minutes for removing what they most de- sired to save. The young women, on their knees, begged the admiral to spare their house. " The youngest, a girl of sixteen, and lovely beyond the general beauty of those parts, threw herself at Sir Peter's feet, and prayed him to inter- fere. The tears started from his eyes in a moment, and I was so bewildered at the afllicting scene that I appeared to see through a thick mist." Cockburn was unmoved, with his watch on the table, measuring the fleeting minutes. The other girls were in tears, and asking for mercy. Sir Peter had opened his lips to plead for them, when the brutal Cock- bum stopped him, and ordered men to bring the flre-balls. " Never shall I forget the despair of that moment. Poor ' Sir Peter wept like a child, while the girl clung to his knees and impeded his retreat. The admiral walked out with his usual haughty stride, followed by the two elder girls, who vainly implored him to countermand the order. In a mo- ment the house was in flames. " We retreated from the scene of ruin, leaving the three daughters gteing at the work of destraction, which made the innocent houseless and the affluent beggars By the light of that house we em- barked and returned on board. It was a scene which impressed itself upon my heart, and which my memory and my hand unwillingly recall and publish." ^^ Niles's Weekly Begiater, vli,, 11. 3 946 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Death of Sir Peter Parker. The British Fleet in the Chesapeake. liepulse of the British. The moon was shining hrightly. Stealth- ily they moved for\?ai-d, and fell furi- ously upon the Marylanders, who were in battle order to receive them. A fierce conflict of an hour ensued, when the in- vaders, repulsed, fled hack to their frig- ate, leaving thirteen dead and three Avounded on the field. Among those mortally hurt was the gallant Sir Peter, a brave and generous Irishman, descend- ed from Archbishop Parker and Admiral Byron, and then only twenty-eight years of age. He was at the head of his men, cheering them on, when a musket-ball cut the main artery in his thigh. " They have hit me, Pearce," he said to his first lieutenant, " but it is nothing ; push on, my brave boys, and follow me !" He attempted to cheer, but his voice failed him. He fell in the arms of Pearce, and before he could be conveyed to the frig- ate or receive surgical aid he bled to death.' The invaders fled to their ship, and the Menelaus sailed down the bay. Sir Peter's body was preserved in spirits and sent to England, and on the 14th of May, 1815, it was deposited in the family vault in St. Margaret's Church, West- minster.^ Let us now observe the movements of the British army and navy, under General Ross and Admiral Cochrane, after the flight of the former from the smoking ruins of Washington City. We left the invaders re-embarked on their vessels in the Patuxent. They re- mained there several days to rest, recruit, and make provision for their wounded. These were placed on board vessels, and sent, some to Halifax and others to England, and by the Iphigenia dispatches were sent to th'e home government. Preparations were made in the mean time for other offensive operations. At daybreak on the 6th of September the whole fleet weighed anchor, and stood toward the Chesapeake with a fair wind. Down that bay they sailed, and on the morning of the 7th entered the Potomac. For two days they moved up that stream to assist Gordon in his operations against Fort Washington and Alexandria. Hearing of his success, they « September 9, turned,^ hastened back to the Chesapeake, and stood for the mouth of' 181*- ' the Patapsco,'' spreading terror along the entire coasts of the bay. The ' September 10. - people fled from their dwellings and the villages with their most valued property that might be carried away, and at every light-house and signal-station alarm guns were fired. On Sunday, the 11th, they entered the Patapsco with fifty 1 Dal1as*B Biographical Memoir of Sir Peter Parker, Bart. 2 Sir Peter Parker was a son of Admiral Christopher Parker, and first consin of the eminent poet, Lord Byron. He inherited from his father a love of the naval service, and from his mother much personal beauty. He was educated at Westminster School, and entered the navy at the age of thirteen years, with his grandfather, Sir Peter Parker, who com- manded the British fleet at Charleston in the summer of 1776. He rose rapidly in his profession under Lord Nelson, Barl St. Vincent, and others, and in 1810 he was made commander of the Uemlcum, a new ship, in which he performed gallant service. He accompanied Admiral Malcolm to Bermuda in the spring of 1814, and with him went with his frigate to the Chesapeake, where, as the text relates, he lost his life. His body was first conveyed to Bermuda, and there received the honors of a public funeral, it was afterward conveyed in the same vessel (the Hebras) to England, and was again buried with a public funeral. Lord Byron wrote a poetic eulogy of Sir Peter. His friend, and one of the chief mourners at his funeral, wrote a touching Biographical Memoir of him, dedicated to his wife, from which the above portrait, from a painting by Hoppner, of the Eoyal Academy, was copied. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 947 Baltimore threatened. Exasperation against It. General Samuel Smith. sail of vessels, bearing at least six thousand fighting men, for the purpose of attack- ing Baltimore. The victorious Ross, elated by his good fortune, had boasted that he would make that fine city of forty thousand inhabitants (one fifth negroes) his win- ter quarters. , Baltimore stands on the Patapsco River, ten miles from the Chesapeake. The har- bor is entered by a narrow strait, commanded by Fort M'Henry, which stood there at the time we are considering. The growth of the city had been extremely rapid. In 1814 it was the third in population, and fourth in wealth and commerce, in the United States. Intelligence of the capture of Wash- ington created intense excitement in Baltimore. It was believed that the victorious Ross would fall upon it im- mediately, either by land or water; and the veteran soldier of the Revolution, General Samuel Smith,' renewed his ex- ertions for the defense of the city, and Annapolis, the political capital of Mary- land. That vigilant officer had been active ever since the first appearance of danger in the spring of 1813, when a British squadron appeared in the Ches- apeake. It was well known that the enemy felt great exasperation toward the Baltimoreans because they had sent out so many swift " clipper-built" ves- sels and expert seamen to smite terri- bly the commerce of Great Britain on the high seas. " It is a doonied town," declared Vice-admiral "Warren. " The American navy must be annihilated," said a London paper; his arsenals and dock -yards must be consumed, and > Samuel Smith was bom In Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, July 2T, 1T62. His education, commenced at Carlisle, was completed at an academy at Elkton, in Maryland, after his father made Baltimore his place of residence. He was in his father's counting-house five years, and then, in 17T2, sailed for Havre in one of his father's vessels as supercargo. Having traveled extensively in Europe, he returned home to find his countrymen in the midst of the excitements of the opening of the Eevolutionary hostilities. The battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill had been fought. Fired with patriotic zeal, he sought to serve his country in the army, and in January,lT76, obtained a captain's commission in Colonel Smallwood's regiment. He was soon after- ward promoted to the rank of major, and early In 177T he received a lieutenant colo- nel's commission . In that capacity he served with distinction in the battles of Brandywine and Fort Mifflin, suffered at Valley Forge, and participated in the action on the plains of Monmouth. For his gallantry at Fort Mifflin, Congress voted him thanks and a sword. At the close of the war he was ap- pointed a brigadier general of militia, and commanded the Maryland quota of troops in the " Whisky Insurrection" in Pennsylva- nia. He served as major general in the War of 1812, and commanded the troops assembled tor the defense of Baltimore in 1814. At that period he was spending much of his time at his elegant country-seat of Montebdlo, north of Baltimore, which is yet (1867) standing. During a riot in Baltimore in 1836, when the civil power was inadequate to f7^\&7^t' MO:NTEIiF!LLO. 948. PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Preparations for the Defense of Baltimore in 1813 and 1814. Patriotism of the Citizens. the truculent inhabitants of Baltimore must be tamed with the weapons which shook the wooden turrets of Copenhagen." „^ , . . ^ , So early as the 13th of April, 1813, the City Councils of Baltimore appropriated twenty thousand dollars to be used for the defense of the city, under the direction of the mayor, Edward Johnson, and seven other citizens, who were named as a Com- mittee of Supply. 1 The governor of the State (Levin Winder) also called an extra- ordinary session of the Legislature, to meet at Annapolis on the third Monday in May. Meanwhile a rumor reached the city that the enemy were approaching, and within a few hours at least five thousand armed men were found in their proper places, and several companies of militia from the country came pouring into Balti- more. Several persons were arrested as traitors and spies. These demonstrations of preparation and power undoubtedly saved the city from assault at that time. Very soon afterward, Strieker's brigade, and other military bodies in the city, full five thousand strong, with forty pieces of artillery, were reviewed. At the beginning of June a battery was erected at Fort M'Henry for the marine artillery of Baltimore one hundred and sixty in number, under Captain George Stiles, and composed of mas ters and master's-mates of vessels there. It was armed with 42-pounders.2 In September^ the British fleet went to sea, and Baltimore enjoyed a season °^^^' of repose. The blockaders, as we have observed, reappeared in the Chesa- peake in the spring of 1814, and all the summer and early autumn infested its wa. ters^ during which time occurred the destructive invasion recorded in the preceding chapter, when every thing that could be done by vigilant men for the safety of Bal- timore was accomplished. A Committee of Vigilance and Safety, of which Mayor Johnson was Chairman, and Theodore Bland was secretary, co-operated unceasingly with General Smith and the military. On the 27th of August, three days after the capture of Washington, that committee called upon the citizens to organize into working parties, and to contribute implements of labor for the purpose of increasing the strength of the city defenses. The city was divided into four sections, and the people of each labored alternately on the fortifications. The exempts from military service and free colored men were required to assemble for labor, with provisions for a day, at Hempstead Hill (equally well known as Loudenslager's Hill), on Sunday, the 28th of September ; at Myer Garden on Monday ; at Washington Square on Tues- day ; and at the intersection of Eutaw and Market Streets on Wednesday. Each portion, comprising a section, was under the command of appointed superintendents. The response of the citizens in men and money was quick, cordial, and ample ; and volunteers to work on the fortifications came from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Vir- ginia. By the 1 0th of September General Winder was in Baltimore, with all the forces of the Tenth Military District at his command. The principal fortifications constructed by the people consisted of a long line on Hempstead, or Loudenslager's Hill, now the site of Patterson Park. At proper dis- tances several semicircular batteries were constructed, well mounted with cannon and quell the violence of the mob, the aged general, then eighty-four years old, appeared in the streets with the TJnited States flag, placed himself at the head of peaceful citizens, and very soon restored order and tranquillity. In the au- tumn of that year he was elected mayor of the city, -which otHce heheld until his death on the 22d of April, 1839, at the age of eighty-seven years. General Smith was elected a representative in Congress in 1793, and served until 1803. He was again elected in 1816, and served six years longer. He was also a member of the United States Senate for a period of twenty-three years. The portrait on the preceding page is from a painting in possession of his son. General John Spear Smith, who was his volunteer aid-de-camp during the defense of Baltimore in 1814. It was painted by Gilbert Stuart when the general was abont forty-five years of age. He is in the uniform of a major general of that day (1797), and shows the Order of the Cincinnati suspended from a button-hole. 1 These were James Mosher,Lnke Tiernan, Henry Payson, Dr. J. O.White, James A. Bucbannan, Samuel Sterett, and Thorudike Chase. = This corps was celebrated for its gallantry. • Dr. Martin (see note 1, page 925) says, in his MS. Eeminiscences before me, that when he was atBladensbnrg, the British officers, who were expecting re-enforcements for Winder from Balti- more, "were particularly anxious about the marine artillery— the material of which it was composed, the weight of metal, number of men, etc. I exaggerated the condition of its ability to do effective service," he said, " and I confident- ly believe that, had they been part of our force at Bladensburg, we would have succeeded in driving back the enemy, if not in capturing the whole force, for I never saw men so completely exhausted as were the foe." OF THE WAE OF 1812. 949 Fortifications at Baltimore. Troops for Defense, and their Disposition. ably manned, some of them by volunteer artillery companies of Baltimore, but chiefly by men-of-war's men, about twelve hundred in number, under the general command of Commodore Rodgers. The spaces between these batteries were filled with mili- tia. One of the larger of these bastions, known as Rodgers's Bastion, may now (1867) EOUQliBS'S BASTION. I be seen, well preserved, on the harbor side of Patterson Park, and overlooking Fort M'Henry and the region about it. Four of the smaller batteries on this line were in charge of officers of the Chcerriere and Mie, the former then lying in Baltimore Har- bor. ^ A brigade of Virginia Volunteers and of regular troops, including a corps of cav- alry under Captain Bird, were placed under the command of General Winder ; the City Brigade of Baltimore was commanded by General Strieker ; and the general management of the entire military force destined for the defense of the city was in- trusted to General Smith. Fort M'Henry was garrisoned by about one thousand men, volunteers and regulars, commanded by Major George Armistead. To the right of it, guarding the shores of the Patapsco, on the Ferry Branch, from the landing of troops who might endeavor to assail the city in the rear, were two redoubts, named respectively Fort Covington, and City, or Babcock Battery. The former was manned by a detachment of seamen under Lieutenant Newcomb, and the latter — a 6-gun bat- tery — by another detachment from Barney's flotilla under Sailing-master John A. "Webster. In the rear of these, upon high ground, at the end of Light Street, near the present Fort Avenue, was an unfinished circular redoubt for seven guns, in charge of Lieutenant George Budd. On Lazaretto Point, across the entrance channel to Bal- timore Harbor, opposite Fort M'Henry, was also a small battery, in charge of Lieu- tenant Rutter, of the flotilla. To these several batteries, and to Fort M'Henry, the citizens of Baltimore looked most confidently for defense.^ Such were the most important preparations for the reception of the enemy, when, on Sunday evening, the 11th of September, they were seen at the mouth of the Pa- 1 This view is ftom one side of the bastion, looking toward the harbor. On the point on the right is seen Fort M'Henry. The point opposite is Lazaretto Point. » These were Lieutenant Gamble, the first of the Chwrlere, Midshipman Field, Sailing-master Ramage, and Midship- man Salter, of the same vessel, and Sailing-master De la Eoche, of the Erie. 3 Letter of Commodore Eodgers to the Secretary of the Navy, September 28, 1814 ; Letter of Sailing-master (now Cap- tain) John A. Webster to Brantz Mayer, Esq., July 22, 1853. 950 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The British land at North Point. Preparations for advancing on Baltimore. General Strieker sent to oppose them. tapsco, in strong force, preparing to land at North Point, twelve miles from Balti- more by water, and fifteen miles by land. Off that point the fleet anchored that evening. The night was a delightful one. The air was balmy, and the full moon shone brightly in a cloudless sky. The earth was refreshed by the falling of a heavy dew. The fleet lay two miles from the shore. Brief repose was given to its people, » September 12, for, at two o'clock in the morning,* the boats of every ship were low- 1814. ered, and then the land troops and seamen went to the shore, under cover of several gun-brigs anchored within a cable's length of the beach. The boats went in divisions, and the leading one of each was armed with a carronade ready for action. At about seven o'clock in the morning. General Ross and Admiral Cockburn were on shore, with a force nine thousand strong, composed of five thousand land troops, two thousand marines, and two thousand seamen, led by Captain E. Crofton. They were furnished with cooked provisions sufficient for three days. Each combatant bore eighty rounds of ammunition, and carried as little baggage as possible, for they were to march rapidly and take Baltimore by surprise, where Ross had boasted that he should eat his Sunday dinner. At the same time, a frigate was sent to try the depth and take the soundings of the channel leading to Baltimore, as the navy, under the immediate command of Captain Nourse, of Cockburn's flag-ship Severn, was to co-operate with the army. Intelligence of these movements produced great alarm in Baltimore. A large number of families, with portable articles of value, were sent into the interior of the country, and every inn, for almost a hundred miles northward of the city, was crowded with the refugees. When it was known that the British fleet was anchor- ed off North Point, General Smith, who had about nine thousand troops under his command, sent General Striek- er^ with three thousand two hundred in that direction to watch the movements of the enemy and act as circum- stances might warrant. He left the city toward even- ing, and just before sunset reached a meeting-house (yet METHODIST MEETINQ-UOUBE. ^<;^r^i^ru ■^/<^c^i 'C'Zx' stand- ing) almost seven miles from the town, near the junction of the roads leading respectively to North Pomt and Bear Creek. Meanwhile Major Randall, of the Maryland militia, had been sent with a light corps from General Stansbury's brigadej and the Pennsylvania Volunteers, to the mouth of Bear Creek, to co-operate with Strieker, and to check the de- barkation of the enemy, should it be attempted at that point. Strieker's little army rested until morning at the meeting-house, not far from what was then called Long Log Lane (now the road to North Point), with the exception of a de- tachment of one hundred and forty horsemen under Lieutenant Colonel Biays, who were ordered forward, three miles, to Gorsuch's farm, and } The above portrait of General Strieker is from a painting in the eral Strieker died in Baltimore on the 23d of June, 1825. possession of the Maryland Historical Society. Gen- OF THE WAE OF 1812. 951 Position of the American Troops. Disposition of the British Troops. Preliminary Skirmish. one hundred and fifty riflemen under Captain Dyer, who were directed to take posi- tion at a blacksmith's shop one mile in the rear of the cavalry. So they remained until the morning of the 12th, when information was received from the vedettes that the enemy had landed at North Point, when Strieker immediately sent back his bag- gage under a strong guard, and disposed his troops for battle in three lines, stretch- ing from a branch of Bear Creek on his right, to a swamp on the margin of a branch of Back River on his left. The several corps were posted as follows : the Fifth Bal- timore Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Sterett, five hundred and fifty strong, were placed on the right, extending from Long Log Lane to a branch of Bear Creek ; the Twenty-seventh Maryland Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Long, numbering the same, were on the left of the Fifth, extending from the Lane to the swamp ; and the Union Artillerymen of Baltimore, seventy-five in number, with six 4-pounders, under Cap- tain Montgomery, then Attorney General of the State, were in the Lane. The Thirty- ninth Regiment, four hundred and fifty men, under Lieutenant Colonel Fowler, were posted three hundred yards in the rear of the Twenty-seventh and parallel with it ; and on the right of the Thirty-ninth, at the same distance in the rear of the Fifth, were the Fifty-first Regiment, under Lieutenant Colonel Amey. These formed the second line. About half a mile in the rear of this line, near the site of the present (1867) Battle-ground House, was a reserve corps, consisting of the Sixth Regiment (six hundred and twenty men), under Lieutenant Colonel M'Donald. Thus judicious- ly posted, Strieker awaited the approach of Ross. The British general disposed his troops as at Bladensburg. A corps composed of the light companies of the Fourth, Twenty-first, and Forty-fourth Regiments, the en- tire Eighty-fifth, a battalion of " disciplined negroes," and a company of marines, num- bering in the aggregate about eleven hundred men, under Major Jones, were sent in advance. These were followed by six field-pieces and two howitzers drawn by horses ; and the whole formed the first brigade. The second brigade, under Colonel Brooke, was composed of the Fourth and Forty-fourth Regiments, about fourteen hundred strong, and was followed by more than a thousand sailors led by Captain Crofton. The rear, or third brigade, consisted of the Twenty-first Regiment, and a battalion of marines, numbering in all about fourteen hundred and fifty men, under Colonel Pat- terson. At the same time, the fleet moved toward Baltimore to attack Fort M'Henry. Feeling confident of success, Ross and Cockburn rode gayly forward at the head of the troops for about an hour, when they halted at Gorsuch's farm, and spent an- other hour in resting and careless carousing. The American riflemen in the advance had fallen back in the mean time, with the impression that the British were landing on Back River or Bear Creek to cut them ofi", and they were placed on the right of Strieker's front line. When the general was informed of the exact position of the invaders, he sent forward to attack them the companies of Captains Levering and Howard from Sterett's Fifth, one hundred and fifty in number, under Major Richard K. Heath, and Asquith's and a few other riflemen, numbering about seventy, with a small piece of artillery and some cavalry under Lieutenant Stiles. They met the British advancing, and a skirmish ensued near the house occupied, when the writer visited the spot in 1861, by Samuel C. Cole as a store and dwelling, seven and a half miles from Baltimore, and about seven from the landing-place of the British. Ross was mortally wounded by one of two young men, natives of Maryland, belonging to Asquith's rifle corps, and who had both fought in the battle at Bladensburg. Their names were Daniel Wells and Henry C. M'Comas. They were concealed in a hollow, and fired the fatal shot when Ross appeared upon a little knoll near them. That commander died in the arms of his favorite aid, the now (186'7) venerable Sir Duncan M'Dougall, of London,^ before his bearers reached the boats at North Point. " He 1 Sir Duncan M'Dougall, K.C.F., son of Patrick M'Dougall, Esq., of Argyleshire, Scotland, was born in 1789. He en- tered the army in 1804, and served in several regiments, and on the staff in Portugal, Spain, France, America, Cape of 952 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Death of General Koss. Advance of the British. A spiiited Battle,- lived only long enough," says Gleig, " to name his wife, and to commend his fam- ily to the protection of his country." In this skirmish Heath's horse was shot under him, and several Americans were killed or wounded. Among the slain were the two young men whose bullets brought Ross to the earth. ^ The ad- vancing British far outnumbered Heath's detachment, and he ordered them to fall back. Finding the com- panies of Levering and Howard too fa- tigued to engage efficiently in the im- pending battle, Strieker ordered them to the rear to attach themselves to the reserve. On the fall of Ross the command of the British troops devolved on Colonel A. Brooke, of the Forty-fourth Regi- ment, and under his direction the entire invad.ing force pressed vigorously forward. At about two o'clock in the afternoon they came within cannon-shot of the American line, and were immediately formed in battle order. Their first brigade, supported by the For- ty-fourth Regiment, the seamen and marines, menaced the entire front of the Amer- icans, and commenced the action by opening a brisk discharge of cannon and rockets upon them. The British Twenty-first remained in column as a reserve ; and the Fourth made a circuitous march to turn the left fiank of the Americans, against which also artillerists and rocketeers directed their missiles, and were replied to by Captain Montgomery's cannon. General Strieker instantly comprehended the meaning of the flank movement and artillery attack, and brought up the Thirty-ninth Regiment, with two field-pieces, to its support in a line with the Twenty-seventh, which was behaving most gallantly. He also ordered the Fifty-first, under Colonel Amey, to form in line at right angles with the first line, with its right resting on the left of the Thirty-ninth. This movement was productive of some confusion, but Strieker's staff soon brought out order. The battle was continued with great spirit on both sides, in the mean time, with Victory coquetting first with one and then with the other, and the armies swaying backward and forward with mutual pressure. When the contest had been carried on for about two hours the enemy's right col- umn fell upon and endeavored to turn the American left. The Fifty-first were sud- denly struck with dismay, and, after firing a volley at random, broke, and fled in wild disorder, producing a like effect in the second battalion of the Thirty-ninth. Good Hope, and West Indies. He has the distinction of having received into his arms two eminent British generals when they fell in battle, namely. General Ross, killed near Baltimore, and General Pakenham, slain near New Orleans. He commanded the Seventy-ninth Highlanders for several years. His son and heir. Colonel Patrick Leonard M'Dou- gall, is commandant of the Hoyal Stall College. The family is descended, in a direct line, ftom Somerled, the Prince of the western coast of Argyleshire, and famons "Lord of the Isles." The above portrait of the gallant soldier is ftom a carte de viaite likeness, sent to me at my request by Sir Dnncan in the summer of 186t.' ' The remains of these young men were reinterred in a vault in Ashland Square on the 12th of September, 18B8, with civic and military honors. The mayor of the city, Thomas Swann, made some remarlis, and was followed by Hon. John 0. Le Grand, who pronounced an oration. A dirge was executed by the East Baltimore band, and before the remains were laid in the vault, over which a monument is to be erected, the Law Greys fired a volley over them. Off THE WAR OF 1812. 953 Picture of the Battle of North Point. go 01 -< B • S P*e-. ■ 3 jS "OS iS' ? S. a iftB>''3-Jw 3.Bii'g='§.a ■ SwBSPkaag &?• 3 5^5 3 sg- L. 2.e_.S 3 S d.3t 5'h?Safo?"S'-' o a ffl a-b- j"^^ Ilflieiil I a a ^c g 9 S iaK>ac»^c aJi ^ CO £, — *S!S"B o ■'•"•• ' " s ^ 3.(0 3.3 " a ^3S|i„F- ls|.|>s °l|-rfg <.|§fflrS-a- ."^i'^ as fibif^ mM lliPli-l sgfBli mm S?2,„i^!! Ss;2.i?-gg fifiiS III^Hi iKrfiS SBt'S^S'S AH efforts to rally the fugitives were vain. But the remainder of the Thirty-ninth 954 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Betreat of the Americans. The British Fleet approaches Baltimore. Preparations to attack Fort M'Henry. and the gallant Twenty-seventh (whose tattered bat- tle-flag, now in the possession of its bearer in the fight, Captain Lester, of Baltimore, attests the severity of their conflict) bravely maintained their position. Fi- nally, at about four o'clock, when the superior force of the enemy could no longer be kept in check, General Strieker ordered a retreat upon his reserved corps. This movement was performed in good order. Some of the wounded and two field-pieces were abandoned. Strieker reformed his brigade, and then fell back to- ward the city as far as Worthington's Mill, about half a mile in advance of the intrenchments cast up by the citizens. There he was joined by General Winder, with General Douglass's Virginia Brigade and Captain Bird's United States Dragoons, who took post on his '*'^^^^^^^;^^^^^ O ■■•-^ left. The British bivouacked on the battle-field that >^o/''2:>snS>^—- ' night, after calling in some pursuers and collecting the stragglers. While these movements were in operation on the land, the British fleet was pre- paring to perform a conspicuous part in the drama. Frigates, schooners, sloops, and bomb-ketches had entered the Patapsco early in the morning of the 12th, while Ross was moving from North Point, and anchored off Fort M'Henry (then about one half its present dimensions), beyond the reach of its guns, near the present Fort Carroll. BATTLE-FLAG OF THE TWENTT-8EVBHTH BEGLMEHT.l FOBT M'hEHBY in 18(il. Durmg the day and evening the bomb and rocket vessels were so posted as to act upon the fortifications on the hill, commanded by Rodgers, as well as on Fort M Henry, while the frigates were stationed farther outward, the water being so shal- low that they could not approach nearer the city than four or five miles, nor the fort within two and a half miles. The Americans had already sunk some vessels, as we have observed m the narrow channel at Fort M'Henry, which prevented any passage by the ships of the enemy.^ During the night of the 12th the fleet made full prepa. rations for an attack on the fort and hill intrenchments on the morning of the 13th, when Brooke was to move on Baltimore with the British land force from the battle- held of the day before. The fleet prepared for action consisted of sixteen heavy ves- sels, tve of them bomb-ships. Fort M'Henry was commanded by a brave soldier, and defended by gallant com- Baltimore, ^Z^Se f *kete" of it^n S "l^/r""""' ^f ^ ■/' *"' ■" '^" Possession of Captain John Lester, of with the designs in sold Its^dth L ?m,r Lt • ? f«^™*«? " "> ">e Maryland Historical Society. It is blue silk, of cannon-ball holes made dnriri th. L?mI X '^ "',?^'- " '' '""^ "'"^™*- The black spots represent the forms » GeneralCuton tfe recomLnLH^n!;f r ""'°i" "'»' '."' """'^^ Jeffers^Blues and JVb» nln ^potn*.' to be sunk in the nLrow ^aZTbetwer Wn5 rr""' ^fF'^' '^"''^ twenty-four vessels then lying in the harbor pense of the uXd TaL Thp »™l,l ' ^J"^"^ *"* lazarettoToint. These were afterward raised at the ex- me united states. The aggregate amount of money paid to the owners afterward was about $100,000. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 965 The Defenders of Fort M'Henry. Bombardment of the Fort. Its effective Reply. panions. The latter were composed of one company of United States Artillery, un- der Captain Evans ; two companies of Sea-fencibles, under Captains Bunbury and Ad- dison ; two companies of volunteers from the city, named respectively the " Washing- ton Artillery" and the " Baltimore Independent Artillerists," the former commanded by Captain John Berry, and the latter by Lieutenant Commanding Charles Penning- ton ; the " Baltimore Fencibles," a fine company of volunteer artillerists led by Judge Joseph H. Nichol- ^ ^ ' son; a detachment of Barney's flotil- la-men, command- ed by Lieutenant Redman ; and de- tachments of regulars, in all six hundred men, furnished by General "Winder from the /y ( /^ Twelfth, Fourteenth, Thirty -sixth, and Thirty - eighth Regi- ^"Y ~]Lfi/\ , ments, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Stewart and \J e:^ V\JLy Major Lane. The regular artillerists under Captain Evans, and the volunteers under Captain Nicholson, manned the bastions in the Star Fort. The commands of Bunbury, Addison, Redman, Berry, and Pennington were stationed in the lower works ; and the infantry, under Stewart and Lanp, were placed in the outer ditch, to meet the enemy at his landing, if he should attempt it. The bomb-vessels opened a heavy fire upon the American works at sun- rise on Tuesday morning, the 13 th, at about seven o'clock, at a distance of two miles, and kept up a well-directed bombardment until three o'clock in the afternoon. Armistead immediately opened the batteries of Fort M'Henry upon them, and kept up a brisk fire for some time from his guns and mor- tars, when, to his great chagrin, he found that his missiles fell short, and were harmless. The garrison was ex- posed to a tremendous shower of shells for several hours without power to in- flict injury in turn, or even to check the fury of the assault ; yet they kept at their posts, and endured the trial with cool courage and great fortitude. At length a bomb-shell dis- mounted one of the 24-pound- ers in the southwest bastion, under the immediate command of Captain Nicholson, killing his second lieutenant (Clag- gett), and wounding several of his men. The confusion in the fort produced by this accident was observed by Cochrane, who commanded the fleet, and, hoping to profit by it, he ordered^three of his bomb-vessels to move up nearer the fort in order to increase the effectiveness of their guns. This movement delight- ed Armistead. His turn for inflicting injury had come, and he quickly took advan- tage of it. He ordered a general cannonade and bombardment from every part of the fort • and so severe was his punishment of the venturesome intruders, that within 956 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Attempt to seize Fort Covington. The Invaders driven off. End of the Bombardment. half an hour they fell back to their old anchorage. The rocket-vessel M-ebus was so much injured that they were compelled to send a division of small boats to tow her beyond the range of Armistead's guns to save her from destruction. The garrison gave three cheers, and the firing ceased. After resuming their former stations the vessels kept up a more furious bombard- ment than before, with slight intermissions, until past midnight, when it was discov- ered that the enemy had thrown a considerable force up the Patapsco to the right of the fort, and between it and the city, under cover of the darkness, for the purpose of capturing Fort Covington, commanded by Lieutenant Newcomb, of the United States Navy, and the City Battery, in charge of the gallant sailing-master of Barney's flotil- la, and assaulting Fort M'Henry in the rear. For this service twelve hundred and fifty picked men were sent in barges, with scaling-ladders and other implements for storming the fort. For the purpose of examining the shores, when near Covington they threw up some small rockets. These gave the alarm, and Fort M'Henry, as well as the two redoubts on the Patapsco, opened a heavy fire upon the invaders. It was kept up for nearly two hours, when the enemy were driven away. The concussion was tremendous. The houses in the city were shaken to their very foundations. Rodgers's men in Fort Covington worked their guns with great efifect, but to th6 continuous and skillful cannonade kept up by Webster with his six-^un battery, nearer the shore, Major Armistead said he was " persuaded the country was much in- debted for the final repulse of the enemy." It is not too much to say, I think, that Captain Webster's gallant conduct on that occasion, which frustrated the plans of the British boat expedition, saved Fort M'Henry and Baltimore. Two of the enemy's vessels were sunk, and a large number of his men were slain. Sailing-master (after- ward Captain) Webster yet (1867) lives, at the age of eighty years, to enjoy the re- spect and gratitude of his countrymen. He was in active service until the year 1852. ■' The bombardment from the vessels was continued until seven o'clock on the morn- ing of the 14th, when it ceased entirely.' The night had been passed in the greatest anxiety by the inhabitants of Baltimore, for in the maintenance of Fort M'Henry was , r7^V<^-5g^«*'*~' ^^^""^ '^^^^^ ^°P® ^^^ *^^ safety of the city. An incident V /T'^y^'O^y^ which occurred at that time gave birth to one of the most popular of our national songs, the Star-spangled Banner,^ in which that anxiety is graphically expressed. It was written by Francis S. Key, who was a resident of George- town, m the District of Columbia, and then a volunteer in the light artillery com- manded by Major Peter.^ •' :annontr\1h™;Tolra;i^^^^^^ butCockW rSed to HveMmr^^^^^^^^^^ "'.^"P^"' ^arlborongh. His friends begged for his release, forhisaSiroflnnfrwa so"fd?^dto^^^^^^^^ Mr. Key, well known The President granterhim p^rmLsion fnd fn r^™n» f^r*^" ^^^^^X'^ ^°' '"^ '^'^"'^ "^ ">« d""""-' ^e consented. Cochrane agreed to release Beane J hT r JU? , » ?■ l*".^ """* °' ""^ Potomac, preparing to attack Baltimore. S«^™«,wh'^re1hey were ™«t^^^^^^^^^^ *''^°- "^"^ ^ere%lacea on board the own vessel, but with a guardTf Zr L to nrevmt t W ^^^^^^ "^ '".""^ ^""'P'"'' ''^^'^ ^^^^ ^"« transferred to their TheM^ie,; was anchored in 8iSoTportM'Z,,rv»n J ^^^^^ ^f ?'"""°"=''""g information to their conntiTmen. fortress which soon ensued if ceased a we havP ;.Wr T ^Z ^tV^" *""'"" "^'^^^ '"^ ""« bombardment of that tion with the shore, these anxlorrmerioZdTdnntTnl'l^t'''^^^^ "T.^^V "^^^S"' ^™S no commnnica- the dawn with the greatest sSStude In the dfm ithtTt^ . '■ *"' ""' .'^«'i ™"'=»««'-»'J "^ "ot. They awaited s Buiicuuae. in the dim hght of the opening morning they saw through their glasses that OF THE "WAR OF 1812. 95V The Star-spangled Banner. Simultaneously with the movement of the fleet toward Fort M'Hemy, on the morn- " n„r fla? was still there !" To their great joy, they soon learned that the attack on Baltimore had failed, that Ross was Jiilledrand that the British were re-embarking. When the fleet was ready to sail. Key and his friends were released, ° n was "nring the exdtement of the bombardment, and when pacing the deck of the Jtfi«d«« with intense anxiety be- tween midS and dawn, that Key composed that song-" The Star-spangled Banner"-which immortalized him, and whose first stanza expressed the feelings of thousands of eye-witnesses of the scene : 958 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The British move toward Baltimore. Arrangements for an Assanit on the Defenses of the City. ing of the 13th, was that of the land forces of the British from their smouldering camp-fires on the battle-field, until they arrived at the brow of the slope on which lay- Surrey Farm (now the valuable estate of Mrs. Jane Dungan), then the fine residence of Colonel Sterett,^ of the Fifth Maryland Regiment, who was busily engaged in cast- ing up intrenchments on Loudenslager's Hill, about two miles distant, between them and Baltimore. There they halted to reconnoitre, and Colonel Brooke made his head- quarters at the old farm-house of Mr. Ernest, farther in the rear. They were in sight of the American intrenchments, behind which were the brigades of Stansbury and Foreman ; the Pennsylvania Volunteers, under Colonels Cobeau and Findlay ; the marines, under Rodgers ; the Baltimore Artillery, under Colonel Harris ; and the Marine Artillery, under Captain Stiles, who had spent the night under arms, expect- ing a vigorous pursuit and attack by the British. The enemy manoeuvred a good deal in the morning toward the left of the American works, and at one time seemed disposed to move upon them by the York and Har- ford Roads ; but they were baffled by countervailing movements on the part of Gen- erals Winder and Strieker. At noon they concentrated in front, and moved to within a mile of the intrenchments, when they made arrangements for an assault that even- ing. Perceiving this. General Smith ordered Winder and Strieker to move to the right of the enemy, and, in the event of their making an attack, to fall upon their flank and rear. Brooke was cautious and watchful, and clearly saw the peril of his , proposed undertaking. He was also aware that the bombardment of Fort M'Henry from morning until evening had produced very little effect upon that work, and that the vessels could not run by it because of the obstructions in the channel. Instead of opening a battle, he sought and obtained a conference with Admiral Cochrane dur- ing the evening. The result of the interview was the conclusion that the effort of *' O say ! can you see, by the dawn's early light, ' What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming, Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous ilgkt, O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming f And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air. Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there : O say I does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave f " The rude substance of the, song was written on the back of a letter which Key happened to have in his pocket, and he wrote it out in full on the night after his arrival in Baltimore. On the following morning he read it to his uncle, Judge Nicholson, one of the gallant defenders of the fort, and asked his opinion of it. The judge was so pleased with it that he took it to the printing-office of Captain Benjamin Bdes, on the corner of Baltimore and Gay Streets, and di- rected copies of it to be struck off in hand-bill form. Edes was then on duty with the gallant Twenty-seventh Regi- ment, and his apprentice, Samuel Sands, who, I believe, is yet living in Baltimore, set up the song in type, printed it, and distributed it among the citizens.* It was first sung in a restaurant in Baltimore, next door to the Holiday Street Theatre, by Charles Durang, to an assemblage of the patriotic defenders of the city, and after that, nightly at the thea- tre. It created intense enthusiasm, and was every where sung in public and in private. "The Star-spangled Banner" itself, the old garrison flag that waved over Fort M'Henry during that bombardment, is still in existence. I saw it at the house of Christopher Hughes Armistead (a son of the gallant defender of the fort) in Baltimore during the late Civil War. It had eleven holes in it, made there by the shot of the British during the bombardment. ' When -the British discovered that they were in actual possession, for a day, of the mansion of one of the officers of the American army then confronting them, they made its contents the object of their special attention. The family had fled that morning, leaving the house in charge of only the colored butler and cook. Some British oflScers took possession of it. In the cellar was found a large quantity of choice wine. It was freely used, and what was not con- sumed on the premises was carried away as lawful plunder. Wax-candles, bedding, and other things were also carried away, and all the bureau-drawers were broken open in a search for valuables. Among other things prized by the fam- ily which the plunderers seized was the Order of the Cincinnati that had belonged to the deceased father of Mrs. Ster- ett. Finally, after keeping the cook busy, and faring sumptuously, and when they were about to depart, the following good-natured but impudent note was written and left on the sideboard : " Captains Broivn, Wilcox, and M'Namara, of the Fifty-third Eegiment, Eoyal Marines, have received every thing they could desire at this house, notwithstanding it was received at the hands of the butler, and in the absence of the colonel." I saw the original of this note in 1860, in the possession of a daughter of Colonel Sterett, the wife of J. M. HoUins, then a captain in the United States Navy. It was written on a piece of paper on one side of which an epitaph for the tomb-stone of Mrs. Sterett's father had been prepared. The words of the song were inclosed in an elliptical border composed of the common type ornaments of that day. Around that border, and a little distance from it, on a line of the same form, are the words " Bombardmmt "■ "S^'' '^ ^° '"'£'«• ™* '>«*'• " " l-omb-shell, commemoratiye A few vTart,rf;„™ ? monument in its conception and execation, is worthy of the great events commemorated. SrrlM,v„?l^t i.^ ■• -i """'Vo' '"^ ""'"'=' "f *" ""« '"^"' "ffl-^^'-s »"* privates, who were on duty at that time ana 18 dedicated to " Major General Samuel Smith, the Hero of two Wars •• ' menrwas're Jj,™/ Th»?'l''„^^™^r^ "', ™'™™di°g« te^en from Saratoga Street a short time before the monn- repicZe Xtn iron rLwrr' T^'J^^n^ 'I ^'''=''' """" """^^^ ^'^ battlements, seen toward the left of L vr(186r\Tt!uflTr,i Th„t i^ -^ i'- ^"^ ^^^^ ^P"°S '' "°^«'' "'^ temple-shaped pavilion in the foregronnd, which IB yet (1S67) standing, I believe, with the same lantern hanging beneath its dome. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 963 The Color-bearer of the Twenty-seventli Eegiment. Visit to North Point Battle-ground. •1841. ward" he bore the same flag at the head of about thirty surviv- ors of the Twenty-seventh, who were in the funeral procession at the burial of President Harrison, the distinguish- ed soldier of the Second War for Inde- pendence. Captain Lester accompanied my traveling companion and myself to the North Point battle-ground on the ' November, morning of the 20th.'' The I860. j^jj, ^g^g ^gj.^ chilling, but in a covered carriage, with fleet horses and a good postillion, we made the journey comfortably and quickly to the battle-ground, seven miles from the city. On our way, as we approach- ed Long Log Lane, I sketched the Methodist meeting-house, which was used for a hospital after the battle, and where General Strieker biv- ouacked on the night of the nth". A short dis- tance from it, on the corner, where a road leads to Hancock's Pavilion, on Bear Creek, was a place of refreshment called the Battle-ground House. In a field adjoin- ing it we saw a rough-hewn block of granite, with a square hollow in it, which was pointed out as the comer-stone of a monunient which it is proposed to erect on the field of strife. This was on the right of Long Log Lane going out. On the opposite side of the lane (which is now the highway to North Point) was the scene of the heaviest of the battle, which was then an open oak wood, as delineated in the accom- panying picture of the battle-ground, drawn a few days after the conflict by Thomas ■= September, 1814. MOBTH POXNT BATTLE-GaOUMD.' Ruckle, who was in the fight. The view is from the site of the Battle-ground House. The stately oaks which then shaded the ground have disappeared, and it is covered by a new and smaller growth, and in some places by a tangled undergrowth. We rode on to the house of Richard Brady (occupied at the time of our visit by ■ In thia view, copied from Enckle's picture In the Maryland Historical Society, Long Log Lane is seen over the equestrian figures toward the right, and on the extreme right the head of Bear Creek. The conflict occurred within the spaces inclnded In the picture. 964 PICTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK Monument where Eoss fell. A Visit to Fort M'Henry. Samuel Cole), in frgnt of which General Ross received his death-wound, as related on page 951. Near that spot, by the side of the road, the soldiers, commanded by Cap- tain Benjamin C. Howard on that occasion, and known as the First Mechanical Vol- unteers, erected a monument, about eight feet in height, partly in commemoration HONUMET*T WHEEB EOSS FELL. of the action, but specifically, as the inscription declares,^ " as a tribute of respect for the memory of their gallant brother" in arms, Aquila Randall, who fell there. The view in the engraving was sketched from Mr. Cole's house, in which is seen, toward the left, the venerable oak-tree under which Ross was laid for a few minutes by Cap- tain M'Dougall, and in the centre, over the horseman, a part of Bear Creek. Ross was shot on the gentle rise of ground in the road a few rods eastward of the monu- ment. We returned to Baltimore at a little past noon, turning off from the direct road to visit the homestead of Colonel Stere'tt, mentioned on page 958. The mansion was upon a beautiful terraced slope along the old Philadelphia Road. "We did not stop in the city, but riding through it to Fort Avenue, which traverses the length of Fell's Point to Fort M'Henry, we passed along that fine stone road a full mile, to the en- trance-gate to the outeV grounds of the fort. A pass from General Duryfee, then in command at Baltimore, opened the portals. We were kindly received by the courte- ous Colonel (afterward General) W. Morris, the commandant (since dead), and were allowed to visit every part of the venerated fortification. After making the sketch on page 954, we returned, stopping on the way to make a drawing of the circular seven-gun battery mentioned on page 949, and to find the sites of Fort Covington and the City Battery, which was commanded by the gallant Webster. These were 1 The following are the inscriptions on the monument: North Side: "Sacred to the memory of AqtriLA Eanbali, who died in bravely defending his country and his home on the memorable 12th of September, 1814, aged 24 years." Bast Side: "In the skirmisb which occurred at this spot between the advanced party under Major Richard K. Heath, of the 6th Eegt. M. M., and the front of the British column. Major General Eoss, the commander of the British forces, received his mortal wound." West Side: " The First Mechanical Volunteers, commanded by Captain Benjamin C. How- ard, in the 6th Eegt. M. M., have erected this monument as a tribute of their respect for the memory of their gallant brother." South Side : "How beautiful is Death when earned by Virtue." OF THE WAR OF 1812. 965 The Circnlar Battery and its Outlook. New York and Philadelphia relieved. Philadelphia Troops. SEHAINS OF THE OIBOULAB BATTERY. situated on the river bank, below the circular battery, and nearly. half a mile distant. "Webster's battery was on a line with it, in the direction of the river, and Fort Cov- ington was about five hundred yards farther up the stream. The circular battery was at the end of Light Street, that skirts Federal Hill, on which, a,t the time of my visit, were heavy earth-works, in charge of Duryfee's Zouaves, thrown up as a protec- tion to Fort M'Henry against land attacks by insurgents. The mounds ,of the old circular battery were six or eight feet high in some places. It was in a commanding position. Our view, taken from within it, comprises the entire theatre of the opera- tions of the British boat expedition on that eventful night. "We are looking toward Chesapeake Bay. On the left is seen Fort M'Henry, and in the extreme distance, ap- pearing like a speck near the mouth of the Patapsco, is Fort Carroll. , On the following morning* I made a careful drawing of the Battle . November 21, Monument, delineated on page 960. "We afterward spent several hours • ■ ^^*^- in the rooms of the Historical Society, and in the afternoon called on Mr. Armistead, where we were kindly shown the old garrison flag, tattered and faded — the identical Star-spangled Banner on which Key and his companions so anxiously gazed " at the ■ twilight's last gleaming." On the same evening we left Baltimore for Havre de Grace, where, as we have observed on page 943, we passed the night and the follow- ing day. "We have remarked that when the British were driven away from Baltimore, the trembling citizens of Philadelphia and New York breathed freer. Both felt them- selves seriously menaced by the heavy British force in the Chesapeake, and both had made such vigorous preparations for attack that the enemy did not deem it prudent to attempt it. Indeed, it was not their intention to do so at that time, and they sailed away to the Bermudas to join in the more important work of invading Lou- isiana. "When, as we have already observed, the depredations of Cockburn on the shores of the Delaware, in the spring of 1813, were made known at Philadelphia, an intense martial spirit was aroused in that city, and along the shores of the Delaware River and Bay. At the beginning of the war that spirit was almost dormant. The fine corps known as the WPherson Blues'^ had been disbanded twelve years before the declaration of war, and another, called Sheets Legion, was no more. Only three or four volunteer companies of any note then existed in Philadelphia, the oldest of which, a company of cavalry, was called the First, or old City Troop, Captain Charles Ross, which was formed in the autumn of 1774, and did good service in the Revolution under Captain Morris. They formed a body-guard for General "Washington when he traveled from Philadelphia to New York in 1775 to take command of the army at Cambridge. These, with Captain Rush's old Philadelphia Blues, and Captain Pottevall's Independent Volunt eers, both large companies, composed the most of the " • I See page 111. 966 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Protection for Daponts' Powder-mills. Captain James Page, The Volunteer Companies o f Philadelphia. uniformed militia of that vicinity. During the summer of 1812 a new uniform company was formed, called the State Fmcibles, which like the City Troop, is still an organized Corps, and until a few years ago was led by Captain James Page, who was elected its commander in June, 1818.^ The original manuscript, contain- ing the call for the formation of this company, is before me, having been kindly placed in my hands by the veteran Captain Page, of Philadelphia, who was a private in that company during the War of 1812. The first name on the list is that of one of Philadelphia's most honored sons, Hon. Joseph R IngersoU, and the third is that of the late Colonel Clement C. Biddle. The latter, who was the originator of the company, was chosen captain, and the former first lieutenant. Captain Page is yet (1867) a vigorous man, nearly eighty years of age, and to him I am indebted for much valuable information concerning military afiairs in and around Philadelphia during the war.^ When the news of the presence of the British in the Delaware reached Philadelphia, great alarm was felt because of the defense- ^^^■'^ ^bnoible «, isu. less state of the city. Port Mifflin, just below, its only defense on the water, was gar- risoned by only eleven recruits, under Captain James N. Barker. Something must be done immediately to strengthen that post. James M. Porter, Secretary of the " Young Men's Democratic Society" of Philadelphia, a young lawyer, called a meeting on the 20th of March at Stratton's Tavern. It was fully attended, and about seventy young men who were present formed a volunteer company for artillery service on that very evening. They organized by the election of officers the next day, with the name of The Junior Artillerists. They at once tendered their services to General Bloomfield, the commander of the district, to re-enforce the garrison at Fort Mifflin. They were accepted, and within three days after they were organized they marched to Fort Mifflin, under Captain Fisler, each with a cockade in his hat, and wearing a coat with bright buttons, accompanied by Captain Mitchell's volunteer corps of eighty men, ' dressed in blue and buff, and known as the Independent Blues. The latter, with the Independent Volunteers, and a newly -organized company called the Washington Guards, Captain Raguet — the first new company of infantry formed in Philadelphia at that time — left the city for the State of Delaware on the afternoon of the 12th of May, under the command of Colonel Lewis Rush. They proceeded to Staunton, about six miles beyond Wilmington, and near that place formed a camp at a spot se- lected by General Bloomfield. At about that time it was rumored that Duponts' powder-mills at Wilmington were about to be attacked. Colonel Rush disposed his troops in that vicinity so as to protect them, and there they remained until the invaders left the neighboring wa- ters. The inhabitants of Delaware, in the mean time, had raised several volunteer companies ; and the names of the Duponts, Rodney, Young, Van Dyke, Warren, Wil- ' Captain Page was commander of the First Company. When, in April, 1861, the President of the United States called for seventy-five thousand troops to put down the great insurrection of the slaveholders against the government, the Fencibles offered themselves as volunteers, and were mustered into the service of the United States, and formed a part of the Eighteenth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers. They served the full term of three months, when they were mustered out of the service, and honorably discharged. Many of them afterward entered the service as volunteers in different corps. The Pennsylvania militia law of May, 1864, dissolved the organization, and the State Fencibleti, after an honorable career of more than half a century, passed into History as an extinct military association.. The last captain was John Miller. Among the brave men of the corps who went into the War for the Union, Captain Hesser, made colonel of the Seventy-second Kegiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, deserves honorable mention. He fell at the head of his regiment, at Orange Court-house, Virginia, in November, 1863. 2 In 1859 former members of the State Fencibles presented to Captain Page a sword, on which is the following in- scription : " Presented to Captain James Page by retired members of the State Fencibles, as a token of their esteem for him as a citizen and soldier, and of their appreciation of his services as commanding officer of that corps for a pe- riod of forty years. Philadelphia, December 29, 1859." OF THE WAR OF 1812. 957 Organization of Troops. Camp Dnpont. Camp at Marcas's Hook. son, Leonard, and others, are held in grateful remembrance to this day as prominent actors m the business of state defense. On the receipt of the requisition for troops from the War Department early in July, 1814, Governor Snyder, of Pennsylvania, caused a general order to be issued for the mustermg of the militia, and the raising o£ volunteers, in which several military com- panies of Philadelphia, and elsewhere in the state, who had offered their services to the government in the summer of 1812, were named as accepted volunteers, and as formmg a part of the quota of the state.' Recruiting went briskly on, and it was greatly promoted by intelligence of the capture of Washington toward the close of August. Volunteers flocked to the standard of General Bloomfield in great num- bers. ^ Kennet Square, in Chester County, thirty-six miles southwest from Philadel- phia, was the designated place of rendezvous, and there, at the close of August, a camp was formed, under the direction of Captain C. W. Hunter, and named Camp Bloomfield. On the 7th of September, Lieutenant Colonel Clemson, of the United States Army, assumed the command, and on the 14th he was succeedied by Brigadier General Thomas Cadwalader. The troops were brigaded, and the corps was called Tlie Advanced Light Chmrd.^ Captain Ross, with his First City Troop, took post on Mount Bull, a height overlooking the Chesapeake, thirteen miles below Elkton, to watch the approach of the enemy, and held communication with the camp and Phila- delphia by a line of vedettes. The brigade changed its position several times, but was continually in the vicinity of Wilmington. The last one that it occupied was called Camp Dupont, about three miles west of Wilmington, where it remained until the 30th of November, when, all danger seeming to be distant, the troops were marched back to Philadelphia, and there disbanded on the 3d of January, 1815.* In the mean time a body of almost ten thousand men was assembled near Marcus's Hook, on the Delaware, twenty miles below Philadelphia, which was at first organ- ized by Adjutant General William Duane, under the command of Major General Isaac Worrall. It was composed of Pennsylvania militia and volunteers. Its rendezvous was called Camp Gaines, in honor of General E. P. Gaines, who succeeded Bloomfield in the command of the Department, in September. This camp was broken up on the 5th of December, 1814. Besides these, several companies were organized in the city and county of Philadelphia who did not take the field.^ When Gaines left for New Orleans in December, General Cadwalader' succeeded him as chief of the Fourth Military Department. While the volunteers were hastening to the camps to be enrolled as soldiers, the inhabitants of Philadelphia were vigorously making preparations for the defense of 1 These were the Harrisburg Volunteers, Captain Thomas Walker ; State Fendbles, Captain C. C. Biddle ; three rifle companies, commanded respectively by Captains Andrew Mitchell, Nicholas Beckwith, and Samuel Dann ; Beneeolmt Blues, Henry Reed ; and Vi^ht Dragoons, James Noble. 2 " The very flower of the youth and best hopes of the nation," wi'ote an eye-witness — " citizens of every rank and profession, and of every political name, were there commingled in the ranks, united in a common cause for the defense of their country, and exhibiting to the monarchs of Europe the glorious spectacle of practical equality." — Author of A Short Sketch of the Mttitary OperaMons on the Delaware dwring the late War, etc. Philadelphia, 1820. ' The brigade staff consisted of the following oflEicers : Thomas Cadwalader, brigadier general ; John Hare Powell, brigade major, in place of Hunter, promoted j Bichard M'Call and John G. Biddle, alds-de-camp ; Henry Sergeant, as- sistant quartermaster general ; David Correy, assistant deputy quartermaster general. The number of oflcers and pri- vates may be stated as follows : Brigade staff, 7 ; one company of flying artillery. Captain Richard Bache, 61 ; two troops of cavalry, 115 ; one artillery regiment, 589 ; one Infantry regiment, 1203 ; riflemen, 1179 ; one militia battalion, 250. Total, 3504. * Among the gallant officers at Camp Dnpont was Captain John R6ss Mifflin, of the Washington Guards. He was a nephew of Captain Ross, and died, unmarried, in Philadelphia in 1825. He wrote a series of interesting letters from Camp Dnpont, copies of some of which were kindly placed in my hands by Miss Elizabeth Mifflin, of Philadelphia. These give a lively picture of camp life there. 