FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 195: The brother-in-law and elder brother of the writer were ordered by General Brock to select the fleetest horses of those captured from the Americans, in order to convey the intelligence of the capture of Detroit, and of General Hull and army, to Colonel Talbot, at Port Talbot, and to General Vincent, commander of the forces at Burlington Heights. They had wrought all night before they received their orders, and travelled, one of them two days and two nights, and the other two nights and three days without sleep. But these deeds were not peculiar; similar deeds were performed on the Niagara and Lower Canada frontiers during that and the following years. The Loyalist defenders of Canada of those days were patriots and soldiers to the heart's core; and they had wills, and nerves, and muscles "to endure hardness as good soldiers," in the hardest and darkest hours of our country's trials and struggles.

It may be added, that the horse on which the elder brother of the writer of these pages rode, in execution of the orders of General Brock, was afterwards stolen by the traitor Wilcox, who escaped to the United States, but was afterwards killed while invading Fort Erie.]

[Footnote 196: I think the reader will be interested in the following particulars, which I have collected of this remarkable Indian Chief:

"In the year 1809, Tecumseh, attended by several hundred warriors, encamped near Vincennes, then capital of Indiana, and demanded an interview with the Governor of the State; for which interview was assembled a Council, when it was observed there was no vacant seat for the noble chief, Tecumseh. One of the Council officers hastily offered his seat, and having respectfully said to him, 'Warrior, your Father, General Harrison, offers you a seat.' 'My Father,' exclaimed Tecumseh, extending his arms towards the heavens, 'There, son, is my Father, and the earth is my mother; she giving me nourishment, and I dwell upon her bosom.' He then sat himself upon the ground."

"The Indian warrior Tecumseh, a Shawnee chief, himself and warriors, attached themselves to the cause of Great Britain, on the declaration of the American war of 1812. * *

"Tecumseh's first engagement, under the British Colonel Proctor, then in command of the Western District, was attacking and defeating a detachment of Americans under Major Howe, from Detroit to the Beaver river. In this affair, General Hull's despatches, and correspondence of his troops, fell into the hands of Tecumseh; and it was partly from the discouraging nature of their contents that General Brock attempted the capture of the American army under General Hull."

"On the 16th of July, Tecumseh and a few of his warriors pursued near Sandwich [on the Canadian side of the river] a detachment of the American army, under Colonel McArthur, and fired on the rear guard. 'The colonel suddenly faced about and gave orders for a volley, when all the Indians fell flat on the ground, with the exception of Tecumseh, who stood firm on his feet, with apparent unconcern."

"As Colonel Proctor retired to Nassau (Moravian town), on the Thames, and when the regulars and militia had surrendered on the right, the Indians carried on the contest on the left, and did not retreat until the day was lost, and thirty-three of their number had been slain, including the noble warrior, Tecumseh. After his fall, his lifeless corpse was recovered with great interest by the American officers, who declared that the contour of his features was majestic even in death. He left a son who fought by his side when he fell, and was seventeen years of age.

"The Prince Regent, in 1815, as a mark of respect to the memory of his father, sent a handsome sword as a present to his son."]

[Footnote 197: Christie's War of 1812, pp. 65, 66.]



CHAPTER LIII.

SECOND AMERICAN INVASION OF UPPER CANADA AT QUEENSTON—DISPROPORTION OF AMERICAN AND CANADIAN FORCES—DEATH OF GENERAL BROCK—DEFEAT AND LOSS OF THE AMERICANS—ARMISTICE—INCIDENTS WHICH OCCURRED ON THE NIAGARA FRONTIER, AT FORT ERIE, AS RELATED BY LIEUTENANT DRISCOLL, OF THE 100TH REGIMENT.

The second invasion of Upper Canada took place on the Niagara frontier, at Queenston. We will give the account of it (condensed) from the History of the War by Mr. Thompson, of the Royal Scots:

"Dispirited at such a total failure in General Hull's expedition, it became late in the season before the American Government could collect a force on the frontiers with which, with any safety, another descent upon Canada could be made. At length, Major-General Van Rensellaer, of the New York Militia, with a force of four thousand men under his command (1,500 of whom were regular troops), established his camp at Lewiston, on the Niagara river, nearly half-way between Lake Ontario and the Falls.

"Before daylight on the morning of the 13th of October, a large division of General Van Rensellaer's army, under Brigadier-General Wadsworth, effected a landing at the lower end of the village of Queenston (opposite to Lewiston), and made an attack upon the position, which was defended with the most determined bravery by the two flank companies of the 49th Regiment, commanded by Captains Dennis and Williams, aided by such of the militia forces and Indians as could be collected in the vicinity.

"Major-General Brock, on receiving intelligence, immediately proceeded to that post, from Fort George, and arrived at the juncture when the handful of British regulars was compelled to retire for a time before an overwhelming force of the enemy. However, on the appearance of their gallant chief, the troops were seized with a fresh animation, and were led on by that brave general to a renewed exertion to maintain the post; but at the moment of charging the enemy's position, within pistol-shot of the line, General Brock was killed by a musket ball, and with him the position was for a short time lost. Colonel Macdonell, his provincial aide-de-camp, was mortally wounded about the same time, and died shortly afterwards of his wounds.

"A reinforcement of the 41st Regiment, commanded by Captain Derenzy, with a few of the Lincoln Militia and a party of Indians, were immediately marched from Fort George to the succour of the troops at Queenston, under the direction of Major-General Sheaffe, who now assumed the command; and persons who were, by their situations in life and advanced age, exempt from serving in the militia, made common cause, seized their arms, and flew to the field of action as volunteers.

"The conflict was again renewed, and from the advantageous position of Norton, the Indian chief, with his warriors, on the woody brow of the high grounds, a communication was opened with Chippewa, from whence Captain Bullock, of the 41st Regiment, with a detachment of that corps, was enabled to march for Queenston, and was joined on the way by parties of militia who were repairing from all quarters, with all the enthusiasm imaginable, to the field of battle. The fight was maintained on both sides with a courage truly heroic. The British regulars and militia charged in rapid succession against a force in number far exceeding their own, until they succeeded in turning the left flank of their column, which rested on the summit of the hill. The event of the day no longer appeared doubtful."

"Major-General Van Rensellaer, commanding the American army, perceiving his reinforcements embarking very slowly, recrossed the Niagara river to accelerate their movements; but, to his utter astonishment, he found that at the very moment when their services were most required, the ardour of the engaged troops had entirely subsided. He rode in all directions through his camp, urging the men by every consideration to pass over. Lieutenant-Colonel Bloome, who had been wounded in the action and recrossed the river, together with Judge Peck, who happened to be in Lewiston at the time, mounted their horses and rode through the camp, exhorting the companies to proceed—but all in vain. Crowds of the United States Militia remained on the American bank of the river, to which they had not been marched in any order, but run as a mob; not one of them would cross. They had seen the wounded re-crossing; they had seen the Indians, and were panic-struck." (American Report of the Battle of Queenston.)

"No sooner had the British forces succeeded in turning the left flank of the enemy, than he visibly began to give way; one grand effort was therefore made upon the crest of his position, in which the heights were carried at the point of the bayonet.

"General Van Rensellaer, having found that it was impossible to induce a man to cross the river to reinforce the army on the heights, and that the army had nearly expended its ammunition, immediately sent boats to cover their retreat; but the fire, which was maintained upon the ferry from a battery on the bank of the lower end of Queenston, completely dispersed the boats, and many of the boatmen re-landed and fled in dismay.

"Brigadier-General Wadsworth was therefore compelled, after a vigorous conflict had been maintained for some time on both sides, to surrender himself and all his officers, with 900 men, between three and four o'clock in the afternoon, to a force far inferior to his in numbers—a circumstance which speaks loudly in favour of the plan of defence and attack adopted by Major-General Sheaffe.

"The loss of the British in this battle did not exceed 100 men, including killed, wounded, and missing; while that on the side of the Americans, including deserters, was not less than 2,000; but amongst the killed, the British Government and the country had to deplore the loss of Sir Isaac Brock, one whose memory will long live in the warmest affections of every British subject in Canada."[198]

"On the morning subsequent to the battle of Queenston, General Sheaffe entered into an armistice with the American general commanding at Lewiston, to be confined to that part of the frontier comprised between Lakes Ontario and Erie, subject to a condition that forty-eight hours' notice should be given by either party for a recommencement of hostilities [a condition violated by the American commander]. This arrangement [considered disadvantageous to the British cause] was at first censured by individuals unaware of the motives by which General Sheaffe was actuated. It was not, in the flush of victory, taken into consideration that the number of American prisoners then in his charge far exceeded the numerical strength of his army, when the Indian force was withdrawn; and that, with his very limited means of defence, he had a frontier of forty miles to protect."[199]

Before noticing the third American invasion of Canada, in 1812, or the second on the Niagara frontier, we will conclude this Chapter by adding a few incidents on the Niagara river frontier, at Fort Erie, after the death of General Brock, October 13, 1812, by Lieutenant Driscoll, of the 100th Regiment:

"I was stationed at Fort Erie on the memorable 13th of October, 1812. At daybreak, having returned with my escort as visiting rounds, after a march of about six miles in muddy roads through the forests, and about to refresh the inward man, after my fatiguing trudge, I heard a booming of distant artillery, very faintly articulated.

"Having satisfied myself of the certainty of my belief, hunger, wet, and fatigue were no longer remembered; excitement banishes these trifling matters from the mind; and I posted off to my commanding officer to report the firing, now more audible and rapid.

"I found my chief, booted, spurred, and snoring—lying, as was his wont, on a small hair mattress on the floor in his barrack-room, which boasted of furniture, one oak table covered with green baize, a writing-desk, a tin basin containing water, and a brass candlestick, which had planted in it a regulation mutton-dip, dimly flickering its last ray of light, paling before the dawn, now making its first appearance through the curtainless window.

"The noise I made on entering the major's sleeping and other apartment awoke him. As he sat up on his low mattrass, he said, 'What is the matter?' 'Heavy firing down the river, sir.' 'Turn the men out.' 'All under arms, sir.' 'That'll do.'

"By this time he was on his legs—his hat and gloves on. His hutman was at the door with his charger, and his spurs in his horse's flanks in an instant—leaving the orderly, hutman, and myself to double after him up to the fort, some hundred yards off.

