USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Discovery and conquests of the Northwest, with the history of Chicago, Vol. I > Part 38
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Fortunately Capt. William Oliver was in the camp, the same dashing young ranger who had penetrated through the Indian lines around Fort Wayne a few months before and carried a message to its defenders, that Harrison was marching to their relief; and now, by the changing fortunes of war, it became his lot to take a message to General Harrison, that relief was at hand for him. Fifteen brave Ohioans promptly volun- teered to follow him in this dangerous adventure. Late in the evening on the 4th they seated themselves in their boat and silently rowed down the Maumee till the camp fires of the besiegers were visible, when the party landed and crept along the margin of the river toward the fort. Inside of it silence and darkness reigned, for their fires had been extinguished, lest they might afford direction for the enemy's shot. The sen- tinels were on the alert, for there was a purpose there brooding over the situation in the darkness of their
444
Dashing Sortie-Victory-Ambuscade.
vengeful solitudes, and when Oliver's party came to the gate they were mistaken for the enemy, about to make an assault, and were fired upon; fortunately none of them were wounded, and they soon found means to make themselves known, and entered the fort, Oliver immediately going to the quarters of General Harrison.
Now the whole situation was changed. The be- leaguered garrison could take the offensive. A hardy messenger (Captain Hamilton, of the Ohio volunteers), was immediately dispatched to General Green Clay, to advance and attack the British batteries on the north side of the river opposite the fort, with 800 men, while with the remaining 400 men he was to fight his way through the enemy's lines into the fort. While these movements were in progress, a sortie was to be made from the fort against the British batteries, farther up the river on the south side. Early the next morn- ing, Clay made his appearance according to orders, and suddenly the enemy found their whole line of bat- teries attacked by a foe whom they had hitherto beheld
with contempt. Colonel Miller led the assault on the south side, drove the gunners from their guns, spiked them and returned to the fort, while Colonel Dudley, from Clay's command, attacked the batteries on the north side. They were also taken, but unfortunately in the flush of victory the dashing Kentuckians followed in hot pursuit after the retreating columns. This was contrary to the orders of General Harrison, who beheld from the fort the fatal pursuit with deep anguish. The pursuers were led into an ambuscade, and all but 150 of the gallant 800 were killed or taken prisoners. The Indians kept on their work of slaughter after they had surrendered, till Tecumseh interposed his author- ity, to put a stop to the fiendish work. *
The results of the day were that Harrison was re- inforced by over 500 men, notwithstanding his losses, and many of the besiegers' guns were spiked. Be- sides these advantages, General Proctor had received the first lesson in volunteer practice, which was quite
* Drake, Howe's History of Ohio.
445
British Change of Base.
sufficient to convince him that Fort Meigs could not be taken. He therefore determined to retreat, lest he might be attacked by fresh reinforcements. Complete preparations for this were made by the 9th, when his force, consisting of 600 regulars, 800 Canadian militia and 1, 800 Indians, suddenly withdrew down the river, giving one tremendous discharge from their cannon, back toward the fort as they left .* This parting salute killed ten in the fort, and wounded as many more. Said one of the officers: "We were glad enough to see them off on any terms." Of this whole army re- treating from American soil not one felt the sting so bitterly as Tecumseh. Little did he then think he should never again return. His unrelenting courage, however, was not shared by his army of 1, 800 Indians. Not that they lacked the dashing qualities of good soldiers, but the ordinary discipline by which the armies of civilized nations are held together is want- ing in an Indian army, for it has no provision against desertion.
If the meanest soldier gets discouraged, or takes a homesick fit to return to his lodge and see his squaw, the chief has no other means but moral suasion to pre- vent it. As long as the Indian 'sees progress and a. hope of booty, he will cheerfully endure hunger and. other discomfitures; but he is a poor dependence for besieging well defended forts, and the English, much to their chagrin, found this to be the case before the war was over, although it was to them they owed their first successes at its opening. After giving up the siege of Fort Meigs, General Proctor and Brigadier General Tecumseh (to give him his title) determined to make a sudden dash against some vital point occupied by the Americans. Of such points, Upper Sandusky, where a large amount of provisions and other military stores were collected, and Erie, where a fleet was being built, were by far the most important. Apprehensive of an attack on Upper Sandusky, General Harrison stationed himself, with what forces he could command, at Sen- eca, which laid in the path between Sandusky bay and
* Howe's History of Ohio, page 531.
