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MATILDA MONTGOMERIE;
OR,
THE PROPHECY FULFILLED.
A TALE OF THE LATE AMERICAN WAR.
BEING THE SEQUEL TO WACOUSTA.
By MAJOR RICHARDSON,
AUTHOR OF "WACOUSTA," "HARDSCRABBLE," "ECARTE," ETC., ETC.
NEW YORK:
POLLARD & MOSS,
42 Park Place and 37 Barclay Street.
1888.
CHAPTER I.
At the northern extremity of the small town which bears its name
situated at the head of Lake Erie, stands, or rather stood--for the
fortifications then existing were subsequently destroyed--the small
fortress of Malden.
Few places in America, or in the world, could, at the period embraced by
our narrative, have offered more delightful associations than that which
we have selected for an opening scene. Amherstburg was at that time one
of the loveliest spots that ever issued from the will of a beneficent
and gorgeous nature, and were the world-disgusted wanderer to have
selected a home in which to lose all memory of conventional and
artificial forms, his choice would assuredly have fallen here. And
insensible, indeed, to the beautiful realities of the sweet wild
solitude that reigned around, must that man have been, who could have
gazed unmoved from the banks of the Erie, on the placid lake beneath his
feet, mirroring the bright starred heavens on its unbroken surface, or
throwing into full relief the snow-white sail and dark hull of some
stately war-ship, becalmed in the offing, and only waiting the rising of
the capricious breeze, to waft her onward on her _then_ peaceful mission
of dispatch. Lost indeed to all perception of the natural must he have
been, who could have listened, without a feeling of voluptuous
melancholy, to the plaintive notes of the whip-poor-will, breaking on
the silence of night, and harmonising with the general stillness of the
scene. How often have we ourselves, in joyous boyhood, lingered amid the
beautiful haunts, drinking in the fascinating song of this strange
night-bird, and revelling in a feeling we were too young to analyze, yet
cherished deeply--yea, frequently, up to this hour, do we in our dreams
revisit scenes no parallel to which has met our view, even in the course
of a life passed in many climes; and on awaking, our first emotion is
regret that the illusion is no more.
Such was Amherstburg and its immediate vicinity, during the early years
of the present century, and up to the period at which our story
commences. Not, be it understood that even _then_ the scenery itself had
lost one particle of its loveliness, or failed in aught to awaken and
fix the same tender interest. The same placidity of earth and sky and
lake remained, but the poor whip-poor-will, driven from his customary
abode by the noisy hum of warlike preparation, was no longer heard, and
the minds of the inhabitants, hitherto disposed, by the quiet pursuits
of their uneventful lives, to feel pleasure in its song, had eye or ear
for naught beyond what tended to the preservation of their threatened
homes. It was the commencement of the war of 1812.
Let us, however introduce the reader more immediately to the scene.
Close in his rear, as he stands on the elevated bank of the magnificent
river of Detroit, and about a mile from its point of junction with Lake
Erie, was the fort of Amherstburg, its defences consisting chiefly of
stockade works, flanked, at its several angles, by strong bastions, and
covered by a demi-lune of five guns, so placed as to command every
approach by water. Distant about three hundred yards on his right, was a
large, oblong, square building, resembling in appearance the red,
low-roofed blockhouses peering above the outward defences of the fort.
Surrounding this, and extending to the skirt of the thinned forest, the
original boundary of which was marked by an infinitude of dingy, half
blackened stumps, were to be seen numerous huts or wigwams of the
Indians, from the fires before which arose a smoke that contributed,
with the slight haze of the atmosphere, to envelope the tops of the tall
trees in a veil of blue vapor, rendering them almost invisible. Between
these wigwams and the extreme verge of the thickly wooded banks, which
sweeping in bold curvature for an extent of many miles, brought into
view the eastern extremity of Turkey Island, situated midway between
Amherstburg and Detroit, were to be seen, containing the accumulated
Indian dead of many years, tumuli, rudely executed, it is true, but
picturesquely decorated with such adornments as it is the custom of
these simple mannered people to bestow on the last sanctuaries of their
departed friends. Some three or four miles, and across the water, (for
it is here that the river acquires her fullest majesty of expansion,) is
to be seen the American island of Gros Isle, which, at the period of
which we write, bore few traces of cultivation--scarcely a habitation
being visible throughout its extent--various necks of land, however,
shoot out abruptly, and independently of the channel running between it
and the American main shore, form small bays or harbors in which boats
may always find shelter and concealment.
