USA > Ohio > A history of the state of Ohio, natural and civil > Part 19
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that moment, an Indian came forward in his most hostile array, pretending to wish to tomahawk Ship, when Dixon shaking with pretended terrors, urged the ensign "to get into his garrison as soon as possible, unless he would consent to a surrender, and thereby save the lives of the troops in the garrison."
The enemy now opened his fire upon the fort, from his guns in the boats and his mortar on the shore. He continued to fire all night, with little intermission and with still less effect. His guns were sixpounders. Croghan had one sixpounder and that was all the artillery he had in the fort. He contrived to move his gun from one part of his works to another, so as to induce a belief that he had many guns. So the night pass- ed off. ""Tecumseh with two thousand warriors lay beside the road leading to Seneca, and Upper Sandusky, expecting a rein- forcement from that quarter to save the garrison. To inter- cept such a force, and destroy it, was his grand object. In this, he was sorely disappointed, as no such force was sent. Du- ring this first night, the enemy had landed from his boats, three sixpounders and a mortar, and had placed them within two hundred and forty yards of the fort, in a grove of woods. Du- ring this same night, Croghan discovered that the enemy seem- cd to aim most of his shots at the northwest corner of the stock- ade, and he supposed that when the British attempted to storm his fort, the place of attack would be at that angle. So he order- ed captain Hunter to place their only gun in a position so that it would rake the ditch, in case the enemy attempted to scale the works at that angle. In secrecy, and with uncommon indus- try and personal exertions, captain Hunter obeyed the order. The morning of the Ed of August dawned on our heroic band of young patriots. The enemy fired all day, but at four in the afternoon, he concentrated all the fire of all his guns at the northwestern angle of the fort. Seeing this, Croghan or- dered sergeant Weaver and six privates of the Pittsburgh vol- unteers, to place there, with all possible expedition, bags of sand and flour. This was done in a manner so effectually that, that angle received no material injury, from the enemy's guns. The sixpounder was entrusted to the management of the
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same sergeant, and his six men. Late in the evening when all was enveloped in smoke, the enemy proceeded to make the assault. Two feints were made on Hunter's lines, but in the meantime three hundred and fifty men of the enemy, advan- ced in the smoke, to within sixty feet of the northwestern angle.' A severe fire of musketry from the fort, put them in confusion for a moment, when lieutenant colonel Short, who headed this column of the enemy, urged forward his men to the edge of the ditch, calling on them to follow him, and " to give no quarters" he leaped into the ditch. The masked port hole was now opened, and the sixpounder within thirty feet of the assailants, was fired on them. The lieutenant colonel Short, and fifty others, were instantly killed or wound- ed. Death and desolation filled the ditch. Captain Hunter repelled Warburton and Chambers with a constant stream of lead from his rifles. They were assailing his line, but now ceased to do so, and drew off. During the assault which last- ed thirty minutes, the enemy constantly fired his mortar and five of his sixpounders. Immediately after this assault the enemy drew off out of the reach of our guns. It was now dark. The wounded in the ditch were in a desperate condi- tion. They called for "water, water, water." The enemy dare not undertake to relieve them-so Croghan, and his brave men handed over water to them, in buckets, to relieve their thirst. Our men dug a hole through, and under the pick- ets, and encouraged as many as were able to crawl, to creep into the fort. Compare this treatment, reader, with Proctor's SLEDS at the river Raisin, on Washington's birth day, in this same year!
At three o'clock this night, the enemy made a most disorder- ly and shameful retreat, down the bay. In their hurry, ter- ror and confusion, they left a sail boat full of the most valua- ble property. They left strewed around our fort, seventy stands of arms and several valuable braces of pistols. They anticipated a visit from general Harrison with his artillery early next morning; so they were off in a hurry.
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Our loss in this brilliant affair, was one killed, and seven were very slightly wounded.
The total loss of the enemy could not have been less than one hundred and fifty killed and wounded.
One British officer, major Muir, was wounded in the head, knocked down for dead in the ditch, lay there awhile, come to himself, and finally crawled off to his friends. For us it was well enough that he escaped at that time, inasmuch as he was never sane afterwards.
He got the command of two hundred troops, and was passing down lake Ontario, next year, 1814, in two vessels. Chased by our squadron of ships, towards the lower end of the lake, he ordered the two vessels to be run on an island, and he and his men hid in the bushes, but had forgotten their arms! So they were all captured, major Muir and his two hundred men. Not a drop of blood was shed on either side.
