Early next morning a sail was discovered, and all was got ready for action, but she shortly after stood off again. At daylight the lieutenant on board the prize hailed the Constitution, and informed that she was in a sinking condition, and had four feet water in her hold. Accordingly the prisoners were removed, and at 3 P. M. she was set on fire, and shortly after blew up.

Captain Hull in his official letter states, that all his crew fought with the utmost bravery; from the smallest boy in the ship to the oldest seaman, not a look of fear was seen. They all went into action giving three cheers, and requesting to be laid close along-side of the enemy. Their humanity was equal to their bravery. Captain Dacres, in his official letter, confesses their conduct to have been " that of a brave enemy; the greatest care being taken to prevent the men losing the slightest article, and the greatest attention being paid to the wounded."

On board the Constitution there were seven killed and seven wounded; on board the Guerriere, fifteen were killed, and sixty-three wounded, and twenty-four missing; the latter were stated by one of the officers to be away in prizes.

The Constitution rated 44 guns and carried 56; her complement of men is 450. The Guerriere rated 38 guns and carried 49, the odd gun shifting, which makes it equal to two; she had on board about 300 men.

6. Meantime the other vessels of our little navy were not idle. The Essex sailed from New York on the 3d of July, and shortly after fell in with a fleet of transports, under convoy of a frigate and two bomb ketches, from Jamaica for Halifax, with troops. The Essex kept at a distance until night, when she cut off a brig with 150 soldiers on board, which was ransomed for a bill of exchange on London for 14,000 dollars. The men were disarmed, an exchange receipt taken for them, and they severally took an oath not to serve till exchanged. Captain Porter, in his letter to the secretary of the navy, lamented that he had not with him a sloop of war, that the ships of the convoy might have been kept in play while he engaged the frigate. "Had this been the case," says he, " instead of taking only 200 prisoners, I have not a doubt that we should have made prisoners of the whole of the troops, as well as the frigate's and transports' crews, which would have exceeded 2000 men."

The following day the Essex captured the brig Lamprey from Jamaica. Intelligence was received from her that the Thetis frigate, with specie and a large convoy for England, was to have sailed about the 26th of June, and that several running

settled, the most powerful efforts were made by the British and provincial troops to gain possession of the country.

In the French war of 1756, after three wholly disastrous campaigns, and one of mingled disaster and success, the Americans, assisted by powerful British aid, at last succeeded in uniting Canada to the British dominions, and thereby restoring peace to their harassed frontiers. The same complaints against the possessors of Canada for exciting the Indians to hostility were urged in those days, that are now repeated against their successors the British, and by none was the use of this weapon more reprobated than by those who now employ it. Such is the different lights in which a subject appears when it operates for or against us!

By the fall of Michillimackinac, the junction of the Indians, and the reinforcements, both of militia and regulars, which the inactivity of the Americans enabled the British to collect for the defence of Malden, it soon became evident that no effective measures towards the reduction of Canada could be undertaken by this army.

9. Several skirmishes happened between reconnoitering parties of the Americans and the Indian and British advanced posts towards the end of July and in the beginning of August, in which both sides claimed the victory. Most of these skirmishes took place near the river Aux Canards. By these parties it was discovered that the bridge over that river had been taken up by the British, except the sleepers; that a battery was erected at one end of it; and that the Queen Charlotte, which carried eighteen 24 pounders, lay in the Detroit river, at the mouth of the Aux Canards, about a mile from the bridge, with a gun-boat cruizing round her.

$10. In the mean time the Indians had crossed the Detroit, and cut off the communication of the American army with the state of Ohio, on which they depended for their supplies. As a small reinforcement of volunteers, with a quantity of provisions for the army, was daily expected by this route, a corps of 200 men was detached on the 4th of August to open the communication. This detachment fell into an ambuscade which was formed by the Indians at Brownstown, where they were totally defeated, and returned to camp without effecting the object of their expedition. About the same time an express arrived from general Hall, the American commander on the Niagara frontier, stating that there was no prospect of a co-operation from that quarter.

It being indispensably necessary to open the communication. with Ohio, general Hull resolved to suspend the operations

i

4

against Malden, and to concentrate the main force of the army at Detroit. Unwilling, however, to abandon the inhabitants of Upper Canada, many of whom had accepted his protection under the proclamation, he established a fortress on the banks of the river, a little above Sandwich, where he left a garrison of The remainder of the army recrossed the river, and encamped at Detroit, on the evening of the 7th and the morning of the 8th of August.

300 men.

§ 11. In pursuance of the object of opening the communication, 600 men were immediately detached under lieutenantcolonel Miller. This detachment consisted principally of the regular troops, and a corps of artillerists, with one six pounder and a howitzer, a small body of cavalry, and detachments from the Ohio and Michigan volunteers. They marched from Detroit on the evening of the 8th of August, and on the 9th, about 4 P. M. the van guard was fired upon by an extensive line of British and Indians, at the lower part of Maguago, about 14 miles from Detroit. The van guard maintained their position in a most gallant manner, under a very heavy fire, until the line was formed, when the whole, excepting the rear guard, was brought into action. The enemy were formed behind a temporary breast-work of logs, the Indians extending in a thick wood on their left. The Americans advanced till within a small distance of the enemy, where they made a general discharge, and then proceeded with charged bayonets. The enemy maintained their position till forced at the point of the bayonet, when they commenced a retreat. They were pursued in the most vigorous manner, about two miles, when the pursuit was discontinued on account of the fatigue of the troops, the approach of evening, and the necessity of returning to take care of the wounded. The Indians in this battle were under the command of Tecumseh, and are said to have fought with great obstinacy.

