The Rise of Canada, from Barbarism to Wealth and Civilisation Part 3

The Americans now gathering up their strength, irritated by their repeated failures on the land, and disheartened, but yet not discouraged by their original weakness on the lakes, were about, in some degree, to be compensated more suitably for their inland losses than by the capture or rather by the negative kind of advantage of destroying at considerable cost and risk, frigates and sloops of war at sea, inferior in every respect, the bravery of the sailors and the skill of the officers excepted, to the huge and properly much esteemed American double-banked frigates and long-gunned brigs. The command of Lake Ontario had devolved on the Americans. New s.h.i.+ps of considerable size, and well armed, under the superintendence of experienced naval officers, were built and launched day after day. Troops were being collected at every point for an attack, by sea and land, upon either York or Kingston. It was now exceedingly necessary that some activity of a similar kind should be displayed by the British. The forests abounded in the very best timber; there were able s.h.i.+pbuilders at Quebec; the Canadian naval commanders had distinguished themselves frequently; there was a secure dockyard at Kingston; and, indeed, there existed no reason whatever, for the absence of that industry on the Canadian side of the rivers and lakes, dividing the two countries, but one, and a more fatal one could not have been listened to. It was simply that the British had been hitherto able to repel the invader wherever he had effected a landing, and would be, under any circ.u.mstances, quite able, as they were willing, to repel him again. And there was an ignorance about Canada, on the part of both the heads of the naval and of the military departments in England, as disgraceful, as it was inexcusable. It was believed that there were neither artisans to be found in the country nor wood. It seemed to be a prevalent opinion that the country was peopled only by French farmers, a few French gentlemen, and some hundreds of discharged soldiers, with a few lawyers and landed proprietors, styled U.E. Loyalists, besides the few naval officers resident at Kingston, and the troops in the different garrisons. In Upper Canada, during the winter, nothing, or almost nothing, was done in the way of building s.h.i.+ps for the lakes. Sir George Prevost, it is true, made a hurried visit to Upper Canada, after having prorogued the Parliament. He was a man admirably adapted for the civil ruler of a country having such an elastic and very acceptable const.i.tution as that which Canada has now had for some years past. He was one of those undecided kind of non-progressive beings, who are always inclined to let well alone. He was well meaning, and he was able too, in some sense. He was cautious to such a degree that caution was a fault. He was not, by any means, deficient in personal courage, but his mind always hovered on worst consequences. If he had hope in him at all, it was the hope that providence, without the aid of Governor Prevost, would order all things for the best. He had a strict sense of duty and a nice sense of honor, but he always considered that it was his duty not to risk much the loss of anything, which he had been charged to keep, and his moral was so much superior to his physical courage, that he never considered it dishonorable to retreat without a struggle, if the resistance promised to be very great. An instance of this occurred while Sir George was on his way to Upper Canada. On the 17th of February, Lieutenant-Colonel Pearson, commanding at Prescott, proposed to him an attack upon Ogdensburgh, which was then slightly fortified, and was a rallying point for the enemy. Indeed, an attack had some days previously been made upon Brockville, by General Brown, at the head of some militia from Ogdensburgh, and Colonel Pearson thought that the sooner an enemy was dislodged from a position exactly opposite his own and only separated by a frozen river, three quarters of a mile in width, the more secure he would have felt himself to be, and the less danger would there have been of the communication between the Upper and Lower provinces of Canada, being interrupted. General Prevost would not consent to an attack, but he allowed a demonstration to be made by Colonel McDonnell, the second in command at Prescott, so that the enemy might exhibit his strength, and his attention be so much engaged that no attempt would be made to waylay the Governor General, on the information of two deserters from Prescott, who would, doubtless, have informed the commandant, at Ogdensburgh, of Sir George's arrival and of his chief errand. Colonel McDonell moved rapidly across the river, and on landing, was met by Captain Forsyth and the American forces under him. A movement designed for a feint, was now converted into a real attack. Colonel McDonell, as he perceived the enemy, still more rapidly pushed forward, and, in a few minutes, was hotly engaged. The Americans were driven from the village, leaving behind them twenty killed and a considerable number wounded. On the side of the British, the loss of Colonel McDonell, seven other officers and seven rank and file had to be deplored, while forty-one men were wounded. The attack was most successful however. Eleven cannons, several hundred stands of arms, and a considerable quant.i.ty of stores fell into the hands of the victors, while two small schooners and two gun-boats were destroyed in winter quarters.

Recruiting and drilling were being briskly carried on about Quebec and Montreal. Some troops began to arrive, about the beginning of March, from the Lower Provinces. The 104th regiment had arrived overland from Fredericton, in New Brunswick, by the valley of the St. Johns River, through an impenetrable forest, for hundreds of miles, to Lake Temiscouata, and from thence to River-du-Loup, proceeding upwards along the south sh.o.r.e of the St. Lawrence.

A month later and the Americans were ready to resume the offensive in Upper Canada. The American fleet, consisting of 14 vessels, equipped at Sackett's Harbour, situated at the foot of the lake, and not very far from Kingston, in a direct line across, sailed from the harbour under Commodore Chancey, with seventeen hundred men, commanded by Generals Dearborn and Pike, to attack York, (now Toronto.) In two days the fleet was close in sh.o.r.e, a little to the westward of Gibraltar Strait. A landing was soon effected at the French fort of Toronto, about three miles below York, under cover of the guns of the fleet, but the enemy's advance was afterwards stoutly opposed. Six hundred militia men altogether, including the grenadiers of the 8th regiment of the line, could not long withstand seventeen hundred trained troops. They withdrew and the schooners of the fleet approaching close to the fort, commenced a heavy cannonade, while General Pike pushed forward to the main works, which he intended to carry by storm, through a little wood. As General Sheaffe, in command of the British, retired, and as General Pike, in command of the Americans, advanced, a powder magazine exploded which blew two hundred of the Americans into the air, and killed Pike. Of the British, fully one hundred men were killed, and the walls of the fort were thrown down. The Commodore was now in the harbour. And General Sheaffe seeing that not the remotest chance of saving the capital of Upper Canada, now existed, most wisely determined to retreat upon Kingston. He accordingly directed Colonel Chewett, of the militia, to make arrangement for a capitulation, and set off with his four hundred regulars for Kingston. By the capitulation, private property was to be respected, and public property only surrendered. The gain was not great, if the moral effect of victory be not considered. The victors carried off three hundred prisoners, and the British, before retreating, had considered it expedient to burn a large armed s.h.i.+p upon the stocks, and extensive naval stores.

The Clerk of the House of a.s.sembly of Upper Canada, a volunteer, fell during the struggle. In all, the British loss was one hundred and thirty killed and wounded.

