On the 18th, Harrison returned to Fort Wayne, where he met General

Winchester, with reinforcements from Ohio and Kentucky, in all about

two thousand men. Winchester ranked Harrison, and the latter finding

himself superseded, was about to retire. The President, however,

restored him to his original command, and he continued his march

northward. [Sidenote: Sept.] In the latter part of this month he was

at Fort Defiance. Leaving his troops there, he returned to the

settlements to organize and hasten up the forces designed to

constitute the centre and right wing of his army. Abandoning his

original plan of boldly marching on Detroit and recapturing it at

once, he determined to advance in three different columns, by as many

different routes, to the Miami Rapids, thence move suddenly to

Brownstown, cross the river and seize Malden, which had so annoyed

Hull. All along the highways and rude half-trodden paths, and skirting

the banks of rivers that rolled through nothing but primeval forests

from their sources to the lakes, squads of men, some mounted, some in

uniform, but the most part in the rough frontiersman costume, were

seen toiling northward, to avenge the disgrace of Hull. Their

camp-fires lit up the wilderness by night, and their boisterous mirth

filled it with echoes by day. A more motley band of soldiers were

never seen swarming to battle.

CHAPTER IV.

Operations on the New York frontier -- Battle of Queenstown

-- Death of Brock -- Scott a prisoner -- General Smythe's

Proclamation and abortive attempts -- Cursed by the army --

Duel with General Porter -- Retires in disgrace --

Dearborn's movements and failures -- Review of the campaign

on the New York frontier -- Character of the officers and

soldiers.

While Harrison's forces were thus scattered amid the forests and

settlements of Ohio and Indiana, the army along the Niagara frontier

had begun to move. At this time every eye in the land was turned

northward. That long chain of Mediterraneans, whose shores were

fringed with hostile armies, from Sackett's Harbor to where they lost

themselves in the forests of the north-west, became an object of the

deepest interest. Every rumor that the wind bore across the

wilderness, or that, following the chains of settlements along the

rivers reached the haunts of civilization, was caught up with avidity.

The discomfiture of Hull had filled every heart with trembling

solicitude for the fate of our other armies. Defeat in the west, and

incomprehensible delays in the east, had changed the Canadas from a

weak province, to be overrun by the first invader, into a Gibraltar

against which the entire strength of the nation must be hurled.

I have stated before that Dearborn, commanding the forces on the

Niagara and northern frontier, instead of making a diversion in favor

of Hull, by crossing the Niagara and drawing attention to himself, had

been coaxed into an armistice with Provost, the English Governor, in

which Hull had been left out. This armistice was asked and granted, on

the ground that dispatches had been received, announcing the

revocation of the orders in council. One great cause of the war being

thus removed, it was hoped that peace might be restored. The result

was as we have seen; the British commander immediately dispatched

Brock to Malden, to capture Hull, from which successful expedition he

was able to return before the armistice was broken off. General

Dearborn clung to this absurd armistice, as if it were the grandest

stroke of diplomacy conceivable. He carried his attachment so far as

to disobey the express command of his Government, to break it off.

[Sidenote: August 24.] At length, however, this nightmare ended, and

preparations were made for a vigorous autumnal campaign.

The northern army, numbering between eight and ten thousand soldiers,

was principally concentrated at two points. One portion was encamped

near Plattsburg and Greenbush, commanded by General Dearborn, in

person, the other at Lewistown, was under the direction of General

Stephen Van Rensalaer, of the New York militia, while 1,500 regulars,

under General Smythe, lay at Buffalo, a few miles distant. There were

a few troops stationed also at Ogdensburg, Sackett's Harbor, and Black

Rock.

The discontent produced by Hull's surrender, and the loud complaints

against the inaction of the northern army, together with the

consciousness that something must be done to prevent the first year of

war from closing in unmixed gloom, induced General Van Rensalaer to

make a bold push into Canada, and by a sudden blow attempt to wrest

Jamestown from the enemy, and there establish his winter quarters.

The cutting out of two English brigs[19] from under the guns of Fort

Erie, by Lieutenant Elliot with some fifty volunteers, created an

enthusiasm in the American camp of which General Van Rensalaer

determined to avail himself.

[Footnote 19: One of those, the Caledonia, afterwards did good service

as a part of the fleet of Perry on Lake Erie. The other having gone

aground, was burnt, to prevent recapture.]

The command of the expedition was given to his cousin, Col. Solomon

Van Rensalaer, a brave and chivalric officer, who on the 13th of

October, at the head of three hundred militia, accompanied by Col.

Chrystie with three hundred regular troops, prepared to cross the

river. It wanted still an hour to daylight when the two columns stood

in battle array on the shore. Through carelessness, or inability to

obtain them, there were not sufficient boats to take all over at once,

and they were compelled to cross in detachments. The boat which

carried Col. Chrystie being badly managed, was swept away by the

current, and finally compelled to re-land on the American shore. This

gallant officer was wounded while thus drifting in the stream, yet

soon after he made another attempt to cross, and succeeding, led his

troops nobly until the close of the action.

Col. Van Rensalaer having effected a landing, formed on the shore and

marched forward. The whole force at this time did not exceed one

hundred men. These, however, were led up the bank where they halted to

wait the junction of the other troops that kept arriving, a few boat

loads at a time. But daylight now having dawned, the exposed position

of this detachment rendered it a fair mark for the enemy, who

immediately opened their fire upon it. In a few minutes every

commissioned officer was either killed or wounded. Col. Van Rensalaer

finding that the bank of the river afforded very little shelter,

determined with the handful under him to storm the heights. But he had

now received four wounds, and was compelled to surrender the command

to Captains Ogilvie and Wool,[20] who gallantly moved forward, and

carried the fort and heights. The enemy were driven into a strong

stone house, from which they made two unsuccessful attempts to recover

the ground they had lost. Brock, flushed with the easy victory he had

gained over Hull, rallied them by his presence, and while attempting

to lead on the grenadiers of the 49th, fell mortally wounded. This for

a time gave the Americans undisturbed possession of the heights, and

great efforts were made to bring over the other troops. General Van

Rensalaer, after the fall of his cousin, crossed and took the command,

but hastening back to urge on the embarkation of the militia, it

devolved on General Wadsworth.

[Footnote 20: Now General Wool.]

Daylight had seen this brave little band form on the shores of the

river under a galling fire--the morning sun glittered on their

bayonets from the heights of Queenstown, and the victory seemed won.

The day so gloriously begun would have closed in brighter effulgence,

had not the militia on the farther side refused to cross over to the

assistance of their hard-pressed comrades. A stone house near the bank

defended by two light pieces of artillery, still played on the boats

that attempted to cross, and the Americans on the Canada side, having

no heavy artillery, were unable to take it. The firing from this, and

soon after the appearance of a large body of Indians on the field of

battle, so frightened the militia, that neither entreaties nor threats

could induce them to embark. Through utter want of orderly management,

half of the twenty boats had been destroyed or lost; still it was not

the lack of means of transportation that held them back, but

_conscientious scruples about invading an enemy's territory_.

Attempting to mask their cowardice under this ridiculous plea, they

stood and saw the dangers thicken around their comrades who had relied

on their support, without making a single effort to save them from

destruction.

Lieutenant-colonel Scott by a forced march through mud and rain, had

arrived at Lewistown with his regiment at four o'clock in the morning,

just as the troops were embarking. He begged permission to take part

in the expedition, but the arrangements having all been made, his

request was denied. He therefore planted his guns on the shore and

opened his fire on the enemy. But seeing how small a proportion of the

troops were got across, and perceiving also the peril of Van

Rensalaer's detachment, his young and gallant heart could not allow

him to remain an idle spectator, and taking one piece of artillery he

jumped into a boat with his adjutant Roach, and pushed for the

opposite shore. Wadsworth immediately gave the command of the troops

to him, and his chivalric bearing and enthusiastic language soon

animated every heart with new courage. Six feet five inches in height

and in full uniform, he presented a conspicuous mark for the enemy and

a rallying point to the troops. Had his regiment been with him,

Queenstown would have been a second Chippewa.

Considerable reinforcements, however, had arrived, swelling the

number to six hundred, of whom three hundred and fifty were regular

troops. These, Scott, assisted by the cool and skillful Capt.

Zitten, soon placed in the most commanding positions, and waited for

further reinforcements. Just before, a body of five hundred Indians,

whom the firing had suddenly collected, joined the beaten light

troops of the English. Encouraged by this accession of strength, the

latter moved again to the assault, but were driven back in

confusion. Still the enemy kept up a desultory engagement. On one

occasion, the Indians, issuing suddenly from the forest, surprised a

picket of militia, and following hard on their flying traces,

carried consternation into that part of the line. Scott, who was in

the rear, showing the men how to unspike a gun, hearing the tumult,

hastened to the front, and rallying a few platoons, scattered those

wild warriors with a single blow. But while the day was wearing away

in this doubtful manner, a more formidable foe appeared on the

field. General Sheaffe, commanding at Fort George, had heard the

firing in the morning; and a little later the news of the death of

Brock was brought him. His forces were immediately put in motion,

and soon after midday the little band that had from day dawn bravely

breasted the storm, saw from the heights they had so bravely won, a

column eight hundred and fifty strong, approaching the scene of

combat--not in haste or confusion, but with the slow and measured

tread of disciplined troops. These few hundred Americans watched its

progress with undaunted hearts, and turned to catch the outlines of

their own advancing regiments, but not a bayonet was moving to their

help. At this critical moment news arrived of the shameful mutiny

that had broken out on the opposite shore. The entreaties of Van

Rensalaer, and the noble example of Wadsworth, and the increasing

peril of their comrades, were wholly unavailing--not a soul would

stir. This sealed the fate of the American detachment. A few

hundred, sustained by only one piece of artillery against the

thirteen hundred of the enemy--their number when the junction of the

advancing column with the remaining troops and the Indian allies

should be effected--constituted hopeless odds. General Van

Rensalaer, from the opposite shore, saw this, and sent word to

Wadsworth to retreat at once, and he would send every boat he could

lay hands on to receive the fugitives. He, however, left everything

to the judgment of the latter. Colonels Chrystie and Scott, of the

regulars, and Mead, Strahan, and Allen of the militia, and officers

Ogilvie, Wool, Totten, and Gibson McChesney, and others, presented a

noble yet sorrowful group, as they took council over this message of

the commander-in-chief. Their case was evidently a hopeless one, yet

they could not make up their minds to retreat. Col. Scott, mounting

a log in front of his troops, harangued them in a strain worthy of

the days of chivalry. He told them their condition was desperate,

but that Hull's surrender must be redeemed. "Let us then die," he

exclaimed, "arms in hand. Our country demands the sacrifice. The

example will not be lost. The blood of the slain will make heroes of

the living. Those who follow will avenge our fall, and our country's

wrongs. Who dare to stand?" A loud "ALL!" rang sternly along the

line.[21] In the mean time Gen. Sheaffe had arrived, but instead of

advancing immediately to the attack, slowly marched his column the

whole length of the American line, then countermarched it, as if to

make sure that the little band in front of him was the only force he

had to overcome. All saw at a glance that resistance was useless,

and retreat almost hopeless. The latter, however, was resolved

upon, but the moment the order was given to retire, the whole broke

in disorderly flight towards the river. To their dismay, no boats

were there to receive them, and a flag of truce was therefore sent

to the enemy. The messenger, however, never returned; another and

another shared the same fate. At last Scott tied a white

handkerchief to his sword, and accompanied by Captains Totten and

Gibson, crept under one of the precipices, down the river, till he

arrived where a gentle slope gave an easy ascent, when the three

made a push for the road, which led from the valley to the heights.

