USA > New York > History of the state of New York, for the use of common schools, academies, normal and high schools, and other seminaries of instruction > Part 17
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8. This bill passed the House by a strong majority ; but dur- ing its pendency in the Senate, and when its passage by that body was certain, the Governor, on the 27th of March, pro- rogued the Legislature until the 21st of May ensuing, on the allegation that sufficient proof existed of corrupt practices on the part of the friends of the measure for the procurement of the charter.
9. On the 20th of April the venerable GEORGE CLINTON, Vice-President of the United States, died at Washington, in the seventy-fourth year of his age, after a long career of official honors and patriotic services. On the 21st of May the Legis- lature reassembled, when the pending bill for the charter of the Bank of America was immediately taken up and passed by both Houses. On the 28th, DE WITT CLINTON was formally nominated by the Democratic members of the Legislature as a candidate for the presidency, in opposition to Mr. Madison.
10. On the 8th of June, after an absence of four years in Europe, Colonel Burr returned to the city of New York, broken in spirit, disappointed in all his expectations of foreign aid in his ambitious aspirations for empire and power, deserted by his former friends, destitute in his circumstances, and heavily en- cumbered by debts. The death of his only and accomplished daughter, Theodosia Burr Alston, who went down, with every other passenger on board, during the voyage in a schooner from her residence in Charleston to New York a few days after her
Charter of the Bank of America. - Prorogation of the Legislature. - Death of George Clinton. - Reassembling of the Legislature. - Passage of . the charter of the Bank of America. - Return of Colonel Burr. - Death of Theodosia Burr Alston.
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father's arrival, added a still deeper shade of melancholy to his declining years and blasted prospects. He resumed the practice of his profession, and, struggling under the heavy burden of The calamities which weighed down his energies, spent the rem.ja ing twenty years of his life in comparative obscurity. He d'ed in New York on the 14th of December, 1836, in the eighty-tast year of his age.
11. Colonel Burr was a man of marked ability and brilliant talents. Destitute of all high principles, either of religion OR morality, his master passion was personal and political ambitiog) To that insatiable spirit he sacrificed reputation, friendship, how - or, patriotism, and happiness. The terrible retribution which speedily overtook him followed him in his gloomy retirement. and left him only at the portals of the grave. His career furnish s another sad example of the miserable results of unchasten & ambition combined with the absence of moral integrity.
12. On the 20th of June, war was declared by Congress against Great Britain, the Democratic members and senators from New York generally voting against it, not because sufficient reason in their judgment did not exist for the measure, but be- cause the country was, as they believed, unprepared for the com- mencement of hostilities. The Federalists, as a body, were op- posed to the war, not only for this reason, but because they conceived no adequate provocation had been given by England which did not equally exist against France. The great mass of Democrats in both branches of Congress (with the exception of the New York delegation) sustained the declaration. Congress immediately passed a bill for the enlistment of twenty-five thousand regular troops and fifty thousand volunteers, and or- ganized the West Point Military Academy for the instruction of cadets for the army.
13. At the September term of the Circuit Court, held in Chenango County, General David Thomas, State Treasurer, was indicted and tried before Judge William W. Van Ness for at- tempting to bribe Casper M. Rouse, a Senator from that county, during the pendency of the bill for the charter of the Bank of
Subsequent career and death of Barr. - Declaration of war against Great Britain. - State of parties. - Organization of the West Point Military Academy.
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SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN.
America. No sufficient proof of the charge having been pro- duced, General Thomas was acquitted. Solomon Southwick, then editor of the Albany Register, was also tried and acquit- ted during the same month before Chief-Justice Kent at the Montgomery circuit, for an attempted bribery of Alexander Sheldon, Speaker of the Assembly. Thomas Addis Emmett, of New York, recently appointed Attorney-General in place of Matthias B. Hildreth, deceased, conducted these prosecutions on the part of the State.
14. In the mean time, General Hull, who had been appointed to the command of the forees in the territory of Michigan, with orders to invade Canada, had in August yielded to a slightly su- perior force of British and Indians, commanded by General Sir Isaac Brock and the Indian chief Tecumseh, and surrendered at Detroit his army of eight hundred men, thirty-three pieces of artillery, and a vast quantity of naval and military stores to the enemy. For this act he was, two years later, tried by court- martial, convicted of cowardice, and sentenced to be shot, but in consideration of his Revolutionary services received a pardon from the President.
