WAR OF 1812.--EVENTS OF 1813.
In the beginning of 1813 the American army was organized in three
divisions: THE ARMY OF THE NORTH, under General Wade Hampton; THE ARMY
OF THE CENTER, under General Dearborn; THE ARMY OF THE WEST, under
General Winchester, who was soon superseded by General Harrison. Early
in January the Army of the West moved toward Lake Erie to regain the
ground lost by Hull. On the 10th of the month the American advance
reached the rapids of the Maumee, thirty miles from Winchester's
camp. A detachment then pressed forward to Frenchtown, on the river
Raisin, captured the town, and on the 20th of the month were joined by
Winchester with the main division.
[Sidenote: Events in the West.]
2. Two days afterwards the Americans were assaulted by a thousand five
hundred British and Indians under General Proctor. A severe battle was
fought. General Winchester, having been taken by the enemy, advised his
forces to capitulate. The American wounded _were left to the mercy of
the savages_, who at once completed their work of butchery. The rest of
the prisoners were dragged away, through untold sufferings, to Detroit,
where they were afterward ransomed.
3. General Harrison now built Fort Meigs, on the Maumee. Here he was
besieged by two thousand British and savages, led by Proctor and
Tecumtha. Meanwhile, General Clay, with twelve hundred Kentuckians,
advanced to the relief of the fort. In a few days the Indians deserted
in large numbers, and Proctor, becoming alarmed, abandoned the siege,
and retreated to Malden.
[Sidenote: Ft. Meigs and Ft. Stephenson.]
4. Late in July Proctor and Tecumtha, with nearly four thousand men,
again besieged Fort Meigs. Failing to draw out the garrison, the
British general filed off with half his forces and attacked Fort
Stephenson, at Lower Sandusky. This place was defended by a hundred and
sixty men under Colonel Croghan, a stripling but twenty-one years of
age. On the 2d of August the British advanced to storm the fort. Having
crowded into the trench, they were swept away almost to a man. The
repulse was complete. Proctor now raised the siege at Fort Meigs and
returned to Malden.
[Sidenote: Perry on Lake Erie.]
5. At this time Lake Erie was commanded by a British squadron of six
vessels. The work of recovering these waters was intrusted to Commodore
Oliver H. Perry. His antagonist, Commodore Barclay, was a veteran from
Europe. With great energy Perry directed the construction of nine
ships, and was soon afloat. On the 10th of September the two fleets met
near Put-in Bay. The battle was begun by the American squadron, Perry's
flag-ship, the _Lawrence_, leading the attack. His principal antagonist
was the _Detroit_, under command of Barclay. The British guns had the
wider range, and were better served. In a short time the _Lawrence_ was
ruined, and Barclay's flagship was almost a wreck.
6. Perceiving how the battle stood, Perry seized his banner, got
overboard into an open boat, passed within pistol-shot of the enemy's
ships, a storm of balls flying around him, and transferred his flag to
the _Niagara_. With this powerful vessel he bore down upon the enemy's
line, drove right through the midst, discharging terrible broadsides
right and left. In fifteen minutes the British fleet was helpless.
Perry returned to the hull of the _Lawrence_, and there received the
surrender. And then he sent to General Harrison this dispatch: "We have
met the enemy, and they are ours--two ships, two brigs, one schooner,
and one sloop."
[Illustration: Fall of Tecumtha at the Battle of the Thames.]
[Sidenote: Battle of the Thames.]
7. For the Americans the way was now opened to Canada. On the 27th of
September Harrison's army was landed near Malden. The British retreated
to the river Thames, and there faced about to fight. The battlefield
extended from the river to a swamp. Here, on the 5th of October, the
British were attacked by Generals Harrison and Shelby. In the beginning
of the battle Proctor fled. The British regulars were broken by the
Kentuckians under Colonel Richard M. Johnson. The Americans wheeled
against the fifteen hundred Indians, who lay hidden in the swamp.
Tecumtha had staked all on the issue. For a while his war-whoop sounded
above the din of the conflict. Presently his voice was heard no
longer, for the great chieftain had fallen. The savages, appalled by
the death of their leader, fled in despair. So ended the campaign in
the West. All that Hull had lost was regained.
[Sidenote: General Jackson in Alabama.]
8. Meanwhile, the Creeks of Alabama had taken up arms. In the latter
part of August, Fort Mims, forty miles north of Mobile, was surprised
by the savages, who murdered nearly four hundred people. The governors
of Tennessee, Georgia, and Mississippi made immediate preparation for
invading the country of the Creeks. The Tennesseeans, under General
Jackson, were first to the rescue. Nine hundred men, led by General
Coffee, reached the Indian town of Tallushatchee, burned it, and left
not an Indian alive. On the 8th of November a battle was fought at
Talladega, and the savages were defeated with severe losses.
