Chapter III: Part 3

The effect was terrific. The enemy were mowed down in platoons, and scores were swept away at every discharge. They hesitated for a moment,--another scorching blast burst from the American batteries,--and they recoiled in terror and alarm. They were soon rallied, however, and again led to the attack; but they were again repulsed with fearful slaughter. The British officers once more succeeded in animating their wavering troops for another onset. They now attempted to pass round the abattis by wading through the lake, the water of which came nearly to their arm-pits. The American soldiers, cheered by the presence of General Gaines, who had mounted his horse and hastened at the first alarm to participate in the dangers, and share the perils of the conflict, made every preparation to receive them. Some few succeeded in reaching the firm earth on the opposite side of the abattis, but it was only to be pierced by a dozen wounds. Many were drowned in the lake; others sank exhausted by their wounds, beneath the water dyed with the life blood which they had vainly shed; and others found their only safety in surrendering themselves prisoners of war. The officers no longer endeavored to prevent the retreat, but all, as if animated by one impulse, hurried, in haste, from the scene of their disaster.

[Sidenote: INCIDENTS OF THE BATTLE.]

On the other flank the enemy were equally unsuccessful. The column under Colonel Scott became entangled in the rocks near the river, on the right of the intrenched camp, and were delayed for a short time; but when they discovered their error, and regained their line of march, they pushed on more rapidly than before. The sleepless vigilance of the besieged could not be taken by surprise. The assailing column were heard distinctly behind the ramparts as they approached, and when within fifty yards of the American lines, they encountered an appalling fire that forced them to halt. To advance further was impossible. The batteries before them presented a constant blaze of fire, and the air was full of bursting balls and missiles. In the meantime, the central column, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Drummond, had advanced boldly against the fort in front. A rapid, and well-directed fire was turned upon them by Captain Williams, but, unappalled by the carnage, they succeeded in applying their ladders to the walls of the salient bastion. As they were striving to gain the parapet, their officers shouted to their comrades, in the column under Colonel Scott, to “cease firing”!

This proved to be a mere trick, but it succeeded for a moment. The order was heard by Captain Douglass, and supposing that it emanated from his own superior officers, both he and his infantry support temporarily suspended their fire. Favored by this circumstance, Colonel Scott once more led on his men,--but they had only provoked their doom. The deception was now manifest, and a still more galling fire was sustained, which caused them again to pause. Their commander and a number of his officers were cut down; their loss was dreadfully severe; they were unable to continue the advance, and a retreat was ordered. They commenced retiring slowly, but the movement terminated in a disorderly flight.

Drummond’s column, however, had achieved a slight advantage, yet it was brief as it was unimportant. The first attempt to carry the bastion entirely failed; a second, and a third effort was made, with similar results. But the British commander lacked not in brutal courage, though sadly deficient in the more ennobling qualities of the gallant soldier. Under cover of the intense darkness, just before the break of day, he led a portion of his men silently along the ditch, applied his ladders at a point where he was not expected, and mounted the parapet. With a daring intrepidity worthy of a better cause, he led his men forward to the charge, shrieking out in the tones of baffled rage and hate--“No quarter!--give the Yankees no quarter!” This dastard order was faithfully obeyed. A fierce and maddening contest took place for the possession of the bastion. Major Hindman and his artillerists, with their supporting force, bravely stood their ground. Their efforts proved unavailing. Captain Williams, and a number of the men, were killed or mortally wounded, and his lieutenants, Watmough and Macdonough, were also severely wounded. The latter disdained to yield till he was completely disabled, and then asked for quarter. This was refused,--when, rallying his remaining strength, he snatched a handspike, and, with the madness of despairing humanity, strove to beat off his assailants. As he held them at bay, the infuriated Drummond rushed forward, and shot him down with his own hand. But this coward act received a fearful retribution. The next instant an avenging bullet found its way to the heart of the British leader, and he fell beside his victim,--a horrid blasphemy gurgling, with the death rattle, in his throat!

[Sidenote: FINAL REPULSE OF THE ENEMY.]

Notwithstanding the fall of their commander, the men who had effected a lodgment in the bastion, successfully resisted every attempt to dislodge them till daylight. General Gaines then ordered up larger reinforcements, and the enemy began speedily to fall back. They were now at the mercy of the American soldiers, who had not forgotten the savage cry which had been the death-knell of many a brave spirit. Expecting no favor, as none was merited, they had commenced tumbling pellmell over the parapet into the ditch, when a strong reserve was descried rapidly coming up under Lieutenant Colonel Tucker. An enfilading fire from Captain Douglass’ battery upon the approaching column, and a few rapid and effective discharges from the guns of Captains Biddle and Fanning, checked their advance. Between three and four hundred of the enemy advanced to within a short distance of the bastion; but, at this moment, and while the Americans, under the orders of General Gaines, were preparing for a vigorous rush upon the remnant of Drummond’s column, a number of cartridges deposited in one end of the stone building adjoining the bastion, caught fire, and exploded, with a tremendous roar, carrying away the whole platform. The loss of the enemy by the explosion was small in comparison with what they had previously sustained, but it served to add to their confusion, and to increase their anxiety to escape beyond the reach of the American guns. No effort was made to pursue the assault further, and a general retreat of the enemy now took place, as tumultuous and disorderly, as their advance had been brave and imposing.