It remains for us to say, that for so brilliant an action, con- gress with their characteristic alacrity on such occasions, have at the end of twenty three years, voted swords to the officers, Croghan, Hunter, Ship, &c., &c., &c. It is true that before the swords were given, all but Croghan and Hunter, were dead. Hunter, one of the bravest and most efficient captains ever in the regular army to which he belonged, was disban- ded at the close of the war.
The ladies of Chillicothe, as soon as they heard of Crog- han's gallant defence, voted him a sword. In Niles' Register of that time, the reader will find their address to Croghan, and his answer.
The enemy had now returned to Malden; our troops from the interior were pouring into Upper Sandusky. From Picka- way county Colonel James Renick with two hundred and fif- ty mounted volunteers, an advanced detachment came; seven hundred following them, from the same county. Harrison had called on governor Meigs for six months men, but hearing of the invasion of Ohio, a second time this year, Meigs called out the entire mass of militia for forty days. On the 4th of Au- gust, early in the morning, colonel Henry Brush of Chillico- T
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the, delivered a letter from governor Meigs to general Harrison at Seneca, informing him of the arrival at Upper Sandusky, of the entire mass of militia, in the Scioto valley, and of vast numbers from all parts of the state; and that they now expected to be employed in active service or they would not be likely to obey another call. The General went to Upper Sandusky to confer with Meigs, and inform him of the orders of the war department, not to employ militia at all, if regulars could be procured, but if not, then only militia enough to make up the deficiency of seven thousand regulars. Two thousand men for six months, was all that Harrison felt authorised to employ from Ohio. These Meigs selected, but for forty days only. That being done, Harrison was compelled to dismiss them as of no use, except to consume the provisions. Many of the militia officers thus necessarily dismissed, assembled and pass- ed inflammatory resolutions against the General, for obeying his orders. The officers of the regular army answered them in the same way, by resolutions.
From the land, we now turn our attention awhile, to our own sea, lake Erie. Lieutenants Perry and Elliot, had been order- ed to lake Erie with several hundred sailors, early in the sum- mer of 1812, and they were not idle. They had seized and captured at different times, several British vessels, and they had destroyed such vessels as they could not carry into our harbors. Ship carpenters had been busily engaged, in build- ing vessels of war, at Erie in Pennsylvania. Several ships were fitted up, which had been employed, as merchant vessels, and severals others were built, expressly for warlike purposes. Finally, nine vessels were gotten ready for service, carrying, in all, fifty-four guns. General McArthur, had sent twenty- five active seamen, from fort Meigs, to join Perry's fleet. The war, on the ocean had driven these sailors from the Atlantic frontier; they had joined our army and now volunteered their services to Perry, and materially contributed to his success, as their naval commander cheerfully acknowledged. McAr- thur had taken possession of fort Meigs, general Clay being sick, had resigned the command temporarily to McArthur.
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While Perry's fleet lay off the mouth of Sandusky bay, Har- rison had furnished one hundred and fifty marines to Perry. The British fleet, under Commodore Barclay, consisted of six ships, carrying sixty-three guns.
PERRY'S VICTORY ON LAKE ERIE.
After various manoeuvres, these fleets, met and fought a bat- tle, on lake Erie, within the territorial limits of Ohio, on the 10th day of September, 1813, at the head of the lake. The line of battle was formed, about eleven o'clock, in the forenoon, and fifteen minutes before twelve, the Queen Charlotte, the British Commodore's flag ship, opened a most tremendous fire, with grape and cannister shot, upon the Lawrence, the flag ship of commodore Perry. It was fifteen minutes, almost, before Per- ry could bring his guns to bear on the enemy.