9. During the winter, Jackson's troops became mutinous and were going
home. But the general set them the example of living on acorns, and
threatened with death the first man who stirred from the ranks. And
no man stirred. At Horseshoe Bend the Creeks made their final stand.
On the 27th of March, the whites under General Jackson stormed the
breastworks and drove the Indians into the bend of the river. There,
huddled together, a thousand Creek warriors, with the women and
children of the tribe, met their doom. The nation was completely
conquered.
[Sidenote: Expedition against Toronto.]
10. On the 25th of April, 1813, General Dearborn embarked his forces
at Sackett's Harbor, and proceeded against Toronto. On the 27th of the
month, seventeen hundred men, landing near Toronto, drove the British
from the water's edge, stormed a battery, and rushed forward to carry
the main defences. At that moment the British magazine blew up with
terrific violence. Two hundred men were killed or wounded. General Pike
was fatally injured; but the Americans continued the charge and drove
the enemy out of the town. Property to the value of a half million
dollars was secured to the victors.
11. While this movement was taking place the enemy made a descent on
Sackett's Harbor. But General Brown rallied the militia and drove back
the assailants. The victorious troops at Toronto reembarked and crossed
the lake to the mouth of the Niagara. On the 27th of May the Americans,
led by Generals Chandler and Winder, stormed Fort George. The British
retreated to Burlington Bay, at the western extremity of the lake.
[Sidenote: Expedition against Montreal.]
12. After the battle of the Thames, General Harrison resigned his
commission. General Dearborn was succeeded by General Wilkinson. The
next campaign embraced the conquest of Montreal. On the 5th of November
seven thousand men, embarking twenty miles north of Sackett's Harbor,
sailed against Montreal. Parties of British, Canadians, and Indians,
gathering on the bank of the river, impeded the expedition. General
Brown was landed with a considerable force to drive the enemy into the
interior. On the 11th of the month a severe but indecisive battle was
fought at a place called Chrysler's Field. The Americans passed down
the river to St. Regis, and went into winter quarters at Fort Covington.
13. In the mean time, the British on the Niagara rallied and recaptured
Fort George. Before retreating, General McClure, the commandant, burned
the town of Newark. The British and Indians crossed the river, took
Fort Niagara, and fired the villages of Youngstown, Lewiston, and
Manchester. On the 30th of December, Black Rock and Buffalo were burned.
[Sidenote: The War on the Ocean.]
14. Off the coast of Demerara, on the 24th of February, 1813, the
sloop-of-war _Hornet_, commanded by Captain James Lawrence, fell in
with the British brig _Peacock_. A terrible battle of fifteen minutes
ensued, and the _Peacock_ struck her colors. While the Americans were
transferring the conquered crew, the brig sank. Nine of the British
sailors and three of Lawrence's men were drowned.
[Illustration: "Don't give up the Ship."]
15. On returning to Boston the command of the _Chesapeake_ was given to
Lawrence, and again he put to sea. He was soon challenged by Captain
Broke, of the British _Shannon_, to fight him. Eastward from Cape Ann
the two vessels met on the 1st day of June. The battle was obstinate,
brief, dreadful. In a short time, every officer of the _Chesapeake_ was
either killed or wounded. Lawrence was struck with a musket-ball, and
fell dying on the deck. As they bore him down the hatchway, he gave his
last order--ever afterwards the motto of the American sailor--"DON'T
GIVE UP THE SHIP!" The _Shannon_ towed her prize into the harbor of
Halifax. There the bodies of Lawrence and Ludlow, second in command,
were buried by the British.
16. On the 14th of August the American brig _Argus_ was overtaken by
the _Pelican_ and obliged to surrender. On the 5th of September the
British brig _Boxer_ was captured by the American _Enterprise_ off the
coast of Maine. On the 28th of the following March, while the _Essex_,
commanded by Captain Porter, was lying in the harbor of Valparaiso,
she was attacked by two British vessels, the _Phœbe_ and the _Cherub_.
Captain Porter fought his antagonists until nearly all of his men were
killed or wounded; then struck his colors and surrendered.
[Sidenote: British Marauding.]
17. From honorable warfare the naval officers of England stooped to
marauding. Early in the year, Lewiston was bombarded by a British
squadron. Other British men-of-war entered the Chesapeake and burned
several villages on the shores of the bay. At the town of Hampton the
soldiers and marines perpetrated great outrages. Commodore Hardy, to
whom the blockade of New England had been assigned, behaved with more
humanity. Even the Americans praised him for his honorable conduct. So
the year 1813 closed without decisive results.