CHAPTER VIII. BATTLE OF THE THAMES.
Harrison's Advance—Proctor's Retreat—Nature of the Ground—Disposition of the Indians—The Battle—Death of Tecumseh—Flight of Proctor—Results of the Campaign.
The opportunity which General Harrison had been waiting for had now arrived. He had been joined by Governor Shelby, of Kentucky, who brought three thousand five hundred mounted men, and also by two hundred Indians. His preparations for an invasion of Canada were complete; and Perry's victory not only gave him the necessary means of transportation, but removed a hostile fleet that might have prevented his landing an army on Canadian soil. His troops rendezvoused on the peninsula near Sandusky; the total force, including a few regulars, numbering about five thousand men.
Colonel Richard M. Johnson, with his regiment of cavalry, was sent to Detroit by land, there to cross the river. All the other troops, with their equipments, were taken on board Perry's vessels and carried up Detroit River, and landed, on the 27th of September, at a point three miles below Amherstburg.
They marched at once on Malden, and took possession of that post without opposition. The British General Proctor had abandoned it, but not till he had destroyed the barracks, the stores, and as much of the fortifications as was possible. Harrison expected a fight, and had his forces formed in battle order as they advanced; but Proctor's purpose was simply to get out of the way of his enemy, and escape if possible to Niagara. He had about six hundred white soldiers who were fit for duty, and a force of Indians variously estimated at from eight hundred to fifteen hundred.
Harrison left detachments at Detroit, Amherstburg, and Sandwich, and with the remainder of his force—about three thousand five hundred men—set out, on the 2d of October, in pursuit of Proctor. The enemy had retreated along the southern shore of Lake St. Clair, and thence up the river Thames, which flows into that lake. Proctor's baggage and artillery were carried by water, in small vessels; and Harrison in his pursuit was materially aided by Captain Perry, whose boats carried the baggage and supplies the whole length of the lake and fifteen miles up the river. At that point Perry left the water, and served on Harrison's staff.
Four considerable streams crossed the line of retreat, and Proctor might have seriously delayed the pursuit, and perhaps entirely stopped it, by destroying the bridge over any one of them. He seems not to have thought of this at the first stream, where the Americans found the bridge intact. At the second, a lieutenant and eleven men had been left with orders to destroy the bridge; but before they had accomplished their task, Harrison's advance guard came up and captured them. The third bridge, partially destroyed, was defended by a considerable body of Indians; but a few shots from two six-pounders dispersed them, and the structure was soon repaired. The fourth bridge was likewise partly destroyed, and guarded by Indians, who were not so easily driven away. The mounted Kentuckians pushed forward, and had a brisk skirmish with the savages, in which half a dozen of the whites were killed or wounded, and thirteen of the Indians were killed. The enemy then set fire to a large house, near the bridge, a distillery, and three vessels that were loaded with military stores, and continued his retreat. As soon as the bridge could be repaired, Harrison's troops crossed it, extinguished the fire in the house, and found in it two thousand stand of arms. Early on the 5th the pursuit was renewed. The route was still along the Thames, and in the course of the day the Americans captured two gunboats and several batteaux, all laden with provisions and ammunition. By this time, Proctor's Indians were tired of retreating, and were determined either to have a fight of some sort or leave him. About sixty of them actually deserted, and offered their services to Harrison, who declined them—not because he disbelieved in the employment of Indians, for he had some in his own force, but probably because he thought it unwise to employ troops of any sort who recognized no principle and were ready to go from one side to the other as the fortunes of war might fluctuate.
Both armies were now on the north side of the Thames, and Harrison's scouts brought news that the enemy had formed in line of battle at a point about two and a half miles from Moravian Town, four miles in advance of where Harrison then was. At the place chosen there was a marsh, the edge of which was about five hundred yards distant from the river and parallel with it for two miles. Midway between was a little marsh. The road ran between the little marsh and the river. The ground was largely covered with an open growth of forest trees, but there was no underbrush.
Proctor placed his best English troops, with his artillery, in a line stretching from the river to the little marsh, his cannon commanding the road. Behind this line were his reserves. The Indians, commanded by Tecumseh, who was a brigadier-general in the British service, formed a line between the two marshes, and a large number of them were thrown forward in the edge of the great marsh, that they might fall upon the left flank of the Americans.
Harrison placed his mounted troops in front, and behind them two thirds of his infantry, while the remainder was thrown back at an angle on the left, to be able to face the Indians in the marsh. The mounted men were formed in two columns, all under command of Colonel Richard M. Johnson, who rode with the left column. The right column was commanded immediately by his brother, Lieutenant-Colonel James Johnson.