It is said that General Sheaffe suffered severely in the public estimation, because he retreated. The public had forgotten that he had killed and destroyed more Americans than had fallen on the side of the British. Nor did it occur to them that had their general not retreated, and capitulated, an armed fleet was in the harbour, which it was impossible to drive out, even had the fort been standing, or had there been great guns, with which earth batteries could have been formed. It had not occurred to the public of Lower Canada that if York had been burned, Sheaffe's retreat to Kingston, would have been no less imperative than it was. He was, however, superseded in the command in chief of Upper Canada by Major General De Rottenburgh.

The American fleet landed the troops at Niagara after this success, and then sailed for Sackett's Harbour for reinforcements. The Commodore, an energetic, clearheaded sailor, sent two of his vessels to cruise off the harbour of Kingston, vigilantly, and then sent vessel after vessel, at his convenience, with troops, up the lake to Michigan. There he concentrated the whole of his s.h.i.+ps, including his Kingston cruisers, for an attack upon Fort George, in combination with the land force under General Dearborn. The British were under the command of General Vincent, who could not muster above nine hundred soldiers. It was early on the morning of the 27th of May, that the enemy began the attack. The fort was briskly cannonaded, and during the fire, Colonel Scott, with a body of eight hundred American riflemen, effected a landing. But they were promptly met by the British and compelled to give way, in disorder. The Americans retreated to the beach and crept under cover of the bank, from whence they kept up a galling fire, the British troops being unable to dislodge them, on account of the heavy broadsides of the American fleet, formed in Crescent shape, to protect their soldiers. Indeed, under cover of this fire from the fleet, another body of the enemy, numbering ten thousand men, effected a landing, and the British were reluctantly compelled to retire. General Vincent blew up the fort and fell back upon Burlington Heights, every inch of ground being stoutly contested. Flushed with success, Dearborn, the American General-in-Chief, now confidently antic.i.p.ated the conquest of the whole of Upper Canada, and pushed forward a body of three thousand infantry, two hundred and fifty horse, and nine guns. But General Vincent having learned of the enemy's advance, sent Colonel Harvey, with eight hundred men, to impede their progress. Harvey, an experienced and brave officer, was not long in discovering that the enemy kept a bad look out. He resolved upon surprising them. Accordingly, he waited for the darkness of night, under cover of which, a sudden attack was made so successfully, that he made prisoners of two generals and a hundred and fifty men, besides capturing four guns. It was now the enemy's turn to retreat, and they did so in admirable confusion. Arrived at Fort George a halt took place, but a fortnight elapsed before General Dearborn had sufficiently recovered from the effect of this surprise to send out an expedition of six hundred men to dislodge a British picquet, posted at Beaver's Dam, near Queenstown. The dislodgement was most indifferently effected, inasmuch as the expedition was waylaid on their pa.s.sage through the woods, by Captain Kerr, with a few Indians, and by Lieutenant Fitzgibbons, at the head of forty-six of the 49th regiment, in all, less than two hundred men, but so judiciously disposed as to make the Americans believe that they were the light troops of a very superior army, the approach of which was expected, and they, to the number of five hundred, surrendered, with two guns and two standards.

It now became the turn of the British to invade, and early in July, Colonel Bishop set out on an expedition to Black Rock, at the head of a party of militia, aided by detachments of the 8th, 41st, and 49th regiments of the line. He was perfectly successful. The enemies' block-houses, stores, barracks, and dockyard were burned, and seven pieces of ordnance, two hundred stand of arms, and a great quant.i.ty of stores were brought away. But it was at great cost. While employed in securing the stores, the British were fired upon, from the woods, by some American militia and Indians, and while Captain Saunders, of the 41st, dropped, severely wounded, Colonel Bishop, who had planned, and so gallantly executed the a.s.sault, was killed.

While these things were happening in the Far-Civilised-West of that day, the British flotilla on Lake Champlain, had captured two American schooners, the Growler and Eagle, of eleven guns each, off Isle-aux-Noix.

After it had become apparent that the Americans had the command of Lake Ontario, and could visit to burn and destroy every village or unfortified town, held by the British, some slight and very inadequate exertion was made to remedy so distressing a state of affairs. In May, Sir James L. Yeo, with several other naval officers and 450 seamen arrived at Quebec, en route for the lakes. Captains Barclay, Pring, and Finnis, had been some time at Kingston, and were doing something in the way of preparing for service the few, vessels at Kingston, by courtesy called a fleet. Sir George Prevost and Sir James L. Yeo lost little time in reaching Kingston together. The American fleet was off Niagara, bombarding Fort George. It occurred to the two commanders that an attack upon their naval station at Sackett's Harbour would not be amiss, and it was resolved upon. About a thousand men were embarked on board of the Wolfe, of 24 guns, the Royal George, of 24 guns, the Earl of Moira, of 18 guns, and four armed schooners, each carrying from ten to twelve guns, with a number of batteaux. The weather was very fine. Everything was got in readiness for an expeditious landing. The soldiers were transferred from the armed vessels to the batteaux, so that no time might be lost in the debarkation. Two gun-boats were placed in readiness, as a landing escort, The boats were under the direction of Captain Mulcaster, of the Royal Navy, and the landing under the immediate supervision of Sir George Prevost and Sir James L. Yeo. It was expected that, in the absence of the American fleet and army, the growing and formidable naval establishment of the enemy would be temporarily rendered worthless. And the expectation was not an unnatural one. It was, indeed, in a trifling degree, realised. There was some injury done to Sackett's Harbor, but not of such a nature as to produce a strong effect upon either Canadian minds or American nerves. A number of boats, containing troops, from Oswego, were dispersed, while doubling Stoney Point, and twelve of them, with 150 men on board, captured. But the loss to the British was the delay caused by such an unlucky acquisition. The landing was deferred by it. General Brown was put on the alert. He had time to make arrangements and to collect troops. He planted 500 militia on the peninsula of Horse Island, which is a sort of protection wall for the harbour. He ordered them to be still and close, keep their powder dry, and reserve their fire. And they did their best, in accordance with these instructions, until the fleet opened a heavy cannonade to cover the landing of the invaders, when General Brown's militiamen quaked exceedingly. When the troops had landed, and the American militia had lost, by death, their immediate commander, Colonel Mills, they fled with the utmost precipitation. But it was the conduct of these very cowards that afterwards alarmed, the ever suspicious Sir George Prevost, and caused, to a very considerable extent, the almost failure of the expedition. The British columns were advancing somewhat rapidly towards Fort Tomkins, when they were met by Colonel Backus, at the head of 400 regulars, and some militia, hastily a.s.sembled from the neighboring towns. A sharp contest ensued. Colonel Backus was mortally wounded. His regulars still maintained their ground, but a serious impression had been made upon his line. On the militia, so strong an impression had been made that before General Brown could bring up, to the a.s.sistance of Backus, 100 of the party dispersed at the landing, these irregulars fled by a road leading south westwardly, through a wood. The regulars stood firm. Captain Gray, commanding the British advanced corps fell, and the suspicious mind of Prevost fancied a snare. He saw the regular soldiery of the enemy standing unmoved; he had learned that a regiment of American regulars, under Colonel Tutle, were marching at double step, to the scene of action; and he fancied that the retreating militia were not at all afraid, but brilliantly executing a circuitous march to gain the rear of the British line, and cut off their retreat. It was true Fort Tomkins was about to fall into British hands. Already the officer in charge of Navy Point, agreeably to orders, and supposing the fort to be lost, had set on fire the naval magazine, containing all the stores captured at York; the hospital and barracks were illuminating the lake by their grand conflagration; and a frigate on the stocks had been set on fire, only to be extinguished, when Sir George Prevost's mind became unsettled, concerning the ulterior designs of the enemy. In the very moment of fully accomplis.h.i.+ng the purpose of the expedition, he ordered a retreat; the troops were re-embarked without annoyance; the fleet returned safely to Kingston, and the Canadian public suspected that Sir George Prevost, as a military commander, had been weighed in the balance and found wanting. They felt, indeed, most acutely, that Major General Isaac Brock was dead, and that he was not replaced by Sir George Prevost.

