CHAPTER VII.

51. Cruises on lake Erie. §2. Capture of the British squadron. § 3. Evacuation of Malden and Detroit. 54. Capture of the British army. § 5. Moderation of the conquerors. § 6. Expedition to the Peoria lake. §7. Inactivity of the army at Fort George. §8. Chauncey's cruises on lake Ontario. §9. Engagement with the Royal George under Kingston batteries. § 10. Engagement with Yeo's squadron. § 11. Yeo chased round the lake. 12. Chauncey's second engagement with Yeo. § 13. Capture of the British transports.

§ 1. MEANWHILE the utmost exertions were used by captain Perry, to increase the naval armament on lake Erie. Two twenty gun brigs were launched at Erie, the American port on the lake, about the middle of June, and shortly after Perry arrived there from Black Rock with the Caledonia and the small schooners. The brigs being now equipped and manned, Perry, on the 4th of August, sailed as commodore of the squadron, and succeeded in getting them over the bar at the mouth of the harbour, in the face of the British squadron, who fortunately made no attack, which might have been attended with serious consequences, as the water on the bar being but five feet deep, the large vessels had to be buoyed over. The following day Perry sailed in quest of the enemy, but returned on the 8th without meeting him. He was again about to sail on the same day, when he received intelligence of captain Elliot's arrival at Cataraugus with a reinforcement of sailors, on which the cruize was delayed, and a vessel immediately despatched to bring them on.

On the arrival of the reinforcement, Perry again sailed on the 12th, and on the 15th arrived at Sandusky bay, where the army under general Harrison lay encamped. Thence he cruised off Malden, where the British squadron were anchored under the guns of the fort. The appearance of the American squadron is said to have created great alarm on shore; the women and children ran shrieking about the place, expecting an immediate attack. The enemy, however, not being prepared or disposed to give battle, though strongly urged thereto by the Indians, Perry returned to Sandusky.

§2. At sunrise on the morning of the 10th of September, the squadron of the enemy was discovered from Put-in-Bay, where

Perry lay at anchor with the squadron under his command. He immediately got under weigh and stood for him, with a light wind at south-west. At 10 o'clock the wind hauled to the south-east, which brought the American squadron to windward, on which Perry hoisted his union jack, having for a motto the dying words of captain Lawrence," Don't give up the ship," which was received with repeated cheerings by the officers and crews. The line was now formed, and they bore up for the enemy, but, owing to the lightness of the wind, did not approach within long shot until 15 minutes before 12, when the enemy commenced firing on the Lawrence, the commodore's ship, which was considerably ahead of the others. The firing was received for ten minutes before it was returned, an advantage which the enemy derived from the superior length of their guns, and the lightness of the wind, which allowed Perry to approach them but slowly. Without waiting for his other vessels, however, Perry gallantly kept on his course, receiving the whole fire of the enemy, until, gaining a nearer position, he opened his fire.

Finding the fire of the enemy on the Lawrence very destructive, from the length of their guns, and its being mostly directed at that vessel, Perry again made sail, and directed the other vessels to follow, for the purpose of closing with the enemy. Every brace and bow-line, however, being soon shot away, the Lawrence became unmanageable, and in this situation sustained the fire of the British squadron for two hours within cannister distance, until every gun was rendered useless, and the greater part of the crew either killed or wounded.

At this critical moment, when the enemy must have counted the victory certain, Perry formed the bold resolution of shifting his flag. The wind fortunately sprung up, which enabled captain Elliot to bring his vessel, the Niagara, into close action, and Perry immediately went on board of her, under the broadsides and discharges of small arms of the enemy, two of whose vessels were within musket shot, and a third one nearer. As soon as Perry got on board, captain Elliot, anticipating his wish, volunteered to bring the schooners, which had been kept astern by the lightness of the wind, into close action.

At this moment the commodore, to his unspeakable pain, saw the flag of the Lawrence pulled down. The event was, however, unavoidable. All her guns were dismounted, and scarcely a man on board unhurt. In this situation, to have continued to make a show of resistance, would have been a wanton sacrifice of the remains of her brave crew. The enemy, however, was

not able to take possession of her, and subsequent circumstances soon permitted her flag again to be hoisted*.

At 45 minutes past two the signal was made for close action, and the Niagara being very little injured, Perry determined to break the enemy's line. He accordingly bore up, and passing ahead of their two ships and a brig, gave them a raking fire from his starboard guns, and from the larboard side to a large schooner and a sloop, at half pistol-shot distance. The smaller vessels now got within grape and cannister distance by the aid of their sweeps, and so well directed a fire was kept up, that the whole British squadron, consisting of two ships, two brigs, a schooner, and a sloop, was forced to surrender, the schooner and sloop making a vain attempt to escape..