At length, Perry got his guns to bear upon the Queen Char- lotte, and making signals for the rest of his squadron to engage, he continued for two hours, to contend with two of the enemy's vessels; each of them, was equal to his own. During all this time, such was the wind that his other vessels could afford him no aid, so he fought, single handed and alone, against these two vessels of Barclay. By this time, the Lawrence, had become a perfect wreck, and all the men, on board this vessel, had been either killed, or wounded, except three or four individuals. Surrounded by ruin, by the dying and the dead, Perry, accompanied by his brother, and two or three others, left the Lawrence, in an open boat, and got on board the Niagara, his next best vessel. He brought her into action, running into the midst of the enemy's line, and very politely, poured a broadside, into each of the enemy's vessels, as ho passed it; the Detroit, Queen Charlotte, and Lady Provost, on the one side, and the Chippeway, and Little Belt, on the other. He finally paid his addresses to the Lady Provost so warmly, that her Ladyship's men, deserted her deck, and ran below. The remainder of Perry's squadron, next followed the example of their brave commander, and one and all got into
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the action, and it become general, warm and animated. With- in three hours of its commencement, this engagement, termin- ated, in favor of " free trade and sailors' rights." Perry writ- ing, in the same style in which he fought, informed general Harrison, that, " We have met the enemy, and they are ours." The victory was an entire one, Perry capturing all the ships of the enemy, and six hundred prisoners, which outnumbered our entire force, at the commencement of the action. He took also, six more cannons than he had, of his own. This was one of the best fought battles, recorded in history. Barclay fought bravely, manfully and well, but Perry fought better, and suc- ceeded, in capturing an entire squadron from the enemy.
The killed and wounded, in this battle, was great, on both sides; Barclay lost his only remaining arm, the other having been shot away, in the battle of the Nile. And he lost, two hundred killed and wounded, besides six hundred prisoners. Perry lost twenty seven killed, and ninety six wounded.
This most decisive victory, opened a passage into Canada, which Hull had so ingloriously surrendered.
The news of Perry's victory, reached Harrison, at Fort Meigs, at the Maumee rapids, and, after this event, every pre- paration was instantly made, to assail the enemy, in his own country. Perry's victory was achieved on the ever memora- ble, 10th of September 1813. As soon as possible, Perry made preparation, to convey Harrison, Shelby and their intrepid sol- diers, to Malden. On the 28th of September, our troops were landed at the point below Malden, but Proctor, brave, when defenseless prisoners, were to be slain, robbed or ill treated, had fled, without firing a gun; he and his Indian allies. Proc- tor had fled up the river Thames, as fast as he could, and, had reached the Moravian village, where his army halted. Before he deserted Malden, he burnt the fortress, and public store houses there. On the 29th, Harrison left Malden, entered, and took possession of Detroit. On the 2nd of October Harri- son and Shelby, with thirty-five hundred selected soldiers, marched, from Detroit, in quest of Proctor. They followed him, up the Thames, eighty miles, to the Moravian village, where,
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on the 5th of October, they found the enemy encamped. The American army was instantly formed in the order of battle, and the armies engaged with the utmost fury. The battle ended in the entire destruction of Proctor's army. But, as many readers may wish to know more of the particulars, we will recapitulate a few events, preceding as well as during this battle. On the 2nd day of October 1813, Harrison and Shelby at the head of more than three thousand men left Detroit, and after reaching, followed up the Thames. They halted for the first night, at the end of twenty-six miles. Early the next morning, the army was in motion pressing forward until they fell in with a British guard, which Proctor had left behind him to destroy the bridges. This force was captured at once. On the next day, Harrison and his army were detained some time, by a deep creek, across which, the enemy had posted some Indians, after partly de- stroying the bridge. To repair this bridge, and to repel the enemy, Harrison ordered forward Major Ball with the artillery, and colonel Richard M. Johnson with his dragoons, These orders were instantly obeyed. The enemy was dislodged and driven off, with considerable loss, and the bridge, being repaired, the army moved forward again rapidly. Here, our army captured two thousand stands of arms, which they found in a magazine. Here too, the enemy had towed up such vessels as could ascend the river, and on the approach of our army, this flotilla was set on fire by the enemy. On the next day, October 5th, moving forward, our army took considerable public property from the enemy, on the spot where their flying foe, had encamped on the night preceding. Colonel Johnson's dragoons were ordered forward to reconnoiter the ground and find the enemy. Soon afterwards, Johnson returned to camp, hav- ing found the enemy drawn up in battle array. The British were drawn up on a strip of ground, narrow in front; their left resting on the river, and their right, resting on a morass, be- yond which, in a thick forest of undergrowth, lay TECUMSEH and his savage warriors, more than two thousand strong. On this narrow strip, where the British were posted with their
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artillery, there were many beech trees. The ground was extremely well chosen, by the enemy, and the armies were about equal in numbers.