"As we reached it, the men were emerging through the gate in measured cadence, and we were on our way to the batteries, opposite the enemy's station at Black Rock.

"Before we reached our post of alarm the sun was up and bright. We had not assumed our position long before an orderly officer of the Provincial Dragoons rode up, and gave us the information that the enemy were attempting to cross at Kingston, and that we must annoy them along the whole line, as was being done from Niagara to Queenston, by any and every means in our power short of crossing the river. Everything was ready on our parts. The enemy all appeared asleep, judging from the apparent quiet that prevailed on their side of the river.

"The command to annoy the enemy was no sooner given than, bang! bang! went off every gun we had in position.

"Now there was a stir. The enemy's guns were in a short time manned, and returned our fire; and the day's work was begun, which was carried on briskly the greater part of the day on both sides of the Niagara.

"About two o'clock, another Provincial dragoon, bespattered, horse and man, with foam and mud, made his appearance—not wearing his sword or helmet.

"Said an old Green Tiger to me, 'Horse and man jaded, sir; depend upon it, he brings bad news.' 'Step down and ascertain what intelligence he brings.' Away my veteran doubles, and soon returns at a funeral pace. 'Light heart, light step,' were my inward thoughts. I knew by poor old Clibborn's style of return something dreadful had occurred.

"'What news, Clibborn? What news, man? Speak out,' said I, as he advanced towards the battery, that was still keeping up a brisk fire. Clibborn walked on, perfectly unconscious of the balls that were ploughing up the ground, uttered not a word, but shook his head.

"When in the battery, the old man sat down on the platform; still no word, but the pallor and expression of his countenance indicated the sorrow of his soul.

"I could stand it no longer. I placed my hand on his shoulder, 'For Heaven's sake, tell us what you know.' In choking accents he revealed his melancholy information: 'The general is killed; the enemy has possession of Queenston Heights.'

"Every man in the battery was paralyzed; the battery ceased firing.

"A cheer by the enemy from the opposite side of the river recalled us to our duty. They had heard of their success down the river. Our men, who had in various ways evinced their feelings—some in weeping, some in swearing, some in mournful silence—now exhibit demoniac energy. The heavy guns are loaded, traversed and fired, as if they were field-pieces—too much hurry for precision. 'Take your time, men; don't throw away your fire, my lads.' 'No, sir, but we will give it to them hot and heavy.'

"All the guns were worked by the 49 men of my own company, and they wished to avenge their beloved chief Brock, whom they knew and valued with that correct appreciation peculiar to the British soldier. They had all served under him in Holland and at Copenhagen.

"I had a very excellent reconnoitring-glass; and as I kept a sharp look-out for the effect of our fire, and the movements of the enemy, I observed that powder was being removed from a large wooden barrack into ammunition waggons. The only man of the Royal Artillery I had with me was a bombardier, Walker. I called his attention to the fact I had observed, and directed him to lay a gun for that part of the building wherein the powder was being taken. At my request he took a look through my glass, and, having satisfied himself, he lay the gun as ordered. I, with my glass, watched the spot aimed at. I saw one plank of the building fall out, and at the same instant the whole fabric went up in a pillar of black smoke, with but little noise, as it was no more. Horses, waggons, men, and building all disappeared; not a vestige of any was seen.

"Now was our turn to cheer; and we plied the enemy in a style so quick and accurate, that we silenced all their guns just as a third dragoon come galloping up to us, shouting 'Victory! Victory!' Then again we cheered lustily; but no response from the other side. Night now hid the enemy from our sight.

"The commissariat made its appearance with biscuit, pork, rum, and potatoes; and we broke our fast for that day about nine p.m.

"How strange and unaccountable are the feelings induced by war! Here were men of two nations, but of a common origin, speaking the same language, of the same creed, intent on mutual destruction, rejoicing with fiendish pleasure at their address in perpetrating murder by wholesale, shouting for joy as disasters propagated by the chances of war hurled death and agonizing wounds into the ranks of their opponents! And yet the very same men, when chance gave them the opportunity, would readily exchange, in their own peculiar way, all the amenities of social life, extending to one another a draw of the pipe, and quid, or glass; obtaining and exchanging information from one and the other of their respective services, as to pay, rations, and so on—the victors, with delicacy, abstaining from any allusion to the victorious day. Though the vanquished would allude to their disaster, the victors never named their triumphs.

"Such is the character of acts and words between British and American soldiers which I have witnessed, as officer commanding a guard over American prisoners.

"J. DRISCOLL,

"Of the 100th Regiment."

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 198: Such was the high esteem in which the character of General Brock was held even by the enemy, that during the movement of the funeral procession of that brave man from Queenston to Fort George, a distance of seven miles, minute guns were fired at every American post on that part of the lines; and even the appearance of hostilities was suspended.]

[Footnote 199: Thompson's History of the War of 1812, Chap. xv.]



CHAPTER LIV.

THIRD AMERICAN INVASION OF UPPER CANADA, AT AND NEAR FORT ERIE, ON THE NIAGARA RIVER, UNDER GENERAL SMYTH—HIS ADDRESS TO HIS SOLDIERS—THE LUDICROUS AND DISGRACEFUL FAILURE OF HIS EXPEDITION—THREE AMERICAN EXPEDITIONS REPELLED IN 1812 BY THE SPARTAN BANDS OF CANADIAN VOLUNTEERS, ASSISTED BY A FEW REGIMENTS OF ENGLISH SOLDIERS.

Such was the result of the second invasion of Canada—the first invasion on the Niagara frontier by the American "Grand Army of the Centre."

The Americans, after recovering in some measure from their disastrous defeat at Queenston, commenced gigantic preparations for assembling another army near Buffalo, for a second descent on the Niagara frontier, under the command of General Smyth, with an army which, according to the latest accounts of the American reports themselves, was 8,000 strong, with fifteen pieces of field ordnance—sustained in the rear by a populous and fertile country, and the facility afforded by good roads to draw the supplies for his army and to bring into the field a formidable artillery. So confident was General Smyth himself of a successful result of his expedition, that he boasted on the 10th of November "that in a few days the troops under his command would plant the American standard in Canada," and issued an order to the commandant of Fort Niagara to save the buildings at Fort George and the adjacent town of Newark (Niagara), as they would be required for winter quarters for the "Army of the Centre."

It was a difficult if not doubtful task for General Sheaffe and the regular and militia officers under his command to provide for the defence of the country against such formidable odds; for up to the time at which the American general had violated the terms of the armistice not a single British soldier had arrived to reinforce the little Canadian army; and "after the conflict at Queenston, the militia, which constituted the majority of the British force, had been permitted to return home to secure the remainder of their harvest." (Thompson.)

"However, on the first alarm being given of the hostile movements of the American army, those already harassed but loyal Canadian militiamen promptly returned to their posts, fully determined to dispute every inch of ground while a man was left to defend it."—(Ib). Nor were these volunteer Loyalists intimidated by General Smyth's extended columns of cavalry and infantry with which he lined the American shore, his marching and countermarching of countless battalions, and all the pomp of war and parade of martial bombast with which the fertile mind of General Smyth hoped to terrify the apparently defenceless Canadians; to which he added a flaming proclamation, not excelled in pomposity and brag by that of General Hull issued to Canadians three months before. We give this proclamation, as we have done that of General Hull, in a note.[200]

This proclamation, ridiculous as it is, and appealing to the lowest mercenary as well as better motives of democratic Americans, produced a considerable effect in Pennsylvania, and caused an accession of some 2,000 volunteers to General Smyth's already large forces; but when the crisis of action arrived, this grandiloquent General Smyth was not to be found on the field of action; and of the twenty boats which were provided to convey across the river the first instalment of invaders of Canada, fourteen boats were sunk or driven back, and only six boats reached the Canadian shore and gained a temporary hold, but some of them were driven back with loss before the next morning, and the remainder were taken prisoners. The next day General Smyth promised to do very great things; but we will narrate these doings and the results in the words of the American writer Lossing, in his Field Book of the War of 1812. Lossing says:

"November 27th [1812].—It was sunrise when the troops began to embark, and so tardy were the movements that it was late in the afternoon when all was ready. General Smyth did not make his appearance, and all the movements were under the direction of his subordinates. A number of boats had been left to strand upon the shore, and became filled with water, snow, and ice; and as hour after hour passed by, dreariness and disappointment fell upon the spirits of the shivering troops. Meanwhile the enemy had collected on the opposite [British] shore, and were watching every movement. At length, when all seemed ready and impatience had yielded to hope, an order came from the commanding general 'to disembark and dine.' The wearied and worried troops were deeply exasperated by this order, and nothing but the most positive assurances that the undertaking would be immediately resumed kept them from open mutiny. The different regiments retired sullenly to their respective quarters, and General Porter, with his dispirited New York volunteers, marched in disgust to Buffalo.

"November 28th [1812].—Smyth now called a council of officers. They could not agree. The best of them urged the necessity of crossing in force at once, before the (Canadian) enemy could make formidable preparations for their reception. The General decided otherwise; and doubt and despondency brooded over the camp that night. The ensuing Sabbath brought no relief. Preparations for another embarkation were indeed in progress, while the (Canadian) enemy, too, was busy in opposing labour. It was evident to every spectator of judgment that the invasion must be attempted at another point of the river, when, towards evening, to the astonishment of all, the General issued an order perfectly characteristic of the man—for the troops to be ready at eight (November 30) o'clock the next morning for embarkation. 'The General will be on board,' he pompously proclaimed. 'Neither rain, snow, or frost will prevent the embarkation,' he said. 'The cavalry will soon scour the fields from Black Rock to the bridge, and suffer no idle spectators. While embarking, the bands will play martial airs; Yankee Doodle will be the signal to get under way. * * The landing will be effected in despite of cannon. The whole army has seen that cannon is to be but little dreaded. * * Hearts of war! to-morrow will be memorable in the annals of the United States.'

