under Generals Chandler' and Winder. In this affair, Colonel (now LieutenantGeneral) Scott was distinguished for his skill and bravery. On the night of the 6th of June, the British fell upon the American camp, at Stony Creek,' but were repulsed. It was very dark, and in the confusion bo of the American generals were made prisoners.

A British squadron appeared before Sackett's Harbor on the same day [May 27] that the Americans attacked Fort George: and two days afterward [May 29] Sir George Prevost and a thousand soldiers landed in the face of a severe fire from some regulars' stationed there. The regular force of the Americans consisted of only a few seamen, a company of artillery, and about two hundred invalids-not more than five hundred inen in all. General Jacob Brown, the commander at that station, rallied the militia, and their rapid gathering, at and near the landing-place, back of Horse Island, so alarmed Prevost, lest they should cut off his retreat, that he hastily re-embarked, leaving almost the whole of his wounded behind. Had he been aware of the condition of his opposers, he could have made an easy conquest of Sackett's Harbor. The raw militia had become panic-stricken at the first, and when Prevost retreated, they, too, were endeavoring to make their way to places of safety in the country.

7

A change in the administration of military affairs occurred soon after the event at Sackett's Harbor. For some time, the infirmities of General Dearborn, the commander-in-chief, had disqualified him for active participation in the operations of the army, and in June [1813] he withdrew from the service. He was succeeded in command by General James Wilkinson, who, like Dearborn, had been an active young officer in the War for Independence. General John Armstrong, then Secretary of War, had conceived another invasion of Canada, by the united forces of the armies of the Center and North. For this purpose a little more than seven thousand men were concentrated at French Creek on the 5th of November, 1813, and on that morning went down the St. Lawrence in boats, with the intention of co-operating with about four thousand troops under Hampton,' in an attack upon Montreal. They landed the same evening, a few miles abave the British fort at Prescott, opposite Ogdensburg. It being foggy, Wilkinson attempted to pass down the river upon the flotilla commanded by General Brown. The fog cleared away, and the moon revealed the Amer

1 John Chandler was a native of Massachusetts. Some years after the war he was United States Senator from Maine. He died at Augusta, in that State, in 1841. 2 Page 436,

3 In the present township of Saltfleet, Canada West. In this affair the Americans lost, in killed, wounded, and missing, one hundred and fifty-four.

Note 6, page 185.

Page 410. James Wilkinson was born in Maryland, in 1757, and studied medicine. He joined the continental army at Cambridge, in 1775, and continued in service during the war. He commanded the western division of the United States army at the beginning of the century, and became somewhat involved, as we have seen [page 396], in Burr's scheme, in 1806. He died near the city of Mexico, in 1825, at the age of sixty-eight years.

7 Note 4, page 349. John Armstrong was a son of Colonel John Armstrong, of Pennsylvania [page 191], and was born at Carlisle, in that State, in 1758. He served in the War of the Revolu tion; was Secretary of the State of Pennsylvania; minister to France in 1804; Secretary of War in 1813; and died in Dutchess county, New York, in 1843. Note 3, page 412.

Page 410.

icans to the garrison of the fort. The latter immediately opened a heavy fire, and being thus annoyed by the enemy on shore, and by gun-boats' in his rear, Wilkinson landed Brown and a strong detachment to go forward and disperse quite a large force near Williamsburg, and to cover the descent of the boats. A severe battle ensued [November 11] in which the Americans lost more than three hundred men in killed and wounded, and the British about two hundred. This is known as the battle of Chrysler's Field. The locality is on the northern shore of the St. Lawrence, a little more than thirty miles below Ogdensburg, and about ninety above Montreal.

General Wilkinson arrived at St. Regis" the next day, with the main body, when he was informed that no troops from the army of the North would join him.' He therefore abandoned the expedition against Montreal, and went into winter quarters at French Mills (now Fort Covington, in St. Lawrence county), about nine miles east of St. Regis. A little later, some stirring events occurred on the Niagara frontier. General M'Clure, commander at Fort George, burnt the Canadian village of Newark on the 10th of December. Two days later [December 12, 1813] he was

4

compelled by the British to abandon Fort George. A strong force of British and Indians then surprised and captured [December 19] Fort Niagara, on the east side of the Niagara River, near its mouth;" and in retaliation for the burning of Newark, they laid Youngstown,

FORT NIAGARA, 1813.

Lewiston, Manchester (now Niagara Falls), and the Tuscarora Indian village, in Niagara county, in ashes.

On the 30th, the little villages of Black Rock and Buffalo were also consumed, and a large amount of public and private property was destroyed. With these events ended the campaign of 1813, in the North.

Affairs in the extreme South assumed a serious aspect during the summer of 1813. In the spring of that year, Tecumseh (who was slain on the Thames a few months later)' went among the Southern tribes, to arouse them to wage war upon the white people. The powerful Creeks* yielded to his persuasions; and late in August [30th], a large party of them surprised and captured Fort Mimms, on the Alabama River,' and massacred almost three hundred men,

1 Page 401.

This is an old French and Indian settlement on the St. Lawrence, at the mouth of the St. Regis River, about fifty miles below Ogdensburg. The dividing line (45th degree) between the United States and Canada, passes through the center of the village.