In the west, the Americans, under Harrison, exerted themselves to recover Michigan. They were blockaded, it is true, and inactive within Fort George, but, on Lake Erie, the war was vigorously prosecuted. General Proctor was kept particularly busy. The Americans were inconveniently near. They showed no disposition to move. They had settled down and were practicing masterly inactivity at Sandusky. Proctor determined upon disturbing them. He moved rapidly upon Lower Sandusky, and invested it with five hundred regulars and militia, and upwards of three thousand Indians. The Indians were commanded by Tec.u.mseh. Having battered the fort well and made a breach Proctor determined upon carrying the place by a.s.sault. The Indians, however, were worthless for the a.s.sault of a fortified place. Concealed in the gra.s.s of the prairie, or hidden in the trees of the forest, they could fire steadily and watch their opportunity to rush upon the foe, but they had a horror of great guns and stone walls. They kept out of range of the American cannon. Nothing could induce them to consent even to follow their British allies up to the breach. The a.s.sault was, nevertheless, determined upon, and Colonel Short led the storming party of regulars and militia. Under cover of the fire of cannon the gallant band reached the summit of the glacis and stood with only the ditch between them and the fort. The heavy fire of the enemy upon men in a position so exposed at first produced some confusion; but the storming party soon rallied and leaped into the ditch. It was then that they were smitten with such a fire of grape and musketry as no men could long withstand. The a.s.sailants retreated, leaving Colonel Short, three officers, and fifty-two men dead in the ditch, and having forty-one of their number wounded.

General Proctor, finding his force inadequate to carry the fort by a.s.sault, raised the siege and retired to Amherstburgh.

Although it was all important to have and maintain the command of the lakes, very little was done by the British with that view. It was especially necessary to obtain the command of Lakes Erie, Ontario and Champlain. No great aggressive movement could have been easily effected while the British had the command of the lakes. But on Lake Ontario the British fleet was inferior to that of the American, the American Captain Perry had almost established himself on Lake Erie, and on Lake Champlain the British had not a single vessel larger than a gun-boat, and very few of them. The excuse was that every vessel cost a thousand pounds a ton; that timber, nor iron, nor anything required for s.h.i.+pbuilding was obtainable in a province which was even then compensating for the check in the Baltic timber trade, in a province which abounds in iron, and was then quite capable of building large sea-going craft at Quebec. While it was in truth no more difficult for England to cover the lakes with cannon than it was for the United States to do so, England kept sending out, at great expense, timber, pitch, materials in iron, water casks, and such like to Quebec and Kingston, with some thirty or forty s.h.i.+pwrights, and less than a hundred sailors to man the flotillas of three lakes. Neither the Admiralty nor the Ordnance had time to make enquiries concerning Canada, or even to think of the American war. All eyes were upon Wellington in Spain. The attention of the people of England was not directed towards Canada. A wide sea rolled between the two countries, and, besides, there was an indistinct notion that Canada was wholly inhabited by Frenchmen, who might take care of themselves or not, as they pleased. The two first vessels belonging to the British on Lake Champlain, were built by the Americans. The British were contented with their fort at Isle-aux-Noix, and rejoiced in the luxury of two gun-boats. It was on a lovely morning very early in June, that a sail was seen stretching over a point of land, formed by a bed in the river Chambly, and about six miles distant from the fort. Another sail followed closely, and the shrewd suspicion seized upon Colonel Taylor, of the 100th foot, commanding the garrison, that the visitants were vessels of war. He determined to war with the two strangers, per mare et terram. He converted some of his soldiery into marines, manned his three gun-boats, and placing three artillerymen in each boat, proceeded towards the enemy. But he took the additional precaution of sending down both sh.o.r.es of the river a few detachments from the fort. The sloops of war came up majestically, the star-spangled banner waved gracefully in the gentle morning air, and the American commanders were guessing the effect of their first broadside upon Isle-aux-Noix, when they were met by a heavy and well directed fire of grape from the gun-boats, and by a steady torrent of bullets from the sh.o.r.e. Still they tacked shortly from sh.o.r.e to sh.o.r.e, and every time they were in stays, a shower of bullets swept the decks, while the grape of the gun-boats whistled through the rigging. From half past four in the morning until half past eight, the battle raged, but then it was necessary to run one of the sloops ash.o.r.e, to prevent her from sinking, and both surrendered. The Growler and the Eagle were worth the trouble incurred in capturing them. Each mounted eleven guns. They had long eighteens upon their forecastles, and their broadside guns were composed of twelves and sixes. The crew of each vessel consisted of thirty-five men and between the two vessels there was a company of marines, who embarked on the previous evening at Champlain. Nor was the cost to the captors very great. No one was killed and only three men were severely wounded, while the enemy suffered severely in killed and wounded, and a hundred men were made prisoners.

These vessels now called the Shannon and the Blake, as forget-me-nots of an action recently fought, but not yet noticed, in Chesapeake Bay, were speedily turned to excellent use. It was conceived expedient to destroy the barracks, hospitals and stores at Plattsburgh, Burlington, Champlain, and Swanton, if possible, and an expedition was accordingly fitted out at Isle-aux-Noix. The two captured sloops of war were repaired and made ready for the lake. Captain Pring, from Lake Ontario, was promoted to the rank of commander and sent to take command, but the sloop of war Wasp, having shortly afterwards arrived at Quebec, Captain Everard, with his whole crew, were sent to Isle-aux-Noix, and as senior officer a.s.sumed the command of the two vessels and the three gun-boats. The squadron sailed on the 29th of July, with about nine hundred men on board, consisting of detachments of the 13th, 100th, and 103rd regiments of the line, under Lieutenants Colonel Taylor and Smelt, some royal artillery under Captain Gordon, and a few militia, as batteaux men, under Colonel Murray. The expedition was altogether successful. At Plattsburgh, the American General, Moore, made no opposition to the landing of the British, but retired with fifteen hundred soldiers, Murray, meanwhile, destroying the a.r.s.enal, public buildings, commissariat stores, and the new barracks, capable of accommodating five thousand men. Neither did the squadron lie idly by. Captains Everard and Pring, in the Growler and Eagle, proceeded to Burlington, and threw the place into the utmost consternation. Gen'l. Hampton, who was encamped there with four thousand men, was unable to prevent the capture and destruction of four vessels. And the two s.h.i.+ps did not linger there either unnecessarily. They went back to Plattsburgh, re-embarked the troops, and proceeded to Swanton, Colonel Murray sending a detachment to Champlain to destroy the barracks and blockhouse. At Swanton the object of the expedition was accomplished, and the expedition returned without casualty.