The British lost one hundred and fifty-seven men killed, in the assault, three hundred and eight wounded, and one hundred and eighty-six prisoners; besides a number who were drowned in the lake, and a still greater number who deserted under cover of the darkness. The American loss was only seventeen killed, fifty-six wounded, and eleven missing.

General Drummond had indulged the hope that a single giant stroke would retrieve the fortunes of the British arms in the peninsula, and enable him to “ride in triumph over all mischance.” The attack was well-laid, but failed in every respect. This abortive attempt sadly crippled his strength, and though he was reïnforced by two regiments on the following day, he durst not hazard a second assault. His batteries were enlarged, and the bombardment continued, though without any sensible effect. On the twenty-eighth of August, General Gaines, having been severely wounded by the bursting of a shell, was obliged to retire to Buffalo, leaving General Ripley in charge of the post which had been thus bravely defended. General Brown resumed the command on the second of September, and soon after compelled the British commander to raise the siege, and retire to his intrenched camp beyond the Chippewa.[6]

General Gaines did not recover from his wound in time to take part in the further operations of the belligerent forces during the few months which elapsed previous to the conclusion of the treaty of peace.--His gallant service in the defence of Fort Erie, did not go unrewarded. He was brevetted a major-general; Congress honored him, also, and the officers and men under his command, with a vote of thanks, and authorized the president to procure and present him with a gold medal. Similar votes of thanks were likewise passed, and gold-hilted swords presented to him, by the legislatures of New York, Virginia, and Tennessee.

[Sidenote: THE SEMINOLE WAR.]

After the termination of hostilities with Great Britain, being retained on the peace-establishment, General Gaines was ordered to relieve General Jackson in the command of the southern district. He was engaged in the discharge of the duties appertaining to his position, in the summer of 1817, when the Seminoles, a branch of the Creek tribe, and the Red Sticks, or Mickasaukians, also a branch of the same nation, who were driven from the Mississippi territory by General Jackson, in 1814, in connection with a number of runaway negroes,--all instigated by Nichols and Woodbine, and other British agents, and the Spanish authorities of Florida,--began to renew their depredations on the southern frontiers of Georgia. In July, a large band of these savages and outlaws were dislodged from a fort in which they had established themselves, on the Appalachicola, by a body of regulars and friendly Indians, under Colonel Clinch; but, as their outrages were frequently repeated, General Gaines immediately commenced erecting forts for the defence and protection of the border settlements. Fort Scott was constructed on the Flint river, a short distance above Spring Creek; Fort Gaines on the left bank of the Chatahoochee, about midway between the Petawla and Yattayabba creeks; and a third fort on the Conecuh.

In order to put an end to the atrocities perpetrated by the hostile savages and their associates, orders were issued to General Gaines from the War Department, “to remove the Indians still remaining on the lands ceded by the treaty made by General Jackson with the Creeks;” and, in pursuance of these instructions, on the nineteenth of November, he sent an officer to Fowltown, with a message requiring the removal of the Indians at that place. The chief in command returned a haughty refusal; whereupon, Major Twiggs was dispatched with a strong force, to compel an observance of the order, and to bring the chief and his party to Fort Scott. He was attacked on the way, but succeeded in repulsing the Indians, and arrived safely at Fowltown, which was found entirely deserted. On the thirtieth instant, Major Muhlenburgh arrived in the Appalachicola, with three vessels, containing supplies for Fort Scott, but was unable to ascend the river on account of the adverse winds. Lieutenant Scott was therefore sent down to his assistance, with a boat and forty men. Twenty of his men were left with the vessels, and their places in the boat were filled by sick soldiers and women. Lieutenant Scott then started to return to the fort, but on reaching the mouth of the Flint river, he was suddenly attacked by a band of Indian warriors, under their chief Hornotlimed. The whole party, with the exception of six soldiers, who made their escape by swimming to the shore, were inhumanly butchered, and their scalps taken to the Indian town of Mickasauky, to adorn the war-pole, striped with red paint, which had already been erected.

Offensive measures of the most rigorous character, were now rendered unavoidable. The experience acquired by General Jackson in his Indian campaigns, led to his being selected to conduct the war against the Seminoles and their allies. He arrived at Fort Scott, with nine hundred Georgia militia, on the ninth of March, 1818, and, as the senior officer, assumed the command. General Gaines acted under his orders during the short, but decisive campaign, that terminated in the effectual chastisement of the savages, and their Spanish abettors.[7] The services of the former were invaluable to the commanding general; he was always to be relied on, ever ready for any service, prompt, skilful, persevering and industrious. He was present at the reduction of Fort Barrancas, on the twenty-eighth of May, and immediately thereafter was ordered to St. Augustine, with a detachment, which surrendered to him without serious opposition.

[Sidenote: CONTROVERSY WITH GENERAL SCOTT.]

The hostile Indians being now quieted, General Jackson was relieved from duty, and General Gaines again took the command. He continued in charge of the southern district, till the further reduction of the army in 1821. He was then selected as one of the two brigadiers retained in service, and assigned to the command of the western military division. Upon the death of General Brown, in 1828, he was a candidate, with General Scott, for the vacant office of General-in-chief. The appointment, however, was conferred on General Macomb, then at the head of the engineer bureau. Pending the selection of an officer to supply this vacancy, a warm controversy took place between General Scott and himself, in relation to their respective priority of rank, which led to an unfortunate estrangement between them, and has since been a fruitful subject of contention and difficulty, occasioning not more embarrassment to the individuals particularly concerned, than to the national authorities, and their mutual friends, who are perhaps equally proud of the military services of both officers.

