conflict; so brave and courageous the hearts of those who fought for the honor and rights of America. It was two o'clock, and Captain Elliott, of the Niagara, was enabled by the aid of a fresh breeze to bring his ship into close action in gallant style. Finding, now, that no resistance or hostility on the part of the Lawrence could be profitably persisted in, Perry suddenly formed the determination to shift his flag to Elliott's ship; and, leaving his own vessel in charge of her lieutenant, the brave and gallant Yarnall, he hauled down his union-jack, and, taking it under his arm, ordered a boat to put "No!" exclaimed Elliott; "do you take command of this ship, and I will bring up the boats." Elliott at once put off, to bring the schooners which had been up kept back by the lightness of the wind. At this moment, the flag of the Lawrence was hauled down. Lieutenant Yarnall, upon whom the command of the vessel devolved after the commodore left her, refused for some time to leave the deck, though more than once wounded; and Lieutenant Brooks and Midshipman Saul were both killed. As the surgeon was stooping, in the act of dressing or examining a wound, a ball passed through the ship a few inches from his head, which, had it been erect, must have been taken off. The principal force of the enemy's fire had now been sustained uninterruptedly by the Lawrence, and, as she was rendered totally incapable of defense, any further show of resistance would have been a useless sacrifice of the remnant of her brave and mangled crew. The enemy were at the same time so crippled, that they were unable to take possession of her, and circumstances soon enabled her crew again to raise the American flag. Commodore Perry now gave the signal to all the vessels for close action. The small vessels, under the direction of Elliott, got out their sweeps, and made all sail. On an inspection of the Niagara, and finding her but little injured, Perry determined upon the bold and desperate expedient of breaking the enemy's line; he accordingly bore up and passed the head of the two ships and brig, giving them a raking fire from his starboard guns, and also a raking fire upon a large schooner and sloop, from his larboard quarter, at half pistol shot. distance on the other quarter, inclosed their enemy between them and the Niagara, and in this position kept up a most deadly fire on both quarters of the British. For a time, the combat raged with indescribable violence and fury. The result of a campaign—the command of a sea-the glory and renown of two rival nations matched for the first time in squadron,these were the issues at stake which inspirited the combatants. The contest was not long doubtful. The Queen Charlotte having lost her captain and all her principal officers, by some mischance ran foul of her colleague, the Detroit. By this accident, the greater part of their guns were rendered useless, and the two ships were now in turn compelled to sustain an incessant fire from the Niagara and the other vessels of the American squadron. The flag of Captain Barclay soon struck; and the Queen Charlotte, the Lady Prevost, the Hunter, and the Chippewa, surrendered in immediate succession. The Little Belt attempted to escape, but was pursued by two gun-boats, and captured. Thus, after a contest of three hours, was a naval victory achieved by the Americans, in which every vessel of the enemy was captured. If anything could enhance its brilliancy it was the modest and laconic manner in which, Cæsar-like, it was announced by the gallant victor The carnage in this action was very great in proportion to the numbers engaged. The Americans had twenty-seven Having brought the whole squadron killed, and ninety-six wounded. The loss into action, Perry luffed up and laid his of the British was about two hundred in ship alongside of the British commodore, killed and wounded, many of these being Barclay, of the Lady Prevost. Approach- officers; and the prisoners, amounting to ing within half pistol shot, Perry's fire six hundred, exceeded the whole number was so destructive that the enemy's men of Americans. Commodore Barclay, a were compelled to run below. At this gallant sailor, one of whose arms had been moment the wind freshened, and the Cal- shot off at the battle of Trafalgar, under edonia came up and opened her fire upon Lord Nelson, was severely wounded in the the British; and several others of the hip, and lost the use of his remaining arm. squadron were enabled soon after to do Perry was but twenty-seven years old, and the same, the small vessels having now had scarcely recovered from an attack of got up within good grape-and-canister good grape-and-canister the lake-fever, when he thus 'met the enemy,'—a circumstance that heightens the estimate to be put upon his indomitable perseverance and bravery on this occasion. To his adroit transfer of his command to the Niagara, passing through the thickest of the battle in an open boat, may fairly be attributed his brilliant fortune on that eventful day. His success raised him to the very pinnacle of professional renown, and the naval supremacy of the United States upon the lakes was triumphantly secured. This important and decisive battle was fought midway of the lake, between the two hostile armies, who lay on the opposite shores, waiting in anxious expectation of its result, the allied British and Indian forces, to the amount of nearly five thousand, under Proctor and Tecumseh, being ready, in case of a successful issue, to renew their ravages on the American borders. The fruits of this victory, therefore, were such as to cause unbounded demonstrations of joy in the United States. All party-feelings were for the time forgotten; and the glorious occurrence was celebrated by illuminations and festivities, from one end of the continent to the other. During this same year, our gallant navy was victorious in the capture of the sloopof-war Peacock, by Captain James Lawrence; and in the capture of the brig Boxer, by the Enterprise, commanded by Lieutenant Barrows. The British, however, on the first of June, rejoiced in the capture of the Chesapeake by the frigate Shannon, off Boston harbor, and, on the fourteenth of August, in the capture of the Argus, Captain Allen, by the Pelican. The British were also victorious on land, at the battles of Mackinaw, Queenstown, Frenchtown, and some other points; but lost the battles of York, Fort Meigs, and the Thames. The proposed invasion of Canada, under the direction of Generals Dearborn, Wilkinson, Hampton, Lewis, and Izard, proved a failure. Such a victory, therefore, as that of Perry, was well calculated to fill the nation with joy. The struggle being ended, and Perry acquainting himself with the condition and wants of the several vessels