5 A Short Sketch of Military Operatitms on the Delawaire during the late War, pages 3 to 29 inclusive. « Son of General John Cadwalader, of the Continental Army. He was born on the 28th of October, 1779. He was admitted to the bar in Philadelphia in 1801. He studied military science intently, and entered the service as captain in 1812. He rose to the rank of brigadier general in 1814. After the war he became major general of Pennsylvania mili- tia. He assisted in forming a system of cavalry tactics in 1826. He died on the 2eth of October, 1841. ggg PICTOBIAL FIELD-BOOK Pablic Meeting in FMlaaelphia. Committee of Defenee. Citizens constrnct Fortiflcationa. the city When intelligence of the capture of Washington reached them, a public meeting was held, and a committee of defense was appointed, with ample powers to adopt such measures as the exigency seemed to require, i " They determined," says Mr. Wescott,2 « that, for the safety of the city, field fortifications should be thrown up in the mo'st eligible situations on the -wiestern side of the. town, and where an at- tack might be expected. A fort was planned near Gray's Ferry, on the west side of the Schuylkill River, at the junction of the Gray's Ferry and Darby Roads ; also a redoubt opposite Hamilton's Grove, another upon the Lancaster Road, and a thii-d upon the site of an old British redoubt on the southern side of the hill at Fairmount, which would command the bridge at Market Street and the roads leading to it. " To construct these works required much labor, and, under the circumstances, they could not have been built without the voluntary assistance of the citizens. A hearty enthusiasm was shown in the service. Companies, societies, and the artificers of the different trades organized themselves for the purpose. Day after day these parties assembled, and left the city at from five to six o'clock in the morning, and, with knap- sacks or handkerchiefs containing a supply of food, marched out to the fortifications to a day of toilsome labor at an occupation to which but few of them were accus- tomed. Labor commenced on the 3d of September, and from that time until about the 1st of October, when the field-works were finished, the toil was participated in by parties having the following numbers : House carpenters, 62 ; victualers, 400 ; the Tammany Society, 400 ; painters, 70 ; hatters and brickmakers, 300 ; Philadelphia Be- nevolent Society and Fourth Washington Guard, 160; Rev. Mr. Staughton and the members of his church, 60 ; printers, 200 ; crew of the Wasp, 140 ; watchmakers, sil- versmiths, and jewelers (on Monday, September 11), 400 ; cabinet-makers and joiners, 300 ; Washington Association, 70 ; True Republican Society, 70 ; teachers, 30 ; friend- ly aliens, 500 ; Freemasons, grand and subordinate lodges, 510 ; Washington Benev- olent Society, 500 ; Sons of Erin, citizens -of the United States, 2200 ; Tammany Soci- ety, second day, 130; friendly aliens, second day, 150; German societies, 540 ; colored men, 650 ; citizens of Germantown, 400 ; Scotchmen, 100 ; Sons of Erin, second day, 350. The colored people also gave a second day to the work. Small bodies, not enumerated, including beneficial societies and social clubs, participated. The physi- cians and artists of the city also labored at the works. When the fortifications were completed, it was found that about fifteen thousand persons had labored on them. In lieu of work, many who were unable or unwilling to assist in that manner gave money. The collections from this source amounted to about six thousand dollars. " Arriving at the fortifications, the citizens, having been previously divided into companies, were put to work. At ten o'clock, the drum beat for * grog,' when liquor sufficient for each company was dealt out by its captain. At twelve o'clock the drum • The public meeting was helfl in the State Honse Yard, on the 26tii of Angnst, 1814. Thomas M'Kean was chair- man, and Joseph Reed was secretary. A committee, of which Jared Ingersoll was chairman, was appointed "to con- sider and report what measures onght, in their opinion, to be adopted for protection and defense." They reported resolutions, the first of which nominated a number of gentlemen as a committee of defense, for the purpose of organiz- ing the citizens of Philadelphia, and of the northern and southern districts, for defense, with power to appoint commit- tees under them, correspond with the state and general governments, make arrangements for supplies, fix on places of rendezvous, etc. This committee consisted of the follovring named persons : For the city of Philadelphia^Charles Biddle, Thomas Leiper, Thomas Cadwalader, Gen. John Steel, George Latimer, John Barker, Henry Hawkins, Liberty Browne, Charles Boss, Manuel Eyre, John Connelly, Condy Eaguet, Wm. M'Faden, John Sergeant, John Geyer (Mayor), and Joseph Eeed. For the Northern Liberties and Penn Township— Colonel Jonathan Williams, John Goodman, Dan- iel Groves, John Barclay, John Naglee, Thomas Snyder, J. W. Non-is, Michael Lleb, Jacob Huff, and James Whitehead. For the district of Southwark and townships of Moyamensing and Passyunk— James Josiah, E. M'MuUen, John Thomp- son, E. Ferguson, James Eonaldson, P. Miercken, E. Palmer, and P. Pitts. These citizens met on the day of their appointment, at the State House, where they were organized into a committee of defense, with Charles Biddle as chairman, and John Goodman as secretary. The labors of the committee were very useful and important. The organization was continued until the 16th of August, 1815, when, at the eighty-second meet- ing, their labors ceased. The minutes of the committee, carefully kept by Mr. Goodman, and giving the details of their proceedings, were published in 1S07 as the eighth volume of the Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, accom- panied by brief biographical notices of the members of the committee. 2 Eisixrni of the City of PMIaddphia from 16S2 to 1854, by Thompson Wescott, Esq. This history was in manuscript when Mr. Wescott kindly allowed me to copy the matter quoted in the text. OF THE WAR OP 1812. 969 New York stirred np. Committee of Defense. Patriotic Action of tlie Citizens. beat for dinner, when more ' grog' was furnished. This was also the case at three and at five o'clock in the afternoon. At .six the drum beat the retreat, when it was sug- gested in General Orders, 'For the honor of the cause we are engaged in, freemen to live or die, it is hoped that every man will retire sober.'' " So did Philadelphians prepare for the invader. Happily the enemy did not come, and their beautiful city was spared the horrors of war. New York was likewise fearfully excited by apprehensions of danger during the summer and autumn of 1814. Like Philadelphia and Boston, its defenses were few and weak at that critical moment. The appearance of the powerful British force in the Chesapeake aroused the citizens to a sense of their immediate danger, and they soon put forth mighty efforts in preparations to repel the invader. The mayor of the city, De Witt Clinton, issued, through the medium of the City Council, a stirring ad- dress to the people on the 2d of August, in which he set forth the importance of New York to the enemy on account of its wealth and geographical position, which in- creased its liabilities to attack. He recommended the militia to hold themselves in readiness for duty, and called upon the citizens to offer their personal services and means cheerfully to the United States officers in command there, to aid in the com- pletion of the unfinished fortifications around the city. In response to the mayor's appeal, a large meeting of citizens was held in the City Hall Park, on Tuesday, the 9th of August,' when a Committee of Defense, chosen from the Common Council, was appointed,^ clothed with ample powers to direct the ef- forts of the inhabitants in the business of protection. On the same morning the offi- cers of General Mapes's brigade, to the number of two hundred, gave the first prac- tical response to the mayor's appeal by crossing the East River from Beekman's Slip, and, with Captain Andrew Bremmer's artillery, marching to the lines traced out for the fortifications on the heights around Brooklyn by General Swift, and taking pick- axes, and shovels, and every other appropriate implement at hand, breaking ground at eight o'clock, and working lustily all day. They were followed the next morning by as many carpenters and cabinet-makers ; and only four days after the meeting in the Park, the Committee of Defense announced* that three thousand persons were at work on the fortifications. They also reported the receipt of large sums of money ; and on the same day it was announced that " two hundred journeymen printers, one thousand Sons of Erin, thirty pilots, seventy men from the Asbury (African) Church, with one hundred and fifty other colored men, two hundred weavers, and many heads of manufacturing establishments," were at work on the lines. Two days afterward the city newspapers were suspended, that all hands might work on the fortifications ; and on the 20th of August five hundred men " left on the Jersey steam-boat for Harlem Heights," to work on intrenchments there ; and, at the same time, fifteen hundred " patriotic Sons of Erin" crossed the ferry to Brooklyn for the same purpose. Two days afterward nearly one thousand colored people crossed the Catharine Ferry to work on the fortifications between Fort Greene and Gowanus Creek ; and on the 25th the Washington Benevolent Society, an organization opposed to the war, inspired with zeal for the common cause, went over in a body, with their banner bearing the portrait of Washington — the largest number belonging to one society that had crossed over at one time. On the same day the butchers went to the lines to labor, bearing the flag, on which was the figure of an ox prepared for slaughter, which had been used by them in the great " Federal Procession" in honor of the ratification of the National Constitution in 1789. Masonic and other societies went in bodies to the patriotic task; and school-teachei's and pupils went together to give their aid. Little boys, too small to handle a spade or pickaxe, carried earth on 1 Tlie call was signed by Henry Eutger and Oliver Wolcott. The chief organ of the Opposition— the Evening Post— denonnced it, and asked, " Has it not a sqninting toward the charter election f" s The committee consisted of Nicholas Fish, Gideon Tncker, Peter Mesier, George Buckmaster, and J. Nltchie. 970 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Gathering of Troops in and around the City. ' The Patriotic Diggers." Neighbors assist NewTork. shingles, and so added their mites in rearing the breastworks. It was a scene like that of cairn-building in the olden time. The infection spread, and every day citi- zens from neighboring towns on Long Island,' on the Hudson, and from New Jersey, proffered their services. Nor were the nights undisturbed by the sound of the patri- otic toil. On that of the 3l8t of August it is recorded that full six hundred men went over to Brooklyn, and worked " by the light of the moon." Intelligence of the capture of Washington City reached New York on the 27th of August, three days after that sad occurrence. The zeal and patriotism of the citi- zens were increased there- by. In General Orders, Daniel D. Tompkins, gov- ernor of the State of New York, who had been untir- ing in his exertions for the public good from the be- ginning of the war, called on the inhabitants to send arms of every description to the State Arsenal, where all fit for service would be paid for. The call was promptly answered. He also ordered the organization of a battalion of Sea Fencibles, to be commanded by Captain James T. Leonard ; and expressed a desire to enroll volun- teers for one or two months' service. Already nearly four thousand militia had come down the Hudson in sloops ; and Commodore Decatur had been assigned to the command of the naval force in the harbor of New York, with orders to co-op- erate with the military in defense of the city. On the 1st of September the gov- ernor issued a proclamation for an extraordinary session of the Legislature of the State, to commence on the 27th of that month. On the 31st of August there was a grand military review in the city of New York, when about six thousand men were under arms. On the 2d of September the militia were mustered into actual service, when the division of General Ebenezer Stevens was transferred to the command of Major General Morgan Lewis. Cadwallader D. Colden was appointed to the command of all the uniformed militia companies of the city and county, and every thing pertain- ing to the military was put upon the war footing of actual service. The citizens con- tinued their zealous labors on the military works all through September and in Octo- ber, and made the lines of fortifications around New York truly formidable.^ ' On the 17th of August, the people of Bush wick, Long Island, led by the Eev. Mr. Bassett, repaired to Fort Swift (erect- ed on the old redoubt of the Revolution on Cobble Hill) to labor on that work. The venerable pastor of the flock that followed him opened the operations with prayer, and he remained with them throughout the day, encouraging them and distributing refreshments among them. ' These displays of patriotism inspired Samuel Woodworth, an American poet of considerable eminence, and tben the editor and publisher of a weekly record of events entitled The War, to write a very popular ballad called The PatrioUe Diggers, of which the following is a copy : " Johnny Bull, beware. Keep at proper distance. Else we'll make you stare At oui' Arm resistance ; Let alone the lads Who are freedom tasting. Recollect our dads Gave you once a basting. Pickaxe, shovel, spade. Crowbar, hoe, and barrow, Better not invade, Yankees have the marrow. " To protect our rights 'Gainst your flints and triggers, See on Brooklyn Heights Our patriotic diggers ; Men of every age. Color, rank, profession. Ardently engage. Labor in succession. Pickaxe, etc. " Qrandenr leaves. her towers, Poverty her hovel, Here to join tlieir powers With the hoe and shovel. Here the merchant toils With the patriot sawyer. There the laborer smiles. Near him sweats the lawyer. Pickaxe, etc. OF. THE WAB OF 1812. 971 General Swift's Eeport of tlie Fortifications around New York. Earlier than the movements of the public authorities and inhabitants of Kew York and Philadelphia for the defense of their cities, recorded in the preceding pages, the "Here the mason builds Freedom's shrlie of glory, While the painter" gilds The immortal story. Blacksmiths catch the flame, Grocers feel the spirit. Printers share the fame, And record their merit. Pickaxe, etc. " Scholars leave their schools With their patriot teachers ; Farmers seize their tools. Headed by their preachers. How they break the soil ! Brewers, butchers, bakers ; Here the doctors toil. There the undertakers. Pickaxe, etc. "Bright Apollo's sons Leave their pipe and tabor, 'Mid the roar of guns Join the martial labor ; Eound the embattled plain In sweet concord rally, And in freedom's strain Sing the foe's finale I Pickaxe, etc. Plumbers, founders, dyers, Tinmen, tamers, shavers, Sweepers, clerks, and criers. Jewelers, engravers. Clothiers, drapers, players, Cartmen, hatters, tailors. Gangers, sealers, weighers. Carpenters and sailors. Pickaxe, etc. " Better not invade j Recollect the spirit Which our dads displayed. And their sons inherit. If you still advance. Friendly caution slighting. Ton may get, by chance, A bellyful of fighting. Pickaxe, shovel, spade. Crowbar, hoe, and barrow, Better not invade, Yankees have the marrow. The most authentic account of the fortifications thrown up aroand New York in the summer and autumn of 1S14 may be found in the report of General Joseph Swift, Chief Engineer (see page 63S), to the Common Council Committee of Defense, made at the close of the year 1814. I have compiled the following statements from the original manuscript of that report, with its maps, and landscape and topographical drawings, which are now before me. The city of New York might be approached by an enemy by way of Sandy Hook and the Narrows, Long Island Sound and the East River, and across Long Island. To guard against invasion by either one of these approaches, and to be prepared at all points, old fortifications, built during the Revolution, or when war with France seemed inevitable in 1TE8 and 1799, were strengthened and new ones were erected. The commanding situations near the dangerous passage in the East River known as Hell Gate, at the mouth of the Harlem River, were occupied by batteries, some of which were covered by towers. The heights overlooking Harlem Plains, and those around Brooklyn, on Long Island, were also covered vrith military works, within which necessary magazines and barracks were erected. The position of these va- rious works, and those around and in the harbor of New York, may be seen at a glance by reference to the map on the next page. In the rear of Brooklyn works were erected which completely 'isolated the town. On the high ground overlooking the Wallabout and the navy yard was Fort Greene mounting twenty-three heavy cannon and between it and Gowanus Creek, which ran through a low morass Redoubts Cummiugs and Masonic Washmgton Battery and Foit Firemen were erected. These were united by lines of in- trenchments. In each of these redoubts, as well as at the salient angles of the intrench- ments, twelve -pound- ers were placed. The intervals between them did not exceed half grape-shot distance of guns of that capacity. On a small eminence on the margin of Gowanus ^;^__ _ -^ --^ , FOBT STEVENS AMD MILL BOOK. Creek, on the right flank of these lines, was a little redoubt, open in the rear, cal- culated for three heavy guns, to defend the mill-dam and bridge. On a com- manding conical hill forming a part of Brooklyn Heights, and nearly on the site of Fort Stiriing of the Revolution, was a strong redoubt called Port Swift ; and another, named Fort Lawrence, was constructed at the southwestern extremity of the heights, and overlooking Gowanus Bay and Governor's Island. On Hallett's Point, Long Island, near Hell Gate, was quite an extensive work called Fort Stevens, in honor of General Ebenezer Stevens, who had been in command of the troops in and around New York. On Lawrence's Hill, in the rear, and commanding an extensive view, was a tower. In front of it, in the middle of the East River, at the mouth of the Harlem River, stood (and yet stands) Mill Rock. On this a very strong block-house and a powerful battery were erected. On the shore of York Island, opposite, at a place known as Rhine- lander's Point (Horn's Hook in the Revolution), not far above the present Asto- ' This is a view from the tower on Lawi-ence's Hill, back of Fort Stevens, and looking up the Harlem River. Directly over the fort is seen the block-house on Mill Rock. Over the island on the left is seen Khinelander's Point. At the extreme right is Hell Gate. TOWEB AT hallett's POIHT. 972 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Portiflcatlons around New York. subject of harbor defenses had occupied much of the public attention in sea-coast mounUMrTvlr^fZnoi hr/ f" '''"' ^''"'^'; . ^^''' ^°'^'' =■" '^^ ^SSreg^^^, were of enfflcient capacity to "wect in th J iwi ?f ?. ' . ""f "'■ ^".^"^-g^a that half of them might be concentrated at one time upon any and tSace on^L Z?r,l°'r '"t^ T- V'°' "! * •'" P'"'"'" ®^™"'* ^™°°«' ™ "^ "S™^* *» g°»'d a mill-dam f„L^*?^? » , Harlem Creek, which empties into the Harlem River near by. Intrenchments extended hack d;cr™nLrtVZ^'ci?nT^^^^^^^^ "r '1'^ ^ "''''''■ ^' ">« ""^^ <" Harlem'cre^k'ltenced fparap't^^^^ anon, running to Fort Clmton (delmeated on the next page), which was situated on an elevated rock at M'Gowan's OF THE WAB OF 1812. 973 General Swift's Beport. towns, especially in the fast-growing commercial city of New York. Among the sci- FasB, now called Mount St. Vincent, in the norttaeastern part of the Central Park. Con- nected with Fort Clinton, and extending like a bridge over M'Gowan's Paee, were a block- house and Nutter's Battery (a sketch of which ia given on the following page), the whole joined to and commanded by Port Fish (a view of the inte- rior of which, with Harlem in the distance, will also be found on the following page), on an- other eminence westward of the pass, on which five heavy cannon were planted. This pass, on the old Kingsbridge Boad (between the present Fifth and Sixth Avenues and One Hundred and Fifth and One Hundred and Eighth Streets), was a very Important point, and great efforts were used to make it a Thermopylse ^ILL QOOII AND ITS FOBTIFIOATIONB. FOET CLINTON AT m'GOWAN'B : to any foe that might attempt to go through. Immediately west of Fort Fish, and at the foot of the works, was a deep, rough, wooded valley, which is now within the Central Park, and pre- served in all its original rudeness. On the opposite side of this valley was a range of wooded and rocky heights, of difficult ascent excepting in one place, and there for only the lightest troops. On these heights, extending to Manhattanville, several block -houses were erected, mostly of stone, within supporting distance from each other. These extended from near M'Gowan's Pass almost to the Bloomingdale Eoad. The one nearest that road, and overlook- ing Manhattanville, was called Fort Laight. All of them had heavy guns mounted m iarbeite, that is, on the top, without embrasures. From Fort Laight ran a line of in- trenchments westwardly across the Bloomingdale Eoad, which ended on the high, precipitous bank of the Hudson. Here, near the then resi- dence of Viscount Courtenay (after- ward the Earl of Dev- on), was a strong stone tower (see picture on page 975) which com- manded Manhattan- ville, and from which was a line view of the Palisades of the Hud- son, and of the river al- most to the Highlands. Such were the fortifica- tions described In Gen- eral Swift's report,* at the conclusion of which he said : " The works compre» hended in the for egoing ^ . . n«„»r»i Swift's aid-de-camp. Lieutenant Gadsden, of the United States Bngineers, superintended the erection of the „,v!^fBronWvn assisted by Messrs. Nicholls and Mercein. Major Horn superintended those in the vicraity of Har- rrSi?™^'^'Zns and small views presented in the report were furnished by Captain (late Professor iu Colum- hTcoHeLl^wTo^krEenwierof General ^ brigade, ..ided by Lieutenants Gadsden, Craig, Turner, De Eussy, Kembt fndOoThout. The larger views were drawn by Mr. Holland. FOBT CLINTON AND HAELEM OKEEK. 974 PICTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK Fortifications around ijew York. A proposed Revolving Battery. entific men of that day, John Stevens and Robert Fulton appear most conspicuous in proposing plans for that purpose. Earlier than this (in 1807), Abraham Bloodgood, of Albany, suggested the construction of a floating revolving battery, not unlike, in its essential character, the turret of Captain Ericsson's Monitor of 1862.> In March, description have been cMefly con- structed by tlie labor of the citizen^ of the city of New York, Long Isl- and, and of the neighboring towns near the North Eiver, and in New Jersey, all classes volunteering daily working-parties of from five to fif- teen hundred men. The fortificar tions are testimonials of patriotic zeal, honorable to the citizens and to the active and assiduous Commit- tee of Defense." Besides these works there were old Fort George, at the foot of Broad- way ; the North Biattery (given be- low), at the foot of Hubert Street ;, and a partly finished work near the foot of the present Twenty -third Street, called Fort Gansevoort. At Princes Bay, Staten Island, a tower waa erected to command the only secure anchorage for the shipping and safe landing-place of afoe. For- tifications were commenced on the WOEKS AT m'GOWAM'S PASS. staten Island Shore at the Narrows, and near there a brigade of two thousand militia from the Hudson Eiver counties were stationed from August to December, 1814. On Governor's Isl- and, very near the city, were Ports Jay and Castle Williams. Of all these works only those on Governor's Island remain, ex- cepting one of the block-houses near M'Gowan's Pass, in the upper part of the Central Park, between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, at One Hundred and Fifth Street, overlooking Har- lem Plains. Its massive walls are well preserved, as may be seen from the dravring of it given on page 9T5. The mounds of Forts Fish and Clinton, at M'Gowan's Pass, were also well preserved as late as 1860, when, from the north, they presented the appearance given in the engraving on the opposite page. MOKTH BATTEKY. VIEW PBOM FORT PTSH, LOOKING TOWAKB HAELEM. 1 In avolume containing the proceedings of the Society for thePromotion of Useful Arts in tlw State ofUm rori, pub- lished at Albany in 1807, is the following account of Mr. Bloodgood's plan, reference being had to accompanying draw- ings: "The model of this battery was exhibited to the society vrith a verbal description only. The annexed plate shows an exact profile of its body, the shape of which, as seen above, is circular. It is to be connected at the centre of Its bottom with a strong keel, in such a manner that, while the keel is held by cables and anchors in one position, «Ae tmtlxrij 18 mode to tarn round on its centre. This motion may be given to it either by the tide acting on float-boards at- tached to the body of the battery, by sails raised on its exterior parts, or by manual application. In this last way it may OF THE WAR 01' 1812. 975 Desci'iptton of proposed Eevolving Battery. A proposed iron-clad Vessel. Remains of a Block-house. 1814, Thomas Gregg, of Pennsylvania, obtained a patent for a proposed iron-clad be effected by men in the hold drawing on a lever fastened to a post fixed to the keel and rising through a well-hole in the centre of the battery. The strength of horses might perhaps be applied to the same purpose. The cables by which the keel is held aie to be entirely under water, and thus secure from an enemy's shot The advantages of such a batteiy would be — 1. Its rotary motion would bring all its cannon to beai successively, as fast as they could be loaded, on objects in any dnec tion. 2. Its circular form would ca^se every shot that might strike it not near the centre to glance 3. Its motion, as well as its want of parts on which grapplmgs might be fastened, would render boarding almost impossible 4 The steadiness with which it would lie on the water would ren- der its fire more certain than that of a ship. 5. The guns would be more easily worked than is com- mon, as they would not require any lateral movement. 6. The OOTTRTENAY's and THE.nUDSON TOWER.* EEMAIH8 or BIOOK-HOUSE OVEBLOOKIHG HAKLEM PLAIKS IK lS60.t men would be completely sheltered from the fire of the elevated parts of an enemy's ship. T. The battery might be made so strong as to be impenetrable to common shot, etc." * The house in which Viscount Courtenay, son of the Earl of Devon, lived was built by the elder Doctor Post, of New York, and named Clermont. There Joseph Bona parte resided for a while. It is now (1867) known as Jones's Claremont Hotel, and is a place of great resort m fine weather for pleasure-seekers who frequent the Bloom- ijjgdale and Kingsbridge Eoads. The appearance of the mansion has been entirely changed by additions. t This sketch shows the character of the rocky heights on which the line of block-honses was built. In the dis tance is seen the "High Bridge," or Croton Aqueduct, over Harlem Eiver. The walls of the block-honse are twelve or fifteen feet in height, and fonr feet m thick- ness. ., ,^« t The remains of Fort Clinton are seen on the lell. m'gowam's pass m ISGO.t 976 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Iron-clad Gun-boat. A Floating Battery authorized by Congress. Launch of the Battery. Steam vessel of war, resembling in figure vessels used during our late great Civil War. Drawings of it may be seen in the Patent-office, with full specifications.' Our little sketch below was copied from one of these drawings. At about the same time a committee of citizens examined a plan of a floating bat- tery submitted by Robert Fulton, and approved by such tried naval officers as Cap- tains Decatur, Jones, Evans, Biddle, Perry, Warrington, and Lewis. It was to be in the form of a steam-ship of peculiar construction, that might move at the rate of four miles an hour, and furnished, in addition to its regular armament, with submarine guns. The committee memorialized Congress on the subject, and asked the Secre- tary of the Navy to give it his official favor. It was objected that a discussion in Congress would reveal the matter to the enemy, and also that the President was not authorized to make an appropriation without the special authority of law. To meet these objections, the committee agreed to have the vessel constructed at their own exj)ense and risk, provided assurances should be given that the govei-nment, which alone could employ her, would receive and pay for her when her utility should be demonstrated. It was estimated that she would cost nearly as much as a first-class frigate, or about three hundred and twenty thousand dollars. The liberal ofier was accepted, and Congress authorized the President'' to have one or more float- ing batteries built, under the supervision of the Coast and Harbor Defense Committee.2 They appointed Mr. Fulton the engineer, and /Y^ ^^ ^ y.-y7 Adam and Noah Brown the e-// (LyP/O'C^'it^'^ architects. The keel was laid at the ship-yard at Corlear's Hook, in the city of New York, on the 20th of June, 1814, and she was launched at 9 o'clock ^ March, ISU. in the morning of the 29th of October following, in the presence of a vast assemblage of people. The scene was described as very exciting. It was a bright autumnal day. Fleets of vessels and crowds of spectators might be seen on every hand ; and she went into the water amid the roar of cannon and the shouts of a multitude full twenty thousand in number.^ Her engines were put on board, and her machinery ' The following la a portion of the specifi- cation ; "The boat is framed on an angle of about eighteen degrees all round the vessel, when the top timbers elevate the balls, and the lower ones direct them under her. The top deck, which glances the ball, may be hung on a mass of hinges near the ports. Said deck is supported by knees and cross-timbers on the lower sides, so that it may be sprung with powder, if required (when boarded by the enemy), to a perpendicular, when the said deck \^ be checked by stays, while the pow- er of jJcwder will be exhausted in the open air, and then fall or spring to the centre of the deck again. The aforesaid deck will run up and down with the angle, which may be coppered or laid with iron. The gun-deck ?etween\°er kp2'whL''t*^° ^™ ''"'""' " ""T"'"!; '' """ "'^ *°* ^nns are under said deck. The power is applied ?n eTch end form nT «^ ».^ t7 ~°"''' *"T'' '" '''="™ ""^ ^""^ ""^ *°^ '" tli« «t^™. «=^««P' '^ ™''" distance Ut levers'to makf h?,.i „ ^' , ^^^°^f, "^^l "f '"^"''^ *" P^P^' ^^-^ """^^^ ™y- ««« ?»«'«'■ >« connected to up- heTkeel and tonnage ° alternately. The elevation of her timbers and gearing will be proportioned by co;xr"Mit:h:n:SdVh?mrM^^^^^^^^ l^^^l ^""^ ^T^ Evmii'ng Post published au account of the launching of this vessel, and gave the followins as her brrrh A"""^ T'"'^ '?■■ ''.™'"°«'" = " She measures one hundted and forty-five feet fn deck and flto-lve feet S d pouud/e™i X Tl be'c' '''' "h 7jf ^""-'^ thirty 32-pound carrona'des, and two «SbMs o/one hun^ ana keels, sepaiated from end to end by a channel fifteen feet wide and sixty-six feet long. One boat con- OF THE WAR OF 1812. 917 Steam-sMp or Floating Battery, FuUon the First. Extravagant Stories concerning her. tested, in the month of May following,* when Fulton was no more, he having _ ^^^ died in February.' She made a trial -trip to the ocean and back, fifty-three miles, on the 4th of July, at the rate of about six miles an hour by her engines alone. In September she made another voyage to the sea, with her whole armament on board, at the rate of five and a half miles an hour against wind and tide. The vessel was named Fulton the First. At the close of 1814 active war had ceased in the Northern States. Its chief thea- tre of operations was in Louisiana and on the ocean, to which we will now turn our attention. tained the boiler for generating steam, which was made of copper. The machinery occupied the other boat. The wa- ter-wheel (A) revolved in the space between them. The main or gun-deck supported the ar- mament, and was protected by a parapet four feet ten inches thick, of solid timber, pierced by embrasures. Through twenty-five port-holes were as many 32-pounders, intended to fire red-hot shot, which could be heated with great safety and convenience. Her upuer, or spar-deck, upon which many hundred men might parade, was encompassed with a bulwark, for safety. She was rigged with two stout masts, each of which supported a largeJateen yard and sails. She had two bowsprits and jibs, and four rudders, one at each extremity of each boat, so that she might be steered with either end foremost. Her machinery was calculated for an additional engine, which might discharge' an immense column of water, which it was intended to throw upon the decks and through the port-holes of an enemy, and thereby deluge her armament and ammu- nition. — See Colden's Life of Eobert FuUtm, page 229. The most extravagant stories concerning this monster of the deep went forth at about the time of her being launched. In a treatise on steam-vessels, published in Scotland soon after- ward, the author said : " Her length Is 300 feet ; breadth, 200 feet ; thickness of her sides, 13 feet, of alternate oak plank and corkwood ; carries 44 guns, four of which are 100-pounders ; can discharge 100 galldhs of boiling water in a few minutes, and by mechanics brandishes 300 cutlasses with the utmost regularity over her gunwales ; works, also, an equal number of pikes of great length, darting them from her sides with prodigious force, and withdrawing them every quarter of a minute." ' See page 242. 3 Q SECTION OF THE FLOAT- ING BATTEBY. I-ULT0i4 TJIE FISBT. g^g PICTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK T^.w Vp.«..1» for the American Navy. The A6m^ runs the Blockade. Her Escape from Danger. CHAPTER XLL "We had sailed out a letter of marqne, Fourteen guns and forty-five men, And a costly freight our gallant barque Was bearing home again. We had ranged the seas the whole summer tide, Crossed the main and returned once more ; And our sails were spread, and from the mast-head The look-out saw the distant shore. A sail 1 a sail on our weather-bow ! Hand over hand ten knots an hour ; Now God defend it ever should end That we should fall in the foeman's power."i— Caeoline F. Oehe. bUR Story of the operations of the American Navy during the year 1813 closed with the cruise of the President, under Commodore Rodgers, and her bold dash through the British blockading squadron off Sandy Hook into the harbor of New York, at the middle of February, 1814, when the broad pennant of Commodore Decatur was unfurled over her deck. The Guerriere, 44, the first frigate built by the United States gov- ernment on the sea-board since 1804, was launched at Philadelphia on the 20th of June, 1814, in the presence of fifty thousand persons, and was placed under the command of Commodore Rodgers. On the 20th of July, the Independence, 74, was launched at Charlestown, amid the roar of cannon and the shouts of a great multitude. She was placed in charge of Commodore Bain- bridge. The Independence was a two-decker, the first that had ever been built for the service of the United States.^ The keels of two others were laid, but they were not put afloat until the war had ceased. The Java, 44, was launched at Baltimore on the 1st of August, while twenty thousand people were looking on. She was placed under the command of Commodore Perry. Several new sloops of war were made ready for sea during the summer of 1814 ; and the Adams, 28, had been cut down to a sloop and lengthened the previous autumn at Washington, and armed with the same number of guns, but on a single deck. On the night of the 18th of January, 1814, the Adams, Captain Charles Morris, ' passed the blockading squadron in Lynnhaven Bay, put to sea, and ran off to the northeast to cross the track of the British West India merchantmen. She made a few prizes. On the 25th of March she captured the Indiaman Woodbridge, and, while taking possession of her, observed twenty-five merchant vessels, with two ships of war, bearing down upon her with a fair wind. Morris abandoned his prize, and gave the Adams wings for flight from danger. She escaped, sailed down the coast, and entered the harbor of Savannah for supplies in the month of April. On the 5th of May she sailed for the Manilla Reef to watch for the Jamaica convoy. The fleet passed her in the night. She gave chase in the morning, gained upon the fugitives, but was kept at bay by two vessels of war. , The Adams now stood to the northward, and on the 3d of July was off the Irish coast, where she was chased by British frigates at different times, but always escaped. 1 Prom a spirited poem, in manuscript, written by Miss Ome, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, entitled "The Letter of Marque." ' The A.m(!rica, of the same class, was presented to the French government while she was yet on the stocks. OF THE WAK OF 1812. 979 Destruction of the AOaime. Cralse of the Wasp. She captures the Reindeer, The weather was cold, damp, and foggy for nearly two months, because the ocean was dotted with icebergs floating down from circumpolar waters. Her crew sick- ened, and Captain Morris determined to go into port.' He entered the Penobscot River, in a somewhat disabled condition, on the afternoon of the 17th of August, and made his way with the Adams to Hampden, far up the river, where he was soon afterward compelled to destroy his vessel to prevent its falling into the hands of the British, as we have already ob- served. ' Captain Johnston Blakeley left the har- bor of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on the 1st of May, 1814, in command of the new sloop-of-war Wasp, 18, and soon ap- peared in the chops of the British Chan- nel. There he spread terror among the merchant ships and the people of the sea- port towns, and revived painful recollec- tions of the exploits of the Argus.'^ On the morning of the 28th of June, while some distance at sea, the Wasp was chased by two vessels. These were joined by a third at ten o'clock, when the foremost one showed English colors. After a good deal of manoeuvring until a little past three o'clock in the afternoon, when the foe was within sixty yards of the Wasp and on her weather-quarter, the former opened fire with a 12-pound carronade, and gave four heavy discharges of round and grape shot before her antagonist could bring one of her guns to bear. At about half past three the Wasp opened fire, and in a few minutes the action became very severe. Several times the men of the stranger attempted to board the Wasp, but were re- pulsed. Her crew finally boarded the stranger, and at the end of twenty-eight min- utes after the combat commenced the latter was a prize to the Wasp. The van- quished vessel was the British sloop-of-war Heindeer, Captain William Manners. She was terribly shattered. Her people had fought bravely, and her captain and purser (Barton), and twenty-three others, were killed, and forty-two were wounded. The Wasp was hulled six times, but was not very seriously damaged. Her loss was five men killed and twenty-two wounded. She was every way the superior of the Hein- deer. She was new, mounted twenty 32-pound carronades and two long guns, and her complement was one hundred and seventy-three men. That of the Heindeer was only one hundred and eighteen. Blakeley put some of his wounded prisoners on a neutral vessel, and with the remainder sailed for L'Orient, where he arrived on the 8th of July. He had burned the wrecked Heindeer. For his gallant conduct on this occasion Congress voted him a gold medal. ^ Blakeley left L'Orient on another cruise in the Wasp on the 2Yth of August. On the evening of the 1st of September he discovered four sail ahead, two on the lar- board and two on the starboard bow of the Wasp. He bore down upon them, and at almost half past nine in the evening he was so near one of them that he opened I See page 899. » See page 71S. 3 On one Bide of the medal is a bust of Captain Blakeley In profile, with the words around it " johnston blakeley BEip. jr«D. AM. HAT. WASP DDx." On the other side is represented a naval action, with the legend " EHEr 1 bis tio- TOR. PATEXA TUA TB LUGET PLAtTDITO." BelOW, "iKTEE WASP NAV. AUEEI. ET EEIMDBEB NAT. ANG. 1>IB XXTIII. JTJKirS MDOOOXIT." 980 PICTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK Combat between the Wasp and ^"o"- ^°^^ "' the Waep and all on boai-d. Blakeley and Warrington, BT-AKELEY S MEDAL. fire upon her with a 12-pouncl carronade. The shot was promptly returned. The night was intensely dark, the wind was blowing freshly, and the vessels were run- ning at the rate of ten knots an hour. After the exchange of shots, the commanders of both vessels hailed; and soon afterward the Wasp opened a broadside upon her antagonist. A severe engagement ensued. Thirty minutes later the fire of the stranger ceased. " Have you surrendered ?" inquired Blakeley. He was answered by a few shots, when he gave his foe another broadside, followed by the same ques- tion. It was answered in the affirmative, when a boat was lowered from the Wasp, with an officer to take possession of the prize. Just then another vessel appeared astern, rapidly approaching ; then another, and another. Blakeley felt compelled to abandon his prize, so nearly in his possession. He could not ascertain the name or power of his antagonist, but believed her to be one of the largest brigs in the British Navy. It was afterward ascertained that it was the Avon, 18, Captain Arbuthnot, and that the vessel that first came to her aid was the Castilian, 18. The Avon was so much shattered in the conflict that she sunk almost immediately. The survivors of her people were rescued by their friends in the other vessels. The Wasp continued her cruise, capturing several prizes. Among others, she took the Atlanta, near the Azores, on the 21st of September. The prize was so valuable that Blakeley sent her home in command of Midshipman (late Commodore) David Geisinger.i She arrived safely at Savannah on the 4th of November. On the 9th of October the Wasp' was spoken by the Swedish bark Adonis, making her way to- ward the Spanish Main. On that occasion two officers of the Essex (Acting Lieuten- ant M'Knight and Master's-mate Lyman), who were passengers in the Adonis, left her for the Wasp. This was the last that was ever heard of that vessel and of those on board of her at that time. She and all her people perished in some unknown way in the solitudes of the sea.^ In March, 1814, the Peacock, 18, Captain Warrington,^ sailed on a cruise from New > Commodore Geisinger died at his residence in Philadelphia on Saturday, the 10th of March, 1860, at the age of about seventy years. He was among the oldest oflcers of the navy. His commission as captain was dated May 24, 1838. For several years he was stationed at the Naval Asylum in Philadelphia. ! Johnston Blakeley was a native of Ireland, where he was born in the month of October, 1T81. His father emigrated to the United States with his family in 1783, and settled in Charleston, South Carolina, and afterward made Wilming- ton, in North Carolina, his home. He sent Johnston, his only surviving son, to New York to be educated. He finished his education at Chapel Hill, in North Carolina. He entered the navy as a midshipman in the year 1800. He served with faithfulness, and rose to the rank of captain. In 1814 he was appointed to the command of the Waap, in which, as we have observed in the text, he perished toward the close of that year, when he was only thirty-three years of age. 3 Lewis Warrington was born at Williamsburg, in Virginia, on the 3d of November, 1782. He was educated at Wil- liam and Mary College in that state. He entered the naval service as midshipman in January, 1800, and made his first cruise with Captain Barron in the Chesapeake. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1807, and to master commandant on the 24th of July, 1813. This was the office which he held, by commission, when he started on the cruise In the Peacock. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 981 Fight between the Peacock and ISpervier. Capture of the latter. Her Escape from Becapture. York. She went down the coast, and was off the shores of Florida for some time without encountering any conspic- uous adventures. Finally, on the 29th of April, Warrington discovered three sail to the windward, under convoy of an armed brig of large dimensions. The merchantmen were an English brig, and a Russian and a Spanish ship. The two war vessels made for each other, and very soon a close and severe battle com- nienced. The I'eacock was so badly wounded in the rigging by a broadside from her antagonist, which proved to be the l^ervier, 1 8, Captain Wales, that she was compelled to fight " running large," as the phrase is. She could not manoeu- vre much, and the contest became one of gunnery. The Peacock won the game at the end of forty minutes after it be- gan, when the Epervier struck her col- ors. She was extensively injured. No less than forty-five round shot had struck her hull, and twenty-two of her men were slain or disabled. The hull of the Pea- cock was scarcely bruised, and within an hour after the conclusion of the combat she was in perfect fighting order. Not a round shot had touched her hull, and not a man on board of her was killed. Only two men were wounded. The Peacock was the heavier of the two vessels, fully manned, and in stanch order. The Epervier was also fully manned. She was a valuable prize. The vessel sold for fifty-five thousand dollars, and on board of her were found one hundred and eighteen thousand dollars in specie. She was so rich, and the waters of the Southern coast was then so much infested by British cruisers, that Warrington determined to con- voy her into Savannah. He placed J. B. Nicholson, his first lieutenant, on board of her, and on the evening of the day of the capture started for port. On the following day, when abreast Amelia Island, on the coast of Florida, they encountered two Brit- ish frigates. Arrangements were at once made to send the prize into St. Mary's, and to haul to the southward with the Peacock. By this means the frigates were separated, and the one in chase of the Peacock wias led off the coast, and lost sight of her intended victim on the 1st of September. The ^erwwr, while veering along the coast toward Savannah, fell in with the other frigate. The water was shoal in which the prizie vessel ran. The boats of the frigate were lowered, filled with armed men, and sent in chase of the Epervier., which moved slowly before a very light wind. The boats gained upon her, and her position became critical, for Nicholson had only sixteen officers and men with him. He employed a stratagem successfully. Using the trumpet, as if his vessel was full of men, he summoned them, in a loud voice, to prepare to fire a broadside. The men in the boats heard the order, and fled. Had they known the real state of affairs, they might have captured the Epervier in less than five minutes with little loss. She escaped, and reached Savannah on the 1st of May. The Peacock entered the sam e port on the 4th. Because of his success, he was promoted to captain in November, 1814. He had served with distinction under Decatur and others He was a very active and useful officer during the whole of the second War for Independence, and subse- auentlv oerfonned much important service afloat and ashore. For many years he was a member of the Board of Navy Commissioners ■ and in September, 1842, he was appointed chief of the Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography.which ofHce he held at the time of his death. That event occurred at Washington City on the lath of October, 1851. 982 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Barney'B Flotilla In Chesapeake Bay. It is blockaded. Fight with the Blockaders. The capture of the JEJpervier produced much exultation throughout the country. The name of Warrington was upon every lip in phrases of honor, and the Congress of the United States ordered a gold medal to be struck and presented to him because of this exploit.' waeeington's medal. Soon after her return to Savannah the Peacock went on another cruise, and entered the Bay of Biscay and the waters on the coast of Portugal. She captured fourteen merchantmen, but had no engagement with a ship of war. She returned to New York at the end of October. We have alluded to Barney's operations with a flotilla in the Chesapeake in the summer of 1814. The brave and active veteran left the Patuxent on the 1st of June, with the Scorpion as his flag-ship, two gun-boats, and several large barges, in chase of two British schooners. By the vigorous use of sweeps he was fast overhauling the fugitives, when a large ship was seen at the southward. The wind commenced blowing freshly, and the great vessel, being to windward, was seen bearing down upon the flotilla. Barney signaled the return of his boats, and all fled back to the Patux- ent, followed for a while by the huge enemy, a two-decker, which anchored at the mouth of the river. On the 6th of June this ship was joined by two others, and Bar- ney's flotilla was thoroughly blockaded. On the 8th, the ship of the line, a brig, two schooners, and fifteen barges sailed, up the Patuxent with a fair wind, and Barney moved to St. Leonard's Creek, two miles farther up, and there, in battle order, await- ed their approach. The heavier British vessels anchored at the mouth of the creek, and the barges advanced, led by a rocket-boat. Barney, with thirteen barges,, ad- vanced to meet them, when they retreated. The movement was repeated in the aft- ■ Jane 9, ernoon. Twenty-four hours afterward" the enemy sent twenty barges up 1^1*- the creek, which, after a sharp skirmish, fled back to the protection of the large armed vessels. On the 11th, twenty-one barges, and two schooners in tow, re- newed the attack, when, after receiving a more severe punishment than at any time before, they were again compelled to fly, with considerable loss. Barney now caused some small earth-works to be thrown up on the shore to pro- tect his flotilla. These were placed in the command of Captain. Miller, of the Marine Corps, and a considerable force of militia, under Colonel Decius Wadsworth, of the Ordnance Corps. The combined force attempted to end the blockade on the 26th. A raking shot ripped a plank from the bottom of the large British ship,'^ and she was 1 On one side of the medal is a bnst in profile of Captain Warrington, and the words " lttdovious wartiington dttx NAVALI8 AMEi." On the other side is a representation of a naval battle, and around it the legend " pko patbia paea- TTTS ATJT VTNOEEB AtTT MOEI." BelOW, " IWTEB PBAOOOK HAV. AMBI. ET EPEBTIEE NAT. ANO. DIB XXIX MABOH MDCOCXIV." ' This was either the Severn or the Loire. OF THE WAB OF 1812. 983 Reappearance of the C onstiintion. she Is chaeed Into Marblehead Harbor. Again puts to Sea. compelled to run on a sand-bank to avoid sinking. The engagement continued about two hours,- during which time Barney lost thirteen men in killed and wounded. The blockade was effectually raised, for the enemy prudently dropped down the Patux- ent. Barney and his flotilla remained in that river until about the middle of Au- gust, when the British commenced those operations which resulted in the destruc- tion of his vessels by order of its commander,' and the capture of "Washington City; as recorded in a preceding chapter. Now the gallant Constitution, 44, again appears on the scene of strife. When Bainbridge relinquished the command of her in 1813 she was thoroughly repaired. A greater portion of her crew were sent to the Lakes, and when she was ready for sea a new one was entered, and she was placed under the command pf Captain Charles Stewart. She left Boston Harbor for a cruise on the 3.0th of December, 1813, and for seventeen days did not see a sail. She was on the coast of Surinam at the beginning of February, and on the 14th of that month she captured the British war schooner Ficton, 16, together with a letter-of-marque which was under her convoy. Return- ing northward through the West India Islands, she chased" the Bfitish .. February is, frigate La Pique, 36, Captain Maitland, off Porto Rico. Night coming ^^^*- on, that vessel escaped through the Mona Channel. The Constitution continued her way homeward, and early in the morning of Sunday, the 3d of April, when off Cape Anne, discovered two large sail to the southeast standing for her, and nearing her rapidly with a fair breeze. They were two British frigates of great weight, the «7m- non and La Nymphe. Boston Harbor was her destination, but she was compelled to seek safety in that of Marblehead. By great exertions, superior skill in manage- ment, and lightening her of much of her burden, Stewart succeeded in reaching the harbor of Marblehead in safety. The situation of the Constitution was still one of great peril. An express was immediately sent to Commodore Bainbridge, at Boston, who proceeded with all the force at his command to her relief Several companies of militia, artillery, and infantry hastened to Marblehead. The pursuers kept at a respectful distance, and the Constitution was soon afterward safely anchored in the harbor of Salem, from whence she sailed ia due time to Boston, where she remained until near the close of the year. At the close of December,*" the Constitution, still commanded by Captain ^ Stewart, put to sea. She went to the Bay of Biscay by way of Bermuda and Madeira, and then cruised some time farther southward off Lisbon. While in sight of the Portuguese capital, Stewart observed a large ship seaward, and immediately gave chase. Stopping to capture and secure a prize, he lost sight of her. She was the Elizabeth, 74, on her way to the port of Lisbon. On her arrival there her com- mander was informed of the presence of the Constitution on the coast, and he went out at once in search of her. He was unsuccessful. Stewart sailed farther southward toward Cape St. Vincent, and on the 20th of Feb- ruary, 1815, he discovered a strange sail and made chase. At about two o'clock in the afternoon a second vessel appeared farther to the leeward. Both were ships, and evidently in company. Toward evening one signaled the other, and they drew to- gether. The Constitution still kept up the chase, and crowded all sail to get the near- est of the two under her guns before night should set in. At near sunset she fired a few shots, but they fell short. Stewart found he was slowly gaining on the fugitives, and cleared the Constitution for action. At six, being within range, he showed his colors, when the two strangers flung out the British flag. The position of the three v.essels now became very interesting. The Constitution shot by, and the three ships were so ranged that they formed the points of an equi- lateral triangle, Stewart's vessel to windward of the other two.. In this advantageous position the Constitution commenced the action, the three vessels keeping up an un- 1 See page 921. PICTOEIAI, FIELD-BOOK Battle between the Comtitution and Britieli Vessels Cyame and Levant. The CamtWutton captures hoth. ceasing and terrific fire for about fifteen minutes, when that of the enemy slackened. An immense volume of heavy smoke hung over the combatants, admitting only an occasional gleam of moonlight. The Constitution also became silent ; and as the cloud of smoke rolled sullenlyv away as a very light breeze sprung up, Stewart per- ceived the leading ship of the enemy to be under the lee-beam of his own vessel, while the sternmost was luffing up as if with the intention of tacking, and crossing the stem of the Constitution. The latter delivered a broadside into the ship abreast of her, and then, by a skillful management of the sails, backed swiftly astern, com- pelling the foe to fill again to avoid being raked. The leading ship now attempted to tack so as to cross the bow of the Constitution. For some time both vessels manoeuvred admirably, pouring heavy shot into each other whenever opportunity offered, when, at a quarter before seven, the British ves- sel fired a gun to leeward and struck her flag. Lieutenant Hoffman was sent to take possession of her. She was the frigate Cyane, 36, Captain Falcoln, manned by a crew of one hundred and eighty men. Stewart now looked after the Cyane^s consort, which had been forced out of the combat by the crippled condition of her running gear, and to avoid damage from the Constitution's heavy cannonading. She was ignorant of the fate of her consort. About an hour after the action had ceased, having repaired damages, she bore up, and met the Constitution coming down in search of her. They crossed on opposite tacks, each delivering a broadside as they did so. For a time there was a' brisk run- ning fight, the Constitution chasing, and her bow guns sending shot that ripped up the planks of her antagonist. The latter was soon overpowered, and at ten o'clock at night she fired a gun to leeward and surrendered. Lieutenant (now Admiral) W. B. Shubrick was sent to take possession of her. She was found to be the JLevant, 18, Captain Douglass. The Constitution at this time was equipped with fifty-two guns, and her comple- ment of men and boys was about four hundred and seventy. The Cyane was a frigate-built ship, mounting twenty 32-pound carronades on her gun-deck, and ten 18-pound carronades, with- two chase-guns, on her quarter-deck and forecastle, making thirty-four in all. Her complement of men was one hundred and eighty-five. The Levant was a new ship, mounting eighteen 32-pound carronades, a shifting 18 on her top-gallant forecastle, and two chase-guns, making twenty-one in all. Her regular complement was one hundred and thirty souls. Both vessels had additional numbers on board, going to the Western Islands to bring away a ship that was being built there. The loss of the Constitution in this gallant action was three killed and twelve wounded. That of the enemy, in the two vessels, was estimated at seventy-seven killed and wounded. The Constitution was so little damaged that in three hours after her last conflict she was again ready for action. She had been engaged for three hours with her an- tagonists, but^the actual fighting had not occupied more than forty-flve minutes. She had not a single officer hurt. It was a most gallant fight in that moonlit sea by the three vessels ; and the commanders of all received, as they deserved to, the highest praise. Placing Lieutenant Hoffman on the Cyane, and Lieutenant Ballard on the Levant, as commanders. Captain Stewart proceeded with the Constitution and her prizes to Porto Praya, the capital of Santiago, one of the Cape de Verde Islands, where he ar- rived on the 10th of March, 1815. On the following day, while Lieutenant Shubrick was walking the quarter-deck, he heard one of the prisoners, a midshipman, exclaim, "There's a large ship in the ofiing!" One of the English captains severely repri- manded him in a low tone. Shubrick's vigilance was aroused. The ocean was cov- ered with a thick fog resting low on the water. Above it, in thick luminous mist, he saw the sails of a large ship, set portward. He immediately reported to Stewart, OF THE WAR OF 1812. 985 The Constitution escapes from thr ee British Frigates. Pate of her Prizes. Honors to Commoaore Stewart who was below. That officer coolly replied that it was probably an English frigate, and directed Shubrick to return to the deck, call all hands, and get ready to go out and attack her. Shubrick did so, when he discovered the sails of two other vessels above the fog-bank, and they were evidently those of men-of-war. Again he reported to^ Captain Stewart, when that officer, perfectly unmoved by what he knew to be im- minent peril to his vessel, immediately ordered the cables of the Constitution to be cut and signals made for the prizes to follow. He well knew that the English would have no respect for the neutrality of that port, and that he was too feeble to cope with three heavy men of war ; and within fifteen minutes after the first ship had been seen, the Constitution was mak- ing her way out of the roads of Porto Praya, followed by the two prizes. They were chased by 'the strangers, which were the British frigates Leander, 50, Sir George Collier; JVewcastle, 50, Lord George Stuart ; and Acasta, 40, Captain Kerr. They pressed hard upon the fugitives. The Cyane ^^ was falling astern, and must soon become a prey to her pur- j^ ' suers. Stewart signaled for her to tack. Hofiman prompt- ly obeyed, and she was soon lost to view in the fog, under -^^^^^^ cover of which she escaped, and reached New York on the BILLET-HEAD. IQth Of Aprfl.' The three ships continued to chase the Constitution, and finally the Newcastle began to fire her chase-guns, but without efiect. Meanwhile the Levant had fallen far in the rear, and Stewart signaled for her commander to tack. Ballard obeyed, when the three British ships, abandoning the chase of the Constitution, pursued him. He ran the Levant back to port, and at four o'clock in the afternoon anchored her within one hundred and fifty yards of the shore, under the shelter of what he supposed to be at least a neutral battery of thirty or forty guns. He was mistaken. The English pris- oners, one hundred and twenty in number, whom Stewart had landed there on parole before the British squadron hove in sight, regardless of the neutral character of the port (Portuguese), took possession of the battery and opened it upon the Levant. She received the fire of her pursuers at the same time, and was compelled to strike her colors. She was sent to Barbadoes in charge of Lieutenant Jellicoe, formerly of the Cyane. With these exploits, performed after peace had been proclaimed in the United States, ended the career of " Old Ironsides," as the Constitution was called, in the War of 1812. Stewart landed many of his prisoners at Maranham, in Brazil ; and at ' Porto Rico he heard of the proclamation of peace. He immediately sailed home- ward, and arrived in New York at the middle of May, bringing with him the intel- ligence of the capture of the Cyane and Levant. The arrival of the Constitution was hailed with delight. The Common Council of New York gave him the freedom of the city in a gold box,^ and tendered to him and his officers the hospitalities of the city at a public dinner. The Legislature of Pennsylvania gave him thanks in the name of the state, and voted him a gold-hilted sword ; and the Congress of the United States voted him and his brave men the thanks of the nation, and directed a gold medal, commemorative of the capture of the Cyane and Levant, to be struck and presented to him. His exploits and that of his ship became the theme for ora- tory and song, and from that day to this the people of the United States have held that vessel in peculiar reverence. She was always fortunate in having skillful com- manders, and brave and intelligent men. Her crews were principally men of New England. From the time of the Tripolitan War until she left ofi" cruising and be- came a school-ship, she always ran ked as-a " lucky vessel." I The billet-head of the Cyam, flDely carved, is preserved at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. It is about three feet six inches in height, and has the representation of a dragon carved upon It. " See note 3, page 841. 986 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Admiral Stewart. His Home in New Jersey. Biographical Sketch. stewaet's medal, 1 -A COMMODORE STEWAKT S EE8IDEN0B. The gallant commander of the Constitution at the close of the war, who was then a veteran in the serv- ice, still (1867) survives, and is oft- en called affectionately by the name given to his vessel — " Old Iron- sides." He lives in retirement, with a sufficiency of this world's goods, in an unostentatious dwelling on the banks of the Delaware, at Bor- dentown. New Jersey, around which are delightful grounds attached to the mansion. 2 In the summer of 1814, Commo- dore Decatur, who had been endur- 1 The above picture represents the medal, full size. On one side iB a bust of Stewart, with the words aronnd it " OA- HOLDS STEWAKT HA VIS ^Bft. CONSTITUTION DUX." On the Other side a representation of the capture of the Cywm and Levant, and the words "una tiotoeiam ekipuit eatibus binis." Below, "intee oonstitu. WAV. AMEBI, ET I-EVANT ET CTANE NAT. ANG. DIE XX FEBE. MDOCOXV." 