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AMERICAN FIGHTS AND FIGHTERS 
 
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AMERICAN FIGHTS 
 AND FIGHTERS 
 
 STORIES OF THE FIRST FIVE WARS OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 FROM THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION 
 
 TO THE WAR OF 1812 
 
 BY 
 
 CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY 
 
 AUTHOR OF "for LOVE OF COUNTRY," "FOR THE FREEDOM OF THE SEA,' 
 
 "the grip of HONOR," "STEPHEN DECATUR," "RECOLLECTIONS 
 
 OF A MISSIONARY IN THE GREAT WEST," ETC. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 McCLURE, PHILLIPS & CO. 
 
 1900 
 
530?9 
 
 L.lbrary of Con(|v*«* 
 
 "^yiu Curiis Received 
 SEP 28 1900 
 
 Cef yrigM wtry 
 SECOND COPY. 
 
 D*<l(ver«d tfl 
 
 OROEK OWISION, 
 OCT 18 190U 
 
 Copyright, 1900, by 
 McClure, Phillips & Co. 
 
 
TO THE MEMORY OF MY SISTER, 
 CORA TOWNSEND BRADY 
 
PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 This book is designed to call to the attention of those 
 interested in our early struggles, some of the most re- 
 markable of the great battles, heroic achievements and 
 desperate undertakings through which we became a 
 nation. No attempt has been made to cover all the 
 events in the wars referred to. The author has chosen 
 such as would serve to present a variety of incident, to 
 illustrate the period and to exhibit the leaders and men. 
 In the compiling of this book he has freely used every 
 available source of information to which he had access, 
 including the numerous printed volumes on the subject, 
 and much material in manuscript form. Although the 
 sketches are intended for popular reading, it is believed 
 that they are accurate and reliable. Other volumes of 
 the same character, covering the history of the wars 
 and adventures in wdiich we have been interested, from 
 the voyages of Columbus to the capture of Manila, are 
 in contemplation and preparation. That the stories 
 may serve to stimulate patriotism and love of country, 
 and to encourage men to consecrate themselves, witH 
 the devotion of their forefathers, to the civic battles for 
 freedom and honor which are still to be waged, is the 
 hope of the author. 
 
 C. T. B. 
 Philadelphia, Pa., 1900. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Part I 
 THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION 
 
 1775—1783 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE DEFENSE OF FORT SULLIVAN 
 
 How THE South was Saved to the Revolution . . 3 
 
 WASHINGTON'S GREATEST CAMPAIGN 
 
 I. Trenton 16 
 
 II. Princeton 27 
 
 PAUL JONES' GREATEST BATTLE 39 
 
 THE SARATOGA CAMPAIGN 
 
 I. The Defeat of the Detachments .... 56 
 
 II. Fort Stanwix. Oriskany 62 
 
 III. Bennington 67 
 
 THE SARATOGA CAMPAIGN— 11 
 
 I. The End of the Main Army ..... 71 
 
 II. Stillwater 76 
 
 III. Saratoga and the Surrender 80 
 
 GREENE'S CAMPAIGN IN THE CAROLINAS 
 
 I. The Beginning, The Cowpens and Guilford Court 
 
 House 84 
 
 GREENE'S CAMPAIGN IN THE CAROLINAS 
 
 II. Hobkirk's Hill, Eutaw Springs and the end . 102 
 
 STORM AND SURPRISE 
 
 I. Ticonderoga 117 
 
 II. Stony Point 121 
 
 III. Paulus Hook 125 
 
X Contents 
 
 SOME MINOR SEA-FIGHTS OF THE REVOLUTION page 
 
 I. BiDDLE AND THE RANDOLPH 128 
 
 II. Nicholson and the Trumbull 132 
 
 III. Barney and THE //kd^,s ^z,i:K 136 
 
 IV. Barry and the Alliance o 139 
 
 YORKTOWN 143 
 
 Part II 
 
 THE INDIAN WAR IN THE NORTHWEST 
 
 1791— 1794 
 
 ST. CLAIR'S DEFEAT 163 
 
 Part III 
 
 THE WAR WITH FRANCE 
 
 1798 — 1800 
 
 TRUXTUN AND THE CONSTELLATION . . .179 
 
 Part IV 
 WAR WITH TRIPOLI 
 
 1802 — 1805 
 DECATUR AND THE PHILADELPHIA . . . .199 
 
Contents xi 
 
 Part V 
 THE SECOND WAR WITH ENGLAND 
 
 1812 — 1815 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE CONSTITUTION'S HARDEST FIGHT . . .215 
 
 THE NIAGARA CAMPAIGN 
 
 I. Chippewa 226 
 
 II. Lundy's Lane 233 
 
 III. The Siege of Fort Erie 238 
 
 THE AMERICAN WASPS AND THEIR VICTIMS 
 
 I. The Frolic 244 
 
 II. The Reindeer 250 
 
 III. T-aY. Avon 253 
 
 MACDONOUGH AT LAKE CHAMPLAIN 
 
 War of 1812 258 
 
 REID AND THE GENERAL ARMSTRONG . . .272 
 
 THE DEFENSE OF LOUISIANA— THE LAST BATTLE WITH 
 ENGLAND 287 
 
 THE CONSTITUTION'S LAST BATTLE . . . .304 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 The Capture of the Philadelphia . . Frontispiece 
 
 From a very rare old print. 
 
 ■' FACING PAGE 
 
 Death of McDonald, and Sergeant Jasper Raising 
 THE Flag at Fort Moultrie lo 
 
 From an engraving by F. O. C. Barley. 
 
 Surrender of Colonel Rall at the Battle of 
 Princeton 26 
 
 From an ettgraving of the painting by Chappel. 
 
 The Alliance firing on the Bon Homme Richard 
 
 AND THE SEH A PIS 52 
 
 From an engraving by Rogers of the draining by Filler. 
 
 Arnold Wounded in the Attack on the Hessian Re- 
 doubt AT Saratoga 80 
 
 From an engraving of the painting by Chappel. 
 
 Death of Baron de Kalb 86 
 
 From an engraznng by F. O. C. Darley. 
 
 Battle OF EuTAw Springs 114 
 
 From an engraving of the painting by Chappel. 
 
 Siege OF YoRKTowN 152 
 
 Frotn a French engraving of a painting by Couder. 
 
 General Arthur St. Clair 172 
 
 Thomas Truxtun 192 
 
 The medal and Congressional letter presented to him after the action be- 
 tween the Constellation and La Vengeance. 
 
 The Constitution and Java 222 
 
 From an engraving in the collection of Charles T. Harbeck, Esq. 
 
xiv List of Illustrations 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 
 Battle of Chippewa 230 
 
 From an engraving of the painting by Chappel. 
 
 Battle of Lundy's Lane 236 
 
 From an engraving of the painting by Chappel. 
 
 CaPTUKE OF THE J^JiOLIC BY THE IVaSP .... 248 
 From a rare engraving by Kearny after a sketch by Lieutenant Claxton 
 of the "IVasp." 
 
 Battle of Plattsburg 264 
 
 From the "Naval Temple." 
 
 Battle of New Orleans 300 
 
 From an engraving of the painting by iilartin. 
 
American Fights and Fighters 
 Part I 
 
 THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION 
 
 1775-1783 
 
THE DEFENSE OF FORT SULLIVAN 
 
 HOW THE SOUTH WAS SAVED TO 
 THE REVOLUTION 
 
 While Washington's masterly strategy held Howe's 
 army cooped up in Boston, the British government 
 determined to send an expedition to the southern 
 colonies in the hope of alienating them from the Ameri- 
 can cause. It was a foolish expedition and an un- 
 necessary one. Sir Henry Clinton with seven regi- 
 ments left Boston early in January, 1 776, for the Cape 
 Fear River, where he was to meet a large auxiliary 
 force of war vessels and transports early in the spring. 
 Meanwhile Martin, the royal Governor of North Caro- 
 lina — the fourth in population and importance among 
 the colonies — had organized a Tory force of some six- 
 teen hundred men, mainly Scots, former adherents 
 of the Stuarts, who had come to the colony after the 
 futile rebellion in 1745. This force was led by Donald 
 Macdonald and his kinsman, Allan Macdonald, the 
 husband of the noted and romantic Flora Macdonald, 
 who had secured the escape of the Pretender, Charles 
 Edward, after Culloden. They were now become loyal 
 adherents of the British crown. At the Battle of 
 
4 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 Moore's Creek, February 27, 1776, this force was de- 
 feated by Colonel Richard Caswell with one thousand 
 men strongly posted at a bridge over the creek, which 
 Macdonald attempted to storm. The rout of the high- 
 landers was complete ; they lost nine hundred prisoners, 
 two thousand stand of arms and seventy-five thousand 
 dollars in gold. That settled the fate of North Caro- 
 lina. In the face of the militia force, now amounting 
 to ten thousand men, Sir Henry Clinton decided not to 
 land, but cruised to and fro off the coast waiting for 
 Parker and the expedition from Ireland, and a lone- 
 some time they had of it. 
 
 In England preparations to carry on the expedition 
 were allowed to drag in a most unmilitary manner, and 
 it was not until I'ebruary, 1776, that the force which 
 had rendezvoused at Cork, in Ireland, set sail for the 
 Cape Fear River, where they were to meet the weary 
 and impatient Sir Henry Clinton with the seven regi- 
 ments aforesaid. When they did start, misfortune at- 
 tended them from the beginning. A succession of fierce 
 westerly gales and head wnnds so far delayed their prog- 
 ress that it was not until May that they reached Amer- 
 ica. Commodore Sir Peter Parker, the early friend and 
 patron of Nelson and Collingwood, a distinguished vet- 
 eran, then sixty years old, and who afterward rose to 
 the very high rank of Admiral-of-the-fleet in the Brit- 
 ish service, commanded the expedition. The troops 
 he convoyed were led by Lord Cornwallis, who was, 
 however, junior to Sir Henry Clinton, who assumed 
 command of all the land forces at their junction. 
 
 There were divided counsels between the army and 
 the navy in this ill-organized expedition, but at the ear- 
 nest solicitation of Lord William Campbell, the deposed 
 royalist Governor of South Carolina, it was finally 
 
The Defense of Fort Sullivan 5 
 
 decided to attack Charleston first ; it was then, as now, 
 the most important city in the South, and, as always, 
 quite spoiling for a fight ! Early in June, the British 
 fleet of some fifty vessels appeared off the bar of 
 Charleston Harbor. Unaccountable delays prevented 
 the attack until the twenty-eighth of June. The Amer- 
 icans were not idle during this period. The South 
 Carolinians, under the energetic leadership of Governor 
 Rutledge, had been busily engaged in putting the har- 
 bor, the city and the province in a state of defense. 
 The militia had been called out and the erection of a 
 rude fort had been commenced on the southern extrem- 
 ity of Sullivan's Island, which commanded the channel 
 some three miles from the town. The Island was low, 
 sandy, and in parts thickl}^ wooded with palmetto trees. 
 Adjoining the Island on the seaward side and separated 
 from it by a small inlet was another body of land, 
 known as Long Island, which was a bare strip of sand, 
 dotted here and there with a few bushes. 
 
 To the second regiment of the North Carolina mili- 
 tia, Colonel William Moultrie, had been entrusted the 
 construction of the works, for the defense of' the Island 
 and the protection of the channel. Out of the palmetto 
 logs on the Island, they built a square fort with bas- 
 tions at each angle called Fort Sullivan. Two rows of 
 logs notched and bolted together with wooden tree- 
 nails and placed about eighteen feet apart, with the in- 
 terspace solidly filled with sand, formed the enclosure. 
 General Charles Lee, who had been sent to take charge 
 of the defenses of the province, sneered at it as being 
 absolutely untenable, characterizing it as a probable 
 slaughter-pen, and predicted that one British frigate 
 would knock it to pieces in an hour! All the British 
 frigates present seemed to have entertained the same 
 
6 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 opinion. The only other contributions that Lee made 
 to the defense of the place were to withdraw about 
 eig-ht hundred of Moultrie's men, to endeavor to re- 
 lieve him of the command of the post, and to abandon it. 
 These last attempts were prevented by the determined 
 resistance of Governor Rutledge, who had faith in 
 Moultrie and in the work. The governor asked Moul- 
 trie if he could defend the fort. "I think I can," 
 replied the phlegmatic soldier; whereupon Rutledge 
 wrote him as follows : "General Lee wishes you to 
 evacuate the fort. You are not to do so without an 
 order from me; I will sooner cut ofif my right hand 
 than write one!" Brave words! When Lee could do 
 no more, he wearied Moultrie to death with orders and 
 instructions for him to build a bridge by which to re- 
 treat. The idea of a retreat absolutely never even pre- 
 sented itself as a possible contingency to the imperturb- 
 able American, who built no bridges ! 
 
 The fort was armed with twenty-six guns of assorted 
 sizes, long eighteen and twenty-four pounders being in 
 the majority. On the day of the battle, it was garri- 
 soned by some four hundred and fifty men, only thirty 
 of whom were artillerists. The rest, however, were 
 expert riflemen; it was found that their training with 
 small arms was of great value in enabling them to 
 sight the great guns. Next to Moultrie in command 
 was Lieutenant-Colonel Isaac Motte, and the major of 
 the regiment was the subsequently famous partizan 
 leader Francis Marion. Moultrie and his officers had 
 served in the Indian wars of the province, and were 
 cool, resolute soldiers. The English plan of attack 
 seems to have been for the troops to land upon Long 
 Island, pass the inlet which separated them from Sul- 
 livan's Island, and which they had been informed was 
 
The Defense of Fort Sullivan 7 
 
 easily fordable; and then, in conjunction with the ships 
 which would silence the AnTerican guns, they would 
 storm the position, which would leave the channel free 
 and open' the way for their attack on the town. It 
 never seems to have occurred to them that the ships 
 could have passed the fort without difficulty, as indeed 
 was done several years later, and by capturing the city 
 render the outworks untenable. 
 
 However, in spite of his contempt for American 
 arms, Sir Peter Parker seems to have made his dispo- 
 sitions wisely. Pie purposed thaf the Bristol and the 
 Experiment, two small line-of-battle ships of fifty guns 
 each, and the frigates Active and Solehay, of twenty- 
 eight guns each, should assault the fort at close range 
 directly in front of it. The frigates Actccon and 
 Syren, of twenty-eight guns each, the sloop-of-war 
 Sphynx, of twenty-two guns, with the Friendship, the 
 Ranger and the St. Laivrenee, small armed ships, were 
 ordered to take a position on the west flank of the fort, 
 which was there still unfinished, the wall rising only 
 seven feet ; though the parapet had been strengthened 
 by heavy planking as a protection against possible or 
 probable assault this defense would avail little against 
 heavy guns. These latter ships were to enfilade the 
 works and render them untenable. On the other flank, 
 a bomb vessel, the Thunder, was stationed to shell the 
 works. 
 
 Unfortunately for the British, the shallowness of 
 the water did not permit them to bring the heavy ships 
 of the main attacking column nearer than three hun- 
 dred and fifty yards, which of course prevented the ef- 
 fective use of grape-shot, a main resource for clearing 
 an enemy's works in such a contingency. At half past 
 ten o'clock in the morning the ships got under way 
 
8 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 with the flood tide; at a (juarter after eleven the first 
 four had anchored at their stations, the Active off the 
 east bastion, the Experiment and the Solehay off the 
 west bastion, and the Bristol, carrying- Sir Peter Par- 
 ker's flag, off the curtain, or wall between the two bas- 
 tions. The Sphynx, Actccon and Syren owing to 
 mismanagement on the part of the pilots, fouled each 
 other disastrously and got aground on a shoal in the 
 middle ground. The bomb vessel broke down after 
 throwing a few shell into the fort, which produced no 
 material effect, as they mainly alighted in a morass 
 where their fuses were quenched ; and the three smaller 
 vessels, not liking the look of things, and deprived of 
 the assistance of the frigates, withdrew without going 
 into action at all. This left the two small ships-of-the- 
 line and the two light frigates to do the fighting. 
 
 A little after eleven o'clock they poured their heavy 
 broadsides of solid shot into the fort, and on the part of 
 the British thereafter the firing was fast and furious. 
 The shot of the British guns made little or no impres- 
 sion upon the soft, spongy palmetto logs into which 
 they sank, or through which they penetrated without 
 splintering them, only to bury themselves harmlessly 
 in the sandy banking between the log walls. On the 
 other hand the firing of the Americans was slow but 
 dreadfully destructive. At the beginning of the battle 
 Aloultrie actually had but twenty-eight charges of pow- 
 der per gun ! He sent to General Lee for more 
 and received word that if he had exhausted his pow- 
 der without driving off the ships he should re- 
 tire ! Governor Rutledge, however, sent him a 
 small supply and the intrepid Marion volunteered 
 with a small party of heroic men to get some from a 
 small schooner near by which was fully exposed to the 
 
The Defense of Fort Sullivan 9 
 
 British fire. Altogether the supply did not amount to 
 more than forty rounds. It was enough, however. 
 
 Rutledge had given orders to Moultrie to throw 
 away no shot, and these instructions 'were in conso- 
 nance with the cool, deliberate spirit of the American 
 commander. The riflemen of the fort exhibited won- 
 derful marksmanship and scarcely a shot was lost. 
 The ofiicers themselves sighted the guns, and their 
 bullets nearly always sped to their mark. The heavy 
 shot ripped up the planking of the ships in every direc- 
 tion. "Mind the commodore, look out for the fifty- 
 gun ships!" was the word Moultrie gave to be passed 
 among his men, and the execution on these ships was 
 dreadful. About noon, when he looked for the coope- 
 ration of the army, Sir Peter Parker was informed by a 
 message from Clinton that he had found that the pas- 
 sage between the islands was some seven feet deep at 
 low tide and utterly impracticable. Only the grossest 
 indifference on the part of the British had prevented 
 this fact from being known for days before. 
 
 Sir Henry Clinton had marched some troops down to 
 the inlet, where he was met by a smart fire from the 
 American militia, encamped on Sullivan's Island, for 
 the purpose of disputing the passage of the inlet and 
 supporting the fort ; and after a brief artillery duel be- 
 tween his batteries and a single American eighteen 
 pounder, under Thompson, wdiich was ineffective on 
 both sides, the English marched back again. Later in 
 the day, Clinton also embarked a number of troops 
 in boats and sailed down the coast with a view to 
 effecting a landing on the same Island ; but a num- 
 ber of Thompson's militia who took advantage of the 
 cover afforded by the sandhills and bushes and 
 poured in a hot fire, rendered the operation imprac- 
 
lo American Fights and Fighters 
 
 ticable — Sir Henry at least had not forgotten Bunker 
 Hill and its lessons — so he took his men back to Long 
 Island, where they continued their battle with the hot 
 sun, the bad water, and the active mosquito, and 
 watched Parker banging away furiously at the fort 
 for the rest of the day. His excursion had been a no- 
 table diversion indeed. 
 
 The wharves and buildings along the shore of 
 Charleston were covered with people listening to the 
 roar of the guns, watching the attack on the fort, upon 
 whose resistance their own future so largely depended. 
 There had been flying from a staff the flag of the regi- 
 ment, which had been designed by Moultrie himself — 
 it was a blue flag with a white crescent in the dexter 
 corner, with the word "Liberty" emblazoned upon it — 
 when, to the horror of the spectators, they observed 
 through a rift in the smoke that the flag was down ! 
 It had been shot away, and had fallen on the sand out- 
 side of the fort. Their emotions can be imagined. 
 That little fort alone stood between them and disaster, 
 its capture meant the destruction of their homes, their 
 captivity, possible dangers worse than death to their 
 wives and children from savages against whom they 
 would be unable to protect themselves subsequently. 
 Every hope was wrapped up in Moultrie and his gallant 
 men — a fact, by the way, of which the latter were fully 
 sensible — and it was that which nerved their arms and 
 sustained their spirits, it was that which made them 
 determine that not a single precious charge of powder 
 should l)e wasted. 
 
 Sergeant William Jasper, an heroic soldier, instantly 
 climbed through an embrasure, leaped over the parapet, 
 seized the flag, tore it from its broken staff and afiixed 
 it to a halberd; and untouched by the storm of shot 
 
The Defense of Fort Sullivan 1 1 
 
 which was poured upon him, planted it as he said 
 "in the bastion nearest the enemy," where it flew un- 
 harmed during the remainder of the battle. Sergeant 
 Macdaniel was mortally wounded by a shot which came 
 through an embrasure. As he was carried away from 
 the gun platform the brave fellow cried out to his 
 brother soldiers, "I am dying, but don't let the cause 
 of liberty die with me this day." But there was equal 
 heroism on the other side as well. The British had 
 expected an easy victory, but they took the dreadful 
 punishment they received like the heroes they were. 
 
 As the tide began to ebb, one of the springs on the 
 cable of the Bristol was shot away, and the ship swung 
 with the tide, presenting her stern to the fort. Her 
 condition at once became critical, not to say desperate. 
 She was raked again and again ; every man on her 
 quarter-deck was either killed or wounded. The brave 
 old commodore covered with blood, his clothing torn 
 from him by splinters, remained alone at his station, on 
 the exposed quarter-deck on which all of the other offi- 
 cers stationed there had been killed or wounded, calmly 
 refusing to retire to a safer spot while he gave direc- 
 tions for extricating the ship from her terrible position. 
 Captain John Morris, the commander of the ship, lost 
 his right arm, and when the stump had been dressed in- 
 sisted on resuming his station by the commodore, and it 
 was not until he received several other severe wounds 
 from the effects of which he very soon died, that he al- 
 lowed himself to be taken below. The Experiment 
 was in little better case than the Bristol. The carnage 
 on both ships was appalling, amounting to nearly thir- 
 ty-five per cent, of their total force. Through the ener- 
 gy of Midshipman Saumarez, afterward a famous 
 admiral, a new spring was bent to the cable and the 
 
12 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 broadside of the Bristol was again turned to the fort. 
 Sir Peter in all his wars had never stood under a hot- 
 ter fire. 
 
 During- the action General Lee came over to the fort 
 to see how matters were getting along, and finding 
 everything was going well, he returned to his position 
 in the city. The officers, wdio had been coolly smoking 
 their pipes, received him with all military honors, and 
 Moultrie of course said nothing about the bridge, 
 though I imagine he wished to do so. The men, most 
 of them half-naked, in the fierce sun and heat, deliber- 
 ately fought on, refreshed by copious draughts from 
 large buckets of grog, w'hich Moultrie mixed with his 
 own hand. As the shades of evening descended, Par- 
 ker made a last desperate effort to batter down the 
 defenses. The firing was by broadsides simultaneous- 
 ly, and as the heavy shot from the tremendous dis- 
 charges of over one hundred guns smashed upon the 
 fort, the walls quivered and trembled so that Moultrie 
 thought several times that the merlons between the 
 embrasures would be beaten in. However, they still 
 held, and after continuing a fierce fire, to which the 
 Americans kept up their slow, persistent, annoying, gall- 
 ing reply, until most of their ammunition was expend- 
 ed, they gave over the attempt. A little after nine 
 o'clock in the evening, the British withdrew, all, that is, 
 except the frigate Acfccoii, which had not yet succeeded 
 in getting off the shoal. By Parker's orders, next 
 morning she was set on fire l)y her crew and abandoned. 
 The Americans took possession of her, discharged her 
 1)attery at the retiring Englishmen, captured her col- 
 ors, and several Ijoatloads of arms and supplies, be- 
 fore she blew up. 
 
 The loss on the Bristol amounted to forty killed 
 
The Defense of Fort Sullivan 13 
 
 and seventy-two wounded, including- Captain Morris, 
 mortally. The Experiment had twenty-three killed 
 and forty-five wounded, her captain losing his right 
 arm ; on the Aetive and Solebay, fifteen men were 
 killed and wounded ; and the American loss was ten 
 killed and twenty-six wounded ! Lord William Camp- 
 bell, the quondam royal Governor of South Carolina, 
 served on the Bristol as a volunteer and took charge 
 of a division on the lower gun deck during the action. 
 He was severely injured by a spent ball and after suf- 
 fering for two years, died from the effects of the 
 blow. The Bristol and the Experiment were nearly 
 dismantled, the main and mizzenmasts of the former 
 were tottering, the foremast badly wounded. The 
 mizzenmast fell over the side early the next day be- 
 fore it could be secured, the mainmast was cut away 
 fifteen feet below the hounds, the ship w^as completely 
 unrigged, and several of her guns had been dismount- 
 ed. The Experiment was in a scarcely better condition. 
 The Active and Solebay could with difticulty be kept 
 afioat. The SpJiynx and the Syren had suffered 
 somewhat from the American fire and much more from 
 the effects of their collision and grounding. 
 
 Sir Henry Clinton loaded his troops back on the 
 transports and, convoyed by a single frigate, the only 
 w'ar vessel left seaworthy after the action, sailed away 
 and joined Howe's expedition at New York. Parker 
 took three weeks to refit his ships when he also de- 
 parted. South Carolina and the Southern States gene- 
 rally, were free from invasion for at least two years 
 and the story of this splendid victory helped to encour- 
 age and inspirit the remainder of the Americans in the 
 critical period attending the beginning of their great 
 struggle for liberty. The greatest praise was given 
 
14 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 Moultrie and his gallant comrades for their brave de- 
 fense of the fort, which in his honor was renamed 
 Fort Moultrie, and the commander was made a briga- 
 dier-general in the regular Continental service. 
 
 He rose to the rank of major-general thereafter, and 
 on one occasion saved Charleston a second time from 
 being captured, by the spirited defense he made against 
 Prevost's attack. He was unfortunately made pris- 
 oner when Charleston was captured by Cornwallis, 
 several years later, and remained in captivity during the 
 balance of the war. But he resisted every attempt 
 which was made by the British to seduce him from the 
 American cause, with the same determination that he 
 had defended his position. He was several times made 
 governor of his native state after independence had 
 been achieved, and died early in the present century 
 full of years and honors. The heroism of Sergeant 
 Jasper was rewarded by the present of an elegant sword 
 and the proffer of a lieutenant's commission. He ac- 
 cepted the former, but modestly declined the latter on 
 the ground that neither by birth, education nor fortune, 
 was he a fit person for the command. One of the most 
 beautiful women of Charleston presented a pair of 
 colors to Moultrie's regiment with the following little 
 speech : 
 
 "Your gallant behavior in defense of liberty and 
 your country entitles you to the highest honors; ac- 
 cept these two standards as a reward justly due your 
 regiment; and I make not the least doubt, under 
 heaven's protection, you will stand by them as long as 
 they can wave in the air of liberty." 
 
 The regiment accepted the colors in the spirit of 
 the generous donor. When the ill-fated attempt by 
 Howe and d'Estaing was made to storm the British 
 
, The Defense of Fort Sullivan 15 
 
 lines at Savannah during the war, the flags were planted 
 upon the entrenchments by their bearers, Lieutenants 
 Bush and Hume, who were both immediately shot down. 
 Lieutenant Gray while making an effort to advance 
 them met the same fate. Sergeant Jasper successful- 
 ly bore them away finally in the repulse, but in so 
 doing received his death w^ound — faithful to the last. 
 The colors were captured when Charleston was final- 
 ly surrendered and they are now among the most 
 cherished mementoes of British prowess kept in the 
 trophy room in the Tower of London. Certainly no 
 flag ever flew over better men than that under which 
 Moultrie and Marion commanded and Jasper and Mac- 
 daniel foug-ht ! 
 
WASHINGTON'S GREATEST 
 CAMPAIGN 
 
 I. Trenton 
 
 There are three things which determine the relative 
 vaUies of mihtary enterprises — the idea, the method 
 and the resuh. From these points of view, Washing- 
 ton's Trenton and Princeton campaign ranks among 
 the most brihiant in history, and its conception and the 
 manner of its prosecution stamp him as a soldier of the 
 first order. The importance of the end aimed at, and 
 attained in large measure, can hardly be overstated. 
 Although neither of the engagements which took place 
 in carrying out the great idea of it rose to the dignity 
 of a battle but must rather be classed as heavy skir- 
 mishes, I regard it as one of those decisive operations 
 which are turning points in history. Had the re- 
 sults been other than they were, the whole course of 
 the world would have been altered. In spite of the 
 apparent insignificance of the operations, the incidents 
 of the campaign, when the material with which it was 
 worked out is considered, are as fraught with interest, 
 as full of value to the soldier, and evidence as much 
 greatness in the leader, as if Washington had held 
 under his command a hundred thousand men, and the 
 
 i6 
 
Washington's Greatest Campaign 17 
 
 little combats had been as great and as sanguinary as 
 the gigantic battles of larger wars and later days. It 
 is not numbers, but strategy, tactics, personal courage, 
 and things achieved, by which we judge the soldier. 
 
 In these operations, which certainly represented the 
 culminating period of his career, Washington displayed 
 a dash and daring like that of Napoleon in his early 
 Italian campaigns, an inflexible capacity of resistance 
 and recuperation which suggests the great Frederick 
 in his days of adversity, and a determined, dogged, 
 not-to-be-denied persistence which calls to mind the 
 indomitable Grant. The fate of the Revolution was 
 determined right then and there. More than at any 
 other given period of that great confliict, the cause of 
 human liberty hung in the trembling balance on that 
 wild December night. 
 
 The American army had been consistently beaten 
 since the ruinous battle of Long Island, six months be- 
 fore. Their manoeuvers had been one long series of 
 retrograde movements in the face of a superior enemy, 
 which, though conducted with great courage and mas- 
 terly skill (any fool can lead a charge, it takes a sol- 
 dier to retreat without the disorganization and de- 
 struction of his army), had as yet proven most 
 disastrous to our arms. Post after post had been lost, 
 and finally the whole Province of New Jersey had been 
 abandoned. The moral effect of the continued retreat 
 was exceedingly discouraging to army and nation. 
 Washington's army had been reduced by capture, the 
 casualties of battle, desertion, straggling and expira- 
 tion of terms of enlistment, to a little handful of less 
 than two thousand men, the term of service of the major 
 part of whom expired with the beginning of the year. 
 
 This little handful had wearily straggled across the 
 
1 8 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 Delaware River. Taking the precaution, by Washing- 
 ton's orders, to gather up and take with them to the 
 west bank of that broad stream every boat for sixty 
 miles up and down the river, they gained a little respite 
 from the slow but persistent pursuit which had forced 
 them on. In the absence of transportation, the ad- 
 vance of the English was temporarily checked, and the 
 hunted Americans had time to breathe. That was all 
 Washington wanted. They were yet to learn, these 
 red-coats, what manner of man this was whom they 
 were driving so relentlessly ahead of them. So, with 
 fatal supineness, they made no attempt to build boats — 
 they waited. Delays in warfare and in love are always 
 dangerous and the subsequent results proved the 
 maxim. 
 
 The British absolutely despising their oft-beaten, 
 alway-retreating enemy, were cantoned in several scat- 
 tered detachments on the east bank of the Delaware; 
 going into winter quarters for the time being, to wait 
 for the freezing of the river, when it was Howe's in- 
 tention to cross on the ice, brush aside the last remnants 
 of armed resistance under Washington, occupy Phila- 
 delphia, and end the war. Man proposes, but — 
 Washington had contemplated the possibility of such 
 action and had resolved, if unable to prevent it, to re- 
 treat to the mountains of Virginia and keep up a par- 
 tizan warfare to an end. This was only a last alterna- 
 tive, however, and he had another plan in view. 
 
 The British headquarters and general supply depot 
 had been located at New Brunswick. General Grant 
 had been left in command. Howe and Cornwallis re- 
 turned to New York, and Cornwallis made preparations 
 for a trip to England. As soon as Washington dis- 
 covered the separation of the British army into differ- 
 
Washington's Greatest Campaign 19 
 
 ent groups, he conceived the idea of recrossing the 
 river, assuming the offensive, fahing upon the scattered 
 detachments, beating them in detail, moving on for 
 New Brunswick to capture the supphes and clear the 
 country, and take a position in the hills about Morris- 
 town, where he could threaten New York and protect 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 His attack on Trenton was no mere return snarl of 
 a goaded animal — it was part of this brilliant plan. He 
 had the nucleus for offensive action in his own little 
 army, tried by summer's burning heat, by fire and 
 water, steel and lead, and now to show themselves im- 
 pervious to winter's biting cold. They had been pur- 
 sued until their spirits were absolutely upon an edge, 
 and the great American felt that he had under his 
 command an army of baited lions. It is sometimes a 
 bad thing for the conquerors when they press the con- 
 quered up against the wall, till the beaten face about 
 with nothing behind them but destruction and nothing 
 before them but the foe. Men have ever found the 
 last ditch an easy place in which to die. That was the 
 situation of this patriot army. They literally had no 
 clothes, no blankets, no shoes, no provisions, no any- 
 thing but arms and souls, but they were not born to 
 die like hunted foxes. Washington knciv that he could 
 depend upon them. 
 
 He decided to break through the English line at 
 Trenton, where there was a large detachment of Hes- 
 sian troops commanded by Colonel Rail, comprising 
 three regiments. Rail, Lossburg and Anspach, with 
 some artillery and cavalry, amounting to about sixteen 
 hundred men. Colonel Rail was a dashing soldier who 
 had distinguished himself in the storming of Fort 
 Washington, and as negligent and confident as he was 
 brave. " 
 
20 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 Washington's plan was that Putnam, who had been 
 appointed military governor of the city, should send 
 out a large force from Philadelphia to skirmish and 
 engage the attention of Von Donop, who had command 
 of a large detachment of English and Germans at 
 Bordentown and vicinity. General Ewing, in the cen- 
 ter, with a portion of the militia of New Jersey and 
 Pennsylvania, which had been called out by the most 
 desperate appeals, was to cross two miles below Tren- 
 ton at Bond's Ferry to interpose between Von Donop 
 and Rail, to prevent any junction and to intercept 
 any fugitives from Washington's attack. On the right, 
 Gates and Cadwalader, with a larger body of Penn- 
 sylvania militia, was to cross at Bristol and advance 
 upon the posts at Mt. Holly and vicinity ; Washington, 
 on the left with the Continental line, was to cross above 
 the town, and deliver the main attack in person. Thus 
 Von Donop would be kept off, Rail overwhelmed, and 
 the dash made for New Brunswick, after the divisions 
 had united. Before the campaign began, General 
 Charles Lee, who was as great a traitor as Benedict 
 Arnold, without any of Arnold's redeeming qualities, 
 had been captured by the British, fortunately for the 
 American cause, and General Sullivan had brought to 
 Washington's aid the remnants of the northern army. 
 This increased his available force to about twenty-five 
 hundred men. 
 
 The night of Christmas day, Wednesday, December 
 25, 1776, was chosen for the attempt. The surprise 
 was to take place in the early morning of the day after. 
 Washington counted upon the well known convivial 
 habits of the Germans and the relaxation attendant up- 
 on the Christmas festivities, to facilitate his operations. 
 The army had been divided into two divisions. Gen- 
 eral Greene was to command the first division, Gen- 
 
Washington's Greatest Campaign 21 
 
 eral Sullivan, the second. Washington was to go 
 with the first. About six o'clock in the evening his 
 own detachment, which he was to lead, was paraded 
 on the Pennsylvania side at McKonkey's Ferry, nine 
 miles above Trenton, and immediately thereafter the 
 passage of the river began. It was a clear moonlight 
 night. There was a light snow upon the ground which 
 had fallen during the day, but it was very cold and 
 growing colder with each succeeding moment. 
 
 The river, the current of which flowed swiftly by the 
 place of crossing, where the width of the stream was 
 about twelve hundred feet, was filled with huge cakes 
 of ice, which made the attempt to pass it both difiicult 
 and dangerous. Large scows, bateaux, and a kind of 
 trading vessels called Durham boats, sharp-bowed, 
 double-ended affairs, thirty or forty feet long, had been 
 provided; and under the skilful charge of Glover's 
 regiment of Gloucester and Marblehead fishermen, who 
 had already done such signal service in the retreat at 
 Long Island, the passage was effected. Washington 
 had hoped to begin his march to Trenton by midnight, 
 but it could not be. It was eleven o'clock before the in- 
 fantry had all crossed. The cold had grown more 
 intense with every passing moment. The sky was now 
 deeply overcast, and a few flakes of snow gave ominous 
 presage of an approaching storm. 
 
 The little army was compelled to wait for five hours 
 on the low bleak hills, unsheltered from the tempest of 
 snow and sleet which raged with ever increasing fury, 
 until the artillery under the indefatigable Knox could 
 get over, which v/as not until after three o'clock in the 
 morning. All hope of an early surprise was of neces- 
 sity abandoned. While they waited, two men arrived 
 with messages for Washington. The first apprised 
 
22 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 him that the miserable Gates, upon whom he had de- 
 pended, had left Cadwalader's detachment, and gone 
 to Congress, which had fled precipitately to Baltimore. 
 Cadwalader had made desperate and heroic attempts 
 to get over, but that owing to the ice which banked up 
 against the shore at the side of the river, he had been 
 unable to land a single piece of artillery or horse, and 
 had therefore given over the attempt and would be un- 
 able to cooperate. The second message was from 
 Ewing to the effect that he had not even attempted to 
 cross in view of the conditions. The messengers had 
 found Washington by following the bloody footprints 
 of the barefooted men in the drifting snow! 
 
 Suggestions were made that they recross and try it 
 again some other time, but Washington had retreated 
 just as long as he was going to, and he resolved — mo- 
 mentous decision that it was — to push on with his own 
 force and after he had done what he could, recross and 
 then prepare to try it again. The watchword given 
 by the commander himself was "victory or death" and 
 that represented his state of mind perfectly. It was 
 four o'clock in the morning when they started for 
 Trenton. There were two roads which led from Mc- 
 Konkey's Ferry to Trenton, one near the river, the 
 other further inland. They strike the town at different 
 ends. The lower, or river road, enters the village of 
 Trenton, which then contained upward of a hundred 
 houses, near the stone bridge, which crossed the Assun- 
 pink Creek which bounds the southern side of the 
 village. The upper, called the Pennington road, enters 
 the town at the junction of the two broad streets which 
 ran together at a sharp angle. Washington and Greene 
 took the upper road, Sullivan, the lower. 
 
 What were the thoughts of those men of desperate 
 
Washington's Greatest Campaign 23 
 
 purpose as they toiled through the drifts on those fro- 
 zen roads, cut to pieces by the pitiless sleet, torn by the 
 fierce wind which searched out every rent in their 
 flimsy, tattered garments? They were making a way 
 for liberty, blazing the path of freedom with their own 
 bleeding feet — marking the trail as it has ever been 
 marked, by the blood of man — staggering, fainting, 
 freezing, pressing on, and the genius of Independence 
 walking by their side. A via dolorosa of suffering, 
 this, in that bitter Nativity night, and those who fol- 
 lowed worthy subjects of that great Master, who ever 
 fought the battle of human freedom, even to the awful 
 Cross ! 
 
 About seven o'clock a message came up from Sulli- 
 van on the river road to Washington on the inland 
 road. The snow had wet the priming of their fire- 
 arms, and they could not be used. What was to be 
 done? "Tell him to push on with the bayonet," said 
 the grim commander, "the town must be taken and I 
 am resolved to take it." When Sullivan's men heard 
 this reply delivered by the officer, in their impetuosity 
 they began slipping the bayonets over the gun-barrels 
 without order, and gaily resumed the advance. It was 
 eight in the morning when the head of the upper col- 
 umn struck the Hessian advance picket on the Penning- 
 ton road. All of the men comprising the guard had 
 sought shelter in a hut from the driving snow and the 
 furious sleet. Without a moment's hesitation the 
 Americans went forward at a double-quick; at the 
 same time the other column on the river road came in 
 contact with the picket there. The sharp rattle of mus- 
 ketry broke the stillness of the wintry morning at 
 both ends of the little town. In the midst of the 
 drifting snow, the startled Hessians retreated rapidly 
 upon the main guard. The Americans came forward 
 
24 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 with determination and soon all of the advance parties 
 of the enemy were in the fnll retreat toward the town. 
 There the drums were beating the assembly wildly, 
 and the terrified Hessians were running through the 
 streets half-dressed toward the rallying points, so 
 far as they had been designated. Rail, whose in- 
 dulgences the previous day and night had been long 
 and deep, had awakened and hastily dressed himself 
 and descended to the street. 
 
 The whirling snow and sleet prevented the Hessians 
 from discovering the force of their opponents even at 
 this juncture. The alert Americans were soon extend- 
 ing along the upper road past the village to encircle the 
 town from the left. Other regiments started down 
 toward the river to meet the advance of Sullivan's 
 division. The artillery was massed at the head of 
 King and Queen Streets, under Washington's direction, 
 and a steady fire raked the two main avenues of the 
 village. Several hasty and entirely ineffective shots 
 were fired in return by two guns of the regiment Rail 
 in King Street, but before they became dangerous, they 
 were captured by a spirited charge led by Captain 
 William Washington and Lieutenant James Monroe, 
 afterward President of the United States. These offi- 
 cers were both wounded before the guns were taken 
 and turned upon the Hessians. Meanwhile Sullivan's 
 men had seized the stone bridge over the Assunpink 
 on the right, routing the cavalry picket; Stark's regi- 
 ment had extended to the left, parallel to the main 
 streets, and the other regiments were led out beyond the 
 town to encircle it from below ; their artillery mean- 
 while played upon the huddled enemy attempting to 
 escape through the wood, and by a ford, to pass the 
 creek. The American troops took cover behind fences, 
 walls and houses, and poured a withering fire upon the 
 
Washington's Greatest Campaign 25 
 
 already demoralized Hessians who finally retreated out- 
 side of the town to an apple orchard on the east where 
 they re-formed. Under the orders of Rail himself, 
 they bravely attempted to retake the town, which was 
 full of their plunder, and charged forward with the 
 bayonet. The Americans met this charge by a volley 
 and countercharge. It is interesting to note that as the 
 Continentals rushed forward determinedly upon the 
 wavering Dutchmen, they shouted with a grim humor 
 which savors marvelously of the present, the opening- 
 words of Thomas Paine's famous tract, written at this 
 period, "These are the times that try men's souls!" 
 
 Certainly the words were apposite to the Hessians' 
 situation. Rail, their commander, had fallen mortally 
 wounded. Von Dechow, the second in command, like- 
 wise. Many other officers who had gallantly exposed 
 themselves in the attempt to rally and lead the men 
 forward had been killed or wounded. Forrest's bat- 
 tery was pouring in a withering fire of grape. Greene's 
 men were pressing them from the north, Stark's from 
 the west, Sullivan's from the south. Gun after gun 
 was being brought up on their flanks and in their rear. 
 The Assunpink bridge and ford had been secured after 
 several hundred had escaped. There was no salvation 
 for the rest. In panic terror they lowered their flags 
 and threw down their arms. The actual fighting had 
 lasted about half an hour. The battle was over. 
 "This is a glorious day for our country," said Wash- 
 ington. 
 
 The killed and wounded of the enemy numbered 
 over one hundred, the captured nearly nine hundred 
 and over five hundred escaj^ed. One thousand stand 
 of arms, six field pieces, and a large quantity of sup- 
 plies and munitions of war came into the hands of the 
 Americans, who had only two killed and two wounded ! 
 
26 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 So far everything had gone well. The failure of 
 the other divisions to cross, however, had rendered 
 Washington's position, in spite of his success, most^pre- 
 carious ; so with a prudence as great as his courage, he 
 at once decided to cross to the west bank of the river 
 once more. Allowing his troops until the afternoon 
 to recuperate, as the shades of night advanced they 
 retraced their steps, but in what different spirits. They 
 had demonstrated their right to be. They were an 
 army, their leader a soldier. No one would ever 
 doubt it again, certainly not the British. That road 
 which in the morning had been the path of freezing 
 despair, was now the way of the conquerors. Accom- 
 panied by all of their prisoners — and what a contrast 
 there was between the well fed and well clothed Hes- 
 sians and their ragged captors — they recrossed the 
 river, and occupied their old camps. Tw^o of the men 
 froze to death, and over one thousand were prostrated 
 by the exposure incident to the fearful hardships they 
 had undergone. More determined than ever, Washing- 
 ton despatched letters and couriers in every direction to 
 assemble his forces and move upon New Brunswick, 
 which was still the goal of his endeavor. 
 
 '' ^ The successful issue of his daring adventure en- 
 tailed yet further responsibilities, and the campaign 
 was only just begun. As for himself, the w^orld now 
 knew him for a soldier. And a withered old man in 
 the palace of the Sans Souci, in Berlin, who had himself 
 known victories and defeats, who had himself stood at 
 bay, facing a world in arms so successfully that men 
 called him The Great,' called this and the subsequent 
 campaign the finest military exploit of the age !" 
 
 1 From the author's book " For Love of Country," by courtesy of 
 Charles Scribner's Sons. 
 

 "5 S 
 
WASHINGTON'S GREATEST 
 CAMPAIGN 
 
 II. Princeton 
 
 There was mounting in hot haste on the Jersey side 
 of the river when the astonishing news of the feh 
 swoop on the Hessians at Trenton was carried bagk to 
 the neghgent and over-confident British commanders 
 in New York. Washington was still to be reckoned 
 with, it appeared, and with an energy utterly foreign to 
 their previous movements, the various advanced posts 
 to the south were abandoned, the troops in the northern 
 part of the state were concentrated at New Brunswick 
 and marched thence to 'Princeton, to which place the 
 lower division had repaired. Lord Cornwallis, the 
 ablest of the British soldiers in America, was put in 
 command with orders to catch and crush the pestilent 
 American who never knew when he was beaten, or who 
 refused to stay so if he knew it — a harder task, this, 
 than either Howe or his gallant subordinate had ever 
 set themselves to accomplish- before, and one they found 
 quite impossible after all. All that they desired, how- 
 ever, was an opportunity to get at him, they thought, 
 and this opportunity Washington, with his eyes still 
 fixed on the main plan, of which the engagement at 
 
 27 
 
28 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 Trenton had only been a detail, was quite willing to 
 afford them. 
 
 Fired by the splendid success of the Continentals, 
 the Pennsylvania and New Jersey militia under Cad- 
 walader, Ewing and Mifflin, at last got across the river 
 and established themselves in the vicinity of Burling- 
 ton, and on the twenty-ninth of December, Washington 
 followed with his staff and escort and took up his 
 headquarters upon the scene of his successful battle. 
 It took two days for his victorious Continental troops 
 to get across, however, on account of the heavy ice in 
 the river, but by the evening of the last day of the year 
 they were all assembled at Trenton. It was a fateful 
 hour for the Revolution — all the hours of this campaign 
 w'ere fateful — and a mischance at any time or place 
 would have ended it. The period of enlistment of 
 most of the men expired that night ; if they left him, 
 Washington would find himself on the morrow aban- 
 doned by the veteran and heroic soldiery who had 
 enabled him to inaugurate his great campaign, and 
 would be forced to rely entirely upon the raw and un- 
 tried militia. 
 
 He was equal to the emergency, however, for he had 
 the men paraded, and rode along the lines, address- 
 ing the several regiments in the brief soldierly style in 
 which he was a master, imploring them to remain with 
 him untd he could complete his campaign, telling them 
 of the importance of their action, firing their hearts 
 with his own determined resolution and patriotic de- 
 votion, pledging his private fortune — in which glori- 
 ous example he was followed by many of his officers, 
 gentlemen of condition and means — for their long ar- 
 rears of pay, and promising them a small bounty 
 besides. He was seconded in his appeal by all of his 
 
Washington's Greatest Campaign 29 
 
 officers, and the results were most happy. The men 
 unanimously elected to stay with him for at least six 
 weeks, or until the campaign was terminated one way 
 or the other. We, to-day, can scarcely imagine what 
 this decision involved. It was the expression of wil- 
 lingness on the part of the naked, barefoot, hungry, 
 frozen men, to stay and fight against overwhelming 
 odds through the dreary winter, when they could have 
 gone back home to a situation so superior to their pres- 
 ent condition, that it might have been called luxury; 
 and the glory of the men should not be lost sight of in 
 the glory of the man. To that army of patriots our 
 eternal gratitude, nay, the gratitude of all those who 
 love and cherish and would fain fight for human liber- 
 ty, is surely due. 
 
 Stout old Robert Morris now sent up to his friend 
 George Washington the money he had raised by going 
 from door to door with extended hand among his 
 friends in Philadelphia. To such desperate straits had 
 they been reduced in the field, that the first instalment of 
 less than five hundred dollars had been most gratefully 
 received ; and when a day or so later he made a further 
 glorious remittance of fifty thousand dollars, the faith- 
 ful troops, for the first time in many months, were paid 
 in part. 
 
 By Washington's orders there were skirmishing par- 
 ties of horse and light infantry scattered all through 
 the country between Trenton and Princeton, where it 
 was soon learned that Cornwallis had assembled some 
 eight thousand men preparatory to the dash for Tren- 
 ton. Much valuable information was gathered and 
 some prisoners made, besides great annoyance, inflicted 
 upon the British. The English and Hessians had be- 
 haved with frightful barbarity in their march through, 
 
30 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 and occupation of, the country ; there had been murder, 
 pillage, rapine, and outraging of women, and now the 
 enraged country people hung upon their flanks, aided 
 the American skirmishers, and cut off unwary strag- 
 glers without mercy. Washington had ordered Cad- 
 walader from the Cross Wicks and Mifflin fromBorden- 
 town to join him at Trenton. After a hard night 
 march in the bitter cold, sleet and rain, over frightful 
 roads, they reached Trenton on the second day of the 
 year about noon. These reinforcements raised his lit- 
 tle force to a total of about five thousand men, three- 
 fifths of them being militia who had probably never 
 heard a shot fired in anger. 
 
 Cornwallis leaving Grant's brigade, three regiments 
 of British, about thirteen hundred men, under Lieuten- 
 ant Colonel Mawhood at Princeton, as a reserve and to 
 protect his rear, advanced early on the morning of 
 January 2, 1777, in great haste toward Trenton. 
 All day long he was compelled to fight his way for- 
 ward against a heavy skirmishing fire from the 
 riflemen under Greene, who took advantage of their op- 
 portunity to pour a galling fire upon the regular troops. 
 Washington needed one more day to assemble and unite 
 his force, and Greene agreed to give it to him. The 
 delay gave Washington time to withdraw his army 
 across the Assunpink, swollen with the winter rains, 
 and post them on the high ground south of it in a 
 strong and advantageous position, for two miles along 
 the bank. The artillery was massed at the famous 
 stone bridge. 
 
 In the gray of the evening, the van of Cornwallis' 
 wearied troops, the American riflemen having ' been 
 cleared out of the northern side of the creek, after severe 
 fighting and heavy loss on the part of the British, ad- 
 
Washington's Greatest Campaign 31 
 
 vanced to take Washington's position. Three separate 
 charges were made upon the bridge, and were repulsed 
 with loss. But the British subordinate commanders 
 urged Cornwallis to push the attack and end the matter 
 then and there. The creek was fordable in half a dozen 
 places, and all that would be necessary would be to 
 make a simultaneous attack upon the bridge and the 
 fords with their superior forces, place themselves upon 
 the other bank, turn the flank of the rebel army, drive 
 Washington into the atl de sac formed by the creek and 
 the river and hammer him to pieces at leisure and at 
 pleasure. 
 
 The British were tired out, however; they had 
 marched and fought in the mud all day; there was no 
 escape for the "old fox" now ; they had him cornered at 
 last and there was no need for hurry — so they reasoned. 
 Cornwallis resolved to wait until morning. This is 
 where he made the mistake of his life. Washington 
 was as keenly appreciative of the exigencies of the situ- 
 ation of his army as Cornwallis and his officers. He 
 had no mind to be caught in that trap, he had not put 
 himself in that position for nothing, and his plan for 
 extricating himself had been already matured. He 
 would try an offensive defense. As the night fell and 
 the British went into camp, he caused tremendous fires 
 to be built all along his lines next to the river bank, 
 which were to be continuously fed by a small body of 
 men detailed for the purpose, who were to act as sen- 
 tries and to move about, make a great deal of noise and 
 expose themselves as much as possible with safety, to 
 convey the idea that they were in great force and very 
 actively preparing for the morrow. The rest of the 
 army muffled the wheels of the guns, and sent the 
 heavier baggage down toward Philadelphia, where 
 
32 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 Putnam had sent a detachment to meet and protect it, 
 and then about eleven o'clock at night, in little detach- 
 ments in rapid succession, they silently stole away. 
 Whispering their orders, making no sound, giving no 
 alarm, they followed a long roundabout road called the 
 Quaker road which passed through the village of 
 Sand Town, and for several miles led away from the 
 river toward the southeast before it made an abrupt 
 turn to the north. The weather had changed, the wind 
 came from the north and the wet, muddy, impassable 
 roads froze as hard as iron ; it grew bitter cold once 
 more, as it had before the attack on Trenton. They 
 crept cautiously around the left flank of Cornwallis' 
 sleeping army, and headed for Princeton, to that goal 
 for which the indomitable American had been making 
 since Christmas day — the stores at New Brunswick. To 
 extricate an army safely from a desperate situation 
 has ever been accounted a work of great generalship; 
 no army was ever moved more quickly, dexterously and 
 ably than this one. The British never dreamed they 
 had gone until morning. 
 
 It was another desperate march over the badly 
 cleared, stump encumbered roads. When the morning 
 came, clear, very cold, the ground covered with hoar 
 frost, the advance under General Mercer reached the 
 lower bridge over Stony Brook Creek and, crossing the 
 bridge, went up the river bank toward another bridge 
 which crosses it on the direct road to Trenton, which 
 they had intended to hold as long as possible and then 
 destroy, to check the advance of Cornwallis ; while the 
 rest of the army under Washington continued by an- 
 other road through the trees and, sheltered by the 
 hills, on toward the College and village of Princeton. 
 A part of the British detachment at Princeton had 
 
Washington's Greatest Campaign 33 
 
 crossed the Stony Brook bridge already on the march to 
 join Cornwallis, when this advance regiment, the seven- 
 teenth under Mawhood in person, caught sight of 
 Mercer's men, the sunlight gleaming on the gun-barrels 
 through the trees betraying them. The English re- 
 traced their steps and recrossed the bridge at once. 
 
 To deploy on both sides was the work of a few mo- 
 ments. There was a little rise of ground off to the 
 right which would make a strong defensive position. 
 Both parties rushed headlong for it immediately. The 
 Americans were the quicker and lined up on it pouring 
 a heavy fire into the advancing British, which did great 
 execution. The red-coats were most gallantly led, 
 however, and proved themselves soldiers of the highest 
 class. In spite of the withering ritie fire, they poured 
 in a return volley and covered by the smoke, they des- 
 perately charged the American position at the point of 
 the bayonet. General jMercer on a white horse was in 
 front of his men, by his side Colonel Haslet of the 
 Delaware regiment was standing dismounted. The 
 first volley killed Mercer's horse. throwing him heavily; 
 he rose to his feet at once, however, to encourage his 
 men. The same volley sent a bullet crashing into Has- 
 let's brain. Many others were killed and wounded. 
 The Continentals were thrown into some confusion by 
 this fierce discharge, delivered scarcely a hundred feet 
 away, and as this brigade was most unfortunately un- 
 provided with bayonets, they resisted stubbornly for a 
 few minutes with clubbed muskets, and then gave way, 
 retreating back toward the main body on the lower 
 road. 
 
 Mercer, sword in hand, threw himself before the 
 fugitives, rallied a few of his officers and men and 
 fiercelv attacked the oncoming British. He was beat- 
 
34 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 en to the ground, called a rebel, asked to surrender, 
 and when he answered in indignation with a sword cut, 
 was thrust through and through with the bayonets, 
 and left for dead on the field. He died a few days 
 after the battle in great agony, leaving behind him a 
 stainless and honored name. 
 
 At this juncture, when the British were sweeping 
 everything before them, the Pennsylvania militia 
 dashed out of the wood. They had been sent up on 
 the double-quick to the rescue by Washington, who had 
 heard the noise of the conflict. Undaunted by this new 
 enemy, the British, with admirable precision, which won 
 Washington's admiration and commendation, faced 
 quickly about and began to move forward to apply the 
 deadly cold steel again, and to try to take Moulder's 
 Philadelphia battery. The militia hastily returned the 
 fire of the enemy, but as the smoke blew away, they saw 
 that the British were unchecked, and as the red-coats 
 came fiercely on, the American line began to waver. 
 They had never been in action before, and a hand to 
 hand conflict was more than they bargained for; only 
 a veteran could meet the British bayonet after all. An 
 incipient panic was there. One more moment and they 
 too had been in retreat, but the hour brought the man. 
 
 Attended by one or two staff officers, Washington 
 galloped recklessly on the field ; one glance put him in 
 possession of the situation. The Americans were be- 
 ing routed ; he could not fight a long drawn out battle 
 here; whatever was to be done must be done at once. 
 Cornwallis had already heard the roar of 'the guns at 
 Trenton, and awaking to find himself outgeneraled 
 at once discovered Washington's escape, and had 
 pushed his army forward at the double-quick. If the 
 British could hold the Americans in play for a short 
 
Washington's Greatest Campaign 35 
 
 space of time, the veterans of Cornwallis would be upon 
 them. Without a second's hesitation, Washington 
 rode by Mercer's shattered brigade and called upon 
 them to advance, and then dashed down the wavering 
 Pennsylvania line, turning his horse as he came before 
 the main body of the advancing British, and by the 
 very force of his splendid personality led the erstwhile 
 hesitating militia down upon their enemies in a surpris- 
 ing charge, both parties firing before they met. There 
 was a sharp hand to hand struggle, with Washington in 
 the midst of it. At the same moment, the other regi- 
 ments of the Americans came up and took up a position 
 on the flank of the British, and poured into them a 
 deadly fire. Moulder's Philadelphia battery raked the 
 valley with grape. Washington was in the thick of it 
 all. He was lost sight of by his aides in the smoke for 
 the moment, and when it cleared away he was discov- 
 ered mad with the excitement of the battle leading on 
 the men. A born fighter, he ! He bore a charmed life, 
 for amid the hail of bullets, not one had touched him. 
 The British now were in full retreat; a few broke 
 away and ran toward Trenton, but the greater part 
 made for Princeton. Washington pressed his advan- 
 tage to the fullest limit. The Americans were sent 
 forward to attack the other two British regiments com- 
 ing to the rescue. They dashed at them before they 
 had time to form and irresistibly overwhelmed them, 
 capturing large numbers and utterly putting the rest to 
 flight in a wild rout. Some of them, to the number of 
 about two hundred, took refuge in Nassau Hall, the 
 college building, whence they were at once dislodged 
 and captured. After following the thoroughly terror- 
 ised British who had escaped, for a short time, Wash- 
 ington, having no cavalry, gave over the pursuit. 
 
36 American Fio^hts and Fighters 
 
 The British lost about five hundred, including killed, 
 wounded and captured, no less than one hundred be- 
 ing left dead upon the field, which shows the fierceness 
 of the hand to hand fighting; the total American loss 
 was about one hundred, including many valuable offi- 
 cers. The three British regiments had been utterly 
 defeated and turned into a disorganized mob ; their re- 
 treat was a pell-mell rout. 
 
 But now when the goal of his endeavor — the stores, 
 material and treasure at New Brunswick — was almost 
 within his grasp, he was compelled to abandon it. 
 Suffering humanity absolutely could do no more. The 
 troops were completely exhausted by their fight of the 
 day before, their night march, their desperate battle, 
 their long fast and the intense cold. For more than 
 thirty hours they had been in action or on the march; 
 most of them had received nothing to eat. "If I could 
 have had eight hundred fresh troops I could have done 
 it," said Washington. Alas, there were no fresh 
 troops to be had. They fell out of the ranks asleep 
 whenever they halted. Even these iron men must have 
 rest. Within reaching distance, these untoward cir- 
 cumstances compelled him to refrain from New Bruns- 
 wick. Reluctantly Washington headed his men to- 
 ward the heights of Morristown. 
 
 The British army under Cornwallis had been moved 
 with incredible celerity. A little party of Americans 
 with a heavy field piece delayed the advance somewhat, 
 a broken bridge delayed it still further, and though the 
 British, unable to repair it, had waded breast-high 
 through the icy stream in their endeavors to catch 
 him, Washington effected his escape. Cornwallis, in 
 alarm for his stores, pushed on to New Brunswick to 
 save them, and battle and campaign were over. 
 
Washington's Greatest Campaign 37 
 
 The Revolution was saved. Washington, with his 
 weak, inferior army, had so manoeuvered that he had, in 
 spite of liis disadvantages, twice struck the enemy with 
 superior force at the point of contact, and routed him. 
 His movements were an early ilhistration of the modern 
 phrasing of an old maxim, to the effect that the art of 
 war consists in "getting there hrst with the most men !" 
 In addition to his soldierly ability he had shown his 
 capacity as a statesman. His enterprise was underta- 
 ken at that precise moment when victory was vital to 
 the success of the struggle, not merely from a military 
 standpoint, but in order to maintain the drooping 
 spirits of the nation then "borning,"and to demonstrate 
 to the world that the birth was not to be a still one. 
 There never was any doubt of the ultimate success of 
 the Revolution after that, and it was settled right then 
 and there. 
 
 " ^ To complete this brief resume of one of the re- 
 markable campaigns of history, AVashington strongly 
 fortified himself on Cornwallis's flank at Morristown, 
 menacing each of the three depots held by the Britisli 
 outside New York ; Putnam advanced from Philadel- 
 phia to Trenton, with the militia; and Heath moved 
 down to the highlands of the Hudson. The country 
 people of New Jersey rose and cut off scattered detach- 
 ments of the British in every direction, until the whole 
 of the field N\as eventually abandoned by them, except 
 Amboy, Newark and New Brunswick. The world wit- 
 nessed the singular spectacle of a large, well-appointed 
 army of veteran soldiery, under able leaders, shut up in 
 practically one spot, New York and a few near-by vil- 
 lages, and held there inexorably by a phantom army 
 
 1 Taken from the author's novel " For Love of Country," by the cour- 
 tesy of Chnrles Scribner's Sons. 
 
38 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 which was never more than half the size of that it held 
 in check. 
 
 "The results of the six months' campaign were to 
 be seen in the possession of the city of New York by 
 the British army. That army which had won, except 
 the last two, all the battles in which it had engaged, 
 which had followed the Americans through six months 
 of disastrous defeat and retreat, and had overrun two 
 colonies, now had nothing to show for all its efforts 
 but the ground upon which it stood. And this was the 
 result of the genius, the courage, the audacity of one 
 man — George Washington. The world was astound- 
 ed, and he took an assured place thenceforward among 
 the first soldiers of that or any age. 
 
 "Even the English themselves could not withhold 
 their admiration. The gallant and brave Cornwallis, 
 a soldier of no mean ability himself, and well able to 
 estimate what could be done with a small and feeble 
 force, never forgot his surprise at the Assunpink ; and 
 when he congratulated Washington, at the surrender 
 of Yorktown years after, upon the brilliant combina- 
 tion which had resulted in the capture of the army, he 
 added these words : 'But, after all, your excellency's 
 achievements in the Jerseys were such that nothing 
 could surpass them !' 
 
 "And the witty and wise old cynic, Mr. Horace Wal- 
 pole, with his usual discrimination, wrote to a friend. 
 Sir Horace Mann, when he heard of the affair at Tren- 
 ton, the night march to Princeton, and the successful 
 attack there : 'Washington, the dictator, has shown 
 himself both a Fabius and a Camillus. His march 
 through our lines is allowed to have been a prodigy of 
 generalship.' " 
 
PAUL JONES' GREATEST 
 BATTLE. 
 
