Sustained honor Part 24

They descended the steps and had scarcely reached the floor, when footsteps were heard descending a flight of steps from the inside of the house.

"Hide behind the barrels and boxes, ivery mother's son of ye!" whispered the Irishman. The officers were concealing themselves, when suddenly the door opened and a portly elderly gentleman in his shirt sleeves, knee breeches and slippers, carrying a lighted candle in one hand and a pistol in the other descended. He saw Captain Bones and his lieutenant trying to hide behind a barrel. The captain, in his excitement, had drawn a pistol and was c.o.c.king it. Terrence at this moment escaped.

With a yell, the old gentleman dropped the candle, which lay on the floor, the thin blaze ascending upward and dimly lighting the scene. At his yell, there suddenly rushed into the cellar half a dozen stout men, armed with guns and pistols, and the supposed burglars were arrested.

Next morning, Captain Bones and his chief officer were snugly reposing in the county jail, while Terrence, Fernando and Job set out across the country for Augusta. From this point they took pa.s.sage in a swift coaster for New York. At New York they separated, Terrence going to Philadelphia, Job to Baltimore, and Fernando to his home in Ohio.

His journey was long and tedious. At the close of a hot day in autumn, 1811, the old stage coach came in sight of the dear old home. The past four years seemed like a terrible dream. The old familiar spot, where every tree and flower was endeared by sacred remembrances, was never half so precious as now. His gray-haired father and sorrowful mother, who had long given him up for dead, wept over him and thanked G.o.d that he had returned to again bless their home. Friends, relatives and neighbors, hearing of the sudden return of Fernando, all gathered on that evening, and the youth told the sad story of his impressment and slavery. He told all save his love affair. That secret was too sacred.

When he had finished, good old Mrs. Winners was weeping bitterly, and there was scarce a dry eye in the house; for all remembered that poor Sukey was still a slave to the rapacity and cruelty of an ambitious monarch.

CHAPTER XII.

WAR.

The story of the impressment, service and sufferings of Fernando Stevens and his friends are no exaggerations. Well authenticated history shows that there were thousands of cases similar, and even worse than theirs.

The conduct of England was without precedent and unbearable. Their great need of men might have been some excuse for impressment of Americans; but there was a spice of hatred in their cruel treatment of the unfortunate sailors.

We read much about the rulers moulding the destiny of the people; but in our republic the people mould the destiny of the rulers. Long before the president had dared express a thought of war, there were staid old western farmers, level-headed old fellows, who declared that war was inevitable. America is not a country to be ruled by one man. The people rule it, and every man thinks for himself, so that out of the conflict of opinions the truth is usually reached. Before even the fiery congress of 1812 had taken up the subject of hostilities, the legislatures of the several States, urged by their farmer const.i.tuency, had by concurrent resolutions declared in favor of war; but the timid president, influenced by his own convictions and the opinions of his cabinet, still hesitated. Finally a committee of Democrats waited on Mr.

Madison and told him plainly, in substance, that the supporters of his administration had determined upon war with England, that the patience of the people had become exhausted at his delay, and that unless a declaration of war should soon be made, his renomination and re-election would probably not be accomplished. The president consented to yield his own convictions to the will of his political friends. Thus we see that President Madison was not moved through patriotic motives to declare war against Great Britain, but from personal ambition. Patriotic motives follow personal convictions, be they right or wrong.

On the first of April, 1812, he sent a confidential message to congress, proposing, as a measure preliminary to a declaration of war, the pa.s.sage of a law laying an embargo upon all commerce with the United States for the s.p.a.ce of sixty days. This was done on the fourth of April, and on the eighth, Louisiana was admitted into the Union as a State.

At the end of the sixty days embargo, Madison sent a message to congress in which he reviewed the difficulties with Great Britain, portrayed the aggressions of that power, and intimated the necessity of war for the maintenance of the honor and dignity of the republic. The message was referred to the committee on foreign relations, when a majority of them--John C. Calhoun of South Carolinia, Felix Grundy of Tennessee, John Smillie of Pennsylvania, John A. Harper of New Hampshire, Joseph Desha of Kentucky and Seaver of Ma.s.sachusetts reported, June 3, a manifesto as the basis of a declaration of war. On the next day, a bill to that effect, drawn by Attorney-General Pinckney in the following form was adopted and presented by Mr. Calhoun:

"That war be, and the same is hereby, declared to exist between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the dependencies thereof, and the United States of America and their Territories, and that the president of the United States is hereby authorized to use the whole land and naval force of the United States to carry the same into effect, and to issue to private armed vessels of the United States commissions, or letters of marque and general reprisal, in such form as he shall think proper, and under the seal of the United States, against the vessels, goods and effects of the government of the said United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the subjects thereof."