2 The writer visited Admiral Stewart at his pleasant home, near Bordentown, in. the summer of 1863, in company with Dr. Peterson, his neighbor and friend. I was then on my return from the then fresh battle-field at Gettysburg. At that time he was eighty-six years of age, a firm and compactly-knit man, about five feet nine inches in height, and possessed of great bodily and mental vigor. His narrative of adventures on sea and land in the service of his country for more than sixty years were full of romance of the most stirring character. He showed us a plain sword, the blade of which was presented to him by the King of Spain in 1804 because of his services, while in command of the Experiment, in the West Indies, in saving from destruc- tion about sixty persons, many of them women, who were flying from insurgent blacks of St. Domingo. He could not constitutionally receive a sword from a foreign potentate, but he might a blade for his defense. He had it plainly mounted, and wore it on the occasion of the combat with the Cyam and Lanmt. During that contest the guard was carried away by a cannon-ball that grazed the commahder!s side. The blacksmith of the Comtitutim constructed a rude guard, and it still remains. He also showed us a dirk, a foot long, with a handle made of a rhinoceros tooth, which was in the hands of the Turk with whom Decatur engaged in mortal struggle on the deck of the PMlaidphia in the harbor of Tripoli, mentioned on page 122. Charles Stewart was bom in Philadelphia on the 22d of July, 17T6. His parents were natives of Irejand. His father, who was a mariner in the merchant service, came to America at an early age. Charles was the youngest of eight children, and lost his father before he was two years of age. He entered the merchant service on the ocean at the age of thirteen years as a cabin-boy, and rose gradually to the office of captain. In March, 1798, he was commissioned a lieutenant in the Navy of the United States, and made his first cruise under Commodore Bar- ney. In 1800 he was appointed to the command of the armed schooner Mxperimmt. At the beginning of the autumn of that year he fought and captured the Trench schooner Two FHmds, after an action often minutes, without incurring loss on his part. Prom that time the career ot ueutenant Stewart was a most honorable one to himself and the navy of his country. He was conspicuous in the war with Tripoli, and was greatly beloved by the brave Decatur for his STEWABT'S SWOBD. OF THE WAE OF 1812. 987 Itecatnr's Squadron. He puts to Sea in the PresMmt. The PreeHmt chased. ing inaction for a long time on account of the blockade of his vessels in the Thames above New London, was transferred to the command of the President, 44, which Rodgers had left for the new ship Guerriere. Captain Biddle, commander of the Jlomet, which had been long engaged in protecting the United States and the Mace- donian in the Thames, was finally ordered to join Decatur, and, with joyous alacrity, he obeyed. He soon found an opportunity to avoid the blockading squadron, and in November he joined Decatur with his ship at New York, when that commander's squadron, assembled there, consisted of the President (the flag-ship) ; Peacock, 18, Captain. Warrington ; JSbrnet, 18, Captain Biddle ; and Tom Bowline, store-ship. Decatur had been engaged all the summer and autumn in the vicinity of New York, watching for the apprpach of the enemy, who were ravaging the country in the vicinity of the Chesapeake Bay. Ignorant of the real destination of the British when they left those waters, the government detained Decatur so long as there were any apprehensions of an attack on New York. He finally received an order to pre- pare for a cruise in the East Indies, to spread havoc among the British shipping in that remote quarter of the world. He was ready at the middle of January,* "isis. and on the night of the 14th'' the Pi-esident dropped down to Sandy Hook, ■> January. leaving the other vessels at their anchorage near Staten Island. She grounded on the bar in the darkness of the night, but was floated ofi" by the rising tide in time to clear the coast and the British blockading squadron before morning. There had been a heavy gale on the 14th, and Decatur, believing that the block- aders had been driven by it to the leeward, kept the President close along the Long Island shore for about five hours, when he sailed boldly out to sea in a southeasterly by easterly direction. Two hours after changing his course he discovered by the starlight a strange sail ahead, and within gun-shot distance. Two others soon made their appearance, and at dawn the President was chased by four ships of war, two on her quarters and two astern. These were the Endymion, 40 ; Pomone, 38 ; Fenedos, services there, and his generous friendship ever afterward. rank of master commandant, and to that of captain in 1806. in superintending the construction of gun-boats. In 1313 he was appointed to the command of the frigate Constitution. He was with her in Hampton Boads in February, 1813, where, by skillful management, he eluded the enemy, and took his ship safely to Norfolk. In June following he was appointed to the command of the Conetitution, and in her performed the gallant services recorded in the text. After the war be was placed in command (1816) of the Franklin, 74, and con- veyed the Hon. Richard Eush, American minister, to ^ England. Until very recently he has been employed, -^jj afloat or ashore, in the naval service of his cormtry, and on all occasions evincing eminent executive ability and statesmanlike views. The annexed portrait of the venerable admiral is from a photograph taken in 1864. Admiral Stewart is the only surviving officer ih the civil or military service of the United States who holds a commission dated in the last century. He is a most interesting link between the fathers of the Revolution and the patriots and heroes of our day. Our visit with him in his pleasant home was far too short for onr own inclination, and we reluctantly parted with one so fa- mous in our annals, and so fluent in speech in the re- cital of the events of his wonderful experience. We bade the hale old admiral farewell with feelings com- cident with those of an anonymous poet, who wrote, " Oh, oft may yon meet with brave Stewart, The tar with the free and the true heart ; A bright welcome smile, and a soul free flrom guile, Ton'll find in the hero, Charles Stewart. A commander both generous and brave, too, Who risked his life others to. save, too ; And thousands that roam by his neat Jersey home Bless thekindheart of gallantCharles Stewart. In the month of May, 1804, he was promoted to the During that and the following year he was employed 988 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Battle between the President and Endymion, Capture of the President. 38 ; and Majestic, razee, of the blockading squadron, which had been blown off the coast by the gale, and were now returning to the cruising-ground off Sandy Hook. The chase continued during the morning, with a light and baffling wind, and the Jh-esi- dent, deeply laden with stores for a long cruise, soon found the Midymion, Captain Hope, the nearest vessel, rapidly overtaking her. Decar tur at once gave orders for lightening his own ship for the purpose of increasing her speed. It availed but little. At three o'clock in the afternoon the Endymion came down with a fresh breeze, which the President did not feel, and opened her bow-guns upon the fugitive. The President promptly returned the fire in an effort to damage the spars and rigging of her pursuer, but without effect. Her shot moved feebly and fell short, as if propelled by ' weak powder. On came the En- I dymion, and at five o'clock she -C C CC'^^iyL^ ^•-^ gained a position in which she terribly annoyed her antagonist. The President could not bring a gun to bear upon the foe, and was lacerated by every shot of her pursuer. It was evident that the Endymion was endeavoring to secure a victory by gradually crippling the President, and reducing her to an unmanageable wreck. Decatur quickly penetrated the design of his enemy, and prepared to frustrate it by boldly running down upon the Endymion,-aw:i:Yva^g her by a hand-to-hand fight, and, abandoning his own vessel, seize his antagonist as a prize, and in her run away from the other pursuers. But the commander of tlje Endymion was as wary as he was skillful, and was not to be caught in that manner. He accommodated the move- ments of his own ship to those of his antagonist, until at length they were brought abeam of each other, and both opened tremendous broadsides. Every attempt of Decatur to lay the President alongside the Endymion was foiled by Captain Hope, who adroitly kept his ship a quarter of a mile from his antagonist. Decatur now determined to dismantle the Endymion. The two frigates kept run- ning dead before the wind, head and head, each discharging heavy broadsides upon the other for two hours and a half, when the Endymion, having most of her sails cut from the yards, fell astern. The President, no doubt, could have compelled her ad- versary to strike her colors in a few minutes, but just at that moment the other ves- sels in chase were seen by the dim starlight to be approaching. They had been joined by the Dispatch. The President therefore kept on her course in efforts to escape. In this she failed. The pursuers closed upon her. At 11 o'clock the Pomone got on the weather-bow of the President, and gave her a damaging broadside. The Tenedos was coming up and closing on her quarter, and the Majestic and Dispatch were with- in gun-shot distance astern. They all fell upon her with energy. Farther resistance would have been useless. The President struck her colors, and Decatur surrendered his sword to Captain Hayes, of the Majestic, which was the first vessel that came alongside of the vanquished frigate. In the chase and running fight the President lost twenty-four men killed and fifty- six wounded. Among the slain were her first, fourth, and fifth lieutenants, Messrs. Babbitt, Hamilton, and Howell. The Endymion had eleven killed and fourteen OF THE WAR OF 1812. 989 The rest of Deoatar'B Squadron puts to Sea. Biographical Sketch of Decatnr. 1815. wounded. It was found that her hull had been struck by many balls which did not penetrate, and this fact confirmed the impressions of Decatur at the beginning of the contest that the powder was inferior. After the action, the President, accompanied by the Endymion, sailed for Bermuda. Both vessels were dismasted in a gale before reaching port. Decatur wrote an oflS- cial account for the Secretary of War on board of the Endymion on the 18th. He was soon after paroled, and returned to New York at the beginning of March. A court of inquiry was convened, and he and all of his officers, tried for losing their ship, were honorably acquitted. It was proven, and was admitted by the English, that the President was captured by the squadron, and not by a single vessel.' And when the details of the combat became known, the heroism of Decatur and his men pro- duced the most profound sensation. Language was too feeble to express the admi- ration of the American people. '■' On the 22d of January* the Peacock, Hornet, and Tom Bowline followed the President to sea. Their commanders were ignorant of her fate. They passed the bar at daylight, regardless of the blockading squadron, and passed out upon the broad ocean unmolested. Each made its way, sometimes alone and sometimes con- sorting with another, for the port of Tristan d'Acunha, the principal of a group of islands in the South Atlantic, in latitude 31° S., and longitude 12° W. from Washing- ton. That was the place of rende^ous designated by Decatur. The Peacock and 1 The force of the President was thirty-two long 24-poundera, one 24-pound howitzer, twenty 42-pouDd carronades, and five small pieces in her tops. The Endymion mounted twenty-six long 24-pounderB, twenty-two 32-ponnders, one 12-pound carronade, and one long 18. The Majeatia rated 56 guns ; the Tenedoe, 38 ; the Pomom, 38. That of the Dis- patch is unknown. 2 We have noticed on pages 45T and 458 the honors showered upon Decatur on another occasion, when Congress voted him a gold medal. Stephen Decatur was bom in Worcester County, Maryland, on the 6th of January, 17T9. He en- tered the navy as a midshipman in the fligate United States, Commodore Barry. In 1801 he was promoted to lieutenant, and sailed in the Essex, then of Commodore Dale's squadron, to the Mediterranean Sea. On account of an affray vrith a British officer at Malta, he was suspended, and returned home. An Investigation proved him to have been blameless, and he was appointed to the command of the Argus, of Preble's squadron, then lying before Tripoli. His services in that field of duty have been noticed in the text. On his return to America he was appointed to superintend the build- ing of gun-boats, and finally succeeded Barron in com- mand of the frigate Chesapeake. His services during the Second War for Independence have been recorded in the text. After the peace with England he was sent to the Mediterranean with a squadron to chastise the Alge- rines, and hia vigorous action there caused the discon- tinuance of the practice of paying tribute to the Barbary powers, not only by the United States, but by the pow- ers of Western Europe. On his return home he was ap- pointed one of the Board of Naval Cpmmissioners, and resided at Kalorama, near Georgetown (see page 942), until his death in'March, 1820. He was mortally wound- ed in a duelwith Commodore Barron, fought near Bla- densburg {see page 928) on the 20th of that month, and died at Kalorama the same evening. His remains were laid in the family vault of Joel Barlow, where they re- mained until 1846, when they were reinterred, with ap- propriate ceremonies, in the burial-ground of St. Peter's Church, Philadelphia, by the side of those of his father and family, and over them a beautiful monument, de- picted in the annexed engraving, was erected, bearing the following inscriptions : North Side: "Stephen Decatur, bom January 6, 1779. Entered the navy of the United States as midshipman April 30, 1793. Became lieutenant June 3, 1799. Made captain for distinguished merit, passing over the rank of commander, February 16, 1804. Died March 22, 1820." East Side: "Devoted to his country by a patriot father, he cherished in his heart, and sustained by his intrepid actions, the inspiring sentiment, 'Our country, right or wrong.' A nation gave him in return its applause and gratitude." South Side: "The gallant officer whose prompt and active Valor, always on the watch, was guided by a Wisdom and supported by a Firmness which never tired. Whose exploits in arms reflected the daring features of Romance and Chivalry." West Side: "A name brilliant ftom a series of heroic deeds on the coast of Barbary, and illustrious by achievements against more disciplined enemies i the pride of the Navy, the glory of the Kepublic." DEOATUB'b M0MTJUE14T. 990 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Battle between the Hornet and Penguin. /-/^ ^'^^^^^>t^C^ Tom Bowline arrived there together at the middle of March, and were driven away hy a storm. The Sornet, Captain Biddle, entered the port on the 23d, and was about to cast her anchor, when a strange sail was discovered to the wind- ward. Captain Biddle immediately spread the sails of the Hornet, and went seaward to reconnoitre. The stranger soon came running down before the wind, and at a quarter before two o'clock in the afternoon approached the Hornet within musket-shot distance, displayed English colors, and fired a gun. The Hornet accepted the challenge, and for about fifteen minutes a sharp cannonade was kept up. The fi^re of the Hornet was so severe that her antagonist ran ^own for the purpose of boarding her. The vessels became entangled, and a good opportunity was ofiered to the stranger to accomplish her purpose. But her first lieutenant could not in- duce his men to follow him. Biddle's men, on the contrary, were eager to rush into the British ship for a hand-to-hand fight. His advantage lay with his guns, and he would not allow his people to leave the ship. His broadsides raked the foe terribly, and very soon an officer on board the stranger called out that she had surrendered. Firing ceased, and Captain Biddle sprang upon the tafii-ail to inquire whether his an- tagonist had actually surrendered, when two British marines fired at him. One bul- let wounded him severely in the neck. The assassins were instantly slain by bullets fired from the Hornet. She immediately wore round, after being disentangled from her foe by a lurch given by the sea, and was preparing to fire another broadside, when at least twenty men appeared on her antagonist throwing up their hands and asking for quarter. It was difficult to restrain the indignant Americans, who wanted to avenge' the injury done to their commander. It was done, however. The van- quished vessel, aftei; a contest of twenty-three minutes, struck her colors. She was the \m.g Penguin, 18, Captain Dickenson, which had been fitted and manned express- ly to encounter the privateer Young Wasp, a more powerful vessel than herself She mounted nineteen carriage-guns, besides guns on her tops, and her size and weight of metal- was the same as that of the Hornet. Her complement of men was one hun- dred and thirty-two. The Hornet lost one man killed and ten wounded. Among the latter were Cap- tain Biddle, Lieutenant (afterward Commodore) Conner, and eight men. Not a round shot marred the hull of the Hornet, but her rigging was much cut, while the Penguin was terribly riddled. Her foremast and bowsprit were shot away, and her mainmast was so much shattered that it could not be secured for farther use. Among her slain were her commander and boatswain. After taking from her all that was valuable. Captain Biddle scuttled her on the morning of the 25th, and she went to the bottom of the deep South Atlantic Ocean. The conflict between the Hornet and Penguin was regarded by naval men as one of the most creditable actions of the war, and the American people testified their appre- ciation of the services of Captain Biddle by the bestowal of special honors upon him.* 1 James Biddle was bom in Philadelphia on the 18th of February, 1T83. He was educated at the University of Penil- OF THE WAE OF 1812. 991 Honors to Captain Biddle. Biographical Sketch. When he arrived in New York a public dinner was given him in that city. Citizens of his native town, Philadelphia, presented to him a beautiful service of silver plate ;' and the Congress of the United States, in the name of the Republic, gave him thanks, and ordered a gold medal to be struck in commemoration of the victory, and pre- sented to him. biddle'b medal. 3 On the same day,* and a few hours after the action with the Penguin, .March 23, Captain Biddle discovered another sail in sight. It proved to be the Pea- ^®i^- cock, having the Tom Powline in company. He converted the latter into a cartel ship, and sent her to Rio de Janeiro with his prisoners. They then continued on their course, after remaining in Tristan d'Acunha the length of time appointed by Decatur (until the 13th of April), and, in the mean time, they had intelligence that the President was probably captured. While sailing onward toward the Indian Seas on the morning of the 27th of April, Captain Warrington, of the Peacock, signaled to Captain Biddle that a strange ves- sel was seen in the distance. Both sloops started in chase with a light wind, and before evening they had rapidly gained on the stranger. She was yet in sight in the morning. The Peacock was two leagues ahead of the Somet between two and three o'clock in the afternoon,* and at that time began to show some caution in ^ . ., T T TIT 1 ' ■^'Pr il 28. her movements, it was soon discovered that the stranger was a heavy line-of-battle ship and an enemy, and that she was about to give chase. The Pea- sylvania. He and his brother Edward entered the navy in 1800 as midshipmen in the frigate President. James made a cmise in the Mediterranean under Captain Mnrray, and afterward under Bainbridge. His conduct while in those waters, and especially at Tripoli, was distinguished by great courage and nautical skill. He was a prisoner among the semi-barbarians of that region for nineteen months. On his return in 1805 he wajS promoted to a lieutenancy, and was in active service most of the time until the war broke out in 1812, when he sailed in the Wmp, Captain Jones, in which be acquired special honor in the flght of that vessel with the JPVoiM;. Soon after that affair Lieutenant Biddle was pro- moted to master commandant, and assigned to the command of the Hornet. With her he gained new laurels, as record- ed in the text. On his return to the United States in the summer of 1815 he was promoted to post captain. He con- tinued in active service until his death. His special services were important. In 1817 he took possession of Oregon Territory ; in 1826 he signed a commercial treaty with Turkey ; from 1838 to 1842 he was Governor of the Naval Asylum, Philadelphia; and in 1846, while in command of a squadron in the Bast Indies, he exchanged the ratifications of the first American treaty with China. He was at Japan, and, crossing the Pacific, he engaged in some of the scenes in the war with Mexico on the coast of California. He returned here in March, 1848, and died at Philadelphia on the 1st of Oc- tober following. The portrait of Commodore Biddle on the opposite page was copied from one in the possession of the Navy Department at Washington. 1 He had already received from his townsmen and friends a beautiful testimonial of their esteem the previous year. See page 463. , = The above picture represents the medal, the exact size. On one side is a bust of Captain Biddle, and the words "the OONg'kESB of the n. S. to OAPT. JAMES BIDDIE FOE HIS GAllANTHT, GOOD OONDTJOT, AND SBKTIOES." On the Other side is represented a naval action, with the Peak of Tristan d'Acunha in sight beyond the smoke. Around this are the words " OAPTUBE OF THE BHITIBH EEIO PEKGUIN BT THE U. S. SHIP HOBHET. BelOWi " OFF TEI8IAK d'aODNHA, MABOH XXni. MDOOCXV." 992 PICTORIAL PIELD-BOOK Crnise of the Hm-net and Peacock, The War oyer. The American Navy at the close of the War. cook and the Hornet spread their sails for flight. The latter was more particularly in peril, as she was a slower sailer than her consort. The huge Englishman was gain- ing upon her. Biddle began to lighten her, and the chase became intensely interest- ing during the entire night of the 28th and early morning of the 29th. At dawn the enemy was within gun-shot distance of the Hornet on her lee quarter. At seven o'clock English colors and a rear admiral's flag was displayed by the stranger, and she commenced firing. On sped the Hornet,, casting overboard shot, anchors, cables, spars, boats, many heavy articles on deck and below, and all of her guns but one. At noon the pursuer was within a mile of her, and again commenced firing, three of the balls striking the Hornet. Still on she sped, her gallant commander having re- solved to save his ship at all hazards. He did so. By consummate seamanship and prudence, he soon took the Hornet out of harm's way, and with her single gun, and -without boat or anchor, she made her way to New York, where she arrived on the 9th of June. Biddle's skill in saving his vessel elicited the unbounded praise of his countrymen. It was afterward ascertained that the pursuer of the Hornet was the Cornwallis, 74, on her way to the East Indies, and bearing the flag of an officer in that service. Warrington continued his cruise in the Peacock, and on the 30th of June," when off Anjer, in the Straits of Sunda, between, Borneo and Sumatra, he fell in with the East India Company's cruiser iVawi^VMs, 1 4, Lieutenant Charles Boyce. Broadsides were exchanged, when the Nautilus struck her colors. She had lost six men killed and eight wounded. The Peacock lost none. This event occurred a few days after the period set by the treaty of peace for the cessation of hostilities. War- rington was ignorant of any such treaty, but, being informed of its ratification on the next day, he gave up the Nautilus, and did every thing in his power to alleviate the sufferings of her wounded people. He then returned home, bearing the honor of hav- ing fired the last shot in the Second War for Independence. The combat between the Hornet and Penguin was the last regular naval battle, the afi^air between the Pea- cock and Nautilus being only a rencounter. When the Peacock reached America, every cruiser, public and private, that had been out against the British had returned to port, and the war was over. " The navy," says Cooper, " came out of this struggle with a vast increase of reputation. The brilliant style in which the ships had been carried into action, the steadiness and rapidity with which they had been handled, and the fatal accuracy of their fire on nearly every occasion, produced a new era in naval warfare. Most of the frigate ac- tions had been as soon decided as circumstances would at all allow ; and in no in- stance was it found necessary to keep up the fire of a sloop of war an hour when singly engaged. Most of the combats of the latter, indeed, were decided in about half that time. The execution done in these short conflicts was often equal to that made by the largest vessels of Europe in general actions, and in some of them the slain and wounded comprised a very large proportion of the crews. It is not easy to say in which nation this unlooked-for result created the most surprise The ablest and bravest captains of the English fleet were ready to admit that a new pow- er was about to appear on the ocean, and that it was not improbable the battle for the mastery of the seas would have to be fought over again."i It now remains for us only to consider the principal exploits of the American pri- vateers, whose services appear in most admirable conspicuousness at every period of the war, from the month after it was proclaimed until gome time after peace was as- sured by solemn treaty. Although privateering is nothing less than legalized piracy, It has ever been sanctioned by the laws of nations since such codes were first estab- lished, and the foremost of the Ameriban statesmen at the period we are considering advocated it as a just and expedie nt measure for a nation so feeble as ours in mari- ' ifam! ffistori/ of the. United States, il., 479. ' OF THE WAR OF 1812. 993 Privateers commissioned. The first Cruisers of that Class. Privateering approved. ' 1812. 0LLFPEB-J3U1LT FSLVATEEB SOHOONEB. time Strength when contending with one so powerful as : Great Britain.' So regard- ing it, Congress, in the act declaring war, sanctioned it, by authorizing the President to " issue to private-armed vessels of the United States commissions, or letters of marque and reprisal," as they were termed, in such manner as he should think proper. The President was not tardy in issuing such commissions under a specific act of Congress passed on the 26th of June," and very soon swift-sailing brigs and schooners, and armed pilot-boats, were out upon the high seas in search of plunder from the com- mon enemy* Of these the clip- per-built schooner represented in the engraving was the favorite. The most noted of these were built at Baltimore. They gener- ally carried from six to ten guns, with a single long gun, called " Long Tom," mounted on a swiv- el in the centre. They were usu- ally manned with fifty persons, besides oflacers, all armed with muskets, cutlasses, and boarding-pikes, commanded to " burn, sink, and destroy" the property of an enemy wherever it might be found, either on the high seas or in British ports. Into the port of Salem, Massachusetts, which became famous as the home of priva- teers during the contest, the first prize captured on the ocean after the declaration of war was taken. On the 10th of July the private-armed schooner Fame, Captain Webb, took into that harbor two British ships, one laden with timber and the other with tar. On the same day the privateer Dash, Captaui Carroway, of Baltimore, en- tered Hampton Roads and captured the British government schooner Whiting, Lieu- tenant Maxey, who was bearing dispatches from London to "Washington. On the 14th of July, a stanch privateer of Gloucester, Massachusetts, named the Madison, fell in with a British transport ship from Halifax bound to St. John's. She had been under convoy of the Indian, a British sloop of war, which had just given chase to the PoUy and Dolphin, two American privateers. The Madison pounced on and captured the transport, which, with the cargo,, was valued at $50,000. She was sent into Gloucester. On the following day the Indian, after chasing the PoUy for some time, manned her launch and several boats, and sent them to capture the fugitive. The PoUy turned, and resisted so gallantly that she caused the launch to strike her colors. By this time the Indian was almost witMn gun-shot, when the Polly took to her sweeps and escaped. The Madison soon afterward captured a Brit- ish ship of twelve guns, name not given, and the brig Eliza, of six guns. On the 18th of July the letter of marque schooner Falcon, of Baltimore, armed 1 Immediately after the declaration of war, Thomas Jefferson wrote on the subject (July 4, 1812), and after asking "What is war?" answered, "It is simply a contest between nations of trying which can do the other the most harm." Again he asked and answered as follows : "Who carries on the war 2 Armies are formed and navies manned by indi- viduals. What produces peace ? The distress of individuals. What difference to the sufferer is it that his property is taken by a national or private-armed vessel f Did our merchants, who have lost 91T vessels by British captures, feel any gratification that most of them were taken by his majesty's men-of-war ? Were the spoils less rigidly enforced by a 74- gun ship than by a privateer of four gnns, and were not all equally condemned ? .... In the United States every pos- sible encouragement should be given to privateering in time of war with a commercial nation. We have tens of thou- sands of seamen that without it would be destitute of the means of support, and useless to their country. Our national ships are too few in number to give employment to one twentieth part of them, or retaliate the acts of the enemy. By licensing private-armed vessels, the whole naval force of the nation is truly brought to bear on the foe ; and while the contest lasts that it may have the speedier termination, let every individual contribute his mite, in the best way he can, to distress and harass the enemy, and compel him to peace." So argued Mr. Jefferson, the founder of the Democratic party then administering the national government, and which was a unit in favor of war with Great Britain. 3 R 994 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Effects of American Privateering. Cruise of the iJosoie. with four guns and sixteen men, fought the British cutter Sero, five guns and fifty- five men, on the coast of France, for two hours and a half, and drove her ofi". On the following day the Falcon was attacked by a British privateer of six guns and forty, men. She resisted for an hour and a half, when, her captain having been killed and several of her crew wounded, she struck her colors, and was taken into a Guernsey port. The first prize that arrived at Baltimore was a British schooner laden with a cargo of sugar, valued at $18,000. She was captured by the Dolphin. This was on the 26th of July. A little more than a month had elapsed since the declaration of war, yet within that time such displays of American valor had been made on the sea that the British began to feel some respect for their new foe on that element. Dur- ing the month of July more than fifty vessels were taken from the British by Amer- ican privateers, and taken into the harbors of the United States. Toward the middle of July eeven privateers sailed from Baltimore on a cruise. One of them was the swift clipper-built schooner Mossie, fourteen guns and one hun- dred and twenty men, commanded by the v-eteran Commodoi-e Barney. His manu- script journal of that and a second cruise lies before me, and bears evidence that it was one of the most exciting voyages on record. He sailed from Baltimore on the 12th ■ 1812 °^ ^'^^7'* ^^^ cruised along the eastern coast of the United States for forty-five days without entering port. He was almost daily capturing English .vessels, chasing and being chased, and informing all American vessels that fell in his way of the beginning of war. 'Jul 22 'Sim days after he left Baltimore'' Barney fell in with the brig Nymph, of ISTewburyport, and seized her for violating the Non-importation Act. On the following day the Eossie was chased by a British frigate, which hurled twenty- five shots after her, but without effect. The Rossie outsailed the frigate, and es- ' July 30. caped. Six days afterward'' she was chased by another frigate, and again outsailed the pursuer. On the following day Barney took and burned the - August!, ship Princess Jioyal, and the day following* took and manned the ship Kitty. On the 2d of August he took and burned the brigs Mime and Devonshire, and schooner Squid; and on the same day he captured the brig 2ho brothers, -put on board of her sixty of his prisoners, and ordered her as a, cartel to St. John's, New Brunswick, to effect an exchange for as many American prisoners. Barney sent his compliments to Admiral Sawyer, the British commander on the Halifax station, desired him to treat the prisoners well, and assured him, very coolly, that he should soon send him an- other shipload of captives for exchange. On the next day he took and sunk the brig Henry, and schooners Hace-horse and Hali- fax, captured and manned the brig William, and added forty prisoners to the num- ber on board the Two brothers. On the 9th of August he captured the ship Jenny, of twelve guns,,after a brief acdon; and on the following day he seized the brig JRe- becca, of Saco, from London, for a breach of the non-importation law On the 28th he seized the Euphrates, of New Bedford, for the same reason ; and on the 30th he ran mto Narraganset Bay, and anchored off" Newport. During his cruise of forty- five days he seized and captured fourteen vessels, nine of which he destroyed Their aggregate capacity amounted to two thousand nine hundred and fourteen tons and they were manned by one hundred and sixty-six men. The estimated value of his prizes was $1,289,000. . 1812. ^^™^y remained in Newport until the 1th of September,' when the Bessie started on another cruise. On the 9th she was chased by three British ships of war, but by superior speed she soon left them out of sight. On the 12th she was ' September 16. f^^^^ ^l ^° English frigate Tor six hours, when she, too, was left so far behmd .that she gave .^p the pursuit. Four days afterward' she fell in OF THE WAR OF 18X2. 995 Craise of the Jioeaie. First Prize in Baltimore. Cruise of the Globe. with and captured the British armed packet Princess Amelia. They had a severe engagement for almost an hour, at pistol-shot distance most of the time. Mr. Long, Barney's first lieutenant, was severely wounded; and six of the crew were injured, but not so badly. The Princess Amelia lost her captain, sailing-master, and one sea- man killed ; and the master's mate and six seamen were wounded. The Rossie suf- fered in her rigging and sails, but not in her hull, while the Princess Amelia was ter- ribly cut up in all. Barney had just secured his prize when he fell in, on the same day,* . September 12, with three ships and an armed brig. From the latter the Rossie re- ^*^''- ceived an eighteen-pound shot through her quarter, which wounded a man and lodged in the pump. She dogged the three vessels for four days in hopes of seeing them separated, and thus affording an opportunity to pounce on one of them. They kept together, and he gave up the game. On the 23d he spoke the privateer Glohe, Cap- tain Murphy, of Baltimore, and the two went in search of the three ships, but could not find them. On the 8th of October, while they were sailing together, they cap- tured the British schooner t7M5»7ee,. and sent her into port. On the .22d Barney seized the ship Merrimack for a violation of law. She was laden with a valuable cargo. On the 10th of November'' he returned to Baltimore. The result of his two cruises in the Rossie since he left that city was 3698 tons of shipping, valued at $1,500,000, and two hundred and seventeen prisoners. The Dolphin, of Baltimore, Captain Stafford, was a successful privateer. She car- ried twelve guns and one hundred men. The first prize sent into Baltimore after the declaration of war was hers, as we have observed on the opposite page ; and other ports received her captives. She entered Salem, Massachusetts, on the 23d of July, after a cruise of twenty days, during which time she had taken six vessels without receiving the least injury. She was repeatedly chased by British cruisers, but al- ways outsailed them. Captain Stafford was remarkable for kindness of manner to- ward his prisoners. Such was its power, that on several occasions, when he was com- pelled to use sweeps to escape from the English men-of-war, they volunteered to man them. The privateer Globe, of Baltimore, Captain Murphy, carrying eight guns and about eighty men, went to sea on the 24th of July in company with the letter of marque Cora. On the 31st of that month she chased a vessel about three hours, when she was within gun-shot, and commenced firing. The fugitive hoisted British colors, and returned the shots from her stern-chasers, consisting of two long 9-pounders. The Qlohe could only bring a long nine amidships to bear during an action of about forty minutes, for it was blowing very fresh, and the enemy crowded all sail. The Glohe finally gained on her, and commenced firing broadsides. Her antagonist returned broadside for broadside, until the Globe, getting within musket-shot distance, fired deadly volleys of bullets. After a brisk engagement of an hour and a half at close quarters, the British vessel struck her colors. She proved to be the English letter of marque Boyd, from New Providence for Liverpool, mounting ten guns. No person was injured on either ship. The Boyd's boats were destroyed, and she suffered much in hull and rigging. The Globe suffered in sails and rigging, but was able, after send- ing her prize to Philadelphia, to proceed on her cruise. On the 14th of August she captured a British schooner of four guns, laden with mahogany ; and, a few days aft- erward, she arrived at Hampton Roads, accompanied by a large British ship carry- ing twenty-two guns, richly laden, and bound for Glasgow, which she captured not far from the Bermudas. Having secured her prize in port, the Globe started immedi- ately on another cruise.' 1 Wliile cruising off th* coast of Portugal, the fftofte had a severe engagement with an Algerine sloop of war, which lasted three hours, at half gun-shot distance. The Algerine shot high. The QUe received no less than eighty-two shot through her sails, hut had not a man killed, and only two wounded. It was a drawn battle. 996 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK CraiseB of the Bighflyer, Yankee, and Shadow.- The Sighjlyer, Captain Gavit, of Baltimore, was another successful cruiser on pri- vate account; She was armed with eight guns, and manned by one hundred men. She left Baltimore early in July, and on the 26th captured the British schooner -Har- riet, in ballast, but with $8000 in specie on board. On the 19th of August, while in the Gulf of Mexico, Captain Gavit discovered the Jamaica fleet of merchantmen, and gave chase. He soon observed that they were convoyed by a British frigate. That vessel gave chase to the Sighfiyer. The latter outsailed her, and on the 21st pounced upon the Diana., one of the fleet, and captured her. She was of three hundred and fifty tons burden, and laden with a valuable cargo of rum, sugar, cofiee, etc. Gavit took out her crew, and sent her as a prize to the United States. On the following day the Highflyer fell in with and engaged two other British vessels at half gun-shot distance, giving them about sixty shot. The breeze was too stifi' to allow safety in boarding them, and so he hauled off and left them. These were the Jamaica, of Liv- erpool, and the Mary Ann, of London, the former carrying seven guns and twenty- one men, and the latter twelve guns and eighteen men. On the 23d the Highflyer fell upon the vessels again, the wind having moderated. 'Her people, after a severe cannonading and musket firing from both sides, boarded ihe Jamaica, and captured her. The Mary Ann struck her colors at the same time. During the action Captain Gavit was shot through his right arm by a musket-ball, and one of his seamen was wounded in the cheek. These were the only casualties, excepting the damage (which was considerable) done to the sails and rigging of the Highflyer. Her antagonists were severely bruised. Several of their seamen were wounded. Both ships were richly laden with the products of the West Indies. On the 1st of August, the privateer Yankee, carrying ten guns, while cruising ofi" the coast of Nova Scotia, fell in with the letter of marque Royal Bounty, also carry- ing ten guns. She was a fine vessel of six hundred and fifty-eight tons, and manned by twenty-five men. The Yankee had the advantage of wind, and, bearing down upon the weather quarter of the Royal Bounty, gave her a division broadside, which made her quake in every fibre. Making a quick movement, she gave her an entire broadside, which was returned with spirit. The mariners of the Yankee w«re most- ly sharp-shooters, and their execution was terribly galling. At the same time the ship was well managed, and her great guns were making havoc with her enemy's sails and rigging. The Royal Bounty^s helmsman was killed, and she became so un- manageable that, after fighting an hour, she was compelled to surrender. She was terribly wounded. All her boats were stove, and no less than one hundred and fifty round shot of various kinds went through her rigging and sails, or lodged in her hull and spars. The schooner Shadow, Captain Taylor, of Philadelphia, had a severe encounter with the British letter of marque May, Captain Affleck, from Liverpool bound to St. Lucia, carrying fourteen guns and fifty men. At noon on the 4th of August XhQ^ Shadow discovered the May, and gave chase. It continued until almost sunset, when an ac- tion was fought. At six o'clock, when the vessels were within gun-shot of each oth- er, the May commenced firing from her stern guns. The action commenced at seven, and at half past seven the May hoisted a light in her mizzen rigging. The Shadow then hailed her, and Captain Taylor ordered her to send her papers on board of his ves- sel that he might examine them. This was only partially complied with. Taylor im- mediately sent a boat's crew to the May with a demand for the instant surrender of all her papers. The British captain refused. He sent a note to this' effect to Captain Taylor, stated the character and force of his vessel, and informed him that a change of ministry had taken place in England, and that the Orders in Council had been re- scmded. Again Captain Taylor demanded Affleck's papers, and again they were re- fused. At half past eight o'clock the action was renewed. The night was squally and dark. The vessels kept near each other, occasionally exchanging shots, and in OF THE WAR OF 1812. 997- Salem and Baltimore Privateers. the morning early they commenced a severe fight. Captain Taylor was shot through the head and instantly killed, and the Shadow was so much damaged that she with- drew, and by superior sailing escaped, and returned to Philadelphia. On the 3d of August, the schooner Atlas>, Captain David Maffit, attacked two Brit- ish armed ships at the same time. . After an engagement of about an hour the smaller vessel of the foe surrendered, and the fire of the Atlas was wholly directed upon the larger one. Suddenly the smaller one, notwithstanding her colors were down, again opened her fire ; but the Atlas soon silenced her, and in less than an hour ^and a half from the time of the attack both vessels were captured. They proved to be the ship I*ursuit, sixteen guns and a complement of thirty-five men, and the ship Planter, twelve guns and fifteen men. They were both stored with valuable cargoes from Sttrinam, and bound to London. They were sent to the United States. The Atlas was badly damaged in the contest. At about this time the privateer JbA«, Captain Benjamin Crowninshield, of Salem, returned to that port after a cruise of three weeks, during which time she made eleven captures. All along the coasts of the United States and the West Indies the American privateers were now exceedingly active. None were more so than the Paul Jones, Captain Hazard, of New York. Within a very short space of time she captured fourteen vessels near the island of Porto Rico^some of them of considerable value ; and she obtained a crowning glory by the . capture, early in August, of the British ship JIassan, fourteen guns and twenty men, sailing from Gibraltar for Ha- vana with wines and dry goods valued at $200^000; This was accomplished after a contest of only half an hour. One of the boldest of the privateersmen was Captain Thomas Boyle, of Baltimore, who sailed the Comet, of fourteen guns and one hundred and twenty men. One of his earliest exploits in the Comet was the capture, in August, 1812, of the British ship JTopewell, carrying fourteen guns and twenty-five men. She was bound from Surinam for London with a cargo valued, with the ship, at $150,000. The two vessels had an obstinate combat, but the Comet was the victor. The prize was sent into Baltimore. Of the Comet and her captain we shall have more to say hereafter. Another active and successful Baltimore privateer was the Nonsuch, Captain Leve- ley, armed with twelve guns, and carrying about one hundred men. She was one of the famous " Baltimore clippers." On the 2'7th of September, when cruising near the island of Martinique, she fell in with a British ship mounting sixteen guns, with about two hundred troops on board, and a schooner mounting six 4-pounders, and manned with a crew of about fifty or sixty meij. The Nonsuch ran in between the two vessels, within pistol-shot of each, and commenced a hot contest which lasted three hours and twenty minutes. It was a fierce fight. The guns of the Nonsuch (carronades) became much heated by continual firing. Their bolts and breachings were carried away, and they were all dismounted. Captain Leveley now deter- mined to board his antagonists ; but the damage done to the rigging of the ATomMcA so disabled her that he was not able to bring her alongside fpr the purpose. In con- sequence of this disability the two vessels escaped, but not without severe punish- ment. The larger ship was much damaged in hull and rigging, and lost twenty-three of her men killed and wounded. The schooner was also much damaged.' The per- formance of the Nonmch was called, by the journals of the day, "gallant, but un- profitable conduct." The British spoke of the attack upon them as "exceedingly , brave." Several persons of distinction in these ships were injured. The privateer Saratoga, oi'S&w York, Captain Riker, armed with eighteen guns and one hundred and.forty men, was a successful cruiser. In the autumn of 1812 she captured the ship Quebec, sixteen guns, from Jamaica, with a cargo valued at $300,000. In December following she had a desperate fight off Laguira, Venezuela. It was on ' 1 Log-book of the Nonsuch, quoted in The War, i., 92 s and Niles'B Begiater, lil., 1T2. PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Privateering to the close of 1812. Captain Shaler's Letter. The Cmnet, of Baltimore the 11th of that month, and she was then in command of Captain Charles W. Woob- ter. She entered the port of Laguira the 10th, hut was warned off, the authorities be- ing neutrals. Going out of the bay, she captured a vessel with goods worth $20,000, •December 11 ^^d at nine in the morning on the following day,* after the clearing up ^81^- of the fog, she fell in with the brig Rachel, from Greenock, Scotland, which mounted twelve guns and carried sixty men. They were in sight of the town, and almost the entire population, from the beggar to the commander, turned out to see the conflict from the house-tops. The combat was quick and furious. It result- ed in victory for the Saratoga, whose loss was only one man slightly wounded. The Rachel suffered much. The second mate was the only officer alive after the action.' Such is a brief record of some of the most prominent events in the history of American privateering, from the declaration of war in June, 1812, until the close of the year. The record is of a small portion of the swarm of private-armed vessels which were out at the beginning of 1813. These were harassing British commerce in all directions, and affording powerful and timely aid to the little navy of the re- public. The business was recognized as legitimate, useful, and practically patriotic. Merchants and other citizens of the highest respectability engaged in it,^ and Con- gress passed laws to encourage it by the allowance of liberal privileges, making pro- visions for pensions for those engaged in the service, and for the families of those who might be lost on board private-armed vessels, etc. The history of American privateering in 1813 opens with a letter from Captain Shaler,^ of the schooner Governor TompMns, which was armed with fourteen car- ronades and one " Long Tom," and manned by about a hundred and forty men. She was built in New York, and was first commanded by Captain Skinner. Shaler wrote on the 1st of January that on the 25th of December he chased three British vessels, which appeared to be two ships and a brig. The larger he took to be a transport, and ran down to attack her, when he found himself within a quarter of a mile of a large frigate, which had been completely masked. He boldly opened fire upon her, and received a terrible response. Of course he could not sustain a contest with such overwhelming odds, so he spread his sails to fly. He was successful. " Thanks to her heels," he said, " and the exertions of my brave officers and crew, I still have the command of her." He got out all his sweeps, threw overboard all the lumber on his decks, and about two thousand pounds of shot from the after-hold, and at half past five o'clock in the evening had the pleasure of seeing his pursuer far behind, heaving about. The Tompkins lost two men killed and six wounded. One of the former, a black man named Johnson, " ought to be registered on the book of fame," Captain Shaler wrote, " and remembered with reverence as long as bravery is con- sidered a virtue. A 24-pound shot struck him in the hip, and took away all the lower part of his body. In this state the poor brave fellow lay on the deck, and sev- eral times exclaimed to his shipmates, " Fire away, boys ; neber haul de color down !" The other man killed was also colored, and was wounded in a similar manner. " Sev- eral times," says Shaler, " he requested to be thrown overboard, saying he was only in the way of the others. While America has such sailors she has little to fear from the tyrants of the ocean." We have already spoken of the Comet, of Baltimore, and her brave commander. Captain Boyle. She sailed from that port late in December, 1812, passed through the British blockading squadron on a dark n ight, and went on a cruise toward the 1 Letter from Laguira, qnoted in Coggeshall's History of the American Privateers, etc., page 70 = Washington and other patriots were speculators in the profits of privateering during the Eevolutlon. In a letter before me, written to John Parke Custis, and dated at Whitemarsh, November W, 177T, in answer to one from that gentleman on the subject of a sale of a portion of a privateer ship, Washington said : " It is perfectly agreeable, too, that Colonel Baylor should share part of the privateer. I have spoken to him on the subject. I shall therefore con- sider myself as possessing one fourth of your fall share, and that yourself, Baylor, Lund Washington, and I are eanaUy concerned in the share you at first held."— JfS. Letter. = Quoted by Coggeshall in his Biatory nf the Amerimn Privateers, page 140. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 999 Cruise of the Comet. Her wonderful Career. The Chaaamr. coast of Brazil. On the 9th of January, 1 813, she was off the harbor of Pernambuco, and Boyle was informed by a coaster that some British vessels were about to sail from that port. The Comet watched until the 14th, when, at a little past noon, four sail appeared. Boyle waited until they were well clear of the land, and then gave chase. The Comet was a swift clipper, and soon overhauled them ; and at s.even in the evening, having prepared for action, she hoisted her colors, and made for the larger of the four vessels, which proved to be a Portuguese brig, mounting twenty heavy guns (32-pounders), and manned by one hundred and sixty-five men. She was convoying three English merchant ships laden with wheat, and warned Captain Boyle not to molest them. To this injunction Boyle replied that his commission authorized him to capture them if he could, and that the Portuguese warrior had no right to in- terfere. All the vessels were now crowding sail with a stiffening breeze. The Comet shot past the others, when Boyle summoned the Englishmen to heave to, with a threat that if they did not he would open a broadside upon them. The Portuguese gave chase to the Comet. The latter tacked, came alongside of the merchantmen at half past eight o'clock in the evening, and so distributed a heavy fire that she wounded all three. The Portuguese suffered severely in the contest which followed, for the quick movements of the clipper gave the latter great advantages of position. The combat continued until an hour past midnight, when the moon went down, and the night became dark and squally. In the mean time the merchantmen had surrendered, and one of them was taken possession of by Boyle. At dawn, the Portuguese brig, with the other two English vessels, fled for Pernambuco, while the Comet and her prize, the Howes, proceeded homeward. Boyle soon afterward captured the Scotch ship AdelpM, and outsailed the famous British frigate Surprise, that gave chase. On the 6th of February the Comet captured, first, the brig Alexis, of Greenock, and soon afterward an armed brig which formed part of a convoy for nine merchantmen from Demerara. At the same time another man-of-war, called the Swaggerer, ap- peared. Boyle was anxious to get his prizes off, and he amused the brig until that desired end was accomplished. In the mean time he added the Dominica, a Liver- pool packet, to his list of prizes. When these were fairly on their way he turned his heels upon the Swaggerer, and soon outsailed his pursuer. At three o'clock in the afternoon he captured the schooner Jane, and before sunset he lost sight of the Swag- gerer entirely. Soon after this encounter Boyle turned his face homeward, and on the way met and fought a terrible battle for eight hours with the British ship Hibernia, eight hun- dred tons, twenty-two guns, and a full complement of men. The Comet lost three killed and sixteen wounded. The Hibernia lost eight killed and thirteen wounded. The Comet put into Porto Rico for repairs, and the Hibernia into St. Thomas. Both were much injured. The Comet arrived at Baltimore on the I'Zth of March. Boyle was not long on land. His next cruise was in the beautiful Chasseur, a pri- vateer brig, elegant in model, and formidable in men and arms. She was the fleetest of all vessels, and the story of her cruises is a tale of romance of the most exciting kind. She seemed as ubiquitous as the " Phantom Ship." Sometimes she was in the "West Indies ; then on the coasts of Spain, Portugal, and France ; and then in the Irish and British Channels, spreading the wildest alarm among England's commercial marine. So much was she feared in the "West Indies and the islands of the Carib- bean Sea that the merchants there implored Admiral Dunham to send them "at least a heavy sloop of war" to protect their property. The admiral immediately sent them the frigate Barrossa, which'the fleet Chasseur delighted to tease. The Chasseur captured eighty vessels, of which thirty-two were of equal force with herself and eighteen her superior. Many of the prizes were of great value. Three of them alone were valued at $400,000. She seemed to sweep over the seas with im- 1000 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Boyle's Fioclamation of Blockade. Cruises of the Dolphin, Sa/ratoga, Lottery, and TanJcee. punity, and was as impudent as he was bold. On one occasion, while in the British Channel, he issued a proclamation, as a burlesque on those of Admirals Warren and Cochrane concerning the blockade of the ports of the United States, in which he de- clared " all the ports, harbors, bays, creeks, rivers, inlets, outlets, islands, and sea-coast of the IJnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in a state of rigorous blockade." He assured the world that he possessed a sufficient force (the Chasseur) to compel obedience. This proclamation he caused to be. sent in a cartel to London, with a re- quest to have it posted up at Lloyd's Coffee-house ! We have already noticed some of the earlier operations of the Dolphin, Captain Stafford. On the 25th of January, 1813, she fell in with a large. ship and a brig off Cape St. Vincent, and, as was common with the more daring American privateers, en- gaged them both. After a severe fight they were captured, and sent to the United States.* They were richly laden, and were valuable prizes. The wounded Captain Brigham, of the British ship {Hebe, 16), thought his capture ^' extronary." He did "not expect to find a damned Yankee privateer, in that part of the world !" and when assured by Stafford that they would appear in the Thames by-and-by, his eyes dilat- ed with mute wonder. Stafford's kind good-nature won Brigham's heart ; and in a card, published on his arrival in Boston in February, he thanked the commander of the Dolphin and his associates for their attentions, saying, " Should the fortune of war ever throw Captain Stafford or any of his crew into the hands of the British, it is sincerely hoped he will meet a similar treatment.'" We again find the Saratoga, Captain Woolsey, on her destructive errand in Febru- ary, 1813. On the 9th of that month she captured the Lord JVelson^ of six hundred tons, and one of the finest vessels in the British merchant service. She was sent into New Orleans. At about the same time the Saratoga captured the British packet Morgiana, eighteen guns. The Saratoga had just been chased by a British frigate, and had been compelled, in order to lighten her to increase her speed, to throw over- board twelve of her guns. She had only four to attack the Morgiana with. Her armory was replenished with several of the fine brass pieces of the captive, and the prize was sent to Newport with her captain. The kindness of the prize-master was so conspicuous that the captain of the Morgiana thanked him in the Newport news- papers. - 1813. 9^ *^® -^^^ °^ February » the letter of marque Lottery, of Baltimore, armed with six guns and manned by thirty-five men, had a desperate fight in Chesa- peake Bay with nine British barges containing two hundred and forty men. She fought them an hour and a half, during which time it was believed that more of the foe were killed than the number of the whole crew of the letter of marque. At length Captain Southcote, commander of the schooner, was severely wounded, and the ene- my, in overwhelming numbers, boarded the vessel, hauled down the colors, and made her a prize. At about this time we find the privateer TanJcee, whose exploits we have already observed, entering the harbor of Newport after a cruise of one hundred and fifty days, during which time she had scoured the whole western coast of Africa, taken eight prizes, made one hundred and ninety-six prisoners, and secured as trophies sixty-two cannon, five hundred muskets, and property worth almost 1300,000. The merchants of New York fitted out no less than twenty-six fast-sailing priva- teers and letters of marque within a hundred and twenty days after the declaration of war, carrying almost two hundred pieces of artillery, and manned by over twp thousand seamen. Among the most noted of these privateers was a moderate-sized schooner, mounting a Long Tom 42-pounder, and eighteen carronades.^ Her comple- ment was one hundred and forty men, and her firs t commander was Captain Barnard, \ Stf'S.f i Z^r PrivaUers ara Letters of Marque, by George Coggeshall, page 129. ! See tabid of New York privateers in Niles's Register, iil.,120. OF THE WAR OF 3812. 1001 — — . . ' Cruises of the General Armstrong, Ned, and Scowrge. ' Valuable Prizes taken by the Yankee. Early in March, 1813, the General Armstrong was in command of Guy R. Cham- plin, and cruising oif the Surinam River, on the coast of South America. Early in the morning of the 11th she gave chase to the Coquette, a British sloop of war mount- ing twenty-seven guns, and manned by one hundred and twenty-one men and hoys. Between nine and ten o'clock the vessels were within gun-shot, and comiofiuced a brisk engagement. Convinced by observation that his antagonist was a British let- ter of marque, Champlin and his men agreed to board her, and for this purpose they ran the Armstrong down upon her, when, too late to retreat^ they discovered her to be a much heavier vessel than they imagined. The two vessels poured heavy shot into each other, and for a 'v^hile the fight was fierce and obstinate, within pistol-shot distance for almost an hour. The Armstrong was severely-injured, and her captaia received a ball in his shoulder, but continued some time on duty after the wound was dressed, and from the cabin gave orders until his vessel was fairly out of the clutches of the enemy. By the vigorous use of sweeps the Armstrong escaped, under a heavy fire from the Coquette. For his gallant conduct on this occasion, and his skill in sav- ing his vessel, the stockholders, at a meeting held at Tammany Hall on the 14th of April, presented Captain Champlin an elegant sword, and voted thanks to his com- panions in the combat. We shall meet the Armstrong heieatter. The JVed, Captain Dawson, a New York letter of marque, arrived at that port ten days after the sword-presentation to Champlin, and brought with her the British let- ter of marque Malvina, of Aberdeen, mounting ten guns. The Ned captured her after an action of almost an hour. Her captain was killed, and in the combat the Ned had seven men badly wounded. The Malvina was laden with wine from the Mediterranean, and was a valuable prize. Another successful privateer, owned in New York, was the, Scourge, Captain NicoU. She mounted fifteen guns, andi sailed from port in April, 1813, for a long cruise in European waters, and was fi-equently in consort with, the Rattlesnake, of Philadelphia, Captain David Mafiit. This commander went into the business at the beginning of the war, with the Atlas, and continued its pursuit until the close of the contest in 1815. The Rattlesnake was a fast-sailing brig of fourteen guns.: Captain NicoU was often, absent from the Scourge while on the coast of Norway, because he found it more profitable to remain on shore and attend to the sale of prizes brought or sent in, while his first officer skillfully commanded her in cruises. The Scourge made a large : number of captures on the coast of Norway, and these were nearly all sent into Drontheim and disposed of there. The aggregate tonnage of prizes then and there disposed of, captured by the Scourge &a.A Rattlesnake, was 4500. The trophies were sixty guns. On her homeward passage from Norway the Scourge made several captures. She arrived at Cape Cod in May, 1814, having been absent little more than a year. During her cruise she had made four hundred and twenty prisoners. Her deeds made her name an appropriate one, for she scourged British commerce most severely. Th&Tankee, already mentioned, left Newport on a cruise on the 23d of May, 1^813. A month afterward, when off the coast of Ireland, she baptured the British cutter sloop Earl Camden, valued at $10,000. Eight days afterward" she cap. .