he sent two of his officers with a flag, to demand the surrender of the fort. Major Croghan returned for reply, that he should defend the place to the last extremity, and that no force, however large, would induce him to capitulate.

Major Chambers, one of the officers who had waited on the commandant of the fort with the summons to surrender, resorted to an unworthy artifice, as he was retiring. Meeting Ensign Shipp, the major observed, that his general had a number of cannon, a large body of regular troops, and so many Indians, whom it was impossible to control, that, if the fort was taken, as it must be, the whole of the garrison would be massacred. Ensign Shipp, nothing daunted by the impertinence, promptly remarked, that it was the united resolve of Major Croghan, his officers and men, to defend the garrison or be buried in it, and that Major Chambers' general, and all his force, might do their best. Colonel Elliott, the other British officer, then observed to Ensign Shipp, that he was a fine young man. "I pity," said he, "your situation; for God's sake surrender, and prevent the dreadful slaughter that must follow resistance." Shipp turned from him with indignation, and was immediately taken hold of by an Indian, who attempted to wrest his sword from him. Elliott pretended to exert himself to release Shipp from the Indian, and expressed great anxiety to get him safe into the fort.

So soon as the flag had returned to the enemy's head-quarters, a brisk fire was opened upon the fort from gun boats in the river, and from a five and one half inch howitzer on shore, which was kept up, with little intermission, throughout the night. At an early hour the next morning, three six pounders, at the distance of within two hundred and fifty yards of the pickets, whither they had been placed during the night, began to play upon the Americans, but with little effect. About four o'clock in the afternoon, discovering that the fire from all the enemy's guns was concentrated against the north-west angle of the fort, Major Croghan became confident that the object was to make a breach, and attempt to storm the works at that point. He therefore ordered out as many men as could be employed, for the purpose of strengthening that part, and it was so effectively secured, by means of bags of flour, sand, etc., that the picketing suffered little or no injury. But the enemy having formed in close column, advanced to the assault at the expected point, at the same time making two

feints in another direction. The column which advanced against the north-west angle, consisted of about three hundred and fifty men, and was so enveloped in smoke as not to be discovered until it had approached within eighteen or twenty paces of the lines. Yet the Americans, being all at their posts and ready to receive it, commenced so heavy and galling a fire as to throw the column a little into confusion. Being quickly rallied, it advanced to the outer works, and began to leap into the ditch. Just at that mo ment, a fire of grape was opened from a six pounder, previously arranged by Major Croghan so as to rake in that direction, which, together with the musketry, threw the enemy into such confusion that they were compelled to retire precipitately to the woods. This noble six pounder did the work effectually. It was the only piece of artillery in the fort, and poured destruction, with ite half load of powder and double charge of leaden slugs, at the distance of thirty feet, killing or wounding nearly every man who had entered the ditch.

During the assault, which lasted about half an hour, an incessant fire was kept up by the enemy's artillery, consisting of five six pounders and a howitzer, but without effect. The entire loss to the Americans was one killed and seven wounded slightly, whilst that of the enemy, in killed, wounded and prisoners, reached one hundred and fifty. Seventy stand of arms, and several braces of pistols, belonging to the British, were collected near the works; and about three o'clock in the morning, the enemy sailed down the river, leaving behind them, in their haste, a boat containing clothing and considerable military stores. This attack and the successful defense, gave fresh courage to the troops, and inspirited the whole army with renewed animation. The bold and energetic answer to the summons to surrender, together with the decisive bravery exhibited by the Americans, unquestionably had the effect to dispirit General Proctor in making further efforts to penetrate the country, and he retired to Amherstburgh.

During the investment of the fort, Major Croghan wrote a letter, directed to General Harrison, which, after he was called to an account for it at Senecatown, he most satisfactorily explained to the commanding general, by the circumstances of his position, and by his wish to deceive the enemy, should the letter fall into their hands. It was a letter, not designed for the American, but the British General. The propriety of Major Croghan remaining

at the fort was questioned, in some quarters, at the time, but General Cass always thought, and so did General Harrison, that he did right to remain, because a retreat, under the circumstances, was more dangerous than a defense. In speaking of this matter, twenty-seven years afterwards, General Cass remarks: "I am well aware, too well aware, that Colonel Croghan has not always felt satisfied at the course adopted by General Harrison towards himself. But he was in error. I was the common friend of both, and knew their sentiments towards each other. General Harrison was strongly attached to Croghan, and was proud of him, looking upon him as his military élevé. And, indeed, he was a noble young man, with high qualities, and well he proved it by his repulse of the enemy from his post. General Harrison was incapable of jealousy, and he rejoiced, 'with exceeding great joy,' (for I saw it,) at the success which his young friend had obtained."

