With his message the President sent into Congress a letter from the Emperor of Russia offering his mediation. The President stated that it had been accepted by the government; that commissioners had been appointed to conclude a treaty of peace with persons clothed with like powers on the part of the British government, and that two of the American commissioners (Albert Gallatin and James A. Bayard) had already departed for St. Petersburg, there to meet John Quincy Adams, a third commissioner. While the President expressed a hope that a speedy peace might be the result, he conjured Congress to shape legislation as if the object might be obtained only by a vigorous prosecution of the war. He called attention, in a special manner, to the national finances, which were not in a promising condition, and laid before Congress an estimate of expenses for the year 1813, to the amount of about thirty million dollars. 1

The subject of an increase of internal revenue and of direct taxation had been agitated a little, but was deferred until after the Presidential election. Now the administration party felt strong enough to try these measures. Bills for the imposition of taxes and excise were adopted, and a new loan was authorized. No effort was spared for providing adequate means for the vigorous prosecution of the war, and only in New England was a voice of serious opposition heard. Governor Strong, of Massachusetts, denounced the war as cruel and unjust, and urged the Legislature to adopt measures for bringing about a speedy peace. The two houses being in political accord with the governor, they agreed to a remonstrance, in which they, too, declared the farther prosecution of the war to be impolitic and unjust, and implored Congress to adopt measures for arresting it. They declared that they were influenced only by a sense of duty to the Constitution and the country, and appealed to God as a witness of the rectitude of their intentions. This remonstrance was presented to the House of Representatives [June 19, 1813.] by Timothy Pickering. It was courteously received on account of that venerable man, when it was laid on the table, and there remained during the rest of the session, but excited much remark and severe condemnation throughout the country. 2

Congress also considered the charges of cruel and unusual conduct on the part of the British in making war, and a committee was appointed, with the eminent Nathaniel Macon, of North Carolina {original text has "Caroliona".}, as chairman, to gather information on the subject. Their report, now on file at the national capital, is a melancholy picture of wrongs and outrages, especially in the Northwest where savages were employed, and on the Virginia coast. 3

In a confidential message [December 9, 1813.] the President recommended the passage of an Embargo Act to prevent supplies being furnished to the enemy from American ports by unpatriotic men, and the introduction of British manufactures in professedly neutral vessels. Such traffic was extensively carried on, especially in New England, where the magistrates were often willingly lenient toward violators of restrictive laws already in operation. A bill, in accordance with the President’s suggestions, was passed by both houses of Congress on the 11th [December.], the provisions of which were excessively stringent. It was provided that the act should remain in force until the 1st of January, 1815, unless hostilities should sooner cease. 4

Very soon after the promulgation of the Embargo Act, intelligence came from Europe which caused a change in the views of the administration concerning the necessity for the measure. An English flag of truce schooner arrived at Annapolis, Maryland, at the close of December, with the news of great disasters to Napoleon in the field. His triumphant march toward the German Ocean and the Baltic had been checked in a great battle at Leipsic, and he had been compelled to fall back across the Rhine with his magnificent army sadly shattered. Thoughtful men supposed the hour of the conqueror’s downfall to be near, and reasonably concluded that such an event would allow the British government to withdraw its soldiers from the Continent and send them hither. The schooner also brought official assurance to our government that the British Cabinet was willing to treat for peace, and accept the mediation of Russia upon certain conditions. In his letter to Secretary Monroe communicating this fact, Lord Castlereagh was careful to say that his government was willing to treat with that of the United States "upon principles of perfect reciprocity not inconsistent with the established maxims of public law 5 and with the maritime rights of the British empire." The Prince Regent, in his speech at the opening of Parliament, had used similar language on the subject. 6 He was willing to treat directly with the United States government through commissioners, but was unwilling to "accept the interposition of any friendly power in the question which formed the principal object of dispute between the two states." Notwithstanding it was evident that the British government did not mean to recede a line from its assumptions concerning the right of search and impressment, and proposed the opening of negotiations at London, or at some point on the Continent near Great Britain, the President, sincerely desiring peace on honorable terms, acceded to the proposition of the prince, and nominated Henry Clay and Jonathan Russell as additional commissioners; and the five, 7 by the concurrent action of the Senate in January [1814.], were duly commissioned to treat for peace, at Gottenburg, with British representatives. 8

This movement toward peace, and the prospect of a general pacification of Europe, made the Opposition clamorous for a repeal of the Embargo Act. These considerations, and a desire to increase the revenue by impost duties so as to fully sustain the public credit caused the President to recommend [January 19.] such repeal. That recommendation was hailed with great delight throughout the country, and an act of Congress for the repeal of the measure became a law on the 14th of April following. This was claimed to be a victory for the Federalists – an evidence that the wisdom of the peace-party was perceived by the people and Congress. 9

