But when the morning broke, a general charge was ordered. The left wing, consisting of five companies of the 4th infantry, and a party of dragoons, led by General Wells,—and the right, consisting of the remaining companies of the 4th infantry and cavalry, and the mounted rifles and militia,—moved rapidly upon the positions occupied by the savages. The latter made no further effort to continue the fight. Their desperate bravery had proved of no avail against the disciplined valor and persevering courage of the American troops. Hotly pursued by the gallant soldiers of Harrison, they fled in dismay to the neighboring swamps and thickets, in whose impenetrable recesses they at length found a secure retreat. The Prophet’s town was entirely abandoned by its late occupants. Having collected his wounded, and buried his dead, Governor Harrison advanced with his forces to the village, which he ordered to be burned. The surrounding district was also laid waste, and he then returned into the settled country.

The battle of Tippecanoe was one of the bloodiest engagements recorded in the annals of Indian warfare. It was bravely fought and bravely won. The cautious foresight, the prudence and vigilance of Governor Harrison, alone saved his little army from destruction. His loss in killed and wounded, was one hundred and eighty-eight; that of the enemy was supposed to be about the same.

Tecumseh, as has been mentioned, was absent at the time of this engagement. Had he been present, perhaps the result might have been different. When the particulars of the disaster reached him, he affected to regard it as of little moment, and always spoke of it, as the “unfortunate transaction that took place between the white people and a few of his young men”; yet it is very evident that this untoward occurrence preyed deeply on his spirits, since it tended, probably more than any other single circumstance, to the defeat of his plans. The result of the action intimidated many of the tribes who were preparing to join his confederacy, and they immediately sent deputations to Governor Harrison to sue for peace.

The general assembly of Indiana territory passed a resolution, at the next session after the battle of Tippecanoe, complimenting Governor Harrison in the highest terms, and the Legislature of Kentucky also testified, in a similar manner, their approbation of “his cool, deliberate, skilful, and gallant conduct.”—Thus was laid the foundation of that military reputation, which secured him the regard and esteem of his countrymen, and elevated him, in after times, to a memorable distinction among the great men of the Nation.

Another effect of the battle of Tippecanoe was soon witnessed. The tone of the public press became more bold and warlike, and the public temper was inflamed to the highest degree. Doubts as to the necessity of a war with England were speedily transformed into settled convictions. After a long and tedious negotiation, in the summer of 1811, reparation was offered for the attack on the Chesapeake; but Great Britain abandoned not one of her objectionable positions, nor ceased the piratical plunder of our commerce, so long stimulated and encouraged by Lords Liverpool and Castlereagh. Forbearance could no longer be regarded as a virtue; nor was peace desirable, when it could only be preserved by the sacrifice of national honor and dignity. War was therefore declared, on the eighteenth of June, 1812, and publicly proclaimed by President Madison on the following day.

The declaration of war found Governor Harrison actively engaged in the discharge of his duties as governor of the territory of Indiana, and in his endeavors to secure the neutrality of the Northwestern savages. The general sentiment of that section of the country would then have applauded his selection as the commanding officer of the forces destined to operate in that quarter; but the appointment was conferred on William Hull, governor of the territory of Michigan, an officer who had served with credit and ability during the war of the Revolution.

The campaign of 1812 was signalized by General Hull’s invasion of Canada, in July, and his humiliating surrender, at Detroit, in the following August. When the tidings of this event were made known in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, they were scarcely credited. Subsequent information confirmed the rumor, however, and the intelligence produced a spontaneous outburst of indignation. To retrieve the tarnished honor of the country, was the first impulse of every heart. An irrepressible feeling of enthusiasm pervaded all classes. The people rose, in a mass, like the upheaving of the ocean. Places of rendezvous were appointed, and the hunters of the west flocked in crowds around the national standard—all animated by one motive, and influenced by one desire. They were cheered, too, by the approving smiles, and encouraged by the kind words of their wives and mothers, their sisters, daughters, and sweet-hearts, whose hands were constantly employed in furnishing them with clothing and other necessaries for the march. Such was the alacrity displayed in responding to the call to arms, that whole companies were frequently enrolled, and equipped, in a single day!

In Ohio, the most patriotic exertions were made by Governor Meigs, to fit the militia of that state for the field. In Kentucky, an unusual degree of ardor was manifested. The fire of ’76 was rekindled in the bosom of the veteran Shelby. Infected with the spirit prevailing among their constituents, several members of Congress enrolled themselves as privates, and cheerfully shouldered the rifle or musket. Henry Clay, the eloquent advocate of the war on the floor of Congress, though not under arms, appeared at the musters, and addressed the volunteers in fervid and impassioned appeals to their patriotism, that thrilled the hearts of those who heard him. Large numbers of militia were also imbodied, in Virginia, and in the western part of Pennsylvania. In Tennessee, likewise, the utmost eagerness to take the field was exhibited by the hardy yeomanry, who were doubtless influenced by the noble example of General Jackson and his patriotic division.