"'To-morrow' came, but not the promised achievement. All the officers disapproved of the time and manner of the proposed embarkation, and expressed their opinions freely. At General Porter's quarters a change was agreed upon. Porter deferred the embarkation until Tuesday morning, the 1st of December, an hour or two before daylight, and to make the landing-place a little below the upper end of Grand Island. Winder suggested the propriety of making a descent directly upon Chippewa, 'the key of the country.' This Smyth consented to attempt, intending as he said, if successful, to march down to Queenston, and lay siege to Fort George. Orders were accordingly given for a general rendezvous at the Navy Yard, at three o'clock on Tuesday morning, and that the troops should be collected in the woods near by on Monday, where they should build fires, and await the signal for gathering on the shore of the river. The hour arrived, but when day dawned only fifteen hundred were embarked. Tannehill's Pennsylvania Brigade were not present. Before their arrival rumours had reached the camp that they, too, like Van Rensellaer's militia at Lewiston, had raised a constitutional question about being led out of their State. Yet their scruples seem to have been overcome at this time, and they would have invaded Canada cheerfully under other auspices. But distrust of their leader, created by the events of the last forty-eight hours, had demoralized nearly the whole army. They had made so much noise in embarkation that the startled Canadian had sounded his alarm bugle and discharged signal guns from Fort Erie to Chippewa. Tannehill's Pennsylvanians had not appeared, and many other troops lingered upon the shore, loth to embark. In this dilemma Smyth hastily called a Council of the regular officers, utterly excluding those of the volunteers from the conference; and the first intimation of the result of that Council was an order from the commanding general, sent to General Porter, who was on a boat with the pilot, a fourth of a mile from shore, in the van of the impatient flotilla, directing the whole army to debark, and repair to their quarters. This was accompanied by a declaration that the invasion of Canada was abandoned at present, pleading in bar of just censure, that his orders from his superiors were, not to attempt it with less than 3,000 men. The regulars were ordered into winter quarters, and the volunteers were dismissed to their homes.

"The troops, without order or restraint, discharged their muskets in all directions, and a scene of insubordination and utter confusion followed. At least a thousand of the volunteers had come from their homes in response to his invitation, and the promise that they should be led into Canada by a victor [without personal danger, and with the promise of plunder and glory]. They had implicit confidence in his ability and in the sincerity of his great words, and in proportion to their faith and zeal were now their disappointment and resentment. Unwilling to have their errand to the frontier fruitless of all but disgrace, the volunteers earnestly requested permission to be led into Canada under General Porter, promising the commanding general the speedy capture of Fort Erie if he would furnish them with four pieces of artillery.[201] But Smyth evaded their request, and the volunteers were sent home uttering imprecations against the man whom they considered a mere blusterer without courage, and a conceited deceiver without honour. They felt themselves betrayed, and the inhabitants in the vicinity sympathized with them. Their indignation was greatly increased by the ill-timed and ungenerous charges made by Smyth in his report to General Dearborn against General Porter, in whom the volunteers had the greatest confidence. General Smyth's person was for some time in danger. He was compelled to double the guards around his tent, and to move it from place to place to avoid continual insults. He was several times fired at when he ventured out of his marquee. Porter openly attributed the abandonment of the invasion of Canada to the cowardice of Smyth." * *

"Thus ended the melodrama of Smyth's invasion of Canada. The whole affair was disgraceful and humiliating. 'What wretched work Smyth and Porter have made of it!' wrote General Wadsworth to General Van Rensellaer from his home at Genesee at the close of the year. 'I wish those who are disposed to find so much fault could know the state of the militia since the day you gave up the command. It has been "confusion worse confounded."' The day that saw Smyth's failure was indeed 'memorable in the annals of the United States,' as well as in his own private history. Confidence in his military ability was destroyed; and three months afterwards he was 'disbanded,' as the Army Register says; in other words, he was deposed without a trial, and excluded from the army."[202]

Such was the third and last American invasion of Upper Canada in 1812. Three large American armies defeated—two of them taken prisoners by less than one-third their number of Canadian volunteers, aided by a few hundred regular soldiers and as many Indians, who, notwithstanding the abuse of them by the American generals, never murdered a woman or child during the year, or killed a prisoner, and who were no more "savages" than the men who maligned them.

The Spartan bands of Canadian Loyalist volunteers, aided by a few hundred English soldiers and civilized Indians, repelled the Persian thousands of democratic American invaders, and maintained the virgin soil of Canada unpolluted by the foot of the plundering invader.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 200: The following is General Smyth's proclamation, issued to his soldiers, on his intended invasion of Canada:

"General Smyth to the Soldiers of the Army of the Centre.

"Companions in arms!—The time is come when you will cross the stream of Niagara to conquer Canada, and to secure the peace of the Canadian frontier.

"You will enter a country that is to be one of the United States. You are to arrive among a people who are to become your fellow-citizens. It is not against them that we come to make war. It is against that Government which holds them as vassals.

"You will make this war as little as possible distressful to the Canadian population. If they are peaceable, they are to be secure in their persons; and in their property as far as our imperious necessities will allow.

"Provided that, plundering is absolutely forbidden. Any soldier who quits his rank to plunder on the field of battle, will be punished in the most exemplary manner.

"But your just rights as soldiers will be maintained; whatever is booty by the usages of war, you shall have. All horses belonging to the artillery and cavalry; all waggons and teams in the public service, will be sold for the benefit of the captors. Public stores will be secured for the service of the United States. The Government will, with justice, pay you the value.

"The horses drawing the light artillery of the enemy are wanted for the service of the United States. I will order $200 for each to be paid to the party who may take them. I will also order $40 to be paid for the arms and spoils of each savage warrior who shall be killed.

"Soldiers!—You are amply provided for war. You are superior in number to the enemy. Your personal strength and activity are greater. Your weapons are longer. The regular soldiers of the enemy are really old, whose best years have been spent in the sickly climate of the West Indies. They will not be able to stand before you—you who charge with the bayonet. You have seen Indians, such as those hired by the English to murder women and children, and kill and scalp the wounded. You have seen their dances and grimaces, and heard their yells. Can you fear them? No; you hold them in the utmost contempt.

"Volunteers!—Disloyal and traitorous men have endeavoured to dissuade you from your duty. Sometimes they say, if you enter Canada you will be held to service for five years. At others they say that you will not be furnished with supplies. At other times they say that if you are wounded, the Government will not provide for you by pensions. The just and generous course pursued by Government towards the volunteers who fought at Tippecanoe, furnishes an answer to that objection. The others are too absurd to deserve any.

"Volunteers!—I esteem your generous and patriotic motives. You have made sacrifices on the altar of your country. You will not suffer the enemies of your fame to mislead you from the path of duty and honour, and deprive you of the esteem of a grateful country. You will show the eternal infamy that awaits the man who, having come in sight of the enemy, basely shrinks in the moment of trial.

"Soldiers of every corps!—It is in your power to retrieve the honour of your country, and to cover yourselves with glory. Every man who performs a gallant action shall have his name made known to the nation. Rewards and honours await the brave. Infamy and contempt are reserved for cowards.

"Companions in arms!—You come to vanquish a valiant foe; I know the choice you will make. Come on, my heroes! And when you attack the enemy's batteries, let your rallying word be 'The cannon lost at Detroit, or death.'

(Signed) "ALEXANDER SMYTH, "Brigadier-General Commanding. "Camp near Buffalo, 17th Nov., 1812."]

[Footnote 201: We are inclined to think that those volunteers and others who professed such patriotic indignation against Smyth, and promised such great things, were, in general, no less poltroons than Smyth himself. It was as easy for them to denounce Smyth, and to boast of what they could and would do, as for Smyth, in his proclamation, to denounce those who opposed the invasion of Canada.]

[Footnote 202: Lossing's Field Book of the War of 1812, Chap, xx., p. 430-432.

Mr. Lossing adds, in a note, that "General Smyth petitioned the House of Representatives to reinstate him in the army. That body referred the petition to the Secretary of War—the General's executioner. Of course, its prayer was not answered. In that petition Smyth asked the privilege of 'dying for his country.' This phrase was the subject of much ridicule. At a public celebration of Washington's birthday, in 1814, at Georgetown, in the District of Columbia, the following sentiment was offered during the presentation of toasts: 'General Smyth's petition to Congress to die for his country; may it be ordered that the prayer of said petition be granted.'

"A wag wrote on a panel of one of the doors of the House of Representatives:

"'All hail, great chief, who quailed before A Bishop on Niag'ra's shore; But looks on Death with dauntless eye, And begs for leave to bleed and die, "'Oh my!'"]



CHAPTER LV.

FOURTH AMERICAN INVASION—FIRST INVASION OF LOWER CANADA, COMPLETELY DEFEATED BY THE COURAGE AND SKILL OF THE CANADIANS; AND GENERAL DEARBORN RETIRES INTO WINTER QUARTERS AT PLATTSBURG.

But in addition to these three abortive invasions of Upper Canada in 1812, was one of Lower Canada, which will be narrated in the words of Mr. Christie, illustrating as it does the ardent loyalty and noble heroism of the French Canadians:

"The American forces, under General Dearborn, gradually approached the frontier of Lower Canada; and early on the morning of the 17th of November, 1812, Major (now Lieutenant-Colonel) De Salaberry, Superintendent of the Canadian Voltigeurs, commanding the cordon of advanced posts on the lines, received information at St. Philip's that the enemy, to the number of ten thousand (10,000), were advancing to Odletown. He immediately despatched two companies of the Voltigeurs, under the command of Captain Perrault, of the same regiment, with 300 Indians under Captain Duchesne, of the Indian Department, to reinforce Major Laforce, of the 1st Battalion embodied militia, who was posted with the two flank companies of that battalion at the River La Cole. This detachment, after a fatiguing march of thirty-six miles, chiefly through morasses and abatis, arrived early in the afternoon of the same day at Burtonville, and took a position within the River La Cole, a mile distant from it, in conjunction with a party of thirty Algonquin and Abenaki Indians, and a few Voyageurs under Captain McKay, a gentleman of the North-West Company in the Voyageurs' corps. Major De Salaberry arrived the day following, with the remainder of the Voltigeurs and the Voyageurs, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel McGillivray, and four companies of the volunteer Chasseurs from the parishes of Chateauguay, St. Constant, St. Philip, and l'Acadie.