The providing of recruits for the army and its permanent increase was really the most important business of the session of Congress whose doings we are now considering. Expectations concerning the increase of the army had not been realized. Sixty-one thousand men was the intended number of the regular force: at the beginning of 1814 it was but a trifle more than half that number. Something must be done speedily, or the cause would be lost. Short enlistments, as usual, had proved disastrous, and provision was made for engaging men for five years. Volunteers were to be accepted for a less term. Liberal bounties were to be offered; and power was given to the President to call out the militia of the country for six instead of three months, if he should consider it necessary. Provision was made for a large increase of the navy by a bill passed by the lower house, but it was lost in the Senate, where only an appropriation of five hundred thousand dollars was authorized for the construction of a steam frigate, or floating battery, for harbor defense, suggested by Robert Fulton. The subject of finance occupied much of the time of the session; 10 and that concerning the exchange of prisoners became a very interesting topic. Difficulties, as we have observed, in regard to such exchange, appeared at the beginning of hostilities, caused by the British refusing to consider the Irishmen captured at Queenston as prisoners of war, claiming them to be British subjects. These were sent to England to be tried for treason. Scott then told the British authorities at Quebec that he should lay the matter before his government, and that an equal number of British prisoners should be held as hostages for their lives and freedom. He did so, and Congress, early in 1813, vested the President with the power of retaliation. 11

Let us now consider the military events of 1814, which occurred more in accordance with the necessities of developing exigencies as the seasons passed on than with that of any well-digested plans excepting as to the Northern frontiers. It had been agreed in cabinet council that an expedition under Colonel Croghan, the hero of Fort Stephenson, with the co-operation of Commodore Sinclair, should proceed against the British on the upper lakes, and attempt the recovery of Mackinaw and St. Joseph’s, which were lost at the beginning of the war. 12 An army, under Major General Brown, was to be collected on the desolated Niagara frontier of sufficient strength to seize the Canadian peninsula between Lakes Ontario and Erie, while General Izard, in command in the Lake Champlain region, should cut the connection on the St. Lawrence between Montreal and Kingston.

It was at the close of March [1814.] when the campaign was opened on the Northern frontier by the incompetent General Wilkinson, who, we have observed, took post with a part of the Army of the North, at Plattsburg, when the cantonment at French Mills was broken up. 13

I visited the scene of this conflict on a pleasant evening toward the close of July [July 27.], 1860. I had been to French Mills (Fort Covington) in the morning, and had arrived at Rouse’s Point, as before observed (page 665), toward evening. In a light wagon, behind a fleet horse, I rode from the village to La Colle Mill in time to make a sketch of the scene – the bridge, and the block-house, then part of a dwelling, the property of Mr. William Bowman – and to obtain from that gentleman so exact a description of the form and size of the old mill, which had been demolished only two years before, as to enable me, by observing the relative position of its ruins to the bridge, to reproduce the likeness of it given in the picture on the preceding page. Mr. Bowman accompanied me to the Ferry-road, opened by himself; a little southward of the bridge, where, about thirty rods southeast from the highway, might be seen the mounds which cover the remains of the slain in the battle there. Those of the Americans were buried on the right side of the road, and those of the British on the left side, about twenty feet from each other. Only one grave was made for the dead of each nation.

With the discreditable affair at La Colle Mill the military career of General Wilkinson was closed. By an order from the War Department, issued a week previous to that affair [March 24, 1814.], he was relieved of the command of the army in the Department of the North, and his conduct while in command of that district was subsequently committed to the scrutiny of a court-martial. He proved that during the most important operations of the disastrous campaign, which ended at French Mills, the War Department, in the person of Minister Armstrong and Adjutant General Walbach, was on the Northern frontier, and that he acted under the Secretary’s immediate instructions; that the failure of Hampton to meet him at St. Regis 14 justified his abandonment of an attack on Montreal; and that his encampment and stay at, and departure from French Mills, was in accordance with the views of the Secretary of War. These proofs being positive, Wilkinson was acquitted, and the public placed the chief blame, where it seemed to properly belong, on the War Department. Like Harrison, who had felt the baleful effects of the administration of that department, Wilkinson threw up his commission in disgust.

General Brown, as we have seen, left French Mills with a division of the army for Sackett’s Harbor at about the middle of February. 15 He arrived there on the 24th, after a rather pleasant march for that season of the year. There he received a letter from the Secretary of War, dated on the 28th [February.], informing him that Colonel Scott, who was a candidate for a brigadiership, had been ordered, with the accomplished Major Wood, of the Engineers, to the Niagara frontier. "The truth is," Armstrong said, "public opinion will not tolerate us in permitting the enemy to keep quiet possession of Fort Niagara. Another motive is the effect which may be expected from the appearance of a large corps on the Niagara in restraining the enemy’s enterprises to the westward." After expressing doubts concerning the ability of the force under Scott to recapture Fort Niagara, the Secretary, "by command of the President," as he said, directed Brown to convey, with the least possible delay, the brigades which he brought from French Mills to Batavia, where "other and more detailed orders" would await him. 16 On the same day, by another dispatch, the Secretary directed Brown to cross the ice at the foot of the lake, and attack the enemy at Kingston, if, on consultation with Chauncey, it should be considered practicable. In that event he was directed to use the instructions in the first letter of that date as a mask.