Pending these proceedings, congress sat with closed doors. The bill pa.s.sed the house of representatives by a vote of 75 to 49, and the senate by 19 to 13. The president's immediate signature made it a law; and two days later, June 19, 1812, Mr. Madison issued a proclamation, in which he formally declared war against the offending government and people.

Thus began the second war with Great Britain, generally known in the annals of history as the War of 1812, though it was in reality the second war for independence. It was the war which established independence beyond the cavil of a doubt and sustained the honor of the nation.

Immediate measures were taken by congress to sustain the declaration of war. The president was authorized to enlist 25,000 men for the regular army, accept 50,000 volunteers and call out 100,000 militia for the defence of the seacoast. About $3,000,000 were appropriated for the navy.

There were very few men in the United States trained in the art of war at this time. West Point was in its infancy, having been authorized only ten years before, and as yet had not been able to accomplish anything.

The older officers of the Revolution were already in their graves, and the younger ones were far advanced in life; yet to the latter alone, the government felt compelled to look for its military leaders. Henry Dearborn, a meritorious New Hampshire colonel in the continental army, was commissioned major-general and commander-in-chief. His princ.i.p.al brigadiers were James Wilkinson, who was on the staff of General Gates in the capture of Burgoyne, Wade Hampton, who had done good partisan service with Marion, Sumter, and others in South Carolinia, William Hull, who had served as colonel in the old war for independence, and Joseph Bloomfield, who had been a captain in the New Jersey line.

At that time, Hull was a governor of the territory of Michigan.

Satisfied that the American navy could not cope with that of Great Britain, the Americans based their hopes for success largely upon the supposed dissatisfaction of the inhabitants of Canada and other British colonial possessions on their border. It was believed that the Canadians would flock to the American standard as soon as it was raised on their soil. The American people have always clung to the belief that Canadians were not loyal to Great Britain. It was the mistake of 1775, it was the mistake of 1812, and strange to say Americans still hug the delusion to their b.r.e.a.s.t.s that Canada favors annexation. They have reason for their belief only in the doctrine that such an annexation would be in the interests of Canada, disregarding the stubborn fact that in political matters, prejudices, rather than interests, control.

Canada was then divided into the Upper and Lower Provinces, the former extending westward from Montreal, along the sh.o.r.es of the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario, to Lake Huron and the Detroit River. It included about one hundred thousand inhabitants, who were princ.i.p.ally the families of American loyalists, who had been compelled to abandon their homes in the States at the close of the war of the Revolution, and had since lived under the fostering care of the British government. They were loyal to Great Britain from lingering resentment to the Americans, and because of the kindness of the English government.

In 1812, George, Prince of Wales, was really the monarch of Great Britain, for the court physicians had p.r.o.nounced his father, George III., hopelessly insane. Great Britain was waging a tremendous war against Napoleon, having just formed an alliance with Russia against the ambitious Corsican. England's naval armament on the American stations, Halifax, Newfoundland, Jamaica and the Leeward Islands, then consisted of five ships-of-the-line, nineteen frigates, forty-one brigs and sixteen schooners and some armed vessels on Lakes Ontario and Erie, with several others building. The British land forces in the two Canadian provinces were about seven thousand five hundred, while the number of Canadian militia did not exceed forty thousand with a frontier of seven hundred miles to guard.

The governor of Michigan went to Washington City in the winter of 1812 and heard the question of the invasion of western Canada discussed. He informed the president that the success of such an enterprise depended on having armed vessels on Lake Erie, with a competent force in the northwest to protect the American frontier against the Indians. In the spring, Governor Meigs of Ohio summoned the militia of that State to rendezvous at Dayton, to meet the impending danger. Hull accepted the commission of brigadier, and late in May arrived at Dayton, Ohio, and took command of the troops at that place. Hull had under him such noted officers as Colonels Duncan McArthur, James Findlay and Lewis Ca.s.s. With these forces, he marched to Detroit, through an almost trackless wilderness. While on the march with about two thousand men, Hull was informed of the declaration of war, which news at the same time reached the British posts in Canada, and his little army was in imminent peril.

The government gave Hull discretionary power for invading Canada.

General Sir Isaac Brock, Lieutenant Governor of upper Canada, was in command of the British forces. On July 12, 1812, Hull crossed the Detroit River with his whole force and encamped at some unfinished works at Sandwich, preparatory to an attack on Fort Malden near the present Amherstburg. From this point, Hull issued a proclamation, promising protection to the inhabitants who would remain at home and death to all who should side with the Indians, then gathering under Tec.u.mseh at Malden. General Proctor was sent to take command at Fort Malden, while Brock began to a.s.semble a force about him at Fort George. Here he was joined by John Brant, son of the great Mohawk chief with one hundred warriors from Grand River.