In a few weeks, about eight thousand men were collected at various points on the Ohio river and in its vicinity. The selection of an officer to take command of the army, was attended with considerable difficulty; but it was finally determined, at a sort of military caucus, at which Isaac Shelby, Judge Todd of the Supreme Court of the United States, Mr. Clay, and other leading men, were present, that Governor Harrison should be commissioned a major general by brevet, by Governor Scott, of Kentucky, and temporarily invested with the command. This was accordingly done, and General Harrison immediately entered upon the performance of his duties. His military life had been an irregular one, and his experience, therefore, was extremely limited; yet he found himself placed at the head of a numerous body of troops, under such disheartening circumstances, and in a season of despondency and gloom. To add to his embarrassments, he discovered, on examination, that everything was in confusion. Men there were in abundance; but they were deficient in arms and ammunition, and poorly provided with supplies of every kind. Still, he did not lack the moral courage necessary to sustain him at so important a crisis, but labored indefatigably to correct what had been done amiss, and to secure the efficient action of the army placed under his orders.

The capture of Detroit, and the consequent occupation of all the important posts in the territory of Michigan, and about the head of Lake Erie, by the British troops, removed every restraint from the savages on the frontier, who poured down from their northern hives in torrents. The security of the border settlements against their murderous incursions was the first object to be attained; and in order to accomplish this effectually, it was necessary to move without delay to the relief of the frontier posts,—particularly Fort Harrison, on the Wabash; and Fort Wayne, at the confluence of the St. Mary’s and St. Joseph’s, which form the Maumee, or Miami of the Lakes, as it was originally called. It was determined to penetrate the Indian country in two columns; one, under General Harrison, being ordered to rendezvous at Cincinnati and Urbanna, and the other, under General Hopkins, of the Kentucky militia, at Vincennes.

General Harrison put his troops in motion from Cincinnati, on the twenty-ninth of August, and reached Piqua on the thirtieth instant, with about twenty-five hundred men. Here he completed his final arrangements, and received his military stores; and, on the sixth of September, he resumed his march for Fort Wayne, where he arrived on the twelfth, to the great joy of the garrison, which consisted of only seventy men. The post had been for several days invested by a large body of Indians who resorted to every stratagem and device to induce the garrison to surrender, and, failing in this, made repeated attempts to carry the fort by assault. On hearing of the approach of General Harrison, the savages retreated precipitately, after destroying everything outside the works.

On his arrival at Fort Wayne, General Harrison forthwith organized two expeditions to lay waste the Indian villages. Colonel Wells, of the 17th infantry, was dispatched on the fourteenth of September, with his regiment, and that of Colonel Scott of the Kentucky militia, and two hundred mounted rifles, against the Potowatomie town on the upper St. Joseph, which disembogues into Lake Michigan. Another detachment, commanded by General Payne, consisting of two Kentucky regiments, under Colonels Lewis and Allen, and one company of mounted men, marched against the Miami villages. Both expeditions were successful. Nine Indian towns, which had been abandoned by the inhabitants, on the approach of the American troops, were utterly destroyed; the wigwams and wooden huts were burnt, and the growing corn cut up.

Meanwhile, the column under General Hopkins, which had rendezvoused at Vincennes, had moved to the relief of Fort Harrison. This post was occupied by Captain Z. Taylor, of the 7th infantry, with a feeble garrison of fifty men, not one half of whom were effective. On the night of the fourth of September, it was assaulted by between four and five hundred Indians, who succeeded in firing one of the block-houses, in which a large quantity of spirits was stored. The flames spread with great rapidity, and the garrison were fast giving way to despair, when Captain Taylor directed the roofs of the adjoining barracks to be removed. This was quickly accomplished, and the fire prevented from extending to the other buildings in the fort. Animated by the heroic example of their commander, and reässured by the admirable coolness and presence of mind which he had exhibited, the soldiers then engaged in the defence of the post, with a courage akin to desperation. The assailants failed to make any further impression, and after daylight on the morning of the fifth, the American fire became so destructive, that they moved out of range. They lingered near the post during the day, but retired early on the following morning, though they still hovered in the vicinity, keeping watch on the principal roads, cutting off the communications with the fort, and committing their depredations through the surrounding country.

The long-continued anxiety of the garrison was relieved on the sixteenth of September, by the arrival of Colonel Russell, with eleven hundred men, and a few days later General Hopkins came up with the remainder of his column. Preparations were now made for an expedition against the Peoria villages, on the Illinois river, and other Indian towns on that stream and the Wabash, which had been determined on previous to the march of the troops from Vincennes. It was agreed that Colonel Russell should proceed directly across the country, with his corps of Kentucky rangers, and a party of mounted rifles under Governor Edwards of Illinois Territory, three hundred and sixty men in all; and that General Hopkins, with the main body, should advance by a more northern route, and effect a junction with him at the Peoria towns. Another detachment, of eighty men, under Captain Craig, was ordered to move up the Illinois, and join them at the same place.

