AT the commencement of the session of congress, held in the autumn of 1812, the president, in his message, stated that, immediately after the declaration of war, he communicated to the British government the terms on which its progress might be arrested; that these terms were, the repeal of the orders in council, the discharge of American seamen, and the abandonment of the practice of impressment; and that the ministry had declined to accede to his offers. 2. He also stated that, at an early period of the war, he had received official information of the repeal of the orders in council; that two propositions for an armistice had been made to him, both of which he had rejected, as they could not have been accepted without conceding to Great Britain the right of impressment. 3. The rejection of these propositions was approved by the national representatives, who, far from abandoning the ground they had taken, adopted more vigorous measures for the prosecution of the war. The bounty, and the wages of soldiers, were increased. The president was authorized to raise twenty addi tional regiments of infantry, to issue treasury notes, and to borrow money. Provision was also made for building four ships of the line, six frigates, and as many vessels of war on the great lakes as the public service might require. 4. So great was the desire of the citizens of the western country to regain possession of the territory of Michigan, that, in order to effect it, general Harrison resolved to undertake a winter campaign. General Winchester, with a portion of the western army, proceeded in advance to Frenchtown, a village on the river Raisin, not far from Detroit. A British party stationed in the village was attacked, routed, and entirely dispersed. 5. The Americans encamped near the field of battle, a part of them being protected by close garden pickets. Although near an enemy's post, but little precaution was taken to prevent a surprize. Early in the morning of the 22nd of January, they were attacked by a large force of British and Indians, the former commanded by colonel Procter, the latter by the chiefs Roundhead and Splitlog. The troops in the open field were thrown into disorder. General Winchester, and other officers, inade an ineffectual attempt to rally them. They fled, but while attempting to escape were mostly killed by the Indians. The general and colonel Lewis were made prisoners. 6. The troops behind the pickets maintained the contest with undaunted bravery. At length colonel Procter assured general ́Winchester, that if the remainder of the Americans would immediately surrender, they should be protected from massacre; but otherwise he would set fire to the village, and would not be responsible for the conduct of the savages. Intimidated by this threat, general Winchester sent an order to the troops to surren der, which they obeyed. The 7. Colonel Procter, leaving the wounded without a guard, marched back immediately to Malden. The Indians accompanied them a few miles, but returned early the next morning. Deeds of horror followed. The wounded officers were dragged from the houses, killed and scalped in the streets. buildings were set on fire. Some who attempted to escape were forced back into the flames. Others were put to death by the tomahawk, and left shockingly mangled in the highway. The infamy of this butchery should not fall upon the perpetrators alone. It must rest equally upon those who instigated them to hostility, by whose side they fought, who were able, and were bound by a solemn engagement to restrain them. 8. The battle and massacre at Frenchtown clothed Kentucky and Ohio in mourning. Other volunteers, indignant at the treachery and cruelty of their foes, hastened to the aid of Harrison. He marched to the rapids of the Miami, where he erected a fort, which he called fort Meigs, in honor of the governor of Ohio. On the first of May, it was invested by a large number of Indians, and by a party of British troops from Malden, the whole commanded by colonel Procter. 9. Five days afterwards, general Clay, at the head of 1200 Kentuckians, made an attempt to raise the siege. Dividing his force into several parties, and making an impetuous onset, he drove the besiegers from their works. His troops, supposing the victory complete and disregarding the orders of their com mander, dispersed into the woods. The enemy, returning from their flight, obtained an easy victory. Of the Americans, two or three hundred escaped into the fort; about three hundred were killed or made prisoners; the remainder fled to the nearest settlements. The enemy sustained considerable loss. 10. The fort continued to be defended with bravery and skill. The Indians, unaccustomed to sieges, became weary and discontented. On the 8th of May, notwithstanding the entreaties of their chief, Tecumsel, they deserted their allies. On the 9th, the enemy, despairing of success, made a precipitate retreat. General Harrison, leaving general Clay in command, returned to Ohio for reinforcements; but in this quarter active operations were not resumed until a squadron had been built and prepared for action on lake Erie. 11. At Sackett's Harbor, on the northern frontier, a body of troops had been assembled under the command of general Dearborn, and great exertions were made, by commodore Chauncey, to build and equip a squadron, on lake Ontario, sufficiently pow erful to contend with that of the enemy. By the 25th of April, the naval preparations were so far completed that the general, and 1700 troops, were conveyed across the lake to the attack of York, the capital of Upper Canada. 12. On the 27th, an advanced party, led by brigadier-general Pike, who was born in a camp and bred a soldier from his birth, landed, although opposed, at the water's edge, by a superior force. After a short but severe conflict, the enemy were driven to their fortifications. The rest of the troops having landed, the whole party pressed forward, carried the first battery by assault, and were moving towards the main works, when the enemy's magazine blew up, with a tremendous explosion, hurling upon the advancing troops immense quantities of stone and timber. 