On the way they were met by Indians, who firing on them, rushed

forward with their tomahawks, to kill them. They would soon have

shared the fate of the other messengers, but for the timely arrival

of a British officer, with some soldiers who took them to Gen.

Sheaffe, to whom Scott surrendered his whole force. Two hundred and

ninety-three were all that survived of the brave band who had

struggled so long and so nobly for victory. Several hundred militia,

however, were found concealed along the shore, who had crossed over,

but skulked away in the confusion.

[Footnote 21: Mansfield's Life of Scott.]

The entire loss of the Americans in this unfortunate expedition,

killed and captured, was about one thousand men.

General Van Rensalaer, disgusted with the conduct of the militia, soon

after sent in his resignation.

Brock was buried the following day "under one of the bastions of Fort

George," and at the request of Scott, then a prisoner, minute guns

were fired from Fort Niagara during the funeral ceremonies. Above the

dull distant roar of the cataract, the minute guns of friends and foes

pealed over the dead, as with shrouded banners the slowly marching

column bore him to his last resting place. Cannon that but a few hours

before had been exploding in angry strife on each other, now joined

their peaceful echoes over his grave. Such an act was characteristic

of Scott, who fierce and fearless in battle, was chivalrous and kind

in all his feelings.

While a prisoner in an inn at Niagara, Scott was told that some one

wished to see the "tall American." He immediately passed through into

the entry, when to his astonishment he saw standing before him two

savage Indian chiefs, the same who had attempted to kill him when he

surrendered himself a prisoner of war. They wished to look on the man

at whom they had so often fired with a deliberate aim. In broken

English, and by gestures, they inquired where he was hit, for they

believed it impossible that out of fifteen or twenty shots not one had

taken effect. The elder chief, named Jacobs, a tall, powerful savage,

became furious at Scott's asserting that not a ball had touched him,

and seizing his shoulders rudely, turned him round to examine his

back. The young and fiery Colonel did not like to have such freedom

taken with his person by a savage, and hurling him fiercely aside,

exclaimed, "Off, villain, you fired like a squaw." "We kill you now,"

was the quick and startling reply, as knives and tomahawks gleamed in

their hands. Scott was not a man to beg or run, though either would

have been preferable to taking his chances against these armed

savages. Luckily for him, the swords of the American officers who had

been taken prisoners, were stacked under the staircase beside which he

was standing. Quick as thought he snatched up the largest, a long

sabre, and the next moment it glittered unsheathed above his head. One

leap backward, to get scope for play, and he stood towering even above

the gigantic chieftain, who glared in savage hate upon him. The

Indians were in the wider part of the hall, between the foot of the

stairs and the door, while Scott stood farther in where it was

narrower. The former, therefore, could not get in the rear, and were

compelled to face their enemy. They manoeuvred to close, but at every

turn that sabre flashed in their eyes. The moment they should come to

blows, one, they knew, was sure to die, and although it was equally

certain that Scott would fall under the knife of the survivor before

he could regain his position, yet neither Indian seemed anxious to be

the sacrifice. While they thus stood watching each other, a British

officer chanced to enter, and on beholding the terrific tableau, cried

out, "The guard," and at the same instant seized the tallest chief by

the arm and presented a cocked pistol to his head. The next moment the

blade of Scott quivered over the head of the other savage, to protect

his deliverer. In a few seconds the guards entered with levelled

bayonets, and the two chieftains were secured. One of them was the son

of Brant, of revolutionary notoriety.

The prisoners were all taken to Quebec, whence they were sent in a

cartel to Boston. As they were about to sail, Scott, who was in the

cabin of the transport, hearing a noise on deck, went up to ascertain

the cause, and found that the British officers were separating the

Irishmen, to exclude them from mercy due to the other prisoners, and

have them taken to England and tried for treason. Twenty-three had

thus been set apart when he arrived. Indignant at this outrage, he

peremptorily ordered the rest of the men to keep silent and not answer

a question of any kind, so that neither by their replies or voice they

could give any evidence of the place of their birth. He then turned to

the doomed twenty-three, and denounced the act of the officers, and

swore most solemnly that if a hair of their heads was touched, he

would avenge it, even if he was compelled to refuse quarter in battle.

Soon after he reached Boston, he was sent to Washington, and in a

short time was exchanged. He then drew up a report of the whole affair

to the Secretary of War, and it was presented the same day to

Congress. The result was the passage of an act of retaliation (March

3d, 1813.)

[Sidenote: Nov. 10.]

General Van Rensalaer having resigned his commission, making the

second general disposed of since the commencement of hostilities, the

command on the Niagara frontier devolved on General Smythe, who issued

a proclamation to the "men of New York," which was of itself a

sufficient guarantee that he would soon follow Hull into worse than

oblivion. In it, after speaking of the failure of the former

expedition, he said, "Valor had been conspicuous, but the nation

unfortunate in the selection of some of those directing it"----"the

commanders were popular men, destitute alike of theory and experience

in the art of war." "In a few days," said he, "the troops under my

command will plant the American standard in Canada to conquer or die."

He called on all those desirous of honor or fame, to rally to his

standard. He was not one of the incompetent generals whose plans

failed through ignorance. Portions of his proclamations, however, were

well adapted to rouse the military spirit of the state, and in less

than three weeks he had nearly five thousand men under his command.

His orders from the Secretary of War, were, not to attempt an

invasion with "less than three thousand combatants," and with

sufficient boats to carry the whole over together.

Seventy boats and a large number of scows having been collected at

Black Rock, he issued his orders for the troops to be in readiness

early on the morning of the 28th of November, to cross over and attack

the enemy.

Previous to the main movement, however, he sent over two detachments,

one under Colonel Boestler, and the other under Captain King--the

former to destroy a bridge five miles below Fort Erie, in order to cut

off the communication between it and Chippewa, while the latter, with

a hundred and fifty regular troops and seventy seamen, was to carry

the "Red House," and storm the British batteries on the shore.

The boats pushed off at midnight, and were soon struggling in the

centre of the stream. Of Colonel Boestler's seven boats, containing

two hundred men, only three reached the Canada shore. With less than

half his force he advanced and easily routed the guard, but hearing

that a British reinforcement was marching up, he retreated without

destroying the bridge, and re-embarked his men. Captain King started

with ten boats, but six of them were scattered in the darkness, and

only four reached the point of attack. Among these, however, were the

seventy seamen. The advance of the boats having been seen by the

sentinels on watch, the little detachment was compelled to land under

a shower of grape shot and musketry.

The sailors without waiting the order of a regular march, rushed up

the bank with their boarding pikes and cutlasses, stormed the

position, and carried it with loud huzzas. After securing some

prisoners and tumbling two cannon and their caissons into the river,

Lieutenant Angus began to look around for Captain King. The latter

directing his force on the exterior batteries, carried the first by

the bayonet, when the other was abandoned. The position and all the

batteries being taken, the firing had ceased, and Lieutenant Angus

marched his sailors, with the wounded and prisoners, to the shore to

wait for Captain King, and recross the river. Finding only four boats

there, and ignorant that no more had landed, he concluded that the

former had already re-embarked his troops; he therefore launched these

and made good his retreat to the American shore. In a short time

Captain King arrived, and to his amazement found all the boats gone.

After a short search, however, he discovered two belonging to the

enemy, in which he despatched the prisoners he had taken, and as many

of his men as they would hold. He remained behind with the remainder

of his detachment, and was soon after compelled to surrender himself

prisoner of war.

On the return of Boestler and Angus without Captain King and the rest

of the detachment, Colonel Winder volunteered to go in search of them.

But, as he approached the opposite shore, he found all the batteries

re-established, which opened their fire upon him, compelling him to

return with the loss of six killed and twenty-six wounded. In fact his

own boat was the only one that touched land at all--the others being

carried down by the force of the stream.

Through some unaccountable delay, the main body, to which the two

detachments sent off at midnight were designed as an advance guard,

did not embark till twelve o'clock next day. But at length two

thousand men under General Porter, were got on board, while General

Tannehill's volunteers and M'Clure's regiment were drawn up on the

shore ready to follow. As if on purpose to give his adversary time for

ample preparation, thus imitating the fatal examples of Dearborn and

Hull, Smythe kept his men paraded on the beach in full view of the

Canada shore, till late in the afternoon. He then, instead of giving

the anxiously expected order to advance, commanded the whole to

debark. Indignation and rage at this vacillating, pusillanimous

conduct seized the entire army, and curses and loud denunciations were

heard on every side. General Porter boldly and openly accused his

commander of cowardice. The latter, frightened at the storm he had

raised, promised that another attempt should be made the next day. It

was resolved to cross at a place five miles below the navy yard, and

the following day, at four o'clock, nearly the entire army was

embarked. General Porter with the American colors floating from the

stern of his boat, was in advance, to show that he asked no man to go

where he would not lead. But when all was ready, and at the moment

when every one expected to hear the signal to move forward, an order

was passed along the line directing the troops to be relanded,

accompanied with the announcement that the invasion of Canada was for

that season abandoned. A shout of wrath burst from the whole army.

Many of the militia threw away their arms and started for their homes,

while fierce threats against the General's life were publicly made by

the remaining troops. He was branded as a coward, shot at in the

streets, and without even the form of a trial, was driven in scorn and

rage from the army, and chased and mobbed by an indignant people from

the state he had dishonored. Before he retired, however, he made an

absurd attempt to retrieve his honor by challenging General Porter to

mortal combat. They met on Grand Island and exchanged shots without

effect. The seconds having published the transaction in a Buffalo

paper, "congratulated the public on the happy issue." In commenting on

this, Ingersoll very pithily remarks, "The public would have

preferred a battle in Canada."

Beginning at the extreme north-west, and continuing along the lakes to

Niagara, we had met with nothing but defeat. Only one more army was

left to lift the nation out of the depths of gloom by its

achievements, or deepen the night in which the year 1812 was closing.

General Dearborn, the commander-in-chief, had an army of three

thousand regulars and as many more militia, with the power to swell

his force to ten thousand if he thought proper. The plan of government

to conquer Canada through Hull's invasion from Detroit, Van

Rensalaer's and Smythe's from Niagara, both to be supported and their

triumph secured by the advance of Dearborn, had fallen to the ground,

and the latter was passing the autumn in idleness.

General Brown, who commanded the militia appointed for the defence of

the eastern shore of Lake Ontario and southern shore of St. Lawrence,

exhibited, at Ogdensburg, the first indications of those qualities of

a great commander which afterwards developed themselves on the scene

of Van Rensalaer's and Smythe's defeats and failures. Colonel Forsyth

having made a successful incursion into Canada with a noble body of

riflemen, twice defeating double his numbers and burning a block house

with stores; the British, in retaliation, attacked Ogdensburg. On the

2d of October they commenced a cannonade from their batteries at

Prescott, on the opposite side of the river. This harmless waste of

ammunition was continued for two days, when it was resolved to storm

the town. Six hundred men were embarked in forty boats, and under

cover of the batteries, pulled steadily across the river. General

Brown could collect but four hundred militia to oppose them, but

having posted these judiciously, they were able to keep up such a

deadly fire on the enemy that every attempt to land proved abortive,

and the whole detachment was compelled to withdraw to the Canada

shore.

