EXPEDITION AGAINST YORK.

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of Fort Meigs, and by a spirited attack, succeeded in driving the besiegers from their works. Eight hundred of his troops having subsequently dispersed in the woods, in pursuit of the Indians, were drawn into an ambuscade, and compelled to surrender. They were saved from massacre only by the decisive interference of the Indian chief Tecumseh, who humanely restrained his followers from their usual atrocities. Of the 800 men only 150 escaped, the remainder being slain or captured. Colonel Proctor seeing no prospect of taking the fort, and being deserted by his Indian allies, who were heartily weary of the siege, abandoned his position on the 9th of May, and returned to Malden. General Harrison having repaired the fort, left it under command of General Clay, and returned to Ohio for reinforcements. Nothing further was attempted in this quarter until a naval force was ready for action on Lake Erie.

The principal object of the campaign of 1813, on the Canadian border, was the capture of Montreal. To effect this, it was essential to gain the command of Lake Ontario. Sackett's Harbour, on the east end of the lake, near its outlet, was selected as a naval depot; and Commodore Chauncey had been occupied since the month of October, 1812, in building and. equipping a squadron sufficiently powerful to cope with that of the enemy, which consisted of six vessels, mounting in all eighty guns. In this he was successful; and having made several captures in the autumn of 1812, he was enabled in the spring of the next year, to acquire the complete ascendancy on the lake, confining every British ship to the harbour of Kingston.

General Dearborn had now under his command a respectable force of 6,000 men, composing the army of the north; and as Montreal was in a comparatively defenceless state, and could receive no reinforcements until June, it was his proper policy to have made an immediate descent upon that city. Unfortunately his exertions were directed to a much less important object. On the 23rd of April he embarked at Sackett's Harbour with 1,600 men, on an expedition against York, the capital of Upper Canada, situated at the head of Lake Ontario. On the 27th he arrived at his destination, and immediately commenced a disembarkation. Remaining on board the fleet, he intrusted the attack to General Pike, who succeeded in landing, though opposed by a superior force of the enemy, who, after a severe action,

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ATTACK ON SACKETT'S HARBOUR.

were driven to their fortifications. The remainder of the forces having effected a landing, the whole army advanced to the assault, carried the first battery, and were approaching the main works, when a magazine of the British, prepared for the purpose, blew up with a tremendous explosion, destroying one hundred of the assailants. General Pike was mortally wounded by a stone which was thrown up by the explosion, and which struck him on the breast. He was immediately conveyed on board the commodore's ship, and soon expired. The troops paused a few moments at this unexpected catastrophe, but soon pressed forward and gained the possession of the town. The government hall was burned contrary to the orders of the American general. The British lost 100 killed, and 600 wounded and prisoners. The Americans, 320 killed and wounded. The object of the expedition being attained, the fleet proceeded to Niagara, landed the troops, and returned to Sackett's Harbour.

On embarking for York, General Dearborn had left Sackett's Harbour in rather a defenceless state. It was consequently attacked on the 29th of May, by the combined land and naval forces of the British, under Sir George Prevost and Sir James Yeo. General Brown, of the New York militia, had the chief command at the harbour. He detached Colonel Mills with the militia and Albany volunteers, to oppose the enemy's landing. On their approach, the militia fired, without orders, and too soon to produce any effect, and then fled. Colonel Mills was slain in attempting to rally them. General Brown succeeded in rallying about 100, and fell upon the enemy's rear. The British advanced towards the village, and encountering Colonel Backus, with the regular troops and a few militia, after a severe action were repulsed and driven to their boats. Lieutenant Chauncey, who had been ordered to set fire to the store-houses and barracks in case of defeat, anticipated that result, and thus caused the loss of the supplies which were essential to the success of the campaign. General Brown, in consequence of his services on this occasion, was appointed a brigadier in the regular army.

While these events were passing at Sackett's Harbour, operations of some importance were taking place at the head of the lake. On the 27th of May, a descent was made upon Fort George, on the British side of the Niagara river, which, after a warm resistance, was taken. On the 28th, the garrison at Erie abandoned that fort to the Americans, and concen

OPERATIONS ON THE NIAGARA FRONTIER.

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trated their forces with those of the other British garrisons on the Niagara peninsula, beyond Burlington heights, about forty miles west of Fort George. Generals Chandler and

Winder were detached from Fort George with 1,000 men to attack them. They were met and repulsed, with the loss of both these officers captured; and Sir James Yeo, arriving with his fleet, relieved the British, and compelled the Americans to return to the main army, with the loss of most of their artillery and baggage. A detachment of 570 men, under Lieutenant-Colonel Boerstler, being sent soon after to attack a body of the enemy at Beaver Dams, was surrounded and captured.

A second expedition under the command of Colonel Scott, was sent against the British post on Burlington heights, on the 28th of July. The landing took place on the 31st; but on reconnoitering the enemy's works, they were deemed too strong to be attacked with any prospect of success, and the troops were immediately re-embarked. On their return, they put into York, burned the barracks and public stores, and brought off one piece of ordnance and a quantity of flour.

