As regarded pacification with Great Britain, the Emperor Alexander of Russia offered himself as mediator between the two countries; and the United States sent over three commissioners, one of whom was John Quincy Adams, empowered to negotiate with deputies clothed with similar authority on the part of Great Britain; they were also authorised to conclude a treaty of commerce with Russia, and to strengthen the amicable relationships between the two countries.
On the 4th of March, 1813, James Madison was re-elected president, and Elbridge Gerry was elected vice-president.
In June, bills passed congress authorising the construction of four ships, carrying each seventy-four guns, and six frigates each of forty-four guns. The military service was also to be increased; a loan of 16,000,000 of dollars for the present was also authorised, with the issue of treasury notes to the amount of 5,000,000 more.
The scene of military operations in 1813 comprehended the extensive northern frontier. At the opening of the campaign, the army of the west, under General Harrison, lay near the head of Lake Erie; the army of the centre, under General Dearborn, between lakes Erie and Ontario; and that of the north, under General Hampton, occupied the shores of Lake Champlain. The invasion of Canada was still the object of the American armies.
Sir George Prevost, governor of Canada, and commander-in-chief, could not bring any great force into the field, but his numbers were formidably increased by a vast number of Indian auxiliaries. The defence of Upper Canada was committed to Colonels Proctor and Vincent, and that of Lower Canada to General Sheafe.
The head-quarters of Harrison were Franklinton, in Ohio, and thence Brigadier-General Winchester, an old revolutionary officer, marched in advance to attack a party of the British stationed at Frenchtown, twenty-six miles from Detroit. The British were routed, and Winchester encamped in the open field outside the town; and here on the morning of the 22nd of January, they were suddenly attacked by Colonel Proctor, who, with about 500 British and an equal number of Indians, had marched from Amherstburgh. The surprise was complete; and though the Americans rallied and made a desperate defence, their generals, Lewis and old Winchester, were taken prisoners; the latter by Round-head, a famous Indian chief, who, before surrendering his prisoner to the British colonel, stripped him of his hat and uniform, which he himself assumed. A more disastrous fight, or one characterised by more horrible detail, never occurred. It is said that Proctor assured his prisoner Winchester that if his men would surrender they should be preserved from the savage barbarities of the Indians, on which he ordered his men to give up their arms. Proctor, however, did not keep faith, and the promised protection was not afforded. The town was burned, and the savages held a carnival of blood and horror. Five hundred were killed, and the same number made prisoners. The victory and the account of spoils obtained at Frenchtown brought down the warlike tribes from the Wabash, and even the Mississippi, to join the British arms, whose honour was tarnished by suffering these savage barbarities to be enacted under their banner. In July the Six Nations declared war against the Canadas, and the United States, following the example of the British, accepted the services of the Indians. General Harrison was so dismayed at the fate of Winchester, that leaving Franklinton he erected Fort Meigs, near the rapids of the Miama River, which falls into Lake Erie; and here, on the 1st of May, he was besieged by Colonel Proctor, with a force of 1,000 British and 1,200 Indians. On the 5th of May, General Clay advanced with 1,200 Kentuckians to his relief, and although with considerable loss, attacked and dispersed the besiegers, on which a great number of the British Indian allies, notwithstanding the entreaties of Tecumseh, who was faithful to the cause he espoused, deserted; and the Canadian militia-men, greatly to the disgust of Colonel Proctor, retired to their farms, after which he returned with but few followers to Amherstburgh.
Pursuant to the law passed by congress, efforts were made to build and equip fleets upon the lakes. The preceding year the Americans possessed but one brig of sixteen guns on Lake Ontario; but by April of the present year, Commodore Channing, the naval commander on that station, had built and equipped a squadron sufficiently powerful to contend with that of the British. On the 25th of April, 17,000 troops were conveyed in the new flotilla across the lake, from Sackett’s Harbour, for the attack on York, the capital of Upper Canada, the depository of British military stores. On the 27th the troops landed, headed by General Pike, and, though opposed by a strong force of British and Indians, who were soon driven back to the garrison, a mile and a half, carried one battery by assault, and were still advancing, when the powder-magazine blew up, hurling immense quantities of stone and timber upon the advancing troops, and killed many. Pike received a mortal wound; but his troops, after a moment’s halt, pressed forward, and soon gained possession of the town. Sir George Prevost, who seems to have been a man of great indecision, if not of cowardice, is blamed severely by the British historians for having ordered a retreat before their own case was hopeless. York being gained, the squadron and troops returned to Sackett’s Harbour, after which they attacked Fort George, situated at the head of the lake, which, after a warm engagement, was abandoned by the British, who, headed by General Vincent, retreated to a good position on Burlington Bay.
While the American army was thus employed, Sir George Prevost having learned that General Dearborn had left Sackett’s Harbour with but a small garrison, despatched Commodore Yeo, commander of the British fleet on Lake Ontario, to gain possession. On the morning of the 29th, about 1000 British troops landed, but were repulsed by General Brown, and re-embarked so hastily, as to leave their wounded behind.
In the latter part of July, about 4,000 British and Indians, the former under General Proctor, the latter under Tecumseh, again appeared before Fort Meigs, now commanded by General Clay. After waiting a few days, and not succeeding in drawing out the garrison as he hoped, Proctor withdrew his forces and proceeded to Fort Stephenson, at Sandusky, which was garrison by 120 men, under Major Coghan, a young man of one-and-twenty. The defence of this place was one of the bravest on record. The British were repulsed with great loss, and fled so precipitately that they left behind them a quantity of clothes and military stores.
While all this was going forward on land and on the inland seas, the coast was harassed by predatory warfare carried on by large detachments from the British navy. One squadron stationed in Delaware Bay captured and burned every merchant ship they could seize, while another burned the farms and houses along the Chesapeake Bay; several towns also were burned. Various naval actions took place. On the 23rd of February, Captain Lawrence, in the Hornet sloop-of-war, encountered the Peacock sloop-of-war, which was, after an engagement of fifteen minutes, so much damaged that she sank, and spite of every effort of the captors to save the lives of those whom they had just attacked, she went down with thirteen men on board. On his return to shore, Captain Lawrence was appointed to the command of the Chesapeake frigate, then in harbour at Boston. For several weeks the British frigate Shannon, of equal force, commanded by Captain Broke, had been cruising before the port, challenging to combat any American frigate. It had already been triumphantly sung in England,