Thus far the view to the right of the spectator, whom we assume to be
facing the river. Immediately opposite to the covering demi-lune, and in
front of the fort, appeared, at a distance of less than half a mile, a
blockhouse and battery, crowning the western extremity of the island of
Bois Blanc, one mile in length, and lashed at its opposite extremity by
the waters of Lake Erie, which, at this precise point receives into her
capacious bosom the vast tribute of the noble river connecting her with
the higher lakes. Between this island and the Canadian shore lies the
only navigable channel for ships of heavy tonnage, for although the
waters of the Detroit are of vast depth every where above the island,
they are near their point of junction with the lake, and, in what is
called the American channel, so interrupted by shallows and sandbars,
that no craft larger than those of a description termed "Durham boats,"
can effect the passage--on the other hand the channel dividing the
island from the Canadian shore is at once deep and rapid, and capable of
receiving vessels of the largest size. The importance of such a passage
was obvious; but although a state of war necessarily prevented aid from
armed vessels to such forts of the Americans as lay to the westward of
the lake, it by no means effectually cut off their supplies through the
medium of the Durham boats already alluded to. In order to intercept
those, a most vigilant watch was kept by the light gun boats despatched
into the lesser channel for that purpose.
A blockhouse and battery crowned also the eastern extremity of the
island, and both, provided with a flagstaff for the purpose of
communication by signal with the fort, were far from being wanting in
picturesque effect. A subaltern's command of infantry, and a
bombvadier's of artillery, were the only troops stationed there, and
these were rather to look out for and report the approach of whatever
American boats might be seen stealing along their own channel, than with
any view to the serious defence of a post already sufficiently commanded
by the adjacent fortress. In every other direction the island was
thickly wooded--not a house, not a hut arose, to diversify the wild
beauty of the scene. Frequently, it is true, along the margin of its
sands might be seen a succession of Indian wigwams, and the dusky and
sinewy forms of men gliding round their fires, as they danced to the
monotonous sound of the war dance; but these migratory people seldom
continuing long in the same spot, the island was again and again left to
its solitude.
Strongly contrasted with this, would the spectator, whom we still
suppose standing on the bank where we first placed him, find the view on
his left. There would he have beheld a small town, composed entirely of
wooden houses variously and not inelegantly painted; and receding
gradually from the river's edge to the slowly disappearing forest, on
which its latest rude edifice reposed. Between the town and the fort,
was to be seen a dockyard of no despicable dimensions, in which the hum
of human voices mingled with the sound of active labor--there too might
be seen, in the deep harbor of the narrow channel that separated the
town from the island we have just described, some half-dozen gallant
vessels bearing the colors of England, breasting with their dark prows
the rapid current that strained their creaking cables in every strand,
and seemingly impatient of the curb that checked them from gliding
impetuously into the broad lake, which, some few hundred yards below,
appeared to court them to her bosom. But although in these might be
heard the bustle of warlike preparation, the chief attention would be
observed to be directed towards a large half finished vessel, on which
numerous workmen of all descriptions were busily employed, evidently
with a view of preparing for immediate service.
Beyond the town again might be obtained a view of the high and
cultivated banks, sweeping in gentle curve until they at length
terminated in a low and sandy spot, called, from the name of its
proprietor, Elliott's point. This stretched itself towards the eastern
extremity of the island, so as to leave the outlet to the lake barely
wide enough for a single vessel to pass at a time, and that not without
skilful pilotage and much caution.