^^^^^^ tured the brig Elizabeth, valued at 140,000, and the brig Watson, laden with cotton, valued at $70,000. On the 2d of July she took the brig Manner, with a cargo valued at $70,000. All of these prizes, worth in the aggregate about $200,000, were sent to French ports for adjudication and sale. The work was accomplished in the space of about six weeks. The Yankee returned to Providence, Rhode Island, on the 19th of August, without having lost a man during the cruise either killed or wounded. . , ™ , „, „ ^ . i i , . The records of privateering durmg the summer of 1813 present one dark chapter in the deed of a desperate wretch named Johnson, who commanded the Teaser, a lit- 1002 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Destruction of the rawer. Capture of the ^osrte. Cialse ot the BmUm: tie two-gun vessel, that went out from New York with fifty men. When that vessel was captured by one of Admiral Warren's fleet, Johnson was released on his parole. Soon afterward without waiting to be exchanged, he entered as first lieutenant on board another privateer named the Young Teaser, Captain Dawson. In Jiine, 1813, she was closely pursued by an English man-of-war. She was likely to be overtaken, and Johnson knew that death would be his fate should he be caught. Dawson called his officers aft in consultation, and while they were deliberating on the subject one of the sailors called out to the captain that Lieutenant Johnson had just gone into the cabin with a blazing fire-brand. The next instant the Teaser was blown into fragments. Only six of all her people escaped destruction. The captain, Johnson, and all the others, had perished in a moment. Toward midsummer, 1813, an affair occurred off Sandy Hook, New York, which created a great sensation. It properly belongs to the history of privateering. Com- modore Lewis was then in cojnmand of a flotilla of gun-boats on that station, and the British man-of-war Poictiers, 14, was cruising in those waters. She had for ten- der the sloop Eagle, and on the 5th of July Lewis sent out a little fishing-smack named Yanleee, which he borrowed at Fly Market, in N"ew York, to capture this ten- der by stratagem. With a calf, a sheep, and a goose secured on deck, and between thirty and forty well-armed men below, the smack stood out for sea with only three men in sight, in fishermen's gai-b, as if going to the fishing-banks. The Eagle gave chase, overhauled her, and, seeing live-stock on board, ordered her to go to the com- modore. The watchword " Lawrence" was then given, when the armed men rushed to the deck, and delivered a volley of musketry which sent the crew of the Eagle be- low in dismay. Sailing-master Percival, who commanded the expedition, ordered the firing to cease, when one of the Eaglets company came up and struck her colors. The surprise was so complete that her heavy brass howitzer, loaded with canister-shot, remained undischarged. Her crew consisted of her commander, a midshipman, and eleven seamen. The two former and a marine were slain. The Eagle and prisoners were taken to the city in view of thousands of the inhabitants, who were on the Bat- tery celebrating the anniversary of the National Independence. ^ They were received with shouts, salvos of artillery, the waving of hats and handkerchiefs, and the ring- ing of bells. A month after the capture of the Eagle, the privateer schooner Commodore Deca- tur, Captain Diron, of Charleston, South Carolina, carrying seven guns and a little over a hundred men, had a desperate encounter with the British war schooner Do- minica, Lieutenant Barrette, carrying sixteen guns and eighty-eight men. The De- catur was cruising in the track of the West India traders on their return to England, •1813. ^^^ °*^ ^^^ morning of the 5th of August* gave chase to a ship and a schoon- er. At about one o'clock in the afternoon they were so near each other that the schooner fired a shot at the Decatur. The latter was immediately prepared for action, not with heavy guns alone, but with implements for boarding. Diron intend- ed to run down near his adversary, discharge all his guns, great and small, and then board her under cover of the smoke. This was not immediately accomplished, for the Dominica was on the alert, and manoeuvred so as to give the Decatur some dam- aging broadsides. Twice her crew attempted to board her antagonist, but failed, and the contest was kept up with cannon and musketry. Finally, at about half past three o'clock, the Decatur forced her bowsprit over the stern of the Dominica, and her jib-boom penetrated the Englishman's mainsail. In face of a murderous fire of musketry, the Decatur's men, led by First Prize-master Safifth and Quartermaster Wasborn, rushed from her bow along the bowsprit, boarded the enemy, and engaged in a most sanguinary fight, hand-to-hand, with swords, pistols, and small-arms. Both parties fought with the greatest courage and determination. The decks were cov- 1 It fell on Sunday in 1813, and the event was celebrated on Monday, the 5th. OP THE WAR OF 1812. 1003 Cruise of the David Porter, Globe, and Harpy. ered With the dead and wounded. The colors of the Dominica were hauled down by the boarders, and she became the Decatur's prize. The Dominica lost sixty-five Mled and wounded. Among the former were the captain, sailing-master, and purser, ihe Decatur lost twenty killed and wounded. Diron started with his prize for Charles- ton, and on the following day captured the London ^m*?-, bound from Surinam to London with a valuable cargo. She reached Charleston in safety with both prizes.' In the autumn ofl 81 3, Captain George Coggeshall, whose History of the American I^ivateers has been alluded to, commanded the letter of marque schooner Davidl'or- ter, of New York. Late in October she was lying at Providence, Khode Island, where the President, Commodore Rodgers, was blockaded. In a thick snow-storm on the 14th of November, and under the cover of night, the Farter passed the blockading squadron and put to sea. She reached Charleston, her destined port, in safety, where she was freighted for France with Sea Island cotton, and sailed for " Bordeaux, or a port in France," on the 20th of December. In the Bay of Biscay she encountered a terrible and damaging gale, but weathered it, and on the 20th of January entered the port of La Teste. Coggeshall sent his vessel home in charge of his first officer, and remained in France some time. The Porter captured several prizes on her way to the United States. We have noticed the arrival at Hampton Roads, with a large British ship as a prize, the privateer Globe, of Baltimore, and her departure on another cruise.^ She was successful in the capture of prizes, but did not meet with any fair tests of her sailing qualities, or the valor and skill of her men, until November, 1813. On the 1st of that month, while cruising off the coast of Madeira, she fell in and exchanged shots with a large armed brig, but considered it prudent to keep at a respectful distance from her. She then proceeded to the offing of Funchal, where, on tlje 2d, she chased two vessels in vain, for night came on dark and squally, and she lost sight of them. On the 3d the Globe again chased two vessels, and at eleven o'clock were so near that the larger of the fugitives opened her stern guns on her pursuer. A severe action ensued, when, at noon, the crew of the Globe attempted to board her adversary. They failed. Their vessel was much damaged, and while in this condition the other vessel came up and gave the Globe a terrible raking fire, which almost disabled her. Yet they fought on at close quarters, and at half past three o'clock the larger vessel was compeHed to strike her colors. The other one poured in broadside after broad- side within half pistol-shot distance. The Globe was reduced to an almost sinking condition, yet she managed to give her second antagonist such blows that she, too, struck her colors. She then hauled to windward to take possession of the first prize, when that vessel hoisted her colors and gave the Globe a tremendous'broadside. She was compelled to haul off for repairs, and the two vessels, believed to be severely in- jured, sailed slowly away. They were packet brigs, one mounting eighteen and the other sixteen cannon, mostly brass. The Globe lost eight men killed and fifteen wounded in this desperate encounter. During the first eight or nine months of the year 1814, although the American pri- vate-armed ships were active and successful, there seems not to have been any per- formance by them that deserves the name of a naval action. This monotony of quiet business was broken in September, when the privateer Sarpy fell in with the British packet Princess Elizabeth, and captured her after a short but sharp conflict. The Elizabeth was armed with ten guns, and manned by thirty-eight men. She had on board a Turkish embassador for England, an aid-de-camp to a British general, a lieutenant of a 74 line of battle ship, and $10,000 in specie. This specie, with sev- eral pipes of wine and some of the cannon, were transferred to the Harpy. The re- mainder of her armament was thrown overboard, and the ship was ransomed for $2000, when she was allowed to proceed on her voyage. ' 1 Coggeshall's History o/AmericoM Privateers, page 1T2. = See page 996. 1004 PICTORIAL riELD-BOOK The Career of the General Armstrong. How New Orleans was saved. The most desperate and famous combat recorded in the history of privateering during the war was that maintained by the General Armstrong, of New York, Cap- tain Samuel C. Reid (whose earlier exploits we have already noticed), in the harbor of Fayal, one of the Azores islands of that name belonging to Portugal. It occurred on the 26th of September, 1814. While she lay there at anchor; in a neutral port, she was attacked by a large British squadron under the command of Commodore Lloyd. The attacking vessels consisted of the flag-sWp Plantagenet, 74:-, tlaetiigAte Mota, 44, Captain Somerville; and the brig Carnation, 18, Captain Bentham, each with a full complement of men: The Armstrong carried only seven guns and ninety men, including her officers. ■ In flagrant violation of the laws and usages of neutrality, Lloyd sent in, at eight « septemher 26, o'clock in the evening,* four large and wellrarmed launches, manned by 1^1*- about forty men each. At that time Reid, suspecting danger, was warping his vessel under the guns of the castle. The moon was shining > brightly. These and the privateer opened fire almost simultaneously, and the launches were driven off with heavy loss. The first lieutenant oi the Armstrong was wounded, and one man was killed. Another attack was made at midnight with fourteen launches and about five hun- dred men. A terrible conflict ensued, which lasted forty minutes. The enemy were repulsed with a loss of one hundred and twenty killed, and one hundred and, thirty wounded. At daybreak a third attack was made by the brig of war Carnation, She opened heavily, but was very soon so cut up by the rapidly-delivered and well-dii rected shots of the Armstrong that she hastily withdrew. The privateer was also much damaged. It was evident that she could not maintain another assault of equal severity, so Captain Reid, who had cool- ly given orders from his quarter-deck during the attacks, directed her to be scuttled, to prevent her falling into the hands of the enemy. She was then aban- doned, when the British boarded her and set her on fire. It is a curious fact that, while the British lost over three hundred in killed and wounded during ten hours, the Americans lost but two killed and seven wounded. ' In addition to the glory won by the bravery of this resistance to the British squadron. Captain Reid and his gallant men deserve the just credit of having thereby saved the city of New Orleans from capture. This squadron was part of the expedition then gathering at Ja^ maica for the purpose of seizing New Orleans, and the object of their attack on the Armstrong was to capture her, and make her a useful auxiliary in the work. She so crippled her assailants that they did not reach Jamaica until full ten days later th an the expedition expected OP THE WAR OF 1812. 1005 Honors to Captain Heid. The American Flag. Cruise of the Prirwe de Nenfchdul. to sail from there. That expedition waited for Commodore Lloyd ; and when it final- ly approached New Orleans," General Jackson was hastening to make .December 6, competent arrangements for its defense. Had the fleet arrived ten days ^^i*- sooner, that city would have been an easy prey to the British, for it was utterly de- fenseless until that general's arrival with his troops. The defense made hy the Armstrong, and the circumstances of the attack, pro- duced, a great sensation throughout the United States. Captain Reid was justly praised as one of the most daring of American naval commanders, and he received various honors in abundance. The State of New York gave him thanks and a sword, and he was every where received with the greatest enthusiasm on his return to the United States.' The New Yorkers sent out a splendid vessel of seventeen guns and one hundred and fifty men, called the Prince de NmfcMul, in command of Captain Ordronaux. She was a very fortunate privateer. During a single cruise she was chased by no less than seventeen armed British vessels, and escaped them all; and she brought to the United States goods valued at $300,000, with much specie. On the 11th of Oc- tober, 1814, she encountered five armed boats from the British fAs,zX& Endymion off Nantucket. The iVew/cAdieZ was then very light handed, having, when the fierce bat- tle that ensued commenced, only thirty-six men at quarters. Early in the forenoon the engagement began. The boats were arranged for the assault one on each side, one on each bow, and one under the stern. Within the space of twenty minutes the assailants cried for quarter. It was granted. One of the boats had gone to the bot- tom with forty-one out of forty-three of her crew. The whole number of men in the five boats was one hundred and eleven, a larger portion of whom were killed, wound- ed, or made prisoners. The privateer lost seven killed and twenty-four wounded. She returned to Boston on the 15th of October. The Neufchdtel was afterward cap- tured and sent to England. At this time the terror inspired by the doings of the American privateers was in- tense. The British began to seriously contemplate the probabilities of the complete destruction of their commerce. Fear magnified the numbers, powers, and exploits of 1 On his return to the United States Captain Keid landed at Savannah, and made his way north by land. At Rich- mond he was invited to a public dinner by members of the Virginia Legislature, at which were seated the governor, members of his council, judges of the Supreme Court, and other distinguished men. It was the first opportunity the Virginians had enjoyed of paying their personal respects to a hero of the war, and they did it with enthusiasm. The speaker of the House of Burgesses presided, and William Wirt was vice-president. When Captain Eeid retired, the chairman gave as a sentiment, " Captain Eeid— his valor has shed a blaze of renown upon the character of our seamen, and won for himself a laurel of eternal bloom." On the Tth of April, 1815, the Legislature of New York voted the thanks of the state and a sword to Captain Eeid. At Tammany Hall, in New York, he was presented, in the name of the citizens, with a handsome service of plate. Samuel Chester Eeid was bom at Norwich, Connecticut, on the 25th of August, 1T83. He went tO sea at the age of eleven years, and was captured by a French privateer and taken to Guadaloupe. He was a midshipman with Common dore Truxtun. The occasion in his public life which gave him most fame was this defense of the General Armstrong at Payal. After the War of 1812 Captain Eeid was appointed a sailing-master in the United States Navy, and held that office until his death. He was port'Wardeh at New York for some time, and a weigher of Customs. He was about be- ing made collector of the customs there, in place of Swartwout, by Secretary Duane, when that officer was removed by President Jackson. He invented and erected the signal telegraphs at the Battery and the Narrows, and is also distin- guished as the designer of the present arrangement of the stripes and stars on our national standard.* Captain Eeid was simple in his habits and manners, upright in conduct, and honest in all his ways. He was the chosen social com- panion of many of the bestand most distinguished American citizens, and his memory is sweetest to those who knew him best. He died in the city of New York on the 28th of January, 1861. His funeral took place at Trinity Church, and was largely attended. His remains were escorted to their last resting-place in Greenwood Cemetery by the marines of the navy yard at Brooklyn. _^ _^ ♦ Our flag originally bore thirteen stars and thirteen stripes. As new states came in, the number of the stars and stripes was correspondingly increased, pursuant to an act of Congress passed in 1794. This was found to be impracti- cable ; for, as the states increased, the width of the stripes had to be lessened. Besides, there was nothing in the device to recall the original confederacy of thirteen states. To return to the use of only thirteen stars and stripes would be inappropriate, because the device would give no hint of the growth of the republic. Captain Eeid proposed to retain the original thirteen stripea as a memento of the original Union, and to add a new star whenever a new state was ad- mitted, as indicative of the growth of the states. This suggestion was adopted. A flag with this new arrangement was first raised over the Hall of Eepresentatives at Washington on the 4th of April, 1318, at two o'clock in the afternoon. At that time the Senate Chamber and Hall of Eepresentatives of the Capitol were separated, the centre of thebnilding not being completed. Eesolutlons of thanks to Captain Eeid " for having designed and formed the present flag of the United States" were oflfered in Congress. ■' ' 1006 PICTORIAL PIELD-BOOK Effect of Ameri,can Privateering on British Commerce. Cruise of the Saucy Jack and Kemp. the privateers. Meetings of merchants were held to remonstrate against their depre- dations. It was asserted that one of these " sea-devils" was rarely captured, and that they impudently bid defiance alike to English privateers and stately seventy-fours. Insurance was refused on most vessels, and on some the premium was as high as thi]> ty-three per cent. " Thirteen guineas for one hundred pounds," said a London jour- nal, " was paid to insure vessels across the Irish Channel ! Such a thing never hap- pened, we believe, before." The Board of Admiralty and the Prince Regent were petitioned for aid in checking these depredations; and the government was com- pelled, because of the state of public feeling, to give assurances (which they had no power to support) that ample measures should be taken for the protection of British commerce. We have referred to the impudence, as well as boldness, of the American priva- teers. A small one belonging to Charleston, mounting six carriage guns and a Long Tom, appropriately named Saucy Jack, affords an illustration. She was every where, and, being clipper-built and skillfully managed, was too fleet for the English cruisers. On one occasion, when cruising off the west end of St. Domingo, she chased two ves- sels. It was on the 31st of October, 1814, at midnight; and when near enough, at one in the morning, she fired upon them. On coming up, it was ascertained that one of them carried sixteen, and the other eighteen guns. Nothing daunted by this dis- covery, she boarded one of them at seven in the morning, when it was found that she was full of men, and a war vessel, fhe boarders fled back to the Saucy Jack, and the little privateer made haste to get away. The two ships chased her, pouring grape and musket-balls upon her, but within an hour she was out of reach of even their great guns. She lost eight men killed and fifteen wounded. Her chief antag- onist was the British bomb-ship Volcano, with the transport Golden Fleece. One of the lieutenants and two of the men of the Volcano were killed and two were wound- ed. On Sunday, the 1st of May, the Saucy Jack captured the fine English ship Pel- ham, carrying ten guns and thirty-eight men. She was bound from London for a West India port, and had a cargo valued at 180,000. The schooner Kemp, of Baltimore, was a very successful privateer. She was com- manded by Captain Jacobs. At the close of November, 1814, she sailed on a cruise in the West Indies from Wilmington, North Carolina. On the 1st of December she chased a squadron of eight merchant ships in the Gulf Stream under convoy of a frig- ate. The frigate, in turn, gave chase, but the Kemp dodged her in the darkness of the ensuing night, and the next morning again gave chase to the merchantmen. At ■December 3. "°°" *^® following day'' she found them drawn up in battle line, and at two o'clock they bore down upon the privateer, each giving her some shots as they passed. She reserved her fire until, by a skillful movement, she broke through the line, and discharged her whole armament into the enemy. This pro- duced the greatest confusion, and within an hour and a half four of the eight vessels were the prizes of the Kemp. She would have taken the whole of them, but she had not men enough to man them. The other four proceeded on their voyage. The con- voy frigate all this time was absent, vainly looking for the saucy privateer ! These prizes, which gave an aggregate of forty-six cannon and one hundred and thirty-four men, were all sent into Charleston. It was a profitable cruise of only six days. The ' Monmouth privateer, of Baltimore, at about the same time was dealing destruction to British commerce off Newfoundland. She had a desperate encounter with an En- glish transport ship with over three hundred troops on board. Her superior speed saved her from capture. Another successful Baltimore privateer was the Lawrence, of eighteen guns and one hundred and eleven men. During a single cruise which terminated at New York on the 25th of January, 1815, a month before the proclama- tion of peace, she captured thirteen vessels. She took one hundred and six prisoners, and the aggregate amount of tonnage seized by her was over three thousand tons. OF THE WAK OF 1812. 1007 Cruise of the Macdonough and Amelia. Close of the War. The American Privateers and their Doings. One of the original crew of the Lawrence was a colored man named Henry Van Me- ter, mentioned on page 912. The Macdonough, of Rhode Island, had a severe fight with a British ship, whose name is not recorded, on the 31st of January, 1815. The action commenced at mus- ket-shot distance at half past two o'clock in the afternoon. The tremendous musket- fire of the enemy caused the people of the Macdonough to suspect her of being a troop-ship. Such proved to he the case. She had at least three hundred soldiers on board besides her crew. The Macdonough suffered terribly in sails, and rigging, and loss of men, for her antagonist, in addition to the overwhelming number of men, car- ried eighteen 9-pounders. She succeeded in escaping from the British vessel, and reached Savannah on the "Zth of March. The war ended early in 1815, but it was some time after the proclamation of peace had been promulgated before all of the fifty privateers then at sea were apprised of it, and many captures were made after the joyful event had occurred. One of the latest arrivals of successful privateers was that of the Amelia, of Baltimore, in April, 1815. She had a full cargo of valuable goods. During her cruise she had captured ten British vessels. Some she destroyed, others she sent into port, and one she gave up as a cartel for her prisoners. She carried only six guns and seventy-five men. The vessels she captured amounted in the aggregate to about two thousand three hundred tons, and her prisoners numbered one hundred and twelve. Her trophies in arms were thirty-two cannon and many muskets. She was frequently chased by English cruisers, but her fleetness allowed her to escape. In this outline sketch of American privateering^ during the Second War for Inde- pendence, notice has been taken of only the most prominent of the vessels which ac- tually sustained a conflict of arms on the ocean of sufiicient importance to entitle the act to the name of a naval engagement. The record shows the wonderful boldness and skill of American seamen, mostly untaught in the art of naval warfare, and the general character of the privateering service. Nothing more has been attempted. The full history of the service as it lies, much of it ungarnished, in the newspapers of the day and the manuscript log-books of the commanders, exhibits marvelous ac- tions and results. After th'e first six months of the war the bulk of naval conflicts was carried on upon the ocean, on the part of the Americans, by private-armed vessels, which "took, burned and destroyed" about sixteen hundred British merchantmen, of all classes, in the space of three years and nine months, while the number of American merchant vessels destroyed during the same period did not vary much from/we hundred. The American merchant marine was much smaller than that of the British, and, owing to embargo acts and apprehensions of war several months before it was actually de- clared, a large proportion of it was in port. When war was declared many vessels were taken far up navigable rivers for security against British cruisers and maraud- ing soldiers, while others were dismantled in safe places. The American private-armed vessels which caused such disasters to British com- merce numbered two hundred and fifty.^ Of these, forty-six were letters of marque, and the remainder were privateers. Of the whole number, one hundred and eighty- four were sent out from the four ports of Baltimore, New York, Salem, and Boston alone. The aggregate number sent out from Philadelphia, Portsmouth (N. H.), and Charleston was thirty-five. Large fortunes were secured by many of the owners, and some of them are enjoyed by their descendants at the present day. 1 The materials for this sketch have been gathered from official documents, the newspapers of the day, Coggeshall'a n-v./.^, nf A ■mj'rican Pnvateers, and personal and written communications to the author. ^^TWs wa^rsfar^ere commissioned while there were difflcuUies with France n the years 1798 and ITO. The number of private-armed vessels then commissioned was 365. Their tonnage was 66,981. Number of guns, 2728 ; and of men, 6847. 1008 A Peace Paction. PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Boston the Centre of illicit Trade. The Government as a Borrower. CHAPTER XLIL "Brave sons of the West, the hlood in yonr veins ' At danger's approach waited not for persuaders ; Ton rushed from your mountains, your hills, and yonr plains, And followed your streams to repel the invaders." Old Sokg. lET US now take a glance at some prominent civil affairs during the year 1814, before proceeding to consider the great and de- cisive military events in the vicinity of New Orleans with which the war on the land closed. From the beginning of the contest, as we have seen, there was an active and influential body in the Federal party known as the Peace Faction, many of whom were selfish and unpatriotic politicians, and who, by their endeavors to thwart the government in its efforts to provide means for carrying on the war, brought discredit upon the great and patriotic party to which they belonged, and deeply injured their country. These politicians were chiefly confined to New En- gland, whose commercial interests had been ruined by the war, and Boston was their head-quarters. Embargo acts had closed all American ports against the legal admis- sion of goods from abroad, and these could only be obtained- through contraband trade. Such trade was carried on extensively at the New England capital, where, as we have seen, the magistrates were not zealous in the maintenance of the restrictive laws. Smuggling became, almost respectable in the eyes of many because of its prev- alence,' and foreign, goods, shut out from other sea-ports, found their way there. Many valuable British prizes were taken into that port, and upon Boston the mer- chants of other cities became dependent for a supply of foreign goods. ' For these they paid partly in bills of the banks of the Middle and Southern States, and partly in their own promissory notes. By this means Boston became a financial autocrat, having in its hands despotic power to control the money affairs of the country. This fact suggested to the leaders of the Peace Faction in New England a scheme for crip- pling the government financially, and thereby compelling it to abandon the struggle with Great Britain with dishonor. They were quick to act upon the suggestion and to put the scheme into operation. From the beginning of the war the government was compelled to ask for loans, and the Peace Faction made such persistent opposition, for the purpose of embarrassing' the administration, that in every case a bonus was paid for all sums borrowed. In January, 1813, a loan of $16,000,000 was authorized. It was obtained principally from individuals at the rate of $88 for a certificate of stock for $100, by which lenders re- ceived $2,100,3V7 as a bonus on that small loan. In August the same year a further loan of $7,500,000 was authorized ; and in March, 1814, a loan of $25,000,000 was au- thorized. This was the darkest hour of the war, and then it was that the Peace Fac- tion at political meetings, through the press, and even from the pulpit, cast every obstacle in the way of the government. That opposition now assumed the form of > One of the most eminent members of the Federal party (Harrison Gray Otis) charged the administration and the war with the authorship of that "monstrous depreciation of morals" and "execrable course of smuggling and fraud," and said that a class of citizens, " encouraged by the just odium against the war, sneer at the restraints of conscience, l.augh at perjury, mock at legal restraints, and acquire ill-gotten wealth at the expense of public morals, and of the more sober, conscientious part of the community," OF THE VfAili OF 1812. 1009 The Weakneaa of the Goyernment a Season for rejoicing. The pnblie Credit asBatled. Virtual treason. The government was weak and in great need, and its internal ene- mies knew It, and in proportion to its wants they became bolder and more outspoken. Their denunciations of the government, and those who dared to lend it a helping hand, were violent and effective. By inflammatory and threatening publications and personal menaces, they intimidated many capitalists.^ The result was, that only $11,400,000 of the proposed loan were raised in the spring of 1814, and this by pay- ing a bonus of $2,852,000, terms so disastrous that only one more attempt was made to borrow money during the war, the deficiency being made up by the issue of treas- ury notes to the amount of $18,452,000. Over this failure of the government these unpatriotic men rejoiced. One of them, writing from Boston in February, 1815, said, exultingly,"This day $20,000 six per cent, stock was put up at auction, $5000 of which only was sold for want of bidders, and that at forty per cent, under par. As for the former war loan, it would be considered little short of an insult to offer it in the market, it being a very serious question who is to father the child in case ofnor tional difficulties.'''' The last expression referred to the hopes of the conspirators that a dissolution of the Union would be brought about by the body known in history as the Hartford Convention, which had adjourned, to meet again if necessary — a body of men inspired by motives and actions too lofty to be comprehended by the vulgar politicians who were the leaders of the Peace Faction of that day. But these machinations failed to produce the full effect desired. Patriotic men in New England of the Opposition party subscribed to the loan; and in the Middle States they did so openly and liberally, to the disgust of the Peace Faction, who now resorted to a more reprehensible scheme for embarrassing the government. We have observed that, for reasons named, Boston became the centre of financial power. These men determined to use that power to embarrass the administration, and they did it in this wise : The banks in the Middle and Southern States were the principal sub- scribers to the loan, and measures were adopted to drain them of their specie, and thus produce an utter inability to pay their subscriptions. Some of the Boston banks became parties to the scheme. The notes of those in New York and cities farther south held by these banks were transmitted to them, with demands for specie, and at the same time drafts were drawn on the New York banks for the balances due the 1 " Will FederaMsts snbscribe to the loan ? Will they lend money to onr national rnlers ?" a leading Boston paper -significantly asked. " It is impossible, first, because of the principle, and, secondly, because otprineipal and interest. If they lend money now, they make themselves parties to the violation of the Constitution, the cruelly oppressive measures in relation to commerce, and to all the crimes which have occurred in the field and in the cabinet. . . . Any Federalist who lends money to the government will be called infammti !" The people were then adroitly warned that money loaned to the government would not be safe. "How, where, and when," asked this disloyal newspaper, " are the government to get money to pay interest f" Then, in language almost the same as that of a distinguished leader of a Peace Faction of our day, a threat of future repudiatimi was thrown out, to create distrust in the government se- curities. " Who can tell," said the writer above alluded to, " whether /uftwe rulers may think th£ debt ayntracted under such cireumstanceSj and by men who lend mmiey to help out ^measures which they have loudly and ccmstcmtly condermied, ought to be paid f" Another newspaper said of the Boston merchants : "They vrill lend the government money to retrace their steps, but none to persevere in their present course. Let every highwayman find his own pistols." And a doctor of divinity shouted from the pulpit at Byfield : " If the rich men continue to famish money, war will continue till the mountains are melted with blood— till every field in America is white with the bones of the people ;" while another said, " Let no man who wishes to continue the war by active means, by vote or lending money, dare to prostrate himself at the altar on the fast-day, for such are actually as much partakers in the war as the soldier who thrusts his bayonet, and the judgment of God will await them." These extracts give but a faint idea of the violence of the leaders of that faction. Many capitalists were intimidated, and were afraid to negotiate for the loan openly, a fact which brokers at that time have placed on record. Gilbert and Dean advertised that the " names of all subscribers shall be known obly to the undersigned." Another made it known that "the name of every applicant shall, at his request, be known only to the subscriber." Another assured the people that he had made arrangements " for perfect secrecy in the transaction of his business." These advertisements excited the venom of the Peace party exceedingly, and they poured abuse upon the subscribers and the government together. "Money," said one of the most prominent among them, with great bitterness, "is such a drug (the surest signs of the former prosperity and present insecurity of trade), that men, against their consciences, their honor, their duty, their professions and promises, are willing to lend it secretly to support the very measures which are both intended and calculated for their min." Another said, "How degraded must our government be, even in her own eyes, when they resort to such tricks to obtain money, which a common Jew broker would be ashamed of. They must be well acquainted with the fabric of the men who are to loan them money when they offer that if they will have the goodness to do It their names shall not be exposed to the world." 3 S 1010 PICTORIAL. FIELD-BOOK Condact of Boston Bankers. Effects of the Conspiracy against the pnblic Credit. Boston corporations, to the amount, in the course of a few months, of about $8,000,000. The New York bankers were compelled to draw largely on those of Philadelphia, and the latter on those of Baltimore, and so on. A panic was created. No one could predict the result. Confidence was shaken. Wagons were seen, loaded withspecie, leaving bank doors with the precious freight, going from city to city, to find its way finally into the vaults of those of Massachusetts.^ The banks thus drained were com- pelled to curtail their discounts. Commercial derangement and bankruptcies ensued. Subscribers to the loan were unable to comply with their promises, and, so uncertain was the future to the minds of many who intended to subscribe, that th«y hesitated. The efiect of the conspiracy against the public credit was potent and ruinous, and for a while it was thought impossible for the government to sustain its army and navy. The banks out of New England were compelled to suspend specie payments, and the effect upon the paper currency of the country was most disastrous.^ Nor was this all. To make the blow against the public credit still more effectual, the conspirators made arrangements with agents of the government authorities of Lower Canada whereby a very large amount of British government bills, drawn on Quebec, were transmitted to New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and offered on such advantageous terms to capitalists as induced them to purchase.' By this means an immense amount of gold was transmitted to Canada, placed beyond the reach of the government of the United States, and put into the hands of the enemy, to give succor to the war they were waging against the independence of the republic. Had the conspirators fully succeeded, the national armies must have been disbanded, and the country reduced to a dependency of Great Britain. It was during the despondency incident to the gloomy aspect of financial affairs, the capture of Washington and the destruction of the public buildings and archives, the utter prostration of business, the certainty that a very large British force would be speedily sent to our shores, and the neglect and discourtesy with which the Brit- ish government had treated the American ministers sent to Europe to negotiate a treaty of peace, that a convention of representatives of the Opposition party in New I when, in deference to public opinion, the Boston bankers attempted to explain their movement in this matter, they made the specious plea of their right to the balances due them from other banks. This was not satisfactory. Matthew Carey, one of the ablest publicists of the day, says that the demand was made at a season of the year when freight on the specie, on account of the bad state of the roads, was from twenty to thirty per cent, more than it would have been had 'they waited a few weeks. That they could have waited without detriment to any interest is made manifest by the following statement of the condition of the banks in Massachusetts in January, 181i, just before the movement was made; Specie. Notee in Circalation. Massachusetts Bank '. .. $2,114,164 $682,708 Union 687,795 283,225 Boston 1,182,572 369,903 State 659,066...' 609,000 New England 284,456 161,170 Mechanics' 47,391 44,595 $4,945,444 $2,000,601 By this statement it appears that they had in their vaults about $250 in specie for every $100 of their notes in circula- tion : " a state of things," says Carey, " probably unparalleled in the history of banking ftom the days of the Lombards to the present time." " The injurious effects upon the paper currency of the country maybe seen by the following price current, published on the 7th of February, 1816: Below Par. Below Par. All the banks in New York State, Philadelphia City Banks 24 per cent. ^ Hudson and Orange excepted ... 19 to 20 per cent, Baltimore Banks 30 " Hudson Bank. 20 " Treasury Notes 24to26 " OraugeBank 24 " United States six per cents SO " = These transactions with the public were made so boldly that advertisements like the following appeared in the Boston papers : "1 bill for. £800.) British Government Bills, J ^o- 250 f Forsaleby 1 °<»- 203 r Chaems W. Geeen, ^61,253 ; No. 14 India Whart" So great was the drain caused by the transmission of gold to Canada, and the demand for specie to pay for smuggled goods brought from Canada and Nova Scotia, that the specie in the Massachusetts banks was reduced in the course of SIX months nearly $3,600,000-the amount being $6,468i604 on the 1st of July, 1814, and only $1,999,868 on the 1 st of Jan- uary, 1816. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 1011 Cabinet Changes. New financial Measures proposed. Eevlval of the public Credit. England, to consider public affairs, was conceived, not by the factious politicians we have just noticed, but by thoughtful and earnest patriots of the Federal party. After the invasion of Washington there were some changes in President Madison's Cabinet. Mr. Monroe continued in the office of Secretary of State, and was Acting ^ Secretary of War after the close of Septem- J^ ^^^^ y^ j^ S r ber, 1814, when Mr. Armstrong had resigned.' ^ f ^jTZ yi4^ ^t^fT''!^ George W. Campbell, of Tennessee, the Secre- ^^ tary of the Treasury, was succeeded by Alex- ander J. Dallas — a man of courage, energy, and decision — early in Goto- . October 6, ber.* The new secretary entered upon his duties with a determination to ^'^^ revive the public credit, if possible, and he did it. The prospect was unpromising. Campbell's report of the condition of the Treasury immediately preceding his resig- nation was a deplorable picture of the national finances. So great was the general distrust that, when an attempt was made to borrow $6,000,000,* there were b Angust, not bids for one half the amount ; and so great were the government needs, ^^^** that, in order to procure 12,500,000, the secretary had been compelled to issue stock to the amount of $4,266,000. There were $8,000,000 treasury notes outstand- ing, one half of which would fall due the next year. The entire amount to be paid within the fiscal year was not less than $25,000,000, while the new revenues, al- ready provided for, including new taxes, could not be expected to produce above $8,000,000, owing to the total destruction of commerce. Yet Dallas was not dis- mayed, nor even discouraged. He pro- posed methods which startled Congress and the people. The crisis demanded im- mediate and effective measures, so he pro- posed new and increased taxes ; and, as a means for furnishing a circulating medium and immediate resources in the way of loans, he recommended the establishment of a national bank, the government to be a large and controlling stockholder, and the bank to be compelled to loan to the gov- ernment $30,000,000.2 Congress consider- ed the propositions favorably; and such was the confidence which the character and -4- J G^Cl/CU^ 1 John Armstrong was bom at Carlisle, in Pennsylvania, on the 25th of November, 1768. He was a student at Prince- ton College when the old War for Independence broke out, when he joihed the army, and soon became a member of the staff of General Mercer. He was afterward on the staff of General Gates, and was for a while adjutant general of the Southern Army under that leader. He remained with that officer until the close of the war. Young Armstrong was the author of the celebrated Neuibwrg Addresses just at the close of hostilities. While their tendency was most danger- ous to the public welfare, Washington bore testimony to the patriotic motives of the writer. Armstrong was Secretary of State of Pennsylvania. After marrying the sister of Chancellor Livingston, of New York, he settled on the Hudson, in that State, near Red Hook, where he resided until his death on the 1st of April, 1833. He was United States senator in the year 1800, and in 1804 President Jefferson appointed him minister to France, where he performed his duties with ability. He was appointed brigadier general when the war broke out in 1812, and the following year he was called to the office of Secretary of War, which he reluctantly accepted. When he retired from that post he left public life forever. ' Dallas's proposition contemplated a national bank with a capital of $50,000,000, one tenth in specie and the remain- der in government stocks ; the government to subscribe two fifths of the capital, and to have the appointment of the, president and a third of the directors, and power also to authorize the suspension of specie payments. A bill charter- ing a national bank was passed in 1815, but was vetoed by the President of the United States. Finally, in April, 1816, an act incorporating a national bank became a law. This was the famous United States Bank, whose existence termi- nated in 1836. Alexander J. Dallas was bom in the island of Jamaica in 1759. His father was a Scotchman, and an eminent physi- cian there. This son was educated at Bdinburg and Westminster. After the death of his father he settled in Philadel- 1012 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Measures for inraeasing the Army. Peace apparently remote. Discontents in New England. immediate acts of Dallas inspired, that the loan vainly attempted to be made in Au- gust was favorably negotiated in October ; and treasury notes, which then " none but necessitous creditors, or contractors in distress, or commissaries, quartermasters, and navy agents, acting as it were oflEicially, seemed willing to accept," were, early in Jan- uary following, sold at par^ with the interest added. Mr. Monroe, as acting Secretary of War, proposed vigorous measures for giving strength to the army. Volunteering had ceased, and he proposed to raise, by con- scription or draft, sufficient men to make the existing army number nearly sixty-three thousand, and to provide forty thousand men as a regular force, to be locally em- ployed in the defense of the frontiers and the sea-coast. Bills for this purpose were ■ October at, introduced in Congress f and this and other war measures were more fa- 1814. vorably received than usual, because of the waning prospects of peace with Great Britain excepting on terms humiliating to the United States. Negotia- tions for peace were then in progress at Ghent, in Belgium ; but the unfair demands and denials of Great Britain, through her commissioners, gave very little promise of satisfactory results. That haughty power would not consent to make peace except- ing on very humiliating terms for the Americans ; and yet there were those who could not value national independence, nor comprehend their duty to posterity, who thought that peace would be cheaply purchased even on such terms. While the Legislature of New York called them " extravagant and disgraceful," and that of Virginia spoke of those terms as " arrogant and insulting," the New England Legis- latures had no word of condemnation. The proposition to raise a large force by conscription brought matters to a crisis in New England. In some of the other states the matter of local defenses had been left almost wholly to the discretion of the respective governors. But the President, made suspicious of the loyalty of New England because of the injurious action of the Peace Faction, insisted upon the exclusive control of all military movements there. Because the Massachusetts militia had not been placed under General Dearborn's or- ders, the Secretary of State, in an official letter to Governor Strong, refused to pay the expenses of defending Massachusetts from the common enemy. Similar action for similar cause had occurred in the case of Connecticut, and a clamor was instantly raised that New England was abandoned to the enemy by the National Government. A joint committee of the Massachusetts Legislature made a report on the state of public affairs, which contained a covert threat of independent action on the part of the people of that section, saying that, in the position in which that state stood, no choice was left it between submission to the' enemy, which was not to be thought of, and the appropriation to her own defense of those revenues derived from the people, but which the General Government had hitherto thought proper to expend elsewhere. The committee recommended a conference of sympathizing states to consider the pro- priety of adopting "some mode of defense suited to the circumstances and exigencies of those states," and to consult upon a radical reform in the National Constitution. The administration minority protested against this action, and denounced it as a disguised movement to prepare the way for a dissolution of the Union. Their pro- test was of no avail. The report of the committee was adopted by a vote of three io one, and the Legislature addressed a circular letter to the governors of the other New ■ England States, inviting the appointment of delegates, to meet in Convention at an early day, it said, "to deliberate upon the dangers to which the states in the east- ern section of the Union are exposed by the course of the war, and which there is too much reason to believe will thicken round them in its progress ; and to devise. It practicable, means of security and defense which maybe consistent with th e pres- PrlslS;S™olnted WmTT^frj'.^f^""?:?'"™^ '"^^ "* ""^'^^ ^^"^« *« Colurn.iUmMaga.ir^ In 1801 C„ Jetterson appointed him United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. In October 1814 NoTembTShfre'sf^?/'';,' '"^""7^ ''i' ^ ^''^"''' '■'^^' '^^^<^^ '^^ additionardXforSecretary of W^ to JNoyember,1816,he resigned, and returned to the practice of his profession. He died on the 16th of January, 1811 OF THE WAR OF 1812. 1013 A Conyentlon called at Hartford. Composition of the ConTention. Its proposed Wor k. ervation of their resources from total ruin, and adapted to their local situation, mu- tual relations and habits, and not repugnant to their obligations as members of the Union." They also proposed a consideration of some amendments to the Constitu- tion on the subject of slave representation, that might secure to the New England States equal advantages with others. The proposition of the Massachusetts Legislature was acceded to, and on Thursday morning, the 15th of December, 1814, a Convention, composed of twenty-six delegates, representing Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Ver- mont, assembled at Hartford, in Connecticut, then a town of four thousand inhabit- ants, and organized by the appointment of George Cabot, of Boston, as president of that body, and Theodore D wight as secretary. > The sessions of the Convention continued three weeks, and were held with closed doors. The movement had created much alarm at the seat of government, especially because at about that time the Legislature of Massachusetts appropriated a million dollars toward the support of ten thousand men to relieve the militia in service, and to be, like that militia, exclusively under state control. All sorts of wild rumors and suggestions were put afloat, and the government found it convenient to have Major (afterward General) T. S. Jesup at Hartford, with his regiment, at the opening of the Convention, nominally for the purpose of recruit- ing for the regular army, but really under instructions, no doubt, to watch the move- ments of the supposed traitorous conclave. On the second day of the session, a committee, appointed for the purpose, submit- ted a series of topics proper for the consideration of the Convention, which were as follows : " The powers claimed by the Executive of the United States, to determine conclusively in respect to calling out the militia of the states into the service of the United States ; and the dividing of the United States into military districts, with an officer of the army in eac^i thereof, with discretionary authority from the executive of the United States to call for the militia, to be under the command of such officer. The refusal of the executive of the United States to supply or pay the militia of cer- tain states, called out for their defense, on the grounds of their not having been called out under the authority of the United States, or not having been, by the Executive of the state, put under the command of the commander over the military district. The failure of the government of the United States to supply and pay the militia of the states, by them admitted to have been in the United States service. The report of the Secretary of War to Congress on filling the ranks of the army, together with a bill or act on that subject. A bill before Congress providing for classifying and drafting the militia. The expenditure of the revenue of the nation in offisnsive oper- ations on the neighboring provinces of the enemy. The failure of the government of the United States to provide for the common defense, and the consequent obligations, necessity, and burdens devolved on the separate states to defend themselves, together with the mode, and the ways and means in their power for accomplishing the object." Such was the work which the Convention, at the outset, proposed for itself. On the 20th of December a committee was appointed to " report a general project of such measures" as might be proper for the Convention to adopt ; and, four days afterward, they adopted a report that it would be expedient for the Convention to ■ Tlie following are the names of the delegates : George Cabot, Xathan Dane, William Prescott, Harrison Gray Otis, Timothy Bigelow, Joshua Thomas, Samuel Sumner Wilde, Joseph Lyman, Stephen Longfellow, Jr., Daniel Waldo, Ho- dijah Baylies, and George Bliss, from MaasaehmetU ; Channcey Goodrich, John Treadwell, James Hillhouse, Zephaniah Swift, Nathaniel Smith, Calvin Goddard, and Roger Minot Sherman, ftom Cmnectimt; Daniel Lyman, Samuel Ward, Edward Manton, and Benjamin Hazard, from Rhode lalcmd; Benjamin West, and Mills Olcott, fiom Sew Hampshire; and William Hall, Jr., from Vemumt. 1014 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Signatures of the Members of the Hartford Convention. Proposed Amendments to the Constitution. FAO-SIMIIE or THE SIGNATURES TO THE EEPOET OF THE HAETFOEO OOHTENTIOH. also proposed amendments to the Constitution. ' prepare a general statement of the unconstitutional attempts of the executive government of the United States to infringe upon the rights of the individual states in regard to the military, etc. ; and to recommend to the Legis- latures of the states the adoption of the most effectual and decisive measures to protect the militia and the states from the usurpa- tions contained in those proceed- ings. Also to prepare a state- ment concerning the general sub- ject of state defenses, and a rec- ommendation that an application be made to the national govern- ment for an arrangement with the states by which they would be allowed to retain a portion of the taxes levied by Con- gress, to be devoted to the expenses of self de- fense, et cetera. They nowMof ?w™« t/^ f "^i" 'V''' Constitution, to accomplish the fojjowing results: 1. The restriction of the Sew stated aXflw fh -^ ^^t ^^^- '^"- ^- ^ '^=""»''" "' """^^ «^«™«« °f unlimited power by Congress to make tioron commer.P V r."'^ '.■?' ^T""' ^- ^ "''™^°t <" *^ P°""= °f Congress in la^ng embargoes and restric- conse°;tive t^rSs R tI* T ''"°° """ " ^"'**"'" "^ ">« ^°"«^ S»»'^= «•>«" °<" "« elected fi-om thi same state two re™trsS:repr;sL\tlSrand tl'xXn.^'^^^ °°"^ elected President a second time. 6. That alterations be made OF THE WAR OF 1812. 1015 Adjournment of the Hartford Convention. Suspicions respecting its Worlc. The Substance of that Work. The labors of the Hartford Convention ended on the 4th of January, 1816, with a report and resolutions, signed, by the delegates present, to be laid before the Legisla- tures of the respective states represented in the Convention. The report and resolu- tions were adopted as expressions of the sentiments of the Convention.^ On the fol- lowing morning," at nine o'clock, after prayer by the Rev. Dr. Strong, the . Januarys, Convention adjourned, but with the impression on the part of the mem- ^^^''■ bers that circumstances might compel it to reassemble. For that reason the seal of secrecy was not removed from the proceedings. This gave wide scope for conjecture concerning them, some declaring that they were patriotic, and others that they were treasonable in the extreme. Because the members of that Convention were of the political party to which the Peace Faction belonged, they incurred much odium. They and the party became the target at which the shafts of sharpest wit, as well as bitter denunciations, were hurled ; and at the next election in Massachusetts, the ad- ministration, or Democratic party, issued a hand-bill, with a wood-cut indicative of the character of the opposing par- ties, a copy of which, on a re- duced scale, is given in the annexed cut. He wlio will take pains to in- quire, without prejudice, will be satisfied that the twenty- six eminent men who com- posed the Hartford Conven- tion were as wise, as loyal, and as patriotic as the aver- age of the legislators and pol- iticians of that day or since. They represented the conservative sentiment of discon- tented New England during a season of great trial.^ 1 The report, moderate but firm, able in construction, and forcible though heretical in arguments, and conclusions, was immediately published, and extensively circulated throughout the country. It was read with the greatest avidity. It disappointed the expectations of the radical Federalists and the suspicions Democrats. The few disuuionists of New Bngland fotmd in it no promises of a separation, and the administration party perceived in it no signs of sedition or treason. It presented a concise view of the current and past policy of the government, and summed up the sentiments of the Convention in the following resolutions, which were recommended for adoption to the state Legislatures : "Resolved, That it be and hereby is recommended to the Legislatures of the several states represented in this Conven- tion to adopt all such measures as may be necessary effectually to protect the citizens of said states from the operation and effects of all acts which have been or may be passed by the Congress of the United States, which shall contain pro- visions subjecting the militia or other citizens to forcible drafts, conscriptions, or impressments not authorized By the Constitution of the United States. "Resolved, That It be and hereby is recommended to the said Legislatures to authorize an immediate and earnest ap- plication to be made to the government of the United States, requesting their consent to some arrangement whereby the said states may, separately or in concert, be empowered to assume upon themselves the defense of their territory against the enemy ; and a reasonable portion of the taxes collected within said states may be paid into the respective treasuries thereof, and appropriated to the payment of the balance due said states, and to the fiiture defense of the same. The amount so paid into the said treasuries to be credited, and the disbursements made as aforesaid to be charged, to the United States. "Resolved, That it be and it hereby is recommended to the Legislatures of the aforesaid states to pass laws (where it has not already been done) authorizing the governors or commanders-in-chief of their militia to make detachments of the same, or to form voluntary corps, as shall be most convenient and conformable to their Constitutions, and to cause the same' to be well armed, equipped, and disciplined, and held in readiness for service ; and, upon the request of the "overnor of either of the other states, to employ the whole of such detachments or corps, as well as the regular force of the state or such part thereof as may be required, and can be spared consistently with the safety of the state, in as- sisting the state making such request, to repel any invasion thereof which shall be made or attempted by the public *°Th^e were other resolutions, but they referred to amendments of the Constitution ajready alluded to. The most that can be said against the resolutions just quoted is, that they abandon the doctrine of a consolidated nation formed by the ratification of the Constitution by the people, for which the Washingtonian Federalists so strenuously contended, and are deeply tinged with the fatal heresy of state supremacy, or, at least, state independence, which has produced ^s'The^author'is indebted to the kindness of Messrs. E. B. and E. C. Kellogg, of Hartford, Connecticut, for a careful copy of the signatures of the members of the Convention, printed on the opposite page, precisely as they are attached 1016 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Sketches of the Members of the Hartford Convention. While the country was agitated by the political events just recorded, and the peo- ple were despondent because of the seeming remoteness of peace and the gloomy as- pect of public affairs in general, other events of great importance, and having a most powerful influence in the direction of peace, were occurring on the southwestern bor- ders of the republic. Let us consider them. We have seen how the Creek Indians in Alabama were led into war, and thereby to the ruin of their nation, by white enemies' of the republic and the influence of Te- to the address and resolutions. The following-brief notices o( those members, compiled from sketches made by Mr. Dwight, the secretary of the Convention, will give the reader some idea of the dignity of that body : George Cabot, the president of the Convention, was a descendant of one of the discoverers of the American conti- nent of that name. He was a warm Whig during the Revolutionary struggle, and, soon after the adoption of the Na- tional Constitution, was chosen a senator in Congress by the Legislature of Massachusetts. He was a pure-hearted, lofty-minded citizen, a sound statesman, and a man beloved by all who knew him. Nathan Dane was a lawyer of eminence, and was also a Whig in the days of the Revolution.^ He was a representa- tive of Massachusetts in Congress during the Confederation, and was specially noticed for his services in procuring the insertion of a provision in the famous Ordinance of 1787, establishing territorial governments over the Territories north- west of the Ohio, which forever excluded slavery from those regions. He was universally esteemed for his wisdom and -integrity. William Prescott was a son of the distingaisln|d Colonel Prescott, of the Revolution, who was conspicuous in the bat- tle of Bunker Hill. He was an able lawyer, first in Salem, and then in Boston. He served with distinction in both branches of the Massachusetts Legislature. " .'^' Harrison Gray Otis was a native of Boston, and mjjmber of the family of that name distinguished in the Revolution. He was a lawyer' by profession, and served the pub% in the Massachusetts Legislature and in the National Congress. He was an eloquent speaker, and as a public man, as well as a private citizen, he was very popular. Timothy Bigelow was a lawyer, and for several yearfwas speaker of the Massachusetts House of Represeijtativea. Joshua Thomas was judge of Probate in Plymouth CSpiity, Massachusetts, and was a man of unblemished reputation inpublic and private life. " •' ■"' Joseph Lyman was a lawyer.