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1812.]

BATTLE OF QUEENSTOWN HEIGHTS.

265

laer. Captains Ogilvie and Wool led the troops to the assault and captured the fortress. General Brock with a re-enforcement of six hundred men assailed the Americans, but was repulsed, Brock himself being mortally wounded. The three commanders who succeeded him in turn were killed or badly wounded.

The Americans had fought bravely and they now began to entrench. The other division of the army, twelve hundred strong, on the American side of the river, was sent for and urged to join those on the Heights soon to be attacked. But the sights and sounds of the battle had so scared the New York militia that they refused to obey the

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order. They made the excuse that they had enlisted for the defense of the state, and that they should not go out of it. It is doubtless true that such troops would not have crossed the frontier, unless they had learned that the enemy was entering the

state.

Lieutenant-colonel Winfield Scott had passed the river and taken command of the brigade. While he was engaged in entrenching, he was assailed by a strong force of British and Indians. He twice repelled them with the bayonet, but other re-enforcements arriving, he was driven back toward the river. Reaching the edge of the bluff, they scrambled down the rocks and bushes to the water far below. But there were no

boats to take them across, and, finding themselves hemmed in, they surrendered. The loss of the Americans in killed and wounded was fully a thousand.

While the latter were fighting with such bravery during the afternoon, until finally compelled to give way, the twelve hundred New York militia stood on the other shore and looked on. Their cowardice so disgusted General Van Rensselaer that he resigned his command and General Alexander Smyth of Virginia succeeded him.

This officer celebrated his promotion by issuing two proclamations which in the way of bombast have never been surpassed. You would smile, could you read them. After declaring that he should soon plant his standards on the strongholds of Canada, he announced that after conquering the British dominions, he would annex them to the United States. Those who had commanded the army before him, he said, were wholly destitute of skill and experience in war. The "Army of the Center," as he called his militia, had now a general who would lead them to victory!

When a leader talks in that style, you may feel sure that he is either a coward or a fool, with the chances in favor of his being both. On the 28th of November, a company was sent across from Black Rock a few miles north of Buffalo. Instead of following with a stronger detachment, Smyth brought the advance party back. A few days later, another crossing was planned and the troops had actually embarked, when they were ordered to return and go into winter quarters. The militia threatened to revolt, and the conduct of Smyth was so inexcusable that he was finally deprived of his command.

This closes the account of the military operations of the year 1812. They were discouraging enough. We are apt sometimes to think that the Americans have proved themselves to be the bravest soldiers in the world, and that they never showed cowardice anywhere. You have only to read the history of the wars in which we have been engaged, however, in order to make up your mind that we have had now and then leaders as cowardly and incompetent among our officers and soldiers as other nations have had. The story is a dismal one until we turn our attention to the ocean. There the exploits of the little American navy were such as to make your cheeks glow with pride. You know that Stewart and Bainbridge persuaded President Madison against the judg ment of his cabinet to allow the American sailors and captains to show what they could do, and later they proved the wisdom of their counsel.

Within two hours after Commodore John Rodgers was notified that war had been declared against Great Britain, he had put to sea in the President, the same vessel that taught a valuable lesson to the British sloop of war Little Belt. There was one advantage that the American navy had over that of her enemy. Wherever one of our cruisers went she was almost sure to catch sight of the English vessels; that kind of game was so plentiful that it took little hunting to find it.

The British frigates and men-of-war, on the contrary, found it less easy to discover what they wanted. The Americans could, as a rule, run away from those that were too strong to capture, but I doubt whether there were any from which they wished to flee: they were too eager to fight.

A few days later the President caught sight of the frigate Belvidere and gave chase. She killed seven of the enemy's crew, but the vessel managed to escape. Rodgers lost

1812.]

THE WAR ON THE OCEAN.

267

twenty-two men, but sixteen of them were slain by the bursting of a gun. He continued his cruise and captured a number of merchantmen and re-took an American prize.

About the middle of August, the frigate Constitution, commanded by Captain Isaac Hull; nephew of the general who disgraced himself at Detroit, came up with the British sloop-of-war Guerriere, off the coast of Massachusetts. For three-quarters of an hour the two maneuvered to get the advantage of position. The Guerriere was unable to do so and finally approached the Constitution, firing broadsides at intervals. When within half pistol shot, the Constitution poured a tremendous fire into the enemy, which swept her decks. In less than half an hour every mast of the Briton and almost every spar was shot away. She could do nothing but strike her flag, which she did, having lost seventy-nine killed and wounded, while the American had seven killed and the same number wounded.

The Guerriere was found to be such a wreck that she was blown up, and Hull sailed to Boston with his prisoners and spoils. As soon as it became known that Hull had won such a brilliant victory, the American's were wild with delight. All Boston cheered Hull when he landed. The city was gay with bunting, and a grand dinner was given in his honor. New York and Philadelphia were scarcely less demonstrative in their greeting. Had Captain Hull been nominated for the presidency, no doubt he would have been elected, that is if the election could have been held within a week after his arrival. Congress gave him a gold medal, and to his crew fifty thousand dollars.

