body of western Indians under Blackbird (the chief who conducted the massacre at Chicago the year before), encamped a short distance from Fort George, had a skirmish with the American pickets. Lieutenant Eldridge, a dashing young officer, went out from the fort, with forty followers, to the relief of the pickets. They fell into an Indian ambush, and only five escaped. Those who were captured were butchered and scalped by the Indians, with horrible attendant circumstances. After that, no military movement of much importance occurred on the Niagara frontier, until late in the autumn of 1813.

While Wilkinson was concentrating forces at the western end of Lake Ontario preparatory to another invasion of Canada, or to the striking of a deadly blow somewhere," orders came from the Secretary of War to strengthen Fort George, and garrison it with at least six hundred regulars. Wilkinson left eight hundred regulars at the fort, with some militia under Colonel Scott, and, with the remainder of the army on the Niagara frontier, sailed eastward on the 2d of October. He instructed Scott, in the event of the British leaving that frontier, to put Fort George in charge of General McClure of the New York militia, and with the regulars to join the expedition destined to go down the St. Lawrence. This contingency soon. occurred. When General Vincent heard of the defeat of Proctor on the Thames, he called the British troops from the Niagara to Burlington Heights. Then Scott crossed the river, and marching eastward as far as Utica, he there met the Secretary of War who had come from Washington to reconcile the difference between Wilkinson and Hampton, and to assume the conduct of the invading expedition. The Secretary permitted Scott to leave his troops and to press northward to join Wilkinson. Armstrong established the seat of the War Department at Sackett's Harbor.

Meanwhile there had been stirring events on Lakes Champlain and Ontario. In the spring of 1813, Captain Macdonough, who had been charged with the construction of a fleet on Lake Champlain, placed two stanch armed vessels on those waters, named Growler and Eagle. At the beginning of June they were sent to the foot of the lake to look after some British gun-boats that were depredating there. They ran down the Sorel with a stiff breeze almost to Isle-aux-Noix, when they turned and ran back, chased by British armed vessels and by a land force on each side of the narrow river. A heavy cannon-shot sunk the Eagle, and the Growler was captured with the crews of both vessels. This disaster stimulated Macdonough to greater exertions; and at the beginning of August he had placed on the lake, and fitted and manned, three armed schooners and six gun-boats. At about the same time Plattsburg (on the west side of the

CHAP. XI.

HOSTILE MOVEMENTS ON LAKE ONTARIO.

1255

lake), entirely uncovered, had been seized, plundered and scorched by a British land and naval force, fourteen hundred strong, under Colonel Murray, while General Hampton, with four thousand troops at Burlington, about twenty miles distant, had made no attempt to oppose the invaders. Such was the condition of affairs on Lake Champlain at the close of the summer of 1813, when Wilkinson took command of the army of the north. Chauncey, meanwhile, had been busy on Lake Ontario, after leaving the mouth of the Niagara River. While at Niagara he heard of the appearance of a British fleet on the lake and its menace of Sackett's Harbor, when he immediately weighed anchor and sought the enemy. He crossed the lake, looked into York, and ran for Kingston; but not meeting with the British fleet, he went to the Harbor, where the embers of the late conflagration were yet smouldering. The unfinished big vessel on the stocks there had been saved, and she was speedily finished and named General Pike. But it was late in the summer before she was fully equipped and manned. The keel of a fast-sailing schooner, called the Sylph, was laid by Eckford at the Harbor, and was launched late in July.

For several weeks the belligerent fleets were moving over the lake without coming to an encounter. Chauncey was seeking an opportunity to measure strength and skill with his antagonist, and Sir James Yeo, the British naval leader, was continually avoiding battle, for his superiors had instructed him to "risk nothing." Chauncey had thirteen vessels, a great portion of them altered merchantmen. Sir James had six stanch vessels built expressly for war. Finally, on the 7th of July, they were in sight of each other. There was a stiff breeze and they manœuvred all day, each trying to obtain the weather-gage. At night there was a dead calm, and Chauncey, by the use of sweeps, gathered his vessels in close order. At midnight, fitful gales swept over the lake. Suddenly a rushing sound was heard at the rear of the American fleet, and it was soon ascertained that a terrific squall had capsized two of the vessels, and all on board had perished except sixteen men. The next day there was light skirmishing; but the summer wore away without bloodshed on the lake, Sir James continually expressing a desire to "fight the Yankees."

Finally, on the 18th of September, Chauncey, who had been sent to Niagara to convey troops to Sackett's Harbor, went out to attack the British fleet which had followed him. He compelled the baronet to fight or cease boasting. A sharp battle ensued between the Pike and the heavier vessels of the enemy, but it did not last long. When the smoke of the conflict was cleared away, it was found that the Wolfe, Sir James Yeo's flag-ship, was too much bruised to fight any longer, and was hurrying away before the wind,

with crowded canvas, covered in her retreat by the Royal George. The enemy fled westward to Burlington Bay, pursued by Chauncey, but a rising gale made it prudent for the latter to return to Niagara. The British vessels soon made their way to Kingston; and Chauncey, returning to the Harbor, did little more during the remainder of the season, than to watch the enemy and to assist the army in its descent of the St. Lawrence.

It had been determined by Armstrong and Wilkinson, in council at Sackett's Harbor, that the latter should lead an expedition down the St. Lawrence to attack Montreal. While preparations for this enterprise was in progress, the right wing of the army, under General Hampton, had been put in motion to co-operate with the forces on the St. Lawrence. At the middle of September, Hampton had gathered at Cumberland Head, near Plattsburg, four thousand effective infantry, a squadron of cavalry, and a wellappointed train of artillery. He moved forward, and on the 24th encamped on the Chateaugay River, not far from the present village of Chateaugay in Franklin county, N. Y., where he awaited further orders.