Colonel Russell left Fort Harrison with his command on the seventh of October, and General Hopkins commenced his march on the fifteenth instant. The route pursued by the latter lay through a pleasant champaign country, and his force was strong enough to set all opposition at defiance. But the men were totally undisciplined and unaccustomed to restraint; and on the fourth day out refused to proceed any further. The remonstrances and entreaties of the general produced no effect, and he was compelled to follow his refractory troops, in their retrograde march to Fort Harrison. Colonel Russell, however, continued his course to the Illinois river. Though disappointed in not meeting General Hopkins, he persevered in his enterprise, and destroyed one of the principal villages of the Peorias, called Pamitaris’ town, together with their winter stock of provisions. The Indians were pursued into a swamp in the vicinity where they had fled for shelter,—Colonel Russell and his men wading for several miles up to their waists in water,—and upwards of twenty of them were killed on the bank of the river. After the destruction of the town, the detachment returned to Fort Harrison, where they arrived on the twenty-first of October.

In November, General Hopkins made a more successful foray. Leaving Fort Harrison on the eleventh instant, at the head of about twelve hundred men, he proceeded up the Wabash, and destroyed the Prophet’s town, and a large Kickapoo village near it, with the store of corn provided by the savages for the coming winter. The Winnebago towns on Ponce Passu creek were also destroyed by a detachment under Colonel Butler.

About the same time, Lieutenant Colonel Campbell, of the 19th infantry, was dispatched from Greenville, with a party of six hundred men, against the Indian towns on the Mississinewa river, one of the tributaries of the Wabash. On the seventeenth of November, he surprised a village inhabited by Delawares and Miamis, captured thirty-seven prisoners, and killed eight of the enemy’s warriors. The town, and two others in the neighborhood, were then burned, and the party encamped for the night. Just before daylight, the next morning, they were attacked by a party of Indians three hundred strong. A desperate contest was kept up for nearly an hour, when the enemy were driven off by a charge of cavalry, leaving forty of their best and bravest warriors dead on the field. The Americans lost eight men killed, and about thirty wounded. Another attack was anticipated, as Tecumseh was understood to be in the vicinity with four or five hundred warriors, but reïnforcements soon coming up from Greenville, the detachment completed the destruction of the towns on the river, and returned without molestation.

These repeated incursions had the desired effect. Frequent hostilities afterwards arose and engagements took place, but these were confined to small parties of volunteers and similar bands of savages; exempted from the irruptions of the Indians, the border settlements continued to enjoy, for a long period, a degree of tranquillity which they had never before witnessed.

After the return of the troops sent out by General Harrison, from Fort Wayne, it was his intention to advance towards Detroit, and recover the territory occupied by the British forces, as soon as he found his means adequate to the object. His plans were temporarily disarranged by the arrival of Brigadier General Winchester, who had originally been designated for the command of the northwestern army, with large reïnforcements from Ohio and Kentucky. General Harrison accordingly relinquished the command, and set out on his return to Indiana territory, accompanied by a considerable force of mounted men with which he designed to break up the Indian towns in that quarter. It subsequently appeared, that President Madison was ignorant of his brevet appointment, and of the general desire of the western people that he should be placed in command, at the time the orders to General Winchester were issued. General Harrison had not proceeded far on his return, when he was overtaken by an express bearing a commission as brigadier general in the regular army, together with instructions requiring him to take command of the forces on the northwestern frontier.

General Harrison returned to Fort Wayne, and resumed the command, on the twenty-third of September. Arrived here, he learned that General Winchester had marched on the previous day, for Fort Defiance, on his way to the Rapids of the Maumee, the place fixed upon for the general rendezvous preparatory to the contemplated movement for the recovery of Michigan, with four hundred regulars, a brigade of Kentucky militia, and a troop of horse,—in all two thousand men. He then proceeded to Fort St. Mary’s to make further preparations for the campaign, and dispatched Colonel Jennings down the Au Glaize, with a detachment, having in charge a quantity of supplies for General Winchester, whose men had but a limited stock of provisions.

The march of General Winchester was impeded, not only by the natural obstacles of the wet and marshy country through which he was compelled to pass, but also by a series of annoying skirmishes with the advanced parties of a force lying in and near Fort Defiance, consisting of two hundred British regulars and one thousand savages, which was destined for the capture of Fort Wayne. Making his way through the numerous difficulties that retarded his progress, and forcing the enemy to retire down the river as he advanced, he reached Fort Defiance on the thirteenth of September, where he was joined by the detachment under Colonel Jennings. While on his way, he had sent an express to General Harrison, informing him of the situation of his troops, and the harassing warfare kept up with the enemy. The latter arrived at the fort on the third of October, with additional reïnforcements, but returned again, on the ensuing day, to the settled country, to bring the remainder of the troops, composing the centre and right wing of his army, into the field. General Winchester remained at Fort Defiance in command of the left wing.

Before leaving the fort, General Harrison directed General Tupper to proceed down the river with the Ohio mounted men, about one thousand strong, and drive the enemy from the Rapids. The command of General Tupper consisted of raw and inexperienced militia, and, though he made every effort, he was unable to comply with the orders he had received. In consequence of some misunderstanding between himself and General Winchester, he soon after returned with the Ohio cavalry, to Urbanna, whence he was ordered forward, with the centre of the northwestern army, which was composed of one regiment of regulars, and the Ohio volunteers and militia, to Fort M’Arthur. About the same time, the right wing, consisting of the Pennsylvania and Virginia brigades, under Generals Crooks and Leftwich, was advanced to Sandusky.

On his arrival at Fort M’Arthur, General Tupper organized another expedition to proceed to the Rapids. He left the fort on the tenth of November, with six hundred men, carrying five days’ rations in their knapsacks. On the evening of the thirteenth instant, he arrived within thirteen miles of the Rapids, and sent an officer in advance to reconnoitre. It was ascertained that Fort Maumee, and the settlement, were still occupied by the British and their savage allies, and their boats and vessels were discovered in the stream below. General Tupper made several unavailing attempts to cross the river, and then endeavored to decoy the enemy over. In this he was more successful; a large party of Indians crossed the river, whom he attacked and routed; but, on account of the failure of his provisions, he was soon obliged to return to Fort M’Arthur without accomplishing the object of the expedition. On the thirteenth of December, he conducted another detachment to the Rapids, between fifteen hundred and two thousand strong. On this occasion he encountered about three hundred British regulars and seven hundred Indians, on the right bank of the stream, a few miles above the Rapids. These he attacked and completely routed. The enemy left one hundred of their number on the field, and many were killed while attempting to swim across the river. Shortly after this affair, the British evacuated the post and retired to Malden and Detroit.

In the meantime, General Harrison, whose headquarters were established at Franklinton, had labored unceasingly, in connection with Governor Meigs, to complete his preparations for the projected winter campaign. It was designed that the army should advance, in three divisions, from Fort Defiance, Fort M’Arthur, and Sandusky, to the Rapids of the Maumee, where they were to receive their supplies of ordnance and provisions. A feint was then to be made upon Detroit, when the troops were to cross the river and invest Fort Malden.

The army under the orders of General Harrison nominally consisted of ten thousand men. But little over six thousand of these were effective, and many of the latter number were undisciplined and inexperienced. All were poorly clothed and worse fed. The efforts of the commanding general were unwearied and untiring, but he encountered obstacles and difficulties at every step. The army rendered an important service in holding the Indians in check, yet they were unable to move forward, and General Harrison was warmly censured, by those who were unacquainted with the real state of things, for his inactivity. A simple statement of the position of affairs on this frontier will be his best defence.—The enemy had the command on Lake Erie, and it seemed almost impossible to furnish the troops in this remote region with the supplies that they needed, and without which it would have been mere fool-hardiness to advance. It was necessary to transport the ordnance and heavy stores over the Alleghanies, and down the Ohio, and thence they were hauled, over land, hundreds of miles, along blazed forest paths and miserable trails, across half-frozen swamps and through trackless forests, to the banks of the Maumee.

Against such embarrassments, General Harrison struggled almost hopelessly, yet as it proved in the sequel, successfully, notwithstanding that his plans were frequently thwarted, and his measures disconcerted, by the War Department. In January, 1813, Dr. Eustis was succeeded by General Armstrong as Secretary of War. The latter had imbibed strong prejudices against a militia force, and entertained a marked dislike towards General Harrison, who,—though possessing the confidence of Madison himself,—never knew what it was to be cordially sustained by the executive officers of the government, while he remained in service.

While General Harrison was busily engaged in distributing the supplies, and organizing the reïnforcements, as they arrived, an event took place, which, it has been truly said, “clothed Kentucky in mourning.”—The left wing of the army, under General Winchester, remained at Fort Defiance, on the site of which they constructed a new fort, named, after the general in command, Fort Winchester, till November. Having constructed a number of pirogues, for the transportation of their baggage, they moved down the river about six miles, to camp No. 3, where they were delayed until the eighth of January, 1813—suffering greatly, in the meantime, for the want of clothing and provisions. Orders were then issued for the advance. The weather was exceedingly inclement, the river blocked up with ice, and the ground covered with snow to the depth of twenty-seven inches;—yet the brave Kentuckians, of whom General Winchester’s command was almost exclusively composed, harnessed themselves to sleighs on which they placed their baggage, and performed the weary march of twenty-seven miles, to the Rapids, in two days. Immediately after his arrival at this point, the general received a message from the inhabitants of Frenchtown, a small village situated on the left bank, and near the mouth, of the river Raisin, informing him that a large body of British and Indians were about to make a descent on that place, and urgently entreating him to hasten to their assistance.