The two commanders considered the force of four thousand men at the Harbor insufficient for the capture of Kingston under the circumstances; and, mistaking the real intentions of the government, which was to make the movement on Kingston the main object, and that toward Niagara a feint, Brown put his troops in motion toward the latter at the middle of March. They numbered about two thousand, consisting of the Ninth, Eleventh, Twenty-first, and Twenty-fifth Regiments of Infantry, the Third Regiment of Artillery, and Captain Towson’s company of the Second Artillery. 17 These troops had reached Salina, in Onondaga County, and Brown was at Geneva, when General Gaines thought he discovered his commander’s mistake. Brown acquiesced in his opinion, and resolved to retrace his steps. He hastened back to Sackett’s Harbor "the most unhappy man alive." 18 There Chauncey "and other confidential men" convinced him that his first interpretation of the Secretary’s instruction was correct. "Happy again," he hastened back to his troops, and resumed the march westward. At the close of the month they arrived at Batavia, where they remained about four weeks, when they moved toward Buffalo. In the mean time Armstrong had written a soothing letter to the perturbed Brown, saying, "You have mistaken my meaning. . . . . If you hazard any thing by this mistake, correct it promptly by returning to your post. If, on the other hand, you left the Harbor with a competent force for its defense, go on and prosper. Good consequences are sometimes the result of mistakes." 19

While at Batavia and vicinity Brown was made very uneasy by alarming letters from Chauncey, and also from General Gaines, who had been placed in command at Sackett’s Harbor. The British were in motion at Kingston early in April, the ice having broken up, and there were indications of another attack on the Harbor. With this impression, and feeling the responsibility laid upon him by the grant of discretionary power given him by the Secretary of War, Brown hastened back to that post, leaving General Scott in command of the troops on the Niagara frontier during his absence. Observation soon taught him that an attack on the Harbor was "more to be desired than feared," 20 and that the real point of danger was Oswego, at the mouth of the Oswego River. At the Great Falls of that stream, twelve miles from the lake, where the village of Fulton now stands, a large quantity of naval stores had been collected during the autumn and winter for vessels on the stocks at Sackett’s Harbor. These would be very important objects for the British to possess or destroy; and, excepting the partly-finished vessels at Sackett’s Harbor, they formed the most attractive prize for Sir James Yeo, the British commander on Lake Ontario. For the protection of this property, Lieutenant Colonel Mitchell, with a battalion of light artillery, was sent to garrison the fort at Oswego.

In February Henry Eckford 21 had laid the keel of three vessels, one a frigate designed to carry fifty guns, and two brigs of five hundred tons each, to carry twenty-two guns. Deserters who came in reported heavy vessels in great forwardness at Kingston; and Chauncey, who returned from the national capital at the close of February, ordered the size of the frigate to be increased so as to carry sixty-six guns.

The brigs, named respectively Jefferson and Jones, were ready for service, except their full armament, at the close of April; and the frigate, which was named The Superior, was launched on the 2d of May, just eighty days after her keel was laid! 22 But the naval stores and heavy guns designed for her were yet at Oswego Falls, to which point they had been carried by tedious transportation from Albany up the Mohawk, and through Wood Creek and Oneida Lake into the Oswego River, the roads across the country from Utica to Sackett’s Harbor being impassable with heavy ordnance. They were kept at the Falls for security from the enemy, until schooners employed by Captain Woolsey for the purpose could be loaded and dispatched singly from Oswego.

The enemy effected a landing early in the afternoon, and were compelled to ascend a long, steep hill in the face of a heavy fire of the Americans in the fort, and of a small body of the militia, who had been hastily summoned, and were concealed in a wood. 23 These, however, fled when the enemy had secured a footing on the shore. Finding it impossible to defend the fort with so few men, Mitchell left the works, and met the invaders in fair fight, covered only by woods. With the companies of Captains Romeyn and Melvin, he gallantly moved forward and attacked the front of the enemy, while the remainder of his command, under Captains M‘Intyre and Pierce of the heavy artillery, annoyed them prodigiously on the flank. By desperate fighting the enemy was kept in check for a long time, but overwhelming numbers finally compelled Mitchell to fall back. The British took possession of the fort and all the works and stores in the vicinity. Mitchell retired up the river to a position where he might protect the naval stores should the enemy attempt to penetrate to the Falls in search of them.

Among these was the afterward eminent merchant of Oswego, Honorable Alvin Bronson, who was then the public store-keeper, and who is still (1867) a resident of that place. 24 After the capture of the post, and while Yeo was personally superintending the loading of his boats with salt and public stores, that officer applied to Mr. Bronson for pilots to conduct the boats out to the squadron. When he replied that all the men had left the place, and that he had none under his control, Sir James angrily growled out, with an oath, "Go yourself, and if you get the boat aground I’ll shoot you." The gallant and gentlemanly Colonel Harvey, who was standing on the bank above, called out to Sir James, "That, sir, is the public store-keeper, and may be useful to us." Sir James called Mr. Bronson back, and said, "You are my prisoner, and I shall expect you to inform me what stores have recently been forwarded for the army and navy, what remains in the rear of the post, and what, if any, are secreted in its neighborhood." "My books and papers," replied Mr. Bronson, "have been removed for safety, and I can not, therefore, give you the desired information; nor would it be proper for me to do so if I could." Sir James threatened to take him off with him if he withheld the coveted information. "I am ready to go, sir," was Mr. Bronson’s calm reply. This was followed by an order to Captain O’Connor to take him on board the flag-ship Prince Regent. At midnight the naval and military officers came on board the Regent. Among them was General Sir George Gordon Drummond, who lavished upon the captive store-keeper such coarse and vulgar abuse that Colonel Harvey, as soon as an opportunity was afforded, apologized for the brutality of his superior officers, of whom he was evidently ashamed. 25 Mr. Bronson was confined a short time in the guard-house at Kingston, and again taken to the squadron when it proceeded to the blockade of Sackett’s Harbor. He was well treated, and associated familiarly with the subordinate officers. He was soon afterward released.