The British regulars and volunteers in this action are stated in general Hull's despatch to have amounted to 400, with a larger number of Indians: the Americans were 600 in number. The American loss was 18 killed, and 64 wounded: the loss of the British was not ascertained. Four of their regulars were made prisoners, who stated that the commander, major Muir, and two subalterns, were wounded, and that 15 were killed and wounded of the 41st regiment; and as the militia and volunteers were in the severest part of the action, their loss must have been much greater. About 40 Indians were found dead

on the field; and Tecumseh, their leader, was slightly wounded; the number of wounded Indians was not ascertained.

a remarkably fast sailer. The favour of the moon enabling them to chase by night as well as by day, the chase was continued for three days, without intermission, and under various circumstances, but by unremitted exertions the Argus was enabled to elude the pursuit. Pressed on all sides by the number of the enemy, and the baffling and unsettled state of the weather, she was at one time within musket shot of a 74, and at another nearly surrounded. While in this perilous situation she actually captured and manned one of her prizes.

9. The United States was still more fortunate. On the 25th of October, off the Western islands, about two weeks after being separated from the squadron, she fell in with and captured, after an action of an hour and a half, the British frigate Macedonian, of the same class and strength with the Guerriere. The Macedonian, being to windward, had the advantage of choosing her distance, which was so great that for the first half hour the United States could not use her carronades, and at no time were they within musket or grape shot. To this circumstance, and a heavy swell which prevailed, is ascribed the great length of the action. In this contest, the superiority of the American gunnery was strikingly obvious. On board the Macedonian there were 36 killed and 68 wounded; she also lost her mizen mast, fore and main-top-masts, and main yard, and was much cut up in her hull. On board the United States there were only five killed and seven wounded; the damage sustained by the ship was not so much as to render her return to port necessary.

The United States arrived off New London with her prize on the 4th of December, and thence proceeded through the sound for New York..

An equal degree of liberality was displayed by commodore Decatur, as on a former occasion by captain Hull. All the property of the officers and men on board the Macedonian was given up; that claimed by captain Carden included a band of music and several casks of wine, which were valued at $ 800, and paid for by the commodore.

While on this subject, we cannot forbear to mention an instance of generosity that occurred on this occasion among the common seamen. In the action with the Macedonian one of the carpenter's crew was killed, and left three children at the mercy of the world and of a worthless mother, who had abandoned them. On the arrival of the two frigates at New York, their grandfather went on board the United States to claim the property and wages of his son, when an enquiry into the circumstances of the family took place, and a plan was agreed upon by

against Malden, and to concentrate the main force of the army at Detroit. Unwilling, however, to abandon the inhabitant of Upper Canada, many of whom had accepted his protection under the proclamation, he established a fortress on the banks of the river, a little above Sandwich, where he left a garrison of 300 men. The remainder of the army recrossed the river, and encamped at Detroit, on the evening of the 7th and the morning of the 8th of August.

11. In pursuance of the object of opening the communication, 600 men were immediately detached under lieutenantcolonel Miller. This detachment consisted principally of the regular troops, and a corps of artillerists, with one six pounder and a howitzer, a small body of cavalry, and detachments from the Ohio and Michigan volunteers. They marched from Detroit on the evening of the 8th of August, and on the 9th, about 4 P. M. the van guard was fired upon by an extensive line of British and Indians, at the lower part of Maguago, about 14 miles from Detroit. The van guard maintained their position in a most gallant manner, under a very heavy fire, until the line was formed, when the whole, excepting the rear guard, was brought into action. The enemy were formed behind a temporary breast-work of logs, the Indians extending in a thick wood on their left. The Americans advanced till within a small distance of the enemy, where they made a general discharge, and then proceeded with charged bayonets. The enemy maintained their position till forced at the point of the bayonet, when they commenced a retreat. They were pursued in the most vigorous manner, about two miles, when the pursuit was discontinued on account of the fatigue of the troops, the approach of evening, and the necessity of returning to take care of the wounded. The Indians in this battle were under the command of Tecumseh, and are said to have fought with great obstinacy.

The British regulars and volunteers in this action are stated in general Hull's despatch to have amounted to 400, with a larger number of Indians: the Americans were 600 in number. The American loss was 18 killed, and 64 wounded: the loss of the British was not ascertained. Four of their regulars were made prisoners, who stated that the commander, major Muir, and two subalterns, were wounded, and that 15 were killed and wounded of the 41st regiment; and as the militia and volunteers were in the severest part of the action, their loss must have been much greater. About 40 Indians were found dead on the field; and Tecumseh, their leader, was slightly wounded; the number of wounded Indians was not ascertained.