Sickness, and the expiration of the terms of service of the volunteers, had reduced the strength of his column to but little over eight hundred men; and General Winchester hesitated to place any portion of this small command, within a single day’s march,—as the Detroit river was then frozen over,—of the British forces concentrated at Malden. His officers, however, unanimously, and earnestly, advised a compliance with the request; and, impelled by motives of humanity, without waiting to communicate with General Harrison, and, indeed, contrary to his own better judgment, he detached Colonels Lewis and Allen, with about five hundred men, on the seventeenth of January, instructing them to proceed to Presque Isle, and there await his arrival with the remainder of the column.

At Presque Isle, Colonel Lewis, who had been placed in command of the detachment, learned that an advanced party of British and Indians were already in possession of Frenchtown. He therefore determined to hasten forward and attack them. The march was resumed, through the ice and snow, and at three o’clock in the afternoon of the eighteenth instant, he arrived on the southern bank of the river, opposite to the village in which the enemy, about five hundred in number, under the command of Major Reynolds, were posted. The stream being bridged with ice, Colonel Lewis formed Irishmen for action, and advanced steadily to the further shore. A warm contest ensued, which was terminated only by the darkness. The enemy were forced from their position, and driven nearly two miles into the woods, under a continual charge. Colonel Lewis had twelve men killed and fifty-five wounded. The enemy’s loss was supposed to be far more severe, as fifteen Indian warriors were found on the field,—though it could never be ascertained with certainty.

Colonel Lewis was joined on the twentieth instant by General Winchester, with two hundred and fifty men,—the latter having previously advised General Harrison, then at Lower Sandusky, of the advance to Frenchtown. General Harrison received the dispatch of General Winchester on the nineteenth of January, and, though deeply chagrined at this interference with the general plan of his operations, he set out immediately for the Rapids. His inspector general, Captain Hart, was dispatched to General Winchester, with orders to maintain the position to which he had advanced at all hazards. On the twenty-third instant, a reïnforcement of three hundred men, under Major Cotgreves, took up the line of march for Frenchtown, and on the same day General Harrison followed, with another corps, three hundred and sixty strong.

It was all too late! The catastrophe which General Harrison feared had already occurred;—the blow had been struck that desolated so many homes, and widowed so many hearts, in the fair state of Kentucky.—Early in the morning of the twenty-second, General Winchester was attacked by an overwhelming force of British and Indians, numbering at least fifteen hundred men, with six pieces of artillery, under Colonel Proctor and the chiefs Round-Head and Split-Log. His men maintained a stout resistance—fighting bravely for hours, exposed to a most murderous fire. At length, after one half their number were either killed or wounded, the remainder—a sadly diminished band—surrendered themselves prisoners of war, upon the pledge of the British commander to protect them from Indian violence.

The pledge was basely violated. Another, and still darker feature, was added to the worse than brutal warfare waged on the part of the English government. On the day after the engagement, Colonel Proctor returned to Detroit, leaving between fifty and sixty wounded prisoners at Frenchtown, who were cruelly butchered by his savage associates,—a half-breed, who held a high commission in the Royal service, boasting, in the presence of the British officers, that the Indians were “excellent doctors”! The houses in which the unfortunate victims perished were set on fire, and their bodies consumed. Other prisoners, not wounded, were murdered in cold blood; the rites of sepulture were denied to their remains, and those of their comrades who had fallen in the action; and their bones were left to whiten in the wintry storm that howled its requiem above their resting place. Some perished by the way side, on the march to Detroit, from the inclemency of the weather; others sank beneath the tomahawk of the savage. The survivors,—few in number,—to the lasting dishonor of a nation whose sovereign rewarded the officer, who connived at, or tolerated these abuses, with the commission of a brigadier general, were stripped and plundered, and subjected to the grossest indignities and outrages.

General Harrison was three miles in advance of the Rapids, hurrying rapidly on with his reïnforcements, when he received the intelligence of this sad disaster. Selecting a picked corps of one hundred and seventy men, he detached them to the assistance of the fugitives, but few of whom made their escape from the field of battle, in consequence of the great depth of snow. He also dispatched a surgeon, with two companions, provided with money, under a flag of truce, to attend the sick and wounded prisoners of General Winchester’s command. One of the party was murdered by the Indians, and the others were robbed, and otherwise inhumanly treated, by both British and savages. After suffering for several months in confinement, having been transferred from one dungeon to another, they were finally set at liberty in Quebec.