There was, during the summer, a good deal of skirmishing along the

frontier, forming interludes to the more important movements. Colonel

Pike on the 19th of the same month made an incursion into Canada,

surprised a body of British and Indians, and burnt a block-house.

Three days after, Captain Lyon captured forty English at St. Regis,

together with a stand of colors and despatches from the Governor

General to an Indian tribe. The colors were taken by William M. Marcy.

[Sidenote: Nov. 20.]

Thus the autumn wore away, till at last, Dearborn seemed to awake

from his torpor. Moving his army from the little town of Champlain,

he forded the La Cole, and attacked and captured an English

block-house. The grand movement had now commenced, and the British

Governor-General prepared to meet the most serious invasion that had

yet been attempted. But to his astonishment he discovered that all

this display of force was to obtain possession of a guard-house, and

retain it for half an hour. This feat being accomplished, General

Dearborn, amid much confusion, marched his six thousand men back

again, and resting on his honors soon after retired into winter

quarters. After protracted delays and unaccountable inaction, he

seemed at last to feel the necessity of obeying the urgent orders of

the government, "_not to lose a moment in attacking the British

posts in his front_." These he had now obeyed to the letter--he had

_attacked_ a block-house and fled. The great tragedy had begun and

ended in a farce. The surrender of Hull was an unmitigated disgrace,

and the nation turned towards Niagara for relief. The failure of Van

Rensalaer was not unmixed with consolation. He and the officers and

men who bore the brunt of that day's battle, had shown what American

troops could do. Van Rensalaer has been charged with acting rashly,

and exposing himself to discomfiture, when success would have been

of no advantage. But those who suppose that a victory is fruitless,

because no important position is gained, or territory is wrested

from the enemy, commit a vital error. They forget that _moral_ power

is half, even when every thing depends on hard blows. When

confidence is lost, and despondency has taken the place of courage

and hope, a battle that should restore these would be a victory, at

almost any sacrifice. So Van Rensalaer thought, and justly. His

preparations and mode of procedure were not careful and prudent, as

they should have been, exhibiting a want of thoroughness which a

longer experience would have rectified; still, his plan might have

succeeded but for the dastardly conduct of the militia, and a new

impulse been given to the movements along the northern frontier.

This cowardly behavior of his troops he could not anticipate, for

they had hitherto shown no disinclination to fight. At Hull's

surrender there were no indications of a craven spirit--on the

contrary, the soldiers cursed their commander, and the general

feeling was, that give the men a gallant leader and they would fight

bravely. Van Rensalaer knew that his troops would not fail through

reluctance on his part to lead them to battle, and it was enough to

break his noble heart, as he stood bleeding from four wounds, to see

them refuse to come to his rescue.

General Smythe's conduct admits of no apology. His excuse for

countermanding his last order, after the troops had embarked, is

groundless. He says that his orders were strict, not to attempt an

invasion of Canada with less than three thousand men, and that he but

fifteen hundred. Yet in his last attempt all but some two hundred of

his troops were actually embarked, when he commanded them to re-land.

He was either not aware how many soldiers composed his army until he

counted them as they lay off in their boats, ready to pull for the

opposite shore, or he knew it before. If the latter be true, why all

this display, designed to eventuate in nothing? On the other hand, the

confession of ignorance is still worse. This much is clear, all these

difficulties and objections could not have occurred to him for the

first time when he saw the army drawn up on shore or afloat. The

excuse, if honest, is worse than the act itself.

[Sidenote: Aug. 1.]

Dearborn's inactivity furnished less salient points of criticism, but

it was fully as culpable as Smythe's failure. In the first place, he

received orders from the Secretary of War to make a diversion in favor

of _Hull at Niagara and Kingston, as soon as possible_. His position

might have been such that no blame could attach to him for not making

such diversion, but nothing could warrant him in entering into an

armistice with the enemy, in which Hull was excluded. If he assumed

such a responsibility in the hope that peace would be secured, he was

bound to make as one of the first conditions, that no reinforcements

should be sent to Malden and Detroit. One such act is sufficient to

cause the removal of a commander, for he can never be an equal match

against a shrewd and energetic enemy. Prevost wrote to Gen. Brock: "_I

consider it_ most fortunate that I have been able to prosecute this

object of Government, (the armistice,) _without interfering with your

operations on the Detroit. I have sent you men, money, and stores of

all kinds._"[22]

[Footnote 22: Vide Life and Services of Sir George Provost.]

One cannot read this letter without feeling chagrin that the Senior

Major-General of the American army could be so easily overreached.

In the second place, his delay in breaking off this armistice when

peremptorily ordered by government, was clearly reprehensible, while

the fact that with an army of six thousand men under his immediate

command, he accomplished absolutely nothing, is incontrovertible proof

of his inefficiency as a commander. The isle of Aux Noix was

considered the key of Central Canada, and this he could have taken at

any moment and held for future operations; yet he went into winter

quarters without having struck a blow.

The troops, regular and militia, under his general direction, amounted

in the latter part of September to thirteen thousand men. Six thousand

three hundred were stationed along the Niagara, two thousand two

hundred at Sackett's Harbor, and five thousand on Lake Champlain. To

oppose this formidable force, Sir George Provost had not more than

three thousand troops,[23] and yet not even a battle had been fought,

if we except that of Van Rensalaer's detachment, while instead of

gaining we had lost both fortresses and territory.

[Footnote 23: Vide Armstrong's Notices of the War of 1812.]

One naturally inquires what could be the cause of such a complete

failure where success was deemed certain. In the first place, there

was not a man in the cabinet fit to carry out a campaign, however well

planned. The sudden concentration of so large a force on our northern

frontier, before reinforcements could arrive from England, was a wise

movement, and ought to have accomplished its purpose. But there the

wisdom ended, and vacillation and doubt took the place of promptness,

energy and daring.

In the second place, inefficient commanders were placed at the head of

our armies. Both Dearborn and Hull had been gallant officers in the

Revolution, but they were wholly unaccustomed to a separate command,

and while imitating the caution of their great exemplar, exhibited

none of his energy and daring. They remembered his Fabian inactivity,

but they forgot the overwhelming reasons that produced it, and forgot,

also, Trenton, Princeton and Monmouth.

In the third place, the militia were undisciplined and could not be

relied upon. The insubordination, unmilitary conduct, and recklessness

of rules which force a commander into extreme caution, lest his

semblance of an army should be annihilated, are not known to the

persons who coolly criticise him at a distance. These things are

doubtless an ample excuse for much that is unsparingly condemned.

Hence it is unjust to pronounce judgment on this or that action,

because it might apparently have been avoided, unless those actions

and the declarations of their author contradict each other, or stand

condemned by every interpretation of military rules.

In the commencement of the war we had neither an army nor generals

that could be trusted. The troops lacked confidence in their leaders,

and the latter had no confidence in their troops. Such mutual distrust

can result in nothing but failure. Our commanders were in an

embarrassing position, but they ought to have been aware that to

_fight_ their way out was the only mode of escape left them. Battles

make soldiers and develop generals. In the tumult and dangers of a

fierce fight, the cool yet daring officers, fertile in resources,

fierce in the onset, and stubborn and unconquered in retreat, are

revealed, and soon men are found who will follow where they lead, even

into hopeless combat. A spirit of emulation and valor succeeds

timidity and distrust.

The administration at this period was surrounded with great and

perplexing difficulties. With but the germ of a military academy,

efficient officers were scarce. The establishment of the school at

West Point was one of the wisest acts ever performed by this

government, and the attempt, a few years since, to destroy it, one

of the most unscrupulous, reckless and dangerous ever put forth by

ignorant demagogues. Our volunteers and militia have confidence in

men bred to the profession of arms. They yield them ready

obedience--submit to rigid discipline--while the method and skill

with which everything is conducted, impart confidence and

steadiness. A country like ours will never submit to the expense and

danger of a large standing army, nor do we need it if we can keep

well supplied with military schools. A few West Point officers on

the Canada frontier would have brought the campaign of 1812 to a

different close.

CHAPTER V.

THE NAVY.

The Cabinet resolves to shut up our ships of war in port --

Remonstrance of Captains Bainbridge and Stuart -- Rodgers

ordered to sea -- Feeling of the crews -- Chase of the

Belvidere -- Narrow escape of the Constitution from an

English fleet -- Cruise of the Essex -- Action between the

Constitution and Guerriere -- Effect of the Victory in

England and the United States -- United States takes the

Macedonian -- Lieutenant Hamilton carries the captured

colors to Washington -- Presented to Mrs. Madison in a

ball-room -- The Argus -- Action between the Wasp and Frolic

-- Constitution captures the Java -- Hornet takes the

Peacock -- Effect of these Victories abroad.

Having gone through the first campaigns on the Canadian frontier, I

leave for awhile the army of Harrison, swallowed up in the forests of

Ohio and surrounded by the gloom of a northern winter, toiling its way

towards Malden, and turn with a feeling of relief to the conduct of

our little navy during the summer that had passed.

As I stated before, our naval force amounted to but nine frigates and

a few sloops of war, while Great Britain had a hundred ships of the

line in commission, and more than a thousand vessels in all, bearing

the royal flag. Added to this stupendous difference in the number of

ships, was the moral power attached to the universally acknowledged

superiority of the British navy. England was recognized mistress of

the seas. The fleets of Spain, France and Holland had one after

another submitted to her sway, and fresh with still greater laurels

won under Nelson, her navy was looked upon as irresistible. A naval

contest on our part, therefore, was not dreamed of, and hence arose

the determination on the part of the Administration at Washington, to

convert our frigates into mere floating batteries for the protection

of harbors. But it must be remembered, weak as our navy appeared, it

was stronger at the declaration of war than the whole British force on

our coast. We had ships enough to blockade Halifax and Bermuda, and

bear undisputed sway until reinforcements could be sent across the

Atlantic. Our privateers in the revolution--the conduct of our ships

in the Bay of Tripoli had given evidence of what could be done, and

the determination of the Cabinet, therefore, to lay up the ships of

war before their metal had been tested--to leave the waters around our

coast vexed with British cruisers, when at least for six weeks we

could have kept them clear of the enemy, and in all probability

captured their entire squadron on the American station, is another

painful evidence of the utter incapacity of the administration to

carry on the war. If, in anticipation of hostilities, our whole fleet

had been collected and put in such order that it could have sailed at

an hour's notice, results would have been accomplished far greater

than those which followed.

Against our nine frigates, the President, United States, and

Constellation, of the first class, the Congress, Constitution, and the

Chesapeake of the second, the Essex, Adams, Boston and New York,[24]

together with several smaller vessels, there were on the Halifax

station but five frigates and some smaller vessels. The Africa,

sixty-four, was the only two decker on our coast, in active service.

The Halifax station could have been reinforced by the other two

stations, the Jamaica and Leeward Island, but not within a month,

which would have given us an opportunity of cutting them up in detail.

England, at this time, was so occupied with the momentous affairs in

Europe, that she kept her fleets on the eastern board of the Atlantic,

and ignorant of our naval strength, supposed the ships on the Halifax

station more than a match for the whole American navy. Had the British

fleet on this coast been captured, and an alliance offensive and

defensive formed with France, we should have struck the maritime power

of England a blow from which she never would have recovered. But the

outcries of the Federalists filled the administration with as much

dread of French alliance, as it entertained of the naval power of

England.