^J^ for ^everaj yeaj^eld the office of sheriff of his county. George Bliss was an eminent lawysr, and di^lfflSishBd for his learning, industry, and integrity. He was several times a member of the Massachusetts tegirtatnre.jf ^ Daniel Waldo was a residei|f of Wo^t^jtoefflie established himself in early life as a merchant. He was a state senator, but would seldom consent tofan elaHBt^gfflce: ^ ■ Samuel Sumner Wilde was a lawjtf, aiid was^^ tot-a'seat on the bench of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. Hodijah Baylies was an officer Itf'the CoutineS^rmy, in which position he served with reputation. He was for many years judge of Probate in the county in wh^Se lived, and was distinguished for sound understanding, fine tal- ents, and unimpeachable integrity/ '*^' Stephen Longfellow, Jr., was 'qclawyer of emiaenc^ in Portland, Maine, where he stood at the head of his profession. He was a representative in Congress. i -J ~ . Chaunoey Goodrich was an eminent lawyer, and was for ^^toy yea rs Ae mber of the Legislature of Connecticut in both of Its branches. He was also a member of both houses of CoSg*ii(Bd lieutenant governor of Connecticut. His reputation was very exalted as a pure-statesman and useful citizen. John Treadwell was in public stations in Cpnnecticut a greater part of his life, where he was a member of both legis- lative branches of the government, was a long time a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and was both lieutenant governor and governor of the state. He was a Whig in the Revolution, and a politician of the Washington school. James Hillhonse was a maj; of eminent ability, aqd widely known. He was a lawyer of celebrity, served as a mem- ber of the Legislature of Connecticut, and was for more than twenty years either a senator or representative in Con- iTc^s^rited ^ °°™''^ '" *^^ °'^ '^"''^ ^"^ I°*«P™a«°o«. and was always active, energetic, and pub- Zephaniah Swift wad a distinguished lawyer. * He served as speaker of the Connecticut Assembly, and was a member of Congress, a judge, and for a number of years chief justice of the Supreme Court of Connecticut. Nathaniel Smith was an extraordinary man. He was a lawyer by profession, and for many years was considered as one of the most distinguished members of his profession in Connecticut. He was a member of Congress, and a judge, ofthe Supreme Court of Connecticut. His whole life was marked by purity of morals and love of countr^. Calvin Goddard was a native of Massachusetts, but studied and practiced law in Connecticut, and became a distin- gmshed citizen of that sttfte. He arose to great eminence in his profession, and was in Congress four years. He was repeatedly elected a member of the General Assembly, and was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of that state. Roger Minot Sherman was another distipguished lawyer of Connecticut, and was for a long time connected with the government of that state. He was a man of highest reputation as the possessor ofthe qualities of a good citizen. n»».1Ti f"^* « "? '"" ,* ' " °J^*'^! Kevolution, and rose to the rank of m^or in the Continental Army. After the, w-L %f^ e ^'"^ lawyer mEhode^sl^nd, where he became distinguished for talents and integrity. • He was chief justice of the Supreme Court of that Btate.\ » ■^sm-j- "<= vva= v-mc. ColC'ptS' ArmT ?T»°° "' ^rA™',Y'lrV' ^l^oa" I«l«"a. a°d at the age of eighteen years was a captain in the bZ^p thP iltr„^;t„ \ '""' f ™°^iit«'^P«a*<>n to Quebec in .1775. At that city he was made a prisoner. Si, n Marvd^«B H- T' '<> t'^*™""''^'- He was elected a member of the Convention held at Aunap- BeSa^SLt. 1.1 ' ? ""1 41' r'?'ra "' '"' Convention which framed the National Constitution. mfnTyr^iftS^rtur^^nSig^^ 'Jf^ ' ''"'"' " "'"' "''""'""' ""' ""^ ''■""'^"''- =" '"""' "" mniTwTwlT '^r'^^^t ^''^T ^""f™^*' a'-a a'lawyer by profession, in which he had a good reputation, profession Hampshire; and a son of Chief Justice Olcott, of that state. He was a lawyer by nf^'sTffT"' ^i"f™' ^5*"™ of Vermont His business was that of a merchant, and he was Jtequently a member of the State Legislature. He was universally esteemed and respected by all good men. quenuy a memper OF THE WAK OF 1812. 1017 General Jackson recalled into active Service. His Vigilance. Hostile Movements at Pensacola. " April, 1814 cumtha, the Indian al- ly of the British;' and we left General Jack- son,* who had been the chief instrument in the de- struction of that na- tion, resting at "The Hermitage," his man- sion and estate, a few miles from Nashville, in Tennessee. From that pleasant retreat he was soon recalled to active duty, having been appointed a ma- jor general in the army of the United States," and commander of 'April. m "the nEBMITAGE" IN 1861.2 the Seventh Military District, with his l^ead-qu?lrters at.Mobile, which post the Amer- icans had taken possession of as early as April, 1812,^ when the Spaniards retired to Pensacola. Jackson was instructed to stop on his way to Mobile to make a defini- tive treaty with the remnant of the Creek nation, Wjh\ch he did at Fort Jackson* on the 14th of August." j , - Jackson's vigilance was sleepless. It was in marked contrast with the slum- ° ^^^*' bering apathy or indifference at the War Department. He was promptly informed 'of what was occurring not only in his own department, but in the whole region around him, for he had trusty spies, pale and dusky, every wh.ere. He had observed with indignation and alann that the authorities at Pensacola, with usual Spanish duf plicity, while professing neutrality, were in practical alliance with the British and In- dians. Of this the government was promptly informed ; but Jackson received no responses to his warnings. He continued to receive evidences of gathering danger at Pensacola, and finally, late in August, the mask of Spanish neutrality was removed; Nine British ships of war then lay at anchor in the harbor there. Marineg were land- ed from them and allowed to encamp on the shol-e. Their commander. Lieutenant Colonel Edward Nichols, was made a welcome guest of the Spanish governor, and the British flag was unfurled over one of the forts. Indian runners were sent on swifb errands among the' neighboring Creek and Seminole Indians to invite them to Pensacola, there to be enrolled in the service of the British crown. The response to their call was the speedy gathering of almost a thousand savages at that Spanish post, where they received arms and ammunition in abundance from the British officers. Then went forth a general order from Nichols to his soldiers, followed soon afterward by a proclamation to the inhabitant's of Louisiana and Kentucky, both of which re- vealed hostile intentions. To his troops Nichols spoke of their being called upon " to perform long and tedious marches through wildernesSte^, swamps, and watei^courses," and he exhorted them to conciliate their Indian allies, and to " never give them just cause for offense." In his proclamations he addressed the most inflammatory appeals to the prejudices of the French and the discontents of the Keiaituckians, which a seem- ing neglect by their government and the arts of politicians had engendered.' In fact, 1 See Chapter XXXHL » This was the appearance of TRe Hermitage when the writer visited and sketched it in the spring of 1861. 3 See page 742. ' ' * See page T82. 6 ThBHBHtish counted largely npon the passive acquiescence, if not actual assistance, of the French and Spanish in- 1018 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK OatlawsatBaratariaBay. Their Leader. Inyitation to join the Britiah Navy. Nichols, with a strange imprudence, seemed to take particular pains to proclaim that the land and naval forces at Pensacola were only the van of far more formidable ones composing an expedition for the seizure of New Orleans and the subjugation of Louisiana. There was another revelation of impending danger made to the Americans at this time and this, with the proceedings at Pensacola, aroused the people of the South- west, and the civil and military authorities, to the greatest vigilance and speedy prep- arations to meet an invasion. This was an attempt on the part of the British to ob- tain the aid of a community of outlaws on the borders of the Gulf These were pri- vateersmen arid smugglers, whose head-quarters were on a low island called Grand Terre, six miles in length and one and a half in breadth, which lies at the entrance to Baratai-ia Lake or Bay, from the Gulf of Mexico, little less than sixty miles southwest from New Orleans in a direct line. From that island there is a water communica- tion for small vessels through lakes and bayous to within a mile of the Mississippi River, just above New Orleans. Toward the Gulf is a fine beach, and to it inhabit- ants of the " Crescent City" resort during the heats of the summer months. The bay forms a sheltered harbor, in which the privateers of the Baratarians (as the smug- glers were called) and those associated with them lay securely from the besom of the " Norther" that sweeps occasionally over the Gulf, and also from the cannon of ships of war, for the bay was inaccessible to such ponderous and bulky craft as were then used. The community of marauders there formed a regularly organized association, at the head of which was Jean Lafitte, a shrewd Frenchman and blacksmith from Bordeaux, and late resident of New Orleans. He had caused a battery of heavy guns to be pointed seaward for the protection of his company ; and there might be seen at all times shrewd and cautious men from New Orleans, having " honorable mention" in that community, purchasing at cheap rates for profitable sales the rich booty of the sea-robbers, and thereby laying broadly the foundations of the fortunes of many a wealthy family living in the Southwest when the Civil War broke out in 1861. • Lafitte became known in history, romance, and song as the " Pirate of the Gulf," of whom Byron erroneously said he " Left a corsair's name to other times, Linked with one vlrtae and a thousand crimes." He was not a corsair in the meaning of the law of nations ; and his crimes, such as they were, were not against ^humanity, but were violations of the revenue and neu- trality laws of the United States. " I may have evaded the payment of duties at the custom-house, but I have never ceased to be a good citizen," said Lafitte, on one oc- casion ; and then, with the usual plea of a culprit, he added, " All the ofienses I have ever committed have been forced upon me by certain vices in the laws." The fact that the United States government had, by legal proceedings, made the Baratarians outlaws, and, as a natural consequence, it was supposed, the bitter ene- mies of that government, caused the British to seek an alliance with them, not doubt- ' isu ^°^ ^^^^ ^* would gladly be afforded. Accordingly, on the 1st of Septembei-,' the British sloop of war Sophia, Captain Lockyer, sailed from Pensacola with dispatches for Jean Lafitte, among which was an invitation from Lieutenant Colonel Nichols, already mentioned, inviting that leader and his band to enter the British service, and a letter from Captain W. H. Percy, a son of Lord Beverly, the command- er of the British squadron at Pensacola, in which Lafitte's fears were appealed to.* Lafitte took the offered documents, and was assured by Lockyer that his vessels and habitants of Lonisiana, who had been opposed to the mle of the United States government, and also upon the aid of the slaves, whose freedom was to be proclaimed when the British should obtain a sure foothold on the borders of the Mis- sissippi Eiver or the Gulf of Mexico. 1 The package contained, besides these two letters, Nichols's proclamation to the inhabitants of Louisiana, and a copy of Captam Percy's orders to Captain Lockyer, in which the latter was directed, if successflil in his mission, to " concert measures for the annoyance of the enemy, having an eye to the jnnctme of the small armed vessels" of the Baratarians with those of the British "for the capture of Mobile," etc. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 1019 A Leader of Smugglers turns Patriot. Jackson perceives Miscliief. Mobile and its Defenses. WILLIAM 0. O. OLAIBOBNE. men would be received into the honorable service of the Royal Favy. These docu- ments Lafitte sent to William C. C. Clai- borne, then governor of Louisiana, with a letter, saying, " Though proscribed in my adopted country, I will never miss an occa- sion of serving her, or of proving that she has never ceased to be near to. me."i Before these revelations were made, Jack- son's sagacity and forecast, when consider- ing rumors and positive information that reached him from time to time, had made him suspicious that such hostile movements were in preparation ; and, while a handful of men were trampling upon the national capital, he was planning a scheme for crush- ing at one blow the triple alliance of Brit- ish, Spanish, and Indians at Pensacola, and ending the war in the Southwest. Now, with positive testimony of danger before him (copies of the documents furnished by Lafitte having been sent to him), he resolved to act promptly, without the advice or sanction of his government.^ He squarely accused Manrequez, the Spanish governor at Pensacola, with bad faith, when a spicy correspondence ensued. This Jackson ended by saying to the governor, " In future I beg you to withhold your insulting charges against my government for one more inclined to listen to slander than I am; nor consider me any more a diplomatic character unless so proclaimed from the mouth of my cannon." Then he sent his adjutant general. Colonel Robert Butler, into Ten- nessee to beat up for volunteers, with a determination to give tangible shape to the threat contained in the last clause of his letter. In a very short time no less than two thousand of the sturdy young men of Tennessee were ready for the field! Meanwhile, hostilities had actually commenced in that quarter. When Jackson reached Mobile, late in August, he was satisfied that an attempt would be made to seize that post as soon as the great expedition of which he had rumors should be pre- pared to move. Mobile was then only a little village of wooden houses, with not a thousand inhabitants, with no defenses against artillery, and scarcely sufficient to withstand an attack from the rifles of Indians. At the entrance to Mobile Bay, thirty miles from the village, was Fort Bowyer (now Fort Morgan), occupying the extremity of a narrow sand cape on the eastern side of that entrance, and commanding the en- tire channel between it and Dauphin Island. It was a small work, semicircular in form toward the channel, and of redan shape on the land side. It was weak, being without bomb-proofs, and mounting only twenty guns, and all but two of these were 12-pounders and less. And yet this was the chief defense of Mobile; for, the enemy once inside of the bay, there would be no hope for holding the post with the troops then at hand. So, when Jackson perceived, early in September, that a speedy move- ment against Mobile from Pensacola was probable, he threw into Fort Bowyer one hundred and thirty of the Second regular infantry, under Major William Lawrence, > Lafitte had amassed a large fortune by his lawless pursuits, and perceived the danger that menaced his trade, his possessions, and his liberty. Already his brother, who had been his chief agent in New Orleans, was in prison for his offenses, and the authorities of the United States were preparing to strike a withering blow at Barataria. Lafitte, will- ing to save himself and his possessions, and preferring to be called a patriot rather than a pirate, asked the British mes- sengers to allow him a few days for consideration. When Lockyer departed Lafitte sent the documents up to New Or- leans, as mentioned in the text. » An order was actually issued from the War Department authorizing Jackson to seize Pensacola, but it did not reach him until six months afterward, when the war had ceased. 1020 PICTOBIAL FIELD-BOOK A British SquadroB tlireatens It. PreparationB for Attack. Fort Bowyer garrieoned and strengthened. one of the most gallant officers in the service. At the same time, he sent orders for Colonel Bujjler to call out the enrolled Tennessee Volunteers, and have them led immediately to Mobile. Major Lawrence made vigorous preparations to resist the enemy by strengthening the fort as much as pos- sible, and providing against attacks upon it from cannon that might be planted upon sand-hills near, which commanded it. These preparations were not completed when, on the morning of the 12th of September, Lieutenanst Colonel Mchols appeared on the peninsula, in rear of the fort, with one hundred, and thirty marines and six hundred Indians, the latter led by Captain Woodbine, who had been attempting to drill them at Pen- saeola, Toward evening four British vessels of war hove in sight, and an- chored within six miles _ of Mobile Point. These were the Hermes, 22;. Sophia,}.?,; Caron, 20 ; and Anacon- da, 18, the whole under Captain Per- cy, the commander of the squadron of nine vessels in Pensacola Bay, al- ready mentioned, of which these were a part. In the presence of these for- midable forces, the little garrison slept upon their arms that night.: On the following morning Nichols reconnoitred the fort from behind the sand^hilld in its rear, and, dragging a howitzer to a sheltered position within seven hundred yards of the work, threw some shells and a solid shot upon it without much effect. Responses from Major Lawrence were equally harmless ; but when, later in the day, Percy's men attempted to cast up intrenchments, Lawrence's guns quickly dispersed them. Meanwhile several light boats, engaged in sounding the channel nearest the fort, were dispersed in the same way. • Septemheri4, The Succeeding day" was similarly employed ; but early on the morn- 1814. jjjg of the 15th it was evident to the garrison that an assault was about to be made from land and water. The forenoon wore away, while a stiff breeze was blowing, and when it slackened to a slight one from the southeast, toward noon, the ships stood out to sea. They tacked at two q'clock, and bearing down upon the fort in order of " line ahead," the Hermes (Percy's flag-ship) leading, took position for at- tack. The Hermes and Sophia lay nearly abreast the northwest face of the fort, while the Oaron and Anaconda were more distant. Lawrence then called a council of officers, when it was determined to resist to the last, and not to surrender, if finally compelled to, unless upon the conditions that officers and privates should retain their arms and private property, be protected from the savages, and be treated as prison- ANDHEW JAOKSON.l ' This Is from the portrait of General Jackson in the City Hall, New York, which was painted by order of the Com- mon CouncU for the city by John Vanderlyn, In 1819, when Jackson was fifty-two years of age. OF THE WAK OF 1812. 1021 Attack on Port Bowyer. The British repulsed.' Effect of the Repulse. ers of war. This being their resolution, the words "2)ow'* gim vjp the forV\ were adopted as the signal for the day.i The Hermes drew nearer the fort, and when within range of its guns the two 24- pounders were opened upon her without much effect. She made a faint reply, and anchored within musket range of the work, while the other three vessels formed in battle line under a heavy fire. It was now half past four in the afternoon. The four vessels simultaneously opened fire, and the engagement became general and fierce, for broadside after broadside was fired upon the fort by the ships, while the circular battery was working fearfully upon the assailants. Meanwhile Captain Woodbine opened fire from a howitzer and a 12-pounder from behind a sand dune seven hun- dred yards from the opposite side of the fort. The battle raged until half past five, when the flag of the Hermes was shot away, and Lawrence ceased firing to ascertain whether she had surrendered. This humane act was followed by a broadside from the Caron, and the fight was renewed with redoubled vigor. Very soon the cable of the Hermes was severed by a shot, and she floated away with the current, her head toward the fort, and her decks swept of men and every thing else by a raking fire. Then the fiag-staff of the fort was shot away and the ensign fell, when the ships, con- trary to the humane example of the garrison, redoubled their fire. At the same time, Woodbine, supposing the garrison had surrendered, approached with his Indians, when they were driven back in great terror by a storm of grape-shot. Both sailors and marines found the garrison in full vigor, and only a few minutes after the flag fell it was seen floating over the fort at the end of a sponge-staff to which 'Major Lawrence had nailed it. The attacking vessels, batter- ed and in peril, soon withdrew, excepting the helpless Hermes, which grounded upon a sand- bank, when Percy flred and abandoned her. At almost mid- night the magazine of the Her- mes exploded. So ended, in a repulse of the British, the attack on Fort B&wyer, upon which ninety-two pieces of artillery had been brought to bear, and over thirteen hundred men had i^Ste^ been arrayed against a garrison of one hundred and thirty. The latter lost only eight men, one half of whom were killed. The assailants lost two hundred and thir- ty-two men, of whom the unusual proportion of one hundred and sixty-two were killed. The result -of the strife at Mobile Point was very mortifying to the British. It was wholly unexpected. Percy hq,d declared that he should allow the garrison only twenty minutes to capitulate. That garrison— that handful of men— had beaten off his ships and his co-operating land force with ease. The repulse was fatal to the prestige of the British name among the Indians, and a large portion of them deserted their allies and sought safety from the wrath of Jackson, whom they feared, by con- cealment in the interior of their broad country. The result was most gratifying to the Americans, and gave an impetus to volunteering for the defense of New Or- 1 Latour savs that the officers of the garrison took an oath not to recede from this determination in any case, nor on any pretext, and that in the event of the death of one of them all the others should adhere to ii.-UUtmtaa Memoir of the War in West Florida and Louisiana, by Major A. La Carriere Latour. 1022 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Eeceptiou of the British at Pensacola. Jackion marches on that Place. Violation of a Flag of Truce. leans. Jackson wrote a commendatory letter to Major Lawrence, and that officer received one also from Edward Livingston, chairman of the Defense Committee of New Orleans, assuring him of the joy and gratitude felt by the inhabitants of that city when they heard of his gallant defense of Fort Bowyer. At the same time it was resolved to present to Major Lawrence an elegant sword in the name of the cit- izens of New Orleans.' When the discomfited British returned to Pensacola they were publicly received as friends and allies. This circumstance, the attack on Fort Bowyer, and the revela- tions just made concerning an attempt by the British to engage a band of outlaws to assist them in an attempt to capture New Orleans, which we shall consider presently, kindled the hottest indignation in the minds of Jackson and the inhabitants of the • September 21, Southwest. The general issued" a fiery proclamation to the inhabitants ^^^^- of Louisiana as a counterblast to that of Nichols, in which he set forth the conduct of thfe British and the perfidy of the Spaniards, calling them to arouse in defense of their threatened country. He also put forth an address on the same day to the free colored people of Louisiana, inviting them to unite with the rest of their fellow-citizens in defending their common country from invaders. The people were already much excited by the threatening aspect of afiairs, and these appeals aroused them to vigorous action. Jackson had determined to march on Pensacola as soon as the Tennessee Volunteers should arrive, and break up that rendezvous of the enemies of the republic. The time for such movement was looked for with great impatience. It was even weeks remote, for it was the beginning of November before Jackson had his forces on hand for the purpose. These were assembled at Fort Montgomery, due north from Pensa- cola, four thousand strong,^ and marched for the doomed fort on the Sd,** D Jf oVGIUDCr ■ tJ ' ? some Mississippi dragoons in advance. The whole army encamped within two miles of Pensacola on the evening of the 6th, when Jackson sent Major Pierre with a fiag of truce to the governor, with an assurance that the expedition was not to make war upon a neutral power, nor to injure the town, but to deprive the ene- mies of the republic of a place of refiige. He was instructed, also, to demand the surrender of the forts. But when the fiag approached it was fired upon by a 12- pounder at Fort St. Michael, which was garrisoned by the British, and over which the Spanish and British fiags had been conjointly waving until the day before. When Pierre reported these facts, Jackson sent a Spanish prisoner, whom he had captured on the way, to the governor, with a message demanding an explanation. Manrequez denied all knowledge of the outrage, and gave an assurance that if another fiag should be sent it would be respected. Pierre went again at midnight, and submitted to the governor a proposal from Jackson that American garrisons should be admitted into Forts St. Michael and Bavancas until the Spanish government could procure a suf- ficient force to enable it to maintain its neutrality against violations of it by the British, who had possessed themselves of the fortresses, notwithstanding the alleged remonstrances and protests of the Spanish governor ; also that the American troops should be withdrawn as soon as such a respectable force should arrive. Jackson's proposition was rejected by the governor after consultation with his chief officers. The consequence was, that, before dawn, troops were marching upon Pensacola, three thousand in number,^ for Jackson had resolved to have no farther 1 William Lawrence was a native of Maryland. He entered the service as second lieutenant of infantry in June, 1801. He was adjutant in 1807, captain in 1810, major in April, 1314, and was breveted lieutenant colonel for his gallant serv- ices at Fort Bowyer. He was made full lieutenant colonel in 1818, and in 1824 was breveted colonel for ten years' faith- ful services. He was made full colonel in 1828, and resigned in July, 1831. ' These consisted of about one thousand regulars, composed of the Third, Thirty-ninth, and Forty-fourth Infantry, the Tennessee Volunteers, and a battalion of volunteer dragoons from the Mississippi Territory. ' The right of the column consisted of Tennessee Volunteers, under General Coffee ; the centre, of the Thirty-third and Forty-fourth regulars, under Major Woodruff; and the left, of the Tennessee militia and Choctaw Indians, under Minors Blue and Kennedy, with a battalion of Mississippi dragoons commanded by Mi^or Hinds. OP THE WAK 01" 1812. 1023 The Americans in Penaaeola. Flight of the British and Indians. New Orleans aroused. parley with the authorities. They took a direction, under the mask of some mount- ed men, to avoid the fire of Fort St. Michael and the ships in the harhor. Their course lay along the beach, toward the east part of the town, but the sand was so heavy that they could not drag the cannon through it. Then the centre of the col- umn was ordered to charge into the town. This was gallantly done, and in the prin- cipal street they were met by a two-gun battery, which opened upon them with balls and grape-shot, while a shower of musketry was poured upon them from the gardens and houses. Captain Laval and his company charged the battery and captured it, when the frightened governor appeared with a white flag, and made promises to comply with any terms Jackson might propose if he would spare the town. An in- stant surrender of all the forts was demanded and promised, and after some delay this was done. But Fort Barancas, six miles distant, and commanding the harbor, in which the British ships lay (the most important of all the fortifications), was yet in the hands of the enemy. This Jackson determined to march suddenly upon the next morning, and, seizing it, turn its guns on the British ships, and capture or greatly in- jure them before they could escape. But before morning the fort was abandoned and blown up, and the British squadron had left the port, bearing away Lieutenant Colonel Nichols, Captain "Woodbine, and a considerable number of Indians, with the Spanish commandant of the fort, and its garrison of about four hundred men. Jackson suspected that the British, who had so suddenly left Pensacola, had re- turned to make another attempt against Mobile while he was absent, so he immedi- ately withdrew, and hastened with his troops in the same direction by way of Fort Montgomery, leaving Manrequez indignant because of the flight of his British friends, and the Indians deeply impressed with a feeling that it would be very imprudent to again defy the wrath of Andrew Jackson. That leader had, by this expedition, ac- complished three important results, namely, the expulsion of the British from Pen- sacola ; the scattering of the Indians through the forests, alarmed and dejected ; and the punishment of the Spaniards for much perfidy. He was denounced by the Opposition, and was not fully sustained by his government, in thus invading the ter- ritory of a neutral without orders ; but the people of the West and South, and the Democratic newspapers, applauded his act, which the circumstances of the case seemed to justify. Jackson reached Mobile on the 11th of November,* where he found mes- ^^^^^ sages urging him to hasten to the defense of New Orleans. The revelations made by Lafitte had not been accepted as true by the government officials ; but the people believed them, and held a large meeting, in consequence, at the St. Louis Ex- change, in New Orleans, on the 16th of September. They were eloquently addressed by the late Edward Livingston, then a leading citizen of Louisiana, who urged the inhabitants to make immediate preparations to repel the contemplated invasion. They appointed a Committee of Safety,' composed of the most distinguished citizens of New Orleans, with Livingston as chairman, who sent forth a stirring address to the people. Governor Claiborne, who, like Livingston, believed the statements of Lafitte, sent copies of the British papers to General Jackson, then at Mobile. Then it was that the latter issued his vigorous counter-proclamation, and proceeded to the prosecution of measures for breaking up the nest of enemies at Pensacola, as just re- corded. Jackson departed for New Orleans on the 21st of November, and arrived there on the 2d of December, making his head-quarters at what is now 86 (formerly 104) Royal Street (see engraving on next page). He found the city utterly defenseless, and the councils of the people distracted by petty factions. The patriotic Governor Claiborne had called the Legislature together as early as the 5 th of October. The 1 This committee consisted of Edward Livingston, Pierre Foncher, Dussan de la Croix, Benjamin Morgan, George Og- den, Dominique Bouliguy, J. A. Destrehan, John Blanque, and Augustine MacarW. 1024 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The Weakness of New Orleans. Jackson's Arrival hailed with Joy. Approacbi of the Invaders. members were divided into several factions, and there was neither union, nor harmony, nor confi- dence to be found. Tlie people, alarmed and dis- trustful, complained of the Legislature ; that body, in turn, complained of the governor ; and Claiborne complained of both the Legislature and the people. Money and credit were equally wanting, and arms and ammunition were very scarce. There was no effective naval force in the adjacent waters ; and only two small militia regiments, and a weak bat- talion of uniformed volunteers, commanded by Ma- jor Plauche, a gallant Creole, constituted the mil- itary force of the store- filled able mer- and it natural JAOKSOn'S city nEAU-QrARTEES. for the owners to prefer the surrender of the city at once to a seemingly in- vincible foe, to incurring the risk of the destruction of their property by a resistance that should invite a fiery bombardment. In every aspect the situation was most gloomy when Jack- son arrived, worn down with sickness, fatigue, and anxiety. His advent was hailed with great joy by the citizens, for he was regarded as a host in him- self; and the cry of " Jackson's come ! Jackson's come !" went like an electric spark in eager words from lip to lip, giving hoj)e to the desponding, courage to the timid, and confidence to the patriotic. Jackson did not rest for a moment. He organized the feeble military force in the city ; took measures for obstructing the large bayous, whose waters formed convenient communications between the Mississippi near New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico, and proceeded to inspect and strengthen the fortifications in the vicinity and to erect new ones. Fort St. Philip, below the city, was the object of his special care, for on that he mainly relied for preventing the passage of the river by the vessels of the invaders. The expected enemy soon appeared. The army that captured Washington and was repulsed at Baltimore had left the Chesapeake toward the middle of October, three thousand strong, and sailed away for the West Indies in the fleets of Admirals Cochrane and Malcolm. These were soon joined by over four thousand troops under General Keane, a gallant young Irish ofliccr, who had sailed from Plymouth in Sep- tember. The combined forces were assembled in Negril Bay, Jamaica, and in over fifty vessels of all sizes more than seven thousand land troops were borne across the Gulf of Mexico in the direction of New Orleans. They left Negril Bay on the 26th of November, and first saw the northern shore of the Gulf, off the Chandeleur Islands, M i-iiiR PL VI one J This battalion numbered three hundred and eighty-five meu, and was composed of the companies named respect- ively Hulans, or foot dragoons, under Captain St. Genre ; Francs, Captain Hudry ; Louisiana BluM, Captain Mauusel White i and Cluisseura, Captain Guibert. OF THE WAR OT 1812. 1025 The Britisli deceived. Preparations to receive the Invaders. The British prepare for a Fight on Lake Borgne. between the mouth of the Mississippi and Lake Borgne, in the midst of a furious stoi-m, on the 9th of Decemher. Music, dancing, theatrical performances, and hilarity of every kind had heen indulged in during the passage of the Gulf, for every man felt confident that an easy conquest of Louisiana awaited them. The wives of many oiE- cers accompanied them, and were filled with the most delightful auticipations of pleasure in the beautiful New World before them. The British supposed the Americans to be profoundly ignorant of their expedition. They anchored the fleet in the deep channel between Ship and Cat Islands, near the entrance to Lake Borgne, and prepared small vessels for the transportation of troops over the shallow waters of that region with great expedition, hoping to surprise and capture New Orleans before their presence should be fairly suspected. They were disappointed. The revelations of Lafitte had made officers and people vigilant ; and early in Becember, Commander Daniel T. Patterson,' then commanding the naval sta- tion at New Orleans, was warned by a letter from Pensacola of the approach of a powerful British land and naval armament. That vigilant officer immediately sent out five gun-boats, a tender, and a dispatch-boat toward the passes of Mariana and Christian, as scouts to watch for the enemy. They were commanded by Lieutenant (late Commodore) Thomas Ap Catesby Jones, who sent two gun-boats, under the re- spective commands of Lieutenant M'Keever and Sailing-master Ulrick, to Dauphin Island, at the entrance to Mobile Bay, to catch the first intelligence of the foe. They discovered the great fleet on the 10th of December, and hastened to report the fact to Lieutenant Jones. Patterson had ordered that officer to take such position as would enable him, in the event of the enemy making their way into Lake Borgne, to cut off their barge's and prevent the landing of troops. If Jones should be hard pressed, he was to fall back to the mud fort of Petites Coquilles, near the mouth of the Rigolets, between Lakes Borgne and Pontchartrain, and ..shelter his vessels under its guns. When, on the afternoon of the 10th, the fog that succeeded the storm had cleared away, and the British fleet were in full view, Jones made for the Pass Christian with his little flotilla, where he anchored, and waited the approach of the invaders. He was discovered by the enemy on the 13th, much to their astonishment. It was evi- dent that the Americans were -acquainted with the intentions of the British, and had made preparations to meet them. Cochrane immediately gave orders for a change in the plan of operations. It would not do to attempt the landing of troops while American gun-boats were patrolling the waters of Lake Borgne. So he prepared a flotilla of almost sixty barges, the most of them carrying a carrohade in the bow and an ample number of armed volunteers from the fleet, and sent them, in command of Captain Lockyer, to capture or destroy the American vessels. These were observed by Jones at four o'clock in the afternoon, when, in obedience to orders, he proceeded with his flotilla toward the Rigolets. A calm, and adverse water currents would not allow him to pass the channel between Point Clear of the main and Malheureux Isl- and, and there he anchored at two o'clock on the morning of the 14th. Jones's flag- ship was a little sloop of eighty'tons, and the other ves- sels of his tiny squadron were commanded respectively by Sailing-masters Ferris and Ulrick, and Lieutenants M'Keever and Speddon. The total number of men was one hundred and eighty-two, and of guns twenty-three. 1 Daniel T. Patterson was bom In the State of New Tork, and entered the uaniei i. ra Commodore Bainbridge, and was with navy as a ™^f 'P^*° '? Triooli He was promoted to lieutenant in ISOT, that f^'^^'Z^mZll^nT^ntis J^fter his valuable services near New Orleans he was "edTo captain, in February, 1815. Prom 1828 to 1832 he Orleans he was P™™ ^^ f„^ 1832 to 1835 commanded a squadron ?"r*r.°^JrCZ He Sed while in command of the navy yard atWash- ILton^ftST'ku^usrXnd was buried in thec™ S|-"round nei that clty%here a small, neat monument m»ks his grave. PAIIBBSOH'S UONUUXIIT. 1026 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Battle of Barges and Gun-boats. Capture of the American Flotilla. Preparations to attack New Orleans. With a cool morning breeze, the British barges, containing twelve hundred men, bore down upon Jones's flotilla, while the tender, Alligator, was in the distance, vainly endeavoring to join the Americans. The barges, with six oars on each side, formed a long, straight line, and in that order swept rapidly forward, while Jones reserved his fire until they were within close range. Then M'Keever hurled a 32-pound ball over the water, and a shower of grape-shot, which broke the British line and made great confiision. But the invaders pushed forward, and at- half past eleven o'clock the en- gagement became general and desperate. At one time Jones's boat was attacked by no less than fifteen barges. The Alligator was captured early, and, by the force of overwhelming numbers, the British, after a combat of almost an hour, gained a com- plete victory. It was at the cost of several of their barges, that were shattered and sunk, and about three hundred men killed and wounded. The Americans lost only six men killed and thirty-five wounded. Among the latter were Lieutenants Jones, M'Keever, Parker, and Speddon. The British commander (Lockyer) was severely wounded ; so also was Lieutenant Pratt, who, under the direction of Cockburn, had fired the national buildings of Washington City a little more than a hundred days before. The capture of the American gun-boats gave the British complete control of Lake Borgne, and the lighter transports, filled with troops, immediately entered it. Ship after ship got aground, until at length the troops were all placed in small boats and conveyed about thirty miles to the Isle des Pois (or Pea Island), at the mouth of the Pearl River, and that desert spot was made the place of general rendezvous. There they landed between the 16th and 20th of December, and there General Keane organ- ized his army for future operations. Cochrane had been informed by some former Spanish residents of Kew Orleans that at the northwestern extremity of Lake Borgne there was a bayou (Bienvenu) navigable for large barges to within a short distance of the Mississippi River, just below New Orleans. He sent a party to explore it. They followed this bayou, and a canal across Villere's plantation, to a point half a mile from' the Mississippi and nine miles below the city, and, hastening back, reported that the transportation of troops through that bayou was feasible. Vigorous measures were immediately adopted for an advance upon New Orleans, where the British troops were assured that wealth and ease awaited them. They were encouraged by ex-officials of the old Spanish govern- ment of Louisiana, who went to the British camp fi-om New Orleans and represented Jackson as an ignorant tyrant, detested by the people, and void of any efficient means for defending the city. Jackson was informed of the capture of the American gun-boats early on the 15th, OF THE WAR OF 1812. 102'7 Jackson's Preparations for Defense. A grand Review. Disposition of Troops. when returning from a tour of observation in the direction of the River Chef Men- teur, northeastward of the city. He at once perceived the importance of securing the passage of the Chef Menteur Road, that crosses the plain of Gentilly in that di- rection from the city to the strait between Lakes Borgne and Pontchartrain, and lie ordered Major Lacoste, with his niililia battalion of colored men and the dragoons of Feliciana, to proceed at once with two pieces of artillery, take post at the confluence of Baj'ou Sanvage and the River Chef Menteur, guard the road, cast up a redoubt at its terminus, and watch and oppose the enemy. He also proceeded to fortify and strengthen every pomt of approach to the city ; sent messengers to Generals Coffee, Carroll, and Thomas, urging them to hasten to ISTew Orleans with their commands as quickly as possible, and forwarded a dispatch to General Winchester, in command at Mobile, directing him to be on the alert. Then he appointed the 18th of December for a grajid review of all the remaining troops in New Orleans, in front of the old Cathedral of St. Louis, in the Place d'Armes (now Jackson Square), one of the yet re- maining relics of the Sj^anish dominion in Louisiana. It was a memorable day in THE OLD 6PAJJISH OAXUEllEAL AND UOYl::r..N.ME.NT noUSE.- New Orleans. The whole population were out to witness the spectacle. The impend- ino-ston ^ The enthusiasm of the soldiers and citizens was intense ; and Jackson, tak- inS'advanta-e of that state of public feeling, silenced the distracting voices of faction by declarinl martial law and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas """men the review was over. Major Plauch6 was sent with his battalion to the Bavou St John, northward of the city; and at its mouth, on Lake Pontchartrain, Ma or Hucrhes was in command of Fort St. John. The Baratarians, on the urgent solicitation of their chief, Lafitte, were accepted as volunteers, m ustered mto the the right. Livingston manor, on the Hudson, in 17C4. He was graduated at Princeton = Edward Livingston was ho n on the r, v g ,^ ^^^^^^^^ ^^ ^ ^^^^ .^^ ^^^ .^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^.^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^_ College ^-l^^l'^^l^-^^^'^ZiieT^^^^ appointed him United States District Attorney for New York. He made elected until ISOl, when f/''^"^^"; '' ^ a„ttoVof the penal code of Louisiana, adopted in 1824. He was again in Con- New Orleans hi-* reBitoce^ He was ae auth P ^ ^^.^^^^ ^^^,.,^^^ ^j^;^^^^ ^^ ^1,^ ^^^^^^ C^^^t i^ 1833_ f:diid Sstsid^enc: ^X^^^y. New York, on the .Sd of Ma^lSBT. 1028 I'ICTOraAL FIELD-BOOK Temper of the People. The British approach the Mississippi. They capture a Picket-guard. « m^-^J,^5*^^l^ lORT 8T JOHN IN ISbl ranks, and drilled to the per- formance of important serv- ices, under the command of Captains Dominique You, Be- luche, Songis, Lagaud, and Colson, at Forts Petites Co- quilles, St. Philip, and St. John. The people cheerful- ly submitted to martial law ; and, in the languages of En- gland, France, and Sj^ain, the streets were made to resound with "Yankee Doodle," the " Marseillaise Hymn," and the " Chant du Depart." The women were as enthusiastic as the men, and at windows, on balconies, in the streets, and public squares, they apjjlauded the passing soldiers by waving of scarfs and handkerchiefs and uttering cheering words. Martial music was continually heard, and iSTew Orleans appeared more like a military camp than a quiet mart of commerce. Business was mostly suspended, and the Legislature passed a law for prolonging the term of payment on all contracts until the first of the ensuing May. Military rule was complete. Able-bodied men of every age, color, and nationality, excepting Brit- ish, were pressed into the service; suspicious persons were sent out of the city, and no one was allowed to pass the chain of sentinels around it without a proper official permission. While these preparations for the reception of the invaders were in progress, the British were making unceasing efibrts to press forward and take New Orleans by surprise. They had determined to make use of the Bayou Bienvenu and Villere's Canal for the purpose; but with all their exertions, and after pressing the captured gun-boats into the service, they could not muster vessels enough fitted to navigate that bayou to carry more than one third of the army. Keane felt so confident of success, even with a small part of his force, that he could not brook farther delay; and on the morning of the 22d of December — a rainy, chilly, cheerless morning — a flotilla filled with troops set out, the advance, comprising eighteen hundred men, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Thornton, who had been wounded at Bladensburg. These were accompanied by General Keane and his stafi" and other important ofiicers, and were followed by the remainder. Admiral Cochrane was in a schooner, at a prop- er distance to watch and direct the squadron. All day and all night they were out upon the lake in open boats. A clear sky and biting frost came at sunset, and the wet clothing of the soldiers was stifl^ened into iciness by the cold night air. Their discomforts ended in a measure at dawn, when they reached the Fisherman's Village (inhabited by Spaniards and Portuguese, who were spies and traitors), at the mouth of the Bayou Bienvenu. They were only twelve miles from New Orleans, and not a soul in that city suspected their approach. Yet there were vigilant eyes, wide open, watching the invaders. At the head of the Bayou Bienvenu was the plantation of General Villerc, the commander of the first division of Louisiana militia. Jackson had instructed his son. Major Gabriel Villere, to watch that bayou with a competent picket-guard. He did so, faithfully ; but when the British landed at Fisherman's Village they captured the most of them. It proved to be a fortunate cii-cumstance, for these men so magnified the number of Jackson's troops, and the strength of the defenses around New Orleans, that they or THE WAR OF 18 12. 1029 The British at VillerA's. Jackson warned of Danger. The Response to his Call for Troops. moved cautiously, and failed to surprise the vigilant hero in the city. They moved slowly up the bayou ; but when they reached Viller6's Canal the active Thornton pushed forward with a detachment, surrounded the mansion of the plantation, which is in sight of the Mississippi, and succeeded in capturing Major Villere. He soon es- " '^^^fcn^HW-^B^ TILLEE^'e MANSION. 1 caped, fled to the house of his neighbor, the gallant Colonel De la Ronde, and in a boat ftiey hastened across the Mississippi. There, at the stables of M. De la Croix, one of the Committee of Public Safety of ISTew Orleans, they procured fleet horses, and with that gentleman rode swiftly up the levee on the right bank of the river, and crossed again at 'New Orleans to warn Jackson of the approach of the foe. Augustus Rousseau, an active young Creole, who had been sent by Captain Ducros, was already there. He had reached Jackson's head-quarters in Royal Street with the startling intelligence at about one o'clock, and a few minutes afterward Major Villere and his party entered. " Gentlemen," said Jackson to the officers and citizens around him, " the British are below ; we must fight them to-night !" He then ordered three dis- charges of cannon to give the alarm, and sent marching orders to several of the mil- itary commanders. Jackson's call upon Coflfee, Carroll, and others had been quickly responded to. Coifee came speedily over the long and tedious route from Fort Jackson, on the Ala- bama River, to Baton Rouge, and was now encamped, with his brigade of mounted riflemen, on Avart's plantation, five miles above New Orleans. The active young Carroll, who had left Nashville in November with Tennessee militia, arrived in flat- boats and barges at about the same time, and brought into camp a regiment of young, brave, well-armed, but inexperienced soldiers, expert in the use of the rifle, and eager for battle. They landed on the 22d of December, and were hailed by Jackson with great joy. A troop of horse, under the dashing young Hinds, raised in Louisiana, came at about the same time. When in the afternoon of the 23d, Jackson issued his marching orders. Coffee's bri- gade was five miles above the city ; Plauche's battalion was at Bayou St. John, two miles distant • the Louisiana militia and half of Lacoste's colored battalion were three miles off", on the Gentilly Road ; and the regulars (Forty-fourth) under Colonel Ross, 1 This is from a sketch made by the author in April, ISCl. The buildings seen in the distance, beyond the avenue of trees, were the sugar-worlis of the plantation. 1030 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Jackson moves against the Invaders. Their Camp broken up by the Carolina. American Troops hasten to the Scene. with Colonel M'Rea's artillery, a little more than eight hundred strong, were at Fort St. Charles, on the site of the present United States Branch Mint in New Orleans, and in the city barracks. Within an hour after Jackson was informed that the in- vaders were on the direct road to the city, along the river, and only nine miles dis- tant, these troojjs were all in motion under special orders. Carroll and his Tennes- seeans were dispatched to the upper branch of the Bayou Bienvenu ; farther up the Gentilly Road Governor Claiborne was stationed with the Louisiana militia ; and Coffee's brigade, Plauche's and D'Aquin's battalions, Hinds's dragoons, the New Or- leans Rifles, under Captain Beale, and a few Choctaw Indians, commanded by Captain Jugeat, were ordered to rendezvous at Montreuil's plantation, and hasten to Canal Rodriguez, six miles below the city, and there prepare to advance upon the foe. Commodore Patterson was directed to proceed down the Mississippi to the flank of the British at Villere's with such armed vessels as might be in readiness. Such was the scanty force with which Jackson proceeded to fight a foe of unknown numbers and strength. While Jackson was assembling his troops, the invaders were making ready to march on New Orleans that night and take it by surjDrise. They sent forward a negro to distribute a proclamation, signed by General Keane and Admiral Cochrane, printed in French and Spanish, which read thus : " Louisianians ! remain quietly in your homes; your slaves shall be preserved to you, and your property respected. We make war only against Americans." The British were bivouacked on the highest part of Villere's jslantation, at the side of the levee and on the jslain ; and in the court between Villere's house (in which Keane and some of his oflicers made their head-quarters) and his sugar-works^ they had mounted several cannon. They were in fine spirits. Full one half of the invad- ing troops had been brought to the banks of the Mississippi, only nine miles from New Orleans, without firing a gun after capturing Jones's flotilla, and they balieved their near approach to be wholly unknown, and not even suspected, in the city. They were soon undeceived. At seven o'clock in the evening, the schooner Carolina, the only vessel in readiness at New Orleans, commanded by Captain Henley, dropped down the river, and an- chored ofi" Villere's, within musket-shot distance of the centre of the British camp. At half past seven she opened a tremendous fire from her batteries, and in the course of ten minutes killed or wounded at least a himdred men. The British extinguished their camp- fires, and poured upon the Garolma a shower of bullets and Congreve rock- ets, but with no serious eftect. Li less than half an hour the schooner drove the enemy fi-om their camp, and pro- duced great confusion among them. The American troops in the mean time, startled by the concerted signal of tlie Carolina's cannonade, were moving on, guided by Colonel Do la Ronde, who was a volunteer with Beale's riflemen, and Major Villere, who accompanied the commander-in-chief The right, under Jackson, was composed of the „k^^,s i,e ,,^ ko.nm:. ^ See note and picture on page 1020. OF THE WAK OF 1812. 1031 The British Alarmed and Confused. A Night Battle. regulars, Plauche's and D'Aquin's brigades, M'Rea's artillery, and some marines, and moved down the road along the levee; while the left, under Coffee, composed of his brigade, Hinds's dragoons, and Beale's rifles, skirted the edge of a cypress swamp for the purpose of endeavoring to cut ofi" the communications of the invaders with Lake Borgne. Such was the simple plan of the battle, on the part of the Americans, on the night of the 23d of December, 1814. The alarm and confusion in the British camp, caused by the attack of the Carolina, had scarcely been checked when they were startled by the crack of musketry in the direction of their outposts. Keane now gave full credence to the tales of his prison- ers about the large number of troops — "more than twelve thousand" — in New Orleans, and gave the dashing Thornton full liberty to do as he liked. Thornton at once led a detachment, composed of the Eighty-fifth and ISTinety-fifth Regiments, to the support of the pickets, and directed the Fourth, five hundred strong, to take post on Villere's Canal, near head-quarters, to keep open the communication with Lake Borgne. Thornton and his detachment were soon met by a resolute column under the immediate command of Jackson. He had made the Canal Rodriguez, which con- nected the Mississippi with the cypress swamp, his base of operations. He advanced with about fifteen hundred men and two pieces of artillery, perfectly covered with the o-loom of night. Lieutenant M'Clellaud, at the head of a company of the Seventh, filing through De la Ronde's gate, advanced to the boundary of Laooste's plantation, where, under the direction of Colonel Piatt, the quartermaster general, he encoun- tered and attacked the British pickets, who were posted in a ditch behind a fence, and drove them back. These were speedily re-enforced, and a brisk engagement en- sued, in which Piatt received a wound, and M'Clelland and a sergeant were killed. Li'the mean time the artillerists advanced up the Levee Road wath the marines, when the British made a desperate attempt to seize their guns. There was a fierce struo-o-le. Jackson saw it, and hastening to the spot, in the midst of a shower of bul- lets,ire shouted, " Save the guns, my boys, at any sacrifice !" They did so, when the Seventh Regiment, commanded by Major Pierre, advanced, and, being joined by the Forty-fourth, the engagement became general between them and Thornton's detach- ment Plauche and^D'Aquin soon joined their comrades, and the tide of success turned in favor of the Americans. The British, hard pressed, fell sullenly back to their original line unmolested, for the prudent Ross, commanding the regulars, would not allow a pursuit. Had it been permitted, it would have resulted, as was after- ward discovered, most disastrously for the invaders. This conflict occurred not far from De la Ronde's garden. , , , r-r^ i r> i i i General Cofi-ee in the mean time had advanced to the back of De la Ronde s plan- tation, where his riflemen were dismount- _^^ -^==z^ ed, and their horses placed in charge of a _----»- " hundred men at the canal that separated De la Ronde's from Laooste's farm, the latter now the property of D. and E. Vil- lere. The ground was too much cut up with ditches to allow successful cavaliy movements, and Major Hinds and his men remained at one of them, near the middle of Laooste's. Cofi-ee's division extended its front as much as possible, and moved in silence, while Beale and his riflemen stole around the enemy's extreme left, on Villere's plantation, and by a sudden move- ment penetrated almost to the very heart of the British camp, killing several, and LACOSTE S MANSION. 1032 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The British fall hack to shelter. Strength of the Combatantg. Sir De Lacy Evans. making others prisoners. By a blunder, made in consequence of the darkness, a num- ber of Beale's men were captured. In the mean time, Thornton, with the Eighty- iifth, fell heavily on Coffee's line, and for some time a battle raged fiercely, not in regular order, but in detachments, squads, and often duels. In the darkness friends fought each other, supposing each to be a foe. The Tennesseeans and British rifle- men were almost equally expert as sharp-shooters ; but the short weapons of the En- lish were not so efficient as the long ones of the American backwoodsmen. The Ten- nesseeans also used long knives and tomahawks vigorously. At last the British fell back, and took shelter behind the levee, more willing to incur the danger of shots from the Carolina than bullets from the rifles of the Tennesseeans.' AFFAIR BELOW NEW ORLEANS. ^ The loss of the Americans in the affair on the night of the 23d of December was twenty-four killed, one hun- dred and fifteen wounded, and seventy-fonr prisoners ; in all, two hundred and thirteeu. Among the killed was the brave Lieutenant Colonel Lauderdale, of Coffee's bri- gade of mounted riflemen. The British, loss was about four huudred men. According to the most careful esti- mates, the number of Americans engaged in the battle was about eighteen hundred, while that of the invaders, including the re-enforcements that came during the en- gagement, was about twenty-five hundred. The Caro- lina gave the Americans a great advantage, and made the effective power about equal to that of the foe. One of the distinguished British officers wounded in this engagement, and who yet (1S67) survives, was Sir De Lacy Evans. He was also wounded in the battle nearer New Orleans, which occurred a little more than a fortnight later. Sir De Lacy was bom in Ireland in 178T. He entered the British Army in the East Indies as ensign, and served there from 1S07 to 1810 iu the war against Ameer Khan. He also served with distinction in Spain. In 1S14 he became brevet lieutenant colonel of a West India regiment, and was with General Ross iu the battle of Bladensburg, where he had two horses shot uuder him. He led the column into Washington City. He was active also in the movement on Baltimore. Aft- er his second wound before New Orleans he was sent home, and was afterward with Wellington at Quatre Bras. When the Crimean War broke out he was ap- pointed lieutenant general, and commanded the second division of the British Army. He greatly distingui.'^hed himself in that war. For his services there he received the Grand Cross of the Bath, and Louis Napoleon made him grand officer of the Legion of Honor. em DE T,\cy evans. OF TPIE WAR or 18 12. 1033 The Ameiicaus Withdmw. A Skirmish ou Jumonville's Plantation. A Memeuto of tho Battle. During the engagement the second division of the British arrived from Bayou Bien- venu, and were in the thickest of the fight with Goftee for a while ; but the fear of being cut ofi' from communication with the lake and their ships made the enemy too cautious and timid to acliieve what their superior numbers qualified them to perform. They kept within the lines of their camp, and by concentration presented a strong front. Jackson perceived that in the darkness, intensified by a fog that suddenly appeared, he could not follow up his victory with safety, so he led the right division back to the main entrance to De la Ronde's plantation, while Coffee encamped near De la Ronde's garden.' It was about half past nine when the conflict ceased, and at half past eleven, when all was becoming quiet in the respective camps, musket-firing was heard in the direc- tion of Jumonville's plantation, below Viller6's. It was caused by the advance of some Louisiana drafted militia, stationed at a sharp bend of the Mississippi called the English Turn, under General David Morgan, who had insisted upon being led against the enemy when they heard the guns of the Carolina early in the evening. They met some British pickets at Jumonville's, exchanged shots with them, encamped there for the night, and at dawn returned to their post at the English Turn. 1 In the room of the Historical Society of Tennessee, in the Capitol at Nashville, may lie seen an interesting memento of the battle ou the night of the '23d of December, 1S14. It is a tattered flag that was borne through that battle by a company from Shelbyville, Tennessee, commanded by Captain James Moore. It was presented to that company by the women of Bedford County, It is of silk, of the pattern of the national flag, on which was painted a gray eagle bearing a national shield, aud a ribbou inscribed Liukrty and iNitEPENUEwcE. Its appearance \vhen the w'riter made a sketch of it in the spring of ISOl is indicated in the picture below. 1034 PICTORIAL EIELD-BOOK Jackson's Work not yet done. He easts up a Line of Defenses. The Levee cut. CHAPTER XLHL "America's glory, which dazzled the world When the toils of our eires had achieved independence, Was brightened when Jaclison her banners unfurled To protect the dear boon for their grateful descendants — When the conquerors of Spain Crossed the boisterous main, Boldly threat'niug to riTet our fetters again ; But a happy new year for Columbia begun When our Jackson secured what our Washington w^on." SAilUEL WOODWOETH. " White-winged Peace, the dove from heaven's portal, Brought with its olive-branch a song immortal, That filled all hearts with melody supernal, While yet was heard the battle din iufernal." ROMPTNESS and vigor marked the whole conduct of General Jackson at the critical moment we are considering. By his ad- vance to meet the invaders he had saved New Orleans from cap- ture, and Louisiana and the Mississippi Valley from conquest. The whole country blessed him for the act. But his full task was not accomplished, and he knew it. A host of veteran sol- diers, fresh from the battle-fields of Continental Europe, were be- fore him, and they were not likelv to relinquish the footing they had gained on Amei ican soil without a desperate struggle, so he prepared for it Leaving the regulais and some dragoons at De la Ronde's to watch the enemy, Iil fell back with the re mainder of his arm-\ to Rodriguez's Canal, and set his soldiers to work casting up in trenchments along its line from the river to the cypress swamp All day they plied the implements of laboi with the greatest vig or. At sunset a breast- work three feet in height appeared along the entire line of Jackson's army ; and the soldiers spent that Christmas eve in much hilarity, for the events of the previous evening had given tliem the confidence of veterans. Li the mean time, Latour, the chief engineer, had cut the levee in front of Chalmette's plantation, so as to flood the plain between the two armies, and two 6-pounders were placed in battery at the 1 This is from a sketch made by the author in April, 1S61. DE LA F.ONDe'8 MANSION. 1 OF THE WAR OF 1812. 