15. The naval engagements of this year were notable. Cap- tain Isaac Hull, of the frigate Constitution, a vessel better known as Old Ironsides, had, on the 19th of August, captured, after a brilliant engagement, the British frigate Guerrière, commanded by Captain Dacres, off the mouth of the St. Lawrence ; Captain Decatur, of the United States, had, off the Azores, in October, compelled the British frigate Macedonian to strike her flag ; and Captain Jones, of the Wasp, after capturing the British brig Frolic, was himself, with his prize, forced to yield to the Poietiers, a seventy-four gun frigate. Soon afterwards Captain Bainbridge, who had succeeded to the command of the Constitution, took and burned the British frigate Java off the coast of Brazil.
16. Captain CHAUNCEY, of the New York Navy-yard, had been assigned to the command of Lakes Outario and Erie ; and, with a small sloop-of-war of sixteen guns, and a fleet of mer- chant-vessels fitted out with guns and other naval equipments,
Trial and acquittal of David Thomas and Solomon Southwick for bribery. - Surrender of Detroit by Hull. - Naval successes on the ocean. - Fleets on Lakes Erie and Ontario.
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and brought from Albany at an immense expense of labor, soon succeeded in clearing Lake Ontario of British ships and driva: . them into Kingston Harbor on the Canada shores. Lieutena :.: Elliott, having equipped a fleet on Lake Erie, by a bold and dar. ing movement, under the guns of the British fort on the oppw- site shore, captured two British armed vessels which had come down the lake from Detroit.
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17. On the 19th of July an unsuccessful attack was made upon Sackett's Harbor, on the eastern shore of Lake Ontario, by a squadron of five British vessels from the Canada shore. The Harbor was defended by the United States brig Oneida, of sixteen guns, commanded by Lieutenant M. T. Woolsey, having in charge a British schooner which had been seized for a violation of the revenue laws, and by a military force of about three thousand regulars and volunteers. Lieutenant Woolsey, failing in his attempt to engage the British commodore, took command of a battery on the shore, whence, after two hours' firing, he crippled and dispersed the hostile fleet, without the loss of a man on the American side. An attack upon Ogdensburg, on the 4th of October, by a British fleet of twenty-five boats, with seven hundred and fifty men, was also gallantly repulsed by General Jacob Brown after a severe and protracted contest.
18. Early in September a large body of militia had been concentrated in the vicinity of Lewiston, on the Niagara River, under the command of Major-General Stephen Van Rensselaer. An attack upon the village and heights of Queenstown, on the western bank of the Niagara, a few miles below the Falls, was soon afterwards planned, and the requisite arrangements made for transportation of the troops, on the morning of the 11th of October, to the opposite shore. Through some deficiency or treachery on the part of Lieutenant Sims, the officer employed for this service, the boats failed to reach their destination, and the expedition was postponed.
19. On the morning of the 13th, however, ten boats, under the direction of Lieutenant-Colonels Chrystie and Solomon Van Rensselaer, with about two hundred and twenty-five men, crossed over to Queenstown, and, having landed the troops, immediately
Attack on Sackett's Harbor and Ogdensburg .- Concentration of troops at Lewiston.
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BATTLE OF QUEENSTOWN.
returned for additional reinforcements. In the absence of Colonels Chrystie and Van Rensselaer, who remained on the op- posite shore to superintend the embarkation of the residue of the troops, the command of the small force at Queenstown de- volved on Captain JOHN E. WOOL, the senior officer present.
20. The landing of this force was resisted with great spirit and energy by Captain Dennis, the British commandant of the post, who had become aware of the movement ; and Lieuten- ant Rathbone was mortally wounded, and other severe injuries sustained by the detachment, before their purpose could be ac- complished, and a line formed on the plateau near the foot of the heights above the village, by the companies of Captains Wool, Malcolm, and Armstrong.
21. Orders from head-quarters were immediately transmitted to Captain Wool to storm the heights, but before the ascent was commenced these orders were countermanded, and a vigorous attack was made on the right flank and front of Wool's line by Captain Dennis, who had been strongly reinforced by two ad- ditional companies of regular troops, stationed on the heights. After a short but severe engagement, in which two officers were killed, and Captains Wool, Malcolmn, and Armstrong wounded, the enemy's force on the plains was repulsed. Lieutenant-Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer was so severely wounded as to be unable longer to remain in command of the expedition.