Mr. M‘Nair, a Scotchman, was government commissary at Oswego, and had a store- house there and at the Falls. At the time of the British attack he had twelve hundred barrels of bread and other provisions in store at Oswego, and a quantity of whisky. 26 These became spoils for the enemy. Mr. Jacobs had been a companion in cruises with Commodore Rodgers, and went to Lake Ontario in 1812 with a midshipman’s warrant. Although, when I last saw him [1864], he was eighty-eight years of age, his complexion was so fresh and his step so elastic that he appeared like a man less than sixty years old. Mr. Sloan was Macdonough’s clerk on the Saratoga at the time of the battle of Plattsburg in the autumn of 1814. Mr. Hugunin, who died at Oswego in February, 1860, had lived in that place since 1805. He was in the military service when Oswego was captured in 1814, and was made a prisoner.

The conduct of Lieutenant Colonel Mitchell in his defense of Oswego received the commendation of his superiors. His prudence and gallantry secured the large amount of ordnance and naval stores at the Falls, 27 and the British derived very little advantage from their attack. With their small booty they returned to Kingston, and Oswego was not again attacked during the war. The dilapidated fort was repaired, the garrison strengthened, and the enemy was defied. For many years that fort has been a strong and admirably-appointed fortress, but without a garrison, and in charge of a sergeant. Its situation and appearance, as seen from the lantern of the light-house, is given in the little engraving below from a sketch made in 1855. The place where the British landed is seen at the point on the extreme left of the picture.

PLACE OF BATTLE AT SANDY CREEK. 28

The confident and jolly Britons approached with little caution and when they came in sight of the flotilla they commenced hurling solid shot upon it, but with slight effect. At the same time strong flanking parties were landed, and marched up each side of the stream, their way made clear, as they supposed, by discharges of grape and canister shot into the bushes from the gun-boats. These dispersed the cowardly Indians, but the gallant young Appling’s sharp-shooters were undisturbed. 29

It was now ten o’clock. When the invaders reached a point within rifle range of the ambuscade, Appling’s men opened destructive volleys upon them, and occasional shot came thundering from Melvin’s 30 field-pieces, stationed on the bank, near the present bridge. So furious and unexpected was the assault on front, flank, and rear, that the British surrendered within ten minutes after the first gun was fired in response to their own. They had lost Midshipman Hoare and seventeen men killed, and at least fifty men dangerously wounded. The Americans lost one rifleman and one Indian warrior wounded, but not a single life. They gained the British squadron, 31 with officers and men as prisoners, in number about one hundred and seventy. A negro on one of the gun-boats, who had been ordered to throw the cannon and small-arms overboard in case of danger, did so when the fight was ended. The Americans called on him to desist or they would shoot him. He paid no attention to them, and, with a sense of duty, had cast overboard one cannon and many muskets, when he fell dead, pierced by twelve bullets.

The wounded British were taken to the house of John Otis, yet standing, 32 and still occupied by the then owner when I visited the spot in 1860 [July 20, 1860.]. It was the second house above the bridge. Otis, a venerable man when I saw him, gave Woolsey the first notice of the presence of pursuers. He had been out upon the lake since midnight, watching for the enemy, and, discovering them at early dawn making for the mouth of the creek, he hastened up the stream with the information. He pointed out to me the place, near a large chestnut-tree in a lot adjoining his garden, where the British dead were buried. He took care of many of the wounded for more than a fortnight, for which service and expenses his country rewarded him after a lapse of forty-three years. In 1857 Congress voted him a little more than nine hundred dollars; but one of those harpies known as lobby agents, who know how to approach legislators of easy virtue, took one half of it as compensation for his services in procuring the "appropriation."

It was a sultry morning in July when I visited the theatre of events just described. I arrived at Little Sandy Creek Village on the previous evening, and there met Harmon Ehle, a sprightly little man, now (1867) eighty-seven years of age, who was one of the two hundred who carried the great cable to Sackett’s Harbor. From him I learned most of the facts concerning it just related. I spent the evening very pleasantly with him. For forty-nine years he had lived there, and had seen the country transformed from a wilderness to the pleasant abode of civilized man. 33 The night succeeding our interview was tempestuous. At dawn a heavy thunder-shower drenched that whole region; yet at an early hour I started in a light wagon for Sackett’s Harbor, on the road that would lead to the battleground on the Big Sandy.

When within about a mile of it, we saw standing at a rustic gate, resting upon crutches, a venerable man of seventy-five years, with palsied legs, beard of a fortnight’s growth, a slouched felt hat on his head, and a blue linen sack covering all that we could see of him. It was Jehaziel Howard, a native of Vermont, an old seaman of the lake, who was with Woolsey at the time of the battle of the Big Sandy. He had been with him since early in the war, and was with Chauncey at the taking of Fort George. 34 He saw the negro shot on the British gun-boat in the Big Sandy, and assisted in taking the British wounded to Otis’s. Bidding him good-morning, we rode to the bridge, where I made the sketch on page 799. There we spent half an hour with Mr. Otis, and then rode on to Ellisburg, where we breakfasted between nine and ten o’clock. Meanwhile very heavy clouds were gathering in the west, and we had ridden only two or three miles from the village, through the "garden of Jefferson County," when a thunder-storm burst upon us with great fury. We took refuge in a tavern by the way-side, and arrived at Sackett’s Harbor at little past meridian, in pleasant sunshine, as already mentioned. 35