By his extreme caution and delay, Hull lost his opportunity to capture Fort Malden, which was soon strongly reinforced by British and Indians.

Meanwhile, information reached Hull of the fall of the fort on Mackinaw.

He also learned that Fort Dearborn at Chicago was invested, while a detachment under Major Van Horne, sent down to the West side of the Detroit River to escort a supply train from Ohio, was attacked by the British and Indians, and after a sharp fight defeated. Hull decided to retreat to Detroit. The order was a surprise and disappointment to the army, and drew from some of the young officers very harsh remarks concerning the imbecility and even treachery of General Hull. Sullenly the army crossed the river, and on the morning of the 8th of August encamped under the shelter of Fort Detroit. On the same day Colonel Miller and several hundred men were sent to accomplish what Van Horne had failed to do. They met and defeated the Indians under Tec.u.mseh and a small British force near the scene of Van Horne's disaster, and were about to press forward to meet the supply party and escort them to camp, when the commander-in-chief recalled them.

On the 13th of August, Gen. Brock, a brave, energetic officer reached Malden with reinforcements. Aware of the character of Hull, he prepared for the conquest of Detroit. On the 14th, he planted batteries at Sandwich, opposite the fortress of Detroit and demanded its surrender, stating that otherwise he should be unable to restrain the fury of the savages. Instigated by his officers, Hull answered this by a spirited refusal and a declaration that the fort and town would be defended to the last extremity. The British commenced a cannonade, and Hull was greatly distressed at the number of women and children in the fort, exposed to the fire of the enemy. The more charitably inclined historian interprets his acts as the result of tender regard for the helpless and innocent, rather than cowardice, especially as his daughter and her little children came near being slain by a ricocheting cannon-ball, which almost annihilated a group of officers in front of the door of the house in which the mother and her children were. The firing continued until next day. The alarm and consternation of General Hull had now become extreme. On the 12th, the field officers, suspecting that the general intended to surrender the fort, had determined on his arrest.

This was probably prevented, in consequence of Col. McArthur and Ca.s.s, two very active and spirited officers, being detached, on the 13th, with four hundred men, on a third expedition to the river Raisin.

Early on the morning of the 16th, the British landed at Springwell, three miles below the town, without opposition, and marched up in solid column toward the fort along the river bank. The troops were strongly posted, and cannon loaded with grape stood on a commanding eminence ready to sweep the advancing columns. The troops, antic.i.p.ating a brilliant victory, waited in eager expectation the advance of the British. What was their disappointment and mortification at the very moment, when it was thought the British were advancing to certain destruction, orders were given for them to retire within the fort, and for the artillery not to fire. Then, the men were ordered to stack their arms, and, to the astonishment of all, a white flag was suspended from the walls, and Hull, panic stricken, surrendered the fortress without even stipulating the terms. The surrender included, beside the troops at Detroit, the detachments under Ca.s.s and McArthur, and the party under Captain Brush at the river Raisin. No provision was made for the unfortunate Canadians who had joined General Hull, and several of them were hung as traitors.

The disgraceful surrender of Detroit, excited universal indignation throughout the country. When McArthur's sword was demanded, he indignantly broke it, tore the epaulettes from his shoulders and threw himself upon the ground. When General Hull was exchanged, he was tried by a court-martial, found guilty of cowardice and sentenced to be shot; but, in consequence of his revolutionary services and his advanced age, the president pardoned him. His fair fame, however, has ever since been blasted with the breath of cowardice.

While General Hull was in Canada, he dispatched Winnemeg, a friendly Indian, to Captain Heald, the commander of Fort Dearborn, at the small trading post of Chicago, with the information of the loss of Mackinaw, and directed him to distribute his stores among the Indians, and return to Fort Wayne. Captain Heald had ample means of defence; but the order received on the 9th of August left nothing to his discretion. The Pottawatomies, however, having obtained intelligence of the war from a runner sent by Tec.u.mseh, collected, to the number of several hundred, around the fort. Notwithstanding the evident hostile demonstration of the Indians, Captain Heald proceeded to obey his superior's orders. He distributed his stores among the Indians, excepting what was most wanted; while liquors and ammunition which they could not take, were thrown into the lake. This act enraged the Pottawatomies. On the 14th, Captain Wells arrived with fifteen friendly Miamies from Fort Wayne.