General Gaines was continued in command of the western division, his head-quarters being established at Jefferson barracks, and on the breaking out of disturbances with the Sacs and Foxes, in May, 1831, he promptly repaired to the theatre of contention, having previously dispatched thither a large body of troops. The principal village of the Sacs and Foxes lay in the beautiful peninsula between the transparent waters of the Rock river, and the Mississippi. In 1804, a treaty was concluded by Governor Harrison with their principal chiefs, by the terms of which all their lands east of the Mississippi were ceded to the United States; the Indians reserving to themselves the right of living and hunting upon the territory ceded while the same was unsold. A large number of the Sacs remained in the peninsula, and continued peaceably to enjoy the rights which had been reserved, till the admission of Illinois into the Union. The state then began to be more rapidly populated, and the valuable lead mines at Galena attracted a vast body of emigrants. In a few years the Indians were entirely surrounded by the settlements of the whites. Collisions frequently occurred; excesses were committed on one side, and retaliatory measures, far more aggravated in character, were adopted on the other.

[Sidenote: DIFFICULTY WITH THE SACS AND FOXES.]

With a view of removing the cause of dispute, the general government, in 1829, ordered the lands occupied by the Indians to be sold. The Sacs, under their celebrated chief, Black Hawk, now insisted that the treaty of 1804 was concluded by a few chiefs without the knowledge or consent of the nation at large, and refused to give up possession to purchasers. The authorities of the state were called upon to interfere for the protection of the whites, and in May, 1831, Governor Reynolds called out seven hundred militia, to remove the Indians by force. A collision had been anticipated by the Executive of the United States, and General Gaines had received orders to proceed to the seat of disturbance, if it should appear to be necessary. He instantly ordered six companies of regular troops from Jefferson Barracks to Rock Island, and four companies from Prairie du Chien. On the thirteenth of May, General Gaines arrived with this force at Fort Armstrong. A conference was here held with the Indian chiefs, but as they were unwilling to agree to any satisfactory terms, he called on Governor Reynolds of Illinois, for an additional force of militia. The governor joined him on the Rock river, with sixteen hundred mounted men, on the twenty-fifth of June, and in the morning of the ensuing day, General Gaines took possession of the Indian town, at the head of the united force, without firing a gun, or meeting a single Indian,--the late occupants of the village having crossed the Mississippi, with their women and children, on the previous night.

General Gaines again dispatched a message to the Sac chiefs, proposing another conference. This was finally acceded to, and on the thirtieth of June they entered into a treaty with him and Governor Reynolds, by which it was agreed that they should permanently remove beyond the Mississippi. Having brought this affair to what, at the time, promised to be a satisfactory termination, General Gaines returned to his headquarters. The treaty stipulations of the Indians proved to be delusory, however. In the following year Black Hawk led his warriors across the Mississippi, and refused peremptorily to retire, till he and his band were completely routed at the battle of the Bad-Axe, on the twenty-seventh of August, after which a treaty was concluded with General Scott and Governor Reynolds, in accordance with which the Sacs and Foxes removed to the vicinity of the Iowa and Des Moines rivers.

Another long interval of comparative inaction now occurred in the military service of General Gaines. Little more can be said of him, during this time, than that all his duties as the commander of the western division, were discharged with punctuality and dispatch. We hear nothing further from him of especial moment, till the renewal of hostilities with the Seminoles of Florida, in the fall of 1835. On receiving intelligence of the massacre of Major Dade’s command, and the battle of the Withlacoochee, he collected all the disposable troops in the vicinity of New Orleans, to which point his head-quarters had been removed, and immediately repaired to the seat of war. He landed at Fort Brooke, at the head of Tampa Bay, on the fourth of February, 1836, and at once proceeded in search of the savages, following the route of the unfortunate Dade down the right bank of the Withlacoochee. On arriving at the scene of the massacre, he caused the remains of the brave soldiers who had fallen victims to the wiles of the Indian warriors, to be decently and carefully interred. On the twenty-eighth of February, he encountered a body of Indians not far from Fort King, but repulsed them with loss. Soon after this affair he entered into a parley with Asceolah, or Osceola, the principal chief of the Seminoles, which, like most obligations and pledges of a similar character, proved to be a mere ruse,--the object of which was to gain time for the removal of the women and children to places of security, in the marshy everglades, and leafy hummocks, in the southern part of the peninsula.

[Sidenote: THE FLORIDA WAR.]

Previous to these occurrences, General Scott had been ordered to take command of the troops, and to prosecute the war in Florida. He arrived at St. Augustine on the eighth of February, and on receiving authentic information of the fact, and on being informed of the orders issued at Washington, General Gaines gave up the command, and shortly afterwards returned to New Orleans.

His skirmish with the Indians, on the banks of the Withlacoochee, terminated, in all probability, forever, the active service of General Gaines in the field. Incapacitated, by reason of his age, and physical inability to endure the hardships and privations of a campaign, he was not employed in the prosecution of the war with Mexico, except in forwarding supplies, and hastening on troops, to the camp established by General Taylor at Corpus Christi, in the summer of 1845, and in discharging the other duties, in connection therewith, that devolved on him as the commanding officer at New Orleans. Though yielding to the influence of advancing years, he still possessed the chivalric fire, and the ardent patriotism, which had distinguished him in his younger days. Like the war-horse no longer fitted to endure the shock of battle, he snuffed the breeze that came from the field of strife, afar off, and when the information was received that General Taylor and his little band of soldiers were surrounded on the Rio Grande, and cut off from their supplies, he was impatient to rush to the assistance of his gallant brother in arms.