Assuming the reader to be now as fully familiar with the scene as
ourselves, let him next, in imagination, people it, as on the occasion
we have chosen for his introduction. It was a warm, sunny day, in the
early part of July. The town itself was as quiet as if the glaive of war
reposed in its sheath, and the inhabitants pursued their wonted
avocations with the air of men who had nothing in common with the active
interest which evidently dominated the more military portions of the
scene. It was clear that among these latter some cause for excitement
existed, for, independently of the unceasing bustle within the
dockyard--a bustle which however had but one undivided object, the
completion and equipment of the large vessel then on the stocks--the
immediate neighborhood of the fort presented evidence of some more than
ordinary interest. The encampment of the Indians on the verge of the
forest, had given forth the great body of their warriors, and these clad
in their gayest apparel, covered with feathers and leggings of bright
colors, decorated with small tinkling bells that fell not inharmoniously
on the ear, as they kept tune to the measured walk of their proud
wearers, were principally assembled around and in front of the large
building we have described as being without, yet adjacent to, the fort.
These warriors might have been about a thousand in number, and
amused themselves variously--(the younger at least)--with
leaping--wrestling--ball-playing--and the foot race--in all which
exercises they are unrivalled. The elders bore no part in these
amusements, but stood, or sat cross-legged on the edge of the bank,
smoking their pipes, and expressing their approbation of the prowess or
dexterity of the victors in the games, by guttural, yet rapidly uttered
exclamations. Mingled with these were some six or seven individuals,
whose glittering costume of scarlet announced them for officers of the
garrison, and elsewhere disposed, some along the banks and crowding the
battery in front of the fort, or immediately round the building, yet
quite apart from their officers, were a numerous body of the inferior
soldiery.
But although these distinct parties were assembled, to all appearance,
with a view, the one to perform in, the other to witness, the active
sports we have enumerated, a close observer of the movements of all
would have perceived there was something more important in
contemplation, to the enactment of which these exercises were but the
prelude. Both officers and men, and even the participators in the
sports, turned their gaze frequently up the Detroit, as if they expected
some important approach. The broad reach of the wide river, affording an
undisturbed view, as we have stated, for a distance of some nine or ten
miles, where commenced the near extremity of Turkey Island, presented
nothing, however, as yet, to their gaze, and repeatedly were the
telescopes of the officers raised only to fall in disappointment from
the eye. At length a number of small dark specks were seen studding the
tranquil bosom of the river, as they emerged rapidly, one after the
other, from the cover of the island. The communication was made, by him
who first discovered them, to his companions. The elder Indians who sat
near the spot on which the officers stood, were made acquainted with
what even their own sharp sight could not distinguish unaided by the
glass. One sprang to his feet, raised the telescope to his eye, and with
an exclamation of wonder at the strange properties of the instrument,
confirmed to his followers the truth of the statement. The elders,
principally chiefs, spoke in various tongues to their respective
warriors. The sports were abandoned, and all crowded to the bank with
anxiety and interest depicted in their attitudes and demeanor.
Meanwhile the dark specks upon the water increased momentarily in size.
Presently they could be distinguished for canoes, which, rapidly
impelled, and aided in their course by the swift current, were not long
in developing themselves to the naked eye. These canoes, about fifty in
number, were of bark, and of so light a description, that a man of
ordinary strength might, without undergoing serious fatigue, carry one
for miles. The warriors who now propelled them, were naked in all save
their leggings and waist cloths, their bodies and faces begrimed with
paint: and as they drew near, fifteen was observed to be the complement
of each. They sat by twos on the narrow thwarts; and, with their faces
to the prow, dipped their paddles simultaneously into the stream, with a
regularity of movement not to be surpassed by the most experienced
boat's crew of Europe. In the stern of each sat a chief guiding his bark
with the same unpretending but skilful and efficient paddle, and behind
him drooping in the breezeless air, and trailing in the silvery tide,
was to be seen a long pendant, bearing the red cross of England.
