USA > Ohio > The history of the state of Ohio; from the discovery of the great valley, to the present time > Part 53
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" By command of General Harrison.
" A. H. HOLMES, Adjutant General."
The dispatch reached the fort in safety. Crogan was arrested and carried to head-quarters by the dragoons. On their return to Fort Seneca they encountered a party of twelve Indians and shot eleven of them. General Harrison was perfectly satisfied with the explanation which Major Crogan gave him. He kept him for the night, treating him with the utmost kindness, and the next morning restored him to his command. Upon his return to Fort Stevenson Major Crogan immediately dispatched a reconnoitering party down the river. The troops returned with the report that the boats of the enemy were just entering the stream. The In- dians also began to show themselves in force on the opposite side of the river. A few discharges from the six-pounder compelled them to retire out of sight.
Soon the British gun-boats came in sight, and landed their troops about a mile below the fort; and the Indians, four thousand in number, began to display themselves in all directions. The troops effected a landing unopposed, and they soon placed in posi- tion a five and a half inch howitzer to open fire upon the fort. General Proctor then sent Major Chambers forward with a flag of truce to summon a surrender. Major Crogan dispatched Ensign Shipp out of the gates to meet him. After the usual ceremonies, the British officer communicated the following message to be borne to Major Crogan :
" General Proctor demands the surrender of the fort, as he is anxious to spare the effusion of blood. He can easily reduce the fort with the powerful force of artillery, British regulars and In- dians he has under his command. But in that case he cannot possibly restrain his Indian allies. All the garrison will inevitably be massacred."
He then of his own accord, as if appalled by the horrible scenes he had already witnessed, added :
" It is a great pity that such a fine young man as you are should fall into the hands of the savages. I intreat you, sir, for God's sake, to surrender, and prevent the dreadful massacre which will be caused by your resistance. We are amply prepared to take the fort, and it cannot possibly hold out against us."
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Ensign Shipp replied : " The commandant of the fort and his garrison are determined to defend it to the last extremity. No force, however great, can induce them to surrender. They are resolved to maintain their post or bury themselves in its ruins. The fort will not be given up while there is a man to resist. When taken, there will be none left to massacre."
The enemy now opened fire from their six pounders in the gun boats and from the howitzer on shore. The bombardment was continued almost without intermission through the night, though it produced but little effect upon the works. The fire was di- rected against the northwest angle. This led Major Crogan to suppose that the attempt to storm the works would be made at that point. He withheld his own fire, as it could effect but little, and he wished to save his ammunition. He, however, occasion- ally fired, moving his gun from place to place, to lead the foe to believe that he had many pieces in the fort.
The fort was surrounded by a dry ditch, nine feet wide, and six feet deep. On the middle of the north line of the fort there was a block-house, from which this ditch could be raked, in either direction, by artillery. Major Crogan placed his one cannon in this bastion, and had it loaded almost to the muzzle, with slugs and grape-shot. During the night General Proctor landed three of his six pounders, and placed them in battery at a distance of but about two hundred and fifty yards from the fort. From this battery and the howitzer he concentrated an intense fire upon the northwestern angle of the fort. Major Crogan strengthened the point, thus assailed, as much as possible with bags of sand.
Late in the evening of that day, when the smoke of the firing had completely enveloped the fort, General Proctor pushed for- ward a strong column of British regulars to the assault. They had arrived within twenty paces of the fort before they were dis- cerned through the smoke and the darkness. A galling fire of musketry, from the fort, was instantly poured in upon them. But with bravery characteristic of British soldiers, they pressed for- ward and leaped into the ditch, led by their commander, Colonel Short.
The masked port-hole was instantly opened. The muzzle of the six-pounder was thurst out. There was a thunderous explo- sion; and a terrific storm of grape-shot and slugs, tore through th ' crashing bones and quivering nerves of more than three hun-
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1
dred men, at the distance of but a few feet from the deadly weapon. The carnage was horrible. It was supposed that nearly fifty were struck down by that one discharge. A precipitate and tumultuous retreat ensued. All the efforts of the officers to rally the men for another assault were in vain. Two other columns attacked the fort as feints. They were both easily repelled by a shower of lead, thrown with the unerring aim of the riflemen.