Restraining his impulses, he did all that was possible to be done, to relieve the army supposed to be in such imminent peril. All the regular troops that could be sent to the seat of war, were dispatched thither as expeditiously as possible. He also caused a large number of volunteers to be enrolled, mustered into service, and transported to the Rio Grande, without waiting for orders from Washington; in this he exceeded his authority, and it was thought proper to submit his conduct to a court of inquiry. The court assembled at Fort Monroe, in July, 1846, and after a full investigation, determined that he had transcended his powers, but that the act was prompted by the purest and most praiseworthy motives. The executive and the people of the United States, it is needless to say, cordially approved of the decision. Not long after General Gaines was assigned to the command of the eastern division, and established his head-quarters at New York, where he remained till the close of the war with Mexico, when he was relieved from duty at his own request.

[Sidenote: PERSONAL APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER.]

General Gaines yet lives, in the enjoyment of “all that should accompany old age,” to recount the thrilling incidents of his campaigns, and “fight his battles o’er again.” One of that class of men is he--but too few in number--belonging to a past _régime_, who, though he has vindicated his title to be ranked among the military heroes of the nation, has never forgotten those noble qualities which characterize the gentleman of the old school. He is scarcely above the ordinary height, and slight of person, but straight as the arrow of an Indian warrior. He is somewhat reserved, but not taciturn,--courteous and urbane in his manners, but dignified and high-minded. Though his head is silvered with the frost of many winters, he is still hale and erect, and brave and generous, as in the hey-day of youth, when he rambled along the banks of the Yadkin; or, in the pride of manhood, when he stood unmoved, gazing with an unblenched eye on the carnage around him, and issuing his orders with an unfaltering lip, amid the whirling balls and blazing shells, on the ramparts of Fort Erie!

FOOTNOTES:

[5] See Memoir of General Brown, _ante_.

[6] See Memoir of General Brown, _ante_.

[7] See Memoir of General Jackson.

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON.

Among the most successful officers of the war of 1812, was Major General WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. Descended from a good old revolutionary stock, and thoroughly imbued, in his boyhood, with sentiments of the most sincere and devoted patriotism, he laid the foundation, at an early age, of the fame and distinction which he acquired in maturer years. Throughout a long life,--one full of interest, and replete with important incidents,--he enjoyed a wide-spread popularity, which, in the western states of the Union, was sometimes manifested with all the fervor of enthusiasm. No one better deserved the respect and esteem of his countrymen, and there are few whose character has come brighter or purer from the ordeal, when submitted to that Areopagus of public opinion, whose decisions admit not of dispute.

[Sidenote: HIS FATHER.]

He was born at Berkeley, the family seat of his father, on James river, Virginia, on the ninth day of February, 1773; being the youngest of three sons. His father, Colonel Benjamin Harrison, was a descendant of the celebrated officer of the same name, who fought by the side of Cromwell for civil and religious liberty, but, preferring a turbulent democracy to a quiet despotism, opposed the ambitious projects of the Lord Protector, with the same stubborn vehemence with which he had contended against the attempted usurpations of the tyrant Charles. But--what is of more immediate value to us as Americans--he was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and “the intimate friend of Washington”!

Colonel Harrison took his seat in the Congress of the Confederation, as one of the delegates from Virginia, in 1774, and remained a member of that body, during that and the two following years. On the resignation of his brother-in-law, Peyton Randolph, the president of Congress, he was urged by a number of friends to take the vacant place, but declined the honor, and, on his nomination, John Hancock was appointed to fill the station. It is also stated, in connection with this circumstance, that when the latter manifested some hesitation about accepting the office, Colonel Harrison caught the modest patriot in his arms, and almost carried him to the chair, _nolens volens_. He took an active part in the discussions and deliberations that preceded the adoption of the Declaration, and was the chairman of the committee of the whole when the vote to agree to it was taken. There is an anecdote related of him at this juncture, which attests the warmth of his feelings, and the sterling genuineness of his patriotism. Although John Dickinson was openly and avowedly opposed to the separation from the mother country, his honesty and integrity were never questioned, and his conceded ability secured the respect of the other members of Congress. Upon his urgent request, he was permitted to draw the second petition to the King, which was adopted, though with considerable reluctance. After the vote was taken, Mr. Dickinson could not refrain from expressing his satisfaction, and, at the close of his remarks, said, that there was but one word which he disapproved, and that was the word “_Congress_.” Colonel Harrison sprang to his feet the instant Mr. Dickinson was seated, and exclaimed with emphatic earnestness--“There is but one word in the paper, Mr. President, of which I _approve_, and that is the word ‘_Congress_’!”

Colonel Harrison was afterwards, for several years in succession, a member of the Virginia house of delegates, and filled the office of speaker till the close of the year 1781, when he succeeded Governor Nelson in the executive chair of that state. On the expiration of his official term in 1784, he retired to private life, but to the time of his death, which occurred in 1791, he was known and esteemed by the ablest men in the nation, and revered and honored by all classes and parties of his fellow-citizens.