Harrison now formed his troops in order of battle. General Trotter's brigade formed the first line, while Desha's division, was formed on the left. General King's brigade formed the second line, and Chiles' was kept in reserve. Both of them were commanded by major general HENRY. Governor SHELBY commanded Desha's and Trotter's brigades. This was the first order of battle, but, seeing the morass, in front of the In- dians, and that while the British artillery were pouring their grape and canister, in front, on our troops, the Indians would be firing from their inaccessible covert on our left; Harrison ordered the dragoons, in front, to attack the enemy where Proctor had carelessly thinned his ranks. The dragoons mov- ed forward, impetuously, upon whom the enemy's guns poured showers of grape and canister shot. For a moment, the horses faultered, but recovering from this momentay panic, the dra- goons marched forward, with irresistible fury, broke through the enemy's line, then wheeling about, dealt death on all sides, upon the enemy. In a moment, all was over. The enemy was conquered, one and all, except Proctor and about two hundred horse, who had fled before the battle had scarcely joined. Flying, Proctor left his carriage and official papers in it. With the utmost precipitancy he fled in the direction of Niagara, whither he went, and never returned again to the place of his shameful defeat.
Having driven off, captured or killed all Proctor's white troops, the Indians were next assailed, with bullets in their thick underbrush. The bullets fell thick as hail-stones among them. Many were killed, and among them Tecumseh was pierced, in a moment, with several balls. Drawing off their forces, they fled into the thick woods nearly five miles before they halted. No one followed, or could follow them, on horse- back. In this battle the British lost nineteen, killed, and fifty wounded. Proctor and two hundred dragoons, ran away, and six hundred officers and soldiers were taken prisoners.
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The Indians left one hundred and fifty dead, on the battle ground. Harrison's loss, was about fifty, in all; seventeen of these were Kentuckians, and Ohio lost the remainder. Among the dead, was Colonel Whitely, an officer of the revolution, but now serving as a volunteer common soldier.
Hull's artillery was recaptured, which had originally been taken from the British with Burgoyne, at Saratoga.
Proctor was pursued after the battle but he out-run his ene- mies, and escaped, as we have already stated.
The numbers of the two armies were about equal, but from their position, the enemy had all the advantage. It is not a very uncommon thing for this signal and brilliant victory to be misrepresented, as having been achieved by superior numbers! It was not so, the British had the greatest number of troops in the battle. Harrison marched from Detroit, with about thirty- five hundred men, but, he had left, on the way, or held in reserve, one thousand men, so that, but twenty-five hundred only, were in the battle. Proctor had with him, one thousand regulars, and Tecumseh had under him, twenty-five hundred In- dians, who were most brave, and efficient warriors. The truth is, certain presons, feel unwilling to admit any fact, which does the western people justice. Having deserved none themselves, they feel unwilling to award praise to others.
Give us, Harrison's, Perry's and Jackson's victories, achiev- ed by western people, and what was done, on the Niagara fron- tier, by western officers and western soldiers; and those who were so scrupulous about passing boundary lines, where there was any danger in crossing them, may claim all they ever did, in that war. But, for eastern writers of history, to misrepre- sent, as they too often do, every thing western, merely, because the West deserves so much commendation, and the East so lit- tle, will answer the authors no good purpose.
The West can write about battles, as well as fight them, but inasmuch, as we are all one people, and as it is our interest, as well as our duty, to cultivate harmony and good will between all portions of our Union, we have suggested what we have, above, especially to such, as send their books, into the West for sale.
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Their praise we neither need, nor desire to have. Those in the east, who undertake to bestow it, upon us in the west, are rather too bungling at the business, to please any one, in the Valley of the Mississippi.
But a few remarks upon the preceding battle, and this war, for "free trade and sailors' rights," and we will gladly leave off describing battles, campaigns and carnage.