22. The attack from the heights on the left flank of the de- tachment was still continued, until orders were received for its retreat to the beach, out of range of the enemy's fire. Still suffering from annoyance in this quarter, Captain Wool obtained permission to attempt the capture of the heights ; and, rein- forced by a fresh company under command of Captain Ogilvie, though suffering from his wounds, at onee commenced the ascent, and by an unfrequented path accomplished his daring object without the loss of a single man.
23. With the rising of the sun the American flag was planted on the British works. General Sir Isaac Broek, who had now arrived on the ground, rallied the retreating forces of the Eng- lish, and, having repulsed a portion of Captain Wool's command
Attack upon Queenstown. - Battle of Queenstown Heights.
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sent to occupy the heights above the battery, concentrated his forces against the remainder, who were driven back, in consider- able confusion, upon the precipitous bank of the river.
24. In this critical position, Captain Ogilvie was seen to raise a white handkerchief on a bayonet, as a token of sub- mission. Captain Wool with his own hands indignantly tore down the craven emblem, reanimated his troops by a spirited appeal to their bravery and courage, and renewed the doubtful and desperate contest with the superior force arrayed against him, led by the ablest general in the British service. Having exhausted their ammunition, a bayonet charge was made, and the enemy forced to retreat.
25. While engaged in an effort to rally his flying troops, Gen- eral Brock received a mortal wound, and Captain Wool and his gallant band again took possession of the heights of Queenstown. General Wadsworth and Lieutenant-Colonel WINFIELD SCOTT soon afterwards joined the detachment, now consisting of about six hundred regulars and militia, the command having been assigned to the latter. A brisk onslaught was immediately made upon the force by a band of Mohawk Indians, armed with tomahawks and knives, led by John Brant and Captain Jacobs, who, after a severe contest, were repulsed and driven from the heights, under the lead of Colonel Scott.
26. Meantime a strong reinforcement from Fort George, under the command of General Sheatfe, was seen approaching the heights ; and General Van Rensselaer, who was on the field, immediately returned to Lewiston, to expedite the passage of the remaining militia reserves. In spite of all his efforts, not one of their number could be induced to cross the river in sup- port of their exhausted comrades. The failure of several boats which had previously been sent over, and the capture or loss of their passengers, had effectually discouraged any subsequent at- tempt.
27. Intelligence of this disaster was conveyed to Lieutenant- Colonel Scott, who, nevertheless determined, single-handed and worn down by the fatigues of the day, to encounter the over- powering force brought to bear against him. At four in the afternoon the action again commenced ; and so severe and well supported was the onslaught, and so superior were the numbers
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of the enemy, that the Americans were forced to retreat and finally to surrender. About a thousand prisoners were taken, less than one third of whom had participated in the action, the residue having either deserted or concealed themselves among the surrounding rocks and bushes. The British force num- bered thirteen hundred and fifty. The Americans lost ninety men killed, and one hundred wounded ; the British about one hundred and fifty of both, exclusive of Indians.
28. Thus terminated the well-fought field of QUEENSTOWN HEIGHTS, - deeds of heroism and valor having been displayed by officers and men never before exposed to fire, which would compare favorably with those of veterans inured to the service. The field in which Lieutenant-General WINFIELD SCOTT and Major-General JOHN E. WOOL first " won their spurs " was nobly illustrated by the chivalrous minute-guns, which, by direc- tion of General VAN RENSSELAER, were fired from the American batteries at the conclusion of the funeral ceremonies of the British commander, General Sir ISAAC BROCK !
29. On the 23d of October, a detachment of militia, chiefly from the city of Troy, commanded by Major Guilford D. Young of that place, occupying French Mills on the St. Regis River, attacked and captured a company of Canadian " Voyageurs," which, in contravention of a stipulation for neutrality, had oc- cupied the Indian village of St. Regis, situated on the north- eastern borders of St. Lawrence County, and were endeavoring to induce the inhabitants to join the British standard. On this occasion the first British flag taken in the war was captured by Lieutenant WILLIAM L. MARCY, afterwards honorably dis- tinguished in the highest executive and legislative departments of the State and Union.