We left a portion of the Army of the North on its march from Batavia to Buffalo, under the command of Brigadier General Scott, while Major General Brown, the commander-in-chief, hastened back to menaced Sackett’s Harbor. That post and others on Lake Ontario were soon considered safe from attack, and, with the bulk of his army, Brown stood on the east bank of the Niagara River at the close of June, 1814. He made Buffalo his head-quarters, and on the 1st of July he found himself at the head of a military force strong enough, in his judgment, to carry out the orders and wishes of the War Department by invading Canada. His army consisted of two brigades of infantry, commanded respectively by Generals Scott and Ripley, and to each of these was attached an efficient train of artillery, commanded by Captain Nathan Towson and Major Jacob Hindman, and a small squadron of cavalry under Captain Samuel D. Harris. These troops were well equipped and highly disciplined. 36 They were the regulars. There was also a brigade of miscellaneous troops, composed of five hundred Pennsylvania Volunteers; six hundred New York Volunteers, of whom one hundred were mounted; and between five and six hundred Indian warriors, embracing almost the entire military force of the Six Nations then remaining in the United States.

These had been aroused to action by the stirring eloquence of the then venerable Red Jacket, the great Seneca orator, chief, and sachem, 37 whose influence among his people had been very great since the close of the Revolution, in which he took a part, not, however, very much to his credit as a soldier.

The volunteers and Indians were under the chief command of General Peter B. Porter, who was then quarter-master general of the New York Militia, and, as we have seen, was not only an eloquent advocate of the war in Congress 38 before it was commenced, but a ready and patriotic actor in its more stirring and dangerous scenes in the field.

The accomplished Major William M‘Ree, of North Carolina, was the chief engineer in Brown’s army, 39 and he was assisted by the equally accomplished and gallant Major Eleazer D. Wood, with whom we have become well acquainted while following General Harrison in his campaign in the far Northwest.

In obedience to his instructions, General Brown issued orders on the 2d of July for his troops to cross the Niagara River from Black Rock, Accompanied by Generals Scott and Porter, he made a reconnaissance of Fort Erie and the upper part of the Niagara, and concerted a plan of attack. His means of transportation were few. The arrangements for embarking and debarking were made with the brigadiers and the senior engineers, M‘Ree and Wood. General Scott was to cross with one division through a difficult pass in the Black Rock Rapids, and land about a mile below Fort Erie, and at the same time General Ripley was to cross from Buffalo, and land at the same distance above the fort. This was to be accomplished by the dawn of the 3d, and the fort was to be immediately invested. The boats that conveyed these divisions were to return immediately to Black Rock, and transport the residue of the army, ordnance, and munitions of war to the Canada shore. 40

General Brown, with his suite, consisting of his adjutant general (the now venerable Colonel Charles K. Gardner, of Washington City), 41 Major Jones, the assistant adjutant general, Majors M‘Ree and Wood, of the Engineers, and Captains Austin and Spencer, his aids-de-camp, prepared to follow in a small boat. He would have landed on the Canada shore as early as the rear of Scott’s division did, had not Ripley been tardy in his obedience of orders. It was broad daylight before that officer’s brigade was embarked. Brown was disappointed. He pushed across the river, leaving orders for Ripley to follow as soon as possible, and join Scott, who by that time had formed his troops on the Canadian beach.

Prompt measures were taken to secure the advantage gained by the capture of Fort Erie. Had Ripley’s desire for delay prevailed, the prize would not have been won, for the British commander on the frontier, General Riall, 42 had been apprised of the danger impending over the fort, and at eight o’clock that morning had sent forward five companies of the Royal Scots to re-enforce it. In front of Chippewa they were met and checked by intelligence of the surrender of the fort. General Riall then determined to make an immediate attack on the Americans, but was induced to forbear by the assurance that the Eighth Regiment was hourly expected from York, now Toronto. He agreed to postpone the attack until the next morning.

STREET’S CREEK BRIDGE. 43

Scott marched down the Canada shore of the Niagara River to a position on a plain behind Street’s Creek, opposite the lower end of Navy Island, and little more than a mile above Chippewa. On the way he met a considerable British force under Lieutenant Colonel Pearson, and, after a sharp skirmish, he drove them beyond Street’s Creek. In fact, the march, for sixteen miles, according to Jesup, was "a continual skirmish," 44 chiefly with the British One Hundredth Regiment, under the Marquis of Tweeddale, who were driven to their intrenchments beyond the Chippewa. Believing Scott’s troops to be only "Buffalo militia," the marquis could account for their bravery only by the fact of its being the anniversary of American Independence, which gave them patriotic inspiration and courage. He was undeceived on the following day. 45 On the plain between Street’s Creek and the Chippewa River, Captain Turner Crooker, of the Ninth, with a detachment of light infantry, received and repulsed a detachment of the Nineteenth British Dragoons. Finding the enemy strongly posted beyond the Chippewa, General Scott called in his light troops, and took a position behind Street’s Creek, where he encamped for the night. At about midnight the main body of Brown’s army, embracing Ripley’s brigade, a field and battery train, and Major Hindman’s artillery corps, came up, accompanied by the commanding general. With only the small creek between them, the belligerent armies slumbered that hot July night.

