USA > New Hampshire > The history of New Hampshire, from its discovery, in 1614, to the passage of the Toleration act, in 1819 > Part 25
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Adams" Annals. of Ports- mouth, p. 355.
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CHAP. erty to the amount of nearly three hundred thou- XI. sand dollars was lost by pillage and the flames. The public, on this occasion, as it had done on a former one, came forward with generous contribu- tions in aid of the sufferers, amounting to more than seventy-seven thousand dollars.
In the meantime, the war had been conducted with various fortune. During the campaign of 1813, Gen. Winchester had been taken, with five hundred American troops, at Frenchtown, and Gen. Wilkinson defeated in an unsuccessful at- tempt to penetrate to Montreal. On the other hand, York, in Upper Canada, had been captured by General Brown; the British repulsed with great loss in their attempts on Sackett's Harbor and Craney Island ; Proctor routed, and Tecum- seh killed on the Thames, and the American stan- dard once more planted upon the ramparts of Detroit. During this year, also, on the 10th of September, the illustrious Perry achieved his vic- tory over the British squadron on lake Erie, and gained an undisputed possession of its waters.
1814.
The events of 1814 shed still greater lustre upon the American arms. On the 5th of July, the American troops, under the command of Gen. Brown, attacked a strong British force, com- manded by General Riall and stationed at Chip- pewa. The two armies mnet in the open field, and after a long and bloody conflict, in which at some periods the troops fought man to man, contesting every foot of ground with the bayonet, the Ameri- cans were victorious, and the enemy were driven behind their intrenchments, with a loss of five hundred men. In the battle of Chippewa the
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British and Indians fought with the courage of CHAP. desperation. They were formed in order of battle XI. on the banks of the Niagara, their left resting on the river, their right on a wood. The American position was the reverse of this. Their right rested on the river, their left on the wood. Early in the morning the light horse of the enemy were seen hovering round, and scouting parties appeared in the distance. The battle commenced by the firing of small arms. This increased, and the artillery began to play with effect, until at length the forces on both sides were closely engaged. A dense cloud of smoke now hung between the two armies. Suddenly the British fire slackened, and the Americans immediately ceased their fire. As the veil of smoke slowly rose from before them, a trampling was heard, and as the Americans bent forward to look under the smoke, the feet of the British soldiers could be distinctly seen advancing. It was apparent that they were charging. But as their left was closing to charge the American right, the terrible fire which the Americans were enabled to pour upon their flank threw them into disorder and drove them from the field. They retreated, and were closely pursued to Chippewa creek, which they crossed, taking up the bridge after them.
In this battle, General John McNeil, then a ma- jor, was second officer of the eleventh regiment ; but before it had taken its place in the line he had succeeded to the command by the fall of Colonel Campbell. He was attached to the forlorn hope,*
* Scott's brigade, composed of Leavensworth's, Jessup's, and Campbell's regiments, the 9th, 11th, and 25th.
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CHAP. a single brigade, which was obliged to pass the XI. bridge over Street's creek under the fire of a Gen. Jes- sup's letter, British battery. General McNeil was observed to wield his force at this point with the greatest MS. Wil- kin- son's Me- moirs. coolness and self-possession. Under the galling fire which poured death amidst his ranks, his line was formed with the accuracy of parade; and the loud word of command which he gave, rising above the din of battle, and going forth so dis- tinctly as to be heard by those far beyond his com- mand, inspired resolution in all, and seemed to declare, in its deep tones, that the field of deadly combat arouses the energies of mind and body to a level with the dangers and appalling difficul- ties of the occasion. For his distinguished and gallant conduct in this battle he was breveted a lieutenant-colonel .*
From the field of Chippewa the American army passed down the Niagara, and took a position opposite the cataract.
Soon after this event, General Riall abandoned his defences and retired to the heights of Burlington. Here General Drummond joined him with a large reinforcement, and assuming the command, the combined troops again advanced towards the American camp. On the twenty-fifth, was fought the battle of Niagara,t which, commencing a little before sunset, continued till midnight. This bat- tle was fought hard by the cataract of Niagara, whose thunders were heard at intervals amid the roar of cannon and the clash of arms ; the moon
* Report of a committee of the senate, made Jan. 20, 1841. See Con- gressional Journals for 1841.