This intrepid warrior, who had been bred among the Indians, hearing that his friends at Chicago were in danger, had hastened thither to avert the fate, which he knew must ensue to the little garrison, if they evacuated the fort; but he was too late; the ammunition and provisions both being gone, there was no alternative. The next day (August 15th), all being ready, the garrison left the fort with martial music and in military array.

Captain Wells, at the head of the Miamies, led the van, his face blackened after the manner of the Indians.

The garrison, with loaded arms, followed, and the wagons with the baggage, the women and children, the sick and the lame closed the rear.

The Pottawatomies, about five hundred in number, who had promised to escort them in safety to Fort Wayne, leaving a little s.p.a.ce, afterward followed. The party in advance took the beach road. They had no sooner arrived at the sand-hills, which separated the prairie from the beach, about a half mile from the fort, when the Pottawatomies, instead of continuing in the rear of the Americans, left the beach and took to the prairie. The sand-hills intervened and presented a barrier between the Pottawatomies and the American and Miami line of march. This divergence had scarcely been effected, when Captain Wells, who, with the Miamies, was considerably in advance, rode back and exclaimed:

"They are about to attack us; form instantly and charge upon them."

The words had scarcely been uttered, before a volley of musketry from behind the sand-hills was poured in upon them. The troops were brought immediately into line and charged up the bank. One man, a veteran of seventy, fell as they ascended. The battle at once became general. The Miamies fled in the outset.

The American troops behaved gallantly. Though few in number, they sold their lives as dearly as possible. While the battle was raging, the surgeon, Doctor Voorhes, who was badly wounded, and whose horse had been shot under him, approaching Mrs. Helm, the wife of Lieutenant Helm, with his face the picture of dread and despair, asked:

"Do you think they will take our lives? I am badly wounded, but I think not mortally. Perhaps we can purchase safety by offering a large reward.

Do you think there is any chance?"

"Doctor Voorhes," the brave little woman answered, "let us not waste the few moments which yet remain, in idle or ill-founded hopes. Our fate is inevitable. We must soon appear at the bar of G.o.d. Let us make such preparations as are in our power."

"Oh, I cannot die! I am unfit to die! If I had a short time to prepare!--oh, death, how awful!"

At this moment, Ensign Ronan was fighting at a little distance with a tall and portly Indian. The former, mortally wounded, was nearly down and struggling desperately on one knee. Mrs. Helm, pointing her finger and directing the attention of the doctor to him, cried:

"Look at that young man; he dies like a soldier!"

"Yes," said the doctor, "but he has no terrors of the future; he is an unbeliever."

A young savage sprang at Mrs. Helm, whose horse had been shot, and raised his tomahawk to strike her. She instantly sprang aside, and the blow intended for her head, fell upon her shoulders. She thereupon seized him around his neck, and, while exerting all her efforts to get possession of his scalping knife, was seized by another Indian and dragged forcibly from his grasp. The latter bore her, struggling and resisting, toward the lake. Notwithstanding, however, the rapidity with which she was hurried along, she recognized, as she pa.s.sed, the form of the unfortunate doctor stretched lifeless on the prairie. She was plunged into the water and held there, despite her resistance, with a strong hand. It soon became evident, however, that it was not the intention of her captor to drown her, as he took care to keep her head above the water. Thus rea.s.sured, she gave him a careful look and recognized him, despite his disguise, as "Black Partridge, the white man's friend." It was this friendly savage who had warned Captain Heald to beware of the march. Through the interpreter he said:

"Linden birds have been singing in my ears to-day; be careful on the march you are going to take."

The troops, having fought with desperation until two-thirds of their number were slain, the remainder, twenty-seven in all, borne down by an overwhelming force, and exhausted by efforts. .h.i.therto unequaled, at length surrendered. They stipulated, however, for their own safety and for the safety of their remaining women and children. The wounded prisoners, however, in the hurry of the moment were forgotten, and were, therefore, regarded by the Indians as having been excluded.

[ILl.u.s.tRATION: IT SOON BECAME EVIDENT THAT HE DID NOT INTEND TO DROWN HER.]

One of the soldiers' wives, having been told that prisoners taken by the Indians were put to terrible tortures, resolved from the first not to surrender. When a party of savages approached her, she fought with desperation, although a.s.sured of kind treatment, and, exciting the anger of the Indians, was killed and left on the field. After the surrender, twelve children in one of the baggage wagons were slain by a single savage.

Mrs. Rebecca Heald, the young captain's wife, like Mrs. Helm was mounted on a horse. She carried a rifle with which she shot a savage dead.

During the ma.s.sacre, an Indian, with the fury of a demon in his countenance, advanced to her with his tomahawk raised. She had been accustomed to danger and, knowing the temper of the Indians, with great presence of mind, looked him in the face and, smiling, said: