USA > Kentucky > A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume I > Part 32
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That sturdy old patriot, Isaac Shelby, had again come into the governorship as the suc- cessor of Governor Scott. As governor, he was commander-in-chief of all the military forces of the state, but was not expected to engage in active service. But the people knew his worth as a soldier, which had been proven in the Revolution, and the legislature, recog- nizing the voice of the people, adopted a reso- lution asking the sturdy old patriot to take command in the field of a new levy of mili- tia, authorizing him to call for three thousand
troops. At once, he responded and ordered that the troops called for should compose four regiments, to be commanded by Colonels Bos- well, Dudley, Caldwell and Cox, the brigade thus formed to be commanded by Gen. Green Clay. The first two regiments were hastily assembled at Newport and hurried to Fort Meigs, a new defense recently constructed at the Rapids.
Gen. Green Clay was a Virginian who came in early life to Kentucky, settling in Madison county. He was from the beginning of his career in Kentucky a noted man. He was first appointed a deputy surveyor of Lincoln county when it was one of the three counties of Kentucky district. He was a delegate from Madison county to the Virginia convention which ratified the constitution of the United States. He served twenty years in the Ken- tucky legislature and was the author of the charter of the Bank of Kentucky. He was a member of the convention which framed the second constitution of Kentucky in 1799, and in 1808 was speaker of the senate. After a long and useful life, he died in 1826, leaving a large estate. He left two sons-Cassius M.
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Clay and Brutus Clay-each of whom was a man of great mental force and high character. Those who have read the chapter on slavery in Kentucky, published in this work, will have formed an estimate of General Cassius M. Clay, "the old Lion of Whitehall," who was one of these sons.
Proctor, the butcher, again appears upon the scene. In April, 1813. information was received that he proposed to invest Fort Meigs and force its surrender. By this time he was probably hungering for another saturnalia. In addition to this desire for murder and out- rage, there was the attraction of a large quan- tity of military stores at the fort. He had added to his Indian allies, Tecumseh-the ablest military genius the Indian race has ever developed-together with his brother. The Prophet, and six hundred warriors. Tecum- sel is said to have borne a commission as a brigadier general in the English army.
April 28th, the new fort was invested, the Indians crossing the river to that side on which the fort was situated, while the English artil- lery was planted upon the opposite side and bore upon the fort. May Ist the battle was begun by the artillery of the enemy, which was promptly responded to by that of the Ameri- can forces. There was a deal of noise, but, as is usual in artillery duels. no great harm was done. After two days of this inffectual war- fare, the enemy opened fire from a hitherto concealed battery on the same side of the river as the fort, but this was speedily silenced by the Americans.
Two days later information was received at the fort that General Green Clay was at Fort Defiance with twelve hundred Kentucky vol- unteers. Orders were at once sent to General Clay to descend the river : land eight hundred of his men on the north shore: attack and crush the enemy, capture and spike his guns and then, regaining his boats, cross the river and joint the forces in the fort. after rejoin-
ing his four hundred men and fighting his way through the Indians,
These orders would have been easy of exe- cution by veteran troops, but these soldiers were untrained militia, gallant enough for any enterprise, but unacquainted with the neces- sity of absolute obedience to orders in the camp or in action. Colonel Dudley landed his eight hundred men, as directed, and stormed the batteries successfully, capturing all the guns. Instead of crossing the river as he had been ordered, he and his force pursued a body of the enemy who fired upon them and then fled. Pursuing these Canadians and Indians for some two miles, Dudley's forces were flanked by the British. Of this force of eight hundred men less than two hundred escaped and made their way safely to the fort. Among those lost was Colonel Dudley, who was first wounded and later murdered by the Indians.
The prisoners taken in this affair were placed in old Fort Meigs, where they were fired upon at will by the Indians. Some of these prisoners were led from among their fel- low captives to the gate of the fort where they were shot down in the presence of General Proctor and then tomahawked and scalped. After a score or more had been thus ruthlessly murdered without a word of protest from Proctor, Tecumseh, who had been made aware of what was going on, galloped to the scene ordering the Indians to desist from killing defenseless prisoners. Of the two savages, Proctor and Tecumseh. it is easy to distin- guish the nobler man of the two. The re- maining prisoners, several hundred in num- ber. after suffering untold horrors in the hold of a small brig for two days, were liberated on parole.