[Footnote 24: The Boston and New York were not ready for sea, but

could and would have been, had there been a determination on the part

of the Government to use the navy.]

Not only was the American Government innocent of all such plans for

the navy, but it did not even provide for the merchantmen which might

be approaching the American coast, and liable to be captured by the

most contemptible cruiser that sailed unmolested along our shores. No

nation ever before had the opportunity of doing so much with small

means, as circumstances placed in the hands of the American Government

at the commencement of the war, and threw it away so foolishly, so

unpardonably.

The insane project to lay up the American ships in harbor, was

defeated by two naval officers, to whom the nation owes perpetual

gratitude. Captains Bainbridge and Stewart were at Washington when the

subject was under discussion, and being shown the written orders to

Commodore Rodgers, to keep his fleet in the harbor of New York, as a

part of its defence, they sought an interview with the Secretary of

the Navy, and boldly remonstrated against this death-blow to the navy.

"If laid up in war, who would support it in peace?" Although told that

the thing was settled, so far as regarded the fleet in New York Bay,

they appealed with still greater urgency, and in the true spirit of

their profession, declared that the American commanders were capable

of taking care of their own ships; nay, in noble enthusiasm asserted,

that eight times out of ten, an American frigate would capture an

antagonist of equal metal.

The secretary was moved by their appeal, backed as it was with solid

argument, and took them to see the President. They made to him the

same statements which had so deeply impressed the Secretary of the

Navy. Moreover, they promised _victories_, a dream which had never

visited the brain of a member of the cabinet. "Eight times out of

ten," said they, "with equal force we can hardly fail--our men are

better men, and better disciplined; our midshipmen are not mere boys,

only fit to carry orders, but young men capable of reflection and

action. Our guns are sighted, which is an improvement of our own the

English know nothing of. While we can fire cannon with as sure an aim

as musketry, or almost rifles, striking twice out of every three

shots, they must fire at random, without sight of their object or

regard to the undulations of the sea, shooting over our heads, seldom

hulling us or even hitting our decks. We may be captured, and probably

shall be, even after taking prizes from them, because their numbers

are so much greater than ours. But the American flag will never be

dishonored, seldom if ever struck to equal force."[25] The President,

as well as the Secretary of the Navy, was swept away by the arguments

and gallant spirit of those officers, and suddenly remembered the

daring and success of the few ships of war and the privateersmen

during the Revolution.

[Footnote 25: Vide Ingersoll's History of the War of 1812.]

Seeing their advantage, these officers pressed it with redoubled

energy, until the President called a meeting of the cabinet to consult

on the matter. But Mr. Gallatin, to whose sagacity and foresight all

paid the most profound deference, treated the project as absurd. He

had studied European affairs too much, and the rising genius of this

country too little. Like many other wise statesmen, he could not

introduce into the elements from which he drew his conclusions, the

gallant spirit, lofty enthusiasm and indomitable courage, which then

pervaded our little navy. He saw only the tremendous maritime

preponderance against us, and hence, with all his patriotism and

wisdom, acted as a perpetual clog to the government till he was sent

abroad, and his counsels could no longer influence the cabinet.

But his advice that all maritime efforts should be confined to

privateers, prevailed, and Bainbridge and Stewart were told that the

decision which had been made respecting the national ships, could not

be changed. Undaunted by their repulse, they spent nearly the whole

night after this resolve had been made known to them, in drawing up a

remonstrance to the President. Having witnessed the effect of their

personal appeal to him, they determined to address him once more by

letter.

The language of that address was not softened by well rounded periods,

but plain and direct, placed the subject in its true aspect before Mr.

Madison, and put on him as Chief Magistrate of the Union, the

responsibility of keeping the navy from its legitimate field of

action. When this joint communication was laid before the Secretary of

the Navy, he objected to it as too strong and stern to present to the

President, and advised them to modify its language. They refused to do

so, and Mr. Madison instead of being offended at their plainness of

speech, took upon himself the responsibility of acting independent of

his cabinet, and assured them the vessels should be ordered to sea. No

one can tell the joy of these brave men, when they found the navy they

loved so well, was not to be dishonored, and elate with pride,

determined that the flag they had so long carried over the sea, should

never be struck but with honor.

The naval officers knew that the country reposed no confidence in its

marine force, and Captains Bainbridge and Stewart, anticipating the

doom they had struggled so noble to avert, had determined to go to

sea in a privateer which the latter had purchased.[26] With a band of

hardy seamen about them, and each serving in rotation as captain and

first officer, they resolved to claim the right of the American flag

to the high seas.[27]

[Footnote 26: The Snapper, which, under Peregrine Green, was soon

after captured off the Capes of the Delaware.]

[Footnote 27: Vide Cooper's Naval History; Harris' Life of Bainbridge;

Memoir of Commodore Stewart; Naval Chronicle; and Ingersoll's History

of the War of 1812.]

At this time there were in the port of New York, the President,

forty-four; Essex, thirty-two; and Hornet, eighteen; to which, on the

21st of June, were added the United States, forty-four; Congress,

thirty-eight; and Argus, sixteen, all ready to sail in an hour's

notice, with the exception of the Essex, which was repairing her

rigging and restowing her hold. As soon as the President had

determined to send the vessels to sea, this squadron was put under the

command of Commodore Rogers, and he ordered to get under way at once,

and intercept a large fleet of Jamaica men which were reported to have

sailed, and by this time should be off the American coast. An hour

after Commodore Rogers received his orders, he was leading his

squadron down the Bay, and soon his canvas disappeared in the

distance.

From the joy that pervaded this little squadron, as the sails were

given to the wind, one would have supposed it was going to witness a

grand regatta, instead of to unequal and deadly strife with an enemy.

In the gallant hearts that trod those decks, existed none of the

timidity and distrust that weighed down the government. There was not

merely the determination of brave men entering on a desperate

conflict, but the buoyancy of confidence, the joy of those who were to

wipe out with their heavy broadsides the imputations cast on them by

their own countrymen, and hush forever, with their shouts of victory,

the boasting and mockery of their foe. The sailors partook of the

excitement, for it was a common enemy against which they were

going--the oppressor of seamen as well as the invader of national

rights. Says a midshipman on board the Hornet, in his Diary: "This

morning the declaration of war by the United States against Great

Britain was read. *** At ten o'clock, A. M., Commodore Rodgers hove

out the signal to weigh; never was anchor to the cathead sooner, nor

topsail sheeted home[28] to the masthead with more dispatch, than upon

the present occasion; the smallest boy on board seems anxious to meet

what is now looked upon as the common tyrant of the ocean, for they

had heard the woeful tales of the older tars. ** When the ship was

under way, Captain Lawrence had the crew called to their quarters,

and told them that if there were any amongst them who were

disaffected, or one that had not rather sink than surrender to the

enemy, with gun for gun, that he should be immediately and uninjured,

landed and sent back in the pilot boat. The reply fore and aft

was--not one." Not one hesitating voice, but instead, three hearty

cheers, that made the vessel ring. With such a spirit did the first

squadron put to sea, and make its first claim, at the cannon's mouth,

to equal rights.

[Footnote 28: Vide Ingersoll's History of the War.]

[Sidenote: June 23.]

Two days after, Rodgers discovered, at six o'clock in the morning, an

English frigate to the north-east, and instantly crowded sail in

pursuit. The chase led down the wind, and the President being a fast

sailer when going free, soon gained on the stranger, leaving the

squadron far astern. At four o'clock she got within gunshot, but the

wind falling, gave the enemy the advantage, and Rodgers seeing that he

no longer gained on the chase, attempted to cripple it. The first gun

was pointed by the commodore himself, the shot of which struck the

English frigate in the stern, and passed on into the gun-room. This

was the first hostile gun fired on the sea after war was declared. The

second was pointed by Lieutenant Gamble, which also struck the enemy.

The third shot, directed by Rodgers himself, killed two men and

wounded five others. At the fourth shot, fired by Lieutenant Gamble,

the gun bursted, killing and wounding sixteen men. The Commodore was

flung into the air by the explosion, and fell back on deck with such

violence that his leg was broken. The enemy took heart at this

unexpected accident, and opened his fire. The President, however, soon

began to heave her shot again with such precision, that the British

frigate was compelled to cut away her anchors, throw overboard her

boats, and spring fourteen tons of water in order to lighten her. She

was by these means enabled to gain on her pursuers. Commodore Rodgers

finding the distance between them increasing, fired three broadsides,

which falling short, he abandoned the chase. The loss of the

President, in killed and wounded, was twenty-two, only six of whom

were damaged by the shot of the enemy. The Belvidera, for such she was

afterwards ascertained to be, reported seven killed and wounded. After

repairing damages Rodgers again cruised for the Jamaica men, and at

length supposing he had got in their wake, kept on until near the

mouth of the English Channel, when seeing nothing of them, he returned

by way of Maderia and the Western Islands to Boston. It was a barren

cruise, only seven merchantmen being taken during the whole seventy

days the squadron was absent.

In the mean time the report of the Belvidera, which had put into

Halifax, caused the enemy to collect a fleet, which early in July was

off New York, where it captured a great many American merchantmen.

Among the prizes was the schooner Nautilus, the first vessel of war

taken on either side. [Sidenote: July 12.] While the squadron was thus

cruising off the coast, in the hope of meeting the American fleet

under Rodgers, the Constitution, a forty-four, sailed from Annapolis

on her way to New York. Her crew was newly shipped, a hundred men

having joined her on the night before she sailed. The orders which

Captain Hull, the commander, received from the Secretary of the Navy,

exhibit the timidity and weakness of the Government. In the first

place, after giving directions respecting the destination of the ship,

he said: "I am informed that the Belvidera is in our waters, but you

are not to understand me as impelling you to battle previously to your

having confidence in your crew, unless attacked, or with a reasonable

prospect of success, of which you are to be at your discretion the

judge." In a later order he says: "If on your way thither (_i. e._

from Annapolis to New York) you should fall in with the enemy's

vessel, you will be guided in your proceeding by your own judgment,

bearing in mind, however, that you are not voluntarily to encounter a

force superior to your own." One can imagine the smile of contempt

that curled the lip of the stern commander of the Constitution, when

he received this pitiful order, so well adapted in its tone and

language to make timorous officers, and hence ensure defeat. The

Secretary had witnessed the confidence and daring spirit of Bainbridge

and Stewart, and he was afraid such men would fight, when prudence

would dictate flight. But he might have known that when officers like

them were once fairly out to sea, on the decks of their own ships,

beneath their own flag streaming aloft, they would pay no more

attention to orders like the above, than to the sighing of the wind

through their cordage.

