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THE 
 
 LIFE OF MAJOE-GENERAL 
 
 WILLIAM H. HAERISON, 
 
 NINTH PRESIDENT OP THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 BT 
 
 H. MONTGOMERY. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 CLEVELAND, 0. 
 TOOKER AND GATCHELL. 
 
 1853. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year of our 
 Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, by Tooker and 
 Gatchell, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United 
 States, for the District of Ohio. 
 
 PENTAGON 
 
 WnUAM H. SnAIN, j^ jpj^j,gg_ 
 
 HUDSON STEEEOTTPE FOUNDRY. 
 
TO 
 
 MAJOR GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT, 
 
 THE HERO, THE PATRIOT, AND 
 
 THE STATESMAN, 
 
 WHOSE TAME FILLS THE WORLD, 
 
 AND WHOSE EFFORTS TO 
 
 MAINTAIN PEACE 
 
 HAVE AS MUCH ENDEARED HIM TO HIS COUKTRTMEN 
 AS HIS GLOEIODS ACHIEVEMENTS 
 
 IN WAR, 
 
 WHOSE LIFE FROM BOYHOOD UP 
 HAS BEEN SPENT IN DEFENDING THE HONOR 
 
 AndproDnoting the welfare of his Country, 
 
 THIS WORK IS 
 
 RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, 
 
 A3 A SHQHT TOKEN OF THE ESTEEM ENTERTAINED FOR 
 
 HIS CHARACTER, 
 
 AND THE GRATITUDE FELT FOR HIS SERVICES, 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Another life of so eminent a general, and so 
 unselfish a patriot, as William Henry Harrison, — 
 a man whose history is almost literally the history of 
 the country for fifty of the seventy-five years which 
 make up the length of our national existence, — was 
 not undertaken with the hope of producing anythino- 
 either novel or exciting. No such ambitious design 
 prompted the compiler to the temerity of attempting 
 what had already been done by a Hall and a Todd. 
 His humble object has been to combine, in a single 
 volume, as much of what is now scattered throughout 
 many, and all over the records of the times, as he 
 considered of sufficient interest. No memoir of Gen- 
 eral Harrison but contains something that others do 
 not, and much, indeed, that ought to be preserved to 
 1* 
 
Vi PREFACE. 
 
 the country, in a more durable and attractive form 
 than a badly printed shilling pamphlet. Most of the 
 biographies, too, of the eminent soldier and civilian, 
 ■ft-ere Avritten with the single view to promote his elec- 
 tion to the presidency. This destroys none of their 
 merit, nor diminishes the value of the many facts and 
 truths they contain ; but it is a reason why they 
 contain also much that cannot claim to be preserved 
 in a sober, posthumous biography, written, not to ad- 
 vance the political fortunes nor to defend the political 
 character, but to do justice to the memory and faith- 
 fully to describe the acts of an eminent man. 
 
 It has elsewhere been said, that not a complete 
 biography of General Harrison, in a permanent form, 
 has ever been published. Judge Hall's Memoirs, and 
 Sketches of Harrison, by Colonel C. S. Todd and 
 Benjamin Drake, Esq., are both admirable in many 
 respects. But the first was written previous to 1835, 
 to promote his first nomination to the presidency, and 
 is therefore necessarily defective, stopping as it does 
 far short of the most important event in his career. 
 The other is much more complete, though it was 
 originally prepared under the supervision of a politi- 
 cal committee, with a political design solely. It was 
 
PEEFACE. Vii 
 
 much extended after his death. These comprise the 
 only attempts of any pretension that have ever been 
 made to present the public with even a tolerably full 
 sketch of William Hexry Harrison's life. There 
 are also many other sketches of his life of more or 
 less merit, but all having for their aim the single ob- 
 ject of promoting his poHtical prospects. 
 