It was a novel and beautiful sight to behold that imposing fleet of
canoes, apparently so frail in texture that the dropping of a pebble
between the skeleton ribs might be deemed sufficient to perforate and
sink them, yet withal so ingeniously contrived as to bear safely not
only the warriors who formed their crews, but also their arms of all
descriptions, and such light equipment of raiment and necessaries as
were indispensable to men who had to voyage long and far in pursuit of
the goal they were now rapidly attaining. The Indians already encamped
near the fort, were warriors of nations long rendered familiar by
personal intercourse, not only with the inhabitants of the district, but
with the troops themselves; and these, from frequent association with
the whites, had lost much of that fierceness which is so characteristic
of the North American Indian in his ruder state. Among these, with the
more intelligent Hurons, were the remnants of those very tribes of
Shawnees and Delawares whom we have recorded to have borne, half a
century ago, so prominent a share in the confederacy against England,
but who, after the termination of that disastrous war, had so far
abandoned their wild hostility, as to have settled in various points of
contiguity to the forts to which they, periodically, repaired to receive
those presents which a judicious policy so profusely bestowed.
The reinforcement just arriving was composed principally of warriors who
had never yet pressed a soil wherein civilization had extended her
influence--men who had never hitherto beheld the face of a white, unless
it were that of the Canadian trader, who, at stated periods, penetrated
fearlessly into their wilds for purposes of traffic, and who to the
bronzed cheek that exposure had rendered nearly as swarthy as their own,
united not only the language but so wholly the dress--or rather the
undress of those he visited, that he might easily have been confounded
with one of their own dark-blooded race. So remote, indeed, were the
regions in which some of these warriors had been sought, that they were
strangers to the existence of more than one of their tribes, and upon
these they gazed with a surprise only inferior to what they manifested,
when, for the first time, they marked the accoutrements of the British
soldier, and turned with secret, but acknowledged awe and admiration
upon the frowning fort and stately shipping, bristling with cannon, and
vomiting forth sheets of flame as they approached the shore. In these
might have been studied the natural dignity of man. Firm of step--proud
of mien--haughty and penetrating of look, each leader offered in his own
person a model to the sculptor, which he might vainly seek elsewhere.
Free and unfettered every limb, they moved in the majesty of nature, and
with an air of dark reserve, passed, on landing, through the admiring
crowd.
There was one of the number, however, and his canoe was decorated with a
richer and a larger flag, whose costume was that of the more civilized
Indians, and who in nobleness of deportment, even surpassed those we
have last named. This was Tecumseh. He was not of the race of either of
the parties who now accompanied him, but of one of the nations, many of
whose warriors were assembled on the bank awaiting his arrival. As the
head chief of the Indians, his authority was acknowledged by all, even
to the remotest of these wild but interesting people, and the result of
the exercise of his all-powerful influence had been the gathering
together of those warriors, whom he had personally hastened to collect
from the extreme west, passing in his course and with impunity, the
several American posts that lay in their way.
It was amidst the blaze of a united salvo from the demi-lune crowning
the bank, and from the shipping, that the noble chieftain, accompanied
by the leaders of those wild tribes, leaped lightly, yet proudly to the
beach; and having ascended the steep bank by a flight of rude steps cut
out of the earth, finally stood amid the party of officers waiting to
receive them. It would not a little have surprised a Bond street
exquisite of that day to have witnessed the cordiality with which the
dark hand of the savage was successively pressed in the fairer palms of
the English officers, neither would his astonishment have been abated,
on remarking the proud dignity of carriage maintained by the former, in
this exchange of courtesy, as though, while he joined heart to hand
wherever the latter fell, he seemed rather to bestow than to receive a
condescension.
Had none of those officers ever previously beheld him, the fame of his
heroic deeds had gone sufficiently before the warrior to have insured
him their warmest greeting and approbation, and none could mistake a
form that, even amid those who were a password for native majesty, stood
alone in its bearing; but Tecumseh was a stranger to few. Since his
defeat on the Wabash he had been much at Amherstburg where he had
rendered himself conspicuous by one or two animated and highly eloquent
speeches, having for their object the consolidation of a treaty, in
which the Indian interests were subsequently bound in close union with
those of England; and, up to the moment of his recent expedition, had
cultivated the most perfect understanding with the English chiefs.