At the middle of October, the troops destined for Montreal embarked at Sackett's Harbor, and at the same time Hampton was ordered to make his way to the St. Lawrence at the mouth of the Chateaugay, to co-operate with them. The flotilla of open boats was terribly smitten by a gale. The vessels were dispersed, and much property was lost. The troops rendezvoused on Grenadier Island, except some under General Brown that pushed forward to French Creek, now Clayton, where, on the afternoon of the Ist of November, they had a sharp fight with British schooners and gun-boats filled with infantry. In the meantime snow had fallen to a considerable depth, and a Canadian winter was near. The troops went forward from Grenadier Island, and the combined force left French Creek at dawn on the morning of the 5th of November, in about three hundred boats. It was clear and cold. The banners were all folded, and the music was silent, for they wished to elude the vigilance of the British, who, until then, did not know whether Kingston or Montreal was the destination of the expedition. But the Americans were discovered and were pursued by a heavy armed galley and gun-boats filled with troops, through the sinuous channels among the Thousand Islands. That evening the belligerents had a fight by moonlight in Alexandria Bay, and land troops from Kingston reached Prescott before Wilkinson arrived at Ogdensburg. The latter disembarked his army just above that village, and marched around to a point below to avoid the batteries on the Canada shore. In the meantime General Brown had successfully taken the flotilla past the batteries at Prescott, and the forces were reunited at a point four miles below Ogdensburg.

CHAP. XI.

SAD EVENTS ON THE NORTHERN FRONTIERS.

1257 After many perils on land and water, and being closely pursued by the enemy in boats and on the shore, under the general command of LieutenantColonel Morrison, the flotilla lay anchored a few miles above the head of Long Rapids, on the 10th of November. Many of the troops under Generals Boyd and Brown were on the northern shores of the St. Lawrence, and Brown had pushed forward to dislodge the enemy posted at the foot of the Long Rapids to attack the flotilla when it should descend the stream. Brown was successful, and the next day (November 11, 1813) General Boyd pushed forward and met the enemy face to face, in battle array, on the farm of John Chrysler, a few miles below Williamsburg, in Canada. There a severe battle was fought in cold, snow and sleet, which lasted about five hours. Boyd was ably supported by Generals Swartwout and Covington, Colonels Coles, Ripley and Swift, and Adjutant-General Walbach at the head of cavalry. The Americans were driven from the field with a total loss in killed and wounded of three hundred and thirty-nine. Among the mortally wounded was General Covington. Under cover of the night, the American troops withdrew to the boats, and the next morning the flotilla passed the Long Rapids in safety. General Wilkinson was very ill, and word came from General Hampton that he could not form the ordered. junction, but would return to Lake Champlain and co-operate in the attack. on Montreal. He would not serve under Wilkinson. The officers of the little invading army did not deem it prudent to follow Wilkinson (who was then weak in body and mind) any further in the way of invasion, and a council determined that the troops should be put intó winter-quarters at French Mills, on the Salmon River, which was done. So ended in disaster and disgrace the expedition for another invasion of Canada. And the campaign of 1813, in the north, closed with distressing events on the Niagara frontier in December. General McClure, considering Fort George untenable with his little garrison of only forty effective men, resolved to abandon it, cross the river, and leaving Fort Niagara in charge of a subaltern, march to Buffalo. Before leaving, he ordered the beautiful village of Newark, on the Canada side, to be set on fire. One hundred and fifty houses were laid in ashes. Many of the tenants-tender women and children-were turned into the keen winter air (it was the 10th of December) houseless wanderers. This wanton savageism created fiery indignation. The British seized Fort Niagara, and massacred a part of the garrison. Free rein was given to the Indians for plunder and destruction; and every village and hamlet on the New York side of the river between the lake and Buffalo, was despoiled and burnt. Black Rock and Buffalo did not escape. The exasperated enemy took possession of the latter village, containing about fifteen hundred inhab

itants, and laid it in ruins. Only four buildings were left. That event occurred a little more than sixty years ago; now, on the site of that village, is a stately commercial city with full 125,000 inhabitants.

In the region of the Gulf of Mexico, affairs assumed a serious aspect in the summer of 1813. The ever-restless Tecumtha had been among the southern Indian tribes in the early spring, stirring them up to make war on the white people. The powerful Creeks, inhabiting Alabama and western Georgia, yielded to his influence and persuasions; and at the close of August, a large party of them, led by the noted chief Weatherford, surprised and captured Fort Mimms, on the east side of the Alabama River, about ten miles above its junction with the Tombigbee. Flaming arrows set the fort on fire, and by the flames and the gleaming tomahawk, almost three hundred men, women, and children perished. The British agent at Pensacola had offered five dollars apiece for scalps, and many a savage pagan bore away the locks of men and the long tresses of women as marketable commodities in a Christian market.

This event aroused the whole southwest. A cry for help went northward, but it took a month to reach New York. Meanwhile the Tennesseeans flew to the relief of their suffering neighbors. General Andrew Jackson, commanding that region, was then disabled by a wound received in a duel with the late Senator Thomas H. Benton; but he issued a stirring appeal to the men of his division. The Tennessee legislature provided for calling to the field over three thousand men, and immediate preparations were made for chastising the savages. Late in September Colonel John Coffee, at the head of five hundred cavalry, pressed on toward the frontier of the Creek country, and everywhere volunteers flocked to his standard. The appointed place of rendezvous for all the troops was at Fayetteville, eighty miles south of Nashville, and at that point Jackson arrived early in October, with his arm in a sling. He soon joined Coffee below the Tennessee, and with twenty-five hundred foot soldiers and thirteen hundred mounted men, he was encamped on the banks of the Coosa River at the beginning of November.