+ Sometimes called the battle of Bridgwater or Lundy's Lane.
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ever and anon shining brightly upon the combat- CHAP. ants, and then, obscured by clouds and smoke, XI. leaving them to pursue the work of death in dark- ness.
It was in the dusk of the evening, while the gal- lant brigade of Scott was sustaining nearly the whole force of the enemy's attack, and waiting while General Ripley marched three miles to their assistance, that they were cut to pieces, and nearly all the officers killed or wounded. At this critical juncture McNeil rode forward to reconnoitre the enemy's position. He had but just returned, and was cheering his men on to the fight, when he received a shot* in his knee from a carronade. He, however, clung to his horse and his com- mand, urging his men on to the conflict. He remained on the field until he became weak from the loss of blood, which some of the men ob- serving, offered to assist him to withdraw; which he rejected, and remained clinging to the mane of his horse, until he several times fainted, and finally was reluctantly compelled to be led from the field.
The British artillery, posted on a commanding height, had annoyed our troops during the earlier part of the battle. "Can you storm that battery ?" said General Ripley to Miller. "I'll try, sir," replied the warrior ; then turned to his men, and, in a deep tone, issued a few brief words of com- mand. " Twenty-first, attention ! Form into column. You will advance up the hill to the storm of the battery. At the word, 'Halt,' you will deliver your fire at the port-light of the artil-
* Report of a committee of the senate, Jan. 20, 1841. Congressional Journals, 1841. Wilkinson's Memoirs. Jessup's letter, Ms.
47
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CHAP. lerymen, and immediately carry their guns at the
XI.
De- scrip- tion in N. Y. Ameri- can,
1841.
- point of the bayonet. Support arms-forward- march!" Machinery could not have moved with more compactness than that gallant regiment. Followed by the twenty-third, the dark mass moved up the hill like one body-the lurid light flickering on their bayonets, as the combined fire of the enemy's artillery and infantry opened mur- derously upon them. They flinched not-falter- ed not. The stern, deep voice of the officers, as the deadly cannon-shot cut yawning chasms through them, alone was heard-" Close up- steady, men-steady." Within a hundred yards of the summit, the loud "Halt" was followed by a volley, sharp and instantaneous as a clap of thunder. Another moment, rushing under the white smoke, a short, furious struggle with the bayonet, and the battle was won. The enemy's line was driven down the hill, and their own can- non mowed them down by platoons. This bril- liant success decided the fate of the conflict, and the American flag waved in triumph on that hill, scorched and blackened as it was by the flame of artillery, purpled with human gore and encum- bered by the bodies of the slain.
The contest now shifted to fort Erie, where, in an unsuccessful assault and a brave sortie of the American troops, the British commander lost nearly two thousand men. In these fierce conflicts the New Hampshire troops were present in large numbers and gained imperishable honor. While McNeil and Miller gained, as they deserved, un- fading laurels in these battles, scarcely less honor
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was due to Weeks,* who, like them, was a son of CHAP. New Hampshire. The services of these three XI. - men present a bright page in the history of the war, and give them solid claims to the lasting gratitude of their;country.
During this season the British gained posses- sion of Washington city, burning the capital and destroying public property to an immense amount. The mortification occasioned by this calamitous event, however, was more than removed by the gallant reception which our brave troops gave the enemy at Baltimore and Plattsburg, by the victory of Macdonough on lake Champlain, and the chiv- alrous exploits of Porter on the ocean.
Late in the summer, a, powerful British naval force entered Penobscot Bay, and gained posses- sion, with scarcely a show of opposition, of several towns upon its borders. The dangerous proximity of this force created no little apprehension for the fate of our own seaboard. The governor of this state, therefore, partly on his own authority, and partly in obedience to directions received from the general government, detached large bodies of mili- tia from the several divisions in this state to Ports- mouth, to assist in the public defence. So great was the number of volunteers, that compulsory service was rendered almost entirely unneces- · sary. " Whole companies, from various parts of the state," volunteered their services and marched to the seat of danger together. The enemy, how- ever, finding our harbor too well defended, pru- dently declined venturing upon an attack.
