the Pacific, she captured twelve British whale-ships, with an aggregate of three hundred and two men, and one hundred and seven guns. The Essex was finally captured in the harbor of Valparaiso [March, 28, 1814], on the western coast of South America, by the British frigate Phoebe, and sloop of war Cherub, after one of the most desperately fought battles of the war. It is said that thousands of the inhabitants of Valparaiso covered the neighboring heights as spectators of the conflict. Perceiving the overpowering advantage of the British, their sympathies were strongly elicited in favor of the Essex. When any thing in her favor appeared, loud shouts went up from the multitude; and when she was finally disabled and lost, they expressed their feelings in groans and tears. The Essex lost one hundred and fiftyfour, in killed and wounded. Captain Porter' wrote to the Secretary of the Navy, "We have been unfortunate, but not disgraced."

COMMODORE PORTER.

CHAPTER VI.

SECOND WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE, CONTINUED. [1814, 1815.]

DURING the year 1814, the war was prosecuted by both parties with more zeal and vigor than hitherto. The means for supporting it were much augmented by the government of the United States, notwithstanding the public credit was much depreciated, and treasury notes fell as low as seventeen per cent. below par. At the same time, Great Britain seemed to put forth increased energy, and her vessels of war hovered along our entire coast, and kept the seaport towns in a state of continual alarm. Early in that year, the victorious career of Napoleon, in Europe, was checked by the allied powers. Almost all of the governments of continental Europe, with that of England, had combined to crush him, and sustain the sinking Bourbon dynasty. Their armies were allied in a common cause. These, approaching from different directions, reached Paris, at the close of March, 1814, when the Russian and Prussian emperors entered the city. Hoping to secure the crown to his son, Napoleon abdicated in his favor on the 4th of April, and retired to Elba. Peace for Europe

1 Commodore David Porter was among the most distinguished of the American naval commanders. He was a resident minister of the United States in Turkey, and died, near Constantinople, in March, 1843.

Russians, one hundred and fifty thousand strong, advanced from Switzerland; Blucher led one hundred and thirty thousand Prussians from Germany; Bernadotte, the old companion-in-arms of Napoleon, was at the head of one hundred thousand Swedes, and marched through Holland; and the English, in great power, advanced from Spain, under Wellington. A battle at Montmartre left Paris exposed to the enemy, and Alexander and Frederic took possession of the capital on the 31st of March.

Detroit. A body of Americans took possession of Detroit on the 29th of September; and on the 2d of October, Harrison and Shelby, with Colonel Richard M. Johnson and his cavalry (thirty-five hundred strong), started in pursuit of the enemy. They overtook them [Oct. 5] at the Moravian town, when a desperate battle ensued. Tecumseh was slain; and then his dismayed followers, who had fought furiously, broke and fled. Almost the whole of Proctor's command were killed or made prisoners, and the general himself narrowly escaped, with a few of his cavalry. Here the Americans recaptured six brass fieldpieces which had been surrendered by Hull, on two of which were engraved the words, "Surrendered by Burgoyne at Saratoga." These pieces are now at the United States military post of West Point, on the Hudson."

The battle on the Thames was a very important one. By that victory, all that Hull had lost was recovered; the Indian confederacy' was completely broken up, and the war on the north-western borders of the Union was terminated. The name of Harrison was upon every lip; and throughout the entire Republic, there was a general outburst of gratitude. He was complimented by Congress, and by various public bodies; and a member of the House of Representatives asserted, in his place, that his victory was "such as would have secured to a Roman general, in the best days of the republic, the honors of a triumph." Security now being given to the frontier, General Harrison dismissed a greater portion of the volunteers; and leaving General Cass, with about a thousand regulars, to garrison Detroit, proceeded [Oct. 23, 1813] to Niagara, with the remainder of his troops, to join the Army of the Center,* which had been making some endeavors to invade Canada. In the mean while, an Indian war had been kindled in the South; and on the ocean, the laurel wreaths of triumph won by the Americans during 1812," had been interwoven with garlands of cypress on account of reverses. Let us turn a moment to the operations of the Army of the North."

Hostilities were kept up on portions of the northern frontier, during the winter, as well as in the West. In February [1813], a detachment of British soldiers crossed the St. Lawrence on the ice, from Prescott to Ogdensburg, and under pretense of seeking for deserters, committed robberies. Major Forsyth, then in command of riflemen there, retaliated. This was resented, in turn, by

In the present town of Orford, West Canada.

2 Commodore Perry, and General Cass, (now [1856] United States Senator from Michigan,) accompanied General Harrison as volunteer aids. The Americans moved with such rapidity, that they traveled twenty-six miles the first day.