Had General Harrison consulted his first impulses, he would have hastened forward with his whole disposable force, to avenge the massacre at Frenchtown. Doubtless, it would have been better, had he done so—provided he could have been successful, which is not entirely free from doubt—and he would then have escaped the censure bestowed on his conduct, undeserved and ungenerous though it was. But the roads, miserable as they were in the most favorable weather, were covered with three feet of snow, and almost impracticable for artillery; it was not then known that Proctor had himself retired; the force of the enemy was greatly exaggerated; and the unanimous advice of his officers counselled him to fall back without delay. It might be improper to call him a bold man,—because he did not court danger unnecessarily. Yet he did not lack bravery; he was not timid; nor was his courage like “fire in a flint which will not show without knocking.” He was firm, resolute, and unflinching, when occasion required,—he was only not rash, not reckless. He was responsible for the success, or failure, of the whole campaign; the security of the entire frontier depended on his army alone,—the only barrier against the swooping torrent of Indian warriors who wanted but the opportunity to precipitate themselves on the defenceless settlements, in terror and blood.

In conformity with the advice of his officers, General Harrison fell back to Carrying river, about midway between the Sandusky and Maumee, on the twenty-third of January, in order to effect a junction with the troops in the rear, and to cover the transportation of artillery, and other stores, from Upper Sandusky. Having been reïnforced by two Ohio regiments, promptly dispatched to his assistance by Governor Meigs, he again advanced, in the month of February, to the Rapids, at the foot of which, and nearly opposite Fort Maumee, he commenced the construction of a fort, named, in honor of the governor, Fort Meigs.

The advance of General Winchester to Frenchtown, and the consequent defeat and surrender of his command, entirely deranged the plans of General Harrison for the winter campaign. The term of service of a large portion of his militia force shortly after expired, and it became necessary to call out new levies before anything further could be attempted. He therefore returned to the interior of Ohio, to procure additional troops from that state, and Kentucky. In neither was there any lack of patriotism exhibited,—but, in the latter, where there was scarcely a family that did not mourn the loss of some near friend or relative, one general outcry was raised, for vengeance upon the perpetrators of that bloody massacre on the banks of the Raisin.

The legislature of Kentucky, at its winter session, authorized Governor Shelby, who had been elected the year previous, to take command in person of three thousand militia; and Colonel Richard M. Johnson, also of that state, was empowered by the War Department to raise a regiment of mounted men—which troops were designed for the reïnforcement of General Harrison in the spring.

Early in April, General Harrison, now promoted to the rank of major general by brevet, and appointed to the command of the eighth military district, learned that extensive preparations were being made by General Proctor and Tecumseh, for a combined attack on Fort Meigs. He immediately returned to the fort, and, in connection with the engineer officers, Captains Wood and Gratiot, labored indefatigably, night and day, to put it in a more favorable posture of defence. The fort was an octagon, containing about nine acres, and was situated on the rising ground overlooking the river bottom. At each corner there was a strong block-house, “with cannon planted so as to rake each front and command every elevated point near the fort”; the block-houses were connected by strong picketings fifteen feet high, against which a breastwork of clayey earth was thrown up, on either side. There were several long batteries also constructed, which were well garnished with cannon. The means of defence were ample, with the exception of the garrison, which consisted of only twelve hundred men, the greater part of whom were volunteers. The regulars were the 19th infantry, under Lieutenant Colonel Miller; and the volunteers present, composed the Pennsylvania brigade commanded by General Crooks. The term of service of the Pennsylvanians had expired, but they generously volunteered to remain and defend the fort. All were animated by the best spirit, and determined on holding the work as long as it proved tenable; and, when their defences failed, to sell their lives dearly.

On the twenty-eighth of April, one of the patrolling parties reported that the enemy were ascending the river from the lake, and that they were in great force about three miles below. A few British and Indians were also discovered on the opposite bank of the river, who were driven off by the fire of an eighteen-pounder gun. A brigade of Kentucky militia, twelve hundred strong, under General Green Clay, were, at this time, approaching the fort from Cincinnati, and a dispatch was now sent to quicken their march.

It was the intention of General Proctor, who commanded the British force, which consisted of between nine and ten hundred regulars and Canadian militia and twelve hundred Indians, to make a dash at the American works, and carry them, before the garrison could be reïnforced. The wary foresight of General Harrison frustrated his design. Disappointed in his original purpose, the British commander sat down deliberately before the fort, and began his preparations for a regular investment. The light troops, and a part of the Indians, were thrown across the river, with directions to occupy the most favorable positions for annoying the garrison, while General Proctor superintended the erection of batteries on the left bank. The fire from the fort prevented the speedy completion of the batteries, as the enemy were obliged to perform most of the work under cover of the night. A warm fire was kept up on the garrison by their skirmishers, but it produced little effect. No inconvenience, of especial importance, was felt by the Americans, except the want of water; the well in the fort not being completed, it was necessary to procure it from the river, after nightfall, which was attended with considerable risk, as bands of Indians were constantly lying in wait to intercept stragglers.

General Proctor completed his batteries, and mounted his guns, on the first of May, and immediately opened a vigorous fire from one twenty-four, one twelve, and one six-pounder, and one howitzer. The guns in the fort were effectively served, in return. The enemy produced no sensible impression, although General Harrison made a fortunate escape. During the cannonade, he was seated on a bench attentively watching the play of the guns, when a ball came plunging down into the fort close beside him. With Napoleon at Montereau, he might have said, “The bullet which is to kill me, is not yet cast!”—The bench on which he was sitting, was shivered in pieces, but he himself received no injury.