The subject of this biography, William Henry Harrison, was early placed at Hampden-Sidney college. At the age of seventeen he left the institution with his mind well stored with classical lore, and not long after, in compliance with the wishes of his father, whose liberal hospitality forbade the bestowal of large fortunes on his children, commenced the study of medicine. Having completed a short preparatory course of reading, he proceeded to Philadelphia, in the spring of 1791, to attend the lectures at the University, and avail himself of the other facilities afforded in that city for obtaining a knowledge of the profession which he had selected. He had but just arrived there and resumed his studies, when the intelligence of his father’s death reached him, and effected an entire change in his plans for the future.

[Sidenote: DEFEAT OF ST. CLAIR.]

Notwithstanding the earnest remonstrances of his guardian, Robert Morris, the celebrated financier, who depicted, in glowing colors, the fatigues and hardships which he would be compelled to undergo, he determined to enter the army, and with his own good sword hew out a way to distinction. Preparations were then making for another campaign against the Indians on the northwestern frontier,--the expedition of the previous year, under General Harmar, having failed of accomplishing any decisive results. This added fire to the spirit of young Harrison. Washington was applied to,--and respect for the memory of the father, and esteem for the son, whose importunities could not be disregarded, procured for the latter an ensign’s commission in the regular service. He departed immediately for Fort Washington, now Cincinnati, but, though he hurried forward with eager impetuosity, did not succeed in joining the army, then but a remnant of what it had once been, till after the disastrous defeat of the brave and honest, but unfortunate St. Clair, on the fourth of November, 1791. On joining his regiment, at Fort Washington, he learned the particulars of the sad tragedy which had just been enacted. The melancholy fate of Butler, Oldham, Hardin, and their companions, who had fallen victims to the wiles of a barbarous and cruel enemy, so far from damping his ardor, or chilling his enthusiasm, only heightened the fire of patriotic indignation that burned in his bosom, and increased his anxiety to take the field, and aid in inflicting a summary punishment upon the merciless savages.

At this time there were no settlements of consequence north of the Ohio, except those at Kaskaskia, Vincennes, Fort Washington, and Marietta; and, on the south, between that river and the Tennessee, there were comparatively few inhabitants scattered over the territory previously known as Kentuckeè, “the Bloody Land,”--for many years the battle-ground of the Northern and Southern Indians. The protection, therefore, of the exposed frontiers, depended mainly on the regular force of the General Government, and the militia of Pennsylvania and Virginia; for, though the citizens of this remote region were ever prompt to obey the call to arms, they were too feeble in numbers, to cope, unassisted, with so powerful a foe. General St. Clair, governor of the “Territory north-west of the Ohio,” had moved upon the Miami villages with over fourteen hundred men; of this number, six hundred and thirty-one were killed in the fearful onslaught of the fourth of November, and there were two hundred and sixty-seven wounded; consequently, it was necessary to raise a large additional force, before offensive operations could be further prosecuted. President Washington immediately recommended a considerable increase of the army, and Congress adopted his suggestions.

[Sidenote: CAMPAIGN UNDER WAYNE.]

In the then state of the country, it required no little time and preparation to fit a great body of troops for the field; numerous and unavoidable delays occurred; and, in the meanwhile, attempts were made to conclude a peace with the hostile Indians. The messengers dispatched by the Executive of the United States were treacherously murdered, and negotiation was no longer admissible, save at the point of the bayonet. In the autumn of 1793, a force of twenty-six hundred men, nearly all of whom were regulars, under the command of General Wayne, were concentrated at an encampment established near Fort Washington on the Ohio.

While these preparations were in progress, young Harrison, who had been promoted to a lieutenancy, was sedulously employed in studying his profession. His skill and proficiency as a tactician, attracted the attention of the officer selected to take command of the projected expedition, and he was designated as one of his aids. Having completed his arrangements, General Wayne took up the line of march for the Indian country, early in October. The lateness of the season rendered it impossible to accomplish anything till another campaign, and on his arrival at one of the tributaries of the Stillwater branch of the Big Miami, he established himself in winter quarters, and commenced organizing and disciplining his troops. Lieutenant Harrison was prominent among the young officers engaged in the work of instruction, and his services were flatteringly noticed by the commanding general.

In the summer of 1794, General Wayne was joined by upwards of one thousand mounted militia, and without delay set out in pursuit of the enemy, who, he learned, were in strong force at the Rapids of the Maumee. On the twentieth of August, he encountered the Indians, who had vainly attempted to draw him into an ambush, near the _Roche de Bouc_, on the north bank of the river, and defeated them with great slaughter. Their chief, Turkey-foot, and a large number of their best and bravest warriors, were slain; and the remainder either dispersed, or sought shelter under the guns of Fort Maumee, then occupied by a British garrison. The bravery and intrepidity of Lieutenant Harrison in this affair, were conspicuous; and in the official report of the action, his name is mentioned in terms of high commendation.[8] While the army lay in the vicinity of Fort Maumee, an incident transpired, which came very near terminating, in all probability, the life of General Wayne, and that of his gallant aid.

Positive instructions had been received to demolish the fort occupied by the English troops, in utter disregard of the provisions of the treaty of 1783, and in order to enable him to decide upon the propriety of an attempt to reduce it, General Wayne, accompanied by his suite, advanced to reconnoitre. In this daring reconnaissance, the general, who possessed a constitutional indifference to danger, with Lieutenant Harrison at his side, rode within eighty yards of the fort, and within point blank range of its guns. While making their observations, with the utmost coolness, an English captain of marines turned one of the pieces upon them, and was about to apply the port-fire, when Major Campbell, the commandant of the garrison, interposed, just in time to prevent the catastrophe that would most likely have occurred. Major Campbell subsequently apologized for the unofficer-like conduct of his subordinate, and to his gentlemanly behavior the preservation of peace between the two countries may be attributed.