446
British Appear before Fort Stephenson.
this place, as by means of his scouts he had ascertained that the enemy were massing their forces in this direc- tion.
At the head of navigation on the Sandusky river was Fort Stephenson, a small stockade defended by less than 200 men under command of Captain Crogan, a nephew of the famous Gen. George Rogers Clark, whose timely conquest of the Illinois country in the days of revolutionary memory will not be forgotten. Fort Stephenson also lay in the path of the enemy on their way to Upper Sandusky, the vital point of the Americans. Meantime, while General Proctor's fleet had put into Sandusky bay and were approaching Fort Stephenson, Tecumseh's Indians had crossed the coun- try by a hasty march and were threatening Upper San- dusky. Under these circumstances, instructions were sent to Captain Crogan to retire from Fort Stephenson, if he could do so with safety, but the orders did not come in time to effect the retreat with a reasonable hope of success, and he determined on defending the post.
On the 3Ist of July the British fleet made their ap- pearance before the place, commanded by General Proctor himself, his force consisting of 500 regulars and as many Indians, the vigilant Tecumseh all the while lying back with his army ready to intercept any in- itended reinforcements to the place from Fort Meigs, as well as to co-operate with General Proctor in a descent on Upper Sandusky as soon as Fort Stephenson should fall into their hands. After the usual investment, which occupied the time till the 2d of August, General Proctor sent a summons to Captain Crogan to surren- der. This he promptly refused to do, and when ad- monished of the fate which awaited them from the vengeful Indians, in case the fort had to be taken by assault, Mr. Shipp, with whom the messenger conferred, replied: "There will none of us be left to kill."
The messenger now retired, and the attack Legan by a heavy cannonading, to which the besieged could only retort with a single six-pounder.
.
447
Gallant Defense of Fort Stephenson.
Little execution was done on either side by this method, and General Proctor, not wishing to waste his time by the slow process of a siege before so insignifi- cant a post, ordered an assault. This had been ex- pected by Captain Crogan, and he had made ample provision for it by masking his cannon so as to com- mand the ditch where the attack was to be made. The piece was loaded with a double charge of small shot and destructive missiles, and but half a charge of pow- der, as he intended before firing it to wait till the attackers were close enough to get the full force of the contents, which, with its light charge of powder, would scatter and mow down all the larger swath of men when near enough to receive it at its greatest force.
Unconscious of immediate danger, the assailants ap- proached within thirty feet of its muzzle, when the piece was unmasked and fired at their solid phalanx of men, who were advancing with the scaling ladders in their hands, with which to climb the walls of the fort. Never before in the history of the war was the effect of a single cannon shot so terrible; more than fifty men fell, of whom above half never rose again. An instan- taneous discharge of small arms from the defenders followed, and when the smoke was lifted from the scene of slaughter, the immense army of besiegers were seen flying from the field, while 150 of their number were left dead or dying behind .* Crogan's loss was one killed and five wounded.+ Proctor's hopes of pene- trating the country, so as to take Upper Sandusky, thus dashed to the ground, he resolved to retreat, and so apprehensive was he that Harrison would attack his rear, that he left a sloop load of stores behind, as his
* The besieged let down pails of water from the wall of the fort, for the relief of the wounded, immediately after the assault had ceased .- Howe's History of Ohio.
+ Black Hawk was at this siege, which he describes in his statement, already given in the foregoing pages, thus: "Dickson came to me and said, 'You will see to-morrow how easily we will take that fort.' I was of the opinion they would take it, but when the morning came I was dis- appointed. The British advanced, commenced an attack and fought like braves, but by braves were defeated, and a great number killed."
448
The British Retreat to Canada.
vanquished army in hot haste crowded sail down the Sandusky river. *
The disappointed Indians, balked of their prey, vanished into the forests, wending their way north- wardly toward their British attraction, as the needle turns toward the pole. While this ill-starred expe- dition of Proctor's had been in progress, another one. was planned against Erie, intended to destroy the American fleet, now almost ready to sail from the place.