Tecumseh was then only about forty years of age. He was a man of great ability, and had he been born and educated in civilized society, his powerful intellect would have made him one of the most distinguished characters of the age. He possessed great dignity, and always maintained it in his deportment. On one occasion he was to attend a conference held with Harrison. A circle of the company had been formed; and when he came and entered it, there was no seat for him, Harrison's aid having taken the one by the side of the general, intended for him. Harrison perceived that Tecumseh was offended, and told his aid to invite the chief to the seat near him. The aid politely said to Tecumseh, "Your father requests you to take a seat by his side." The offended chief drew his blanket around him, and, with an air of great dignity, said, "The Great Spirit is my father, and I will repose on the bosom of my mother;" and then sat down upon the ground.

• Page 281.

Page 412.

Note 2, page 324.

9

Page 428.

• Page 411.

* Page 408,

" Page 412.

a British force of twelve hundred men, who crossed on the 21st of February, and after a conflict of an hour, drove out the few military defenders of Ogdensburg, plundered and destroyed a large amount of property, and then returned to Canada. These events accelerated the gathering of the militia in that quarter. Bodies of new levies arrived, almost daily, at Sackett's Harbor, but these, needing discipline, were of little service, as a defense of the country between that point and Ogdensburg.

Being unable to afford assistance to the exposed points in that region, General Dearborn, the commander-in-chief," resolved to attempt the capture of York (now Toronto), the capital of Upper Canada, and the principal depository of British military stores for the supply of western garrisons. He embarked seventeen hundred troops on board the fleet of Commodore Chauncey,' at Sackett's Harbor, on the 25th of April; and two days afterward [April 27], they landed on the beach at York, about two miles west from the British works, in the face of a galling fire from regulars and Indians, under General Sheaffe. These were soon driven back to their fortifications, and the Americans, under General Pike, pressed forward, captured two redoubts, and were advancing upon the main work, when the magazine of the fort blew up, hurling stones and timbers in every direction, and producing great destruction of life among the assailants. General Pike was mortally wounded, but he lived long enough to know that the enemy had fled, and that the American flag waved in triumph over the fort

GENERAL PIKE.

at York. The command then devolved on Colonel Pearce; and at four o'clock in the afternoon, the town was in possession of the Americans. General Dearborn, who had remained with the fleet, landed soon after the fall of Pike, but did not assume the immediate command until after the surrender of the town.

When the victory was completed, the fleet and troops returned [May 1] to Sackett's Harbor, but soon afterward proceeded to attack Fort George, on the western shore of Niagara River, near its mouth. After a brief defense [May 27, 1813], the garrison fled to Burlington Heights, at the western extremity of Lake Ontario, thirty-five miles distant, closely pursued by a much larger force,

The Americans lost, in killed and wounded, twenty men. The British loss was about double that number. 2 Page 410. Page 420. General Dearborn had given the command of this expedition to Brigadier-General Zebulon M. Pike, a brave and useful officer, who had been at the head of an expedition, a few years earlier, to explore the country around the head waters of the Mississippi. He was born in New Jersey, in 1779. He died on board the flag-ship of Commodore Chauncey, with the captured British flag under his head, at the age of thirty-four years. In the burial-ground attached to Madison barracks, at Sackett's Harbor, is a dilapidated wooden monument erected over the remains of General Pike and some of his companions in arms. When the writer visited the spot, in 1855, it was wasting with decay, and falling to the earth. Such a neglect of the burial-place of the illustrious dead, is a disgrace to our government.

The British had laid a train of wet powder communicating with the magazine, for the purpose, and when they retreated, they fired it.

"General Sheaffe escaped, with the principal part of the troops, but lost all his baggage, books,, papers, and a large amount of public property.

7 At the head of Burlington Bay, in Canada.

seemed certain. British troops were withdrawn from the continent, and early in the summer of 1814, fourteen thousand of Wellington's veterans were sent to Canada' to operate against the United States. Considering the moral and material weakness of the American army, hitherto, the circumstance of the continual employment of the British troops on the continent, was highly favorable to the United States. Had Europe been at peace, the result of this second War for Independence might have been quite different.

The favorite project of the public authorities continued to be the invasion of Canada; and to oppose it, was the chief solicitude of the British officers on our northern frontiers. The principal force of the enemy in Upper Canada, was placed under the chief command of Lieutenant-General Drummond, late in the season; while the American army on the Niagara frontier was commanded by General Brown, at the same time. General Wilkinson was still in the vicinity of the St. Lawrence, and toward the close of February, he broke up his camp at French Mills,' and retired to Plattsburg; while General Brown, with two thousand men, marched to Sackett's Harbor, preparatory to his departure for the Niagara. Late in March, Wilkinson proceeded to erect a battery at Rouse's Point, at the foot of Lake Champlain; and at La Colle, three miles below, he had an unsuccessful engagement [March 30] with the British. The disastrous result of this affair brought Wilkinson into disrepute, and he was tried by a court-martial, but acquitted of all charges alleged against him. He had been suspended from all command, in the mean while, and the charge of the troops was given to General Izard.