There was an enmity between Wilkinson and Hampton, and Armstrong resolved to command the expedition himself, to prevent trouble on account of precedence. He joined the army at Sackett's Harbor, but soon returned to Washington, for he and Wilkinson could not agree. To the jealousies and bickerings of these old officers, must the disasters of the land troops be, in a great degree, attributed. General Hampton did move forward toward Canada, but finally fell back to Plattsburg, and leaving the command with General Izard, returned to South Carolina. He died at Columbia, South Carolina, in 1835, aged eighty-one years. Page 414. Page 200. * Buffalo was then a small village, containing about fifteen hundred inhabitants, and was utterly destroyed. It is now [1856] one of the stateliest commercial cities on the continent, with a population of not much less than one hundred thousand. Page 424. Page 30.

4

8

'On the east side of the Alabama, about ten miles above its junction with the Tombigbee.

women, and children. This event aroused the whole South. General Andrew Jackson,' accompanied by General Coffee, marched into the Creek country, with twenty-five hundred Tennessee militia, and prosecuted a subjugating war against them, with great vigor.

3

On the 3d of November, General Coffee,' with nine hundred men, surrounded an Indian force at Tallushatchee, and killed two hundred of them. Not a warrior escaped. Within ten weeks afterward, bloody battles had been fought at Talladega' [November 8], Autossee" [November 29], and Emucfau [January 220, 1814], and several skirmishes had also taken place. The Americans were always victorious, yet they lost many brave soldiers. At length the Creeks established a fortified camp at the Great Horseshoe Bend of the Tallapoosa River,' and there a thousand warriors, with their women and children, determined to make a last defensive stand. The Americans surrounded them, and Jackson, with the main body of his army, attacked them on the 27th of March, 1814. The Indians fought desperately, for they saw no future for themselves, in the event of defeat. Almost six hundred warriors were slain, for they disdained to surrender. Only two or three were made prisoners, with about three hundred women and children. This battle crushed the power and spirit of the Creek nation, and soon afterward the chiefs of the remnant signified their submission. It was a sad scene to the eyes of the benevolent and good, to see these ancient tribes of our land, who were then making rapid strides in the progress of civilization, so utterly ruined by the destroying hand of war. They found that might made right, in the view of their subjugators, and they were compelled to make a treaty of peace upon the terms dictated by their conquerors. Thus, time after time since the advent of the white people here, have the hands of the stronger been laid upon the weaker, until now nothing but remnants of once powerful nations remain.

The naval operations upon the ocean, during the year 1813, were very important. Many and severe conflicts between public and private armed vessels of the United States and Great Britain, occurred; and at the close of the year, the balance-sheet of victories showed a preponderance in favor of the former.' Toward the end of February, the United States sloop of war Hornet, Cap

1 Page 460.

John Coffee was a native of Virginia. He did good service during the second War for Inle pendence, and in subsequent campaigns. He died in 1834.

bama.

South side of Tallushatchee Creek, near the village of Jacksonville, in Benton county, Ala

A little cast of the Coosa River, in the present Talladega county.

On the bank of the Tallapoosa, twenty miles from its junction with the Coosa, in Macon county.

8

• On the west bank of the Tallapoosa, at the mouth of Emucfau Creek, in Tallapoosa county. Called Tohopeka by the Indians. Near the north-east corner of Tallapoosa county.

Among those who bowed in submission was Weathersford, their greatest leader. He appeared suddenly before Jackson, in his tent, and standing erect, he said: "I am in your power; do with me what you please. I have done the white people all the harm I could. I have fought them, and fought them bravely. My warriors are all gone now, and I can do no more. When there was a chance for success, I never asked for peace. There is none now, and I ask it for the remnant of my nation."

9

More than seven hundred British vessels were taken by the American navy and privateers, during the years 1812 and 1813.

tain Lawrence, fought [Feb. 24, 1813] the British brig Peacock, off the mouth of Demarara River, South America. The Peacock surrendered, after a fierce conflict of fifteen minutes, and a few moments afterward she sank, carrying down with her nine British seamen and three Americans. The loss of the Peacock, in killed and wounded, was thirty-seven; of the Hornet only five. The generous conduct of Captain Lawrence, toward his enemy on this occasion, drew from the officers of the Peacock, on their arrival in New York, a public letter of thanks.' This, of itself, was a wreath of honor for the victor, more glorious than his triumph in the sanguinary conflict.