This was intrusted to Captain Barclay, and sailed from Malden down the lake on the 18th of July. After reconnoitering the American defenses it returned with- out making the attempt. +
"On to Malden," again became the watchword. throughout the northwest. Ohio proposed to raise
* General Harrison's fame now stood so high, especially in the esti- mation of the friendly Indians, that the most prominent chiefs among the Delawares and Senecas, and even some of the Shawanese chiefs, offered their services to him with their respective braves. They were accepted and joined his army at Seneca, his headquarters on the Port- age river; but among the Shawanese chiefs, one named Blue Jacket (not the one of the same name whose high-bred virtues had made him conspicuous in bringing about the peace of Greenville), perhaps under an impression that if General Harrison could be killed the Indian cause. would be gained, determined on assassinating him. True to the Indian custom, he confided this secret resolution to his best friend, and begged his assistance in the affair. Such assistance his friend was not bound to give, according to the measure of Indian honor, but he was bound to preserve the secret. Here was a dilemma. He loved Harrison, not only for his charity for the Indian race, but for the kindness he had. shown him from his early youth, ever since his father had been executed by the laws of his tribe for the crime of sorcery. Moreover, he was im- pressed with a full sense of the bad consequences sure to result to his tribe (the Delawares), should the intentions of Blue Jacket be carried out. While thus painfully brooding over the issue a few days later,. the would-be assassin came into his presence in a towering rage. Colo- nel McPherson, an officer in General Harrison's army, had just turned. him out of his presence for some breech of decency, and he swore ven- geance on him for the insults, declaring he would kill him also. This- roused the indignation of the young chief to whom the murderous in- tention had been confided, and he felled him to the ground with a single blow from his tomahawk, and dispatched him with a second. He. next ordered his dead body sent to his tribe, and bade defiance to popu- lar resentment for the act.
Instead of passing an unfavorable verdict upon the hero, he was ap- plauded, and two years later General Cass made him a handsome pres- ent as a reward for his fidelity to General Harrison. The name of this chief was the Beaver; he now became a great favorite with General Harrison, and later with Commodore Perry, who christened him " The- General's Mameluke."-Dawson's Life of Harrison, Page 415.
t The impossibility of his larger vessels getting over the bar might have been his reason for relinquishing the attack, more than his fear of the American defenses.
1
449
Harrison's Letter to Governor Meigs.
10,000 volunteers for the service, and Kentucky was not less zealous in the cause, but the government had proposed to furnish regulars for the service, and it was not possible to accept all the volunteers who felt eager to take a hand in the invasion of Canada. A clamor of discontent among the Ohio militia was the result, and General Harrison wrote a letter to Governor Meigs to allay it, of which the following is a part:
"The exceptions you have made, and the prompti- tude with which your orders have been obeyed, to as- semble the militia and repel the late invasion, are truly astonishing, and reflect the highest credit on your state. It has been the intention of the gov- ernment to form the army destined for operation on Lake Erie exclusively of regular troops, if they could be raised. The number was limited to 7,000. The deficiency of regulars was to be made up from the mil- itia. * * I have, therefore, called on the governor of Kentucky for 2,000 men; with those there will still be a deficiency of about 1, 200. Your excellency has stated to me that the men who have turned out on this occasion have done it with the expectation of being effectually employed, and that should they be sent home, there is no prospect of getting them to turn out hereafter, should it be necessary. To employ them all
is impossible. With my utmost exertions, the em- barkation cannot be effected in less than fifteen or eigh- teen days, should I even determine to substitute them for the regular troops which are expected. To keep so large a force in the field, even for a short period, would consume the means which are provided for the support of the campaign. Under these circumstances, I would recommend a middle course to your excellency, viz., to dismiss all the militia but two regiments. *
* * It appears that the venerable governor of Kentucky is about to take command of the troops of that state. Could your excellency think proper to follow his ex- ample, I need not tell you how highly grateful it would be, dear sir, to your friend,
W. H. HARRISON."*
* Dawson's Life of Harrison, page 412.
450
Battle of Lake Erie.