Public opinion had its effect upon the Admiralty, notwithstanding the stubborn resistance of the old Lords, who still privately persisted in the notion that an old tub, manned by monkeys, if commanded by an officer in the royal navy, was a match for the best American frigate that ever floated. There had for some time back been considerable activity in the English dockyards. Several vessels were commenced on the model of the American frigates, and the commanders of frigates and sloops of war, on the American coast, were cautioned not to expose themselves to certain destruction by attacking large and heavily armed vessels, only nominally of the same rank or cla.s.s as themselves. There was to be a real, not an apparent equality. There was to be an equality in tonnage, an equality in the number of guns, an equality in the weight of metal, an equality in the thickness of a s.h.i.+p's sides, and above all an equality in men, so far as such equality could be ascertained. Equality in sailing power was of great importance, but where it was wanting, the superior sailor, if superior in metal and men had an advantage which nothing but a calm or a lucky hit aloft could destroy. The crews of every s.h.i.+p on the North American Station were to be exercised in gunnery. Wisdom had been luckily forced upon the Admiralty. And the result was good. Sir John Borlase, the naval commander, in North America, blockaded every harbour in the United States. American commerce was ruined. The carrying trade of the Atlantic was no longer in American hands. The public revenue sank from twenty-four millions of dollars annually, to eight millions. Even had the Americans possessed the means of building new frigates, the expenditure would have been useless, while Sir John Borlase had the command of the sea. Congress did authorise the commencement of four new seventy-fours, and of four forty-four gun frigates, with six new sloops for the ocean, and as many vessels of every description, as circ.u.mstances would show the necessity for, on the lakes.

Admiral c.o.c.kburn, at the head of a light squadron, was most annoying to the Americans. Not only did he blockade the Chesapeake and Delaware inlets, but he scoured every creek and river. Every now and then gun-boats were sent on excursions, and marines landed to damage naval stores and a.r.s.enals. He was a kind of legalized pirate, who darted in to a harbour, bay, or port, doing every imaginable kind of mischief and running off.

About this time there were cruising off Boston two s.h.i.+ps of equal strength, the Shannon and the Tenedos. Captain Broke, the commander of the Shannon, was the senior officer, and having determined upon a combat, if it were possible to effect it, between the American frigate Chesapeake, then in Boston harbour, where she had pa.s.sed the winter, and his own vessel, he sent the Tenedos to sea, with instructions not to return for three weeks. Captain Broke had laboriously and anxiously drilled his men. He had sighted his guns and used them often. In a word, he had by long continued training brought his crew to the highest state of discipline and subordination. They could fire ball to a nicety. At sea and in harbour he had kept his men at great gun practice. He was in a position to cope with any forty-four gun frigate, belonging to the United States, for, though the Shannon was only pierced for 38 guns, she carried 52. When the Tenedos had put to sea, Captain Broke sent in a challenge to Captain Lawrence, of the Chesapeake, entreating him to try the fortunes of their respective flags in even combat. The Chesapeake had 49 guns. Captain Broke immediately lay close into Boston Light House, and the Chesapeake was quickly under weigh. It is said that Captain Lawrence had not received the challenge of his opponent when he stood out of the harbour, but, however that may be, the Chesapeake was escorted to sea by a flotilla of barges and pleasure boats. Victory, indeed, was considered certain by the Americans. Nay, so very certain were the inhabitants of Boston that the Shannon would either be sunk or towed into port that, counting their chickens before they were hatched, they prepared a public supper to greet the victors on their return to the harbour, with their prisoners. It was otherwise. Captain Broke saw with delight, from the masthead of the Shannon, that his challenge was to be satisfactorily replied to. The Shannon was cleared for action, and waited for the Chesapeake. She had not long to wait. The Chesapeake came bowling along with three flags flying, on which were inscribed-"Sailors, rights and free trade." The Shannon had her union jack at the foremast, and a somewhat faded blue ensign at the mizen peak. There were two other ensigns rolled into a ball ready to be fastened to the haulyard and hoisted in case of need. But her guns were well loaded, alternately with two round shot and a hundred and fifty musket b.a.l.l.s, and with one round and one double-headed shot in each gun. The enemy hauled up within two hundred yards of the mizen beam and cheered. The Shannon cheered in return, and then the bravest held his breath for a time. A moment more and the Shannon's decks flashed fire. With deliberate aim each gun along her sides was discharged, and the enemy, in pa.s.sing, fired with good effect his whole broadside. The Shannon's shot, however, told upon the rigging of the Chesapeake, and upon her men, and after two or three broad sides, the Chesapeake in attempting to haul her foresail up fell on board the Shannon, whose starboard bower anchor locked with the Shannon's mizen chains. The great guns, with the exception of the Shannon's two aftermost guns ceased firing. The Chesapeake's stern was beaten in, and her decks swept. There was now a sharp fire of musketry from both sides, but Captain Broke perceiving that the Chesapeake's men had left their guns, called up his boarders, at the same time ordering the two s.h.i.+ps to be lashed together. And Mr. Stevens, the Shannon's boatswain, set about the execution of the latter order. His left arm was hacked off by the enemy's marines, and he was mortally wounded by a shot from the Chesapeake's tops. He proceeded, nevertheless, in fastening the two s.h.i.+ps together, and then dropped in death between the vessels. Captain Lawrence was wounded and carried below, when Captain Broke, at the head of his boarders, leapt upon the Chesapeake's quarter-deck. The enemy's crew were soon overpowered and driven below. Forcing his way forward, the Shannon's men shut down the Chesapeake's hatches and kept up a fire on the men in the tops, while the Shannon's men at the same time, under Mr. Smith, forced their way from the foreyard to the Chesapeake's mainyard, and soon cleared the tops. Captain Broke was at this time a.s.sailed furiously by three American sailors, who had previously submitted, and was knocked down by the b.u.t.t end of a musket, but as he rose he had the satisfaction of seeing the American flag hauled down and the proud old British union floating over it in triumph. Fifteen minutes had only elapsed and the Chesapeake was entirely in the hands of the British. There was one lamentable mishap. Lieutenant Watt, who hauled down the enemy's colours was, with two of his men, killed by a discharge of musketry from the Shannon's marines, in the belief that the conflict still continued. The Chesapeake had forty-seven killed and ninety-eight wounded, and the Shannon lost in killed twenty-four, while fifty-nine had been wounded. It was so ascertained that on equal terms England still held the supremacy of the seas, and the exultation in England was so great that every right-minded man went with the government when they made Captain Broke a baronet. The broadside guns of the Shannon were 25, of the Chesapeake 25; the weight of metal in the former was 538 lbs., and of the latter 590 lbs.; while the Shannon had 306 and the Chesapeake 376 men.

