While each nation was busily employed in equipping a squadron on lake Erie, general Clay remained inactive at fort Meigs. About the last of July, a large number of British and Indians appeared before the fort, hoping to entice the garrison to a general action in the field. After waiting a few days without succeeding, they decamped, and proceeded to fort Stephenson, on the river Sandusky. This fort was little more than a picketing, surrounded by a ditch, and the garrison consisted of but onehundred and sixty men, who were commanded by major Croghan, a youth of twenty-one. The force of the assailants was estimated at about four hundred in uniform, and as many Indians; they were repulsed, and their loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners, is supposed to have exceeded one hundred and fifty; those of the remainder who were not able to escape were taken off during the night by the Indians. The whole loss of major Croghan during the siege was one killed and seven slightly wounded. About three the next morning the British sailed down the river, leaving behind them a boat containing clothing and considerable military stores.
By the exertions of commodore Perry, an American squadron had been fitted out on lake Erie early in September. It consisted of nine small vessels, in all carrying fifty-four guns. A British squadron had also been built and equipped, under the superintendence of commodore Barclay. It consisted of six vessels, mounting sixty-three guns. Commodore Perry, immediately sailing, offered battle to his adversary, and on the 10th of September the British commander left the harbor of Malden to accept the offer. In a few hours the wind shifted, giving the Americans the advantage. Perry, forming the line of battle, hoisted his flag, on which were inscribed the words of the dying Lawrence, ‘Don’t give up the ship.’ Loud huzzas from all the vessels proclaimed the animation which this motto inspired. About noon the firing commenced; and after a short action two of the British vessels surrendered, and the rest of the American squadron now joining in the battle, the victory was rendered decisive and complete. The British loss was forty-one killed, and ninety-four wounded. The American loss was twenty-seven killed, and ninety-six wounded, of which number twenty-one were killed and sixty-two wounded on board the flagship Lawrence, whose whole complement of able-bodied men before the action was about one hundred. The commodore gave intelligence of the victory to general Harrison in these words: ‘We have met the enemy, and they are ours. Two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop.’
The Americans were now masters of the lake; but the territory of Michigan was still in the possession of colonel Proctor. The next movements were against the British and Indians at Detroit and Malden. General Harrison had previously assembled a portion of the Ohio militia on the Sandusky river; and on the 7th of September four thousand from Kentucky, the flower of the state, with governor Shelby at their head, arrived at his camp. With the co-operation of the fleet, it was determined to proceed at once to Malden. On the 27th the troops were received on board, and reached Malden on the same day; but the British had, in the mean time, destroyed the fort and public stores, and had retreated along the Thames towards the Moravian villages, together with Tecumseh’s Indians, amounting to twelve or fifteen hundred. It was now resolved to proceed in pursuit of Proctor. On the 5th of October a severe battle was fought between the two armies at the river Thames, and the British army was taken by the Americans. In this battle Tecumseh was killed, and the Indians fled. The British loss was nineteen regulars killed, and fifty wounded, and about six hundred prisoners. The American loss, in killed and wounded, amounted to upwards of fifty. Proctor made his escape down the Thames.
On the 29th of September the Americans took possession of Detroit, which, on the approach of Harrison’s army, had been abandoned by theBritish. Preparations were now made for subduing Upper Canada, and taking Montreal; but owing to the difficulties attending the concentration of the troops, and perhaps also to the want of vigor in the commanders, that project was abandoned, and the army under Wilkinson, marching to French Mills, there encamped for the winter. This abortive issue of the campaign occasioned murmurs throughout the nation, and the causes which led to it have never been fully developed. The severest censure fell upon general Armstrong, who was secretary of war, and upon general Hampton. The latter soon after resigned his commission in the army, and general Izard was selected to command the post at Plattsburgh.
Major-general Harrison, commander-in-chief of the eighth military district in the United States, issued a proclamation, stating, that the enemy having been driven from the territory of Michigan, and a part of the army under his command having taken possession of it, it became necessary that the civil government of the territory should be re-established, and the former officers resume the exercise of their authority. He therefore proclaimed, that all appointments and commissions which have been derived from British officers were at an end; that the citizens were restored to all the rights and privileges which they enjoyed previously to the capitulation made by general Hull on the 15th of August, 1812; and, until the will of the government should be known, directed that all persons having civil offices in the territory of Michigan, at the period of the capitulation of Detroit, should resume the exercise of the powers appertaining to their offices respectively.