"In the meantime the enemy occupied Champlain Town, two or three miles from the lines, and an earnest invasion was momentarily expected. Nothing occurred of any consequence until the 20th, in the morning, when Captain McKay, visiting the picquet between three and four o'clock, perceived the enemy fording the River La Cole, and at the same instant heard them cock their firelocks in the surrounding bushes. He had scarcely time to apprise the picquet under Captain Bernard Panet, of their danger, when the enemy, who had surrounded the guardhut on all sides, discharged a volley of musketry so close that their wads set fire to the roof and consumed the hut. The militia and Indians discharged their pieces, and dashing through the ranks of the enemy, escaped unhurt, while the Americans, who had forded the river in two places, mistaking each other for the enemy in the darkness and confusion of the night, kept up a brisk fire for near half an hour, in which they killed and wounded several of their own people. After discovering their error they retired back to Champlain Town, leaving five of their men wounded, and three or four killed, who were found by the Indians on the same day. The American party is said to have consisted of fourteen hundred (1,400) men and a troop of dragoons, and was commanded by Colonels Pike and Clarke.

"This movement of the enemy gave room to expect another more vigorous attempt to invade Lower Canada; and on the 22nd, the Governor, by a General Order, directed the whole of the militia of the province to consider themselves commanded for active service, and to be prepared to move forward to meet the enemy as soon as required.

"Lieut.-Colonel Deschambault was ordered to cross the St. Lawrence at Lachine to Cahuaugo, with the Point Claire, Riviere du Chene, Vaudreuil, and Longue Point Battalions, and to march upon l'Acadie. The volunteers of the 1st Battalion of Montreal Militia, the flank companies of the 2nd and 3rd Battalions, and a troop of Militia Dragoons, crossed the river to Longueuil and Laprairie; and the whole mass of population in the district of Montreal made a spontaneous movement towards the point of invasion with an enthusiasm unsurpassed in any age or country.

"General Dearborn, who, no doubt, was well informed of the state of the public mind in Lower Canada at this crisis, foresaw, from the multitude assembled to oppose his progress, and the hostile spirit of the Canadians, the fruitlessness of an attempt to invade Lower Canada, and began to withdraw his sickly and already enfeebled host into winter quarters at Plattsburg and Burlington.

"All apprehensions of an invasion of Lower Canada for the present season having disappeared, the troops and embodied militia were, on the 27th of November, ordered into winter quarters."[203]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 203: Christie's History of the War of 1812, Chap, iv., pp. 90-92.

"The armistice between General Smyth and Sheaffe after the battle of Queenston was terminated on the 20th of November, pursuant to notification to that effect from the former. This and the former armistice, without affording any present advantage, proved in the event materially prejudicial to the British on Lake Erie. The Americans availed themselves of so favourable an occasion to forward their naval stores unmolested from Black Rock to Presqu' Isle [Erie] by water, which they could not otherwise have effected, but with immense trouble and expense by land, and equipped at leisure a fleet which afterwards wrested from us the command of that lake."—Ib., pp. 92, 93.]



CHAPTER LVI.

PART I.

WAR CAMPAIGNS OF 1813—THREE DIVISIONS OF THE AMERICAN ARMY—BATTLE OF FRENCHTOWN, AMERICANS DEFEATED—MISREPRESENTATIONS CORRECTED.

The campaign of 1813 opened auspiciously for the Canadians, in both Upper and Lower Canada, notwithstanding the fewness of their defenders in regulars, militia, and Indians, and though they suffered severely in several instances towards the close of the year.

It was manifest from the movement of the American army to the frontiers of Upper and Lower Canada, before the close of the year 1812, that on the opening of the campaign of 1813 they intended to retrieve the disasters and disgraces of the first year of the war, and make descents upon the colonies in good earnest. Sir George Prevost, Governor-General, was placed at great disadvantage for their general defence, as the small British force then occupying the Canadas, and the wide extent of frontier the British commander-in-chief had to defend, rendered it impossible for him to cope with the American enemy in point of numbers.

The American army, to whom was committed this year the honour of conquering Canada, was divided, as the year before, into three divisions: first, the Army of the North, consisting of 18,000 men, commanded by General Hampton, and stationed along the southern shore of Lake Champlain, on the south precincts of Lower Canada; the second, the Army of the Centre, consisting of 7,000 effective men, which was again subdivided into two divisions, commanded by Generals Dearborn and Wilkinson, and were posted from Buffalo, at the lower extremity of Lake Erie, to Sackett's Harbour, at the lower end of Lake Ontario; and the third, the Army of the West, consisting of "8,000 effective men," according to the American account, commanded by Generals Harrison and Wilkinson, whose limits extended from Buffalo westward, as far as the British frontier extended.

After the capture of Detroit by General Brock and his little army, Colonel Proctor was appointed to command that fort, with a force of about 600 regulars and a number of Indians—an entirely insufficient force, but all that could be spared and provided from the slender forces of Upper Canada. The American General, Harrison, who succeeded Hull in the command of the West, organized a large force by the end of 1812, of over 5,000 men, consisting principally of men from Ohio and Kentucky. Among the small outposts which Proctor had established in the neighbourhood of Detroit, was one at Frenchtown, on the River Raisin, twenty-six miles from Detroit, which consisted of thirty of the Essex Militia, under Major Reynolds, and about 200 Indians. On the 17th of January, 1813, Brigadier-General Winchester, commanding a division of the American army, sent Colonel Lewis with a strong force to dislodge the British—which he succeeded in doing, after a sharp encounter in which the Americans lost twelve killed and fifty wounded. Reynolds retreated to Brownstown, sixteen miles in his rear, and gave information to Colonel Proctor of the advance of Winchester's brigade, which now occupied Frenchtown, and was over one thousand strong.

Colonel Proctor knew that his only hope of success was by prompt action to fight the enemy in detail, before General Harrison could unite his whole force to bear on Detroit. He therefore forthwith assembled all his available force at Brownstown, and on the 21st pushed on to attack the American camp at Frenchtown, with about 500 regular soldiers and militia and 600 Indians. The attack upon the American camp was made on the morning of the 22nd; and the Indians, under the Wyandot chief Roundhead, speedily turned the enemy's flank and caused him to retreat—Chief Roundhead with his Indians taking General Winchester himself prisoner, and delivering him unharmed to Colonel Proctor. About 500 of General Winchester's men had thrown themselves into the houses, where they were making deadly resistance from fear of falling into the hands of the Indians, who were greatly exasperated by this mode of warfare, and assailed and pursued their retreating but resisting enemies with a ferocity unequalled during the whole three years' war. Colonel Proctor informed General Winchester that the houses would be set on fire, and he would be utterly unable to restrain the Indians, if this kind of warfare were persisted in, and they refused to surrender. They at length surrendered, on being assured that they would be protected from the Indians. Thirty-two officers and upwards of 500 men were taken prisoners, not one of whom sustained any injury from their captors, whether regular soldiers, militia, or Indians.

But many Americans were slaughtered in refusing to surrender for fear of the Indians, and determined to fight and retreat in hopes of making their escape. They suffered severely; and on that account several American writers have represented the Indians at the battle of Frenchtown as committing unheard-of cruelties upon helpless men, women, and children. Even President Madison joined in the misrepresentation, as he was always ready to seize upon any pretext to assail the British Government for admitting the alliance of the Indians in the war—forgetful that his Government had repeatedly sought to do the same thing, but had only succeeded in a few instances. But in vindication of the Indians and their commander, Colonel Proctor, the following facts may be stated, which are conclusive on the subject. In the first place, General Winchester, the commander of the American detachment, was taken prisoner by the Indians, and instead of being butchered and scalped, was delivered unharmed by the Wyandot chief Roundhead into the hands of Colonel Proctor.

However, many of the Americans refused to surrender from fear of falling into the hands of the Indians, and attempted to retreat and fight, in hopes of escape, but were mostly killed in the attempt by the Indians, so greatly exasperated by the mode of warfare adopted against them from the houses. Under this pretext most American writers have represented the Indians, with the sanction of the English, as having committed unheard-of cruelties against helpless men, women, and children at the battle of Frenchtown—statements which were pure fiction, as has been proved to demonstration in Chapter XXXV. of this history, in the fictions of the alleged "Massacre of Wyoming."

For example, General Harrison, who was one of the few old American generals employed by the democratic President Madison in the war, and who was one or two days' march from Frenchtown, was informed and wrote in a despatch two days after the battle (24th of January), that "General Winchester had been taken by the Indians, killed and scalped; his body was cut up and mangled in a shocking manner, and one of his hands cut off;" when not a hair of General Winchester's head was injured, and he was afterwards exchanged, and appeared on the Niagara frontier, and was again taken prisoner, safe and sound, by the British at the battle of Stony Creek.

General Harrison, in his despatches written five days afterwards, after having ascertained all the facts of the battle, makes no mention of any cruelties practised by the Indians, which he doubtless would have done had there been any truth in the imputations against the Indians or the English soldiers with whom they acted. He speaks of General Winchester as among the prisoners, notwithstanding his statement five days before that he had been killed, scalped, and cut to pieces. The following facts, given by Mr. Thompson in his "History of the War of 1812," are conclusive on this affair of the battle of Frenchtown, the 22nd of January, 1813:

"Much has been said by American writers regarding the conduct of the combined forces of the affair of Frenchtown. They have not even stopped to charge British officers and soldiers with the most enormous cruelties, committed in conjunction with the Indians, when it was in their power to have prevented them. Such have been the contemptible misrepresentations to which many publications, otherwise deserving of merit, have descended, as well of this as of many other affairs during the war; and even amongst a few British subjects they have gained credence.

"General Harrison, however, in writing his despatches to Governor Meigs, as well as several officers of his army who avail themselves of the general express to write to their friends in Chillicothe, in most of their letters give the details of the battle, but seem to be ignorant as regards the greatest part of that 'Massacre,' as it has been gravely termed. It is gathered from these despatches and letters by a Chillicothe journal of the 2nd of February, 1813, that 'those who surrendered themselves on the field of battle were taken prisoners by the British, while those who attempted to escape were pursued, tomahawked, and scalped.' Now, even this account, in part, is incorrect; for the Indians, by whom they were assailed, were posted there for the express purpose of cutting off their retreat; and those who surrendered to the Indians were safely conducted to the British camp; but such was the panic with which these unfortunate fugitives were seized, that no persuasions on the part of the Indian chiefs, who were fully disposed to comply with the orders of Colonel Proctor, could prevail on them to surrender until they were either wounded and taken, or overtaken in the chase by their pursuers, when no efforts of the chiefs could save them from their fury.