The Chesapeake was carried into Halifax, where her gallant, gentlemanly, and ill-starred commander died and was buried, with full military honors, in the presence of all the British officers on the station, who uncovered themselves as they laid into the grave all that was earthly of their n.o.ble foe.

The tide of fortune on the sea had now turned in favor of Great Britain. On the 14th of August, the Argus, of twenty guns, employed in carrying out Mr. Crawford, the American Minister to France, was met after having landed the minister off St. David's, at the mouth of the Irish channel, by the British brig Pelican, of eighteen guns, more heavily armed, though carrying fewer guns, and better manned than the Argus, so that, everything considered, the vessels were tolerably well matched. As a matter of course they fought, and the Pelican, one of the improved brigs, soon out-manuvred and raked her antagonist. Captain Allen, of the Argus, fell at the first broadside. The Argus was ultimately obliged to surrender with a loss of six killed and seventeen wounded, her opponent having only three killed and five wounded.

It was not long after this that the British brig Boxer, of only fourteen guns and sixty-six men, fell a prize to the American brig Enterprise, of sixteen guns and one hundred and twenty men, but afterwards, throughout the war, single combats, where there was even an approach to equality, terminated in favor of the British. Captain Blythe, of the Boxer, and the commander of the Enterprise, Lieutenant Burrows, were buried in one grave, at Portland in Maine, with military honors.

Thus were the favors of Mars still balanced with tolerable fairness between the combatants.

Between Upper and Lower Canada the communication by either land or water, in summer, was very imperfect, during the war. There was then no Rideau Ca.n.a.l, connecting Kingston with the Ottawa and the St. Lawrence. And there was neither the Lachine, the Beauharnois, the Cornwall nor any other ca.n.a.l by which the dangers and difficulties of the St. Lawrence rapids might be avoided. Only batteaux and canoes plied between Upper and Lower Canada. A kind of flat-bottomed boat, of from 35 to 40 feet in length, and about six feet beam in the centre, carrying from four to four and a half tons, was only available for the transport of pa.s.sengers, goods, wares, and merchandise. The boat was worked by oars, a mast and sail, drag-ropes for towing, and long poles for pus.h.i.+ng them through the rapids, while the bow was kept towards the sh.o.r.e by a tow line held by the boat's crew or attached to horses. From ten to twelve days were occupied in the voyage from Montreal or Lachine to Kingston. To convey stores from Lachine to Kingston, during the war, required some tact. On one side of the river were the British batteries, while exactly opposite was an American fort or earthwork, which as the batteaux poled past Prescott or Brockville, could throw a round shot or two in their immediate vicinity without very much trouble. Indeed the Americans did very quietly send one or two cruisers and privateers to dodge about that marine paradise, the Thousand Islands, forming the delta of Lake Ontario, and covered to this day with timber to the water's edge, islands of all sizes and of all forms, gently rising out of the limpid rippling stream, or boldly standing forth from the deep blue water, presenting a rugged, rocky moss-clad front to the wonderstruck beholder. On the 20th of July, some cruisers from Sackett's Harbour, succeeded in surprising and capturing, at daybreak, a brigade of batteaux laden with provisions, under convoy of a gun-boat. They made off with their prize to Goose Creek, which is not far from Gananoque. At Kingston the loss of the supplies was soon ascertained, and Lieutenant Scott, of the Royal Navy, was despatched with a detachment of the 100th regiment, in gun-boats, to intercept the plunderers. At the lower end of Long Island, he ascertained the retreat of the enemy, and waited patiently for the morning. In the evening, still later, a fourth gun-boat with a detachment of the 41st regiment came up, and having pa.s.sed the night in bright antic.i.p.ations of glory, the rescuing gun-boats proceeded at three in the morning to Goose Creek. The enemy had gone well up and had judiciously entrenched themselves behind logs, while they had adopted the Russian plan of blocking up the entrance to their harbor where the Creek became so narrow that the attacking gun-boats found it necessary to pole up even that far. Lieutenant Scott set his men to work, to remove the barriers to his ingress, but a brisk fire soon caused him to desist, and indeed he was very nearly disabled. The only gun-boat that could be brought to bear upon the enemy was already disabled, and the consequences might have been disastrous but for the gallant conduct of the soldiers, who leaped from the sternmost boats, up to their necks, carrying their muskets high overhead, and charged the enemy on landing, causing them to retreat with precipitation behind their entrenchment. While this was being done, the gun-boats were got afloat and put to rights, and the soldiers expeditiously re-embarking the re-capture of the provisions was abandoned. Captain Milnes, a volunteer aid-de-camp to the Commander of the Forces, was killed.

A second boat expedition from Kingston failed, Sir James Yeo, conceived that he might out cut of Sackett's Harbour the new American s.h.i.+p Pike, the equipment of which Commodore Chancey was superintending. He arrived at the mouth of the harbor, but the enemy having accidentally heard of his errand, Sir James abandoned a scheme that could only have been effected by surprise. In July, the American fleet appeared on the lake with augmented force. Colonel Scott, with a company of artillery and a considerable number of other soldiers was on board, en route for Burlington Heights. He was most anxious to destroy the British stores there, the more especially as the place was only occupied by Major Maule, at the head of a small detachment of regulars. Lieutenant-Colonel Harvey, the Deputy Adjutant-General of the army, shrewdly suspecting the design of the enemy, despatched Colonel Battersby from York, who arrived in time to re-inforce Maule. Scott made no attack, but with the advice, or at all events, the concurrence of the commodore, did a much wiser thing. The expedition sailed upon York, which Lieutenant-Colonel Battersby had evacuated to save Burlington. A landing was effected at York, of course, without opposition; the storehouses, barracks, and public buildings were burned, and such stores as were worth carrying away, taken. In Lake Champlain, on the same afternoon, Colonel Murray and Captains Everard and Pringle were retaliating at Plattsburgh, Burlington, Champlain, and Swanton. Commodore Chancey having effected his purpose sailed for Niagara, whither he was followed by Sir James Yeo, and looked in upon on the 31st of July. Chancey, without loss of time, raised his anchors and stood out of the bay, bearing down upon the British squadron. Sir James manuvred, keeping out of range, and indeed coquetted with the enemy, until he had an opportunity of pouncing upon two of his vessels, the Julia and Growler, which he cut off and captured. He still pursued the same tantalizing course of action, and Commodore Chancey became completely disheartened, when the Scourge of eight, and the Hamilton of nine guns, in endeavouring to escape from the British, capsized under a press of sail, and went down, all hands peris.h.i.+ng, except sixteen who were picked up by the boats of the opposing squadron. Immediately after this disaster he stood off for Sackett's Harbour, and arrived there on the 13th of August. He merely took in provisions, however, and again sailed for Niagara, arriving there early in September. On the 7th the British fleet appeared off the harbour, and Chancey stood out into the lake. The two fleets manuvred as before, avoiding close quarters, and indeed, for full five days, hardly exchanged a shot. But on the 28th of September, the fleets approached each other, and a sharp engagement ensued between the two flag s.h.i.+ps. The Wolfe, in which Sir James Yeo's pendant was hoisted, lost her main and mizen topmasts, and only that the Royal George ran in between the Wolfe and the Pike, enabling the former to haul off and repair, the British flag s.h.i.+p would have been captured. As it was, Sir James Yeo made off with his fleet to take refuge under Burlington Heights.[21] Soon after, the American fleet took troops from Fort George to Sackett's Harbour, from whence an expedition was being fitted out, in the way, capturing five out of seven small vessels, from York, containing 250 men of DeWatteville's regiment, intended to reinforce the garrison at Kingston.