An additional battery was opened, on the third instant, at a distance of two hundred and fifty yards from the fort, on the south side of the river. On this a mortar was planted, from which a number of shells were thrown. The Americans turned their guns upon it, however; and their fire told so well, that it was soon silenced. After the opening of the fire from the mortar battery, the garrison was for the first time summoned to surrender. General Proctor assured the American commander, in his summons, with the most bare-faced effrontery, that he was actuated solely by the desire of sparing the effusion of blood; that successful resistance was out of the question against so numerous a force; and that a prompt surrender could alone save the garrison from the horrors of Indian warfare. The reply of General Harrison was such as became him:—while he had the honor to command an American fort, he said, it should never be surrendered, and, least of all, to General Proctor and the savage hordes with whom he fraternized.

The enemy now pressed the siege with increased zeal, and the garrison suffered far more than they had previously done, from the fire of the Indians on the right bank of the river, who climbed the tall forest trees, and, sheltered by the intertwining branches, rained their rifle balls upon the heads of the American troops. A brisk fire was maintained on both sides, till the morning of the fifth instant, when a small party from the brigade of General Clay, then descending the river from Fort Defiance, arrived at Fort Meigs, with the information that the column to which they belonged was rapidly approaching. General Harrison’s decision was soon taken: be resolved on making an effort that day to raise the siege, and, having matured his plans, dispatched a messenger to General Clay, with orders to land eight hundred of his men on the left bank of the river and destroy the enemy’s batteries, while a sortie should be made from the fort upon those on the other side. The remainder of General Clay’s brigade were directed to descend the right bank of the stream to the fort.

General Harrison’s plan was a skilful one, and would have been attended with complete success, had it not been for the “superabundant bravery” of the Kentuckians. In compliance with his orders, General Clay detached eight hundred of his best troops, under Colonel Dudley, who landed his men in good order, and advanced boldly upon the enemy’s batteries, in three columns. The British were surprised at the suddenness of the attack, and abandoned their guns almost instantly, leaving them in possession of the victors. Unfortunately, the American officers lost all control over their men. Animated by a burning thirst for vengeance, they refused to obey the orders of General Harrison, directing them to spike the cannon and retire across the river, but eagerly pursued the fugitive artillerists, or engaged in a straggling contest with the Indians who now made their appearance. The consequence was what might have been foreseen. The enemy rallied, and being joined by a reïnforcement from the main camp about two miles below, and a strong body of Indian warriors under Tecumseh, who had just arrived, they became, in turn, the aggressors. Colonel Dudley exerted himself to the utmost, to draw off his men in safety, and lost his life in the attempt. The Americans fought bravely; but they lacked discipline, as they wanted discretion. But one hundred and fifty men of the command succeeded in crossing the river and reaching the fort; the remainder being killed, wounded, or taken prisoners.

The sortie on the right bank of the river was made by a detachment of three hundred and fifty men, headed by Lieutenant Colonel Miller, of the 19th infantry. Imitating the intrepid conduct of their leader, they dashed upon the batteries, and drove out the artillerists and their supporting party, at the point of the bayonet. After spiking the cannon and destroying the carriages, Lieutenant Colonel Miller returned with forty-two prisoners. While in the act of retiring, the enemy rallied and pressed upon him; but he gallantly held them at bay till he reached the fort,—having accomplished the object for which his command was detached, in a short time, and with comparatively trifling loss.

Meanwhile the remainder of General Clay’s command encountered the Indians on the right bank of the river, where they landed, and routed them with great ease. Incautiously advancing too far, they came very near being drawn into an ambush, from which they were timely rescued by General Harrison, who dispatched a troop of horse to cover their retreat into the fort.

On the sixth a tacit suspension of hostilities took place, which continued during that and the two following days. After the sortie, the Indian warriors, in accordance with their custom, began to return, in large numbers, to their villages,—the eloquent remonstrances of Tecumseh proving powerless to detain them. General Proctor now feared that the Americans would soon turn upon him, and he well knew that he had but little to hope from the outraged Kentuckians, should the fortune of war place him in their power. He therefore decided to abandon the attempt on the fort, and on the evening of the ninth instant commenced embarking his ordnance and stores. A warm fire from the American guns checked the movement for the time; but, early in the morning of the tenth, he made a precipitate retreat down the river with his whole command.

The Americans lost two hundred and seventy men, killed and wounded, during the siege. That of the enemy was probably about one hundred. Although the defence of the fort was attended by no brilliant successes, the savages were thereby prevented from making their hostile incursions into the settlements.