Colonel Short, who commanded the regulars composing the forlorn hope, was ordering his men to leap the ditch, cut down the pickets and give the Americans no quarters, when he fell mor- tally wounded into the ditch. He hoisted his white handkerchief on the end of his sword, and begged for that mercy which he had, a moment before, ordered to be denied to his enemy.
During the assault, which lasted about half an hour, the enemy kept up an incessant fire from their howitzer, and from their bat- tery of five-pounders. In this short time the total loss of the ene- my was not less than one hundred and fifty. The garrison reported but one killed and seven slightly wounded. The routed foe fled into the adjoining woods, beyond the reach of the fire-arms of the garrison. The wounded, in the ditch, were in a dreadful situation, hour after hour. The garrison could not rally to their relief, for Indian sharp-shooters were prowling all around, watching for their prey. Neither side could, with safety, afford them any refuge, Major Crogan passed some water over the picketing, in buckets, for the poor mulitated, bleeding, dying creatures, who were but the victims of the crimes of their superiors. A hole was also cut under the pickets, through which all who were able, were urged to crawl into the fort, where they were cared for with the utmost ten- derness. Others crept away to a distance where they were rescued by their friends.
It was known by the British commander, that General Harrison was up the river, but a few miles, with a rapidly accumulating force. He had supposed that he could easily take Fort Steven- son, and that then, within its intrenchments, he could bid defiance to any force which could march upon him from up the river. But having utterly failed in his attack, and receiving exaggerated reports of the forces accumulated in the fort above, he was quite terror stricken. He could place but little reliance upon the In- dians, who would never meet their foes in the open field. He had with him but a thousand British troops.
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At any moment he might see the solid columns of the Ameri- cans sweeping down upon him with artillery and infantry. They would line the shores of the river, and protected by the trees, would pour in upon his crowded barges a murderous fire. Thus, the danger was imminent that his whole detachment might be cut off, being either killed or captured. Consequently, with the utmost precipitation, the British regulars fled to their boats in the gloom of midnight. So great was their haste that they left one boat be- hind containing some clothing and a considerable quantity of military stores. Seventy stand of arms, and also several brace of pistols, were the next day picked up by the garrison around the fort.
General Harrison, when the assault commenced, learned by the firing that the enemy had only light artillery. He was confident that they could not thus make any serious impression upon the fort. He knew that any attempt to storm it without having first made an effective breach would prove unavailing. As he was expecting the arrival of two hundred and fifty mounted volunteers every hour, the advance-guard of seven hundred infantry, he decided not to move upon Proctor until they should reach him. He sent several scouts through the woods to spy out the condition of the fort and the foe. But they found the forest so swarming with In- dians that they could make no important discovery.
Major Crogan, however, sent a courier who, in the darkness of the night, succeeded in eluding the Indian bands and conveyed to General Harrison the intelligence that the enemy was preparing to retreat. General Harrison now decided to wait no longer for the infantry. The dragoons reached Fort Seneca early in the morn- ing. The general immediately set out for Fort Stevenson, leaving orders for the infantry to follow immediately upon their arrival. But the enemy had all disappeared. The British had descended the river in their boats, and the Indians had fled across the coun- try in the direction of Fort Meigs. In General Harrison's official report of this affair he writes:
"It will not be among the least of General Proctor's mortifica- tions that he has been baffled by a youth who has just passed his twenty-first year. He is, however, a hero worthy of his gallant uncle, General George R. Clarke. "
CHAPTER XXXV.
WAR AND ITS WOES. PEACE AND ITS ISSUES.
THE FLEETS ON LAKE ERIE - PERRY'S VICTORY - DETROIT AND MICHIGAN REGAINED - SPEECH OF TECUMSEH - THE BATTLE OF THE THAMES - DEATH OF TECUMSEH - TESTIMONY OF MR. ATWATER - THE TREATY OF GHENT - ESTABLISHMENT OF THE STATE CAPITOL - THE SQUIRREL HUNT - ANECDOTES OF THE WYANDOTS-REV. MR. FINLEY'S MISSION - TREATIES WITH THE INDIANS - EXTINGUISHMENT OF ALL THEIR CLAIMS - INDIAN SUPERSTITION-THE FIRST STEAMER ON THE OHIO - PHENOMENA OF THE EARTHQUAKE.