On the 17th the Constitution was out of sight of land, though still

within soundings and going under easy canvas, when at two o'clock she

discovered four sail in the north. At four she discovered another a

little to the eastward of the first. Towards evening, the wind blowing

light from the southward, the Constitution beat to quarters and

cleared for action. At ten o'clock she showed the private signal,

which remained unanswered; and concluding she had fallen in with a

squadron of the enemy, made all sail. Just before daybreak the

Guerriere, one of the fleet, sent up a rocket and fired two guns. As

the light broadened over the deep, Capt. Hull, who was anxiously on

the look-out, discerned seven ships closing steadily upon him. This

was the squadron of Commodore Broke, consisting of the Africa 64,

Guerriere 38, Shannon 38, Belvidera 36, Eolus 32, together with the

captured Nautilus and a schooner. As the sun rose over the ocean and

lifted the mist that lay on the water, Capt. Hull had a full view of

his position. Two frigates were beating down from the north upon him,

while the Africa, two frigates, a brig and schooner were following in

his wake, and all with English colors flying. To increase the painful

uncertainty that now hung over the fate of his vessel, the breeze

which had been light all night entirely died away, and the sails

flapped idly against the masts. Hull, however, resolved that his ship

should not be lost, if human energy and skill could save her, and

immediately sent all his boats forward to tow. But he soon found that

the enemy, by putting the boats of two ships on one, were slowly

closing on him. He then took all the rope he could spare and run a

kedge out nearly a half a mile ahead and dropped it. The crew seized

the rope, and springing to it with a will, soon made the ship walk

through the water. As she came up with the kedge she overran it, and

while still moving on under the headway she had obtained, another

kedge was carried ahead, and the noble vessel glided away, as if by

magic, from her pursuers. It was not long, however, before the enemy

discovered the trick the Yankee was playing, and began also to kedge.

A little air was felt at half-past seven, but at eight it fell calm

again, when the vessels resorted to boats, long sweeps and the kedge.

The Shannon, which was astern, having, at last, got most of the boats

of the squadron on her, slowly gained on the Constitution, while the

Guerriere was walking down on her larboard quarter. The prospect for

the American was now gloomy enough--there was scarcely a ray of hope.

The unruffled sea seemed to heave in mockery of the anguish of those

whose every thought was a prayer for wind, and slowly, like the

unpitying approach of death, the hostile fleet kept closing on that

helpless ship. One more hour like the last, would bring her under the

guns of two frigates. Still, there was not a craven heart within those

ribs of oak. Each man, as he looked sternly on his comrade, read in

his face the determination to fight while a gun was left. Hull,

chafing at his desperate position, resolved to close fiercely with the

first vessel that approached; and judging from his after conduct, he

would have made wild work with his antagonist. The men in the boats

strove nobly, but it was a contest of mere physical strength, in which

there was not the least hope of success. But adverse fate seemed at

last to relent, and a light breeze sprung up from the southward. Hull

no sooner saw it approaching on the water than he ordered the sails to

be trimmed, and the moment the vessel felt its gentle pressure, she

was brought up into the wind--the boats fell alongside and were

hoisted to their davits or swung, just clear of the water--the men

working coolly at their posts, although the shot of the Guerriere

were dashing the sea into spray around them.

But in an hour it again fell nearly calm, and the boats were once more

put on. The crew strove to make up by effort what they lacked in

force, but the Shannon steadily gained. With the exception of a little

rest obtained when slight breezes struck the vessel, the men were kept

incessantly at work all the day. At two o'clock, the Belvidera opened

with her bow guns, to which the Constitution responded with her stern

chasers. In half-an-hour, however, Captain Hull ordered the firing to

cease, and the men were again ordered to the boats, and rowing and

kedging were kept up till eleven at night. They were fast becoming

exhausted under the tremendous strain that had been put upon them

since early in the morning, when to their great relief a breeze sprung

up, and every sail that would draw was set. It lasted, however, only

for an hour. At midnight, it was calm again; but the crews of both

vessels had been overtasked, and no boats were sent out. In the

morning, Captain Hull discovered that some of the vessels had gained

on him, and four frigates were within long gun shot. It was now

apparent that the least unfavorable change would settle the fate of

the Constitution. The officers had snatched a little sleep at their

posts, and were ready to defend their flag to the last. It was a

lovely summer morning, and as the orb of day slowly rolled into view,

it lighted up a scene of thrilling interest and transcendant beauty.

The ocean lay slumbering in majestic repose, reflecting from its

unruffled bosom the cloudless sky. A light breeze was fanning the sea,

and every stitch of canvas that would draw was set. All the vessels

had now got on the same tack, the gallant American leading the van.

"The five frigates were clouds of canvas from their trucks to the

water," as slowly and proudly they swept along the deep. The

Constitution looked back on her eager pursuers, each eye on her decks

watching the relative speed of the vessels, and each heart praying for

wind. But, at noon, it again fell calm, when the Belvidera was found

to be two miles and a half astern, the next frigate three miles

distant, and the others still farther to leeward. This was a great

gain on the position of the day before, and with a steady breeze,

there would be no doubt of the issue. About half-past twelve, a light

wind sprung up, and although it kept unsteady during the afternoon, it

was evident the Constitution was walking away from her pursuers. Every

sail was tended, and every rope watched with scrupulous care, that

showed the American frigate to be a thorough man of war. The day which

had been so beautiful threatened a stormy close, for a heavy squall

was rising out of the southern sea. Captain Hull narrowly watched its

approach, with every man at the clew lines. Just before it struck the

ship, the order was given, and the vessel was stripped of her canvas

as by a single blow. The British vessels began to take in sail without

waiting for the near approach of the squall. As soon as the strength

of the gale had been felt, the Constitution was again put under a

press of canvas, and bowing gracefully, as if in gratitude to the

rising sea, she flung the foam joyfully from her bows, and was soon

rushing through the water at the rate of eleven knots an hour. When

the rain cloud had passed, and an observation of the enemy's ships

could be obtained, they were far astern, and with the last rays of the

setting sun, the Constitution bade farewell to her pursuers. It was

gallantly and gloriously done.

Cool and steady action on the part of the commander, met by

corresponding conduct on the part of the officers and crew, thorough

seamanship exhibited in every manoeuvre she attempted, saved the noble

vessel from capture. What a contrast does this conduct of the nephew,

thus surrounded by a superior force and beset with apparently

insurmountable difficulties, present to that of the uncle at Detroit.

In the one, desperate circumstances produced great effort, in the

other none at all. One with no thought of surrendering, while a spar

was left standing, the other meekly laying down his arms without

firing a shot. Shortly after, the Constitution arrived in Boston.

Previous to the sailing of this vessel from Annapolis, the Essex,

under Capt. Porter, having been got ready for sea at New York, started

on a cruise to the southward. Making several prizes of merchantmen,

she again stood to the southward, when she fell in with a fleet of

British transports, convoyed by a frigate and bomb vessel. She

endeavored to get along side of the former, but one of the transports

which Capt. Porter had spoken, threatening to make signal to the other

vessels, he was obliged to take possession of her. To accomplish this,

as the prize had a hundred and fifty soldiers aboard, consumed so much

time that the rest of the fleet escaped.

The Essex having disguised herself as a merchant man continued her

cruise, and in a few days discovered a strange sail, which, deceived

by her appearance, boldly attacked her. The latter having got the

enemy in close range, knocked out her ports, which had been closed,

and poured in her broadsides. This sudden metamorphosis and tremendous

firing completely stunned the stranger, and he immediately hauled down

his colors. The prize proved to be the ship Alert, mounting twenty-two

eighteen-pound carronades. This was the first British war vessel

taken by an American cruiser.

Captain Porter having converted the Alert into a cartel, sent her with

the prisoners into St. John's. The English Admiral, at Newfoundland,

remonstrated against this course, as it deprived the British of the

chances of recapture before entering an American port. He however

could not well refuse to carry out the arrangements which the Captain

of the Alert had entered into.

The Essex, after an unsuccessful cruise and some narrow escapes,

finally reached the Delaware, where she replenished her stores.

[Illustration: The Constitution and Guerriere.]

On the 28th of July an order was sent from the Secretary of the Navy,

to Capt. Hull, at Boston, to deliver up the Constitution to Commodore

Bainbridge, and take charge of the frigate Constellation. [Sidenote:

Aug. 2.] But fortunately for him and the navy, just before this order

reached him he had again set sail, and was out on the deep, where the

anxieties of the department could not disturb him. Cruising eastward

along the coast, he captured ten small prizes near the mouth of the

St. Lawrence and burned them. In the middle of the month he recaptured

an American merchantman and sent her in, and then stood to the

southward. On the 19th he made a strange sail, one of the vessels that

a few weeks before had pressed him so hard in the chase. When the

Constitution had run down to within three miles of him, the Englishman

laid his maintop sail aback, and hung out three flags, to show his

willingness to engage. Capt. Dacres, the commander, surprised at the

daring manner in which the stranger came down, turned to the captain

of an American merchantman whom he had captured a few days before, and

asked him what vessel he took that to be. The latter replied, as he

handed back the glass to Dacres, that he thought from her sails she

was an American. It cannot be possible, said Dacres, or he would not

stand on so boldly. It was soon evident, whoever the stranger might

be, he was bent on mischief. Hull prepared his vessel for action

deliberately, and after putting her under close fighting canvas and

sending down her royal yards, ordered the drums to beat to quarters.

It was now five o'clock, and as the Constitution bore steadily down

towards her antagonist, the crew gave three cheers. The English vessel

was well known, for she had at one of her mast-heads a flag proudly

flying, with the "Guerriere" written in large characters upon it. When

the Constitution arrived within long gun shot, the Guerriere opened

her fire, now waring to bring her broadside to bear, and again to

prevent being raked by the American, which slowly but steadily

approached. The Englishman kept up a steady fire, for nearly an hour,

to which the Constitution replied with only an occasional gun. The

crew at length became excited under this inaction. The officer below

had twice come on deck to report that men had been killed standing

idly at their guns, and begged permission to fire; but Hull still

continued to receive the enemy's broadsides in silence. The Guerriere

failing to cripple the Constitution, filled and moved off with the

wind free, showing that she was willing to receive her and finish the

conflict in a yard-arm to yard-arm combat. The Constitution then drew

slowly ahead, and the moment her bows began to lap the quarters of the

Guerriere, her forward guns opened, and in a few minutes after, the

welcome orders were received to pour in broadside after broadside as

rapidly as possible. When she was fairly abeam, the broadsides were

fired with a rapidity and power that astounded the enemy. As the old

ship forged slowly ahead with her greater way, she seemed moving in

flame. The mizen mast of the enemy soon fell with a crash, while her

hull was riddled with shot, and her decks slippery with gore. The

carnage was so awful that the blood from the wounded and mangled

victims, as they were hurried into the cockpit, poured over the ladder

as if it had been dashed from a bucket. As Hull passed his antagonist

he wheeled short round her bows to prevent a raking fire. But in doing

this he came dead into the wind--his sails were taken aback--the

vessel stopped--then getting sternway, the Guerriere came up, her bows

striking the former abeam. While in this position, the forward guns of

the enemy exploded almost against the sides of the Constitution,

setting the cabin on fire. This would have proved a serious event but

for the presence of mind of the fourth lieutenant, Beekman Verplanck

Hoffman, who extinguished it. As soon as the vessels got foul both

crews prepared to board. The first lieutenant, Morris,[29] in the

midst of a terrific fire of musketry, attempted to lash the ships

together, which were thumping and grinding against each other with the

heavy sea, but fell, shot through the body. M. Alwyn, the master, and

Lieut. Bush of the marines, mounting the taffrail to leap on the

enemy's decks were both shot down, the latter killed instantly with a

bullet through the head. Finding it impossible to board under such a

tremendous fire, the sails of the Constitution were filled, when the

vessels slowly and reluctantly parted. As the Constitution rolled away

on the heavy swell, the foremast of the Guerriere fell back against

the mainmast, carrying that down in its descent, leaving the frigate a

helpless wreck, "wallowing in the trough of the sea." Hull seeing that

his enemy was now completely in his power, ran off a little way to

secure his own masts and repair his rigging which was badly cut up.

