"Mounted upon a hot and fiery steed which his aspiring rider
seemed to know."
--_Richard II._
As if in mockery of the climax of trial they were to be made to
undergo before its close, the 15th of August, 1812, dawned upon
the inmates of Fort Dearborn with a brilliancy even surpassing that
of the preceding day. Well do we, who chronicle these events,
recollect it; for while the little garrison, in recording whose
fate we take not less an interest than our readers can in the
perusal, were preparing to march out of the fort--to abandon scenes
and associations to which long habit had endeared them, and with
the almost certainty of meeting death at every step, we stood at
the battery which vomited destruction into the stronghold of him
who had counselled and commanded the advance upon Fort Wayne. It
has been a vulgar belief, fostered by his enemies, by those who
were desirous of relieving themselves from the odium of participation,
and of rising to power and consideration by the condemnation of
their chief, that the position of General Hull was one fraught with
advantage to himself and of disadvantage to his enemies. Nothing
can be more incorrect. The batteries, to which we have alluded,
had so completely attained the range of the Fort of Detroit, in
the small area of which were cooped up a force of nearly twenty-five
hundred men, that every shot that was fired told with terrible
effect, and not less than three officers of the small regular force
were killed or mutilated by one ball passing through the very heart
of their private apartments, into which it had, as if searchingly
and insidiously, found its way. To the left, moreover, was another
floating battery of large ships of war, preparing to vomit forth
their thunder, and distract the garrison and divide their fire,
which could be returned only from their immediate front bearing
on the river, that it soon became evident to the besiegers that
their enemy had no power to arrest or effectually check the fury
of their attack. But not this alone. Thousands of Indians had
occupied the ground in the rear, and only waited the advance of
the British columns, furnished also with artillery for an assault
in another quarter, to rush with the immolating tomahawk upon the
defenceless inhabitants of the town, and complete a slaughter to
which there would have been no parallel in warfare. They could not
have been restrained; their savage appetite for blood must have
been appeased, and of this fact General Hull had been apprised.
Moreover, five hundred of his force who had been detached under
Colonel Cass, were at no great distance, and had an effectual
resistance been made at Detroit--had blood been, as they would have
conceived, wantonly spilt, the exasperation of the Indians would
have been such that, in all probability, Colonel Cass would not at
the present day be a candidate for presidential honors, nor would
any of his force have shared a better fate. All these things we
state impartially and without fear of contradiction, because they
occurred under our own eyes, and because we believe that the people
of the United States do not understand the true difficulties by
which General Hull was beset. It may be very well, and is correct
enough in the abstract, to say that an officer commanding a post,
armed and garrisoned as Detroit was, ought to have annihilated
their assailants, but where, in the return of prisoners, is mention
made of artillerymen sufficient to serve even half the guns by
which the fortress was defended? The Fourth Regiment of the line
was there, but not the gallant Fourth Artillery, and every soldier
knows that that arm is often more injurious to friends than to foes
in the hands of men not duly trained to it. With the exception only
of the regiment first named, the army of General Hull consisted
wholly of raw levies chiefly from Ohio, expert enough at the rifle,
but utterly incompetent to serve artillery with effect. Again, the
greater the number of men the greater the disadvantage, unless at
the moment of assault, for it has already been shown that the
British battering guns had obtained the correct range, and half
the force had only canvas to cover them.
We pretend not, assume not, to be the panegyrist of General Hull,
but we have ever been of opinion that, as he expressed himself in
his official despatch to the commandant at Chicago, his principal
anxiety was in regard to the defenceless inhabitants; and that had
his been an isolated command, where men and soldiers only were the
actors, no consideration would have induced him to lose sight of
the order of the Secretary of War--that no post should be surrendered
without a battle. If he erred it was from motives of humanity alone.
But we return from our short digression to the little party in Fort
Dearborn.
As we have before remarked, the sun rose on their immediate
preparation for departure with a seemingly mocking brilliancy. None
had been in bed from early dawn; and as both officers and men
glanced, for the last time, from the ramparts upon the common, they
saw assembled around nearly the whole of the Indians, with arms in
their hands, and though not absolutely dressed in war dress, without
any of those indications of warriors prepared for a long march,
such as that meditated by the troops, while their tents still
remained standing.
"The prospect is gloomy enough," remarked Captain Wells, gravely;
"those follows have evidently been up all night and watching
the fort from a distance, to see whether an attempt might not be
made to 'steal a march' upon them in the dark--look yonder to the
loft, do you see that band crouching as the light becomes stronger
behind those sand hills? Mark me well if that is not the point from
which they will make their attack, if attack us they do! For myself,
I am prepared for the worst; and in order that they shall know how
much I mistrust them--nay, how certain I am of what they intend,
I shall head the advance with my brave warriors painted as black
as the devil himself. And so to prepare ourselves."
