Chapter V: Part 5

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.

[Sidenote: APPROACH OF REINFORCEMENTS.]

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.

[Sidenote: RETREAT OF PROCTOR.]

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.”

[Sidenote: PERRY’S VICTORY.]

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.

[Sidenote: PURSUIT OF PROCTOR.]

General Harrison followed the flying Proctor on the twenty-eighth, moving forward with as much rapidity as was possible. Many of the Kentuckians were mounted men, but they had been obliged to leave their horses on the American shore. The enemy had taken away everything of the kind, except a single horse, on which Governor Shelby was mounted; who, though in his sixty-third year, pressed forward with all the ardor and enthusiasm of twenty-one. The army reached Sandwich on the twenty-ninth instant, and General Harrison sent a detachment across the river to take possession of Detroit, then occupied by hostile Indians. On the thirtieth, Colonel Johnson joined the army with his regiment, and preparations were at once made for continuing the pursuit of General Proctor,--who, on arriving at the Thames, had proceeded up the valley of the river, with the intention of making his way to the British posts about the head of Lake Ontario.

The Americans resumed the march on the second of October,--the mounted rifles of Colonel Johnson leading the van. General Harrison was accompanied by Commodore Perry and General Cass, as volunteer aids; his whole force consisted of about thirty-five hundred men, most of whom were Kentuckians.[10] From the highest to the lowest, all manifested the same eager spirit; every heart throbbed high with excitement. The time to which they had looked forward with so many anxious hopes, had arrived: Proctor and Tecumseh,--the marauders of the one, and the murderers of the other,--were before them!

[Sidenote: PROCTOR AND TECUMSEH.]

General Harrison and his men pressed forward with such rapidity, that, on the first day of their march, they made twenty-six miles. On the next, they captured a British officer and eleven men, from whom they learned that Proctor had not received any intimations of their approach that he could rely upon. On the fourth instant, they were detained several hours at Chatham, seventeen miles above Lake St. Clair, at a deep creek that flowed into the Thames, the bridge over which had been partly destroyed by the enemy. While the men were engaged in repairing it, they were fired on by some Indians who appeared on the opposite bank; but the latter were quickly dispersed by the artillery of Colonel Wood, and the rifles of Colonel Johnson’s command. At this place, also, the Americans found two thousand stand of arms, and a quantity of clothing, which had been abandoned by Proctor in his flight. After crossing the creek, General Harrison continued the pursuit for four miles, capturing several pieces of cannon, and forcing the enemy to destroy three of the vessels containing their supplies. His men being considerably jaded by the march, he encamped, late at night, almost within striking distance of the allied force of British and Indians. On the morning of the fifth of October, the mounted men, marching from two to three miles in front of the infantry, discovered the enemy drawn up in order of battle, across a narrow strip of woodland on the north bank of the Thames, near the Moravian village.

The nobler aspirations of the soldier,--if, indeed, they ever existed in the breast of General Proctor,--had long since given way to cowardice and avarice. His chief anxiety now was, to escape with his ill-gotten booty. Unwisely incumbered with baggage, his army was delayed till their pursuers were close upon them. On the afternoon of the fourth instant, it became evident that he must soon be overtaken. When he halted for the night, he was still uncertain what to do. After all was still, at a late hour, Tecumseh and himself silently descended the river in a boat, and reconnoitred the American position. The former earnestly advised a night attack, but the latter dared not risk the encounter, and determined to make one more effort for escape on the morrow.

What a study would that be for the painter!--Proctor and Tecumseh on the Thames, at the dead hour of night--no moon to cheer or light them--the stars gleaming dimly over their heads--and the solemn stillness unbroken, save by the gentle murmuring of the river, the low sighing of the breeze, or, it might be, the deep, melodious notes of the wood thrush, echoing sweetly through the forest; the red warrior arrayed in all the gorgeous attire of his race, his tall frame swelling with a manly pride, and his eye blazing like the young eagle’s, as, in clear ringing tones, he thundered forth his fierce invectives on the American people, and entreated his companion to give the signal for a midnight onset; the other shrinking, like a craven, beside him, and with faltering lips expressing his fears and doubts,--his fears, lest the vigilance of Harrison had provided against a surprise, and his doubts as to the issue!

General Proctor persevered in his retreat, on the morning of the fifth, until he found that it would be absolutely impossible to make his escape. He then decided to make a stand. Ordering a halt, he prepared his men for action. His regular troops, about eight hundred strong, were formed across the road, in two lines, in open order, on a narrow isthmus covered with thrifty beeches; their left, supported by the artillery, resting on the river, and their right on a swamp Tuning parallel to the stream. The Indians, under Tecumseh, to the number of two thousand, were posted beyond the swamp, their right thrown forward, and resting on another dense morass,--thus forming an obtuse angle with the alignment of the regular troops. It was the intention of the British general, that the Indians should precipitate themselves upon the left flank of the American troops as soon as the latter were engaged with the regulars; and the ground highly favored his purpose. Had he protected his front by an abattis, or even thrown a few trees horizontally across the road, the result might have been more doubtful, but, as it was, the action was scarcely contested, so far as he was concerned, and soon became a complete rout.

[Sidenote: BATTLE OF THE THAMES.]

The original plan of General Harrison, when he saw the advantages of the enemy’s position, was, to advance upon them with his infantry regiments; and for this purpose he had formed the division of General Henry, in three lines, on the right, with the division of General Desha, _en potence_, on their left. The regulars, but one hundred and twenty in number, were stationed on the margin of the river, and instructed, at the favorable moment, to advance upon and seize the enemy’s guns. But on the return of Colonel Wood, who had been sent forward to reconnoitre, the fact was disclosed, that General Proctor had formed his men, as has been mentioned, in open order; whereupon General Harrison instantly varied his mode of attack, and directed Colonel Johnson, who had urgently solicited the honor, to charge upon the British line with his regiment of mounted rifles, while the infantry should promptly follow the movement.--This order was certainly an unusual one, in military tactics,--although the regiment had been carefully drilled to charge upon infantry, especially in the woods,--and it has been severely criticised, and sometimes censured. It was, doubtless, unexpected by General Proctor; and for that reason, if no other, was the best, as it proved to be the most fortunate, that could have been adopted under the circumstances.[11]

Just before the trumpets sounded the attack, Colonel Johnson discovered a narrow passage of firm earth leading across the swamp on his left. He then directed his brother, Lieutenant Colonel James Johnson, to charge the British line with the first battalion of his regiment, while he crossed the swamp with the second, and engaged the Indians. At the signal, the two battalions advanced slowly, in parallel columns,--the infantry following closely in their rear.

At the first fire, the horses in front of the column led by Lieutenant Colonel Johnson, recoiled,--but it was corrected in a moment. The bugles pealed forth their cheering notes; the men plunged their rowels into their chargers’ sides; and away they all went, thundering down upon the enemy--an army of avengers--ready to smite and to slay. Bounding over every obstacle, receiving another fire almost unharmed, and riding down all who opposed, with fearful yells they dashed through and through the British columns, showering their balls on every side. In an instant they turned and delivered a most effective volley. Stupefied and disconcerted by the suddenness of the onset, and nearly hemmed in between two walls of fire, the enemy made no resistance, but threw down their arms, and begged for quarter. The brave Kentuckians--to their honor be it said--spared all who surrendered. Proctor himself, accompanied by about forty regulars and some mounted Indians, made his escape, though hotly pursued, to Burlington heights, where he was publicly reprimanded for his cowardly conduct, by the same officer--Sir George Prevost--who had commended his brutality at Frenchtown. His private carriage and papers, his sword, and all his plunder, fell into the hands of the victors.

On the left, Tecumseh and his warriors refused to fly. The advance of the column headed by Colonel Johnson was retarded by the uneven character of the ground; his horses floundered in the morass, and strove in vain to penetrate the dense thickets of underbrush. He soon found that the charge must fail, and directed his men to dismount and take cover. Darting from tree to tree, they now pressed upon the enemy, and after a short, but animated contest, broke through the line and gained their rear. The Indians quickly rallied in force, further to the left, and threw their whole weight on the column of infantry under General Desha. A slight impression was at one time made, but Governor Shelby immediately restored the line by leading up another regiment to the support of the wavering column.

[Sidenote: DEATH OF TECUMSEH.]

Still the battle raged with great fury. The voice of Tecumseh was heard above the din of arms, and his tones rang loud and clear as the notes of a trumpet, as he called upon his gallant braves to stand firm to the last. Colonel Johnson, though severely wounded, and a number of his best officers and soldiers, had already made their way to the spot where the undaunted chieftain and his bravest warriors had collected. Here the battle was fiercely fought. In the _mêlée_, Tecumseh fell, as it is supposed, by the hand of Colonel Johnson.[12] This determined the contest. On the fall of their leader, the Indians abandoned the ground, and with an unearthly whoop, like the wail of lost spirits, disappeared in the forest. It was the _death-halloo_ for their leader--the most formidable enemy among the red men with whom the whites have had to contend, since the days of Pontiac. With him their cause was prostrated--with him perished their hopes, forever!

The American force actually engaged in this battle, numbered about twenty-five hundred; the enemy had eight hundred and forty-five regular troops, and there were two thousand Indians. The former lost fifty killed and wounded; of the British there were eighteen killed, twenty-six wounded, and about six hundred made prisoners. The Americans also captured a large quantity of arms, ammunition, and provisions, and six pieces of artillery--three of which were captured in the Revolution, at Saratoga and Yorktown, and had been surrendered by General Hull. But, what was of vastly more importance, the territory which had been overrun by the enemy, was recovered, and the frontiers were rescued from the depredations of the savages. By the result of this engagement, the hostile Indians were cut off from their communications with the British posts in Canada, except the remote one at Mackinaw. Previous to the battle, an armistice had been entered into with the Ottawas and Chippewas, who agreed to take up arms against the British, and shortly afterwards a similar arrangement was entered into with the Miamis and Potowatomies.

[Sidenote: EFFECTS OF THE VICTORY.]

“The victory of Harrison,” said Langdon Cheves, alluding, on the floor of Congress, to the battle of the Thames, “was such as would have secured to a Roman general, in the best days of the republic, the honors of a triumph.” It was the first considerable action in which the American arms were triumphant, and, in connection with Perry’s success on Lake Erie, served greatly to revive the drooping spirits of the American people. The heroes of the two engagements were toasted and fêted wherever they went; salutes, bonfires, illuminations, and resolutions of thanks, attested, alike, their merits, and the gratitude of their countrymen.

Having completed the object of the expedition, and not having orders to proceed further into the enemy’s country, General Harrison commenced his retrograde march to Detroit, eighty miles distant, on the seventh of October, and arrived there on the tenth. The Kentucky volunteers were soon after conducted to their homes by the venerable Governor Shelby, and in a few days General Harrison embarked in the fleet of Commodore Perry, for Buffalo, with the brigade of General M’Arthur,--General Cass remaining with his brigade at Detroit. Harrison reached Buffalo on the twenty-fourth of October; the brigade of General M’Arthur proceeded down Lake Ontario to join the unsuccessful expedition under General Wilkinson; and there being a sufficient number of general officers already assigned to that duty, General Harrison was permitted to return home on a furlough.

While at Buffalo, General Harrison addressed a letter to General Vincent, the officer commanding the British troops in the Peninsula, in reply to one he had received from General Proctor, immediately after the battle of the Thames, requesting the restoration of the private property and papers captured on that occasion. The letter entered into a lengthy review of the course of the English government in employing the savages, the barbarities committed by their allies, and the cruel manner in which prisoners of war had been treated by both Indians and British; contrasting with the conduct of the English and their allies, the kindness and clemency which had distinguished the American officers and soldiers, during the war. While he declared that, in future, retaliation would be made for Indian outrages, he appealed to General Vincent, as a man, to exert his influence in preventing the commission of such atrocities. “Use, I pray you, your authority and influence,” said the letter of Harrison, “to stop the dreadful effusion of innocent blood which proceeds from the employment of those savage monsters, whose aid, as must now be discovered, is so little to be depended on when most wanted, and which can have so trifling an effect on the issue of the war.” The reply of General Vincent to this letter, so creditable to the heart of the writer, was evasive, although he pledged himself to join with General Harrison in attempting to alleviate the calamities to which the latter had referred.

[Sidenote: DEMONSTRATIONS OF RESPECT.]

This was the last important act of the military service of General Harrison. Shortly after the letter was written, he returned home, on a visit to his family, by way of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington; being received at each place on his route with the most flattering demonstrations of respect. After spending a few weeks at the capital, he continued his journey homeward, everywhere encountering the same unmistakable evidences of esteem and gratitude.

