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of things, the administration was met by determined opposition. The Federal members of the House of Representatives published an address to their constituents, in which they set forth the state of the country at that time, the course of the administration and its supporters in Congress, and the reasons of the minority for opposing the war. This was fair and honorable. But outside of Congress, a party, composed chiefly of Federalists, with some disaffected Democrats, was organized under the name of the Peace party. Its object was to cast such obstructions in the way of the prosecution of the war, as to compel the government to make peace. This movement, so unpatriotic, the offspring of the lowest elements of faction, was frowned upon by the most respectable members of the Federal party, and some of them gave the government their hearty support, when it was necessary, in order to carry on the war with vigor and effect.

The first care of the government, in organizing the army, was to select efficient officers. Nearly all of the general officers of the Revolution were in their graves, or were too old for service, and even those of subordinate rank in that war, who yet remained, were far advanced in life. Yet upon them the chief duties of leadership were devolved. Henry Dearborn' was appointed majorgeneral and commander-in-chief; and his principal brigadiers were James Wilkinson," Wade Hampton,' William Hull, and Joseph Bloomfield-all of them esteemed soldiers of the Revolution.

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GENERAL DEARBORN.

Hull was governor of the Territory of Michigan, and held the commission of a brigadier-general. When war was declared, he was marching, with a little more than two thousand troops, from Ohio, to attempt the subjugation of the hostile Indians." Congress gave him discretionary powers for invading Canada; but caution and preparation were necessary, because the British authorities, a long time in expectation of war, had taken measures accordingly. Feeling strong enough for the enemy, Hull, on the 12th of July, 1812, crossed the Detroit River with his whole force, to attack Fort Malden, a British post near the present village of Amherstburg. At Sandwich, he encamped, and by a fatal delay, lost every advantage which an immediate attack might have secured. In the mean while, Fort

army.

Note 3, page 427.

Henry Dearborn was a native of New Hampshire, and a meritorious officer in the continental He accompanied Arnold to Quebec, and was distinguished in the battles which ruined Burgoyne [page 281]. He held civil offices of trust after the Revolution. He returned to private life in 1815, and died at Roxbury, near Boston, in 1829, at the age of seventy-eight years. 2 Pages 396 and 426. Note 4, page 411. Page 408. Canada then consisted of two provinces. The old French settlements on the St. Lawrence, with a population of about three hundred thousand, constituted Lower Canada; while the more recent settlements above Montreal, and chiefly upon the northern shore of Lake Ontario, including about one hundred thousand inhabitants, composed Upper Canada. These were principally the families of American loyalists, who were compelled to leave the States at the close of the Revolu tion. Then each province had its own governor and Legislature. The regular military force, which was scattered over a space of more than a thousand miles, did not exceed two thousand men; hence the British commanders were compelled to call for volunteers, and they used the Indians to good effect, in their favor.

Mackinaw, one of the strongest posts of the United States in the north-west,' was surprised and captured [July 17, 1812] by an allied force of British and Indians; and on the 5th of August, a detachment under Major Van Horne, sent by Hull to escort an approaching supply-party to camp, were defeated by some British and Indians near Brownstown, on the Huron River. These events, and the reinforcement of the garrison at Malden, by General Brock, the British commander-in-chief, caused Hull to recross the river on the 7th of August, abandon the expedition against Canada, and take post at Detroit, much to the disappointment of his troops, who were anxious to measure strength with the enemy.

On the 9th of August, General Brock crossed the river with seven hundred British troops and six hundred Indians, and demanded an instant surrender of Detroit, threatening at the same time to give free rein to Indian cruelty in the event of refusal. Hull's excessive prudence determined him to surrender, rather than expose his troops to the hatchet. When the assailants approached, and at the moment when the Americans were hoping for and expecting a command to fire, he ordered his troops to retire within the fort, and hung a white flag upon the wall, in token of submission. The army, fort, stores, garrison, and Territory, were all surrendered [August 16, 1812], to the astonishment of the victor himself, and the deep mortification of the American troops. Hull was afterward tried by a court-martial' [1814], on charges of treason and cowardice. He was found guilty of the latter, and sentenced to be shot, but was pardoned by the President on account of his revolutionary services. The whole country severely censured him; and the rage of the war party, increased by the taunts of the Federalists, because of the disastrous termination of one of the first expeditions of the campaign, was unbounded. The difficulties with which Hull was surrounded-his small force (only about eight hundred effective men); the inexperience of his officers, and the rawness of his troops; his lack of information, because of the interception of his communications; and the number and character of the enemy-were all kept out of sight, while bitter denunciations were poured upon his head. In after years, he was permitted fully to vindicate his character, and the sober judgment of this generation, guided by historic truth, must acquit him of all crime, and even serious error, and pity him as a victim of untoward circumstances.*

1 Formerly spelled Michilimackinac. It was situated upon an island of that name, near the Straits of Mackinaw or Michilimakinac.