"In a letter containing copies of despatches from General Harrison, dated 24th January, 1813, it is stated that 'when the attack commenced, General Winchester ordered a retreat, but from the utter confusion which prevailed, this could not be effected; and he then told them that every man must take care of himself, and attempted to make his own escape on horseback, but was overtaken by the Indians before he had gone a mile, and killed and scalped. His body was cut up and mangled in a most shocking manner, and one of his hands cut off.'

"Now, here is an awful Indian tale, manufactured, as many others have been of like description, which turns out to be a mere fabrication; for when General Winchester found himself pursued in his attempt to escape, he with a few others surrendered themselves to a chief of the Wyandot nation, and not a hair of their heads was hurt, except the injury received from the fight.

"It is also stated in the same letter that Colonels Allen and Lewis were among the slain; in contradiction of which, in General Harrison's letter to Governor Meigs, dated 29th January, it is stated that General Winchester and Colonel and Brigade-Major Gerrard are among the prisoners.

"The conclusion is plain, that had those deluded people not been overcome by fear, and surrendered themselves at once, they might have enjoyed the same safety as did General Winchester and his companions."[204]

"This spirited and vigorous measure (on the part of Colonel Proctor) completely disconcerted the arrangements made by General Harrison for the recovery of Michigan territory, and secured Detroit from any immediate danger. The House of Assembly of Lower Canada [as also of Upper Canada] passed a vote of thanks to Colonel Proctor for the skill and intrepidity with which he planned and carried into effect this enterprise. A vote of thanks was also passed to the officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates who assisted in its accomplishment; and Colonel Proctor was immediately promoted to the rank of brigadier-general by Sir George Prevost, the commander of the forces, until the pleasure of the Prince Regent should be known, who was pleased to approve and confirm the appointment."[205]

PART II.

AMERICANS ATTACK AND PLUNDER IN AND ABOUT BROCKVILLE—SUCCESSFUL RETALIATORY ATTACK ON OGDENSBURG.

The next military affairs in the order of time, illustrative of the loyalty and courage of the Canadians, occurred on the River St. Lawrence, in the neighbourhoods of Prescott and Brockville. Most of the American invasions were mere raids for destruction and plunder of property. In the winter of 1813 several of these raids were made from Ogdensburg on the British settlements. "After winter (1813) had fairly set in, and the St. Lawrence was frozen over, the Americans on several occasions sent marauding parties across the ice to pillage and destroy the Canadian settlements. [The American mode of giving liberty to Canada.] On the night of the 6th of February, two companies of riflemen from Ogdensburg, under command of Captain Forsyth, made a descent on the town of Brockville, wounded a sentry, fired several houses, and carried off a quantity of plunder, together with fifty of the inhabitants. Several inroads from Ogdensburg were made; and the British were anxious to retaliate." (Tuttle.) On the closing of the session of the Legislature of Lower Canada, the 17th of February, 1813, the Governor-General, Sir George Prevost, made a tour of inspection of the forts of Upper Canada. On his arrival at Prescott he was importuned to authorize an attack upon Ogdensburg, in retaliation for an attack upon Brockville by the enemy some days previous. He consented to a demonstration on the river to ascertain the enemy's force; and on the ensuing morning (22nd February), as the Governor-General departed, accompanied to Kingston by Lieut.-Colonel Pearson (commander of Prescott), Lieut.-Colonel M'Donnell, second in command, moved with his party across the river on the ice, towards Ogdensburg. The enemy, perceiving the movement, were prepared to receive him; and Lieut.-Colonel M'Donnell, impelled by that spirit characteristic of British soldiers, turned the demonstration into a real attack.

The enemy was driven from the town after a short contest, leaving about twenty killed and a considerable number wounded. Four brass field-pieces, seven pieces of iron ordnance, complete, with several stand of arms and a considerable quantity of stores, fell into the hands of the victors, who lost seven killed, and seven officers (including Lieutenant-Colonel M'Donnell) and forty-one men wounded. After having destroyed two small schooners and two gun-boats left there to winter, they removed the stores and arms to their own side of the river at Prescott. This brilliant achievement prevented any further American forays on the Canadians from Cornwall to Gananoque for the rest of the winter.

PART III.

WINTER PREPARATIONS IN LOWER CANADA FOR THE CAMPAIGN—UNPRECEDENTED MARCH ON SNOW-SHOES OF LOYALIST VOLUNTEERS FROM NEW BRUNSWICK TO LOWER CANADA—AMERICAN PLAN OF OPERATIONS.

The greatest exertions were made in Canada during the winter to prepare for the ensuing campaign. The Canadian regiment of Fencibles, the Voltigeurs, the Glengarries, were recruited with diligence and success, though still without reinforcements from England—too much engrossed with her European wars to afford much assistance to the colonies. A volunteer regiment from New Brunswick came, by permission and authority, to the assistance of the beleaguered but hitherto successful Canadians. "The King's Regiment of New Brunswick was mustered into the regular army as the 104th Regiment, and sent to Canada for active service. The regiment was first formed amongst the Loyalists who had settled in York county, about Fredericton, in 1784, and on its voluntary enrolment in the regular army, the Legislature passed complimentary resolutions to officers and men, and presented the regiment with a handsome silver trumpet. A portion of this regiment was conveyed to Quebec by sea; but several companies made a very trying march on snow-shoes, through an unbroken country, during very cold weather, to arrive in Canada in time for the spring campaign."[206]

"The plan of the American campaign for 1813 was that a large army under General Dearborn was to threaten Lower Canada, whilst a determined effort was to be made to retake Michigan territory, capture the forts of Niagara frontier, and thus reduce the whole of Upper Canada. This accomplished, all the armies were to make a joint descent upon Montreal and Quebec, which would be followed by the occupation of the Maritime Provinces, and thus the British would be driven from the American continent."[207]

PART IV.

AMERICAN FLEET ON LAKE ONTARIO SUPERIOR TO THE BRITISH FLEET, AND, WITH THE ARMY, ATTACKS AND TAKES YORK (TORONTO), AND AFTER OCCUPYING IT LESS THAN TWO WEEKS, RETIRE WITH MUCH HASTE.

The American fleet on Lake Ontario was superior to that of the British, and was being daily augmented at Sackett's Harbour—their principal navy yard on Lake Ontario. The first descent was expected to be upon Kingston; but the American Government deemed it too hazardous a game to risk their Lake armament upon an enterprise against this principal military depot of the British in Upper Canada, and resolved to direct their forces against more distant and defenceless places on the lake.

Commodore Chauncey having equipped his fleet for an expedition, and received on board upwards of 1,700 troops under the command of Generals Dearborn and Pike, sailed from Sackett's Harbour as early as the 25th of April, and on the following evening arrived off York (Toronto) with fourteen sail of armed vessels; and on the following day commenced landing their troops about three miles west of the town—the British being compelled to retire after making a strong resistance. The grenadiers of the 8th Regiment, who lost their captain, M'Neal, were, after a desperate contest, almost annihilated by the overwhelming numbers of the enemy.

The best account we have read of this expedition against, or rather raid upon, the town of York, is given by Thompson, and which I quote at length, relating as it does to what was then and now is the capital—the defenceless capital—of Upper Canada:

"In the month of April, the ice having completely broken up in the port of Sackett's Harbour, where the American squadron under Commodore Chauncey had wintered, General Dearborn, commanding the right division of the Army of the Centre, consisting of 4,000 men stationed in that vicinity, selected 2,000 of the most efficient of his division [American History of the War, published in New York], and on the 22nd of the month embarked them on board the fleet, with which he ascended the lake, and with this force appeared off the harbour of York, the capital of Upper Canada, on the morning of the 27th.

"The enemy appearing to threaten an attack upon the town, General Sheaffe collected his forces, which consisted of nearly 700 men, including regulars and militia, with about 100 Indians; and with these he made a most determined resistance to the landing of the enemy; but at length, overcome by numbers, he was compelled to retire; by which means the enemy was enabled to effect his landing a short distance above the fort, which was situated about two miles to the west of the town, at the entrance of the harbour.

"So soon as the American troops, who were led on by General Pike, had made good their landing, they formed into two lines (the first of which was commanded personally by General Pike, and the rear or reserve line by General Pearce), and in this order advanced upon the first battery and carried it by assault; they then advanced towards the citadel in the same order, and by the same means captured an intervening battery.

"Here the columns halted, in order to dress the lines for an attack upon the main works. At this moment a large magazine accidentally exploded, by which a quantity of stones and timbers were thrown into the air, and in their fall killed and wounded a number on both sides, amongst whom was the American general, Pike.

"The British regulars and militia performed prodigies of valour, but were overpowered by a force three times their number, and in a high state of discipline;[208] they were compelled to retreat towards the town.

"General Sheaffe then held a Council with his principal officers and civil authorities of the town, by whom it was advised that he should retreat towards Kingston with the remainder of his troops; and that the commandant of the militia, Lieutenant-Colonel Chewett, should treat with the American commander for terms for the surrender of York.

"At the capture of York the British lost not less than 400 men, 300 of whom were made prisoners of war, and about forty killed and wounded by the explosion. The Americans lost 378, thirty-eight of whom were killed and two hundred and twenty-two wounded by the explosion of the magazine. General Pike died of his contusions a few minutes after being carried on board of one of the vessels.[209]

"On the 8th of May, the American army under General Dearborn once more evacuated York, after having occupied it twelve days, and secured much booty."

PART V.

AMERICAN FLEET AND ARMY RETURN TO SACKETT's HARBOUR—MAKE PREPARATIONS FOR ATTACKING FORT GEORGE AND THE TOWN OF NEWARK, WHICH, AFTER A SEVERE BATTLE, THEY TAKE AND OCCUPY.