The United States squadron, chased by commodore Hardy with a superior naval force, had taken refuge in the harbor of New London, where the decayed and feeble state of the fortifications afforded a precarious defence. The menacing appearance of the British squadron at the entrance of the harbor, and the strong probability that the town would be destroyed in the conflict, which had been long expected, produced among the inhabitants the greatest consternation. In this moment of alarm, the major-general of the third division, and the brigadier-general of the third brigade, considered themselves justified, at the earnest entreaty of the citizens, in summoning the militia to their assistance. Governor Smith, of Connecticut, approved this proceeding, and immediately forwarded supplies, and adopted measures of defence. ‘On this occasion,’ said the governor to the legislature, ‘I could not hesitate as to the course which it became my duty to pursue. The government of Connecticut, the last to invite hostilities, should be the first to repel aggression.’
The Indians at the southern extremity of the Union had imbibed the same hostile spirit as those at the north-western. They had been visited by Tecumseh, and by his eloquence had been persuaded that the Great Spirit required them to unite and attempt the extirpation of the whites. In the fall of 1812, a cruel war was carried on by the Creeks and Seminoles against the frontier inhabitants of Georgia. General Jackson, at the head of two thousand five hundred volunteers from Tennessee, marched into the country of the Indians. Overawed by his presence, they desisted for a time from hostility; but, after his return, their animosity burst forth with increased and fatal violence. Dreading their cruelty, about three hundred men, women, and children, sought safety in fort Mimms, in the Tensaw settlement. Although frequent warnings of an intended attack had beengiven them, yet, at noonday, on the 30th of August, they were surprised by a party of six hundred Indians, who, with axes, cut their way into the fort, and drove the people into the houses which it inclosed. To these they set fire. Many persons were burnt, and many killed by the tomahawk. Only seventeen escaped to carry the horrid tidings to the neighboring stations. The whites resolved on vengeance.
Again general Jackson, at the head of three thousand five hundred militia of Tennessee, marched into the southern wilderness. A detachment under general Coffee encountering at Tallushatchie a body of Indians, a sanguinary conflict ensued. The latter fought with desperation, neither giving nor receiving quarter, until nearly every warrior had perished. Yet still was the spirit of the Creeks unsubdued, and their faith in victory unshaken. With no little sagacity and skill they selected and fortified another position on the Tallapoosa, called by themselves Tohopeka, and by the whites Horseshoe Bend. Here nearly a thousand warriors, animated with a fierce and determined resolution, were collected. Three thousand men, commanded by general Jackson, marched to attack this post. To prevent escape, a detachment under general Coffee encircled the Bend. The main body advanced to the fortress; and for a few minutes the opposing forces were engaged muzzle to muzzle at the port-holes; but at length the troops, leaping over the walls, mingled in furious combat with the savages. When the Indians, fleeing to the river, beheld the troops on the opposite bank, they returned and fought with increased fury and desperation. Six hundred warriors were killed; four only yielded themselves prisoners; the remaining three hundred escaped. Of the whites, fifty-five were killed, and one hundred and forty-six wounded.
It was deemed probable that further resistance would be made by the Indians at a place called the Hickory-ground; but on general Jackson’s arriving thither in April, 1814, the principal chiefs came out to meet him, and among them was Wetherford, a half-blood, distinguished equally for his talents and cruelty. ‘I am in your power,’ said he; ‘do with me what you please. I have done the white people all the harm I could. I have fought them, and fought them bravely. There was a time when I had a choice; I have none now, even hope is ended. Once I could animate my warriors; but I cannot animate the dead. They can no longer hear my voice; their bones are at Tallushatchie, Talladega, Emuckfaw, and Tohopeka. While there was a chance of success I never supplicated peace; but my people are gone, and I now ask it for my nation and myself.’ Peace was concluded, and general Jackson and his troops enjoyed an honorable but short repose.
It was the declared intention of the British to lay waste the whole American coast, from Maine to Georgia. Of this intention demonstration was made by their descent upon Pettipauge, and the destruction which followed in that harbor. Early in April, a number of British barges, supposed to contain about two hundred and twenty men, entered the mouth of Connecticut river, passed up seven or eight miles, and came on shore at a part of Saybrook called Pettipauge, where they destroyed about twenty-five vessels. Guards of militia were placed without delay at nearly all the vulnerable points on the seaboard, and where troops could not be stationed patrols of videttes were constantly maintained.