At the opening of the season, General Harrison became convinced that the command of Lake Erie would be decisive of the campaign, and that without it a column could not be supplied with the ordnance and heavy stores necessary for a march on Detroit, or Malden. He therefore recommended the construction of a fleet, and Captain Perry was detailed for this service. While the naval preparations were in progress, General Harrison left Fort Meigs in charge of General Clay, and repaired to Franklinton, where the new regiments from Ohio and Kentucky were ordered to rendezvous. At this place, also, he received into the service a large body of Indian warriors, belonging to the friendly tribes in the state of Ohio, and the territories of Indiana and Illinois, who could not be induced to remain neutral, especially as they had recently been attacked by the hostile Indians; but, unlike the British officers, whose conduct throughout contrasts so unfavorably with his, he pledged them to spare their prisoners, and to refrain from injuring defenceless women and children.

During the summer months, while General Harrison necessarily remained inactive, the British made several threatening movements upon Fort Meigs, Fort Stephenson, (at Lower Sandusky,) Cleveland and Erie. Towards the latter part of July, General Proctor again made his appearance before Fort Meigs, with between three and four thousand troops, including his Indian allies. General Clay was well prepared for his reception, and on discovering this, he retired down the river. Accompanied by about five hundred regulars and militia, and seven or eight hundred savages, he proceeded to Fort Stephenson, then garrisoned by Major Croghan, with one hundred and sixty men, and a single six-pounder gun. The fort was invested, and the garrison summoned to surrender; the usual threat in regard to the ferocity of the Indians being added, with a view of terrifying the garrison. Nowise intimidated by the superior force of the enemy, the gallant Croghan replied that, “when the fort should be taken, there would be none left to massacre,—as it would not be given up while a man was able to fight.”

The breaking day was spreading its warm bright flush over the surrounding scenery, on the second of August when the enemy opened a vigorous fire from three six-pounders planted on the shore during the night, and two six-pounders and a howitzer in their gunboats lying in the Sandusky. The fire was kept up all day, though with trifling effect, and just before sunset, an assaulting column of three hundred and fifty men, led by Lieutenant Colonel Short, advanced to the storm,—several feints being made, at the same time, to draw the attention of the besieged from the real point of attack. Major Croghan was not to be deceived; loading his six-pounder to its utmost capacity, with grape and slugs, he placed it at a masked porthole in a blockhouse at the northwestern angle of the work, so as to rake the ditch. This proved to be the point assailed. Enveloped in smoke, the assailants advanced rapidly up the glacis. When within twenty paces of the ditch, a volley of musketry caused them to stagger. Rallied by their commander, the foremost files sprang with him into the ditch. At the instant, the charge of the six-pounder was poured in upon them, strewing its fiery pathway with the dying and the dead. The head of the column was completely cut off, and the remainder fled in confusion, leaving behind them their fallen leader, and a great number of their comrades.

General Proctor made no further effort to reduce the fort. Retreating in haste to his boats, he retired down the river to the lake, and thence to Malden,—having lost, in this fruitless attempt, one hundred and fifty men, either killed or wounded. The Americans had but one man killed and seven wounded.

After weeks and months of incessant toil, Commodore Perry finally got his fleet in readiness. On the fourth of August he crossed the bar at Erie with his squadron,—consisting of three brigs, five schooners, and one sloop, carrying fifty-four guns,—and sailed in quest of the enemy. On the tenth of September, off Put-in Bay, he encountered the British squadron, under Captain Barclay, consisting of two ships, one brig, two schooners, and one sloop, carrying, in all, sixty-three guns. A desperate engagement, of three hours’ duration, terminated in the surrender of the hostile fleet. This well-fought action was the prelude to one equally glorious, and removed the only obstacle to the advance of the northwestern army into Canada.

Commodore Perry immediately returned to Put-in Bay, to coöperate with the land forces in an expedition already projected. General Harrison soon concentrated all his disposable troops, among whom were between three and four thousand Kentucky volunteers, under Governor Shelby, at this point. The regiment of mounted men commanded by Colonel R. M. Johnson, one thousand strong, was ordered to proceed to Detroit by land; and the remainder of the army embarked on the vessels of Commodore Perry, in which they were transported to the islands in the vicinity of Malden. On the twenty-seventh of September they effected a landing on the Canada shore, about three miles below that post.

The hour of reckoning had come for General Proctor and the savage banditti whom he had gathered round him. Strong in his position at Malden, and in the men and means necessary for its defence, he yet lacked the courage to maintain it. The earnest exhortations of Tecumseh and the other Indian chiefs, who entreated him to remain firm, failed to reässure him. He felt that a cause which had been sullied by so much of dishonor, was, indeed, hopeless; and he feared, as well he might, to meet the awakened wrath of the kinsmen and friends of the brave men who perished on the Raisin. Under his orders, the fort was dismantled and blown up, and the navy yard, barracks, and store-houses were burned. He then retreated hastily towards the river Thames, or La Tranchée, with his whole force, taking with him large stores of private property, which he had plundered from American prisoners, and the citizens of Detroit.