General Clay, after detaching Colonel Dud- ley, as reported, proceeded to the new Fort Meigs, fighting his way through a large body of Indians. General Harrison, observing the advance of General Clay's force of about five
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hundred men, ordered the regulars to the number of about three hundred to attack the batteries of the enemy on the south side of the river. This force, under the command of Colonel Miller and Major Todd, charged eight hundred of the enemy inflicting severe loss upon them, capturing and spiking the artil- lery and bringing to the fort forty-one prison- ers. The force which they had routed out- numbered them about three to one. Proctor, in this engagement, commanded a force of thirty-two hundred men, while that of Gen- eral Harrison numbered about twenty-five hundred. It was a defeat for the American forces of painful import, coming so soon after that at Frenchtown on the River Raisin, but the Americans were not disheartened. They had had their baptism of fire and were not unwilling to meet the English, Indians and Canadians again.
Proctor, at the conclusion of the day's fight- ing, sent in a demand for the surrender of the fort, but General Harrison treated the de- mand with the derision which it deserved. Proctor was merely "sparring for time." As a matter of fact his chief desire was not to capture Fort Meigs, but to get away from its vicinity as quickly as possible. His artillery had been captured and destroyed ; many of his men had been killed or wounded, and, in addi- tion, he had heard of the disaster to the Brit- isli forces at Fort George which had been cap- tured by the American forces. Then, too, his fellow-savages were beginning to be dissatis- fied and were leaving him. Facing these mis- fortunes was more than he could withstand and he withdrew his forces to his former sta- tion at Malden.
What appeared at the beginning to be a cer- tain victory for the American arms was changed to a defeat and strangely enough, that condition came about by the ardor of a por- tion of the troops engaged. Had Colonel Dud- ley and his untrained Kentucky militia obeyed orders after capturing the enemy's batteries
on the north side of the river and had not gone in pursuit of the flying enemy, but had crossed the river instead, General Harrison would have won the victory he had planned. That gallant soldier and gentleman recognized this fact but in his report of the battle used far gentler words than could have been expected from him or, perhaps would have been used by a less splendid soldier. He said in that re- port : "It rarely occurs that a general has to complain of the excessive ardor of his men, yet such appears always to be the case when Kentucky militia are engaged. It is, indeed, the source of all their misfortunes; they ap- pear to think that valor alone can accomplish everything." Were ever kindly praise and de- served rebuke so generously combined as in this report ?
The characteristics of the Kentucky soldier were such that he was never amenable to dis- cipline, as were men of less information. As a rule, thie Kentucky private soldier has ranked as high in the social scale at home, as the men whom he chose to command him in the field. From a social and intellectual standpoint they were equals at home-sometimes the private soldier may have hield a higher rank-and it was difficult for the private to realize that it was the duty of his officers to do most of his thinking for him. Then, too, the private rea- soned that he had entered the service to fight the enemy, and when an opportunity presented to do so, he did not understand why he should not make the most of it. As some one has said: "This is magnificent, but it is not war."
The disasters which had befallen the Amer- ican arms in the opening of this campaign would have destroyed the morale of less de- termined men than those who formed the army of General Harrison. The cowardly surrender of General Hull at the very incep- tion of the war; the inexplicable negligence of General Winchester, who permitted his army to lie down to peaceful dreams along the River Raisin without a single vidette between him
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and his trained and watchful enemy; the im- petuous disobedience of orders by Colonel Dudley and his men-all these had been costly to the American cause. Nearly five thousand men had been killed, wounded or captured. But the dearly bought lesson was not without its value. The regulars had learned how to fight Indians and the volunteers learned how to fight like regulars. Such a combination- trained regulars and equally trained volun- teers-was irresistible, a fact that the veter- ans of England's armies were to be taught be- fore the war had been concluded.
There appeared upon the military scene about this time a Kentuckian who was to be- come an important figure in the war as well as in the politics of the nation. Among the Ken- tuckians then serving in congress was Col. Richard M. Johnson, of Scott county. Upon the adjournment of congress, this gentleman hastened to Kentucky and organized a regi- ment of cavalry of which he became the col- onel; his brother, James Johnson, lieutenant colonel, and Duval Payne and David Thomp- son, majors. This regiment was first em- ployed in June and July in expeditions against the Indians in the northwest but without great results, as the savage warriors from that sec- tion were largely engaged with Proctor at Malden, or with other British officers in that section. But if these new cavalrymen were not meeting the enemy, they were learning dis- cipline, the drill, and what it means to be sol- diers. Their work was being cut out for them elsewhere and, all unconsciously, they were being fitted for it. And well, in after days, did they prove the value of drill and disci- pline. They are to be heard from hereafter.
General Harrison being called elsewhere in the military district under his command, left Fort Meigs after the siege had been raised, General Clay succeeding him in command. On July 20th, the British, with their Indian al- lies, again confronted the fort, but speedily
withdrew, owing to the sturdy resistance of- fered by General Clay and his men.
General Proctor, with thirteen hundred British troops and Indians-he never ventured outside his fort without Indian support-ap- peared before Fort Stephenson at Sandusky, Ohio. The fort was garrisoned by one hun- dred and sixty men commanded by Major Croghan, a Kentuckian, aged twenty-one years and a nephew of Gen. George Rogers Clark, the hero of Vincennes. Croghan had as his armament one six-pound gun. Proctor, who had several pieces of artillery, began, on Au- gust 2d, a bombardment of the fort, prepara- tory to an assault. Croghan and his men re- plied to this assault with such vigor that Proc- tor was repulsed and driven off, with a loss of one hundred and fifty killed and wounded. The loss of the American forces was one killed and seven wounded. Croghan had been ordered by General Harrison to abandon the fort. if attacked, as he considered it untena- ble. Croghan was one of those Kentuckians who had gone into the army with the idea that he was there to fight and not to run away. He disobeyed orders; fought and won a battle; saved an important fort and shed a ray of sun- shine into the American camp which had known only gloom so long.
General Harrison, undismayed by the loss of a victory of which he had been robbed by the rash impetuosity of Kentucky volunteers, wanted some more of the same brand of fight- ers and therefore called upon Governor Shelby for not less than two hundred nor more than four thousand Kentucky volunteers. The gal- lant old soldier-governor issued a call for as many volunteers as would meet him at New- port on August 31st. The splendid old sol- dier said: "I will meet you there in person. I will lead you to the field of battle and share with you the dangers and honors of the cam- paign." Did ever clearer clarion call summon men to battle than this? Thirty-five hundred
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fighting men hearkened to the call, and met the old hero of King's Mountain at the ap- pointed rendezvous. These he formed into eleven regiments and five brigades commanded by Generals Calmes, Chiles, King, Allen and Caldwell. These brigades formed two divi- sions commanded by Major Generals William Henry and Joseph Desha, with Governor Shelby as commander-in-chief.
That Kentucky had not grown weary in well-doing is shown by the response to Gov- ernor Shelby's call. In addition, Col. Richard M. Johnson's regiment had been increased to twelve hundred men who had been brought to a high state of efficiency in drill and mili- tary capacity by the untiring efforts of Lieu- tenant Col. James Johnson, who was as well- informed in military maneuvers as was his better known brother, Col. R. M. Johnson, in the minutiæ of politics.
McAfee, in his excellent history of those early and exciting days, and who was a cap- tain of volunteers, says: "The 9th of Septem- ber, 1813, was appointed by the president for fasting, humiliation and prayer. Throughout the camp, many groups of soldiers could be seen paying their devotions to God, and chant- ing His praises with simple zeal and sincerity, while the less pious preserved the strictest or- der and decorum. The author could not but feel a deep reverence, approaching a complete reliance, that the special protection of Heaven would be enjoyed by the American army while fighting in the sacred cause of justice and humanity."