Agreeable to the request of General Harrison, the 2,000 Ohio volunteers were sent to Upper Sandusky by Governor Meigs, to await his orders, but unfortunately their enlistment had only been for forty days, and on these terms General Harrison declined to accept their services. This raised a storm of indignation against the commanding general, unjust as it was fleeting, for it could hardly be supposed that raw recruits could ac- complish the requirements of the campaign in so short a time. The new American fleet had now cut loose from its moorings, and for the first time the American Jack was thrown to the breeze on Lake Erie. It sailed up the lake to Sandusky about the 18th of August, where Commodore Perry, who held command of it, anchored off the harbor and conferred with General Harrison, who came on board his vessel. The fleet was still de- ficient in men, and General Harrison furnished him 150 to complete his crew. The commodore now sailed for Malden, where the English fleet lay protected by the land batteries.
In vain the American flag was flaunted in full view; the English fleet did not accept the challenge, and Com- modore Perry retired to Put-in-bay, on the American side. On the 10th of September, however, the Eng- lish fleet left Malden, and Commodore Perry imme- diately sailed out to meet it. The following is his own account of the battle which followed:
" At fifteen minutes before twelve the enemy com- menced firing; at five minutes before twelve the action commenced on our part. Finding their fire very de- structive, owing to their long guns, and its being mostly directed to the "Lawrence," I made sail, and di- rected the other vessels to follow, for the purpose of closing with the enemy. Every brace and bow line be- ing shot away, she became unmanageable. * The "Lawrence," which was the flagship, finding she
* could no longer annoy the enemy, I left her. * * At half past two the wind springing up, Captain Elliott was enabled to bring his vessel, the "Niagara," into close action. I immediately went on board of her, when he anticipated my wish, by volunteering to bring the
PERRY'S VICTORY.
452
Perry's Victory.
schooners, which had been kept astern by the lightness of the wind, into close action. * * * At forty-five minutes past two the signal was made for close action. The "Niagara" being very little injured, I determined to pass through the enemy's line, bore up and passed ahead of their two ships and a brig, large schooner and sloop from the larboard side, at half pistol shot distance. "The smaller vessels at this time having got within grape and canister distance, under the direction of Captain Elliott, and keeping up a well directed fire, the two ships, a brig and a schooner, surrendered, a schooner and a sloop making a vain attempt to escape."*
The furious cannonading of the battle was heard at Malden, while its smoke rose in portentous clouds into the calm autumn sky that overhung the lake, dying away in the distant haze of its tranquil face. Who had won the victory? was the question that rang through the lines of Proctor's army of 4,000 white and red sol- diers, assembled there awaiting its issue. Besides these were many American prisoners not less anxious, among whom was John Kinzie, who had been brought to the place in the following manner, as told in Wabun:
"Mr. Kinzie, as has been related, joined his family at Detroit in the month of January. A short time after suspicions arose in the mind of General Proctor that he was in correspondence with General Harrison, who was now at Fort Meigs, and who was believed to be meditating an advance upon Detroit. Lieutenant Wat- son, of the British army, waited upon Mr. Kinzie one day, with an invitation to the quarters of General Proc- tor, on the opposite side of the river, saying he wished to speak with him on business. Quite unsuspicious, he complied with the invitation, when to his surprise he was ordered into confinement, and strictly guarded in the house of his former partner, Mr. Patterson, of Sand- wich. Finding that he did not return to his home, Mrs. Kinzie informed some of the Indian chiefs, his particu- lar friends, who immediately repaired to the head- quarters of the commanding officer, demanded their friend's' release, and brought him back to his home.
* American state papers, Vol. II, page 295.
453
Kinzie's Suspense.
After waiting a time until a favorable opportunity pre- sented itself, the general sent a detachment of dragoons to arrest him. They had succeeded in carrying him away, and crossing the river with him. Just at this moment a party of friendly Indians made their appear- ance.
"""Where is the Shaw-nee-aw-kee?' was the first question. 'There,' replied his wife, pointing across the river, ' in the hands of the red coats, who are tak- ing him away again.'
"The Indians ran to the river, seized some canoes that they found there, and crossing over to Sandwich, compelled General Proctor a second time to forego his intentions.
"A third time this officer was more successful, and succeeded in arresting Mr. Kinzie and conveying him, heavily ironed, to Fort Malden, in Canada, at the mouth of the Detroit river. Here he was at first treated with great severity, but after a time the rigor of his confinement was somewhat relaxed, and he was per- mitted to walk on the bank of the river for air and ex- ercise.