GENERAL PROCTOR, with his British troops, made all possible haste back to his fort at Malden. The siege had roused all the military energies of the State of Ohio, and troops, from all quar- ters, were hurrying to the Sandusky. But when they arrived there, there was no foe to be found. Sufficient preparations had not yet been made to attempt the recovery of Detroit. General Harrison was therefore under the necessity of dismissing most of the soldiers, as there was nothing for them to do, and they were only consuming the provisions. In the meantime both parties were making vigorous preparations for a naval battle which would decide who should have command of the lake with all its shores. Ship carpenters were busily employed at Erie, in Penn- sylvania, and at some other ports, in building vessels of war. In a few months nine vessels were ready for service, carrying, in all, fifty-four guns, and manned by about six hundred sailors and marines. The fleet, in preparation for the great conflict, anchored just off the mouth of Sandusky Bay. Thence Commodore Perry, who was in command of the squadron, sailed to Put-in-Bay, a harbor on one of the islands of the lake, about thirty miles from Malden, where the British squadron was riding at anchor. It consisted of six vessels under Commodore Barclay, carrying sixty-
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four guns, manned by a crew of about eight hundred. About sunrise of the roth of September the British fleet was discerned, under full sail, in the distant western horizon. Commodore Perry immediately got under way, and forming in line of battle, bore up upon the enemy. He hoisted his flag with the motto, Don't give up the Ship. It was greeted with repeated cheers by the crews.
The lightness of the wind occasioned the hostile squadrons to approach each other but slowly, and prolonged for two hours the solemn interest of suspense and anxiety which precedes a battle. The order and regularity of naval discipline heightened the dread- ful quiet of the moment. No noise, no bustle, prevailed to dis- tract the mind, except at intervals the shrill piping of the boat- swain's whistle, or a murmuring whisper among the men who stood around their guns with lighted matches, narrowly watching the movements of the foe, and sometimes stealing a glance at the countenances of their commanders. In this manner the hostile fleets gradually neared each other in awful silence. At fifteen minutes after eleven, a bugle was sounded on board the enemy's headmost ship, the Detroit, loud cheers burst from all their crews, and a tremendous fire was opened upon Commodore Perry's flag- ship, the Lawrence, from the British long guns, which, from the shortness of the guns of the Lawrence, she was obliged to sustain for forty minutes without firing a shot .*
Their shot pierced the sides of the Lawrence, striking down the men, and killing the wounded in the berth deck and steerage, where they had been carried to be dressed. It seemed to be the plan of the British commander first to destroy the Lawrence. All his largest vessels gathered around her, and opened upon the doomed ship a terrible fire. Every brace and bowline was soon cut away. The wind was so light and in such a direction that the other vessels could not come to her aid. For two hours the ship sustained this awful bombardment, while but two or three of her guns could be brought to bear upon her antagonists. The most perfect discipline was maintained as the men passed through this fearful ordeal. As fast as the men were wounded at the guns they were taken below, and others promptly stepped into their places. The dead were left where they fell until the close of the action. The Lawrence was reduced to a perfect wreck. Her
* Perkins' Late War.
39
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decks were red with blood, and the mangled bodies of the slain were scattered all around. Nearly every gun was dismounted. All the crew, except three or four, had been either killed or wound- ed. The last gun capable of service was worked by the commo- dore and his officers.
It was now two o'clock in the afternoon. Captain Elliot, in command of the Niagara, succeeded by the aid of the light breeze in bringing his ship into close action.
" The commodore immediately determined to shift his flag on board that ship. Giving his own in charge of Lieutenant Yarnell, he hauled down his union jack, and taking it under his arm, or- dered a boat to put him on board the Niagara. Broadsides were leveled at his boat, and a shower of musketry from three of the enemy's ships. He arrived safe, and hoisted his union jack with its animating motto on board the Niagara.