At the sound of the bugle, the columns rode forward, slowly and steadily at first. As the right column came within musket-shot of the enemy, it received a volley or two, and here and there a trooper tumbled from his horse. The pace was immediately quickened, and in two minutes a solid column of a thousand dragoons went crashing through the British line, cutting down every opposing soldier within reach of its sabres. The column immediately re-formed in rear of the enemy's position, and repeated the charge, at the same time firing into the broken ranks, when the entire left wing was thrown into confusion before the men could fix their bayonets, and four hundred and seventy of them, with their officers, surrendered.
On the other wing, as Colonel Richard M. Johnson's column rode up at a charge, the Indians reserved their fire till they were within a few paces, and then gave them a destructive volley. Almost the whole of the advance guard fell before it, and Colonel Johnson was wounded. Finding that the ground here, between the two marshes, was unsuitable for horses, Colonel Johnson at once ordered his men to dismount, and for eight or ten minutes there was hard fighting, at close range, with the rifle. After charges and counter-charges, the Indians began to give way. At this moment Governor Shelby brought up the reserves, and about the same time Tecumseh fell, and the savages then broke and fled.
The question, who killed Tecumseh, though not of much importance, has been warmly discussed. Thomson, one of the earliest authorities for the history of this war, says: "Colonel R. M. Johnson had been five times wounded, and in that state, covered with blood, and exhausted by pain and fatigue, he personally encountered Tecumseh. The Colonel was mounted on a white charger, at which, being a conspicuous object, the Indians had continually levelled their fire. A shower of bullets had fallen round him; his holsters, his clothes, and most of his accoutrements were pierced in several places; and at the instant when he discovered Tecumseh, his horse received a second wound. Tecumseh, having discharged his rifle, sprang forward with his tomahawk, and had it already raised to throw, when Colonel Johnson's horse staggered back, and immediately the Colonel drew forth a pistol, shot the Indian through the head, and both fell to the ground together."
When the savages in front were defeated, those that had been posted in the edge of the great marsh vanished through the woods.
General Proctor, when he saw his lines broken, abandoned the field and drove off with all possible speed in his carriage, accompanied by a mounted body guard. He was conscious that he deserved no quarter for his cold-blooded massacres, and feared that if he fell into the hands of American soldiers he might get his deserts. As a matter of fact, General Harrison had instructed his men before the battle that if Proctor was captured he should be brought in unharmed. A detachment sent in pursuit of him pressed him so closely that he abandoned his carriage, leaving his sword and private papers in it, and took to the woods; where, as he was well mounted and familiar with the country, they could not overtake him. But though he escaped the Americans, by his own government he was court-martialled, reprimanded, and suspended for six months. If he had previously been punished for violating the laws of war, and an abler and better man put into his place, this disaster might not have befallen the British arms. It was not when they massacred defenceless people, but only when they lost battles, that the English Government was dissatisfied with unsoldier-like conduct in its officers.
In this action, the Americans lost about fifty men killed or wounded. Among the killed was Colonel Whitley, a soldier of the Revolution, who had volunteered as a private. The British lost about a hundred and eighty killed or wounded, and nearly all the remainder were made prisoners. It was supposed that about a hundred and twenty Indians were killed; at least thirty-three were left dead on the field, and an unknown number carried away. Among the spoils of the victory were several brass cannon which had been captured with Burgoyne at Saratoga, surrendered by Hull at Detroit, and now came a second time into the hands of the Americans.
Harrison destroyed Moravian Town the day after the battle, and then marched back to Detroit. Proctor had the good taste to send a flag of truce, requesting that the prisoners be humanely treated. As General Harrison had already given up his own tent to some of the wounded British officers, it is probable that they were.
By this brief and brilliant campaign, Harrison destroyed the British power in that part of Canada, restored the territory of Michigan to the United States, killed the great Indian leader who had been the most dangerous enemy of the Americans in the West, separated the tribes that had been assisting the English, and compelled some of them to make peace on his own terms. At Detroit he discharged Shelby's volunteers, gave the place a garrison of a thousand men, restored civil law, and made General Cass provisional governor of the territory. Three weeks later, he and the remainder of his troops were taken on board Perry's fleet and carried to Buffalo.
On the same day that the battle of the Thames was fought, Commodore Chauncey, in pursuit of Yeo's fleet on Lake Ontario, captured a cutter and four transports, on board of which were two hundred and sixty-four British officers and soldiers.