 And yet to these unpretending little works the 
 compiler is indebted for much of whatever merit may 
 be accorded to his enterprise. He is also greatly in- 
 . debted to McAfee's History of the Late War, to 
 Burnett's Notes on the N'o7'th-we stern Territory, Mo- 
 nette's Valley of the Mississippi, Frost's Book of the 
 Army, Dawson's Historical Narrative, Niles' Regis- 
 ter, and, above all, to Brackenridge's Late War. 
 He has made free use of their pages wherever he 
 has found anything to his purpose or taste. It may 
 be that he has not been over scrupulous in giving 
 them credit as he went along for all the good things 
 he has thus appropriated. The fear that he may 
 have done them this great wrong, and the equally 
 strong fear that he will be thought to have attempt- 
 ed thus to appear in borrowed plumes, has prompted 
 him to make an acknowledgment, which he trusts is 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 broad enough to cover all his delinquencies of this 
 character. 
 
 He claims but little originality for his book. He 
 might, perhaps, assume for it something more than a 
 compilation, with as much justice as many others ; 
 but a discriminating public would discover the at- 
 tempted cheat as it is discovered in other cases. 
 Policy, therefore, as well as honesty, has induced him 
 to claim no more than he deserves, believing that the 
 most certain means of securing quite as much. It is 
 not much, indeed, in regard to such a man as Harri- 
 son, that has not already somewhere and in some 
 shape been said. If the following pages have a re- 
 deeming point it can only be that there has been 
 grouped together within the more of them facts that 
 make up his public life than are anywhere else to be 
 found. As many of these facts as were accessible, 
 which were considered necessary to complete the rec- 
 ord of his acts, illustrate his character, and do justice 
 to his memory, will be found there. 
 
 Some things may be found in the Appendix, which 
 have little apparent, and indeed little real, connection 
 with a Life of General Harrison. But still it is be- 
 lieved they will be admitted to occupy an appropriate 
 
PREFACE. ix 
 
 place, and to possess an interest and value that en- 
 titles them to it. Some are important for the instruc- 
 tion they give, some for the information they contain, 
 some for the pleasure they will afford, and others as 
 simple matters of reference. And it may be thought, 
 that only so many of the events of the war of 1812, 
 as transpired within the range of General Harrison's 
 command, should have been recorded in a Life of 
 Harrison ; but the compiler believed his name and 
 fame sufficiently identified with the whole war to 
 make appropriate a brief sketch of all its most re- 
 markable incidents. This, therefore, has been done, 
 and it is trusted the book will possess none the less 
 interest for the innovation. 
 
 Little more need be said, — and perhaps it would 
 have been better for the book if much less had been 
 said. The compiler has labored to make it as deserv- 
 ing the great merit of its subject, and as worthy of 
 public approbation, as his humble abilities would per- 
 mit. To what degree of merit it is entitled, and how 
 near it comes to the point at which it aspires, he is 
 quite willing to submit to the universal umpire in all 
 similar cases ; and this he is all the more willing to 
 do, as he has not been able to discover any alternative. 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 The only merit he will therefore absolutely claim^ is 
 that of making a virtue of necessity, and of submit- 
 ting with cheerfulness to what an inexorable necessity 
 imposes. 
 
 Auburn, July 1852. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The cheapest as well as the most enduring monu- 
 ment that can be erected to the memory of those 
 whose virtues and public services have endeared them 
 to their countrymen is a true and impartial history 
 of their lives, and a faithful record of their acts. 
 Monuments of stone, the sculptured marble, and the 
 animated canvas, may preserve to their posterity, for 
 a few ages, the names of our statesmen, and patriots, 
 and heroes ; but it requires the ever living and speak- 
 ing pages of written history to perpetuate what is 
 far more useful to mankind, and much more worthy 
 to be held in everlasting remembrance — their great 
 and noble deeds, and the examples of wisdom and 
 virtue presented in their lives. While the pyramids 
 and other monuments of antiquity throw but the 
 faintest possible light upon the character and history 
 of the people, by whom they were built, and have 
 scarcely preserved even the names of those to whose 
 memory, or the events to commemorate which they 
 
Xii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 were erected, written history has made us familiar 
 with all we know of the men and their history, as 
 well as the manners and customs, not only of that, 
 but a much earlier period. 
 
 Though the monument which the American people 
 are now erecting, at the capital of the nation, to the 
 memory of its founder and the Father of his country,' 
 is a tribute to George Washington, most grateful to 
 the heart of every true American, and though it may 
 stand long after the Union has ceased to exist, yet 
 if there were no more lasting record of his services to 
 his country, and his unrivaled virtues, than that pile 
 of crumbling marble, a few ages hence it might be 
 a disputed point, whether it was reared by " the great 
 American rebel" as a monument at once of his suc- 
 cessful treason and his overweaning ambition, for a 
 shot-tower, or as a tomb for American kings. It is 
 only by books that the history of nations and men 
 can be permanently preserved from oblivion. What 
 is true of Washington is equally true of every other 
 distinguished American, and it is as much a duty to 
 transmit to their posterity a correct account of their 
 acts, for its benefit and example, as it is to exhibit 
 our gratitude for their public services, by raising to 
 their memories lofty monuments. 
 
 It has already been said, that this is the cheapest 
 as well as the most enduring means of honoring the 
 memories of national benefactors, and illustrating their 
 virtues, as it is the only means of preserving a faith- 
 
INTRODUCTION. xiil 
 
 ful record of their lives. Biographies of the great 
 and good are, besides one of the most interesting and 
 agreeable, one of the most useful studies. Certain it 
 is, at all events, that no class of books is so eagerly 
 read by the American public as the lives of our own 
 distinguished patriots, statesmen, and generals. Our 
 country is not so old yet, but it may almost be said, 
 that the life of every citizen composes a part of its 
 history — at least, that every American can recollect 
 much of its history, from the day it began its struggle 
 for an independent national existence. Biographies, 
 therefore, of the men who have contributed most to- 
 wards establishing that independence, and who have 
 pai'ticipated most actively and successfully in creating 
 for us national character and importance, are sought 
 for more with the interest and avidity that we exhibit 
 for an account of the scenes, and events, and men, 
 with which and with whom we are familiar in every- 
 day life, than with that sober and philosophical spirit 
 of investigation, which is shown for that class of bio- 
 graphical writings, which more exclusively and ap- 
 propriately help to form the history of the past. 
 
 Great as this demand has been for a history of 
 the lives of those who have distinguished themselves, 
 either in the field, the cabinet, the forum, or the pul- 
 pit, it still seems to increase in proportion to the ef- 
 forts made to supply it ; and the Life of one distin- 
 guished man but creates a desire for that of another, 
 and that again for still the third. And thus the 
 2 
 
Xiv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 public appetite is increased indefinitely by what it 
 feeds upon, like that of the inebriate for the intoxica- 
 ting cup, after he has once tasted its contents. The 
 American press has been prompt to take advantage 
 of this determination in the public mind, to know 
 the history of our public men, and it annually teems 
 with hundreds and thousands of volumes, embracing 
 every degree of merit, from the mere hasty compila- 
 tion to those displaying profound research, philo- 
 sophical enquiry, and striking originality of thought. 
 They all, however, if they but exhibit a reasonable 
 regard for the truth of history, and a fair share of 
 skill and industry in the use of materials, find eager, 
 or at least abundant, readers. 
 
 It is with the hope of contributing something to- 
 wards satisfying the public desire for this kind of 
 knowledge, but more with the view of erecting a 
 "monument," though a very humble one, to com- 
 memorate the services of a great General, a pure Pa- 
 triot, and a distinguished Statesman, and to supply 
 what is believed to be a public want, that another Life 
 of William Henry Hakrison has been undertaken. 
 As large a space as he filled in the public eye for 
 'nearly half a century, important as were the services 
 he rendered his country, great as were his virtues, 
 and closely as his name is identified with the history 
 of the government, it is a singular fact, that the whole 
 history of his life has never yet been published in a 
 single volume. 
 
INTRODUCTION. XV 
 
 The half century between the entrance of General 
 Harrison upon public life, in 1791, in defence of what 
 was then the wild western portion of our country, and 
 his death in 1841, embraces almost the whole period 
 of our existence as an independent nation. Commen- 
 cing his career nearly cotemporaneously with the 
 adoption of the constitution under which we now live, 
 he grew up with the country, and lived to see the 
 original thirteen States of the Union multiplied into 
 twice that number ; the population of the country in- 
 creased from four to seventeen millions, and instead 
 of a weak and distracted people, but recently emerged 
 from a long and bloody war, and just entering upon 
 the doubtful experiment of self-government, scarcely 
 respected at home, and openly derided abroad — a great 
 and flourishing republic, respected and feared by the 
 nations of the earth, afl"ording security to its own cit- 
 izens, and a refuge and protection to the oppressed of 
 every land. 
 
 We had, to be sure, as already stated, just emerg- 
 ed from that glorious struggle which ended in givino- 
 us a name amongst independent nations, and in per- 
 manently establishing the only free form of o-overn- 
 ment that had then ever existed. But, though we 
 had succeeded in asserting our freedom of a foreign 
 yoke, we could yet scarcely claim to be really inde- 
 pendent. The country had hardly begun to recover 
 from the exhausting effects of the war of the Revolu- 
 tion, and it was still suffering the curse of poverty, 
 
XVI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and the moral as well as physical debility, produced 
 by that long and relentless contest. The government 
 was without credit, without resources, and almost 
 literally bankrupt. 
 
 The north-western territory, with whose history the 
 name of General Harrison is more closely interwov^en 
 than that of any other American, was then almost one 
 unbroken wilderness. The first emigrants, to what is 
 now the seat of empire of the American Union, plant- 
 ed ihemselves at the mouth of the Muskingum but 
 three ^'ears before he forsook the pleasures and com- 
 forts of J"<ome and of civilized life, to aid in defending 
 the infant settlements from the ruthless savages, Avho 
 claimed undisputed possession of that vast region. 
 
 "What a change was wrought in this wild region 
 during the fifty years that began with his military 
 services, at the age of nineteen, and ended with his 
 elevation to the presidency of a great and powerful 
 nation ! The wild north-western territory of 1791, 
 in 1841 embraced several of the most powerful States 
 of the Union, holding in their hands the destinies of 
 a mighty republic, scattered all over with populous 
 cities, and flourishing villages, and seats of learning, 
 manufactures, rail-roads, canals, and every other in- 
 dication of the highest state of civilization. The crack 
 of the hunter's rifle is now nowhere heard, and the 
 once powerful savage nations, who then held undis- 
 puted dominion over those unbroken forests, have long 
 since wholly disappeared. Civilization reigns supreme 
 
INTRODUCTION. XVU 
 
 where, but little more tlian half a century ago, nothing 
 was heard but the war-whoop of the Indian, or the 
 howl of the beasts of prey. All this almost miracu- 
 lous change General Harrison lived to witness, and 
 to contribute his full share to bring about. What in 
 other countries and in other ages of the world would 
 have required many generations to accomplish was 
 here wrought during the public life of a single man. 
 In that brief half century we made a longer stride to- 
 wards greatness and power than even ancient Rome, 
 with all her boasted progress, did in ten centuries.* 
 
 All that is physically, intellectually, or politically 
 essential to national strength and power, is undeniably 
 to be found in the geographical position and extent of 
 our territory, in the character of our people, and the 
 form of our government ; or rather, these undeniable 
 advantages of position, character, and institutions, 
 have already given us a higher rank in the scale of 
 nations than any other people ever reached in many 
 centuries. The United States is now only the second 
 power in Christendom, and before the present genera- 
 tion has passed away, estimating the future by the 
 past, it will no longer occupy even a secondary posi- 
 tion. At least, nothing but our own folly, and those 
 intestine commotions and feuds, which have ever been 
 the rock upon which free governments have wrecked, 
 can snatch from us the sceptre of empire which Pro- 
 vidence seems to have destined for our country. 
 
 * See Appendix (A). 
 2* 
 
Xviii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 That we owe much of our present greatness and 
 prosperity to the wisdom of our statesmen, and to the 
 ability and patriotism of the men who have played 
 the most conspicuous part in the affairs of the Re- 
 public, as well as to the virtue, intelligence, and na- 
 tive energy of the people, is a proposition too self- 
 evident for argument. To the sages, patriots, and 
 heroes of the revolution, undoubtedly belongs the 
 chief glory of founding a great and free nation, and 
 establishing a government, Avhich affords the blessings 
 of civil and religious liberty to so many millions of 
 people, and which holds out in the future so much of 
 hope and promise to the oppressed and suffering mil- 
 lions of other nations. But all their labors, and sacri- 
 fices, and sufferings would have been of little avail, 
 if the duty of carrying out the principles, and of per- 
 fecting the designs, contemplated by the noble system 
 of govmiment they created, had fallen upon ambitious 
 demagogues, or narrow-minded statesmen. Fortunate- 
 ly for us, for our posterity, and for the world, how- 
 ever, what was so well begun by them, has been as 
 wisely carried out by their successors. The spirit of 
 patriotism, with which the founders of our govern- 
 ment were so eminently embued, was shared by those 
 on whom devolved the task of perfecting their noble 
 
 work. 
 
 This is especially true of General Harrison, in- 
 deed, he inherited patriotism from one of the most 
 devoted spirits who bequeathed to us, besides their 
 
INTRODUCTION. XIX 
 
 patriotism, the inestimable blessings of the free insti- 
 tutions, of whose great benefits we all now partake. 
 Stimulated by the example of the revolutionary pa- 
 triot whose name he bore, and whose blood coursed in 
 his veins, possessed of superior talents, and occupying 
 a large field for usefulness and renown, he had the 
 power, and he did not fail to exert it, to contribute 
 largely to that eminence which is the envy of other 
 nations, and towards securing those privileges which 
 are our own greatest boast. Anything like a faithful 
 biography of one who, for so long a portion of our 
 national existence, performed so prominent a part in 
 public affairs, and filled so large a space in the public 
 eye, though destitute of great skill, and marked by 
 no very profound ability, cannot fail to be received 
 with favor, if with no very warm approval. The acts 
 of such a man are ever of deep interest to those, to 
 whose services he devoted his life, however clumsily 
 they may be recorded. 
 
THE LIFE 
 
 or 
 
 WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 William Henry Harrison was born at Berkley, 
 Charles City County, in Virginia, February 9th, 1773, 
 and was the third son of Benjamin Harrison, a lead- 
 ing patriot of the revolution, and one of the most 
 prominent actors in the events that lead to that glo- 
 rious struggle for independence. He was a descend- 
 ant of Colonel John Harrison, a distinguished officer 
 during the civil wars of England, and one of the 
 judges who tried and condemned the ill-fated Charles, 
 for which, and for his active participation in the af- 
 fairs of the Commonwealth, he was himself tried and 
 . executed after the Restoration. 
 
 Benjamin Harrison, the father of William Henry, 
 was, as has already been stated, one of the leading. 
 
22 THE LIFE OP 
 
 most devoted, and most influential of the many noble 
 patriots, whose v?rtues, and talents, and self-sacrificing 
 love of country, the occasion called into requisition. 
 He was amongst the first to embrace the cause of the 
 l^eople in the contest with Great Britain, which pre- 
 ceded the resort to arms, and one of the last who 
 would have yielded one hair's breadth to her tyran- 
 nical and haughty demands. The patriot cause had 
 no more active, uncompromising, and fearless defend- 
 er and advocate, nor any whose services were more 
 important, or whose counsels were wiser, than Benja- 
 min Harrison's. 
 
 At the early age of twenty-one years, he was elect- 
 ed a member of the House of Burgesses of the Colony 
 of Virginia, in which capacity he gave such signal 
 evidence of ability and rising distinction as to attract 
 the immediate attention of the English government. 
 And in order to rid themselves of one who gave pro- 
 mise of becoming so powerful and dangerous an op- 
 ponent of British aggression, and so eloquent and ef- 
 fective a champion of the people's rights, they attempt- 
 ed to purchase his friendship, or at least his silence, 
 by ofi'ering him a place in the Executive Council of 
 the colony, notwithstanding he had yet scarcely reach- 
 ed the age of manhood. Though this was a distinc- 
 tion corresponding in character with that of member ' 
 of the English Privy Council, and presented decided 
 advantages, and opened future prospects of promotion 
 and distinction, that few so young, with the necessity* 
 before them of carving out their own fortunes, ever 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 23 
 
 possessed virtue and patriotism sufficient to resist, — 
 young Harrison indignantly and promptly rejected it. 
 He had already seen enough of the grasping disposi- 
 tion and the grinding oppression of the British gov- 
 ernment throughout the American colonies to under- 
 stand what Avas to be expected by a tame submission, 
 or passive obedience, to these incipient measures of a 
 tyrannical prince. Between his own interest and ad- 
 vancement and the submission of his country on the 
 one hand, and the possible fate of a rebel or the in- 
 dependence of his country on the other, he did not 
 for a moment hesitate. He decided to take sides with 
 the people in the approaching struggle between them 
 and the ' mother country, and to share with them the 
 fortune, good or ill, of the unequal contest. 
 
 From the termination of his duties as a member 
 of the House of Burgesses, until the imposition of the 
 attempted obnoxious Stamp Act, little is recorded of 
 the life of Mr. Harrison, beyond his continued and 
 zealous resistance to every attempt, on the part of 
 England, to abridge the liberties of the colonies. But, 
 in 1764, he was appointed one of a committee to pre- 
 pare a remonstrance against that odious Act, a meas- 
 ure at that time in contemplation by the British cab- 
 inet, and which soon after actually became a law. If 
 anything had yet been wanting to decide the future 
 course of Harrison and the other patriots of the dif- 
 ferent colonies, this adoption of the principle of tax- 
 ation without representation would have left them no 
 longer room for hesitation. From that time he con- 
 
24 THE LIFE OF 
 
 tinued to exert all the energies of his strong mind and 
 his great influence, in connection with the other noble 
 spirits of the day, towards the maintenance of that 
 civil, religious, and political liberty, for which they 
 had already sufiered and sacrificed so much, and in 
 resisting the encroachments of a profligate govern- 
 ment. 
 
 In 1774 he was elected a member from Virginia 
 to the Continental Congress, which assembled at Phil- 
 adelphia, in September of that year. That Congress 
 being unwilling quite to close the door of reconcilia- 
 tion, made a last attempt to bring the parent govern- 
 ment to a sense of justice, adopted a pacific and con- 
 ciliatory address to the crown, proposing such condi- 
 tions of settlement as a proper regard for their honor 
 and the rights of the colonies would permit. After 
 having adopted this measure of peace, it adjourned, 
 patiently and calmly to await the result of the appeal. 
 
 He was also elected a member of the Continental 
 Congress from Virginia, in 1775. Soon after the 
 meeting of this Congress, his brother-in-law, Peyton 
 Randolph, vacated the office of Speaker of Congress, 
 and the duty devolved upon it of electing a new 
 speaker. The members were divided in their prefer- 
 ence of a successor to Mr. Randolph, between Mr. 
 Harrison and John Hancock, of Massachusetts. But 
 Mr. Harrison, with the magnanimity of a noble mind, 
 promptly waived his claims in favor of Mr. Hancock. 
 Upon modestly hesitating to accept the office after his 
 election, through distrust in his capacity and ability 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 25 
 
 for the proper discharge of its responsibilities, Harri- 
 son seized him in his athletic arms, and placed him in 
 the presidential chair, exclaiming as he did so, "AVe 
 will show mother Britain how little we care for her, 
 by making a Massachusetts man our president, whom 
 she has excluded from pardon by a public proclama- 
 tion." 
 
 On the 4th of June of the same year, he was se- 
 lected a member of a committee to place the Ameri- 
 can Colonies in a state of defence. The report of 
 that committee, which was made after a month's earn- 
 est deliberation, formed the basis of the present militia 
 system of the United States. In the following Sep- 
 tember he was also appointed a member of a commit- 
 tee, in connection with the immortal Washington, who 
 devised and perfected a plan for the support of the 
 provincial army, and was chairman of the committee 
 through whose agency Lafayette and his companions 
 were induced to enlist in the American cause, as well 
 as a member of the Board of War.* 
 
 On the 10th of June 1776, Harrison called up the 
 resolution, offered three days before by one of his col- 
 leagues, Richard Henry Lee, declaring "that the 
 United Colonies are, and ought to be, free and inde- 
 pendent States ; that they are absolved from all alle- 
 giance to the British Crown, and that all political 
 connection between them and the State of Great Bri- 
 tain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." Though 
 
 * Sanderson's Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of In- 
 dependence. 
 