The Guerriere was slightly the inferior of the Constitution in tonnage and carried thirty-eight guns to the Americans forty-four, but before such a battle, the British would have insisted that it was out of the question for the American to win. The defeat, therefore, was a cause of deep chagrin to England. The British could not admit that in any thing like an equal contest one of their frigates could be beaten. They were ready with all manner of excuses. One of the fairest of the British histories that it was "suspected" that the American frigate carried seventy-four guns, instead of forty-four.

says

In the latter part of the same month, Commodore Stephen Decatur was cruising in the frigate United States. He captured a packet with a large sum of specie. He then engaged the frigate Macedonian in a fierce engagement lasting two hours. At the end of that time, while Decatur had lost but twelve men, his enemy had lost more than a hundred.

Decatur reached New York with his prize on New Year's day, 1813. His reception was as enthusiastic as that of Hull. When the exploits of the navy were so brilliant it was less humiliating to think of the defeats of the army.

Hull and Decatur having done so well, Bainbridge took his turn. Sailing from Boston, in October, in the Constitution, he sighted the frigate Java, off the coast of Brazil. A furious battle followed, lasting two hours. Every mast was torn from the British ship, and her hull burst with round shot. She had lost one hundred and twenty. men, her captain being among the mortally wounded, when her flag was struck The loss of the Constitution was only thirty-four. You must see that this was another proof

of the greater skill of the Americans in firing. The Java was blown up, and the prisoners and wounded taken on board the Constitution, which stood away for Boston. When Bainbridge and his brave fellows reached that city, you may be certain they had just as royal a welcome as did Hull some months before. The Constitution gained the name of "Old Ironsides," and was always looked upon as one of the "lucky" vessels of our navy.

During the same month that Bainbridge started out with the Constitution on her cruise, Captain Jacob Jones with the sloop-of-war Wasp, fell in with the brig Frolic. The fight was hot and bloody, the vessels being so close that the spars of the Wasp were shot away, and the hull of the Frolic was almost riddled. Grappling with each other, the Americans swarmed over upon the deck of the Frolic. They found only the man at the wheel and a couple of officers, who, of course, surrendered. Every one else had gone below.

The Wasp had lost but ten men, while on the Frolic there were not twenty that were unhurt. It was not long, however, before the British man-of-war Poictiers bore down and captured both vessels.

The truth was the Americans had put sights on their guns a short time before, while the British had not yet done so. Hence, our people fired with a great deal more accuracy than did the enemy. It would be idle to claim that our sailors were any more skillful and brave than the English. Both belonged to the same race, spoke the same language and were equally courageous and devoted to their country.

Thus during the first six months of the war we gained great triumphs on the sea, so great indeed that England was chagrined and exasperated. Her papers declared that the flag of Great Britain had been disgraced "by a piece of striped bunting flying at the mast-heads of a few fir-built frigates, manned by a handful of outlaws."

Just after the war was fairly under way, the presidential election took place in the autumn of 1812. There was some opposition to Madison, but he was re-elected by a majority that proved the people of the United States were strongly in favor of the war. Eldridge Gerry became vice-president in place of George Clinton, who had died just before.

The administration had a good working majority in Congress. Madison stated in his message that, during the recess, the British had offered an armistice, alleging the repeal of the Orders of Council as a reason for coming to terms; but that, as they would not make any provisions against the impressment of seamen, the offer had been rejected. Congress, in the face of some opposition, passed resolutions approving this course, and measures were taken for strengthening and more fully organizing the army. The bounty and pay of the soldiers were increased; the president was authorized to raise twenty additional regiments of infantry, to issue treasury-notes and to borrow money; and provision was made for building four ships-of-the-line, six frigates and as many vessels-of-war on the Great Lakes as might be needed. The American army was organized in three divisions: the Army of the North, commanded by General Wade Hampton, to operate in the country about Lake Champlain; the Army of the Center, under direction of the commander-in-chief, General Henry Dearborn, to resume offensive movements on the

1813.]

ATTEMPT TO RECOVER MICHIGAN.

269

Niagara frontier and Lake Ontario; and the Army of the West, under General Winchester, who was soon superseded by General Harrison.

I have told you that the last named general marched toward Michigan to recover it from the British, to whom, as you know, it was surrendered by Hull. The Americans

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were so eager to carry on the war that they would not remain idle during the winter, even though the weather was severe. General Winchester was ordered to advance to Frenchtown, a village on the river Raisin, twenty-five miles south of Detroit. At the head of eight hundred volunteers, mostly Kentuckians, Winchester reached the Maumee Rapids, January 10, 1813. Three days later he sent a small body of troops

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