The embarrassments and privations naturally
* General John W. Weeks, of Lancaster.
Gover- nor's Mes- sage, June, 1815
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CHAP. attendant upon the war, had stimulated its oppo- XI. nents to an opposition, of a character so violent as hardly to admit of palliation, and much less of defence. They urged that the administration had employed all its resources upon idle schemes of conquest, and left the New England seaboard almost entirely destitute of the means of defence, thereby forfeiting all claim to the confidence of its citizens. Many even went to the bold length of maintaining that the militia of the eastern states and the revenue accruing in their ports, should be retained, in defiance of the general government, to provide for their separate defence. A separate peace with the enemy and a separate union of the 1814. northern states, were general and public subjects of discussion ; and this, too, in the midst of the war, when the ashes of our frontier towns, the ruins of our capitol, and the butchery of our soldiers under Winchester, after their surrender, demanded an exertion of the united resources of the whole country to visit a proper retribution upon the enemy. At this time, in the midst of such exciting discussions as I have mentioned, a convention of delegates, chosen by the federal legislatures of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, assembled in secret conclave at Hartford. Mills Olcott and Benjamin West ap- peared in that body from New Hampshire, not like their associates, as the accredited agents of a state, but in the less imposing capacity of dele- gates, chosen by informal meetings of their party in the counties of Grafton and Cheshire. Gover- nor Gilman was desirous of summoning a special session of the legislature, for the purpose of secur-
Dec. 15.
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ing a more formal representation; but a majority of the council, belonging to the republican party, disapproved of and defeated the design. The origin of this convention-the fierce declamations of those who favored it, against the government- the seditious tone of many of the federal presses at the time of its meeting, and the secrecy which attended its deliberations, have thrown a sus- picion upon its character, which time seems un- likely to remove.
For years after the convention, annually, on its return, the public journals continued to notice its anniversary, and to describe it as a day of dark design and conspiracy against republican institu- tions, and to proclaim that, on Thursday, Dec. 15, 1814, a convention was holden at Hartford to organize resistance to the government-to dis- solve the Union-to array different sections of the Union in hostile arms against each other-and to place the New England states finally under the protection of the kingdom with which we were then at war. The names of all the members were printed in staring capitals, and held up to public ex- ecration-so that whoever should dare to meditate disunion and the destruction of the constitution- whoever should act publicly and openly with a foreign enemy against his own native land-who- ever should meditate treason against the govern- ment, against the people, and against liberty, might be constantly reminded of the Hartford convention, and the fate of the politicians by whom the convention was advocated and coun- tenanced. The voice of a large majority of the people soon condemned its motives, and a general
CHAP. XI.
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CHAP. unpopularity and odium have, in most parts of the XI. country, rested upon the names and memory of the members.
Brad- ford's Hist. Mass. p. 408.
Brad- ford, p. 409.
On the other hand, in some parts of the country, particularly in Massachusetts, the state which originated and recommended the convention, it has been defended warmly, and its advocates and even its members continued in public favor, and raised to high offices. They have contended that the design of the convention was not fully under- stood, or not candidly and fairly represented- that it was composed of men who deemed the war not a war for defence, but for the conquest of Canada-that the people of Massachusetts and other states on the coast had suffered extremely from the war, and that the Hartford convention assembled to devise means of protection and re- lief-that it never plotted treason, nor conspired against liberty, nor contrived a dissolution of the Union. Such are the apologies for the Hartford convention. They have been repeated and urged by the ablest advocates. But the people seldom fail to render a righteous verdict, when the means of judging are fully before them. The Hartford convention has been condemned by a large portion of the people throughout the United States. It was composed, without exception, of members of that party who took their name originally as defenders of the constitution, but were violent opponents of the war.
Brad- ford, p. 408.