It has been heretofore stated that General Harrison first suggested the building of a fleet of vessels to sweep from Lake Erie the haugh- ty navy of Great Britain. That suggestion had been approved at Washington and its fruits were now to become apparent. When the for- ests of Lake Erie had been transformed into a defensive force and General Harrison had been informed that all was in readiness for an attack upon the British fleet, he detailed one
full company, under Captain Stockton and twenty men from the company of Captain Payne, all of the detail being Kentuckians, to join the fleet of Commodore Perry as sharp- shooters. At last General Harrison had found a place for his Kentuckians where they could not disobey orders; run after the enemy, and into an ambuscade. One must wonder if General Harrison did not indulge in a quiet chuckle when he issued the order for this de- tail. However that may be, the Kentuckians, landsmen every one, went cheerfully aboard Perry's vessels and did their duty. History can add nothing to the deeds of that day. The story is imperishable.
It is not necessary here to go into all the details of that contest on Lake Erie. One may be pardoned for an enumeration of the con- testants. The American vessels were the brigs "Lawrence," "Niagara," and "Caledonia," forty-three guns ; schooners, "Ariel," "Scor- pion," "Tigress," "Somers" and "Porcupine," twelve guns ; and sloop "Trigg," one gun; to- tal, fifty-six guns. The British had the ships "Detroit" and "Queen Charlotte," thirty-nine guns ; brig "Hunter," ten guns; schooners "Provost" and "Chippeway," seventeen guns ; and sloop "Little Belt," three guns ; total, six- ty-nine guns. It is not proposed here to re- capitulate the story of the great victory won by Commodore Perry on Lake Erie. All the world knows its details and its results.
September 12th, Gen. Harrison repeated to General Shelby a duplicate of the characteris- tic report of Commodore Perry :
"UNITED STATES BRIG NIAGARA, September 10, 1813-Dear General: We have met the enemy and they are ours-two ships, two brigs, one schooner and a sloop.
'Yours. "OLIVER HAZARD PERRY."
It is a very gratifying reflection that not a vessel of the British force had escaped. The mistress of the seas, as England had been known, had been defeated by a naval force be-
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longing to the colonies that had torn them- selves loose from Great Britain and set up for themselves as an independent government. It was difficult for England to recognize that her colonies, peopled by English blood, should suc- cessfully oppose what they called the "mother country." But the mother country had turned loose upon them a horde of savages and there was nothing to oppose this force but utter ex- termination.
General Harrison, learning of the victory his soldiers had won, was electrified, as his troops were, and was ready to invade Canada at once. September 14th, the army embarked under Commodore Perry, and was landed four miles below Malden, in array of battle. Gen- eral Proctor was expected to meet the Ameri- can forces at once and give them battle. But they were disappointed. Advancing upon the old fort, they found it not only evacuated but burned. The British had not only burned the fort and navy yard but had fled up the rivers Detroit and Thames. General Harrison at once followed the flying enemy to Sandwich, where he went into camp. Major Charles S. Todd was sent forward across the river to intercept the mounted regiment of Col. R. M. Johnson and to order it over to the main body of the forces. The American forces followed Proctor for several days, during which some stores were captured. Proctor was brought to bay and finally forced to fight.
October 5th, the American forces were no- tified that the British forces were in line of battle but a few miles in the front. General Harrison was ready for them, however they might attack him. Ordering his forces for the attack, he placed Col. Richard M. John- son's cavalry regiment on the right wing, with orders to attack and at the right moment to charge through the British ranks, wheel to their flank, charge upon them from their rear and fire volleys upon them from this advan- tageous position. This cavalry regiment, like their grandsons and great-grandsons years
afterwards in the Confederate army, had no sabers and depended entirely upon their guns. On the charge they cried "Remember the Rai- sin." The cry ran along the lines and all the men, most of whom were Kentuckians, re- echoed it.