1035 Effect of catting the Levee. A gloom y Day. Anival of General Pakenham. Destruction of the CaroiiTUt. levee to command the road. The river waa so low that the overflow was of little account. Behind these intrenchments, of which each worker was proud, Jackson's little army spent the Christmas day of 1814 in preparations for a determined defense of New Orleans and their common country, i On the same day General Morgan re- ceived orders to evacuate the post at English Turn, place his cannon and a hundred men in Fort St. Leon, and take position with the remainder on Flood's plantation, opposite Jackson's camp, on the right hank of the Mississippi. The cutting of the levee at Chalmette's and Jumonville's helped the enemy more than it did the Amer- icans, for it caused the almost dry canals and bayous to he filled with sufficient water to allow the British to bring up their heavy artillery. Had the Mississippi been full, the invaders would have been placed on an island. That Christmas day dawned gloomily for the invaders. The events of » December, the 23d'' had greatly depressed their spirits, and the soldiers had lost con- ^^^*- fidence in Keane, their commander. The sky was clouded, the ground was wet, and the atmosphere was chilly, and shadowing disappointment was seen in every face. The gloom was suddenly dispelled by an event which gave great joy to the whole army. It was the arrival at camp on that gloomy morning of Lieutenant General Sir Edward Pakenham, the "Hero of Salamanca," then only thirty-eight years of age, who came to assume the chief command of the invading army. He was a true soldier and an honorable man ; and the charge (which might be justly brought against some of the subordinate commanders in that army) that he offered his soldiers, as a reward for their services, in the event of their capturing New Orleans, " the beauty and booty" of the city, is doubtless wholly untrue, for his character was the very op- posite of the infamous Cockburn's. There is proof on record that some of the officers made calculations of personal profit from the spoils that New Orleans would afford. Pakenham came fresh from Europe, with the prestige of eminent success as a com- mander, and his advent at VUler^'s mansion^ was hailed with delight by officers and soldiers. He, too, was delighted when he perused the list of the regiments which he was to command, for those troops, excepting the Ninety-third and the colored regi- ments, had fought all through the war on the Spanish Peninsula. While Jackson was intrenching, the British were not idle. They were employed, day and night, in preparing a heavy battery that should command the Carolina. It was completed on the morning of the 27th, and at seven o'clock a heavy fire was opened fi-om it upon the little schooner from several twelve and eighteen pounders, and a howitzer. They hurled hot shot, which fired the Garolma,yfhen her crew aban- doned her .and she blew up with a tremendous explosion. The schooner iomsmwa, commanded by Lieutenant Thompson, had come down to aid her, and was in great peril. She was the only armed vessel in the river remaining to the Americans. By great exertions she was towed beyond the sphere of danger, and was saved to play a gallant part in events the following day. She was on the opposite side of the riv- er, anchored nearly abreast of the American camp. The destruction of the Carolina gave fresh confidence to the invaders, and Paken- ham issued orders for his whole army, then eight -thousand strong, to move forward and can-y the American intrenchments by storm. He had arranged that army into two columns. One was commanded by General Keane, and the other by General Gibbs a good and experienced soldier, who came with Pakenham as his second in command. Toward evening the entire force moved forward, driving in the American pickets and outposts, and at twilight they halted on the plantations of Bienvenu and Chalmette, within a few hundred yards of the American lines. There a part sought repose while others commenced the construction of batteries near the river. Sleep was denied them, for all night long Hmds's troopers and other active Americans an- 1 Tho nnmmon imoression that Jackson's breastworks were constrncted chiefly of cotton bales is an erroneous one. A few werensed at the end next the river, bnt they were not nseftal, and were rejected. = See page 1029. 1036 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Seat of War in LoulBiana and Florida. Doyed their flanks and rear with quick, sharp attacks, which the British denounced as " barbarian warfare." OF THE WAR OF 1812. 1037 Jackson prepared to receive the British. They advance to an Attack. A severe Battle. had been preparing to receive them. He was aware MVOVETE S TACKS IN b HCAU QU VPTEK8 ' Jackson, in the mean time of the arrival of Pa- kenham, and expected vigorous warfare from him. His head-quai- ters were at the spa- cious chateau of M Macarte, a wealthy Creole, and from its wide gallery and a dormer window, seen in the accompanying picture, aided by a tel- escope, he had a full view of the whole field of operations. From that chateau, which is yet standing, he sent forth his orders. They were numerous and prompt ; for that night of the 27th of December, when a flushed foe in his immediate front was ready to pounce with tiger-like fierceness upon him at dawn, was an exceedingly busy one for the commander-in-chief He had caused Chalmette's buildings to be blown up when the enemy advanced, that the sweep of his artillery might not be obstructed, and he had called to the line some Louisiana militia from the rear. He also planted heavy guns ; and by the time that the couchant foe was ready for his murderous leap, Jack- son had four thousand men and twenty pieces of artillery to receive him, while the Louisiana was in position to use her cannon with signal effect in co-ojDeration with the great guns on land. The 28th dawned brightly, and as soon as the light fog of early morning had passed away a battle began. The enemy approached in two columns. Gibbs led the right, which kept near the great swamp, throwing out a skirmish line to meet those of the left column, commanded by Keane, who kept close to the river, with artillery in his front. There was also a party of skirmishers and light infantry detailed from Gibbs's command, under Colonel Robert Rennie, a very active officer, who was ordei-ed to turn the American left flank and gain the rear of their camp. Pakenham and his staff" rode nearly in the centre of the line. At this moment Jackson saw, with great satis- faction a band of rouo-h-Iooking armed men coming down the road from the direction of the city. They were Baratarians, under You and Beluche, who had run all the way from Fort St. John. They were immediately placed in charge of one of the 24- pounders, and performed excellent service. They were followed by the escaped crew of the Carolina, under Lieutenants Norris and Crawley, who were placed in the line as managers of a howitzer on the right. The British under Keane advanced in solid column, in the face of a galling fire of musketry, when they were suddenly checked by the opening of some of Jackson's heavy guns and the batteries of the Louisiana, which swept their line obliquely with terrible effect. More than eight hundred shots were hurled from her guns with dead- ly power. One of them killed and wounded fifteen men. At the same time the Brit- ish rocketeers were busy, but their missiles did very little damage, and the Americans soon became too familiar with their harmless noise to be much affected by them. For a short time Keane's men endured the terrible storm that was thinning their 1 This is from a sketch made by the author in April, 1801. 1038 PICTOEIAL PIELD^BOOK The British vauquished and repulsed. They hold a Council of War. The American Lines of Defense. ranks, when the maintenance of their position became mere fool-hardiness, and they were ordered to seek shelter in the little canals. Away they ran, pell-mell, to these places of refuge, and in mud and water almost waist-deep they " leaned forward," as one of their companions wrote, " concealing themselves in the rushes which grew on the banks of the canal." It was a humiliating position for "Wellington's veterans" in the face of a few rough Ijackwoodsmen, as they regarded Jackson's troops. Their batteries were half destroyed, and were abandoned, and the shattered column, thor- oughly repulsed, fell back to a shelter behind the ruins of Chalmette's buildings and the perfect ones of Bienvenu. Gibbs in the mean time was actively engaged on the British right. The gallant Rennie dashed into the edge of the swamp to flank the American left, and, driving in the pickets, approached within a hundred yards of the line behind which lay Car- roll and his Tennesseeans. The movement was observed by Carroll, who sent Colo- nel Henderson, with two hundred Tennesseeans, to gain Rennie's rear and cut him off from the main body. Advancing too far, Henderson encountered a large British force, and he and five of his men were killed, ana several were wounded. The re- mainder retraced their steps. Rennie was then pressing Carroll's left very severely, when Gibbs, observing the fierceness of the fight on the part of Keane's column, or- dered the dashing colonel to-fall back on the main line. Rennie reluctantly obeyed, and was compelled to be an idle spectator of Keane's disaster. At length Paken- hara ordered a general retrograde movement, and he retired to his head-quarters at Vil- ler6's deeply mortified by the failure of his plans, of whose success he had not allowed himself to doubt. In this repulse the Louisiana, which was stationed near the right bank of the Mississippi, played the most eflScient part, and lost but one man killed. The loss of the Americans was nine killed and eight wounded. The British loss was about one hundred and fifty. Pakenham called a council of war, when it was resolved to bring forward heavy siege-guns from the navy before making another serious attempt to carry Jackson's lines. The British established their hospital on Jumonville's plantation, next below Villere's, and prepared for heavy work. The experience of the 28th had given Pa- kenham a test of the spirit of his opposers, and he was convinced that the task before him was not only difiicult,but dangerous, and that the very salvation of his army de- pended upon cautious movements, courage, and perseverance. Jackson was busy at the same time strengthening his position at Rodriguez's Ca- nal, over which not a single British soldier had passed except as a prisoner. He placed two 12-pounders on his extreme left, near the swamp, in charge of General Garrigue Plauzac, a veteran French soldier who had volunteer-ed ; and also a six and an eighteen pounder under Colonel Perry. His line of intrenchments was extended into the swamp, so as to prevent a flank movement. He ordered a line of similar structure to be established on the opposite side of the Mississippi; and Commander Patterson, pleased with the effects of the guns of the Louisiana from the same side, established a battery behind the levee on Jourdan's plantation, which he armed with heavy guns from the schooner, and manned with sailors enlisted or pressed into the service in New Orleans. It commanded the front of Jackson's lines, and soon com- pelled the British to abandon.Chalmette's plantation and fall back to the line be- tween Bienvenu's and De la Ronde's. A brick-kiln on the bank opposite New Or- leans was converted into a square battery, which was armed with two heavy guns that commanded the city and the river road, and placed in charge of Captain Henley, of the Carolina. At Jackson's head-quarters, at Macart6's, was a company of young men from the best families in the city, under Captain Ogden, who constituted his body-guard, and were subservient to his immediate orders alone. These were posted in Macart6's garden. There was incessant activity every where among all his troops, for his own spirit was infused into them. The Tennessee riflemen, in particular, de- OF THE WAR OF 1812. 1039 Eedoubta secretly constructefl by the British. A heavy Fire from them. Jackson driven from his Head-quarters. oualmette's plantation. 1 lighted in going on " linnts," as tliey called them — that is to say, expeditions alone, to pick off sentinels and annoy the enemy. This was carried to such an extent on Jackson's extreme left that the British dared not post sentinels very near the swamp. They contented themselves Avith throwing up a strong redoubt in that direction, which Captain You and Lieutenant Crawley contiimally battered with heavy shot from their cannon. The enemy persevered, and at the close of the month had several great guns mounted on the redoubt. On the 31st the guns of the new redoubt opened vigorously on Jackson's left ; and that night the whole British army moved rapidly forward, took position within a few hundred yards of the American lines, and in the gloom commenced vigorous work with pickaxe and spade. They had brought up heavy siege-guns from the lake, and all night long that army labored in the construction of redoubts for them, under the superintendence of Colonel Sir John Burgoyne, with the intention of making an im- mediate effort to break the American line. Before dawn they had completed three sol- id demi-lunettes, or half-moon batteries, right, centre, and left, six hundred yards from the American lines, at nearly equal distances apart. They were constructed of earth, hogsheads of suj^ar, and every thing that might produce resistance ; and upon them were placed thirty pieces of heavy ordnance, manned by picked gunners of the fleet, who had served under Nelson, Collingwood, and St. Vincent. These works were hidden by a heavy fog on the morning of the 1st of January, which huno- thickly over the belligerent armies until after eight o'clock. When it was lifted by a o-entle'breeze the British opened a brisk fire, not doubting that in a few minutes the contemptible intrenchments of the Americans would be scattered to the wmds, and that the army, placed in battle order for the purpose, would find it an easy mat- ter to rush forward and take them. Every moment their cannonade and bombard- ment became heavier, and the rocketeers sent an incessant shower of their fiery mis- siles into the American lines. Jackson's head-quarters at Macarte's was a special tar- o-et In the course of ten minutes more than a hundred balls, shells, and rockets struck the buildino-, and compelled the commander-in-chief and his staff to evacuate it. The marks of that furious assault may be seen in all parts of the house to . ^^^^^ this day." which flanked both armies. 1040 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK topography of the Battle-field. Eeply of the Americans to the British Attack. Jackson, in the mean time, had opened his heavy guns on the assailants. The can- nonade was led off by the gallant and imperturbable Humphrey on the left, followed by thp fierce You and his Baratarians — Crawley, Norris, Spotts, and the veteran Gar- rigue. The American artillery thundered along their whole line, to the amazement of tlie British, who wondered how they got their guns and gunners. Pakenham soon saw that he had underrated the strength and skill of his adversary; and Cochrane, whose gallant tars w.ere at the guns, did every thing in his power to encourage them. The conflict became terrible. Batteries on the Levee fought with Patterson on the OF THE WAR OF 1812. 1041 The British again vanqnished and lepnlsed. New Arrangements for Attaclc. The British re-enforced. opposite side ; and in them were kept in readiness red-hot shot for the destruction of the Louisiana, if she should come within range of the guns. Pakenham also sent a detachment of infantry to attempt the turning of the American left, in the swamp; but they were driven back in terror by Coffee's -Tennesseeans ; so only the battle of the batteries went on. Toward noon the fire of the British visibly slackened, wbile that of the Americans was unceasing. The demi-lunes of the foe were crushed and broken. The Sugar hogsheads had been converted into splinters, and their contents, mingling witb the moist earth, soon lost their volume. The guns not dismounted were careened, and were worked with great difficulty ; and by the time their voices ceased altogether the batteries on the Levee were nearly demolished. The invaders abandoned their works at meridian, and fled in inglorious haste, helter-skelter, to the ditches, in search of safety ; and, under cover of the ensuing night, they crawled sullenly back to their camp, dragging with them over the spongy ground a part of their heavy cannon, and leaving five of them a spoil for the Americans. Their disappointment and chagrin were intense, and it' was equally shared by officers and men. Their New- Year's Day was a far gloomier one than that of Christmas. They had been without food or sleep for nearly sixty hours. They all cast themselves down on the damp ground, too wearied for thought, and their troubles were soon ended for the time by deep slum- ber. Pakenham was in his old quarters at Viller^'s, which he had left in the morn- ing with the confident expectation of sleeping in New Orleans that night as a con- queror.' In the American camp there was great joy that night. It was intensified in the morning by the arrival of Brigadier General John Adair with intelligence of the near approach of more than two thousand drafted militia from Kentucky, under Major General John Thomas. They arrived in the city on the 4th of January, and seven hundred of them were sent to the front under Adair. Pakenham was disheartened, but he by no means despaired of success. He conceived the bold and hazardous plan of carrying Jackson's lines on both sides of the river by storm. Those on the right bank had been strengthened, but were feebly manned, and were under the chief command of General Morgan. Pakenham resolved to send over fifteen hundred infantry, with some artillery, and, under the cover of night, at- tack Morgan, carry the works, occupy them, and, from batteries there, enfilade Jack- son's line, while the main army should be engaged in storming it. The transportation of these men to the other side of the river was confided to Admiral Cochrane, who, in opposition to the opinions and wishes of the army officers, set the wearied soldiers and sailors to work widening, and deepening, and prolonging to the Mississippi, Vil- lere's Canal, for the purpose of bringing over boats from the Bayou Bienvenu, instead of dragging them on rollers as they had heavier cannon. The labor was completed on the lih, when the army was in fine spirits because of the arrival, the day before, of a considerable body of re-enforcements under Major General John Lambert, a young officer of Wellington's army, who had sailed from England toward the close of October. Pakenham's own regiment (Seventh Fusileers) was among them ; and the army that confronted Jackson now consisted of ten thousand of the finest sol- diers in the world. These were divided into three brigades, and placed under the respective commands of Generals Lambert, Gibbs, and Keane. Pakenham's plan of operations for the new attack was simple. Colonel Thornton was to cross the Mississippi on the night of the 7th with the Eighty-fifth and one 1 The foriom condition of these troops, as a body, was snoh that Jackson was at a loss to determine whether their nrpaence should be considered fortunate or unfortunate for the cause. They had come with the erroneous belief that an Lnle suDDlv of arms and clothing would be furnished them at New Orieans, and a large number of them were sadly defl- ^3 )n these Of the seven hundred sent to the fl-ont, only five hundred had weapons of any kind. The commisera- t on of the citizens was excited, and by an appropriation by the Legislature and the liberal gifts of the citizens the sum r,V.i^tVen thousand dollars was speedily raised, with which goods were purchased and placed in the willing hands of fh» women of New Orleans Within a week these were converted by them Into blankets, garments, and bedding. The men constitnted excellent raw material for soldiers, and they were very soon prepared for efficient service. 3 U 1042 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The British Plan of Attack. The American Line of Intrenchments. Disposition of Forces on it. West India recjiment, marines and sailors, and a corps of rocketeers, and fall upon the Americans before the dawn. The sound of his guns was to be the signal for General Gibbs, with the Forty-fourth, Twenty-fii-st, and Fourth regiments, to storm the Amer- ican left ; while General Keane, with the Ninety-third, Ninety-fifth, and two light companies of the Seventh and Forty-third, with some West India troops, should threaten the American right sufficient to draw their fire, and then rush upon them with the bayonet. Meanwhile the two British batteries near the Levee, which the Americans destroyed on the 1st, were to be rebuilt, well mounted, and employed in assailing the American right during Keane's operations. Keane's advance corps were furnished with fascines to fill the ditches, and scaling ladders to mount the em- bankments. Such was the substance of Pakenham's General Order issued on the 7th of January, 1815. Jackson penetrated Pakenham's design on the 6th, and prepared to meet and frus- _ _ _ trate it. His line of de- ;^^ — ^^S^ ^^-m;Ji-_ „ fense, extending, as we ■- — - ^ ^^'^ *~ ^^^ have observed, from ~_ -^ the Mississippi to an impassable cypress swamp, a mile and a half in length, along the line of the half- c h o k e d Rodriguez's Canal, was very irreg- ular. In some places it was thin, in others thick ; in some places the banks were high, in others verjr low. They had been cast up, not by the soldiery alone, nor hy the slaves, but by the hands of civilians I mvB IF r in i Ei s < vn vt i from the city, includ- ing merchants and their clerks, lawyers and physicians and their students, and many young men who never before had turned a spadeful of earth. Along this line artil- lery was judiciously placed. On the edge of the river a redoubt was thrown up and mounted with cannon, so as to enfilade the ditch in front of the American lines. Be- sides this there were eight batteries, placed at proper distances from each other, com- posed of thirteen guns carrying from six to thirty-two pound balls, a howitzer, and a carronade. Across the river was Patterson's marine batterer for auxiliary service in tlie defense of this line, mounting nine guns ; and the Louisiana was prepared to perform a part, if possible, in the drama about to open. Jackson's infantry were disposed as follows : Lieutenant Ross, with a company of Pierre's Seventh Regiment, guarded the redoubt on the extreme right, in which tents wei-e pitched. Between Humphrey's battery and the river, on the right, Beale's New Orleans riflemen were stationed. From tlicir left the Seventh Regiment ex- tended so as to cover another battery, and connected with a part of Plauche's^ bat- talion and the colored corps under Colonel Lacoste, which filled the interval between 1 This is a view of the chokecl canal at the wood that skirts the levee, sketched by the author in April, 1S61. There is a lane, near the end of which stands the imtinlshed ronnnment to be erected in conimeinoratinn of the battles here foue^ht and the victory won by the Americans. The partly-finished shaft is seen on the left. It is made entirely of marble from Westchester County, New York, and is to be one hundred and fifty feet in height. It is erected by the State of Louisiana. 2 Jean B. Plauchc- was a native of New Orleans, and was bom there when it was a Spanish colony. He was a French Creole, and through life bore the character of one of the most esteemed citizens of New Orleans, After the war he re- OF THE WAR OF 1812. 1043 Character of the American Troops. Interior Lines of Defense. The Tombs of Plauche and Yon. Batteries Nos. 3 and 4 (see map on page 1040), the gnns of the latter bemg covered by D Aqmn s free men of color. Next to D'Aquiu was tlic Forty-fourth Regiment, which extended to the rear of Battery No. 5. Tlie remainder of the line (full two thirds of Its entire length) was covered by the commands of Carroll' and Coffee.^ The former had been re-euforced that day (nh) by a thousand Kentuckians under General Adair, and with him, on the right of Battery No. 7, were fifty marines under Lieutenant Bellevue. Coffee, with five hundred men, held the extreme left of the line, on the edge of the swamp, where his men were compelled to stand in the water, and to sleep on floating logs which they lashed to the trees. Captain Ogden, with cavalry (Jack- son's body-guard), was at head-quarters, yet at Macarte's chateau ; and on De Lerey's plantation, in the rear of it. Hinds was stationed with one hundred and fifty mounted men. Near Pierna's Canal a regiment of Louisiana militia, under Colonel Young, were encamped as reserves. Jackson's whole force on the New Orleans side of the river on the Yth was about five thousand in number, and of these only two thousand two hundred were at his line. Only eight hundred of the latter were regulars, and most of them were new recruits commanded by young ofliicers. His army was formed in two divisions, the right commanded by Colonel Ross, acting as brigadier, and the left by Generals Car- roll and Coffee, the former as major general and. the latter as brigadier general. A mile and a half in the rear of his main line another intrenchment had been thrown up, behind which the weaker members of his army were stationed with pickaxes and spades. This line was prepared for a rallying-point in the event of disaster following the imi^ending conflict. Jackson also established a third line at the lower edge of the city. General Morgan, on the opposite side of the river, prepared to defend his lines with only eight hundred men, all militia, and indifferently armed. On Ins left Avere two 6-pounders, in charge of Adjutant Nixon, of the Louisiana militia, and a 12- pouuder under Lieutenant Philibert, of the navy. Patterson's batter)^, in Morgan's ':iSt- satned his vocation as merchant. He generally declined public offices, 3'et he was induced to take that of Lieutenant Governoi of Louisiana. He died in January, 1S60, and in an elegant tera pie -shaped tomb in St. Louis Cemetery in New Orleans hi remains rest. The annexed picture of the tomb is from a sketch made by the author in April, ISOl. It is built of white marble with black inscription tablets in front. On one of these is the fijllowing : " General J. B. Plaucke, ne a la Nouvelle Orleans le 2S Janvier, 1785, decode le 2 Janvier, 1860. En 1810^*15 major com mandant le bataillon d'Orleans. Eu 1S50 lieutenant gouverneur de I'etat de Louisiana. Homme vertuenx, bon pere et bon ci toyen, il a bien merite de sa patrie et legue ti sa famille uu nom honorable." ■" , _ ~ . "^ In the same ceme- tery, and not farfrom the tomb of the Plau- cl]6 family, was that of Dominique You, mentioned in these 4^^ SHffll^ —. - 111 T^ ^ p;iges as a noble de- .. ?md^^iwH "i^^^Hi.' iiS-'^ fender of Ke'w Or- leans. On his tomb, made of brick and stuccoed, the writer found the following inscription written on a clouded marble slab : " DoMiNT'iUE You. Intrepide guerrier sur la terre et sur Toudc, il sui dans cent combats signaler sa valeur ; et ce nouveau Bayard, sans reproche et sans penr, aurait pu, sans trembler, voir s'ecrouler le monde." 1 William Carrol] was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1778. In 1813 he became inspector general of the Tennessee Militia and Volunteers under Jackson. He was commissioned a colonel, and served with distinction in the war ^v'itb the Creek ludians. He left the service at the close of the war. He was Governor of Tennessee from 1821 to 182T, and from 18.30 to 1S3.5. He died on the 22d of March, 1S44. 2 John Coffee was a native of Nottaway County, Virginia, and entered the military service under Jackson in 1812. He was active with him in the Creek War, and in the attack on Pensacola in the autumn of 1814. He was distinguished in the battles near New Orleans. In March, IBIT, he was appointed surveyor of public lands. He died near Florence, in Alabama, on the 7th of July, 1S44. , rLAUOUE 8 TOMU. DO.MINiQUE YOU S TOMIi. 1044 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Position of tlie Army on the Tth of January. A Message from Patterson. Jackson calls Us Staff to Action. rear, could render him no service, for its guns were turned so as to command the plain of Chalmette, in front of Jackson's line. Such was the strength and position of the two armies on the night of the memora- ble 7th of January, 1815, preparatory to the great conflict on the following day. It was not ui^il the afternoon of the 7th that Jackson could determine with any certainty whether the enemy would first attack his own or Morgan's line. Then, from the gallery of head-quarters, with his telescope, he could see such preparations by the foe as convinced him that his own line would first feel the shock of battle ; and when the darkness of night fell he could distinctly hear the sounds of labor in reconstructing the British batteries which the Americans had destroyed. His pick- ets and sentinels were strengthened, and sleepless vigilance marked a large portion of the troops behind his intrenchments that night. The Chief lay down to rest on a sofa, after a day of great fatigue, surrounded by his aids, and was slumbering sweet- ly when, at a little past midnight, he was awakened by an aid of Commander Pat- terson (Mr. R. D. Shepherd), who had been sent to inform the general that there seemed to be positive indications in the British camp that Morgan was to be first at- tacked, and that he needed more troops to maintain his position. " Hurry back," said Jackson, " and tell General Morgan that he is mistaken. The main attack will be on this side. He must maintain his position at all hazards." Then, looking at his watch, he spoke aloud to his aids, " Gentlemen, we have slept long enough. Arise ! for the enemy will be upon us in a few minutes. I must go and see General Coffee." One OF THE WAR OF 1812. 1045 Thornton ciosseB the River to attack Morgan. Advance of the British Line. Opening of Battle. of his first orders was for General Adair^ to send over five hundred Kentuckians to re-enforce Morgan. Let us observe the movements in the British camp on that memorable night. According to the plan already mentioned, Colonel Thornton proceeded to cross the Mississippi for the purpose of attacking Morgan. He marched to the levee, at the end of the newly-cut canal in extension of Viller^'s, and there waited with the great- est impatience the arrival of the boats that were to carry him and his troops over. The banks of the ditch had caved in in some places, and the falling of the water in the river had made that of the canal so shallow that the sailors were compelled to drag the boats through thick mud in many places. It was three o'clock in the morn- ing before even a sufficient number of vessels to convey one half of the detachment had arrived. Farther delay would be fatal to the enterprise ; so, with Pakenham's sanction, Thornton dismissed half of his force, embarked the remainder, and crossed the river in a flotilla commanded by Captain Roberts, of the Royal Navy. Ignorant of the fact that the Mississippi was flowing with a quiet, powerful current, at the rate ^f five miles an hour, and making no provisions for this obstacle to a quick and direct passage, they were landed, after great fatigue, at least a mile and a half below their intended point of debarkation. Before they had all left the boats the day dawned, and the roar of cannon was heard on the plain of Chalmette. Pakenham and his officers had passed an almost sleepless night, and at the time when Jackson aroused his slumbering staff the divisions of Gibbs and Keane were called up, formed into line, and advanced to within four hundred and fifty yards of the American intrenchments. Lambert's division was left behind as a reserve. There stood the British soldiers in the darkness and the chilly morning air, enveloped in a thick fog, and anxiously listening for the booming of Thornton's guns in his attack on Morgan. He was yet battling with the current of the Mississippi. Tediously the minutes and the hours passed, and yet that signal-gun remained silent. Day dawned and the mist began to disperse, and as the dull red line of the British host was dimly seen in the early morning light through the veil of moisture. Lieuten- ant Spotts, of Battery No. 7, opened one of his heavy guns upon it. It was the sig- nal for battle. As the fog rolled away the British line was seen stretching two thirds across "the plain of Chalmette. From its extreme left and right rockets shot high in air, and, like a dissolving view, that red line almost disappeared as it was broken into columns by companies. Gibbs now advanced obliquely toward the wooded swamp, with the Forty-fourth in front, followed by the Twenty-first and Fourth, terribly pelted by the storm that came from Batteries Nos. 6, 7, and 8, and vainly sought shelter behind a bulgmg pro- jection of the swamp into the plain. These batteries poured round and grape shot incessantly into Gibbs's line, making lanes through it, and producmg some confusion. This was heio-htened by the fact that the Forty-fourth, with whom had been mtrust- ed fascines and scaling-ladders, had advanced without them. To wait for these to be brought up was impossible in the focus of that cannonade. So Gibbs ordered them forward the Twenty-first and Fourth in solid and compact column, covered m front by blazing rockets and cheered by their own loud huzzas. Whole platoons were prostrated when their places were instantly filled by others, and the column pressed on, without pause or recoil, toward the batteries on the left, and the long and weaker line covered by the Tennesseeans and Kentuckians. .^, - , . x, , By this time all the American batteries, includmg Patterson's on the right bank ,, . " . i„ o„thrarolina in 1767,'ana entered the military service under General St. Clair. He served . John Adau- was ^°™ "^"^^^j^^^Ha^^^ colonel in Scotfs division in 1T93. He was for two years United under Wilkinson >" *« ^°''?7^*;*° hltld made his home. He was volunteer aid to Governor Shelhy in the battle States Senator from KeDtucky, ^^^^J'^ »^^^^ , Kentucky militia. He left the service at the close of the war. He ;Vs'L™r 'oTKen\uckyTom iio to in Congress from 1831 to 1833. He died at Harrods- burg, Kentucky, on the 19th of May, 1840. 1046 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Battle of New Orleans. of the river, were in full play. Yet steadily on marched Wellington's veterans, step- ping firmly' over the dead bodies of their slain comrades until they had reached a point within two hundred yards of the American line, behind which, concealed from the view of the invaders, lay the Tennesseeans and Kentuckians four ranks deep. Suddenly the clear voice of General Carroll rang out. Fire ! His Tennesseeans arose from cover, and, each man taking sure aim, delivered a most destructive volley on the foe, their bullets cutting down scores of the gallant British soldiery. The storm ceased not for a moment ; for when the Tennesseeans had fired they fell back, and the Kentuckians took their places, and so the four ranks, one after another, participated in the conflict. At the same time round, grape, and chain shot went crashing through the ranks of the British, making awful gaps, and appalling the stoutest hearts. ^ The line began to waver, and would have broken but for the cool courage and untiring energy of the officers, and the inspiriting cry, " Here comes the Forty-fourth with the fascines and ladders !" A detachment of the Forty-fourth had indeed come with scaling implements, and Pakenham at their head, who encouraged them by stirring words and bold deeds for a few minutes, when his bridle-arm was made powerless by a bullet, and his horse was shot under him. He at once mounted the black Creole pony of his favorite aid, the now (1867) venerable Sir Duncan M'Dougall, of London. ' Other officers fell, until there were not enough to command, and the column began to break up into detachments, a greater part of them falling back to the shelter of the projecting swamp. There they were rallied, and, throwing away their knapsacks, they rushed forward to scale and carry the works in front of Carroll and his sharp-shooters. At the same time, Keane, contrary to instructions, but with zealous concern for the cause, wheeled his column into line and led a portion of it to the assistance of the right wing. They were terribly scourged by the enfilading fire of the American batteries as they strode across the plain. Among them was the Ninety-third Regiment, composed of nine hundred sinewy Highlanders, who had won victories on many a field in Continental Europe, and were now unmoved by the storm that poured in such fury upon them. Their presence and example encouraged the broken column of the right, which, with these Highlanders, rushed into the very heart of the tempest from Carroll's rifles, having Gibbs on their right and Pakenham on their left. In a few minutes the right arm of the latter was disabled by a bullet, and as he was riding to the rear on the led pony, shouting huzzas to the troops, there came a terrible crashing of round and grape shot through the ranks, that scattered dead men all around him. One of the balls passed through the general's thigh, killed his horse, and brought both to the ground. Pakenham was caught in the arms of his faithful aid. Captain M'Dougall, who had performed a similar service for General Ross when he fell, mortally wound- ed, near Baltimore a few months before.^ The commander was conveyed to the rear in a dying condition, and placed under a venerable live-oak tree, which disappeared 6nly a few years ago. There he soon expired in the arms of M'Dougall. General Gibbs was also mortally wounded, and died the next day ; and Keane was so severely shot through the neck that he was compelled to leave the field. The command was then assumed by Major "Wilkinson, the officer of highest grade left in the saddle. Under his leadership the broken battalions endeavored to scale the breastworks. They were repulsed, and Wilkinson fell on the parapet mortally wounded. His discomfited men fell back, and all of the assailants withdrew in wild confusion. Of the gallant nine hundred Highlanders, with twenty-five officers, of the Ninety-third Regiment who wont into the fight, only one hundred and thirty men and nine officers could be mustered at its close. The Twenty-first Regiment lost five hundred men, and every company came out of the terrible confiict a mere skeleton in numbers. 1 See page 952. a See page 9B1. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 1047 Battle of New Orleans. While this sanguinary work was in progiess on the Bntish right, a more successful movement for a time, was made by them on their left. Keane's whole division moved when he led the Highlanders to the right.. l!^early a thousand men, under the active 1048 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Battle of New Orleans. Colonel Rennie, composed of the Ninety-fifth Rifles, companies of the Seventh, Nine- ty-third, and Forty-third Infantry, and some West India troops, had pushed rapidly forward near the river in two columns, one on the road, and the other nearer the water, under shelter of the levee, and, driving in the American pickets, succeeded in taking possession of the unfinished redoubt on Jackson's extreme right. They drove out the Americans, but they- did not hold it long. The invaders on the road were terribly smitten by Humphrey's batteries and the Seventh Regiment, and were kept in check. At the same time Rennie led the column along the water's edge, where they were greatly annoyed by Patterson's battery, and, with several other officers, scaled the parapet of the American redoubt. The New Orleans Rifles, under Beale, now poured upon these officers and the inmates of the redoubt such a terrible fire that nearly every man was killed or mortally wounded. Rennie had just exclaimed " Hurrah, boys, the day is ours !" when he fell to rise no more. This attacking column also fell back in great disorder under cover of the levee, and, like those on the British right, sought shelter in the plantation ditches from the terrible storm that came from Jackson's lines. General Lambert, with his reserves, had come forward on -hearing of the disasters to Pakenhara, Gibbs, and Keane ; but he was in time only to cover the retreat of the battered and flying columns, and not to retrieve the fortunes of the day. The fire of the mus- ketry had ceased by half after eight in the morning, but the artillery kept up their fire until about two o'clock in the afternoon. It is worthy of note that, from the flight of the first signal rocket of the British to the close of the contest, the New Orleans Band (stationed near the centre of the line, and not far from the spot where the monument now stands, and where the American standard was kept flying during the struggle), played incessantly, cheering the troops with national and military airs. The British, on the contrary, had no other musical instrument than a bugle, and as their columns advanced no drum was heard in their lines, nor even the stirring tones of the trumpet. Pi-om their first landing at the Fisherman's Village, the experience of that army had been almost unbroken drear- iness.^ Let us now turn our attention to the movements on the right bank of the Mississippi. We left Colonel Thornton and his men just debarked, after battling with the current of the Mississippi for some time. Morgan had sent forward his advance of less than three hundred men (one third of whom were Arnaud's ^ MONUMENT.^' Loulsiana militia) under Major' Tessier, and the remain- der, fatigued and poorly-armed Kentuckians under Colonel Davis, chosen from those sent over on the 7th by General Adair, were directed to take position on Mahew's Canal, about a mile in advance of Morgan's line, near which it was supposed the Brit- ish would land. The line which this small force was expected to hold extended from the river to the swamp, a distance of a mile, and required at least a thousand men and several pieces of artillery to give it respectable strength. Davis's troops were placed on the left, resting on the levee, and Tessier's were on their right, extending 1 Latonr says it was reported that there were divisions in the conncils of the British ofBcers concerning the point of attack, and that Admiral Cochrane, with a feeling of contempt for the American militia, declared he wonld undertake to storm Jackson's lines with two thousand sailors, armed only with swords and pistols. This confidence in the invin- cibility of the British on this occasion contributed largely to their disaster. ' This monument, between the site of Jackson's lines and his head-quarters (Macarti's), was nnflnished when the writer visited the spot in April, 1861. Work upon it had then ceased. The stones had been laid to the height of about seventy feet. See note 1, page 1042. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 1049 Battle of New Orleane. Its Results. to the swamp. Both watched vigilantly for signs of the coming of the invaders. Their vigilance was vain, for Thornton landed a mile below them under cover of three gun-boats under the command of Captain Roberts. Pushing rapidly up the road, Thornton encountered Morgan's advance, when he divided his superior force, sending a part to attack Tessier, while with the remainder, and aided by Roberts's carronades, he assailed Davis. Both commands were soon put to flight, and fell back in confusion on Morgan's line. Tessier's men could not gain the road, and many of them took refuge in the swamps, where they suffered much for several hours. When Thornton gained the open fields in front of Morgan's line he extended his force, and with the sailors in column on the road, and the marines placed as a reserve, he advanced upon the American works under cover of a flight of rockets, and with the aid of Captain Roberts's carronades. As the sailors rushed forward they were met by volleys of grape-shot from Philibert which made them recoil. Seeing this, Thornton dashed forward with the Eighty-fifth, and, handling the men with great skill and celerity, soon put the Kentuckians to flight, who ran in wild confusion, and could not be rallied. Following up this advantage, Thornton soon drove the Louisi- anians from the intrenchments, and gained possession of Morgan's line after that gen- eral had spiked his cannon and cast them into the river. He next made for Patter- son's battery, three hundred yards in the rear. Its guns, which had been playing ef- fectually on the British in front of Jackson's lines, were now trailed on the nearer foe on the river road. But Patterson, threatened by a flank movement, was compelled to give way ; so he spiked his guns, and fled on board the Louisiana, while his sail- ors assisted in getting her into the stream, out of the reach of the enemy. A large number of the troops were rallied and formed on the bank of the Boisger- vais Canal, and prepared to make a stand there. But the British did not advance beyond Patterson's battery. There Thornton was informed of the tei-rible disasters on the opposite side of the river, and soon afterward received orders from General Lambert to rejoin the main army. Jackson, in the mean time having heard of Mor- gan's disaster, sent over General Humbert (a gallant Frenchman who was acting as a volunteer) with four hundred men to re-enforce him. Their services were not needed. Thornton had withdrawn, and at twilight re-embarked his troops. That night the Americans repossessed their works, and before morning Patterson had re- stored his battery in a better position, and announced the fact to Jackson at dawn by discharges of heavy cannon at the British outposts at Bienvenu's.' After the conflict had ceased, Jackson, accompanied by his staff, passed slowly along his whole line, addressing words of congratulation and praise to the ofiicers and men every where. Then the band struck up " Hail, Columbia," and cheer after cheer for the hero went up from every part of the line. These were echoed from the lips of excited citizens who had been watching the battle at a distance with the greatest anxiety. Then the soldiers, after partaking of some refreshments, turned to the performance of the sad duty of caring for the wounded and the bodies of the dead which thickly strewed the plain of Chalmette for a quarter of a mile back from the front of Jackson's lines. These were the maimed and slain of the British army. No less than twenty-six hundred were lost to the enemy in that terrible battle, of whom seven hundred were killed, fourteen hundred were wounded, and five hundred were made prisoners. The Americans lost only eight killed and thirteen wounded ! The history of human warfare presents no parallel to this disparity in loss. The Americans were thoroughly protected by their breastworks, while the British fought in front of them on an open level plain. 1 Thp loss of the British on this occasion, in killed and wounded, was a little more than one hundred; The Ameri- « lost one man killed and five wounded. On that side of the Mississippi the British acquired their sole trophy dur- • thfir efforts to capture New Orieans. It was a small flag, and now [1867] hangs conspicuously among other war trophies jn Whitehall, London, with the inscription, " Taken at the battle of New Orleans, January 8, 1815." 1050 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK The Burial of the Dead. Disposition of the Bodies of the slain British Officers. Aftei' the battle General Lambert sent a flag of truce asking for an armistice in order to bury his dead. Jackson granted it on the condition that it should not be extended to operations on the right bank of the river. The result of this exception was, as we have observed, the immediate withdrawal of Thornton from Morgan's line. On the following morning detachments from both armies were drawn up three hundred yards in front of the American lines, when the dead bodies between that point and the intrenchments were carried and delivered to the British by the Ken- tuokians and Tennesseeans on the very scaling-ladders left by the enemy when driv- en back. The British then carried their dead to a designated spot on Bienvenu's plantation which had been marked out as the cemetery of "the Army of Louisiana." There they were buried, and to this day that consecrated " God's Acre" has never been disturbed. It is distinguished in the landscape by a grove of small cypress- trees, and is a spot regarded with superstitious awe by the negroes in that neighbor- hood. The wounded, who were PEOAN-TIIEKS. made prisoners, were carefully con- veyed to New Orleans, where they were placed in the barracks, and tenderly cared for by the citizens. The bodies of the dead British officers were carried to Villere's, the head-quarters, in whose garden some of them were buried by torch- light that night with solemn cere- monies. Those of Pakenham,Gibb8, Rennie, and one or two other offi- cers, were disemboweled, placed in casks of rum, and sent to their friends in England. Their viscera were buried beneath a stately pe- can-tree, which, with another quite as stately, seen in the annexed sketch, was yet standing in vigor- ous health on the lawn a few yards from Viller6's house when the writ- er sketched the two in April, 1861. It is said to be a notable fact that this tree, fruitful before its branches were made to overshadow the re- The tree nearest the figure of the mains of the invaders, has been barren ever since, man is the historic one. While the armies were burying their dead on the field of strife, a portion of the British were seeking to secure the free navigation of the Mississippi below New Or- leans for themselves by capturing Fort St. Philip, at a bend of the stream seventy or eighty miles below the city in a direct line, and which was considered by both par- ties as the key of Louisiana. It contained at that time a garrison of three hundred and sixty-six men, under Major Overton,' of the Rifle corps, and the crew of a gun- boat which had been warped into the bayou at its side. On the morning of the 9th, at about the time when disposition was being made of the British dead in front of Jackson's lines, a little squadron of five hostile vessels appeared near the fort. They consisted of a sloop of war, a gun-brig, and a schooner {Herald, Sophia, and Tender), 1 Walter H. Overton, of Tennessee, entered the army in 1S08, and was commissioned a major in February, 1814. For his gallantry in defending Fort St. Philip he was breveted lieutenant colonel. He resigned in 1S16. He was a member of Congress from Louisiana from 1829 to 1831. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 1051 Attack on Eort St. Philip. Capture of Fort Bowyer. Jackson's Array enters New Orleans. and two bomb vessels. They anchored out of range of the heavy guns of the fort, the bomb vessels with their broadsides toward St. Philip. At three o'clock in the afternoon they opened fire, and, finding they had the range of the fort, continued the bombardment, with little interruption, until daybreak of the 18th, casting more than a thousand shells, with the expenditure of twenty thousand pounds of powder, besides many round and grape shot. For nine days the Americans were in their battery (five days without shelter), exposed to cold rain part of the time. The proceeds of this expenditure secured by the British consisted of two Americans killed and seven wounded. The assailants withdrew on the 18th without gaining either the fort, spoils, or glory.' On the 18th of January, in accordance with an arrangement made the previous day, a general exchange of prisoners took place; and on the 19th the British, under Lambert, were wholly withdrawn from the Mississippi, having stolen noiselessly away under cover of darkness the previous night. They reached Lake Borgne at dawn on the 19th, but they were yet sixty miles from their fleet, exposed to quite keen wintry air, and considerably annoyed by mounted men, under Colonel De la Ronde, who hung upon their rear. There they remained until the 2'7th, when they embarked, and two days afterward reached the fleet in the deep water between Cat and Ship Islands. The vigilant Jackson, in the mean time, had made such disposition of his forces as to guard every approach to the city, for he thought the foiled enemy, enraged by disap- pointment, might attempt to strike a sudden blow at some other quarter. When the British departed from the vicinity of New Orleans they proceeded to invest Fort Bowyer," yet in command of Major Lawrence.^ They be- » February 9, sieged it for nearly two days, when the gallant Lawrence was compelled ■'^^®- to surrender* to a superior force. Mobile was then at the mercy of the ' February 12. foe ; but their farther conquests were arrested by news of peace, brought directly to General Lambert by a ship sent from England for the purpose. On the 21 St of January, Jackson, with the main body of his army, entered New Or- leans. They were met in the suburbs by almost the entire population of all ages and sexes who greeted the victors as their saviors ; and they entered the town in tri- umphal procession, with far more honest pride than ever swelled the bosoms of vic- torious conquerors or empe rors of other centuries of time. ^ 1 The chief sources from which the materials for the account of the battles near New Orleans were drawn were the of- ficial reports of the ofBcers engaged in them ; Latour's Memoir of the War in West Florida and Louisiana; Judge Walk- er's Jackson and Nm Orleaim; the several histories of the War of 1812 ; and numerous statements to the author, oral and written, by actors in the scenes. = See page 1021. 3 Two days afterward'' New Orleans was the theatre of a most imposmg spectacle. At the request of „ j „„ Jackson the Abbe Dn Bourg, Apostolic Prefect for Louisiana, appointed that a day for the public offer- ' ing of thanks to Almighty God for his interposition in behalf of the American people and nationality. The dawn was 1052 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Honors accorded to Jackson and his Troops. The news of the gallant defense of New Orleans produced a thrill of intense joy- throughout the land. State Legislatures and other public bodies thanked the hero who commanded the victorious little army. A small medal was struck and extent sively circulated among the people. Congress voted him the thanks of the nation, and ordered a commemorative gold medal to be given him. GOLD MEDAL PRESENTED TO JACKSON. 1 greeted by the booming of cannon. It was a bright and beantifnl winter morning on the verge of the tropics. The religious ceremonies were to be held 'in the old Spanish Cathedral, which was decorated with evergreens for the occasion. In the centre of the public square, in front of the Cathedral, where the equestrian statue of Jackson now stands, was erected a temporary tri- umphal arch, supported by six Corin- thian columns, and festooned with flowers and evergreens. Beneath the arch stood two beautiful little girls, each upon a pedestal, and holding in her hand a civic crown of laurel. Near them stood two damsels, one person- ifying ii!i«-«i/ and the other Justice. From the arch to the church, arranged in two rows, stood beautiful girls, all dressed in white, and each covered with a blue gauze veil and bearing a silver star on her brow. These per- sonified the several States and Terri- tories of the Union. Each carried a flag with the name of the state which she represented, upon it. Bach also carried a small basket trimmed with blue ribbon and filled with flowers ; and behind each was a lance stuck in the ground bearing a shield on which was inscribed the name and legend of the state or territory which she represented. These were linked by . « „j STATUE OP JA0X80N IN FfiOMT OP THE CATHEDEAL. evergreen festoons that extended from the arch to the door of the Cathedral At the appomted time, General Jackson, accompanied by the, officers of his staff, passed through the gate of the Grand fr^f pll^f l^ r'l' T^ *"" '"^^ "' """^''y' ^°'i ™ o^aucted between ines of PlaSs New Orleans batW :on of Creoles (which extended from the gate to the church) to the raised floor of the arch. Is he stepped upon K the a tablet tefore her wfth her eft h^.^^^^ of the bust of Jackson, and on the other a figure of Victory seated, supporting StHf knnrv Ve has writfp^.? • " ^^?). f *''" * v "'' ™*'''- ^^^ >« '°*"'^g * ■•^'""•a of the triumph on thf wL Lids an olive brann^7nh° ^Z°l^ ",°'' w?"^' '''''° '"" ^' i°'"™Pted "y another figure, personating Peace, Who holds an olive-branch m her right hand. With her left she points to the tablet, as if difectine Victory to record o:^Z:S:rlt^^:X'Z:^'^ """^ ''^**"^ belHgerents.' Victory is in the act of lfs\enrg' Th^inscri't^^ns OF THE WAK OF 1812. 1053 Rumors of Peace disregarded. Martial Law and military Discipline continued. Although no one sup- posed the British would return, Jackson, like a true soldier, did not re- lax his vigilance and dis- cipline. Martial law was rigorously maintained after rumors of peace reached New Orleans through seemingly relia- ble sources. He did not feel bound to be govern- ed by rumors. He retain- ed all the troops ; kept up the regular discipline of the camp; made drafts and bills of exchange on his government as usual for funds to prosecute hostilities (a fac-simile of one of which is given in the annexed engraving), and in every way acted as if war was in full ca- reer. Finally a messen- ger arrived from Wash- • March 6, Ington^ with i^i'- an official an- nouncement of peace. Jackson was then in- volved in a contention with the civil authori- ties. This culminated in great public excitement.^ It soon ended, and on the 30th of March the " Hero of New Orleans," as Jack- sen was ever afterward called, departed from that city for his humble home in Tennessee, a log house in the forest. I visited the theatre of war around New Or- leans, with a young kins- two little girls leaned gently forward and placed the laurel crown upon ffls head. At the same moment a charming Creole girl (Miss Kerr), as the representative of Louisiana, stepped forward, and with modesty supreme in voice and manner addressed a few congratulatory words to the chief, eloquent with expressions of the most profound gratitude. To these words Jackson made a brief reply, and then passed on toward the church, his pathway strewn with flowers by the sweet representatives of the states. , , ^.^ , . . ^ ^ . At the Cathedral entrance the honored hero was met by the AbU Dn Bourg m his pontifical robes, and supported by a college of priests in their sacerdotal garments. The abb6 addressed the general with eloquent and patriotic discourse, after which the chief was conducted to a conspicuous seat near the great altar, when the Te Deum LtmdamuB was chant- ed bv the choir and people. When the imposing pageant was over, the general retired to his quarters to resume the stern duties of a soldier ; and that night the city of New Orleans blazed with a general illumination. 1 The story of Jackson's difficulties with thS civil authorities may be told in a few words. In the Legislature of Lou- 1054 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Jackson's Obedience to Civil Law. Scene in the old Court-house. Biographical Sketch of Jackson. woman as a traveling comijanion, in the month of A])ril, 1861. We left New York on the 28th of March for Baltimore, from which city we passed over the Baltimore and Ohio Railway to Parkersburg, in Virginia, on the Ohio River, stopping over night at Harper's Ferry, where, three weeks later, the torch of civil war, then just lighted, made sad devastation. We crossed the Ohio River at Parkersburg, and journeyed by railway to Cincinnati. There we again crossed that stream to Gov- ^^^^^^ isiana was a powerful faction personally oppoeed to Jackson— so powerful that, when the officers and troops were thanked by that body on the 2d of February, the name of their chief leader was omitted. This conduct highly inceuired the people. Their indignation was iutensified by a seditious publication, put forth by one of the members of the Leg- islature, which was calculated to produce disaffection in the army. This was a public matter, and Jackson felt bound to notice it. He ordered the arrest of the author, and his trial by martial law. Judge D'omiuic A. Hall, of the Supreme Court of the United States, issued a writ of habeas corpus in favor of the offeuder. Jacksou considei'ed this a violation of martial law, and ordered the arrest of the judge and his expul- sion beyond the limits of the city. The judge, in turn, when the military law was revoked on the ]3th of March, in consequence of the official pvoclamatiou of peace, required Jackson to appear before him and show cause why he should not be ^ _^^ ^^—- =_ punished f. Beneath the roof of a little temple-like structure in the garden of the "Hermitage" I'ested the remains of General Jack- sou, by the side of those of his wife, when the author visited the place in the spring of ISGl. 1 Mrs. Lucretia Hart Clay was the daughter of Colonel Hart, of Lexing- ton, and sister of Captain Hart, who was killed at Frenclitowu (see page :-{50), on the Raisin River, Mrs, Clay had eleven children, of whom only three now {186T) snrvi%'e. She died at the residence of her son, John M., near Lexington, on the evening of the Gth of April, ^SGi, at the age of eighty-three years. 2 The shib bears these few words: " General Thomas Boni.EY. Born 4tli July, 1T72. Died llth June, 1S33." 1056 PICTORIAL riELD-BOOK Frankfort and its Cemetery. Graves of Daniel Boone and tiis Wife. ^ ulay's monu.mekt, 1 His body was laid by the side of tlie remains of his mother, in the western part of the cemetery; and not far from them were the grave and modest little monument of General Thomas Bodley (see preceding page), who Avas the deputy quartermas- ter general to the Kentucky Volunteers under General Harrison in 1813, with the rank of major. From Lexington we jour- neyed by railway througli the rich "blue-grass region" to Frankfort, the capital of the state. It is on the Ken- tucky River, and is the cen- tre of a theatre of romantic events in the early history of Kentucky, in which Dan- iel Boone and his compan- ions were so conspicuous. There we were favored with the company and kind offices of General Leslie Combs, whose gallant services in the War of 1812 are recorded in this volume. With him we visited the Frankfort Cemetery, on the high right bank of the Kentucky River, a short distance from the city, where, side by side, under the shadows of magnifi- cent sycamore - trees tliat stood there when the pioneers were fighting the Indians, were the graves of Daniel Boone and his wife, with nothing to mark their place of sepulchre but little mounds covered with green grass and wild flowers of the woods.^ Not far from these liumlile graves we found the fine monu- ment erected to tlie memory of Colonel Richard M. Johnson, delineated on page 496 ; and in its vicinity • GEAVE8 OF T)ANIEL BOONE AN1> HIS WIFE. 1 This monument is of wliite marble. It is composed of an Egyptian cenotaph, upon which stands a Corinthi.au cap- ital bearing a statue of the statesman. = These graves were near the steep bank of the river, which the Indians in Booue's time called Kain-tuck-ee. The bank was here about one hundred oud fifty feet in height. Near the graves and covering a slope were stumps, stones, shrubbery, and vines, purposely left with rude aspect as appropriate to the resting-place of the remains of the pioneer, The tall shaft seen beyond the trees in the picture is that of the Soldiers' Monument given on the next page. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 1057 Louisville and Nashville. A Visit to the Hermitage. Dr. Felix Robertson. Stands a lofty and elegant white marble shaft, upon a rich pedes- tal, and with more elaborated sur- mountings, that was erected by the State of Kentucky in commemora- tion of its deceased soldiers who had served in any war.i We spent much of the day in that "city of the dead," and on the following mornmg went by railway to Louis- ville, at the " Falls of the Ohio," so often spoken of by the early voya- gers on that stream. Thence we traveled by the same means to Nashville, on the Cumberland Riv- er, where we spent the Sabbath, and on Monday rode out to the "Hermitage," the home of Andrew Jackson,2 about twelve miles from the city. It was a spacious brick mansion, built in 1835, after the ' earlier one was burned. There we were hospitably entertained by Mrs. Jackson, wife of the adopt- ed son of the President, who per- mitted me to copy from the origi- nal the portrait of General Coffee seen on page 759. There we saw two of the general's old house-serv- ants—Aaron and Hannah — the for- mer nearly eighty, and the latter almost seventy years of age. Hannah went with us to the tomb of the patriot in the garden, where I made the sketch seen on page 1055. She gave us many inter- esting incidents of the latter days of her old master, and pointed to two thrifty wil- lows near the tomb which she saw him plant with his own hand a few evenings after his wife was buried there. On our return to Nashville toward evening, I passed an hour with the late venera- ble Dr. Felix Robertson, a portrait of whom is given on the next page, whose resem- blance to Jackson was very remarkable. He was the son of General James Robert- son (see page 747), and was the first white child born on the site of Nashville, his mother then being in the little log fort there. On the following morning we departed by railroad for New Orleans, going by way of Decatur, in Northern Alabama, then westward to Grand Junction, and then southward to the " Crescent City." We aj-- rived in New Orleans at noon on the 11th of April, took rooms at the St. Charles, and remained there nearly a week, visiting places of historic interest in and around the city, and gathering materials, by the use of pen and pencil, for the narrative of the events of the war there, given in this and the preceding chapter. For much in- formation, and for facilities for acquiring more, I am greatly indebted to the kindness 1 This monument stands upon a mound. Upon the bands which are seen embracing the square shaft are the names of battles, and beneath each are the names of soldiers who fell in those battles. The shaft is a single piece of marble. Upon a tablet on the south front of the pedestal is a group in relief, composed of two feminine figures, one on each side of an altar. One, with an open book in her hand, represents History ; the other, with a short Roman sword and olive wreath, represents Victory. The other hands of the two figures are employed in holding a wreath over the altar. At each corner of the top of the pedestal is an eagle. The shaft is surmonnted with a flgm-e of Fame, with arms extended, and holding a wreath in each hand. 2 See page 1017. 3X KENTDCKT SOLDIEES MONUMENT. 1058 PICTOKIAL FIELD-BOOK Historical Places in New Orleans. One of Jackson's Life-guardsmen. A Visit to the Battle-ground. of Judge Walker, author oi Jackson and JVew Orleans ; the late General H. W. Palfrey, who was a participant in the battle ; and especially to Alfred Hen- ner, Esq. (a leading lawyer in New Or- leans), who was one of Jackson's mount- ed life-guard, and was engaged in active and perilous duty on the memorable 8th of January, 1815.1 It ^as chiefly under the direction of Mr. Henner that we found the various localities of interest in the city and its suburbs. " April 12, On the morning after our ar- 1861. rival'' we rode down to the battle-ground in a pleasant barouche. General Palfrey had made arrangements to accompany us, but on that morning news had arrived of the attack of insur- gents on Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, and he was too busy with public matters to go with us. That outbreak of the Great Rebellion ab- sorbed all minds. Our driver had been over ALFRED IIENNER. Lacoste^ and De la Ronde,^ we returned to the battle-ground often, and was a com- petent guide, so we rode down alone along the Levee, the water in the brim- ful Mississippi being quite four feet higher than our roadway, with only twenty-five feet thickness of earth be- tween us and the flood. It was a clear and very warm day. The gar- dens were full of blooming roses, and the orange hedges around them were bright with the golden fruit. We were kindly entertained by Madame Macarte, at Jackson's head-quarters,^ and we found a cordial welcome at the Villere mansion, by the family of the grandson of Governor Villere, where we were regaled with orange sherbet and the delicious elfe, or Japan plum, trees of which, full of the fruit, formed a grove near the house.' Aft- er making drawings of that mansion, the pecan-trees,* and the dwellings of Macarte's, and while seated on the base 1 Captain Ogdeu was the commander of the Life-guard. The officers alone were uniformed. Mr. Henner was one of only three survivors of that guard at the time of my visit, the other two being Ex-Governor Henry .Johnson and .James Hopkins. He became a resident of New Orleans in 1809, when the city contained about 14,000 inhabitants. He was there in 1801, having been seut by his father on a flat-boat with the tirst bales of cotton ever taken to that city. He placed them in the Jesuits' warehouse, on the site of the St, Charles Hotel, above Canal Street. It was in the fields out- side of the palisades, which then occupied the line of the present broad Canal Street. = See page 1037. ^ See page 1029. This fruit grows in clusters like cherries, on trees about the size of cherry-trees, and averages the size given in the engraving at the head of the opposite page. Some are larger. When ripe it is of a yellow color, and is filled with a bountifal supply of delicious acid juice. * See page 1050. » See page 1031. » See page 1034. OF THE WAR OF 1812. 1059 Port Sumter taken by InsurgentB. Uprising of the People. Negotiations for Peace proposed. JAl'AN rLTJM- May 1, 1S61. of the monument there,i at a little past two o'clock, sketching the plain of Chalmette,^ we heard some discharges of cannon at the city. " Fort Sumter is doubtless gone," I said to my companion. So it was. The news had reached the city at that hour, and these cannon were expressing the joy of the secessionists of New Orleans. On our return we found the city alive with excitement ; and during our stay there, a few days longer, and on our journey northward to the Ohio River, we saw the uprising of the insurgents in the slave-labor states at the be- ginning of the Civil War. After crossing the Ohio River and journeying eastward through Ohio State, over the Alleghany Mountains, and through Pennsylvania and New Jersey to New York,"' we saw the more marvelous uprising of the loyal people, with a de- termination to suppress the rebellion. The whole country, whether on the mountain tops or in the valleys, seemed iridescent, for the national flag, with its " red, white, and blue," was every where seen.^ We have observed that, very soon after the battle of the 8th of January, 1815, near New Orleans, rumors reached that city that peace had been concluded between the United States and Great Britain, and that an official notification of such action was speedily given to General Jackson. It was a consummation ardently desired by the Americans. They had taken up arms most reluctantly, after the gravest prov- ocations, and only in defense of the in- dependence of the nation. From the be- ginning of the war they were anxious for a reconciliation with Great Britain on honorable terms; and we have ob- served (page 470) with what eagerness the President, at an early period of the war, acted upon a proposition for the mediation of the Emperor of Russia to that end, by appointing James A. Bay- ard and Albert Gallatin commissioners to act with John Quincy Adams,'' then American embassador at St.Petersburg, in negotiating a treaty of peace. The British government refused to treat un- der the mediation of Russia, but offered to open negotiations in London, or in Gottenburg, in Sweden. The President accepted the proposition and chose the JOHN QUINCY ABAM8. i- * * - Spp nnw 1039 " See LoBSing's Pictorial FieU-hook oftM Civil War, Chapter XIV., volume i. . See page 1048 - S<=f P^g« ^"f" homestead of Sis family at Qtiincy, Massachusetts, on the 11th of July, 176T. * John Qumcy Adatns was horn fJ^^^°^^lZ%^^^^, to Europe, and was much in the society of diplomatists and WJen only >"e™n years "^ «f l^^f^^^Xh of his education abroad, and when only fourteen years of age he was the other distingnished men He "i^en™ ™"™ l;ni„tpr at St Petersburg. He was graduated at Harvard University in private secretary of M. Dana Unud^^^^^^^^^^ Inir94Wash. July, nST, and studied law and ^J^f^^f™ "f"^ "y*;^^^^^^^^^ He afterward held the same office in Portugal and Prus- ington ''PP«i"t«"™J'=f ^t-?™''".' Vas elecM a seat in the Massachusetts Senate. He was sent to the Na- sia. He returned o Bo^toyn 180^, nd was^elected^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^.^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^ great favorite with the tional Senate in 1803. In Ibua ne ^^^ American commissioners in the negotiation of the treaty of peace Snt ^ iS"* and i^isrs he was appointed minister to the British court. He was appointed Secretary of State in 1060 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Peace CommisBiouere. Negotiations opened at Ghent. Adams, Bayard, Clay, and Gallatin. JAMES A. UAYAKD. latter place for the meeting. The ancient city of Ghent, in Southern Netherlands (now in Belgium), was afterward substi- tuted.' There the American commission- ers assembled in the summer of 1814. These consisted of John Quinoy Adams, James A. Bayard,^ Henry_Clay,3 Jonathan Russell, and Albert Gallatin.^ There they were joined" by the British com- . Auguste, missioners, Lord Gambler, Henry ^^'^*- Goulburn, and William Adams ; and Chris- tojaher Hughes, Jr., one of the most at- tractive of men in social life, and a diplo- mat without a rival, who was then our charge d'affaires at Stockholm, was ap- pointed secretary to the American com- missioners. Negotiations were speedily opened, when a wide difference in the views of the com- missioners of the respective nations threat- en in which ofBce he remained until he took the chair of President of the United States in 1825. In 1831 he was elect- ed a member of the National House of Eepresentatives, which position he held by re-election until his death, which oc- culted in the Speiker's Eoim at the Cipitol on the 2"d of February 1R48 in the eighty-flrst year of his age. His last ^^T_/' words were, " This is the end of earth." His remains were buried on the family estate at Quincy. In the accompany- ing picture are representations of the birthplace, the later residence, and the tomb of John Q.uiucy Adams. 1 Ghent is the capital of the province of East Flanders, in Belgium ; is situated at the confluence of the Scheldt and Lys, and is one of the most interesting localities in the ancient Netherlands. • 2 James A. Bayard was born in Philadelphia on the 2Gth of July, ITCT. He was graduated at Princeton in 1T84, be- came a lawyer of eminence, and took a seat in Congress in 1797, to which he had been elected by the Federalists. He held that position until 1804, when he was elected to the National Senate, in which he became a leader. He was op- posed to the War of 1812, but cheerfully acquiesced in the action of the majority. After assisting in the negotiation of the treaty of peace he went to Paris, where he became seriously ill. When he arrived in England, on his way home, he was met with the commission of minister to Russia. He declined the honor, hastened home, and five days after his ar- rival (August C, 1815) he died. ' 3 Henry Clay (see page 211) was born near Hanover Court-house, in Virginia, on the 12th of April, 1777. He was edu- cated in inferior district schools. He began the study of the law at the age of nineteen years, and at the age of twenty he was admitted to its practice. He went over the mountains into Kentucky, and settled at Lexington in 179i*. With a display of remarkable talents, he entered upon the practice of his profession, and as a politician, with vigor. At that early period he worked formeasures for the emancipation of the slaves, and through life was an advocate of the abolition of slavery in some form. He was chosen a member of the Kentucky Legislature in 1S03, and was sent to the National Senate in 180G. He entered the House of Representatives as a member in ISll, and almost immediately afterward was elected its speaker. He remained in Congress, as a member of one branch or the other of that body (with the excep- tion of four years, when he was John Qnincy Adams's Secretary of State, and a brief retirement thereafter), untU his death, which occurred at Washington City on the 29th of June, 1852. * Albert Gallatin was bom on the 29th of January, 1761, in the city of Geneva, Switzerland. He was graduated at the University of Geneva in 1779, came to America in 1780, and entered the militai*y service in Maine. After the Revolu- tion he was a tutor in Harvard College for a while, and finally settled in Western Pennsylvania. He was a member of the Convention to revise the Constitution of that state in 1T89, and was elected to the State Legislature. He was chosen a member of the National Senate in 1793, but, being ineligible, he was elected a member of the other house, and became OF THE WAR OF 1812. 1061 Delay m the Negotiationa. Sympathies of the People of Ghent with the Americans. The Treaty concluded. ened the most formidable obstructions to agreement. At times it seemed as if the eflort to negotiate a treaty would be fruitless. The discussions continued several VIEW OF TKE CITY OF GHENT, FROM THE SOUEl.UT. months. The leading citizens of Ghent (whose sympathies were with the Ameri- cans^) took great interest in the matter, and mingled their rejoicings with the com- missioners when their work was ended.^ That result was reached on the S4th of December, 1814, when a treaty was signed by the respective commissioliers.^ It was immediately transmitted to London by the hands of Mr. Baker, secretary to Lord the Republican leader of it. Jefferson appointed him Secretary of the Treasury in ISOl, which office he held until 1813, when he was sent to St. Petersburg as a commissioner to treat for peace. His communications from Europe on public affairs at that time were mostly written in cipher, composed of numbers, of which (copied from one of them in the State Department at Washington) a fac-simile is here given from a letter dated at London, June 13, 1814. Each number rep- I^U- np. S-o(^.l-53S: 3o8. S^^- <^^ /d0,///3o. 3Z7. S-^6 a^?^^ ^. ^ /o44^. /07S. ro^.^-iCg. /42^.22o- /423. IS7L ^^8. J3/8.^ 138S: /0U./033.7,^iJ433.lS76. )3^^. 6s6^. looU- II0Z.1UI8. ^00. resents a word or sentence, perfectly intelligible to a person with a key. Mr. Gallatin assisted in negotiating the treaty at Ghent He remained in Europe, and from ISlC nntil 1823 he was our resident minister at the French court, and was employed in other diplomatic services. He declined offices of high honor at home, and remained abroad until 1828, when he returned to the United States, and fixed his residence in the city of New Jork, where he engaged m the busi- ness of bankin... He took an active part in literary pursuits, and at the time of his death, which occurred at Astoria, Long Island, on the 12th of August, 1849, he was President of the New York Historical Society ^ ^ ^ 1 On the "Tth of October 1814, the Academy of Sciences and Fine Arts at Ghent invited the American commissioners to attend their exercises, when they were all elected honorary members of the Academy. A sumptuous dmner was giv- en, at which the Intendant, or chief magistrate of Ghent, offered the following sentiment: ,, ,, "0«?- dMinqmshed nu&stn mid fellow-members, the American mmMera-ms.y they succeed m making an honorable peace to secure the liberty and independence of their country." The band then played '■ Hail, Columbia." The British commissioners were not present. i iv -n -i- i. ■ ■ i i-v 2 After the treaty was concluded the American commissioners gave a dinner to the British commissioners, at which Connt H Von Steinhuyse, the Intendant of the Department, was a guest. Sentiments of mutual friendship were offered. A few days afterward the Intendant gave an entertainment to the commissioners of both nations. 3 On the next two pages is a fac-simile of the last paragraph of the treaty, with the signatures of the respective com- missioners and representations of the seals set opposite their names. These were carefully copied by the writer from the original in the Department of State at Washington City. The impressions of all the seals on the red wax were im- perfect, as the engravings represent them. 1062 PICTOEIAL FIELD-BOOK Signatures and Seals to the Treaty of Peace. Gambler, and Mr. Carroll, one of the secretaries of the American commissioners. ^6 W?t^ 'if'^ J§ t^^ (y^f^-e^ . iSo-?-^ <:?e^:^^_^ dOTiyyv oiui/nZy Jloia/nTj ^^PT'^Cv OF THE WAK OF 1812. 1063 Eatiflcation of the Treaty of Peace. . Arrival of the News in New York and Washington. '^ _ But far more important to this country and the world than the security of inci- dental advantages was the establishment, by the war, of the positive and permanent mdependence of the United States, and with it a guarantee to the posterities, of the perpetuation and growth of free institutions. Great Britain had been taught, by Ihe lessons of the war, that the young republic, the oflEspring of her oppressions,^ growing more lusty every hour, would no longer tolerate an insult, or suffer its sovereignty to be questioned without resenting the offense ; and she was compelled to sign a bond, as it were, to keep the peace, in the form of an acknowledgment that she had, in that republic, a formidable rival for the supremacy of the seas, which she was bound to respect. Her aristocracy, as a rule, and the public writers in their interest,, remained, as before, the bitter enemies of the Republic. They condemned the treaty because it yielded too much to what they were pleased to call the " insolent Yankees,"* and omitted no opportunity to disparage and libel the American people and the American Republic. It was> perhaps, a natural exhibition of the weakness and selfishness of hu- man nature. That Republic, with its free institutions and equality in acknowledged citizenship, was and is a perpetual menace against, the existence of privileged classes, and a silent but potential champion of the rights of man enunciated in, its prime po- litical creed, that " all men are created equal." Hence it is that the privileged class- es of the Old World are its natural enemies, and are willing to disparage its institu- tions and people in the estimation of the toiling millions who are struggling for the light and air of a better human existence. When the treaty of peace was ratified, the government of the United States took measures immediately for the adjustment of national affairs in accordance with the new order of things. An appropriation was made for rebuilding the public edifices. ^ Plans were considered for the maintenance of the public credit and the extinguish- ment of the national debt, then amounting, in round numbers, to $120,000,000. The ■ The Opposition newspapers contained some well-pointed epigrams, keen satires, and genuine wit, aimed at the friends of the war, and in illustration of the shortcomings of the treaty ; and there was also an abundance of coarse abuse poured out, through the same channels, upon the Administration. The usually dignified Evening Post had some severe criticisms, and justified the following stanza in its Nojo Yem-^a Address, printed a few weeks before : !' Tour commerce is wantonly lost. Your treasures are wasted and gone ; You've fought to no end, but with millions of cost, And for rivers of blood you've nothing to boast But credit and nation undone." » The treaty provided for the appointment of commissioners, and such were the final results of their labors. 3 Half a century before (1765), when Charles Townshend, in an eloquent speech in the British House of Commons, spoke of the "ungrateful Americans" as "children planted by our care," Colonel Barr6, in an indignant reply, exclaim- ed "They planted by your care ! No ! your oppression planted them in America ; they fied from your tyranny to a then uncultivated and inhospitable wilderness, exposed to all the hardships to which human nature is liable." 4 The London Public Advertiser, at that period, famished many illustrations of the feeling against the treaty. The following will suffice : • "Advertisements Extkaoepinart. "ITamted.— The spirit which animated the conduct of Elizabeth, Oliver, and William. " iosfc— All idea of national dignity and honor. _ " ii'oMTMi— That every insignificant state may insult That which used to call herself Mistress or the Seas." 5 The value of the public buildings destroyed was estimated as follows: The Capitol, original cost, alterations, etc., $7ST,163.28 ; President's house, including all costs, $334,334 ; public offices, Treasury, State, War, and Navy, $9,618.82 ;. maWng a total of $1,216,111. The walls of the Capitol and of the President's house (see pages 933 and 934) remained strong, and only needed repairs. It was estimated that $460,000 would restore them to their condition before the fire. No estimate was made of the value of the public library that was burned. The estimated cost of rebuilding the navy yard was $62,370. The value of property destroyed at that establishment was estimated at $669,174.04, of which $417,745. 51 was movable property. See page 934. 1068 PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK Reduction of the Army. The Navy. Privateers. Captives released. Dartmoor Prisoners. army was placed on a peace footing, and was reduced to 10,000 men, by which reduc- tion about 1800 officers were compelled to leave the service. The navy was left where it stood, with an additional appropriation, for its gradual increase, of $200,000 annually for three years. The national vessels and privateers were drawn from the ocean as speedily as possible,^ and pirisoners in the hands of both parties were released as quickly as proper arrangements could be made for their enlargement. In connection with the release of captives, a circumstance occurred at a depot for prisoners in England which caused great exasperation on the part of the American peoijle. That depot was situated on Dartmoor, a desolate region in Devonshire, where it was constructed in 1809 for the confinement of French 2>risoners of war. It comprised thirty acres, inclosed within double walls, with seven distinct prison- houses, with inclosures. At the time of the ratification of the treaty of peace, there were about six thousand American prisoners there, including twenty-five hundred impressed American seamen, who had refused to fight in the British Navy against their countrymen, and were there when the war broke out in 1812. Some had been there ten or eleven years. The place was in charge of Captain T. G. Shortland, with a military guard. That officer was charged with much unfeeling conduct toward the prisoners, accounts of which reached America, from time to time, and produced great irritation in the public mind. There was much delay in the release of the Dartmoor prisoners. It was nearly three months after the treaty of peace had been signed before they were permitted » March 20, to know the fact. From that time'' they were in dailj^ expectation of re- 181S- lease. Delay caused uneasiness and impatience, and there was evidently a disposition to attempt an escape. Symptoms of insubordination appeared on the 4th of April, when the prisoners demanded bread instead of hard biscuit, and refused to receive the latter. On the evening of the 6th,'' so reluctantly did the pris- ^ April. oners obey orders to retire to their quarters, that, when some of them, with AAIL T> iETMOOE PRIS(.IN IN 1^15 = 1 The whole number of British vessels of every class captured by Americans during: the war was estimated at lTr>f>. An oflicial British return stated that, durintr the same time, British ships had captured and destroyed 1683 American vessels of every class, manned by upward of 13,000 seamen. See pa^re 1007. 2 This is a careful copy of an engraving attached to a Jonrnal of a Younci Man of Massa<:Miffc(t% late a Surgeon on hoard an American Privateer, who was a prisoner there at the time of the massacre, and an eye-witness of much of OF THE WAR OF 1812. 1069, Sad Event at the Dartmoor Priaous. Prosperity of the Eepuhlic. Its Relations to the Nations. the appearance of mutinous intentions, not only refused to retire, Ibut passed Ibeyond the prescribed limits of their confinement, they were fired upon, hy orders of Captain Shortland, for the purpose of intimidating all. This firing was followed up hy the soldiers without the shadow of an excuse, according to an impartial report made by a commission appointed to investigate the matter, i Five prisoners were killed and thirty-three were wounded. The act of the soldiers was regarded by the Americans as a wanton massacre ; and when the British authorities pronounced the act "justifi- able homicide," the hottest indignation was excited. But Time, the great healer, has interposed its balm, and the event appears in history as one of the inevitable cruel- ties of ever-cru-el war. At the close of the Second War foe Independence, the events of which are re- corded in this volume, our Republic had achieved, as we have observed, the most im- , portant of all its triumphs, and was still wealthy with the fruits of a wonderful prog- ress in the space of twenty-five years since its nativity.^ It then started afresh upon a grand career of prosperity, with marvelous resources developed and undeveloped- known and unknown. The rulers and privileged classes in other lands persisted, in calling it an experiment, and were ever prophesying the failure of the republican prin-, ciple in government, of which it was a notable example. Recent events have silenced! all cavil, and dispelled all doubts on that point. Fifty ye&rs after the close of its last struggle for independence, our Republic, emerged^' from the fiery fiirnace of a Civil War unparalleled in proportions _ j and operations hitherto, purified and strengthened by the ordeal. The most ° ^**^' skeptical observer of that trial and its results can no longer consider our Govern- ment an experiment. It is a demonstration. Its history is an affirmative answer to the question whether •epublican institutions have elements of vitality and power ■ sufficient for the demands of every exigency of national life. Henceforth it will stand before the nations a trusted oracle for the guidance and encouragement of all aspirants in other lands for the privileges of free thought and action. what he recorded. The following is a description of the picture : A. Surgeon's House ; B. Captain Shortland's Quar- 'ters; C. Hospital; D. Barracks; B. Cachot, or Black-hole; P, P, F. Guard-housee ; G, G. Store-houses. The Arabic nnmerals refer to the numbers of the prisons as they were alluded to in narratives and official documents. The out- ward of the two encircling walls of stone (of which the prisons were built) was a mile in circumference. The inner wall was used as a military walk for the sentinels. Within this wall were iron palisades, ten feet in height. The guard was composed of a little more than two thousand well-disciplined militia, and two companies of Eoyal Artillery. The pic- ture not only gives a bird's-eye view of the post, but the position of the guards at the time they fired, and of the killed where they fell. 1 The American commissioners to negotiate the treaty of peace, then in London, appointed the late Charles King, president of Columbia College (then a yonng man, who was on a visit to England), a commissioner on the part of the Americans, and the British authorities appointed Franiis Seymour Larpent to act with him. ' John Bristed, in his admirable work on The Bemurces of the United States, published in 1818, gives the following sum- mary of the real and personal capital, and the income of the people of the Eepnblic, at about the time of the close of the war: Real Property.— FnWic lands, 500,000,000 acres, at $2 an acre, $1,000,000,000 ; cultivated lands, 300,000,000 acres, at $10 an acre, $3,000,000,000 ; dwelling-houses of all kinds, $1',000,000,000. Total of real property, $6,000,000,000. Personal Projjerti/.— Capital to the holders of government stocks, who were American citizens, $100,000,000; banking stocks, $100,000,000; slaves, 1,500,000, at $150 each, $325,000,000; shipping of all kinds, $225,000,000; money, farming stock and utensils, manufactures, household furniture and plate, carriages, and every other species of personal proper- ty not above enumerated, $1,650,000,000. Total of personal property, $2,200,000,000. Grand total of American capital, in real and personal property, $7,200,000,000. APPENDIX. TREATY OP PEACE AND AMITY BETWEEN HIS BEITANNIC MAJESTY AND THE TJNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Hia Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, desirous of terminating the war which has nnbapplly sub- sisted between the two countries, and of restoring, upon principles of perfect reciprocity, peace, friendship, and goofi understanding between them, have for that purpose appointed their respective Plenlpotentiariea — that is to say: His Britannic Majesty, on his part, has ajjpointd the Eight Honorable James Lord Gambler, late Admiral of the White, now Admiral of the Eed squadron of His Majesty's Fleet, Henry Gonlburn, Esq., a member of the Imperial Parliament, and Under Secretary of State, and William Adams, Esq., Doctor of Civil Laws ; and the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, has appointed John Qaincy Adams, James A. Bayard, Henry Clay, Jonathan Bussell, and Albert Gallatin, citizens of the United States— who, after a reciprocal communication of their respective full powers, have agreed upon the following Articles : Abtiolb the Eiebt. There shall be a firm and universal peace between His Britannic Majesty and the United States, and between their respective countries, territories, cities, towns, and people, of every degree, without exception of places or persons. All hostilities, both by sea and land, shall cease as soon as this treaty shall have been ratified by both parties, as hereinafter mentioned. All territory, places, and possessions whatsoever, taken by either party from the other during the war, or which may be taken after the signing of this treaty, excepting only the islands hereinafter mentioned, shall be restored without delay, and without causing any destruction or carrying away any of the artillery or other public property orig- inally captured in said forts or places, and which shall remain therein upon the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty, or any slaves or other private property. And all archives, records, deeds, and papers, either of a public nature or belonging to private persons, which in the' course of the war may have fallen Into the hands of the officers of either party, shall be, as far as may be practicable, forthwith restored and delivered to the proper authorities and persons to whom they respectively belong. Socb of the islands in the Bay of Passamaquoddy as are claimed by both parties shall remain in the possession of the party in whose occupation they may he at the time of the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty until the decision respecting the title to the said islands shall have been made in conformity with the fourth article of this treaty. No disposition made by this treaty as to such possession of the islands and territories claimed by both parties shall in any manner whatever be construed to affect the right of either. Abticle the Seoond. Immediately after the ratifications of this treaty by both parties, as hereinafter mentioned, orders shall be sent to the armies, squadrons, officers, subjects, and citizens of the two powers to cease from all hostilities. And to prevent all causes of complaint which might arise on account of the prizes which may be taken at sea after the said ratifications of this treaty, it is reciprocally agreed that all vessels and efitects which may be taken after the space of twelve days from the said ratifications, upon all parts of the coast of North America, from the latitude of twenty-three degrees north to the latitude of fifty degrees north, and as far eastward in the Atlantic Ocean as the thirty-sixth degree of west longitude from the meridian of Greenwich, shall be restored on each side ; that the time shall be thirty days in all other parts of the Atlantic Ocean north of the equinoctial line or equator, and the same time for the British and Irish Channels, for the Gulf of Mexico, and all parts of the West Indies ; forty days for the North Seas, for the Baltic, and for all parts of the Mediterranean ; sixty days for the Atlantic Ocean south of the equator as far as the latitude of the Cape of Good Hope ; ninety days for every part of the world south of the equator ; and one hundred and twenty days for all other parts of the world, without exception. Aktiole the Thibd. All prisoners of war taken on either side, as well by land as by sea, shall be restored as soon as practicable after the ratifications of this treaty, as hereinafter mentioned, on their paying the debts which they may have contracted during their captivity. The two contracting parties respectively engage to discharge, in specie, the advances wbich may have been made by the other for the sustenance and maintenance of such prisoners. Abtiole the Poubth. Whereas it was stipulated by the second article in the treaty of peace of one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, that the boundary of the United States should compre- hend all islands within twenty leagues of any part of the shores of the United States, and lying between lines to be drawn due east from the points where the aforesaid boundaries, between Nova Scotia on the one part and East Florida on the other, shall respectively touch the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic Ocean, excepting such islands as now are or heretofore have been within the limits of Nova Scotia ; and whereas the several islands in the Bay of Passamaquoddy, which Is part of the Bay of Fundy, and the island of Grand Menan, in the said Bay of Fundy, are claimed by the United States as being comprehended within their aforesaid boundaries, which said islands are claimed as belonging to His Britannic Majesty, as having been at the time of and previous to the aforesaid treaty of one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three within the limits of the province of Nova Scotia: In order, therefore, finally to decide upon these claims, it is agreed that they shall be referred to two Commissioners, to be appointed in the following manner, viz. : One 10T2 APPENDIX. Commissioner uliaU be appointed by His Britannic Majesty, and one by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof; and the said two Commissioners so appointed shall be sworn impartially to examine and decide upon the said claims according to such evidence as shall be laid before them on the part of His Britannic Majesty and of the United States respectively. The said Commissioners shall meet at St. Andrew's, in the Province of New Brunswick, and shall have power to adjourn to such other place or places as they shall think fit ' The said Commissioners shall, by a declaration or report under their hands and seals, decide to which of the two contracting parties the several islands aforesaid do respectively belong, in conformity with the true intent of the said treaty of peace of one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three. And if the said Commissioners shall agree in their decision, both parties shall consider such decision as final and conclusive. It is farther agreed, that in the event of the two Com- missioners diflfering upon all or any of the matters so referred to them, or in the event of both or either of the said Commissioners refusing or declining, or willfully omitting to act as such, they shall make, jointly or separately, a report or reports, as well to the government of His Britannic Majesty as to that of the United States, stating in detail the points on which they differ, and the grounds upon which their respective opinions have been formed, or the grounds upon which they, or either of them, have so refused, declined, or omitted to act. And His Britannic Majesty and the Govern- ment of the United States hereby agree to refer the report or reports of the said Commissioners to some friendly sover- eign or state, to be then named for that purpose, and who shall be requested to decide on the differences which may be stated in the said report or reports, or upon the report of one Commissioner, together with the grounds upon which the other Commissioner shall have refused, declined, or omitted to act, as the case may be. And if the Commissioner so refusing, declining, or omitting to act shall also willfully omit to state the grounds upon which he has so done, in snch manner that the said statement may be referred to. snch friendly sovereign or state, together with the report of such other Commissioner, then such sovereign or state shall decide ex parte upon the said report alone. And His Britannic Majesty and the Government of the United States engage to consider the decision of snch friendly sovereign or state to be final and conclusive on all the matters so referred. Aetiolb the Pifih. Whereas neither that point of the highlands lying due north from the source of the Eiver St. Croix, and designated in the former treaty of peace between the two powers as the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, nor the northwestern- most head of Connecticut Eiver has yet been ascertained ; and whereas that part of the bonndary-line between the dominions of the two powers which extends from the source of the River St. Croix directly north to the above-men- tioned northwest angle of Nova Scotia, thence along the said highlands which divide those rivers that empty themselves into the Hiver St. Lawrence from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean to the northwestemmost head of Connecticut Eiver, thence down along the middle of that river to the forty-fifth degree of north latitude, thence by a line due west on said latitude until it strikes the Eiver Iroquois or Cataraguy, has not yet been surveyed, it is agreed that for these several purposes two Commissioners shall be appointed, sworn, and authorized to act exactly in the manner directed with respect to those mentioned in the next preceding article, unless otherwise specified in the present article. The said Commissioners shall meet at St. Andrew's, in the Province of New Brunswick, and shall have power to adjourn to snch other place or places as they shall think fit. The said Commissioners shall have power to ascertain and deter- mine the points above mentioned, in conformity with the provisions of the said treaty of peace of one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, and shall cause the boundary aforesaid, from the source of the Eiver St. Croix to the Eiver Iroquois or Cataraguy, to be surveyed and marked, according to the said provisions. The said Commissioners shall make a map of the said boundary, and annex to it a declaration, under their hands and seals, certifying it to be the true map of the said boundary, and particularizing the latitude and longitude of the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, of the northwestemmost head of Connecticut Eiver, and of such other points of the said boundary as they may deem proper. And both parties agree to consider such map and declaration as fijially and conclusively fixing the said boundary. And in the event of the said two Commissioners differing, or both or either of them refusing, declining, or willfully omitting to act, such reports, declarations, or statements shall be made by them, or either of them, and such reference to a friendly sovereign or state shall be made, in all respects, as in the latter part of the fourth article is contained, and in as full a manner as if the same was herein repeated. Aetiole the Sixth. Whereas by the former treaty of peace that portion of the boundary of the United States from the point where the forty-fifth degree of north latitude strikes the Eiver Iroquois or Cataraguy to Lake Superior was declared to be "along the middle of said river into Lake Ontario, through the middle of said lake until it strikes the communication by water between that lake and Lake Erie, thence along the middle of said communication into Lake Brie, through the middle of said lake until it arrivesat the water communication into Lake Huron, thence through the middle of said lake to the water communication between that lake and Lake Superior ;" and whereas doubts have arisen what was the middle of the said river, lakes, and water communications, and whether certain islands lying in the same were within the domin- ions of His Britannic Majesty or of the United States : In order, therefore, finally to decide these doubts, they shall be referred to two Commissioners, to be appointed, sworn, and authorized to act exactly in the manner directed with re- spect to those mentioned in the next preceding article, unless otherwise specified in this present article. The said Commissioners shall meet, in the first instance, at Albany, in the State of Hew York, and shall have power to adjourn to such other place or places as they shall think fit. The said Commissioners shall, by a report or declaration under their hands and seals, designate the boundary through the said river, lakes, and water communications, and decide to which of the two contracting parties the several islands lying within the said river, lakes, and water communications do respectively belong, in conformity with the true intent of the said treaty of one thousand seven hundred and eighty- three. And both parties agree' to consider such designation and decision as final and conclusive. And in the event of the said two Commissioners differing, or both or either of them refusing, declining, or willfally omitting to act, such reports, declarations, or statements shall be made by them, or either of them, and such reference to a friendly sovereign or state shall be made, in all respects, as in the latter part of the fourth article is contained, and in as full a manner as if the same was herein repeated, Aetiole the Seventh. It is farther agreed that the said two last-mentioned Commissioners, after they shall have executed the duties as- signed to them in the preceding article, shall be, and they are hereby authorized, upon their oaths, impartially to fix and determine, according to the true intent of the said treaty of peace of one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, that part of the boundary between the dominions of the two powers which extends from the water communication between Lake Huron and Lake Superior to the most northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods, to decide to which of the two parties the several islands lying in the lakes, water communications, and rivers forming the said boundary do respect- ively belong, in conformity with the true intent of the said treaty of peace of one thousand seven hundred and eighty- three, and to cause such parts of the said boundary as require it to be surveyed and marked. The said Commissioners shall, by a report or declaration under their hands and seals, designate the boundary aforesaid, state their decision on the APPENDIX. 1073 points thus referred to them, and particularize the latitude and longitude of the most northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods, and of such other parts of the said boundary as they may deem proper. And both parties agree to consider such designation and decision as final and conclusive. And In the event of the said two Commissioners differing, or both or either of them refusing, declining, or wUIfully omitting to act, such reports, declarations, or statements shall be made by them, or either of them, and such reference to a ftiendly sovereign or state shall be made, in all respects, as in the latter part of the fourth article is contained, and in as full a manner as if the same was herein repeated. Abtiole the Eighth. The several boards of two Commissioners mentioned in the four preceding articles shall respectively have power to appoint a secretary, and to employ such surveyors, or other persons, as they shall judge necessary. Duplicates of all their respective reports, declarations, statements, and decisions, and of their accounts, and of the journal of their pro- ceedings, shall be delivered by them to the agents of His Britannic Majesty and to the agents of the United States, who may be respectively appointed and authorized to manage the business on behalf of their respective governments. The said Commissioners shall be respectively paid in such manner as shall be agreed between the two contracting parties, such agreement being to be settled at the time of the exchange of the ratification of this treaty. And all other ex- penses attending the said Commissioners shall be defrayed equally by the two parties. And in the case of death, sick- ness, resignation, or necessary absence, the place of every such Commissioner respectively shall be supplied in the same manner as such Commissioner was first appointed, and the new Commissioner shall take the same oath or afarmatlon, and do the same duties. It is farther agreed between the two contracting parties that in case any of the islands men- tioned in any of the preceding articles which were in the possession of one ol the parties prior to the commencement of the present war between the two countries should, by the decision of any of the boards of Commissioners aforesaid, or of the sovereign or state so referred to, as in the four next preceding articles contained, fall within the dominions of the ' other party, all grants of land made previous to the commencement of the war by the party having had such possession shall be as valid as if such island or islands had by such decision or decisions been adjudged to be within the domin- ions of the party having had such possession. Abtiole the Ninth. The United States of America engage to put an end, immediately after the ratification of the present treaty, to hostili- ties with all the tribes or nations of Indians with whom they may be at war at the time of such ratification, and forth- with to restore to such tribes or nations respectively all the possessions, rights, and privileges which they may have enjoyed or been entitled to in 1811, previous to such hostilities : Provided always, that such tribes or nations shall agree to desist from all hostilities against the United States of America, their citizens and subjects, upon the ratification of the present treaty being notified to such tribes or nations, and shall so desist accordingly. And His Britannic Majesty engages, on his part, to put an end, Immediately after the ratification of the present treaty, to hostilities with all the tribes or nations of Indians with whom he may be at war at the time of such ratification, and forthwith to restore to such tribes or nations respectively all the possessions, rights, and privileges which they may have enjoyed or been en- titled to in 1811, previous to such hostilities : Provided always, that such tribes or nations shall agree to desist froin all hostilities against His Britannic Majesty and his subjects upon the ratification of the present treaty being notified to such tribes or nations, and ehall so desist accordingly. Aetiole the Tenth. Whereas the traffic in slaves is irreconcilable with the priuclples of humanity and justice, and whereas both His Majesty and the United States are desirous of continuing their efforts to promote its entire abolition, it Is hereby agreed that both the contracting parties shall use their best endeavors to accomplish so desirable an object. Aetiole the Eleventh. This treaty, when the same shall have been ratified on both sides, without alteration by either of the contracting parties, and the ratifications mutually exchanged, shall be binding on both parties, and the ratifications shall be ex- changed at Washington in the space of four months from this day, or sooner if practicable. In faith whereof, we, the respective plenipotentiaries, have signed this treaty, and have hereunto afBxed our seals. . Done in triplicate, at Ghent, the twenty-fourth (24th) day of December, one thousand eight hundred and fourteen. [L.S.] Gambiee. [L.S.1 Henev GOITLBimN. [L.S.] William Adams. [L.S.: John Qotnoy Adams. [L.S.] J. A. Bataed. [L.S.] H. Clat. [L.S.] Jonathan Eussell. [L.S.] Albekt Gallatin. 3 Y INDEX. Academy, Military, West Point, 235. Adaib, John, 136 ; Bketch of, 544, 1041, 1045. Adams and Liberty, origin of, 97. Adams, John, Minister Plenipotentiary to England, 19, 24 : elected Vice-President, 33; differs from Jefferson, 68; his opinions on government, TO ; proposed as second Presi- dent, 92 ; elected President, 92 ; his first message, 95 ; ap- points Washington commander-in-chief, 93; appoints Wil- liam Vane Murray minister to Prance, 99 ; opposed by his own party, 106 ; traits of character of, 106 ; dismisses Pick- ering and M'Henry from his cabinet, 108. Adams, John Qdinot, becomes a Democrat, 161 ; votes for the embargo, 162, 783, 780 ; sketch of, 1059 ; peace com- missioner, 1060. Adams, William E., 776. Aderta, visit to, 568 ; description of, 569. Adminisiraiitm, war against, 151. Africa, Northern, march across, 125. Affairs, Civil, in 1813, 783. Aktn, Lemuel, Captain, 913. Alabama, General Coffee in, 759. Albany, reception of the first captured flag there, 376. Albert, Philip, 761. Alexandria, plundering of, 940. Algiers, Dej/ of, tribute to, 91 ; he is humbled, 118. Algiers, difficulties with, 89 ; lets corsairs loose on United States commerce, 89 ; pride and avarice of the dey, 90 ; captives, release of, 91. AUegiaTwe, attempt to seduce the soldiers from their, 658. Allen, William Heney, commander of the Argus, 714; death of, 716 ; monument to, 716 ; sketch of, 716. Allen, Hobatio, engineer, 213. Almy, Thomas C, sketch of, 529. Afnelia, privateer, cruise of, 1007. ArtKrican Seamen, British impressment of, 85, 142, 144, 247. American Cmnmerce, effects of difllculties with Algiers, 89 ; effect of Milan decree on, 1S4. Americans, their indignation against the French Directory, 96 ; their prowess respected, 699. American Ships, seizure of, 153. American Waters, British cruisers in, 154 ; British vessels ordered to leave, 159. American Hariars, preparations to defend, 159. American Privateering, effects of, 994 ; effect on British com- merce, 1006. America, the prosperity of her commerce, 130 ; the only neutral power, 152. Amherstburg, vicinity of, 299 ; Harrison's army at, 547. Andeeson, Alexander, engraver, 785. Andekson, Kobeet, 680. Angds, Samoel, Lieutenant, 428. Annapolis, Convention at, 26 ; naval monument at, 124. Applino, Daniel, sketch of, 800. Aeohee, Samuel B., sketch of, 602. Aram goes to Prance, 715 ; her destruction of property there, 715 ; her combat with the Pelican, 715 ; surrender of, 716. Ariel, the pilot of the, 538. ^ „..« , ^ v Abmistead, Geoege, General, 955 ; honors to, 960 ; sketch of, 960. . „„ ^rmi8(fce, 1812, 247; effects of, 383. Aemsteono, John, American minister to France, 162 ; bec- retary of War, 472 ; interferes with Harrison's plans, 475 ; his treatment of Harrison, 563 ; his interview with Wil- kinson, 630; visits the frontier, 632 ; at Sackett's Harbor, 638 ; sketch of, 1011. ^ , ..v <■ .,»,= Aemsteono, Robert, Lieutenant, death of, 775. Army (British) in Canada, 234; indications of advance of. Army (United States), augmentation of, 217; volunteers for, 321- difficulties of transportation of, 339; divisions m Northwest, 340; on the Niagara frontier, 388; officers killed and wounded of, 395; measures for strengthening the 467; character of the chief leaders of, 655 ; provision for the increase of, 787; reduction of, 1068. Arsdale, John Van, 17. Abtois, Count d', 60. Ami, capture of, 714. Assembly, National, otFranee, 60. AusraifWEMiAii, 761; fights with Dale, 770; sketch of, 771. Auttose, battle of, 768. ' Bab;e, Francis, Colonel, 262. Backus, Eleotus, sketch of, 611. Bacon Tree, 911. Bailey, Dixon, 755. Bainbbidge, W., Commodore, goes to Algiers, 117 ; com- mands the squadron, 458 ; sketch of, 459 ; honors to, 462 ; medal to, 463 ; a search for, 722. Ball, Colonel, his fight with Indians, 500. Baltimore, riot in, 243 ; menaced by the British, 944 ; prep- arations for the defense of, 948; fortifications at, 949; Battle Monument in, 961 ; a visit to, 901. Banobopt, Geoege, oration by, 540. Bangor, British march on, 900 ; destruction of vessels, 901 • plundering at, 901 ; journey to, 911. Banking Capital of United States, 65. Barataria Bay, outlaws at, lOlS. Barbary Coast, abandonment of, 119. Bariary Powers, tribute to the, 116 ; they are humbled, 125. Basing, Alexander, 164 ; his Inquiry, and its effect, 169. Baekeb, Jacob, sketch of, 938. Baelow, Joel, 94 ; sent minister to Prance, 225 ; action on Milan and Berlin decrees, 245 ; residence of, 942. Babney, Joshua, Commodore, llotilla of, 920 ; destruction of, 921 ; gallant defense of Washington, 930 ; wounded and taken prisoner, 931 ; sketch of, 931 ; in the Chesa- peake, 982. Babbie, Eobeet, commander of the Harmony, 898. Babbon, James, Commodore, in Mediterranean, 124; com- mands the Chesapeake, 156, 157 ; sketch of, 159 ; his pun- ishment, 159; daughter of, 688; duel of, 942. Babbon, Joseph, mission of, 191. Babey, John, commander of frigate United States, 101. Batavia, Veterans of the War ofl812 there, 570. Battery, proposed revolving, 974. Battle, first of the war, 264. Baton Rouge, 738. Bastile, destruction of, 61. Bayard, James A., 783, 786; peace commissioner, 1060; sketch of, 1060. Baylies, Hodijah, 1016. Bayonne DtJyree, 170. Beall, Reazin, sketch of, 343. Beabley, Daniel, Major, 752. Beaver Dams, flight of the British to, 600; expedition against, 620 ; battle of, 620 ; a visit to the battle-ground of, 683. Beokwith, General Sib Sidney, 676 ; head-quarters of, 683. Beekmanlaum, skirmish at, 861, 862 ; ride through, 881. Belknap, William Goldsmith, Major, sketch of, 838. Beluohe, 1037. Belvidere, chase of the, 435. Benedict, J. B., Colonel, ordered to guard the frontier, 367. Benton, Thomas H., 742. Beeeseoed, J. P., captain of the Poictiers, 451. Bbekbley, Bishop, 34. Berlin Decree, issue of, 150, 152; revocation of, 179; unre- pealed, 225. BiDDLE, James S., U. S. N., 453 ; cstptain ol Hornet, 990 ; hon- ors to, 991 ; sketch of, 991 ; medal to, 991. BiDDLE, Thomas, Captain, wounded, 823. BiGELOw, Thomas, 1016. Big Sandy Creek, Woolsey at, 799 ; British in pursuit, 799 ; battle at, 800 ; the British defeated, 800. Bingham, A. B., commander of the LitOe Belt, 184. BiBD, James, execution of, 543. BissELL, D., appointed brigadier general, 792; victory at Lyon's Creek, 845, 857. BissHOPP, Cecil, 428 ; death of, 628. Blaok Hoop, Shawnoese chief, 546. Black Rock, residence of Peter B. Porter, 426 ; attacked by the British, 426 ; expedition against, 627 ; repulse of the British, 627 ; the British at, 635 ; bad conduct of the mili- tia at, 636 ; battle near, 636 ; Americans repulsed, 637 ; destruction of, 657 ; British attack, 830. Bladensburg, battle-line formed near, 924 ; the field of ac- tion, 926; arrangements for battle near, 927; dueling- ground of, 928 ; battle of, 930 ; defeat of, 937 ; visit to bat- tle-ground of, 941. Blake, Geneeal, much censured, 902. Blakeley, Johnston, Captain, commander of the Wasp, 979 1 sketch of, 980. Blennebhasbett, Habman, his home, 136. 1076 INDEX. BusB, Geoege, 1016. Blockade of the European coast, 151 ; paper, 151 ; proclama- tion of, 1000. Block-house erected in 1812, 697. Blondin at Niagara, 828. Bloody Run, fight of, 301 ; origin of the name, 301. Bloompield, Joseph, Brigadier General, 639. Blue Jacket, chief of the Shawnoese, 46, 4T. Blythe, Samuel, commander of the jBoaier, 717 ; death and funeral of, 718. BcEESTLEK, Chaeles G., skctch of, 620 ; his command cap- tured, 621, Bonaparte, Napoleon, victories in Italy, 93 ; victories of, on the Danube, 95; made first consul, 100; makes fi'ieud of George III., 113 ; his achievements, 112 ; his influence in Europe, 112 ; his insolence toward the English, 126 ; declared consul for life, 126 ; proclaimed emperor, 128 ; Berlih Decree, 129 ; gives England a naval rival, 133 ; sells Louisiana, 133 ; seizes Hanover, 151 ; adheres to Conti- nental System, 152 ; Milan Decree, 154 ; in Spain, 170 ; Armstrong letter, 178 ; seizes American .vessels, 179 ; his march toward Mobcow^SS ; in Spain, 465 ; invades Eus- Bia, 470 ; disasters in Kussia, 471 ; . humbled, 786 ; abdi- cates the throne, 854 ; retires to Elba, 855. Boone, Daniel, grave of, 1056. Borgne, Lake, British prepare to fight at, 1025. Borodino, battle of, 465. Boston, reception of Hull, 445; expected attack, 891 ; alarm in, 892; preparations for defense, 892; journey to, 908; privateers from, 997 ; the centre of illicit trade, 1008 ; bankers of, 1010. Bobwell, William E., Colonel, in command of the boats, 487. BouoHETTE, Joseph, his account of Sackett's Harbor, 614. Bowyer, Fort, attack on, 1021. Boyd, John P., Colonel, 194. BoYLE, James A., Captain, 795, Beady, Hugh, Colonel, sketch of, 822. Braniford, town Of, 420 ; departure for, 625. Beant, John, sketch of, 401 ; tomb of the family of, 424. Beeese, Samuel L., Commodore, statement of, 867. British o^cials, interference of, 51 ; hostile intentions of, 52; alliance with Indians, 52 ; humbled, 55; holding pos- session of Western military posts, 59 ; government, dis- courtesy of, 63 ; Orders in Council, 84 ; armed neutrality, 84 ; interference of, 89 ; outrages of, on American flag, 102; merchants, their jealousy, 138; their perfidy defend- ed by English writers, 139 ; cruisers, depredations of, 140, 141; refuse to listen to remonstrance, 145; ministry, change of, 149 ; cruisers in American waters, 154 ; ships, deserters from, 155; then* surrender refused, 156-158 ; ves- sels ordered to leave American waters, 159 ; government, reparation demanded of, 160 ; provinces, enlistments in, 245 ; government, haughty assumption of, 24T ; letters of marque and reprisal^ 248 ; ofi&cers in Canada, 259 ; their employment of Indians, 271 ; force of, 279 ; defeat of, at Maguaga, 280 ; commanders purchase scalps, 310 ; ashamed to call Indians their allies, 359 ; vessels, seizure of, on Lake Ontario, 367 ; their violation of neutrality, 370 ; squadron at Halifax, 436 ; Indians cross the Mau- mee, 483 ; effects of the battle of Lake Erie on the, 536 ; they fly to Beaver Dams and Burlington Heights, 600 ; they destroy their own property, 601 ; at La Colle, repulse of, 640; number and position of, 650 ; they resolve on vig- orous war, 667; strengthen their blockading force, 675 ; at La Colle, 790 ; battle of the Chippewa, 810 ; at Lundy's Lane, 816 ; their line of battle, 818 ; repulsed at Otter Greek, 856 ; at Champlain, 859 ; Beekmantown, their loss at, 863; lose command of Lake Champlain, 874; officers, graves of, 879 ; capture Eastport, 890 ; leave Penobscot Bay, 903, 904; move on Washington, 923; advance on Bladensburg, 925 ; they want an excuse to burn Wash- ington, 932; enter Washington and destroy public build- ings, 933; their barbarities condemned by their country- men, 934; invasion, original object of, 936; retreat from Washiugton, 937.; appear before Fort Washington, 939 ; in Chesapeake Bay, 944, 946 ; repulse of, at Baltimore, 946 ; land at North Point, 950 ; fleet of, approaches Balti- more, 954, 958, 959 ; repulsed at Fort Bowyer, 1021; arrive at New Orleans, 1025; defeated there, 1049. Beoadnax, John, 776. Brook, General, energy and vigilance of, 273, 374; before the Canadian Legislature, 275 ; influence of, 275 ; procla- mation of, 275 ; i^roceeds to Fort Maiden, 283 ; pecuniary aid for, 283; knighted, 292; offers amnesty to Indians, 284 ; at Fort George, 397 ; hastens toward Queenston, 398; attacks Wool, 390; death of, 398; funeral honors to, 405, 406 ; his monument, 414 ; the place where he fell, 416. Brockville and its vicinity, 676. Broke, Philip Boweb Vbee, captain of the Shannon, 705 ; gallantry of, 707 ; sketch of, 709 ; honors to, 710. Beonson, Alvinj his captivity and release, 797. , Brooks, John, Lieutenant, sketch of, 525. Brougham, Henry, M.P., 169. Broube, Petee, survivor of the battle of Chrysler's Farm, 666. Brown, Fort, Ruins of, 875. Bbown, Jacob, General^ 607; his position, 608; assumes command at Sackett's Harbor, 60S ; a visit to the widow of, 617 ; his residence at Brownsville, 618 ; carries flotilla past Prescott in the night, 650 ; invades Canada, 651 ; be- comes genej-al-in-chiei; 792 ; moves toward Niagara, 793 ; expects the co-operation of Chauncey, 813 ; advances to Fort George, 814 ; falls back to Chippewa, 815; wounded, 823 ; indignation of, 829 ; orders the army to Lake Erie, 829 ; resumes command of the army, 836 ; determines to make a sortie, 837 ; honors awarded to, 841 ; the freedom of the city of New York conferred on, 841 ; medal award- ed by Congress, 841. Brown, Riohard, Captain, 762. Brown, Samuel R., 532. Browne, Benjamin F., survivor of Dartmoor Prison, 908. Beush, Captain, escort sent for, 285. Bryant, William Cullen, writes on the Embargo, 164; his ode, 232. BuoK-ONG-A-BELAB, -chief of the Delawares, 46, 47. Budd, George, 711. Buffalo in 1812, 379 ; heavy force there, 427; New York mi- litia at, 635 ; destruction of, 637 ; survivors of 1812 there, 847. Bunker Hill Monument, visit to, 804. BuRBEOK, H., Colonel, sketch of, 694. Buegoyne, Sir John, 1039. Burke, Edmund, reflections of, on the French Revolution, 69. Burlington Heights, flight of the British to, 600 ; expedition to, 628, Burnt Corn Creek, battle of, 749. Burr, Aaron, Vice-President, 108 ; his duel with Hamilton, 135 ; his scheme for his own profit, 136 ; deceives Jackson and Adair, 136; is suspected of treason, 137; his arrest and trialLl37 ; his exile, 137 ; acquittal of, 162. Burrows, William, commander of the Enterprise, 717 ; sketch of, 718 ; funeral of, 719 ; medal awarded to, 719. Byron, Sir Richard, captain of the Belvidera, 435. Cabinet, changes in, 472, 1011. Cabot, George, 1016. CadeVs Gray, origin of, 806. Cahoon, Reuben, survivor of 1812, 906. Calabee Miver, battle at the, 776. Caldwell, Samuel, sketch of, 552. Caledonia, the affair of, 386, 387. Calhoun, John C, sketch of, 215; his reply to Randolph, 216; his report on the causes of the war, 226; in Com- mittee on Foreign Relations, 468. Ca/mpaign, the plan of, 251. Campbell, George W., of Tennessee, 1011. Campbell, Hugh G., Commodore, 740. Campbell, James, 664. Campbell, Joun B., his expedition to the Mississiniwa, 346.; attack on his camp, 347; distressing retreat to Greenville, 347. Can^a, people very unhappy about war, 244 ; address to the Legislature of, 244 ; British officers in, 259 ; impa- tience of United States army to invade, 260 ; first inva- sion of, 262; symptoms of disloyalty in, 275; boundary- line of, 379 ; second attempt to invade, 393 ; opposition to invaders, 395 ; third invasion, 427,429; invasion aban- doned, ■^Sl; arrangement for fourth invasion of, 544; re- bellion in, 582 ; an American steamer seized for the benefit of the rebels, 583 ; siege of a garrisoned wind-mill, 583 ; fate of captured patriots, 584 j plans for a fifth invasion of, 585, 803, 804 ; abandoned by the Americans, 846 ; ex- pedition of Captain Holmes into, 849, 857, 875. Canning, Geoege, 151 ; British minister of Foreign Affairs, 158 ; his offensive letter to the American minister, 171. Canoe Fight, the, 769, 770, 771. Caeamalli, Hamet, alliance with, 125. Caedbn, John, S. j captain of the Macedoniaai, sketch of, 455, 456. CarUton Island^ a visit to, remains of fortifications, 659 ; in- teresting relics, 660. ' - , . Carmagnole sung in New York, 81. Ca/roUna, Northwestern, revolt of, 24. Carolina, destruction of the, 1035. Caroline, destruction of the, 380. Caee, Robert, sketch of, 640. Cascade Creek, block-house near, 511. Cass, Lewis, Colonel, 262, 263, 264; writes energetic letter to the government, 282 ; crosses the Rouge, 286 ; goes to Washington, 292; his statement of the surrender of De- troit, 293 ; sketch of, 293 ; appointed military governor of Michigan, 559. ^ Cassin, Stephen, commander of the Ticond&roga, 886; re- ceives medal, 868 ; sketch of, 869. '^ Castalian Springe, a ride to, 606 ; appearance of, 606. Castine, flight of Americans from, 898 ; during the Revolu- tion, 902 ; new militaiy works at, 903 ; voyage to, 908 ; mementoes of war at, 909 ; remains of fortifications near, 910. Castlereagh, Lord, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, 233. Chalmette, plantation of, battle near, 1037; British repulsed, 1038, Champagnt, M. de, French minister of Foreign Affairs, 153, 178, 179. INDEX. 