It might, however, be seen that even while pleasure and satisfaction at
a reunion with those he in turn esteemed, flashed from his dark and
eager eye, there was still lurking about his manner that secret jealousy
of distinction, which is so characteristic of the haughty Indian. After
the first warm salutations had passed, he became sensible of the absence
of the English chief; but this was expressed rather by a certain
outswelling of his chest, and the searching glance of his restless eye,
than by any words that fell from his lips. Presently, he whom he sought,
and whose person had hitherto been concealed by the battery on the bank,
was seen advancing towards him, accompanied by his personal staff. In a
moment the shade passed away from the brow of the warrior, and warmly
grasping and pressing, for the second time, the hand of a youth--one of
the group of junior officers among whom he yet stood, and who had
manifested even more than his companions the unbounded pleasure he took
in the chieftain's re-appearance--he moved forward, with an ardor of
manner that was with difficulty restrained by his sense of dignity, to
give them the meeting.
The first of the advancing party was a tall, martial looking man,
wearing the dress and insignia of a general officer. His rather florid
countenance was eminently fine, if not handsome, offering, in its more
Roman than Grecian contour, a model of quiet, manly beauty; while the
eye beaming with intelligence and candor, gave, in the occasional
flashes which it emitted, indication of a mind of no common order. There
was, notwithstanding, a benevolence of expression about it that blended
(in a manner to excite attention) with a dignity of deportment, as much
the result of habitual self command, as of the proud eminence of
distinction on which he stood. The sedative character of middle age,
added to long acquired military habits, had given a certain rigidity to
his fine form, that might have made him appear to a first observer even
older than he was, but the placidity of a countenance beaming good will
and affability, speedily removed the impression, and, if the portly
figure added to his years, the unfurrowed countenance took from them in
equal proportion.
At his side, hanging on his arm and habited in naval uniform, appeared
one who, from his familiarity of address with the General, not less than
by certain appropriate badges of distinction, might be known as the
commander of the little fleet then lying in the harbor. Shorter in
person than his companion, his frame made up in activity what it wanted
in height, and there was that easy freedom in his movements which so
usually distinguishes the carriage of the sailor, and which now offered
a remarkable contrast to that rigidity we have stated to have attached,
albeit unaffectedly, to the military commander. His eyes, of a much
darker hue, sparkled with a livelier intelligence, and although his
complexion was also highly florid, it was softened down by the general
vivacity of expression that pervaded his frank and smiling countenance.
The features, regular and still youthful, wore a bland and pleasing
character; while neither, in look, nor bearing, nor word could there be
traced any of that haughty reserve usually ascribed to the "lords of the
sea." There needed no other herald to proclaim him for one who had
already seen honorable service, than the mutilated stump of what had
once been an arm: yet in this there was no boastful display, as of one
who deemed he had a right to tread more proudly because he had chanced
to suffer, where all had been equally exposed, in the performance of a
common duty. The empty sleeve, unostentatiously fastened by a loop from
the wrist to a button of the lapel, was suffered to fall at his side,
and by no one was the deficiency less remarked than by himself.
The greeting between Tecumseh and these officers, was such as might be
expected from warriors bound to each other by mutual esteem. Each held
the other in the highest honor, but it was particularly remarked that
while the Indian Chieftain looked up to the General with the respect he
felt to be due to him, his address to his companion, whom he now beheld
for the first time, was warmer, and more energetic; and as he repeatedly
glanced at the armless sleeve, he uttered one of those quick ejaculatory
exclamations, peculiar to his race, and indicating, in this instance,
the fullest extent of approbation. The secret bond of sympathy which
chained his interest to the sailor, might have owed its being to another
cause. In the countenance of the latter there was much of that eagerness
of expression, and in the eye that vivacious fire, that flashed, even in
repose, from his own swarthier and more speaking features; and this
assimilation of character might have been the means of producing that
preference for, and devotedness to, the cause of the naval commander,
that subsequently developed itself in the chieftain. In a word, the
General seemed to claim the admiration and the respect of the
Indian--the Commodore, his admiration and friendship.