After evacuating York, the American fleet and army proceeded again to Sackett's Harbour, where preparations were immediately made for invading the Niagara frontier. On the 20th of May the American fleet again ascended Lake Ontario, and on the morning of the 23rd they appeared off the mouth of the Niagara river, soon after which, the weather being favourable to their purpose, they attacked Fort George and the town of Newark (now Niagara), by land and water. Early in the morning of the 27th of May the enemy commenced a combined attack upon the fort, having previously, on the 24th and 25th, materially injured the works by a warm cannonade from their ships and batteries. A body of about 800 riflemen, under Colonel Winfield Scott, landed near the Two Mile Creek, while the fleet ranged up in the form of a crescent, extending from the north of the Lighthouse to the Two Mile Creek, so as to enfilade the British batteries by a cross fire. The riflemen, after forming and ascending the bank, were met by the British, and compelled to give way in disorder, and return to the beach, from whence they kept up a smart fire under cover of the bank. In the meantime, another body of upwards of 2,000 men, under the command of General Lewis, made a landing, and formed on the beach under cover of a tremendous cannonade of round shot, and showers of grape and canister from the fleet, that swept the adjacent plain, and compelled the British to retire. General Vincent, finding the works torn to pieces by the enemy's artillery, and no longer tenable against so overwhelming a force, caused the fort to be dismantled, and the magazines to be blown up, and retreated to Queenston, leaving the Americans to take possession of the ruins of the fort. The British loss consisted of fifty-two killed and upwards of three hundred wounded and missing [more than half the entire force]. The Americans state their loss at thirty-nine killed and a hundred and eleven wounded.[210]

PART VI.

THE BRITISH RETREAT TO BURLINGTON HEIGHTS—BATTLE OF STONY CREEK—DEFEAT OF THE AMERICANS, AND THEIR DISORDERLY RETREAT TO FORT GEORGE.

"General Vincent, on the ensuing day, having collected all the forces from Chippewa and Fort Erie, and destroyed or rendered useless the posts and stores along the frontier, commenced his retreat towards Burlington Heights, at the head of Lake Ontario." (Christie.)

"General Vincent continued his retreat as far as Burlington Heights; and on the 1st day of June was followed by an American army of 3,500 infantry, and about 300 cavalry, commanded by Generals Chandler and Winder, for the purpose, as was vainly boasted, of making prisoners of the whole British army, and thus terminate the contest of the north-western frontier."

This expected conquest of the whole British army was commenced by the affair of Stony Creek, when both of the American generals themselves were taken prisoners.

On the evening of the 5th of June, the American forces encamped at the village of Stony Creek, about nine miles from the British camp at Burlington Heights, with the purpose of attacking and taking the British position next day. But General Vincent was on the alert to obtain information as to the enemy's strength and movements, and dispatched Colonel (afterwards Major-General) Harvey, with two companies, to reconnoitre their camp at Stony Creek, and, from the report received, determined to attack them that very night.

"All the troops, both regulars and militia, that could possibly be spared from the garrison at Burlington Heights, together with those who had retreated from Fort George, amounting in all to 700, were ordered to be in readiness for a movement. Immediately after dark they commenced an advance towards Stony Creek, where, after several halts in order to reconnoitre the country through which they were marching, they arrived between one and two o'clock on the morning of the 6th of June. Immediately the quarter guard of the enemy was surprised and taken, and the assailants rushed into the camp, where all was in apparent security. But such a scene of carnage commenced—the huzzas of the besiegers; the yells of the Indians, led on by Captain Brant; the clashing of bayonets, and, above all, the thunder of the cannon and musketry, rendered it truly appalling. A column of the enemy was at length formed into some kind of order, but to no purpose; they were by this time completely unnerved and dispirited, which, together with the darkness of the night and the clouds of smoke, threw them into the greatest confusion and disorder. Not so, however, with the British troops; their plans had been so well concerted, that every man knew his rallying signal; they were, therefore, at all times beyond surprise. The American army, being completely discomfited, retreated from their bivouac in the greatest confusion.

"As soon as General Vincent had completed the defeat of the enemy, he again fell back upon Burlington Heights, taking as trophies of his victory three field-pieces and a brass field howitzer, captured from the enemy, besides both their generals, and about 150 officers, sergeants, and rank and file.

"After the defeat at Stony Creek, the American army, in the most indescribable manner [helter-skelter, every man for himself] retreated towards Fort George [whence they came] without the least military order or subordination; in fact, such officers as could avail themselves of horses on the road, regardless of the means employed for that purpose, took them and made their way to the lines with all possible speed, and left the rest of the army to shift for themselves; they, therefore, retreated [or scampered] in small detached parties, some of whom had exonerated themselves of their arms and equipments. Thus did they travel [at double-quick] towards their headquarters from two or three to a dozen; and were, in compassion for their sufferings, succoured by those very people whose houses, a day or two previous, they had ransacked and plundered."[211]

PART VII.

GENERAL VINCENT, REINFORCED, PURSUES THE RETREATING ENEMY—BRILLIANT AFFAIR OF THE BEAVER DAMS, IN WHICH SEVERAL HUNDRED AMERICANS SURRENDER TO ONE-FIFTH THEIR NUMBER—THE AMERICANS COOPED UP IN FORT GEORGE—FORT SCHLOSSER AND BLACK ROCK ATTACKED BY THE BRITISH, AND THE PUBLIC FORTS AND MAGAZINES DESTROYED OR TAKEN—THE AMERICAN ARMY CANNOT BE INDUCED TO COME OUT OF FORT GEORGE INTO OPEN FIELD FIGHT.

In a short time General Vincent received some reinforcements, and assumed the offensive, advanced towards Fort George with a view to investing it—forming his line on the Four Mile Creek, with his left resting on the lake; but he ultimately extended his line from the Twelve Mile Creek (St. Catharines) to Queenston.

General Lewis, who now had full command (General Dearborn having resigned), finding his advance posts and foraging parties continually harassed and frequently made prisoners by small detachments of British and Canadian troops stationed at different posts through the country, in order to prevent the American camp at Fort George from obtaining supplies, dispatched Colonel Boerstler with about 600 or 700 men, by way of Queenston, with a view of dislodging a detachment or picquet posted at a place called the Beaver Dams, a few miles from Queenston. Colonel Boerstler was surprised by a small party of Indians under Captain Ker; and believing themselves hemmed in by superior numbers, surrendered to Lieutenant (afterwards Colonel) Fitzgibbon, of the 49th Regiment, who arrived in time to complete the victory with a detachment of forty-six rank and file. The prisoners were five to one to the captors, being 512 in number, including twenty-five officers, two field pieces, and a stand of colours.

By these successes, the Americans were compelled to confine themselves to Fort George and its neighbourhood; and before the 1st of July the British had formed a line extending from Twelve Mile Creek, on Lake Ontario (Port Dalhousie), across to Queenston, on the Niagara river; and the Canadians began now to retaliate the game of marauding which the Americans had been practising on the Niagara frontier. From Chippewa an attack was made on Fort Schlosser, on the American side of the river, during the night of the 4th of July, by a small party of militia and soldiers under Lieutenant-Colonel Clarke, who surprised the guard at that post, and brought away a brass six-pounder, upwards of fifty stand of arms, a small quantity of stores, with a gun-boat and two batteaux. At daybreak in the morning of the 11th of July, Lieutenant-Colonel Bishop, lately commanding Fort Erie, crossed over the river with 240 men, consisting of a small party of militia and detachments of the 41st and 49th Regiments, and effectually surprised the enemy's post at Black Rock, burning his block-houses, stores, barracks, dockyard, and a vessel, but were compelled to hasten their departure by a reinforcement of American militia and some Indians in their interest, who opened a smart fire under cover of the surrounding woods, killing thirteen of the British attacking party, and wounding a considerable number—among others, Lieutenant-Colonel Bishop, mortally; but the British party brought away seven pieces of ordnance, two hundred stand of small arms, and a great quantity of stores.

The two armies were almost in sight of each other at Fort George; the commander of the British wished to ascertain the extent of the enemy's works and his means of defence, and to draw him into an open field of battle, and therefore, on the 24th of August, made a demonstration as if to assault the fort, drove in the picquets; took several of them, advanced to within a few hundred yards of the enemy, who, though supported by the fire upon the British from their batteries on the American side of the river, could not be induced to leave their entrenchments and venture in the open field, although the force of the British did not exceed 2,000, while the American force exceeded 4,000, but wholly depending upon resources from the American side for their subsistence, and compelled to act solely on the defensive, from the hostile front assumed by the British in the neighbourhood. The American army of 4,000 men, being cooped up within the limits of the fort, depending for their supplies from the United States, and not daring to go out of their fortifications, could do little harm and be of little use to the American cause, the British commander did not think it advisable to incur the loss and risk of an assault upon the fort.

PART VIII.

WAR IN THE WEST—GENERAL PROCTOR'S UNSUCCESSFUL SIEGE OF LOWER SANDUSKY.

In the meantime General Harrison was on the Sandusky river, making preparations to prosecute the war with vigour, in order to recover the Michigan territory, as soon as the fleet fitting out at Erie (Presqu' Isle), under Captain Perry, who had been dispatched thither by Commodore Chauncey towards the end of May, should be sufficiently strong to co-operate with the land forces. General Proctor resolved to make another effort to defeat General Harrison's purpose to recover Michigan, and immediately besieged the American fort at Lower Sandusky; but in consequence of the withdrawment of the Indians out of the reach of the enemy's guns, and disinclined to the delay of a siege, and General Harrison with a respectable force at no great distance, General Proctor thought proper to raise the siege and retire to Amherstburg.

PART IX.

FAILURE OF THE EXPEDITION OF SIR GEORGE PREVOST AND COMMODORE SIR JAMES YEO AGAINST SACKETT'S HARBOUR.