General Wayne did not deem it advisable to attack the post with the means at his command, and having destroyed the Indian villages within fifty miles of either side of the river, he returned to Fort Defiance, at the confluence of the Au Glaize and Maumee. The defeat which the Indians had sustained was decisive; everything remained quiet during the ensuing winter; and in July, 1795, General Wayne concluded a favorable treaty, at Greenville, with a number of chiefs representing ten different nations.

Upon the conclusion of the treaty, Harrison, now raised to the rank of captain, was placed in command of Fort Washington, and, shortly after, was married to a daughter of Judge Symmes,--a most amiable woman; distinguished for high moral worth, for her piety and benevolence; and esteemed and loved by a large circle of friends and acquaintances.

[Sidenote: COMMENCES HIS CIVIL CAREER.]

Captain Harrison soon became dissatisfied with the idle routine of a garrison life; there seemed to be no prospect that his serviced would be required in the field; and he longed for more active employment. Accordingly he resigned his commission, and in 1797, at the age of twenty-four, commenced his civil career, as secretary of the territory, under Governor St. Clair. His talents and many estimable qualities had already brought him into favorable notice, and the duties of his office were discharged with so much promptitude and fidelity, that he was regarded as one of the ablest young men in the territory. His popularity steadily increased, and in 1799, he was elected as the first delegate in congress. On taking his seat, in December, of that year, he was appointed, upon his urgent solicitation, chairman of the committee on the public lands,--the only instance, it is stated, in which a delegate was so distinguished.

The improvement of the existing land system had long been a favorite object with him. Many of its features were wholly inconsistent with the genius and spirit of democratic institutions, and calculated to retard the growth and prosperity of the great West. Among other provisions equally odious in their character, was one forbidding the sale of land by the government, in quantities of less than four thousand acres, except where there were fractions on the banks of large streams. Harrison had the forecast to discover, what a boundless field would be opened for the enterprising youth and industrious laboring classes of the Atlantic states, by the removal of this obstacle to the settlement of the territory, the development of the resources which nature had so lavishly bestowed upon it, and its rapid advancement to wealth and greatness. Through his instrumentality, aided by the efforts of other able members of both houses, who united with him in procuring this reform, a law was enacted, requiring one half of the public lands remaining unsold, to be divided into sections of six hundred and forty acres each, and the remaining moiety into sections of three hundred and twenty acres; the old system of forfeiture for non-payment was abolished, and payments were directed to be made, in future, one quarter down, and the remainder in two, three, and four years, with a further forbearance of one year on the last payment, if desired.

[Sidenote: GOVERNOR OF INDIANA TERRITORY.]

This was not all that Harrison wished to effect; but an important point was gained. Emigrants flocked into the territory by scores and hundreds, and the gratitude of the citizens, both the old inhabitants, and the new-comers, who had been benefited by his exertions, never failed to follow his footsteps as those of a benefactor and friend.--Such was the estimation in which he was held by his constituents, that he was solicited, on all hands, to take the place of Governor St. Clair. In reply to every intimation of this kind, Harrison steadily refused to permit any effort to be made, to supersede the war-worn veteran, whose only fault, if fault it be, was, that fortune had been chary of her favors to him, when her smiles, doubtless for some wise purpose, were showered upon those not more able, not more deserving, nor more prompt in the performance of every duty. The desire of Harrison’s friends was soon gratified, however, in his appointment by President Adams, in 1800, as the first governor of the newly erected territory of Indiana. Though deprived, by his position as a delegate, from taking part in the general legislation of the country, his sound judgment and sterling worth had secured him an enviable reputation, and when he left Congress, he was followed by the regard and cordial good wishes of his associates.

Shortly before his leaving the Capital, a circumstance occurred, which deserves to be mentioned, as illustrating the purity of motive, and honesty of purpose, which marked his public conduct. His father-in-law, Judge Symmes, was the proprietor of the Miami purchase; and previous to obtaining his patent, he had made a number of sales. It was doubtful whether the rights thus acquired were of any value, even in equity; but, upon the introduction of a bill in Congress providing for the settlement of the purchase, although the interests of Judge Symmes, and, indirectly, his own, were jeoparded, Harrison went before the committee having the bill in charge, and successfully urged the insertion of a clause amply protecting the claims of the purchasers.

In 1801, Governor Harrison entered upon the discharge of his official duties, at Vincennes, an old military and trading post, on the left bank of the Wabash, which was settled by the French about the year 1730. Though invested with extraordinary powers, the office to which he had been appointed was no sinecure. Besides the settlement at Vincennes, there were but two others, of importance, in the whole territory, out of which was afterwards formed the states of Indiana and Illinois, viz.; Clarke’s Grant at the falls of the Ohio, and the settlement extending along the Mississippi, from Kaskaskia to Cahokia. The white population did not exceed five thousand souls, and they were entirely surrounded, on the north and west, by numerous bands of Indians, who were either openly and avowedly hostile, or wanted but a favorable opportunity to manifest their hatred and ill-will.

[Sidenote: VARIED SERVICES.]