 On the evening of Thursday, September 30, 1779, a 
 rather small, brown faced, dark haired man, about thir- 
 ty-two years of age, and of a melancholy, poetic and 
 even scholarly cast of countenance, clad in a blue naval 
 uniform, stood on the weather-side of the high poop 
 deck of a large war-ship, looking keenly about him with 
 his bright, brilliant black eyes. Sometimes his glance 
 fell meditatively upon two gallant white ships under 
 full sail, men-of-war evidently, which were slowly 
 crossing his course at a right angle a mile or two ahead 
 of him, and making in toward the not distant land the 
 while. Anon, with thoughtful vision, he surveyed the 
 crowded decks before and beneath him; the rude, mot- 
 ley men, half-naked and armed with cutlass or pike 
 and pistol, who were grouped about the grim great 
 guns protruding menacingly through the open ports ; 
 the old gun captains squinting along the breech and 
 blowing their smoking matches while looking to the 
 priming of the guns; the little groups of pig-tailed vet- 
 erans, sail trimmers, assembled about the masts; the 
 brilliantly uniformed soldiers, or marines, in the scarlet 
 and white of France ; the agile topmen hanging in great 
 human clusters over the broad tops above his head. 
 
 39 
 
40 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 Sometimes he turned about and swept tbe sea behind 
 him with his eager gaze, frowning in high displeasure 
 at what he saw. 
 
 The soft hght of the setting sun streamed over the 
 larboard quarter, and threw into high relief the lonely 
 officer on the weather-side of the ship. Seamanship 
 spoke in the careless yet confident poise of the well-knit 
 muscular figure, as he unconsciously balanced himself 
 and easily met the roll of the ship in the sea ; intelligence 
 and kindness sparkled in his eyes ; power and force 
 were instinct in every line of his aggressive person; 
 and determination evidenced itself in the compressed 
 lip, the firm, resolute mouth, and the tightly closed hand 
 which hung easily by his side. The gentle breeze of 
 the evening tenderly and softly fell on the worn sails 
 of the ancient ship, swelling the soiled and weather- 
 beaten cloths of canvas out in graceful, tremulous 
 curves as if in caress, as she swept slowly toward the 
 enemy. The ripple of the waves clinging about her 
 cut- water alone broke the silence. The scene was as 
 peaceful and as quiet as if the loud calling of the drum 
 which had so lately re-echoed along the decks had been 
 an invitation to church service, instead of a stern sum- 
 mons to quarters for action. A faint smell of balm 
 and spicery which clung about the ship, a reminder of 
 her distant voyages in Eastern seas, was like incense to 
 the soul. 
 
 Off toward the side of the sinking sun rose the bold 
 shore of England. Flamborough headland, crowned 
 by a lofty tower already sending a broad beam of 
 warning light to voyaging mariners out over the 
 waters, thrust out a salient wedge of massive rock- 
 bound coast in rude, wave piercing angle through the 
 tossing sea. To the east the full moon, already some 
 
Paul Jones' Greatest Battle 41 
 
 hours high, shot the soft silver of her rays, mingled 
 with the fading gold of the dying day, over the pallid 
 ocean. At this moment the mellow tones of the ship's 
 bell forward striking three couplets in quick succession 
 awakened the commander from the reveries in which 
 he had been indulging, and he turned to find his first 
 lieutenant mounting the poop deck ladder to report 
 the ship clear for action. The dark expressive eye of 
 the captain lingered affectionately upon the form of the 
 lithe, bright-eyed, honest and able young subordinate 
 who had yet to see his twenty-fourth birthday. Be- 
 tween the two officers subsisted the fullest confidence 
 and the deepest affection. 
 
 Who was the lonely captain ? The greatest novelist 
 of England calls him a traitor. One of the most prom- 
 inent naval authorities of to-day, from the same proud 
 nation, describes him as a blackguard. Popular feel- 
 ing among his contemporary enemies considered him as 
 neither more nor less than a bloodthirsty, murdering 
 pirate. The captain of the ship which he was about to 
 conquer is reputed to have most ungraciously expressed 
 his regret at having been compelled "to surrender to 
 a man who fought with a halter around his neck." But 
 the people who made and loved the flag, the Stars and 
 Stripes, which fluttered above his head, and gave it a 
 high place in the glorious blazonry of nations, told a 
 different tale. The admiration of Washington, the in- 
 corruptible soldier and leader ; the beloved of Franklin, 
 the discerning statesman and philosopher; the friend 
 of Robert Morris, the brilliant financier and patriot; 
 John Paul Jones, the son of a poor Scotch gardener, 
 who had left his native land in infancy, and who had 
 been brought up with the scanty advantages afforded 
 by life from childhood passed upon the sea, rose, against 
 
42 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 every sort of discouragement by sheer merit alone, to 
 be the greatest figure in the naval history of his adopted 
 country for nearly a hundred years. 
 
 By his indefatigable resolution and unsurpassable 
 valor, his wonderful technical skill and fascinating per- 
 sonality, he became a Chevalier of France, an Admiral 
 of Russia, the friend at once of two queens, one the 
 most beautiful and unfortunate, the other the greatest 
 and most splendid, of his age. He was an honored 
 associate of the king of a great country, and yet never 
 renounced that which he considered his proudest title 
 to honor, and by which in that final end of things in 
 which the truth that is in a man speaks out, he loved 
 to describe himself, ''a citizen of the United States." 
 
 This was a man who had been an apprentice boy at 
 twelve, a sea ofiicer at fifteen, a captain at twenty-one; 
 who, in a slight inconsiderable vessel, a small war-brig, 
 had rendered most notable service to his chosen country 
 in the face of war vessels of overwhelming force ; who, 
 in a crank lightly built sloop-of-war, the Ranger, a year 
 ago, had swept the Irish Channel, terrified the whole 
 western seaboard of England, captured in fair fight a 
 regularly commissioned English sloop-of-war of equal 
 force with and more heavily manned than his own ; and 
 all this with a crew of mutineers, refusing to obey his 
 orders and even threatening his life at the last moment 
 before the action. 
 
 His hands had hoisted the first American flag that 
 ever fluttered from a masthead, the pine tree rattle- 
 snake flag, with its motto "Don't tread on me," which 
 seems somehow significant of the man himself; the 
 same hand later on had thrown to the breeze the first 
 banner of the Stars and Stripes that was ever seen upon 
 the ocean; his address and resolution had elicited, in 
 
Paul Jones' Greatest Battle 43 
 
 the way of a naval salute, the first official and public 
 recognition of the new figure among the nations of the 
 world from the authorized representative of a recog- 
 nized government. As a fighter, as a lover, as a dip- 
 lomat, he was among the first men of his time. He 
 loved glory and fame and duty with a passionate devo- 
 tion, and as he stated, "ever looked out for the Honor 
 of the American flag." He was afterward thanked by 
 Congress, made the head of the American Navy, and 
 especially commended in a public letter to the King of 
 France, his friend, an unique honor in our history. 
 Before he died he had participated in "twenty-three 
 battles and solemn rencontres by sea." 
 
 A pirate, a traitor, a blackguard, this? Nay, as true 
 a man as ever fought for human freedom, as brave an 
 officer as ever overcame heart-breaking adversity, as 
 gallant a sailor as ever trod a heaving deck, and as 
 sweet a lover as ever kissed a lady's hand. In the hun- 
 dreds of letters written by and to him still extant, many 
 of them on affaires du cocnr, there is not a single coarse 
 or rude expression to be found. I sum him up the hero 
 and the gentleman. Not without his faults, of course, 
 which I cheerfully refrain from cataloguing — always 
 a poor business — but they were not great and were 
 easily counterbalanced by his many virtues. 
 
 Look at him now as he approaches the culmination 
 of his career. After his brilliant cruise in the Ranger, 
 unable to obtain a decent war vessel, forced to put up 
 with a nondescript antique, a worn out East Indiaman, 
 the Due de Diiras, now renamed the Bonhonime Rieh- 
 ard, which had been filled with old and makeshift guns ; 
 a ship so rotten that it was impossible to make the nec- 
 essary alterations to properly fit her for her new ser- 
 vice. Attended by a squadron under his nominal com- 
 
44 American Fights and P^ighters 
 
 mancl, one of the ships of which, and the best one, was 
 manned largely by British seamen, and commanded by 
 an insane coward; at this very moment previous acts 
 of mutiny were culminating in a flagrant disobedience 
 of orders to follow the Richard into the action. The 
 Alliance, fighting shy of the English warships, was 
 sweeping toward the frightened convoy huddling off 
 for shelter under the lee of Scarborough Castle. An- 
 other vessel, th&Vcngeancc, French in toto, was fleeing 
 with all speed from the action, and the third, the Pallas, 
 another Frenchman, the only thing American about her 
 being the flag flying above her, hung quivering in the 
 wind in frightful indecision as to whether she should 
 engage the weaker of the two English ships before 
 them. 
 
 At this moment the total crew on the Bonliomine 
 Richard (so called from the nam dc pluuic of Benja- 
 min Franklin) was about three hundred, of which only 
 one fourth were Americans, about one half French sol- 
 diers, and the balance the riff-raff of all nations, Por- 
 tuguese preponderating; among their number being 
 some Malays, perhaps Filipinos, thus early fighting 
 for freedom. Two hundred desperate English prison- 
 ers were confined below in the hold. Beside the cap- 
 tain, not a single deck officer was left, through a 
 series of mishaps, save Richard Dale, the first lieuten- 
 ant, than whom no man ever was a better, by the 
 way. Commodore Dale, who has been justly honored 
 subsequently in the United States Navy, loved and 
 venerated Jones above all other men, always speaking 
 of him to the last day of his life with his eyes filled 
 with tears of affection and regret as "Paul," which was 
 his captain's birth name. Why John Paul assumed 
 the name Jones has never been discovered ; cer- 
 
Paul Jones' Greatest Battle 45 
 
 tainly for no disgraceful reason, for whatever name 
 he might have taken he would have honored. 
 
 The armament of the Richard consisted of twenty- 
 eight twelve pounders on the gun deck ; on the quarter 
 deck and forecastle were eight nine pounders. In des- 
 peration, Jones had cut three ports on each side on the 
 berth deck below the main battery and mounted six old 
 condemned eighteen pounders therein. His ship had 
 in all, therefore, forty-two guns, twenty-one in the 
 broadside, discharging a total weight of two hundred 
 and fifty-eight pounds of shot. The larger ship of the 
 enemy was the brand new double-banked frigate Sera- 
 pis, mounting three tiers of guns on two covered and 
 one uncovered deck ; twenty eighteens, twenty nines, 
 and ten six pounders, making a total of fifty guns, 
 twenty-five in broadside, throwing three hundred 
 pounds. As a further advantage the destructive power 
 of an eighteen pound gun is immensely greater than 
 that of a twelve. The crew of the Scrapis was about 
 three hundred and fifty trained and disciplined men. 
 Her captain, Pearson, was a brave and determined 
 sailor of reputation in the service. 
 
 There appeared to be no uncertainty in the mind of 
 either commanding officer as to the character and force 
 of his opponent. Pearson confidently expected an easy 
 victory, which he certainly should have won, and 
 Paul Jones determined to make him fight as no English 
 ship had ever fought before, for all he got. About 
 half after seven in the evening the two ships drew with- 
 in gunshot distance of each other, the Richard rounding 
 to off the port bow of the Scrapis. The thirty-two- 
 gun ship Pallas at last gathered sufficient resolution 
 to engage the Scarborough, a twenty-gun sloop, and 
 thus eliminated her from Paul Jones' calculations. 
 
46 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 The Vengeance had fled, and Captain Landais, in the 
 Alliance, was hovering after the convoy out of range. 
 
 For some reason, as the Richard approached, Cap- 
 tain Pearson withheld his fire and hailed. The answer, 
 which was indistinguishable, was followed by a shot 
 from the Richard, and the two ships immediately 
 exchanged terrific broadsides. Of the three eighteen 
 pounders down on the berth deck near the water-line 
 of the Richard, two burst at the first discharge, killing 
 and wounding a large part of their crews, and blowing 
 up a part of the deck. The other gun was of course 
 abandoned. Side by side in the bright moonlight of 
 the autumn night, the two ships slowly sailed together 
 for nearly an hour. The roar of one discharge an- 
 swered the other, cheer met cheer, as the iron hailed 
 bullets wove a hideous net of death about the two ships. 
 
 Fearful that he might be raked astern by the Serapis 
 (which some accounts say was done), Jones, who had 
 kept slightly in the lead, finally threw his ship aback, 
 checking her onward motion so that the Serapis passed 
 slowly ahead of him. As Pearson drew ahead, Jones 
 attempted to throw his vessel across the rear of the 
 English ship to rake and board, which of course would 
 be his best plan, as in that case he could make good use 
 of the soldiers on his decks. The attempt was a fail- 
 ure on account of the sluggish motion of the unwieldy 
 Richard, which only swung in aft of, and in line with, 
 the Englishman. No guns now bearing on either ship, 
 except for the continuous small-arm fire there was a 
 slight lull in the action. As soon as the Serapis, which 
 had drawn further ahead, swung up into the wind and 
 partially raked the Richard, Jones filled away again 
 and the battle was at once resumed with determined 
 energy. Pearson now checked the speed of his own 
 ship by throwing all aback, or else wore short around to 
 
Paul Jones' Greatest Battle 47 
 
 cross the Richard's bows and rake, and the two vessels 
 slowly drew together again. The fire from both ships 
 had been kept up with unremitting fury from every gun 
 as they bore, but the Scrapis' heavier metal had played 
 havoc with the lighter American. The carnage and 
 slaughter upon the Richard had been simply frightful. 
 The rotten old ship was being beaten to pieces beneath 
 the feet of her crew by the terrific battery of the Sera- 
 pis. Gun after gun in the main battery had been dis- 
 mounted. At this moment the Richard fortunately 
 drew ahead of the Scrapis once more in the game of 
 seesaw they had been playing, and Jones, with a last des- 
 perate attempt to close, put his helm hard over, and this 
 time the Richard paid off in front of and athwart the 
 hawse of the Scrapis. 
 
 The jib-boom of the English ship caught in the miz- 
 zen rigging of the American. The wind upon the after 
 sail forced the stern of the Scrapis round broadside to 
 the Richard, and they lay locked together ; the bow of 
 one by the stern of the other, the starboard batteries of 
 both in contact. Pearson had, unknown to Jones, 
 dropped his port bower anchor at the moment of contact 
 in an endeavor to drag clear of the Richard, which he 
 determined to knock to pieces at long range with his 
 heavy guns; but as Benjamin Franklin said in a word 
 or two which well describes the man, "Paul Jones ever 
 loved close fighting,'' and he saw his opportunity and 
 rose to it then and there ; as the two ships fouled each 
 other, with his own hands he passed the lashing which 
 bound them together. He found time at this critical 
 moment to reprove one of his officers for profanity. 
 
 "Don't swear, Mr. Stacy," he said reprovingly to his 
 excited subordinate, "in another moment we may all be 
 in eternity, but let us do our duty." 
 
 Fine language from a "pirate," was it not? 
 
48 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 As the Serapis swung- in board, the starboard anchor 
 of the Richard canght in the mizzen chains of the for- 
 mer and the two ships were bound together in an 
 embrace which nothing but death and destruction could 
 sever. The EngHshman's ports on the starboard side 
 had been closed, and he worked his batteries by firing 
 through them, thus blowing off the port lids. The ves- 
 sels were so close together that the rammers and 
 sponges of the great guns in one ship had to be extend- 
 ed through the ports of the other ; they were so close in 
 fact, that, as they ground and chafed together in the 
 v^aves, the men on the lower decks were actually fight- 
 ing a hand to hand conflict with great guns. But the 
 heavier fire of the Serapis was too strong for the endur- 
 ance of the half-breed crew of the Richard. The guns 
 below were burst, silenced and dismounted, and from 
 the mainmast aft the timbers were beaten in and out un- 
 til both sides of the American ship were literally blown 
 away and disappeared, so that at last the Serapis actual- 
 ly fired her batteries through the open air without meet- 
 ing any obstruction to their shot. There was really 
 imminent danger that the upper decks aft on the RicJi- 
 ard would collapse and sink down into the ruins below ; 
 why they did not was a mystery. Dale and a French 
 colonel of infantry had toiled like heroes in the battery 
 to the last, but the carpenter now reported six feet of 
 water in the hold and the ship making water fast, and 
 the frightened master-at-arms at once released the pris- 
 oners, crying that the ship was sinking, and the whole 
 assemblage rushed headlong to the main-deck, the car- 
 penter and other petty officers in the lead crying for 
 quarter. 
 
 Things had gone better above, however. The heavy 
 mass of men, including the riflemen in the tops of the 
 
Paul Jones' Greatest Battle 49 
 
 Richard and the marines under De Chamillard, had 
 simply swept the crowded decks of the Scrapis with a 
 searching rain of bullets from their small arms since 
 the moment of contact and before. Nearly every man 
 upon her, with the exception of the undaunted Pearson, 
 had been driven below or disabled, the decks were cov- 
 ered with dead and wounded, groaning and shrieking, 
 unheeded. Some bold, undaunted spirits on the Rich- 
 ard had run along the interlacing yard-arms, and after 
 a dizzy hand to hand conflict in mid-air, upon their pre- 
 carious footholds, had driven the English from the tops 
 of the Scrapis, and gained possession, whence they 
 poured a bitter musketry fire down the hatchways. 
 
 When the ships had come together, the English made 
 an attempt to board. Jones seized a pike and, followed 
 by a few^ men, resolutely sprang to the point of attack, 
 whence the British immediately retired. A like at- 
 tempt of the Americans also failed. As the prisoners 
 and crew came springing up from the useless guns and 
 the decks below, several young American officers im- 
 plored Jones to strike. He was not the striking kind. 
 The doctor ran from the cock-pit below, crying that 
 the water was gaining so that it floated the wound- 
 ed there, and they must surrender. 
 
 "What, doctor," cried Jones, smiling, "would you 
 have me strike to a drop of water? Help me to get this 
 gun over." 
 
 The doctor concluded that the cock-pit was a safer 
 place than the quarter-deck and went below again to 
 his ghastly station. The master-at-arms, not seeing 
 Jones, now ran aft to lower the flag ; finding it had been 
 shot av/ay and was dragging in the water, he sprang on 
 the rail repeating his cry for (juarter. Dale and a few 
 determined men were busy below with the pumps des- 
 
50 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 perately trying to keep the ship from sinking beneath 
 their feet. Jones first braining with the butt of his 
 pistol the carpenter who was shrieking that the ship 
 was sinking and also crying for quarter, with infinite 
 presence of mind and an address and resourcefulness 
 which alone would write his name among the great 
 commanders if there was nothing else, succeeded with 
 the assistance of the gallant Dale in quieting his 
 alarmed crew, and then compelling the confused prison- 
 ers to go to the pumps on the plea that the English 
 ship was sinking and their own would soon follow, if 
 not kept afloat by their exertions. By this means he 
 relieved a number of his own crew, and for the rest 
 of the battle the singular spectacle was presented of 
 a vessel being kept afloat by the people of the very na- 
 tion against whom he fought, and whose heroic exer- 
 tions in the heart-breaking work of continuous pumping 
 — the hardest labor that falls to a sailor's life — con- 
 tributed not a little to the final success of their captors. 
 In a lull of the fire as they came together, Pearson, 
 probably hearing the carpenter or others crying for 
 quarter, shouted : 
 
 "Have you struck?" 
 
 To him Jones returned that immortal answer up- 
 on which Americans love to dwell : 
 
 ' I have not yet begun to fight." 
 
 Think of it ! On a beaten ship, sinking beneath his 
 feet, kept afloat by the exertions of bewildered prisoners 
 who outnumbered his own wavering and slaughtered 
 crew, any other man would have struck his colors 
 long since, but Jones had not yet begun to fight ! 
 Things proved that he had not. The battle recom- 
 menced at once, the English having their own- way 
 with their big guns below decks, the Americans equally 
 
Paul Jones' Greatest Battle 51 
 
 successful above. With his own hands, assisted by 
 some others, the captain, who had ah-eady acted as sail 
 trimmer, pikeman, and in nearly every other capacity 
 as well, dragged another nine pound gun across the 
 deck with great difficulty, and concentrated the fire of 
 the three small guns loaded with double-headed and 
 grape shot upon the mainmast of the Scrapis. Dur- 
 ing the contact both ships had caught fire repeatedly 
 from the burning gun-wads, or the flame of the close 
 discharges, the Scrapis no less than twelve times and 
 the Richard almost continuously. Dale now took 
 charge below, and fought the fire as gallantly as he 
 had fought the British. 
 
 After the two ships had first grappled, about eight 
 o'clock, the Alliance made her appearance on the scene. 
 Landais sailed slowly across the stern of the two com- 
 batants, delivering a raking fire upon both from his 
 starboard guns which had been heavily charged with 
 grape. More men were killed and w^ounded on the 
 Richard by this discharg-e than on the Scrapis. Disre- 
 garding the warning shouts and signals of the Richard, 
 the Alliance then sailed away and repeated her per- 
 formances upon the two other ships. A few moments 
 before ten o'clock, the battle between the Scrapis and 
 the Richard having continued with the utmost fury 
 during the intervening period, she again crossed 
 athwart the interlocked combatants. Once and again 
 her broadside did more damage to her consort than to 
 her enemy. That was her contribution to the fight. 
 
 A little before the last onslaught of the Alliance, by 
 Tones' orders, one of his seamen ran out on the main- 
 yard with a bucket of hand grenades which he delib- 
 erately proceeded to light and throw down the main 
 hatch of the Scrapis. A number of powder charges 
 
52 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 liad been carelessly allowed to accumulate upon the 
 main-deck by the too confident English, and a fearful 
 explosion took place which killed and wounded over 
 forty of the crew. About the same time the battered 
 mainmast of the Englishman upon which Jones had 
 been persistently playing with his small guns, fell over 
 the side, carrying with it the mizzen top-mast as well. 
 That was the end. With his own hand Captain Pear- 
 son tore down the colors which had been nailed to the 
 mast by his orders, at half after ten o'clock, and sur- 
 rendered his ship to his thrice beaten enemy. 
 
 Dale, in spite of a severe wound which he had 
 received, but of which he was not yet conscious so great 
 was the excitement of the battle, at once leaped upon 
 the rail and followed by a party of boarders swung 
 himself aboard the Scrapis. As they landed upon the 
 deck of the English ship, one of her crew, not knowing 
 of the surrender, dangerously wounded Midshipman 
 Mayrant, Dale's second, with a pike. From beneath 
 their feet still came the roar of the Scrapis' guns, her 
 crew ignoratit of the fact that she struck, had been 
 cheered to renewed exertions by an English shipmaster 
 among the prisoners on the Richard, who had escaped 
 from the pumps and made his way to the lower decks of 
 th^ Scrapis, revealing the desperate condition of their 
 antagonist and encouraging them to persevere when 
 success would be both speedy and certain. So the Eng- 
 lish in spite of their captain fought on. However, as the 
 fire of the Richard was at once stopped when Pearson 
 tore down the colors, an English lieutenant came up 
 on deck to see if she had struck. When he learned 
 from his commander that his own ship had surrendered 
 he was astounded. He turned to go below intending 
 to notify the others, but Dale, fearing that he would 
 

 ^ 
 
 =Q 
 
Paul Jones' Greatest Battle 53 
 
 resume the combat, compelled him to follow his reluc- 
 tant captain to the deck of the Richard. 
 
 There stood the indomitable Paul Jones in the midst 
 of the dead and dying, wounded himself, and covered 
 with blood and the soil of the battle, the Richard sink- 
 ing beneath him, flames from his burning ship mingling 
 with the moonlight and throwing an vmcertain ghastly 
 illumination upon the scene of ineffable horror present- 
 ed. Still locked in the deadly embrace of the Richard 
 lay the beaten Scrapis, her white decks covered with 
 the mangled bodies of her crew, her lofty masts 
 broken and wrecked, her rigging tangled in inextrica- 
 ble confusion, flames breaking forth from her as well; 
 the sullen English filing up from below and laying 
 down their arms at the behest of their blood-covered, 
 battle-stained conquerors, completed the picture. To 
 such a pass had the once stately ships been brought by 
 the passions which had raged, nay, which still burned, 
 in the bosoms of the men who manned them. It was at 
 this moment that Pearson, handing his sword to Jones, 
 is reported to have made the ungracious remark about 
 the halter referred to. To him, with a magnanimity as 
 sweet to think on as was his valor, Jones replied : 
 
 "Sir, you have fought like a hero; and I make no 
 doubt your sovereign will reward you in the most am- 
 ple manner." 
 
 His words were prophetic, for Pearson, though he 
 had lost his ship, was knighted for his gallant defense 
 and received pieces of plate, etc., for his efficient protec- 
 tion of his convoy. The Scarborough after a most 
 gallant defense had struck to the Pallas, and Captain 
 Piercy of the English ship was also substantially re- 
 warded. When Jones heard of Pearson's advance 
 ment, he characteristically made this remark : 
 
54 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 "He deserves it, and if he get another ship, and I 
 fall in with him, I'll make a duke of him." 
 
 The English government put a price upon the head 
 of Paul Jones, dead or alive, of ten thousand pounds — 
 an immense sum and certainly equivalent to one hun- 
 dred thousand dollars to-day. Considering his quality, 
 they rated him cheaply after all. 
 
 What of the fate of the Serapis and the Richard and 
 her captain? It was impossible to save the American 
 ship, though the most strenuous efforts were made to 
 that end. On the twenty-fifth of September, therefore, 
 Jones transferred his flag to the Serapis, upon which 
 jury masts had been rigged, and at ten o'clock in the 
 morning, the brave old Richard, still flying the great 
 flag under which she had fought, sank bow foremost be- 
 neath the sea. Accounts of the casualties on the two 
 ships differ, and are uncertain ; it would be safe to esti- 
 mate those on the Richard as within one hundred and 
 fifty killed and wounded and those on the Serapis as 
 Avithin two hundred. There never was a more bloody 
 and frightful battle fought on any sea. Its happy re- 
 sult for the Americans was unquestionably due to the 
 exertions of Jones and Dale. There is no battle on 
 record where the individual personality of one man so 
 contributed to the result obtained as much as this. 
 
 The little squadron now made its way to the Texel. 
 Jones was compelled by the Dutch at the instigation 
 of the English either to accept a French commission 
 and set the French flag over the Serapis and the Scar- 
 horough, or else give up his prizes. To his eternal 
 honor he chose the latter alternative, and shifted his 
 colors to the Alliance, deposing . Landais who was 
 afterward dismissed the service. In spite of thir- 
 teen Dutch ships of the line in the harbor urging 
 
Paul Jones' Greatest Battle 55 
 
 him to get to sea at once, and the presence of a large 
 fleet of EngHsh ships in the offing intent upon his cap- 
 ture when he did come out, Jones calmly refitted the 
 ship, and choosing his own time, in the midst of a howl- 
 ing gale on the night of the twenty-seventh of Decem- 
 ber, put to sea in full view of the blockaders, boldly 
 made his way through the narrow English Channel 
 crowded with ships on the lookout for him, passed two 
 fleets of the enemy, and finally reached Corunna, in 
 Spain, and shortly after Groix, in France. From the 
 moment he entered the Texel he had not ceased to fly 
 the American flag, even in the face of the overwhelming 
 enemy from whom he was desperately trying to escape. 
 A most unusual incident this, but one which well illus- 
 trates the character of the man. 
 
 Commodore Jones died in Paris in the year 1792. 
 He was alone in his chamber at the time, and when 
 his friends found him, he was lying face downward 
 upon his bed. The hand of the conqueror whom no 
 human power can resist had been laid upon him, and 
 for the first time in his life the face of Paul Jones was 
 turned away from the enemy. 
 
 " Since writing the above I have learned that John Paul assumed the 
 name of Jones out of regard for the family of the celebrated Willie Jones 
 of North Carolina, who, with his charming wife, greatly befriended the 
 young Scotsman in his days of adversity. The subject is treated at length 
 in my life of John Paul Jones." 
 
THE SARATOGA CAMPAIGN 
 
 I. The Defeat of the Detachments. 
 
 I. TICONDEROGA, HUBBARDTON. 
 
 Of all British officers who fought in the American Rev- 
 olution the name of the one who is regarded with the 
 most consideration by the Americans is that of John 
 Burgoyne. The esteem in which he is still held takes 
 its rise from two circumstances; he was the finest 
 gentleman of the lot, and the most terribly unfortu- 
 nate of them all. His personality, from all accounts, 
 must have been charming, and his kindness of heart 
 and loftiness of spirit is shown by many little anec- 
 dotes. As, for instance, when he was charged by 
 Gates with licensing rapine and outrage on the part 
 of the Indians he was forced to employ by the or- 
 ders of the home government, and whom he endeav- 
 ored vainly to restrain, he replied indignantly, "I 
 would not be conscious of the acts which you presume 
 to impute to me for the whole continent of America, 
 though the wealth of worlds was in its bowels, and a 
 paradise upon its surface." He was a pleasure loving, 
 cultivated, easy going gentleman, and in a small way a 
 
 56 
 
The Saratoga Campaign 57 
 
 man of letters beside. As a commander he was a con- 
 spicuous failure. Carlyle speaks somewhere of certain 
 English armies being led by wooden poles wearing 
 cocked hats. Burgoyne was certainly a brilliant illus- 
 tration of the epigram. 
 
 The best of all the haphazard plans, and the only 
 one showing any real military insight, which were 
 devised by the English during the American Revo- 
 lution, was that which resulted in Burgoyne's expedi- 
 ton. There are some spots upon this earth's surface 
 which are naturally marked out for battle grounds, 
 like the plains of Beth-Horon or the pass of Ther- 
 mopylae ; such a place was the valley of the Hudson. It 
 had been the scene of numberless encounters, and had 
 been fought over by Indians, French, Provincials and 
 British again and again. The English government 
 saw that the only way of separating the revolted colo- 
 nies into manageable units would be by possessing 
 themselves of the line of the Hudson. If that could be 
 obtained and held they could deal with the colonies to 
 the south and west at their leisure, or even with the 
 New England colonies, as they wished. 
 
 The idea was certainly a good one; the details of its 
 execution as they were marked out by the ministry, as 
 we shall see, were radically bad, and the expedition 
 was doomed to disaster from the beginning. Of all 
 military manoeuvers, that which necessitates the con- 
 verging on a given point, at a given time, of a number 
 of entirely independent units with no means of commu- 
 nication between them, is the most difficult to carry out. 
 The difficulty increases when every unit is compelled 
 to fight its way to the junction point through deter- 
 mined resistance. In such cases a single defeat or 
 check may overthrow the whole plan. That was why 
 
58 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 Washington failed at Germantown. The plan was for 
 General Howe in New York to come up the Hudson 
 with his force, while General Burgoyne came down. 
 Albany was the place of meeting of the two main forces 
 and of several auxiliary expeditions. To begin with, 
 the English minister, Lord George Germaine, pigeon- 
 holed the order for Howe to cooperate and forgot 
 about it, while he was visiting at a country house, until 
 it was too late. 
 
 In the spring of 1777 the British made their supreme 
 attempt to cut the confederated colonies in two. Bur- 
 goyne, who had distinguished himself in a subordinate 
 capacity in Portugal, w^as appointed to succeed Sir Guy 
 Carleton, whose previous attempt in the same direction 
 the year before had been checked by Arnold's heroic 
 naval battle off Valcour Island on Lake Champlain. 
 Carleton was, with the exception of Cornwallis, the best 
 soldier the English sent over ; but Burgoyne was a man 
 of great influence and he displaced the older and better 
 soldier. The government allowed Burgoyne every- 
 thing he wanted. They gave him an absolutely free 
 hand in fitting out the expedition ; if he failed, it would 
 be no one's fault but his own. 
 
 The force that he took with him consisted of nearly 
 ten thousand men; four thousand English regulars, 
 three thousand Germans, five hundred artillerists, a 
 large body of Canadians, and an indefinite number of 
 Indians. The troops were selected with especial care 
 and included one of the best regiments in the British 
 army, Ackland's Grenadiers. The second in com- 
 mand was Major-General Eraser, a distinguished and 
 able soldier with a long and brilliant record ; Phillips, 
 the chief of the artillery, was among the first in his pro- 
 fession ; Lord Balcarras, a dashing soldier, commanded 
 
The Saratoga Campaign 59 
 
 the light infantry ; Baron Riedesel, an experienced and 
 capable veteran, led by the German contingent, with 
 Colonels Baum and Breyman among his subordinate 
 commanders. The wives of many of the officers ac- 
 companied the expedition — perhaps they thought it was 
 going to be a picnic on a large scale. On the first day 
 of July Burgoyne and his army reached the famous 
 fort at Ticonderoga. Meanwhile Howe, who, when 
 left to his own discretion — which is a figure of speech, 
 for he had none — was the most stupid and wooden 
 of all the cocked-hatted poles in command, had gone off 
 on a little expedition of his own to capture Philadel- 
 phia, which was of no earthly use to him whatsoever. 
 That he was urged thereto by General Charles Lee, as 
 great a traitor as Arnold subsequently became, does not 
 excuse his blundering. He succeeded in effecting the 
 capture after great delays, and two desperate battles 
 with Washington at the Brandywine and Germantown, 
 in the latter of which he just barely escaped a disastrous 
 defeat; alter which he went into winter quarters in 
 Philadelphia and left Burgoyne to his own devices. 
 Truly an able and energetic commander. 
 
 General St. Clair was in command of the extensive 
 works at Ticonderoga, with an insufficient garrison of 
 about three thousand men. He had proposed to defend 
 the place to the very last, but the American engineers, 
 though previously warned, had neglected to fortify Mt. 
 Defiance, a precipitous and rugged height, towering 
 some six hundred feet above the water of the lake about 
 a mile away from, and entirely commanding, the works. 
 They had laughed at the possibility of mounting a bat- 
 tery there and were greatly surprised on the morning of 
 July fifth to find the place swarming with the red- 
 coats who were busily mounting a heavy battery. 
 
6o American Fights and Fighters 
 
 Phillips and his engineers, with incredible difficulty, had 
 effected the apparent impossibility ; that General re- 
 marking sapiently, "Where a goat can go, a man may 
 go; and where a man can go, he can haul up a gun." 
 The battery, which would be in position the next day, 
 absolutely commanded the fort and rendered it untena- 
 ble, so there was nothing to do but to abandon the posi- 
 tion without loss of time, or to surrender the army. 
 
 It was a terrible blow, not only on account of the 
 munitions of war and the supplies which could not be 
 destroyed, and which would naturally fall into the 
 hands of the enemy, but the holding of the position, 
 on account of the romantic manner in which it had been 
 captured by Ethan Allen, was looked upon as a point 
 of honor. However, there was nothing for it but to 
 leave. When St. Clair was afterward reproached 
 for abandoning the position, he replied pithily and 
 wisely, "Yes, I lost a post, but saved a province." 
 He was subsequently tried and acquitted for his action. 
 On the following night of the fifth, therefore, the 
 women and the children and invalids were embarked 
 in two hundred boats and sent down the lake under 
 strong guard toward Fort Edward ; and St. Clair, 
 committing the charge of the rear-guard to Colonels 
 Seth Warner (Ethan Allen's whilom associate), 
 Francis and Hale, retreated toward Castleton in all 
 haste, cjuietly spiking the guns and destroying the 
 stores as much as possible before leaving, without 
 giving the alarm. 
 
 Unfortunately, however, and by the orders of General 
 de Fermoy, it is said, a house was set on fire by the re- 
 treating soldiers and its brilliant illumination gave 
 away the whole affair. The British immediately oc- 
 cupied the fort and Eraser with nine hundred men 
 
The Saratoga Campaign 6i 
 
 started in hot pursuit. They came up with the rear- 
 guard the next morning at Hubbardton where a desper- 
 ate encounter took place. The Americans, numbering 
 about one thousand men, fought with the greatest 
 spirit, beating off the British several times, and, in fact, 
 charging fiercely in return, drove back Fraser in confu- 
 sion, until the British were reinforced by Riedesel and 
 his Hessians, when the Americans were forced to 
 withdraw, leaving on the field about three hundred 
 killed or wounded, including many officers. The brave 
 Colonel Francis was killed while leading a charge 
 upon the enemy, Colonel Hale was captured and Col- 
 onel Warner, with the remnant of his regiment, retreat- 
 ed eastward through Vermont. Though somewhat de- 
 layed by this sharp action, the British pursued the 
 Americans'so closely that the fugitives burnt and aban- 
 doned Fort Ann, and retreated with all speed south to 
 Fort Edward, where St. Clair's men joined General 
 Schuyler's little force on the twelfth of July. 
 
 General Schuyler, who was in chief command of the 
 surrounding American department at that time, worked 
 in the most heroic and wise way to check the British 
 advance, summoning the wilderness to his aid. The 
 inhabitants withdrew from the country entirely, all of 
 the provisions and stock they could not take with them 
 they destroyed; bridges were broken down, the rivers 
 and creeks choked up, and stalwart woodsmen felled 
 the mighty trees in the forest paths and otherwise 
 blocked the roads, so that the British progress was 
 slow in the extreme. It took Burgoyne thirty days 
 to advance his army nearly twenty-four miles through 
 the wilderness, though up to that time he states that he 
 had built some forty bridges — as a bridge builder he 
 was an unrivaled success ! Every step of the road had 
 
62 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 to be made anew, the Americans retiring in good order 
 before the slow British advance. The army, of course, 
 carried its provisions and suppHcs and the men were 
 in heavy marching order which made progress through 
 the thick woods extremely difficult. Burgoyne had 
 hoped to have lived off the country, but found it impos- 
 sible. The inhabitants did not rally to his standard to 
 any great extent, as he had been led to believe they 
 would, and his position was rapidly becoming a difficult 
 one. Finally he reached Skenesborough, where he rest- 
 ed ; he and his were tired, and it was time they did so. 
 
 II. FORT STANWIX. ORISKANY. 
 
 Meanwhile another expedition had been organized, 
 which had started out at the same time as his own by 
 way of Lake Ontario, to make an attack upon Fort 
 Stanwix, situated at the headwaters of the Mohawk 
 River where navigation ceased. It comprised about 
 seventeen hundred British regulars. Provincials, Sir 
 John Johnson's Tory contingent, and numbers of In- 
 dians, and was under command of Lieutenant-Colonel 
 St. Leger. After they had captured the fort, they were 
 to swoop down the Mohawk Valley and, gathering 
 stores therefrom, were to join Howe and Burgoyne 
 at Albany. They landed at Oswego about the middle 
 of July and made their way to the fort without opposi- 
 tion, and immediately invested it on the third of 
 August. It was defended by Colonel Peter Gansevoort 
 with about six hundred men. The stout old colonel re- 
 fused to surrender and, as the fort had been recently 
 strengthened, St. Leger feared to assault and saw no 
 way to effect its capture except by a regular siege. 
 
The Saratoga Campaign 63 
 
 Schuyler had called out the militia of Tryon County, 
 under the command of General Nicholas Herkimer, a 
 veteran soldier in his sixtieth year, who resolved to re- 
 lieve the fort. His little army of some eight hundred 
 men pursued their way up the Mohawk Valley unmo- 
 lested until, very early in the morning of the fifth of 
 August, while it was yet dark, they came near to the 
 Oriskany Creek, ahout eight miles from Fort Stanwix. 
 At that point the advance was halted and three messen- 
 gers were despatched to the fort with a request from 
 Herkimer that Gansevoort would fire three guns imme- 
 diately upon their arrival and make a sortie to engage 
 the enemy, when Herkimer would advance and endeav- 
 or to break through the besieging lines and gain the 
 fort, and thus it was hoped the siege would be raised. 
 The men found it difficult to reach the fort ; the long 
 hours dragged away and no sound came to announce 
 their arrival ; the impatient militia under Herkimer 
 chafed bitterly at the delay, finally going so far as to re- 
 proach the general for not permitting them to go on. 
 He was suspected, most unjustly, of Tory leanings, and 
 his principal officers. Colonels Cox and Paris, did not 
 refrain, in the stress of their excitement, from apprising 
 him of their suspicions and charging him with cowar- 
 dice. The wise old man resisted their importunities 
 and disregarded their taunts until they became unbear- 
 able, when he reluctantly ordered an advance. 
 
 The road, or way, led across a causeway of logs car- 
 ried over a marsh in a narrow defile thickly wooded, 
 in which an ambush had been carefully prepared. St. 
 Leger, to intercept them, had despatched a large body 
 of "Johnson's Greens" under Major Watts, many of 
 them neighbors and acquaintances of Herkimer's 
 men. Between these antagonistic bodies, on account of 
 
64 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 their differing political views, a. most acrid and bitter 
 feeling had developed, so that they literally longed to 
 get at each other. This Tory regiment was accompan- 
 ied by a large body of Mohawks under the famous 
 Brant, and under his direction the ambush was ar- 
 ranged. The Americans marched carelessly into the 
 defile about nine o'clock in the morning and would 
 have undoubtedly been massacred to a man, had it not 
 been that the impetuosity of the Indians, who fired pre- 
 cipitately, apprised them of their danger. They were 
 met after a shot or two by a smashing volley. Herki- 
 mer's rear-guard immediately retreated incontinently, 
 but the rest stood their ground stoutly and returned the 
 fire; old hands at this sort of a game, the men at once 
 sought cover behind trees and commenced in that nar- 
 row valley a woodmen's battle, which for sanguinary 
 ferocity and determined persistence was hardly paral- 
 leled on the continent. 
 
 To their political differences they added personal 
 antagonisms of the bitterest kind, and as the conflict 
 grew fiercer, the opposing bodies of sometime friends 
 and neighbors, and the ferocious Iroquois, drew near- 
 er to each other, until they fought during the long hot 
 morning through the woods and marshes hand to hand. 
 A furious thunder-storm accompanied by vivid light- 
 ning now broke over the horrid scene, and the rain 
 which began to fall in torrents rendered the firearms 
 useless, but conflict was actually carried on with knives. 
 Colonels Cox and Paris were both killed. The Ameri- 
 cans presently gained a more advantageous position on 
 higher ground, and the Indians began to give way. 
 Watts with the Tories now made a desperate charge 
 with the bayonet. The struggle became a confused 
 bloody conflict between men mad and raving with 
 
The Saratoga Campaign 65 
 
 the Inst of battle, from which, after more than five hun- 
 dred had been killed or wounded, the Indians finally fled 
 and the Tories and the Americans alike sullenly and 
 bitterly withdrew from the field in complete exhaustion. 
 
 Herkimer was early disabled by a bullet which shat- 
 tered his knee and killed his horse. The noble old man 
 refused to withdraw from the conflict and directed his 
 aides to place him on his saddle with his back against 
 a great tree. There, while smoking his pipe, he calmly 
 directed the conflict. The passions of men had turned 
 the pretty little valley into a hellish slaughter-pen, and 
 about half of those engaged on both sides had been 
 killed or wounded — a terrible proportion, indeed ! So 
 bitter had been the strife that even the agonies of 
 death itself had not separated the fighters; men were 
 found locked in each other's arms, a knife in each heart, 
 in a grasp, the tenacity of which bespoke their infernal 
 passion. Herkimer's advance was, of course, checked ; 
 he did not succeed in reaching the fort, but the dread- 
 ful slaughter he had inflicted greatly discouraged St. 
 Leger's men and correspondingly encouraged the gar- 
 rison. 
 
 In the heat of the conflict Herkimer's messengers 
 reached Gansevoort, who had been wondering what 
 the distant firing meant, and he immediately sent out 
 Colonel Marinus Willett with two hundred and fifty 
 picked men, who fell upon St. Leger's camp and stam- 
 peded a portion of his force with great slaughter; they 
 captured five standards, and twenty wagon loads of 
 plunder, and returned to the fort in safety without los- 
 ing a man ! The five captured flags were immediately 
 hoisted below an improvised American banner, the only 
 one they possessed in the fort, which had been made out 
 of a white sheet, a blanket and a woman's petticoat — 
 
66 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 this was the first time that an EngHsh flag had been 
 hoisted beneath the Stars and Stripes ! Fiske says, in 
 fact, this was the first American flag with its stars and 
 stripes that was ever hoisted. St. Leger, however, still 
 pressed the siege vigorously and Colonel Willett final- 
 ly volunteered to carry the news of their condition to 
 Schuyler. He succeeded in escaping through the lines, 
 after some thrilling adventures, and Schuyler imme- 
 diately despatched Arnold, the only one of his briga- 
 diers who would volunteer, with twelve hundred men 
 to the rescue. 
 
 Arnold had but a small force, but he was himself a 
 host. In strategy he proved himself as wise as he was 
 in battle brave ; so he caused reports to be spread greatly 
 exaggerating the number of his forces and their near- 
 ness to St. Leger. He actually succeeded in creating 
 a panic among the troops of that disgusted soldier, 
 which caused the Indians to withdraw after first filling 
 themselves with whisky and raiding his camp, so that 
 finally the English were forced to raise the siege 
 and fly precipitately from their camp, leaving tents, 
 artillery, provisions, and everything for the Americans. 
 This was August the twenty-second. During his 
 rapid retreat St. Leger's army disintegrated and noth- 
 ing more was to be feared from them. They never 
 appeared on the scene again. Fort Stanwix was saved, 
 and the Mohawk Valley, from which the British had 
 expected to gain large supplies, remained in possession 
 of the Americans. The heroic Herkimer died at his 
 own home a few days after the battle, mainly from 
 the effects of unskilful surgery ; his end was that of a 
 philosopher and a Christian. Fully conscious of it, 
 he smoked his pipe and read his Bible to his assembled 
 family at the thirty-eighth Psalm until he expired. 
 
The Saratoga Campaign 67 
 
 May his name be held ever in grateful remembrance. 
 This defeat was blow number two to the hapless Bur- 
 goyne. 
 
 III. BENNINGTON. 
 
 Blow number one was delivered on the sixteenth of 
 August. Burgoyne, in great straits for provisions, for- 
 age and horses, had learned that there was a large 
 depot of supplies at Bennington, in Vermont. On the 
 thirteenth of August he despatched a force of five hun- 
 dred men, most of whom were dismounted Hessian 
 dragoons, under the command of Colonel Baum,to seize 
 the supplies; one hundred Indians followed Baum's 
 force. Major Skene, a royalist of the neighborhood, 
 also accompanied the expedition. A skeleton organi- 
 zation for a regiment of royalists, which it was hoped 
 might be raised among the people, was also sent along 
 — that regiment never amounted to more than that 
 skeleton, and even that was soon lost! 
 
 On the news of Burgoyne's descent, the New Hamp- 
 shire militia had rallied under the command of 
 that famous veteran of the old French and Indian 
 war, John Stark. It was he who had held the rail 
 fence stuffed with straw at Bunker Hill. He had fought 
 in all the battles around Boston and New York. It 
 was he who led the advance of Sullivan's column on the 
 famous Christmas night at Trenton. He had been un- 
 justly treated by Congress in the matter of rank and 
 had retired from the service, with the pithy remark 
 that, "an officer who could not protect his own rights 
 could not be entrusted safely with those of his coun- 
 try!" He had accepted the command of the militia 
 with great reluctance and expressly stipulated that he 
 
68 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 should be amenable only to the authorities of New 
 Hampshire. 
 
 By his orders the men assembled at Bennington, 
 where there was a large supply depot. They were a 
 rude and motley array ; there was not a uniform among 
 them; many came in their hunting frocks, or in home- 
 spun shirts, but every man carried a bright, well-kept 
 rifle, which he knew how to use, and, in their way, they 
 made up a very effective force. No loyalists joined 
 Baum, and appearances were so threatening that he 
 stopped near Bennington on the fifteenth of August and 
 entrenched on a little hillock near a creek during a 
 long rainy day, and sent back a message for reinforce- 
 ments. Before the battle the next day, August six- 
 teenth, in the early afternoon, Stark in his plain and 
 homely way made a brief speech to his men, conclud- 
 ing with these significant words, "Now, my men, 
 there are the red-coats ! Before night they must 
 be ours, or Molly Stark will be a widow !" The 
 morning had been consumed in preparing for the 
 battle. Stark had sent parties of men through the 
 woods in every direction, past the unconscious Ger- 
 mans, who, never having seen an army out of uniform, 
 paid but little attention to them, until he had assem- 
 bled a force of two hundred men on one side, three 
 hundred on another and two hundred on a third side 
 of Baum's little redoubt. It has been said that 
 Baum had surmised that these detached parties were 
 the expected rank and file of that skeleton regiment. 
 He was soon bitterly undeceived. 
 
 The Americans were three times as great in numbers 
 as their antagonists, but every advantage was with the 
 Germans. They w^ere well-trained, disciplined sol- 
 diery, in a commanding position of their own choosing, 
 
The Saratoga Campaign 69 
 
 strongly entrenched and provided with cannon. But in 
 spite of this "the men who fought at Minden," under 
 the famous Ferdinand of Brunswick, were no match 
 for the Americans under Stark ! The Indians who had 
 accompanied Baum were wiser than he. They knew 
 what deadly foes these men in their hunting frocks 
 could be, and they fled incontinently. Finally about 
 two o'clock in the afternoon, all his dispositions having 
 been made satisfactorily, Stark moved across the shal- 
 low stream and gave the signal to begin the battle. 
 The enemy was entirely surrounded. The Germans 
 had two field pieces which, at first well-served, did great 
 execution, but the experienced American riflemen from 
 their various points of vantage picked off the men at 
 the guns, sometimes creeping to within eight or ten 
 paces of the redoubt in order to do it effectually, until 
 the space about the artillery became a regular death- 
 trap. Stark was everywhere around the fort inspiring 
 his men. Finally, after several hours of conflict, the 
 ammunition of the Hessians began to diminish, and the 
 Americans actually stormed the position ! Stark led 
 one of the columns in person and fought with his 
 sword, hand to hand, with the rest. The Hessians met 
 the charge with the bayonet and with the swords of the 
 dragoons, but nothing could stem the splendid advance 
 of the Americans. Baum was killed, many of his men 
 fell with him, and the rest threw down their arms and 
 were captured. A militia army without bayonets had 
 captured a fortified position defended by artillery and 
 garrisoned by veteran soldiers ! 
 
 At this juncture Colonel Breyman, with six hundred 
 German and English troops whom Burgoyne had des- 
 patched to succor Baum's men, made his appearance 
 on the scene, and immediately charged the disorganized 
 
70 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 Americans, who began to give ground before the on- 
 slaught of these fresh soldiers. At this critical mo- 
 ment, Warner's men, whom we have seen gallantly 
 fighting at Hubbardton, led by the colonel in person, 
 came running on the scene, not yet having been en- 
 gaged. By Stark's order they immediately charged 
 Breyman's troops. The other Americans rallied and 
 returned to the conflict and in a short time Breyman 
 was forced to retreat, which he did expeditiously and 
 disastrously. He lost heavily in killed, wounded and 
 captured. Attended by only sixty or seventy soldiers, 
 he finally succeeded in reaching the force which Bur- 
 goyne in person had led out to succor him. In this 
 action over two hundred were killed or wounded ; some 
 seven hundred prisoners and one thousand stand of 
 arms, nearly as many dragoon swords, and four guns, 
 together with many other equipments, fell into the pos- 
 session of the victorious Americans, who lost only 
 about sixty killed and wounded ! This was blow num- 
 ber one, and the two strokes almost completed the 
 undoing of Burgoyne's hapless expedition. 
 
THE SARATOGA CAMPAIGN 
 
 11. The End of the Main Army 
 
 I. freeman's farm 
 
 The position of Biirgoyne was now become desperate. 
 The American militia came pouring in upon him from 
 all sides. The murder, by the Indians, of a beautiful 
 young girl, Jane MacCrea, betrothed to a lieutenant in 
 the British camp, had aroused the most intense feeling 
 among the American farmers ; and animated by a burn- 
 ing desire to revenge and punish this and other atroci- 
 ties, they flocked to the American standards in great 
 and ever increasing numbers. Burgoyne was horrified 
 at the outrages perpetrated by his savage allies and did 
 what he could to prevent them, finally dismissing the 
 Indians altogether; but it was then too late, the mis- 
 chief had been done. 
 
 Congress on the first of August had removed the 
 brave and able Philip Schuyler and replaced him with 
 the weak and inefficient Horatio Gates ! It was a most 
 unjust change, and the subsequent victories of the 
 Americans were due not to Gates, but to Schuyler's 
 wise measures and unflagging energy — it was too bad 
 
 71 
 
72 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 that he should have been robbed of the glory after 
 having sustained the hardships, met the difficulties, and 
 laid the plans, which brought success, for Burgoyne 
 was practically beaten before Gates appeared. If Bur- 
 goyne was a hoop-pole in a cocked hat. Gates was 
 scarcely more than a toothpick similarly clad ! Schuy- 
 ler behaved like the hero, the patriot, the gentleman, 
 that he was ; remaining with Gates and assisting and 
 advising with him to the end of the campaign, though 
 treated with scorn and contumely by the latter. 
 
 The defeats of Baum and St. Leger had terribly 
 crippled the British. Nothing whatever had been heard 
 from the expected movement of Sir William Howe 
 up the river. As we have seen, that gentleman had 
 gone on a wild-goose chase toward Philadelphia. La- 
 ter on Sir Henry Clinton had moved up from New 
 York, outgeneraling old Putnam in a rather clever 
 campaign, and captured Forts Washington and Lee on 
 the Hudson. After this brilliant exploit, his action 
 not having effected the final issue in the slightest de- 
 gree, he had retired to New York again. Prudence 
 would have dictated that Burgoyne should retreat at 
 once to Canada if it were yet possible, but he was a 
 chivalrous gentleman and could not bear the idea of 
 withdrawal, for the reason that it would permit the 
 large American army in front of him to attack Howe, 
 then, as he supposed, coming up the river, and crush 
 him! Besides, his main army had not yet done 
 any serious fighting, and in common with all the 
 British officers he despised the Americans and prob- 
 ably counted on an easy victory when he attacked, 
 which might materially alter the situation. His ex- 
 perience at Bunker Hill ought to have taught him 
 differently. He therefore determined, against the ad- 
 
The Saratoga Campaign 73 
 
 vice of some of his best officers, upon giving battle. 
 On the thirteenth of September he crossed the Hud- 
 son on a bridge of rafts to the west side of the river, 
 where he strongly fortified a camp. On the nineteenth 
 of the same month he moved his army out to make the 
 long expected attack, from which so much was hoped. 
 
 The American position had been established on Be- 
 mis Heights. It was well-fortified, and the lines had 
 been laid out by the distinguished Polish volunteer, 
 Thaddeus Kosciusko. Gates' force amounted to about 
 fifteen thousand men, mostly militia and volunteers. 
 His second in command was the famous Benedict Ar- 
 nold. Washington had sent him from the southern 
 army and with him the famous corps of riflemen under 
 Daniel Morgan, as well as some other veterans of the 
 Continental line, whom he could ill spare, by the way, 
 as he was having his hands full at the Brandywine and 
 Germantown. Putnam also despatched some veterans 
 to Gates. 
 
 Burgoyne's plan of attack seems to have been to turn 
 the left flank of the American position at the same 
 time that he made a direct attack on the center and 
 right : General Fraser had command of the right wing, 
 Riedesel and Phillips of the left, and he, himself, led 
 the center. The movement commenced in the early 
 morning. The x-^merican scouts and pickets, posted in 
 the thick woods, caught the gleam of the rising sun re- 
 flected from hundreds of bayonets of the silently 
 advancing army; here and there through vistas in the 
 forest might be seen little groups of red-coated men. 
 By noon Burgoyne's plan had been entirely discovered. 
 Arnold, who commanded the left wing, was not in- 
 clined like Gates to play a waiting game, and when he 
 found that the latter was disposed to remain inside his 
 
74 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 strong entrenchments to await the attack, he protested 
 with all the force of his impetuous nature. His repre- 
 sentations were so far successful that finally Gates gave 
 him leave to take Morgan's and Dearborn's brigades 
 of Continentals, and move out to the attack. 
 
 It was about three o'clock when he fell upon the ad- 
 vance of the British center under Burgoyne himself at 
 Freeman's Farm. The conflict at once became sanguin- 
 ary and desperate. Arnold had slightly the greater 
 force at the point of contact, and the British center was 
 driven back, fighting stoutly and contesting every foot 
 of the way. General Fraser on the right made all haste 
 to join the center, but Arnold, flushed with success, 
 daringly thrust his men forward and interposed be- 
 tween Fraser's left and the British center, and Fra- 
 ser had a desperate time to maintain his division 
 intact. The battle was now general ; Arnold was at- 
 tacking and driving the British center straight back; 
 charge and countercharge were delivered, guns were 
 taken and retaken, and the battle became a fierce hand 
 to hand struggle in the woods. Arnold was every- 
 where, in the thick of the fray, fighting like the com- 
 monest soldier, and animating his men to more desper- 
 ate exertions. Burgoyne, Fraser and the English 
 did not spare themselves in the fight either, and 
 soldiers and officers fought side by side. Part of 
 Arnold's men were moving on the right flank of the 
 British center, and another part on the left flank of 
 Fraser's right division, and the enemy's lines were fair- 
 ly broken. The situation of the British army was pre- 
 carious in the extreme. The bold tactics of Arnold had 
 completely disorganized and nullified Burgoyne's plan 
 of attack. 
 
 Meanwhile, during the long afternoon up on Bemis 
 
The Saratoga Campaign 75 
 
 Heights, Gates held eleven thousand impatient men in 
 reserve who did nothing at all. Arnold repeated- 
 ly sent to him for reinforcements and declared that 
 with two thousand more men he could have utterly 
 routed the whole British army, which was probably 
 true. Gates paid no attention whatever to Arnold's 
 requests, and as the shades of night drew on, Phillips 
 and Riedesel, in command of the left wing of the Brit- 
 ish, who had intended to make the direct attack on the 
 entrenchments, gave over their purpose, and summoned 
 to his aid by urgent messengers from Burgoyne, hastily 
 turned away to the river, and by hard marching struck 
 the right flank of Arnold's division. The preponder- 
 ance of force was now the other way. The American 
 advance was checked, the British line re-formed, and the 
 advantage previously gained was lost. The battle still 
 raged, however, until nightfall, when Arnold sullenly 
 withdrew his men in good order, leaving the British 
 in possession of the field whereon they had fought. 
 They, therefore, claimed a victory; but inasmuch as 
 their attack on the American line had been foiled and 
 their advance checked, the victory — if it may be so 
 called — was a barren one, and the honors rested en- 
 tirely with Arnold. He had in action about three 
 thousand men as opposed, at the close of the fight, to 
 four thousand five hundred of the British. About one- 
 fourth of the combatants were killed or wounded — a 
 tremendously large proportion — the British suffering 
 the greater loss. The combat was known as the Battle 
 of Freeman's Farm. 
 
 There was a wild scene of recrimination and re- 
 proach at headquarters that night between Gates and 
 Arnold, and the former finally relieved the latter of his 
 command and sent him his passports to Philadelphia. 
 
76 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 Arnold refused to go. In the despatches which Gates 
 sent to Congress announcing the victory, he basely 
 made no mention of Arnold's name. The two armies 
 remained in camp until the seventh of October, keeping 
 up a constant skirmishing and picket firing, although 
 the net was drawn more and more closely about Bur- 
 goyne with every succeeding day. During this period 
 he received word that Lincoln's men had recaptured 
 the outworks of Ticonderoga, and the fort was be- 
 sieged. His boats on Lake George were taken and 
 destroyed, his lines of communication cut, his base of 
 supplies menaced. Henceforward no supplies of any 
 kind were received, and provisions became very scarce; 
 the whole army was put on short allowance and the 
 hardships were very great. 
 
 II. STILLWATER 
 
 On the seventh of October, in utter desperation, Bur- 
 goyne resolved upon a final attempt to break through 
 the ever-tightening circles drawn al^out him by the ene- 
 my. He selected from his depleted force a picked col- 
 umn of about fifteen hundred men, the very best in 
 the army. He led it in person, and Fraser, Riedesel, 
 Phillips, Balcarras and Ackland accompanied him. A 
 strong battery of artillery went with them. General 
 Fraser, with five hundred chosen men, led the advance. 
 The rest of the army remained under arms in camp, 
 ready for any success or emergency. As he advanced 
 toward the American line, his movement was discov- 
 ered, and Morgan, with three thousand riflemen, at- 
 tacked him furiously on the right, while the New 
 England militia moved out upon his front. 
 
The Saratoga Campaign 77 
 
 The heroism of that Httle party of Enghsh soldiers 
 was nothing less than marvelous ; such stubborn fight- 
 ing as they made had not been witnessed on the conti- 
 nent and was not seen again for a long time ; they and 
 their leaders fully sustained the national reputation for 
 valor. Fraser. on a big gray horse, was everywhere 
 in the conflict, animating his men, and contesting every 
 point with the most determined courage and skill. The 
 British were slowly forced back by the overwhelm- 
 ing Americans. Ackland's Grenadiers, one of the finest 
 regiments in the British army, began to give ground 
 under the furious attacks of the riflemen. Ackland 
 himself was desperately wounded and taken prisoner. 
 Fraser succeeded, however, in re-forming his shattered 
 lines on the hills of Freeman's Farm, the scene of the 
 previous battle; he was ably seconded by the other 
 commanders who exposed themselves with the highest 
 degree of personal gallantry. 
 
 The story goes that Morgan, seeing the value of 
 Fraser's services, called two of his most expert riflemen 
 and pointed to the unfortunate soldier, with the words, 
 "That is General Fraser. He is a brave man, I honor 
 him, but for the success of our cause it is necessary 
 he should die." The bullets began to fall thickly about 
 the brave Englishman, and some of his staff officers 
 begged him to retire. "My duty forbids me to retire 
 from danger, my place is here," he replied, and immedi- 
 ately after a rifle bullet struck him in the breast mor- 
 tally wounding him. No loss, not even that of Bur- 
 goyne himself, could have been more serious. He was 
 carried back to camp in a wheelbarrow, suffering 
 dreadfully. 
 
 Arnold, who had been chafing bitterly at his en- 
 forced idleness on the Heights, watching the battle in 
 
yS American Fights and Fighters 
 
 which he had no right to interfere, as he was without 
 command, and even had no status at all in the army, at 
 this moment perceived that if the attack were pressed 
 home, the most brilliant results might be expected. 
 Without asking any one's permission, mounting his 
 horse he galloped away to the scene of the conflict. 
 Gates, fearful that his impetuosity might lead him to 
 undue lengths, sent a staff officer to call him back. 
 The staff officer was not born who could catch Arnold 
 that day. As he swept down along the American lines 
 the men recognized him as their fighting leader, and 
 with wild cheers followed him in a succession of des- 
 perate charges upon the shattered British column, which 
 began a precipitate retreat to the camp, hard-pressed by 
 the Americans. 
 
 As Arnold was the senior in rank on the field, his or- 
 ders were obeyed everywhere without question. He 
 despatched Morgan to attack the extreme right flank 
 of the British camp, and with those immediately about 
 him, fell like a storm upon the lines where were sta- 
 tioned the light infantry under Balcarras. The men of 
 that famous regiment stood up like a rock. Seeing the 
 attempt to break through was hopeless there, Arnold 
 moved on to his left, falling upon the Canadian con- 
 tingent, routed them, crashed into Breyman's Hessians, 
 who were assailed at the same moment by Morgan's 
 riflemen on the other flank, and who gave way at once. 
 Arnold raged up and down the line in a fury of battle, 
 a perfect incarnation of war. Well had it been for him 
 if he had died at that moment on that bloody field ! 
 The slaughter among the British was dreadful. Brey- 
 man himself was killed, and the right flank of the 
 enemy's camp was in possession of the Americans. 
 At this moment a ball from a rifle fired by a wounded 
 
The Saratoga Campaign 79 
 
 German, lying on the ground, strnck Arnold in the 
 leg, breaking both bones and killing his horse — one 
 likes to think that Arnold saved the life of the man who 
 shot him. Reinforcements from the other flank and 
 the center of the British camp were now bronght up, 
 and the Americans finally retired, taking with them 
 their disabled leader, who at this moment was over- 
 taken by the staff officer carrying Gates' orders to re- 
 turn ! 
 
 The gathering twilight stopped the progress of the 
 conflict, called the Battle of Stillwater. Had Gates 
 been a little more enterprising, he could have absolute- 
 ly beaten the British to pieces on this day. It was the 
 second opportunity he had lost. Nothing was now left 
 for Burgoyne but to retreat. He gathered up his army 
 skilfully enough, leaving his sick and wounded in 
 camp, and precipitately moved back to Saratoga. The 
 American army followed closely upon his heels. When 
 Burgoyne reached Saratoga he found a force of three 
 thousand men drawn up on the opposite side of the 
 river, which would prevent his crossing. 
 
 Fraser had died the morning after the battle. The 
 journal of the Baroness Riedesel who, with her three 
 little children endured the hardships of the campaign, 
 tells of the fortitude with which the gallant soldier bore 
 his sufferings. He was buried, by his own request, on 
 a high hill in the center of the camp, at six o'clock on 
 the evening of the day in which he died, Burgoyne 
 delaying his retreat to carry out the last wishes of his 
 friend. He was carried to his grave by the grenadiers 
 of Ackland's regiment in his division. Burgoyne and 
 his principal officers stood about the grave while the 
 chaplain of the grenadiers, the Rev. Mr. Brudenell, 
 calmly read the burial service. The cannon of the 
 
8o American Fights and Fighters 
 
 American batteries, not realizing the nature of the 
 movement, played upon the Httle group. Bullets struck 
 so near as to actually scatter the earth over the chap- 
 lain, who continued to read the Church service in his 
 usual calm and even way. Before the service was fin- 
 ished the Americans discovered what the British were 
 about and, in honor of the dead, minutes guns were 
 fired until the burial was over, when the business of 
 war was resumed again. 
 
 Lady Harriet Ackland, the wife of the commander of 
 the grenadiers, who had devotedly followed the army 
 from Quebec and nursed her husband through an at- 
 tack of illness, and a wound received at Ticonderoga, 
 now applied to General Burgoyne for a pass to the 
 American lines to go to her husband who had been 
 captured, after being desperately wounded in the battle 
 of the day before. Accompanied by the plucky chap- 
 lain, Mr. Brudenell, in the dark, rainy night, they 
 rowed down the river to the American camp. Gates 
 received her with every courtesy and permitted her to 
 have access to her gallant husband. 
 
 III. SARATOGA AND THE SURRENDER 
 
 The situation in the British camp was absolutely hope- 
 less ; their provisions were gone and there was no water. 
 The American riflemen killed every man who attempted 
 to go to the river to get water, and it was not until a 
 woman, the wife of a British soldier, volunteered and 
 made the attempt, that they got even a scanty supply — 
 the American army would not fire upon a woman ! 
 The American batteries raked the camp with their shot, 
 and the long rifles of Morgan's men searched out 
 

The Saratoga Campaign 8i 
 
 every point — there was no safety any place. The situa- 
 tion was now plainly unbearable. On the eighth of 
 October Burgoyne sent a flag of truce to Gates, asking 
 what terms would be accorded him. Burgoyne indig- 
 nantly refused the first demand that he surrender 
 unconditionally, and after further argument, on the 
 seventeenth of October the articles were signed which 
 were called "The Convention of Saratoga." 
 
 In them Gates, on behalf of the United States, bound 
 himself to the effect, that after the British army had 
 marched out with the honors of war, they should pile 
 their arms at an appointed place and then be marched 
 to Boston, whence they would be sent back to England. 
 The arrangements which were made by Gates, to give 
 him his due, were marked with the most distinguished 
 consideration. When Burgoyne, a tall, imposing man, 
 brilliantly attired in the gorgeous scarlet and gold 
 uniform of the British army, approached the small, 
 unprepossessing American soldier, in his plain blue 
 frock-coat, he handed him his sword and said : "The 
 fortune of war. General Gates, has made me your pris- 
 oner." Gates immediately returned the sword with a 
 profound bow and the gracious remark, "I will be 
 ready to testify that it was through no fault of your 
 Excellency." Gates had been a major in the British 
 army in earlier days, where he had served with some 
 credit. Notwithstanding the fact that he received the 
 surrender and did it well enough, as a commander he 
 was thoroughly incompetent. The credit of the vic- 
 tory belongs first to the enterprising and devoted pa- 
 triotism of Schuyler, and secondly to the bold work of 
 Arnold. 
 
 One or two statements regarding matters under con- 
 sideration may be of interest. In the first place, the 
 
82 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 American Congress deliberately and wilfully, and with- 
 out cause, broke faith with the English, and the articles 
 of the convention were never carried out. The cap- 
 tured army was taken from Boston to Virginia, where 
 they were held as prisoners of war. Some of the offi- 
 cers were exchanged from time to time, but the army 
 disintegrated and, as a body, never got back to England. 
 The Baroness Riedesel and her three children, and the 
 other women also, were treated with the most delight- 
 ful hospitality and courtesy by the Americans, whom 
 they ever after held in grateful remembrance. 
 
 Major Ackland, under the careful nursing of his de- 
 voted wife, recovered, was exchanged and went back 
 to England. Some time later, while at a dinner party, 
 he undertook to resent some remarks which were 
 made in disparagement of the courage of the Ameri- 
 cans. A duel followed in which Ackland was killed. 
 Lady Harriet lost her reason when she heard the news 
 and continued insane for the space of two years. 
 Would that the romantic chronicle might end here. 
 Alas! When she recovered she married again, this 
 time the Rev. Mr. Brudenell, the intrepid chaplain ! 
 Thus does romance veil its head before stern fact. 
 Some have ventured to suggest, however, that Lady 
 Harriet had not fully recovered her reason when 
 she spoiled her charming story by that other marriage. 
 
 Talking with General Lew Wallace one day, he re- 
 lated the following anecdote. While minister of the 
 United States to Turkey, he was seated with some 
 English friends looking over the Golden Horn. A 
 little boat flying the English flag crossed their field of 
 vision. 
 
 "There," said his friend, reflectively, "is a flag 
 which has never been surrendered by a general at the 
 head of an army on a field of battle to a foreign foe," 
 
The Saratoga Campaign 83 
 
 "You are mistaken," said Wallace, quietly, "I recall 
 two instances." 
 
 "What are they?" 
 
 "Saratoga and Yorktown !" 
 
 "Oh," said the Englishman, quickly, "you are our 
 people. They do not count." 
 
 But they did count, nevertheless, very highly; for 
 Sir Edv^^ard Creasy, the distinguished historian, 
 includes Saratoga, with Marathon, Arbela, Tours, 
 Blenheim, Waterloo, and the others, among the fifteen 
 decisive battles of the world ! Frederick the Great, 
 trailed, experienced soldier and statesman that he was, 
 had seen the importance and value of Trenton and 
 Princeton. The most ignorant and the skeptical could 
 read the lesson of Saratoga. It wrote in large letters 
 the prophecy of the ultimate success of the American 
 cause, brought about the open alliance with France, 
 and paved the way for Yorktown. 
 
GREENE'S CAMPAIGN IN THE 
 CAROLINAS 
 
 I. The Beginning, The Cowpens and Guil- 
 ford Court House 
 
 A CAMPAIGN which for brilHancy in conception and 
 success in working out, may fairly challenge compari- 
 son with Washington's Trenton and Princeton cam- 
 paign, was that of General Nathaniel Greene in the 
 Carolinas. In some respects I would even award it 
 the palm over Washington's more famous New Jersey 
 man(£uvers. While the general conditions were not so 
 desperate and the issues were not so great, in that fail- 
 ure would not have terminated the Revolution, yet lo- 
 cally nothing could have been more difficult, nay, impos- 
 sible, than the problem which Greene was set to solve ; 
 and in the solving of which he demonstrated his right 
 to be considered after Washington — and not far after 
 him either — the ablest tactician, the most brilliant strat- 
 egist, and the greatest fighter of the Revolution. In- 
 deed, we have come down to the Civil War to find his 
 equal, and even then the search must be made with 
 some care. General Scott, for instance, who gained a 
 
 84 
 
Greene's Carolina Campaign 85 
 
 much greater reputation in the War of 181 2 and in the 
 Mexican War, is not to be mentioned in the same breath 
 with this Rhode Island blacksmith, either for ability 
 or achievement; he does not compare with this plain 
 man who so highly educated himself by his own unaid- 
 ed efforts, that, for relaxation in the midst of desperate 
 campaigns, he read the Latin poets in the original by the 
 light of the camp fire, and annotated, for the use of the 
 army, Vattel's famous treatise called "Droit des Gens!" 
 
 He began his service at the breaking out of the war 
 and was never out of the harness until the end. He and 
 Washington were the only general officers present at 
 the siege of Boston who remained in the amiy until the 
 British withdrew from the United States in 1783. 
 He fought in every battle in which Washington com- 
 manded, except one, until he went South, with ever 
 increasing success and skill ; and although he had no 
 previous military experience whatsoever, he developed 
 himself, by observation, study and reflection, not only 
 into the strategist which he naturally was, but into a 
 brilliant tactician as well — strategists are born, tacti- 
 cians largely made. His tactics on the field of battle 
 were as great as was his strategy in his campaigns. 
 He was a man of impetuous, dashing nature, yet he 
 schooled himself and so checked his natural impulses 
 that he became the incarnation of caution. It is difficult 
 to find anything to blame in his military work from the 
 beginning, and impossible in those years in which he 
 exercised independent command. His plans and his 
 methods were moulded largely after those of Wash- 
 ington himself. No man could be more wary, more 
 prompt, or more bold than he, when the exigency de- 
 manded the one course or the other. 
 
 When the British under Sir Henry Clinton invaded 
 
86 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 South Carolina in 1780 and finally succeeded in cap- 
 turing Charleston on the twelfth of May, thus elimi- 
 nating the army — containing over two thousand 
 Continentals, by the way, which Lincoln had foolishly 
 permitted to be cooped up in Charleston — from the 
 campaign, in the absence of any other organized forces, 
 they easily overran Georgia and particularly South 
 Carolina. In order to make secure their possession, 
 they established a number of well-fortified posts on 
 every hand, the more important being located at Cam- 
 den and Ninety-six, in North Carolina, and Augusta, 
 in Georgia. Lord Cornwallis, a very able man, was left 
 in command by Sir Henry Clinton, who went back to 
 New York under the impression that the provinces 
 south of Virginia had been absolutely and finally won 
 back to the crown. Quite an unwarranted conclusion, 
 as we shall see. 
 
 After the capture of Charleston, Washington, though 
 he could ill spare them himself, had detached a splendid 
 division of Continental troops under the Baron DeKalb, 
 a most capable ofiicer, to stem, if possible, the tide of 
 the British success in the South, and form a nucleus 
 upon which the militia of the invaded sections might 
 rally. In opposition to his wish. Congress had desig- 
 nated the incompetent Gates for the command of these 
 forces, his friends exj^ecting him to repeat what they 
 were pleased to call the "Burgoynade" of his Saratoga 
 campaign, in the South. In the words of Charles Lee, 
 "His Northern laurels changed to Southern willows," 
 and in the disastrous Battle of Camden he was utterly 
 and entirely defeated ; said defeat being due to his own 
 stupidity, carelessness and gross inefficiency as a com- 
 mander. The Baron De Kalb heroically fought with 
 his veterans, whose courage and devotion somewhat 
 
-^ Q 
 
Greene's Carolina Campaign 87 
 
 redeemed the day, until he fell covered with sixteen 
 wounds and died a prisoner a short time after the bat- 
 tle was over. The larger part of his veteran division 
 was absolutely annihilated, a smaller part cut its way 
 out of the British lines at the point of the bayonet and 
 effected a retreat. The generalship of Cornwallis had 
 been excellent and the conduct of his troops beyond 
 question. It seemed as if nothing whatever could re- 
 deem the South from the British and that they had at 
 last established themselves securely in one not unim- 
 portant portion of the revolted colonies. 
 
 At this desperate juncture, Nathaniel Greene, Wash- 
 ington's right arm, who had been originally chosen by 
 that commander for the purpose, was sent to take com- 
 mand of the department, i.e., all south of and includ- 
 ing the State of Delaware. Except territory he had but 
 little to command. Washington, however, generously 
 detached the famous legion of "Light Horse Harry 
 Lee," composed of light infantry and cavalry from his 
 army, and sent them with Greene. He also sent an- 
 other small squadron of horse — a very efficient body — 
 commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel William A. Wash- 
 ington, a kinsman of the great general and a man of the 
 same school. The famous Daniel Morgan, who had 
 withdrawn from the army on account of his ill-treat- 
 ment in the matter of rank, by the blundering and in- 
 competent Congress, rejoined the army after the defeat 
 at Camden, nobly saying that an occasion of such 
 public disaster was not the time in which to indulge 
 private griefs. Lieutenant-Colonel Otho Williams, an- 
 other distinguished soldier and cavalry leader, was also 
 attached to Greene's skeleton army, the nucleus of 
 which was the famous brigade of the old Maryland 
 line, which had escaped after Camden; two regiments 
 
88 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 of troops, about six lumdred in number, which I think 
 did more and better service than any other in the Revo- 
 lution ; there was also a remnant of the Delaware regi- 
 ment, another good lot of men. In addition to this 
 nucleus of veterans, a very efficient auxiliary existed 
 in the Carolinas in the shape of partizan bands of ran- 
 gers, who were led by such men as Pinckney, Sumter 
 and Marion, than whom no more efficient leaders in 
 the sort of warfare in which they excelled ever bestrode 
 a horse, laid an ambush, or headed a charge. Gates 
 had been inattentive to their services and had not 
 recognized the possible value of these men. Greene 
 utilized them to the greatest possible extent, and their 
 brilliant and daring manoeuvers, under his direction, 
 contributed as much as anything else to the success 
 of his campaign. 
 
 Von Steuben, with a few Continentals and the Vir- 
 ginia militia, was left in charge of the operations in 
 the State of Virginia by Greene as he went South. 
 Before he arrived in the South to supersede Gates, a 
 body of one thousand men, mostly Tories, led by Col- 
 onel Patrick Ferguson, a very distinguished officer, 
 had been utterly defeated in a hand to hand conflict in 
 a strong position of their own choosing on King's 
 Mountain, North Carolina, by an irregular assemblage 
 of backwoodsmen, who had assembled for the purpose 
 of wiping them out, and who dispersed as soon as 
 they had done so. Ferguson was killed, with three 
 hundred of his men, and the remainder were made 
 prisoners; their arms and equipments being of great 
 value to the Americans — indeed, during this campaign, 
 the Americans lived off the country and armed off the 
 enemy! Inasmuch as this was the force which Corn- 
 wallis had intended to use as a flying column to keep 
 
Greene's Carolina Campaign 89 
 
 himself in touch with the chain of posts he had estab- 
 hshed on the borders of the State, its loss was felt by 
 him rather severely, though, of course, it was neither 
 vital nor irreparable, especially as he was soon rein- 
 forced by a large body of troops despatched from New 
 York by Sir Henry Clinton. When Greene arrived 
 at Hillsboro, North Carolina, in December, 1780, he 
 found about two thousand men had assembled. Corn- 
 wallis, with the main body of the British, numbering 
 about three thousand men, was at Camden. Large de- 
 tachments garrisoned the posts at Ninety-six and Au- 
 gusta, and smaller ones were scattered about at various 
 forts in different parts of the State, such as Granby, 
 Motte, Watson and others. 
 
 The British had carried things with a high hand in 
 their conquests and had actually attempted to force 
 the inhabitants either to enter the British service or to 
 be declared rebels. The policy was disastrous, as it 
 raised up for the British a host of enemies, for many of 
 the otherwise peaceable inhabitants, if they had to 
 fight, naturally preferred to fight for, rather than 
 against, their own. Colonel Banastre Tarleton, a very 
 capable and enterprising young man, who commanded 
 Cornwallis' cavalry, had made himself particularly ob- 
 noxious by his method of carrying out his harsh orders 
 and, as the inhabitants of the country had divided 
 themselves between the British and the Americans, 
 they add^d the usual neighborhood animosities to the 
 political differences which separated them; and hang- 
 ing, plundering and outraging in every way were evi- 
 dences of the hatreds engendered, as always, in the 
 internecine conflict which was waged. 
 
 Since two complete American armies had been cap- 
 tured or destroyed by the British, Greene had the great- 
 
90 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 est difficulty in collecting more than two thousand men. 
 The American force was not only smaller in number 
 but it was not to be compared in quality to that of 
 Cornwallis', whose troops included some of the finest 
 of the British army — as was shown by their fighting 
 on every field on which they were engaged — the chief 
 of which were two battalions of the famous "House- 
 hold Guards." Cornwallis had no illusions whatever 
 regarding Greene. "He is as dangerous as Washing- 
 ton," he wrote to a friend. He knew his quality ; he had 
 felt his attack and witnessed his tactics on many a hard 
 fought field in the Revolution. He remembered him 
 at Trenton^; he recalled how he had brought up his 
 division on the run for four miles, charging "toward 
 the sound of the cannon" at Brandywine. He knew 
 that Greene and his officers had been trained in the 
 school of the great Washington — for whom the earl 
 had conceived the most profound respect — and he re- 
 solved to employ all the skill and address of which he 
 was capable to defeat this new enemy, leaving nothing 
 undone to accomplish his purpose; so the two armies 
 faced each other, neither, for the moment, daring to 
 take the initiative. For Greene knew that Cornwallis 
 was the ablest of the British commanders also, and he 
 could not afford to take even ordinary chances. They 
 were like two wary fencers who have just crossed 
 swords and are gently moving the blades up and down, 
 looking for the necessary opening, neither being will- 
 ing to disengage for fear of the other. 
 
 But the pause could not be allowed to last long; 
 every day strengthened the British hold on the South 
 and made his own task harder, so it was incumbent 
 upon Greene to do something. He could not attack 
 with any possibility of success, and he had before him 
 
Greene's Carolina Campaign 91 
 
 one supreme necessity, which was, that at whatever 
 hazard and under whatever circumstances, he must pre- 
 serve his army intact. So long as he had an army, 
 even a Httle one, the British were not safe in their posi- 
 tions ; but that last army once destroyed and dispersed, 
 there was no further resource. After careful thought 
 he came to a detemiination ; first despatching Marion 
 and Sumter to harry the flanks and communications 
 of the British and cut off the scattered detachments 
 and bodies of loyalist reinforcements in the rear of the 
 enemy — which they did with thoroughness and preci- 
 sion — and throwing Williams to skirmish in Cornwal- 
 lis' face, he decided to divide his little army into two 
 great partizan bands. To do this was contrary to the 
 usual laws of strategy, but the conditions were peculiar 
 and anomalous, and subsequent events showed the wis- 
 dom of his action. He gave Daniel Morgan about nine 
 hundred men, including the Maryland Continentals, 
 Washington's cavalry and some North Carolina mili- 
 tia, and sent him off toward the British left, where he 
 threatened in force Cornwallis' rear. Greene, with 
 the main body of eleven hundred men, hurried down to 
 the South and began that series of perplexing and an- 
 noying marchings and countermarchings in which he 
 became such a master ; playing a game of hide-and-seek 
 with the English on a large scale and never getting 
 caught. 
 
 Cornwallis hesitated to move forward to attack 
 Greene lest he should have Morgan down upon his 
 rear. He also hesitated to turn and crush Morgan lest 
 he should have Greene upon his rear ; also he could not 
 leave Camden unprotected on account of the large 
 quantity of stores and supplies there. His position 
 was, therefore, a difficult one. He finally determined 
 
92 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 to follow Greene's example and divide his force, so he 
 despatched Tarleton with eleven hundred men to take 
 care of Morgan, left a strong body under Leslie at 
 Camden, and moved out to attack Greene, when, or if, 
 he could catch him. But the wary American had no 
 intention of being attacked, and manoeuvering his light 
 force — which was without baggage or tents, or even 
 shoes for that matter, such was their destitution — with 
 great skill, he never permitted Cornwallis to force an 
 action. He was here to-day and there to-morrow, 
 never remaining more than a night in one spot; it was 
 humiliating and exasperating to be always on the run, 
 but it succeeded admirably. Cornw"allis and his men 
 were kept fearfully busy, and accomplished nothing 
 except to weary themselves in body and spirit. 
 
 Meanwhile Tarleton had impetuously dashed away 
 after Morgan. Morgan, a man of humble extraction, 
 the son of a day-laborer, but of great native ability, 
 was one of the striking figures of the Revolution. He 
 had been a wagoner in Braddock's unfortunate expedi- 
 tion, had felt the British lash upon his back for striking 
 a comrade — he never forgot the feel of it, either, and 
 paid back every stroke a thousandfold — had been 
 given a commission for distinguished gallantry in that 
 battle, and so made his way upward. When the Revo- 
 lution broke out he led a splendid corps of backwoods 
 riflemen "from the right bank of the Potomac" to 
 Washington's army. He had participated in many 
 desperate actions from Quebec to Saratoga and had 
 served always with the greatest distinction and success. 
 Morgan had emulated Greene's tactics — he was an old 
 backwoodsman, and could do it to perfection — until he 
 was ready to give battle; and he led Tarleton a long, 
 perverse chase until he was almost worn out; then he 
 
Greene's Carolina Campaign 93 
 
 resolved to hazard an action at the Cowpens. It was a 
 small affair in point of the numhers engaged — all the 
 battles of the campaign were that — but tactically it was 
 an unusually brilliant combat. Morgan selected as 
 a place to light a slight acclivity behind which an un- 
 fordable river, the Broad, bent in a wide circle. The 
 ground was open or but thinly wooded. There was 
 no possibility of retreat. He said that he wanted his 
 militia to feel that there was no method of getting 
 away, they would have to fight or die. If he had pos- 
 sessed any boats, no doubt, like Cortez, he would have 
 burned them. There were no marshes about into which 
 the possible retreaters could plunge, there was no open 
 country through which they could break in wild panic 
 as they had done at Camden and elsewhere. The night 
 before the probable battle Morgan clearly explained 
 his plan to his officers, and then walked up and down 
 among the men, stopping at the various camp fires, and 
 in plain, homely phrase talked over the matter with 
 them, animating them with his own heroic purpose, 
 and promising them, with their assistance, that the old 
 "wagoner would crack his whip over Tarleton," etc. 
 
 Word had been brought to Tarleton, through Mor- 
 gan's connivance, that the Americans proposed to wait 
 for him, and at three o'clock in the morning of January 
 17, 1 78 1, he put his men in motion to take them by sur- 
 prise. He was not early enough to catch the old hunter 
 napping, however, for when he appeared upon the scene 
 Morgan had his force under arms and was ready 
 for the attack. He had the militia drawn up in line 
 about three hundred yards in front of the hill. Above 
 them on the hill he had drawn up the Continental 
 line ; on the bank of the river and screened by the brow 
 of the hill from the observation of the enemy, was the 
 
94 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 cavalry under Washington in reserve. Morgan had 
 ridden up and down the hue commanding and exhort- 
 ing the mihtia to fire at least two well-aimed volleys, 
 when he would permit them to retreat, if the British 
 advanced, around the left flank of the Continentals, 
 and re-form in safety back of the hill ; imploring them 
 for the sake of their country and their homes to heed 
 his words, deliver the two volleys and retire slowly 
 in good order, preserving their ranks. They promised 
 to do so. He also cautioned the Continentals that the 
 militia would retire and bade them withhold their fire 
 until the order was given, and he further admonished 
 Washington to be on the alert with his cavalry all the 
 time, but to make no move until directed. 
 
 Tarleton's men, who had been marching half the 
 night over the muddy roads, were tired out, but their 
 restless leader gave them no opportunity for rest. Just 
 as the sun rose he came in sight of the American camp 
 and immediately sounded the charge. The British 
 rushed through the woods and fell on the militia under 
 Pickens, who, remarkable to state, stood up manfully 
 and delivered not only one or two, but several well- 
 aimed volleys before they retired in good order around 
 the left flank. The British had become somewhat dis- 
 organized in the attack, but they were led forward by 
 the dashing Tarleton himself, with the utmost brav- 
 ery, and their superior numbers permitted them to 
 overlap the right flank of the Continental line. Mor- 
 gan, to prevent this flank, refused his line, and to do 
 that it became necessary for the Continentals there to 
 withdraw a little. The British mistaking the movement, 
 which was successfully carried out under fire by the 
 Marylanders under John Eager Howard, for a retreat, 
 
Greene's Carolina Campaign 95 
 
 rushed forward shouting victory. When Howard had 
 reached his proper position, he immediately turned 
 about and dehvered a volley at close range, and rushed 
 forward with the bayonet. 
 
 At this juncture, by Morgan's orders, Washington's 
 cavalry dashed around the hill and fell upon the Brit- 
 ish right, the Continentals opposite the British center 
 advancing at the same time. Meanwhile the militia, 
 elated by their successful resistance, had been re- 
 formed at the back of the hill by the heroic Pickens, 
 and came on the field on the dead run, circling around 
 the left flank of the British just where they were being 
 severely pressed by Howard. Old Morgan at once 
 ordered a general advance and the British forces were 
 surrounded. The Continentals broke their ranks with 
 a deadly fire at thirty yards and rushed upon them in 
 a stern bayonet charge. The greater part of the Brit- 
 ish army threw down its arms and surrendered at once. 
 Six hundred prisoners were taken, and only about two 
 hundred and fifty escaped from the conflict, Tarleton 
 being among them. He only got away after a furious 
 hand to hand conflict with Washington in which he 
 was wounded. The British lost about three hundred 
 in killed and wounded, two field pieces and one thou- 
 sand stand of arms, two colors, thirty-four wagons, 
 one hundred horses and a large number of tents, all 
 very useful indeed as the Americans were mainly 
 without them. The victory was complete and deci- 
 sive. The Americans had absolutely captured or killed 
 more than their entire force engaged. The tactics 
 of Morgan had been crowned with the most bril- 
 liant success. He had so manoeuvered that with an 
 inferior force he had literally surrounded and captured 
 
96 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 a larger force opposing hijii, and he had actually made 
 his militia fight ! His loss in killed and wounded only- 
 amounted to seventy-three. 
 
 The tidings reached Green and Cornwallis about the 
 same time. Cornwallis immediately made for the 
 fords of the Catawba to intercept Morgan and his men. 
 During this period, however, and it was the only oc- 
 casion during the campaign that he did not move with 
 his accustomed celerity, he hesitated and appeared 
 undecided. Greene at once put the main body of his 
 army in motion under the command of General Huger, 
 and told him to move north at all speed, collecting all 
 the boats as he went, while he himself, attended by a 
 single officer and an orderly, rode at full speed one 
 hundred and fifty miles to join Morgan. By desperate 
 marching Morgan, though he had the greater distance 
 to cover, succeeded in reaching the fords of the Cataw- 
 ba, where Greene found him, and crossed with all his 
 prisoners and booty before Cornwallis arrived there. 
 Then the British commander at last waked up. Sum- 
 moning all his detachments to his aid, he started on a 
 furious pursuit of the Americans, led by Greene and 
 Morgan. There never was such desperate marching. 
 Greene gathered up the boats as he went, destroying 
 those he could not use, and actually mounting the rest 
 on wheels like wagons ! Cornwallis was close on the 
 heels of his enemy all the time and, in spite of the dis- 
 advantages under which he labored, he almost caught 
 him on several occasions. To accelerate his move- 
 ments, the British commander burned all but the ab- 
 solutely necessary baggage and followed hard the re- 
 treating Americans. Leaving Morgan to push ahead. 
 Greene essayed to rouse the militia, but with little 
 success, as Cornwallis was too quick for him and 
 
Greene's Carolina Campaign 97 
 
 too close on his heels to give them time to as- 
 semble. We get a fine picture of the desperate straits 
 to which the Americans were reduced in effecting 
 their escape and the fierce energy of the pursuit, when 
 we see Greene riding up late at night in a drenching 
 rain to the tavern at Salisbury on the night of February 
 first, after receiving the news that one detachment of 
 militia, upon which he had counted to dispute the pas- 
 sage of the Catawba, had been cut to pieces and its 
 commander killed, and that Cornwallis had almost 
 reached Morgan. The tavern keeper expressed sur- 
 prise at seeing him alone. 
 
 "Yes," he said sadly, "tired, hungry, alone and pen- 
 niless !" 
 
 But it takes such conditions to develop some men 
 best, and Greene, like Washington, was never so dan- 
 gerous as when he was pushed to the wall ; the British 
 were to learn that presently. Cornwallis was unable 
 to prevent the junction of the two armies near Guil- 
 ford Court House, but in spite of the fact that he was 
 outnumbered, he still persisted in the pursuit. Greene's 
 forethought and his traveling boats enabled him to 
 make his escape, and Cornwallis was foiled at the 
 Catawba, the Yadkin and the Dan in quick succession. 
 Finally, when he had driven Greene into Virginia, as 
 he was far away from his base of supplies, and as he 
 was in great need of that baggage which he had burned 
 some time since, he gave over the pursuit, saying that 
 he had successfully forced the enemy out of the State, 
 which was perfectly true. This was the first act of the 
 drama. Things looked dark for the Americans then. 
 They did not intend to stay forced out, however, and 
 the second act began when the indefatigable Greene 
 recrossed the Dan and moved out on the heels of, 
 
98 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 though at a safe distance from, CornwalHs, who began 
 to move slowly to the southward to reach his base of 
 supplies again. 
 
 By detachments of militia and a brigade of Virginia 
 Continentals, who were mostly raw troops, Greene's 
 force was increased to something like four thousand 
 men, and with it he resolved to give battle at Guilford 
 Court House. Cornwallis was nothing loath to engage, 
 indeed, he was desperately anxious for a fight, by 
 which he trusted to retrieve his somewhat precarious 
 situation. On the morning of March fifteenth, Greene 
 drew up his men in three lines; the North Carolina 
 militia in the first, the Virginia militia in the second, 
 the famous Marylanders in the third, which was placed 
 on the top of a hill, and the Virginia Continentals in 
 reserve. I.ee's legion was on one flank of the first line, 
 Washington's cavalry and some Delaware riflemen on 
 the other, and Singleton's two guns in the center. 
 Cornwallis had about twenty-two hundred men, the 
 best in the service. Their fighting that day was simply 
 magnificent. He boldly attacked the first line early in 
 the morning. Most of the battalions comprising it 
 fled without firing a shot, as usual. Singleton with- 
 drew with his giins on the run. The legion and 
 cavalry and the riflemen retreated on the second line, 
 which stood firm and actually checked the British 
 advance for a time, but the heroic Englishmen pressed 
 forward with the bayonet and finally succeeded in 
 breaking the line. Detached parties engaged the rifle- 
 men, the cavalry and the legion, and gradually drove 
 them down the field, separating them in the center. 
 Meanwhile the main body of the British rushed for 
 that part of the hill held by the Second Maryland ; this 
 regiment, not so good a one as the First, was broken by 
 
Greene's Carolina Campaign 99 
 
 the furious British attack and the two guns belonging 
 to it were captured. 
 
 Greene immediately threw the First Maryland into 
 the breach and they recaptured the guns by a dashing 
 bayonet charge which pierced the British center. At 
 the same time Lee and Washington, who had succeed- 
 ed in getting clear of their antagonists, fell simultane- 
 ously on the British flanks. The British line was 
 broken in the center and began to give ground slightly, 
 in the face of the furious American attack. To stay 
 their retreat, Cornwallis brought his artillery into ac- 
 tion and, in spite of the remonstrances of his officers, 
 fired at the approaching Americans through the lines 
 of his own troops, some of whom were killed by shot 
 from their own guns. It was a desperate measure, but 
 the exigency of the situation warranted it. Cornwallis 
 now put in his reserves and Tarleton's cavalry and the 
 advance of the Americans was first checked and then 
 they retreated back to the hill in disorder. 
 
 By great exertions Cornwallis re-formed his lines 
 and, concentrating them, advanced his artillery, which 
 continued to play upon the broken Americans with 
 great effect. The Virginia Continentals had not yet 
 been actively engaged. It is possible that if Greene 
 had thrown them in at this moment, he might have 
 crushed Cornwallis and won the day. Whether or no 
 it could have been done is a grave problem. The Vir- 
 ginians were green hands and the British were veterans 
 already flushed with success. If the Virginians failed 
 in their attack, Greene's army would be ruined. His 
 personal preference would have been to put in every 
 last man and try out the issue to the bitter end, but the 
 loss of the army would mean the loss of everything, 
 and, bitterly against his inclination, as the British ad- 
 
loo American Fights and Fighters 
 
 vanced, he gave the order to retreat. It was a sad mo- 
 ment for the young commander, but stern and inexora- 
 ble necessity dictated his course. That retreat at the 
 crisis of that still undecided battle was much more 
 heroic and evidenced more courage and generalship 
 than anything else he could have done. The British 
 were too badly shattered to pursue, and Greene with- 
 drew to the northward in good order, taking his guns 
 with him — they had done well, but they had been 
 defeated. 
 
 We have to look along the pages of history for a 
 hundred years to find such fighting as the whole British 
 army did on one side, and as the famous First Mary- 
 land did on the other, on that day, and we do not find 
 it until we come to old Thomas at Chickamauga. It 
 was a glorious and splendid victory for Cornwallis 
 and his outnumbered army, but the winning of it cost 
 him dear. He had lost in killed and wounded over six 
 hundred men, more than one-fourth of his total force ! 
 "A few. more victories like that 'and we are undone," 
 said Fox, when he heard the news. The situation of 
 Cornwallis was now more precarious than ever, in spite 
 of his triumph. He had almost expended his supply of 
 ammunition, he was over two hundred miles away 
 from his base of supplies, Marion and Sumter were 
 pressing heavily upon his flanks, Williams was skir- 
 mishing boldly in front, and he found himself actually 
 compelled to retreat. But where should he go ? Tore- 
 turn to Charleston was intolerable. He finally deter- 
 mined upon niaking his way to the seaboard, whence 
 he could communicate with headquarters and look for 
 assistance from the fleet. So on the third day after 
 the battle, leaving his sick and wounded, he put his 
 army in motion for Wilmington, North Carolina, leav- 
 
Greene's Carolina Campaign loi 
 
 ing the command of the troops in South CaroHna to 
 Lord Rawdon. The decision was really forced upon 
 him; he did not dare to attempt the long march back 
 to South Carolina in his condition, and there is where 
 Greene displayed another touch of his splendid strat- 
 egy. He surmised that Cornwallis could only go one 
 of two ways when he reached the seaboard, /. c, back 
 to Charleston, where he wanted him to be, or up to 
 Virginia, where he could be brought in contact with 
 the terrible Washington. Therefore, instead of fol- 
 lowing Cornwallis, Greene at once gathered up his 
 army and thrust himself boldly between the two British 
 commanders ; leaving Cornwallis to pursue his way un- 
 hindered and unpursued, he at once turned south to 
 fall upon Rawdon. The American commander had 
 actually forced Cornwallis out of the field and elimi- 
 nated him and his army from future operations ! When 
 the astonished earl found out that he was not being 
 followed, it was too late for him to retrace his steps, 
 and with, I imagine, a heavy heart, he made his way 
 into Virginia. We shall see what became of him there 
 later on. 
 
GREENE'S CAMPAIGN IN THE 
 CAROLINAS 
 
 11. Hobkirk's Hill, Eutaw Springs and 
 
 THE END 
 
 After carefully considering the situation, Greene de- 
 termined upon his course of action. Pickens was 
 directed, with his partizan band, to threaten the left 
 flank of the British lines at Ninety-six, Marion and 
 Lee were to move upon the small posts on the right 
 flank between Camden and Charleston, Sumter was to 
 operate in the rear, while he, himself, with the four 
 Continental regiments — two Maryland and two Vir- 
 ginia — and Washington's cavalry moved down to attack 
 the center. The campaign was planned with the great- 
 est skill and care, and though the forces were inconsid- 
 erable — Greene's whole command scarcely amounting 
 to fifteen hundred men — the game was played as bril- 
 liantly and the results are as instructive to the student 
 of military matters as if the armies had been as great as 
 that of Xerxes. On the sixth of April the march be- 
 gan. Marion and Lee at once struck for Fort Watson, 
 an irregular stockade which had been erected on an old 
 Indian mound which dominated the plain for several 
 miles around. It was defended by one hundred and 
 
 102 
 
Greene's Carolina Campaign 103 
 
 twenty soldiers, under Lieutenant McKay. Neither 
 .Marion nor McKay had any artillery, and rifle fire was 
 of course ineffective against the stockade. Marion 
 cut off the water supply, but McKay dug a well. The 
 fort had been amply provisioned, and the Americans 
 were in a dilemma. Finally it occurred to one of the 
 officers, a certain Colonel Maham, to build a wooden 
 tower high enough to command the fort — it was an 
 undertaking as old as Caesar. The country was heavily 
 wooded and the stalwart men quickly acted upon the 
 idea. When day broke on April twenty-third the as- 
 tonished garrison saw that their position was com- 
 manded by a high wooden tower which had been 
 erected during the night. Its top was covered with men 
 who were protected by heavy planking from their fire, 
 and who picked them off at leisure. At its foot was a 
 breastwork lined with riflemen ; a sortie to destroy the 
 tower was out of the question. There was nothing to do 
 but surrender, and they accordingly hauled down their 
 flag. The success at Fort Watson was repeated by 
 Marion at Forts Motte and Granby. On the other side, 
 Sumter took Orangeburg and various small posts, and 
 cleared the country. Pickens and his militia raided 
 the country, destroying parties of royalists in every 
 direction, and constantly hovered about Ninety-six. 
 To anticipate a little, on the fifth of June, the post at 
 Augusta, after a most obstinate and desperate defense, 
 was captured by Lee and his partizans. 
 
 The British had now nothing left except Camden 
 and Ninety-six. Since the defeat of the previous year 
 the post at Camden had been carefully fortified and 
 strengthened, and when Greene moved down to it on 
 the twenty-fifth of April, he found it too strong for 
 attack by his little force of about eleven hundred men, 
 
104 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 so he withdrew and took up a strong position on an 
 elevation called Hobkirk's Hill, a few miles north 
 of the town. Rawdon, who was in command of all the 
 British forces, at once determined to attack him. Early 
 in the morning of April twenty-fifth he moved out 
 with his whole force, numbering a few more than nine 
 hundred men. Greene had drawn up his four regi- 
 ments in line upon the hill, the two Virginia regiments 
 on the right and the two Maryland on the left. The 
 North Carolina militia, small in numbers and poor in 
 quality in this instance, were placed in the rear of the 
 hill, Washington's squadron of cavalry was stationed 
 in reserve. What remained of the Delaware regiment 
 was thrown out on the picket line. 
 
 The British came on gallantly, led by Rawdon in 
 person. As they struggled up the road and through 
 the narrow clearing before the American position, 
 Greene determined, since he had the most men, to 
 flank them. He therefore swung the Virginia and 
 Maryland regiments on each end of his line in to- 
 ward the British column, at the same time ordering 
 a general advance. Washington meanwhile was di- 
 rected to sweep around the British left and attack 
 their rear. He did this with brilliant success, cap- 
 turing over two hundred men of Rawdon's little army, 
 including all the surgeons. The North Carolina 
 militia were also ordered to advance, which they did 
 reluctantly. 
 
 The little battle on the side of the hill was joined 
 with the utmost fury. The outnumbered British dis- 
 played their usual resolution and bravely advanced in 
 the face of a furious discharge of grape from Greene's 
 two guns. The attack of the Americans, however, 
 was proving too much for the British and they com- 
 
Greene's Carolina Campaign 105 
 
 menced to give ground, though still preserving good 
 order and battling furiously. At this juncture, Cap- 
 tain Beatty, leading the charge of the famous First 
 Maryland, was killed. His company of Continentals 
 halted and under a bitter return charge led by the in- 
 trepid Rawdon, they gave ground a little. The veteran 
 commander of the regiment seems to have lost his head 
 at this moment, for he gave the order to fall back, 
 intending, as he said, to form a new line on the com- 
 pany which had given ground ; but it is a bad thing 
 to order a regiment to fall back during a battle, and 
 these famous veterans, who had shown their mettle on 
 nearly every field in the Revolution, and may be con- 
 sidered the very flower of the famous Continental line, 
 hastily broke and ran. Rawdon was quick to see his 
 advantage and the attack was pressed more vigorous- 
 ly than ever. The defection of the Marylanders, who 
 had been to Greene what the Tenth Legion had been to 
 Caesar, was simply heart-breaking, and it occurred at 
 the very moment when victory was within their grasp. 
 The panic unsettled the other regiments, which had done 
 so well, and there was a moment of indecision all along 
 the line — another moment or two and the army would 
 have been routed. 
 
 The Americans were wavering and retiring and the 
 fight had reached their guns. Greene was in the very 
 thick of it, as was Rawdon, and both narrowly escaped 
 being killed. The efforts the two men made were pro- 
 digious — Greene to stand his ground and Rawdon to 
 continue his advance. The First Marylanders were 
 rallied by their officers and came on again, though, 
 of course, not with their usual spirit and success. 
 Rawdon's attack, however, would have been suc- 
 cessful, had it not been for the arrival of Washington, 
 
io6 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 who had learned of the disaster and had acted with 
 the promptness of Greene himself; releasing his 
 prisoners, he brought up his cavalry on the gallop. 
 His quick eye detected the critical nature of the 
 situation, and he boldly charged through the scat- 
 tered ranks of his own army and fell like a thunder- 
 bolt upon the British about the guns. By the mad 
 impetuosity of his charge, Rawdon's men were borne 
 back and driven down the hill. But a moment's respite 
 was afforded by this rugged little band of heroic caval- 
 rymen, and as soon as the force of their dash was spent 
 Rawdon re-formed the men. But that moment had been 
 enough for Greene. He had instantly taken advantage 
 of that diversion to withdraw his guns in good order 
 and effect a retreat! Rawdon hovered in his rear, 
 which was covered by the remnants of Washington's 
 intrepid cavalry, for a little while, but finally returned 
 to Camden. 
 
 The loss on the American side was nineteen killed, 
 one hundred and fifteen wounded and one hundred and 
 thirty-six missing, most of the latter being militia, 
 making a total of two hundred and seventy. The Brit- 
 ish loss was thirty-eight killed and two hundred and 
 twenty wounded and missing. The total number en- 
 gaged on both sides was about two thousand, making 
 the total percentage of loss about twenty-five! As 
 usual, Greene had lost a battle but had won a campaign. 
 Rawdon, finding his communications cut off in every 
 direction, was forced to abandon Camden and retreat 
 upon Charleston. Greene was very much chagrined 
 over his lost battle, which he would have won but for 
 an unaccountable accident, but he philosophically made 
 the best of the situation and resolutely girded up his 
 
Greene's Carolina Campaign 107 
 
 loins for another fight. To the "French minister he 
 wrote at this time : "We fight, we get beat, rise and 
 fight again," and the state of his mind is indicated by 
 his orders for the day after the battle. The parole he 
 gave was "Perseverance," and the countersign, "Forti- 
 tude." There was something very fine in the grim 
 tenacity and persistence of this devoted soldier. 
 
 Greene at once moved forward and. laid siege to the 
 last British post in the interior at Ninety-six. It was 
 the strongest of the British fortifications and the most 
 heavily garrisoned. The commanding officer was Col- 
 onel Cruger, of the famous New York regiment of loy- 
 alists. He skilfully and bravely defended his post. 
 On the twenty-second of May, Greene and Kosciusko, 
 the Polish engineer, made a careful reconnoissance of 
 the position. The works were so strong that the Amer- 
 ican despaired of effecting their capture with his small 
 force, yet he determined to attempt it. The operations 
 carried on were those of a regular siege, approaches be- 
 ing made by parallels, and the first parallel was broken 
 at about seventy yards from the fort on a dark, rainy 
 night. It was too near the works and, by a brilliant 
 sally, which was a complete success, Cruger broke 
 up the intrenching party, captured their tools, de- 
 stroyed the parallel, and returned without loss to his 
 entrenchments. The next parallel was opened at four 
 hundred yards — a proper distance — and the work was 
 thenceforward carried on vigorously and successful- 
 ly, though interrupted by frequent bold sorties from 
 the fort. A mine was begun at the end of the first 
 parallel, guns were mounted on the second, and the 
 cannonading began. Cruger was summoned to surren- 
 der on the third of June, and indignantly refused, 
 
io8 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 whereupon the third parallel was opened close to the 
 works. To facilitate their operations, the besiegers 
 made use of the Maham tower, which they found so 
 effective at Fort Watson and elsewhere. 
 
 Meanwhile reinforcements had arrived at Charleston 
 for Rawdon, and he at once advanced to relieve Nine- 
 ty-six. Lee had come in from the successful siege of 
 Augusta, which had raised the number of Greene's 
 force somewhat, though the other reinforcements, 
 which were to be sent to him from Virginia, had been 
 retained to defend that state against Cornwallis's in- 
 cursion. On the twelfth of June a man from Rawdon 
 succeeded in reaching Cruger with the advice that the 
 British commander had passed Orangeburg and was 
 marching hard to raise the siege. But little time was 
 left for the Americans, and as Greene could not bear to 
 abandon the siege without making a final effort to 
 capture the post, he decided to attempt to storm the 
 works. The assault was delivered with the greatest 
 gallantry and was partially successful, as the attacking 
 forces succeeded in establishing themselves in one of 
 the bastions. It was quite possible, if Greene had put 
 in every man he possessed, to have made good his foot- 
 ing and captured the fort. It was equally possible that 
 he might do so and still get no further than he had. It 
 was the old cjuestion that presented itself to him at 
 Guilford Court House, and he wisely chose to give up 
 a possible success in the face of a possible lost army, 
 so he reluctantly abandoned the siege. The defense 
 of Cruger had been magnificent. The American loss 
 had been one hundred and forty-seven; that of the 
 British, eighty-eight. 
 
 Rawdon arrived on the twenty-first of June with 
 about twenty-five hundred men. He immediately left 
 
Greene's Carolina Campaign 109 
 
 in pursuit of Greene, but the wily American was not to 
 be caught by him any more than by Cornwalhs. The 
 two armies never came in contact, though Rawdon's 
 advance did some heavy skirmishing with Lee and 
 Washington. Greene estabhshed himself on Rawdon's 
 flanks, changing his camp daily, until the enemy gave 
 up the futile pursuit indisgust. Abandoning Ninety-six, 
 his last stronghold in the interior, which was untenable 
 now that the other British posts had been captured. Raw- 
 don retreated once more to Charleston. Again Greene 
 had been defeated, but had won a campaign! As soon 
 as Rawdon faced toward the sea, Greene was on his 
 heels again with the partizan cavalry hovering about 
 his flanks. No man was ever better served by his 
 scouts than Greene, and did Rawdon stop his march and 
 face about, the wary American at once withdrew from 
 his vicinity. It was impossible to bring him to battle or 
 to force him at bay, so the superior and victorious army 
 continued its dogged march to the seaboard, pursued 
 and aggravated and goaded on by the inferior and de- 
 feated force. They might defeat Greene, but they could 
 not disarrange his plans or break his spirit ; and his men 
 seem to have entered into the feelings and aspirations 
 of their leader. 
 
 It has not been mentioned before, but in this whole 
 campaign, from beginning to end, Greene never had 
 anything that was necessary to make an efficient army. 
 His men were deficient in everything. He had no 
 money, no tents, no provisions, no supply-train, but 
 little ammunition, and arms which were mainly cap- 
 tured from their enemy; the men were barefoot, ragged, 
 hungry, tired, sick and wounded — but they were men ! 
 And they showed it in the whole campaign. On the 
 tenth of July Sumter and Marion joined Greene with 
 
no American Fights and Fighters 
 
 about one thousand state troops and militia, bringing 
 up his total force to about two thousand men. He at 
 once determined to give battle again, and moved closer 
 to the retreating Rawdon, who had by this time reached 
 Orangeburg. Greene occupied a strong position in 
 front of Rawdon, expecting that the British commander 
 would come out and attack him. Rawdon, however, 
 declined to do so, his experience at Hobkirk's Hill 
 had been sufficient to discourage him; and finding the 
 British position too strong to be carried, Greene with- 
 drew to the high hills of the Santee to give his tatter- 
 demalion heroes an opportunity to recuperate during" 
 the hot months of the summer, while the partizan 
 bands continued their adventurous raids with much 
 success in the vicinity of Charleston. 
 
 Rawdon, sick and worn out with his arduous cam- 
 paigning, started to New York on leave of absence, 
 turning over the command to Colonel Stewart. The 
 vessel in which Rawdon sailed had the ill-luck to be 
 captured by De Grasse, and the unfortunate comman- 
 der had the privilege of sharing the fate which soon 
 after befell his old leader and chief, Cornwallis. On 
 the twenty-third of August the indomitable American 
 commander broke camp and moved for Stewart's right 
 flank" in the hope of interposing himself between that 
 commander and Charleston. On account of the lack 
 of river transportation, a circuitous march was neces- 
 sitated which led him through Camden. As soon as 
 Stewart heard that Greene was on the move, he began a 
 retreat toward Charleston, and finally established him- 
 self in a strong position at a place called Eutaw 
 Springs. Greene, sending all his heavy baggage to the 
 rear, at once moved forward in pursuit. On the eighth 
 of September the two armies were almost in touch. 
 
Greene's Carolina Campaign 1 1 1 
 
 Greene formed his little force of about twenty-three 
 hundred men, one half of whom were Continentals 
 and the rest militia, in two columns, the North and 
 South Carolina militia in one column, the Continentals 
 from North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland in the 
 other, and advanced early in the morning as usual, to 
 make the attack ; this time he determined to begin the 
 battle instead of waiting the British attack as hereto- 
 fore. Lee was stationed on the right flank, Henderson, 
 with some South Carolina cavalry, on the left, Wash- 
 ington and the remnants of the Delaware battalion in 
 the rear. Two three-pound guns went with the first 
 column and two six-pound guns with the second. 
 Stewart's force amounted to about twenty-five hundred 
 men — or about the same number as Greene had — and 
 comprised the sixty-third and sixty-fifth regiments, a 
 battalion of grenadiers, Cruger's loyal New Yorkers, 
 and the third regiment from Ireland, known as the 
 "Buffs." They were encamped in a little clearing in 
 the midst of thick woods. 
 
 Greene stole up to them without being observed. 
 Two deserters apprised Stewart of Greene's proximity, 
 but he did not credit their story. Nevertheless, early 
 in the morning a small detachment of cavalry was sent 
 out to cover the "rooting parties," who were accus- 
 tomed to dig for sweet potatoes for the various regi- 
 ments every morning. This cavalry picket, under 
 Captain Coffin, met the advance guard of the Ameri- 
 cans at eight o'clock in the morning about four 
 miles from Eutaw Springs. Thinking that he had to 
 do with militia as usual. Coffin charged, but retreated 
 immediately, leaving forty prisoners in the hands of the 
 Americans and a large number of dead and wounded 
 on the field. The unarmed potato pickers, hearing the 
 
112 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 fire, came out on the road and were all captured — it 
 was an auspicious opening of the day. The rattle of 
 the small arms in the woods at once apprised Stewart 
 that something serious was about to happen, and he 
 drew up his force under the trees across the road lead- 
 ing through the forest, his three pieces of artillery 
 commanding the road. A battalion of light infantry 
 protected the right flank, the British reserve being sta- 
 tioned on the left. Greene deployed his two columns 
 into line as quickly as the thickly wooded ground 
 would permit, and sent the artillery on ahead to open 
 the battle. He moved his forces forward slowly until 
 he came upon the enemy's lines. 
 
 The militia, who formed the first line, under Pickens 
 and Marion fought with the greatest determination, 
 holding their ground for a long time, but they were 
 finally forced back in the center. The North Carolina 
 Continentals were then ordered forward to reinforce 
 the first line, which again renewed the battle and 
 gained some ground, though it was afterward slowly 
 driven back again. Greene then despatched Wash- 
 ington and his cavalry against the British right, under 
 Major Marjoribanks, and Lee, with the light infantry 
 and the cavalry of the legion, against the British left. 
 At the same time, Colonels Williams and Camp- 
 bell, wath the Virginia and Maryland Continentals, 
 were sent forward to the first line and were in- 
 structed not to fire but to make free use of the bayonet, 
 Greene himself leading the charge. Their determined 
 assault was bravely met all along the line. Meanwhile 
 Washington was unsuccessful on the left ; Marjoribanks 
 put up a desperate defense, and the thick woods did not 
 allow the cavalry to be used to advantage. Washing- 
 ton's horse was shot under him, he was thrust through 
 
Greene's Carolina Campaign 1 13 
 
 with a bayonet, and would have been kihed had it not 
 been for a British officer who took him prisoner. All his 
 officers but two were killed or wounded, and he lost 
 over one half of his men. The remnant of his force 
 was driven back and their retreat was covered by Col- 
 onel Wade Hampton and some South Carolina parti- 
 zans. In the center, however, things had gone better. 
 The men came to close quarters and crossed bayonets. 
 Colonel Campbell was killed, Colonels Henderson and 
 Howard likewise, and many others wounded. The 
 struggle was maintained with the utmost fury and 
 without advantage on either side, the lines swaying 
 back and forth like gigantic wrestlers, until Lee, who 
 had succeeded in breaking the British left, turned and 
 took the British line in reverse. As the light horse 
 came sweeping down on the flank, the British gave way 
 in every direction. Two of the three guns were cap- 
 tured, three hundred prisoners were taken, and finally 
 the whole line broke and fled for life, hotly pursued by 
 the triumphant Continentals on the dead run. 
 
 The British forces rushed pell-mell through the 
 woods until they reached the clearing, where Stewart 
 finally succeeded in rallying them some distance in the 
 rear of the camp. Cruger and Sheridan and the New 
 Yorkers threw themselves in a stout brick house on the 
 edge of a garden surrounded by a high fence. Mar- 
 joribanks and his men took possession of the fence 
 and poured in a heavy fire. The British and Lee's 
 men had reached the house at the same time ; there was 
 a furious struggle for its possession, but the British 
 finally secured it, and by the most heroic exertions, 
 Stewart got his line re-formed. From the upper win- 
 dows of the house the New Yorkers poured a hot fire 
 on the Continentals. Unfortunately, the American 
 
1 14 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 advance had led straight through the British camp, 
 which was filled with good things to eat, as breakfast 
 was being prepared when the fight began. The men 
 would have resisted the temptation which lay in ordi- 
 nary plunder, but they were actually hungry. They 
 fell into great disorder in the presence of the first sub- 
 stantial breakfast they had seen for perhaps six months ! 
 The British seeing the state of affairs made a deter- 
 mined advance. It was met with varying success; in 
 some parts of the line they took prisoners and drove 
 the Americans back, in other parts they were repulsed. 
 The balance of the advantage, however, was with them, 
 and in the confusion, in which the Americans had been 
 led by their appetites, Greene determined to withdraw 
 — another bitter resolution but, as usual, a wise one. 
 It was now nearly noon, the battle having lasted about 
 four hours. Greene fell back to his camp of the morn- 
 ing and Stewart, of course, attempted no pursuit. On 
 the next day the P2nglishman destroyed his baggage 
 and supplies and leaving his sick and wounded and one 
 thousand stand of arms, he began a hasty retreat to- 
 ward Charleston. 
 
 This may be counted, fairly enough, a victory for 
 Greene, though the British have always claimed it as a 
 drawn battle. Greene reported to Washington that it 
 was the most bloody battle and obstinate fight he ever 
 saw. The American loss was five hundred and twenty- 
 two, one fourth of their entire strength, the loss of the 
 officers being unusually severe. The British loss, ac- 
 cording to their own figures, was seven hundred, but 
 the number of prisoners which Greene carried off the 
 field of battle brought the British loss up to at least 
 nine hundred, which made it almost forty per cent, of 
 the number engaged ! Thereafter the British withdrew 
 
Oh .= 
 
Greene's Carolina Campaign 115 
 
 within the walls of Charleston and there they stayed, 
 and there was no more war in the Carolinas. 
 
 For about eight months Greene had been in the 
 field. His force had fought four pitched battles, one of 
 which, the Cowpens, had been an overwhelming victory, 
 two others, Guilford Court House and Hobkirk's 
 Hill, defeats, and the last one, Eutaw Springs, a sub- 
 stantial victory. He had won from an enemy, who 
 always overmatched him in their total numbers, three 
 provinces. He had carried on one determined siege — 
 Ninety-six — himself, and through his lieutenants had 
 captured every other fortified post in his department. 
 He had so manoeuvered as to always have the greater 
 force — with the exception of the action at the Cow- 
 pens — at the point of attack, although the total number 
 of his command was always greatly inferior to the total 
 of the British. He had forced Cornwallis and his 
 troops out of the field, had out-manoeuvered Raw- 
 don, had beaten Stewart, and had captured every posi- 
 tion for which he had made an attempt. He had been 
 pursued with the most determined persistence by all 
 the British commanders in turn, and had outwitted 
 them all, marching over a thousand miles at the 
 head of his men. He had done this with an army 
 which at no time consisted of more than one thou- 
 sand regular soldiers; he had made the best possible 
 use of the irregulars, the militia, and the partizan 
 bands of Marion and Sumter, and had preserved 
 peace and harmony between those dashing soldiers, 
 unaccustomed to brook restraint from any one. He 
 had done this without a military treasure chest, 
 without supplies — almost without assistance from any 
 one — single-handed and alone. All this constitutes a 
 military achievement almost unparalleled. 
 
ii6 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 There was no more fighting, for six weeks after the 
 battle of Etitaw Springs Cornwallis surrendered, and 
 one year afterward Charleston was evacuated. At 
 the head of his ragged veterans, on December 14, 1782, 
 the gallant Rhode Islander entered the city. The grate- 
 ful people, crowding the streets in the sunshine of that 
 winter morning, rained flowers and blessings upon the 
 great soldier, who had so brilliantly fought their battles. 
 The legislatures of the various States gave him large 
 grants of land and some gifts of money, most of which 
 went to redeem the personal pledges he had made from 
 time to time, of his personal credit, to get bread and 
 powder for his devoted men. Four years after the war 
 lie died of sunstroke in that South land for which he 
 had warred and in which he had chosen to make his 
 home. These are the words regarding him, written 
 by one of his friends, his comrade "Mad Anthony 
 Wayne." 
 
 "My dear friend. General Greene, is no more. He 
 was great as a soldier, greater as a citizen, immaculate as 
 a friend. Pardon this scrawl, my feelings are too much 
 affected, because I have seen a great and good man 
 die." In the long roll of men who made possible that 
 glorious liberty which we now enjoy, by their sacri- 
 fices and struggles and their heroic devotion in the hard 
 days of the Revolution, no name, save Washington, 
 should stand higher than that of the great and heroic 
 soldier to whom the South owes her independence. 
 
STORM AND SURPRISE 
 
 I. TICONDEROGA 
 
 Up to the date of the Civil War there was more fight- 
 ing" around the point which Lotbiniere fortified at the 
 head of Lake George than in any other spot on the con- 
 tinent; from the days of the advent of the romantic 
 Champlain,who fought a severe battle with the Iroquois 
 where the fort was subsequently located, to and includ- 
 ing the War of 1812, it was the scene of innumerable 
 conflicts. In the year 1775 the fort, which had cost the 
 English so much blood and treasure to capture from the 
 French, was negligently garrisoned by forty-three men 
 under the command of Captain Delaplace. It was an 
 immense depot of supplies, there being not less than 
 two hundred cannon, besides large quantities of other 
 military stores of great value, kept there and at the 
 adjoining post of Crown Point. 
 
 Fired by the news of Lexington and Concord, Bene- 
 dict Arnold had suggested the possibility of the capture 
 of the fort at Ticonderoga. His proposed enterprise 
 had been sanctioned and he was granted a colonel's 
 command by the State of Massachusetts, with permis- 
 sion to enlist a regiment wherever he could, to carry 
 
 117 
 
ii8 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 out his project. A similar idea, however, had occurred 
 to one Ethan Allen who, in command of a small party 
 of hardy men known as the "Green Mountain Boys," 
 had been maintaining, a la Robin Hood, a bold freedom 
 in the hills of Vermont and New Hampshire, in open 
 rebellion to the authority of the Province of New York, 
 which claimed jurisdiction over the disputed country. 
 Before Arnold had time to enlist any men, he heard of 
 Allen's design and at once joined him, claiming the 
 command of the assembled force by virtue of his com- 
 mission. The Green Mountain Boys, however, would 
 have none of him. Choosing Allen for their leader, 
 and being joined by some fifty Massachusetts men and 
 a number of others from the adjoining country, under 
 the redoubtable Seth Warner and Jonathan Easton, 
 they determined upon the capture of the fort at Ticon- 
 deroga. The unrecognized Arnold was fain to go 
 along with them as a volunteer. 
 
 On the night of May 6, 1775, the little band, amount- 
 ing to about two hundred and fifty men, reached the 
 lake opposite the fort. They found that but few boats 
 could be collected and, even by using the greatest dili- 
 gence, they were unable to get more than eighty-three 
 men across the river before morning. What was to be 
 done? If they waited for the rest to come over they 
 would of course be discovered and all hope of a sur- 
 prise would be lost. To many they seemed too few in 
 numbers to do anything but retrace their steps and try 
 it over some other time. It was a critical moment, but 
 Allen was equal to it, he knew that other time would 
 probably never come, it was then or never. He drew 
 his men up in line and addressed them in the bom- 
 bastic but effective style of which he was a master. 
 
Storm and Surprise 119 
 
 He announced his intention of attacking the fort with- 
 out waiting for the rest to join and concluded with 
 these words : "It is a desperate attempt and I ask no 
 man to go against his will. 1 will take the lead and be 
 the first to advance. You who are willing to follow, 
 poise your firelocks." Inspired by his words and exam- 
 ple the men fairly threw their pieces in the air in their 
 eagerness to be off. Guided by a country boy of the 
 vicinity, they made their way through the woods, and in 
 the gray of the morning climbed the hill silently and 
 without noise. As they came creeping softly around 
 the wall of the fort, they observed that the main gate 
 was closed, but the wicket was open. Before the sleepy 
 sentry at the sally-port had more than time to snap his 
 musket, which missed fire, Allen and Arnold, who were 
 in the lead, were upon him. He was knocked down, 
 his piece was wrenched from him, and with loud cheers 
 the Americans poured into the fort through the covered 
 way. 
 
 Another sentry inside made something of a fight, 
 discharging his piece ineffectively and gallantly rush- 
 ing forward to use the bayonet, when he was wounded 
 and overpowered. By Allen's direction, his men drew 
 themselves up in a hollow square in front of the bar- 
 racks and the officers' quarters, facing out, and when 
 the surprised British rushed out on the parade, 
 they found themselves looking down a row of polished 
 gun-barrels. Under threat of instant death, the cap- 
 tured sentry pointed out the commandant's house, and 
 Allen ran over and thundered against the door with the 
 hilt of his sabre. "Come forth instantly," he shouted, 
 "or I will sacrifice the whole garrison." Delaplace, 
 who had been awakened by the confusion, at once 
 
I20 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 opened the door. He was still in his night clothes and 
 carried his trousers in his hand. Behind him appeared 
 the white-capped face of his frightened wife. "Deliver 
 me up the fort instantly," cried Allen. "By what au- 
 thority do you ask?" asked the surprised and startled 
 commander, who had not even heard that there was a 
 revolution in the land. Allen's famous answer has 
 rung through the years from that day to this and is 
 enough to have gained him immortality. "In the name 
 of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!" 
 he replied. Either of these adjurations was sufficient. 
 Delaplace began to remonstrate, but was sternly si- 
 lenced, and with Allen's sword at his throat he reluc- 
 tantly gave up the post and ordered his men to be 
 paraded without arms. 
 
 Thus the fort, which had been so brilliantly de- 
 fended by Montcalm, which had cost England eight 
 million pounds sterling, a succession of desperate 
 campaigns and many lives before she took it from 
 the French, was captured in ten minutes by less 
 than one hundred provincials and undisciplined vol- 
 unteers, without the loss of a man ! At the same time, 
 Seth Warner, another Green Mountain Boy, captured 
 the fort at Crown Point while Arnold, with some 
 other men, sailed down Lake Champlain and cap- 
 tured St. Johns, and a third detachment took posses- 
 sion of Skenesborough, at the foot of Lake George. 
 Thus the whole country came into possession of the 
 Americans. They secured over two hundred cannon 
 and vast quantities of military stores, which were im- 
 mediately forwarded to Washington's army, and with- 
 out which, at that time, it would have been almost 
 impossible to carry on the Revolution. 
 
Storm and Surprise 121 
 
 II. STONY POINT 
 
 While Washington and Clinton were warily watching 
 each other about New York in 1779, the British com- 
 mander amused himself by sending predatory forces 
 in various directions to raid the country. The British 
 some time before had captured Stony Point, a rocky 
 peninsula commanding the Hudson, which extended 
 into the water and was surrounded by it on three sides, 
 connection with the mainland being only practicable at 
 low tide by a causeway which led through a morass. 
 The Americans had begun the erection of a fort on the 
 point when it was captured by Clinton, and which he 
 had completed. It was strongly garrisoned, provided 
 with cannon, rifle-pits and two rows of abattis. Wash- 
 ington determined to take the position ; first to let 
 Clinton know that he was still to be reckoned with, and 
 second, to effect the recall of some of the marauding ex- 
 cursions. He selected to command the attack Brigadier- 
 General Anthony W^ayne, one of his distinguished sub- 
 ordinates. Wayne was a Pennsylvanian, a wealthy, 
 cultivated gentleman, of fine military ability and the 
 highest courage. He had various nicknames in the 
 army and among the Indians, with whom he afterward 
 fought, among which were "Black Snake," "Tornado," 
 and "Dandy Wayne," — the last from his love of mili- 
 tary finery. But the best kno\vn epithet and the one 
 which has clung to him is that of "Mad Anthony," from 
 his reckless and dare-devil courage; the name gives a 
 false impression of his character, however, as none 
 could be more cool and wary or provident and deter- 
 mined than he, especially in his later years when he 
 fought the Indians with such signal success. 
 
122 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 When Washington asked him if he would accept the 
 duty and storm Stony Point, he said tersely, "I'll storm 
 Hell, General, if you will lay the plan !" The great com- 
 mander-in-chief did lay the plan with the utmost care, 
 even going so far as to have all the dogs for three miles 
 in the vicinity of the fort privately killed to prevent 
 them giving the alarm. "As most of the affairs of this 
 kind are attempted in the early morning before day- 
 break," he remarked, "at which hour a good comman- 
 der is most alert, we will deliver this attack about 
 midnight." Orders were sent to put in another cooper- 
 ating force from West Point in case the attack succeed- 
 ed. The light infantry, who were to make the attack, 
 marched to within a mile of the fort without discovery 
 on the night of the fifteenth of July. None of the mus- 
 kets of the men were charged and orders were given 
 to rely entirely upon the bayonet — this is the first time 
 it was to be formally tried as a main dependence in the 
 Continental army. The assaulting force, numbering 
 about twelve hundred men, was divided into three col- 
 umns, and a reserve of three hundred under General 
 Muhlenberg, with Lee's light cavalry, were left on the 
 shore. Wayne and his principal officers had carefully 
 reconnoitered the fort to enable them to proceed under- 
 standingly. About half after eleven at night the men 
 were paraded and told the object of their expedition 
 which, until then, had been kept profoundly secret. 
 They were eager to make the attempt. 
 
 Guided by a negro of the neighborhood, who had 
 frequently sold fruit and vegetables to the garrison and 
 who knew the countersign, they advanced quietly 
 through the darkness in two main columns to attack 
 right and left, with a smaller column in front. One 
 hundred and fifty volunteers, commanded by Lieutenant 
 
Storm and Surprise 123 
 
 Colonel Fleiiry and Major Posey, formed the van of the 
 right column under Wayne himself, one hundred 
 volunteers under Major Stewart, the van of the 
 left column under Colonel Febiger ; in advance of each 
 of these assaulting columns was a forlorn hope of 
 twenty men each, led by Lieutenants Knox and Gib- 
 bons, whose duty it was to remove the abattis. The 
 negro guide was accompanied by two stout soldiers 
 disguised as farmers. He gave the countersign to the 
 first two sentinels they reached in succession, and while 
 he held them in conversation, they were seized and 
 gagged by the pseudo-farmers, without having been 
 able to fire a gun. They found the causeway over- 
 flowed when they reached it and were forced to wait 
 until half after twelve until the water subsided, there- 
 upon the charge was ordered. The British were at 
 once called to arms. 
 
 The Americans silently rushed upon the pickets 
 in spite of their fire. The forlorn hopes threw 
 aside the abattis, losing, in one instance, eighteen men 
 out of the twenty, and the two columns dashed through 
 the openings, brushing aside the inner guards, and 
 under a heavy fire of grape from the cannon of the 
 bastions, most of which overshot their mark, and a brisk 
 musketry discharge, they sprang upon the walls of the 
 fort shouting the countersign, "The fort is our own!" 
 Colonel Fleury was the first man to leap over the 
 ramparts, where he lowered the English flag with his 
 own hands. At the inner row of abattis, Wayne was 
 struck down by a musket shot which grazed his head. 
 Thinking, in the confusion, that he had received his 
 death wound, he cried feebly, "Carry me into the fort, 
 and let me die at the head of the column." His aides 
 picked him up and rushed forward with him until he 
 
124 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 recovered himself. The two columns scaled the ram- 
 parts at nearly the same time and met in the middle of 
 the fort, before the garrison had entirely awakened 
 or fully recovered from their surprise, whereupon the 
 place was at once surrendered. The loss of the Ameri- 
 cans was eighty-three killed and wounded ; that of the 
 British ninety-two, and about five hundred prisoners. 
 No inhumanity marked the capture and no surrendered 
 man was put to the sword — there was no massacre 
 and murder — according to the British practice on simi- 
 lar occasions. At daybreak the guns of the fort were 
 turned upon Fort Lafayette and the ships-of-war, and 
 the latter at once cut their cables and dropped down the 
 river. Through some blunder the supporting detach- 
 ment, which was to come down from West Point, did 
 not arrive in time and, when they did come, brought 
 no ammunition for their siege guns. Fort Lafayette 
 therefore held out. 
 
 Clinton at once moved up the Fludson in force, hop- 
 ing to tempt Washington from his strong defensive 
 position, and get him to hazard a battle to hold Stony 
 Point. Washington inspected the fort carefully, and 
 finding that it would take at least fifteen hundred men to 
 hold it properly, which he could ill spare, and as he had 
 no wish to risk a battle on unfavorable terms, he de- 
 termined to abandon the post, which he did on the 
 eighteenth of July, after removing the cannon and 
 stores and destroying the works ; taking away property 
 to the value of one hundred and sixty thousand dollars, 
 which had fallen into the hands of the victors. The 
 storming of Stony Point was the most brilliant achieve- 
 ment of the war. The Americans captured the position 
 without firing a gun, relying entirely upon the use 
 of the bayonet. Wayne gained the greatest credit for 
 the courage and daring with which he carried out the 
 
Storm and Surprise 125 
 
 plan of the commander-in-chief. When he heard the 
 news of their evacuation, CHnton occupied the position 
 after the American withdrawal, but he soon abandoned 
 it as untenable ; he had previously recalled his maraud- 
 ing parties and thereafter kept his army together in 
 New York, well in hand, uncertain where he would be 
 attacked again. 
 
 III. PAULUS HOOK 
 
 He was not left long in doubt, however, for the daring 
 exploit of Wayne had kindled the imagination of an- 
 other young soldier, equally hardy and bold. Richard 
 Henry Lee, commanding the famous Virginia cavalry 
 and known as "Light Horse Harry Lee," in one of his 
 scouting expeditions, discovered that the British fort 
 at Paulus Hook was negligently garrisoned by an 
 over-confident enemy. Paulus Hook is a long, low 
 point on the Jersey shore just opposite New York, 
 stretching out into the Hudson and connected with the 
 mainland by a sandy isthmus. It is almost an island 
 in fact; for a creek, fordable in but two places, ren- 
 dered the Hook difficult of access. Between the fort 
 and the creek a deep trench had been cut across the 
 isthmus, over which access to the post was to be had 
 by a drawbridge and barred gate on the land side of 
 the fort ; there was also a double row of abattis around 
 the walls. The garrison amounted to about four hun- 
 dred men. To take it was a smaller but much more 
 desperate undertaking than the attempt on Stony Point, 
 on account of the difficulties the attacking party would 
 have, even if successful, in getting away, owing to the 
 nearness of the enemy's main army in New York and 
 vicinity. 
 
 On the eighteenth of August, 1779, the expedition 
 
126 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 started. Lee divided his forces, sending a portion of 
 them in a different direction, under Captain Allan Mc- 
 Lane, who was to join him before the fort, while he 
 himself commanded the main attacking column. In 
 the darkness of the night and through some misunder- 
 standing, when Lee reached the Hook at midnight the 
 others did not come up. The contingent of loyal Amer- 
 icans, who ordinarily garrisoned the position, had been 
 withdrawn, and some of the best of the Hessian merce- 
 naries had supplanted them. Lee did not know this, 
 but if he had it would have made no difference. 
 The failure of McLane to arrive had seriously weakened 
 his force, of course; but, as he said, he had come to at- 
 tack, and if he could not take the fort with his party, 
 they had at least enough men to get in it and die there. 
 That is the kind of man Lee was. The watchword he 
 gave was "Be firm." It was after three o'clock in the 
 morning, on account of their very long wait for Mc- 
 Lane, when he gave the word to advance. Although 
 the tide was rising, the men plunged in boldly and 
 struggled across the morass without a sound. They 
 waded through the ditch and as they climbed up the 
 bank they were discovered. The startled garrison 
 sprang to arms and opened a hasty fire at once, but the 
 "foot cavalry," the dismounted light horse, were too 
 quick for them. They rushed into the works, clearing 
 their way with the point of the bayonet. 
 
 Twelve of the British were killed and wounded, and 
 but five of the Americans. Sutherland, the commander 
 of the post, with sixty of the Hessians threw himself 
 into a small blockhouse on the left of the fort and 
 opened a scattering fire which did no damage. The 
 rest of the garrison, to the number of one hundred and 
 fifty-nine, including three officers, were tumbled out of 
 
Storm and Surprise 127 
 
 their quarters and captured before they had time to 
 thoroughly awaken, and Lee, in accordance with the 
 vStrict orders wliich he had received from Washington, 
 abandoned the fort at once, without disturbing the men 
 in the blockhouse or attempting to spike the guns. 
 After some desperate adventures he reached Washing- 
 ton's camp in safety with all his prisoners. As a bril- 
 liant coup de main, it would be hard to surpass this 
 enterprise ; it was like pulling the nose of the king on 
 his throne in the very presence of his assembled court 
 and getting away safely ; and it gave the British a very 
 healthy regard indeed, in conjunction with the affair 
 at Stony Point, for the American troops thereafter. 
 
SOME MINOR SEA-FIGHTS 
 OF THE REVOLUTION 
 
 I. BIDDLE AND THE RANDOLPH 
 
 After John Paul Jones, the most daring naval officer 
 of the Revolution was Captain Nicholas Biddle, a 
 notable scion of the distinguished American family of 
 that name. From his early youth he had followed the 
 sea, experiencing in full measure the hardships and 
 dangers, including several shipwrecks, of that arduous 
 calling. On the occasion of a threatened outbreak be- 
 tween England and Spain over the Falkland Islands, 
 at his own request he had been appointed a midshipman 
 in the British navy. When it was seen that there would 
 be no war, moved by a spirit of adventure, he applied 
 for and received a leave of absence, during which he 
 shipped before the mast — as the orders were to take no 
 midshipman or boys — in Captain Phipps' expedition 
 to the North Pole. Another lad who had been actuated 
 by the same spirit had done the same thing — his name 
 was Horatio Nelson! The two boys, who became great 
 friends, were both promoted to the rank of coxswain 
 before their return and both gave promise of their sub- 
 sequent ability. 
 
 Of course Biddle was commissioned in the Conti- 
 128 
 
Some Minor Sea-Fights 129 
 
 nental navy at the outbreak of the Revolution, and in 
 the early part of the war, while in command of the 
 Andria Doria, a small vessel armed with four six-pound 
 guns, he made a brilliantly successful cruise, capturing 
 ten prizes in a short time, including two armed trans- 
 ports carrying over four hundred soldiers ! When the 
 Andria Doria reached port after this cruise she had but 
 five of her original crew on board, the rest being dis- 
 tributed on her various prizes. After this, in February, 
 1777, he was given the command of the new thirty-two- 
 gun frigate Randolph, just built by the Government, 
 and at that time the best ship in the navy. He made 
 two successful cruises in her off Charleston, taking 
 many prizes, one of them a twenty-gun war vessel 
 with a convoy of three valuable merchant ships, all of 
 which he captured. He was a great favorite with the 
 gallant South Carolinians while he was blockaded in 
 Charleston Harbor for nearly a year, and they fitted 
 out a State fleet of five small vessels which, under his 
 command, set forth to seek the erstwhile blockading 
 squadron of the enemy which had disappeared before 
 they sailed. They were not successful in finding this 
 squadron, however, although they captured several 
 prizes while cruising to the southward. 
 
 On March 7, 1778, a large sail was sighted off 
 Martinique, some accounts say at five in the morn- 
 ing, some at the same hour in the afternoon; the 
 difference is not material however, for it was the action 
 not the time that counted. The squadron made for the 
 approaching vessel, but as the hours wore away she was 
 discovered to be a large ship-of-the-line — the Yar- 
 mouth, 64. Biddle now signalled to his squadron of 
 small and lightly armed merchant vessels and prizes to 
 make sail to escape. He then stood boldly down to- 
 
130 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 ward the enemy, to cover their retreat. It was an act 
 of the greatest hardihood and resolution for a small 
 thirty-two-gun frigate to engage a heavily built ship- 
 of-the-line with her massive scantling and frames. 
 The difference in the number of guns on the two 
 ships, two to one, does not by any means indicate the 
 difference in effective force between them, which could 
 be better expressed by the ratio of four or five to one, 
 especially considering the greater size and weight of 
 the liner's guns. It was like matching a bull terrier 
 against a mastiff in a finish fight to pit these two ships 
 against each other. 
 
 Biddle was game for anything — no braver man ever 
 trod a ship's deck than this young captain, just twenty- 
 seven years of age — but although he was heroic, he 
 was not foolish, as it would seem at first glance, for he 
 knew what he intended to do and what was necessary. 
 He intended to sacrifice his own ship in order to protect 
 the State cruisers and the prizes under his command ! 
 The odds against him were fearful, but the American 
 navy has ever laughed at odds. So Biddle took his life 
 in his hands and, supported by as stout-hearted and 
 reckless a crew as ever hauled a sheet or passed an 
 ear-ring, sailed boldly down on his huge antagonist. 
 Heroes one and all ! At eight o'clock the two ships had 
 drawn wnthin gunshot of each other when the Yar- 
 mouth hailed and asked the name of the smaller vessel, 
 and then demanded that she strike. 
 
 "This is the American Continental ship Randolph," 
 replied Biddle, gallantly, at the same time pouring in 
 a broadside, which was at once returned with fearful 
 effect b)'' the two-decker, as the ships were within pistol- 
 shot distance. It has been surmised that Biddle desper- 
 ately hoped to capture the Yarmouth by boarding, 
 
Some Minor Sea-Fights 131 
 
 though what he could have done with three hundred 
 men, if he had gained her decks, against six hundred 
 of the EngHsh is difficult to see. However, during 
 the whole of the action he endeavored to close — to 
 get nearer the enemy was his instinctive desire, that 
 is the kind of man he was! For forty minutes the 
 action was kept up with the greatest spirit, the ships 
 edging nearer together with every passing moment, 
 until at last they came in contact. At the end of that 
 time with a tremendous roar the Randolph blew up, 
 probably a shot had reached her magazine, though we 
 are certain of nothing except the fact of the explosion 
 which tore her to pieces. 
 
 The Yarmouth was hurled over on her beam ends 
 and covered with burning timber, sails, spars, and 
 
 , other debris and wreckage from the Randolph, in- 
 cluding a small, tightly rolled up American flag. 
 She had great difficulty in successfully fighting the 
 flames and repairing her rigging and spars, which 
 were much cut up by the fire of her puny and des- 
 
 ' perate antagonist, and her other casualties amounted 
 to four killed and twelve wounded. When she was in 
 condition to chase, the American ships were too far 
 away to be overhauled by the weakened battleship, and 
 they all escaped. Thus Biddle's heroic resolution had 
 effected his purpose. Five days after the battle, the 
 Yarmouth again cruising in the same vicinity, four 
 
 I men, starving and exhausted, were picked up from a 
 spar to which they had been clinging. They stated 
 
 I that they belonged to the ill-fated Randolph, and they 
 
 } were the only survivors of three hundred and fifteen 
 officers and men who had gallantly fought her until she 
 was destroyed. From them it was learned that Biddle 
 had been severely wounded in the leg in the early part of 
 
132 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 the action, but that he had refused to go below and had 
 remained sitting in a chair on the deck encouraging his 
 men and directing the fighting, while the surgeon 
 dressed his wounds — a gallant picture of an heroic sea- 
 man. Before he had sailed away on this cruise he 
 wrote to his brother as follows : "I know not what 
 may be our fate ; be it, however, what it may, you may 
 rest assured it will never cause a blush in the cheeks 
 of my friends or countrymen." And so Biddle was not 
 only a sailor, but a prophet as well ; for no American 
 fighter, in so short a career, ever gained more honor 
 on the sea than he. 
 
 II. NICHOLSON AND THE TRUMBULL 
 
 Another American naval officer who had a distin- 
 guished career was Captain John Nicholson. After the 
 dismissal of Esek Hopkins he became the senior officer 
 of the navy. On June 2, 1780, this officer, in command of 
 the small twenty-eight-gun frigate TnimhuU, discovered 
 a strange sail about four hundred miles east of Cape 
 May. Captain Nicholson ran in his guns, closed his 
 ports, set his sails carelessly, to give the impression 
 that his ship was a clumsy merchantman, and throwing 
 out drags to check his speed, succeeded in luring 
 the stranger under his guns. When the character of the 
 Trumbull was ascertained on closer approach, the 
 stranger, a large armed ship, much greater in force 
 than the Tnnnhull, made sail to escape, but was speed- 
 ily overhauled by the more rapid American frigate 
 which had meanwhile assumed her true character. 
 Nicholson then immediately cleared for action. When 
 within one hundred yards of each other, the two ships 
 began a murderous and obstinate fight which lasted for 
 
Some Minor Sea-Fights 133 
 
 three long hours. There appears to have been no 
 manoeuvering to speak of on either side; and the two 
 vessels, pouring into each other a rapid fire the while, 
 sailed side by side, sometimes drifting so close to- 
 gether that the yard-arms interlocked for the moment. 
 Each ship in succession was set on fire by burning gun- 
 wads, so near were they to each other. At the end 
 of the fight, when the fire of the enemy had almost 
 ceased, and Nicholson already considered the other 
 ship his prize, the mainmast of the TntmhuU, which 
 had been badly wounded, carried away, bringing with 
 it spar after spar until only the foremast of the frigate 
 was left standing. While the Americans were in this 
 helpless condition, the enemy, who had received more 
 than enough of it, made his escape; though, had he 
 been in condition to continue the fight, he should 
 easily have been able to compel the TruinhuU to strike. 
 It was afterward learned that he was the British pri- 
 vateer Watt of thirty-eight guns, mostly twelve-poun- 
 ders, which had been especially fitted out to take an 
 American frigate. 
 
 The loss of the TruinhuU was thirty-nine killed and 
 wounded, that of the Watt, ninety-two ! As she sailed 
 away it was seen that she was terribly cut up and her 
 main top-mast carried away; this loss was followed 
 later by that of most of her other spars. Some days 
 after the action, when his completely disabled ship was 
 towed into the harbor of New York, the captain of 
 the Watt was asked the name of his antagonist's com- 
 mander ; his answer was, "It must have been Paul Jones 
 or the devil. There never was a ship fought before 
 with such frantic desperation." There was no question 
 but that the Watt was a heavy overmatch for the Truin- 
 huU, and in thus beating the English ship to a standstill. 
 
134 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 and virtually winning the fight, Captain Nicholson had 
 done a very gallant thing. Many of the American 
 crew were green hands who had never been to sea be- 
 fore and suffered from the debilitating illness incident 
 thereto during the fight. With the exception of Jones' 
 greatest battle, this is considered to have been the sever- 
 est sea-fight of the Revolution. 
 
 In the summer of 1781, the Trumbull, still under 
 the command of stout old Nicholson, was convoying 
 a fleet of merchantmen off the Capes of Delaware. She 
 had a worse crew on than before. She was actually 
 short nearly two hundred of her quota, the total num- 
 ber of souls she carried being one hundred and twenty, 
 when her proper complement should have been over 
 three hundred. Of those she had, a large number were 
 British seamen who had conceived the plan of mutiny- 
 ing and capturing her, influenced by the heavy rewards 
 offered by the British Admiralty for such actions. 
 Captain Nicholson had as his lieutenants, however, 
 three men who were worth a ship's company ; they were 
 Alexander Murray, afterward highly distinguished, 
 Richard Dale, who had fought on the Bonhomme 
 Richard with such conspicuous devotion and courage, 
 and Christopher Raymond Perry, the father of the 
 subsequently famous Oliver Hazard Perry. The little 
 squadron had been chased by three British cruisers and 
 the merchantmen had put back and escaped, though the 
 Triunhnll continued at sea, desirous of getting a fight 
 out of the pursuers, could they be separated. During the 
 chase they all ran into a heavy gale which scattered the 
 British ships and in which the Trumbull unluckily 
 lost her foretopmast and main topgallant-mast late in 
 the evening. About ten o'clock on the night of the 
 
Some Minor Sea-Fights 135 
 
 eighth of August, two of the ships which had formerly 
 chased her again overhauled the American. 
 
 The British thirty-two-gun frigate Iris came down 
 on tlie starboard side, another vessel ranged alongside 
 on the port quarter, and they both opened fire. The 
 weather was rainy and squally with the sea run- 
 ning high; the Truinbull was still encumbered with 
 wreckage, which had not been entirely cleared away on 
 account of her being undermanned. Almost any offi- 
 cer would have struck at once, but Nicholson was not 
 made that way. At the first fire of the enemy, the Eng- 
 lishmen on the TriunbuU, having no interest in the 
 fight, ran below, where their withdrawal so aiffected a 
 large number of the green crew that they also deserted 
 their stations and fled below in great terror. Nichol- 
 son had less than fifty officers and men left to work the 
 crippled ship, clear away the wreck, and fight the 
 enemy — but those left, like Gideon's three hundred, 
 were of the very best. He did not think of surrendering 
 even then, and for more than an hour they actually 
 kept up a desperate and hopeless battle, the captain 
 and officers serving the guns with their own hands. 
 Finally when nearly forty per cent, of the little band 
 had been killed or wounded, a third English ship came 
 up and took position across the stern of the helpless 
 Truinbull and prepared to rake. TheTrunibull had only 
 one mast left standing, her gun-ports had been beaten 
 in, many guns dismounted, and Lieutenant Murray 
 was badly wounded ; to fight longer was to be murdered 
 at their stations or to sink alongside; there was nothing 
 more to gain, and Nicholson reluctantly struck the flag 
 he had so gallantly defended. With less than fifty men, 
 on a wrecked ship, he had fought nearly a thousand 
 
136 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 men in three ships, two of which were larger than his 
 own. This was certainly as honorable and singular 
 an action as was ever fought upon the seas, it reminds 
 one of Sir Richard Grenville's heroic defense of the 
 Revenge. The Iris was much cut up and reported seven 
 killed and wounded, the loss on the other ships was 
 never ascertained. 
 
 III. BARNEY AND THE HTDER ALLY 
 
 The only naval officer of the Revolution who survived 
 to bear a successful part in the War of 181 2 was Joshua 
 Barney. He had served with credit on a number of 
 small cruisers and private armed vessels, and had been 
 commissioned a lieutenant in the navy when in the year 
 1782 he was placed in command of the Hyder Ally, a 
 converted merchantman owned by the State of Penn- 
 sylvania, and armed with sixteen six-pounders. She 
 was to be used to convoy merchant ships between 
 Philadelphia and the Capes of the Delaware. On the 
 eighth of April, in the same year, in company with a 
 large fleet of some forty merchantmen she dropped 
 down to Cape May Roads. While they were waiting for 
 a favorable slant of wind to get to sea, three English 
 cruisers were seen coming in past the Capes, which at 
 once made for the merchant vessels. In obedience to 
 Barney's signals to fly, all but one of the convoy made 
 sail up the bay. That disobedient one attempted to get 
 to sea on her own account, struck on a shoal and was 
 captured. Barney leisurely followed the fleeing mer- 
 chantmen, hugging the shore the while, which his light- 
 er draft permitted, in order to cover their retreat. 
 
 The first of the English chasing ships edged in to- 
 
Some Minor Sea-Fights 137 
 
 ward the Hydcr Ally and exchanged broadsides with 
 her. Finding her rather heavier than she thought, she 
 made off, continuing in her efforts to overhaul the 
 fleeing convoy. She was a smaller ship than Barney's, 
 so he made no effort to chase and coolly waited for 
 larger game. The third English ship, the frigate 
 Quebec, had been forced to make a wide detour and 
 could not come within gunshot of the American on ac- 
 count of the shoal water ; but the second, a twenty-gun 
 sloop-of-war, called the General Monk, dashed boldly 
 at her, expecting an easy prey. Barney had instructed 
 his quartermaster at the wheel to do the very opposite 
 thing that he commanded, thus if he ordered the helm 
 to starboard, it was to be put to larboard, and so on. 
 As the English ship drew near, Barney loudly gave a 
 number of orders which, if they had been carried out, 
 would have resulted in laying his ship parallel to 
 that of the enemy. As the Englishman made his prep- 
 arations for the expected manceuver, he was aston- 
 ished to see the Hyder Ally, after exchanging a fierce 
 broadside with him, swing in toward him and cross 
 his bow, before he could prevent it. He was raked at 
 once and as the two ships came together, his jib-boom 
 was thrust across the American's deck, when it was at 
 once securely lashed to the main-shrouds by Barney's 
 own hands. 
 
 As the English ship swung partially around on the 
 quarter of the Hydcr Ally, some of her guns bore so 
 that she was not completely helpless. The Americans 
 now delivered the fire of their battery with unexam- 
 pled rapidity, discharging not less than twenty broad- 
 sides in twenty-six minutes, the English reply grow- 
 ing more feeble after each broadside. The General 
 Monk was terribly smashed up fore and aft, losing fif- 
 
138 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 ty-three out of her crew of one hundred and thirty-six, 
 or forty per cent., and in thirty minutes she struck her 
 flag! The EngHsh ship carried twenty nine-pounders 
 throwing ninety pounds to the broadside, as against 
 Barney's sixteen six-pounders throwing forty-eight! 
 Throwing a prize-crew on board, not even taking 
 time to ascertain the name of the ship he had captured, 
 the Hydcr Ally and the prize at once made sail up the 
 bay, and though hotly pursued by the British frigate 
 when they reached deep water, the other armed vessel 
 keeping considerately out of way, they succeeded in 
 effecting their escape. 
 
 The comment of J. Fenimore Cooper on this tidy 
 little fight is as follows: "This action has been justly 
 deemed one of the most brilliant that ever occurred 
 under the American flag. It was fought in the pres- 
 ence of a vastly superior force that was not engaged; 
 and the ship taken was, in every essential respect, su- 
 perior to her conqueror. The disproportion in metal 
 between a six-pounder and a nine-pounder, is one half; 
 and the Monk, besides being a heavier and larger ship, 
 had the most men." 
 
 The General Monk had been originally an American 
 armed ship called the General Washington. She 
 was restored to the service under her old name and 
 Barney made several successful cruises in her. In the 
 War of 1 81 2, after making some brilliant and success- 
 ful privateering cruises. Commodore Barney command- 
 ed the gunboat flotilla in the Chesapeake and on the 
 Potomac, in which he fought several courageous ac- 
 tions against superior force. At the disastrous land 
 battle of Bladensburg, which preceded the capture of 
 Washington, when the American militia were routed 
 by the British regulars, Barney and five hundred of his 
 seamen, who manned a battery posted on a little hill 
 
Some Minor Sea-Fights 139 
 
 in the American lines, almost redeemed the disgrace 
 to our arms by the desperate courage with which they 
 fought their guns and repulsed the enemy, until the 
 commodore himself was seriously wounded, many of 
 his men killed, and the little force surrounded by over- 
 whelming numbers, when they reluctantly surrendered. 
 Barney died in 1818, after nearly forty years of con- 
 spicuous and daring naval service. 
 
 IV. BARRY AND THE ALLIANCE 
 
 After Jones and Biddle the most eminent of the Amer- 
 ican naval commanders in the Revolution was John 
 Barry, a native of Ireland, who came to America in 
 early youth and followed the sea for a livelihood. He 
 was the first regularly commissioned officer of the navy 
 to get to sea as a lieutenant in command of the small 
 armed brig Lexington, sixteen guns and seventy-five 
 men. On April 16, 1775, he fell in with the armed 
 tender Edzvard, eight guns and thirty-five men. After 
 a spirited action of an hour in which the Edward was 
 cut to pieces and lost a large portion of her crew she 
 was captured. For this service Barry was made a cap- 
 tain and given command of the Effingliam, 28. In 
 the summer of 1777 she was blockaded in the Delaware 
 by the British expedition under Howe, but the gallant 
 Barry, pining under his enforced inaction, planned a 
 cutting out expedition, and with four boats captured 
 a ten-gun schooner-of-war without the loss of a man. 
 In the face of superior force he burned the schooner 
 and retreated safely. 
 
 He was next given command of the frigate Raleigh, 
 32. In this vessel he was chased off the New England 
 coast for several days, in 1778, by two ships, the Uni- 
 
140 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 corn, 28, and the Experiment, 50. Barry manoeuvered 
 his vessel brilHantly but was unable to escape. The 
 Unicorn succeeded in closing with him and a spirited 
 action ensued. The Raleigh was much cut up, but the 
 Unicorn was beaten and would have been captured by 
 boarding, had it not been for the advent of the Experi- 
 ment. Under a heavy fire from both ships, which he 
 returned with spirit, Barry ran the Raleigh ashore, in- 
 tending to burn her. While he was on shore, however, 
 superintending the erection of a battery and making 
 preparations to land the crew, the Raleigh was sur- 
 rendered by one of her ofificers. She lost twenty-five 
 in killed and wounded, while the Unicorn had lost ten 
 killed and many wounded. Barry gained much credit 
 for his determined and gallant resistance to vastly su- 
 perior force. 
 
 In 1 78 1 he was given the command of the Alliance, 
 32, the best frigate in the American navy. After taking 
 Laurens to France, he sailed on a cruise in English 
 waters in company with the Lafayette, a. French letter- 
 of-marque. On April third, the two ships made prizes 
 of the twenty-six-gun privateer Mars, and the ten-gun 
 privateer Minerva. Leaving the prizes to the care of 
 the Frenchman, the Alliance continued her cruise alone 
 with much success, taking many merchant ships. On 
 May twenty-eighth, two sail were discovered. The 
 wind, which had been very light, entirely died away and 
 left the Alliance becalmed. A little breeze still re- 
 mained with the strangers, however, and aided by large 
 sweeps, they succeeded in taking up positions on both 
 quarters of the frigate, where they commenced action. 
 For over an hour they poured their broadsides into the 
 American ship, which only had three nine-pounders 
 she could bring to bear to return the attack of an 
 
Some Minor Sea-Fights 141 
 
 eighteen-gun brig and a fourteen-gun brig. The un- 
 fortunate Alliance lay like a log in the still water and 
 was an easy mark for her antagonists, who were calmly 
 pounding her to pieces at their leisure. After an hour's 
 combat, just as Barry, who had been severely wounded 
 by grape shot, was being carried below and the Ameri- 
 can flag had been shot away, a little breeze sprang up 
 which filled the.sails of the frigate. The British think- 
 ing the Alliance had surrendered had left their guns 
 and were cheering gaily — they were soon undeceived. 
 As the American swung around, her heavy batteries 
 came into play. Sailing down between the two ships, 
 delivering her fire right and left, she soon forced them 
 to strike. They proved to be the brigs-of-war Atalanta 
 and Trcpassy. The English loss was twenty-one killed 
 and thirty wounded ; the American, eleven killed and 
 two wounded. 
 
 Still in command of the Alliance, in 1782, Barry 
 fought the last action of the war. Coming out of 
 Havana carrying specie, he was chased by three British 
 frigates. As the day wore away, a French fifty-gun 
 ship appeared on the horizon, whereupon, supposing 
 he would be supported by her, the brave Barry imme- 
 diately went about and stood for the nearest English 
 frigate. The other two frigates manoeuvered about the 
 Frenchman without coming into action with her. 
 Meanwhile the Alliance was hotly engaged with her 
 enemy, which proved to be the Sibyllc, 38, a slightly 
 superior ship to the Alliance. After an hour's conflict 
 the two English ships, in obedience to a signal of dis- 
 tress from the Sibyl le, abandoned their projected attack 
 upon the French fifty-gun ship and made for Barry, 
 who was forced to haul off without taking possession 
 of his beaten enemy. The Sibylle was a wreck. She 
 
142 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 had lost eighty-seven killed and wounded, while the loss 
 of the Alliance was only three killed and eleven wound- 
 ed. Barry had spurned several attempts which the 
 British made to bribe him to renounce his allegiance. 
 One offer is said to have amounted to fifteen thousand 
 pounds and the command of the best frigate in the 
 British navy. He lived to become the head of 
 the American navy and performed good service in the 
 w^ar with France. He died full of honors in 1803. 
 
YORKTOWN 
 
 The drums were beating a parley. An alert officer in 
 an American battery heard a faint tap-tap-tapping 
 above the roar of the cannonade; at his word the bat- 
 tery he commanded ceased its discharge; the drum 
 taps were heard more plainly, rolling, rattling with 
 ever increasing volume. Presently other ears caught 
 the welcome sound and gun after gun became curiously 
 silent. The tremendous roar which for the past week 
 had filled the air gradually diminished in volume until 
 a stillness like death supervened. As the smoke blew 
 away from the muzzles of the silent guns the soldiers 
 came running from their tents on the hills back of the 
 batteries ; the long roll of the drums was plainly audible 
 now ; rap-a-tap-tap-tap, rap-a-tap-tap-tap — what was it ? 
 
 With hopes high they listened. There were trained 
 ears there and they recognized the cadence; yes, they 
 were beating a parley, and there, above the battered 
 embrasures, rose a white flag in the clear morning. 
 It was a surrender then ! The great fleet of De Grasse 
 down in Lynn Haven Bay actually heard the wild 
 cheering which rose from the throats of the excited 
 men. The war was over ! They were free ! 
 
 When the noise had partially died away, two scarlet- 
 Mi 
 
144 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 coated horsemen could be seen under a flag of truce, 
 advancing from the British works: — the cheering rose 
 in vohmie until it might have drov^^ned the cannonade ! 
 Instantly all was commotion in the staff of the great 
 general, who calmly sat his white horse keenly over- 
 looking the scene and apparently unmoved by the 
 wild tumult of joy about him — only apparently, how- 
 ever, for his heart beat as madly as that of the youngest 
 blade in the army; it meant so much to him and so 
 much more to his country, these beating drums with 
 their message of submission. By his orders, two 
 young officers, one a Frenchman, the other an Ameri- 
 can, separated themselves from the cortege surround- 
 ing Washington and Rochambeau, and galloped rapid- 
 ly forward to meet the new-comers. There was a sweet 
 interchange of courtesy between the lines, a little col- 
 loquy, and then with military salutes each group 
 returned to its entrenchments; on one side "the robings 
 of glory" on the other, "the gloom of defeat !" As the 
 Americans rode through their line, though they spoke 
 no word until they reached their general, they wore 
 that in their faces which gave the dullest soldier 
 official confirmation of what had not been doubted. 
 Cornwallis wished — or rather he did not wish, but was 
 forced — to surrender ! 
 
 We left him, after his disastrous victory at Guilford, 
 slowly making his way to the seaboard, having been 
 shouldered out of North Carolina by Greene's strategy 
 and determination. When he reached Wilmington he 
 found no transports nor vessels of war and, in great 
 perplexity, he decided to march into Virginia. To go 
 back to Charleston would involve a tremendous journey 
 through the country swarming with Greene's partizans, 
 and besides it would be tantamount to a confession 
 
Yorktown 145 
 
 of defeat, for that had been his point of departure. 
 There was a large British force already in Virginia, 
 which was distant only a few hundred miles, under 
 the command of Phillips, whom we saw at Saratoga, 
 and the traitor Arnold. He might get there easily 
 enough and combine his little force, now less than two 
 thousand men, with the troops of Phillips and, in a 
 whirlwind campaign, overthrow the great State of Vir- 
 ginia. A brilliant stroke or two would also serve to 
 redeem his reputation as a strategist, which was some- 
 what dimmed in the light of Greene's superb cam- 
 paigning, though no man ever could or did question his 
 character as a skilful fighter and a man of courage. 
 
 Arnold and Phillips were opposed by a few Conti- 
 nentals detached by Washington and some militia 
 under Lafayette and Steuben. Cornwallis despised 
 the Frenchman; "The boy cannot escape me," he ex- 
 claimed, when he took command. The famous mar- 
 quis was only twenty-three years old at the time, yet 
 neither of the veteran British generals had ever suc- 
 ceeded in bringing him to an engagement, and Cornwal- 
 lis found it equally impossible. He hovered on their 
 flanks, cutting off light parties, and rendering foraging 
 unprofitable and kept his little army together which 
 was about all any one could expect of him. When 
 Cornwallis effected a junction with the English troops 
 in Virginia, to the great joy of all the subordinate 
 English officers, he displaced Arnold, who had succeed- 
 ed to the command on the death of Phillips from illness; 
 and "allowed" him to return to New York on the plea 
 of urgent business — for the gallant soldier and noble- 
 man never could stomach a traitor. It was a lucky 
 thing for Arnold in the end that he received this per- 
 mission, and a lucky thing, perhaps, in the end for the 
 
146 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 Americans, for had they captured him they would 
 certainly have hanged him, and perhaps it was better 
 to let him live out his life and die as he did, than to 
 offer him even the poor expiation of the gallows for 
 his ineffable treachery. 
 
 The indefatigable Tarleton had recovered somewhat 
 from his defeat at the Cowpens, and in command of 
 a new legion of cavalry, mounted on the swift horses 
 for which Virginia was famous, ravaged the country 
 far and wide; at one time capturing the Legislature 
 and being within twenty minutes of taking the coveted 
 person of Thomas Jeft'erson himself. The marauders 
 did much damage and destroyed great quantities of 
 private property, but in the end effected little — to ma- 
 raud is not to wage war, it makes mad people madder, 
 that is all ! Washington now sent Wayne to reinforce 
 Lafayette with the veteran Pennsylvania Continental 
 line. Cornwallis then moved back toward the coast; 
 not retreating, for he was under no necessity whatever 
 of doing so, but because he was desirous of establish- 
 ing a strong base on the Chesapeake, and opening 
 communications with his commander-in-chief, Sir Hen- 
 ry Clinton, at New York. 
 
 Lafayette followed closely and actually attacked the 
 British rear at Williamsburg. Wayne, in command of 
 the advance, was partially ambushed and found him- 
 self with about nine hundred light infantry in the pres- 
 ence of the British rear-guard of about two thousand 
 men, having a further advantage in their position. To 
 retreat was to be destroyed. The situation was one 
 in which Wayne gloried. He immediately attacked 
 with such spirit that the British imagined he was sup- 
 ported by the whole army and, though they drove him 
 off after a stubborn combat, in which each side lost 
 
Yorktown 147 
 
 about one hundred and fifty men, they made no attempt 
 to pursue — which was lucky for Wayne! CornwaUis 
 finally reached Yorktown on the Chesapeake, at which 
 point he had ordered the garrison at Portsmouth to 
 assemble and where he threw up strong fortifications, 
 unwittingly digging in the place the grave of his hopes. 
 Lafayette moved down with his little army to Malvern 
 Hill, a good position to retreat from if attacked, or to 
 attack from if the enemy attempted to cross the James. 
 The Frenchman had displayed great tact and ability 
 in his conduct of this campaign; he was too feeble in 
 force, he wrote to Washington, even to be beaten, and 
 more afraid of his own impetuosity than of the enemy ! 
 Secure in his forts, CornwaUis was actually so little 
 aware of the thunderbolt which was about to be 
 launched upon him and of the imminent peril of his 
 situation, that he offered to send some of his force to 
 Clinton whom he imagined to be hard pressed by 
 Washington at New York. 
 
 But in the mind of that prescient commander a great 
 campaign had been evolved. By the strenuous efforts 
 of the French Minister of Marine, a splendid fleet of 
 twenty-eight sail-of-the-line and six frigates had sailed 
 from France to the West Indies under the command of 
 the Comte de Grasse, their most efficient admiral — 
 supposed — and the command of the sea passed from the 
 British on account of this French preponderance of 
 force; only for a time, however, but long enough for 
 Washington. The great American realized that if he 
 could make a combination between the sea forces of 
 De Grasse and the land forces under his command, the 
 result would be finally disastrous for the British. His 
 mind at first had determined upon New York as the 
 point for the combined attack, but he easily accepted 
 
148 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 the turn of the situation given by the assemblage of the 
 large army under Cornwallis in Virginia. As soon as 
 he learned of the earl's arrival, he had outlined his plan 
 to Rochambeau, and they had jointly written a letter 
 which he despatched toDe Grasse by a fast ship, implor- 
 ing him to meet them in the Chesapeake as soon as pos- 
 sible; which he at once promised to do. On August 
 14, 1 78 1, Washington received his reply, stating that 
 he had started with his whole fleet for the bay. 
 
 The Continentals were cantoned on the Hudson, the 
 Frenchmen in Rhode Island and Connecticut; at New- 
 port there was a squadron under De Barras, who was 
 the senior in rank to De Grasse but generously agreed 
 to serve under him in the campaign, at the solicitation 
 of Washington and Rochambeau, and he at once 
 made ready to sail for the Chesapeake to join the 
 French fleet; while Washington prepared to hurl his 
 army a distance of four hundred miles, presenting his 
 flank en route to an enemy strongly posted at New 
 York, in an effort to capture Cornwallis and his army. 
 It was a strategic conception of surpassing boldness 
 and, if there were nothing else, would stamp Washing- 
 ton as a strategist of the first order ; the only other simi- 
 lar military achievement which compares with it was 
 the famous manceuver of Napoleon, when he threw his 
 army from the channel seaboard into Bavaria in the 
 Ulm campaign. W^ashington communicated his plan 
 absolutely to no one but Rochambeau; not an officer 
 in the army, not even those of the highest rank, had the 
 slightest idea of what he intended to do. It was one of 
 the best kept secrets of military history. It was a 
 maxim with Washington that it was impossible to de- 
 ceive an enemy by manoeuvers unless his own force was 
 deceived at the same time. He therefore caused en- 
 
Yorktown 
 
 149 
 
 trenchments to be laid out in the Jerseys below New 
 York; bake-ovens and quarters to be built as if for 
 an extended stay; and gave out everywhere that he 
 intended to move his army to the southward and from 
 that point effect the dislodgement of Sir Henry Clinton 
 via Staten Island. 
 
 On the nineteenth of August the troops began to 
 cross the Hudson River. Washington left a large 
 force strongly fortified on the Hudson under General 
 Heath and took with him two thousand of his best 
 Continentals and about four thousand Frenchmen. 
 The army marched in extended order with the greatest 
 rapidity. Everybody, including the English them- 
 selves, felt certain that Washington was about to be- 
 gin a campaign against New York, and Sir Henry 
 Clinton, watching the long dusty ranks defiling before 
 his works on the other side of the river, made every 
 preparation for a determined resistance, concentrating 
 his troops and strengthening his works and recalling 
 all his detachments, which left him more in the dark 
 than ever. It was not until the advance reached New 
 Brunswick and the men found they were still headed for 
 the south, that an idea where they were going began to 
 dawn in the minds of the soldiers and officers. When 
 they reached Philadelphia on the second of September, 
 it was a secret no longer. "Long live Washington," 
 was the toast of the day. "He is gone to catch Corn- 
 wallis in his mouse-trap!" 
 
 The Americans led the march and passed through 
 the capital to the music of fife and drum at quick time. 
 In their ragged uniforms and covered with the dust of 
 the march, those old Continentals made a strange 
 sight, but the spectators looked from the great general 
 riding at the head of his staff to the army following 
 
150 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 rapidly after, and noted the long, swinging step, the dis- 
 ciplined easy carriage, the polished gun-barrels and 
 gleaming bayonets, and felt that the rags could not hide 
 the quality of the soldiery. The patriotic women of 
 the city, matrons and maids, showered flowers and 
 cheers upon their countrymen and under the influence 
 of their bright smiles with hearts growing lighter as 
 each step brought them nearer their goal, they marched 
 away. They were followed the next day by the French 
 contingent. The latter had lost time and distance, 
 caused by a halt outside of the town to brush the dust 
 from their uniforms and equipments and put on their 
 bravest attire. A very different showing they made as 
 they marched down Chestnut Street past the State House 
 where they were reviewed by Congress; regiments 
 with old world names which spoke of the glory and 
 power of France, Rochambeau and his brilliant staff 
 in the lead, their uniforms of gold and white sparkling 
 in the sun ; but they were men, too ; they had shown it in 
 the past, they were to show it then ; aye, and in the 
 future as well. Among the aides of the French com- 
 mander was one Berthier, whom history saw later as 
 a Marshal of France under the great Napoleon ! 
 
 When the eager Washington — ever in the lead — 
 reached Chester, he received the news that the combi- 
 nation was a success, and that De Grasse had entered 
 the Chesapeake on the thirty-first of August ! A cloud, 
 like the famous man's hand, had arisen above Cornwal- 
 lis' horizon with the entrance of those ships in the bay, 
 but as he never dreamed but that the British would 
 brush them away presently, he remained reasonably 
 confident still — and there was no Elijah in his camp to 
 read the future for him. Washington was so delighted 
 with the news that he rode back to Philadelphia and in- 
 
Yorktown 151 
 
 formed Congress and Rochambeau. Cornwallis might 
 have broken through the thin ranks of Lafayette, but 
 where woukl he have gone afterward ? North into the 
 hands of Washington; or south, into the arms of 
 Greene? He had had enough of both of these generals, 
 so he concluded to await the arrival of the British fleet, 
 still unconscious of the storm cloud looming up very- 
 black now on every side of the horizon. When the 
 armies reached the head of the Chesapeake Bay on the 
 fifth of September, they found transports had assem- 
 bled, upon which they were embarked and taken down 
 the bay. Meanwhile De Grasse had landed three thou- 
 sand troops under St. Simon and on the eighth of Sep- 
 tember, while Eutaw Springs was being fought in the 
 Carolinas, by Lafayette's command the allied armies 
 moved down and took a position squarely across the 
 peninsula in front of Yorktown. Cornwallis was 
 '"corked," like another later commander, "in a bottle;" 
 and the cork was pressed down, driven in. 
 
 Washington stopped for two days at his beloved 
 Mount Vernon, which he had not seen for six years, en- 
 tertaining Rochambeau and the French officers with old 
 time Virginia hospitality, while his army swept down 
 the Chesapeake. On the fourteenth of September he 
 arrived at the camp and took command ; by the twenty- 
 sixth of September the whole of his army had joined 
 forces with Lafayette and St. Simon, and on the sixth 
 of October Cornwallis withdrew into his fortifications 
 and the investment began. There were about seven 
 thousand Frenchmen, five thousand five hundred Con- 
 tinentals, and three thousand five hundred militia under 
 Governor Nelson in Washington's army. The first 
 parallel was opened within six hundred yards of the 
 British works on the same night by General Lincoln ; it 
 
152 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 was completed in three days, batteries were mounted 
 and, with his own hand, Washington fired the first 
 gun. 
 
 Before ah this had happened, however, Admiral 
 Graves, who commanded the British fleet at New York, 
 having been reinforced by a squadron sent him by Sir 
 Samuel Hood, had sailed down the coast with twenty 
 ships-of-the-line to dispute the control of the sea with 
 De Grasse. Although a large number of French seamen 
 were absent with the vessels transporting the Amer- 
 ican army down the bay, and De Barras had not yet 
 joined them with his squadron, De Grasse immediately 
 put to sea on the fifth of September with twenty-four 
 ships, leaving the rest to continue the blockade. The 
 two fleets manoeuvered for four days, the French skil- 
 fully keeping the weather-gage, and an indecisive action 
 was fought on the seventh of September in which the 
 British, fewer in numbers, sustained considerably more 
 damage than the French, losing one ship-of-the-line 
 and many killed. The two admirals learned at the 
 same time that De Barras had entered the Chesapeake 
 and Graves, now greatly inferior in force and disheart- 
 ened by his repulses, went back to New York and De 
 Grasse returned to the Chesapeake. It was substan- 
 tially a victory for the French, but it was a good thing 
 for De Grasse, and it was a good thing for the Ameri- 
 ican Revolution, too, that Rodney was sick in England 
 and not in Graves' place. Sir Henry Clinton found 
 means to communicate with Cornwallis on the return 
 of Graves, and informed him that the British sea power 
 would soon be augmented by the arrival of another 
 squadron and that he would sail for his relief as soon 
 as possible. Cornwallis replied that he was entirely 
 confident of holding out as long as necessary. That 
 was before Washington's arrival. 
 
-5 > 
 
Yorktown 153 
 
 To return to the siege, the cannonading was kept up 
 from an ever increasing number of guns with the ut- 
 most fury. At first there had been much skirmishing 
 between Tarleton's Legion and the French Hussars, 
 under the Due de Lauzun, without decisive resuhs ; 
 though there were individual encounters on both sides 
 in which great personal gallantry was displayed. On 
 the night of the eleventh of October the second parallel 
 was opened within three hundred yards of the British 
 works. Unfortunately for this parallel, however, the 
 British had two redoubts on the river side which en- 
 filaded the works and rendered them untenable. Wash- 
 ington determined to carry them by storm. The one 
 nearest the river was allotted to the Americans and the 
 one further inland, larger and more formidable, was 
 claimed by the French. Two storming parties, the 
 Americans under the command of Alexander Hamilton, 
 and the French under the leadership of the Baron de 
 Viomenil, were detailed to make the attempt. At eight 
 o'clock on the evening of the fourteenth, when it was 
 quite dark, the attacks were delivered. 
 
 The Americans, without waiting for the pioneers to 
 clear the way, rushed impetuously up to the abattis and 
 tore it apart with their hands, the little Flamilton, using 
 a soldier's back as a stepping-stone, sprang into the 
 fort sword in hand, followed by his men. There was 
 a sharp conflict in the redoubt and the British, sur- 
 rounded and outnumbered, threw down their arms 
 and surrendered. The guns of the redoubt were at once 
 swung to the inside and added their death-dealing 
 missives to the American cannonade which was going 
 on furiously at the time. Hamilton immediately des- 
 patched an aide to the Baron de Viomenil to inform 
 him of his success. The French had waited to deliver 
 their attack while their pioneers cut down the abattis, 
 
154 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 according to rule. Hamilton's aide found the French 
 chafing in impatience under a hot fire from the fort, 
 which was inflicting considerable loss. When the 
 Baron de Viomenil was informed that the Americans 
 had captured their fort, he sent the officer back to tell 
 Hamilton that he was not yet in his, but would be, in 
 five minutes. 
 
 The Gatinois grenadiers had the honor of leading 
 the French advance. They had formerly belonged to 
 the old Auvergne regiment which had been once com- 
 manded by Rochambeau himself, and which, for its 
 heroic gallantry on many fields, had been known as 
 Auvergne sans tache. When Rochambeau had ad- 
 dressed them before the attack they had promised 
 everything if he would get their old name restored to 
 them. By their heroic conduct in this action they ob- 
 tained their desire, and were henceforward known as 
 the Royal Auvergne. As soon as the abattis was bro- 
 ken down, the Frenchmen with resistless valor rushed 
 into the fort, effecting its capture in short order. Wash- 
 ington had ridden into the parallel nearest the British 
 batteries and a member of his staff, in great anxiety 
 lest his commander-in-chief's life should be sacrificed 
 thus uselessly, ventured to suggest that it would be 
 safer to retire as the place was much exposed. 'Tf 
 you think so, sir," said Washington, with unusual 
 sharpness, "you are at liberty to step back." The next 
 moment the cannon by which Washington was stand- 
 ing was struck. As his officers sprang to his side, 
 fearful lest he had been wounded, General Knox 
 grasped his arm exclaiming, "My dear general, we 
 can't spare you yet." "It is a spent bullet and no harm 
 is done," he replied. I have no doubt that he would 
 have given his rank itself for the mere soldier's privi- 
 
Yorktown 155 
 
 lege of leading the advance of either of these storming 
 parties, for that was the kind of soldier Washington 
 was. He was, above all things, a fighter from be- 
 ginning to end. Presently his practised eye saw that 
 both assaults had been delivered successfully and the 
 works were in possession of his troops. "The work 
 is done and well done!" he remarked triumphantly, 
 turning away. 
 
 The cannonade was now resumed from the new par- 
 allel with renewed vigor. Governor Nelson, who had 
 lived in Yorktown, on being asked what were the best 
 points at which to direct a fire, pointed out his own 
 house which, as it was the largest in the place, was most 
 likely to be the headquarters of Cornwallis, which was 
 afterward ascertained to be a fact. One pleasing lit- 
 tle incident which places Cornwallis in an agreeable 
 light is this. Governor Nelson had a brother living in 
 Yorktown, a very old man, who had been secretary of 
 the colony under the crown for over thirty years and 
 was habitually called "Mr. Secretary Nelson." The 
 secretary had two sons who served in Washington's 
 army and they besought him, if possible, to secure the 
 enlargement of their father. Washington wrote a per- 
 sonal letter to Cornwallis requesting that "Mr. Secre- 
 tary Nelson" be allowed to leave the city. The gener- 
 ous Englishman granted permission at once, and the 
 boys had the satisfaction of not being compelled to fire 
 upon the abiding place of their father. 
 
 The night after the capture of the redoubts, Corn- 
 wallis, whose men were being cut up by the heavy 
 bombardment, whose headquarters were made untena- 
 ble from the same cause, whose provisions were giving 
 out, and whose ammunition was almost exhausted, 
 determined upon a sortie. A heavy column under 
 
156 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Abercrombie made a gallant attack 
 upon the American works. It was partially successful, 
 though they had not time more than hastily to spike one 
 or two of the guns, when they were dislodged by the re- 
 turn attack of the Americans and forced to retreat with 
 considerable loss in killed, wounded and prisoners. 
 The spikes were easily drawn from the guns and they 
 recommenced their useful service. 
 
 The situation of the earl was now desperate; al- 
 though he received word that Sir Henry Clinton was 
 about to sail with seven thousand men and a large fleet 
 of twenty-five ships-of-the-line, and two fifty-gun frig- 
 ates, he could hold out no longer. Word was brought 
 to De Grasse of this at the same time and he immediate- 
 ly determined to abandon the siege and get to sea, in 
 order to be prepared to run away or fight as circum- 
 stances would permit. It was only by the strongest 
 pleas and representations from Washington, Rocham- 
 beau and Lafayette that he was induced to reconsider 
 his purpose and remain for a few days longer; so his 
 ships moved down to Lynn Haven Bay and were kept 
 in readiness for constant action. Yorktown had been 
 almost destroyed by the cannonading, many of the 
 British ships and boats in the harbor were set on fire 
 and burned, including the Charon, a forty-four-gun 
 frigate. 
 
 Cornwallis, in his desperation, determined to pass 
 over to Gloucester point, opposite Yorktown, across the 
 river, where he had a fortified post, assemble his forces 
 there and break through the small American force 
 opposing and get away. It was a foolhardy plan at 
 best, but any hope he might have entertained of carry- 
 ing it out was frustrated after he had succeeded in get- 
 ting one brigade across, by a violent storm which arose 
 
Yorktown 157 
 
 during the night, wrecking and scattering his boats so 
 that it was with the greatest difficulty he managed to 
 get that brigade back to his army in the morning. On 
 the seventeenth of October he determined to surrender. 
 There was nothing left for him to do with his defeated 
 and exhausted troops; he could not escape by with- 
 drawing in the face of the French fleet and he could 
 not sustain the siege longer. So, as I have said, on that 
 bright, sunny morning, the drums began beating a par- 
 ley. And this was the end of all the hard marching, 
 the mad chasing, the desperate fighting, in which he 
 had indulged since he landed at Charleston two years 
 before. Nay, more, this was the end of a greater 
 thing than Cornwallis and his army ; though they knew 
 it not, it was the end of the British empire in America 
 with all its "stamp acts," and non-representations and 
 oppressions ; its scorn and contempt of things colonial. 
 "It is over, it is over," seemed the message of the 
 drums on that October morning. 
 
 The rest was soon arranged. In order to protect 
 his loyalists from the rancor of their countrymen, 
 Cornwallis was allowed to send a ship back to New 
 York in which they escaped. The terms insisted upon 
 were the same which had been forced upon the Ameri- 
 cans when the British had captured Charleston — the 
 officers retaining their side-arms and everybody his 
 private property. As the Americans had been com- 
 pelled to play an American march when they sur- 
 rendered, it was insisted that the British should do the 
 same by playing a British air in this instance. At noon 
 then, on October 19, 1781, the allied armies were 
 drawn up in two lines, the Americans on the right, 
 and the French on the left. The British marched out 
 between them, sullen, dejected, bitterly indignant, their 
 
158 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 bands playing, significantly enough, a quaint old 
 English tune called, "The World Turned Upside 
 Down !" The red standard of England was lowered be- 
 fore the banners of her oldest antagonist and her 
 newest enemy. The white liags of France with their 
 golden lilies, which had gone down in the dust at Crecy, 
 at Agincourt and at Poictiers, now beheld the banners 
 of their ancient foe drooping in submission before them 
 and before the Stars and Stripes; the flag that Paul 
 Jones' hand had hoisted at the masthead of his ship; 
 the flag which had fluttered above the bastion at Fort 
 Stanwix; which Cornwallis himself had seen at Mon- 
 mouth and at Guilford Court House — the flag of the 
 child who had broken away from the cruel mother. 
 General O'Hara, who led the British troops in the in- 
 disposition of Cornwallis, surrendered his sword to 
 General Lincoln, who had capitulated at Charleston. 
 The British soldiers grounded arms and marched back, 
 and that was the end. 
 
 It was a great day for Washington and for that 
 Revolution which had been conceived when the min- 
 ute men of Lexington and of Concord rallied to the 
 midnight summons of Paul Revere, riding hotly 
 through the night; that Revolution which had quickened 
 on the blood-stained slopes of Bunker Hill, which had 
 travailed at Trenton and Princeton and had been born 
 on the plains of Saratoga, which had starved and frozen 
 at Valley Forge. It was now an accomplished fact. The 
 fighting was over. The dullest could see that a new 
 nation had arisen — a country that could not be 
 conquered — that freedom had been achieved. The 
 great patient man who sat his horse and watched the 
 sullen soldiers pass before him, must have felt this 
 with a thankful, grateful heart ; for with the deep piety 
 
Yorktown 159 
 
 which was part of his nature, the first general order 
 after the surrender was accompHshed bade the troops 
 to a service of thanksgiving and prayer ! 
 
 It was two o'clock in the morning when the news of 
 the surrender reached the quiet city of Philadelphia. 
 "Past three o'clock," cried the watchman in the still 
 night, "and Cornwallis is taken!" There was no more 
 sleep in the staid old town that night. "Past three 
 o'clock and Cornwallis is taken !" The citizens rushed 
 from their houses glad-hearted in the dawning of a 
 new day. 
 
 It was later still when the news reached England. 
 Lord George Germaine was awakened early in the 
 morning by the arrival of a courier who had brought 
 the despatches telling the disastrous story. Sir Henry 
 Clinton with his great "armada" had arrived too late. 
 The surrender was accomplished when he got there; 
 De Grasse had gone to the West Indies, and like the 
 King of France who marched up the hill and then 
 marched down again. Sir Henry had returned to New 
 York. Lord George jumped into a carriage and, pick- 
 ing up the chancellor by the way, drove to the house of 
 the prime minister with his dreadful news. "How 
 did he take it?" he was asked by a friend. "Like a 
 bullet in the breast," was the reply. "He threw up his 
 hands in great agony crying, 'O God, it is all over, it 
 is all over !' "' and the words were even so. The king 
 blustered awhile, and vowed that he would do this, or 
 that, or tlie other, but in the end peace was declared, 
 independence was acknowledged and the United States 
 of America began to be. 
 
American Fights and Fighters 
 Part II 
 
 THE INDIAN WAR IN THE 
 NORTHWEST 
 
 1791-1794 
 
ST. CLAIR'S DEFEAT 
 
 Late in the evening of December 19, 1791, a tired 
 officer in a weather-stained uniform, on a played 
 out horse, rode up to the door of the house of Presi- 
 dent Washington, in Philadelphia, and demanded 
 admittance on the plea of carrying urgent des- 
 patches for the President. Upon the refusal of the 
 officer to deliver them to Mr. Lear, his private secre- 
 tary, Washington was sent for. He excused himself 
 to his dinner guests and came into the hall and read 
 the despatches. After dismissing the officer, he re- 
 sumed his seat at the table without disclosing the pur- 
 port of the communication he had received, although 
 one of the company states that he heard him mutter 
 under his breath, "I knew it would be so." Washing- 
 ton, with his usual calm serenity, appeared in the draw- 
 ing-room, where his wife was holding a reception after 
 supper, and it was not until after ten o'clock that he 
 was left alone with his secretary. Then his iron self- 
 control was broken, and he gave way to the agitation 
 which the despatch had induced. 
 
 After pacing up and down the room a few minutes, 
 he sat down and motioning Mr. Lear to a seat, he ex- 
 
 163 
 
164 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 claimed passionately, "It's all over! — St. Clair's defeat- 
 ed ! — routed ; the officers nearly all killed, the men by 
 the wholesale ; the rout complete ; too shocking to think 
 of, and a surprise in the bargain !" His secretary 
 watched him in dead silence, appalled, perhaps as 
 much by the furious passion of the general as by the 
 news of the overwhelming disaster. Washington pres- 
 ently sprang to his feet and walked up and down the 
 room again in great agitation, endeavoring to control 
 himself anew. He finally stopped near the door and 
 broke out again. ''Yes," he exclaimed, "here, on this 
 very spot, I took leave of him ; I wished him success 
 and honor. 'You have had your instructions from 
 the Secretary of War,' said I, 'I had a strict eye to 
 them, and will add but one word, BEWARE OF A 
 SURPRISE. You know how the Indians fight us. 
 I repeat it, BEWARE OF A SURPRISE.' He 
 went ofi: with that, my last warning, thrown in 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 God !" 
 he exclaimed throwing up his hands, while his very 
 frame shook with emotion, "He's worse than a mur- 
 derer ! How can he answ'er it to his country ! 
 The blood of the slain is upon him — the curse of the 
 widows and orphans — the curse of heaven !" 
 
 After this outbreak, to which Mr. Lear dared ven- 
 ture no reply, Washington struggled with himself until 
 his strong will once more regained its habitual mastery 
 over his feelings. After some minutes, as if ashamed 
 of and regretting his passion, he broke the silence 
 again by saying in a subdued and altered tone, "This 
 must not go beyond this room." After another and a 
 longer pause, he added, in a tone quite low and distinct 
 
St. Clair's Defeat 165 
 
 and with great deliberation, "General St. Clair shall 
 have justice; I looked hastily over the despatches, 
 saw the whole disaster, but not all the particulars. I 
 will receive him without displeasure; I will hear him 
 without prejudice; he shall have full justice." 
 
 The cause of this extraordinary fit of passion, the 
 like of which only occurred a few times in the life of 
 the great Washington, was one of the most frightful 
 disasters that ever befell the American arms. There 
 had been trouble with the Indians for years in the 
 Northwest, in what is now the States of Ohio, Indi- 
 ana and Illinois. The British at the close of the Revo- 
 lution had not yielded their control of the lake posses- 
 sions in their desire to preserve their monopoly of the 
 lucrative fur trade, and they cannot be held guiltless 
 of inciting and encouraging the border warfare on the 
 part of the Indian and the frontiersmen, which was in 
 any event a natural and legitimate outcome of the situ- 
 ation. The great west bound tide of men which, since 
 the Garden of Eden, has ever flooded on in the path of 
 the sun, had swept across the Alleghanies in rolling 
 waves ; and it speedily became necessary to secure an 
 outlet for the ever increasing, onrushing deluge of 
 humanity in the great waste of untilled fields, dense 
 forests, and fertile valleys of the West. 
 
 The Indian, who had roamed the country freely, 
 looked upon the advance guard of civilization with 
 jealousy and suspicion, and wherever the wave of prog- 
 ress came in contact with the men of the Stone Age, it 
 broke into the wild spray of irrepressible conflict. The 
 Government of the United States did not appreciate 
 the situation, and desired nothing but peace on its fron- 
 tiers, never dreaming of the immense power latent in 
 the straining nation, striving to break the tightening 
 
1 66 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 circles in which the rapid increase of population con- 
 stricted the people. It was the old story of the Anglo- 
 Saxon going up to possess the earth. The Stone Age 
 had enjoyed its period, it was old and left behind in the 
 race ; a new day was dawning, a new people desired the 
 place, and were not to be denied. The weakest must go 
 to the wall again. But every foot of the advance was 
 to be marked with blood and met with desperate resist- 
 ance. Of such alway is the path of civilization. 
 
 The history of the eight years following the Revolu- 
 tion is one of merciless outrage and bloody reprisal, 
 of ruthless, cruel and terrible warfare in which cupidity 
 and guile played leading parts. From a moral stand- 
 point the American was the more blamable for he 
 knew more; from a physical standpoint, the savage, 
 for he knew less, and his methods of warfare were in 
 accordance with his lack of knowledge. It was his 
 land, too, but on the other hand he could not use it. 
 The question of right is a deep one, here we are only 
 concerned with the facts. The innocent and guilty suf- 
 fered alike on both sides from the play of passion, and 
 outrage after outrage occurred on the part of the 
 thoroughly aroused savages, until the Government 
 was at last compelled to take notice. Expeditions 
 under Harmer and others had been rather severely 
 handled, and public opinion had been so aroused by sev- 
 eral unusually atrocious depredations, that an army 
 for the chastisement of the savages was authorized by 
 Congress, and Major-General Arthur St. Clair was 
 placed in command. 
 
 His force, which had assembled at Fort Washington 
 on the Ohio, now Cincinnati, comprised two small 
 regiments of regulars, newly organized, two regi- 
 ments of six month levies, and a large body of 
 
St. Clair's Defeat 167 
 
 militia, to which were added two small batteries of 
 light guns and several squadrons of inferior cavalry. 
 Headquarters were eventually established at Fort 
 Hamilton, twenty-five miles north of Fort Washing- 
 ton, where months of inactive waiting for the arrival 
 of nearly every sort of necessity for campaigning 
 passed away. The pay allowed by the Government 
 was so miserable that the better class of men absolutely 
 refused to enlist. The bulk of the army came from 
 the purlieus of the seaboard cities, "the prison, the 
 wheelbarrow and the brothel," for two dollars per 
 month a head ! The six month levies were no better, 
 and the militia, much worse. 
 
 The officers were mainly men of spirit and courage 
 but of limited military experience. The experienced 
 frontiersmen like Brady looked askance and would 
 have nothing to do with such an army for such an ex- 
 pedition, and the whole assemblage was as ignorant of 
 Indian warfare as if they had been babies in arms. 
 Braddock's famous army, though made up of much 
 better men, was not more confident nor more stupid. 
 The second in command was General Richard Butler, 
 who was an old Revolutionary soldier, as was the 
 Adjutant-General, Colonel Winthrop Sargent, who 
 was the only really capable man among the leaders of 
 the party. St. Clair was nearly sixty years old. He 
 had served with credit in the Revolution and was a 
 man of undoubted honor, probity and courage, but he 
 was seriously ill with the gout and other ailments, and 
 was frequently unable to ride a horse and had to be 
 carried on a litter. Butler was in much the same con- 
 dition. 
 
 The arms, equipments and other supplies were as 
 bad as possible. Much of the powder was spoiled or 
 
1 68 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 was of inferior quality. There was no food for the 
 men, no fodder for the horses, which were broken 
 down old hacks. The commissary and quartermaster 
 departments were woefully inefficient. It was the old 
 story so often repeated of an absolute unpreparedness 
 for action, and the Republic never seems to learn the 
 lesson of it. The two regular regiments had been as- 
 siduously drilled during the long days of weary wait- 
 ing, and in ordinary warfare might have proved fairly 
 efficient, but nothing on earth could ever make woods- 
 men of them or fit them for their present purpose. The 
 six month levies and the militia, if anything, deterior- 
 ated rather than improved during the delay. It is only 
 justice to St. Clair to state that he protested vigorously 
 against this state of affairs, but without result. Still 
 he never seems to have entertained a doubt of ultimate 
 success, even considering the wretched quality of the 
 army. 
 
 On October 4, 1791, the miserable army began its 
 forward movement. Its rate of progress was about 
 six miles a day ! For nine days it cut its way through 
 damp, dense woods, or dragged itself wearily over the 
 sodden prairies, wet with the heavy autumnal rains. 
 Then it stopped and built a fort which was called Fort 
 Jefferson, where the large numbers of sick and some 
 scanty supplies were left. On the twenty-fourth of 
 October the march was resumed. The straggling was 
 awful, desertions frequent, and although St. Clair, in 
 the endeavor to preserve discipline, hung three of the 
 deserters summarily, the measure did not seem effec- 
 tive. On the thirty-first of October they had made 
 about twenty miles, without seeing any great force of 
 Indians, though there was some little skirmishing from 
 time to time, and the advance was greatly galled and 
 
St. Clair's Defeat 169 
 
 disheartened by stray warriors who took pot shots at 
 the hapless Americans from the underbrush, and disap- 
 peared before they could be apprehended or even seen. 
 There were no organized parties of flankers or scouts, 
 and what few men were detailed for that vital duty 
 were left mainly to their own devices. On the night of 
 the same day sixty of the militia deserted in a body, 
 after proclaiming their intention to live off the supply 
 trains, which were lagging unaccountably in the rear. 
 To capture and to bring them back and to protect this 
 supply train as well St. Clair very foolishly detached 
 one of his two regular regiments, the second, under 
 Major Hamtranck, on the first of November. This 
 most seriously weakened his army. 
 
 On the third of November the army camped in the 
 evening on the east fork of the Wabash, at this point 
 a little stream scarcely twenty yards wide and fordable 
 anywhere. It was St. Clair's design, as he was near 
 the principal Miami villages, to throw up another for- 
 tification, leave the sick and all except absolutely 
 necessary baggage in it, and push on to destroy the 
 towns, and then, after leaving strong garrisons in the 
 various forts, return to the Ohio for the winter. He 
 did not have a chance to put his plan in operation. The 
 army, now reduced to about fourteen hundred men, in- 
 cluding camp followers and about thirty wretched 
 women, was camped in a clearing on a narrow rise of 
 ground about three hundred and fifty feet long. The 
 place was surrounded by dense virgin woods, through 
 which they had been compelled to cut a narrow road. 
 The main body, consisting of the regulars and the lev- 
 ies, was drawn up in two lines facing out, with the bat- 
 teries in the center and the cavalry on either flank, 
 making a sort of elongated hollow square. On the 
 
lyo American Fights and Fighters 
 
 other side of the creek the miHtia and a small scouting 
 party were thrown forward. 
 
 The officer in charge of the scouts came back to 
 headquarters in the night and told St. Clair that he had 
 discovered signs of large bodies of Indians. He was 
 thanked for his information and told to return to his 
 post, the matter would be looked into in the morning; 
 the tired soldiers were plunged in slumber and could 
 not be disturbed for rumors of this kind — for most 
 of them there was to be a dreadful awakening in that 
 coming day. The men were paraded as usual at sun- 
 rise, and had just been dismissed to prepare their break- 
 fast, when rifle shots rang out in the cold, raw morn- 
 ing. It was the thing they had been warned against, 
 a surprise! There was a slight snow on the ground, 
 which was very wet and muddy, and the little pools 
 were covered with a thin coating of ice, which soon 
 melted away as the day advanced. The firing in the 
 front at once became general. After the briefest pos- 
 sible stand and a volley or two, the advance party of 
 the militia were routed by the charging Indians, and 
 came running back pell-mell across the stream and 
 plunged into the regiments in camp, which were hastily 
 reassembling to the long roll of the drums, causing 
 much disorder and confusion. 
 
 Such was the impetuosity of the Indians' pursuit, 
 as they rushed forward through the creek, and so close 
 were they on the heels of the craven militia that they 
 almost broke through the startled lines of the camp, 
 and a stampede was with difficulty averted by the offi- 
 cers. One or two hasty volleys from the first line of 
 the regulars, however, drove the savages out of the 
 open to seek shelter in the thick and almost impenetra- 
 ble woods. At the same moment the army found itself 
 
St. Clair's Defeat 171 
 
 surrounded and assailed from every side. Every tree 
 trunk, every fallen log, every clump of bushes hid a 
 crouching foe, and the bullets fairly rained in among 
 the exposed men in the clearing, who sent volley after 
 volley in every direction without doing any perceptible 
 damage. The artillery was unlimbered and the guns 
 were served with furious energy ; so that the army was 
 soon covered with clouds of its own smoke through 
 which the men fired aimlessly in the greatest bewil- 
 derment. 
 
 The officers strove with the greatest courage to re- 
 form the lines which had been broken and disorganized 
 by the fleeing militia. St. Clair in person took com- 
 mand of one line, Butler the other. One likes to think 
 of the old general walking calmly up and down the 
 line, his gray hairs floating in the wind, striving to en- 
 courage the men; it somewhat redeems the man after 
 all, so splendid a virtue is courage. For a time they 
 stood their ground manfully under a hail of bullets 
 from their concealed foe — pushed to the wall, even 
 the most craven and ignoble will fight in the last ex- 
 tremity. But the situation was more than they could 
 stand ; the poor frightened outcast from the towns 
 firing blindly into the smoke suddenly would be ap- 
 palled by the sight of a feather-crowned head, a pair 
 of burning eyes gleaming fiercely upon him from out a 
 painted face; and before his terror-dried throat could 
 frame a shriek, with a wild cry screamed in his ears, 
 the tomahawk would be buried in his brain, the scalp- 
 ing knife circling his head. The groaning wounded 
 were given sudden relief from their agonies by the 
 thrust of a gleaming knife in the hand of some crawl- 
 ing, stealthy prowler who had made his way unnoticed 
 into the camp in the awful confusion. 
 
172 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 But the Indians had grown bolder from their own 
 immunity, and noting the numbers of those wdio fell, 
 from time to time they advanced from the underbrush 
 and under cover of the smoke rushed recklessly upon 
 the Americans, a thing most unusual for them. When- 
 ever they could be seen in force, they were met with 
 the most determined courage and repelled time and 
 again by furious bayonet charges. Again and again 
 the officers led their men forward. The Indians, how- 
 ever, would never remain to face the advancing detach- 
 ments, but would melt away on every side and when 
 the charging party had gone a little way from the camp 
 it would be necessary to execute a return charge to 
 get back through the interposing bodies of the foe, 
 and in these little retreats more would be lost than had 
 been gained in the charge. Particular attention was 
 paid by the Indians to the artillery. Every officer 
 and most of the men connected with it were soon 
 killed or wounded. Every officer in the only regular 
 regiment remaining met a like fate. 
 
 Several times the Indians succeeded, under cover of 
 the smoke, in breaking through the lines in force, kill- 
 ing and scalping the wounded wherever they were," 
 and were only prevented by heroic efforts from captur- 
 ing the camp. General Butler, who was shot in the 
 arm in the early part of the action, walked up and 
 down cheering on his men until another bullet brought 
 him dow'n. As he lay on the ground he was toma- 
 hawked by one of the Indian attacking parties. St. 
 Clair had eight bullets through his clothing, a shot 
 grazed his head, cutting off a lock of his hair, but he 
 was otherwise unharmed. In spite of his age and his 
 infirmities he several times personally led charges, 
 sword in hand, upon the Indians, but his experienced 
 
St. Clair's Defeat 173 
 
 eye saw that the battle was going seriously against him; 
 the spirit of his men was giving out, their resistance 
 was becoming feebler, ammunition was getting low, 
 most of the officers were gone — the game was up. The 
 numbers of the slain and the wounded were increasing 
 at a fearful rate, the ground was covered with bodies, 
 the Indians were coming in closer and closer and 
 the violence of their fire did not slacken in the least 
 degree. Something would have to be done and 
 promptly, else they would all be massacred where they 
 stood. 
 
 Under the orders of St. Clair, Colonel Darke, the 
 commander of the second regiment, although badly 
 wounded, assembled what men he could and led a charge 
 upon the encircling line of the Indians as if to get in 
 their rear; while St. Clair, with some of the bolder 
 soldiers, taking advantage of the diversion thus caused, 
 broke through in another direction and circling round 
 upon the rear, succeeded in opening a way of escape by 
 gaining possession of the road which they had made 
 through the trees in prosecuting their advance. With 
 the desperate courage of despair the little band held 
 the way open while the terror-stricken men tore 
 through the pathway thus made without a moment's 
 hesitation. They lost all semblance of organization 
 and discipline and the retreat at once became a fright- 
 ful rout. The hapless \vounded were left behind or 
 thrust aside; arms and equipments and everything 
 which would impede flight were cast away, and in one 
 long, maddened mob they ran frantically down the 
 open road in wild panic. 
 
 Darke and a few remaining officers and men la- 
 bored heroically with a skeleton rear-guard to prevent 
 pursuit; St. Clair, mounted on a wounded pack horse. 
 
174 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 endeavored to get to the front to stop the rout and 
 restore some kind of order, but the wretched animal 
 could not be pricked out of a walk. Meanwhile the 
 ruthless Indians, like silent shadows, flitted through 
 the heavy woods on either side of the road and picked 
 off the frightened, helpless, unresisting men at their 
 pleasure. But their desire for the booty of the camp 
 and their utter lack of military organization caused 
 them to withdraw from the pursuit about four miles 
 from the camp, and the fugitives were left to pursue 
 their mad flight unhindered. The temporary with- 
 drawal of their savage pursuers made no difference to 
 them, they ran on through the long day until they 
 dropped from exhaustion ; many of them, especially 
 those who were wounded, crawled into the woods and 
 were lost in its fastnesses, where they perished misera- 
 bly from fevers, starvation, or under the tomahawks 
 of the triumphant war parties which scoured the coun- 
 try for days after the battle. The wounded remaining 
 in the camp were butchered and tortured in the most 
 ferocious manner, until death gave them welcome re- 
 lief. The unfortunate women of the camp, who were 
 all captured, were staked out upon the ground and 
 their fate can hardly be imagined ; they were all finally 
 put to death, a welcome relief. Some of the ruder 
 tribes indulged in a wild cannibalistic orgie ! 
 
 It was six o'clock in the evening when the army 
 reached Fort Jefferson, having met on the way Ham- 
 tranck's regiment which with pusillanimous hesitation 
 had failed to advance to cover the retreat, and could 
 not now be driven forward. It had taken the army 
 seven days to advance twenty-nine miles — the distance 
 in retreat was covered in as many hours. 
 
 The number of the killed was six hundred and thirty, 
 
St. Clair's Defeat 175 
 
 seriously wounded, two hundred and eighty. Only 
 about five hundred escaped, most of whom were slight- 
 ly wounded or in some way bore marks of the awful 
 disaster. The Indian loss was rather less than a hun- 
 dred and the total number of Indians engaged was 
 probably not as much as a thousand. The Indian 
 leader was, according to some accounts, Little Turtle, 
 the noted war chief of the Miamis ; according to others, 
 Thayendanegea, otherwise known as Joseph Brant, 
 the chief of the Six Nations, the illegitimate son, ac- 
 cording to some records, of the famous Sir William 
 Johnson, and the inveterate foe of the Americans, 
 He is remembered for his participation in the Wyo- 
 miing and the Minnisink massacres; and he was, 
 with the possible exception of Pontiac, and it may 
 be, Tecumseh, the ablest Indian who ever lived. The 
 Indians who fought were Algonquins and belonged 
 to the Wyandottes, Shawnees, Ottawas, Miamis, and 
 Delawares. Brant was an Iroquois and, as the head 
 chief of their great confederacy, was probably attend- 
 ed by a small body of these ruthless and famous war- 
 riors. The Delawares had been hitherto designated by 
 the haughty Iroquois as women; in this action they 
 wiped out the stigma and proved themselves men. 
 
 Resting for a day or two at Fort Jefferson, the de- 
 feated Americans retreated to Fort Washington, and 
 the wretched St. Clair despatched a staff officer with 
 the news of the disaster to the President. How that 
 news was received we have seen. The unfortunate 
 St. Clair resigned his commission soon after, and 
 Washington appointed Mad Anthony Wayne to" suc- 
 ceed him. Wayne was a soldier of a different stamp 
 and after some vigorous campaigning, culminating in 
 the Battle of the Falling Timbers, August 20, 1794, he 
 
176 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 completely broke the savage power, and there was 
 peace in the Northwest thereafter. General St. Clair 
 was explicitly exculpated from blame by a committee 
 of Congress after a rigid examination, partly, it is sup- 
 posed, on account of his long and honorable career, and 
 the great personal sacrifices he had made during the 
 Revolution. Although severely reprehended by the 
 general public, he continued to enjoy the confidence 
 and friendship of his old commander. Such was the 
 "justice" of Washington toward his old comrade-in 
 arms! 
 
American Fights and Fighters 
 Part III 
 
 THE WAR WITH FRANCE 
 
 1798-1800 
 
TRUXTUN AND THE CONSTELLATION 
 
 ' To know we're resolved, let them think on the hour, 
 When Truxtun, brave Truxtun off Nevis's shore. 
 His ship manned for battle, the standard unfurled. 
 And at the Insurgente defiance he hurled. 
 
 ' Then raise high the strain, pay the tribute that's due 
 To the fair Constellation, SiVid all her brave Crewr; 
 Be Truxtun revered, and his name be enrolled, 
 'Mongst the chiefs of the ocean, the heroes of old." 
 
 Old Song. 
 
TRUXTUN AND THE CON- 
 STELLATION 
 
 This is a story of a forgotten ship and a forgotten 
 captain in a forgotten war. The names of Paul Jones, 
 Hull, Decatur, Bainbriclge, Stewart, Perry; the ships 
 or squadrons they commanded, and the battles they 
 fought, are as familiar in our mouths as household 
 words; but who to-day thinks of Truxtun and the 
 Constellation? Yet he was quite on a level with any 
 one of the others in the matter of personal gallantry, 
 professional skill and unvarying success. In the 
 frigate Constellation he fought two most brilliant sin- 
 gle ship duels; in one instance with L'Insurgcnte, a 
 frigate of slightly less force than his own, and in the 
 other with La Vengeance, a very much larger and 
 heavier ship; the latter action was the more notable 
 when it is recalled that in the War of 1812, ih which 
 the United States Navy gained such everlasting re- 
 nown, in almost every instance our ships were larger 
 and carried heavier guns and more men than those of 
 the enemy ; certainly this is true of all the more impor- 
 tant actions. This detracts nothing from the glory of 
 these combats, but it certainly enhances Truxtun's 
 reputation to have thoroughly beaten a ship which, in 
 
 179 
 
i8o American Fights and Fighters 
 
 every particular, save in the quality of the man on the 
 quarter-deck and the men behind the guns, entirely 
 outclassed his own. 
 
 The man himself is a most romantic and pic- 
 turesque figure; he was, with one possible exception, 
 the only one of the sea officers of the Revolution who 
 subsequently rose to any degree of eminence in the 
 naval service. Born on Long Island, on February. 17, 
 V55 (and his natal was also his lucky month, as we 
 shall see), he was the son of an eminent English lawyer 
 settled in the then royal colony of New York. Through 
 the influence of a relative who cared for him after the 
 death of his father early in his own life, he went to sea 
 in the merchant service when only twelve years old. 
 His opportunities for education were limited therefore, 
 but he had diligently improved them and by application 
 in later life more than made up what he might more 
 easily have acquired had he remained on shore. One 
 or two books, technical in character, of which he 
 was the author, a treatise on navigation, and letters 
 and despatches still extant, bear out this statement. 
 The educational standard of the day was certainly not 
 high and he easily surpassed it. 
 
 He made many voyages in distant seas, and at one 
 time was pressed in his Britannic Majesty's ship Pru- 
 dent, 64, where his ability attracting attention, he was 
 offered a midshipman's warrant, but he declined it and 
 was shortly after released from the English service. 
 In 1775, at the age of twenty, he actually commanded 
 a ship — the Andre-iv Caldzvell — in which, by his daring 
 and address, he succeeded in bringing large quantities 
 of much needed gunpowder into the rebellious colonies. 
 In the same year, his ship, in which he had acquired a 
 half ownership (good for a boy of that day), was cap- 
 
Truxtun and the Cortstellation i8i 
 
 tured, condemned and sold, and he was made a prison- 
 er. Nothing daunted by this reverse of fortune, he 
 finally escaped from surveillance at St. Eustatius and 
 made his way to Philadelphia. Early in 1776 he 
 shipped as a lieutenant in the Congress, the first to 
 get tosea of a long line of bold privateers which swept 
 the waters for British ships, and in the next war with 
 that country, in 181 2, nearly drove the merchant ves- 
 sels of the English from the Atlantic Ocean. 
 
 In 1777 he fitted out the privateer ship Independence, 
 boldly dashed through the British guard ships in Long 
 Island Sound, out around Lord Howe's tremendous 
 fleet, and made a brilliantly successful cruise, captur- 
 ing several ships, one larger and with more guns and 
 men aboard of her than his own. 
 
 On this cruise the young privateersman had a rather 
 unpleasant encounter with Captain John Paul Jones 
 with regard to his flying a pennant in the presence of 
 the latter's regularly commissioned ship-of-war. The 
 offending pennant was most properly hauled down 
 after a sharp correspondence at the demand of Captain 
 Jones, always a fighter for his prerogatives and for 
 everything else as well, but not until the peremptory 
 request was backed by one Richard Dale with two 
 heavy boat crews fully armed. While the incident 
 speaks little for Truxton's discretion, it says much for 
 the pluck and courage of a boy in daring to withstand 
 even for a moment so great a captain as Paul Jones, 
 who taught him in the end a needed lesson. 
 
 The next year, in command of the Mars, a larger 
 and better ship, still gaily privateering, he emulated the 
 example of Wickes and Connyngham and ravaged the 
 English Channel, sending so many prizes into Quiberon 
 Bay that an international question was vigorously 
 
1 82 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 raised by Lord Stormont. Later, in the St. James, 
 a ship of twenty guns and one hundred and twenty 
 men, while carrying Mr. Thomas Barclay, just appoint- 
 ed Consul-General to France, he beat off, after a des- 
 perate action, an English frigate of thirty-two guns! 
 A bold, dashing, hard fighting, thorough-going sailor 
 was Master Thomas Truxtun, Revolutionary Priva- 
 teer sman. 
 
 In person he was short and stout, red-faced and 
 gray-eyed, but handsome and strong looking. To the 
 day of his death he always wore a quaint, old-fashioned 
 naval wig. He was quick tempered with men, especial- 
 ly wdien he had the gout, which, as he was a high liver, 
 was not infrequently; at such times he was wont to 
 make it somewdiat unpleasant for his body servant, an 
 old seaman who had sailed with him for many years. 
 With women he was always courteous and charming, 
 and seeing that he had thirteen daughters and only one 
 son, it may be conceded that he had no lack of experi- 
 ence with the ruling sex. Li short, he was of that 
 quaint, old-fashioned, forgotten type of sea officers 
 which vanished wdien the romantic and beautiful 
 sailing ship of the past was supplanted by the prosaic, 
 but intensely business-like iron pot of the day. He was 
 a good Churchman too, and sleeps after his tempestu- 
 ous life in Christ Church burying ground in Philadel- 
 phia — well, he earned his rest. 
 
 After the war he again engaged in the merchant 
 service, visiting at different times in his own ships all 
 quarters of the globe and becoming in time wealthy, 
 substantial and respected. When the United States 
 Navy was organized, in 1794, under the stimulus of 
 the Algerine piratical depredations, he was made the 
 last of the six captains for the six new ships author- 
 
Truxtun and the Constellation 183 
 
 izecl by Congress. In his case, the last certainly became 
 the first. He was appointed to the new ship Constel- 
 lation, 38, then building at Baltimore, and superin- 
 tended her building and equipment. She was launched 
 on September 7, 1 797, and is at present the oldest ship 
 on the United States Navy list, the frigate United 
 States, 44, which was launched two months prior, hav- 
 ing long since been destroyed. The Algerine difficulty 
 having been temporarily adjusted. Congress, smarting 
 under the arrogant aggressions of the French upon 
 our ships and flag abrogated all treaties and, in July, 
 1798, began a little naval warfare on its own account; 
 which is chiefly remembered for the exploits of the Con- 
 stellation and for having given rise, a little time before 
 the beginning of hostilities, to Pinckney's famous say- 
 ing, "Millions for defense, not one cent for tribute ;"or, 
 as a modern, iconoclastic, and more probable version 
 writes his answer to the French demands, "Nary a 
 penny !" 
 
 About noon on Saturday, February 9, 1799, while the 
 Constellation under easy canvas was cruising ofif the 
 Island of St. Kitts, a sail was sighted to the southward, 
 whereupon she squared away and headed for the 
 stranger. The wind was blowing fresh from the 
 northeast, and all sail was at once crowded on the frig- 
 ate in chase, reefs w'ere shaken out of the topsails by 
 the eager topmen, the royals and topgallant sails set, 
 the light studding sails on their slender booms were 
 rapidly extended far out beyond the broad yard-arms, 
 and the gallant ship, "taking a bone in her teeth," as 
 the sailors say, tore through the waves and bore down 
 upon the stranger at a tremendous pace, the water 
 boiling and foaming about her cutwater, the spray 
 flying over her lee cathead, the waves rushing madly 
 
184 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 along the smooth sides of the great ship, and coming 
 together again under her counter, making a swirHng 
 wake in the deep blue of the tossing sea. 
 
 The stranger bore up at once, hauling aboard his 
 port tacks, and showed no disposition to avoid the ex- 
 pected attack of the Constellation. The two ships 
 were both very speedy and weatherly; the Constella- 
 tion was certainly the fastest vessel in the American 
 navy then and for many years after, and the French 
 ship had the reputation of being one of the fast- 
 est ships in the navies of the world. They neared 
 each other rapidly therefore, but the fresh breeze 
 blew up into a sudden squall. The watchful Truxtun, 
 who had noticed its approach, however, was ready for 
 it, though he held on under all sail till the very last 
 breathless minute. Just before the blow fell, the order 
 was "In stun's'ls, royals and topgallants'ls, all hands 
 reef tops'ls." The nimble crew executed the orders 
 with such dashing precision that, when the squall 
 broke a few moments after, everything was snug alow 
 and aloft, and the ship bore the fury of the wind's at- 
 tack unharmed, having lost not a foot of distance 
 through shortening sail before the emergency demand- 
 ed it. As soon as the squall cleared away and the rain, 
 which had hidden the ships from each other, had 
 abated, the Constellation's people found that the chase 
 had not fared so well as they; less smartly handled, 
 with a less capable crew, she had lost her main topmast. 
 The wreck had been cleared on her, her course changed 
 and, with the wind now on the quarter, she was head- 
 ing in, hoping to make a harbor and escape the conflict. 
 
 Truxtun and the Constellation would not be denied 
 however, the yard-arms were covered with canvas 
 again, the men sent to quarters, and all preparations 
 
Truxtun and the Consfellation 185 
 
 made for the action. The other ship, after hoisting 
 various different flags, finding escape impossible, fin- 
 ally set the French colors, ran oft' to the southeast, 
 and gallantly fired a lee gun as a signal of readiness 
 to engage. At 3 p.m. the Constellation having taken 
 in her light sails, and stripped herself to fighting can- 
 vas, drev^' up on the Frenchman's weather quarter. 
 This was the first great action in which the United 
 States Navy had ever borne a part. It was, in fact, 
 the first great action in which Captain Truxtun had 
 ever borne a part himself. His other battles had been 
 in smaller ships and there had been about the service 
 the little taint of gain, which always attaches to the pri- 
 vateer, the soldier of fortune of the ocean. Now he 
 was the commander of a perfectly appointed ship-of- 
 war representing the dignity and power of the United 
 States. The spirit which had defied blockades, laughed 
 at odds, struggled with Paul Jones, was with him 
 still, however, and he did not doubt the outcome of the 
 combat ; neither did his men, and in silence and confi- 
 dence they approached the enemy. 
 
 When the Constellation had drawn well abreast her 
 antagonist, at a distance of perhaps thirty feet, the 
 Frenchman hailed. Captain Truxtun's answer w^as a 
 terrific broadside, which was at once returned. As 
 the shot of the enemy came crashing through the Con- 
 stellation, one poor fellow flinched from his gun, on see- 
 ing his mate literally disemboweled by a solid shot, and 
 started to run from his quarters. The man was at 
 once shot dead by Lieutenant Sterrett, commanding the 
 third division of guns. There was no more flinching 
 in that battery — that was the kind of discipline on the 
 ship. The French ship, which carried one hundred 
 more men than the other, now immediately luffed up 
 
1 86 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 into the wind to board, firing fiercely the while ; but the 
 Constellation drew ahead. Then Truxtun saw his 
 chance; it was "up helm and square away again." He 
 ran the Constellation sharply down across the bows of 
 her enemy, and at short range poured a raking broad- 
 side fairly into her face ; then ranging along the other 
 (the starboard) side of the Frenchman, he finally took 
 position of? the starboard bow, and for nearly an hour 
 deliberately poured in a withering fire. At four o'clock 
 Truxtun drew ahead once more, luffed up into the 
 wind and crossed the French ship's bow, again repeat- 
 ing the raking, sailed along the larboard side, firing 
 as he went, took up a position on the larboard bow, and 
 soon dismounted every gun on the main deck, leaving 
 the enemy only the light guns above with which to con- 
 tinue the fight — the French ship was as helpless as a 
 chopping block. With masterly seamanship the Amer- 
 ican had literally sailed around the devoted French- 
 man, destroying each battery in succession and raking 
 him fore and aft again and again. The doomed 
 French ship now drew ahead again and the Constella- 
 tion crossed astern of her, and took position in prepa- 
 ration for another tremendous raking and pounding, 
 when the Frenchman reluctantly struck his flag. 
 
 The prize was the splendid frigate L'Insiirgente, 
 forty guns and four hundred and nine men; Captain 
 Barreaut, her commander, made a noble defense and 
 only struck his flag when he had not a single gun in 
 the main battery which could be used, and after seven- 
 ty of his crew had been killed or wounded. The 
 Constellation had two killed and only three wounded! 
 The happy result of this brilliant action between the 
 two ships was due mainly to the seamanship of the 
 commander and the gun practice of the men, though 
 
Truxtun and the Constellation 187 
 
 the Constellation carrying long twenty-four pounders 
 on her main deck as against L'Insitrgcntc's long eigh- 
 teen pounders had a decided advantage of her. Among 
 the American officers in this engagement were two 
 men, afterward justly celebrated in the War of 1812; 
 Lieutenant John Rodgers and Midshipman David 
 Porter; the latter, who was stationed in the foretop, 
 seeing at one period of the action that the topmast 
 had been seriously wounded and was tottering and 
 about to fall, being unable to make any one hear him 
 on deck, took the responsibility of lowering the fore- 
 top-sail yard on his own motion, thus relieving the 
 strain on the mast and preventing a mishap which 
 might have altered the fate of the battle. 
 
 Rodgers and Porter were placed in charge of the 
 prize. During the night a fierce gale blew up, and in 
 the morning the Constellation was nowhere to be seen 
 by Rodgers, whose position was most critical. Thir- 
 teen Americans all told were to guard one hundred and 
 seventy-three prisoners who had not been transferred 
 to the Constellation, on a leaking, shattered, dismasted 
 ship, w^allowing in the trough of the sea, the dead and 
 dying still tossed about on her heaving decks. There 
 were no handcuffs or shackles aboard, the gratings 
 which covered and secured the hatches had been 
 thrown away. Rodgers was a man of splendid pro- 
 portions and great strength. Porter was a determined 
 second. They and their plucky companions put a 
 bold front on the matter and resolutely drove the 
 mutinous Frenchmen into the lower hold, where they 
 were kept in check by a cannon loaded to the muzzle 
 with grape and canister, and pointed down the hatch- 
 way over which bags of heavy shot were suspended 
 by lashings which could easily be cut and the shot 
 
1 88 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 dropped down upon the heads of an attacking party be- 
 low. Every small arm on the ship was loaded and 
 placed conveniently at hand, and the hatch was closely 
 guarded by three men armed to the teeth. The others 
 cleared the wreck, made sail, and after three days and 
 two nights of the hardest labor and the greatest anx- 
 iety, during which every man of them remained con- 
 tinuously on deck, they finally reached St. Kitts, to the 
 very great relief of Truxtun who had preceded them. 
 This exploit was scarcely less notable than had been the 
 battle itself. This was the stern school of the Ameri- 
 can navy, and the subsequent wars have showed that 
 it developed men. 
 
 One year after the capture of L'Insurgcntc, the 
 Constellation, still under Truxtun's command, was 
 cruising on her old grounds to the southward of St. 
 Kitts, and about fifteen miles west of Basseterre. Ear- 
 ly on the morning of February i, 1800, a sail was 
 sighted to the southward, standing to the west. 
 Whereupon the Constellation immediately made sail 
 and bore down in pursuit of the stranger, which was 
 soon seen to be a large and heavily armed ship-of-war, 
 evidently much stronger in force than the Constella- 
 tion herself. Not in the least disquieted by this open 
 disparity in favor of the enemy, Truxtun made every 
 effort to close with her. The Frenchman apparently 
 had no stomach for a fight and made equally deter- 
 mined efforts to get away. 
 
 The wind was light and baffling, with frequent inter- 
 vals of calm, and the Americans could not get along- 
 side in spite of the most persistent efforts. For over 
 twenty-four hours the pursuit continued with no re- 
 
Truxtun and the Constellation 189 
 
 suit whatever. About two o'clock on the afternoon 
 of February second, being Sunday again (the frigate's 
 lucky day it seemed), the breeze freshened and stead- 
 ied ; and by setting every cloth of canvas the swift 
 sailing Constellation at last began to draw up to the 
 rather deep laden chase. As the breeze held and 
 there was every prospect of soon overhauling her, the 
 men were sent to quarters and every preparation made 
 for the fight, the yards were slung with chains, top- 
 sail sheets, shrouds, and other rigging stoppered, pre- 
 venter backstays reeved, boarding and splinter nettings 
 triced up, the boats covered, decks sanded, maga- 
 zines opened, arms distributed, etc. 
 
 The battle was to be a night one, however, as it was 
 eight o'clock in the evening before the two ships were 
 within gunshot distance. The candles in the battle- 
 lanterns were lighted and each frigate presented a 
 brilliant picture to the other as the light streamed far 
 out over the tossing water. It was a bright moonlight 
 night and the ships were as visible as if it were day- 
 time. Seeing that escape was hopeless, the Frenchmen 
 apparently made up their minds to a desperate contest 
 and all hands, including a number of passengers, went 
 to quarters, cheering loudly, the sound of their voices 
 coming faintly up the wind to the silent Constellation 
 sweeping toward them. 
 
 Before the battle was joined the stout commodore 
 with his aides descended to the gun-deck and passed 
 through the ship. The men had been as exuberant 
 as children and had gone to the guns dancing and 
 leaping, but as they drew near the enemy their 
 exuberance subsided, and joyousness gave way to a 
 feeling of calm deliberation arid high resolve to repeat, 
 if possible, the success of the year before. As he 
 
IQO American Fights and Fighters 
 
 walked through the batteries Truxtun emphatically 
 charged his men not to fire a gun until he gave the 
 word, under pain of death; those who had been in the 
 last battle knew what he meant. He knew as did 
 other great American naval commanders the value of 
 a close, well-delivered broadside at the right moment, 
 and of that moment he himself would be the judge. 
 His instructions were that the loading of the pieces 
 was to be as rapid as possible and the fire deliberate, 
 and only delivered when it would be effective; not a 
 single charge was to be thrown away ; the guns were to 
 be loaded mainly with solid shot with the addition of 
 a stand of grape now and then; and the object of their 
 attack was to be the hull of the enemy ; no attention 
 was to be paid by the main battery to the spars or rig- 
 ging. The marines and small-arm men were to devote 
 their efforts particularly to the officers and crew of the 
 enemy. The officers were charged to- allow no undue 
 haste nor confusion among the men of the several di- 
 visions, and they were cautioned to set the men an 
 example of steadiness by their own cool and deter- 
 mined bearing. Like a prudent commander. Commo- 
 dore Truxtun wisely determined to throw away no 
 chance of success by any carelessness on the part of him- 
 self or his men; as they neared their huge, overpower- 
 ing antagonist, the necessity for making every shot tell 
 was as apparent to them as to him. Again enjoining 
 strict silence, the commodore regained the quarter- 
 deck, and stepping to the lee side, for he had skilfully 
 held the weather-gage of his big enemy, he seized a 
 large trumpet and prepared to hail her. 
 
 At this moment a bright flash of light shot out into 
 the night from the black side of the towering French- 
 man, followed by the roar of the discharge of a stern 
 
Truxtun and the Constellation 191 
 
 chaser beginning the action, in which all of the after 
 guns of the Frenchman immediately participated. The 
 shot from the long eighteens and twelves, and the great 
 bolts from the forty-two-pound carronades crashed in- 
 to the American frigate sweeping steadily forward. 
 Men began to fall here and there on the Constellation's 
 decks; the wounded, groaning or shrieking or stupe- 
 fied with pain, were carried below to the surgeon and 
 his mates in the cockpit, while the dead were hastily 
 ranged along the deck on the unengaged side. No one 
 made a sound, however, except the wounded, and even 
 they endeavored to stifle their groans and rise super- 
 ior to their anguish. But the punishment was exceed- 
 ingly severe and it was almost more than the men 
 could bear to stand patiently receiving such an attack, 
 though Truxtun sent his aides forward again, sternly 
 enforcing his command to the men to withhold their 
 fire until directed. There was no flinching, however, 
 on this occasion ; the officers kept the men well in hand, 
 but the situation was getting desperate, breaths came 
 harder, hearts beat faster, the inaction was killing; 
 was that imperturbable captain never going to give the 
 order to fire ? 
 
 Meanwhile the frigate was rapidly drawing nearer, 
 now the bow of the Constellation lapped the larboard 
 quarter of the French ship, the moment was coming, 
 it was at hand. Truxtun swung his ship up into 
 the wind a little and away from the other to bring 
 the whole broadside to bear, and then leaping up 
 on the taffrail and from thence into the mizzen- 
 shrouds in plain view of both ships' crews and a 
 target for a hundred rifles from the Frenchman, lean- 
 ing far out over the black water, in his deep, powerful 
 voice he gave the command to fire — a noble and heroic 
 
192 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 figure! With wild cheers for their gallant captain 
 the men delivered the mighty broadside. Their own 
 ship reeled and trembled from the recoil of the dis- 
 charge of the heavy battery, and the effect on the ene- 
 my was fearful; his cheering stopped at once and a 
 moment of silence broken by wild shrieks of pain 
 and deep groans and curses supervened. 
 
 The conflict was soon resumed, however, and shol 
 answered shot, cheer met cheer as the two ships, cov- 
 ered with smoke, fought it out through the long hours 
 of the night. The men toiled and sweated at the 
 guns, cheering and cursing; the grime and soil of the 
 powder smoke covered their half naked bodies; here 
 and there a bloody bandage bespoke a bleeding wound, 
 dead men lay where they fell or were thrust hastily 
 aside ; the once white decks grew slippery with blood in 
 spite of the sand poured upon them, as the raving, 
 maddened crew continued the awful conflict. There 
 was little opportunity for manoeuvering, and until mid- 
 night they maintained a yard-arm to yard-arm combat. 
 The fire of the Frenchman was directed mainly at the 
 spars and rigging of the Constellation, so that an 
 unusually large part of her crew was employed in 
 splicing rope and reeving new gear as fast as it was 
 shot away. Nevertheless, the remainder of the crew 
 served their artillery so rapidly and brilliantly that 
 many of the guns became so heated as to be useless, 
 until men crawled out of the ports, in the face of the 
 open fire of the enemy, and dipping up buckets of 
 water cooled them off. 
 
 About one bell in the mid-watch (half after twelve), 
 Truxtun at last ranged ahead and, taking posi- 
 tion on the bow of the French ship, finally succeeded 
 in silencing completely her fire which had grown more 
 

 Jie-llO Iveif. t/ tJie SeniXU a/ui h-'iuie M' Rfpresenlunte/i. of thr rnUai States nfAiiimcnm CotiarrM •i.'.'rmHrif. 
 That the Presidatt of the United ^tafe*. Be r^ursted Cf present to t^tain TlwmuJ Tnuetu'i it Golden Me<fal, 
 t'tnhhmntiftil of the iatr action between the United State* Friffafe Cenate/tatjonof t/ttrtj' eiijh/ C'tma, and 
 the French Ship ot' H'orLa Vengeance of titty /our Ottm. In testinwny cf the /t'^h trtufe entertained hy 
 
 CoitprcM of hw OnUtuitri' nnd t^ood cotuhirt in the above enffa^enient. uhereai tin ejntn/j/e H-a^ ejdiibi- 
 •ted by the C^xptazn Ot'r'icers. Sadors and Marines, honourable to the American name and matructn-e 
 to iu ri*ina Navy. 
 
 And it IS fitrther Rc'Soh-ed, that the conduct of Jaitua Jaf\^^ a Mid^hiptnan i/i ^aid 
 J*yigate, who GfortoHtfl/ prefer^ certain death to an ahandonment ofhia post, is deserving of the highest 
 pr^Uffe, and that the los.f of so prormsutg an Ot^cer is a sidgect of rultwnai rryret. 
 
 Theodore. SedgwitJc, 
 SpeaJur of the house of Repre^aitativej. 
 Thomaa Jefferson, 
 Vice Preeident of the. Utiiltd Stales and PrefiderU of the Senate. 
 Approved Afardi ss'^laoo. John Adivnf, 
 
 Prestde/U of the United States. 
 
 Thomas Truxtun. 
 
 (The Medal and Congressional letter presented to him after the action between the 
 Constellation and Lu I'engeance.) 
 
Truxtun and the Constellation 193 
 
 and more feeble as the long hours wore away. After 
 five hours of most desperate struggle, the stranger 
 was defeated. Indeed, twice during the night she had 
 struck her colors, but her action being unknown 
 on the Constellation, the combat had continued. 
 There was no doubt of the matter now, however; she 
 was not only defeated but silenced. The last shot of 
 the battle came from the Constellation. 
 
 The moon had set now for some time and, save for 
 the lights on the ships, the sea was in total darkness. 
 The shining stars in the quiet heavens above them 
 looked down upon a scene of desolation and horror. 
 Forty of the Constellation's men were dead or wound- 
 ed out of her crew of three hundred and ten, and there 
 were no less than one hvmdred and sixty casualties 
 out of a crew of three hundred and thirty on the decks 
 of the hapless Frenchman — a fearful proportion ! The 
 rigging and spars of the latter were more or less intact, 
 but her hull was fearfully wrecked ; she had received 
 nearly two hundred solid shot therein, and she was 
 almost in a sinking condition, her decks resembling a 
 slaughter-pen. 
 
 As the smoke drifted away, the Constellation was 
 headed for the stranger, to range alongside and take 
 possession, when it was discovered that every shroud 
 and stay supporting her mainmast had been carried 
 away, and the mast which had been badly wounded 
 under the top was tottering with the swaying of the 
 ship. The men in the top were under the command of 
 Midshipman James Jarvis, a little reefer, only thirteen 
 years old. The boy was worthy of his ship and captain. 
 One of the older seamen in the top had warned him that 
 the mast must certainly fall and had advised him to 
 abandon his post while there was yet time. The lad 
 
194 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 heroically refused saying that they must remain at 
 their stations, and if the mast went they would have 
 to go with it. Before the crew, who were working des- 
 perately, could secure it or save it, it crashed over the 
 side and carried with it to instant death little Jarvis 
 and all the men with him in the top except one. The 
 action of young Jarvis was as great an act of individ- 
 ual heroism as was ever recorded on the sea. Taken 
 in connection with his extreme youth, it is even more 
 remarkable than the more famous devotion of young 
 Casablanca on the Orient at the Battle of the Nile. 
 
 Taking advantage of the delay and confusion thus 
 caused, the surrendered French ship made sail and 
 slowly faded away in the blackness of the night. By 
 the time the wreck had been cleared, she was lost to 
 sight, and in the morning could nowhere be seen. 
 She turned up at Curagoa a few days later in a sinking 
 condition. The Constellation ran for Jamaica to re- 
 pair damages and refit. The French ship proved to 
 be the frigate La Vengeance of fifty-two guns, throw- 
 ing one thousand one hundred and fifteen pounds 
 of shot as against the Constellation's fifty guns, 
 throwing only eight hundred and twenty-six pounds 
 of shot ! The difference in favor of La Vengeance 
 over the Constellation was about the same as the 
 difference in favor of the Constellation over L'Li- 
 surgente, but in spite of that the Constellation had 
 proven the victor. 
 
 Truxtun received a medal from Congress, a magnif- 
 icent piece of plate valued at six hundred guineas from 
 Lloyds, in England, swords, prize money and other 
 rewards. 
 
 Little Jarvis was not forgotten, as the following 
 resolution of Congress will show. 
 
Truxtun and the Constellation 195 
 
 ^'Resolved, that the conduct of James Jarvis, a 
 midshipman in said frigate, who gloriously 
 preferred certain death to an abandonment 
 of his post, is deserving of the highest praise, 
 and that the loss of so promising an officer is 
 a subject of national regret." 
 
 That is certainly honor enough for any one boy or 
 man, and I believe he is the only youth so distinguished 
 by Congress. 
 
 L'Lisiirgcntc had been taken into the service of the 
 United States, and one summer morning in 1799 she 
 sailed away into the ocean under command of Captain 
 Patrick Fletcher, and never came back again. No tid- 
 ings of her end after she left the Capes of Virginia were 
 ever received and her fate is one of the untold secrets 
 of the teeming sea. 
 
 Six months after her action with the Constellation 
 the unfortunate La Vengeance was captured, after an- 
 other desperate battle, in which she lost over a hundred 
 men killed and wounded, by the British thirty-eight- 
 gun frigate Seine. In both instances she was beaten 
 by an inferior force. The Constellation still flies the 
 American flag and hundreds of future admirals (and 
 some who are not, and never will be, admirals, includ- 
 ing the writer) learned their seamanship upon her 
 when she was the practise ship of the Naval Academy ; 
 playing at war upon those decks which had resounded 
 with the roar of the guns in those half forgotten days 
 when she so successfully fought the enemies of her 
 country under the command of brave old Truxtun and 
 his gallant men. 
 
American Fights and Fighters 
 
 Part IV 
 
 WAR WITH TRIPOLI 
 
 1802-1 805 
 
DECATUR AND THE 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 The most romantic and brilliant figure in the naval 
 annals of our country is Stephen Decatur. Born in 
 1779, while this country was in the throes of the 
 Revolution, his ancestry French and Irish, always a 
 brilliant combination, he early set the pace for daring 
 and courage and consistently kept up to his own mark 
 until the end. Most of our other naval heroes gained 
 their immortality by a single fight. Decatur's name is 
 associated during three wars with a half dozen ex- 
 ploits and encounters of the greatest brilliancy, any 
 one of which would give him eternal fame. 
 
 Think of his dash and desperate courage in the hand 
 to hand fighting with the gunboats at Tripoli, his de- 
 cision and firmness in wringing a treaty of peace from 
 the Dey of Algiers subsequently ; the splendid battle in 
 which he captured the Macedonian while in command 
 of the frigate United States in the War of 18 12; the 
 bold way in which he dashed out of New York Har- 
 bor in the face of a heavy blockade later on in the Presi- 
 dent; his smashing fight with the frigate £nc?3;wf on, and 
 his persistent and desperate efifort to escape in a disabled 
 ship from a whole British squadron after that action; 
 
 199 
 
200 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 his intrepidity in several personal encounters in the 
 shape of duels — unfortunately so prevalent at that 
 time — in one of which he finally met his death. Add 
 to this catalogue his burning love of country, his un- 
 quenchable determination to stand up for his service 
 and his flag on every occasion, at whatever cost; his 
 famous sentiment, "My country! may she always be 
 right; but right or wrong, my country!" — why, any 
 one of these things is enough to have given him im- 
 mortality, any one would put him upon a plane of equal- 
 ity with the other great captains of his time. But the 
 event which, more than any of those cited, has en- 
 deared him to his countrymen, and to all who love the 
 brave, is that exploit which Lord Nelson, than whom 
 there could be no better judge, called "the most bold 
 and daring act of the age" — the cutting out of the 
 Philadelphia. This occurred in the year 1804, in the 
 war with the Barbary pirates. 
 
 It is to the eternal glory of America that the United 
 States, then a young, weak, struggling country, should 
 have been the first among civilized powers to put down 
 the frightful depredations of those brutal pirates with 
 an iron hand. The nascent navy followed Scipio's 
 famous maxim and carried the war into Africa, prose- 
 cuting it there with such vigor and success that, when 
 the conflict was over, the ships of our country alone, 
 among the the nations of the world, sailed the Medi- 
 terranean untroubled by these ruthless corsairs ; while 
 merchant vessels of other countries pursued their way 
 before these licensed blackmailers in fear and trem- 
 bling, unless protected by ignoble tribute, until our ex- 
 ample of resistance was followed. The war not only 
 resulted in the protection of the merchant marine, but 
 it proved the nursery of the navy as well, and in it 
 
Decatur and the Philadelphia 201 
 
 were laid those foundations of skill and ability which 
 were so costly to Great Britain, and so useful to our 
 country in later days. The history of the little war fair- 
 ly bristles with glorious achievements, and the names 
 of stout old Commodore Preble and his efficient sub- 
 ordinates, Stewart, Hull, Bainbridge, Somers, Wads- 
 worth, Trippe, Sterrett, Lawrence, Macdonough, Mor- 
 ris, Jones, Israel, and many others, constitute a galaxy 
 of heroes whom it would be hard to equal, much less 
 surpass. The brightest name among them all, how- 
 ever, was that of Stephen Decatur. He had been but 
 five years in the naval service, to which he traditional- 
 ly belonged, as his father had been a naval officer 
 during the Revolution, and his brother and other 
 relatives were in the service with him, when he was 
 sent to Tripoli at the age of twenty-four as one of Pre- 
 ble's "schoolboy captains." 
 
 The frigate Fhxladdphla, 38, one of the best of her 
 class, had been blockading the harbor of Tripoli in the 
 fall of 1803. She was under the command of William 
 Bainbridge, an officer of great professional skill and 
 high merit, who subsequently distinguished himself in 
 the War of 1812 in the old Constitution, by his capture 
 of the frigate Java. One morning, while chasing a 
 cruiser or blockade runner hard in shore, she ran upon 
 an hitherto unknown and uncharted reef. Her guns 
 were thrown overboard, the foremast cut away, the 
 ship otherwise lightened, and every effort made to 
 force her off, but with no success, as she finally bilged. 
 When in that helpless condition and unable to make 
 any resistance she was captured by a swarm of Tri- 
 politan gunboats. 
 
 In spite of the efforts which had been made by 
 Bainbridge to render her unseaworthy, the Tripoli- 
 
202 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 tans, unhampered Ijy any American vessels of war, 
 for none were present, succeeded in hauling her 
 off the rocks, patching her up, and taking her into 
 the harbor of Tripoli, where she was anchored under 
 the guns of the Bashaw's castle. Her guns had been 
 recovered and replaced in her ports. This capture mate- 
 rially altered the situation. The addition of this heavy 
 frigate to the other defenses of the place rendered it 
 impossible for the small American squadron to attack 
 with any degree of success. It might be said that the 
 whole war depended, for the present at any rate, upon 
 the Philadelphia. 
 
 Decatur conceived the idea of cutting her out, and 
 applied to Commodore Preble for the privilege of do- 
 ing so. The notion seems to have occurred to several 
 other officers independently about the same time, one 
 of whom was Stewart, and probably to Preble himself 
 as well ; but careful investigation inclines me to believe 
 in the priority of Decatur's conception. At any rate 
 his offer was accepted and arrangements were at once 
 made to carry it out. The Mastico, a little ketch of 
 about fifty tons burden was ready to hand. She was 
 a vessel peculiar to the Mediterranean, with two masts, 
 the forward one set well amidships, leaving a long, 
 clear space forward upon which bombs were frequently 
 mounted, and the after one, the smaller, both carrying 
 fore and aft sails; the boat was provided with sweeps 
 or enormous oars, used in fair or calm weather. She 
 had been captured recently by the Enterprise, at that 
 time under the command of Decatur himself. 
 
 The ketch had been built by the French and used as 
 a bomb vessel in Egypt, where she had been captured 
 1)y the English at the Battle of Aboukir, and by them 
 presented to the Tripolitans — a Greek gift as it after- 
 
Decatur and the Philadelphia 203 
 
 ward turned out! When she was captured by Decatur 
 she had just left the harbor with a lot of female 
 slaves on board, a present to the Sultan of Turkey. 
 When she returned she carried quite a different crew. 
 She was small and in every way a miserable vessel, 
 but the best for their purpose that could be had. 
 
 As soon as he had received his orders from Preble, 
 to whose wise planning their success was largely due, 
 Decatur mustered his crew on the Enterprise, explained 
 the hazardous nature of the venture, and called for vol- 
 unteers. Every officer and man at once clamored to 
 be taken. From the Enterprise Lieutenants James 
 Lawrence, Joseph Bainbridge, Jonathan Thorn, Sur- 
 geon L. Heerman, and Midshipman Thomas Macdon- 
 ough (late of the Philadelphia, and escaping capture 
 on account of being on detached service when she was 
 lost), with sixty-two of the more active men of the 
 crew, were chosen. To these were added Midshipmen 
 Izard, Rowe, Charles Morris, Lewis, and Davis from 
 the Constitution, and a Sicilian pilot named Salvator 
 Catalino. Charles Stewart, who commanded the war 
 brig Siren, and who as Decatur's superior officer was 
 nominally in command of the whole expedition, though 
 the details and the execution of the matter were entire- 
 ly left to Decatur, was ordered to accompany the ketch, 
 which had been re-named, and most appropriately, the 
 Intrepid, on her adventure. 
 
 One hour after receiving notice they left Syracuse, 
 Italy, on February 3, 1804, and six days after, late in 
 the afternoon, appeared off the mouth of the harbor 
 of Tripoli. The wind was rising and the sea breaking 
 over the bar off the mouth of the harbor with such 
 force that Midshipman Morris and the pilot, who had 
 been sent to reconnoiter in one of the cutters, reported 
 
204 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 that it would be difficult to get in with safety, and im- 
 possible to get out, so the two vessels reluctantly 
 decided to wait for better weather. It came on to blow 
 tremendously almost immediately thereafter, and for 
 six days the two little boats beat up against an awful 
 storm. The situation on the ketch was most critical. 
 No provision had been made for so extended a stay; 
 there were no places in which the men could adequate- 
 ly shelter themselves from the fury of the storm and the 
 cold wintry rain; the captain and three lieutenants oc- 
 cupied the small cabin, the midshipmen and marines 
 slept upon a small platform, the sailors on the water 
 and provision casks. The salt bacon, their only provi- 
 sion, spoiled, and as the ship was infested with vermin 
 from her previous occupants, their situation was as 
 uncomfortable as it was precarious. The men, like 
 true American jackies, kept their spirits up, however, 
 and endured the hardships cheerfully. 
 
 After six days of labor the gale abated and the two 
 ships determinedly made for the harbor once more to 
 carry out their astonishing purpose. After getting as 
 near as she dared, for fear of discovering her charac- 
 ter to the enemy, the Siren hove to, about two miles 
 from the harbor mouth, and the Intrepid went on 
 alone. Before she parted with the Siren Midship- 
 man Anderson and eight men were sent aboard her 
 by Stewart to supplement the crew. It had been 
 arranged that the attack of the ketch should be sup- 
 ported by the Siren's boats, but delay occurring, 
 Decatur decided not to wait for them, remarking to 
 his officers, "The fewer the number the greater the 
 honor!" It was still early evening, and with beating 
 hearts the men on the brig watched the little ketch 
 speed into the harbor toward the Philadelphia. 
 
Decatur and the Philadelphia 205 
 
 The frigate lay swinging to the wind under the guns 
 of the Bashaw's castle, and protected on every side by 
 the powerful land batteries and forts, mounting over 
 one hundred and fifteen heavy guns, beside number- 
 less smaller pieces, and manned by twenty-five thousand 
 men. On either side, reaching toward the entrance 
 of the harbor, like the horns of a wide crescent, were 
 arranged three smart cruisers, two large galleys and 
 nineteen gunboats. The group of vessels resembled an 
 open mouth, at the back of which was the Philadelphia. 
 Into these jaws of death Decatur boldly sent the Intrep- 
 id. The breeze being still fresh, though dying, drags 
 composed of buckets, spare spars and canvas were cast 
 astern to diminish the speed of the vessel coming on 
 too rapidly, as any attempt to take in sail would have 
 been suspicious. As the hours of the evening w^ore 
 away, the wind fell and she crept slowly up the 
 harbor. 
 
 The evening was balmy and pleasant, the moon 
 in that tropic land had flooded the heavens with mystic 
 light, bathing the minarets and towers of the sleeping 
 town upon the shores with silver splendor; lights 
 twinkled here and there in the white walled city, and 
 the Philadelphia herself was brilliantly illuminated by 
 long rows of battle-lanterns which sent beams of yel- 
 low lustre to mingle with the soft moonlight upon the 
 sparkling water. The frigate's foremast had been cut 
 away in the effort to get her off the reef, her topmasts 
 were housed and the lower yards lay athwart ship on 
 the gunwales; the lower rigging was set up and as it 
 was afterward learned, all her guns were shotted. A 
 heavy crew, probably three hundred and fifty men, was 
 on board. 
 
 What must have been the sensations of the men in 
 
2o6 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 that little ketch as they glided along? To what were 
 they going? Destruction, victory, what would be the 
 end of it ? By Decatur's orders, the men had concealed 
 themselves by lying flat upon the decks, behind the 
 bulwarks, rails, masts, bitts, etc., and only a few of 
 the seamen, dressed like Sicilian sailors, with Decatur 
 and the pilot aft to con the ship, and an old battle- 
 scarred veteran at the wheel, were visible. Eighty- 
 three men in a little ramshackle boat, a cockle-shell, 
 were going into a harbor defended by scientifically 
 constructed and well-armed batteries, to attempt to 
 take a thirty-eight-gun frigate full manned and armed 
 and surrounded by a fleet of small boats carrying fifty 
 to sixty more guns, all bearing upon the Philadelphia 
 herself, in expectation of just such an attack; the at- 
 tack itself to be delivered in the bright moonlight 
 and in the early evening, about half after ten o'clock! . 
 
 The very audacity of the conception strikes one with 
 amazement, and to its boldness is largely due the im- 
 munity the attackers enjoyed; that anybody should at- 
 tempt such a thing was absolutely incredible! The 
 thoughts of the young men doubtless went back to home 
 and friends, sweethearts and wives, but, with the de- 
 termination of heroes, they schooled their beating 
 hearts, nerved their resolution, and stifled any sensa- 
 tions of trepidation which might naturally possess 
 them. 
 
 As they approached the Philadelphia Decatur or- 
 dered the seaman at the wheel to head the ketch for the 
 bows of the latter ship, determining to lay his vessel 
 athwart the hawse of the frigate and board from 
 thence. As they drew near the Tripolitan hailed. By 
 Decatur's direction the pilot answered that they were 
 traders from Malta, who had lost their anchors in the 
 
Decatur and the Philadelphia 207 
 
 recent storm and desired the privilege of riding by the 
 Philadelphia for the night i. e., attaching their boat 
 to the frigate's cables until morning. 
 
 This not unusual request was granted as a matter 
 of course, and after assuring the watchful Tripolitan 
 that the brig in the offing, about which he had made 
 inquiry, was an English schooner, the Transfer, 
 the Siren's boat, which was swinging astern, was 
 manned by the sailors upon the deck and a line carried 
 forward to the port-sheet cable. At this moment a 
 sudden shift of wind took the ketch aback and she 
 hung motionless, directly in line with the frigate's bat- 
 tery, and not forty yards away. The position was one 
 fraught with the greatest danger. If they were discov- 
 ered now they were lost. The pilot, however, by 
 Decatur's orders, amused the enemy with descriptions 
 of the cargo and sea gossip in his lingua Franca, the 
 common language of the Mediterranean, until the boat 
 got away, and the ketch feeling the breeze moved for- 
 ward again. The coolness and resource of their young 
 commander had saved them. The Tripolitans with 
 ready kindness — soon to be ill-requited — had sent a 
 boat of their own with a cable leading from the port 
 quarter off which they desired the ketch to lie. With 
 great presence of mind the Americans intercepted the 
 boat and took the cable back to the ketch themselves. 
 The two lines were fastened together and then passed 
 in board, where the men, lying down on the deck, 
 grasped it in their hands without rising and lustily 
 hauled away, breasting the Intrepid steadily in toward 
 the frigate. 
 
 As the ketch gathered way, she shot into the moon- 
 light between the shadows cast by the masts of the 
 Philadelphia, when the Tripolitan commander at once 
 
2o8 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 discovered her anchors hanging over her bows in plain 
 sight. Indignant at the deception which had been 
 practised, but still unsuspicious of the true character 
 of the stranger, he ordered the fasts immediately to be 
 cut ; at the same moment some of his crew discovered 
 the men upon the decks of the ketch. The alarm was 
 instantly given. The cry, "Americanos, Americanos," 
 rang out over the water. The Americans sprang 
 to their feet, and though the ketch at this time 
 lay directly under the broadside of the Philadelphia, 
 and could have been blown out of the water by her 
 heavy guns, disregarding their peril in their wild de- 
 sire for action after their long restraint, they gave 
 such a pull upon the line that before it could be cut the 
 ketch had sufficient way to strike the side of the Phil- 
 adelphia, where eager hands at once made her fast. 
 Not an order had been given nor a sound made. 
 
 Decatur now shouted the command "boarders 
 away," and sprang at the main chains. Midshipmen 
 Morris and Laws, who were beside him, leaped for- 
 ward at the same instant. Laws dashed in through a 
 port, but the pistols in his boarding belt caught between 
 the gun and the port-sill, the foot of Decatur slipped, 
 and Charles Morris was the first man to stand upon the 
 deck of the Philadelphia. A second after, the other 
 two men were with him, and the rest of the crew 
 poured in over the rail, and with cutlasses or boarding 
 pikes, charged down upon the astonished Tripolitans. 
 The weapons were cold steel, the watchword "Phila- 
 delphia." No firearms were used, for Preble's strict 
 orders had been to "carry all with the sword." 
 
 Without cheers and with desperate energy the little 
 band dashed at the masses of astonished and terrified 
 men before them, and the whistle of the cutlasses, the 
 
Decatur and the Philadelphia 209 
 
 ring of steel against steel, the thud of the pike as it 
 buried itself in some beating heart, alone gave evidence 
 of the fell purpose of the stern boarders. 
 
 Their attack was pressed home with such vigor that 
 the Americans could not be denied; forming a line from 
 bulwark to bulwark they cleared the deck. After a 
 short but fierce resistance, in which upward of twenty 
 Tripolitans were killed, those remaining on the upper 
 deck jumped overboard, where many of them were 
 killed by Anderson and his boat crew, or were 
 drowned ; others concealed themselves below to meet 
 a worse fate later, A similar scene was en- 
 acted upon the gun-deck by Lawrence, Bainbridge, 
 Macdonough, and others, during and following the 
 action above. Only the watchword in the darkness 
 and excitement had prevented several of the Ameri- 
 cans from attacking each other. In ten minutes the 
 ship was captured. Not an American had been 
 wounded, so far. 
 
 Decatur would have given half his life to have 
 brought her out, and many naval officers have be- 
 lieved that he could have done so. It would have been 
 a matter of extreme difficulty in face of the dangers, 
 especially as there was not a yard crossed nor a sail 
 bent ; and as he had received positive orders not to at- 
 tempt it, he had to obey. The ketch had been filled 
 with combustibles, and they were immediately passed 
 on board. The crew had been divided into several 
 different parties, and each body of men, under the di- 
 rection of an officer, had been carefully instructed just 
 what was to be done. With remarkable speed and 
 order each group proceeded to its appointed station 
 and, speedily arranging the inflammable matter, ap- 
 plied the torch. 
 
2IO American Fights and Fighters 
 
 So rapidly was this done that those charged with the 
 duty of starting the fires below were almost cut off from 
 escape by the flames and smoke from the conflagra- 
 tion above. In less than thirty minutes the ship was on 
 fire in every direction, and the Americans had re- 
 gained the ketch ! Decatur was the last man to leave 
 the Philadelphia. The bow-fast and the grapnels on the 
 Intrepid were hastily cut, the sweeps manned, and in- 
 stant endeavor was made to get clear. For some un- 
 accountable reason, however, the ketch clung to the 
 frigate. Broad sheets of flame came rushing out from 
 the latter's ports and played over the deck of the In- 
 trepid. The situation was serious. It was the most 
 critical moment of the enterprise. All the powder on 
 the Intrepid, in default of a magazine, was stored upon 
 the deck, covered only by a tarpaulin, over which the 
 flames were roaring. In another moment they would 
 be blown up. They retained their presence of mind, 
 however, and soon discovered that the stern-fast had 
 not been cast off. Decatur and others sprang upon the 
 taffrail in the midst of the flames, and as no axes were 
 at hand, hacked the line asunder with their swords. The 
 Intrepid was clear. After a few lusty strokes, which 
 carried them a little distance away, the men stopped 
 rowing and gave three hearty American cheers. They 
 waited until success was achieved and then, in the midst 
 of further danger, gave tongue to their emotions — a 
 significant action ! 
 
 At the same moment the startled Tripolitans awoke 
 to life. The minutes of stupor with which they had 
 witnessed the attack, which they hardly comprehended, 
 gave place to energy. The rolling of the drums upon 
 the shore mingled with the wild shouts and cries of the 
 excited soldiery. Lights appeared upon the parapets 
 
Decatur and the Philadelphia 2 1 1 
 
 and immediately the roar of a heavy gun, which sent a 
 shell over the ketch, broke the silence. As if this had 
 been a signal, every battery and every vessel in the 
 harbor awoke to action and commenced a furious 
 cannonade. 
 
 Solid shot, shells, canister and grape shrieked and 
 screamed in the air about the devoted Intrepid, casting 
 up beautiful jets-d'eatt upon the surface of the bay, 
 which the flames from the burning Philadelphia ren- 
 dered as light as day. The Americans, having cheered 
 to their hearts' content, bent to their oars, and with 
 such energy as they probably never had used before, 
 they speedily fled from the harbor. 
 
 The spectacle they were leaving was one of awe 
 inspiring magnificence. The frigate, from her long 
 cruise in the tropic latitude, was as dry as paper, and 
 burned like tinder. The flames ran up the lofty spars 
 in lambent columns and clustered about the broad tops 
 in rosy capitals of wavering and mysterious beauty. 
 As the fire spread, the guns of her battery became 
 heated, and in sullen succession they poured forth their 
 messengers of death upon the harbor and the affrighted 
 town toward which the starboard broadside bore. It 
 was a death song and a last salute, for, as the eager 
 watchers gazed in melancholy triumph upon the results 
 of their own destructive handiwork, she drifted ashore 
 and with a frightful explosion, which seemed to rend 
 the heavens and surface the sky with fire, she blew up ! 
 A moment of silence supervened, which was broken by 
 the roar of the batteries resuming the cannonade. 
 
 Strange to say, the Intrepid passed through the fusil- 
 lade unharmed, one man being slightly wounded, and a 
 grape shot passing through a sail ! The moon had 
 set and the eager watchers on the Siren finally lost 
 
212 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 track of the vessel in the darkness. Their burning 
 anxiety as to her fate was not reheved until a boat 
 dashed alongside and a manly figure, clad in a sailor's 
 rough jacket, and grimed with smoke, sprang on 
 board, triumphantly announcing their safe arrival. 
 It was Decatur ! 
 
American Fights and Fighters 
 
 Part V 
 
 THE SECOND WAR WITH 
 ENGLAND 
 
 i8 1 2-1 815 
 
THE CONSTITUTION'S HARDEST 
 FIGHT 
 
 On December 29, 18 12, about nine o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, the United States ship Constitution was lazily 
 tossing to and fro in the long swell of the Atlantic 
 Ocean, about thirty miles off the northeast coast of 
 Brazil. She was carrying all plain sail, from royals 
 down, and under the influence of a light breeze was 
 gently shoving her mighty prow through the tumbling 
 waters. Almost a month before, in company with the 
 sloop-of-war Hornet, she had started on a cruise for 
 the Pacific Ocean in the. hope that the ships might play 
 havoc with the British East India trade. They were 
 to be joined later at a certain rendezvous by the frig- 
 ate Essc.r, Captain David Porter, and the little squad- 
 ron was under the command of Commodore William 
 Bainbridge, as fine a seaman and as bold a fighter as 
 ever trod an American deck. The Hornet had been 
 detached to blockade another British sloop-of-war, the 
 Bonne Citoyenne, in the harbor of Bahia, and the 
 Constitution was cruising off the coast while waiting 
 for the Essex. 
 
 Bainbridge was a most distinguished officer, high in 
 rank and held in great consideration in the service. 
 
 215 
 
2i6 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 He was a veteran of the French and Tripolitan wars, 
 and it was due to his arguments, coupled with those of 
 the famous Charles Stewart, that the American ships 
 at the beginning of the War of 1812 were allowed to 
 get to sea wherever possible. It had been the plan of 
 the authorities to dismantle the ships, never dreaming 
 that they could cope with the gigantic and successful 
 English navy, and it was only after the most urgent 
 representations that Bainbridge and Stewart succeed- 
 ed in changing the plan. There is therefore due to 
 these men, from all Americans, a deep debt of grati- 
 tude, for the War of 181 2 would have turned out very 
 differently had it not been for the exploits of our ships, 
 which laid in that period the foundation of the future 
 naval greatness of our country. The successes of 
 Manila and Santiago may be traced back to Bain- 
 bridge and Stewart. Bainbridge had been an able but 
 not hitherto a very lucky captain. In the war with 
 France his ship had been captured, though by his ad- 
 dress he had saved two other vessels from being taken 
 at the same time. Subsequently he made a brilliant 
 cruise in the Norfolk and performed some remarkable 
 feats of seamanship and skill in blockading. During 
 the Tripolitan War he had the misfortune to lose the 
 Philadelphia, as we have seen, though without the 
 slightest reflection being attached to him in any way, 
 his conduct having been characterized by a court-mar- 
 tial as exhibiting the highest degree of professional 
 skill and courage. 
 
 He was a man of striking personality, six feet high, 
 and of splendid proportion as well. His spirit was as 
 great as his body. While in command of an armed 
 merchantman, on one occasion he captured an English 
 war vessel of twice the size and armament of his own. 
 
The Constitution' s Hardest Fight 217 
 
 When master of the merchant ship Hope, an Eng- 
 lish ship-of-the-Hne took from him one of his men. 
 He vowed that he would supply the place of the man 
 from the next English ship he met and he did so. A 
 bad man to tackle was Captain William Bainbridge 
 on this bright, sunny morning, when at nine o'clock 
 two sail were reported from the masthead. The larg- 
 er of the two ships discovered to the windward at 
 once set toward the C onstitution , the other made sail 
 to escape. As the ships drew nearer it was seen that 
 the escaping ship was a large merchantman, afterward 
 known as the American ship William, a prize to the 
 British frigate Java, which was the name of the war 
 vessel sweeping gracefully down to the Constitution. 
 The Jaz'a was commanded by Captain Henry Lam- 
 bert. He was one of the most thorough seamen who 
 ever handled a ship, and in every other way a man 
 of deservedly high reputation. A brief catalogue of 
 his exploits shows that he was an officer of the first 
 quality. He was a man of proven courage and great 
 hardihood as well, and he had under him one of the 
 finest frigates in the British navy, originally the 
 French frigate Rcnoinuicc, wdiich had been captured 
 by the English almost as soon as she had been 
 launched late in the previous year. She was a beauti- 
 ful model and one of the swiftest vessels on the sea. 
 Her destination was India, whither she was conveying 
 a lieutenant-general, recently appointed Governor of 
 Bombay, his staff, a naval captain, several other sea 
 officers and a large number of supernumerary seameii, 
 together with supplies to outfit a ship-of-the-line, the 
 Cornzvallis, and two sloops-of-war. The total number 
 of persons on board of her, therefore, was about four 
 hundred and fifty. She was slightly smaller and not 
 
2i8 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 quite so heavily armed as the Constitution, the propor- 
 tion between them in efficiency being represented by 
 about ten to nine — not a very material difference. 
 
 The two ships sailed toward each other in the light 
 breeze all the morning, each flying signals which the 
 other was unable to comprehend. Bainbridge made his 
 preparations for the expected battle with the greatest 
 deliberation. He sent his men to dinner at the proper 
 time, allowed them a comfortable smoke afterward, 
 and then leisurely beat to quarters and luffed up to get 
 into range. At two o'clock in the afternoon he plumped 
 a shot from a long gun across the forefoot of the Java, 
 whereupon the English ship showed colors from every 
 masthead, and Bainbridge followed up his introduction 
 with a broadside, most of the shot from which cut the 
 water around the English ship and did no damage. The 
 broadside was returned with effect by the Java, for, 
 strange to say, it was better aimed than that of the 
 Constitution, and several of the latter's men were 
 killed and wounded. It must have been luck rather 
 than skill, for after that the English gunnery was exe- 
 crable! The firing on both sides now became rapid 
 and continuous, and both vessels sailed along in the 
 light wind covered with clouds of smoke. The Eng- 
 lish had the weather-gage, and the Java was very 
 much faster than the Constitution which, as she had 
 been cruising without going into dry-dock for a long 
 time, had a very foul bottom covered with weeds. 
 Bainbridge, who had been watching the flame-pierced 
 cloud of smoke off to port, noticed that the fire of the 
 enemy seemed to draw forward, and he was not sur- 
 prised when he saw the Java suddenly shoot out of the 
 smoke, put her helm hard up, and make a broad sweep 
 to cross his bows and rake. He followed her manoeu- 
 
The Constitution' s Hardest Fight 219 
 
 vers with the quickness of thought itself, and the 
 Constitution, admirably handled, wore swiftly around 
 on the other tack and escaped the threatened peril. 
 
 The Java still preserved the weather-gage and the 
 two ships sailed together as before, only heading the 
 other way and shifting their crews to the other battery. 
 The superior speed of the Java enabled her to fore- 
 reach on the Constitution a second time, and as soon 
 as he had gained sufficient distance Lambert put his 
 helm hard up again and tried once more to cross the 
 Constitution's bows. As before, Bainbridge was too 
 quick for him, and the two ships repeated their pre- 
 vious evolution, wearing and heading in the opposite 
 direction again, shifting batteries and keeping up a 
 hot and continuous fire. Lambert still maintained his 
 weather-gage in spite of the skilful efforts of the Con- 
 stitution to cut him out of it. During all this man- 
 CEUvering whenever the guns bore they were fought 
 furiously, different batteries being engaged in alter- 
 nation. Whenever the Constitution luffed up to close 
 the Java attempted to rake her, but the aim of her men 
 was now so poor that they made little use of the op- 
 portunities afforded them, and practically no damage 
 was done the Constitution. Finally, in desperation at 
 his inability to get near the swift English ship, Bain- 
 bridge determined to set his foresail and mainsail, the 
 action having been fought hitherto under the topsails 
 and topgallant sails, and boldly headed for the Eng- 
 lish frigate to close and run her aboard. Necessarily 
 in doing this he presented his bow fair and square to 
 her broadside, thus deliberately taking a dangerous 
 risk. It was a superb opportunity for the Java to de- 
 liver a smashing blow in the face of the Constitution, 
 but the shot of her broadside, except one bullet from a 
 
220 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 nine-pounder, went wild. If the Java had led down 
 on the Constitiitiofi that way she would have been cut 
 to pieces. 
 
 The Constitution now drew to within pistol-shot 
 distance of the Java's starboard quarter, and the fire of 
 her heavy battery at close range was fearfully effec- 
 tive. Under the additional pressure of the fore and 
 mainsails, Bainbridge in his turn now forged ahead, 
 the Java at the same time losing her jib-boom and 
 bowsprit at the cap. As the Constitution luffed again 
 to lay the Java aboard, the latter put her helm down 
 and tacked ship, when the Constitution immediately 
 wore, the two ships thus circling away from each 
 other. Owing to the loss of her headsail, the Java paid 
 off very slowly and the Constitution crossed her stern 
 at a distance of a cable's length, pouring in a tremen- 
 dous raking broadside the while. Both ships now ran 
 off with the wind free, the Java being handled beauti- 
 fully and still preserving the valuable weather-gage. 
 Though exchanging broadsides continually, the firing 
 of the American was at last proving much more disas- 
 trous than that of the Englishman. The Java's rigging 
 was cut to pieces and her masts were seriously wounded. 
 Unable to stand this exchange of shots in which his 
 disadvantage was manifest, Lambert determined to 
 board. It was, in this instance, the last resource of 
 the British captain. Taking advantage of his weather- 
 gage, he boldly put his helm up and came swooping 
 down for the Constitution. His boarders swarmed 
 forward ready to spring, Lambert himself preparing to 
 lead the charge. 
 
 As he headed toward the American he was coolly 
 raked again and again by the latter's guns. The 
 carnage was fearful, but Lambert resolutely held 
 on — he had to keep on or strike his flag. Before he 
 
The Constitution' s Hardest Fieht 221 
 
 to' 
 
 reached the Constitution, by her fearful fire his main 
 topmast was carried away at the cap and the fore- 
 mast just below the cat-harpens. The wreck fell upon 
 the deck and in the water, dragging the head of the 
 Java away from the Constitution, which still kept up 
 its merciless resistless fire. As the two ships neared 
 each other the stump of the Java's bowsprit caught for 
 a moment in the mizzen rigging of the American, but 
 the frigates were not yet in contact and it was impos- 
 sible for the English to board. The American top- 
 men and marines now poured a tremendous rifle fire 
 into the ranks of the British grouped forward, while 
 the carronades below kept smashing the English ship 
 in the bows. It was an awful moment — for the Java 
 — but the ships finally separated and the Constitution 
 kept away to avoid being raked, as the bowsprit of the 
 Java swung slowly across her taffrail, and the Eng- 
 lish ship headed for the south. The two vessels now 
 ran off parallel to each other, the Java, marvelous to 
 relate, still keeping the weather-gage ! The ships again 
 drew side by side, but the Constitution, having lost 
 none of her sails or spars, was now the swifter and 
 she ranged ahead of the Java. Bainbridge then wore 
 his ship, came up under the quarter, raking the helpless 
 Java again, shot past her stern, wore a second time, 
 and at a quarter past three came alongside and renewed 
 the conflict. His seamanship was simply masterly. 
 He had been wounded early in the action by a musket 
 ball in the hip, but, though bleeding seriously, he had 
 remained at his post. Leaning over the wheel, he con- 
 tinued the direction of the action. A little later a 
 heavy shot from the Java carried away the Constitu- 
 tion's wheel and drove one of the copper bolts with 
 which it was fastened deep into the thigh of the com- 
 mander. It was an excruciatingly painful wound, but 
 
222 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 he still persistently refused to go below, so he had the 
 wound dressed on deck and continued to direct the 
 manoeuvers of this wonderful battle while in the hands 
 of the surgeon ! It was an exhibition of supreme cour- 
 age and resolution. The Constitution thereafter, for 
 the greater part of the action, was steered by relieving 
 tackles, word being passed below by a line of midship- 
 men ! 
 
 About this time Captain Lambert was dreadfully 
 and mortally wounded by a ball from the American 
 maintop which shattered his breast-bone and passed 
 through his lung. The first lieutenant, Chads, took 
 command and, assisted by the supernumerary naval 
 officers, continued the combat with unabated resolution. 
 The wreck of the masts of the Jaz'a, which had not yet 
 been cut away, hung over her starboard side and caught 
 fire with almost every discharge of the battery. Chads 
 himself was severely wounded, but remained in com- 
 mand. The British fought on with desperate courage 
 and heroically continued their now hapless battle. The 
 vessels were almost in contact and the Americans 
 deliberately knocked the remaining spars out of the 
 helpless English frigate. The mizzenmast was cut 
 away, the stump of the foremast cut down further still, 
 and all her guns were silenced. At five minutes after 
 four the Constitution, under the impression that the 
 Jai'a had struck, as no flag was flying, concluded that 
 the battle was ended. Bainbridge drew off, therefore, 
 in accordance with the common practice of the Ameri- 
 cans after action when alone on seas swarming with 
 British cruisers, to re-reeve the cut gear and make nec- 
 essary repairs. An hour after, fit for another battle, she 
 stood toward the old enemy. The English had pluck- 
 ily hoisted an ensign, but as the Constitution, in grim 
 silence, crossed the forefoot of the helpless, rolling, 
 
S -i 
 
The Constitution' s Hardest Fight 223 
 
 dismasted hulk of the Java, deliberately taking a posi- 
 tion in which she could have raked her to pieces, the 
 flag of the latter was struck. 
 
 There was not a single spar left standing except the 
 stump of the mainmast and the stump of the bowsprit. 
 At 5.25 P.M. Lieutenant Parker boarded the frigate 
 and received the surrender. The actual fighting time, 
 including the manoeuvering, had been about an hour 
 and forty minutes, the action having been protracted 
 by the brilliant seamanship of both captains. Lambert 
 had never lost the weather-gage until the end of the 
 battle, he had made the best possible use of his superior 
 speed and handiness, and it was only the most consum- 
 mate ability on the part of Bainbridge which had 
 saved the Constitution from being raked again and 
 again. The loss on the Java was sixty killed and one 
 hundred and two wounded, on the Constitution twelve 
 were killed and twenty-two wounded, the heaviest loss 
 she ever sustained in action. The Constitution went 
 into the action with her royal yards across, and came 
 out of it with everything standing, while the Java had 
 been cut to pieces ! 
 
 Some little incidents of the battle are worth record- 
 ing. Two brothers named Cheever were among the 
 crew of the Constitution. One of them was killed 
 early in the fight, the other mortally wounded at the 
 close. He was lying upon the deck when he was told 
 that the other ship had struck. In spite of his desperate 
 wound he immediately lifted himself up and gave three 
 cheers, expiring with the last cheer. On the Java 
 were two boys, twin brothers, midshipmen on their first 
 cruise. They were both killed, the last one begging 
 that he might die under the English flag, which was 
 spread over him by his kind-hearted conquerors. 
 
 Bainbridge's treatment of his prisoners was every- 
 
224 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 thing which could be expected from so high-minded 
 and courteous a gentleman, and Lieutenant-General 
 Hislop, the captured governor aforesaid, presented him 
 with a sword in token of gratitude for his kind- 
 ness. Owing to the shattered condition of the Java 
 and their great distance from the United States, Bain- 
 bridge determined to blow her up. The unfortunate 
 Lambert, who had been delirious most of the time 
 since receiving his frightful wound, muttering and 
 moaning over the loss of his ship, which evidently 
 preyed upon his mind, was removed with the greatest 
 care in the midst of a heavy sea to the Constitution, 
 the whole ship's company looking on in strained anx- 
 iety till the removal was afifected. Bainbridge, being 
 informed that the English captain was enjoying a lucid 
 moment or two, immediately caused himself to be car- 
 ried by two of his officers, his wound preventing him 
 from walking, to the cot of the dying Lambert which 
 had been placed upon the quarter-deck. When he 
 reached his whilom enemy he gave his sword back to 
 Lambert, laying it on the cot with the hilt by the dying 
 man's nerveless hand. Lambert was so weak that he 
 could only look his gratitude. The wounded Ameri- 
 can supported in the arms of his officers, and the dying 
 Englishman on the cot on the grim, blood-stained deck 
 of the war-ship, make one of the sweet pictures of 
 American history, and the mind loves to dwell upon 
 this tender action of the great-hearted and heroic Bain- 
 bridge. It seems to me, that in such little occasions as 
 this, we may found our hope that war and its horrors 
 will some day vanish from among the children of men. 
 After the war was over some English nautical ex- 
 perts were inspecting the Constitution. "Well," said 
 one them at the close of his visit, "your ship seems to 
 
The Constitution' s Hardest Fight 225 
 
 be absolutely perfect, but as I must make some criti- 
 cism, I will say that you have a very ugly wheel for 
 so beautiful a vessel." "Yes," said the American offi- 
 cer to whom he was speaking, "it is ugly. We lost our 
 wheel in the action with the Java and, after the battle 
 was over, we replaced it with hers, and somehow we 
 have never cared to change it !" 
 
 From the point of view of seamanship, tactics and 
 gunnery, this battle was one of the finest ever fought. 
 Lambert, however, handled his ship quite as brilliantly 
 as Bainbridge had done, and the action was decided 
 by the superior gunnery of the American. I do not 
 suppose that the Americans were any better gunners 
 naturally than the British. Both ships had been out 
 about the same time, but during five weeks the Java's 
 men had never engaged in a single target practice, 
 while the Americans were frequently given an oppor- 
 tunity for perfecting themselves in that necessary req- 
 uisite of a successful man-o'-war's-iman ; in fact the 
 English had only fired six blank broadsides in the 
 whole of their cruise, had little or no drill, other than 
 the ordinary routine of the ship, while the Americans 
 were exercised and drilled morning, noon and night! 
 Drill, discipline, gun practice told then as it told in our 
 recent war, and as it will tell in other wars in the fu- 
 ture ; aye, as it tells even in the daily affairs of so-called 
 peaceful life. 
 
 No man should stand higher than Bainbridge in our 
 naval history. I look upon him possibly more than 
 any other man as the "father" of the American navy. 
 Without his determined pleading there would have 
 been no naval war in 1812 and England would still be 
 the undisputed mistress of the sea. 
 
THE NIAGARA CAMPAIGN 
 
 I. CHIPPEWA 
 
 For fierce, hard, desperate fighting, no army which has 
 ever upheld the prestige of American arms, was ever 
 more distinguished than that commanded by Major- 
 General Jacob Brown, in the year 1814, when he 
 made his famous campaign on the Canadian side of 
 the Niagara River, sometimes called the Niagara cam- 
 paign. Nothing particular eventuated from that cam- 
 paign — it had no result except to discourage the 
 British, give them a more healthy respect for the Amer- 
 ican regular and to encourage the Americans corres- 
 pondingly — but while it was in progress it was marked 
 by several sanguinary and desperate battles, in which 
 were displayed as cool courage, as pretty fighting and 
 as brilliant tactics, as were ever exhibited upon a bat- 
 tle field. General Brown seems to have been a very 
 capable and determined fighter ; although his glory has 
 been almost obscured by the more brilliant reputation 
 gained by Winfield Scott, his principal brigadier, he 
 deserves to be held in high remembrance by his coun- 
 trymen as a sturdy, courageous and successful soldier. 
 The land engagements during the war prior to this 
 campaign had not reflected any great credit upon either 
 
 226 
 
The Niagara Campaign 227 
 
 British or American combatants. The armies on both 
 sides were inferior in quahty, and the leadership was 
 poor ; it anything the honors were with the British. 
 
 General Scott, who had shown his daring and capac- 
 ity on several occasions, in conjunction with General 
 Brown, who had also exhibited great gallantry and 
 skill, had seen that the pressing needs of their country- 
 men were more thorough drill, more rigid discipline 
 and some adequate teaching in military tactics, of 
 which they were mainly ignorant. During the win- 
 ter and spring of 18 14 they had instructed the men 
 of the little army of regulars they commanded in the 
 most thorough manner ; the drills occupying long hours 
 daily, the men grumbled and rebelled as usual, as much 
 as they dared, until they got in action and saw the 
 value of it all. It is said that there was but one book on 
 military tactics, a copy of a French work, ui the army ; 
 they made good use of it, however, for Scott translated 
 it and established a regular school of instruction for the 
 higher officers, who communicated what they learned 
 to their subordinates, and they in turn to the men. 
 The labors of them all were arduous and unceasing 
 and, as the summer dawned, the painstaking and hard 
 working commanders were conscious that they had an 
 army under their direction at last. They needed one ; the 
 British had also waked up to the situation and larger 
 and better forces, veterans of Wellington's command, 
 had at last been despatched to this country to end 
 matters. 
 
 General Brown planned a campaign on the west bank 
 of the Niagara River which he hoped would result in 
 the seizure of all the British posts in the peninsula be- 
 tween Lakes Ontario and Erie, after which he trusted 
 that, with the cooperation of Commodore Chauncey, 
 
228 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 who commanded the naval forces on the lakes, he might 
 successfully possess himself of Canada, which was the 
 dream of the American soldier in this war. His little 
 force consisted of two small brigades of regular sol- 
 diers of three regiments each, under the command 
 of Brigadier-Generals Winfield Scott and Eleazer W. 
 Ripley, each numbering about fifteen hundred men ; 
 in addition he had another brigade of about one thou- 
 sand Pennsylvania and New York militia under 
 Brigadier-General Peter B. Porter. There was 
 also a small train of artillery comprising Ritchie's 
 and Towson's batteries under Major Hindman, and 
 a squadron of cavalry, in all but little more than 
 four thousand men of all arms. It was a compact, 
 handy, well-officered, well-drilled, little force. Early 
 in the morning of July 3, 18 14, the army which had 
 assembled at Buffalo and Black Rock, began to cross 
 the Niagara River. 
 
 The English had begun the erection of a small work 
 called Fort Erie opposite Buffalo; it was then garri- 
 soned by one hundred and fifty men. Scott's brigade 
 crossed above, and Ripley's below it, and the fort, 
 which was immediately invested, surrendered in the 
 afternoon of the same day without making much of 
 a defense. The main body of the British forces in 
 the peninsula, numbering then about three thousand 
 men, was encamped at Chippewa, a village situated 
 near the great falls, about sixteen miles above Fort 
 Erie. Major-General Riall, who commanded it, was an 
 Irishman of no great ability and of slender military 
 capacity, but of very large means, who had attained 
 his rank mainly through the pernicious purchase sys- 
 tem. He was a man of undoubted courage, but as a 
 commander he was decidedly inferior — another wood- 
 en pole in a cocked hat! 
 
The Niagara Campaign 229 
 
 On the morning of the fourth of July, the American 
 array was put in motion. During the advance of fif- 
 teen miles up the river, which was led by Scott's 
 brigade, there was constant and heavy skirmishing 
 with Pearson's brigade which Riall had sent down to 
 relieve the fort, and which had arrived too late. The 
 English were astonished at the skill and the courage 
 of the American advance until, as they said, they re- 
 membered what day it was — they were to find out soon 
 that all days were alike to that little army when it came 
 to fighting! Late in the evening Scott's brigade had 
 reached a little stream called the Chippewa River, 
 behind which Riall's camp had been previously estab- 
 lished. Brown, wdth Ripley's brigade and Porter's 
 volunteers and the Indian auxiliaries under Red Jack- 
 et, was some miles in the rear. To attack the strong 
 w^orks of the camp would be impossible, so the pur- 
 suit was given over and Scott's brigade moved back 
 to the south bank of a little brook called Street's 
 Creek, where it pitched its tents for the night. Ripley's 
 brigade was some miles further back, and Porter's 
 militia lay refused on Scott's left flank. 
 
 On the morning of July fifth Porter was instructed 
 to advance on the enemy's right, with orders to push 
 through the wood beyond Scott's position to try to 
 drive back parties of English scouts and Indians who 
 would harass the American advance. The duty was 
 gallantly performed until early in the afternoon, when 
 the skirmishers were met by the enemy advancing in 
 force. Brown, who had been carefully observing the 
 scene from a distant and commanding hill, saw an im- 
 mense cloud of dust rising over the plain between the 
 Chippew'a River and Street's Creek. Rapid firing ap- 
 prised him that Porter was heavily engaged. He at 
 once sent orders to Ripley to advance to the support 
 
230 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 of tlie first brigade and then galloped forward to 
 Scott's position. That gallant officer was entirely ig- 
 norant of the close proximity of the British, and had 
 just made arrangements to lead his men across the 
 bridge over the creek in order to have a dress parade 
 on the open plain before tliem ! He could hardly 
 believe Brown's statement that his parade bade fair to 
 become a battle. However, he welcomed the opportu- 
 nity w^ith alacrity, and made all speed to cross the 
 creek. 
 
 Porter, after making a gallant defense against the 
 whole British army led by Riall in person, had at last 
 fallen back. y\s the British came out of tlie wood 
 they discovered Scott's brigade marching across the 
 bridge. The American army was uniformed in gray. 
 There had been a great scarcity of blu^ cloth and the 
 quartermaster at Buffalo offered to provide gray, of 
 which he had a large supply on hand ; Brown and 
 wScott had accepted his offer and consequently the us- 
 ual blue uniform was mainly conspicuous by its ab- 
 sence. In honor of this campaign, by the way, the 
 memory of the gray uniform has been perpetuated in 
 the dress of the West Point Cadets, which has since 
 that time been of the same gray color. Scott was a 
 great stickler for the pomp and circumstance of glori- 
 ous war — he used to be called "Old Fuss and Feathers" 
 by the rank and file — and, in fact, he and his officers 
 had agreed to make this campaign in full, fig — cocked 
 hat, rosettes, epaulets, sashes, and so on ! Consequent- 
 ly when the red-coated British veterans saw the gray- 
 coated, full dressed American regulars advancing, 
 Riall remarked that they were nothing but Buffalo 
 militia, and that they would have an easy victory! He 
 opened fire upon the Americans at once from his bat- 
 
The Niagara Campaign 231 
 
 tery of nine guns posted on the high road; Towson, 
 opposite him on the right, returned the fire with his 
 small battery of three guns, which he used with great 
 effect. The Americans in the face of the British fire 
 crossed the bridge and deployed with the steadiness of 
 veterans, undeceiving Riall at once as to their char- 
 acter. 
 
 Scott detached Major Jessup in command of the 
 Twenty-fifth regiment, to make a fiank movement 
 through the woods, while he sent the rest of his men 
 straight for the enemy. Jessup executed his movement 
 with alacrity and skill, and while the engagement was 
 being hotly contested in the front, he fell upon the right 
 flank of the British. Meanwhile Colonel Leavenworth 
 had massed upon the left flank of the enemy, and assist- 
 ed by Towson executed a furious charge upon it. These 
 attacks were stubbornly resisted for a time, especially 
 on the right flank where Jessup was. The men of the 
 Twenty-fifth regiment had become somewhat disor- 
 ganized through the dash and impetuosity of their wild 
 charge, and as the British advanced to deliver a coun- 
 tercharge, Jessup deliberately re-formed the regiment 
 under fire, bringing them to a support arms the while. 
 The discipline of his detachment was very fine, and 
 their gallantry and steadiness remarkable. When he 
 had perfected his alignment to his entire satisfaction, 
 he sent them forward again with the bayonet. 
 
 The right of the British was completely shattered, 
 and separated from the center by a wide gap. At this 
 juncture the Cjuick eye of Scott saw his opportunity; 
 riding down to his remaining regiment, the Eleventh, 
 under the gallant McNeill — the other two being hotly 
 engaged on either flank — he shouted in a voice heard 
 plainly by the men above the roar of the battle: ''The 
 
232 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 enemy say we are good at long shot but cannot stand 
 the cold iron ! I call upon the Eleventh instantly to give 
 the lie to that slander ! Charge!" Officers in action do 
 not usually make speeches of that kind, but it was in- 
 tensely like Scott to have done so. At any rate, the 
 Eleventh, led by Scott and McNeill in person, rushed 
 forward into the gap with fixed bayonets, and that 
 charge practically ended the fight. The British were 
 routed on every hand and fled with all speed back to 
 their encampment and entrenchments across the Chip- 
 pewa. Scott moved up to attack but found the position 
 too strong to be carried by his shattered regiments. 
 Ripley's brigade did not reach the field in time to take 
 any effective part in the battle. While Scott waited 
 for the rest of the army to assemble, the British aban- 
 doned their position during the night, leaving a large 
 portion of their stores and equipage, and fled precipi- 
 tately to the northwest, to Burlington Heights at the 
 western end of Lake Ontario. 
 
 In this sharp action, known as the Battle of Chip- 
 pewa, the number of British engaged was about twen- 
 ty-two hundred, as opposed to an American force 
 numbering nineteen hundred. The American loss in 
 killed, wounded and missing, was three hundred and 
 twenty-seven, that of the British five hundred and 
 seven. Scott had attacked and defeated a superior 
 force upon whom he had inflicted much greater loss 
 than his own. The battle had been fought on an open 
 plain and the brilliant tactics of the Americans assured 
 the British that there was a soldier in command. 
 Brown now pushed forward for Lake George at the 
 head of the river, intending to capture it, and then 
 move on Burlington and thence to Upper Canada, but 
 Chauncey, who was the most inefficient of all the Amer- 
 
The Niagara Campaign 233 
 
 ican naval commanders in this war, was ill, and it never 
 seemed to have occurred to him that anybody else could 
 have commanded his fleet, so he did nothing. Mean- 
 while, the British were reinforced byLieutenant-General 
 Sir Gordon Drummond, with a large body of men, 
 bringing the total of their army up to nearly five thou- 
 sand men, including some of the best regiments in their 
 service, the One Hundredth, the Royal Scots, the 
 King's Own, etc. ; some, at least, of which had been 
 with the redoubtable Wellington. 
 
 II. LUNDY S LANE 
 
 Brown thereupon moved back to Chippewa, and 
 Drummond and Riall advanced down the river. 
 Scouts had reported that a large body of British had 
 been detached to cross the river at Queenstown and 
 menace the American supply depot on the other side. 
 Brown was in a quandary on the receipt of this news. 
 He dared not divide his force in the face of an enemy 
 who already outnumbered him, neither could he afford 
 to lose his supplies, and to retreat across the river 
 would be to give up the whole campaign. He deter- 
 mined wisely, therefore, in the face of these three pos- 
 sibilities, to move up to attack the main force of the 
 British in front of him. If they had detached an ex- 
 pedition, they would be weakened thereby and he might 
 defeat them, or cause the recall of the expedition, or 
 prevent it — if it had not started — anyway, it was good, 
 bold tactics to attack. On the twenty-fifth of July, 
 therefore, he ordered his plucky little army to advance. 
 The first brigade under Scott, now comprising the 
 regiments of Colonel Hugh Brady, the Twenty-second ; 
 
234 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 Majors Jessup, tlie Twenty-fifth; Leavenworth, the 
 Ninth; and McNeill, the Eleventh; Towson's artillery 
 and Harris' cavalry, numbering in all about thirteen 
 hundred men, took the lead. About five o'clock in the 
 evening, the advance under Colonel Brady with the 
 Twenty-second infantry, discovered the forward divi- 
 sion of the enemy drawn up in force at a place called 
 Lundy's Lane. 
 
 The rumors which had reached Brown had not 
 been correct. The whole British army was still on the 
 same side of the river. The position they had taken 
 was an exceedingly strong one; this portion of the 
 army, numbering about two thousand men, had been 
 drawn up in a crescent shaped line with a heavy bat- 
 tery of artillery in the center, upon a little hill, which 
 commanded the whole field. To retreat was to be 
 defeated, to stand still would mean destruction, there 
 was but one thing to be done. Scott despatched mes- 
 sengers post-haste to Brown imploring reinforcements 
 and with the instinct of a true soldier, at once boldly 
 moved his little force forward to the attack. Repeating 
 his tactics of Chippewa, he sent a flanking party under 
 the command of Brady (after Scott the ranking offi- 
 cer of the brigade) and Jessup, to the open ground on 
 the British left, and forming up the remainder of his 
 brigade in the thick woods, desperately charged the 
 center. It was an amazing manoeuver ; over two thou- 
 sand men in a chosen position, defended with artillery, 
 were charged in the open by less than one thousand, 
 while three hundred were detached for a flank attack ! 
 
 The shock of tl^^e battle was terrific. The roar of 
 the mighty falls near by mingled in deep undertones 
 with the crash of the artillery and the rattle of the 
 small arms. Again and again the Americans were led 
 
The Niagara Campaign 235 
 
 forward ; Brady and Jessup finally established them- 
 selves on the flank and Jessup actually got in the rear 
 of the enemy, where he had the good fortune to capture 
 General Riall himself, who was in command of the de- 
 fense. The bold detachment made good its retreat 
 thereafter in the face of reinforcements, and rejoined 
 Scott's thin straggling line. When they reached the 
 center they were immediately sent forward in the 
 charge. Colonel Brady, Majors Jessup and McNeill 
 were desperately wounded, Brady twice. All the offi- 
 cers of the three regiments which they commanded, 
 the Twenty-second, the Twenty-fifth and the Eleventh, 
 except two or three, were killed or wounded. There 
 was not a horse left in the brigade, two had been killed 
 under Colonel Brady, before he was wounded.^ These 
 regiments, somewhat disorganized by the 'hot firing 
 they had received, and the large numbers killed and 
 wounded, rallied in the rear of Leavenworth's battalion 
 of the Ninth, wdiich still preserved its integrity, and the 
 whole mass actually moved forward for another 
 charge ! 
 
 Fortunately Brown, wath the head of Ripley's brig- 
 ade, now galloped on the field. It was high time for 
 him to appear, he was sorely needed. As fast as the 
 men of Ripley's brigade, who had been marching des- 
 perately for the last hour upon the dead run, arrived, 
 they were deployed for attack. Scott's exhausted, dec- 
 imated men were collected to form a reserve. Porter 
 soon joined Ripley. With first-class military instinct 
 Brown at once discovered that the battery in the cen- 
 ter of the British line was the key to their position. He 
 lost no time in reflection; calling up Colonel Miller, 
 
 1 Colonel, afterward Major-General, Hugh Brady was a 
 great-great-uncle of the writer. 
 
236 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 of the famous Twenty-first, he pointed it out and asked 
 him if he would storm the hill and take the battery with 
 his regiment. "I will try, sir," replied the intrepid sol- 
 dier. The First Regiment, under Colonel Nicholas, was 
 ordered to support him. It was now eight o'clock at 
 night and quite dark, the waning moon, veiled under 
 heavy clouds of smoke from the continuous discharges, 
 giving but little light and the armies were actually 
 fighting in thick darkness. 
 
 Miller and his men crept up the hill on their hands 
 and knees until, about twenty yards from the battery, 
 they reached a rail fence undiscovered. They could 
 see the British guns plainly by the light of the burning 
 linstocks which the cannoneers held in their hands 
 ready to discharge the loaded pieces. Thrusting their 
 muskets through the fence rails the Americans took 
 careful aim and poured in a volley which killed or 
 wounded many of the surprised gunners. They then 
 rushed up the hill, cleared its top with the bayonet and 
 found themselves in possession ! The loaded guns 
 were swung about instantly and poured forth their 
 murderous discharges upon the retreating British. 
 The First Regiment, which had been met by a smart 
 fire and had wavered, now recovered its ground and 
 reinforced the Twenty-first on the hill. The men of 
 Miller's regiment after that wore upon the buttons of 
 their coats his famous words, 'T will try, sir !" 
 
 Lieutenant-General Drummond now arrived with 
 heavy reinforcements for the British and assumed com- 
 mand. He immediately formed his fresh men in the 
 thick darkness in the valley below and advanced to 
 attack the hill, which Brown had meanw^hile strongly 
 reinforced. Five separate assaults were delivered upon 
 this hill, the attacks being made with the greatest de- 
 
^ -5 
 
The Niagara Campaign 237 
 
 termination. They were repulsed in each instance 
 with equal courage. Men aimed at the flashes of light 
 from the opposing line, and when their pieces were dis- 
 charged, fought in the night, hand to hand, with the 
 bayonet and the sword. Late that night Scott's brig- 
 ade, which he had rapidly got into shape again, not yet 
 having had enough of it, executed a bayonet charge up 
 Lundy's Lane. In the height of the charge Scott was 
 desperately wounded in two places, his shoulder being 
 shattered by a grape shot. At the same moment 
 Brown had ordered an advance down the hill, and 
 while leading it received also a second wound. In 
 spite of a severe wound which he had received early in 
 the fight, he had persisted in continuing the command 
 of the field. Faint from the loss of blood he had to 
 retire and the command now devolved upon General 
 Ripley. 
 
 It was now about midnight. The British had com- 
 pletely abandoned the field. The Americans were fa- 
 tigued and exhausted by their desperate struggle. 
 There was no water to be had on the top of the hill, 
 and so Ripley, most unaccountably, ordered a retreat. 
 The Americans withdrew, leaving the British guns 
 which they had captured and so gallantly defended 
 to remain alone upon the hill because there were no 
 horses, all of them having been killed, with which to 
 bring them off! Miller's men, who had captured the 
 hill, dragged away one gun by hand — the only 
 trophy of their exploit. Li the morning when Brown, 
 the wounded commander, heard of the withdrawal of 
 the army and the abandonment of the hard-won posi- 
 tion, he was furious with indignation. He at once 
 ordered an advance, but the British had re-occupied 
 their lines in greater force, and as Ripley was no great 
 
238 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 offensive fighter, though a man of high personal cour- 
 age, the victorious army reluctantly withdrew. The 
 Americans had, with twenty-five hundred men, en- 
 gaged over three thousand five hundred British. They 
 had taken a strong position, held it and driven the 
 enemy from the field. Scott's dashing tactics and 
 the desperate resolution of his men who had attacked 
 immediately under his leadership, and had held the 
 enemy in play until Brown could bring up his supports, 
 awakened admiration on every hand. The attacks of 
 the Americans had been so determined that the English 
 artillerists had been bayoneted while loading their 
 guns. The American batteries were advanced within 
 a few yards of the British. Even the English histor- 
 ians acknowledge the superior gallantry and courage 
 of their foes, saying that it would have done honor to 
 any service. Each side lost about nine hundred men, 
 or about thirty per cent, of the total force engaged, 
 or three times as great a proportion as has usually ob- 
 tained in the greater battles of later wars. 
 
 III. THE SIEGE OF FORT ERIE 
 
 After the battle the Americans withdrew in good 
 order to Fort Erie, followed leisurely at a safe distance 
 by the superior forces of the British. General Gaines, 
 in the absence of Scott and Brown — the life of the 
 former being despaired of, and the latter seriously 
 wounded — now was ordered to the command of the 
 American position. Entrenchments were at once 
 thrown up, forming a long, narrow enclosure, with 
 Fort Erie, a star-pointed, bastioned fort at the right 
 upper corner, Fort Douglass near the lake to the 
 
The Niagara Campaign 239 
 
 right, and a long line of entrenchments terminating 
 in Fort Towson on the lake to the left. The works 
 were well-constructed, provided with ditches and abat- 
 tis. Both armies were soon reinforced, bringing the 
 British numbers to over four thousand, the American 
 to little less than three thousand. 
 
 Drummond regularly laid siege to the fort, mean- 
 while sending Colonel Tucker with five hundred British 
 regulars across the river to destroy the batteries at 
 Black Rock. The expedition was badly defeated by 
 three hundred American regulars fighting behind 
 strong entrencliments thrown up on the bank of a 
 creek, and withdrew to the main army again. On the 
 thirteenth of August, the British batteries being then 
 completed, a furious cannonade of the American works 
 was begun which continued without intermission until 
 the night of the fifteenth, when an attack in force was 
 delivered upon the works. 
 
 The British came forward in three heavy columns 
 of one thousand men each. One column attacked 
 Towson's battery on Snake Hill on the left. The 
 American guns there were so well served that they 
 poured out a continuous sheet of flame and shot 
 through the black night. The men called the place 
 "Towson's light-house." Though they finally reached 
 the parapet there and crossed bayonets, the assailants 
 were ultimately repulsed with great slaughter. The 
 attack on Fort Douglass on the right, which was met 
 with equal determination, was equally unfortunate. 
 The second column, however, under Lieutenant-Col- 
 onel Drummond, brother of the general-in-chief, had 
 succeeded in entering the northeast bastion of Fort 
 Erie. The men struggled through the ditch, some 
 men from the defeated column from Fort Douglass 
 
240 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 reinforced them, and they planted their scaling ladders 
 on the fort and drove out the Americans at the point 
 of the bayonet — indeed, during the whole of this des- 
 perate assault, the English did not once fire their mus- 
 kets; by the specific orders of their commander, the 
 flints had been removed from the guns, and they 
 relied entirely upon the secret and sudden use of the 
 bayonet, the watchword was "cold steel" and they 
 used it effectively. 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Drummond was the first man to 
 enter the fort. The Americans in the bastion made a 
 heroic resistance, but they were all immediately killed 
 or wounded. No captures were made or allowed. 
 Lieutenant Macdonough, in command of the position, 
 being wounded and helpless, asked for quarter. Drum- 
 mond ruthlessly shot him down. His word had been 
 "Give no quarter to the damned Yankees !" and he w^as 
 distinctly heard to pass that order. One of the Ameri- 
 can soldiers who had himself asked for quarter, seeing 
 Macdonough's fate, shot the British commander, and 
 immediately followed the discharge of his rifle by 
 savagely thrusting him through the heart with the 
 bayonet. The steel passed through a paper in Drum- 
 mond's breast pocket, on which was written the order 
 to attack containing these significant words : "The 
 Lieutenant-General most strongly recommends the free 
 use of the bayonet!" The blood-stained paper is still 
 preserved by the New York Historical Society ; Drum- 
 mond, of course, was instantly killed, his slayer also. 
 His party, however, held the bastion with the most te- 
 nacious courage until morning. 
 
 The Americans brought up party after party to 
 effect its capture, without success. As the day dawned 
 the broken assaulting columns which had been rallied 
 
The Niagara Campaign 241 
 
 after their repulse at Forts Towson and Douglass, ac- 
 companied by the British reserves, were seen deploying 
 in the open, preparing to support the column which had 
 not yet been dislodged from the bastion. The Ameri- 
 can artillery at once began playing upon them, doing 
 great execution ; still they came on. Gaines was mak- 
 ing ready for another desperate attempt to recapture 
 the coveted bastion, when there was a violent explosion 
 inside the work which killed or wounded most of the 
 British, and the position was at once recaptured, where- 
 upon the British columns withdrew precipitately and 
 the battle was over. It is reported that Lieutenant 
 Macdonough, wounded and dying, incensed at his bru- 
 tal treatment, saw an opportunity and . exploded an 
 artillery caisson by the flash of his pistol, Samson- 
 like destroying himself and his foes. The total loss of 
 the British in this attack in killed and wounded was 
 one thousand men, the American rather less than one 
 hundred ! The bastion was repaired under fire, and 
 the cannonading was renewed with spirit on both 
 sides. 
 
 Some time after, General Gaines was badly wounded 
 by a solid shot, and General Brown, though still weak 
 from his wound, came over to take command in person. 
 He immediately resolved upon a sortie. On the seven- 
 teenth of September, at half after two o'clock in the 
 afternoon, the carefully arranged sortie was delivered. 
 The assaulting forces were divided into two columns 
 of one thousand men each. One under General Porter 
 marched over a road which had been opened through 
 the woods and fell upon the flank of the British camp 
 and entrenchments. The other, under Colonel Miller, 
 marched up a ravine and interposed between the left 
 and the center of the enemy's line. The attack, bril- 
 
242 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 liantly delivered under cover of a thick fog, was a 
 great surprise and was followed up successfully. Bat- 
 teries number three and four were stormed and after 
 a furious action of thirty minutes, were captured by 
 Porter's men. This success was followed by the cap- 
 ture of the blockhouse in the rear of battery number 
 three. The garrison were made prisoners, cannon and 
 carriages destroyed and the blockhouse and magazine 
 blown up. All three of Porter's regimental comman- 
 der's were killed or wounded, with many of his men. 
 Miller, equally successful with his column, captured 
 two more batteries and another blockhouse. Within 
 forty minutes the whole forward line of the British 
 entrenchments was in possession of the Americans. 
 General Ripley, who had supported the attack, now 
 brought up his reserve, and, in the new action which 
 ensued received a severe wound. The cannon having 
 been destroyed and the batteries rendered useless, the 
 Americans having affected their purpose withdrew in 
 good order, their loss in killed and wounded being 
 five hundred as against one thousand of the British ; 
 the whole affair was considered most creditable to the 
 Americans. 
 
 Hastily collecting his shattered forces, on the night 
 of the twenty-first, Drummond broke up his camp 
 and retreated behind the Chippewa, leaving large stores 
 and munitions of war in the hands of the Americans. 
 The brave Brown being unable to continue in command 
 any longer, his wound breaking out afresh, the charge 
 of the army was given to General Izard, who, after a 
 futile engagement with the British, mainly carried on 
 by skirmish and advance parties, destroyed Fort Erie 
 and recrossed the river to the American side late in the 
 fall. General Drummond withdrew his force at the 
 
The Niagara Campaign 243 
 
 same time to Burlington Heights, so the peninsula 
 was abandoned by both armies. The British loss in 
 killed and wounded in the whole campaign, in which 
 they always had the superior force and never once 
 gained the victory, was over three thousand, and the 
 American loss less than eighteen hundred. The quality 
 of the fighting, and the way the Americans had devel- 
 oped their army, went a long way toward convincing the 
 English of the futility of continuing the struggle, and 
 was largely instrumental in bringing about the peace 
 treaty which was signed on the twenty-fourth of De- 
 cember in the same year. 
 
THE AMERICAN WASPS AND 
 THEIR VICTIMS 
 
 I. THE FROLIC 
 
 The most famous name among the smaller ships of 
 the early American navy is that of the Wasp. It was 
 borne in succession by two similar vessels, which in 
 each instance sustained the high reputation of the 
 American arms with an equal degree of fortune and 
 success. The first, which was a small corvette of four 
 hundred and fifty tons burden, was built shortly after 
 the close of the Tripolitan War. She was armed with 
 sixteen short thirty-two-pounders, and two long 
 twelves, giving a total weight of about two hundred 
 and fifty pounds to the broadside. Just before the be- 
 ginning of the War of 1812, she was in England with 
 despatches under the command of Captain Jacob Jones. 
 He was the third eminent man of the same name who 
 distinguished himself in the service. 
 
 As soon as he reached home Captain Jones refitted 
 and started out on a cruise with his ship to see what he 
 could devour. On his second cruise, about the middle 
 of October, 181 2, he was making for the track between 
 England and the West Indies for the purpose of pick- 
 
 244 
 
The Wasps' Victims 245 
 
 ing up prizes, when he was overtaken by a violent gale 
 during which the jib-boom carried away, taking 
 with it two men who were on it at the time ; and his 
 ship was otherwise damaged in the severe weather. 
 The gale had abated somewhat, though the sea was 
 still running high, when a little before midnight on the 
 seventeenth of October, in latitude thirty-seven degrees 
 North, longitude sixty-five degrees West, or about five 
 hundred miles east of Albemarle Sound, North Car- 
 olina, he raised several lights, which he at once sus- 
 pected to be a convoy. Uncertain, however, as to the 
 character of the force which might be guarding the 
 supposed merchant vessels. Captain Jones prudently 
 refrained from making a closer inspection until the 
 morning. 
 
 When the sun rose, he saw that the convoy consisted 
 of five merchant ships, several of them armed, under 
 the charge of a heavy brig-of-war. Jones was to wind- 
 ward of the squadron and he immediately bore down 
 in chase. The war-brig appeared nothing loath for ac- 
 tion, and signaling her convoy to make sail and run 
 before the wind, she interposed between them and the 
 J J' asp, and dropped astern to reconnoiter, clearing for 
 action at the same time. As the Wasp drew nearer, 
 Jones saw that the brig, which had hoisted a Spanish 
 flag, had her main-yard on deck ; it had been damaged 
 in the gale of the day before. However, as the wind 
 was very heavy, the brig was manoeuvering easily under 
 a boom mainsail and the foretopsail and, in fact, had 
 been converted into a brigantine, a very handy and con- 
 venient rig for her under the circumstances. The 
 Wasp was under short fighting canvas also. 
 
 At half after eleven o'clock in the morning, when 
 the two vessels were within fifty yards of each other, 
 
246 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 Jones hailed and demanded the stranger's name. The 
 brig hauled down the Spanish flag — which had de- 
 ceived no one, by the way, for the Spaniard never lived 
 who would come down upon a foe and carry sail as she 
 had done — hoisted the English colors and poured in 
 a broadside followed by a rattling volley of musketry. 
 The PVasp responded in kind immediately, and the two 
 vessels sailed side by side nearing each other with every 
 passing moment. The firing was rapid and severe on 
 both sides, although the English delivered three broad- 
 sides to the American two. The sea was still running 
 very heavy and the roll of the ships was tremendous, 
 the decks were flooded from time to time and the gun 
 muzzles went under with every roll. After a few min- 
 utes of combat, the main topmast of the Wasp was 
 shot away, and together with its yards fell across 
 the forebraces, rendering it impossible to swing the 
 head yards for the rest of the action. A few moments 
 after this misfortune, the gaff and the mizzen topgal- 
 lant mast were shot away, which rendered the Wasp 
 almost unmanageable. 
 
 At 11.52 A.M. the vessels had worked to w^ithin half 
 pistol-shot distance of each other. The Wasp had been 
 cut up fearfully aloft, every brace and most of her run- 
 ning rigging had been carried away, and, so far as the 
 Americans could see, but little damage had as yet been 
 done to their antagonist. They could not account for it ; 
 their fire had been deliberate and it was believed accur- 
 ate, the crew had been carefully trained and exercised 
 in frequent target practice, they were going about their 
 work coolly enough, and why no damage appeared on 
 their enemy was difficult to understand. There had 
 been very few casualties on the American vessel and 
 the fire was still kept up unremittingly, though it was 
 
The Wasps' Victims 247 
 
 perceived that the Enghsh return was gradually de- 
 creasing in violence and force. At this juncture the 
 head braces of the brig were carried away, and as she 
 was unable to trim her yards, the pressure of the wind 
 upon her after sails threw her bows up toward the 
 broadside of the Wasp which was forging ahead 
 slowly. 
 
 The two vessels came together with a tremendous 
 crash, the brig's bowsprit was thrust violently be- 
 tween the main and mizzenmasts of the American and 
 jammed tightly in the main-shrouds. The Amer- 
 icans loaded their port guns with grape and canister 
 and actually fired through the English bridle ports and 
 raked the enemy with terrible effect. No reply of any 
 kind came from the brig. The ships were so close 
 together that the American ramrods struck the sides 
 of the British brig. The bowsprit of the enemy hav- 
 ing been fouled, so that she could not extricate herself, 
 Jones, in view of his shattered spars, desired to rake 
 her again before he attempted to board, but in spite of 
 his peremptory orders, the impetuosity of his crew 
 could no longer be restrained. After the first rake, 
 Jack Lang, an American sailor, who had a bitter score 
 to pay against the British government for impress- 
 ment, jumped on his gun and reaching for the brig's 
 bowsprit clambered to her deck. Lieutenant James 
 Biddle had stepped up on the rail in readiness to jump 
 as soon as the roll of the vessels should bring them 
 close enough together ; at a nod from Jones he at once 
 leaped for the enemy's rail, which he caught with his 
 hands; little Midshipman Baker, utterly unable to 
 reach the deck of the other ship, now caught hold of 
 Biddle's coat-tails and endeavored to swarm up his 
 back, whereupon both of them fell back upon the 
 
248 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 deck of the Wasp, narrowly escaping a fall into 
 the water between the two ships. Biddle picked up the 
 plucky little midshipman, threw him on the rail of the 
 silent brig, and scrambled up afterward, to support the 
 intrepid Lang, who had been alone on the enemy's deck 
 for nearly a minute. The other boarders immediately 
 followed and gained the brig's forecastle. 
 
 Lang, who had been in no danger whatever, was 
 standing on the forecastle, with his arms folded about 
 his cutlass, surveying in great awe the English ship, 
 the like of which neither he nor any other man had 
 ever seen before. The deck was covered thick with 
 dead and wounded men, many of the latter groaning 
 and shrieking in horrible agony. Aft on the quarter- 
 deck were three officers, two of them unable to stand 
 alone, and all of them badly wounded. At the wheel 
 and clinging resolutely to its spokes, was a grim, blood- 
 stained old sailor, an heroic example of devotion to 
 duty, who still kept his station and that was all. The 
 guns were dismounted on every hand ; ports had been 
 beaten into each other, rails smashed, not a boat left 
 at the davits. The decks were washed about with 
 water brightly colored with the l^lood of the dead and 
 dying. The American boarders were simply appalled 
 at the sight of the slaughter. They stood in silence 
 for a few moments, until Biddle, followed by Lieuten- 
 ant Rogers and Midshipman Baker, after directing 
 the other men to remain where they were, picked his 
 way over the bodies to the quarter-deck. As he ap- 
 proached them, the three officers flung dowai their 
 sw^ords at his feet, and one of them, burying his face in 
 his hands, leaned upon the rail and burst into tears. 
 The grim old sailor still kept his place at the helm. 
 Biddle sprang into the rigging and with his own hands 
 
S s 
 
 3 
 
The Wasps' Victims 249 
 
 lowered the flag. After forty-nine minutes of strug- 
 gle the battle was over. Almost as he did so, the 
 masts of the prize fell, the mainmast breaking off close 
 to the deck, the foremast ten feet above it. 
 
 Out of a crew of one hundred and ten, between ten 
 and twenty only were unscathed, and had fled below 
 to escape the awful punishment of the American shot. 
 The actual loss in killed and wounded was over ninety. 
 The prize proved to be the British brig Frolic, Cap- 
 tain Thomas Whinyates. She was of four hundred 
 and seventy tons burden and carried twenty-two guns, 
 sixteen short thirty-twos and four twelves on the main 
 deck, and two twelve-pound carronades on the forecas- 
 tle, which gave her two hundred and ninety pounds to 
 the broadside. She was larger, better armed and in 
 every way superior to the Wasp, and she had been ab- 
 solutely beaten to pieces. She had been desperately 
 defended and her gun fire had been exceedingly ac- 
 curate. The English, however, had fired on the up- 
 ward roll of the ship on the waves and most of their 
 shot had gone into the rigging and braces. The Amer- 
 icans had fired on the downward roll and their shot 
 had hulled the Frolic repeatedly, though, of course, 
 they had not been aware of its destructive force until 
 after the action. Captain Whinyates was much cen- 
 sured for his defeat by an inferior force and was never 
 afterward employed in active service. The loss on the 
 Wasp was only five killed and five wounded. Immedi- 
 ately after the battle another English vessel, the 
 Poicticrs, a seventy-four, hove in sight and captured 
 both vessels. The Wasp made an effort to escape, but 
 when her men shook her sails out of the gaskets they 
 found they had been cut to ribbons by the enemy's fire 
 and she was helpless. 
 
250 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 II. THE REINDEER 
 
 Eighteen months after the capture, a new and im- 
 proved edition of the former ship bearing the same 
 name, which had been built at Washington after her 
 loss, got to sea from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on 
 May I, 1 8 14, under the command of Captain Johnston 
 Blakely, of North Carolina. The new vessel carried 
 twenty short thirty-two-jDound carronades and two 
 long twelves, a total of twenty-two guns with about 
 three hundred and nine pounds to the broadside. She 
 was larger and better built than the old ship, and of a 
 beautiful model, upon which her designer and ship- 
 builders had lavished all their inventive capacity and 
 skill, until they had produced one of the swiftest and 
 handiest vessels upon the sea. Her crew had been se- 
 lected with especial care and she was very heavily 
 manned. Blakely was already a distinguished young 
 officer and he was destined to add greatly to his repu- 
 tation by this cruise. He made for the crowded waters 
 of the European coast, and by his captures of merchant 
 vessels spread consternation in the narrow seas. 
 
 At four o'clock in the morning of June 28, 1814, in 
 latitude forty-eight degrees thirty-six minutes North, 
 longitude eleven degrees fifteen minutes West, the 
 weather being cloudy with a light breeze from the 
 northeast, two sail were raised to windward. As the 
 Wasp made for the stranger, three other vessels ap- 
 peared close at hand oft the weather beam. Blakely 
 changed his course for the nearest ship, and at 12.30 
 P.M., as the American had not recognized signals 
 thrown out by the strangers, Blakely cleared for action. 
 He vainly endeavored to get the weather-gage, for 
 the English ship was beautifully handled, and the 
 
The Wasps' Victims 251 
 
 Wasp finally fired a lee gun and ran off free with the 
 wind a little forward the port beam. The English ship, 
 a brig-of-war, accepted the bold challenge at once and 
 hoisted sail to close. She slowly crept up on the 
 weather quarter of the American, and at 3.17 p.m. 
 opened fire, at a range of about sixty yards, from a 
 shifting twelve-pound carronade upon her forecastle, 
 which was loaded \vith grape. To this discharge the 
 Americans could make no reply and they had perforce 
 to endure patiently the fire of the gun which was dis- 
 charged five times with the utmost deliberation, inflict- 
 ing much damage to the ship and causing some loss 
 among the men for nine minutes, or until 3.26 p.m., 
 when, finding that the enemy did not draw abreast 
 of him, Blakely put his helm a-lee and luffed up, firing 
 his carronades from aft forward as they bore. 
 
 For ten minutes the two vessels, lying side by side 
 about as far from each other as the width of an ordinary 
 city street, kept up an unremitting fire. The cannonade 
 was terrific. The concussions of the explosions dead- 
 ened the little wind prevailing, so that the ships lost way 
 and the smoke hung over them in heavy clouds. Both 
 crews worked at the guns with desperate energy but 
 the odds were too great for the English vessel, the 
 Reindeer; Captain William Manners, her commander, 
 one of the finest officers in the service, saw that his 
 only hope lay in employing that last resource which has 
 been so often successfully tried by British seamen, the 
 steel of their cutlasses and their good right arms. The 
 ships were now almost touching. Suddenly putting 
 his helm hard up, the captain of the Reindeer ran the 
 Wasp aboard on her port quarter. Manners had been 
 slightly wounded several times and, though bleeding, 
 still stuck to his post. At this moment a grape shot 
 
252 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 passed through his thighs, bringing him to the deck, 
 but with unparalleled resolution he dragged himself 
 to his feet, and clinging to a stay, cheered his men as 
 they sprang to board. Blakely was ready for them. 
 
 As the ships came together, he called his boarders 
 aft and massed them behind the rail. As the two ves- 
 sels lay side by side, their boarders hacked and thrust 
 at each other through the ports in the shrouding 
 smoke. As it blew away from the now silent guns, 
 the English sprang to the rail. But a little chasm sep- 
 arated them, caused by the bends of the ships, and there 
 commenced a deadly hand to hand conflict. The top- 
 men and marines on either ship poured in a withering 
 fire. Presently the English gave back. Then it was that 
 Manners sprang into the breach sword in hand, and 
 wounded and dying though he was, he summoned the 
 last vestige of his strength and leaped to the rail to lead 
 his men again. They followed him gallantly, like the 
 brave fellows they were. At this instant, a bullet 
 from the American maintop crushed into his skull. He 
 clapped his left hand to his face, shrieked out "My 
 God !" and still brandishing his sword in his right hand 
 fell back upon the deck he had defended so desperately. 
 No one ever died better. As the British hesitated in 
 the face of this loss, Blakely sprang to the Reindeer's 
 rail and gave the order to board, and with wild cheers 
 the Americans followed their leader to the British deck. 
 There was a furious struggle for a few minutes, when 
 the British were either killed or driven below, and 
 the captain's clerk, the highest surviving officer, sur- 
 rendered the ship ! 
 
 The time of the conflict had been twenty-seven min- 
 utes from the time the Reindeer fired her shifting 
 carronade, and only eighteen minutes from the time 
 
The Wasps' Victims 253 
 
 the Wasp had first responrled. The Reindeer was 
 smaller than the Wasp, her broadside was only two 
 hundred and ten pounds as against three hundred and 
 fifteen; her crew numbered one hundred and eighteen 
 as against one hundred and seventy-three. The Wasp 
 had twenty-six killed and wounded and had been 
 rather severely handled. The Reindeer had sixty- 
 seven killed and wounded and had been cut to pieces. 
 She fought under greater disadvantage than any other 
 of the British sloops which had been captured in a sin- 
 gle action during the whole war, yet she had made in- 
 comparably the best fight of them all ! There were no 
 mistakes made on either side. Manners had fought 
 his ship in the most brilliant way, and no human man 
 could have done better. On the other hand, the differ- 
 ence in execution on the two vessels in favor of the 
 American was fully proportioned to the latter's pre- 
 ponderance in force. It is impossible to see how 
 Blakely could have ended the fight more quickly and 
 thoroughly than he did. As Roosevelt remarks, "We 
 may take great pride in the prowess and courage and 
 skill exhibited on both ships." Manners illustrated in 
 his death the glorious traditions of his service as few 
 men have done. The day after the conflict it was 
 found impossible to save the Reindeer, and by Blake- 
 ly's orders she was burned. 
 
 III. THE AVON 
 
 After the battle the Wasp went into TOrient to refit. 
 On the twenty-seventh of August Blakely sailed again, 
 taking several prizes. On September first he over- 
 hauled a convoy bound for Gibraltar under the protec- 
 
254 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 tion of a line-of-battle ship, the Armada, 74. The 
 brave American, in spite of the fact that he was several 
 times chased away by the Hne-of-battle ship, finally 
 succeeded in cutting out one of the convoy, laden with 
 guns and military stores of great value, which he de- 
 liberately proceeded to burn and destroy under the 
 nose of the infuriated captain of the liner. It was a 
 part of Blakely's bold daring that he should have ac- 
 complished this audacious feat without harm to his 
 ship. At half past six in the evening of the same day, 
 being in latitude forty-seven degrees thirty minutes 
 North, longitude eleven degrees West, having run the 
 convoy out of sight, he discovered four sail, two to 
 starboard and two to port; he at once determined to 
 have a nearer look at them — that they might all be 
 ships-of-war made no difference to him. It soon ap- 
 peared that they were three English war vessels chas- 
 ing an American privateer. 
 
 At seven o'clock the nearest one, which had lagged 
 far behind the others, and which was afterward found 
 to be the British brig Avon, Captain John Arbuthnot, 
 made night signals, to which the Wasp paid no atten- 
 tion. At 8.38 P.M. the Avon began firing her stern 
 chaser. At twenty minutes after nine the Wasp weath- 
 ered on the Avon off the port cjuarter. Hails were ex- 
 changed and the brig was ordered to heave to. She 
 declined and set her foretopmast studding sail to es- 
 cape. At 9.29 P.M. the Wasp began firing with a twelve- 
 pound carronade which had been mounted forward 
 after the action with the Reindeer. The Avon replied 
 briskly with her stern guns. Blakely, then fearing that 
 the enemy would square away before the wind and es- 
 cape in the darkness, shifted his helm and ran to lee- 
 ward of her and ranged alongside after pouring a 
 
The Wasps' Victims 255 
 
 semi-raking broadside into her starboard quarter as he 
 passed. A furious^ engagement began immediately at 
 very close range. The night was a black one and all 
 the men on the Wasp could see was a great shadow 
 rushing rapidly through the water by their side. They 
 could aim at the flashes of their enemy's guns or at the 
 white foam on her water-line, and as usual their practice 
 was excellent. The Avon was hulled again and again, 
 her guns were dismounted, the mainmast was carried 
 away, and after thirty minutes of conflict she was com- 
 pletely silenced. When Blakely, suspending his fire, 
 asked if she had struck, she returned with a few scat- 
 tered discharges and the battle was commenced. For 
 ten minutes the Wasp again poured her broadsides into 
 the Avon, which was hailed at the end of that time, and 
 this time answered that she surrendered. 
 
 Before Blakely could take possession of his prize, 
 another sail, the British brig-of-war Castillian, 18, 
 Captain Brainer, which had abandoned the chase, was 
 seen astern. The men sprang to quarters again, and 
 in a few minutes two more sail hove in sight, one of 
 which was the English sloop Tartarus, 20. The braces 
 of the Wasp being much cut up, she ran off before the 
 wind while re-reeving new ones. The Castillian made 
 after her until she came within range, when she poured 
 in a broadside which went over the American and did 
 no damage at all. When her fire was returned with 
 promptness, she immediately tacked and edged away 
 in the darkness. The ship with which the Wasp had 
 been engaged and whose name the crew never learned, 
 was now making a signal of distress. The three Brit- 
 ish ships left the Wasp to pursue her course unimped- 
 ed and the Castillian made for the Avon. The 
 Castillian reached her at twelve o'clock, midnight, when 
 
256 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 Captain Brainer was informed by Captain Arbuthnot 
 that she was sinking fast, and by oi\p o'clock, just as the 
 last boat load of men had been taken from her, the 
 Avon went down bow foremost. The Avon mounted 
 eighteen guns, carrying two hundred and sixty-two 
 pounds to the broadside; out of her crew of one hun- 
 dred and seventeen men, forty-two had been killed and 
 wounded. The loss on the IV asp was two killed and 
 one wounded. 
 
 The Wasp continued on her course, capturing and 
 destroying several merchantmen and letters-of-marque, 
 one of which, the Atlanta, proving of great value, was 
 sent home. The prize reached Savannah safely on 
 November fourth, bringing Blakely's report of his 
 cruise to the Secretary of the Navy. On October ninth 
 the Swedish brig Adonis, carrying two American lieu- 
 tenants paroled from the captured frigate Essex, was 
 overhauled by a ship-of-war in latitude eighteen de- 
 grees thirty-five minutes North, longitude thirty de- 
 grees ten minutes West. Upon being informed that 
 the man-of-war was the American sloop Wasp, Messrs. 
 McKnight and Lyman, the two lieutenants, went 
 aboard her, and she sailed away upon her cruise. 
 From that day to this she disappeared from the ken of 
 humanity. Not a sight nor a sign of her has ever 
 come up from the great deep to say what ever became 
 of Blakely and his gallant crew. Some time after- 
 ward, it is stated, a large British frigate put into 
 Lisbon very badly damaged and cut up, and re- 
 lated that she had suffered in a night action with a 
 small American sloop, at the close of which the latter 
 suddenly disappeared. James Barnes surmises that 
 this might have been the Wasp. It is certainly possi- 
 ble of course, though there is no proof of it, and w^io 
 
The Wasps' Victims 257 
 
 could wish for a better end for that httle terror of the 
 sea than for her to go down with her colors flying, 
 after a bitter battle against overwhelming odds? But 
 there is nothing certain about the surmise, and we shall 
 not really know what became of them until that long 
 deferred day when the earth and the sea shall give up 
 their dead. It is singular also that the first Wasp, 
 which was captured by the Poicticrs and was taken 
 into the British service, sailed away on a cruise in this 
 same year and, like her younger American namesake, 
 never came back again. Perhaps in some mighty ocean 
 Valhalla, in amity and friendship, these heroes of the 
 deep meet together and tell tales of the old days when 
 they battled stoutly for the honor of their flags upon 
 the sea. 
 
MACDONOUGH AT LAKE 
 CHAMPLAIN 
 
 WAR OF l8l2 
 
 The greatest figure In the naval annals of our country 
 from Paul Jones to David Farragut is Thomas Mac- 
 donough. Prior to the Civil War, the naval battle 
 which he fought and won, was certainly the most im- 
 portant of any in which the American navy has partici- 
 pated. From the point of strategy, tactics, seamanship, 
 and hard, desperate fighting, it stands in the first rank. 
 Singularly enough, it has never been a popular battle, 
 and Macdonough does not hold that place in the af- 
 fections of his countrymen to which his merits entitle 
 him. Two of the largest and most popular encyclo- 
 pedias in my library do not even mention his name. 
 Without in the least minimizing the service nor dis- 
 paraging the greatness of Perry, at Lake Erie, as a 
 tactician, as a fighter, as a man, he is not to be men- 
 tioned in the same breath as Macdonough. 
 
 As might be surmised from his name, the tall, slen- 
 der, blue-eyed, red-headed young fighter (twenty-eight 
 when he fought his great battle) was of Scotch descent. 
 His great-great-grandfather emigrated to Ireland and 
 
 258 
 
Lake Champlain 259 
 
 from thence his grandfather came early to America, so 
 that if any one falls within the disputed category of 
 "Scotch-Irish," it is certainly he. His brother had 
 been a midshipman with Truxtun, and when the Con- 
 stellation captured L'Insurgciitc, one of the three men 
 wounded on the American was James Macdonough, 
 who lost a leg and retired from the service. Inspired 
 by his brother's glorious example, and I doubt not by 
 the memory of the sacrifice of his father, a successful 
 physician who had given up his practice to go into the 
 line of the army of the Revolution, where he rose to a 
 high rank, Thomas Macdonough at the late age of 
 seventeen gladly received a midshipman's warrant. 
 He took a distinguished part in the operations around 
 Tripoli, and was one of the officers who accompanied 
 Decatur when he cut out the Philadelphia. 
 
 A year or two after, while he was first lieutenant of 
 the brig Siren and in command in the absence of the 
 captain, a British man-of-war sent an eight-oared boat 
 to an American merchantman lying near the Siren and 
 took from her a sailor. On his own responsibility 
 Macdonough called away his boat, manned by four 
 stout oarsmen, pursued the Britisher until he caught up 
 with him, and peremptorily demanded the return of the 
 man. When he was refused he boldly reached over the 
 gunwale of the English boat and hauled the captive 
 into his own boat, right under the guns of the frigate, 
 and made his way back to the Siren. The English 
 captain followed hot foot and furious with rage, but 
 Macdonough, entirely equal to the occasion, stood his 
 ground and declared he would sink alongside rather 
 than give up the man. The man was not given up. 
 
 There is a family tradition to the effect that while 
 in command of a merchant vessel during a leave of ab- 
 
26o American Fights and Fighters 
 
 sence. he was actually seized himself, by a press gang, 
 and in spite of his protestations, was sent aboard a 
 British frigate, where his name was duly entered upon 
 the ship's books. The night of the capture his ham- 
 mock was swung next to that of the corporal of the 
 marine guard. The story goes, that when the corporal 
 turned in, Macdonough dressed himself in the marine's 
 uniform, went up on deck, and boldly got permission 
 from the officer in charge to go into the cutter along- 
 side at the swinging boom, to search for spirits. As 
 he went forward to drop into the boat, the real cor- 
 poral awakening and missing his clothes, came up on 
 deck to give the alarm. The bold American knocked 
 him senseless with his fist, ran out on the boom, 
 dropped into the boat, cut the lashing, drifted away, 
 and in spite of pursuit, regained his own ship and got 
 under wa3^ He paid back the score fully later on. 
 
 When he was sent, a young lieutenant, to take com- 
 mand on Lake Champlain, like Perry, he had to impro- 
 vise a navy, ships, guns, officers and nearly everything 
 else. By herculean exertions he finally built or as- 
 sembled a small squadron : a sloop-of-war, the Sarato- 
 ga, which he commanded himself; a brig, the Eagle, 
 Lieutenant Robert Henly, an old friend from the 
 Constellation; the schooner Ticonderoga (converted 
 into a war vessel from a broken down steamboat, by 
 the way) commanded by Stephen Cassin; the sloop 
 Preble, and ten galleys or gunboats, small affairs, 
 mainly propelled by oars, carrying one or two rather 
 heavy guns and manned by from twenty-five to forty 
 men each. 
 
 The British, under Commodore Downie, an experi- 
 enced officer, with equal skill and exertion had secured 
 or built a similar squadron, comprising a heavy frigate, 
 
Lake Champlain 261 
 
 the Coniiancc, about twice as large as the Saratoga 
 and three times as efficient, and which should have 
 been a match for any three of Macdonough's vessels; 
 a brig, the Linnet, of slightly less force than the Eagle; 
 two sloops, the Chubb and the Finch, each about half 
 again as large as the Preble and correspondingly smal- 
 ler than the Ticondcroga, and twelve gun boats similar 
 to the American vessels of the same class. 
 
 Except for their light draft the large vessels of both 
 squadrons were built, rigged, and equipped as if for 
 sea. A reference to the table following this chapter 
 shows the force, etc., of the two squadrons. It will be 
 seen that the British had a great superiority in the 
 number and size of their long guns and in the arrange- 
 ment of them. The more force that is concentrated 
 in one ship in such circumstances, the greater the ad- 
 vantage. This advantage, however, the tactical dis- 
 position and seamanlike prevision of Macdonough 
 largely neutralized. 
 
 The little bay near Plattsburg between Cumberland 
 Head and Crab Island looks toward the south, and the 
 American position had been so skilfully chosen that 
 the attacking force would be compelled to come up 
 bows on, whatever the state of the wind, and thus sub- 
 ject themselves to a raking fire. This did not matter 
 much to the ordinary English seaman, for he had been 
 accustomed by years of success to swoop down upon 
 his continental enemies in any sort of a way, his only 
 object being to get alongside, when the end was certain. 
 It may be remarked in passing, if Nelson had led down 
 upon an American fleet as he did on the French and 
 Spanish at Trafalgar, his vessels would have been 
 beaten to pieces in succession, and the result of the bat- 
 tle would have been the other way. This is no disre- 
 
262 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 spect to Nelson, the greatest admiral of all history, 
 for he knew upon whom he was leading down ! 
 
 Macdonough had drawn up his fleet in line ahead, 
 the Eagle in the lead close to the shore, her nose fairly 
 poking into a shoal, so that it was impossible for an ene- 
 my to turn that flank so long as she stayed there. Next 
 to ih^' Eagle was the flagship Saratoga, following her 
 the Ticonderoga, and at the rear of the line resting on 
 Crab Island, which carried a one-gun battery, a six- 
 pounder, manned by invalids and convalescents from 
 the hospital thereon, was the little Preble. The inter- 
 spaces between the large ships were filled by the gun- 
 boats which were withdrawn somewhat to form a 
 second line, and the larger part of the gunboats were 
 ordered to support the more vulnerable part of the line 
 where the Preble and Ticonderoga lay (which they 
 mainly failed to do). 
 
 Every one of the American ships had sent anchors 
 down with ropes leading to different parts of the ship, 
 by hauling in or slacking off which the vessels could be 
 turned in any direction. Technically, they had springs 
 on their cables, with which to wind ship, and stream 
 and kedge anchors out, in case any of the sheet or other 
 cables were shot away. It was this precaution which 
 finally gained the victory for Macdonough. 
 
 The morning of Sunday, September 11, 1814 — singu- 
 lar how many of our naval battles have been on Sunday 
 — was as fair a day in which to worship God as ever 
 comes to these beautiful regions in the early autumn. 
 The gentle breeze from the north slightly ruffled the 
 surface of the lake as the enemy slowly made their 
 way with the wind aft round Cumberland Head, and 
 then hove to out of range below the American line, 
 until the vessels were all assembled and in place, when 
 
Lake Champlain 263 
 
 they deliberately began to beat up toward the waithig 
 squadron. It was not the first tmie that the besom of 
 war had swept the waters of the lake, nor the clamor of 
 battle reechoed from the crags which fringed its shores. 
 Every silent hill was eloquent with the war-cry of the 
 terrible savage and the shriek of his terrified victim; 
 the valleys were reminiscent with the prayers of the 
 heroic Jesuit priests ; the air was filled with memories of 
 the French, the German and the English soldiers and 
 woodsmen ; in every rocky cavern lurked the echo of 
 ringing steel and roaring cannon. 
 
 Now a powerful army of veterans of the peninsula, 
 than whom, as their own officers testified, there never 
 was a braver soldiery nor a more bloody, brutal, and 
 ferocious, were making ready to strike down the old 
 war-path, in order to cut the struggling young United 
 States in two and dictate terms of peace and surrender 
 in the chief city of the conquered. General Macomb, 
 with a small body of regulars and a few thousand mili- 
 tia, his total force not a third as great as that which 
 menaced him, was yet resolutely preparing to dispute 
 the advance to the bitter end, but the fate of the enter- 
 prise depended upon the strength of the naval forces 
 on the lake. When they had brushed aside Macdonough 
 the valley of the Eludson would be clear and their way 
 to New York open. As long as the Americans held 
 the lake the movement was impossible. Downie came 
 on in full confidence of his own ability to do the neces- 
 sary brushing aside. 
 
 As the rolling echo of the drums beating to quar- 
 ters softly melted away among the surrounding hills, 
 and the busy note of preparation subsided into an ex- 
 pectant silence, Macdonough bade his waiting crews 
 to prayer. There at their stations with bowed heads 
 
264 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 they knelt down upon the white decks, soon to be 
 stained with their own blood, while with his own lips, 
 in. the familiar words of the "Book of Common Prayer," 
 the young, commander invoked the protection of the 
 God of Battles for the coming conflict — a rare and 
 memorable scene indeed ! 
 
 As the British in grim silence slowly drew near, their 
 plan of attack developed itself. The brig Linnet and the 
 sloop Chubb luffed up toward the head of Macdon- 
 ough's line, where the Eagle lay. The sloop Finch 
 and all of the galleys kept away toward the rear of the 
 line, while the Confiancc prepared to smash in through 
 the center, between the Eagle and the Saratoga. The 
 plan was simple but good. Macdonough was a dis- 
 organizing factor in carrying it out, however ; with his 
 own hands he aimed and fired the first gun ( a previous 
 broadside from the Eagle, which fell far short, not 
 being counted) ; the twenty- four-pound shot from the 
 Saratoga struck the English flagship squarely in the 
 bow, passed through the hawse pipe and, ranging aft, 
 dismounted a gun, killed several men, and carried 
 away the wheel ; she had been fairly raked. It was a 
 little after eight in the morning. 
 
 The American ships now opened, as their guns 
 bore, and the Conhance, which came on steadily and 
 imperturbably, was raked again and again. All hope 
 of breaking through the line had to be abandoned in 
 the face of that smashing fire, and the battle neces- 
 sarily resolved itself into an artillery duel at long 
 range. Therefore, when Downie reached a position in 
 which he judged he could use his preponderating force 
 of long guns to the best advantage, the Coniiance 
 dropped anchor, deliberately and with splendid cour- 
 age took in sail, swung calmly round until her battery 
 
w 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 * - ii * * 
 
 ^l! 
 
 -ii: ::i ij- 
 
Lake Champlain 265 
 
 bore, and within the distance of two hundred and fifty- 
 yards poured into the Saratoga a shattering broadside 
 from her long twenty-fours. The effect was fearful. 
 On the American over a hundred men were knocked 
 down by the force of the concussion. The ship shiv- 
 ered and reeled from stem to stern, from truck to keel- 
 son, under the fearful impact. More than forty poor 
 fellows lay weltering in their blood. First Lieutenant 
 Gamble, in the act of sighting a gun, was killed by a 
 piece of a quoin which was driven against him, though 
 the blow did not break the skin. With great courage 
 Macdonough rallied his men, and the broadside was 
 returned with effect. 
 
 For two long hours the two anchored ships poured 
 into each other a tremendous and continuous fire, Mac- 
 donough toiling at the guns like a common seaman 
 with the rest, and by his personal gallantry sustaining 
 his men. It has been fondly noted by various writers 
 that the terrible first broadside of the Coniiance 
 smashed a chicken-coop on one of the American ves- 
 sels, thus liberating a game cock, which sprang into 
 the rigging and with lusty crowing encouraged the 
 cheering crews. Inasmuch as nearly every writer puts 
 the chicken in a different ship, it is safe to conclude 
 that there must have been one chicken there, and the 
 incident probably did occur. At any rate, if it was an 
 American chicken, it would certainly crow upon being 
 made free. 
 
 Meanwhile, up at the head of the line, which they 
 unsuccessfully endeavored to turn, the Linnet and the 
 CJiitbb were heavily engaged with the Eagle. After 
 an hour's combat the Cliiibb was completely disabled 
 by a severe raking from the Eagle, about one half of 
 her crew were killed and wounded, and, with reeking 
 
266 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 decks and shattered spars, she drifted helplessly down 
 the line. As she came opposite the Saratoga, a twenty- 
 foiir-pouiid shot brought down her colors, and she was 
 gallantly taken possession of by Midshipman Pratt, 
 and removed from the combat to the rear of the Ameri- 
 can line. 
 
 During this episode the Linnet had at last secured 
 a raking position off the starboard bow of the Eagle, 
 and the springs of the latter's cables being unfortu- 
 nately shot away, Henly was unable to make any 
 effective defense, so he finally cut his cable, sheeted 
 home his topsails, and sailed down in the rear of the 
 'Saratoga, where he brought to between her and the 
 Ticonderoga, and opened a brisk fire from his port 
 guns upon the big Conilancc and the gunboats. This 
 left the head of Macdonough's line entirely exposed, 
 and that flank was at once turned. The Linnet, ad- 
 mirably handled, took a position squarely across the 
 bows of the Saratoga, and deliberately raked her again 
 and again. Macdonough, hotly engaged with the 
 Confiance, had to grin and bear it as best he might. 
 It was now about eleven o'clock. 
 
 While the head is being turned and the fierce attack 
 is being made on the center, let us look to the other 
 end of the line. The little Preble had almost imme- 
 diately been driven out of the combat by the onslaught 
 of the flotilla of British galleys, and she took no further 
 part in the action. The Finch was so roughly han- 
 dled by the larger Ticondcroga that she drifted down 
 under the lee of the Crab Island battery and the in- 
 valids fired their little gun at her, which caused her to 
 surrender, and they took possession of the sloop, find- 
 ing her full of dead and wounded. 
 
 This left the Ticonderoi^a and four of the Ameri- 
 
Lake Champlain 267 
 
 can gunboats to sustain the attack of the heavier, better 
 manned, and more efficient British gunboats. Some 
 of the American gunboats did not behave well, and for 
 a time the Ticondcroga was practically alone. The 
 English gunboats attacked with the greatest spirit, 
 driving up to the Ticondcrogo again and again, pour- 
 ing a perfect stream of grape and solid shot upon the 
 schooner, getting so near her on several occasions that 
 the oarsmen sprang to their feet and handled cutlass 
 and pistol, preparing to board, but time and again 
 they were beaten off with great slaughter. 
 
 The brave Cassin throughout the whole of the 
 fierce little battle walked the taffrail of his ship as 
 calmly as if he had been in a drawing-room, unmindful 
 of the stream of bullets which screamed past him, en- 
 couraging his gallant crew, and, with the greatest pos- 
 sible resolution, holding his ground against these over- 
 whelming odds, until succored by some more of the 
 American gunboats and a portion of the fire from the 
 Eagle. His conduct was simply heroic, his services 
 invaluable — yet there are few people who have even 
 heard of his name. During this part of the action the 
 matches gave out on the Ticondcroga, and Midship- 
 man (after Rear Admiral) Paulding fired the guns by 
 snapping his pistol at the touch holes. The executive 
 officer, Stansbury, was struck by a round shot, cut in 
 two, and his body carried overboard. His disappear- 
 ance had not been observed, and the mystery of it was 
 not explained until his body rose two days after the 
 battle. The schooner was riddled with bullets. It is 
 not too much to say that if she had been driven from 
 her post the battle would have been irretrievably lost. 
 So much for Cassin and his men. 
 
 It was almost lost anyhow. To return to the cen- 
 
268 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 ter, the raking of the Linnet and the steady fire for 
 nearly two hours from the enormous battery of the 
 Conhance had at last silenced the overmatched Sara- 
 toga. Twice she had been set on fire by hot shot. All 
 the officers, except Macdonough, had been killed or 
 wounded. He himself had been knocked senseless 
 three times. The first time a shot cut the spanker 
 boom above his head, and one of the broken pieces 
 fell upon him; a splinter struck him on the second 
 occasion; and the third time he was actually struck 
 in the breast by a human head, which belonged to the 
 captain of his favorite gun, who had just been decapi- 
 tated by a round shot. Macdonough was like Jones, 
 however, in that he never knew when he was beaten. 
 
 The slaughter had been fearful. Many of the men 
 had their clothes literally torn from them by the splint- 
 ers, the master being a striking example. He fought 
 the latter part of the action in a breech-clout alone, 
 though he had not been otherwise damaged by 
 the splinters which had stripped him of his raiment. 
 On the Confiancc the loss had been extremely severe 
 also, and in one sense irreparable. About fifteen min- 
 utes after the battle began, a shot from the Saratoga 
 had struck one of the guns of the Confiance, torn it 
 from its carriage, and hurled it against Commodore 
 Downie, who had been instantly killed, though the skin 
 of his body, as was the case with Lieutenant Gamble, 
 was not even broken. English seamen who had been 
 at Trafalgar said afterward that this little battle was 
 infinitely more fierce and bloody than that great one. 
 The fight was going on all along the line at the same 
 time, and the lake was covered with smoke. The light 
 breeze had died away entirely. 
 
 At this moment Macdonough, finding that every 
 gun in his starboard battery had been dismounted and 
 
Lake Champlain 269 
 
 silenced, determined to wind ship and thus bring his 
 new and hitherto nnengaged port battery into play. 
 His forethonght had provided him with the means to 
 do this, and as the undaunted men strained at the haw- 
 sers the gallant little corvette swung slowly about until 
 presently the after gun of the port battery bore upon 
 the Coniiance. When it sent its missile of death crash- 
 ing through the side of the doomed frigate, the end of 
 the battle began. 
 
 Robertson, who had succeeded Downie in com- 
 mand of the Coniiance, finding his own battery almost 
 dismounted, attempted to emulate Macdonough's ma- 
 noeuver, but for lack of proper prevision could not 
 complete the evolution. His bower anchors had been 
 shot away early in the fight, and his vessel only turned 
 so that her bows faced the Saratoga as she swept about, 
 and there she hung, absolutely helpless and immovable. 
 Manning the port battery with eager avidity, the 
 Americans on the Saratoga, heartily seconded by the 
 Eagle, poured a tremendous raking fire into the Con- 
 iiance. It was more than humanity could stand, and 
 in a short time her colors were hauled down. 
 
 She was a wreck. Her masts looked like bunches 
 of match wood, and her sails like bundles of rags. 
 Over one half of her crew had been killed or severely 
 wounded. By the testimony of one of her own offi- 
 cers, there were not five men left on her who had not 
 some mark of the combat on them. The Saratoga 
 was now swung again until her broadside bore upon 
 the plucky Linnet, which had enjoyed immunity here- 
 tofore on account of weightier matters, and for fifteen 
 minutes she had made a chopping-block out of that 
 devoted vessel. 
 
 Pring, with a resolution so great that it cannot 
 be too highly commended, fought his little brig to the 
 
270 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 last, in the hope that the gunboats might come up and 
 assist him, or something might happen, until she was 
 a total wreck in fact, when, not getting the desired 
 help, he reluctantly struck her colors. The battle 
 was over. It was a little before twelve o'clock. The 
 shattered British gunboats now surrendered to the 
 Eagle and the Ticonderoga, but as the Americans were 
 in no condition to take possession or to pursue, the 
 English boats slowly drifted away and finally escaped, 
 many of them in a sinking condition. 
 
 Practically the whole British fleet had been cap- 
 tured. I only know of three other instances when a 
 whole fleet of ships was captured or destroyed — one 
 was by Nelson at Aboukir, the second by Dewey at 
 Manila, the third by Sampson at Santiago. The 
 combat had lasted over two hours and a half without 
 intermission, and had been fierce and bloody in the 
 extreme. The attacks on Plattsburg by Wellington's 
 veterans under Prevost — rather feebly delivered, to be 
 sure — had been stoutly repulsed by Macomb's levies, 
 who had made a most gallant defense, and when the 
 news of the victory of Macdonough was carried 
 ashore, Prevost withdrew incontinently, leaving a large 
 part of his stores and munitions of war behind. New 
 York was free from invasion and capture, and the stu- 
 pendous victory of 'Macdonough played a great part 
 in the treaty of peace which soon after ensued. 
 
 Medals, swords, honors, prize money, grants of land, 
 were poured upon the great seaman, who announced his 
 victory in this modest despatch : "The Almighty has been 
 pleased to grant us a signal victory on Lake Cham- 
 plain in the capture of one frigate, one brig, and two 
 sloops-of-war of the enemy." Spears, the naval his- 
 torian, says, with all due respect to religion (he re- 
 minds me of George Sampson in this), that for the pur- 
 
Lake Champlain 
 
 271 
 
 pose of rousing the seamen a rooster in the rigging is 
 worth more than a dozen prayers on the quarter-deck ; 
 but, without any undue piety, we may question his 
 decision as to the relative value, even upon the sailor's 
 mind, of the prayers to God of the humble-minded but 
 high-spirited Christian commander and the shrill cry 
 of the game cock in the shrouds. 
 
 Macdonough died at sea, in 1825, while returning 
 from the command of the European squadron. An 
 anonymous writer in the " National Portrait Gallery " 
 well sums him up in these words : " The great charm 
 of his character was in the refinement of his taste, the 
 purity of his principles, and the sincerity of his relig- 
 ion. These gave a perfume to his name which the 
 partial page of history seldom can retain for departed 
 warriors, however brilliant their deeds." 
 
 Afnerican 
 
 Saratoga 
 
 Eagle 
 
 Ticonderoga 
 
 Preble 
 
 6 Gunboats 
 
 4 Gunboats 
 
 Total 
 
 Tons 
 
 500 
 
 80 
 420 
 160 
 
 Crew 
 240 
 
 112 
 
 246 
 104 
 
 Gtins 
 
 Lon^ Short 
 
 8 18 
 
 8 12 
 
 12 5 
 
 7 o 
 
 6 6 
 
 4 o 
 
 2520 
 
 937 
 
 60 
 
 Killed and 
 Total ser. wd. 
 
 57 
 
 26 
 20 
 17 
 7 
 12 
 
 4 
 
 33 
 12 
 
 2 
 3 
 3 
 
 Total 
 
 2260 
 
 882 
 
 45 
 
 41 
 
 ^(i 
 
 no 
 
 British 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Confiance 
 
 1300 
 
 325 
 
 31 
 
 6 
 
 37 
 
 180 
 
 Lifinet 
 
 350 
 
 125 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 50 
 
 Chubb 
 
 no 
 
 50 
 
 I 
 
 10 
 
 II 
 
 20 
 
 Finch 
 
 no 
 
 50 
 
 4 
 
 7 
 
 II 
 
 20 
 
 5 Gunboats 
 
 350 
 
 205 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 10 
 
 |8o 
 
 7 Gunboats 
 
 280 
 
 182 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 7 
 
 32 
 
 92 
 
 350 
 
 • British Excess 
 over American 
 
 260 
 
 55 
 
 15 
 
 J40 
 
REID AND THE GENERAL 
 ARMSTRONG 
 
 Way for the bold men of the privateers — the free- 
 lances of the sea! The sails of their saucy clippers 
 gleamed in the sunlight of every horizon, their stanch 
 keels parted the waters of every ocean in their dashing 
 pursuit of British merchantmen. With a valor which 
 often equaled that of their better-trained naval breth- 
 ren, they upheld the honor of the flag in all quarters 
 of the globe. When resistance was made to their at- 
 tacks they generally fought with credit and success, 
 even, in many instances, against regularly commis- 
 sioned war ships of the foe. With a persistency which 
 Avas the despair of the British ship masters and owners, 
 they flaunted their flags in the English Channel in the 
 face of the fleets and squadrons of English men-of- 
 war, and displayed their skill and courage in the dis- 
 tant China seas as well. They searched the hidden 
 recesses of the world for their prey, and no route of 
 trade was so remote as to be safe from their ravages. 
 The damage they inflicted and the part they played 
 in bringing the War of 1812 to a close can hardly be 
 overestimated. Their adventures are as romantic as , 
 
 272 
 
Reid and the Armstrong 273 
 
 the inventions of the noveHst. The story of their 
 naval ruses, subterfuges, pursuits, fights, and flights, 
 makes most brilHant history — history which, save in 
 rare instances, has only been recorded in the most mea- 
 ger way. They had no inconsiderable share in laying 
 the foundation of the naval greatness of the United 
 States, and though it cannot be denied that their first 
 aim was plunder, yet their conduct in many a desperate 
 little fight shows that patriotism and courage were, 
 after all, master motives of their souls. There will be 
 no more of them hereafter — international agreement 
 has abolished them now — but the country should never 
 forget their services in the two great wars we have 
 fought with England. 
 
 The most conspicuous of them all, for he fought 
 the greatest fight in their records and the .most impor- 
 tant, was Captain Samuel Chester Reid. It gives one 
 who has an idea that there has been a great gulf fixed 
 from time immemorial between England and the 
 United States, something of a shock to find that he was 
 the son of an English naval officer. This officer, while 
 in charge of a boat expedition in the war of the Revo- 
 lution, was captured by the rebellious colonists, and 
 when he had been sufficiently persuaded of the justice 
 of their cause, he resigned his commission in the Brit- 
 ish navy and entered the American service. It may 
 be that Miss Rebecca Chester, whose people were brave 
 soldiers and stanch supporters of the Revolution, had 
 something to do with the decision at which he arrived ; 
 at any rate, he married her in 1781, and to them, in 
 1783, the year of the peace, was born the great pri- 
 vateer. 
 
 He came of distinguished ancestry on both sides of 
 the house, his father being a direct descendant of the 
 
274 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 Lord High Admiral of Scotland in the great days of 
 Bruce; while the Chesters were of old colonial and 
 English stock, none better, counting lords and earls 
 galore among them. Young Reid was therefore 
 brought up like a gentleman to adorn that station in 
 life unto which it had pleased God to call him, and in 
 every way he proved worthy of his sires. His first 
 choice of a profession was the navy — following in the 
 footsteps of the Lord High Admiral aforesaid — and he 
 learned some good lessons while still a young boy from 
 that past master of seamanship, discipline, and hard, 
 close fighting, Thomas Truxtun, in whose squadron he 
 served as a midshipman in the frigate Baltimore in the 
 French war. For various reasons, however, at the 
 close of that little war he entered the mercantile marine, 
 and, rising rapidly to command rank, became widely 
 known as a bold and successful navigator and captain. 
 About the middle of the year 1814 he was given 
 command, by her owners, of the General Armstrong, 
 a small New York privateer, brigantine rigged, and 
 one of the smartest, most noted, and successful of her 
 class. She had already proved, under her other gal- 
 lant commanders, that she could not only prey but 
 fight. She had just returned from her fifth lucky 
 cruise. I suppose her to have been of about two hun- 
 dred tons burden, one hundred and twenty feet long 
 over all, and about thirty feet in beam. Her armament 
 consisted of seven guns — three long nines in each 
 broadside and a long twenty-four pounder on a pivot 
 amidships, in sea parlance a ''Long Tom." Her crew 
 and officers numbered ninety men. They had been 
 selected, by Reid himself, with especial care, and were 
 probably quite up to the high standard which obtained 
 on that most gallant frigate, the United States ship 
 
Reid and the Armstrong 275 
 
 Constitution herself. On account of the high wages 
 paid and the liberal prize money accruing from the 
 captures in a successful cruise, in which the men were 
 all interested, it was not difficult to secure desirable 
 men for a crew. Indeed, with the exception of some 
 of the more famous frigates, the pick of the seamen 
 of the nation were on the privateers and letters-of 
 marque. 
 
 The twenty-sixth of September, 18 14, found Reid 
 and the Armstrong at the island of Fayal, in the 
 Azores. He had run the blockade off New York about 
 the middle of the month, distancing all pursuers by his 
 great speed, and had stopped at the island on his voyage 
 to the English Channel for food and Vi-ater. The bay 
 of Da Horta, the principal town and seaport of the 
 island of Fayal, is crescent shaped and is surrounded 
 by a sea wall* with the old castle of Santa Cruz, even 
 then an obsolete fortification, at the base of the cres- 
 cent. Opposite to the entrance of the bay, on a neigh- 
 boring island, boldly rises the splendid mountain called 
 Pico, to a height of nearly eight thousand feet, and on 
 all sides are lofty mountains and hills which descend 
 in beetling crags and wild ravines to the water's edge. 
 
 Having speedily fulfilled his errand, the American 
 skipper had gone ashore to call upon and dine with the 
 United States Consul, Mr. Dabney, and after dinner 
 had brought him, and a party of gentlemen with him, 
 off^ to inspect his vessel. Just about sunset the spars 
 of a large brig-of-war, flying English colors, were 
 discovered making around the rocky headlands which 
 bound the entrance to the harbor. The brig, it was 
 soon discovered, was followed by two other large ships, 
 still some distance away. It was the first time any 
 English war vessels had been in the harbor for months. 
 
276 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 The Portuguese pilot had told the English commodore 
 of the arrival of the privateer, and he came into the 
 harbor with his squadron with the deliberate purpose 
 of effecting her capture. 
 
 In spite of Consul Dabney's assurances, it instantly 
 occurred to the wary and experienced Reid that the 
 neutrality of the place would not be respected by the 
 English. It seems to be a general practice among na- 
 tions to disregard the so-called laws of neutrality with 
 perfect equanimity, provided they feel themselves able 
 and willing to abide the consequences. England has 
 done it on several occasions, and the United States has 
 not hesitated to follow her example as late as in the 
 Civil War, so we can cast no stones in this case. So 
 Reid sent his guests post-haste ashore, and began to 
 warp his vessel closer into the harbor. The English 
 brig, which proved to be the Carnation, eighteen guns, 
 Commander George Bentham, did not waste any time. 
 She had hardly dropped anchor in the harbor before she 
 exchanged signals with the other ships, and then put 
 out four boats, crowded with about a hundred and 
 twenty armed men, who, wnth the usual British intre- 
 pidity, made straight for the Armstrong. 
 
 Reid left the business of warping in to a more con- 
 venient season, dropped anchor temporarily, called his 
 men to quarters, and, as the menacing boats rapidly 
 drew near, he repeatedly hailed them, to discover their 
 purpose, warning them to desist from their approach 
 or come on at their peril. There was not the least 
 doubt as to the character of the movement in any ra- 
 tional mind. The armed men were in plain sight, as 
 the moon flooded the placid waters of the bay 
 with a soft, autumnal splendor. The English disdain- 
 ing to make any reply to his hails and urging their 
 
Reid and the Armstrong 277 
 
 boats persistently onward, Reid opened the fight with 
 a severe, well-directed fire from the great guns of his 
 battery and his small arms, to which the enemy replied 
 with boat guns and an ineffective musketry fire. 
 
 A very few minutes were sufficient to determine 
 this event; only one boat touched the American, and 
 most of those in her were killed or wounded. The 
 other boats stopped rowing, and the officers called for 
 quarter; then, while Reid, who might have sunk the 
 whole business without difficulty, mercifully held his 
 fire, the boats turned tail, and, with a large number of 
 killed and wounded on board, made their way back to 
 the brig. They had hoped to carry the Armstrong by 
 a coup-dc-moin, but had met with a most discouraging 
 and costly repulse instead. The privateer had only 
 one man killed, and her first lieutenant, a brother of 
 the noted General Worth, of the United States Army, 
 severely wounded. Two more masterful players en- 
 tered the game at this juncture, however, in the shape 
 of his Britannic Majesty's frigate Rota, 38, Captain 
 Philip Somerville, followed by his Britannic Majesty's 
 huge ship-of-the-line Plantagenct, 74, Commodore 
 Robert Lloyd, who commanded the squadron. This 
 raised the effective force of the enemy to nearly two 
 hundred guns and twelve hundred men. 
 
 It was soon evident that Commodore Lloyd intended 
 to take up the frustrated attempt of the Carnation, for 
 boats were called away from all three ships to the num- 
 ber of twelve. This statement is made upon the testi- 
 mony of unimpeachable witnesses, among them Captain 
 Reid and Consul Dabney, a fine old gentleman of the 
 highest reputation, who stood upon shore in full sight 
 of the battle, with many other observers, some of 
 whom go so far as to say there were fourteen boats, 
 
278 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 though the British allow there were but seven. These 
 boats were loaded with nearly four hundred and fifty 
 men. They were towed in by the brig, and then ren- 
 dezvoused in three divisions under the lee of the little 
 reef just beyond gunshot range from the Armstrong, 
 while they matured their plans for the contemplated 
 attack. 
 
 Meanwhile Reid and his gallant crew, not in the 
 least alarmed by this display of overwhelming force, 
 had completed their preparations to receive and repel 
 the expected onslaught. The Armstrong had been 
 warped within a short distance of the shore, where she 
 lay under the useless and silent guns of the Portuguese 
 castle. Two of the guns on the unengaged side of her 
 had been shifted over to face the enemy, through ports 
 cut in the rail for them. All the small arms in the 
 brigantine — of which she had a great many, the pistols 
 actually being in bucketsful — had been charged and 
 placed close at hand. Boarding nettings, made of 
 heavily tarred rope, had been triced up from one end 
 of the ship to the other. The cutlasses, boarding axes, 
 and pikes were distributed to the men, who were all 
 provided with steel and leather boarding caps. Reid 
 commanded upon the quarter-deck, his lieutenants in 
 the waist and forward. 
 
 Pending any movement of the British, the men 
 were allowed to rest beside the guns, while the officers 
 and a few of the older and more experienced seamen 
 kept watch. It was a strange picture the stars looked 
 down upon that calm September night. That little 
 vessel was surrounded by grim and threatening an- 
 tagonists. Her crew was menaced by an overwhelm- 
 ing force, which outnumbered them five to one ; yet 
 we are told the hardy men slept on the white deck of 
 
Reid and the Armstrong 2'-jg 
 
 the privateer, under the shadow of the great peaks 
 and mountains of the island, as soundly and peace- 
 fully as though they had heen at home. There was 
 something notable, too, in the spirit which their 
 quiet slumber betokened, of their confidence and 
 trust in the officers, to whom they looked up as the 
 American sailor has ever looked up to those who led 
 him. More notable still Avas their willingness to 
 fight an absolutely hopeless battle, in which they had 
 everything to lose and nothing whatever to gain, ex- 
 cept the consciousness of having upheld the honor of 
 the American flag against tremendous odds. 
 
 About twelve o'clock, under the lead of Lieutenant 
 William Matterface, the first lieutenant of the Plan- 
 tagcnct, the flotilla of boats moved out around the reef, 
 and in line ahead — i. c, a long, single column — swept 
 down upon the Armstrong. The midshipmen and 
 other junior officers ran along the decks of the pri- 
 vateer and awakened the sleeping men, who sprang 
 quietly to their stations. The stillness of the night 
 was broken only by the rustle of the oars in the row- 
 locks and the splash of the dark water parted by the 
 bows of the boats or tossed up in the air by the feather- 
 ing blades of the oars, to sparkle in the moonlight. 
 The men on the Armstrong, so far as the attacking 
 party could see, might have been asleep or dead. 
 
 The shore was fairly crowded with spectators now, 
 who held their breath while watching the advance and 
 awaiting the denouement. Out in the harbor the men 
 left upon the ships swarmed in black clusters in the 
 rigging at eager gaze. The officers of the English 
 men-of-war were closely grouped on the different quar- 
 ter-decks eagerly scanning the Armstrong through 
 their night-glasses. With what apprehension Dabney 
 
28o American Fights and Fighters 
 
 and his son and the few Americans on shore watched 
 the British draw near ! It was a moment fraught with 
 the most intense anxiety. Would the Armstrong 
 never fire ? Was Reid asleep or dead ? Had she been 
 abandoned by her crew ? Ah, what was that ! 
 
 A flash of light tore through the gray darkness. A 
 cloud of smoke broke out amidships on the privateer, 
 and a roar like thunder echoed and reechoed among 
 the surrounding hills. "Long Tom" had spoken ! The 
 battle was on. Before the echo had died away the 
 other guns in the starboard battery, which had been 
 trained upon the advancing line, spoke in quick succes- 
 sion, and sent their messengers of death out over the 
 dark waters. The head of the column was smashed to 
 pieces by the discharge. The first boat was completely 
 disabled, and the shower of American grape shot did 
 great execution all along the line. With the courage 
 of their race, the stalwart English broke into loud 
 cheers, and, manfully tugging at the oars, swept 
 around the wrecked boat and dashed into close action 
 at once. The boat carronnades in the bows of the 
 launches now rang out, adding their sharp notes to the 
 confusion of the exciting moment, as they returned 
 the Armstrong's fire. The men of the privateer re- 
 mained grimly silent, for Reid's command had been : 
 
 "No cheering, lads, till we have beat them off and 
 gained the victory !" 
 
 There was no time for either side to load its artil- 
 lery again before the first boat crashed against the 
 side of the privateer, and the leading man sprang up 
 on her low rail. He clutched the netting, which barred 
 his passage, and shortening his sword hacked franti- 
 cally at it. He was a fair and easy mark to an old man- 
 of-war's man on the brigantine, who buried a half-pike 
 
Reid and the Armstrong 281 
 
 deep in his bosom. He had scarcely fallen back before 
 others, undaunted by his fate, gallantly sprang to the 
 rail and took his place. Encouraged and led by their 
 officers, the English strove to board on every hand, 
 and the action at once became general. The boats 
 ranged themselves about the engaged side of the Arm- 
 strong as hounds surround a wild boar at bay. One 
 division attacked forward, the other in the waist, and 
 the last and strongest endeavored to gain the quarter. 
 
 For a few moments the roar of the great guns was 
 succeeded by the sharp crackle of the small arms, the 
 pistols and muskets of the marines ; and the darkness 
 was punctured by vivid flashes of fire, in lurid contrast 
 to the moon's pale light. But these ringing reports 
 gradually died away, and as there was no time to re- 
 charge the guns the conflict resolved itself into an old- 
 fashioned hand to hand encounter. There was dis- 
 played the old knightly courage on both sides, which 
 had left a glorious record of many a bloody fray in 
 centuries of history. 
 
 The cheers, shouts, curses, and groans of the des- 
 perate men, mad with the blood lust of the fight, the 
 ringing of steel on steel, as sword gritted against 
 sword, or axe crashed on boarding cap, or bayonet 
 crossed half-pike in the dreadful fray, filled the hearts 
 of the spectators near by on the shore with horror. 
 The British, in overwhelming numbers, though at a 
 disadvantage as regards position, striving determinedly 
 to make good a footing on the deck, fought with the 
 same indomitable courage as their American brethren. 
 Most gallantly led, again and again they sprang at 
 the rail, officer after officer fell, man after man was 
 cut down; the stout arms of the privateersmen grew 
 weary with hacking, and hewing, and slaughtering men. 
 
282 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 The boarding netting was at last nearly cut to pieces, 
 and the way was clear for an entrance. Although the 
 slight success came too late to be of much service, a 
 lodgment was finally effected forward in the forecastle 
 by way of the bowsprit; one of the American lieuten- 
 ants in command there had been killed, the other 
 wounded. 
 
 At this moment Reid himself, the only officer of 
 rank now left on deck, after a brief rally with swords 
 between them, in which he was slightly wounded, suc- 
 ceeded in cutting down Matterface, the English leader, 
 who had been engaged in a last desperate endeavor to 
 effect a lodgment on the quarter-deck. All danger 
 from further attack there was over. Some of the 
 boats of this division were sheering off slowly, manned 
 by a few oarsmen ; others, full of silent dead and 
 shrieking wounded, were aimlessly drifting about. 
 The party attacking the waist had fared little better. 
 Alarmed by the cries in the bows, and seeing that the 
 enemy near him had been effectively disposed of, the 
 captain led a dashing charge forward, and speedily 
 cleared the forecastle. It was all over. That was the 
 expiring effort of the British. The}^ hurried away as 
 they were able, in full retreat. They had been totally 
 beaten. 
 
 Two of the boats wxre captured, two of them had 
 been sunk, two others drifted ashore and were aban- 
 doned by the remainder of their crews — all but three 
 of the sixty or seventy men they originally contained 
 being killed or wounded ! In one of the boats all were 
 killed but four. Most of the boats which escaped 
 regained their respective ships, with the greatest diffi- 
 culty, in a sinking condition, not only from the fire of 
 the American heavy guns, but on account of having 
 
Reid and the Annstrong 283 
 
 been stove in by solid shot hurled into them by the 
 Americans. The total loss was at least two hundred 
 and fifty men on the part of the British, nearly half of 
 whom were killed and the others severely wounded. 
 The Americans had two killed and only seven wounded ! 
 It seems incredible, but it is true, though the British 
 admit only about half of the losses ascribed to them. 
 
 This desperate and bloody action had lasted forty 
 minutes, and in its sanguinary results is unparalleled. 
 Victory had a second time crowned the efforts of Reid 
 and his undaunted men. I picture them, some pale as 
 death from their exhausting labors, others with faces 
 engorged with Blood and trembling still with the pas- 
 sion generated in the fight, grouped about their heroic 
 captain on those bloody decks, looking wildly out upon 
 the drifting, shattered, sinking boats, with their dread- 
 ful cargoes. It was time now and they began cheer- 
 ing madly in triumph in the still night. They had a 
 right to cheer. Such a fight as they had fought and 
 such a victory as they had won it has been given to 
 but few* on this earth to participate in. 
 
 Not much damage had been done to the privateer 
 either. The boarding netting had been cut to pieces, 
 some of the guns, including the "Long Tom," had 
 been dismounted by the shots from the boat carron- 
 nades, but a few hours sufficed to put everything to 
 rights again. Sending his dead and wounded ashore, 
 and with the remaining men asleep in sheer exhaustion 
 at their quarters again, Reid waited for the next move. 
 At daybreak the Carnation weighed anchor, sheeted 
 home her topsails, and got under way. When she came 
 within range she opened a fierce cannonade from her 
 heavy guns upon the privateer, which did much dam- 
 age to the vessel, though producing no casualties 
 
284 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 among the crew. Reid and his men met and returned 
 the attack with the same splendid spirit they had all 
 along- exhibited, discharging the guns of their smaller 
 battery with a calm deliberation which enabled them to 
 do great execution. After a short and fierce engage- 
 ment the Carnation prudently withdrew from the com- 
 bat, her foretopmast having been shot away and her 
 other head-gear much damaged, with several more of 
 her crew killed and wounded, mainly by shot from 
 "Long Tom," which, carefully and skilfully served, 
 had again saved the day. This was victory number 
 three. 
 
 The Portuguese governor meanwhile was protesting 
 against the violation of neutrality, and requesting 
 Commodore Lloyd to desist from the fighting. He 
 was informed in reply that the English intended to cap- 
 ture the privateer if they had to bring the ship-of-the- 
 line in and bombard the town to do it. Seeing the use- 
 lessness of further resistance, and having maintained 
 the honor of the American flag, as few men have been 
 able to do, after fighting a battle which is without 
 parallel in naval annals, and having acquired glory 
 sufficient to satisfy any reasonable man, Reid deter- 
 mined, upon the advice of Dabney and others to sink 
 his ship, so the "Long Tom" which had done such 
 splendid execution was swung in board and pointed 
 down the hatchway and discharged. The Armstrong 
 went down from the shot from her own guns. Reid 
 and his men, after spiking the great guns, throwing 
 overboard the powder and small arms and removing 
 their private belongings, escaped to the shore. A boat 
 party from the British boarded the sinking ship, and 
 set what remained of her above the water on fire. 
 
 The loss in the first and third attack probably 
 
Reid and the Armstrong 285 
 
 raised the British total to nearly three hundred, though 
 it had not increased that of the Americans. There are 
 several fleet actions on record in which the British won 
 glorious victories without inflicting or receiving so 
 much damage as they got in the combat with this little 
 insignificant privateer. The English commander-in- 
 chief was furious with rage at the results of the action, 
 so much so that he never made proper report of it to 
 the home authorities, but the statements here given are 
 supported by unimpeachable evidence. Lloyd was so 
 angered that he insisted that there were British de- 
 serters among the escaped American crew on shore, and 
 actually compelled the Portuguese commander of the 
 island to have the seamen mustered, that he might in- 
 spect them. He didn't find any deserters, or at least 
 he did not try to take any, which showed a late dis- 
 cretion on his part. One of two ships-of-war which 
 soon joined Lloyd's squadron was finally sent back to 
 England with the wounded. 
 
 The action had an importance far beyond its imme- 
 diate results in this way : The three English ships were 
 destined to form a part of the fleet rendezvousing at 
 Jamaica to convey Pakenham's army of Wellington's 
 veterans to the attack on New Orleans. A delay of 
 ten days was caused by the necessity of burying the 
 dead, attending the wounded, and repairing the brig 
 and boats at Fayal, consequently the fleet at Jamaica, 
 which this squadron finally joined, was also delayed 
 ten days in its departure, to the great indignation of its 
 admiral. This was just the time that was required 
 to permit the doughty Andrew Jackson to assemble 
 that army and make those preparations by which he 
 was enabled to win one of the most astonishing vic- 
 tories that was ever achieved upon the land, so that 
 
286 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 the stout and hard fighting of Reid and the men of the 
 General Armstrong proved of incalculable service to 
 their country. Moral : It is always best for the fighter 
 to fight to the end, whatever the odds; for upon the 
 action of the moment the whole future may depend. 
 
 Reid himself was received with the greatest honor 
 on his return to America, and the usual rewards in the 
 way of swords, pieces of plate, banquets, etc., were 
 showered upon him. It is a noteworthy fact in his 
 subsequent history that he made the design for the 
 present American flag; heretofore a star and a stripe 
 had been added for every new State, and it was due to 
 his suggestion that the flag took its present shape. For 
 this he was thanked by Congress. Later in his life he 
 was placed upon the navy list and retired. After this 
 he lived a long life of eminent usefulness in New York, 
 where he was held in the highest respect and honor. 
 His funeral, in 1861, was a national affair, and some 
 of his immediate descendants are still living. As a 
 specimen of a bold, daring seaman, a magnificent 
 fighter, a true patriot, and a high-toned gentleman, he 
 ranks with the very best, and no one should stand 
 higher in the affections of the people of the land 
 than he. 
 
 " Since writing the above I have received word from a creditable source 
 that in the first attack one of the boats had its bottom stove by the fall of a 
 grindstone which had been balanced on the rail, and rolled into the boat 
 by a sailor named Granniss." 
 
THE DEFENSE OF LOUISIANA— THE 
 LAST BATTLE WITH ENGLAND 
 
 At half after one o'clock on the afternoon of December 
 23, 1 81 4, a little party of officers in the parlor of a 
 dwelling house used as headquarters, on Royal Street, 
 New Orleans, Louisiana, who were earnestly engaged 
 in conversation, were interrupted by the entrance of 
 three gentlemen, who had galloped post-haste to the 
 door. One of them wore the brilliant uniform of the 
 Louisiana Creole Light Infantry. The other two 
 were older men, evidently planters. The young offi- 
 cer was Major Gabriel Villere. He bore startling 
 news, which he proceeded to tell in French, as he was 
 unable to speak English, one of the planters interpret- 
 ing for him. 
 
 He said that the little outpost guarding Bayou Bien- 
 venu had been surprised that morning, and subse- 
 quently he himself and all his people had been captured 
 on the Villere plantation, his father's home; but that, 
 being negligently guarded, he had seized a horse, gal- 
 loped away under a shower of balls, and escaped. The 
 British were out in full force about ten miles away, 
 and were marching up the dry ground between the 
 
 287 
 
288 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 river and the morasses inland. If they continued their 
 march they might probahly reach the city of New Or- 
 leans that night. 
 
 "By the Eternal !" said the chief of the officers in 
 the room, Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee, a very tall 
 and very thin man, with reddish-gray hair brushed 
 straight up from his high forehead, his piercing blue 
 eyes sparkling with fire and detennination — "by the 
 Eternal," he repeated, bringing his hand down upon the 
 table, "they shall not sleep upon our soil this night!" 
 
 The man was dreadfully emaciated, worn to a skele- 
 ton by wasting disease, utterly broken in health, and 
 at that moment suffering from a dreadful wound in the 
 shoulder, which had been inflicted months before in a 
 duel and which prevented him from ever wearing the 
 heavy bullion epaulet of his rank, which was that of 
 Major-General in the Regular Army of the United 
 States. But such greatness of spirit looked out of his 
 eyes, such indomitable resolution was evidenced by the 
 straight, tense lines of his mouth and his square jaws 
 that it was easy to see that here was a man who would 
 exercise command, sickness or no sickness, until he 
 was laid in his grave. 
 
 He had enjoyed no opportunity for perfecting him- 
 self in the technical art of soldiering; true, as a boy, 
 he had fought in the partizan warfare which devas- 
 tated the Carolinas in the Revolution, during which he 
 had been wounded, captured, starved — he knew all 
 about that part of it. He had learned to look into the 
 cold barrel of a pistol without flinching, too, through 
 many duels, some of them dreadful in character, in 
 which he had been a principal. He had been a Mem- 
 ber of Congress, a Senator, and United States District 
 Attorney, when to be a district attorney on the fron- 
 
The Defense of Louisiana 289 
 
 tiers was to invite destruction. He had just termi- 
 nated successfully, after unheard-of hardships and the 
 exhibition of the most heroic resolution and courage, 
 one of the most famous campaigns ever carried on 
 against the Indians, and for this had been made the 
 junior Major-General in the Regular Army. 
 
 He had come to New Orleans, on the second of De- 
 cember, fresh from the conquest of Pensacola, which 
 he had taken by storm from the Spaniards because the 
 place had been used by the British as a base from which 
 to make forays and incursions into the American terri- 
 tory. Incidentally, also, the troops under his com- 
 mand had repulsed a British attack on Mobile, Major 
 Lawrence, at Fort Bowyer, having beaten off four Brit- 
 ish ships-of-war and a landing party of six hundred 
 men, one of the British ships being burned and sunk 
 after heavy loss in men. 
 
 The spirit of the people of New Orleans was very 
 high, but they were without a head, and they wel- 
 comed the advent of the general from Tennessee with 
 the greatest joy, seconding his efforts for the raising 
 and equipment of an army for the defense of the city 
 in every possible way. Jackson was a natural leader, 
 popular with his men, and knew instinctively the best 
 disposition to make of the motley forces under his com- 
 mand. When Villere brought the news all the avail- 
 able troops, amounting to but three or four thousand 
 men, including the militia, were in camp north of the 
 city. Messengers were sent galloping in every direc- 
 tion, bidding them take up the line of march. They 
 responded to their orders with alacrity, and the roads 
 were soon covered with armed men marching gaily 
 through the city toward the south. 
 
 On the river there were two armed vessels, a sloop- 
 
290 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 of-war, the Louisiana, commanded by Commodore 
 Patterson, and the schooner Carolina, Captain Henly, 
 whom we saw at Lake Champlain. Word was des- 
 patched to the ships, and they immediately cleared for 
 action and dropped down the river. They were im- 
 portant factors in Jackson's brilliant plan of attack. 
 The news brought by Major Villere was alarming in 
 the last degree. The troops he had seen were an ad- 
 vance guard of two thousand men of a powerful Brit- 
 ish army five times as great. They had appeared in 
 their ships a few days before off the Passes in the Delta, 
 through which the Mississippi gains the sea. There 
 were over fifty vessels in the convoy, including the 
 powerful fleet of Admiral Cockburn's ships-of-the-line. 
 They had sailed from Jamaica a month before bearing 
 a large army of Wellington's veterans which had been 
 transported thither from their successful maraud in 
 Virginia and Maryland, which had resulted in the cap- 
 ture and destruction of Washington, to which point 
 they had come straight from the Garonne. Ross, their 
 commander, had been killed before Baltimore, and 
 Brigadier-General Keane, a younger soldier, was in 
 charge. Reinforcements and other generals were even 
 then speeding across the water as fast as wind could 
 drive them. 
 
 There was no way to take the ships-of-the-line, or 
 even the frigates and transports, up the river, and if 
 the city was to be captured by the troops their only 
 mode of access to it would be by Lakes Borgne and 
 Ponchartrain. To prevent this, there was a little 
 American force on Lake Borgne consisting of five gun- 
 boats, each carrying one heavy gun and several smaller 
 ones, and manned by from twenty to thirty men, under 
 the command of Lieutenant Thomas ap-Catesby Jones, 
 
The Defense of Louisiana 291 
 
 the third officer of that name to distinguish himself in 
 the early service. His total force amounted to less 
 than two hundred men and fourteen available guns in 
 broadside. 
 
 The British attacked him with forty-two boats, car- 
 rying as many guns and over one thousand men. 
 There was absolutely no hope of successful resistance, 
 yet no one thought of surrender or flight, and there 
 was a hotly contested battle on the lake, in which sev- 
 eral of the British boats were sunk with heavy loss, 
 but which finally resulted in the capture of the entire 
 American flotilla, after a series of desperate hand to 
 hand conflicts, in which the Americans were overpow- 
 ered by force of numbers and only gave way when 
 nearly one fourth of them had been killed or wounded, 
 among the latter being their gallant commander. 
 
 The British then surprised the picket post on Bayou 
 Bienvenu, and marched up the river on the only firm 
 ground in that part of the country. If Keane had 
 pushed on vigorously after the escape of Major Vil- 
 lere, instead of halting to entrench and reconnoiter, it 
 is more than probable that he would have effected the 
 capture of the unprepared city at once. Jackson's 
 quick decision to attack him without delay, which usu- 
 ally receives but little attention in the consideration 
 exacted by the greater battle which followed, was more 
 of an indication of the high natural military instinct 
 which he possessed than anything else in his life. 
 
 The land upon which the British were encamped, was 
 samewhat lower than the level of the great Mississippi, 
 which was here confined by immense retaining walls 
 of earth called levees. About half after seven in the 
 evening the British pickets on the levee noticed a 
 schooner dropping silently down the river, grim and 
 
292 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 ghostlike in the night. The boat was hailed, and one 
 or two muskets were fired at her, but no answer was 
 elicited. She came to anchor opposite the camp, de- 
 liberately made her preparations, and then the aston- 
 ished sentries heard a stout voice cry, "Give them this, 
 lads, for the honor of the United States !" 
 