This engagement lasted about three hours, and never was victory more decisive and complete. The captured squadron had more numerous crews, and exceeded the American squadron both in number of guns and weight of metal. The prisoners taken were more in number than their conquerors. The loss on both sides was very severe. That of the Americans was principally on board the Lawrence, where few indeed escaped unhurt; among those few were the commodore and his brother, a midshipman on board the same vessel. The number of the enemy's killed and wounded was not ascertained. It must, however, have been very great, their vessels being literally cut to pieces. Commodore Barclay, the commander of the British squadron, was twice carried below on account of his wounds. He had seen much service, having been desperately wounded in the battle of Trafalgar, and afterwards losing an arm in another engagement with the French. Two Indian chiefs had been stationed in the tops of the Detroit, the British commodore's ship, to shoot down the American officers; but, when the action became warm, so panic struck were they with the terrors of the scene, and the strange perils that surrounded them, that they fled precipitately to the hold of the ship, where they were found after the battle in a state of utter consternation. The bodies of several other Indians are said to have been found next day on the shore of the lake, supposed to have been killed during the engagement, and thrown overboard.

Great as had been the public rejoicings on the former victories of the American navy, they were little to what took place on

* Some of our wiseacre fault-finders have had the folly to represent the rehoisting of the flag of the Lawrence as an unjustifiable act, forgetful that it could not be for the purpose of joining in the action, as not a single gun remained mounted. The circumstances which enabled her to hoist her flag were undoubtedly the capture of the whole of the hostile fleet.

this occasion. The triumph was so complete, and the consequences certain to result from it so important, that it could not fail to excite the most unbounded joy in every bosom, which spontaneously expressed itself every where by illuminations and other public rejoicings, in which all parties, forgetful of their political feuds, vied with each other in paying honours to the young hero and his noble compatriots.

In this action commodore Perry showed himself to be a true American tar, not only by his presence of mind and dauntless valour in the hour of danger, but by his modesty, gallantry, and humanity amidst the triumphs of victory. The utmost care was taken not only of the sick and wounded of his own squadron, but of that of the conquered; and commodore Barclay declared, that "the conduct of Perry towards the captive officers and men was sufficient, of itself, to immortalize him."

3. As soon as the prisoners and wounded were landed, the fleet was employed in concentrating general Harrison's army, by transporting them from Portage river and Fort Meigs to Put-in-bay. This duty was completed about the 20th of September, and on the 22d about 1200 of the troops were landed by Perry on a small island about four leagues from Malden. On the following day they were again embarked, and landed in the afternoon a small distance below Malden, and in an hour after Harrison took possession of the town of Amherstburg, without opposition, general Proctor having previously burnt Fort Malden, the navy-yard, barracks, and public store-houses, and then retreated to Sandwich. Being followed by Harrison, he reretired to a strong position on the right bank of the river Thames, near Moravian Town, about 80 miles from Detroit, leaving the Michigan territory in the possession of the Ameri

cans.

4. On the 2d of October general Harrison left Sandwich in pursuit of Proctor, with about 140 regulars, colonel Johnson's mounted regiment, and the Kentucky volunteers under the venerable governor Shelby, amounting, in the whole, to near 3500 men. Harrison was accompanied by commodore Perry, who volunteered as his aid-de-camp.

The army reached the river Thames, which falls into lake St. Clair, twenty-five miles above Detroit, the same evening, and next morning crossed by a bridge, which Proctor had neglected to destroy. Harrison put himself at the head of the mounted regiment, and pushed forward, in order, if possible, to save the bridges over three branches of the Thames, which ran between him and the British army. At the first of these they captured a lieutenant of dragoons and eleven privates, who had been despatched by Proctor to destroy it; and the second having been

1

but imperfectly destroyed, was soon repaired, and the army passed over and encamped, on the evening of the 3d of Octo

ber.

The baggage had thus far been brought in boats accompanied by gun-boats, to protect it, and if necessary to cover the passage of the army across the rivers; but the river above being narrow, with high woody banks, it became necessary to leave the baggage under a guard, and to trust to the bravery of the troops to effect a passage across the remaining stream. Next morning, about eight miles above their encampment, the army arrived at the third unfordable branch of the Thames, where they found that the bridge over its mouth, as well as one a mile above, had been taken up by the Indians. Here several hundred of the Indians attempted to dispute the passage of the troops, but the fire from two six-pounders soon drove them off, and in about two hours the bridge was repaired and the troops crossed, just in time to extinguish a house that had been set on fire containing a considerable number of muskets, which were fortunately saved. At the first farm above the bridge was found one of the enemy's vessels on fire, and here intelligence was received that they were but a few miles ahead.

The army halted for the night about four miles above the bridge, where they found two other vessels and a large distillery filled with ordnance and other valuable stores to an immense

amount, in flames. It was impossible to extinguish the fire, but two mounted twenty-four pounders were taken, and a large quantity of ball and shells of various sizes. Early on the morning of the 5th the troops were again put in motion, and in the afternoon the officer commanding the advance sent to inform general Harrison that his progress was stopped by the enemy, who were formed across the line of march.

Between the two armies, the road passed through an uncleared beech forest, pretty clear of underwood, near the banks of the river, parallel to which, at the distance of two or three hundred yards, extended a swamp several miles in length. Across this strip of land the British were drawn up, their left resting on the river, supported by artillery, their right on the swamp, covered by the Indians.

The American troops were now formed in order of battle. General Trotter's brigade formed the front line, his right upon the road, and his left upon the swamp, with general Desha's division, consisting of two brigades, formed en potence, upon his

*

Troops are ranged en potence by breaking a straight line, and throwing a certain proportion of it either forward or backward, from the right or left, according to circumstances, for the purpose of securing that line.-Duane's Military Dictionary.