and their crews, at last visited the shattered remains of the Lawrence. The deck was slippery with blood and brains, and strewed with the bodies of officers and men, and the ship resounded everywhere with the groans of the wounded. Those of the crew who were spared and able to walk or limp, approached the gallant captain with tears in their eyes, and with outstretched arms of welcome; but the salutation was a silent one on both sides,-so overcome with emotion were the hearts of these brave men, that not a word could find utterance. The principal loss in the whole action was on board the Lawrence, so indomitable was Perry's resolution not to be conquered. In memory of this heroic service to his country, there was erected in 1860, at Cleveland, Ohio, near the scene of his great battle, a marble statue by Walcutt. Two days after the battle, two Indian chiefs who had been selected for their skill as marksmen, and stationed in the tops of the Detroit for the purpose of picking off the American officers, were found snugly stowed away in the hold of that ship. These savages, who had been accustomed to vessels of no greater magnitude than what they could sling upon their backs, when the action became warm, were so panic-struck at the terrors of the scene and at the strange perils surrounding them, that, looking at each other in amazement, they vociferated their significant Quonth!' and precipitately descended to the hold. In their British uniforms, hanging in bags upon their famished bodies, they were now brought before Commodore Perry, fed, and discharged, -no further parole being necessary to prevent their ever engaging again in a similar contest. The slain of the crews of both squadrons were committed to the lake immediately after the action; and, the next day, the funeral obsequies of the American and British officers who had fallen, were performed at an opening on the margin of the bay, in an appropriate and affecting manner. The crews of both fleets united | obstinacy, a victory which that enemy had in the ceremony. The autumnal stillness of the weather-the procession of boats— the music-the slow and regular motion of the oars, striking in exact time with the notes of the solemn dirge—the mournful waving of the flags-the sound of the minute-guns from all the ships-the wild. and solitary aspect of the place ;-all these gave to this funeral ceremonial a most impressive influence, in striking contrast with the terrible conflict of the preceding day. Two American and three British officers were interred side by side of each other, in this lonely place of sepulture, on the margin of the lake, a few paces from the beach. In his official dispatch, Perry speaks in the highest terms of the co-operation, bravery and judgment, of his associate, Captain Elliott. Nevertheless, there is universal agreement with the assertion made by Mackenzie, the appreciating biographer of this heroic commander, that the battle of Erie was won not merely by the genius and inspiration, but eminently by the exertions, of one man,—a young man of twenty-seven, who had never beheld a naval engagement. He had dashed boldly into action with the Lawrence, trusting that the rear of his line would soon be able to close up to his support. Sustained, however, only by the Caledonia, the Ariel, and the Scorpion, he resisted for two hours or more the whole of the British squadron. Overcome at last, Perry made a new arrangement of his remaining resources, and snatched from the enemy, with desperate already claimed with exulting cheers for his own. This he accomplished by an evolution unsurpassed for genius and hardihood, bearing down with dauntless assurance upon the whole of the opposing fleet, and dashing with his fresh and uninjured vessel through the enemy's line, to their dismay and complete discomfiture. And W. H. Harryou this victory on the lake was so much the more important from its enabling General Harrison to recover from the British invaders the American territory which they had occupied, and to pursue them into Canada, where, on the fifth of October, they were totally routed in the battle of the Thames. Nearly all the British force was either captured or slain, and their famous Indian ally, Tecumseh, here ended his life. 16 XXV. CONQUEST AND BURNING OF WASHINGTON, BY THE BRITISH.-1814. Precipitate Flight of the President of the United States, and His Cabinet-The Capitals of Europe Protected from Fire and Devastation by Their Conquerors.-Contrast of British Warfare in America. -The Capitol, Presidential Mansion, etc., Sacked and Fired.-National Indignation Aroused by These Barbarities.-Veterans from Europe's Battle-Fields Execute these Deeds.-Orders to "Lay Waste" the American Coast.-Operations at the South.-Washington the Prize in View-Inefficiency of its Defense.-Winder and Barney in Command.-The Idea of an Attack Scouted.-Onward March of the Invaders.-Fearful Excitement in the City.-High Officials in Camp.-The Armies at Bladensburg.-Winder Defeated, Barney Taken-Ross's Progress Unopposed-Complete Master of the City. A Rush for the Spoils.-British Soldiers in the White "I will make a cow-pasture of these Yankee Capitol grounds."-GENERAL Ross. A CLOUD ON THE NATIONAL ARDLY any event connected with the second war with Great Britain aroused so universal a spirit of indignation on the part of the people of the United States-so united a sentiment of hostility—against their ancient enemy, as the capture and burning of Washington city, the federal capital, August twenty-fourth, 1814. The commencement of this year was distinguished by military and political occurrences of transcendent importance, such as the entry of the allied armies into Paris, the forced abdication of Napoleon, his exile to Elba, and the establishment of general peace on the continent. But these momentous transactions, which filled the European world with almost boundless exultation, produced in America a very different impression. The fact of pacification having been, at last, definitely accomplished throughout Europe, offered to the British a large disposable force, both naval and military,-that which had been so successfully instrumental in overthrowing the greatest power and most masterly warrior in the world. With this force, England resolved on giving to the war in America a character of new and increased activity and extent; and the royal authorities accordingly promulgated it as their determined purpose to lay waste the whole American coast, from Maine to Georgia. In pursuance of this sanguinary programme of operations, Admiral Sir Alexander Cockburn was intrusted with the British naval armament, and the army was put in command of Major-General Ross, a brave leader in the Peninsula wars, under Wellington, the conqueror of Napoleon. |