"Corporal Nixon, pull me down that flag," ordered Ensign Ronayne,
pointing to it, when the commanding officer had descended to give
directions for the formation of the line of march--"that is my
especial charge, and he who may take a fancy to it must win it with
my life."
The corporal replied not. He was not aware of the true position of
his young officer's lady, and he was afraid to give him pain by
making allusion to her. He, however, promptly obeyed, and when the
flag was lowered, and the lines cut away, assisted him in enfolding
it somewhat in the fashion of a Scotch tartan round his body.
At the moment when the flag came down, the Indians on the common
set up a tremendous yell. It was evidently that of triumph at the
unmistakable evidence of the immediate evacuation of the fort.
The hot blood of Ronayne could not suffer this with impunity. At
the full extent of his lungs he pealed back a yell of defiance,
which attracted the general notice towards himself, standing erect
as he did with the bright and brilliant colors of the silken flag
flashing in the sun. Among those who were nearest to him was
Pee-to-tum, over whose wounded eye had been drawn a colored
handkerchief as a bandage. The Chippewa shook his tomahawk menacingly
at him, and motioned as though he would represent the act of tearing
the flag from his body.
The shout and its cause were heard and known below. Captain Headley
returned to the rampart, and with much excitement in his manner
and tone, inquired of the young officer what he meant by such
imprudence of conduct at such a moment--when they were about to
place themselves, almost defenceless, at the mercy of those whom
he so wantonly provoked.
"It ill becomes you, sir," returned the Virginian, fiercely and
sarcastically, "to talk to me of imprudence, who but follow your
example of yesterday. Where was the prudence, I ask, which induced
you to compromise not only your own life, but the lives of all, in
spitting first, then dashing your glove, into the face of the
Chippewa?"
"If you dare to question the propriety of my conduct, sir," returned
his commanding officer, "know that the act was provoked--unavoidable,
if we would respect ourselves and command the respect of our enemies.
Pee-to-tum had insulted the American people by contemptuously
trampling under foot the medal that had been given to him by the
President. Join your company, sir! What tomfoolery is that?" alluding
to the manner in which the colors were disposed of. "Remove those
colors!"
"That tomfoolery," returned Ronayne, his cheek paling with passion
as he descended to the parade, "means that I know what you do not,
Captain Headley--how to defend the colors intrusted to my care. I
will not remove them."
"This fills the measure of your insolence, Mr. Ronayne," returned
the commandant; "you will have a heavy account to settle by the
time you reach Fort Wayne."
"The sooner the better; but if we do reach it, it will be from no
merit of arrangement of yours," returned the subaltern, as he placed
himself in his allotted station in the company.
It may and must appear not only surprising, but out of character
to the reader, that such language should pass between two
officers--and these unquestionably gentlemen--of the regular
service--the one in command, the other filling the lowest grade of
the commissioned service; but so it was. The high spirit of the
Virginian had ever manifested deep impatience under what he considered
to be the unnecessary martinetism of Capt. Headley, and there had
always existed, from the moment of joining of the former, a
disposition to run restive under his undue exercise of authority.
This feeling had been greatly increased since the resolution taken
by Capt. Headley to retreat after giving away the presents and
ammunition to the Indians, not only because it was a most imprudent
step, but because while the fort was maintained, there was the
greater chance of his again being reunited, through the
instrumentality of Wau-nan-gee, to his wife. Perhaps had he known
the sincere sympathy which Capt. Headley entertained for him at
the grief occasioned by her loss, or the knowledge he had obtained
of her supposed guilt, which, notwithstanding all their little
differences, he guarded with so much delicacy, this bitterness of
feeling would have been much qualified; but he was ignorant of the
fact, and only on one occasion, and for a moment as has been seen,
suspected that Mrs. Headley had, under the seal of confidence and
from a presumed necessity, betrayed his secret. If the history of
that time did not record these frequent and strong expressions of
dissatisfaction and discontent between the captain and the ensign,
we should feel that we were violating consistency in detailing
them; but they were so, and the only barrier to an open and more
marked rupture existed in the person of Mrs. Headley, whom Ronayne
loved and honored as though she had been his own mother, and who,
on her part, often pleaded his generous warmth of temperament and
more noble qualities of heart in mitigation of the annoyance and
anger of her husband.