1077 Cluimplam,Lahe, prepavationa on, 789; strnggle for the control of, 858 : battle of, 866, 86T, 870 ; American victory complete, 871 ; end of the battle of, 873. <-|HAMPLiN, Stephen, Commodore, sketch of, 823, 846, 861. L.HANt)LEE, John, General, sketch of, 603 ; capture of, 604. L.HANNING, William Elleby, discourse of, 232. CHAPMAN, John, survivor of the battle of Lake Erie, 527. UmrUstown, navy yard at, 905. CImaseur privateer, cruise of the, 999. Chatham, American troops at, 549 ; visit to, 561. LuATraoBY, Isaac, created commander-in-chief of the navy on the lakes, 370 ; his first cruise, 371 ; captures three merchant vessels, 372; and Perry, relations of, S14; on Lake Ontario, 585; sails for Sackett's Harbor, 601; tries to engage Sir James Yeo, 643 ; the British commander avoids a conflict, 643 ; sickness of, 816; kept from active service, 884 ; his squadron leaves Sackett's Harbor, 885 ; tries to draw out Yeo, 886 ; sketch of, 886 ; calls for mili- tia, 887. Chesapeake, United States frigate, watched by the British squadron, 166 ; she is boarded, 157 ; flred into by the Leo- pwrd,-L51; surrender of the, 158; cruise of the, 701 ; Law- rence in command of the, 701; condition of the, 704 ; flght with the Shamwn, 705 ; capture of the, 707. Chesapeake Bay, blockade of, 667 ; British appear in, 920 ; blockade of, 982 ; stirring scenes in, 714. Chicago, journey from, 297 ; its name, settlement, and posi- tion, 302 ; garrison at, 303 ; order for the evacuation of, 305; massacre at, survivors, 311; block-house at, 312; great growth of, 312, 313. Chiekasaws, 747. Chillicothe, destruction of, 41 ; description of, 567. Chippewa, Fort, doomed to destruction, 601. Chippewa, battle of the, 809 ; charge of the Eleventh Regi- ment at, 810 ; British position at, 811 ; the Americans fall back, 811 ; sketches of subordinate officers at the, 812, 813, 814, 823. Chodaws, m ; pacification of the, 752; the allies of the, 762, 777. Cheisty, "Willtam, sketch of, 483. Chrijsler^s Farm, preparations for battle at, 651 ; position of the British at, 052 j battle of, 653 ; visit to the battle- gronnd of, 666: Chkvstib, John, Colonel, 392 ; he takes Wool's place, 401. Chueoh, Daniel W., Adjutant, encounters the enemy near Toussaint Island, 373 ; sketch of, 578. Cincinnati in 1812, 476 ; a visit to, 569. Circleiiille, 567. Claiborne, P, L., Major, in the Creek country, 750 ; his anxiety about the settlers, 752 ; sends Kennedy to Fort Mims, 767 ; ordered to the Creek country, 769 ; deter- mines to penetrate it, 771 ; traverses Creek country, 772. Claibome, Fort, construction of, 771. Clakk, Isaac, 790. Clay, Green, General, brigade of, 476 ; moves down the Maumee, 4S5 ; his encounter with the ludiaus, 487. Clay, Henry, appointe'd to fill the vacant seat of General John Adair, 161 ; chosen speaker, 210 ; advocates war, 223 ; opposition to J. Qulncy, 466 ; second time chosen speaker, 783, 786 ; tomb of, 1055 ; monument to, 1056 ; peace commissioner, 1060 ; sketch of, 1060. Clay, Luoretia Hart, sketch of, 1068. Clayton, visit to, 664. Cleveland, Ohio troops welcomed to, 342 ; journey to, 536. Clinch, Dunoan L., sketch of, 917. Clinton, De Witt, 226 ; mayor of New York, 842. Clinton, Georse, Vice-President, 169 ; nominated for Vice- President, 225 ; his death and tomb, 226. Cooheane, Sir Alexander, commander of the British squadron, 920. CooKBUKN, Sir George, Admiral, made second in command, 667 • operations of, 669, 670 ; assails Havre de Grace, 671 ; ascends the Sassafras River, 674; head-quarters of, 683 ; in the Potomac and on the coast of North Carolina, 689 ; anchors off Ocracoke Inlet, 689 ; on the coast of Georgia, 691 ; lights the fires at Washington with his own hands, 933 ■ infamous conduct of, 945 ; lands near Baltimore, 950. Cooke, John, General, 759 ; separate action of, 766 ; falls on Hillabee town, 767 ; massacre of its people, 767. CoFFEB, John, in Northern Alabama, 769 ; sketch of, 1043. Coles, J. A., 653. Colonists, British, supposed republican proclivities of, 214. Colvmtus, city of, 566. . ^ . . Combs, Leslie, sufferings of, 360 ; commissioned captain ot spies, 480 ; sketch of, 480 ; his voyage down the Maumee, 481 ; is attacked by Indians, 481. Comet, privateer, cruise of, 998, 999. Commerce, cotton king of, 176. CommJssioMJ-s, Peace, list of, 471. Committee, report of, on Foreign Relations, 212, 213, 463. Confederation, Articles of, 19, 25 ; ratified by the several states, S3. CoTytoMe, capture of the, 869. ■„ , j *„ Omaress, United States, endeavors to oblige England to open trade, 23; dissolution of, 34; authorizes the raising or troops, 46 ; authorizes increase of regular army, 50 ; arranges the executive departments, 59 ; refuees to con- firm nominations, 99 ; action on the death of Washmg- ton, 110; Non-importation Act passed, 148; enlarges army and navy, 167 ; endeavors to find supplies for the war, 230 ; awards vote of thanks to Elliott, 388 ; author- izes retaliation, 409 ; awards gold medal to Hull, 446 ; awards gold medal to Captain Jones, 462 ; to Decatur, 468 ; to Bainbridge, 403 ; silver medals to his ofiicers, 463 ; plan proposed for increasing the army, 466 ; awards gold medal to Croghan, 504 ; to Elliott, 636 ; to Perry, 535; to Harrison, 557 ; to Lawrence, 700 ; silver medals to his ofii- cers, 700 ; to Burrows and M'Call, 719 ; political position of, 1813, 783 ; finds means to prosecute the war, 784, 787 ; gold medal awarded to James Miller, 820 ; to Scott, 826 ; to Gaines, 835 ; to Brown, 841 ; to Porter and Ripley, 842 : to Heuley and Cassin, 868 ; to Macomb, 878 ; to Macdon- ough, 878 ; authorizes a fioating battery, 976 ; gold medal to Biddle, 991 ; to Stewart, 985 ; to Jackson, 1062. Congressimhal Burying-ground, 943. Connecticut, governor of, refuses to comply with the call for troops, 243 ; charter of, 340 ; blockade of the coast of, 694; local militia of, 694. COTisteUation captures L^Inswrgente, 103. Constitution, United States, ratification of, 33 ; amendments of, 59 ; proposed amendments of, 1014. Constitution, a, granted to the French people, 67. Constitution, frigate, 101; named "Old Ironsides, "437; cruise of, 437 ; escape from the Guerriere, 438 ; second cruise of, 443 ; fight with the Guerriere, 443 ; cruise on the coast of Brazil, 457 ; battle vrith the Java, 460 ; arrival at Bos- ton, 461; figure-head of the, 906; chased into Marble- head Bay, 983 ; battle with Cyane and Ijevamt— she cap- tures both, 984. Convention, Hartford, 1013-1015 ; sketches of members of the, 1016. Convention to propose making Maine into a state, 24 ; con- stitutional, and members of, 27-33. Coosa River, cries for help from the banks of, 760 ; Jackson at, 763. Council, Orders in, United States vessels excluded from West Indian ports, 23; modification of the, 170; main- tained, 179 ; unrepealed, 226 ; conditional revocation of the, 246. Council, Grand, of Indians, 61. Covington, Leonaeb, General, death and burial of, 666. Covington, Fort, visit to, 664 ; veteran soldiers at, 665 ; at- tempt to seize, 956. Craig, Sir Jamks, o:overnor general of Canada, 220. Crane, William Montgomery, commander oi the JPike, 885 ; monument to, 886. Craney Island, landing of the British, 678 ; a sharp confiict, 679; British drivenoack, 680 ; visit to, 685; fortifications on, 686. Crawford, W. H., minister to France, 714. CrawfordsoiUe, 198. Creagii, Gerrard W., 769. Credit, public, efforts for the establishment of, 64 ; it is as- sailed, 1009. Greeks, their position, 747 ; civil war, 748 ; bravery of the, llir-tll; defeated at the battle of the Horseshoe, 780; ruined, 782. Creek Country, settlers in, 750 ; distress in, 758 ; affairs in, 761 ; invaded from Georgia, 768-773. Crittenden, John J., sketch of, 544. Croghan, G., Major, his instructions, 499 ; disobeys orders, 500 ; his report to Harrison, 504 ; medal presented to, 506 ; reaches Detroit, 857. Crotohfield, Stapleton, Major, 680, 681, 682 ; sends dis- patch to Governor Barbour, 683 ; takes possession of Hampton, 688. , , Culver's Hill, engagement at, 862 ; ride over, 881 ; battle- ground of, 882. Cumberland Head, light-house at, 870 ; visit to, 882. CcMMiNQS, James, Colonel, 827. CMrrencj;, paper, 20 ; decimal, adopted, 65 ; paper, in France, 74. Ccyler, W. Howe, sketch of, 387. Daores, James Richard, surrenders to Hull, 444. Dale, Riohaed, Commodore, in the Mediterranean, 118 ; monument to, 119. .... Dale, Samuel, courage and honor of, 761 ; prepares for act- ive operations, 767 ; wins a victory, 770 ; sketch of, 771. Dallas, A. J., sketch of, 1011. Dana, Samuel W., 162. ■' Dane, Nathan, 1016. Danish fleet destroyed at Copenhagen, 113. Dartmoor, prison of, 1068 ; outra";es on prisoners there, 1069. David Porter, privateer, cruise of, 1003. Davidson, John, 928. Davidson, Luoretia Maria, child poet, grave of, 884. Daviess, Ma.ior, gallantry of, 204; dfcath of, 205; life and character of, 207. Davis, General, mortally wounded, 838. Davis, S. B., Colonel, 669. Daubman, Captain,.270. Dayton and Sandusky, country between, 254. Dearborn, Henry, General, appointed commander-in-chief, 249; residence of, 260 ; signs armistice, 293 ; instructed to make demonstrations on the frontier, 381 ; on Lake On- 1078 INDEX. tario, 586 ; at Fort Niagara, 597 : expedition against tlie British at Beaver Dams, 620 ; is succeeded by WillcinBon, 629 ; moves into Canada, 637 ; end of expedition, 641. Debt of United States, 17S1, 20 ; 1S15, 1067. Decatur, privateer, cruise of, ^002. Deoatfb, Stephen, Commodore, captures Le Croyahle, 101 ; gallantry of, 121 ; commander of the United States, 465, 456 ; victory of, 4S7 ; gold medal jgiven to, 45S ; attempts to run the blockade of New York, 691 ; finds a place of safety, 692 ; endeavors to get to sea, 696 ; goes to sea in the I^esident, 9S7 ; sketch of, 989 ; duel and death of, 942. De Can, falls of, 623. Decrees, French, proposed revocation of, 178. De la Konde, Colonel, 1030. , , , . Delaware Bay, patriotism on the shores of, 668 ; blockade of, 667. ^ Ddawares, expedition against the, 346. Democrats, their tactics, 107; their confidence In Jefferson, 161; chief leaders of, 162. Denibon, Fredeeick, wonnded, 895. De Eottenbueg, Major General, 690. De Salabbbet, A., 639. Desha, Jobepu, sketch of, 552. Detroit in 1812, 260 ; sites of fortifications in, 201 ; British before, 282 ; preparations for attacking, 284 ; demand for surrender of, 286 ; bombardment of, 287, 288 ; surrender of, 289 ; effects of the surrender, 290, 291 ; disposal of the prisoners, 291 ; British occupation of, 292 ; a Sunday in, 297 ; besieged by Pontiac, 301 ; citizens of, 302 ; surren- der of, 746 ; expedition leaves, 860. DiTTKioK, James, veteran of 1812, 624. Dobbins, Daniel, sketch of, 609. Dodge, Riohaeh, Brigadier General, arrives at Watertown, New York, 373. Dolphin, privateer, cruise of, 1000. DoNELBON, A., Colonel, 775. Dorothea, Danish brig, destruction ofi 240. DoBBET, Duke of, 19. Douglass, David B., Lieutenant, 829, 831. DowNES, JouN, sketch of, 725 ; at Valparaiso, 726. Dkdmmond, Geobge Gordon, Lieutenant General, 810, SIS, 819, 830. DrniLET, William, 4S6. Dupont, Camp, 967. DisoN, Captain, blows up Fort Washington, 939. Fagle, Henry, 797. Eastport captured by the British, 1814, 890. EoKFORD, Henry, sketch of, 615. Econochaea in ashes, 773. Ehle, Harmon, survivor of 1S12, 801. Bldridge, Joseph C, 626. Election, Presidential, 464. Electors, method of choosing, 108. Elizaiethtovm, 577. Elkswatawa, Indian prophet, 188 ; his vision, 189 ; his treachery, 203 ; disgrace of, 206. Elliott, Jesse D., Captain, sent to Lake Erie, 371, 3S5 ; co- operation of military with, 385 ; sketch of, 387 ; re-en- forcements under, 515 ; strange conduct of, 626 ; meeting with Perry, 528 ; medal awarded to, 635. Ellbwokth, Oliver, 58. Elm Grove, cemetery of, 914. fUmwood, cemetery of, 301. Ely, Alfred, Doctor, 800. Embargo, the, passed in Congress, 162 ; effects of, 163 ; par- ty spirit aroused by, 163 ; violations of, 164, 165 ; de- nounced, 160 ; infractions of. 172 ; war proclaimed as the alternative to, 174; repealed, 175; proposed, 222; pas- sage of, 223 ; supplementaiy, 224 ; opposition to, 224 ; a new act of, 785 ; repealed, 780, 787. Emott, Jambs, 217. Emucfau, battle of, 774. Enaland refuses to be just, 180 ; a regency in, 233 ; displays all her energy, 575. Erwtoehopco Greek, battle on, 775. Ensign, Britishi pulled down, 17. Enterprise, the, cruise of, 717 ; her conflict with the Boxer — death of the two commanders, 717 ; last cruise of, 720. Ei-k, Fort, doomed to destruction, flOl ; captured by Amer- icans, 806 ; army ordered to, 829 ; an attack on, 832, 833 ; battle of, 834,^35, 836, 837, 840; blown np,S40; visit to, 847. Erie, Lake, Perry ordered to, 509 ; battle of, 522 ; first shot fired by Americans, 523 ; close of the battle of, 625, 626, 627, 529 ; sad eft'ect of the battle of, 632 ; exultation of the Americans, 534 ; chief vessels on, 542, 543. Erie, village of, 510, 512 ; menaced, 514, 515 ; historic places at, 537. Ebskine, David Montague, British minister, 176, 176 ; his arrangements repudiated by his government, 177 ; makes arrangements for renewed trade, 177 ; recalled, 177 ; bio- graphical sketch of, 177. Essex, cruise of the, she captures the Alert, 439, 440; cap- tures the Nocton, 721, 722 ; sails for the Pacific, 723 ; ar- rives at Valparaiso, 723, 724 ; captures the Georgiana and other whalers, 726 ; captures the Seringapatam, 720 ; she is crippled, 732 ; surrender of the, 733. Europe against France, 72. Evans, Sib De Laot, sketch of, 1032. Eair Haven, 8S9 ; fort at, 913. Fallen Timbers, battle of, 64. Fantome, flag-ship, 670. Fast-day, proclamation of, 231, 232. Faulkneb, James, sketch of, 678. Federalists and Bepublicans, 72 ; trouble among the, 100 ; policy of the, 216 ; patriotism of the, 217. Finch, capture of the, 868, Fire, Greek, 613. FiSK, Jabez, survivor of the battle of Niagara, 843. Flag, first British, taken, 376. Flaujeac, Gabbigtte, General, 1038. Fled, Jamaica merchant, chase of, 436 ; British, ships of, 667 ; flrst appearance of, 667 ; enters Hampton Koads, 676; about New York, 691 ; surrenderof, on Lake Cham- plain, 870. Fleming, Benjamin, 538. Florida, East, insurrection in, 740, 741 ; West, claimed by the United States, 739. FhtiUa, American, capture of, 1026. Flocrnoy, Thomas, sketch of, 748. Floyd, John, Brigadier General, at the battle of Auttose, 168 ; at Fort Strother, 777. Forest Lawn, cemetery of, 847 ; soldiers' monuments, 848. FoBBEBT, Dulaney, 520 ; sketch of, 531. Forsyth, Benjamin, Major, 370 ; expedition of, 372 ; opens jails in Elizabethtown, 677, 790 ; death of, 867. Fortifications, British frontier, 234. Forts, Bowyer, 1019 ; capture of, 1061 ; Brown, 865, 882 ; Cas- tine, 903 ; Clinton, 973 ; Covington, 950 ; Dearborn, 303, 311 ; Defiance, 328 ; remains of, 332, 333 ; Erie, 803 ; Fish, 974 ; George, 909 ; Gratiot, 849 ; Griswold, 893 ; Jackson, 1029; Lee, 906; Mackinaw, 268, 269; M'Henry, 670, 94T, 954,955; Madison, 701 ; Morean, 860, 882 ; Necessity, 257 ; Phoenix, 913; Pickering, 906; Pierce, 755; Pike, 617; Plattsbnrg, 861 ; St. Philip, attack on, 1051 ; Sewall, 907 ; Scott, 882 ; Stephenson, 497 ; Stone Mill, 803 ; Strong, 892 ; Tompkins, 607 ; Toronto, 587, 688 ; Trumbull, 696 ; Wash- ington, 688, 925, 939 ; Warburton, 688 ; Wayne, 66 ; Wel- lington, 684. Foster, AuGnsTUS J., envoy extraordinary to the United ■ States, 180. FouoHET, M., French minister, 83. Fox, Charles James, premier of England, 128, 149. France, friendship of, 69 ; revolutionary movements in, 60 ; anarchy in, 73; paper currency in, 74; National Conven- tion established, 75 ; overthrow of the monarchy, 75 ; re- action, S3 ; the Directory offended, 91 ; difliculties with the United States, 92 ; her acqiiisition of Spain, 93 ; het arms successful, 95 ; preparations for war with, 96 ; a minister appointed to, 99 ; three envoys sent, 100 ; secret designs of, 132, 138; her change of policy, 153, 103, 180. Fbanois, Jostah, 754. Franklin, Benja.min, 19, 27. Frasek, William, 604. Fremont, journey to^ 506. French Creek, American camp at, 649. French Mills, American army at, 666 ; sufferings at, 657 ; visit to, 664. Frenchtown threatened, 351 ; its suffering inhabitants, 352 ; battle and massacre of, 352; arrival of re-enforcements, 353 ; fearful night at, 357 ; in 1860, 360 ; captured, 670. Frigates, building of, 91. Frolic, surrender of the, 450. Frontier, Northern, close of hostilities on the, 1S14, 887. Fruit Hill, visit to, 668. Fulton, Bouebt, suggests a new system of naval warfare, 236; sketch of, 242. Fulton the First, floating battery, 977. Gaines, Edmund P., General, 546 ; demands the surrender of Mobile, 740 ; appointed brigadier general, 792 ; at Sack- ett's Harbor, 816 ; takes command of the army, 831 ; sketch of, 831 ; made major general, 835 ; gold medal awarded to, 835; calls the battle of Lake Erie a "hand- some victory," 835. Gallatin, Albert, Secretary of the Treasury, 221, 783, 786 ; peace commissioner, 1060 ; sketch of, 1060. Galubua, Jonas, governor of Vermont, 639. Gananoqui, Bpoils taken at, 373. Gabdinier, Barent^62 ; duel of, 164. Gardner, Charles K., Major, sketch oi; S04. Gardner, J. M., 675. General Armstrong, privateer, cruise and career of, 1001, 1004 Genet, Citizen, arrival in Charleston, 77 ; reception, 79 ; privateers commisBioned by, 79 ; interview with Wash- ington, 80 ; rebuked by Jefferson, 8-1 ; attempts to create a rebellion, 82 ; recalled to France, S3 ; sketcn of, S3. George III., friendly with Bonaparte, 113. George IV., Prince Begent, 233. George, Fort, General Brock at, 397 ; a visit to, 418 ; expedi- tion against, 590 ; cannonade between Fort Niagara and, 697 ; capture of, 599 ; invested by the British, 622 ; it is abandoned, 632, 815. Georgia, Cockbum on the coast of, 691 ; her troops return to their frontier, 776. INDEX. 1079 Georijiana, prize-ship, 725. ^?rj=i'!SJ?™'''°™i°*t«*f™ ■'^ice-President, 464; birth- place of, 90T ; monument to, 943. tferry-moncter, history of the, 211 Ghent, treaty of, 1060. GiBBs, General, 1037 ; death of, 1047. GiEsou, J., 403. Gibson, Colonel, mortally wounded, 838. Glebq, J. B., aid to General Brock, 283. GiEiG, Geoboe R., sketch of, 937. Globe, privateer, cruise of the, 995, 1003. GODDABD, CALTtN, 1016. GooBEioH, Chaitnoet, 1016. Grand River, departure for, 419 ; mission-house at, 421. Geatiot, C, engineer, 474. Great Britain refuses to send minister to the United States, 2A i attempt to gain justice fl-om, 62 ; strong feeling against, 90; triumphant, 113; declares war against I^ince, 126; effects of the declaration, 128 ; makes in- sulting proposition for tribute, 165 ; her emissaries at work, 188 ; acknowledged naval supremacy of, 433. Geeqoey, Feanois H., sketch of, 884; exploits of, SS5. Gbifpith, Bdwaed, Eear Admiral, 897. GoBDON, Captain, 159. GossELiN, Geeabb, General, 902 ; popularity of, 908. Government of the United States, newly organized, 68 ; its pol- icy indicated, 58 ; puts forth vigorous efforts for suprem- acy on the Lakes, 370 ; strange apathy of, 916 ; calls for troops from different states, 918. Gucurd, National, formation of, 61 ; demoralization of, 67. Guerriere, the, impresses residents of Maine, 181, 437 ; fight with the Constitution, 443 ; destruction of, 445. Gun-hoot, iron-clad, 1814, 976. Hail Columbia, song, history of, 97. Halifax, British squadron at, 436 ; British expedition leaves, 897. Hall, A., Major General, 635. Hall, William, Colonel, 742. Hall, William, Jr., in Hartford Convention, 1016. Hamilton, Alexandeb, 25, 29 ; Secretary of the Treasury, 59 ; protests against temporizing with the national hon- or, 64 ; his financial scheme assailed, 65 ; considers the English government a model of excellence, 65 ; his feud with Jefferson, 71 ; acting general-in-cMef, 98 ; condemns secession, 134 ; his death, 135. Hamilton, Paul, Secretary of the Navy, sends cipher al- phabet to Chauncey, 370. Hamitton, village of, 420 ; visit to, 625. Hamlin, Hannibal, Vice-President of United States, 911. Hampton, W., General, haughtiness of, 630; inglorious re- treat of, 648 ; bad conduct of, 654 ; censured, 655 ; disobe- dience of orders, 656 ; the army is relieved of his pres- ence, 657. Haimpbm Roads, defenses at, 668 ; skirmish in, 676 ; Amer- icans at, 670 ; landing of the British near, 681 ; a severe skirmish, 682 ; Americans driven from, 683 ; a visit to, 687 ; destruction during the Civil War, 688 ; preparations to oppose the British, 899 ; the John Adams at, 899 ; Brit- ish arrive at, 900 ; outrages at, 901 ; loss of property at, 902 ; visit to, 911. HamtbImok, Major, 40, 56. Hanoks, Lieutenant, 270. Haedy, Sib Thomas M., commander of the British squad- ron, 691 ; allows no vessels to pass, 693 ; appears on the New England coast, 890 ; leaves Eastport, 892. Habmab, Joseph, General, 41 ; his defeat, 43, Harpy, privateer, cruise of the, 1008. aarriso«,J'ori, building of, 195; siege of, 317; Indians driv- en from, 318. Haeeison, Mbs. Anna, wife of Gen. Harrison, a visit to, 570. Haeeison, William Heney, General, joins the army, 50 ; governor of Indiana Territory— his wise administration, 187- denounces the Indian Prophet, 190 ; concludes treaty with the Indian tribes, 190; speech of, 192 ; calls for vol- untary aid, 194 ; march to the Wabash, 195, 200 ; his en- campment on the Tippecanoe battle-ground, 202 ; his camp furiously attacked, 204 ; victor at Tippecanoe, 205, 208 ; active in building block-houses, 321 ; goes to Ken- tucky, 321 ; made brigadier general, 322, 323 ; marches to- ward Piqua, 323 ; his influence, 324 ; his army in the wil- derness, 825 ; calls a council of officers, 325, 326 ; orders Jennings to escort duty, 328; his campaign arranged, 829 • makes urgent appeals for supplies, 329 ; expedition against the Indians, 382; in Central Ohio, 332 ; sufferings and difficulties of, 348 ; his army, 849 ; at Upper Sandus- ky, 351 ; unjustly censured, 363-; his army at Maumee Eapids, 364, 473 ; at Cincinnati, 475 ; precautions of, 478 ; his note to General Clay, 479 ; his addresses, 482 ; his de- fense of Fort Meigs, 484 ; his plans developed, 485 ; or- ders a sortie, 487 ; his head-quarters^ 494 ; council of war, 499 ■ his character assailed and vmdicated, 508 ; visits Perry's ship, 516, 543, 844; at Amherstburg, 547; his ar- rangements for the battle of the Thames, 552 ; gold medal awarded to, 657; appoints Cass governor of"Michi|:an, 659 ■ effects of the victories of, 559 ; brief outline of his career, 562; leaves the army, 563; sketch of, 572; tomb o^ 573. Haeeowbt, Earl of. Lord President of the Council, 233. Haet, Nathaniel G. T., death and sketch of, 369. Hartford, Convention at, 1013, 1016, 1016. HartUy^s Point, 546. Havre de Grace, threatened by the British, 670 ; prepara- tions at, 671 ; assailed by Cdbkburn, 671 ; landing of the British at, 672 ; visit to— historical localities there, 678. Heald, Mrs. Captain, great bravery of, 309, 310. Heokeweloeb, Johanna Maeia, 37. Heokeweldee, Rev. John, pioneer, 36. Henley, Robeet, commander of the Eagle, 675 ; sketch of, 867 ; receives medal from Congress, 868. Hennee, Alfked, 1058. Heney, John, his mission to New England, 220 ; his corre- spondence, 221 ; Ms disclosures, 222 ; sketch of, 222. Hiahflyer, privateer, capture of the, 736 ; cruise of the, 996. Hillabee Town, massacre at, 767. Hillhouse, James, 1016. HiNDMAN, Jacob, 802, 804, 835. HoLDiTP, Thomas, sketch of, 328. Holland issues a decree like the Milan Decree, 154. HoLLiNS, Geoeoe N., sketch of, 619. Holmes, Anna B., 914. Holmes, Jebemiah, Captain, his expedition into Canada, 849 ; returns to St. Joseph, 850 ; nails his flag to the mast, 894 ; reopens fire on the British, 895 ; the hero of Ston- ington, 914. Hope, Jane A., daughter of Commodore Barron, 668. Hopkins, Samuel G., his expedition against the Indians, 335 ; his expedition to the Wabash, 336 ; close of the mil- itary career of, 337. Horizon, the, American ship, stranded on the French coast, 153. Hornet, the, challenges a British vessel, 459 ; her contest with the Peacoek, 698 ; her fight with the Penguin, 990 ; cruise of, 992. Horsehoe, battle of the, 7T9. Houston, Samuel, wounded, 779 ; sketch of, 799. Howard, Jehaziel, 801. Hull, Abeaham F., Captain, grave of, 827. Hull, Isaao, commander of the Constitution, 441 ; sketch of, 442 ; his coolness, 443 ; his reception in Boston, 444 ; gives up the command of the Constitution, 448 ; presented with a gold medal, 446, Hull, William, his invasion of Canada, 251 ; made briga- "dier general, 252 ; takes command of Ohio troops, 255 ; marches toward Detroit, 257 ; hears of declaration of war, 258 ; capture of his baggage, 258 ; his army at Detroit, 259 ; determines to invade Canada, 260 ; head-quarters of, 262 ; a reconnoissance toward Maiden, 263 ; fall of Mack- inaw, 272 ; mutinous spirit of his army, 272 ; loud com- plaints against, 277 ; disposition to deprive him of his command, 282 ; surrenders Detroit— a prisoner, and tak- en to Fort George, 291 ; his arrival at Montreal, 293 ; cap- tivity of, 294 ; pardoned by the President, 295. Huntee, Geoege H., Major, 669. HuNTEE, James, sketch of, 602. Hymn, Eevolutiouary, 690. Impressments, arguments against, 145. Independence, Declaration of, 26 ; engrossed copy of, saved by Mrs. Madison, 936. Indiana Territory, the, 187. Indians, councils of, 39 ; beset with British emissaries, 45 ; confederacy, efforts to form one, 46; alliance with the British, 62 , treaty with, 57 ; encroachments on, 188 ; their superstition excited, 189 ; signs of hostility, 191, 192 ; friendly deputation from, 195 ; defeat of, 206 ; alarming reports concerning, 257 ; their employment by the Brit- ish, 271 ; scouts, 279 ; conference with Brock, 288 ; signs of trouble with, 804 ; treaty with, 306 ; intention to mas- sacre the whites, 307 ; treachery of, 308 ; massacre in Scott County, 314; at Miami Village, 316, 318, 319 ; towns, destruction of, 325 ; they are generally hostile, 334, 348 ; chief of the Six Nations, 416; costumes and weapons of, 421, 422, 425 ; Western, massacre by, 626 ; murders by, 637; hostilities of, 752 ; leaders of, 754 ; rewarded for mur- der by the British, 757 ; destruction of, at Talladega, 765 ■ they sue for peace, 766, 781. Inswgente, the, captured by the Constellation, 103. Insurrection in the Wyoming Valley, 24. Insurrection, Whisky, quelled, 88. Intrepid, the, 122 ; her destruction, 123. Invasion, effects of, 937. Ibvino, Wabuington, his prediction, 636 ; rebuke by, 887. IzABD, George, Major General, 792, 843; sends troops to the Niagara frontier, 844 ; takes command, 846, 854, 855, 858 ; leaves his camp at Champlain, 859. Jackson, Andeew, commander of the Tennessee militia, 136, 742, 743 ; at Natchez, 742 ; returns to Nashville, 744 ; pecuniary troubles of, 744 ; offers his services to the gov- ernment, 758 ; in the field, 759 ; marches to the Coosa, 760; his army threatened with famine, 761, 762, 768; adopts an Indian orphan, 763 ; goes to the relief of Tal- ladega, 764, 766 ; continually in motion, 773, 774 ; aston- ished at the bravery of the Creeks, 775 ; at Fort Strother, 775, 776, 777 ; at the Horseshoe, 779, 781 ; releases Weath- 1080 INDEX. ersford, 782 ; recalled to active service, 1017 ; goes to Mo- bile, 1019 ; marches to Pensacola, 1022 ; goes to New Or- leans, 1023, 1024; prepares for defense, 1027,1030; atwork below New Orleans, 1034, 1037 ; driven from his head- quarters, 1039 ; battle of N?w Orleans, 1042; calls his staff into action, 1045; enters New Orleans with his army, 1061; receives gold medal, 1052; sketcli of, 1054; tomb of, 1055. Jaokson, Ceaven, 775. Jackson, FEA.NOIS J., English minister, 177 ; his miscon- duct, 178. Jaokson, WiLtr AM, secretary of the Convention, 26. Jacobin Club, formation of, 67. JacoMnSf French, fall of, 86. Java^ wreck and capture of, 460. Jay, John, special minister to England, 85 ; treaty with Great Britain, 86. Jepfeeson, Thomas, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, 59 ; re- ception in New York, 66, 68 ; disgust and alarm of, 70 ; feud with Hamilton, 71 ; rebukes Genet, 81, 82 ; elected President, 108, 114; foreshadows his policy, 115 ; his pop- ularity, 115; his views on the retrocession of Louisiana, 131; honors Burr, 135; dissatisfaction at the acquittal of Burr, 162 ; signs the embargo, 162 ; makes provision for strengthening the army and navy, 167; compared with New England disuuiouists, 173. Jesup, Thomas Sidney, Colonel, sketch of, 822, 1013. Jett, Thomas, 776, John Adams, frigate, capture of, 386; ascends the Penob- scot, 898; at Hampden, 899; runs the blockade, 978; de- struction of, 979. Johnson, G. H. M., Indian chief, 420, 421 ; sketch of, 422. Johnson, Eiohaed M., 162; issues address calling for mounted volunteers, 323, 399 ; his proposed campaign, 494,495; sketch of, 495 ; at Fort Stephenson, 497 ; at Mo- ravian Town, 551 ; crosses Detroit River, 548 ; great gal- lantry at the battle of the Thames, 556 ; wounded and conveyed homeward, 557. Johnson, William, his exploits among the Thousand Isl- ands, 662 ; his heroic daughter, 663. Johnston, John, a visit to, 253, 316, 324. Jones, Jacob, captain of the Wasp, sketch of, 449 ; honors to— receives gold medal, 452. Jones, Thomas Ap Catesby, 1025. Jones, Rogee, 812. Judiciary of United States, arrangement of, 59. JuMONviLLE, plantation of, skirmish on, 1033. KahraTna, 942. Kemp, privateer, cruise of, 1006. Kentucky frontier threatened, 45 ; her wealth and patriot- ism, 335 ; sufferings of her soldiers, 337, 1057. Kentuckians, war cry of, 360 ; vengeance of, 546. Kerb, William John, 620. Key, Francis S., author of "Star-spangled Banner," 956. Key, Philip Baeton, 162. King, Rupus, American minister to England, 143. Kingston, operations near, 372 ; the British returrf to, 798.^ KiNziE, John, attacked by Indians, 304, 305, 306 ; leaves the fort, 308 ; allowed to return to his house, 310 ; sketch of, 311. KiNZiE, John H., Mrs., 312. Knaggs, James, 362, 363. Knox, Heney, Secretary of War, 59. La Colle Mills, repulse of the British at, .640, 665 ; British at, 790 ; battle-ground at, 791 ; British troops at, 856. La Coste, plantation of, battle at, 1031. • Lafayette, Marquis de, 60, 61; atMaubenge,73; before the National Assembly, 74 ; imprisoned, 75. Lapittb, Jean, 1018, 1019. Lakes, Upper, proposed expedition to, 789, 850. La Salle, Marquis de, 60. Laughton, John B., 298. Lav ALETTE, E. A. F., sketch of, 872. Lawrence, flag-ship, 513 ; scenes on board of, 525, 526 ; sur- render of, 528. Lawrence, James, captain of Hornet, 698 ; honors to, 700 ; gold medal to, 700 ; in command of the Chesapeake, 701 ; last official letter of, 702 ; challenged by Broke, 703 ; ac- cepts, 704 ; mortally wounded, 706 ; his last words, 706 ; sketch of, 708 ; respect to the remains of, 711 ; monument to, 713. Lawrence, William, 1019 ; sketch of, 1022. Laws, alien and sedition, 107. Leayue, contemplated dissolution of, 24. Leavenwoeth, Henry, Colonel, 809 ; sketch of, 816. Le Croyable, capture of, 101. Lee, Mrs., hospitality of, 418. Legate, Thomas C, Lieutenant, 795. Le Reaux, Benjamin, 539. Lester, John, Captain, 963. Lewis, Elibha, veteran of 1812, 674. Lewis, Morgan, 970. Lewis, William, sketch of, 359 ; in Long Island Sound, 888, 889. Lewiston Heights, Lovett at, 407; view ft-om Heights, 413; village of, 413 ; railway at, 595 ; savage atrocities near, 643. Little Tuetle, Chief of the Miamis, 46, 47 ; counsels peace, 53 ; grave of, 315. Little York, expedition against, 586. Liverpool, Lord, 151, Livingston, Edward, appointed to superintend the pur- chase of Louisiana, 132 ; sketch of, 1027. Loans, Government, 1008. Logan, John, Captain, services and death of, 345. Longfellow, Samuel, Jr., 1016. Long Island, 888. Lon^ Woods, battle at the, 849. Lord's PIiayee written in Indian, 423. Lottery, privateer, cruise of, 1000. Louisiami, purchase of, 132, 133 ; transfer of, 134 ; insurrec- tionary movement in, 738 ; admission of, 740. Louisiana, man-of-war, 1037. Louis XVI., 60 ; execution of, 76. ^ Lovett, John, sketch of, 407. Ludlow, Augustus C, respect for the remains of, 711. Lundy'8 Lane, 828. Lyman, Daniel, 1016. Lyman, Joseph, 1016. Lynn Haven, bay of, 669. Lyon's Creek, victory at, 845. Maoaet6, M., 1037. Macdonough, privateer, cruise of, 1007. Macdonough, Thomas, Lieutenant, 641 ; commander of the Saratoga, 866 ; his announcement of victory, 871 ; his re- ception of British captives, 872; medal to, 878; sketch of, 878. Macedonioffh, capture of, 455 ; at New York, 456. Mackinack, expedition against, 270. Ma^Hnaw, Americans determine to capture, 849. Mackinaw Island, battle at, 850; blockade of, 851 ; surrender . of, 271. Maoomb, Alexander, 790 ; appointed brigadier general, 792,859; medal awarded to, 878; sword presented to, 877" sketch of, 877. Macon, Nathaniel, 784. Madison JBa/rracks, 616. Madison, Fort, attack on, 319. Madison, George, sent to Quebec, sketch of, 359. Madison, James, 29 ; leader of the House of Representa- tives, 58 ; Secretary of State, 151 ; elected President, 169 ; as a politician, 173 ; takes presidential chair, 175 ; pro- claims that trade can be renewed, 176 ; proclaims the revocation of the French Decrees, 179 ; feeble war trump of, 211 ; anxious to avoid war, 212 ; recommends an em- bargo, 219 ; his message, 221 ; renominated for the Presi- dency^ 225 ; his accusatory message, 226 ; proclaims war, 228; instrncts Mr. Monroe to ti*y and make peace, 245; listens to Hull's advice, 251 ; re-elected, 465; reviews the troops, 924; flight of, 935. Madison, Mrs. James, patriotism of, 935. Maguaga, battle of, 280 ; battle-ground of, 281. Maiden, expedition against, 473. Malone, jouvney to, 664. Manton, Edward, 1016. Marblehead, 906. Marcus Hook, camp at, 967. Maeoy, William L., takes flrst British flag, 376, Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, 37. Marque and r^risal, letters of, 248. Marquesas Islands, arrival of the Ess&a at, 727 ; civil war in, 728. Marshall, Secretary, writes to Rufus King, 144. Mason, J., General, 738. ' Ma^sacJvusetts, Governor of, refuses to comply with requisi- tion for troops, 243. Massacre, Indian, 268 ; of whites, 304 ; at Fort Mims, 757. Maumee Rapids, fight with Indians at, 343 ; fortified camp at, 474 ; British and Indians cross the, 483, 490, 491. Maury, John, 727. M'Aethur, Duncan, 265, 266, 267; goes to relieve Miller, 281 ; crosses the Rouge, 2fi5 ; fails to communicate -with Hull, 290 ; his raid into Canada, 852 ; bravery and gener- osity of, 853. M*Call, Edward Rutledge, gallantry of, 718 ; medal awarded to^ 719. M'Douall, Lieutenant Colonel, 849. M'DouGALL, Sir Duncan, sketch of, 961. M'Farland mortally wounded, 823. M'Feely, George, Commander, 426. M'Gillivray, ALEXA27DER, sketch of, 754. M'Glassin, Captain, brave exploit of, 865. M'-Gowan^s Pass, works at, 974. M'Oregor^s Mill, skirmish at, 550. M'Henry, Fort, a visit to, 964. M'Intosh, William, sketch of, 768. M'Keb, Colonel, punishment of, 54. M'Kbnzie, William Lyon, 594. M'Lane, Allan, revolutionary veteran, 668. M'Nair, Matthew, death of, 797. M'Neil, John, Major, 809 ; flank movement of, 810, 81T, 818, 819 ; sketch of, 821. M'Nitt, Samuel, gallantry of, 611 ; sketch of, 611. M'NuTT, Jonathan, revolutionary veteran, 668. INDEX. 1081 M'QtTEEN, marcli of, T49. M'Hee, Chief Engineer, sketch of, 803, 804, 836. Meisb, Governor of Ohio, 262 j collects troops, 321. Meigs, Fort, «T ;• expedition against, 478, 482 ; new battery opened on, 484; Americans defeated and made priaon- t ™'493 ' ^"'''^ '''"°"' ^^' ***' *'^ ' '^™*™^ °^< *8^ • ™" Melvin, Qeoese W., sketch of, 800. .''„T'' '^- ^■' Captain, at Stony Creek, 802 ; statement Oi, o2o. Miami, Fort, devastations around, 54; built, 316; massacre of prisoners at, 489; remains of, 491. Miarma, expedition against, 346. Michigan, British occupation of, 292. MichillimackiTuick, 267. Milan Dea-ee, 154 ; revocation of, 179. Military LeaiUrs, men to be chosen as, 249. Militia of New York, bad conduct of, 402. MiiLEE, James, Lieutenant Colonel, 200; his men, 278; sketch of, 820 ; gold medal awarded to, 820 ; triumph of, Mirns, Fort, 761 ; crowded with refugees, 753 ; false oonfl- aence of the commander of, 764 ; sudden appearance of Indians, 756 ; massacre in, 766 ; number of the slain, 757. MiMS, Samuel, house of, 750. Misaissaga, Fort, 419. Mississippi River, events near, 334; British approach, 1028 ; the levee cut, 1034 ; effect of, 1035. Mobile, 740 ; expedition against, 741 ; surrender of, by the Spaniards, 742 ; threatened, 759 ; its defenses, 1019. Mohawk, village of, 423. Moneoe; James, Minister to France, 86 ; recalled, 92 ; as- sists in the purchase of Louisiana, 132, 165 ; demands rep- aration from England, 160 ; at the head of the War De- partment, 349 ; Secretary of State, 923, 926, 1012. Mohtgomeet, John, General, sketch of, 891. M0NTG0.MEET, L. P., 779 ; sketch of, 780. MooEEs, Benjamin, Major General, 859 ; in command at Beekmantown, 861 ; sketch of, 875 ; grave of, 876 ; resi- dence of, 883. MooKB, Thomas, poet, 661. Moravian Town, 661. MoEGAN, Daniel, General, 1033. Moegan, LoDowioK, sketchof, 84S. Morocco, settlement of difficulties with, 120. MoRKiB, CuABLES, Commodore, sketch of, 900 ; monument to, 901. MoBRis, GoTTVEKSETTR, goes to London — interview with the Dnke of Leeds, 62; recalled, 85. MoBSE, Samuel F. B., inventor, 213. MouNTFOET, JouN, skctch of, 874. MULOASTBE, W. H., 610. MuEAT, JoAOHiM, occupies Madrid, 170. MuEEAV, J., Colonel, 634; raid of, 642. Mtees, Moedeoai, Captain, gallantry of, 646 ; sketch of, 654. XashviUe, retnm of Tennessee troops to, 744. NautUus, capture of, 436. Naval engagements, 103. Naval service, reorganization of, 156. Naval warfare between Prance and the TTnited States, 100. Navaree, Petee, sketch of, 490. Navy, British, very cautious in approaching the coast, 693 ; fleet at Halifax, 234, 436. Navy, United States, first steps towards its creation, 90 ; powerful opposition to, 90 ; Secretary of, instractions to, 102 ; Increase of, 108 ; reduced, 116, 168 ; gunboats ridi- culed, 168; nnsnccessfnl attempt to increase, 218 ; repulse British squadron on Lake Ontario, 369 ; commanders of, 371 ■ measures for strengthening the, 467 ; stations of men-of-war of, 484, 435 ; British contempt for, 433 ; weak- ness of, 721; ships of, 721; neglected, 787 ; on Lake On- tario, 794 ; list of ships, 794 ; new vessels for, 973 ; at the closeofthe war, 992,1068. „ ,. , Navy Yard, Charlestown, Mass., 905 ; at Washington, de- struction of, 934. Neale, B. J., Lieutenant, 678. Ned, privateer, cruise of, 1001. Nelson, Lohd, victor of Trafalgar, 162. Neittral nations, tribute exacted from, 165. JVeMiraJJfc/ violated by the British, 375. , ^ . . Newark, Ohio, ancient relics at, 564; Canada, burning of, 632 • sufferings of the inhabitants of, 633. New Bedford, 889 ; visit to, 912. . New Enalarid, politicians of, propose secession, 134 ; dis- unionists in, 172; state sovereignty proposed m, 173 ; m 1814 888 • warfare on the coast of, 889 ; sea-port towns blockaded, 890; visit to, 904; discontents in, 1012. New EampsMre, armed mob surround Legislature of, 24. JVpw Jersey, Legislature of, 243. nZ i3«, bfockade of, 691; torpedo off of, 693; ceme- tery at, 696; harbor of, 696; old court-house of, 697; blockade of, 888. ^ „„ Km) Orleans, Unitad States frigate, 616. nZ OrlemS, 1004; defenseless, 1023; preparations to at- ^ck 1M6 battle of gun-boats near, 1026; American lines ofde'fenBeat,1038; battle of, 1040, 1049 j battle-ground of, visit to, 1068. Newspapers, war of the, 71. New York, State Legislature of, support national govern- ment, 243 ; enforces revenue laws, 365 ; City, reception of Hull, 446 ; blockaded, 675 ; funeral solemnities to Law- rence in, 713 ; relieved, 945 ; great excitement in, 969 ; assisted by its neighbors, 970 ; fortifications round, 974. Niagara, battle of, 824, 826.* Niagara, Fort, account of, 408 ; bombardment of, 426, 427, 697 ; surrender of, 633 ; massacre at, 634. Niagara Frontier, 381, an, 512, 619; raids on, 626, 631 ; deso- lation of, 634, 802 ; a visit to, 827. Niagara River, events at the mouth of, 408, 428 ; the Amer- ican squadron off of, 697, 698, 804. Niagara, settlement of, 380 ; arrival at, 412 ; suspension bridge at, 413, 828. NionoLAs, BoBEKT Caetek, sketch of, 820. Nooaheevah, capital of the Marquesas, 728. Noon, Daebt, Captain, ride of, 292. Norfolk, defenses of, 668, 677 ; attempt to seize the navy yard at, 680 ; a visit to, 684 ; British consul at, 685. North Bend, settlement at, 671. North Carolina, coast of, Cockbum on, 689. North Point, battle of, 952, 953 ; battle-ground of, visit to, 963. Oak Hill Cemetery, 941. O'CoHNOE, John Miohael, bravery of, 811, Ocracoke Inlet, Cockbnrn off of, 689. Ogdensbwrg, attack on, 374, 577, 573 ; surrender of Ameri- cans at, 579, 581 ; a visit to, 682, 684. Ohio, settlement of, 37 ; adopts a State Constitution, 130 ; military preparations in, 137; organization of troops of, 262; a journey to, 563 ; an early settler in, 573. Olcott, Miles, 1016. Olitbe, W., Miyor, carries news of re-enforcements to Fort Wayne, 314. Oneida, 367. O'Neil, John, 671 ; his sword and dwelling, 678. Orwndaga, village of, 423. Ontario, Fort, attack on, 796. Ontario, Lake, 365 ; active operations on, 379, 418 ; passage across, 595, 642 ; capture of American vessels on, 644 ; the navy on, 794. Osborne, Selleok, sketch of, 889. Osceola, grave of, 690. , Osgood, Samuel, Postmaster General, 69. Oshawahnah, Indian Chief, 552. Ostvegatchie, Fort, 373. Oswego, British fleet at, 606 ; the defense and defenders of, 796 ; capture of, 796 ; survivors of the war at, 797. Otis, Haerison Gray, 1008, 1016. Oils, John, 800. Otter Creek, skirmish at, 856. Overton, Waltee H., sketch of, 1060. Packet, John H., sketch of, 623. Page, Jambs, Captain, 966. Paine, Thomas, 69; "Eights of Man," effects of, 71; vis- its France, 76 ; writes abusive letter to Washington, 92. Pakehham, Sie Bdwaed, arrival at New Orleans, 1035 ; calls Council of War, 1038, 1041 : death of, 1046. Paris, excitement in, 60. / Paris, town of, 420. '' Paekee, Sib Petee, exploits of, 945 ; sketch of, 946. Parliament, British, passes act in favor of neutrals, 166 , Canadian, house of, adorned with scalps, 591. Parsons, Usher, sketch of, 517 ; address by, 640. Parties, war and anti-war, 148, Patteeson, Daniel T., sketch of, 1025. Patterson Park, a visit to, 962. Paulding, Hieam, sketch of, 869. Peace, Treaty of, 18 ; neglect to comply with conditions of, 19; negotiated with Indian tribes, 36 ; secured, 57; Party, organization of, 230;' negotiations, 248 ; commissioners to treat for, 471, 7S3 ; party for, 784 ; rumors of, 786 ; pro- claimed in the United States, 985 ; Faction, 1008 ; Treaty of, 1059 ; commissioners of, 1060 ; Treaty of, concluded, 1061 ; rejoicings for, 1064, 1065 ; ratification of, 1065. Peacock (English), 699. ^ Peacock (U. S.), her fight with Fpervier, 981 ; cruise of, 992. Peaeoe, Ceomwell, 590. Peel Island, 661. Pennsylvania, Legislature of, supports national govern- ment, 243 ; votes sword to Com. Stewart, 986. Penobscot, voyage up the, 910. Pensacola, march of M'Queen from, 749 ; hostile movements at, 1017 ; reception of British at, 1022 ; Americans In, 1023. People, exhaustion of the, 24. Perkins, Constantine, 775. Peekins, Maria T., keeper of Fort Sewall, 907. Peekins, Simon, General, sketch of, 339,^349. Perry, O. H., arrival at Brie, 609, 611 ; hastens to Channcey, 612; lack of men, 513 ; relations to Chauncey, 514; recon- noissance by, 617 ; prepares for battle, 618 ; his final in- structions, 519 ; sketch of, 621 ; relative position of the two squadrons, 622 ; abandons the Lawrence, 626 ; meet- 1082 INDEX. ing with Elliott, 528 ; breaks British line, 629 ; his victory complete, 529, 530 ; surrender of British officers to, 531; importance of his victory, 633 ; honors awarded to, 535 ; medal to, 535; statue to, 539; his prisoners, 542 ; with Harrison at Erie, 543 ; his squadron in the Thames, 549 ; eflPect of the victories of, 559; gallantry of, 598. Philadelphia, frigate, capture of, 120 ; destruction of, 121. Philadehhiay reception of Hull, 446 ; presents O'Neil with swor(1^673; relieved, 965 ; public meeting in, 968 ; fortifi- cations at, 968. Pickehihg, Timothy, Secretary of State, 143, 784. PioQUET, Francis, sketch of, 579. Pike, Zebulon Montgomery, pioneer, sketch of, 586, 687 ; death of, 589 ; last moments of, 691 ; monument to, 616. PiNOKNEY, Charles Cotesworth, appointed minister to France, 92; utters the memorable sentence, " Millions for defense, not one cent for tribute," 95. PiNOKNEY, Thomas, British minister, 64; appointed second in command, 249. PiNKNEY, William, Minister to England, 147, 149, 155 ; de- mands reparation from England, 160, 171. Pitt, William, 21, 22. Platt, Cuarleb T., Commodore, sketch of, 867. Platt, Isaac C, residence of, 863 ; visit to, 8S3. Pto(te&wrj7, position of the American works at, 860; British advance on, 861, 863, 864, 875 ; victory at, 876, 879, 880. VhAJjout, Jean B., Major, 1024 ; sketch of, 1042. Poictiera, frigate, J. B. Beresford captain of, 451. Policy, gun-boat, 155. Polly, John, Captain, veteran of ISlg, 379. PoNTiAo, Ottawa chief, 268, 301. PoRTEE, David, commander of Essex^ 721 ; searches for Bainbridge, 722, 723; in command of a squadron, 725, 726; sails for Marquesas, 727, 728 ; battle with the natives, 729 ; at Valparaiso, 730, 731 ; hauls down his flag, 733 ; honors to, 734 ; death and monument, 734. Porter, Peter B., residence of, 426 ; commands New York Volunteers, 427 ; harmless duel with Smyth, 432 • hurries to Black Rock, 627, 807, 808; sketch of, 838 ; receives gold medal, 842. Portsmouth, British squadron off, 891. Post, John Frederick, Rev., pioneer, 36. Potomac Rivet', Cockburn in, 689. Powder Mills, Duponts', 966. Preble, Edward, Commodore, appointed to the command of the Mediterranean Squadron, 120; medal to, 123; sketch of, 123. PRESOOTT, William H., 1016. Prescott, visit to, 582. Pt-esident, frigate, 181 ; on a cruise, 182 ; conflict with lAttU Belt,lS4^\ cruise of, 454 ; runs the blockade, 737 ; capture of, 988. Presqiie Isle, 491 ; the harbor of, 510. pREvoST, Sir Georob, Governor General of Canada, 245, 273 ; arrives at Prescott, 577 ; disgraceful retreat of, 612, 613 ; allows prisoners to return on parole, 789 ; orders troops to Plattsburg, 864 ; arrives at Isle aux Noix, 858 ; cost of the expedition of, 879. Price, Richard, 69. Prince de Neit/chdtel, privateer, cruise of, 1005. pRiNOB Regent, Manifesto of, 469. Pri-ngU House, 674. Privateering at the close of the war, 998. Privateers ordered to leave American waters, 81; injury of, to British commerce, 214 ; commissioned, 993, 1068. Proclamation concerning British seamen, 160 ; of renewed trade, 176. Proctor, Henry, Colonel, prepares to invade the Maumee Valley, 477 ; calls savages to Maiden, 478 ; disheartened, 488; flight of British and Indians, 489, 495; before Port Stephenson, 501 ; fears of, 546 ; flight of, 553 ; a disgrace to the British array, 355 ; escape off 555 ; rebuked and de- spised, 557 ; his punishment considered too mild, 558 ; remnant of his army, 568 ; death of, 658. Protest, signers of, 229. Pusuamataua, Choctaw chief, 762. Put-in-Bay, islands around, 616. Putnam, Rufus, founds Marietta, 36. QueensUtn, appearance of the country, 147, 390 ; skirmish near, 395; landing of Americans at, 395; battle of, 404, 412 ; village of, 413. Queeiiston Heights, landing at the fort of, 394 ; capture of, 399 ; battle of, 403 ■ Brock's monument at, 414, 415. QuiNOY, JoSTAH, 162 ; prophecy of, 163 ; denounces the whole policy of Great Britain as fallacious, 166; denounces the War Party, 174 ; reasons for his course, 217 ; opposition of, 228; called "Josiah the First," 228; denounces the policy of the War Party, 465, 466. Railway, the first traveler on a, 213. Raisin River, re-enforcements and supplies at, 276 ; march toward, 279 ; distress on, 342. Randolph, Edmund, 27 ; suggests a national government, 28 ; attorney general, 59. Randolph, John, one of the six secessionists, 148 ; on slav- ery, 214 ; scolds the Democrats, 215 ; sketch of, 216 ; im- plores the House to act with caution, 223, 938. Recovery, Fort battle of, 52. Red Jacket, Indian chief, sketch of, 802. Regnier, French minister of justice, 153. Reid, Samuel C, captain of the General Armstrong, 1004 . sketch of, 1005. Rennie, Rouert, Colonel, 1037 ; death of, 1048. R^resentatives, House o/— imports and exports, 68 ; secret session, 227. Republic, an attempt to destroy the, 220 ; prosperity of, 1069. Revolutions, French and Ameiican contrasted, 81. Reynolds, Robert, veteran British ofiicer, 300. Rhode Island, Governor of, refuses to comply with requisi- tions for troops, 243. RiALL, P.,805; re-enforced, 814; capture of, 819; wounded, 825. RioHARDviLLE, Indian chief— birthplace of, 44. Richie, John, 823. Richmond, scene of Burr's trial, 137. RiLRY, Bbnnet, 848. Ripley, Eleazer W., appointed brigadier general, 792, 804; tardiness of, 813, 823 ; attempts to abandon Canada, 829 ; highly spoken of, 835, 837 ; received gold medal and other testimonials, 842 ; sketch of, 842. Roberts, Captain, 270. Robertson, Felix, Dr., 1057. Robertson, James, General, sketch of, 747. Robinson, John Beverly, Canadian chief justice, 594. Rock Island, a visit to, 661. RoDGERS, George W., Commodore, burial-place of, 696, RoDGERs, J., CoramocWe, sketch of, 185; takes command oft\\eI^esident,lSl. he is assailed, 186; squadron of, 435; services to his country, 736 ; honors to, 737 ; imsuccessful cruise of, 735 ; captures the Highjiyer, 735. Rose, H. G., special envoy to the United States, 161. Ross, General, death of, 952 ; monument where he fell, 964. Ross, James, survivor of War of 1812, 592. Rossie, privateer, cruise of, 994. Rouse^s Point, journej to, 666. RussELLj Jonathan, minister to England, 224, 786 ; peace commissioner, 1060. Russell, William, Colonel— expedition against the In- dians, 336. Russia invaded by Napoleon, 470 ; proposes to mediate, 470 ; Emperor of, enters Paris, 854. Sacketfs Harbor, ilO; British designs upon, 607; Brown as- sumes command, 60S ; an alarm, 609 j chase and capture of American vessels at, 610 ; destruction of public stores, 611; militia assembled, 612; its defenses, 614; a visit to, 615 ; blockade of, 798 ; the cable at, 801. Salem, funeral solemnities of Lawrence at, T12 ; its harbor, 906 ; privateers from, 997. Sanders, J., captain of Junon, 676. Sanditsky, a visit to, 505, 506. Sandy Creek, a visit to survivors of the war there, 801. Sa/ranac River, British troops at, 873. Saratoga, flag-ship— battle of Lake Champlain, 866. Saratoga, privateer, cruise of, 1000. Sargent, Winthrop, 38. Saucy Jack, privateer, cruise of, 1006. Sault St. Marie, 850. Schhsser, Fort, remains of, 380. Scioto, Valley of, 666. Scott, Winpield, Lieutenant General, 45 ; arrives at Fort Schlosser, 893 ; at Lewiston, 394 ; at Queenston, 40(1 ; his harangue to his troops, 402 ; at Niagara, 404, 405 ; his bold protection of fellow-prisoners, 409 ; marches to Sack- ett's Harbor, 631 ; appointed brigadier general, 792 ; moves down the Niagara River, 806; re-enforced, 807; advances to meet the British, 808 ; ordered to Fort George, 817, 818, 819 ; wounded, 823 _; goes to Washington, 825 ; medal awarded to, 826 ; appointed lieutenant general, 826. ScQU/rge, privateer, cruise of, 1001. SOUDDEB, J0I[N, 692. Search, the right of, asserted, 143. Secobd, Laura, saves British troops, 621. Shadow, privateer, cruise of, 996, Shannon, 438, 703 ; fight with Chesapeake, 705. Shays, Daniel, rebellion of, 24. Sheaffe, R. H., approach of British under, 401, 402 ; sketch of, 405 ; escape of, 590. Sheffield, Lord, pamphlet of, 23. Shelburne, Earl of, 21. Shelby, Isaac, Governor of Kentucky, 322 ; his appeal to Kentucky, 334 ; at Moravian Town, 544, 551 ; he is pre- sented with a sword, 545. Sherbrooke, Sir John Cope, 897. Sherman, Roger Minot, 1016. Shipp, Edmund, Jr., sketch of, 601. SuoLES, Stanton, sketch of, 641. Shortlamd, Captain, commandant of Dartmoor Prison, 1069. Shubriok, William Branfobd, sketch of, 676. SiDMouTH, Lord, Secretary of State, 233. Signals, method of, 182, 183. Sims, Lieutenant, treachery and cowardice of, 392. Skipwith, Fulwar, 740. Slave, a, his freedom purchased by his wife, 687. INDEX. 1083 Slaves, secret organization among, 690. Sloam, Jameb, survivor of 1812, Si!. Smith, Gebard D., sketch of, 812. S-MiTH, Joseph, sketch of, 872. Smith, Melahothon, sketch of, 8C1. Smith, Nathabiei,, 1016. Smith, Samdei., sketch of, 947. Smitu, Thomas A., Brigadier General, 792, 866. Smoot, Benjamin, Colonel, 772. Smith, Alexandeb, General, bad conduct of, 389, 390: suc- ceeds Van Eensselaer, 410 J he is ridiculed, 411,427; in- competency and treachery of, 430; his council of offtcers, 481; harmless duel with Porter, 432. Societies, Democratic, 80, 88 ; Washington Benevolent, 854. Sodus Bay, the British at, 606, 606. Sowth Carolina— no battle fought on her soil, 689 ; secession of, 941. Spain, 62 ; dislikes purchase of Louisiana, 134 ; issues de- cree like Milan Decree, 164 ; resists Joseph Bonaparte, Spaeks, Jabed, LL.D., 672. Spenoeb, Ambbose, mortally wounded, 82B. Stansbebby, Tobias B., General, 921. States, League of, 20 ; their quotas of troops, 918. "Star-spangled Banner," when and where composed, 956. St. Catherine's, 420 ; a visit to, 623. St. Claie, Abthcb, 47; battle with Indians, 48; defeat of, 49; resignation of, 50, 851. St. David's Village, burning of, 81S. SL Joseph's, Americans determine to capture, 849. St Lawrence (British), 886. St. Lawrence, flght on the, 370 ; British expedition on, 374, 876 ; a day on the, 682 ; the American flotilla descends the, 654; perilous voyage on, 660; Eapids, passage of the, 666 ; storm on the, 666. St. Mary's, 828. St. MichaeVs, defense of, 945. St. Eegis captured by Americans, 374, 375 ; a visit to, 377, 378. Stmhmson, Fort, to be attacked, 499 ; summoned to surren- der, 501 ; besieged, 502 ; storming of, 503 ; site of, 60T. Steuben, Ba«eon, gold box of, 915. Stevens, Ebenezeb, 970. Stewabt, Chables, captain of ConMitution, 983 ; honors to, 985 ; sword and medal to, 986 ; sketch of; 986. Stockton, Thomas, sketch of, 599. Stone, Colonel, dismissed from the service, 815. Stonington, bombardment of, 891; British squadron off, 893 ; bombardment of, 894, 895, 896 ; ancient name of, 915. Stony Creek, Americans at, 602, 603 ; battle of, 603, 604, 605 ; a visit to, 626. Stobt, Joseph, 176. Street's Greek, preparations for battle at, 806. Stbong, Governor of Massachusetts, denounces the war, 783 Strother, jFort, peril of, 764, 767 ; Jackson at, 776. Swift, J. G., sketch of, 638. Swift, General, his report of New York fortiflcations, 971. Swift, Zephaniah, 1016. Symmes, John Cleves, 36 ; sketch of, 573. Synvmes's City, 671. TaUadega, battle of, 765. Tallapoosa, raid to the, 777. TaUasehatche, battle of, 763. TAtLEYBAKD thinks of conciliation, 99. Taebbli., Joseph, 676. Tanrmiies, the affair of, 264. Tattnall, Josiah, Commodore, sketch of, 615 ; gallantry of, 680. Tayloe, Eobeet Beenabd, sketch of, 677. Taylob, William Vigeeon, sketch of, 620. Tayloe, Zaohaey, commander at Fort Harrison, 317 ; char- acter and services of, 318 ; sketch of, 319. Teaser, privateer, destruction of, 1002. Teofmtha, Indian chief, 138 ; his craft, 189 ; his project for a confederation, 190 ; goes to Vincennes, 192 ; alarm of, 193; his influence against Americans, 267; his conference with Brock, 283 ; his intention to reduce Fort Wagner, 313 ; on the Mississiniwa, 347; at Fort Maiden, 477; his re- buke of Proctor, 489 ; his plan for capturing Port Meigs, 498 ; his chief lieutenant, 661 ; death of, 556 ; his pistol, 660. Telegram, first, 213. Tennessee— Ms troops prepare for war, 742 ; its troops on the Mississippi, 743, 758, 777. Terre Haute, 197. Tebey, Samuel, 862. Text of the Treaty of Peace, 1071. Thames River, British and Indians fly toward, 547; Perry's squadron on the, 648, 649 ; battle of the, 653, 554 ; a jour- ney to the, 559 ; a visit to the battle-fleld, 660, 561. Theobald, Samuel, sketch of, 556. Thomas, John, Major General, 1041. Thomas, Joshua, 1016. KIsi«, the Peace of, 153. . •„, v » TiNGBT, Thomas, commander of navy yard, Washington, D C 984 KOTS^anoe, battle-ground of, 200,202; battle of, 206; bat- Se-ground of, in 1860, 209. Toni), Chables Soott, aid-de-camp to Harrison, sketch of, 647, 556, 852. Toledo, description of, 493 ; journey to, 508. Tompkins, Daniel D., Governor of New York, 639, 970. Too-TUMA-STDEBLE, Indian chief, 747. Toronto, a journey to — veteran of 1812,592 ; old fort, remains of, 503. Torpedo, its use, 228, 239 ; in New York harbor, 241 ; alarm of the British at, 693 ; in the Potomac, 940. ToTTEN, Joseph G., 403. TowsoN, Nathan, sketch of, 809. Trafalgar, battle of, 562. Traffic, illicit, considered, 784. TroAnsparts, British, capture of, 645. Tbant, James, 644. Teeadwell, John, 1016. Treasury, United States, 114. Tbeat, Joseph, Captain, sketch of, 807. Treaty, Jay's, with Great Britain, violent opposition to, 87; between Great Britain and the United States in 1814 agreed to, 150 ; signatures of signers of, 1063. Tripoli blockaded, 119, 121, 122; floating mine in the harbor of, 122 ; its explosion, 122 ; peace with, 125. Teollope, Mrs., at Cincinnati, 41. Troops, want of, 917. Tbottee, Geoege, Lieutenant Colonel, 562. Tbuxtun, commander of Conet^tion, 103 ; his flght with the French frigate La Vengeance, 104; welcomed at home — honored by Congress, 106. Tunis! Bey of, 118. TuppEB, Cfolonel, conduct of, 332, 343. TuBKEY Foot, Indian Chief, death of, 55. United States, 19, 24 ; diflicnlties with Great Britain, 24 ; bit- ter feeling of, 84 ; difficulties with France, 92 ; prepares for war with Prance, 98 ; government of the, 102 ; her thrift, 138 ; her foreign relations, 140 ; merchants present memorials to Congress, 140, 141, 145 ; her friendly propo- sitions unheeded, 180 ; indignation of the people, 186 ; coast defenses of, 235, 236, 237 ; at peace with the world, 234; power broken, 913 ; the people aroused, 320; charges against the government of the, 469 ; prepares for a vigor- ous prosecution of the war, 576 ; Peace Party hails dowifc- fall of Napoleon with delight, 854; flag of the, 1006. United States, frigate, 464, 455 ; imprisoned in the Thames, 695. Upham, Lieutenant Colonel, triumph of, 839. Valparaiso, the Essex arrives there, 728 ; friendliness of the Chilians, 724 ; incidents in the harbor of, 731, Van de Venter, Cheistophee, sketch of, 604, 788. Van Hoene, Thomas B., defeat of, 276. Van Meter, Henby, 912. Van Ness, John P., General, 920. Van Eensselaee, Solomon, General, transferred from -Queenston to Albany, 407 ; sketch of, 408 ; letter of, 942. Van Eensselabk, Stephen, General, appointed command- er-in-chief, 381 ; diplomacy of, 388 ; sketch of, 383 ; calls for re-enforcements, 384 ; proposal to invade Canada, 384 ; prepares to attack Queenstown, 390; renews the attemptib to invade Canada, 392; wounded, 396; resignation of|l 410. 1 Vansittabt, Chancellor of the Exchequer, 233. p Vabnum, Joseph B., Speaker of the House, 210. ; Vaughan, William, Captain, sketch of, 368; fights with thfet Boyal George, 368, 369. IM Veazy, Colonel, 674. ''* Victoria, medal of, 666. ViLLEBi:, Gabriel, Major, 1028 ; British at mansion of, 102jJ. Vincennes, return of the array to, 206. Vincent, General, 601; narrow escape of, 604 Virginia, Fort, 617. Virginia, Southwestern, sympathizes with revolt, 24 ; West- ern frontier of, threatened, 45; secession of, proposeSi^ 87; Capes of, 669. ■ ' ',■-" Virginians, honor Burr for his duel with Hamilton, 135. ^ i^^ Volunteers, call for, response to, 252 ; a call for, 475. ^ Veooman, Solomon, 417. ,'; Wadswoeth, Deoius, Colonel, 938. *^ Wadswobtu, Elijah, General, sketch of, 340 ; energy Ums 342, 400. '^ Walbaoh, Adjutant General, 653. Waldo, Daniel, 1016. Wales, Peinoe of, visit of, 417. WALK-iN-THE-WATEBjIndian Chief, 279, Walworth, Eeuben H., sketch of, 873. Wa-pagh-ko^nctta, Indian village, 345. Ward, Aaeon, 640. Ward, Samuel, 1016. Wa'eebn, John B., Admiral, 667, 679 ; thanks Captain Broke, 709. Wabringtoh, Lewis, sketch of, 980; commander of the Peacock, 980. Washington, city o^ in great peril, 916 ; great want of troops, 917; preparations to defend, 918; General Winder in command at, 918 ; removal of the public records of, 923 ; British retreat from, 937. 1084 INDEX. Washington, Fort, a vieit to, 943. Washington, Geokge, proposed a confederation of a com- mercial nature, 26 ; chosen president of the Convention, 26 ; elected President, 33 ; expression of indignation of, 49 ; kindness to St. Clair, 60 ; appoints his cabinet, S9 ; approves Hamilton's financial scheme, 65 ; wisdom and prudence of, T3; difllculties with France, TT; his procla- mation of neutrality, 78 ; his interview with Genet, 80 ; attempt to intimidate, 8T; calm and faithful, 88; issues proclamation, 88; recommends a navy, 90; attacks on character of, 92, close of administration of, 92; appoint- ed commander-in-chief, 98; death of, 109; action or Con- gress on death of, 110 ; medal in honor of. 111 ; sketch of person and character o^ 111 ; picture of, saved by Mrs. Madison, 935. War, preparations for, 216, 231 ; predicted, 223 ; declaration of, 228 ; action against, 243 ; officers of, 250,; first blood shed in the, 267 ; survivors of the, 361, 416, 539 ; prisoners of, 403; first shot fired afloat, 435; vigorous prosecution of, 576; British resolve on, 667; Department of, 793; Sec- retary of, 919 ; end of, 992, 1007. irasp, cruise of the, 449; fight with the iiVoZw, 450; captures theRei'ndeer,SW; combat with the 4»(m, 980; loss of the, with all on board, 980. Watawoffiuc, ancient name of Stonington, 915. Waiertown, N. Y., arsenal eBtabliahed there, 366; visit to, 617. Watts, Geoege, 812. Wayne, Anthony, General, appointed commander, 60; visits the Indian country, 51 ; Battle of TortEecovtry, 52; expedition down the Maumee, 58 ; makes offer of peace, 53 ; battle of Fallen Timbers, 64, 198. Wayne, Fort, battle near, 42 ; designs against, 313 ; attack on, 314; siege of, 315; built, 316; relief, 326. WmiTnEESFOED, William, 784 ; deserted by his warriors, 772 ; visits Jackson, 781, 782 ; sketch of, 782. Webbtee, Daniel, 232. Wellington, Duke of, head of the English army, 233 ; en- ters Paris, 864. Wells, Captain, death of, 309. Wells, Samuel, Colonel, sent to Elk Hart Eiver, 326 ; marches for Frenchtown, 363. Wells, Lester, 772. West, Benjamin, 1016. White, Eobeet, survivor of the battle of Niagara, 843. Whitlook, Ambeobk, Major, 199. Whittlesey, Elisha, sketch of, 341, 943. Wilde, Samuel Stjmneb, 1016. Wilderness, the army in the, 256 ; transportation in, 349. Wilkinson, James, General, 638 ; succeeds General Dear- born, 629; his interview with Armstrong, 630; atSackett^s Harbor, 630 ; concentrates his forces, 638 ; his expedition leaves Sackett's Harbor, 646 ; on the St. Lawrence, 648, 649 ; holds council of officers, 650, 651 ; leaves New Or- leans, 741; considered incompetent, 789; crosses the Can- ada border, 790 ; attacks British garrison, 791; end of military career oi, 793. Williams, Eleazae, the Lost Prince, 377, 876. Williams, Jonathan, sketch of, 236. Wilmington, powder-mills at, 966. WiNOHKSTEK, James, General, arrival of at Fort Wayne, 326; marchofthroughthe wilderness, 326; at Port Defi- ance, 328 ; his troops in a deplorable condition, 330 ; mis- understandings with brother officers, 331; re-enforce- ments for, 343 ; attempts to relieve Tupper, 344 ; sends troops to Frenchtown, 361 ; arrival of relief party for, 362 ; head-quarters of, 363; lack of vigilance of, 364; taken prisoner, 366 ; sent to Quebec, 369. Winchester, Fort, remains of, 333. WiNDEE, William H., General, capture of, 604, 854; put in command in Washington, 918; sketch of, 918, 919 ; calls for troops, 920; the forces at his command, 921; invites the government to a council, 926. Wood, Lieutenant Colonel, mortally wounded, 838. Wool, John E., General, wounded, 396 ; takes command, 396 ; sketch of, 397 ; . sent to. meet the British, 862. WooLSEY, commander of the Oneida, 367; prepares for fight on Lake Ontario, 367 ; purchases vessels for the navy, 371 ; expedition of, 798, 799, WoETH, William Jenkins, General, 812. WoETHiNGToN, Thomas, sketch of, 668. Wyllys, Major, 42. Wyoming VaUey, refugees from, 625. YoMkee, privateer, cruise of,1000 ; takes valuable prizes,1001. " Va/nkee Boodle," when played in derision, 369. Yaenall, John J., sketch of, 524. Yeo, Sie James, challenges Captain Porter, 440; commands British squadron, 609; sails from Kingston, 793 ; conduct of, 796 ; sends troops to Quebec, 858 ; does jot venture to attack Chauncey, 886. York, descent on, 628 ; battle at, 589 ; surrender of, 690 ; abandoned by the Americans, 691. ToEK, Joseph, bravery of, 680 ; sketch of, 680. ToEK, Mrs. JosErn, bravery and patriotism of, 580.. Yoir, DoMiNiQHE, 1037 ; tomb of, 1043. Young, Ghilfoed Dudley, gallant exploit of, 874, 375; sketch of, 376. THE END.