"Captain Elliot, by direction of the commodore, immediately put off in a boat to bring up the schooners, which had been kept back by the lightness of the wind At this moment the flag of the Lawrence was hauled down. She had sustained the principal force of the enemy's fire for two hours, and was rendered incapa- ble of defense. Any further show of resistance would have been a useless sacrifice of the relics of her brave and mangled crew. The enemy were also so crippled that they were unable to take possession of her, and circumstances soon enabled her crew again to hoist her flag.
"Commodore Perry now gave the signal to all the vessels for close action. The small vessels, under the direction of Captain Elliot, got out their sweeps and made all sail. Finding the Ni- agara but little injured, the commander determined upon the bold and desperate expedient of breaking the enemy's line. He accordingly bore up and passed the head of the two ships and brig, giving them a raking fire from his starboard guns, and also a raking fire upon a large schooner and sloop from his larboard quar- ter at half pistol-shot. Having gotten the whole squadron into action, he luffed, and laid his ship along side the British Commo- dore. The small vessels having now got up within good grape and canister distance, on the other quarter, enclosed their enemy between them and the Niagara, and in this position kept up a most destructive fire on both quarters of the British until every ship struck her colors."*
*Perkins' Late War.
CHARLES ANDERSON Governor 1865 66.
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This desperate engagement lasted for three hours. The victory obtained by Commodore Perry was complete. The loss on board of the American ships, in killed and wounded, was one hundred and twenty-four. Of these twenty-seven were killed outright. The British lost over two hundred in killed and wounded, and all the remainder of the crew, being more than six hundred in num- ber, were made prisoners. Every British vessel fell into the hands of the victor. Commodore Perry immediately sent a dispatch to General Harrison, who had returned to Fort Meigs, saying, “ We have met the enemy and they are ours."
" The slain of the crews of both squadrons were consigned to burial in the depths of the still waters of the lake. The next day the funeral obsequies of the American and British officers who had fallen were performed at an opening on the margin of the bay, in an appropriate and affecting manner. The crews of both fleets united in the ceremony. The stillness of the weather, the procession of boats, the music, the slow and regular motion of the oars, striking in exact time with notes of the solemn dirge, the mournful waving of the flags, the sound of the minute-guns from all the ships, and the wild and solitary aspect of the place gave to these funeral rites a most impressive influence, and formed an affecting contrast with the terrible struggle of the preceding day. Then the people of the two squadrons were engaged in the deadly strife of arms. Now they were associated as brothers to pay the last tribute of respect to the slain of both nations."
The importance of this victory was incalculable. It was fought near the western extremity of Lake Erie, and in waters within the boundaries of the State of Ohio. The fate of the British Commo- dore, Barclay, was melancholy indeed. He had lost one arm at Tra- falgar. And now, in addition to the terrible and humiliating defeat he had encountered, he lost the other. This was a doom far more dreadful than death. Commodore Perry, in his official dispatch, spoke in the highest terms of respect and commiseration for his wounded antagonist, and begged leave to grant him an immediate parole.
The roar of the cannonade was distinctly heard at Malden. An allied force of British and Indians, amounting to five thousand five hundred men, was at that fort anxiously awaiting the result. The defeat of the British squadron would render it necessary for them immediately to vacate their works. General Proctor tried,
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for a time, to conceal the disaster from the Indians. But the eagle eye of Tecumseh immediately detected the indications of a retreat. Demanding an interview with General Proctor, for whom he had but little respect, he thus addressed him :
"In the war before this, with the Americans, you gave the hatchet to the Indians when our old chiefs were alive. They are now dead. In that war the British were thrown flat upon their backs by the Americans. You took them by the hand and made peace without consulting us. We fear you will do so again. When this war was declared our British father gave us the toma- hawk and told us that he wanted our assistance, and that he would certainly get back for us our lands, which the Americans had taken from us.
" You told us to bring our families here, and promised to take care of them, and that while our men went out to fight the Ameri - cans our women and children should want for nothing. Your fleet has gone out; we know that they have fought; we have heard the great guns. But we know not what has happened to the chief with one arm. Your ships have gone one way, and we are much surprised to see our father tying up everything and pre- paring to run in the other direction. You always told us to re- main here, and declared that you would never take your foot from British ground. Now we see that you are drawing back, without waiting to get sight of the enemy. We must compare our father to a fat dog, who, when afrighted, drops his tail between his legs and runs away.