The morning of the 5th of July dawned gloriously. The positions of the two armies were simple. On the east was the Niagara River, along the margin of which was a road. On the west was a heavy wood, and between the parties coming in from the woods were two streams, namely, Street’s and Chippewa Creeks, the latter, sometimes called the Welland Creek, being the larger in volume. 46 Below the Chippewa, and about two miles from Scott’s camp, was that of Riall. On one side of it was a block-house, and on the other was a heavy battery. At the mouth of the Chippewa, on the south side, some fortifications had been thrown up to cover the bridge, called a tête-de-pont (or head of the bridge) battery, whose ruins are still (1867) visible. A little farther up the river the British had a small navy yard and some barracks.

REMAINS OF TÊTE-DE-PONT BATTERY. 47

At about noon of the 5th Scott was joined by three hundred Pennsylvania Volunteers, and about four hundred Indians under Captain Pollard and the famous Red Jacket. The whole were commanded by General Porter, who had been accompanied from Black Rock by Majors Wood and Jones, of Brown’s staff. The British were re-enforced during the night by the expected Eighth, or King’s Regiment, from York or Toronto, and small parties went out from their line at dawn on the beautiful plain between the Chippewa and Street’s Creek – a plain then bounded on the west, three fourths of a mile from the river, by a dense wood. For several hours the belligerents were feeling each other, the pickets and scouts of each keeping up a desultory fire all the morning. 48 Finally the American pickets on the extreme left of Scott’s line became so annoyed by a heavy body of British light troops and Indians in the woods, that at four o’clock in the afternoon General Porter was sent with his corps to dislodge them. He was successful. The enemy fled in affright toward Chippewa, dreadfully smitten by the pursuers. There Porter found himself within a few yards of the entire British force advancing in battle order.

STREET’S CREEK BRIDGE, LOOKING NORTH. 49

Riall, it seems, had intended to fall upon the American camp with his whole force, and for that purpose he had led it across Chippewa Creek. There Porter had confronted it, as we have observed. General Brown was on the extreme left, watching Porter’s movements at this time, and, seeing an immense cloud of dust in the direction of Chippewa, at once comprehended its meaning. He correctly supposed the whole force of the enemy to be advancing, and at once dispatched Colonel Gardner with an order to General Ripley to put in motion the Twenty-first Regiment of Infantry and Biddle’s Battery. He also ordered Captain Ritchie, with his artillery company, to follow him to the plain, where he properly posted him, and then rode to the quarters of General Scott to direct him to cross Street’s Creek at once with his whole brigade and Towson’s artillery to meet the advancing foe. He found Scott almost ready, with his horse before his tent, to lead his brigade over for the purpose of drilling them on the plain. He did not believe the enemy to be so near in force, but, like a true soldier, he obeyed the order promptly, rather captiously remarking that he would march and drill his brigade, but did not believe he would find three hundred of the enemy there. 50 Just then Porter’s flight was observed. It uncovered Scott’s left, and exposed it to great peril; but Ripley had been ordered to advance cautiously through the woods, under the direction of Colonel Gardner, and produce a diversion in Scott’s favor by falling on the rear of the British right.

Scott in the mean time had crossed Street’s Creek over the bridge with the greatest coolness, in the face of a heavy cannonade from the enemy’s full battery within point-blank range, and formed in battle order with the Ninth and part of the Twenty-second Regiment, under Major Leavenworth, covered by Towson’s artillery, on the extreme right, the Eleventh Regiment, under Major M‘Neil (Colonel Campbell, its commander, having received a severe wound in the knee), in the centre, and the Twenty-fifth Regiment, commanded by Major Jesup, on the extreme left. In this movement Scott was greatly aided by Towson, 51 whose artillery, placed near the bridge, kept the enemy at bay, and at times caused him to slacken his cannonade.

When Porter’s corps came flying in confusion from the enemy’s right, they were partially checked by Captain Harris’s cavalry behind a ravine fronting Brown’s camp, and Jesup, by an oblique movement, covered Scott’s left, while Ripley was making unavailing efforts to gain the position to which he was ordered by Brown. Jesup was joined by Porter and his staff, and some of the more courageous volunteers, and as the conflict became general, the major engaged and held in check the enemy’s right wing. The battle raged with fury along the entire line of both armies. Several times the British line was broken, and then closed up again; and it often exposed as many flanks as it had regiments in the field. This unskillful manœuvring had been observed by Scott, who had advanced, halted, and fired alternately, until he was within eighty paces of his foe. Observing a gap in his lines which made a new flank, he ordered a quick movement in that direction by M‘Neil’s Eleventh Regiment. He shouted with a voice that was heard above the din of battle, "The enemy say that we are good at long shot, but can not stand the cold iron! I call upon the Eleventh instantly to give the lie to that slander! Charge! 52 This movement was immediately made, with the most decisive effect. A similar charge was made by Leavenworth, who held an oblique position on the American right. At the same time Towson’s battery poured in an oblique fire of murderous canister-shot, after silencing the enemy’s most effective battery by blowing up an ammunition-wagon; and presently the whole left and centre of the British broke and fled in confusion. That effective flank movement by M‘Neil was the one, there can be no doubt, which gave the victory to the Americans. "He deserved," said General Scott in his report, "every thing which conspicuous skill and gallantry can win from a grateful country." He was soon afterward breveted a lieutenant colonel "for his intrepid behavior on the 5th day of July, in the battle of Chippewa."