In this action Tecumseh, as we have said, was killed, which circumstance has given rise to almost innumerable fictions ---- why, we hardly can tell, but it is so. The writer's opportu- nities for knowing the truth, is equal to any person's now liv- ing. He was personally, very well acquainted with that cel- ebrated warrior. He accompanied Tecumseh, Elsquataway, Fourlegs and Caraymaunee, on their tour among the six na - tions of New York, in 1809, and acted as their interpreter among those Indians. In 1829, at Prairie Du Chien, the two latter Indians, both then civil chiefs, of the Winnebagoes, were with the writer, who was then acting as commissioner of Indian affairs in the United States service. From the state- ments of these constant companions of Tecumseh, during nearly twenty years of his life, we proceed to state, that Te- cumsch lay with his warriors at the commencement of the battle in a forest of thick underbrush, on the left of the Amer- ican army. That these Indians were at no period of the bat- tle, out of their thick underbrush; that Nawcaw saw no officer between them and the American army; that Tecumseh fell the very first fire of the Kentucky dragoons, pierced by thirty bullets, and was carried four or five miles into the thick woods, and there buried by the warriors, who told the story of his fate. This account was repeated to me three several times, word for word, and neither of the relaters ever knew the fic- tions to which Tecumseh's death has given rise. Some of these fictions originated in the mischievous design of ridicul- ing the person who is said to have killed this savage, and who, bye the bye, killed no one that day, at least, either red or white. We mean no personal reflection on any one for not killing Tecumseh. We could easily write this
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warrior's whole history, as he often requested us to do. By those who neither knew him, nor any other wild Indians, he is often represented as being something very uncommon ; whereas all his movements originated with the Canadian Indi- an department. In obedience to their orders, he visited near- ly all the Indian nations of North America, stirring them all up, against the Americans. He told the Onondagoes, through the writer, as his interpreter, "that he had visited the Florida Indians, and even the Indians so far to the north that snow covered the ground in midsummer." He was a warrior, and Elsquataway acted as a prophet, dissuading the Indians from drinking ardent spirits. As to real talent he possessed no more of it than any one of thousands of his people, in the northwest. Being much with the British officers, he had en- larged his ideas very much, as KEOKUK has his also, in the same way. All the principal men of the Winnebagoes had learned a great deal from the English officers. In their man- ners, these Indians at table, were most perfect gentlemen, and they knew enough to behave so any where. Whether the ridic- ulous stories about Tecumseh's death will continue to be told, we do not know, but we have done our duty by stating facts.
Upon one incident, the death of Tecumseh in the battle of the Thames, we cannot resist the impulse to make a further remark upon the capriciousness of that species of fame, which is ephemeral. General Harrison who planned this well fought and successful battle, has never been applauded for what he so richly merited; while an individual, a subordinate, who merely did his duty, as every other officer and soldier did, has been applauded to the very echo, for killing an Indian! If that had been true, he deserved no more credit than any one common soldier in the engagement. A few Mohawks, and some other Indian chiefs and warriors belonging to the Cana- dian Indians, about lake Ontario, were mixed with the British regulars in the front line of the enemy. Some of these sava- ges were killed in the action, and the remainder of these In- dians on horse back, fled with Proctor. The Indian found dead, belonged to these Indians, not to the Winnebagoes or Shaw-
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anese, whoin this battle lay in ambush, beyond a morass, on the left of the American army.
Having followed the movements of our citizen soldiers, in this war, every where within the limits of our state, during the period it was carried on here, it may not be improper, nor uninteresting to follow such of them as were acting as soldiers, in the army, during that war, beyond our limits. Of the reg- ular United States troops, raised in Ohio, colonel J. Miller commanded the nineteenth regiment. This, and the seven- teenth regiment, not being full, the two were consolidated and called the seventeenth regiment.
The twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh regiments were raised in Ohio, but from the same cause, they were consolida- ted, and called the nineteenth regiment. Colonel George Paul commanded it.
Portions of these regiments were in all the battles on the Niagara frontier in 1814. In the attack on Fort Erie, by the British, on the 15th of August, 1814, major William Trimble of this state, commanded a part of the nineteenth regiment, then in the Fort. The attack was made on the garrison, by a superior force, commanded by able and efficient officers. Ma- jor Trimble ordered three general charges, during the attack, which were executed with precision, energy and effect-each time repelling the enemy, at the point of the bayonet, and saving the garrison from capture. Major Trimble, conceiving himself injured in General Gaines' report of the battle, him- self addressed a letter to the secretary of war, in which he said, "This detachment of the 19th of Infantry, fought most. desperately. Lieutenants Charles L. Cass, John M'Elvain, and ensign Cisna, in every situation, showed the greatest ac- tivity, zeal and intrepid bravery. Without them, the fort would have been lost. The army, in that case would have been surrendered and put to the sword. Two of these officers were not even mentioned, and the third one was only mention- ed as being wounded."
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