Colonel Johnson found that his regiment was hampered by the narrow space between the swamp and the river, and that he could not properly maneuver it. To the end that he could properly handle the regiment, he sent his splendid and soldierly brother, Lieutenant Col- onel James Johnson, to the right, and led the remaining half to the left wing to charge Te- cumseh and his savage support. The cry which drove these splendid Kentucky boy sol- diers to victory was: "Remember the Raisin," and with the force of veteran soldiery, they went into battle, facing without hesitancy, the fiercest fire of the enemy. The contest was but a short one. Within ten minutes it had concluded, and the English had thrown down their guns and surrendered to the American forces. Eight hundred English troops had surrendered to less than half of their own number. General Proctor, however, had been very careful as to himself, and had escaped capture. Colonel Johnson and his gallant reg- iment had made for themselves a record which would last as long as the history of Kentucky.
But the battle was not yet at an end. The fighting was continuous, all the Kentucky rifle- men being engaged. Col. "Dick" Johnson and his gallant cavalrymen, had already performed gallant service, but there was yet work for them to do. The Indian forces on the right wing must be met and driven away. An at- tack was made upon these men who reserved their fire until the white troops were near by. Then they fired and Colonel Johnson was one of the wounded. Dismounting his men, as was the Confederate custom many years later, he advanced them in line in the front of the enemy who gave way after ten minutes of fierce fighting. Hand to hand the white troops
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met the savage forces and when the latter had withdrawn, it was found that they had left be- hind among their dead, their leader, Tecum- seh, who had fallen in personal conflict, at the hand of Col. Richard M. Johnson. The news of their leader's death spread consternation among the Indians who immediately fled to the rear.
Governor Shelby, the splendid old pioneer and soldier, learning that Colonel Johnson had killed Tecumseh, and that the Indians were demoralized, ordered a general advance. Re- inforced by Donelson's regiment, they drove the British and their savage allies beyond their immediate reach.
There have been many statements about the death of Tecumseh, but the hulk of the testi- mony has favored the contention that he fell at the hands of Colonel Johnson. Those who were present in the battle when Tecumseh was killed, say that Colonel Johnson killed him; some who were not present, say that he did not. The reader having no prejudice, the one way or the other, may form his own conclu- sions. However it may be, the Indians, after learning that their leader, Tecumseh, had fallen had but little heart for further battle. Colonel Johnson, the gallant leader of the Kentucky cavalry, had been painfully wounded. McAfee, the historian, who fought for Kentucky first, and wrote about it after- wards, said of the loss of Tecumseh: "The Indians had lost by the fall of Tecumseh a chief in whom were united the powers of Achilles and the authority of Agamemnon." Though these references to ancient lore may have been unintelligible to many of those who had opposed Tecumseh, there were not lack- ing those who remembered with gratitude that he had interposed his authority to save the helpless prisoners whom the savage Proctor was permitting to be murdered in his presence. In subsequent political campaigns, the ques- tion as to whether Colonel Johnson did or did not kill Tecumseh was supposed to be of su-
preme importance-so pitiful and small are the ways of the professional politician.
However the question may have been finally decided, there is no doubt about the fact that Colonel Johnson served faithfully his state in the United States senate for eighteen years, and the people of the entire country for four years as vice-president. Not only was Rich- ard M. Johnson a brave and soldierly officer, but there were others of his family possessing the same high traits. His brother, James, was lieutenant colonel of his regiment of cavalry and as gallant a man as any who served with him. The author, for personal reasons, being of the same blood as these heroic gentlemen, prefers that another's estimate of their char- acter shall be given here. Smith, in his ex- cellent "History of Kentucky," says: "Many yet living will still remember the brothers, Richard M., James, and John T. Johnson, for- merly of Scott county. They were the im- personation of the heroic in character. For their country, patriotism knew no sacrifice they were not ever ready to offer up. For the neighbors and friends in need, no bounds were ever set to the generous disposal of their services and possessions. Wherever duty called, all idea of self was obscured in the devotions of performance. Not Percy nor Richard were more impetuous and daring on the field of battle where the front of peril was the point they ever sought, to make of them- selves an example and shield for their devoted followers. The first-named was honored by his countrymen with a seat in congress and finally with the vice-presidency of the United States. The last-named, John T. Johnson, also left the halls of congress, under a sense of duty and loyalty to an authority higher than human, to devote his life services to the min- istry of religion in which he gave the same im- passioned and self-denying consecration that had distinguished the trio of brothers in other spheres of duty."
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