NOTE. – The above map indicates the movements of the battle of Chippewa. A H show the position of M‘Neil and Leavenworth when they made the final charge. a, a, a, the point to which Porter drove the British and Indians (see page 807). b, Street’s barn.

At this time Jesup, hotly pressed by the British right, and finding his men falling thickly around him, ordered his soldiers to "support arms and advance!" In the face of a deadly and destructive fire this order was obeyed, and a more secure position was gained, when Jesup opened such a terrific fire on the enemy that they broke and fled toward their intrenchments beyond the Chippewa. Captain Ketchum, with one of the light companies of the Twenty-fifth, hotly pursued the fugitives, and halted only when within half musket-shot of Chippewa Bridge, where they received some damage from the tête-de-pont battery. They captured many prisoners. The British did not cease their flight until they were fairly behind their breastworks below Chippewa Creek, and taken up the planks of the bridge. The plain was strewn with the dead and the dying of both nations. The American loss during the morning skirmishing and in the evening battle on that long, hot July day, was sixty-one killed, two hundred and fifty-five wounded, and nineteen missing. The British lost two hundred and thirty-six killed, three hundred and twenty-two wounded, and forty-six missing. 53 The horrors of the battle-field were mitigated by a gentle shower, that came like an angel of mercy at the close of the conflict to cool the throbbing temples and moisten the feverish lips of the wounded.

At the close of the battle on the plain, when Scott was about to commence a vigorous pursuit of the enemy, Porter was ordered forward to his support with two hundred Pennsylvania militia who had been left in camp as reserves. These took post on Scott’s left, where they awaited the arrival of Ripley’s brigade, which had not reached the field in time to participate in the action. The gallant Adjutant O’Connor 54 dashed forward alone to reconnoitre the enemy’s position. He saw them tearing up Chippewa Bridge, and comprehended the situation at a glance. Having satisfied himself; he wheeled his horse and galloped back to the lines, followed by several bullets from the men at the bridge, which did no harm. Scott pressed forward, and at a point of woods came into an open field in full view of the enemy. The guns at the tête-de-pont battery and at the British camp opened upon them, the corps of Porter receiving the first discharge. Just then a building near the bridge, touched by a British torch, burst into flame; and at the same moment a thunder-gust, followed by gentle rain, went skurrying up the river, filling the air with blinding clouds of dust. The commanding general resolved to bring up all his ordnance, and force the enemy’s position by a direct attack, when Major Wood, of the Engineers, and Captain Austin, the general’s aid, who had been forward and made observations, assured him that the position of the enemy was too strong to be easily moved. This report, and the advice of Scott and Wood, caused the general to issue an order for a retrograde movement. The victorious little army marched slowly back through mud where deep dust had lain only an hour before, and at sunset reached their encampment behind Street’s Creek. On that eventful night Chippewa Plains were deserted, and the two armies occupied the same relative position which they did at dawn. In the morning General Brown had assured General Porter that not a British regular would be seen on the south side of the Chippewa that day, and in this belief Scott had shared. 55 But they had been there, left a sanguinary record, and were gone; and the stars looked down that night on a scene of repose, tranquil and profound, where the horrid detonations of fierce conflict had been heard, and the smoke of battle had obscured the light of the evening sun.

There was joy in the American camp that night. A decisive battle had been fought by small numbers, 56 and gallantly won by the Americans. The chief glory properly belonged to General Scott, whose brigade was the principal instrument in the achievement. 57 It was very important in its results – more important, perhaps, than any preceding battle of the war. The Indian allies of the British were disheartened. Their disaffection, begun at the Thames, was now made complete. Nearly all of the savages, who had been a terror to all in every district in the West in which military movements occurred, now left the British army and returned to their homes. The victory also gave a needed impetus to enlistments. It created great joy throughout the country. The people were amazingly inspirited, and recruiting became so active that almost any number of men might have been added to the army for another campaign. This victory also won more genuine respect for the Americans from the enemy than had ever been accorded before; and among the peevish expressions of mortification which it elicited from English writers and speakers were found honorable acknowledgments of the prowess and genius of American soldiers. 58

It was late in the evening after the battle [July 5, 1814.] before the wounded of both armies could be taken care of. 59 The dead remained unburied all night, but early on the morrow they were sought for over the open battle-field and in the woods, and committed to the earth with great respect. Much of the 6th and 7th [July.] was occupied in this business, while General Brown was impatient to advance, for he expected the arrival of Chauncey at the mouth of the Niagara River to co-operate with him. He was satisfied that the passage of the Chippewa Bridge in the face of the intrenched enemy would be too hazardous to warrant the undertaking, and, informed that an interior route for Queenston would lie through a heavy forest, almost impassable because of a lack of roads and paths, he sent a small reconnoitring party in search of a place to cross the Chippewa not far above the camp of the enemy. An inhabitant informed them that an old and deserted timber road, seen at the rear of Street’s house, led by a circuitous route to the Chippewa, at the mouth of Lyon’s Creek, about a mile above the British camp. Early on the morning of the 7th [July.], General Brown, accompanied by General Porter and Colonel M‘Ree, the senior engineer, went out to explore it, and were satisfied that it might soon be made passable for artillery. A heavy detail was sent out for the purpose, and before evening the way from Street’s to Lyon’s Creek was ready for the contemplated movement.

