We have alluded (page 296) to the discomfiture of Sir George Prevost before Sackett's Harbour, that naval arsenal whose destruction Major-General Brock was so unfortunately prevented from undertaking. The governor-general having proceeded in May, 1813, from Montreal to Kingston with Sir James Yeo, who had just arrived from England to command the British naval forces on the lakes-the squadron on Lake Ontario now consisting of two ships, a brig, and two schooners-the public was on the tiptoe of expectation for some decisive dash on the enemy's flotilla on that lake. An attack upon Sackett's Harbour, in the absence of their fleet at Niagara, was resolved upon, so as to destroy "the forts, the arsenals, and the dock-yard, where the Americans had a frigate almost ready for launching, and several other vessels; but when this wavering and spiritless general reconnoitred the place, he would not venture an attack, and returned across the water towards Kingston. Then he changed his mind and went back to Sackett's Harbour; and (but not without more wavering and loss of time) our troops, about 750 strong, were landed. The Americans were presently driven at the bayonet's point into some loop-holed barracks and forts; and so panic-stricken were they, that they immediately set fire to their new frigate, their naval barracks and arsenal, and destroyed a gun-brig and all the stores which had so recently been captured at York. While the arsenal was in flames, while the Americans were flying through the village, and when the complete success of the assailants was certain, Sir George Prevost sent a precipitate order for retreat, merely because a momentary resistance was offered by a party of Americans, who had taken refuge in the log-barracks! The British troops reluctantly obeyed their general's order and returned to their boats, men and officers being acutely sensible to his folly, and wondering by what means so incompetent a commander had been placed over

them. If Sir George Prevost had studied the history of the war of the American revolution, it could only have been with an eye to copy all the indecisions and blunders of the formalising, badly instructed English generals of that period. But the Howes, Clintons, and Burgoynes, were at least always ready to fight. As soon as the Americans could believe that the English were really abandoning their enterprise at the moment that it was all but completed, they rushed back to stop the conflagration: they were too late to save the stores which had been brought from York, the navy barracks, or the brig, but the frigate on the stocks, being built of green wood, would not easily burn, and was found but little injured. If the destruction at Sackett's Harbour had been completed, we should have deprived the Americans of every prospect of obtaining the ascendancy on the lake."* And, as if to crown this miserable failure, the details were narrated by the adjutant-general, in a dispatch to Sir George Prevost, as if Colonel Baynes had commanded in chief, and the governor-general had been present as a mere spectator!†

From these humiliating occurrences on Lake Ontario, we turn to the captured post of Detroit, which, it will be remembered, was left by Major-General Brock in charge of Colonel Proctor. No sooner had intelligence of the surrender of Hull reached Washington, than the renewal of the North-Western army for the recovery of the Michigan territory became the anxious object of the American government. That army, which eventually outnumbered the former

* Extract from the Pictorial History of England.

+ "Sir George Prevost was beyond all doubt the immediate commander of this expedition. But he found it convenient not to appear in that character; and the only detail of operations was in the shape of a dispatch from the adjutant-general to himself, obligingly communicating what was already sufficiently known to him. By this ingenious device, he in some measure averted the exposure of miscarriage from himself, and generously yielded his laurels, such as they were, to his grateful and submissive follower."-Quarterly Review.

one, was placed under the command of Major-General Harrison, (who died a few years since, while president of the United States,) and in September was in full march for the Miami (or Maumee) rapids, the spot assigned as the general rendezvous. In January, 1813, Colonel Proctor received information that a brigade of that army, under Brigadier Winchester, was encamped at Frenchtown, on the river Raisin, 40 miles south of Detroit. The British commander, although he had orders not to act on the offensive, promptly determined to attack this brigade before it was reinforced by the main body, a few days march in the rear; and with his disposable force, consisting of 500 regulars, militia, and seamen, he made a resolute assault, at dawn on the 22d, on the enemy's camp, which was completely successful. In this affair, the Americans lost between 3 and 400 men killed; and Brigadier Winchester, 3 field officers, 9 captains, 20 subalterns, and upwards of 500 men, in prisoners. This gallant exploit secured Detroit from any immediate danger, but the day after it was sadly tarnished by the straggling Indians, who massacred such wounded prisoners as were unable to walk, the guard left for their protection deserting their charge on a false alarm of General Harrison's approach. This success, for which Colonel Proctor was immediately promoted to the rank of brigadier, together with the spoil obtained at Frenchtown, brought down several warlike tribes of Indians from the river Wabash, and even from the more distant Mississippi, to join the British standard. Towards the end of March, Proctor learnt that General Harrison intended to commence active operations for the recovery of the Michigan territory, on the arrival of considerable reinforcements, which he was expecting. Resolved to try the issue of another attack before the enemy, already much superior in numbers, gained a fresh acquisition of strength, Proctor embarked at Amherstburg with 520 regulars and 460 militia, and made for the mouth of the Miami,