On the lakes of Upper Canada, the fair face of fortune was turned away from the British. As yet the capricious lady had only frowned, but now she was positively sulky. A serious and indeed dreadful disaster, which could not be afterwards repaired, but entailed loss upon loss to the British, occurred on Lake Erie. The British provinces were indeed exposed by it to the most imminent danger. At one blow all the advantages gained by Brocke were lost. On Lake Erie as on Lake Ontario, both the British and the Americans exerted themselves in the construction of war vessels. The great drawback to the British was the want of seamen. Captain Barclay, when appointed to the command on Lake Erie, in May, took with him fifty English seamen, to man two s.h.i.+ps, two schooners, a brig and a sloop, the rest of the crews being made up of 240 soldiers and 80 Canadians. Captain Perry, the American commander, had two more vessels, an equal number of guns, double the weight of metal, and was fully manned by experienced seamen. Captain Barclay sailed from Amherstburgh and stretched his little squadron across the entrance to Presque Isle. The American squadron, under Perry, was riding at anchor, unable to put out, because the bar at the entrance of the harbour prevented it from crossing, except with the guns out, an operation not considered perfectly safe when done in the face of an enemy. Captain Barclay was under the necessity of momentarily leaving his station, and his opponent, Perry, crossed the bar. Barclay in turn became the blockaded party. He made with all haste for Amherstburgh and was shut in by Perry. Barclay practiced his soldiers at the guns, and learned his Canadians how to handle the ropes. He was indefatigable in his exertions to render his crew as efficient as such a crew could be made on s.h.i.+pboard. He yet feared to meet Perry and his picked crews, but his provisions fell short, and he was compelled to put out. The result was a battle, the last thing to have been desired, where so much depended on the issue. Victory was stoutly contested for on both sides. At 11 o'clock, on the forenoon of the 10th of September, the American squadron, consisting of nine vessels, and the British squadron, consisting of six vessels, formed in lines of battle. At a quarter before 12, Captain Barclay's s.h.i.+p, the Queen Charlotte, opened a tremendous fire upon the Lawrence, the flag s.h.i.+p of Commodore Perry. The Lawrence was torn to pieces. She became unmanageable. Except the Commodore and four or five others, every man on board was either killed or wounded. Perry abandoned her, and the colours were hauled down; but he only left one s.h.i.+p to rehoist his flag in another, as yet untouched. He boarded the Niagara, of twenty guns, and a breeze springing up behind his s.h.i.+ps, which as yet had not been in action, he obtained the weather gage of the British, and made it necessary for them to wear round. It was in the endeavour to execute this manuvre that Barclay lost the advantage. His inexperienced and, therefore, somewhat awkward sailors, became flurried, and the vessels fell foul of each other. They were for the most part jammed together, with their bows facing the enemy's broadside. Captain Perry saw his advantage and raked the Detroit, the Queen Charlotte, and Lady Prevost, at pleasure. The Chippewa and Little Belt had been separated from the other s.h.i.+ps, and were hotly engaged by the Americans. The British line was, in a word, broken. The carnage was now dreadful, and the result awfully disastrous to the British. Barclay fell, severely wounded. Every officer was either killed or wounded. And two hundred out of three hundred and forty-five men were in a like condition. For three hours the battle raged, but at the end of that time the British squadron was capsized, and Perry, in imitation of Julius Caesar, sent the message to Was.h.i.+ngton:-"We have met the enemy, and they are ours." Of the Americans, twenty-seven were killed and ninety-six wounded.

This was a sore blow and terrible discouragement to Canada. Supplies of provisions were no longer obtainable by General Proctor from Kingston, and Michigan was, consequently, untenable. The speedy evacuation of Detroit, and a retreat towards the head of Lake Ontario, became inevitable. Commodore Perry could, at any moment, land a force in General Proctor's rear, and entirely cut him off from Kingston and York, and the lower part of Upper Canada. General Proctor at once retreated, abandoning and destroying all his fortified posts, beyond the Grand River. He dismantled first Detroit and then Amherstburgh, setting fire to the navy yard, barracks, and public stores, of the latter place. And he had just done so in time. As soon after the destruction of the British fleet, as circ.u.mstances would permit, Commodore Perry transported the American forces, under General Harrison, from Portage River and Fort Meigs, to Put-in-Bay, from whence they were conveyed to Amherstburgh, which they occupied on the 23rd of December. Proctor retreated through woods and mora.s.ses, upon the Thames, hotly pursued by Harrison. The brave Tec.u.mseh, at the head of the Indians, endeavored to cover his retreat. But on the 4th of October, the enemy came so close upon the British rear as to succeed in capturing all their stores and ammunition. Dest.i.tute of the means of subsistence, worn down with fatigue, and low-spirited by misfortune, Proctor came to the determination of staking all on the hazard of a die. He resolved upon bringing the enemy to an engagement, and took up a position near the Moravian village upon the Thames. Tec.u.mseh and his Indians a.s.sumed a position, well to the British right, in a thicket. Prescott drew out his right in line on a swamp, and supported it by a field piece, while his left stretched along, towards the Thames, supported by another field piece. The ground was not well chosen. Between Proctor and his enemy there was a dry or rather elevated piece of ground, covered with lofty trees, without underbrush. On the following day the enemy came up. Harrison drew up his army in two lines, the cavalry in front, and ordered the Kentucky Riflemen, commanded by Colonel Johnson, to charge the British, which they could not so easily or effectually have done, had the British been either on the summit of the wooded knoll or some distance behind the swamp. The Kentuckians slowly advanced through the wood, receiving two vollies from the British line, before they were out of it. It was then that they dashed forward at full speed, broke the British ranks, and wheeled about. Taken, as it were, suddenly, in the rear, Proctor's men became confused. To resist or to retreat was equally impossible. They could only retreat by forcing the American infantry, in front, and they could only resist by facing the Kentucky Riflemen in the rear, who had already ridden through them and had now raised their rifles to decimate them. The British threw down their arms and the Indians, with the exception of Tec.u.mseh and a chosen few fled, yelling, through the woods. Tec.u.mseh fought desperately, even with the mounted rifles. He sprang upon their leader, Colonel Johnson, wounded him and pulled him to the earth. But, at this moment, Johnson's faithful dragoons spurred to his rescue. Tec.u.mseh was surrounded and pierced with bullets. Raising his hands aloft, to the great Father of all, this faithful ally and courageous savage, gave one last, stern, defiant look, at the foe, and breathed no more. General Proctor and his personal staff, with a few men, had previously sought safety by flight to Ancaster. And this remnant of the right division, including Proctor and seventeen officers, amounting to only two hundred and forty-six men, arrived at Ancaster on the 17th of October.