In a short time he returned, and taking up a position where he could

rake the wreck of the Guerriere at every discharge, prepared to finish

her. Capt. Dacres had fought his ship well, and when every spar in her

was down, gallantly nailed the jack to the stump of the mizen-mast.

But further resistance was impossible, and to have gone down with his

flag flying, as one of the English journals declared he ought to have

done, would have been a foolish and criminal act. A few more

broadsides would have carried the brave crew to the bottom, and to

allow his vessel to roll idly in the trough of the sea, a mere target

for the guns of the American, would neither have added to his fame nor

lessened the moral effect of the defeat. He therefore reluctantly

struck her flag, and Lieutenant Read was sent on board to take

possession.

[Footnote 29: Afterwards Commodore Morris.]

As he stepped over the vessel's side, a disgusting scene presented

itself. When the vessel struck, Captain Dacres told the crew they

might go and get some refreshments, which was another mode of giving

them liberty to drink. In a short time, all the petty officers and

their wives, together with the sailors, were wallowing together in

filth. The vessel being dismasted lay in the trough of the sea, and as

she rolled backwards and forwards the water came in the ports on one

side, and poured out of those on the other, mingling in a loathsome

mass the motley multitude.

This vessel, as well as all the English ships, presented another

striking contrast to the American. Impressment was so abhorred, that

British officers were afraid of being shot down by their topmen during

an engagement; and hence dared not wear their uniforms, while ours

went into action with their epaulettes on, knowing that it added to

their security, for every sailor would fight for his commander as he

would for a comrade.

Captain Hull kept hovering around his prize during the night; and at

two o'clock, "sail ho," was sent aft by the watch, when the

Constitution immediately beat to quarters. The weary sailors tumbled

up cheerfully at the summons, the vessel was cleared for action, and

there is no doubt that if another Guerriere had closed with the

Constitution, she would have been roughly handled, crippled as the

latter was from her recent conflict.

After deliberating for an hour, the stranger stood off. In the

morning, the Guerriere was reported to have four feet water in the

hold, and was so cut up that it would be difficult to keep her afloat.

The prisoners were, therefore, all removed, and the vessel set on

fire. The flames leaped up the broken masts, ran along the bulwarks,

and wrapped the noble wreck in a sheet of fire. As the guns became

heated, they went off one after another, firing their last salute to

the dying ship. At length, the fire reached the magazine, when she

blew up with a tremendous explosion. A huge column of smoke arose and

stood for a long time, as if petrified in the calm atmosphere, and

then slowly crumbled to pieces, revealing only a few shattered planks

to tell where that proud vessel had sunk. The first English frigate

that ever struck its flag to an American ship of war, had gone down to

the bottom of the ocean, a gloomy omen of England's future. The sea

never rolled over a vessel whose fate so startled the world. It

disappeared for ever, but it left its outline on the deep, never to be

effaced till England and America are no more.

The loss of the Constitution was seven killed and seven wounded, while

that of Guerriere was fifteen killed and sixty-four wounded, a

disparity that shows with how much more precision the American had

fired. It is impossible, at this period, to give an adequate idea of

the excitement this victory produced. In the first place, it was

fought three days after the surrender of General Hull, the uncle of

the gallant captain. The mortifying, stunning news of the disaster of

the North-western army met on the sea-board, the thundering shout that

went up from a people delirious with delight over this naval victory.

From one direction the name of Hull came loaded with execrations--from

the other overwhelmed with blessings. But not only was the joy

greater, arriving as the news did on the top of a disaster, but it

took the nation by surprise. An American frigate had fearlessly stood

up in single combat on the deep with her proud foe, and giving gun for

gun, torn the crown from the "mistress of the sea." The fact that the

Constitution had four guns more and a larger crew, could not prevent

it from being practically an even-handed fight. The disparity of the

crews was of no consequence, for it was an affair of broadsides, while

the vast difference in the execution done, proved that had the

relative weight of metal and the muster roll been reversed, the issue

would have been the same.

Captain Hull on his return to Boston, surrendered the frigate to

Bainbridge, who soon after hoisted his broad pennant on board, but did

not put to sea till the 26th of October.

[Sidenote: Oct. 12.]

In the mean time, Commodore Rodgers having refitted again, started on

a cruise, having the United States, forty-four, commanded by Commodore

Decatur, and the Argus, sixteen, Captain Sinclair, in company.

Commodore Rodgers having captured on the 17th, the British packet

Swallow, with two hundred thousand dollars on board, continued his

cruise to the eastward. Just before, in a heavy gale, the United

States and Argus had parted company with him. The former directed her

course so as to fall in the track of East Indiamen, but on Sunday

morning, the 25th, she saw a large sail to the southward, which proved

to be the English frigate Macedonian. After some manoeuvering, the two

vessels approached within a mile of each other, when the firing

commenced. After the United States delivered her second broadside, she

ceased manoeuvering and took the same tack with her enemy, both

steering free. The Macedonian, however, was to windward, and hence

could make it a yard-arm-to-yard-arm combat whenever she chose. But

she preferred a longer range, and the two vessels swept on, delivering

their rapid broadsides within musket shot. The distance at which they

kept, together with the heavy sea that was rolling, rendered the aim

imperfect and protracted the conflict, so that it continued for an

hour after the guns of both vessels began to bear, before any material

effect was visible. The broadsides of the United States were delivered

so rapidly that she was constantly enveloped in flame and smoke, and

the crew of the Macedonian several times thought her on fire and

cheered. Decatur, with his fine face lit up with that chivalric valor

that was wont to illumine it in battle, moved amid his men with words

of encouragement and praise. As the mizen-mast of the enemy went by

the board, hearing a sailor say to his comrade, "Jack, we've made a

brig of her;" he replied, "Take good aim, Jack, and she will soon be

a sloop." Turning to a captain of the gun, he said, "Aim at the yellow

streak, her spars and rigging are going fast enough, she must have a

little more hulling." Soon after her fore and main top mast went over.

At length, the mizen mast was cut in two by a shot, about ten feet

from the deck, while with every roll of the ship the weakened foremast

threatened to swell the wreck. The Englishman, perceiving that his

vessel would soon become unmanageable, made an effort to close, for

the purpose of boarding. But Decatur saw his advantage too plainly, to

risk it in a desperate encounter, and putting on sail shot ahead. The

enemy mistaking this movement for a rapid flight gave three cheers,

and all the flags having come down with the spars, set a union Jack in

the main rigging in token of triumph. But when the United States was

seen to tack and approach, as if about to close, it was hauled down.

On this same Sabbath, while the cheers of the United States' crew rang

over the deep, Napoleon was traversing in gloom the fatal, bloody

field of Malo-Jaraslowitz, and with two kings and three marshals by

his side, was deliberating on that retreat which was to change the

face of the world.

The superiority of American gunnery, in this combat, was placed beyond

dispute. It was a simple cannonade on a very rough sea. Yet the United

States had but five killed and seven wounded, while out of three

hundred men, the Macedonian had one hundred and four killed or

wounded. So, also, the former lost her top-gallant masts, and had been

hulled but a few times. It is true her rigging suffered severely, but

the English frigate had almost every spar in her more or less

shattered, while her hull was pierced with a hundred shot. In this, as

in the former engagement between the Constitution and Guerriere, the

United States carried _four more guns_ than her antagonist. She was a

heavier ship, but therefore a better mark, and yet the enemy's shot

rarely hulled her. The decks of the latter presented a revolting

spectacle. "Fragments of the dead were distributed in every

direction--the decks covered with blood--one continued agonizing yell

of the unhappy wounded,"[30] filled the ship.

[Footnote 30: Statement of an American officer.]

Decatur having arrived with his prize in New London, dispatched Lieut.

Hamilton, son of the Secretary of the Navy, to Washington, with an

account of the victory, and the captured colors. [Sidenote: Dec. 8.]

Hurrying on, greeted with the acclamations of the multitude as he

passed, he arrived at the capital in the evening. On that very night a

ball had been given to the officers of the navy, at which Hull and

Stewart and the Secretary of the Navy were present. Young Hamilton

walked into the gay assemblage and delivered his message to his

overjoyed father, who immediately announced it to the company. Shout

after shout shook the hall--all crowded around the young lieutenant,

eager to hear the incidents of the action. As he narrated how they

fought and how they conquered, tears of joy and gratitude streamed

from the eyes of his mother, who stood fondly gazing on him. Captured

colors of the enemy decorated the room, and a delegation was sent to

bring those of the Macedonia and add them to the number. Captains

Stewart and Hull bore them in, and presented them, amid the loud

acclamations of the throng, to the wife of the President--the band

struck up an inspiring air, and intense excitement and exultation

filled every bosom.

The Argus met with but little success. The seamanship of her officers

was, however, tested during the cruise. She was chased three days and

nights by an English squadron, and yet not only managed to escape, but

having come upon an English merchantman during the chase, actually

captured it in sight of the fleet, though by the time she had manned

it the enemy had opened on her with his guns. Having made five prizes

in all, she returned to port.

In the meanwhile the Wasp, Captain Jones, which was returning from

Europe with dispatches, the time war was declared, had refitted and

started on a cruise. Sailing northward to the latitude of Boston, she

made a single capture and returned to the Delaware. On the 13th of

October, the very day of Van Rensalaer's defeat at Queenstown, she

again put to sea, and after being four days out, on the night of the

17th, made five strange sail. Not knowing their strength or character,

Captain Jones deemed it prudent to keep off till daylight, when he

would have a better opportunity for observing them. In the morning he

discovered there were six ships under the convoy of a brig of war. Two

of them were armed, but the brig deeming herself alone a match for the

American, sent them all forward, and waited for the latter to

approach. The sea was rough from the effects of a storm that had swept

those latitudes the day before, in which Captain Jones had lost his

jib boom and two of his crew. There was no manoeuvering attempted in

this tumultuous sea, and the Wasp surged on in dead silence, the only

sound heard on her decks being the roar of the waves as they burst

along her sides. She closed on her antagonist with a deadliness of

purpose seldom witnessed in naval combats. She never delivered her

broadside till within a hundred and eighty feet, and then with fearful

effect. At first this heroism seemed doomed to a poor reward. The fire

of the Frolic was incessant. Seldom had an Englishman been known to

deliver such rapid broadsides. In five minutes the main topmast of

the Wasp fell amid the rigging--in two minutes more the gaft and mizen

top-gallant mast followed. Thus, in eight minutes from the time the

vessels closed, the Wasp was so disabled that her destruction seemed

almost certain. But while cut up herself so terribly aloft, she had

struck with every broadside the heart of her antagonist. As she rolled

on the heavy seas her guns were frequently under water, and the

sailors staggered around their pieces like drunken men. Delivering her

broadsides as she sunk, she hulled her antagonist at every discharge;

while the latter, firing as she rose, made sad work with the rigging

of the former. Jones seeing his spars and rigging so dreadfully cut

up, was afraid that his vessel would become unmanageable, and

therefore determined to run foul of his adversary and board. But when

the vessels closed, the bows of the Frolic struck abaft the midships

of the Wasp, which so swung the head of the latter around that she was

enabled to throw a raking fire into the former. The order, therefore,

to board was countermanded, and a fresh broadside directed to sweep

her decks. In loading some of the guns, the rammers struck against the

bows of the Frolic. The shot went crashing the whole length of the

ship, and the crew, excited by this hand-to-hand fight, could no

longer be restrained from boarding. Mr. Biddle, the first lieutenant,

leaped into the rigging, followed by Lieut. Rodgers and other men,

and soon gained the decks of the Frolic--but, in looking round for the

enemy, they saw but three or four officers standing aft, and bleeding.

