Two batteries were at length completed and a third nearly finished—all mounted with heavy cannon, one being a sixty-eight pounder—before the sortie was made. For four days previous Brown tried the effect of his artillery upon these works, and during the whole of the thirteenth and fourteenth a tremendous cannonading was kept up in the midst of a pelting storm. The two succeeding days the firing continued at intervals, interspersed with conflicts between the pickets. Sept. 17. The next day at noon, an hour when such an attempt would be least expected, Brown resolved to make a sortie with nearly the whole of his disposable force, capture the batteries, spike the cannon, and overwhelm the brigade in attendance before the other two brigades, two miles distant, could arrive. The assault was to be made in two columns. The left composed of Porter's volunteers, Gibson's riflemen, a portion of the 1st and 23rd regiments of regulars and some Indians was directed to march along a road which had been cut through the woods, while the gallant Miller with the first brigade was to move swiftly along a deep ravine that run between the first and second batteries of the enemy, and the moment he heard the crack of Porter's rifles, mount the ravine and storm the batteries. It was a dark and sombre day—the clouds flew low, sending down at intervals torrents of rain and giving to the whole scenery a sour and gloomy aspect. But everything being ready, Brown, about ten o'clock, opened with his artillery, and for two hours it was an incessant blaze and roar all along the line of the entrenchments. Its cessation was the signal for the two columns to advance. General Ripley commanded the reserve, while Jesup with a hundred and fifty men held the fort itself. Porter with his column surprised and overthrew the enemy's pickets, and began to pour in rapid volleys on his flank. Miller no sooner heard the welcome sound than he gave the order to charge. In an instant the brigade was on the top of the bank, and without giving the enemy time to recover from their surprise the troops dashed forward on the entrenchments in front of them. Though assailed so unexpectedly and suddenly the enemy fought gallantly to save the works which had cost them so much labor. The contest was fierce but short. Carrying battery after battery at the point of the bayonet, the victorious Americans pressed fiercely on till all the batteries and the labor of nearly fifty days were completely in their possession. Ripley then hastened up with the reserve to form a line for the protection of the troops while the work of destruction went on; while executing the movement he was wounded in the neck and carried back to the fort.
In the mean time, Drummond aroused by the first volleys, had hurried off reinforcements on a run. Pressing forward through the rain, urged to their utmost speed by the officers pointing forward with their swords to the scene of action, they, nevertheless, arrived too late to prevent the disaster. In an hour the conflict was over; yet in that short space of time the work of demolition had been completed. In the midst of incessant volleys and shouts and the rallying beat of the drum, heavy explosions shook the field and magazines and block houses one after another blew up, spreading ruin and desolation around.
In that short combat more than four hundred of the enemy had fallen, and nearly as many more been taken prisoners. The American loss was three hundred killed and wounded; among the slain, however, were the gallant Wood and Gibson. The bayonet and sabre were wielded with terrible effect in the strife.
General Porter in passing with a few men from one detachment to another, during the engagement, suddenly found himself in the presence of sixty or eighty British soldiers drawn up in the woods, and apparently not knowing what to do. Thinking it better to put a bold face on the matter, he ran up to them, exclaiming, "That's right, my good fellows, surrender and we will take care of you!" and taking the musket out of the hands of the first and flinging it on the ground he pushed him towards the fort. In this way he went nearly through the first line, the men advancing unarmed in front. At length a soldier stepped back and presented the point of his bayonet to General Porter's breast, and demanded his surrender. A scuffle ensued, and some officers coming to the rescue of the soldier Porter was flung upon the ground and his hand cut with a sword. On recovering his feet he saw himself surrounded by twenty or thirty men, shouting to him to surrender. He very coolly told them to surrender, and declared if they fired a gun he would have the whole put to the sword. In the mean time a company of American riflemen coming up, fired upon the English. After a short fight the whole were killed or taken prisoners.
Having accomplished his work, Brown retired in good order within the fort. Drummond, weakened by nearly one-fourth of his force, and the labors of so long a time being destroyed, raised the siege and retired behind the Chippewa.
General Izard, who was to fall on his rear, did not reach Lewistown till the 5th of October. Oct. 14. At length, forming a junction with Brown's troops, he moved forward, and sat down before Drummond encamped, behind the Chippewa. His army, six thousand strong, was deemed sufficiently large to capture the enemy, and this event was confidently expected to crown the Canadian campaign. Oct. 21. But after some faint demonstrations, not worth recording, he seven days after retired to Black Rock, preparatory to winter quarters. Although pressed by the Secretary of War to attack the enemy, he declined, and having spent the summer in grumbling, went sullenly into winter quarters, thus closing the list of inefficient commanders, which threatened for awhile never to become complete.
While Izard was thus ending a military career in which he had gathered no laurels, Macomb, whom he had left at Plattsburgh, doomed as he said to destruction, had crowned himself with honor, and shed lustre on the American arms.
CHAPTER VI.
British plan of invading our sea ports — Arrival of reinforcements — Barney's flotilla — Landing of the enemy under Ross — Doubt and alarm of the inhabitants — Advance of the British — Destruction of the Navy Yard — Battle of Bladensburg — Flight of the President and his Cabinet — Burning and sacking of Washington — Mrs. Madison's conduct during the day and night — Cockburn's brutality — Sudden explosion — A hurricane — Flight of the British — State of the army — Character of this outrage — Rejoicings in England — Mortification of our ambassadors at Ghent — Mistake of the English — Parker's expedition — Colonel Reed's defence — The English army advance on Baltimore — Death of Ross — Bombardment of Fort McHenry — "The star spangled banner" — Retreat of the British, and joy of the citizens of Baltimore.
But while these events were passing around Niagara—in the interval between the assault on Fort Erie by Drummond and the successful sortie of Brown—a calamity overtook the country, which fortunately resulted in producing more harmony of feeling among the people, and strengthened materially the administration. Washington was taken and sacked by the enemy. The overthrow of Napoleon and his banishment to Elba, enabled England to send over more than 30,000 troops, which were soon on our sea-board or in the British Provinces. New England no longer remained excluded from the blockade, and the whole Atlantic sea-board was locked up by British cruisers. The Constitution, the year previous, after a cruise in which she captured but a single war schooner and a few merchantmen, was chased into Marble Head, from whence she escaped to Boston. The blockading of our other large ships, and the destruction of the Essex about the same time in the Bay of Valparaiso, had left us without a frigate at sea. The Adams, a sloop of twenty-eight guns, was the largest cruiser we had afloat.