GENERAL BROWN.

Preparations had been making on Lake Ontario, during the winter and spring, by both parties, to secure the control of that inland sea. Sir James Yeo was in command of a small British squadron, and on the 5th of May [1814], he appeared before Oswego, accompanied by about three thousand land troops and marines. Oswego was then defended by only about three hundred troops under Colonel Mitchell, and a small flotilla under Captain Woolsey. The chief object of the expedition was to capture or destroy a large quantity of naval and military stores, deposited at Oswego Falls,' but the gallant band of Americans at the harbor defeated the project. They withstood an attack, by land and water, for almost two days, before they yielded to a superior force. Afraid to penetrate the country toward the Falls, in the face of such determined opponents, the British withdrew on the morning of the 7th [May, 1814],

'These were embarked at Bourdeaux, in France, and sailed directly for the St. Lawrence, without even touching the shores of England. ' Page 427.

2

Page 410.

The fort on the east side of the river was then in quite a dilapidated state, and formed but a feeble defense for the troops. It was strengthened after this attack.

At the present village of Fulton, on the east side of Oswego River, and about twelve miles from the harbor.

after losing two hundred and thirty-five men, in killed and wounded. The Americans lost sixty-nine.

Toward the close of June, General Brown marched from Sackett's Harbor' to the Niagara frontier; and on the morning of the 3d of July, Generals Scott and Ripley' crossed the river, with a considerable force, and captured Fort Erie, which was situated on the Canada side of the Niagara River, nearly opposite Black Rock. The garrison withdrew to the intrenched camp of the British General Riall, then at Chippewa,' a few miles below. On the morning of the 4th [July, 1814], Brown advanced, and on the 5th the two armies had a sanguinary battle in the open fields at Chippewa. The British were repulsed, with a loss of about five hundred men, and retreated to Burlington Heights," where they were reinforced by troops under General Drummond, who assumed the chief command in person. The Americans lost a little more than three

hundred.

6

General Drummond was mortified by this discomfiture of his veteran troops by what he considered raw Americans, and he resolved to wipe out the stain. Collecting every regiment from Burlington and York, with some from Kingston and Prescott, he prepared for a renewal of combat. With a force about one third greater than that of Brown,' he immediately advanced to meet the Americans. The latter had encamped at Bridgewater, near Niagara Falls; and there, at the close of a sultry day, and within the sound of the great cataract's thunder, one of the most destructive battles of the war began. It commenced at sunset and ended at midnight [July 25, 1814], when the Americans had lost eight hundred and fifty-eight men in killed and wounded, and the British twenty more than that. The Americans were left in quiet possession of the field, but were unable to carry away the heavy artillery which they had captured. Brown and Scott being wounded, the command devolved on Ripley, and the following day [July 26] he withdrew to Fort Erie, where General Gaines, a senior officer, who arrived soon afterward, assumed the chief command.

7

8

Having recovered from his wound, Drummond again advanced, with five

1 Page 432.

2 Winfield Scott, now [1856] Lieutenant-General, and commander-in-chief of the army of the United States. See page 485. General James Ripley remained in the army after the war, and died on the 2d of March, 1839.

4

On the Canada shore, about two miles above Niagara Falls. Page 425. Jacob Brown was born in Pennsylvania, in 1775. He engaged in his country's service in 1813, and soon became distinguished. He was made Major-General in 1814. He was commanderin-chief of the United States army in 1821, and held that rank and office when he died, in 1828.

The hottest of the fight was in and near an obscure road known as Lundy's Lane. This battle

is known by the respective names of Bridgewater, Lundy's Lane, and Niagara Falls.

7

After the Americans had withdrawn, a party of the British returned and carried off their artillery. This event was so magnified, in the English accounts of the battle, as to make the victory to appear on the side of the British.

The British Generals Drummond and Riall were also wounded. General Scott led the advance in the engagement, and for an hour maintained a most desperate conflict, when he was reinforced. It was quite dark, and General Riall and his suite were made prisoners by the gallant Major Jesup. A British battery upon an eminence did terrible execution, for it swept the whole field. This was assailed and captured by a party under Colonel Miller, who replied, when asked by General Brown if he could accomplish it, "I'll try, sir." Three times the British attempted to recapture this battery. In the last attempt, Drummond was wounded. Page 398.