None but the dead and wounded cumbered the decks. Not one was left to

haul down the colors. The officers threw down their swords in token of

submission, and Lieutenant Biddle, springing into the rigging, lowered

the English flag with his own hand. The carnage was horrible for so

small a vessel--nearly a hundred of the officers and crew being killed

or wounded. The decks were literally covered with the mangled forms of

men and officers. The corpses presented a ghastly appearance as they

rolled from side to side with the tossing vessel, while shivered spars

and masts covered the wreck, and still hanging by the ropes, swung

with every lurch against its shattered hull. There can scarcely be a

more mournful sight than a noble ship dismantled in mid ocean, her

decks crimsoned with blood, while on every side, amid broken and rent

timbers, her gallant crew dismembered and torn, are stretched in

death.

The Frolic was a brig carrying in all twenty-two guns, while the Wasp,

though a ship, carried but eighteen, thus making a difference in favor

of the former of four guns.

The Wasp had, therefore, captured a superior force in single combat.

But in this, as in the two former engagements I have detailed, the

same extraordinary disparity in the respective losses of the two

vessels was exhibited. While near a hundred were killed or wounded in

the Frolic, there were only five killed and as many wounded in the

American ship. It is not a matter of surprise that the belief became

prevalent in England that our vessels were filled with Kentucky

riflemen. These men had become famous for their accuracy of aim; and

it was supposed we had introduced them into our navy. In no other way

could they account for the awful carnage that followed every single

combat of ship with ship. In all her naval history, such destructive

work had never been witnessed in so short a space of time. The moment

an American vessel opened her broadsides, death began to traverse the

decks of her antagonist with such a rapid footstep, that men were

appalled.

This was doubtless owing in a great measure to our guns being sighted,

an improvement introduced by American officers, rendering the aim

infinitely more accurate.

The Wasp in this engagement had been fought nobly, but her victory

proved worse than a barren one to her gallant commander and crew.

Scarcely had the English Jack been lowered to the Stars and Stripes,

before the latter were struck to the English flag. The Poictiers an

English seventy-four, soon hoved in sight and bore down on the two

vessels lying to and clearing away the wreck. The Wasp endeavored to

make use of her heels, but on turning out her sails, they were found

completely riddled. Flight was out of the question, and both vessels

surrendered. They were taken into Bermuda, where the Americans were

parolled and allowed to return home.

On the 26th of October, Commodore Bainbridge left Boston, accompanied

by the Hornet, with the intention of joining Captain Porter, in the

Essex, and passing into the Pacific Ocean, where the British fisheries

and commerce could be easily struck. Captain Lawrence, cruising

southward, at length arrived at St. Salvador, where he found a British

sloop of war, the Bonne Citoyenne. The latter being in a neutral port,

was safe. She was superior to the Hornet, but Lawrence, determined to

provoke her out to single combat, sent a challenge to her

commander--Commodore Bainbridge, in the meanwhile, promising to keep

out of the way. The challenge was declined, and if the fact that she

had a large amount of specie on board, had been given as the reason of

her refusal, the conduct of Captain Green, the commander would have

been unobjectionable. But to intimate, as he did, that the frigate

would interfere, after Bainbridge had pledged his word, and the

American Consul offered guarantees, evinced a contemptible spirit,

almost as degrading as cowardice.

Captain Lawrence determined, however, not to let the vessel go to sea

without him, and he therefore blockaded the port.

The Constitution left the Hornet blockading the Bonne Citoyenne, and

steered south, keeping along the coast, and on the 29th discovered two

sail between her and the land, which was about thirty miles distant

and in full view. One of the vessels being small, kept standing in

towards the shore, while the larger one, a British frigate, the Java,

of thirty-eight guns, directed her course towards the American.

Bainbridge, wishing to get farther from the land, tacked and steered

to the south-east for two hours, the Englishman following after. About

half-past one, finding himself clear of the land, Bainbridge tacked

and stood towards the stranger. At 2 o'clock the two vessels were only

half a mile apart, the Englishman to windward, and showing no colors.

The order to fire a shot to make the latter set his ensign being

misunderstood, a whole broadside was delivered, and the battle

commenced. A tremendous cannonade followed. The wind was light and the

sea smooth, so that full scope was given for manoeuvering and accurate

aim. Bainbridge, who at the commencement of the war, had urged the

President to send the national ships to sea, and was now in his first

fight, felt not only the promise he had given the Secretary of the

Navy weighing on him, but his responsibility as commander of the

Constitution, fresh with laurels from the capture of the Guerriere.

He managed his ship with consummate skill, and not only foiled every

attempt of the enemy to get a raking position, but soon obtained one

himself, and delivered a broadside that swept the decks of the Java.

The vessels had at length approached within pistol shot, and the

effect of the rapid broadsides of the Constitution delivered so

closely and on that smooth sea, could be heard in the rending timbers

of the enemy's ship. Bainbridge, in the mean time, received a musket

ball in his thigh. He however still walked the quarter deck, watching

every movement of his antagonist, and the effect of every broadside.

In a few minutes later, a cannon shot plunged into the wheel,

shattering it in fragments, and sending a copper bolt into his leg.

Crippled and bleeding--refusing even to sit down--he continued to limp

over the quarter deck, watching the progress of the combat, and

directing the movements, apparently unconscious of pain. The

destruction of the wheel he felt to be a more serious affair than his

wounded leg, for he was no longer able to give verbal orders to the

helmsman. The tiller was of course worked below the second deck by

ropes and tackles, where the helmsman unable to see the sails and

steer accordingly, depended entirely on orders transmitted to him.

This would have been of minor consequence in a steady yard to yard-arm

fight, but in the constant manoeuvering of the two vessels, either to

get or prevent a raking fire, it was a serious inconvenience. Still,

the Constitution managed to secure this advantage in almost every

evolution. The tremendous fire she kept up, so staggered the

Englishman, that he resolved to run his vessel aboard at all hazards.

He came stern on, and his bowsprit passed through the mizen rigging of

the Constitution. The next moment, however, it was cut in two by a

cannon shot, when the two vessels parted. At length the Constitution,

after wearing twice to get the right position, threw herself fairly

alongside her antagonist, and they moved on together, yard-arm and

yard-arm, pouring in incessant broadsides. In a few minutes the mizen

mast of the Java went over, and as her foremast had gone long before,

nothing but the main mast was left standing. Her fire had now ceased,

and Bainbridge, under the impression she had struck, set his sails and

passed off to windward to repair damages, make his masts secure, and

be ready for any new combat that might be forced on him, in a sea

filled with the enemy's cruisers. After an hour spent in overhauling

his ship he returned, and finding the enemy's ensign still flying, he

passed directly across her bows, and was about to deliver a raking

fire, when she struck. The combat lasted for more than two hours, and

from the number of evolutions on both sides, was brought to a

termination several miles from where it commenced. The Java was

completely dismantled. Her mizen mast had been cut away close to the

deck--the mainmast fell soon after the firing ceased, while nothing

but a stump of the foremast, some twenty or thirty feet long, was left

standing. Her bowsprit, too, was gone; in fact, every spar had been

shot out of her. The Constitution, on the contrary, at the close of

the long severe conflict, had every spar standing. An eighteen pound

shot had made an ugly hole through her mizen mast, and another had cut

a deep gash in the foremast, and a quantity of ropes swinging loose in

the wind, showed that she had been in the midst of cannon balls, but

she came out of the conflict as she went in, every spar erect and her

royal yards across. The outward appearance of the ships did not

present a more striking contrast than their decks. Those of the Java

were rent and torn, and strewed with the dead. A hundred and sixty-one

had been killed or wounded, while nine killed and twenty-five wounded

covered the entire loss of the Constitution.

Among the prisoners taken was Lieutenant-General Hislop, with his

staff, on his way to Bombay, as Governor. They were all treated with

that kindness and generosity which ever characterizes a truly brave

man--conduct which the English, in the very very few opportunities

offered them, did not generally reciprocate.

The severe wounds of Commodore Bainbridge could not force him to leave

the deck, even after the action was over. In his anxiety for his ship

and the prize, and care of the wounded and prisoners, he forgot his

sufferings, keeping his feet till eleven o'clock at night. These eight

hours of constant exertion increased the inflammation to an alarming

degree, and well nigh cost him his life.

It was a proud day for him; he had redeemed his pledge to the

government, and added another wreath to the laurels that already

crowned the American navy.

The Constitution lay by the Java for two or three days, in order that

the wounded might be removed with care and safety. When this was

accomplished, the latter vessel being so completely riddled that it

would be impossible to get her into an American port, was blown up.

Our gunners fired with too accurate an aim; they so destroyed the

vessels of the enemy, that they could not be secured as prizes.

The Constitution was carried into St. Salvador, where her arrival did

not improve the prospect before the Bonne Citoyenne, should she

venture to break a lance with the Hornet. She was apparently preparing

to go to sea that night, with the intention of avoiding her

antagonist if convenient, and fighting her if necessary. The capture

of the Java, however, produced a change in her plans, and she took

eighteen days longer to reflect on the subject.

Commodore Bainbridge dismissed the private passengers found on board

the Java, without regarding them as prisoners of war, while all the

others were released on their parol. Governor Hislop presented him

with an elegant sword, as a token of his esteem and an acknowledgment

of the kindness with which he had been treated. Captain Lambert,

commander of the Java, was mortally wounded, and just before his

removal to the shore, Bainbridge, leaning on the shoulders of two

officers, hobbled into his room to restore to him his sword. It was a

touching spectacle, the wounded victor presenting to his dying

antagonist, the sword he never would wield again, accompanying it with

expressions of esteem and kindly hopes. Captain Lambert received it

with emotion, and returned his thanks. Two days after, it was laid

across his breast. It was not dishonored in its owner's hand, for his

ship had been gallantly fought to the last, and surrendered only when

not a sail could be set.

Bainbridge, at this time, was not quite forty years of age. Six feet

in height, of commanding person, and an eye that burned like fire in

battle, he moved over his quarter deck the impersonation of a hero.

His noble conduct to the prisoners, won him the praise even of his

enemies. An English Admiral, when told of it, shook his head,

remarking, that it had an ominous look when a young commander, in a

navy unaccustomed to victory, could treat his foes so like an old

Spanish cavalier.[31]

[Footnote 31: There is a curious incident connected with this battle.

A few nights before it occurred, Bainbridge dreamed, that he had a

long encounter with a British vessel, and finally captured her. On

board were several officers, and among them a general. It made such an

impression on him, that he entered the facts in his journal, and spoke

of them to his officers. After the engagement, as he was standing on

deck surrounded by his officers, waiting to receive the commander of

the Java, he saw the boats carrying General Hislop approach. Turning

to lieutenant Parker, he said, "that is the man I saw in my dream."]