The attack upon Sandusky had a good effect upon the Indians. Some of them soon began to show symptoms of a disposition to side with the Americans; and, before the month of August had elapsed, the chiefs Black Hoof, the Crane, and the Snake, with two hundred and fifty-nine of their warriors, joined General Harrison, and declared that they intended to fight in defense of the United States. General Harrison, ably seconded by General Cass and General McArthur, throughout the month continued the most effective measures to fill up his command with regular troops, to the number of seven thousand, as contemplated by the War Department. It was this number which the government intended for the invasion of Canada. It was much easier to find men than equipments and supplies; and then some little time was required to accustom them to discipline and put them in condition to warrant their commander to lead them against the veteran troops, supposed to be under Proctor.

With the coming in of the month of September, however, General Harrison considered himself ready to act on the offensive, and it would be invidious not to add, that his entire command was anxious to be on the move, and to see the enemy. Commodore Perry moved from Erie, and stood towards the head of the lake, with a well manned fleet. He found the British fleet under Commodore Barclay, a veteran officer, on the tenth of the month, and ere the sun, on that ever to be remembered day, went down in the west, he despatched to General Harrison the important

intelligence, immortalized on the pages of American history, "We have met the enemy, and they are ours."

This anxiously looked for success opened a passage to the Territory, which had been so basely surrendered by Hull, and General Harrison lost no time in transferring the war thither. He had already, a few days previous, broke up his camp at Senecatown, and most of his forces had reached Sandusky. On the twentieth of September, his army, consisting of two thousand regulars and three thousand militia, embarked upon Lake Erie, from the mouth of the Sandusky river. It reached the Canada shore on the twenty-seventh, and the superintendence of the debarkation was committed to General Cass. He formed the troops into lines, and arranged their march. The troops were

landed near Malden. No enemy was in sight, and as they marched towards the town, instead of meeting an armed force to arrest their progress, to their surprise the maids and matrons, in their best attire, had come forth to solicit their protection. The general order to the soldiers was, "Kentuckians, remember the river Raisin! but, remember it only when the victory is suspended. The revenge of a soldier can not be gratified upon a fallen enemy." The American force took possession of the town without harm to its inhabitants.

General Proctor, in command of the British army, despite the spirited remonstrance of Tecumseh, an abler man than himself, and a general in the British army, had burned the fort, barracks, and public store-houses, evacuated Malden, and retreated up the Detroit river. The Americans, on the twenty-ninth, went in pursuit, and moving up to Sandwich, General Harrison crossed over the river, entered Detroit, and took possession of the town and territory. Warmly welcomed by the citizens, he issued his proclamation reinstating the civil government which had been intercepted by Hull's surrender. The officers who had been supplanted by the capitulation, now resumed their functions; the citizens were restored to their former rights and privileges, and the laws at that time were again put in force. And thus, after the lapse of little more than a year, did General Cass have the pleasure of again seeing the standard of his country waving over the disgraced fortress.

A council of war was held at Sandwich. Proctor had retreated by the way of Lake St. Clair, and his pursuit was the question

brought before the council. The American army now had possession of Detroit, and commanded the river. No member of the council doubted the propriety of following, and endeavoring to destroy the retreating army. But, unfortunately, they could not put the forces promptly in movement, and it was reduced to a question of time. The means of transportation were so limited that their supplies were on the lowest scale, and they found themselves in an exhausted country, incapable of administering to their wants. They had landed upon the Canadian shore without a horse or a tent, and with a very slender stock of provisions. What was more embarrassing, the baggage and even blankets of the brigade commanded by General Cass, were necessarily, for want of transports, left on a little island in Lake Erie, called the Middle Sister, and officers and men, without distinction, found themselves in the beginning of October, at the commencement of active operations in Upper Canada, without any other protection from the weather, during the night or day, than the clothes upon their backs. Under these circumstances, they were unwillingly compelled to await the arrival of supplies, as well as horses, and the mounted regiment commanded by Colonel Johnson, which had necessarily taken the route by land around the head of Lake Erie.

This delay gave the British General the fairest opportunity to escape, and if he had not been utterly incompetent to his task, he would have placed himself beyond the reach of the American army. He was several days in advance, and was marching through a friendly country. But instead of divesting himself of his superfluous baggage, and leaving his invalids and non-combatants to our mercy, and thus gaining, by a rapid march, the head of Lake Ontario, where he would have been in safety, he moved slowly, encumbered with an immense train of baggage, public and private, and with a large number of women and children. While awaiting at Sandwich the arrival of supplies, the probability of overtaking the retiring enemy was frequently the subject of conversation; and General Cass never heard General Harrison express an opinion or fear that Proctor would escape. But if he did so to others, this circumstance would explain the otherwise inexplicable assertion, since often repeated, that he was opposed to the movement he adopted. General Cass never hesitated respecting the immediate pursuit, but was not at all sanguine