Harrison was greatly superior in numbers, and had cavalry, which Proctor was entirely without. The Kentucky cavalry were accustomed to fighting in the forest, and were expressly armed for it. Proctor did not exhibit ordinary judgment in his selection of ground. He had hardly time to cut down trees and to entrench himself, and the probability is that he was not aware of the enemy's possession of cavalry, and therefore was less prudent in his choice of ground than otherwise he would have been. Harrison, the American commander, had no less than 3,500 men with him, and as he captured only 25 British officers and 609 rank and file, all that surrendered, while two hundred and forty-six in all only escaped, the mishap to Proctor who was personally a brave officer, as he had repeatedly proved, ought not to have excited surprise. But the disaster following as it did, and as should have been expected, the calamity on Lake Erie, the Governor-in-Chief was highly incensed, and nearly sacrificed Proctor to public opinion. He abused him and his army in no measured terms, in general orders. He contrasted the conduct of the soldiery with that of Tec.u.mseh and his Indians. He charged the Adjutant-General Reiffenstein with gross prevarication. He sneered at the captured, few of whom had been rescued by an honorable death from the ignominy of pa.s.sing under the American yoke, and whose wounds pleaded little in mitigation of the reproach. The officers in retreating from Detroit, Sandwich and Malden, seemed to have been more anxious about their baggage than they had afterwards been about their honor. The enemy had attacked and defeated Proctor and his right division without a struggle. He could not indeed fully disclose to the British army the full extent of disgrace which had fallen upon a formerly deserving portion of the army. Sir George Prevost who had himself behaved so well at Sackett's Harbour, and who afterwards acted so honorably towards Commodore Downie, at Plattsburgh, did not spare an officer whom he had himself raised to the rank of Brigadier-General for previous gallantry in the field, and for distinguished success. Nay, he brought him to a Court Martial. The Court found that he had not retreated with judgment and had not judiciously disposed of his force, considering the extraordinary difficulties of his situation; but it further found that his personal conduct was neither defective nor reproachable. He was sentenced to be suspended from rank and pay for six months. George the Fourth, then Prince Regent, was still more severe upon the unfortunate Proctor. He confirmed the sentence and censured the Court for mistaken lenity.

There was this difference between Sir George Prevost and General Proctor:-Prevost was excessively cautious: Proctor was incautious to excess.

All Western Canada, with the exception of Michillimackinac, was now lost to the British. The Americans had not only recaptured Michigan, but the issue of one battle had given them a long lost territory, and the garden of Upper Canada. Harrison did not move against Michillimackinac, being persuaded that it would fall for want of provisions, but went to Buffalo and from there went to Niagara and Fort George, abandoned by General Vincent, who had fallen back, on hearing of Proctor's discomfiture, on Burlington Heights. In retreating, Vincent sent his baggage on before him, followed by the main body of his army, some three or four thousand sickly men, and kept his picquets in front of Fort George to deceive the enemy: seven companies of the 100th and the light company of the 8th regiment, and a few Indians, more men than Proctor had altogether, const.i.tuted the rear guard, and covered the retreat. The guard was closely pressed by 1,500 of the enemy, under Generals McClure and Porter, from Fort George, but the guard managed to keep them in check and enabled Vincent and Proctor to effect a junction at the heights of Burlington. The rear guard halted at Stoney Creek, but the enemy refused to give battle.