" The Americans have not yet defeated us by land. We are not sure that they have by water. We therefore wish to remain here and fight our enemy, should they make their appearance. If they defeat us we will then retreat.
" At the battle of the Rapids, in the last war, the Americans certainly defeated us. And when we fled to the British fort the gates were shut against us. We were afraid that it might be so again; but instead of that we see our British friends preparing themselves to flee from their garrison. You have the arms and ammunition which our British father sent for his red children. If you intend to go away give them to us, and then you may go and welcome. Our lives are in the hands of the Great Spirit. We are determined to defend our lands, and if it be His will we wish to be buried beneath them.".
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On the 28th September, only eighteen days after Perry's victory, General Harrison landed a force of nearly three thousand men at but a short distance from Malden, and marched upon the works. But he founded them deserted. The fortress and all the store- houses were in ashes. The next day General Harrison with his troops re- crossed the river and took possession of Detroit. There was no force there to resist him. The vast peninsula of Michigan was thus again restored to the United States.
General Proctor, with his disheartened Indian allies, was on the rapid retreat towards the heart of Canada. There was a con- siderable river, called the Thames, flowing from the east through a wild and entirely unbroken wilderness and emptying into Lake St. Clair. Proctor was slowly and laboriously retreating along this pathless valley, encountering inumerable obstacles. General Harrison, having speedily consolidated his conquest at Detroit, on the 2d of October crossed the river to the Canadian shore, and commenced the vigorous pursuit of the foe. He had an admir- able army of a little over three thousand men, including a regi- ment of mounted infantry under Colonel Johnson. Accustomed to Indian warfare, he moved rapidly, but with the greatest caution.
On the 5th of the month his army overtook the retreating foe. General Proctor had posted himself very strongly, with the River Thames protecting one flank, and an almost impassable marsh the other. The Indians occupied a very dense forest just beyond the swamp. The battle-field was about eighty miles northeast from the mouth of the Thames. In General Harrison's official account of the battle he writes :
" I determined to break the British line at once, by a charge of the mounted infantry I placed myself at the head of the front line of infantry to direct the movements of the cavalry and to give the necessary support. The army had moved on in this order but a short distance, when the mounted men received the fire of the British line, and were ordered to charge. The horses in front of the column recoiled from the fire. Our column, at length get- ting into motion, broke through the enemy with irresistible force. In one minute the contest in front was over. The British officers, seeing no hopes of reducing their disordered ranks to order, and our mounted men wheeling upon them and pouring in a destruc- tive fire, immediately surrendered. It is certain that three only
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of our troops were wounded in this charge. In one minute the contest in front was over."
General Harrison marched from Detroit with thirty-five hundred men. He left on the way, or held in reserve, one thousand. Thus he brought into the battle about twenty-five hundred. General Proctor had one thousand British regulars, and twenty-five hundred Indians, under Tecumseh. Proctor, seeing his British troops utterly routed, succeeded in effecting his escape with two hundred dragoons. General Harrison then. turned all his force upon the Indians. The savages fought very persistently for a time from behind the trees. But at length, having lost their leader and a large number of their bravest warriors, they fled precipitately with yells into the thick woods, where no mounted foe could follow them. The defeat of the British army was entire. Proctor lost, of his regular troops, sixty-nine in killed and wounded. Six hundred of his soldiers and officers were taken prisoners. The Indians left one hundred and fifty dead on the field of battle. Among the slain was their renowned chieftain, Tecumseh. The artillery which was taken from the British with Burgoyne at Saratoga, and which General Hull had surrendered at Detroit, was all captured.
The question is often asked, "Who killed Tecumseh?" The following narrative, given by Mr. Caleb Atwater, would seem to settle that question :
"In this action Tecumseh was killed, which circumstance has given rise to almost innumerable fictions. The writer's oppor- tunity for knowing the truth is equal to that of any person now living. He was personally very well acquainted with that celebrated warrior. He accompanied Tecumseh, Elsquataway, Fourlegs and Caraymaunee on their tour among the Six Nations in 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 Winnebagos, were with the writer, who was then acting as Commissioner of Indian Affairs in the United States service.
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