Connected with his stay at Washington, there is an anecdote on record, which shows that his gallantry towards his fair countrywomen, was fully equal to that other quality, bearing the same name, that he had exhibited on the field of battle. At one of the drawing rooms of Mrs. Madison, a handsome and highly connected lady, one of the reigning belles at the capital, informed the president that she had laid her commands on General Harrison to meet her there on that occasion.--“That he cannot do,” said Mr. Madison, in his usual bland, but positive tone; “he left Washington this morning, with his horses and attendants, and must now be some twenty or thirty miles on his way to the west.”--“Still,” replied the lady, archly, “he must be here, for I laid my commands on him, and he is too gallant a man to disobey me!”--“We shall soon see,” returned the president, “whose orders he obeys.”--After the lapse of a few moments, the question was settled by the appearance of General Harrison and his suite in full military costume, and President Madison was for once obliged to acknowledge that he was mistaken.

The military districts into which the country was divided during the war of 1812, were so extensive, that it was very often deemed necessary to transmit orders directly from the War Department to a subordinate officer, at the same time forwarding duplicates to the commander of the district. This practice frequently occasioned, as it has since done, ill-feeling and dissatisfaction. It was condemned by General Harrison as being wholly inconsistent with subordination, and similar views were afterwards taken by some of our most distinguished officers--among others, Generals Jackson, Scott, and Taylor. Harrison remonstrated against the practice in earnest terms. The Secretary of War, General Armstrong, being not well disposed towards him, a sharp and acrimonious correspondence ensued. President Madison insisted on continuing the practice, and in the spring of 1814, General Harrison tendered his resignation. The president was absent from Washington at the time the letter was received, and the resignation was accepted by the Secretary.

President Madison sincerely regretted the separation of General Harrison from the army, and in a letter soon after written to Governor Shelby, he said, that the resignation “would not have been accepted, had he been in Washington.” That his confidence in Harrison was never in the least degree weakened, is evident, from the fact that he afterwards employed him to conduct several extremely difficult negotiations with various tribes of Indians.

General Harrison continued to discharge the duties of governor of the territory of Indiana, until it was admitted into the Union as a state, in 1816, when he retired to his farm at North Bend, a few miles below Cincinnati, in Hamilton county, Ohio. In the same year he was elected a member of the House of Representatives of the United States. He afterwards represented the district in which he resided in the State Senate, and in 1824 was chosen a Senator in Congress. As a legislator, General Harrison was distinguished for his practical common sense. Though he spoke but rarely, he was considered an efficient debater. His views on all subjects were regarded with respect, and those having reference to the reörganization of the army, and the peculiar interests of the western states and territories, were listened to with especial deference.

[Sidenote: APPOINTED MINISTER TO COLOMBIA.]

In 1828, at his solicitation, he was appointed by President J. Q. Adams, Minister Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Colombia. The distracted condition of the country prevented his accomplishing anything of importance, though his brief residence there was signalized by a letter addressed to Bolivar, replete with good advice, and full of noble and manly sentiments. “To be esteemed eminently great,” said he, “it is necessary to be eminently good. The qualities of the hero and the general must be devoted to the advantage of mankind, before he will be permitted to assume the title of their benefactor; and the station which he will hold in their regard and affections, will depend, not upon the number and splendor of his victories, but upon the results, and the use he may make of the influence he acquires from them.”--Trite and common-place as these sentiments may at this day seem to the American reader, had they but formed the rule of the public conduct of Bolivar, he would now be remembered only as the Liberator, not as the Dictator.

On the accession of General Jackson to the presidency, in 1829, as the views of General Harrison in regard to the Panama question differed from those of the new administration, he was recalled, and again returned to the avocations of private life. Though he had had numerous opportunities of amassing wealth in the various offices which he had filled, he was still in moderate circumstances. In 1834, on the almost unanimous petition of the citizens of Hamilton county, he was appointed prothonotary of the county court, the duties of which he discharged, in person, for several years. In 1836, he was supported, in some of the states, though with no expectation of being elected, for the office of President, and received seventy-three of the electoral votes.

He was still leading a happy and contented life in his retirement at North Bend,--

“A simple husbandman, in garments gray,”--

when he was nominated as the candidate of the Whig party for the presidency, in December, 1839. In the following year, he was elected to the office, over his competitor, Mr. Van Buren, by an overwhelming majority,--receiving two hundred and thirty-four out of two hundred and ninety-four electoral votes. On the fourth of March, 1841, he took the oath of office, and delivered his inaugural address, amid a large concourse of spectators. Selecting as his cabinet advisers, some of the most distinguished statesmen of the country, from the party to which he belonged, he entered on his administration under the most flattering prospects of success.

[Sidenote: ELECTED PRESIDENT.--HIS DEATH.]