During the time occupied by these operations, the British had prepared a flotilla, superior to that of the Americans, which enabled them to turn the advantage on Lake Ontario in their own favour. On the 7th of October, Sir James Yeo appeared with his fleet before Fort George, where Commodore Chauncey lay at anchor with his squadron. He immediately went out, and in a gale, which happened on the night of the 8th, lost two of his schooners, with the greater part of their crews. On the 10th, an action took place, in which two of the American schooners were taken. The fleets then separated, neither party being willing to come to a decisive

contest.

Thus terminated the operations of the American forces on Lake Ontario, under the direction of General Dearborn, Nothing had been effected towards the successful termination of the campaign; heavy losses had been sustained, and the only favourable opportunity for a descent on Montreal had been suffered to escape. The general had been most of the time an invalid, and had never appeared to lead his troops on any expedition. He was now superseded, and General Wilkinson called from the south to take his place.

General Wilkinson arrived at Sackett's Harbour on the 1st of August; the war department, under the direction of General

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BATTLE OF CHRYSTLER'S Fields.

The

Armstrong, was removed to that place, and extensive preparations were commenced for a descent on Montreal. army consisted of 8,000 men, but a period of three months elapsed before they were ready to descend the St. Lawrence on the expedition. This enabled the enemy to fortify every important point on the river; and when, on the 5th of November, the flotilla set sail, their progress was disputed so obstinately, that it was found necessary to land a body of troops under the command of General Brown, who proceeded in advance of the boats, to dislodge the enemy from his posts on the river. The rear division, under General Boyd, encountered a party of equal force at Chrystler's Fields, near Williamsburg, on the 10th of November. A spirited action ensued, in which the Americans, with considerable loss, succeeded in driving the British from their position, and enabling the flotilla to pass unmolested.

On the 11th, General Wilkinson with the main body arrived at St. Regis, where General Hampton, with an additional force, had been ordered to meet him for the purpose of co-operating in the proposed descent on Montreal. Instead of obeying the order, Hampton sent a communication to his commander, informing him, that in consequence of the sickly state of his troops, the want of provisions, &c. he had thought proper to fall back on his main depot at Plattsburg, for the purpose of keeping open a communication with the St. Lawrence, and thus contributing to the success of the main object. In consequence of this strange proceeding of General Hampton, the expedition was abandoned, and General Wilkinson's army retired to French Mills, and went into winter quarters.

The disappointment and chagrin of the nation at the failure of this attempt was proportioned to the extensive preparations, and the sanguine hopes with which it had been undertaken. The whole fault was respectively charged upon the war department, the commanding general and his recusant subaltern; but it was easy to perceive, that if either had possessed a tolerable share of decision and energy, the expedition would have been attended with a very different result.

Before restoring his department to its only proper position, the capital, the secretary of war, General Armstrong, had issued an order to General M'Clure, commanding at Fort George, to destroy the British town of Newark, situated in its vicinity. This order was punctually complied with on the 10th of December, and about 500 unoffending and innocent

BRITISH RAVAGES ON THE SEA COAST.

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people were thus rendered houseless, and compelled, in the midst of a Canadian winter, to seek shelter from the charity of their friends.

This act, and the burning of York, were most severely retaliated by the British, who, when General M'Clure subsequently retreated, and Fort Niagara was lost, passed over to the American side of the river, burnt Niagara and Lewistown, and laid waste all the other flourishing villages and settlements on the Niagara between the lakes. Indeed, these unnecessary acts of aggression on the Canada borders, were afterwards alleged in justification of every similar proceeding on the part of the enemy.

Although the British were so deeply sensible of the injustice and cruelty of this mode of warfare when practised upon their own people, they had been beforehand with the Americans in its commencement. Having declared a blockade of the ports and harbours in the Chesapeake and Delaware bays, in December, 1812, they extended it on the following May to New York, and all the southern ports. A squadron of four ships of the line and six frigates, under Admiral Cockburn, arrived in the Chesapeake early in March, and three seventyfours, and several smaller vessels, under Commodore Beresford, arrived in the Delaware about the same time. On the 16th of March, a demand was made on the inhabitants of Lewistown, on the Delaware, for supplies, which was promptly refused. The demand being again made and again refused, the British commenced a bombardment of the town on the 6th of April. They subsequently attempted to land at two different places on the river, but being met at the water's edge and driven back, they abandoned the river, after burning some merchant vessels, and sailed for Bermuda.

Admiral Cockburn pursued a similar system of warfare on the Chesapeake. The plantations, farms, and gentlemen's seats on the shore were plundered. The villages of Frenchtown, Havre de Grace, Fredericktown, and Georgetown were plundered and burnt; and Norfolk and the villages in its immediate neighbourhood were only saved from destruction by the spirited resistance of the inhabitants, assisted by some marines and sailors from the Constellation frigate, and a few gun-boats in the harbour, who manned a battery on Craney island, sunk several of the British barges, and drove the remainder back to their ships.

The village of Hampton, eighteen miles from Norfolk, was