Let Britons still boast of their prowess and pluck;
We care not a straw for their muskets and cannon.
In the field we will beat them, unless they've the luck
To run from their foes like Tenedos and Shannon.
Our foes on the ocean, etc.
Our sweet little bull-dogs, they thunder'd away,
And our sailors and soldiers the foe still kept mauling,
Till they grew very sick of such tight Yankee play,
And poor Sheaffe and his troops then ran away bawling.
Our foes on the ocean, etc.
But the rascals on malice quite fully were bent:
And as from the fort they were cowardly going,
In pursuance to what was at first their intent,
The magazine they had resolved on up-blowing.
Our foes on the ocean, etc.
Two hundred brave soldiers there met with their death;
And while for their country they nobly were dying,
Full fifty bold Britons at once lost their breath,
And with them in the air were their carcasses flying.
Our foes on the ocean, etc.
The brave General Pike there met with his end;
But his virtues his country forever will cherish:
And while o'er his grave fair Freedom shall bend,
She will swear that his memory never shall perish.
Our foes on the ocean, etc.
Let the minions of Britain swarm over our coast;
Columbians, all cowardly conduct disdaining,
We'll teach the invaders how vain is their boast,
And contend, whilst a drop of their blood is remaining.
Our foes on the ocean, etc.
Then, freemen, arise, and gird on your swords,
And declare, while you still have the means of resistance,
That you ne'er will give up for the threatening of words,
Nor of arms, those dear rights which you prize as existence.
Our foes on the ocean, etc.
Forty of the enemy and more than two hundred Americans were killed or wounded by the explosion of a magazine, just as the place surrendered. General Pike was mortally wounded, and died with his head on the British flag which had been brought to him.
THE DEATH OF GENERAL PIKE
[April 27, 1813]