The Constitution, in this engagement, carried fifty-four guns, and the

Java forty-nine. On this difference of five guns, the English

attempted to erect a prop to support their naval pride. The effort to

prove a superiority in weight of metal and number of men, in every

victorious American vessel, and the changes rung on the difference of

a single gun, exhibited a sensitiveness that enhanced instead of

lessened the defeats. If a battle is never to be considered equal,

until both ships have the same tonnage to a pound, the same number of

cannon, and the muster roll be equal to a man, it is to be feared

there never will be one fought. Not only did the English allege that

the Constitution was greatly superior in weight of metal, but

declared that her success was owing, in a large measure, to her

musketry; and yet the Java had not a spar standing at the close of the

battle. Muskets do not dismantle vessels, and leave them mere hulks at

the mercy of their foe.[32] The English court of enquiry appointed to

investigate the subject, asked the boatswain, "if they had suffered

much on the forecastle from musketry." "Yes," he very frankly replied,

"_and, likewise, from round and grape_." The latter was, no doubt,

true, and very probably the former.

[Footnote 32: Some time after the peace of 1815, a distinguished

officer of the English navy, visited the Constitution, then just

fitted anew at Boston, for a Mediterranean cruise. He went through the

ship, accompanied by Captain ---- of our service. "Well, what do you

think of her?" asked the latter, after the two had gone through the

vessel, and reached the quarter deck again. "She is one of the finest

frigates, if not the finest frigate I ever put my foot on board of,"

returned the Englishman; "but, as I must find some fault, I'll just

say, that your wheel is one of the clumsiest things I ever saw, and is

unworthy of the vessel." Captain ---- laughed, and then explained the

appearance of the wheel, saying, "When the Constitution took the Java,

the former's wheel was shot out of her. The Java's wheel was fitted on

the Constitution to steer with, and although we think it ugly, as you

do, we keep it as a trophy."]

Bainbridge returned to Boston, and resigned the command of the

Constitution, which stood greatly in need of repairs.

Lawrence continued, as before stated, to blockade the Bonne Citoyenne,

until the latter part of January, when a British seventy-four heaving

in sight, he was compelled to run in beside his adversary. The tables

were now turned upon him, and he had the prospect of seeing the

man-of-war playing the part of keeper at the mouth of the port, while

his own prisoner making use of this protection could pass out, and

continue his voyage. This was a predicament he did not relish, and

taking advantage of the night, quietly slipped out to sea, and

continued his cruise. He made a few prizes, and among them a brig of

ten guns, with $12,500 in specie on board. Arriving, at length, at the

mouth of the Demarara river, he discovered an English brig of war, and

gave chase to her. The latter running in shore, led him into such

shoal water, that he deemed it prudent to haul off. He, however, did

not abandon the hope of forcing the ship into an engagement, and while

beating down on a different tack to get within reach of her, he

discovered another brig apparently seeking to close. He immediately

put the head of his vessel toward that of the stranger. Both were

close on the wind, and as they continued to approach, it was evident

from their course they must pass each other with their yard-arms

almost touching. It was now nearly half-past five, and the lurid rays

of the sun, just sinking behind the hills of the main land, flooded

the two vessels as they silently closed. The moment they began to draw

abeam, so that the guns bore, the firing began. When fairly abreast,

the vessels were not more than fifty feet apart. The words of command

and the shrieks of the wounded could be distinctly heard in either

vessel, as broadside crashed against broadside. It was a stern meeting

and parting. As soon as the guns ceased to bear, the Englishman wore,

in order to get a raking fire on the Hornet. The latter, however, was

too quick for him; he was first about, and coming down on his quarter

in "a perfect blaze of fire," poured in his broadsides with such close

range and destructive effect, that in ten minutes more the enemy not

only struck, but hoisted a signal of distress. Mr. Shubrick being sent

on board to take possession, reported that the vessel was the sloop of

war, Peacock, and that she had six feet water in the hold. Every

effort was made to save the prize, and to get out the wounded. Both

vessels were anchored; the pumps were rigged on board the Peacock, and

bailing was resorted to. The vessel, however, continued to sink, and

at last went down, carrying nine of her own crew and three of the

Hornet with her. Two American officers, and many more seamen came near

losing their lives, in their gallant effort to save the prisoners.

The foremast of the ill-fated vessel protruded from the sea, where she

went down, remaining for some time to mark the place of the battle and

the victory.

The superiority of American gunnery and American seamanship was again

established beyond dispute. The Hornet was slightly superior in weight

of metal,[33] but she not only out-maneuvered her antagonist, but

surpassed her incomparably in the effective use of her guns. The

former had but one man killed and two wounded, while of the latter

there were thirty-eight killed and wounded, and among them the

commander. The Hornet had but a single shot in her hull, while the

Peacock was so riddled that she sunk in a few minutes after the

action.

[Footnote 33:

Peacock. Hornet.

Broadside guns, 9 10

Crew, 130 135]

The thrill of exultation that passed over the land at the announcement

of the first naval victory, was alloyed by the reflection that it was

but an isolated instance, and hence could hardly justify a belief in

our naval superiority. But as frigate after frigate and ship after

ship struck, all doubt vanished, and the nation was intoxicated with

delight. The successive disasters that befel our land forces along the

Canada line, could not check the outburst of enthusiasm on every side.

As the news of one victory succeeding another was borne along the

great channels of communication, long shouts of triumph rolled after

it, and the navy from being unknown and uncared for, rose at once to

be the bulwark and pride of the nation. All faces were turned to the

ocean to catch the first echo of those resistless broadsides, that

proudly asserted and made good the claim to "free trade and sailor's

rights." Where we had been insulted and wronged the most, there we

were chastising the offender with blows that astounded the world. If

the American Government had been amazed at the failure of its deep

laid schemes against Canada, it was no less so at the unexpected

triumphs at sea. Saved from the deepest condemnation by the navy,

which it had neglected--forced to fall back on its very blunders for

encouragement, it could say with Hamlet--

"Let us know,

Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well

When our deep plots do pall."

But our astonishment at these successive and brilliant victories could

scarcely exceed that of the old world. The British navy had been so

long accustomed to victory, that a single-handed contest of an English

frigate with that of any other nation, had ceased to be a matter of

solicitude to her. The maritime nations of Europe had, one after

another, yielded to her sway, till her flag in every sea on the globe

extorted the respect and fear which the declaration, "I am a Roman

citizen" did, in the proudest days of the Empire. Her invincibility on

the ocean was a foregone conclusion. The victories of Napoleon

stopped with the shore--even his "star" paled on the deep. His

extraordinary efforts and energies could not tear from the British

navy the proud title it had worn so long. His fleets, one after

another, had gone down before the might of British broadsides, and the

sublime sea fights of Aboukir and Trafalgar, were only corroborations

of what had long been established. If this was the common feeling of

the Continent it is no wonder that "the English were stunned as by the

shock of an earthquake."[34] The first victory surprised them, but did

not disturb their confidence. They began to discuss the causes of the

unlooked for event with becoming dignity, but before the argument was

concluded, another and another defeat came like successive thunder

claps, till discussion gave way to alarm. The thoughtful men of

England were too wise to pretend that disasters occurring in such

numbers and wonderful regularity, could be the result of accident, and

feared they beheld the little black cloud which the prophet saw rising

over the sea, portending an approaching storm. If, in so short a time,

a maritime force of only a few frigates and sloops of war could strike

such deadly blows and destroy the prestige of English invincibility,

what could not be done when that navy should approximate her own in

strength. Some of the leading journals indulged in foolish boasting

and detraction of American valor, and held up to derision those who

saw portents of evil in the recent defeats. But the Times spoke the

sentiments of those whose opinions were of any weight. Said the

latter: "We witnessed the gloom which the event (the capture of the

Guerriere) cast over high and honorable minds. We participated in the

vexation and regret, and it is the first time we ever heard that the

striking of the flag on the high seas to any thing like an equal

force, should be regarded by Englishmen with complacency or

satisfaction." *** "It is not merely that an English frigate has been

taken, after what we are free to confess, may be called a brave

resistance, but that it has been taken by a _new enemy_, an enemy

unaccustomed to such triumphs, and likely to be rendered insolent and

confident by them." Another declared: "Our maritime superiority is in

fact a part of the nation's right. It has been the right of the

conqueror, since men associated together in civilization, to give laws

to the conquered, and is Great Britain to be driven from the proud

eminence which the blood and treasures of her sons have attained for

her among nations, by a piece of striped bunting flying at the

masthead of a few _fir-built frigates_, manned by a handful of

bastards and outlaws?"

[Footnote 34: Vide Alison.]

Such were the different sentiments entertained and expressed in

England at the outset, but as the war progressed, anxiety and alarm

took the place of boasting.

The war vessels at length grew timorous, and lost all their desire to

meet an American ship of equal rank. It was declared that our frigates

were built like seventy-fours, and therefore English frigates were

justified in declining a battle when offered. The awful havoc made by

our fire affected the seamen also, and whenever they saw the stars and

stripes flaunting from the masthead of an approaching vessel, they

felt that no ordinary battle was before them. English crews had never

been so cut up since the existence of her navy. In the terrific battle

of the Nile, Nelson lost less than three out of one hundred, and in

his attack on Copenhagen, less than four out of every hundred. In

Admiral Duncan's famous action off Camperdown, the proportion was

about the same as that of the Nile. In 1793, the French navy was in

its glory, and the victories obtained over its single ships by English

vessels were considered unparalleled. Yet in fourteen single

engagements, considered the most remarkable, and in which the ships,

with one exception, ranged from thirty-six guns to fifty-two, the

average of killed and wounded was only seventeen per ship, while in

four encounters with American vessels, the Constitution, United States

and Wasp, the average was a hundred and eleven to each vessel.

[Sidenote: Jan. 2.]

This success of the navy at length roused Congress to do something in

its aid, and an act was passed on the 2d of January, authorizing the

President to build four seventy-fours, and six ships of forty-four

guns, thus increasing the force of the navy tenfold. On the 3d of

March, by another act, it authorized the building of such vessels on

the lakes as was deemed necessary to their protection. Sums were also

voted to the officers and crews as prize money.

CHAPTER VII.

Harrison plans a winter campaign -- Advance of the army --

Battle and massacre at the River Raisin -- Baseness of

Proctor -- Promoted by his Government -- Tecumseh, his

character and eloquence -- He stirs up the Creeks to war --

Massacre at Fort Mimms -- Investment of Fort Meigs --

Advance of Clay's reinforcements and their destruction --

Successful sortie -- Flight of the besiegers -- Major

Croghan's gallant defence of Fort Stephenson.

The army of General Harrison, which in October was slowly pushing its

way towards Malden to Detroit, soon became involved in difficulties

that compelled him to abandon his original design of an autumnal

campaign. The lakes being in possession of the enemy, provisions,

ammunition and cannon had to be transported by land, through swamps

and along forest paths which could be traced only by blazed trees, and

traversed only when the ground was frozen. He therefore occupied his

time in sending out detachments and hurrying up his forces, in order

to be ready to advance when the frozen ground, and especially the ice

along the margin of the lake would facilitate the transportation of

his guns and munitions of war.

General Tupper made two attempts, first from Fort Defiance and

afterwards from Fort McArthur, to dislodge the Indians at the Rapids,

but failed in both. Another detachment under Col. Campbell left

Franklintown in December, to attack the Indian villages on the

Missisineway, which were reached on the 18th, and four out of five

destroyed.