13. Numbers were killed, the gallant Pike received a mortal wound; the troops halted for a moment, but recovering from the shock, again pressed forward and soon gained possession of the town. Of the British troops, one hundred were killed, nearly three hundred were wounded, and the same number made prisoners. Of the Americans, three hundred and twenty were killed and wounded, and nearly all of them by the explosion of the magazine. The flag which waved over the fort was carried to the dying Pike; at his desire, it was placed under his head, when, with the smile of triumph on his lips, he expired. 14. The object of the expedition attained, the squadron and troops returned to Sackett's Harbor, whence, the wounded and prisoners being landed and other troops taken on board, it sailed to Fort George, at the head of the Lake. After a warm engagement, the enemy abandoned, and the Americans entered the fort. The fugitives retired to the heights, at the head of Burlington bay. On their retreat, they were joined by a detachment from fort Erie and Chippeway. Two brigades, generals Chandler and Winder, were despatched in pursuit. On the evening of the 5th of June, they encamped at Stoney Creek, in the vicinity of the enemy, who, considering their situation under desperate, turned upon their pursuers and attacked them in the night. 15. The Americans received them with coolness; but such was the darkness, that general Chandler, intending to place himself at the head of his artillery, threw himself into the midst of a British party. A few minutes afterwards, the same mistake was committed by general Winder. Satisfied with the capture of these officers, and a few other prisoners, the enemy made a precipitate retreat. The American troops returned to fort George. This misfortune was soon followed by another. Lieutenant-colonel Boerstler, having been sent, with 500 men, to disperse a body of the enemy collected at the Beaver Dams, was surrounded, and the whole detachment made prisoners. 16. While the greater part of the American army was thus employed in Canada, the British made an attack upon the important post of Sackett's Harbor. On the 27th of May, their squadron appeared before the town. Alarm guns instantly as sembled the citizens of the neighborhood. General Brown, of the New-York militia, commanded in chief, his whole force amounting to about one thousand men. By his orders, a slight breast work was hastily thrown up, at the only place where the enemy could land. Behind this, he placed the militia, the regu lars under colonel Backus forming a second line. 17. On the morning of the 29th, one thousand British troops landed from the squadron. They advanced toward the breastwork. The militia, seized with a sudden panic, fled in confusion. Colonel Mills, in a vain attempt to rally them, was mortally wounded. The regulars, after a spirited resistance, were compelled to retire towards the town, but in their retreat they took possession of the houses on the road. From these coverts they poured so destructive a fire upon the British column, that it halted and fell back. General Brown, by a stratagem, converted this slight check into a precipitate flight. Collecting the panic struck militia, he directed their course along a road, which, while it led from the village, appeared to the British commander to lead to the place of landing. Perceiving them marching with great speed, he supposed that their object was to cut off his retreat, and re-embarked so hastily as to leave behind most of his wounded. General Brown, in recompense for his services, was appointed a brigadier in the regular army. 18. Meanwhile, upon the sea coast, a distressing and predatory war was carried on, by large detachments from the powerful navy of Great Britain. One squadron, stationed in Delaware bay, captured and burned every merchant vessel which came within its reach. The inhabitants of Lewiston, in the state of Delaware, having refused to sell provisions to the enemy, the village was bombarded and several attempts were made to land, but they were defeated by the militia. 19. Early in the spring, another and more powerful squadron arrived in Chesapeake bay. It was commanded by admiral Cockburn, who, departing from the usual modes of honourable warfare, directed his efforts principally against unoffending citizens and peaceful villages. The farm-houses and gentlemen's seats near the shore were plundered, and the cattle driven away or wantonly slaughtered. Frenchtown, Havre de Grace, Fredericktown, and Georgetown were sacked and burned. Norfolk was saved from a similar fate, by the determined bravery of a small force stationed on Craney Island, in the harbor. A furi ous attack was made upon Hampton, which, notwithstanding the gallant resistance of its small garrison, was captured, and the unfortunate inhabitants suffered all which a brutal and unrestrained soldiery could inflict. 20. The ocean, in the mean time, had been the theatre of sanguinary conflicts, in which the victors gained untarnished laurels. Captain Lawrence, in the sloop of war Hornet, discovering, in the neutral port of San Salvador, a British sloop of war of superior force, challenged her commander to meet him at sea. The challenge being declined, Captain Lawrence blockaded the port until forced by a ship of the line to retire. 21. Soon after, on the 23d of February, the Hornet met the British brig Peacock, of about equal force. A fierce combat ensued. In less than fifteen minutes, the Peacock struck her colors, displaying, at the same time, a signal of distress. The victors hastened to the relief of the vanquished, and the same strength which had been exerted to conquer was now exerted Their efforts were but partially successful. She sunk before all her crew could be removed, carrying down nine British seamen and three brave and generous Americans. In the battle, the loss of the Hornet was but one killed and two wounded; that of the Peacock was never ascertained. to save. 22. On his return to the United States, captain Lawrence was promoted to the command of the frigate Chesapeake, then in the Harbor of Boston. For several weeks, the British frigate Shannon, of equal force but having a selected crew, had been cruising before the port; and captain Brook, her commander, had announced his wish to meet, in single combat, an American frigate. Inflamed by this challenge, captain Lawrence, although his crew was just enlisted, and his officers were |