30. On the 2d of November the Legislature convened for the choice of presidential electors. MARTIN VAN BUREN, of Colum- bia, made his first appearance in a legislative capacity, at this session, as a Senator from the Middle District, and at once as- sumed the leadership of the Democratic party. Electors in favor of Mr. Clinton were duly chosen on joint ballot, a portion
Capture of British troops at St. Regis. - First appearance in public life of Martin Van Buren. - Presidential electors in favor of Mr. Clinton chosen.
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SIXTH PERIOD.
of the Federalists voting with the majority of Democrats. Mr. MADISON was, however, re-elected, by a majority of thirty-nine electoral votes, over Mr. Clinton, and ELBRIDGE GERRY, of M .... sachusetts, Vice-President, by a majority of forty-five votes, over Jared Ingersoll, of Pennsylvania.
CHAPTER VII.
ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR TOMPKINS. - SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. - COMMON SCHOOLS. - CAMPAIGN OF 1813. - NAVAL VIC- TORY ON LAKE ERIE. - CAPTURE OF YORK. - SIEGE OF FORT GEORGE. -DEFENCE OF SACKETT'S HARBOR. - BLACK ROCK AND BUFFALO.
1. THE State Legislature reassembled on the 12th of Janu- ary, 1813. RUFUS KING, of New York, was elected United
1813. States Senator in place of General John Smith, whose term had expired. GIDEON HAWLEY, of Albany, was appointed by the Council Superintendent of. Common Schools, under the provisions of an act passed the preceding year for their better organization. DE WITT CLINTON was reappointed Mayor of New York. On the 28th of January, Chancellor ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON died, in the sixty-sixth year of his age. His emi- nent talents, long service in public life, and timely benefactions to his friend ROBERT FULTON in his great enterprise, endeared his memory to his fellow-citizens of all parties.
2. The spring elections resulted in the re-election of Governor TOMPKINS and the election of JOHN TAYLER as Lieutenant-Gov- ernor, with a strong Democratic majority in the Senate, and a small Federal majority in the other branch of the legislature. Stephen Van Rensselaer of Albany and George Huntington of Oneida were the Federal candidates for Governor and Lieuten- ant-Governor. In view of the bitter opposition of the New England States to the pending war with England and the ad- ministration of the general government, the triumph of the Democratic party in New York, in the re-election of Governor
Re-election of Madison, and Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts, Vice-Pres- ident. - Election of United States Senator. - Superintendent of Common Schools. - State officers. - Death of Chancellor Livingston. - Re-election of Governor Tompkins. - Election of Lieutenant-Governor Tayler. - De- mocratic triumph.
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Tompkins, was hailed with the highest gratification by its mem- bers throughout the Union.
3. Meantime General JOHN ARMSTRONG, of New York, had been appointed Secretary of War by the President. The surrender of Detroit, the heroic episode of Queenstown Heights, and the brilliant victories of our infant navy, had infused a new spirit into the West, and volunteers from every quarter flocked to the patri- otic standard. The army of the West, stationed at the head of Lake Erie, was placed under the command of General WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, of Ohio ; that of the centre, between Lakes Erie and Ontario, under General HENRY DEARBORN, of Massa- chusetts ; and that of the North, in the vicinity of Lake Cham- plain, under General WADE HAMPTON, of Virginia. Frenchtown, on the Raisin, had been occupied by Winchester, under the direc- tions of General Harrison, and retaken by Proctor, the British commander, under circumstances of barbarous cruelty to his prisoners, who were left to the tender mercies of his Indian al- lies, notwithstanding the most solemn assurances of safety and security, and Forts Meigs and Stephenson gallantly defended by General Clay and Major Croghan, a youth of twenty-one, against Proctor and the Indian chief TECUMSEH.
4. On the ocean, Captain JAMES LAWRENCE, in command of the Hornet, had, in February, captured the British frigate Pea- cock off the South American coast, and in the ensuing June, having been transferred to the command of the frigate Chesa- peake in Boston harbor, had, with his accustomed impetuosity, engaged the British frigate Shannon, Captain Broke. At the commencement of the action he was mortally wounded, his ship boarded, and after a severe hand-to-hand conflict her flag was struck, notwithstanding the dying command of her brave com- mander, "Don't give up the ship !"
5. On the 7th of February, Major Benjamin Forsyth, of the United States Rifles, stationed at Ogdensburg with a party of two hundred men, organized a successful expedition for the rescue of several prisoners arrested in St. Lawrence County by the British authorities as deserters, and confined in the jail at Elizabethtown, in Upper Canada. For this exploit he received
Progress of the war. - Campaign of 1813. - Naval vietories and defeats. - Death of Captain Lawrence. - Expedition to Elizabethtown, Upper Canada.