The result of these operations, in the northwest, so flattered the Americans as to induce the government at Was.h.i.+ngton to attempt a more effectual invasion of Canada. General Dearborn had been replaced, on account of ill-health, in the chief command of the army of the north, by General Wilkinson. The force intended for the contemplated invasion of Canada amounted to twelve thousand men. There were eight thousand stationed at Niagara and four thousand at Plattsburgh, commanded by Hampton, in addition to which, the forces under Harrison, were expected to arrive in time to furnish important a.s.sistance. It was in pursuance of this policy that Harrison suddenly left Fort George for Sackett's Harbour. General Wilkinson was concentrating his forces at Grenadier's Island, which is situated between Sackett's Harbour and Kingston, at the foot of Lake Ontario, and the plan was to descend the St. Lawrence, in batteaux and gun-boats, pa.s.sing by the forts and forming a junction with Hampton, to proceed to the Island of Montreal. The plan was not by any means an injudicious one, and its failure was almost marvellous. The expeditions were checked, and indeed annihilated by petty skirmishes, and that lack of decision, so fatal to military commanders. Hampton advanced on the 20th of September. At Odelltown he surprised the British picquet, and from thence he took the road leading to L'Acadie. He had, therefore, to pa.s.s through a swamp, covered with wood, for upwards of five leagues, before reaching the open country. Colonel DeSalaberry had done his best with the aid of his Voltigeurs to make the road a bad one to travel on. In the preceding campaign he had felled trees and laid them across it, and he had dug holes here and there, which soon contained the desired quant.i.ty of swampish water and kept the road as moist as could be wished. It was on the advance of Hampton, guarded by a few of the Frontier Light Infantry and some Indians, under the direction of Captain Mailloux. To strengthen Mailloux, Colonel DeSalaberry with his Voltigeurs and the flank companies of a battalion of militia, under Major Perrault, took up a position on both sides of the road among the trees, after the manner of the Indians. Hampton did not like the general appearance of matters and turned off the road, moving with his whole force towards the head of the river Chateauguay. DeSalaberry, with his Voltigeurs, also moved upon the Chateauguay. He was ordered, by the Commander of the Forces, to proceed to the enemy's camp at Four Corners, at the head of Chateauguay, create an alarm, and, if possible, surprise and dislodge him. He had only with him one hundred and fifty Voltigeurs, the light company of the Canadian Fencibles, and a hundred Indians, in charge of Mr. Gaucher. The Four Corners were reached un.o.bserved. But an alarm was instantly given to the camp by the forwardness of an Indian, who discharged his musket without necessity, and without orders. DeSalaberry could now only close up his men and push forward. In a few minutes his brave band were in the midst of the enemy, numbering about four hundred, whom they drove before them, like sheep. His weakness, in numbers, for only fifty men and a few Indians had come up, was, however, soon apparent, and the enemy came to a halt, and another section of the foe made a movement with the view of out-flanking the a.s.sailants. DeSalaberry wisely fell back upon the position, from which he had emerged, upon the camp, at the skirt of the wood, and shortly afterwards the Indians having all fallen back, he retired altogether. The loss was very trifling, but the effect was excellent, both upon the enemy and upon the hitherto untried Voltigeurs. The enemy perceived or supposed that he perceived great preparations made to dispute his advance, inch by inch, while the Voltigeurs perceived that men are hardly aware of how much they are capable of doing until they try. DeSalaberry returned to Chateauguay, breaking up the road in his rear, and having ascertained the road by which Hampton was determined to advance, he judiciously took up a position in a thick wood, on the left bank of the river Chateauguay, two leagues above its confluence with English river. Here, he threw up breastworks of logs, and his front and right flanks were covered by extended abattis. His left rested on the river. In his rear the river being fordable, he covered the ford with a strong breastwork, defended by a guard, and kept a strong picquet of Beauharnois militia in advance on the right bank of the river, lest, by any chance, the enemy should mistake the road which DeSalaberry designed him to take, and crossing the ford, under cover of the forest, should dislodge him from his excellent position. Fortune favors the brave, when judicious. Hampton, having detached Colonel Clarke to devastate Missisquoi Bay, prepared to advance. He sent General Izzard, with the light troops and a regiment of the line, to force a militia picquet at the junction of the rivers Outaite and Chateauguay, and there the main body of the Americans arrived on the 22nd. Two days later the enemy repaired DeSalaberry's road and brought forward his ten pieces of artillery to within seven miles of DeSalaberry's position. He had discovered the ford, and the light brigade, and a strong body of infantry of the line, under Colonel Purdy, were sent forward on the evening of the 25th, to fall upon DeSalaberry's rear, while the main body were to a.s.sail in front. Purdy's brigade lost themselves in the woods. But Hampton himself appeared in front, with his brigadier, Izzard, and about 3,500 men. A picquet of twenty-five was driven in, but it only fell back upon a second picquet, when a most resolute stand was made. Colonel DeSalaberry heard the firing and advanced to the rescue. He had with him, Ferguson's company of Fencibles, and Chevalier d.u.c.h.esnay's and Juchereau d.u.c.h.esnay's companies of Voltigeurs. He posted the Fencibles, in extended order, every man being at an arm's length from his neighbor, in the night, in front of the abattis, the right touching the adjoining woods in which some Abenaquis Indians had distributed themselves. Chevalier d.u.c.h.esnay's company, in skirmis.h.i.+ng order, in line extended from the left of the Fencibles to Chateauguay, and Juchereau d.u.c.h.esnay's company, and thirty-five militia, under Captain Longtain, were ranged, in close order, along the margin of the river, to prevent a flank fire from the enemy. The Americans advanced steadily, in sections, to within musket shot, and DeSalaberry commenced the action by discharging his rifle. The greatest possible noise was purposely made by buglers, stationed here and there,-on the wings, in the centre, and in the rear. It was indeed difficult to say whether the noise of the bugles or of the firing was the most terrific. The enemy wheeled into line and began to fire in vollies, but threw away their bullets, as the battalions were not fronting the Voltigeurs or Fencibles, but firing needless vollies into the woods, much to their right where they suspected men to be. So hot was the fire of the Voltigeurs, however, that the enemy soon found out his mistake, and brought his vollies to bear, as well as he could, in the right direction. Now, some of the skirmishers, under DeSalaberry retreated, and the enemy cheered and advanced. Again the buglers sounded the advance, and the sound of martial music echoed through the woods, so that it seemed as if 200,000 men were being marshalled for the fight. It was at this crisis that Colonel McDonell arrived with reinforcements, and the ardour of the enemy was checked. Purdy, long lost in the woods, was now guided towards the ford by the firing and the music. He drove in Captain Brugueire's picquet, which was on the opposite side of the river, and was pus.h.i.+ng for the ford. DeSalaberry sent Captain Daly with the light company of the 3rd battalion of the embodied militia to cross the river and take up the ground abandoned by the picquet. He did so gallantly, driving back the American advanced guard, but was afterwards compelled to retreat. The enemy, as Daly retreated, appeared on the verge of the river. DeSalaberry gave the word to Juchereau d.u.c.h.esnay to up and at them, and his men, rising from their place of concealment, poured in a fire upon Purdy's Americans, which was as unexpected as it was effectual. The Americans reeled back and then turned and ran. Hampton seeing Purdy's discomfiture, slowly withdrew, leaving Colonel DeSalaberry, with less than three hundred Canadians, in possession of his position, and with all the honors of victory. The loss was not great on either side. Of the Americans, forty were found dead. The Canadians lost five killed and twenty wounded. For this nicely managed skirmish DeSalaberry was justly loaded with honors, his officers and men were publicly thanked, and five pairs of colours were presented to the five battalions of Canadian embodied militia, by the Prince Regent.

Hampton retired upon Four Corners, and afterwards retreated to Plattsburgh, instead of co-operating with Wilkinson, as intended.

Simultaneously with Hampton's advance upon Chateauguay, or nearly so, Wilkinson proceeded down the St. Lawrence, with a flotilla of upwards of three hundred boats, protected by a division of gun-boats, until he was within three miles of Prescott, when he landed his troops, and marched down with them, by land, to a cove two miles below Fort Prescott, so as to avoid the British batteries. The boats having past during the night, without suffering any material injury from the cannonading of the fort.

So soon as the American movement was ascertained at Kingston, General DeRottenburg sent the 49th regiment, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Prenderleath, the 89th regiment and some Voltigeurs after them. At Prescott, they were reinforced by a party of Canadian Fencibles, and the whole amounting to about eight hundred rank and file, was commanded by Colonel Morrison, of the 49th regiment, aided by the Deputy Adjutant General. Colonel Harvey, Under the escort of a small division of gun-boats, commanded by Captain Mulcaster, R.N. This corps of observation continued in pursuit of the enemy, and on the 8th of November, came up with them at Point Iroquois. Twelve hundred of the enemy, under Colonel Macomb, had landed on the previous day on the British side of the river to drive off the Canadian militia, who were collecting together in considerable numbers, at the head of the Long Sault. On the 18th, General Browne's brigade, with a body of dragoons, also landed on the British sh.o.r.e; and the remainder of Wilkinson's troops were landed at the head of the Sault, under the command of Brigadier-General Boyd.

Colonel Morrison, of the 8th British regiment, had landed at Hamilton, on the American side, on the 10th, took possession of a quant.i.ty