They maintained that it was in vain to contend against so powerful a nation as Great Britain-
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that she never would yield what we fought for- CHAP. that the Americans were weak-destitute of re- XI. sources-that they could not raise an army-and, if one were raised, that it could not subsist. They appeared at the recruiting stations and about the military encampments of volunteers, and endea- vored to dissuade the men from enlisting. When other means failed, they purchased demands against soldiers, and brought suits and thrust them into jail. This was done at Concord and Haverhill, and many other places. They denounced the war as " unjust," " unnatural," "abominable," and " wicked." They were, in some cases, detected in a treacherous intercourse with the enemy; as also were some professed advocates for the war. They addressed the people in public meetings, and told them that Britain was clement and merciful- " the protector of the Protestant religion"-" the bulwark of the faith we profess." In some in- stances they openly rejoiced in the defeat of Amer- ican arms, and justified or palliated the brutalities of the British soldiery. To deter the people from the contest, they arrayed before them the vast expenses of the war, and brought it home to each locality and every citizen, by an exact compu- tation of the cost to each town and to every individual.
Their policy seemed to be to oppose everything calculated to give energy to the war, or to lead to the negotiation of an honorable peace. By an organized opposition they dissuaded capital- ists from loaning money to the government, and sowed distrust everywhere.
If the war with England was " unnatural,"
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CHAP. XI. the conduct of the federalists was still more so. American patriots were filled with sorrow, and foreign nations were struck with astonishment, to see " the Yankee states," covered with the glo- ries of revolutionary valor, yet now seemingly ready to kneel to a nation whom they had once vanquished, and sacrifice on the altar of avarice the honors of Bunker hill and Lexington, and all the fame of that revolution which had rendered them illustrious throughout the world.
The momentary shock which the war gave to the people at its commencement-the burdens of taxation and the terrors it occasioned, had given the federal party in many states a sudden ascen- dency. But deep reflection awoke the people to see the necessity and duty of sustaining the gov- ernment, and so rapid was the republican gain everywhere that it promised to consign the oppo- nents of the war, in every state, to inevitable defeat. The tillers and owners of the soil rallied fast to its defence. Many of the federalists began to look back and to see with regret the folly and madness of their course. They saw that they had aided the enemy ; for a mere refusal to carry on the war, after it is begun, tends inevitably to that result. When the question of war is pending, and the contest is not yet resolved upon, an honest opposition to it is but freedom of opinion and action, and it is the right of every freeman. But when the war is actually begun, every act of oppo- sition to it is an act of treachery to the govern- ment and the country ; for it aids indirectly the country's invaders.
Such was the view which the federalists had be-
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gun to take of the subject, when, on the 8th of Jan- CHAP. uary, 1815, occurred the battle of New Orleans, XI. 1815. resulting in a victory to American arms, which will be remembered so long as the Mississippi bears the tribute of its waters to the ocean. Gen- eral Packenham led the attack, at the head of an army of veteran troops, inspiring them with the promise of " beauty and booty," and anticipating an easy triumph. The American lines, drawn up at no great distance from the city, were slightly protected by embankments of earth and piles of cotton-bags, thrown up for the occasion. General Jackson, the American commander, with a force inferior in numbers and composed in part of mili- tia, calmly awaited the event. No sooner had the enemy, marching in solid columns, approached within a few rods, and attempted to deploy into line, than one continuous sheet of fire, pouring from every part of the American works, arrested their movements and drove their shattered ranks, confused and panic-stricken, from the field. Again the bold attempt was made, in the face of the same destructive fire, and with the same fatal results to the enemy. General Packenham fell, together Eaton's Life of Jack- son. with two distinguished officers who successively assumed the command. When, at length, the inva- ders hurried defeated to their ships, from a conflict in which the Americans had lost scarcely a dozen men, they left two thousand of their best troops, either killed or desperately wounded, on that field, which they had entered with so many bright vis- ions of unbounded triumphs, unrestrained riot, and profitable plunder.
The news of this brilliant victory was soon suc-
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CHAP. ceeded by the intelligence of an honorable peace, XI. concluded between this country and Great Brit- ain. It was everywhere received with joy, and spread through the country with the speed of the wind. The great body of our troops, disbanded at once, returned to their quiet homes, to ex- change the fatigues and dangers of the war, for the peaceful employments they had abandoned at its commencement. Our merchant ships, spread- ing their white sails to the breeze, again rode securely upon the ocean, and bore unmolested, to every port on the globe, our flag, now rendered respectable in the eyes of all nations by the splen- dor of those naval conflicts over which it had so often floated in triumph.