During the absence of Commodore Chauncey and his fleet from Sackett's Harbour, engaged in operations on the Niagara frontier, an expedition was planned and fitted out at Kingston against that chief depot of American naval supplies on Ontario. Sir George Prevost, Commander-in-Chief, and the British Commodore, Sir James L. Yeo (just arrived from England), were both at Kingston, and much was expected from their joint counsels, and the arrival of some naval officers and sailors from England. On the 27th of May a body of 800 or 1,000 men were embarked on board the British flotilla at Kingston, consisting of Wolfe, 24 guns; Royal George, 24; Earl of Moira, 18; and four schooners, carrying from ten to twelve guns each, with a sufficient number of batteaux; and at noon the following day they were off Sackett's Harbour. The weather was propitious, and the troops were transferred to the batteaux to make their landing under an escort of two gun-boats, commanded by Captain Mulcaster—the whole under the immediate direction of the land and naval commanders-in-chief. They had not proceeded far when a convoy of American boats, loaded with troops, was descried doubling Stanley Point, on their way from Oswego to Sackett's Harbour. The Indians, who had previously landed on an island, fired upon them as they passed, and threw them into confusion, while the British boats and batteaux bore down and captured twelve of them, with about 150 men; the remainder escaped to Sackett's Harbour.

The landing was deferred until next day, thus giving the Americans time to spread the alarm throughout the country—to collect reinforcements from all quarters—to collect and station their soldiers, with a field-piece, in the surrounding woods, and make every possible preparation for their defence. The fine day was followed by a dark, rainy, and stormy night, which scattered the boats, so that the British could not succeed in landing in the morning before the Americans had lined the woods with their men. Nevertheless the British succeeded in landing; the enemy retreated, but posting themselves securely behind large trees, kept up a smart fire on the British.

The fleet in the meantime, as well as small vessels intended to have been landed in time to support the advance of the troops, were, through the light and adverse wind, a long way in the rear. Under these circumstances, Colonel Baynes, the Adjutant-General of the Forces in British North America, who was charged with this service, found it impossible to bring up or wait for the arrival of the artillery, and ordered his detachment to divide and scour the woods. The enemy, dislodged from the woods at the point of the bayonet, fled to their fort and block-houses, whither they were pursued by the British, who set fire to their barracks.

At this juncture it was thought by the commanding officer, Colonel Baynes, that the enemy's block-houses and stockaded battery could not be carried by assault, even with the assistance of the field-pieces, had they been landed. The fleet were still too far out of reach to aid in battering them, while the men were exposed to the fire of the enemy, secure within the works. The signal of retreat was therefore given to the indignant assailants, and the enterprise was abandoned at a moment when the enemy had so far calculated upon a victory on the part of the British as to set fire to their naval stores, hospital, and marine barracks, by which all the booty previously taken at York, and the stores for their new ship, were consumed. They had also set fire to a frigate on the stocks; but on discovering the retreat of the British, they succeeded in suppressing the fire, and saved her. The troops were immediately re-embarked, and returned to Kingston, after having sustained a loss of 259 in killed, wounded, and missing, while the loss of the enemy must have been double that number.

Thus terminated this expedition, to the disappointment of the public, who, from the presence and co-operation of the two commanders-in-chief, fondly flattered themselves with a far more brilliant result. This miscarriage, with other reverses at the commencement of the present campaign, destroyed in the opinion of the enemy the invincibility our arms had acquired the preceding autumn.[212]

PART X.

OCCURRENCES ON LAKE ONTARIO—NAVAL MANOEUVRES AND BATTLES.

On Lake Ontario the two naval commanders strove with indefatigable emulation for the dominion of the lake. Chauncey, after the capture of Fort George, returned to Sackett's Harbour to await the equipment of his new ship, the Pike; while his adversary, Sir James Yeo, scoured the lake, and supplied the British army in the neighbourhood of Fort George with abundance of stores. In the early part of July, Sir James fitted out an expedition of boats for Sackett's Harbour, with a view of cutting out their new ship, then almost rigged and ready to appear on the lake. He arrived unobserved in the vicinity of that port, and would probably have effected his purpose had not the escape of two deserters from his party, which had landed for refreshments, and in order to remain concealed until night should favour the enterprise, given the alarm to the enemy. This unlucky incident induced him to relinquish the undertaking and return to Kingston.

Towards the end of July the American fleet again appeared with augmented force upon the lake, and Commodore Chauncey having received a company of artillery, with a considerable number of troops under Colonel Scott, proceeded for the head of the lake, with a view of seizing and destroying the stores at Burlington Heights, the principal depot of the army on the Niagara frontier, then occupied by a small detachment under Major Maule. The design of the enemy against this depot being suspected, Lieutenant-Colonel Battersby, commanding the Glengarry Regiment, upon being notified to that effect by Lieutenant-Colonel Harvey, Deputy-Adjutant-General, moved forward from York, and, by a march of extraordinary celerity, arrived with a reinforcement in time to save the depot, which the enemy, on finding the British ready to receive them, did not deem it prudent to attack.

Commodore Chauncey, on learning that York, by the advance of Lieutenant-Colonel Battersby to Burlington Heights, was left destitute of troops, seized the opportunity and bore away for that port, which he entered on the 31st of July. Here the Americans landed without opposition, and having taken possession of a small quantity of stores found at that place, they set fire to the barracks and public store-houses, and having re-embarked their troops, bore away to Niagara.

It is a coincidence worthy of notice, that on the same day in which the American commander was employed in burning the barracks and stores at York, Lieutenant-Colonel Murray was no less actively employed on the same business at Plattsburg.

The British fleet sailed from Kingston on the last day of July, with supplies for the army at the head of the lake, and on the 8th of August looked into Niagara, where the enemy's fleet lay moored. The latter hove up and bore down upon the British fleet, with which they manoeuvred until the 10th, when a partial engagement ensued, in which two small vessels (the Julia and Growler) were cut off and captured by the British.[213]

Commodore Chauncey, somewhat disheartened with the loss of these, and two other small vessels—the Scourge of eight, and the Hamilton of nine guns—upset by press of sail to escape, with the loss of all hands, except sixteen men picked up by the English, bore up for Niagara, from whence he sailed almost immediately for Sackett's Harbour, where he arrived on the 13th of August. Here he provisioned his fleet, and instantly made sail for Niagara, where he remained at anchor until the British fleet appeared off the harbour, early in the morning of the 7th of September, when the American fleet again weighed and bore down upon the British fleet, with which they manoeuvred until the 12th, when the latter returned into Amherst Bay, near Kingston. During these five days but few shots were exchanged between the larger ships, without any injury to either side. The Americans, however, had much the advantage in weight of metal and long guns.

The fleets again met on the 28th of September, off York, when an engagement ensued for nearly two hours, in which the Wolfe, commanded by Sir James Yeo, lost her main and mizen-top-masts, and would probably have been captured had not the Royal George, commanded by Captain Mulcaster, run in between the Wolfe and the Pike, taking the latter in a raking position, so as to afford the Wolfe an opportunity of hauling off and clearing away the wreck. This affair terminated in the retreat of the British fleet under Burlington Heights, whither the enemy did not think proper to pursue it.

On the 1st of October, the American fleet set sail from Fort George with a convoy of troops for Sackett's Harbour, where an expedition was preparing whose destination was as yet unknown. The British fleet left their anchorage under Burlington Heights on the next day, and came in sight of the enemy; but no attempt was made to bring on a general engagement. The American fleet, on their way to Sackett's Harbour; fell in with and captured five small vessels out of seven, with upwards of 250 men of De Watteville's Regiment, from York, bound for Kingston, where an attack was apprehended. This loss, though apparently trifling in itself, was severely felt, by reason of the few forces in the Upper Provinces.

For the remainder of the season nothing of moment occurred on this lake; and indeed the naval commanders appeared to have considered the question of too great importance to their respective Governments to stake the fate of war in Upper Canada upon a decisive naval engagement.[214]

PART XI.

OCCURRENCES ON LAKE ERIE AND IN THE WEST—LOSS OF THE BRITISH FLEET—EVACUATION OF DETROIT AND THE TERRITORY OF MICHIGAN BY GENERAL PROCTOR, WHO IS PURSUED IN HIS RETREAT UP THE THAMES, AND DEFEATED BY GENERAL HARRISON, AND IS AFTERWARDS TRIED AND CONDEMNED TO BE SUSPENDED AND DEPRIVED OF HIS PAY FOR SIX MONTHS.

The operations on Lake Erie and in the West were disastrous to the British cause during the latter part of the summer and early autumn of 1813. General Harrison, with an army of 8,000 men on the Miami river, only awaited for the equipment of the American fleet fitting out under Commodore Perry, at Presqu' Isle (Erie), to move his forces against Detroit, and to carry on offensive operations against the British in the neighbourhood of Lake Erie. Captain Barclay, who had early in the summer assumed the command of the British squadron on Lake Erie, blockaded the American fleet, so as to prevent their crossing the bar at Presqu' Isle (which they could not effect without unshipping their guns) until the end of August; when, having occasion to bear away for Long Point,[215] the enemy seized the moment of his absence and crossed the bar. Finding on his return the enemy ready for the lake, and too powerful for his small squadron, he bore away for Amherstburg, to await the equipment of the Detroit, recently launched.

Commodore Perry sailed shortly after him for the head of the lake, and appeared at the commencement of September, for several days successively, off Amherstburg, in defiance of the British squadron, retiring every evening to his anchorage at Put-in-Bay. The British forces in Michigan territory and its neighbourhood, under General Proctor, falling short of supplies for which they depended solely upon the fleet, the captain had no other alternative than that of risking a general naval engagement. With this resolution he made sail from Amherstburg on the 9th of September, manned with only fifty or sixty seamen (including a small reinforcement of thirty-six men from Lake Ontario), and detachments from the 41st and Royal Newfoundland Regiment as marines. On the 10th, in the morning, the enemy's fleet was descried at anchor in Put-in-Bay, which immediately weighed and bore down upon the British squadron, while the wind blowing a gentle breeze from the south-west, turning round to the south-east, gave the enemy the weather gage. At a quarter before twelve the British commenced firing, which was in ten minutes afterwards returned by the enemy, who bore up for close action. The engagement continued with unabated fury until half-past two, when the enemy's principal ship being rendered unmanageable, Commodore Perry left her in charge of his first lieutenant, Yarnal, and hoisted the pendant on board the Niagara. Soon after Commodore Perry had left the Lawrence, her colours were struck, but the British, from weakness of their crews and destruction of their boats, were unable to take possession of her.

It was at this anxious and interesting juncture that the fate of the day seemed to poise in favour of the British; and Commodore Perry even despaired of the victory, when a sudden breeze revived his hopes, and turned the scale in his favour. This fortunate commander, finding the Niagara had suffered lightly in the engagement, made a desperate effort to retrieve the fortune of the day, and taking advantage of the breeze, shot ahead of the Lady Prevost, Queen Charlotte, and Hunter, raking them with her starboard guns, and engaged the Detroit, which, being raked in all directions, soon became unmanageable. The Niagara then bore around ahead of the Queen Charlotte, and hauling up on starboard tack, engaged that ship, giving at the same time a raking fire with her larboard guns to the Chippewa and the Little Belt, while the smaller vessels, closing to grape and canister distance, maintained a most destructive fire. This masterly and but too successful manoeuvre decided the contest. Captain Barclay being severely and dangerously wounded, Captain Finnis, of the Queen Charlotte, killed, and every commander and officer second in command either killed or disabled, the Detroit and Queen Charlotte, perfect wrecks, after a desperate engagement of upwards of three hours, were compelled to surrender.

By this decisive action, the whole of the British squadron on Lake Erie was captured by the enemy, who now became masters of the lake. The enemy lost in this action twenty-seven men in killed and ninety-six men wounded. The British lost three officers and thirty-eight men killed, and nine officers and eighty-five men wounded.

The prisoners were landed at Sandusky, and treated with the greatest humanity by the American commodore, who paroled Captain Barclay, and treated that gallant officer with all the kindness and attention which his unsuccessful bravery deserved.

The British army in possession of the Michigan territory and the neighbourhood of Detroit, by this disastrous defeat, were deprived of every prospect of obtaining future supplies from Kingston by way of Lake Ontario, and a speedy evacuation of Detroit, and a retreat towards the head of that lake became inevitable.

General Harrison having received reinforcements amounting to 7,000 or 8,000 men, including 4,000 volunteers from Kentucky under Samuel Shelby, the ex-governor of that State, and an old revolutionary officer, was conveyed by Commodore Perry, in his flotilla, with all the troops and stores, from the mouth of the Miami to the Canadian shore, except the thousand dragoons who were to advance by land, and so order their march that they might arrive in the neighbourhood of Malden at the same time with the infantry. General Harrison occupied Amherstburg the evening of the 23rd of September, General Proctor having previously abandoned it and fallen back upon Sandwich, after having set fire to the navy yard, barracks, and public stores at the former place.

General Harrison, on his arrival, having found the different points evacuated, invested General McArthur with the chief command of these garrisons, and prepared to pursue the retreating army up the River Thames, with a force of 3,000 men, including Colonel Johnson's corps of dragoons, consisting of 1,000. General Harrison occupied Sandwich the 27th of September, and on the 2nd of October he marched in pursuit of the shattered remains of the British forces under General Proctor. In this, his reverse of fortune, the Indians, under Colonel Elliot, of the Indian Department, with Tecumseh, still adhered to his standard with unshaken fidelity, and covered his retreat.

On the 4th of October, General Harrison came up with the rear-guard of the British, and succeeded in capturing the whole of their ammunition and stores. General Proctor, under this second reverse of fortune, by which he was left destitute of the means of subsistence or defence, found himself compelled to stake the fate of the remnant of his small army on a general engagement. Accordingly he assumed a position on the right bank of the River Thames, near the Indian village of Moravian Town—the left resting on the river supported by a field-piece, his right on a swamp, at a distance of 300 yards from the river, and flanked by the whole Indian force attached to the division. The intermediate ground, covered with lofty trees, was dry and somewhat elevated. Here General Proctor formed his troops into line, to the number of 500 or 600. The Indians under Tecumseh amounted to 1,200. In this position he awaited the approach of the enemy, who, on the morning of the 5th of October, passed the river at a rapid twelve miles below the Moravian village, and came up with the British in the afternoon. General Harrison drew up his men in two lines, and secured his left flank, which was opposed to the Indians, by a division thrown back en potence; and without any previous engagement by infantry, ordered his mounted Kentuckians (accustomed from their boyhood to ride with extraordinary dexterity through the most embarrassed woods) to charge at full speed upon (the open line of) the British, which had effected before the latter had time to discharge their third fire. This cavalry charge of the enemy on the British line decided the issue of the day. The line gave way at the charge; the troops, worn down with fatigue and hunger, dispirited by the unpromising appearance of the campaign, became totally routed, and for the most part surrendered themselves prisoners, while General Proctor and his personal staff sought safety in flight.

To the left of the enemy's position, which was opposed to the Indians, the battle raged with more obstinacy. This part of the enemy's line had even given way until a column under ex-Governor Shelby was brought up to its support. These faithful allies continued to carry on the contest with the left of the American line with furious determination, encouraged by the presence of Tecumseh, until finding all hopes of retrieving the day to be in vain—General Proctor and his soldiers having fled or surrendered—they yielded to the overwhelming numbers of the enemy, and left the field—upwards of 100 of them having fallen in battle, and the bodies of 33 of them being found around the dead body of their famous chief and warrior, Tecumseh; celebrated no less for his humanity than for his bravery, his eloquence, and his influence among the Indian allies of the British in the West.

Upwards of 600 of the British, including twenty-five officers, were made prisoners of war. Those who escaped made the best of their way to Ancaster, a few miles from Burlington Heights, exposed at an inclement season to all the horrors of the wilderness, of hunger, and famine. The number thus escaped to that place amounted to only 246, including the general and seventeen officers.

This disaster of the British arms in that quarter seems not to have been palliated by those precautions and that presence of mind which, even in defeat, reflects lustre on a commander. In rapid retreats from a pursuing enemy cumbrous and useless baggage is abandoned, and bridges and roads are destroyed and rendered as impassable as possible, in order to impede the progress of the pursuers; but General Proctor encumbered himself with a cumbrous load of baggage, and left the bridges and roads in his rear entire, to the advantage of his pursuers. Whether this error and neglect arose from contempt of the enemy, or from disobedience of the commanding officer's orders, is not well understood; but the defeat led to the harshest recrimination, and involved in unmerited disgrace the division of the brave troops that had served with honour in the Michigan territory; and General Proctor was subjected to a trial by court-martial for his conduct in the whole affair—censured and deprived of his pay for six months.

PART XII.

AMERICANS BURN MORAVIAN TOWN, BEFORE RETURNING TO DETROIT—FORM ALLIANCE WITH INDIANS, WHICH THEY HAD EXCLAIMED SO MUCH AGAINST ON THE PART OF THE BRITISH—ARE INTOXICATED WITH THEIR SUCCESSES IN THE WEST—MAGNIFICENT CLOSE OF THE YEAR 1813, AS OF 1812, IN BEHALF OF CANADIANS, BOTH IN UPPER AND LOWER CANADA—CANADIAN VICTORY OF ISLE-AUX-NOIS—SPLENDID CANADIAN VICTORIES OF CHATEAUGUAY AND CHRYSTLER'S FARM—AMERICAN ARMIES RETREAT INTO WINTER QUARTERS.

The American army returned to Detroit after the battle of Moravian Town; but before doing so, they consigned the town to the flames, assigning as a justification of the savage act against the unoffending Christian Moravian Indians, a retaliation for what they called the massacre of River Raisin.

During General Harrison's absence from Detroit, a few of the Indian tribes tendered their services to General McArthur, to raise the hatchet against the British, and their proffered services were readily accepted—showing that, according to the American rule of judging, the alliance of the Indians with the United States was quite right, while with England it was all wrong and barbarous.

The success of the American arms on Lake Erie and its surrounding shores so intoxicated and bewildered them, that, in their subsequent movements, they calculated upon nothing but victory and conquest, made no allowance for failure in any point. "Canada must now be ours" was their exulting and arrogant language. But they had overlooked the fact that, however gloomy the prospects of the Western Canadians were in October of the year 1813, there were remaining elements of strength with them—their courage and zeal were unabated, and even increased, by the transactions of the months of disaster; their loyalty to their principles, and their love of their independence, were intensified rather than enfeebled; they would not be a conquered people; and before the end of the year 1813, the American armies had to relinquish every inch of Canadian soil both in Upper and Lower Canada.

But to present a connected and intelligent view of the magnificent close of the year 1813, as was that of 1812, we must first turn to the American campaigns against Lower Canada in 1813; and the defeats and want of success for several months in Upper Canada were more than compensated by the heroic deeds and splendid success of both the English and French defenders of Lower Canada, as well as by victories gained in Upper Canada in the months of November and December.

The Isle-aux-Nois was termed the key of Lower Canada, and its old fortifications had been repaired, and three gun-boats sent thither from Quebec. The little garrison was under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel George Taylor, Inspecting General Field Officer (then major of the 100th Regiment), who, apprehending, from previous private information, a combined attack from the American naval force on Lake Champlain and the troops in the neighbourhood of his post, commanded by the Brigadier-Generals Smyth and Clarke, lost no time in equipping the three gun-boats lying unemployed for want of seamen; and Lieutenant-Colonel Taylor having no sailors, he manned the gun-boats from his regiment, with three artillerymen for each boat, and took the precaution to man two batteaux with a detachment of soldiers, for the double purpose of rendering assistance to the gun-boats in the event of their being either sunk or disabled in the engagement, or to assist in boarding if it should be found necessary. The enemy, discovered in approaching, consisted of the sloops of war Growler and Eagle, fitted out in the most complete manner, each carrying eleven guns (eighteens, twelves, and sixes), long eighteens on pivots, with complements each of fifty-five men, comprehending a company of marines, which they had received at Champlain the evening previous to the engagement; the whole under the command of the United States navy. The admirable execution with their small arms of the two small detachments of soldiers landed on the east side of the river, and the well-directed fire from the gun-boats, of round and grape shot, completely decided the fate of the action, which the enemy gallantly contested from half-past four to half-past eight in the morning, and did not surrender until further resistance became utterly unavailing—one of the vessels being run aground to prevent her from sinking.

The whole force of the British in this affair was only 108. The men killed on board the American vessels were thrown overboard by their surviving comrades; the prisoners amounted to 100 men, of whom many were wounded. Of the captors, not a man was killed, and only three severely wounded. The naval force of the enemy on Lake Champlain was, by the capture of these vessels, almost annihilated, while it afforded the British immediate and effectual means for offensive operations on that lake, and checked the invasion meditated on Lower Canada.