Anxious to diffuse the right spirit of emulation throughout his army, General Scott resolved to send Ripley in advance, as he was not able to participate in the fatigues and honors of the battle on the 5th, while Scott, who had already won laurels, should keep the left of the enemy at Chippewa Bridge in check. Ripley was accordingly ordered to lead his own brigade and that of Porter, with two companies of artillery under Hindman, to the extreme right of the enemy, cross the Chippewa at the mouth of Lyon’s Creek, and fall upon his flank. This order did not suit General Ripley, and he hesitated in obedience. The day was rapidly wearing away, and General Brown, impressed with the importance of a prompt movement, rode to the front and took command in person. The materials for the construction of a temporary bridge over the Chippewa were soon on its southern bank, and Hindman posted his artillery on a rise of ground so as to cover the field of operations. 60

At that time General Brown was contemplating an advance upon Fort George. On the 14th he called a council of officers to consider the matter. A majority were in favor of attacking Riall that very night, before he should receive re-enforcements; while the minority, coinciding with the wishes of the commanding general, advised an immediate investment of Fort George, notwithstanding there was no competent siege-train with the army, nor provision made for the safe transportation of supplies from Buffalo. 61 In the mean time foraging and reconnoitring parties were out continually. One of the latter, composed of the venerable John Swift, of the New York militia, and one hundred and twenty volunteers, advanced toward Fort George to obtain information. They captured a picket-guard of five men near an outpost of the fort [July {original text has "Jan."} 12], and Swift was conducting them back to head-quarters, when one of them, who had begged and obtained quarter, murdered the general by shooting him through the breast. The discharge of this gun brought out fifty or sixty of the enemy. Terribly wounded as he was, the brave Swift, who had served his country in the field during the entire War of the Revolution, formed his men, and advanced at their head to attack the foe. He fell, exhausted. The enemy were driven back to Fort George, and the dying general was conveyed to Queenston. 62 "After serving his country seven years in the War of the Revolution," said General Porter in his brigade order the next day, "he again stepped forward as a volunteer to give the aid of his experience in support of the violated rights of his country; and never was that country called on to lament the loss of a firmer patriot or braver man."

A few days after this sad occurrence, Colonel Stone, of the New York militia, while out on a foraging expedition, wantonly burned the little village or hamlet of St. David’s, a short distance from Queenston; and similar unwarrantable acts caused great exasperation against the Americans. General Brown promptly dismissed Stone from the service as a punishment for his crime, in accordance with the sentence of a court-martial. 63

On the morning of the 23d Brown received a letter from General Gaines at Sackett’s Harbor apprising him of the sickness of Chauncey, the blockade of the fleet, and the peril to be apprehended to re-enforcements that might be sent by water in small vessels hugging the coast. Abandoning all hope of co-operation by the fleet, or the speedy reception of re-enforcements, the general changed his plan of operations, and at once ordered a retreat to the Chippewa, there to be governed by circumstances. He expected by this retreat to draw Riall on to the Niagara again, or, failing in this, to draw a small supply of provisions from Schlosser, on the opposite shore, disencumber his army of all baggage which could possibly be dispensed with, march against Riall by way of Queenston, and fight him wherever he might be found. The army reached the Chippewa on the 24th, encamped on the south side of it, on the battleground of the 5th, and prepared to make the 25th a day of rest. On the night of the 24th, General Scott, ever anxious for duty and ambitious of renown, requested leave to lead his brigade immediately in a search for Riall, not doubting his ability to win victory for his troops, glory for himself, and renown for the army. He repeated the request on the morning of the 25th, and was vexed because General Brown would not consent to divide his army. 64 He had an opportunity to try his powers and skill in combat with the enemy sooner than he expected, and in that trial he won fadeless laurels. The story is told in the following chapter.

2 Compare this action of the Massachusetts Legislature with a statement of its doings recorded in note 1, page 705.

3 See page 683.

A spirited caricature of the effect of this Embargo Act was designed and engraved by Dr. Alexander Anderson [see note 1, page 787] for David Longworth, a highly-esteemed publisher of New York. It will be recollected that a former embargo, during, Jefferson’s administration [see page 162], was called by the Opposition, or Federalist party, "a terrapin policy." That idea is embodied in the caricature before us, in which the Embargo Act of 1813 is personified by a huge terrapin, who seizes a violator of the law by the seat of his breeches. It was aimed at the New England people, who, it was alleged, were continually supplying the British cruisers with provisions, and thereby saving their coast from that devastation to which those of the Delaware and Chesapeake Bays had been subjected, and also putting money in their pockets by the infamous traffic. A British vessel of war is seen in the distance, with a boat, on the arrival of the knave with a barrel of flour, marked "superfine." The Embargo terrapin seizes him, and the fellow cries out, "Oh! this cursed O-grab-me!" the word embargo spelled backward, making these words. The government official, who has charge of the arresting terrapin, calls out in high glee, "Damn it, how he nicks ’em." One claw of the terrapin is upon a "license," such as the British authorities gave to professed neutrals. The designer and engraver of this caricature is yet (close of 1867) engaged in the practice of the art of engraving on wood at the age of almost ninety-three years. The copy of the caricature, seen on the preceding page on a reduced scale, was redrawn and engraved by him at the age of eighty-eight years.

5 See note 1, page 84.