 The sides of the schooner burst into flame, and a 
 whole broadside of grape at short range was poured 
 into the crowded British camp. Numbers clustered 
 about the campfires were killed or wounded. The 
 eager men tramped out the fires as if by magic, and 
 sought instant shelter from the deadly rain of shot 
 which came from the Carolina's guns by crouching 
 under the lee of the river embanlcment. There were 
 but two guns in the camp, little three-pounders, and 
 about as efficient as popguns under the circumstances. 
 There was nothing for the English to do but to hide 
 away and bide their time. So long as they remained 
 under the cover of the levee they were reasonably safe, 
 though they could get nothing to eat and could not 
 occupy their tents. They were good soldiers, how- 
 ever, and made the best of their situation, philosophi- 
 cally disposing themselves to pass the night in their un- 
 comfortable position as best they could. 
 
 Their rest, if they got any, was interrupted by a 
 rifle shot from the landward flank of their position 
 about eight o'clock at night. The shot was succeeded 
 by another and another, and then by a perfect fusillade 
 of small arms from all sides. It was Jackson deliver- 
 ing his attack. He had skilfully disposed his men so 
 as to surround the enemy. Though his total force was 
 no greater than the British, the latter were cornered. 
 Necessarily, since the Americans had arrived on the 
 scene, the fire of the Carolina was stopped. The Brit- 
 
The Defense of Louisiana 293 
 
 ish soon found this out, and rushed to meet their mid- 
 night assailants with their usual dogged courage. 
 Then ensued in that darkness a demoniacal struggle, 
 utterly unlike any battle that had occurred heretofore 
 on the continent. Rain fell in torrents. Firearms 
 became useless, and the bayonets of the English crossed 
 the long hunting knives of the Kentuckians in a deadly 
 death grapple in the black air, in the series of bitter 
 hand to hand conflicts. 
 
 The general and his staff were in the thick of it all, 
 and he was personally engaged. After continuing the 
 struggle for several hours, Jackson drew off his troops, 
 in fairly good order, about ten o'clock in the evening, 
 and retreated a few miles up the river behind the 
 Rodriguez Canal, an abandoned watercourse, and en- 
 trenched himself at the narrowest pass, where the dis- 
 tance between the river bank and the impassable mo- 
 rass was the shortest. The Carolina, now seconded 
 by the Louisiana, opened fire again, and once more 
 dominated the situation. Jackson had effected his ob- 
 ject. With a loss of about three hundred men he had 
 paralyzed the advance of the British army. They 
 would remain where they were, he felt certain, and 
 make no offensive movement whatever until reinforce- 
 ments were brought up, and that would give him what 
 he most earnestly desired, and what is of vital impor- 
 tance to every military commander — time. 
 
 The British had lost over five hundred in killed and 
 wounded in this audacious attack, and were so thor- 
 oughly and completely astonished by their rough hand- 
 ling that they dreamed of nothing but holding their 
 position and sending for reinforcements ; all idea of ad- 
 vance was abandoned. It was no use even to consider 
 it; for the American ships made a direct target out of 
 
294 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 every individual who ventured to show himself for a 
 moment behind the levee. 
 
 The British soldiers were the best on earth and Jack- 
 son knew that his troops — with the possible exception 
 of the Tennesseans — who were all of them without 
 bayonets, could never have met them in the open with 
 any prospect of success ; therefore he contented himself 
 with strengthening his entrenchments, assiduously 
 drilling his men constantly in such military tactics as 
 he was familiar with himself, and in sending expresses 
 and recjuisitions for help and supplies in every di- 
 rection. 
 
 The militia of Louisiana turned out nobly. So, by 
 the way, did La Fitte, the last of the buccaneers and 
 his pirate crew. The citizens were fighting in de- 
 fense of their homes. It was well understood that if 
 New Orleans, which was then a populous and 
 wealthy city of some thirty thousand people, and a 
 place of the greatest commercial importance, for the 
 whole trade of the Mississippi valley passed through it, 
 were captured, that it was to be sacked by the soldiery. 
 If one wishes to know to what excesses the British 
 soldiery could descend in the sacking of a town he need 
 only read the descriptions of similar affairs by Lord 
 Napier in his great "Peninsula Campaign." The sol- 
 diers of Tilly, at the famous storming of Magdeburg, 
 could not have been more lustful, brutal, wanton and 
 ferocious. Said British soldiery at that time could 
 almost have given pointers to a Geronimo Apache. 
 
 The main reliance of Jackson, however, was upon 
 the famous riflemen from Kentucky and Tennessee 
 under Coffey and Carroll. They knew little about 
 manoeuyers or tactics. The school of the soldier was 
 a thing of which they had heard little, and about which 
 
The Defense of Louisiana 295 
 
 Ihey cared less ; but they could shoot and shoot straight 
 and shoot fast and keep it up. Nothing could exceed 
 their courage. They had fought under their general 
 before and knew what manner of man he was. They 
 loved him even for his faults and the enemies he had 
 made, and most excellently officered, could be depended 
 upon to the last gasp. There was also a small but 
 efficient contingent of regular troops. 
 
 Matters remained in statu quo for two days, until 
 Christmas, when Sir Edward Pakenham, a brother-in- 
 law to the Iron Duke, arrived from England to take 
 command of the army. He was accompanied by Gen- 
 eral Samuel Gibbs, and was followed soon after by 
 General John Lambert, with several regiments of men 
 who, with the officers named, were all veterans and had 
 been taught in the splendid school of Wellington. 
 
 Pakenham had especially distinguished himself in 
 the Peninsula. He was a man of the highest personal 
 gallantry and much military skill and experience. At 
 the Battle of Salamanca, the charge which he led at the 
 head of his division had saved the day. He expected 
 to make an easy conquest of the "backwoods general" 
 and add new laurels to his wreath by the capture of 
 New Orleans. A peerage would probably reward his 
 success. 
 
 He found Keane's army still clinging desperately to 
 the lee side of the levee. Under his orders a battery of 
 heavy guns was landed from the ships, and on the 
 evening of the 26th they set fire to the Carolina with 
 red hot shot. She was windbound at the time and 
 after making a gallant defense with the single long 
 gun which would bear, she blew up. The Louisiana, 
 further away, managed to tow out of range and es- 
 cape. 
 
296 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 Pakenham then determined upon a reconnoissance 
 in force. There were some plantation buildings in 
 front of the American line, and as his troops came 
 marching along the level ground on the morning of 
 the twenty-eighth of December they were concealed 
 until they advanced beyond the buildings. As soon 
 as they passed them they were met by such a discharge 
 of artillery as convinced Pakenham that the works 
 were far stronger than he had anticipated. The build- 
 ings were set on fire by the American shot. After 
 marching his men up to the old canal in front of the 
 American fortifications, losing many of them by the 
 way, the troops withdrew, having effected nothing be- 
 yond informing themselves of the strength of the 
 American position. This affair is sometimes called 
 the Battle of Chalmette's plantation. 
 
 On the other side of the river the navy had erected 
 a formidable water battery by landing some of the 
 Louisiana's heavy guns, which enfiladed and thus pro- 
 tected the front of Jackson's entrenchments. Jackson 
 himself had a motley lot of artillery mounted be- 
 tween embrasures made of cotton bales, the heaviest 
 gun being an old thirty-two-pounder. Pakenham 
 now resolved to begin a regular siege of the American 
 position. Consequently very early in the morning of 
 January i, 181 5, his troops advanced silently to within 
 three hundred yards of the American entrenchments, 
 and cautiously opened a parallel. Their fortifications 
 were made of barrels of sugar, of which there were a 
 great number in the various plantations. 
 
 When the fog lifted about ten o'clock the Americans, 
 who were holding dress parade in front of their en- 
 trenchments in honor of New Year's Day, were aston- 
 ished to see the frowning batteries of the British. 
 
The Defense of Louisiana 297 
 
 They scampered back in hot haste to their positions, 
 and a cannonade immediately began, which lasted the 
 greater part of the morning. The British guns were 
 silenced, the sugar barrels were knocked to pieces, and 
 proved no protection whatever. The Louisiana and 
 the water battery on the other side had done dreadful 
 execution with their raking fire. Pakenham withdrew 
 his troops at once, and succeeded, through the gal- 
 lantry of some of the seamen of the ships, in saving 
 all his guns. On the American side the cotton bales 
 forming the embrasures were set on fire or knocked out 
 of place, and were afterward supplanted by the soft, 
 muddy earth of the Delta. 
 
 The American mounted riflemen now harassed the 
 British camp continually on every side. The life of a 
 sentry on the picket line was always in jeopardy. For- 
 aging was decidedly unsafe. The Louisiana and the 
 water batteries sent balls from their long guns toward 
 the British camp at regular intervals day and night, 
 so that the men got neither sleep nor rest. Pakenham 
 and his lieutenants chafed under the annoying position, 
 and, irritated by the taunts of that valiant house- 
 burner. Admiral Cockburn, who threatened to land his 
 marines and do up the job himself, they at last resolved 
 upon a final attempt. 
 
 Pakenham's plan was an excellent one — indeed, the 
 only possible one under the circumstances. He deter- 
 mined to detach a large body of men under Colonel 
 Thornton, one of his most efficient officers, and send 
 them across the river to capture the water battery and 
 the Louisiana, which were defended by about a thou- 
 sand inefficient militiamen, then turn their guns upon 
 Jackson's line, upon which, with the balance of his 
 army, he would deliver a direct assault in force. In 
 
298 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 order to get the boats of the ships into the Mississippi 
 to ferry over the troops, a canal was cut through from 
 Lake Borgne, with great labor, by the soldiers. 
 
 The morning of January 8, 18 15 (Sunday), was 
 selected for the attack. When Thornton reached the 
 canal, however, he found that instead of boats for fif- 
 teen hundred men he only had transportation for about 
 four hundred. He was delayed in getting even those 
 in motion by the caving in of the banks of the canal, 
 and when he reached the Mississippi he was swept 
 down for two miles below his projected landing place 
 by the swift current. Pakenham, meanwhile, ignorant 
 of all these mishaps, had put his army in motion, and 
 had crept slowly up toward the American works in 
 the gray of the morning. It was four o'clock when 
 the British columns reached their designated positions. 
 They waited and waited in vain for the signal from 
 Thornton to begin the attack. 
 
 Three thousand men, under Generals Gibbs and 
 Keane, were to assault the left of the American line; 
 one thousand men, led by Colonel Rennie, were to at- 
 tack the right; the Ninety-third Highlanders, eight 
 hundred strong, a splendid regiment of hard-praying 
 and hard-fighting Caledonians, just in from the Cape 
 of Good Hope, under Colonel Dale, were to attack the 
 center; and a reserve of two regiments, about fifteen 
 hundred strong, under General Lambert, were to fol- 
 low up whichever one of the attacks was the most suc- 
 cessful. Pakenham had been told by a deserter that 
 the left of the American line was the weakest point, 
 which was true at the time. Jackson, however, had 
 fortunately reinforced it on the day before the battle 
 with a strong body of the Tennessee riflemen. 
 
 As the mists rolled away the Americans saw the 
 
The Defense of Louisiana 299 
 
 vivid scarlet lines of the British advancing upon them. 
 It was six o'clock in the morning. Pakenham had to 
 attack now. He was already within range, and a re- 
 treat was not to be thought of. Besides, the idea of 
 defeat never entered his head. What, the finest sol- 
 diers in the world to be stopped or defeated by a lot 
 of volunteers, militiamen, backwoodsmen ? Nonsense ! 
 Forward was the word ! 
 
 The head of Gibbs' column was led by the Forty- 
 fourth regiment, under Colonel Mullens, who had been 
 ordered to provide the fascines and scaling ladders, to 
 enable them to cross the ditch and mount the walls. 
 The regiment, badly commanded, passed by the place 
 of storage in the darkness, and had failed to bring up 
 the ladders; and General Gibbs, promising to hang 
 Colonel Mullens after the action, had sent them back 
 at the double quick to procure them. They now came 
 straggling back in great disorder, with only a few lad- 
 ders. The troops meanwhile were steadily advancing 
 in the face of such a hellish fire as few troops have 
 ever attempted to withstand. The great thirty-two- 
 pounder, charged with musket balls to the very muz- 
 zle, actually tore up the head of the column. 
 
 The continuous crackle of the small arms and the 
 deep roar of the great guns filled the air with stunning 
 sound. The cloud of smoke over the American lines 
 was lined and seamed with streaks of fire, and the 
 lightning itself was not more swift and deadly than 
 the leaden messengers which leaped from it. Grape 
 and solid shot ripped long lanes through the advancing 
 soldiery, but they still came on! It was magnificent! 
 Reaching the edge of the ditch, they were in point- 
 blank range of the deadly American riflemen. Mul- 
 lens and his men were nowhere to be seen. There 
 
300 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 were no ladders, no fascines, no anything. No troops 
 that hved could stand the steady, awful fire of the 
 Tennesseans. In the face of that blasting storm of 
 death they stopped, faltered, broke, and ran. 
 
 The officers recklessl}^ and heroically strove to re- 
 form them and lead them on. They were shot down 
 like sheep in their brave efforts. Gibbs came up to 
 Pakenham weeping and crying. 
 
 "The men will not follow me," he said brokenly. 
 'T can't get them to come on." 
 
 "Here comes the Ninety-third," said Pakenham, 
 looking at the splendid regiment of Highlanders ad- 
 vancing coolly in the awful confusion. "Rally on the 
 Ninety-third !" he cried, darting in among the retreat- 
 ing men, followed by the officers of his staff. They 
 finally succeeded in checking the backward movement, 
 the brave men fell into line once more, faced the other 
 way slowly, and began another desperate advance. 
 
 On the other flank a small redoubt in front of Jack- 
 son's lines was captured by Rennie's men after a furi- 
 ous little combat, but not until every one of the few 
 defenders was killed or wounded. The guns were 
 then turned upon the American line. Rennie and a 
 few of his men made for the ditch in spite of the fact 
 that the black regiment from the West Indies, which 
 was to lead, failed miserably at this juncture, behaving 
 quite as badly as the Forty-fourth. There were no 
 ladders, no fascines here either. Nevertheless, Rennie 
 and a few men struggled across the ditch, and the col- 
 onel, the major, and one other officer mounted the 
 works crying, "Surrender!" They were shot dead the 
 instant their heads appeared over the parapets, and 
 their bodies fell inward. The attack was broken, the 
 regiments were actually crumpled up by the fierce, rapid 
 
The Defense of Louisiana 301 
 
 firing of the Americans until they too fled — all who 
 were able, that is. 
 
 Thornton, on the other bank of the river, had at 
 last come up and had captured the American position 
 with the loss of about one hundred of his men, mainly- 
 inflicted by the American naval contingent. Most of 
 the militia behaved disgracefully, and fled without fir- 
 ing a shot. On that side the river only six Americans 
 were killed. Thornton's success came too late to be 
 of service. 
 
 Meanwhile, Pakenham, Gibbs and Keane led the 
 new attack forward, with the magnificent Scotsmen in 
 the advance — a forlorn hope, a desperate venture. 
 They had seen hot, hard fighting in Spain; never had 
 they met anything like this. There was no lack of 
 Anglo-Saxon courage there. Valor teemed upon the 
 field, but the trouble was that it was on both sides of 
 the redoubt. The men came slowly, with fixed bayo- 
 nets, grim determination in their white faces. They 
 were waited for by the cool American commander. 
 Again the word was given. Again the low, black, 
 muddy redoubt of the Americans was tipped with 
 vivid, death-dealing flame. The advancing troops 
 were mowed down in sheets. 
 
 "Shame, shame!" cried Pakenham, intercepting 
 those who would fain retreat. "This is the way. 
 Forward ! Forward !" he cried, beating the reluctant 
 men with his sword. "Order up the reserve !" he said 
 to his aide, who galloped madly away. 
 
 When the officer delivered the order to Lambert, 
 who was watching the dreadful carnage with feelings 
 of sickening horror, he ordered the bugler to sound 
 the advance. The men sprang to their feet, waiting the 
 signal, when a solid shot tore the trumpet from the 
 
302 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 bugler's lips before he had made a note. Ere he 
 could procure another bugle the battle was over, and 
 to put in the reserve would be only to devote more men 
 to destruction. 
 
 Pakenham's arm was shattered, his horse was killed 
 under him, but, forgetful of everything but the battle, 
 he mounted another and, waving his sword, rode on, 
 encouraging his troops until he was hurled from his 
 saddle and instantly killed by another bullet. Keane 
 fell desperately hurt. Gibbs was mortally wounded, 
 and carried reluctantly from the field. Colonel Dale, 
 at the head of the Highlanders, was shot dead. Offi- 
 cer after officer was killed. The splendid Ninety-third 
 marched up to the edge of the ditch and stood there, 
 unable to go forward, too proud to retreat — an heroic 
 example of veteran soldiery. They won a deathless 
 name on that field. Finally, with less than one hun- 
 dred and twenty men out of nearly eight hundred, the 
 Highlanders slowly retired. The rest of the army had 
 long since fled. Less than half an hour had ended it 
 all. Half the American force had not been engaged. 
 
 Jackson immediately despatched a large body of 
 troops across the river to oust Thornton, but before 
 the Americans could deliver their attack Thornton, 
 under orders from Lambert, who succeeded to the com- 
 mand of the beaten army, abandoned the position. 
 The British retreated precipitately to their ships a few 
 days later, leaving behind those of their wounded un- 
 able to be moved, and many guns and supplies. Lam- 
 bert conducted the retreat so skilfully that he was re- 
 warded by a baronetcy when he returned to England. 
 
 The British loss in this battle was seven hundred 
 killed, fourteen hundred wounded, and five hundred 
 prisoners; a total loss of twenty-six hundred in twenty- 
 five minutes — over one and a half per second ! Li- 
 
The Defense of Louisiana 303 
 
 credible? True! The American loss was but eight 
 killed and fourteen wounded, mostly in the redoubt 
 captured by Rennie ! These figures take no account 
 of Thornton's attack. The British loss in the whole 
 campaign was over thirty-five hundred men, the 
 American about three hundred, the number engaged in 
 the campaign being about ten thousand for the British 
 and about seven thousand for the Americans, although 
 in the decisive battle Jackson had in action less than 
 three thousand to six thousand of the British. 
 
 It was the most astonishing battle ever fought, and 
 the most stupendous victory ever achieved in this hemi- 
 sphere prior to Dewey and Sampson, and the misery of 
 it all was that peace had been declared some time be- 
 fore the battle was fought ! Oh, for some earth-gird- 
 ling "Puck" to have carried the news ! The lives of all 
 the brave men had been sacrificed in vain. 
 
 The English soldiers had fought with the utmost 
 determination and valor. Pakenham's plans were 
 good ones, in fact they were the only ones which could 
 have been put in operation at all ; no blame attaches to 
 him, unless for haste in not waiting for Thornton, but 
 the honor of the campaign must rest with Jackson. 
 Nobody could have done better ; few so well. 
 
 While the battle was unnecessary, the victory was 
 very useful in creating among the British nation and 
 the nations of the world generally a healthy respect 
 for American arms, which has never entirely left them. 
 We have kept it fresh from time to time. The battle 
 of New Orleans was a great, glorious, and dreadful 
 victory, and the most conspicuous military figure in the 
 history of our country between the Revolution and the 
 Civil War is undoubtedly that of the backwoods fighter 
 — Andrew Jackson of Tennessee! 
 
THE CONSTITUTION'S LAST 
 BATTLE 
 
 The last survivor of the great captains of the War of 
 1812, who indeed Hved until four years after the close 
 of the Civil War, having been previously retired in 
 1862 as rear admiral, was Charles Stewart. Though 
 it does not appertain to this story, it is interesting to 
 note that the daughter of this splendid American 
 fighter became the mother of that equally brilliant 
 fighter in other fields, Charles Stewart Parnell, the 
 great Irish agitator. Stewart was born of Irish 
 parentage, in Pennsylvania, in 1776, He entered the 
 merchant service at thirteen, and was captain of a ship 
 at nineteen, an age at which, at present and under 
 modern conditions, our prospective naval officers cannot 
 possibly have attained the rank of midshipman even! 
 In 1798 Stewart was appointed a lieutenant in the navy, 
 where he served with distinction in all the subsequent 
 wars. In the French War, while in command of the 
 schooner Experiment, he captured a French armed 
 schooner of much greater force than his own after a 
 brilliant little combat. He was the second in com- 
 mand to stout old Commodore Preble in the Tripoli- 
 tan War, and offered to cut out the Philadelphia; but 
 Decatur had made the proposition before Stewart. 
 
 304 
 
The Constitution' s Last Battle 305 
 
 who had command of the Siren, which had been away 
 from the station, had learned of the disaster, and so he 
 had to content himself with supporting Decatur's at- 
 tack, as we have seen. 
 
 At the beginning- of the War of 1812 he had com- 
 mand of the famous frigate Constellation. It was 
 through his address that she escaped from a heavy- 
 British squadron into the Elizabeth River at Norfolk, 
 where she was unfortunately so closely blockaded dur- 
 ing the entire war that it was impossible for her to 
 get to sea. It was his precaution and wise prevision 
 which prevented the capture of that ship by several 
 cutting-out expeditions which attempted it. At the 
 close of 1 81 3 he was given command of the more fa- 
 mous ship Constitution, 44, in which Hull and Bain- 
 bridge had won their notable victories over the Giier- 
 riere and the Jaz'a. Stewart at once put to sea, as usual 
 escaping the blockaders off Boston. He had a rather 
 successful cruise, capturing a heavily armed British 
 schooner of war, an armed privateer of large size, 
 a letter of marque, several merchant vessels, and 
 chasing the frigate Pique, 36, which escaped at night, 
 after a hard pursuit, through the Windward Passage. 
 On his way back the Constitution was chased hard by 
 the frigates Jimon and Nyrnplie, either of which was 
 a match for her. She escaped with difficulty, and 
 finally made the harbor of Marblehead ; thence, shortly 
 after, she got into Boston, passing the blockade again. 
 
 The ship was in bad shape, nothing having been 
 done to her in the way of refitting or repairing since 
 her two hard battles. She was therefore entirely over- 
 hauled, under Stewart's direction — a long and tedious 
 job. Her crew having been sent to the Lakes, where 
 they gave good account of themselves, a new crew was 
 
3o6 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 shipped — the pick of the country — and on December 
 30, 18 14, she got to sea, eluding the blockaders before 
 Boston for the seventh time during the war ! She was 
 as fine and fit for every emergency as any frigate that 
 ever sailed the ocean. It is quite within the bounds 
 of truth to say that there never was a ship so dreaded 
 by the whilom masters of the sea as the United States 
 ship Constitution. Under previous instructions from 
 the British Admiralty, as soon as she got away every 
 vessel of whatever class which spoke another on the 
 high seas was instructed to announce the escape of the 
 Constitution from the blockade; thus, almost with 
 the quickness of the wind itself, from ocean to ocean 
 was carried the ominous news. Frigates cruising alone 
 were instructed to avoid action with anything that 
 looked like the great American. Other vessels were 
 directed to hunt her in couples ! 
 
 Perhaps Captain Stewart had this fact in mind, for 
 when his young wife, to whom he had been recently 
 married, in answer to the natural question of depart- 
 ing husbands — especially youthful ones — "What shall 
 I bring you as a present?" patriotically answered, "A 
 British frigate," he replied, smiling, "I will bring you 
 two!" However, his expectations did not seem in the 
 way of being realized, for the cruise was more or less 
 an uneventful one at first, and the officers and men 
 began to feel that the usual luck of the Constitution 
 had failed them. On February 18, 181 5, long after 
 peace had been declared, by the way, Stewart chased 
 an English line-of-battle ship, the Elizabeth, ofT the 
 Portuguese coast near Lisbon; before her character 
 was discovered he left the chase and captured a mer- 
 chant vessel. When the Eli::;ahcth reached Lisbon 
 and learned that the Constitution was in the vicinity, 
 
The Constitution' s Last Battle 307 
 
 without stopping for any purpose she at once squared 
 away in pursuit. 
 
 It happened that the frigate Tf^cr, 36, under the com- 
 mand of Richard Dacres, who had been so badly beaten 
 on the Guerriere, was in port also. Dacres had been 
 especially preparing his vessel for the purpose of meet- 
 ing the Constitution, or one of her sister ships, and he 
 followed the Elisabeth close on the heels of the Ameri- 
 can. It was lucky for him he never caught sight of 
 her. About the same time the Lcandcr, the Nczvcastlc, 
 and the Acasta, two fifty- and one forty-gun frigates, 
 wdiich the Constitution had eluded before at Boston, 
 were booming along toward the eastward in pursuit of 
 her, deluded by a rumor which said that she had been 
 joined by the Congress and the President. In addi- 
 tion, the seas swarmed with British cruisers in couples 
 seeking her. Stewart, who had changed his course 
 without any explicable reason, had sailed the Constitu- 
 tion down to within eighty leagues of the Madeiras, 
 which then bore about southwest by west. She was 
 sailing along serenely in the midst of all this commo- 
 tion when, early in the afternoon of February 20th, 
 a large sail was discovered, through a rift in the fog, 
 bearing two points off the port bow\ It was a raw, 
 nasty day, the fresh wet breeze raising a choppy, un- 
 comfortable sea. 
 
 The Constitution at once edged away in chase. At 
 two o'clock another sail was raised, right ahead of the 
 former and apparently in company with her. Signals 
 were exchanged between the two vessels which had 
 been sighted, and they made every effort to close w'ith 
 each other. A double row of painted ports on the 
 nearest led the Americans to think that they were in 
 the presence of two frigates, a large one of at least 
 
3o8 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 fifty guns and a smaller, but Stewart had promised his 
 officers a fight, and he was quite in the mood to have 
 tackled a line-of-battle ship rather than disappoint all 
 hands, so the Constitution was soon covered with every 
 strip of canvas, including studding sails, which she 
 could carry alow and aloft, and bore down upon the 
 strangers, which she soon began to overhaul. The 
 two ships, which were gradually working nearer to 
 each other, set all sail, hoisted the English flag, and 
 endeavored to escape. 
 
 About half past four in the afternoon the Constitu- 
 tion carried away her main royal mast in the freshen- 
 ing breeze, which so far delayed her that it gave her 
 enemies time to close with each other. By smart sea- 
 manship, by five o'clock the damage was repaired, an- 
 other spar replaced the broken one, sail was set, and 
 the Constitution quickly regained her speed, and 
 began to overhaul the chase again as before. There 
 was some little manceuvering on the part of the Eng- 
 lish, who had flung out their battle flags, to get the 
 weather-gage, but they were unable to out-point the 
 Constitution, and indeed had hardly time to settle back 
 on the old starboard tack again when she came booming 
 down upon them. Action was now inevitable. Seeing 
 this they deliberately stripped themselves to fighting 
 canvas, and Stewart did the same. At six o'clock in 
 the evening the three vessels lay at the points of an 
 equilateral angle, the two English vessels in a line 
 ahead, the smaller in the lead, forming the base, and 
 the Constitution midway between them at the apex; 
 all were heading west, with the wind over the star- 
 board quarter, the Constitution being to windward. 
 
 Stewart now saw that his antagonists were a small 
 frigate and a large sloop-of-war — a very tidy couple 
 
The Constitution! s Last Battle 309 
 
 indeed. At six o'clock the battle began at a range 
 within two hundred and fifty yards, a little more than 
 the length of an ordinary city block. It was a brilliant 
 moonlight night, the clouds and the fog had disap- 
 peared, and all of the vessels were now plainly visible. 
 Every gun on the engaged sides of the three ships was 
 at once in action, and the firing for fifteen minutes was 
 rapid and fierce. The British cheered loudly, while 
 the men on the Constitution maintained a grim silence 
 — they could cheer later on. A cloud of smoke drifted 
 down between the Constitution and her antagonists, 
 whose fire, by the way, materially decreased, and at 
 6.15 P.M. Stewart ceased firing. 
 
 As the smoke blew away he saw that he had forged 
 ahead, and was now abreast of and very near the fore- 
 most ship, afterward found to be the sloop-of-war 
 Levant, Captain Douglass. Stewart also discovered 
 that the rear ship, the frigate Cyanc, had luft'ed up into 
 the wind and was endeavoring to go about on the other 
 tack to cross his stern and rake him. He acted with 
 the quickness of thought itself to meet this new dan- 
 ger, first pouring a tremendous broadside from double- 
 shotted guns into the Levant at close range, which 
 nearly smashed the life out of her; he laid his main 
 and mizzen topsails to the mast, let fly the jib-sheet, 
 braced the head-yards around until the sails shivered 
 in the wind, and with astonishing rapidity actually 
 backed the Constitution down upon her other enemy. 
 
 Instead of being able to cross the stern of the Ameri- 
 can, what was the surprise of Captain Falcon, of the 
 frigate Cyane, to see her huge bulk come shoving 
 through the smoke across his own bows. At this junc- 
 ture, the two ships being almost in contact, the Consti- 
 tution poured in a full broadside from her port battery. 
 
3IO American Fights and Fighters 
 
 which raked the Cyane terribly fore and aft. She 
 shivered from truck to keelson under this terrific 
 smashing as if she had struck a rock. Beaten off from 
 the wind by the Constitution's manoeuvers, the Cyane 
 fell away, of course, and the two ships sailed side by 
 side for perhaps five minutes, exchanging broadsides, 
 until the lighter Cyane was silenced. 
 
 Leaving the helpless frigate for the moment, Stewart 
 turned his attention to the Levant, which had been fir- 
 ing aimlessly into the smoke and had at last found out 
 that the Constitution had dropped astern. Now, there- 
 fore, Captain Douglass attempted to come by the wind 
 to cross the bows of the Constitution and rake her, in 
 the hope of delivering his helpless consort. As soon 
 as Stewart saw the manoeuvers he put his helm up, 
 filled away, and, the ship being handled with wonder- 
 ful smartness, ran down off the wind and crossed 
 astern of the Levant, into whom he poured two raking 
 broadsides at close range from his starboard battery, 
 which almost completely disabled her. The Levant 
 drifted far away and remained out of action for a long 
 time, while her men worked desperately to re-reeve the 
 gear and refit, so that they could once more engage in 
 the fight. Meanwhile the Cyane had pluckily followed 
 theConstitution, and now attempted to wear to cross her 
 stern and rake, but the Constitution was much better 
 handled. She emulated the manoeuverof the enemy, and 
 actually succeeded in swinging around under the stern 
 of the devoted Cyane, into which she poured another 
 terrible raking broadside; then she rounded to on her 
 port quarter, and for ten minutes she made a chopping- 
 i3lock of her gallant enemy. At 6.50 p.m. the Cyane 
 struck her colors. She was immediately taken posses- 
 sion of by a prize crew, an operation which consumed 
 some little time. 
 
The Constitution's Last Battle 311 
 
 Meanwhile the Levant, having finished refitting-, in- 
 stead of trying to escape, now sailed boldly down to 
 meet the Constitution again. Captain Douglass must 
 have known that the Cyanc had been captured, and 
 that he, in his smaller ship, had no further chance in 
 the fight, especially in view of the punishment he had 
 already received, therefore his action was foolhardy, 
 but gallant. At 8.50 p.m. the two ships passed each 
 other on different tacks, exchanging broadsides, then 
 the Levant spread everything to get away. The Con- 
 stitution wore in chase, and by 9.30 in the evening had 
 drawn so close to that ship that the shot from her bow- 
 chasers could be distinctly heard splintering the tim- 
 bers on board of the Levant. The situation of the 
 latter was perfectly helpless, and she struck her colors. 
 The Constitution's last and greatest battle was over. 
 
 As an exhibition of the highest seamanship this ac- 
 tion has never even been paralleled. It is almost hopeless 
 to attempt to prevent one ship engaged with two others 
 from being frequently raked. In this instance the Con- 
 stitution, by her masterly handling, raked both ships 
 opposed to her repeatedly, manning her port or star- 
 board battery at will. One of the opposing ships tried 
 two times to cross her stern, the other to cross her 
 bows, she frustrated both attempts with ease. In all 
 her manoeuvers she never lost the weather-gage; she 
 went backward, or forward, or turned about on her heel, 
 attacking either ship apparently at pleasure. Stewart 
 handled her like a yacht or a catboat. It was astonish- 
 ing! Stewart's exploit excited the greatest admiration 
 among nautical critics all over the world — and does to 
 this day — and, with Hull's wonderful escape on the 
 same ship from the pursuing British squadron, stands 
 at the very high-water mark of consummate seaman- 
 ship and skill. 
 
312 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 The number of guns on the Constitution was fifty- 
 one. Out of her crew of four hundred and fifty-six 
 she lost four killed and ten wounded. The combined 
 armament of the Cyane and the Levant amounted to 
 fifty-five guns. Out of their crews of three hundred 
 and fifteen they lost thirty-five killed and forty-two 
 wounded. Both ships were terribly cut up. 
 
 The Constitution had sustained but little damage to 
 her rigging, but she had been hulled thirteen times by 
 solid shot. Only three shot had hulled her when she 
 fought the Guerriere, and four when she had fought 
 the Java, therefore the English had done better than 
 usual. The Cyane had lost twelve killed and twenty- 
 six wounded. Every brace and bowline had been cut, 
 most of her standing and running rigging was carried 
 away, her main and mizzenmasts were tottering, many 
 important spars were badly wounded, she had been 
 hulled many times, and five of her guns were disabled. 
 The Levant lost twenty-three killed and sixteen 
 wounded. She was smashed up as badly as her con- 
 sort. 
 
 One or two little anecdotes in connection with the 
 fight are of interest. The two British captains were 
 discussing, over their wine after dinner in Stewart's 
 cabin, the reason of their defeat, each accusing the 
 other of being the cause of it. Stewart listened to 
 their acrimonious debate for some time, and finally 
 suggested, as a method of solving the problem, that 
 he would put them and their crews back upon their 
 respective ships and try it over! The solution was 
 declined in silence. 
 
 Just before the battle grog was served out as usual 
 to the crew of the Constitution. Some of the men 
 claimed that they should have a double portion, as they 
 
The Constitution's Last Battle 313 
 
 had two ships to fight. This so filled the mind of a 
 veteran seaman aboard with disgust that he kicked 
 over the grog tub, amid the cheers of the men, remark- 
 ing "that they didn't need no Dutch courage to fight 
 them ships." 
 
 A sailor named John Lancey, from Cape Ann, was 
 carried below to the cockpit, horribly mutilated by a 
 solid shot and writhing in death agony, just as the 
 Cyane struck her colors. The surgeon, after a hasty 
 examination, told him that he could do nothing for 
 him and that his end was approaching. "I know it," 
 replied the heroic man ; "I only want to know that the 
 other ship has struck." When the shouts of the men 
 above announced to him that the Levant had surren- 
 dered he actually lifted himself from his cot, waved his 
 blood-stained, shattered arm stump in the air, and 
 joined in the cheering, and immediately thereafter ex- 
 pired. 
 
 After a very gallant action many years before, by 
 which Stewart saved the lives of some sixty Spanish 
 people escaping from an outbreak at San Domingo, he 
 had been presented with a superb Toledo blade by the 
 King of Spain, his naval and official rank not per- 
 mitting him to receive a completed sword from a for- 
 eign government. This blade had been beautifully 
 mounted, and he wore the sword during this battle 
 with the Cyanc and the Levant. A solid shot, which 
 grazed his side during the action, had carried away the 
 hilt. The armorer of the Constitution, after the bat- 
 tle, fitted a rudely forged iron guard to the exquisite 
 blade, and ever after, on state occasions, Stewart wore 
 this rough, iron-hilted sword. 
 
 The prize crews from the Constitution made all haste 
 to get the ships in shape again. By one o'clock in the 
 
314 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 morning of February 21st, or three hours after the 
 surrender of the Cyanc and the Levant, the Constitu- 
 tion was ready for another action. On the following 
 day they headed for the nearest neutral port, and on 
 the fifteenth of March anchored in Porta Praya, in the 
 Cape Verde Islands. There Stewart found one of his 
 prizes, which he determined to use as a cartel to send 
 the prisoners back to England. The day after their 
 arrival, as they were busily engaged in their prepara- 
 tions, an English midshipman on the Constitution 
 called the attention of Captain Falcon of the Cyane, 
 who was a prisoner there, to the sails of a large ship 
 seen above the fog, coming toward the harbor. The 
 air was filled with a dense mist, Avhich hung low and 
 prevented anything below the topgallant yards from 
 being visible. The English captain angrily silenced 
 the imprudent midshipman, but the attention of Shu- 
 brick, acting first of the Constitution, had been called 
 to the stranger. 
 
 He hastily informed Captain Stewart, who was 
 shaving in his cabin, and received orders to get under 
 way and go out to engage. Immediately thereafter 
 the sails of two other ships were detected towering 
 al)ove the fog. At this news the half-shaved, but fully 
 alert Stewart came running on deck, ordered the 
 cables cut, and signaled the two prizes to get under 
 way at once. It was quite evident from the look of 
 the sails that the force approaching was too great for 
 him to cope with, with any chance of success. It is 
 on a par with the rest of the seamanship of this re- 
 markable cruise to note that ten minutes after the 
 strange sails had been sighted the Constitution and 
 her prizes, the latter naturally greatly undermanned 
 with their small prize crews, had cut cables, got under 
 
The Constitution' s Last Battle 315 
 
 way, and under their topsails alone, which rendered 
 them invisible as the fog rose above them, they were 
 stretching swiftly for the mouth of the harbor. Some 
 of the English prisoners, who had been landed, took 
 possession of a Portuguese battery and began firing at 
 the escaping ships, which caused the English outside to 
 get on the alert at once. 
 
 The fog gradually lowered as the three ships made 
 the harbor entrance and, crossing their topgallant 
 yards in gallant style, stretched away for the open sea. 
 The various ships were plainly visible to each other 
 down to the tops. The three English vessels were Sir 
 George Collier's squadron, before mentioned — the 
 Leandcr, 50, the Newcastle, 50, and the Acasta, 40. 
 To oppose this formidable squadron Stewart had the 
 Constitution, 44, the Cyane, 32, the Levant, 18, the two 
 latter badly disabled still and with only small prize 
 crews, insufficient in number to work the guns aboard. 
 The English forces counted one hundred and sixty- 
 three heavy guns and twelve hundred men. The 
 Americans one hundred and six guns, most of them 
 light, and four hundred and fifty men. The fifty-gun 
 ships were especially large and heavy, and designed 
 particularly to overmatch ships of the Constitution's 
 class. To run was Stewart's only chance; he was as 
 good at running as he was at fighting. 
 
 The chase that ensued was as exciting as any the 
 Constitution ever participated in. The fog still held, 
 though it gradually settled down so that the officers 
 standing on the hammock cloths of the pursuing ships 
 were easily seen from the American ships, though the 
 hulls of the English ships still remained concealed. 
 About I P.M., finding that the Cyane was lagging be- 
 hind and in danger of being overhauled, Stewart sig- 
 
3i6 American Fights and Fighters 
 
 naled her to tack, supposing that one of the chasing 
 ships would be detached to pursue. If he could divide 
 the enemy he determined to engage the nearest ship 
 himself. The three pursuers, however, paid no atten- 
 tion to the last ship — which, by the way, succeeded in 
 reaching New York in safety a month later — but held 
 on after the other two. At 2.30 p.m. the foremost 
 English ship opened on the Constitution, firing by divi- 
 sion, but the shot fell short by an hundred yards. 
 Stewart gained a little more definite idea of the size 
 and quality of his pursuer from the heavy fire of the 
 divisions of her battery. 
 
 At 3 P.M., the Levant being now almost within 
 range of the nearest pursuer, Stewart signaled her to 
 tack, which she immediately did, when, to the surprise 
 of the officers on board the Constitution, the whole of 
 the formidable English squadron tacked and stood on 
 in the wake of the little sloop Levant. The old Con- 
 stitution at this time was skipping through the water 
 at about twelve knots an hour. There was nothing 
 on the seas to catch her, and she soon ran the enemy 
 out of sight. She reached Boston in safety early in 
 May. Ballard, the prize master of the Levant, seeing 
 escape was hopeless, made for Porta Praya again. He 
 anchored immediately under the guns of the battery, 
 but the English commodore, as usual paying no atten- 
 tion to the neutrality of the port, sent the Newcastle 
 and the Acasta into the harbor, and, after enduring the 
 fire of these two heavy ships for some fifteen minutes, 
 Lieutenant Ballard struck his colors. 
 
 "I believe, sir," said the English boarding officer, in 
 great exultation, coming to take charge of the prize, 
 "that I have the honor to receive the sword of Captain 
 Blakeley of the Wasp" "No, sir," said Ballard grimly, 
 
The Constitutioii s Last Battle 317 
 
 "you have the honor to receive the sword of Cap- 
 tain Bahard, prize master of his Britannic Majesty's 
 sloop-of-war Levant I" Why Sir George Colher's 
 squadron acted in this extraordinary manner in this 
 pursuit has never been definitely ascertained, though 
 various explanations of it, all equally unsatisfactory, 
 have been put forth. Sir George was so chagrined 
 over the matter that, on being reproached with it some 
 years later, he committed suicide. 
 
 The brilliant way in which Stewart had escaped 
 from the harbor and succeeded in preserving two of 
 his ships from the tremendously overwhelming force 
 of his enemy added new laurels to the wreath which 
 his grateful countrymen had twined about the head of 
 the splendid sailor. He received the usual rewards 
 from Congress and his countrymen, and, by graceful 
 compliment, the popular name of the gallant ship 
 he had so ably commanded was soon applied to him, 
 and to the end of his days he was known as "Old 
 Ironsides !" 
 
INDEX 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abercrombie, Lieut. -Col., 156 
 
 Acasta (British frigate), 307, 315- 
 316 
 
 Ackland, Maj., 76-78, 82 
 
 Acttzon (British frigate), 7, 8, 12 
 
 Active (British frigate), 7, 8, 13 
 
 Allen, Ethan, 1 18-120 
 
 Alliance (American frigate), 44, 46, 
 51, 54, 140-142 
 
 Anderson, Midshipman, 204, 209 
 
 Andria Doria (American armed 
 vessel), 129 
 
 Ann, Fort, abandonment of, 61 
 
 Arbuthnot, John, 254, 256 
 
 Armada (British line-of-battle ship), 
 254 
 
 Arnold, Benedict, in Saratoga cam- 
 paign, 66, 73-79; in storming of 
 Ticonderoga, 117-120; in the 
 Yorktown campaign, 145-146 
 
 Atalanta (British war ship), 140- 
 141 
 
 Augusta (Ga.), post at, 86, 89; cap- 
 ture of, 103 
 
 Avon (British brig-of-war), 254- 
 256 
 
 Bainbridge, Joseph, 203, 209 
 
 Bainbridge, William, 201, 215-225 
 
 Baker, Midshipman, 247, 248. 
 
 Balcarras, Lord, 58, 76 
 
 Ballard, Lieut., 316, 317 
 
 Barney, Joshua, 136-139 
 
 Barras, Count de, 148, 152 
 
 Barreaut, Capt., of U Instirgente, 
 186 
 
 Barry, John, 139-142 
 
 Baum, Col., 59, 67-69 
 
 Beatty, Capt., 105 
 
 Bemis Heights, American occupa- 
 tion of, 73, 75 
 
 Bennington, Battle of, 68-70 
 
 Bentham, George, 276 
 Biddle, James, 247, 248 
 Biddle, Nicholas, 128-132 
 Bladensburg, Battle of, 138 
 Blakely, Johnston, 250-256 
 Bonhotmne Richard, 43 ; crew of, 
 
 44; encounter with the Serapis, 
 
 45-54 ; destruction of, 54 
 Borgne, Lake, attack at, 290-291 
 Brady, Hugh, 233-235 
 Brainer, Capt., 255, 256 
 Brandywine, Battle of, 59 
 Brant, Joseph, 64, 1 75 
 Breyman, Col., 59, 69 
 Bristol (British line-of-battle ship), 
 
 7.8, 11-13 
 Brown, Jacob, 226-230, 232, 233, 
 
 238, 241, 242 
 Burgoyne, John, 56-59, 62, 67, 71- 
 
 74, 76, 79 
 Butler, Richard, 168, 172 
 
 Cadwalader, Gen., 20, 22 
 
 Camden (N. C.),post at, 86; Battle 
 
 of, 86 
 Campbell, Col., 112, 113 
 Campbell, Lord William, 6, 13 
 Carleton, Sir Guy, 58 
 Carnation (British brig-of-war), 
 
 275-277, 283, 284 
 Carolina (American schooner), 290- 
 
 293. 295 
 
 Carolinas, Greene's campaign in, 
 84-116 
 
 Carroll, leader of Tennessee rifle- 
 men, 294 
 
 Cassin, Stephen, 260, 267 
 
 Castillian (British brig-of-war), 255 
 
 Caswell, Richard, 4 
 
 Catalino, Salvator, 203 
 
 Chads, Lieut., 222 
 
 Chalmette's plantation, Battle of, 296 
 
322 
 
 Index 
 
 Cliamplain, Lake, Battle of, 262-271 
 
 Charles, Midshipman, 203 
 
 Charleston, attack of, 5-14; evacua- 
 tion of, 116 
 
 Charon (British frigate), 156 
 
 Chauncey, Commodore, 227-228, 
 232-233 
 
 Cheevers, heroism of the, 223 
 
 Chippewa, Battle of, 229-232 
 
 Chubb (British sloop-of-war), 261, 
 264-266, 271 
 
 Clinton, Sir Henry, expedition 01 
 1776, 3, 4, 9, 10, 13; operations 
 of 1777, 72; expedition of 1780, 
 85, 86, 89; operations of 1779, 
 121,124,125; operations of 1 781, 
 149, 152, 156 
 
 Cockburn, Admiral, 297 
 
 Coffey, leader of Kentucky riflemen, 
 294 
 
 Coffin, Capt., Ill 
 
 Collier, Sir George, 315, 317 
 
 Confia7tce (British frigate), 261, 264- 
 266, 268, 269, 271 
 
 Constellation (American frigate), 
 179,183-195,305 
 
 Co7tstitt{tion{Kmiix\(zan frigate), 201, 
 203, 215,217-225,305-317 
 
 Cornwallis, Lord, expedition ol 
 1776,4, 18; Princeton campaign, 
 27. 29, 30, 31, 34, 36, 38; Caro- 
 lina campaign, 86-92, 96-101 ; 
 surrender, 116; Yorktown cam- 
 paign, 144-148, 150-152, 155-159 
 
 Cornwallis (British ship-of-the- 
 line), 217 
 
 Cowpens, Battle of, 93-96 
 
 Cox, Col., 63, 64 
 
 Crown Point, capture of, 120 
 
 Cruger, Col., 107, 108, 113 
 
 Cyane (British frigate), 307-316 
 
 Dabney, Consul, 275-277, 279, 284 
 
 Dacres, Richard, 307 
 
 Dale, Col., 298, 302 
 
 Dale, Richard, 44, 48-52, 181 
 
 Darke, Col., 173 
 
 Davis, Midshipman, 203 
 
 Decatur, Stephen, 199-212 
 
 Defiance, Mount, 59 
 
 De Kalb, Baron, 86, 87 
 
 Delaplace, Capt., 117, 119, 120 
 
 Delaware River, Washington's re- 
 
 treat across, 18 ; second crossing, 
 
 21 
 Douglas, Capt., 309-311 
 Douglas, Fort, 238, 239, 241 
 Downie, Commodore, 260, 263, 264, 
 
 268, 269 
 Drummond, Lieut. -Col., 239, 240 
 Drummond, Sir Gordon, 233, 236, 
 
 239, 242, 243 
 
 Eagle (American brig-of-war), 260, 
 
 262, 264-267, 269-271 
 Easton, Jonathan, 118 
 E?idyniion (British frigate), 199 
 Enterprise (American war vessel), 
 
 202, 203 
 Erie, Fort, surrender of, 228; siege 
 
 of, 238-242 
 Eutaw Springs, battle of, 110-115 
 Ewing, Gen., 20, 22 
 Experi7)ietit (American schooner), 
 
 304 
 Experi7)ient (British line-of-battle 
 ship), 7, 8, II, 13, 140 
 
 Falcon, Capt., 309, 314 
 
 Falling Timbers, Battle of, 175 
 
 Febiger, Col., 123 
 
 Ferguson, Patrick, 88 
 
 Fermoy, Gen. de, 60 
 
 Einch (British sloop-of-war), 261, 
 
 264, 266, 271 
 Flag, first American, 65-66 
 Fleury, Lieut.-Col., 122, 123 
 Francis, Col., 60, 61 
 Eraser, Maj.-Gen., 58, 61, 73, 74, 
 
 76, 77, 79 
 Freeman's Farm, Battle of, 74-75 
 French War, 179-195 
 Eriendship (British battle-ship), 7 
 Erolic (British brig-of-vvar), 245- 
 
 249 
 
 Gaines, Gen., 238, 241 
 
 Gamble, Lieut., 265, 268 
 
 Gansevoort, Peter, 62, 63, 65 
 
 Gates, Horatio, 20, 22, 71, 74-76, 
 78,86 
 
 Germaine, Lord, 58, 159 
 
 Germantown, Battle of, 59 
 
 General Arjnstrong (American pri- 
 vateer-ship), 274-284, 286 
 
Index 
 
 323 
 
 General Rlonk (British sloop-of- 
 
 war), 137, 138 
 Gibbons, Lieut., 123 
 Gibbs, Samuel, 295, 298-302 
 Granby, Fort, 89, 103 
 Grasse, Count de, 1 10, 143, 147, 
 
 148, 150-152, 156, 159 
 Graves, Admiral, 152 
 "Green Mountain Boys," n8 
 Greene, Nathaniel, in New Jersey 
 campaign, 20, 22; Carolina cam- 
 paign, 84 ; character, 85 ; organi- 
 zation of Southern army, 87-90; 
 plans for campaign, 91-92 ; Battle 
 of Cowpens and retreat, 96-97 ; 
 Battle of Guilford Court House, 
 98-101 ; further movements, 102- 
 107; siege of Ninety-six, 107- 
 109; Battle of Eutawf Springs, 
 110-I12, 114; end of campaign, 
 115-I16; death, 116 
 Guilford Court House, Battle of, 
 98-100 
 
 Hale, Col., 60, 6i 
 Hamilton, Alexander, 153 
 Hamtranck, Maj., 169 
 Haslet, Col., 33 
 Henderson, Col., iii, 113 
 Henly, Robert, 260, 266, 290 
 Herkimer, Nicholas, 63, 65-67 
 Hessian troops, surprise of, 23-25 ; 
 
 at Bennington, 68-69 
 Hindman, Maj., 228 
 Hislop, Lieut.-Gen., 217, 224 
 Hobkirk's Hill, Battle of, 104 
 Howard, John, 94, 95, 113 
 Howe, Gen., 18, 27, 58, 59, 72 
 Hubbardton, Battle of, 61 
 Hyder Ally (American armed mer- 
 chantman), 136-138 
 
 Independence (American privateer- 
 ship), 181 
 
 Indian War in the Northwest, 163- 
 176 
 
 Indians in the Revolution, 64-66, 71 
 
 Insiirgente, V (French frigate), 
 179, 183-188, 195 
 
 Intrepid (American ketch previously 
 called J/rtj-/;V(;), 202-211 
 
 Iris (British frigate), 135, 136 
 
 Izard, Gen., 242 
 
 Izard, Midshipman, 203 
 
 Jackson, Andrew, 285, 287-303 
 
 Jarvis, James, 193-195 
 
 Jasper, William, 10, 14-15 
 
 Java (British frigate), 201, 217-225 
 
 Jefferson, Fort, 168, 175 
 
 Jessup, Maj., 231,234, 235 
 
 Jones, Jacob, 244-247 
 
 Jones, John Paul, early life, 41- 
 
 43; battle with Scrapis, 45-54; 
 
 death 55 ; encounter with 
 
 Truxtun, 181 
 Jones, Thomas, 290, 291 
 
 Keane, Gen., 290, 291, 298, 301, 302 
 King's Mountain, Battle of, 88 
 Knox, Gen., 21, 154 
 Knox, Lieut., 123 
 Kosciusko, Thaddeus, 73, 107 
 
 Lafayette, Gen., 145-147 
 
 La Fitte, Jean, 294 
 
 Lambert, Henry, 217, 219, 220,222- 
 
 225 
 Lambert, John, 295, 298, 301, 302 
 Lancey, John, 313 
 Landais, Capt., of the Alliance, 46, 
 
 Lang, Jack, 247, 248 
 
 Lauzun, Duke de, 153 
 
 Lawrence, Maj., 289 
 
 Lawrence, James, 203, 209 
 
 Laws, Midshipman, 208 
 
 leander (British frigate), 307, 315 
 
 Leavenworth, Col., 231, 234, 235 
 
 Lee, Charles, 5, 6, 8, 12, 19, 59 
 
 Lee, Richard Henry, in Carolina 
 campaign, 87, 99, 102, 103, 108, 
 111-113; storming of Paulus 
 Hook, 125-127 
 
 Lee, Fort, capture of, 72 
 
 Levant (British sloop-of-war), 307- 
 
 317 
 Lewis, Midshipman, 203 
 " Light Horse Harry Lee." See 
 
 Lee, Richard Henry 
 Lincoln, Gen., 86, 151 
 Linnet (British brig-of-war), 261, 
 
 264-266, 268-271 
 Little Turtle (Indian chief of the 
 
 Miamis), 175 
 
324 
 
 Index 
 
 Lloyd, Robert, 277, 285 
 
 Louisiana (American sloop-of-war), 
 
 290, 293, 295-297 
 Louisiana, defense of, 287-303 
 Lundy's Lane, Battle of, 233-238 
 Lyman, Lieut., 256 
 
 MacCrea, Jane, murder of, 71 
 
 Macdaniel, Sergeant, II 
 
 Macdonald, Alan and Donald, 3, 4 
 
 Macdonough, Lieut., 240, 241 
 
 Macdonough, Thomas, 201, 203, 
 209, 258-266, 268-271 
 
 McKay, Lieut., 103 
 
 McKnight, Lieut., 256 
 
 McLane, Allan, 126 
 
 McNeil, John, 231, 232, 234, 235 
 
 Macomlj, Gen., 263, 270 
 
 Maham, Col., 103 
 
 Majoribanks, Maj., 112, 113 
 
 Manners, William, 251-253 
 
 Marion, Francis, at defense of Char- 
 leston, 6, 8; Carolina campaign, 
 88, 91, 100, 102, 103, 109, 112 
 
 Martin, Gov. of N. C, 3 
 
 Mastico. See Intrepid. 
 
 Matterface, William, 279, 282 
 
 Mawhood, Lieut. -Col., 30, 33 
 
 Mercer, Gen., 32-34 
 
 Miller, Col., 235, 236, 241, 242 
 
 Monroe, James, 24 
 
 Moore's Creek, Battle of, 4 
 
 Morgan, Daniel, 73, 76, 77, 87, 91- 
 
 97 
 
 Morris, Midshipman, 203, 208 
 
 Morris, John, 11 
 Morris, Robert, 29, 41 
 Motte, Fort, 89, 103 
 Moultrie, William, 5, 6, 8-10, 14 
 Moultrie, Fort, change of Fort Sul- 
 livan's name to, 14 
 Mullens, Col., 299 
 Murray, Alexander, 134, 135 
 
 Nelson, Gov., 151, 155 
 New Brunswick, British headquar- 
 ters at, 18 
 New Orleans, siege and Battle of, 
 
 296-303 
 Newcastle (British frigate), 307,315, 
 
 316 
 Niagara, campaign of, 226-243 
 Nicholas, Col., 235 
 Nicholson, John, 132-136 
 
 Ninety-six (N. C.) post at, 
 siege of 107-108 
 
 O'Hara, Gen., 158 
 
 "Old Ironsides." See Constitution, 
 
 Oriskany Creek, Battle of, 63-65 
 
 Pakenham, Sir Edward, 295-303 
 Pallas (American war ship), 44, 45, 
 
 53 
 Paris, Col., 63, 64 
 Parker, Lieut., 223 
 Parker, Sir Peter, 4, 7-10 
 Patterson, Commodore, 290 
 Paulding, Midshipman, 267 
 Paulus Hook, storming of, 125- 
 
 127 
 Pearson, Capt., of Serapis, 45-47, 
 
 49, 50' 52-53 
 Pensacola, capture of, 289 
 Perry, Christopher, 134 
 Philadelphia (American frigate), 
 
 201-211, 216 
 Philadelphia, capture of, 59 
 Philips, Chief of the Artillery, 58, 
 
 60, 73, 75-76, 145 
 Pickens, Andrew, 94, 95, 112 
 Pinckney's rangers, 88 
 Platitagettet (British ship-of-the- 
 
 line), 277, 279 
 Poicticrs (British war vessel), 249, 
 
 257 
 Porter, David, 187, 215 
 Porter, Peter, 228-230, 235, 241, 
 
 242 
 Posey, Maj., 123 
 Pratt, Midshipman, 266 
 Preble, Commodore, 201-203 
 Preble (American sloop-of-war), 
 
 260, 262, 266, 271 
 Princeton, British occupation of, 
 
 27 ; Battle of, 30-36 
 Pring (Commander of the Linnet), 
 
 269-270 
 Putnam, Gen., 20, 23, 37, 73 
 
 Quebec (British frigate), 137 
 
 Raleigh (American frigate), 139- 
 
 140 
 Rail, Col., 19, 24, 25 
 
Index 
 
 325 
 
 Randolph (American frigate), 129- 
 
 131 
 
 Ranger (American sloop-of-war), 
 
 42 
 Ranger (British battle-ship), 7 
 Rawdon, Lord, loi, 104-106, 108, 
 
 no 
 Red Jacket, Indian leader, 229 
 Reid, Samuel, 273-280, 282-284, 
 
 286 
 Reindeer (British brig-of-war), 250- 
 
 253 
 
 Rennie, Col., 298, 300, 303 
 
 Revolutionary War, defense of Fort 
 Sullivan, 3-15; Trenton cam- 
 paign, 16-26; Princeton cam- 
 paign, 27-38; battle of the Bon- 
 homnie Richard and the Serapis, 
 39-55 ; Saratoga campaign, 56- 
 83; Carolina campaign, 84-116; 
 capture of Ticonderoga, I17-120; 
 storming of Stony Point, 121- 
 125; storming of PauUis Hook, 
 125-127; minor sea fights, 128- 
 142 ; siege and surrender 01 
 Yorktown, 143-159 
 
 Riall, Maj.-Gen., 228-231, 233, 235 
 
 Rieaesel, Baron, 59, 61, 73, 75-76 
 
 Ripley, Eleazer, 228, 229, 232, 235, 
 237, 238, 242 
 
 Robertson (Commander of the Con- 
 fiance^, 269 
 
 Rochambeau, Gen., 148, 154, 156 
 
 Rodgers, John, 187 
 
 Rogers, Lieut., 248 
 
 Rota (British frigate), 277 
 
 Rowe, Midshipman, 203 
 
 Kntl'"ij,c, Gov. of S. C, 5, 6, 8, 9 
 
 St. Clair, Gen., in the Revolution, 
 58-60; in the Indian War, 166- 
 
 175 
 
 St. Johns, capture of, 120 
 
 St. Lawrence (British battle-ship), 7 
 
 St. Leger, Lieut. -Col., 62, 63, 66 
 
 Saratoga (American sloop-of-war), 
 260, 262, 264-266, 268-269, 271 
 
 Saratoga, campaign of, 56-83 ; Con- 
 vention of, 81 
 
 Sargent, Col., 167 
 
 Saumarez, Midshipman, 11 
 
 Scarborough (British sloop-of-war), 
 
 45. 53> 54 
 Schuyler, Gen., 61, 63, 66, 71, 72 
 
 Scott, Winfield, 226-235, 237, 238 
 Serapis (British frigate), 45-49, 
 
 51-54 
 Sthylle (British war ship), 141, 142 
 Siren (American war brig), 203, 
 
 204, 211,259,305 
 Solebay (British frigate), 7, 8, 13 
 .Somerville, Philip, 277 
 Sphynx (British sloop-of-war), 7, 8, 
 
 13 
 
 Stansbury (officer on the Ticoft- 
 
 deroga), 267 
 Stark, John, 67-70 
 Sterrett, Lieut., 185 
 Stewart, Col., 110-114 
 Stewart, Maj., 123 
 Stewart, Charles, 201, 203, 204,216, 
 
 304-317 
 
 Stillwater, Battle of, 76-79 
 
 Stony Point, storming and surrender 
 of, 121-125 
 
 Sullivan, Gen., 20-25 
 
 Sullivan, Fort, building of, 5; de- 
 fense of, 6-14; change of name 
 14 
 
 Sumter, Thomas, 88, 91, loo, 102, 
 103, 109 
 
 Sutherland (Commander of Paulus 
 Hook), 126 
 
 Syren (British frigate), 7, 8, 13 
 
 Tarleton, Banastre, 89, 92-95, 146 
 Tartarus {BriiAsh sloop-of-war), 255 
 Thorn, Jonathan, 203 
 Thornton, Col., 297-298, 301-303 
 Thunder (British bomb vessel), 7 
 'Ticonderoga (American war vessel), 
 
 260, 262, 266-267, 270, 271 
 Ticonderoga, Fort, British attack, 
 
 59-60; American abandonment, 
 
 60; besieged by Americans, 76; 
 
 storming and surrender, 1 17-120 
 Towson, Nathan, 228, 231, 234 
 Towson, Fort, 239, 241 
 Trenton, attack on, 19-26 
 Trepassy (British war ship), 140, 
 
 141 
 Tripolitan War, 199-212 
 Trumbull (American frigate), 132- 
 
 135 
 Iruxtun, Thomas, 179-186, 188- 
 
 192, 194-195 
 Tucker, Col., 239 
 
326 
 
 Index 
 
 I 
 
 Unicorn (British war vessel), 139- 
 
 140 
 United States (American frigate), 
 
 I S3, 199 
 
 Vengeance (American war ship), 44, 
 
 46 
 Vengeance, La (French frigate), 
 
 179, 188-195 
 Villere, Gabriel, 287, 289-291 
 Viomenil, Baron de, 153, 154 
 
 Wabash Creek, Indian attack at, 
 170-175 
 
 War of 1812, Constitution and the 
 Java, 215-225 ; last battle of the 
 Constitution, 304-3 1 7 ; Wasp 
 and the Frolic, 244-249 ; second 
 Wasp''s encounters, 250-257; 
 Reid and the General Arm- 
 strong, 272-286; Niagara cam- 
 paign, 226-243 ■> treaty of peace, 
 243 ; Macdonough's victory at 
 Lake Champlain, 258-271 ; de- 
 fense of Louisiana, 287-303 
 
 Warner, Seth, 60, 61, 70, 118, 120 
 
 Washington, Lieut. -Col., 87, 95, 99, 
 104-105, 112-113 
 
 Washington, George, Trenton and 
 Princeton campaign, 16-18; at- 
 
 tack on Trenton, 18-26; Battle 
 of Princeton, 27-36; results of 
 campaign, 37-38; recruiting of 
 Gates's army, 73 ; recruiting 
 of Southern army, 86-87; storm- 
 ing of Stony Point, 121, 122, 124; 
 storming of Paulus Hook, 127; 
 recruiting of Virginian army, 145- 
 146; Yorktown campaign, 147- 
 159; in the Indian War, 163-165, 
 176 
 Washington, William, 24 
 Washington, Fort, capture of, 72 
 Wasp (American corvette), 244- 
 
 249. 257 
 Wasp (American corvette, second), 
 
 250-257 
 Watson, Fort, 89, 102, 103 
 Watts, Maj., 63 
 Wayne, Anthony, 116, 121-125,146, 
 
 147, 175, 176 
 Whinyates, Thomas, 249 
 Willet, Marinus, 65-66 
 Williams, Otho, 87, 91, loo, 112 
 Williamsburg, Battle of, 146-147 
 Wool, Lieut., 277 
 
 Yannoitth (British ship-of-the-line), 
 
 129-131 
 Yorktown, campaign and surrender 
 
 of, 143-159 
 
 3l^77-l 
 
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