"On the Ioth of September, as he was taking his promenade under the close supervision of a guard of soldiers, the whole party was startled by the sound of guns upon Lake Erie, at no great distance below. What could it mean? It must be Commodore Barclay firing into some of the Yankees. The firing continued. The time allotted the prisoner for his daily walk expired, but neither he nor his guard observed the lapse of time, so anxiously were they listening to what they now felt sure was an engagement between ships of war. At length Mr. Kinzie was reminded that the hour for his return to confinement had arrived. He petitioned for another half hour.
" ' Let me stay,' said he, ' till we can learn how the battle has gone.'
"Very soon a sloop appeared under press of sail, rounding the point, and presently two gun boats in chase of her.
454
Governor Shelby Arrives.
" 'She is running-she bears the British colors,' cried he. 'Yes, yes, they are lowering-she is striking her flag! Now,' turning to the soldiers, 'I will go back to prison contented-I know how the battle has gone.'
"The sloop was the. 'Little Belt,' the last of the squadron captured by the gallant Perry on that memor- able occasion, which he announced in the immortal words:
" ' We have met the enemy, and they are ours!'"
On the 17th of September, Shelby, the venerable revolutionary father and governor of Kentucky, arrived at Harrison's headquarters on the Portage river, with 2, 000 Kentucky troops. On the 2 1st everything was in readiness and the embarkation of the troops for the in- vasion of Canada began. All the available water craft of the Americans, together with the captured British fleet, were brought into service, and with the assistance of all these, the army had to be transported by piece- meal, part of them being conveyed at a time to the Middle Sister island. While the transportation of the troops was going on, General Harrison and Commodore Perry made a reconnoisance off Malden, to select a place for the debarkation of the army. This done, the troops were quickly transported from the island to the Canada shore, and Malden was entered by them on the 27th.
Governor Shelby led the advance, but the enemy had fled, and in their place a deputation of well dressed women met him, with those irresistible courtesies which always win the heart of a gallant soldier. Their request for protection was granted, and the army passed on in pursuit of Proctor and Tecumseh, who were in full re- treat up the valley of the Thames. On the 5th of October they were overtaken, and the battle of the Thames followed, a description of which is here given, in General Harrison's official report, taken from Daw- son, page 427 :
" The troops at my disposal consisted of about 120 regulars of the 27th regiment, five brigades of Ken- tucky volunteer militia infantry, under His Excellency Governor Shelby, averaging less than 500 men, and
455
Battle of the Thames.
Colonel Johnson's regiment of mounted infantry, mak- ing in the whole an aggregate something above 3, 000. No disposition of an army, opposed to an Indian force, can be safe unless it is secured on the flanks and in the rear. I had, therefore, no difficulty in arranging the infantry comformably to my general order of battle. General Trotter's brigade of 500 men formed the front line, his right upon the road and his left upon the swamp. General King's brigade as a second line, 150 yards in the rear of Trotter's, and Chiles' brigade as a corps of reserve in the rear of it. These three brigades formed the command of Major General Henry; the whole of General Desha's division, consisting of two brigades, were formed en potence upon the left of Trotter.
" While I was engaged in forming the infantry, I had directed Colonel Johnson's regiment, which was still in front, to be formed in two lines opposite to the enemy, and upon the advance of the infantry to take ground to the left, and forming upon that flank, to endeavor to turn the right of the Indians. A moment's reflection, however, convinced me that from the thickness of the woods and swampiness of the ground they would be un- able to do anything on horseback, and there was no time to dismount them and place their horses in secur- ity. I therefore determined to refuse my left to the Indians and to break the British lines at once, by a charge of the mounted infantry; the measure was not sanctioned by anything that I had seen or heard of, but I was fully convinced that it would succeed. The American backwoodsmen ride better in the woods than any other people. A musket or rifle is no impediment to them, being accustomed to carry them on horseback from their earliest youth. I was persuaded, too, that the enemy would be quite unprepared for the shock, and that they could not resist it. Conformably to this idea, I directed the regiment to be drawn up in close column, with its right at the distance of fifty yards from the road (that it might be in some measure pro- tected by the trees from the artillery), its left upon the swamp, and to charge at full speed as soon as the
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