Thus the war closed-leaving to the republican party the cheering conviction that they had fought well, and to the federalists the mortifying reflec- tion that their ill-timed opposition to the govern- ment had materially assisted the enemies of their country. In some parts of the country the war had received the most enthusiastic support. Many a father, fired with more than Spartan patriotism, viewed the fall of a son as scarcely a calamity ; and, forgetting his grief in his patriotism, deemed it no sacrifice, so that he fell for his country. " When we connect our naval deeds," said an orator in congress, " with the other events of the war, who will say this has been an inglorious war ?- An inglorious war! Insult not the gal- lant men who have fought and bled in your bat- tles, and yet live with high claims to your applause. Tread not so rudely on the ashes of the heroic dead. Could the soul of Lawrence speak from
Speech of Lang- don Chee- ves.
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CHAP. XI. -
the cerements which confine his mouldering body, in what appalling language would he rebuke the man who should assert that the contest in which he so nobly died was an inglorious war ?* Will you tell that worthy mant who fills, with so much fidelity and usefulness, a station in your service on this floor, that this is an inglorious war ? He has beheld one son triumphį over his country's foe, and live to hear and receive the applause and gratitude of his country. He has seen another§ fall in the arms of victory, heroically aiding in an achievement which, if it be not unparalleled, is certainly not exceeded in the annals of history. Happy father !- yet I would call him a miserable and hopeless man, were this an inglorious war. But I must call him a happy father, for God and nature have implanted in our bosom a principle which elevates us above the love of life and friends, and makes us think their loss a blessing, when they are yielded up in the cause of a beloved country, on the altar and in the spirit of patriot- ism. It is this principle which makes that excel- lent father reflect, not merely with composure, but with pleasure, on the child of his love giving up his life in battle-his blood mingling with the wave, and his body entombed in the bosom of Erie. Yes, he would rather feel the consciousness that his gallant boy fought with Perry, and died in the glorious battle of the tenth of September, than
* Capt. Lawrence, commander of the Chesapeake, who fell in action with the Shannon, near Boston harbor.
+ Mr. Claxton one of the officers of the house.
# Lieutenant Claxton, who was on board the Wasp when she captured the Frolic.
§ Midshipman Claxton, killed in the battle on lake Erie.
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CHAP. now embrace him in his arms-again animated XI. with the strong pulse of life-again pouring into the parental bosom his filial duty, and lighting up a father's pride and joy."
Upon the meeting of the legislature in June, Governor Gilman, still hostile to that policy which originated the war, after congratulating the people upon the return of peace, introduced the following language in his message: "The calamities of war," he said, "have been severely felt; the loss of the lives of multitudes of our countrymen ; the expense of treasure ; depreciation of national credit, a large debt and multiplied taxes. What have we gained ?"
On the other hand, at an early period of the session, Mr. John F. Parrott, of Portsmouth, in- troduced a series of spirited resolutions in the house, eulogizing the various military and naval commanders who had distinguished themselves during the war.
Mr. Phinehas Handerson warmly opposed the adoption of the resolutions, and moved their com- mitment. " He should never approve," he said, " of the preamble and resolutions as they were. They carried on their face approbation of the late unnecessary and foolish war. They would say to the world, what a majority of the house would never concede, that the war was a politic and just measure, and that it was wisely and prudently managed. What have we acquired by the war ? What have we gained by the treaty of peace ? We have gained nothing." * *
* He was willing to compliment the men who had fought, but he was unwilling to acknowledge that the country had gained anything by their fighting.
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Mr. Parrott opposed the commitment. " Gen- CHAP. tlemen," he said, "who wish for commitment, XI. say the language is too strong; admitting, how- ever, at the same time, that the officers and men in the army and navy have deserved the highest commendations of their countrymen! What do gentlemen wish ? Will they 'damn with faint praise,' in the fear of committing themselves in favor of the war ? Will they deny that these men have done much-nay, everything for their coun- try ? Will they deny that the victories of 1814, on lake Champlain, at Plattsburg, at Bridgewater and Chippewa, have been the salvation of the nation ? Will they deny that ' veteran skill has yielded to the rugged powers of intrepid free- men ?' Will they deny that these brave men have given to the Americans ' a name and a praise among the nations ?'"
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