One brief month terminated his earthly career, and marred all the bright hopes of those who had elevated him to that high station. Instead of the brilliant _cortège_ that accompanied him on the occasion of his inauguration, another procession--without the joyous salvos of artillery, or the lively strains of martial music--but clothed in the habiliments of mourning, with banners shrouded in crape, with weeping plumes, with arms reversed, and muffled drums, followed his remains to the Congressional Cemetery.

A few days after his arrival at Washington, the president caught a severe cold, which, in connection with the unaccustomed excitement, and the harassing nature of his new duties, soon prostrated him on a sick bed. In spite of the utmost efforts of his medical attendants, he rapidly grew worse. His system had received a fatal shock; and on the fourth day of April, 1841,--in the same mansion where, nearly thirty years before, he had attended the gay _soiree_ of Mrs. Madison--he died, expressing, with his latest breath, as his spirit gathered its pinions for its eternal flight, his anxious desire, that the constitution of the country should, in all things, be the guide of those upon whom his official duties were about to devolve.

General Harrison was simple and frugal in his habits, and, until his last fatal illness, enjoyed good bodily health. He was tall and slender in person, and his dark eyes gleamed with intelligence. An analysis of his character presents few marked, or striking points. The qualities of his heart were probably more conspicuous than those of his head. He was liberal and friendly, social and generous in his disposition. “His heart,” says Governor Metcalfe, “was expanded, and always in the right place”:--it was brimful of kindly affections--overflowing with benevolence and love.

He possessed a happy combination of mental faculties; he was a plain, practical man,--a man, not of pretence, but of action. His voluminous correspondence, as governor of Indiana Territory, his speeches in Congress, his official dispatches, and his inaugural address, indicate a sound judgment, strong good sense, and a well-cultivated mind. His integrity was of that sterling character which is proof against temptation. As a soldier, he was usually successful, because he was not rash or impulsive, but cautious and prudent. He was patient in adversity, and never easily disconcerted; he was calm, collected, and resolute--and therefore always fitted for an emergency, how trying soever it might be. But, what was still worthier and better, throughout his life, even to the closing hour of his existence, he was cheered and sustained, by the hopes of the patriot, and the consolations of the Christian.

FOOTNOTES:

[8] The dispatch of General Wayne has been erroneously
printed, without the commendatory notice of
Lieutenant Harrison, and other officers, but it may
be found in the original.

[9] The expressive term among the Indians for “coward.”

[10] Among the Kentucky volunteers, concerned in this
expedition, were William T. Barry and Charles A.
Wickliffe, afterwards Postmasters-general of the
United States, and John J. Crittenden, for many years
a distinguished senator in Congress, subsequently
attorney general, again a member of the Senate, and,
at the present time, (1848,) governor of the State of
Kentucky.

[11] Nevertheless, it was the decided opinion of
Napoleon, (Las Casas, vii., 184,) that cavalry must
always break infantry, if led by equally brave
and resolute men. His cavalry won the victories
of Marengo, Austerlitz, and Jena; and a charge of
English dragoons, on the flank of his Old Guard, lost
him the day at Waterloo. It should be borne in mind,
however, that the mounted men of Colonel Johnson were
armed with rifles only, and, with the exception of
the officers, were without pistols and sabres.

[12] The honor of killing Tecumseh has been denied
Colonel Johnson upon strong circumstantial evidence.
In opposition to this we have the sincere belief of
the Colonel himself, that he shot the distinguished
Indian chief with his pistol; he could not well
be positive upon the subject, as he sank upon his
dying steed, the moment after he fired his piece,
completely exhausted from the loss of blood. His
bravery, however, cannot be questioned,--though
Tecumseh may not have fallen by his hand,--as he was
borne from the field in a blanket, while his blood
ran out at the ends.

ANDREW JACKSON.

“It is not in Indian wars”, said an eloquent writer and speaker of a by-gone age,[13] “that heroes are celebrated; but in them they are formed.”--Applied to the subject of this biographical sketch, the remark is partly correct, partly not correct. His brilliant success at New Orleans undoubtedly eclipsed all his former victories; but, had that battle never been fought, it may be questioned whether the Creek campaign would not have established his celebrity as a hero, beyond dispute. Yet it must be admitted, that his military experience was mainly acquired, and his military character formed, amid the hardships and vicissitudes, the trials and dangers, of that campaign. In this respect, he resembles some of the most eminent warriors that America has produced, many of whom laid the foundation of future renown and distinction, in the border wars with the aboriginal inhabitants, which grew out of the discovery and settlement of the country, or the subsequent encroachments of the whites.

The father of Andrew Jackson, though a native of Ireland, was of Scotch descent.--During the reign of Henry II, in 1172, the subjugation of the Emerald Isle was effected,--not so much by the superior bravery of the English soldiery, as by the defection of her own sons. The conquest entailed, on both oppressor and victim, a fruitful legacy of war and bloodshed. It was followed by years of strife and dissension--by centuries of tyrannical misrule on the one hand, and resistance to wrong on the other. Time did not change the character of the Irish peasantry; they were no loyal subjects of their new masters,--neither did they remit their efforts to regain their independence. Among other expedients resorted to by the English government, for confirming their ascendancy, was the confiscation of all the lands in Ulster, and large portions of the other provinces. These were granted to new proprietors, and measures were taken to colonize them from England and Scotland.

The Jackson family emigrated from Scotland at a very remote period, and settled in the county of Antrim. Whether it was on account of their proximity to the ancient seat of the O’Neals, in Tyrone, or their intermarriage and intercourse with the original natives of the country, is unknown; but it is nevertheless certain, that they soon became imbued with the spirit of disaffection that had so long prevailed in that quarter; and when the colonists began to experience the bitterness of oppression, they, too, learned to hate the name and authority of England.

Hugh Jackson, the grandfather of General Jackson, was a linen-draper, and resided near Carrickfergus, on the Lough of Belfast. He had four sons, who were plain respectable farmers, liberal and hospitable, of strict integrity, and, like their forefathers, firm in their adherence to the Church of Scotland. Andrew, the youngest, married Elizabeth Hutchinson, by whom he had two sons, Hugh and Robert, born in Ireland. Tired of the ceaseless turmoil and confusion that distracted the country, and despairing of the success of any attempt to relieve the Irish people from the grievances of which they complained, he sold his farm, and, in 1765, determined to seek a more tranquil and peaceful home in the western wilderness. Accompanied by three of his neighbors, James, Robert, and Joseph Crawford, the first of whom had married a sister of his wife, he embarked for America with his family, and landed in safety, at Charleston, South Carolina.

[Sidenote: HIS BIRTH.]

Dissatisfied with the low country bordering on the coast, the immigrants pushed into the interior of the colony. Lands were purchased, and they all settled near each other, on Waxhaw creek, one of the branches of the Catawba, in Lancaster district, about forty-five miles above Camden, and near the boundary line of North Carolina. Here, in this fine and healthy region, agreeably diversified with hills and dales, and drained by the romantic Catawba, Andrew Jackson, the younger, was born, on the fifteenth day of March, 1767.

Not long after the birth of his third son, the elder Jackson died, leaving to his wife and children a limited property, yet with an honest and unsullied name. A double duty now devolved on the surviving parent. Faithfully and nobly was it discharged. To the resolute firmness and unflinching fortitude of the Spartan mother, she united the piety and resignation, the trustful faith and confidence, of the devoted Christian. Naturally gifted with a strong mind, early disciplined in the school of adversity, and strengthened by Him who is ever the stay and helper of the widow and orphan, no difficulties deterred her from the accomplishment of her high and holy task.

The property of which Mrs. Jackson was left in possession, consisted of a new farm, without slaves; and it required the constant practice of the most rigid economy and prudence, to enable her to provide for the maintenance and education of her three young sons. After her husband’s death, she took charge of Mr. Crawford’s family,--her sister, Mrs. Crawford, being in feeble health. Her two younger sons, Robert and Andrew, remained with her, and the oldest went to reside with a neighbor. Hugh and Robert received only a common-school education; but Andrew was designed by the, perhaps, partial mother, for a more enlarged sphere of usefulness. She intended him for the church, and therefore sent him to the Waxhaw Academy, then under the charge of Mr. Humphries, where he acquired a knowledge of the various English branches taught at that time, and had made considerable progress in the Latin and Greek languages, when the ravages of the revolutionary war, approaching nearer to this remote settlement, put an end to his studies.

Sentiments of patriotism were early imbibed by the sons of Mrs. Jackson. Her instructions, and the example of their friends and kindred, inspired them, in childhood, with an ardent love of liberty. Reminiscences of “father-land” were often mingled with her teachings; she recounted deeds of cruelty and oppression that fired their youthful bosoms with indignation; she told them of the injustice under which their ancestors had suffered, and from which their father had fled; and she reminded them, also, that the same tyrannical power which had perpetrated these wrongs, was endeavoring to reduce the American colonists to a state of abject and hopeless slavery. Soon they beheld the watch-fires of liberty blazing up on every hill-top and mountain, and heard the deep thunders of war echoing through the pine-barrens and savannas of their own sunny clime. The young and middle-aged men, in the Waxhaws and its vicinity, were enrolled in companies, and met frequently for military discipline, while their gray-headed sires looked on approvingly, and bade them never shame the blood from which they sprung.

Boys though they were, the young Jacksons became deeply imbued with the prevailing spirit. This was especially the case with Andrew, who longed for the hour to arrive, when he would be able to shoulder a musket, and perform some doughty enterprise, in defence of the liberties of his country.

[Sidenote: INVASION OF SOUTH CAROLINA.]

The officers charged with, what proved to be the Sisyphian task, of subjugating the colonial rebels, made their first principal efforts in the northern provinces.[14] Foiled, or beaten here, they turned their attention to the South. Savannah was reduced in December, 1778, and South Carolina invaded in the spring of 1779. Among those who marched out to meet the enemy, was Hugh Jackson, the oldest of the three brothers; he belonged to the company commanded by Captain, afterwards Colonel Davie, and was present at the battle of Stono, on the twentieth of June, where he lost his life from the excessive heat of the day. Early in 1780, a more formidable effort was made by the enemy, in South Carolina. Charleston was invested by a strong force, under Sir Henry Clinton, on the thirtieth of March; General Lincoln, then at the head of the southern army, stoutly defended the post, but was compelled to capitulate on the twelfth of May.

After the surrender of Charleston, the British commander divided his army into three columns; one being directed to move up the Savannah river to Augusta, another up the Congaree and Saluda to Ninety-six, and the third, under Lord Cornwallis, up the Wateree to Camden. At this time, there were several detachments, belonging to the American army, in the country, who were not included in the capitulation. One of these, consisting of about four hundred men, with two pieces of artillery, was commanded by Colonel Buford, who, on the advance of Cornwallis, retired up the Catawba, towards Charlotte, in North Carolina. Colonel Tarleton was immediately dispatched, with two hundred and seventy mounted men, in pursuit; by making rapid marches, he came up with the party under Colonel Buford, at the Waxhaw settlement, on the twenty-ninth of May. A brief, but bloody contest, took place; the Americans were soon overcome by the dragoons of Tarleton; quarter was rarely given when demanded; upwards of two hundred and sixty of the detachment were killed, or desperately wounded; and their artillery, with their ammunition and stores, fell into the hands of the enemy.

[Sidenote: DEFEAT OF COLONEL BUFORD’S PARTY.]

A great portion of the American soldiers wounded in this conflict were paroled on the spot, and left at the Waxhaws, to the humanity of the inhabitants. The latter were not wanting in kind and generous feelings, and their sympathy was freely bestowed on those who had suffered and endured so much in behalf of the common cause. The meeting-house in the settlement was speedily converted into a hospital; nurses were provided,--Mrs. Jackson offering her services with others; and every attention was paid to the comfort and wants of the unfortunate victims of the brutal ferocity of Tarleton and his followers. This was the first lesson learned by Andrew Jackson from actual observation, in regard to the horrors of war,--and it produced a powerful impression on his mind. So far from being intimidated, however, by the sufferings which he witnessed, his desire for taking part in the struggle was only stimulated and quickened.

Not long after this bloody catastrophe, Lord Rawdon was dispatched by Cornwallis into the Waxhaw settlement, with a large body of troops, to practice the same sanguinary measures which had been adopted in other parts of the province. Upon the fall of Charleston, marauding parties of British dragoons were sent out to scour the country; the timid were conciliated, and the refractory punished; rapine, murder, and violence, were committed with impunity; members of the same family were arrayed against each other, and all were made to suffer the misery and wretchedness ever attendant on civil war. The loyalists, or Tories, gladly hailed the appearance of the British troops; others consented to take protection, as it was called, in the hope, often a mistaken one, of enjoying an immunity from attack; but there were many who refused to waver in their allegiance to the Confederation.

Mrs. Jackson and her two sons, with a number of the Waxhaw settlers, retired before Lord Rawdon, into North Carolina, where they remained for several days, and until he was recalled to Camden. Resistance had now nearly ceased; and the British officers began to flatter themselves with the belief that the province was completely subdued. But a few weeks elapsed, however, ere General Sumter, who resided near the Waxhaws, returned from North Carolina, where he had also been a voluntary exile, and raised the patriot standard, at the head of his small but gallant band. Other partisan corps, under Marion, Pickens, and Davie, were soon formed. Without pay; scantily supplied with clothing and subsistence; provided with guns of every form and calibre, and swords and lances fashioned out of the rude implements of husbandry; and mainly relying for ammunition on their captures from the enemy,--these brave yeomen rendezvoused in the swamps and forests of South Carolina, where they bivouacked, night after night, in the open air, and from which they darted forth on detached parties of British and Tories, like the eagle on its prey.

[Sidenote: HIS FIRST BATTLE.]

On the thirtieth of July, General Sumter, with about six hundred men, made an unsuccessful attack on the advanced post of the British, at Rocky Mount. Three desperate efforts demonstrated the impracticability of carrying the enemy’s fortifications, and being entirely without cannon, he was obliged to draw off his command. He was now reïnforced by a party of the Waxhaw settlers, under Colonel Davie, and, on the sixth of August, proceeded against the post at Hanging Rock, midway between Camden and the Waxhaws. The first onset was attended with complete success. The enemy were driven from their camp, and took shelter in the main work. Unfortunately, many of Sumter’s men had fasted so long, that they preferred to search for something to eat and drink, rather than to advance and secure the victory, by carrying the post, which might then have been easily accomplished. A quantity of liquor was found in the camp, and they commenced drinking, in opposition to the urgent remonstrances of their commander. Apprehending the worst consequences if they remained, he resolved to retire to his encampment before they became wholly ungovernable.

The corps of Colonel Davie particularly distinguished itself on this occasion. Prominent among its members, were Lieutenant James Crawford, and Robert and Andrew Jackson,--the latter a mere stripling, but thirteen years of age; yet, in heart and soul, he was a man. This was his first battle, and the accounts we have of it show that both he and his brother rendered good service.

Ten days after this affair, General Gates was terribly defeated by Lord Cornwallis, and, two days later, General Sumter, overburdened with baggage and prisoners--having recently captured a convoy of British stores, with their escort, coming up from Charleston to Camden--was surprised by Colonel Tarleton, and his band routed and dispersed. Following up the advantage he had gained, Cornwallis marched with his whole army, on the eighth of September, in the direction of Charlotte, whither the remnant of Gates’ army had fled. On his approach to the Waxhaw settlement, Mrs. Jackson again retired into North Carolina, passing through Charlotte, on her way to Guilford county, on the morning of the day upon which the British van approached the town. She was accompanied by her two sons, neither of whom, on account of their youth, was yet permanently attached to a military corps.

Cornwallis soon found great difficulty in maintaining himself at Charlotte. His communications with the seaboard were cut off, and his supplies intercepted, by the partisans; and his position became still more embarrassing, upon the defeat, and almost total annihilation, of Major Ferguson’s command, at King’s Mountain, on the seventh of October. He therefore determined to retreat, before he was entirely surrounded by the aroused and patriotic militia of the Carolinas. On the fourteenth of October, he retraced his steps to the Waxhaws, and shortly after established himself at Winnsborough, where he awaited the arrival of reinforcements.

Besides other affairs, of minor importance, but equally honorable to the American cause, the battle of the Cowpens, and the masterly retreat of General Greene, took place during the ensuing winter, while Mrs. Jackson and her sons, with other Waxhaw settlers, remained in North Carolina. Early in February, 1781, Cornwallis crossed the Yadkin, in pursuit of Greene; and she and her friends thereupon returned to their homes, although they were in the immediate vicinity of the British posts, and the country around was full of armed parties of Tories, whose cruelties and enormities were every day becoming more barbarous and revolting.

[Sidenote: DARING AND RESOLUTION.]

The struggle now began to assume, especially in the Carolinas, a yet more direful aspect. A fierce war of extermination was waged between Whigs and Tories. The two parties, or factions--call them what we may--could not exist on the same soil. The former had imperilled everything in the effort to secure their independence, and they fought for the safety, not merely of themselves, but of their wives and children, their property, their all! Boys, as well as men, engaged in this bloody warfare, and it was amid its trying scenes, that the stern and inflexible daring and resolution were formed and manifested, which distinguished Andrew Jackson in after life.