To provide for the security of the settlements in the territory, however remote, or widely separated; to overawe the savages, or hold them in check; to encourage immigration; and to promote, in all things, the happiness and welfare of the inhabitants,--were the objects to which Governor Harrison unremittingly devoted his time and attention. In addition to his other duties, he acted as commissioner of Indian affairs, in which capacity he concluded fifteen treaties, and extinguished the title of the aborigines to more than seventy million acres of land--then, for the most part, an unbroken wilderness, but now dotted all over with the abodes of wealth and contentment, and teeming with a thriving and industrious population. Frequent journeys were performed by him, along the wild forest paths, and miserable _traces_, which led from one station or settlement to another. Dangers were fearlessly encountered; fatigue never disheartened him. He cheerfully shared the privations of the settlers; partaking with them of the rudest cheer, or, seated on a hewed block before a roaring fire, listening attentively to tales of trial and hardship, and offering the kind word of sympathy and encouragement. Wrapt in his blanket, or enveloped in the folds of a bear skin or buffalo robe, he slept, too, as soundly and sweetly on the bare earth in the hunter’s lodge, or the puncheon floor of a log cabin, as upon the beds of down in his father’s mansion.

In 1802, Ohio was admitted into the Union as a state, and Wayne county,--afterwards the territory, and, still later, the state of Michigan,--was then attached to the territory of Indiana. The duties of Governor Harrison were thus rendered still more arduous. He was relieved from this additional care, however, in 1805, when Michigan was erected into a separate territory. The country filled up so rapidly, that it became necessary, in a few years, to relieve him yet further, and in 1809, a territorial government was formed for Illinois.

Many years elapsed after the conclusion of the treaty of peace, in 1783, before Great Britain entirely abandoned her expectations of reëstablishing, at some future, and not very remote day, her authority over her revolted American colonies. It was customary for her writers and politicians to underrate the importance, and sneer at the pretensions of the young republic, till they saw, in the rapidly-extending commerce and growing prosperity which followed the restoration of peace and tranquillity, unmistakable indications that the daughter would soon be no mean rival of the mother country in the race of nations. To check these germs of greatness, ere they should bud and blossom, was now the favorite object of English statesmen. As no pretext existed for open hostilities, resort was had to the low arts of diplomacy--to intrigue and cunning; and amid the moral and political corruption, which, at that era, polluted the atmosphere of St. James, plans were concocted, whose atrocity must ever stand out in bold relief on the page of impartial history.

[Sidenote: ENGLISH INTRIGUES.]

Disregarding the provisions of the treaty of 1783, the British authorities retained possession of the military posts northwest of the Ohio, and to these, and similar establishments in the Canadas, agents were sent, to suborn, and tamper with, the savages on the northern frontiers of the American Union, and incite them to commit acts of hostility upon the persons and property of the settlers who had found their way into the rich valley of the Mississippi. It was the policy of Washington,--and, after him, of Adams, Jefferson, and Madison,--to purchase the lands belonging to the Indian tribes, required by the increasing white population of the country, at a fair equivalent; to furnish them the means of civilization; to provide for them the restraints of well-ordered and wholesome regulations; to enkindle new desires, and implant new motives in their breasts; to enlighten their minds and Christianize their hearts. England, on the contrary, forgetting the eloquent and indignant denunciations of her Chatham, and careless how she sullied the national escutcheon, already stained by many a foul blot, supplied them with arms and ammunition,--with blankets, tobacco, and “fire-water,”--not to induce them to cultivate harmony and good-will with their neighbors, the citizens of the United States; but to minister to their most depraved appetites, and arouse the most vindictive passions of their natures. She asked them, not to lay aside the implements of death, and engage in the pursuits of peace; but invited them to continue their barbarous warfare, and glut their vengeance, to the full, with the tomahawk and scalping-knife!

Under the auspices of Simcoe, and other agents of Great Britain, immediately after the peace, a combination was formed among the Northwestern Indians, the object of which was to prevent the Americans from extending their settlements beyond the Alleghanies. The border inhabitants were constantly harassed by the irruptions of the savages; scenes of bloodshed and murder were of frequent occurrence; and when efforts were made to chastise the perpetrators of these outrages, they found in England a fast and firm friend, whose assistance, though not openly rendered, proved of essential service to her allies. Her influence was felt in the defeat of Harmar and St. Clair, and when the mounted volunteers under the gallant Wayne scattered the savages in confusion, on the banks of the Maumee, they fled for protection beneath the guns of a fortress over which floated the red cross of St. George.

The defeat of the Indians by Wayne was a severe lesson, and it was long remembered. Fortunately, too, for our country,--who needed only a season of peace, and repose from “war’s alarms,” to advance with rapid strides to the high destiny before her,--the revolutionary spirit had, at this time, crossed the Atlantic, and the watch-fires of liberty were blazing on the continent of Europe. Alarmed for the stability of her institutions at home, England had no time to spend in courting the favor of the North American savages, even though her machinations promised to terminate in the restoration of “the brightest jewel of her crown.” In November, 1794, three months after Wayne’s victory, Mr. Jay concluded his commercial treaty, in which it was stipulated that the western posts should be surrendered by the first of June, 1796, which was accordingly done; and in the summer of 1795, as we have seen, the treaty of Greenville was made with the Indian tribes.--The quiet thus restored was deceitful, and temporary in its duration.

[Sidenote: SEIZURES BY THE ENGLISH.]