On his return to the United States, Captain Lawrence was promoted to the command of the frigate Chesapeake; and on the 1st of June, 1813, he sailed from Boston harbor, in search of the British frigate, Shannon, which had recently appeared off the New England coast, and challenged any vessel, of equal size, to meet her. Lawrence found the boaster the same day, about thirty miles from Boston light; and at five in the afternoon, a furious action began. The two vessels soon became entangled. Then the Britons boarded the Chesapeake, and after a desperate hand-to-hand struggle, hoisted the British flag. Lawrence was mortally wounded at the beginning of the action; and when he was carried below, he uttered those brave words of command, which Perry afterward displayed on his flag-ship on Lake Erie, "Don't give up the ship!" The combat lasted only fifteen minutes; but in that time, the Chesapeake had forty-eight killed and ninety-eight wounded; the Shannon twenty-three killed, and fifty-six wounded. The body of Lawrence, with that of Ludlow, the second in command, was carried to Halifax, in the victorious Shannon, and there buried with the honors of war. This event caused great sadness in America, and unbounded joy in England.

Another disaster followed the loss of the Chesapeake.

2

of the American brig Argus, Captain Allen, in August. spring [1813], had conveyed Mr. Crawford, United States minister, to France, and for two months had greatly annoyed British shipping in the English Chan

1

They said, "So much was done to alleviate the uncomfortable and distressing situation in which we were placed, when received on board the ship you command, that we can not better express our feelings than by saying, we ceased to consider ourselves prisoners; and every thing that friendship could dictate, was adopted by you and the officers of the Hornet, to remedy the inconvenience we otherwise should have experienced, from the unavoidable loss of the whole of our property and clothes, by the sudden sinking of the Peacock." The crew of the Hornet divided their clothing with the prisoners.

Captain James Lawrence was a native of New Jersey, and received a midshipman's warrant at the age of sixteen years. He was with Decatur at Tripoli [page 392]. He died four days after receiving the wound, at the age of thirty-one years. A beautiful monument, in the form of a truncated column and pedestal, was erected to his memory in Trinity churcn-yard, New York. This, in time, became dilapidated, and a few years since, a new one, of another form, was erected near the south entrance to the church, a few feet from Broadway.

3 A writer of the time observed: "Never did any victory-not those of Wellington in Spain, nor even those of Nelson-call forth such expressions of joy on the part of the British; a proof that our naval character had risen somewhat in their estimation."

nel. Several vessels were sent out to capture her; and on the 14th of August, the sloop of war' Pelican, after a brief, but severe action, defeated the Argus. In less than a month afterward [Sept. 10], Perry gained his great victory on Lake Erie; and the British brig Boxer, Captain Blythe, had surrendered [Sept. 5, 1813], to the United States brig Enterprise, Lieutenant Burrows, after an engagement of forty minutes, off the coast of Maine. Blythe and Burrows, young men of great promise, were both slain during the action, and their bodies were buried in one grave at Portland, with military honors.

A distressing warfare upon the coast between Delaware Bay and Charleston, was carried on during the spring and summer of 1813, by a small British squadron under the general command of Admiral Cockburn. His chief object was to draw the American troops from the northern frontier to the defense of the seaboard, and thus lessen the danger that hung over Canada. It was a sort of amphibious warfare-on land and water-and was marked by many acts of unnecessary cruelty. The British had talked of "chastising the Americans into submission," and the method now employed was the instrument. On the 4th of February, 1813, two ships of the line, three frigates, and other British vessels, made their appearance at the capes of Virginia. At about the same time, another British squadron entered the Delaware River, destroyed the American shipping there in March, and in April cannonaded the town of Lewiston. In May, Frenchtown, Havre de Grace, Georgetown, and Fredericktown, on the Chesapeake, were plundered and burned; and then the combined British fleet entered Hampton Roads, and menaced Norfolk. While attempting to go up to that city, the enemy were nobly repulsed [Jan. 22, 1813] by the Americans upon Craney Island," under the command of Major Faulkner, assisted by naval officers. The British then fell upon Hampton [Jan. 25]; and having surfeited themselves with plunder, withdrew. Cockburn' sailed down the North Carolina coast, marauding whenever opportunity offered, and carried away a large number of negroes and sold them in the West Indies. In pleasant contrast to this, was the deportment of Commodore Hardy, whose squadron was employed during the same season, in blockading the New England coast. Although he landed upon our shores frequently, yet his conduct was always that of a high-minded gentleman and generous enemy."

During the year 1813, the United States frigate Essex, Captain Porter, made a long and successful cruise in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It occupied the time from April until October. The Essex carried at her masthead the popular motto, "Free Trade and Sailor's Rights;" and, while in

2 Page 423.

3 Page 64.

Note 3, page 297.

1 Page 415. Б Craney Island is low and bare, and lies at the mouth of the Elizabeth River, about five miles below Norfolk. At the time in question, there were some unfinished fortifications upon it, remains of which may yet [1856] be seen.

• Cockburn died in England in 1853, at an advanced age.

"Congress had passed an act, offering a reward of half their value for the destruction of British ships, by other means than those of the armed vessels of the United States. This was to encourage the use of torpedoes. The cruel forays upon the southern coasts seemed to warrant this species of dishonorable warfare. It was employed against Hardy's squadron. He was justly indignant, and protested against it as unmanly.