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a brevet commission from the American Government as Lieuten- ant-Colonel.
6. A retaliatory expedition was, on the 22d, organized against Ogdensburg under the direction of Lieutenant-Colonel MeDon nell, with eight hundred men. Colonel Forsyth's garrison at the time consisted only of a single company of riflemen, a few volunteers from Albany, and the inhabitants of the village. With two iron twelve-pounders and six iron and brass six-pound- ers, trophies of the Revolutionary field of Saratoga, mounted on rude wooden breastworks, and manned chiefly by the citizens, he made a gallant defence, killing six and wounding forty-eight, in- cluding Lieutenant-Colonel McDonnell and six officers.
7. After a severe contest, however, he was forced to surrender the town, the public property and military stores in which were removed to Canada. Two armed schooners and two gunboats were burned; fourteen hundred stands of arms and accoutre- ments, twelve pieces of artillery, together with a vast quantity of ammunition, tents, and camp cquipage, fell into the possession of the enemy, and a considerable amount of damage was inflicted upon the private property of the inhabitants.
8. On the 25th of April, General Dearborn embarked a force of seventeen hundred men on board Commodore Chauncey's fleet at Sackett's Harbor for the capture of York, the capital of' Upper Canada, the chief military depot of the British army. On their landing on the 27th they were met by a galling fire from the British and Indians, whom they speedily drove back to their fortifications ; and General ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE, pressing forward to the attack, was mortally wounded by the blowing up of the magazine of the fort. The assailants were, however, successful, and the American flag soon floated in tri- umph over the fort.
9. On the 27th of May the squadron, after having returned for supplies and relief to the wounded, again weighed anchor for the Canadian shore, and in conjunction with Captain Oliver H. Perry of the navy, Colonel Winfield Scott and Major Forsyth of the Rifles, Colonel Porter and Colonel Alexander Macomb of the artillery, and Generals Boyd, Winder, and Chandler, pro-
Capture of Ogdensburg. - Capture of York. - Death of Zebulon Mont- gomery Pike.
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ceeded to an attack upon Fort George, on the western shore of the Niagara River. The troops, under the personal direction of Captain Perry, effected a landing, and in the face of a formidable force of eight hundred men well posted on the summit of a pre- cipitous bank, Colonel Scott, after a desperate conflict, and after having three times been compelled to fall back, succeeded in carrying the position with a loss to the enemy of their brave commander, Myers, eleven officers, and nearly four hundred men.
10. Colonel Scott pursued the enemy as far as the village of Niagara, and, having sent a-detachment to cut off their retreat to Burlington Heights, returned to Fort George, where a small party of the British, under the command of Brigadier-General Vincent, still remained. This officer, after directing the evacu- ation of Fort Erie, and the abandonment of Chippewa, ordered the magazine of the fort to be fired and the party left in charge to rejoin the main body at the Beaver Dams. The explosion of the magazine threw Colonel Scott from his horse ; but, in the absence of any serious injury, he immediately took possession of the fort, and, after hoisting with his own hand the American flag, pressed forward in pursuit of the retreating garrison, until, recalled by his commanding officer, General Boyd, he reluctantly returned to the main body. The entire loss of the Americans in this enterprise was seventeen killed and forty-five wounded. Three hundred and sixty-six British regulars and five hundred militia were captured.
11. On the 29th of May an unsuccessful attempt was made by General Sir George Prevost and Commodore Sir James L. Yeo for the capture of Sackett's Harbor, the principal forces for the defence of which had been withdrawn for the expeditions against the enemy's posts on the Niagara frontier. Lieutenant- Colonel Backus, of the Light Dragoons, having been left in command of the garrison with about eight hundred men, in con- junetion with Brigadier-General Jacob Brown, who resided in the vicinity, so effectually resisted the attack of the British troops, numbering in the aggregate about a thousand men, with a strong party of Indians, that a retreat was ordered after an
Capture of Fort George. - Attempted capture of Sackett's Harbor. - Suc- cessful resistance of the garrison.
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hour's severe conflict, with the loss of forty-eight men killed and about two hundred _wounded. The Americans had fifty men killed and eighty-four wounded.
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