The treaty of Mr. Jay provided, among other things, for compensation for British spoliations on American commerce, growing out of the war with France; yet the ratifications of that instrument had scarcely been exchanged, when outrages of the same character, but greater in degree, were committed. Taking advantage of the distracted state of affairs on the continent, the enterprising citizens of America had extensively engaged in the carrying trade; and their commerce had increased with so much rapidity, that the jealousy of England was again awakened. Large quantities of American provisions were also shipped to Europe, and especially to France, and to her possessions in the West Indies, the prices paid for which, during the continuance of hostilities, afforded handsome profits; but this interfered, very materially, with the determination of England, by means of her maritime supremacy, to starve the French people into an abandonment of their republican notions, and to prevent it, she caused blockades to be declared, which were enforced by no suitable naval power, and orders to be issued, in defiance of the law of nations, requiring neutral vessels to be seized though not carrying articles contraband of war.

Remonstrance on the part of the authorities of the United States, was of no avail. The example set by England was followed by France--every act of injustice on the one side being succeeded by a still more odious one on the other. The treaty of Amiens, in 1802, afforded the Americans a brief respite; but, on the renewal of the war, in the following year, seizures and condemnations of our vessels became more frequent than ever. England joined the coalition formed to establish Continental despotism on a firmer basis, and restore the Bourbon dynasty to the throne which they had disgraced; and she stopped at nothing to accomplish her purposes. Not content with watching the ports of France, she sent her privateers and vessels of war, under her pirate flag, to hover on our coast, and plunder our commerce. Her navy having been seriously reduced, in men, by the long continued warfare in which she had been engaged, she likewise resorted to the impressment of American seamen, to fill up the complements of her crews. Large numbers of sailors were taken from our merchantmen; and, to conclude these high-handed offences, the frigate Chesapeake was despoiled of a portion of her crew, on the twenty-second of June, 1807.

In the meantime the emissaries of Great Britain had been busy among the savages on the Northwestern frontier. So complete and irrefragable were the proofs furnished to Congress of this fact, that, in 1797, a law was passed to prevent the tampering of foreign agents with the Indians, which imposed severe penalties and punishments. This law was easily evaded, and it was therefore ineffectual. The Indians were invited to the British posts; they were flattered and caressed, and loaded with gifts and favors; their minds were soured; and no means were left untried to keep up a constant strife between them and the settlers. It has often been said, that the interference of British agents in this particular existed only in imagination, and that the Indians were provoked to hostilities by acts of violence committed by the Americans. Doubtless, there were isolated cases of wrong and injustice, which cannot, and should not, be palliated or excused; but it is idle to suppose, that the settlers generally would have so causelessly endangered their own security, and so recklessly jeoparded the lives of those who leaned on them for protection, and looked up to them for sympathy and love.

[Sidenote: TAMPERING WITH THE INDIANS.]

Governor Harrison was not an indifferent, nor, from his position, an uninterested spectator, of these events. The movements of the British emissaries did not escape his attention; he repeatedly cautioned his government against their designs, and labored incessantly to counteract them. He endeavored in every way to conciliate the savages, but his efforts were often frustrated by the unseen power so long felt in these border troubles. When the attack on the Chesapeake was made known in the United States, it excited a general sentiment of indignation. He shared deeply in this feeling, and embraced the first public opportunity to make known his opinions. In his speech delivered on the eighteenth of August, 1807, before the General Assembly of Indiana Territory, at their regular session, he referred, in emphatic terms of condemnation, to the conduct of the British agents who were secretly instigating the Indians on the frontier, and, avowing himself in favor of immediate hostilities, alluded to the affair of the Chesapeake, as being necessary, perhaps, to arouse the American people from their lethargy, and awaken them to the importance of teaching other countries and governments, that “a nation of freemen,” to quote his own language, “are not to be insulted with impunity”!

France, at length, ceased her unjust and oppressive measures; but England refused to abandon her position. Embargo and non-intercourse were tried in vain. The commercial relations of the country suffered more and more. Jefferson and Madison both desired peace; yet, notwithstanding their pacific inclinations, affairs daily grew worse, and war seemed inevitable. While matters were fast verging towards the crisis, the agents of Great Britain were actively engaged among the Northwestern Indians. Governor Harrison watched their movements with a vigilance that never slumbered, and sought by every means in his power to defeat their plans and combinations, and, at least, to prevail upon the Indians not to take up arms in favor of either party, in case hostilities should commence between England and the United States.

In the winter of 1810–11, crowds of Indian warriors collected around the British posts in Upper Canada,--their war-plumes streaming from their scalp locks, and their checks disfigured with the war-paint; and when the sweet notes of the blue robin, the welcome harbinger of spring, were heard echoing through the western forests, they went forth upon their bloody mission. Nature’s hymn of melody was hushed, as their shrill war-whoop resounded through valley and woodland, and the heavens became resplendent with the glow of blazing ricks and cabins.

[Sidenote: COUNCIL AT VINCENNES.]

Meanwhile Governor Harrison had succeeded in partially conciliating the Kickapoos, and some other tribes, and had effected the purchase of a large tract of land from them. It was the anxious desire of the General Government, to secure, at every hazard, the neutrality of the Indian tribes, in the event of a collision with Great Britain. This was regarded as of paramount importance; for the sad experience of the past had shown how much they were to be feared and dreaded, particularly when the military strength and resources of the nation should be employed in a contest with a powerful opponent. Governor Harrison faithfully reflected the views, and carried out the wishes of those whom he represented, and in the summer of 1811, a council was held at Vincennes, for which extensive preparations were made, and at which the leading, and most influential chiefs, of the Northwestern tribes, were present, by his invitation. The object of this assemblage was, to conclude a more general treaty, and complete the efforts which had been made to induce the Indians to remain neutral.