The greeting between these generous leaders was brief. When the first
salutations had been interchanged, it was intimated to Tecumseh, through
the medium of an interpreter then in attendance on the General, that a
war-council had been ordered, for the purpose of taking into
consideration the best means of defeating the designs of the Americans,
who, with a view to offensive operations, had, in the interval of the
warrior's absence, pushed on a considerable force to the frontier. The
council, however, had been delayed, in order that it might have the
benefit of his opinions and of his experience in the peculiar warfare
which was about to be commenced.
Tecumseh acknowledged his sense of the communication with the bold
frankness of the inartificial son of nature, scorning to conceal his
just self-estimate beneath a veil of affected modesty. He knew his own
worth, and while he overvalued not one iota of that worth, so did he not
affect to disclaim a consciousness of the fact--that within his swarthy
chest and active brain, there beat a heart and lived a judgment, as
prompt to conceive and execute as those of the proudest _he_ that ever
swayed the destinies of a warlike people. Replying to the complimentary
invitation of the General, he unhesitatingly said he had done well to
await his arrival, before he determined on the course of action, and
that he should now have the full benefit of his opinions and advice.
If the chief had been forcibly prepossessed in favor of the naval
commander the latter had not been less interested. Since his recent
arrival to assume the direction of the fleet, Commodore Barclay had had
opportunities of seeing such of the chiefs as were then assembled at
Amherstburg; but great as had been his admiration of several of these,
he had been given to understand they fell far short, in every moral and
physical advantage, of what their renowned leader would be found to
possess, when, on his return from the expedition in which he was
engaged, fitting opportunity should be had of bringing them in personal
proximity. This admission was now made in the fullest sense, and as the
warrior moved away to give the greetings to the several chiefs, and
conduct them to the council hall, the gallant sailor could not refrain
from expressing in the warmest terms to General Brock, as they moved
slowly forward with the same intention, the enthusiastic admiration
excited in him by the person, the manner, and the bearing, of the noble
Tecumseh.
Again the cannon from the battery and the shipping pealed forth their
thunder. It was the signal for the commencement of the council, and the
scene at that moment was one of the most picturesque that can well be
imagined. The sky was cloudless, and the river, no longer ruffled by the
now motionless barks of the recently arrived Indians, yet obeying the
action of the tide, offered, as it glided onward to the lake, the image
of a flood of quicksilver; while, in the distance that lake itself,
smooth as a mirror, spread far and wide. Close under the bank yet
lingered the canoes, emptied only of their helmsmen (the chiefs of the
several tribes,) while with strange tongues and wilder gestures, the
warriors of these, as they rested on their paddles, greeted the loud
report of the cannon--now watching with eager eye the flashes from the
vessel's sides, and now upturning their gaze, and following with wild
surprise, the deepening volumes of smoke that passed immediately over
their heads, from the guns of the battery, hidden from their view by
the elevated and overhanging bank. Blended with each discharge arose the
wild yell, which they, in such a moment of novel excitement, felt it
impossible to control, and this, answered by the Indians above, and
borne in echo almost to the American shore, had in it something
indescribably grand and startling. On the bank itself the scene was
singularly picturesque. Here were to be seen the bright uniforms of the
British officers, at the head of whom was the tall and martial figure of
General Brock, furthermore conspicuous from the full and drooping
feather that fell gracefully over his military hat, mingled with the
wilder and more fanciful head-dresses of the chiefs. Behind these again,
and sauntering at a pace that showed them to have no share in the
deliberative assembly, whither those we have just named were now
proceeding, amid the roar of artillery, yet mixed together in nearly as
great dissimilarity of garb, were to be seen numbers of the inferior
warriors and of the soldiery--while, in various directions, the games
recently abandoned by the adult Indians were now resumed by mere boys.
The whole picture was one of strong animation, contrasting as it did
with the quiet of the little post on the Island, where some twelve or
fifteen men, composing the strength of the detachment, were sitting or
standing on the battery, crowned, as well as the fort and shipping, and
in compliment to the newly arrived Indians, with the colors of England.
Such was the scene, varied only as the numerous actors in it varied
their movements, when the event occurred with which we commence our next
chapter.