On the 8th, Colonel Miller and several hundred men, sent by Hull to accomplish the object of Van Horne, met and defeated Tecumseh [page 408] and his Indians, with a party of British, near the scene of Van Horne's failure.

3 He was taken to Montreal a prisoner, and was afterward exchanged for thirty British captives. He was tried at Albany, New York.

Hull published his Vindication in 1824; and in 1848, his grandson published a large octavo volume, giving a full and thorough vindication of the character of the general, the material for which was drawn from official records. Hull's thorough knowledge of the character of the foe who menaced him, and a humane desire to spare his troops, was doubtless his sole reason for surrendering the post. A good and brave man has too long suffered the reproaches of history. William Hull was born in Connecticut in 1753. He rose to the rank of major in the continental army, and was distinguished for his bravery. He was appointed governor of the Michigan Territory in 1805. After the close of his unfortunate campaign, he never appeared in public life. He died near Boston in 1825.

At about this time, a tragedy occurred near the head of Lake Michigan, which sent a thrill of horror through the land. Captain Heald, with a company of fifty regulars, occupied Fort Dearborn, on the site of the present large city of Chicago.' Hull ordered him to evacuate that post in the deep wilderness, and hasten to Detroit. He left the public property in charge of friendly Indians, but had proceeded only a short distance from the fort, along the beach, when he was attacked by a body of Indians. Twenty-six of the reg ular troops, and all of the militia, were slaughtered. A number of women and children were murdered and scalped; and Captain Heald, with his wife, though severely wounded, escaped to Michilimackinac. His wife also received six wounds, but none proved mortal. This event occurred on the day before Hull's surrender [Aug. 15, 1812] at Detroit, and added to the gloom that overspread, and the indignation that flashed through, the length and breadth of the land.

While these misfortunes were befalling the Army of the North-west, the opponents of the war were casting obstacles in the way of the other divisions of the American troops operating in the State of New York, and preparing for another invasion of Canada. The governors of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut, refused to allow the militia of those States to march to the northern frontier on the requisition of the President of the United States. They defended their unpatriotic position by the plea that such a requisition was unconstitutional, and that the war was unnecessary. The British government, in the mean while, had declared the whole American coast in a state of blockade, except that of the New England States, whose apparent sympathy with the enemies of their country, caused them to be regarded as ready to leave the Union, and become subject to the British crown. But there was sterling patriotism sufficient there to prevent such a catastrophe, even if a movement, so fraught with evil, had been contemplated. Yet the effect was chilling to the best friends of the country, and the President felt the necessity of extreme circumspection.

Unmindful of the intrigues of its foes, however, the administration persevered; and during the summer of 1812, a plan was matured for invading Canada on the Niagara frontier. The militia of the State of New York were placed, by Governor Tompkins, under the command of Stephen Van Rensselaer,*

Chicago is built upon the verge of Lake Michigan and the borders of a great prairie, and is one of the wonders of the material and social progress of the United States. The Pottawatomie Indians [page 18], by treaty, left that spot to the white people in 1833. The city was laid out in 1830, and lots were first sold in 1831. In 1840, the population was 4,470. Now [1856] it can not be less than 80,000! Page 411.

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The forces under General Harrison were called the Army of the North-west; those under General Stephen Van Rensselaer, at Lewiston, on the Niagara River, the Army of the Center; and those under General Dearborn, at Plattsburg and at Greenbush, near Albany, the Army of the North. Page 410. Stephen Van Rensselaer, a lineal descendant of one of the earliest and best known of the Patroons [note 10, page 139] of the State of New York, was born at the manor-house, near Albany, in November, 1764. The War for Independence had just closed when he came into possession of his immense estate, at the age of twenty-one years. He engaged in politics, was a warm supporter of the Federal Constitution, and was elected Lieutenant-Governor of New York in 1795. He was very little engaged in politics after the defeat of the Federal party in 1800 [page 388]. After the Second War for Independence, he was elected to a seat in Congress; and, by his casting vote in the New York delegation, he gave the Presidency of the United States to John Quincy Adams.

who was commissioned a Major-General. Intelligence of the surrender of Hull' had inspired the Americans with a strong desire to wipe out the disgrace; and the regiments were filled without much difficulty. These forces were concentrated chiefly at Lewiston, on the Niagara frontier, under Van Rensselaer, and at Plattsburg, on Lake Champlain, and Greenbush, near Albany, under General Dearborn.

