110

SIEGE OF FORT MEIGS.

Americans. The Indian warriors, who had participated in the engagement, had chiefly left the village of Frenchtown, with their allies, soon after the conclusion of the conflict. They proceeded, however, only a few miles on the road to Malden; and at sunrise, on the succeeding day, returned to the village, and commenced the work of destruction. The houses, in which the greater part of the prisoners were confined, were set on fire, and most of those ill-fated men perished in the conflagration. Those who possessed sufficient strength, endeavoured in vain to escape; as fast as they appeared at the windows, they were thrust back into the devouring flames. Others met their death in the streets from the tomahawk, and were left mangled on the highway. Thus ended this horrid tragedy of the Indians. But, were the Indians alone to blame for their violence? Were not the British officers responsible for the deeds of their allies? Posterity, in whose impartial balance these awful scenes are to be weighed, will not hesitate to include in the same sentence of condemnation, both those who committed the massacre, and those by whom it was not forbidden. This disaster gave a decisive blow to the operations of the campaign, and occasioned the total abandonment of the enterprise against Malden, for the season. General Harrison employed this time in the fortification of his camp, which he denominated Fort Meigs, in honour of the Governor of Ohio.

Here, about the end of April, he was besieged by the British and Indians. On the 1st of May, the British batteries being completed, a heavy cannonading commenced, which was continued till late at night. The intervening time had not been spent in idleness by the garrison. A grand traverse, twelve feet high, upon a base of twenty feet, and three hundred yards long, had been completed, which concealed and protected the whole army. The fire of the enemy, therefore, produced little effect. Disappointed in his first plan of attack, Colonel Proctor transferred his guns to the opposite side of the river, and opened a fire upon the centre and flanks of the camp. The cannonading of the enemy continued for several days,

incessant and powerful; that of the Americans produced greater execution; but a scarcity of ammunition compelled them to economize their fire.

In the meantime, an attempt was made by General Clay to raise the siege; but it was defeated, on account of the imprudence and insubordination of the troops engaged. In the battle, many valuable lives were lost; and the cruelties perpetrated upon the prisoners in presence of the officers of the British army, are said to be little inferior in atrocity to those of the bloody day of Frenchtown.* From this period until the 9th, little of importance occurred. The British commander, finding that he could make no impression upon the fort with his batteries, and being deserted, in a great measure,

*Colonel Wood's Journal. M'Afee's History, p. 271.

112

ATTACK ON YORK.

by his Indian allies, who became weary of the length of the siege, resolved upon a retreat. After several days' preparation, his whole force was accordingly embarked on the 9th; and was soon out of sight of the garrison, with little molestation on their part.

The British force, including regulars and militia, during the siege, was supposed to have been upwards of one thousand. Their Indian auxiliaries were not fewer in number. Among them the celebrated Tecumseh was particularly distinguished. The American garrison seldom exceeded twelve hundred, a very small portion of whom were regulars. Its loss, during the siege, with the exception of that occasioned by the unfortunate attempt of General Clay, was not great. About two hundred and fifty were killed and wounded, principally on that

occasion.

The land forces on the Ontario frontier were under the immediate command of General Dearborn; who now determined to make an attack on the town of York, the capital of Upper Canada, and a place of great importance to the enemy. The troops destined for the expedition, to the number of about seventeen hundred, embarked on board the squadron, and left Sackett's Harbour, on the 25th of April. On the 27th, they succeeded in effecting a landing, though opposed by seven hundred regulars and militia, and one hundred Indians. Major Forsyth, with his riflemen, was the first to gain the shore; and, after a severe contest of nearly half an hour, succeeded in repelling the enemy with a very inferior force. General Pike now landed; and, pushing on with a small party, drove the enemy before him. They rallied, however, and returned to the attack, but were again repulsed, and retreated to their works. The whole body was by this time formed on the shore, and arranged in the order contemplated for the attack. Led by their gallant commander, General Pike, the column pressed forward with the utmost regularity; and, after receiving a heavy fire from one of the enemy's batteries, which they carried by assault, were moving towards the main works, when a sudden and tremendous explosion

FORT GEORGE TAKEN.

113

took place from the enemy's magazine, which hurled upon the advancing troops immense masses of stone and timber, and, for a short time, checked their progress, by the havoc it made in their ranks. Numbers were immediately killed or disabled by the contusions; among the latter was their deservedly lamented commander, General Pike, who survived but a few hours. The direction of the troops then devolved upon the senior officer, Colonel Pearce, General Dearborn having remained on board of one of the vessels of the squadron. The enemy's regular troops had now retreated, leaving the defence of the place to the militia. At five o'clock, the Americans took possession of the town, having arranged articles of capitulation with the commanding officer. The land and naval forces were surrendered prisoners of war, and all public stores given up. Private property was guarantied and scrupulously protected. The prisoners taken amounted to forty officers, and two hundred and fifty-one non-commissioned officers and privates, the greater part of whom were militia. Besides these, the loss of the enemy was estimated by General Dearborn at one hundred killed and three hundred wounded. The total loss of the American army in killed and wounded amounted to three hundred and twenty men, of whom thirtyeight were killed and two hundred and twenty-two wounded by the explosion of the magazine.

General Dearborn next made a descent upon Fort George, which was taken, after a spirited resistance. The British retired to Burlington heights, about forty miles west of Fort George, where they concentrated their forces with those of other British garrisons. Generals Chandler and Winder were despatched from Fort George, for the purpose of cutting off the retreat of this body; but they were surprised by a night attack of the enemy, both generals were captured, and the detachment compelled, by the arrival of the British fleet under Sir James Yeo, to retreat to Fort George. A detachment of about five hundred men, under Lieutenant-Colonel Boerstler, being sent soon after to attack and disperse a body of the enemy at Beaver Dams, was surrounded and captured, the

114

SACKETT'S HARBOUR ATTACKED.

troops being compelled to lay down their arms at the head of the British column.

From this period little of importance occurred in the vicinity of Fort George. The British troops, having been considerably reinforced, and placed under the command of MajorGeneral De Rottenburgh, invested the fort, without, however, making any regular attack upon it.

While the greater part of the American army was thus occupied on the Canada frontier, Sackett's Harbour being left in a comparatively defenceless state, the opportunity was seized by the enemy to make an attack upon that important post. At the departure of General Dearborn for York, he gave the command to Brigadier-General Brown, of the New York militia, although his term of service had expired. On the 27th of May, the enemy's squadron was discovered by Lieutenant Chauncey; and notice being given at Sackett's Harbour, alarm-guns were fired, for the purpose of bringing in the militia of the neighbourhood. By these and other means, a force of about one thousand men was collected, consisting of regulars, seamen, volunteers, and militia, the latter composing one-half of the amount. With this body, General Brown made all the arrangements for defence which the shortness of the time would allow. The militia and volunteers, under Colonel Mills, were posted behind a breastwork, hastily thrown up on a peninsula, at which it was supposed the enemy would land. The regulars under Colonel Backus, formed a second line; and Lieutenant Chauncey, with some seamen, was stationed at the Navy Point, with directions to destroy the buildings and stores, in case of the defeat of these troops. On the morning of the 29th, the enemy landed his whole force, which consisted of one thousand picked men, under Sir George Prevost, after a heavy fire from the battery on the peninsula, which occasioned some loss. This fire was, however, all the defence that the militia attempted. As soon as the enemy began to approach, they were seized by one of those panics to which all new troops are subject, and fled, in haste and confusion. Colonel Mills, their commander, in vain endeavoured