(or Maumee,) which falls into Lake Erie. He ascended that river, about 1,200 Indians co-operating with him, and landed his troops, stores, and ordnance, on the 28th of April, near Fort Meigs, (about twelve miles from its mouth,) mounting eighteen guns, which he cannonaded from both banks of the Miami. On the 5th of May, the enemy's long-expected reinforcements, under Brigadier Clay, came suddenly down the river; they were 1,300 strong, but newly-raised militia; and as the boats drew near, Harrison ordered Clay to storm the British batteries on the opposite or north side of the river, while a sortie was made from the fort for the purpose of capturing the three British guns on the southern bank. For a short period, the British batteries on both sides were in the hands of the enemy, but they were quickly regained by bayonet charges; and on the north bank Colonel Dudley, after spiking the captured guns, having marched with 400 men to attack the British camp, was drawn into an ambuscade by the Indians, and himself and about half his men were slain. Of the Americans, about 550 men were made prisoners, and their killed and wounded were estimated at nearly as many more. The far-famed Tecumseh* buried his tomahawk in the head of a Chippawah chief, whom he found actively engaged in massacring some of the prisoners. But as the Indians retired, as is their wont after success, to enjoy their plunder, Tecumseh and less than twenty warriors only remaining; and as half of the militia also returned to their homes, Proctor was compelled to raise the siege of Fort Meigs. Having re-embarked his small force of regulars, chiefly of the 41st (the Welsh) regiment, and the whole of his ordnance and stores, he proceeded to Sandwich; while General

* "Among the Indians that joined General Proctor from the Wabash, was the highly gifted and celebrated chief, Tecumseh, who united in his person all those heroic qualities which romance has even delighted to attribute to the children of the forest,' and, with them, intelligence and feelings that belonged not to the savage. He possessed such influence among his brethren, that his presence was an acquisition of the utmost importance."-Quarterly Review, 1822.

Harrison abandoned all intention of advancing against Detroit until the American squadron had gained the command of Lake Erie.

Major-General Proctor having determined to recommence his attacks against the American NorthWestern army, whose head quarters were then at Seneca-town, near Sandusky Bay, on Lake Erie, he landed a second time near Fort Meigs late in July, which he blockaded for a few days, in the hope that Major-General Harrison would advance to its relief; but the latter was too wily to trust to the issue of a conflict with the Indians in the woods, which surrounded the fortress. A stratagem was then tried by the Indians under Tecumseh, to provoke the garrison. to a sortie, by firing briskly for some time, and then retreating, as if a reinforcement from Sandusky was endeavouring to fight its way into the fort; and so well was the ruse managed, that General Clay could scarcely prevent his men from sallying out to assist their supposed friends. The Indians were now convinced that nothing was to be done against Fort Meigs, and many of them hastily returned to Amherstburg. Proctor next re-embarked his troops, and landed on the 1st of August near the Sandusky river, investing immediately, with nearly 400 regulars and between 200 and 300 Indians, Fort Stephenson, about eighteen miles from its mouth. On the 2d, a fire was opened from two 6-pounders and two 5-inch howitzers against the fort, which appears to have possessed only one masked 6-pounder, and to have been garrisoned by about 180 men, under Major Croghan; but as the fire produced no impression, the place was ordered to be stormed. The assailants reached the ditch which was raked by the masked gun, and sustained in consequence so severe a loss, that they retreated precipitately, having their gallant leader, Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Short, of the 41st, with 3 officers and 52 men, killed or missing, besides 3 officers and 38 men wounded; while the Americans R*