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The first demonstration against the neighboring province was made on the Niagara, in mid-autumn. In anticipation of such movement, British troops were strongly posted on the heights of Queenstown, opposite Lewiston; and on the morning of the 13th of October [1812], two hundred and twenty-five men, under Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer, crossed over to attack them. The commander was severely wounded, at the landing; but his troops pressed forward, under Captains Wool' and Ogilvie, successfully assaulted a battery near

Here closed his political life, and he passed the remainder of his days in the performance of social and Christian duties. He was for several years president of the Board of Canal Commissioners, and, while in that office, he died in January, 1840, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. 1 Page 411.

Solomon Van Rensselaer was one of the bravest and best men of his time; and to his efforts, more than to those of any other man, the salvation of the American army on the northern frontier, at this time, was due. He died at Albany on the 3d of April, 1852.

John E. Wool, now [1856] Major-General in the army of the United States.

the summit of the hill, and gained possession of Queenstown Heights. But the victory was not yet complete. General Sir Isaac Brock approached from Fort George, with six hundred men, and attempted to regain the battery. The British were repulsed, and Brock was killed.' In the mean while, General Stephen Van Rensselaer, who had crossed over, returned to Lewiston, and was using his most earnest efforts to send reinforcements; but only about one thousand troops, many of them quite undisciplined, could be induced to cross the river. These were attacked in the afternoon [Oct. 13, 1812] by fresh troops from Fort George, and a body of Chippewa Indians, and were nearly all killed or made prisoners, while at least fifteen hundred of their companions-in-arms cowardly refused to cross to their aid. The latter excused their conduct by the plea, put into their mouths by the opponents of the war, that they considered it wrong to invade the enemy's country, the war being avowedly a defensive one. The enemies of the administration applauded them for their conscientiousness, while a victory that might have led to reconciliation and peace, was lost at the winning moment. General Van Rensselaer, disgusted with the inefficiency everywhere displayed, left the service, and was succeeded by General Alexander Smyth, of Virginia This officer accomplished nothing of importance during the remainder of the season; and when the troops went into winter quarters [Dec.], there appeared to have been very few achievements made by the American army worthy of honorable mention in history.

While the army was suffering defeats, and became, in the mouths of the opponents of the administration, a staple rebuke, the little navy had acquitted itself nobly, and the national honor and prowess had been fully vindicated upon the ocean. At this time the British navy numbered one thousand and sixty vessels, while that of the United States, exclusive of gun-boats, numbered only twenty. Two of these were unseaworthy, and one was on Lake Ontario. Nine of the American vessels were of a class less than frigates, and all of them could not well compare in appointments with those of the enemy. Yet the Americans were not dismayed by this disparity, but went out boldly in their ships to meet the war vessels of the proudest maritime nation upon the earth.' Victory after victory told of their skill and prowess. On the 19th of August, 1812, the United States frigate Constitution, Commodore Isaac Hull, fought the British frigate Guerriere, Captain Dacres, off the American coast, in the present track of ships to Great Britain. The contest continued about forty minutes, when

1 Sir Isaac Brock was a brave and generous officer. There is a fine monument erected to his memory on Queenstown Heights, a short distance from the Niagara River. * Page 401.

At the time of the declaration of war, Commodore Rogers [page 407] was at Sandy Hook, New York, with a small squadron, consisting of the frigates President, Congress, United States, and the sloop-of-war Hornet. He put to sea on the 21st of June, in pursuit of a British squadron which had sailed as a convoy of the West India fleet. After a slight engagement, and a chase of several hours, the pursuit was abandoned at near midnight. The frigate Essex [page 430] went to sea on the 3d of July; the Constitution, on the 12th. The brigs Nautilus, Viper, and Vixen were then cruising off the coast, and the sloop Wasp was at sea on her return from France.

Isaac Hull was made a lieutenant in the navy in 1798, and was soon distinguished for skill and bravery. He rendered important service to his country, and died in Philadelphia in February, 1843.

This vessel had been one of a British squadron which gave the Constitution a long and close chase about a month before, during which the nautical skill of Hull was most signally displayed.

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