 3 
 
26 THE LIFE OF 
 
 this bold proposition to dismember tbe British Empire 
 was received with great anxiety by all, and Avas 
 strongly opposed by some, yet in Harrison it found 
 an eloquent, able, and unflinching advocate, and after 
 two days of very warm debate was finally passed by 
 a bare majority. In accordance with this resolution, 
 a committee was appointed to prepare a Declaration 
 of Independence. They reported a draft on the 28th 
 of June, and on the 1st of July it was adopted in 
 committee of the whole, nine States out of the thir- 
 teen having voted for it ; and on the Fourth of July 
 it was finally passed, and published to the world. 
 
 Amongst the signers to this "Great Charter" of 
 American liberty is the name of Benjamin Harrison. 
 To illustrate the fearless and cheerful character of the 
 man, and to show in how much dread he stood of Brit- 
 ish vengeance while about to take a step by which he 
 would forfeit his life if the colonists should prove un- 
 successful, a curious anecdote is recorded of him. On 
 signing the Declaration, he turned to Elbridge Gerry, 
 — one of the delegates from Massachusetts, who was 
 standing beside him, and who was as slender and thin 
 as Harrison was vigorous and portly, — and remarked 
 to him with a pleasant smile, "When the hanging- 
 scene comes I shall have the advantage over you, for 
 it will be all over with me in a minute, but you will 
 be kicking in the air half an hour after I am gone." 
 
 Mr. Harrison remained in Congress until 1778, 
 and continued to exert all his powers and influence 
 in behalf of the cause of his struggling country. 
 
AVILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 27 
 
 At the end of that time he withdrew from Congress, 
 but not from the cause he had so ardently espoused 
 and so zealously defended. Soon after, he was elected 
 a member of the House of Delegates of Virginia, and 
 speaker of that body. He continued to discharge the 
 duties of this new and responsible position until 1782. 
 On the resignation of Governor Nelson, in that year, 
 he was elected Governor of Virginia, and was re-elect- 
 ed until the constitution rendered him ineligible, all 
 the time exerting his whole personal as well as polit- 
 ical influence to further the independence of the 
 United States. In 1791 he was again unanimously 
 elected to the Legislature, but suddenly died the next 
 day, at the age of sixty-five years, universally known 
 and universally regretted by those for whom he had 
 aided to establish a free country. 
 
 Such is a brief sketch of the father of William 
 Henry Harrison, the subject of this biography. Spring- 
 ing from such patriot-stock, reared amid such scenes 
 as he must have been familiar with, and seeing the ex- 
 ample of such patriots as must have been his father's 
 companions and associates, he must have been much 
 less susceptible to good impressions than most other 
 young Americans of that period, not to have imbibed 
 much of that spirit of freedom and love of liberty that 
 was diffused throughout all classes and conditions. But 
 young Harrison was no such dull student, nor such 
 unconcerned spectator, young as he was at the close 
 of the revolutionary struggle, of the great events of 
 those stirring times. It was from such men and such 
 
28 THE LIFE OP 
 
 events that he received those principles of truth and 
 justice, and that patriotic devotion to his country 
 which so distinguished his after-life. Here was laid 
 deep the foundation upon which was built the super- 
 structure of greatness which he finally attained. 
 
 Notwithstanding Mr. Harrison left an ample for- 
 tune, it was still insufficient to render all his sons in- 
 dependent of their own mental resources. Devoting 
 so much of his time and means to the service of the 
 people, he knew that his fortune had become too much 
 shattered to place them above the necessity of relying 
 upon their own talents and energies, and therefore 
 wisely resolved to leave them a richer inheritance 
 than gold and lands — sound morals, correct principles, 
 and a good education. With this determination in 
 view, the education of young Harrison was committed 
 to the care of Robert Morris«i, his guardian, and one 
 of the most illustrious patriots of the revolution ; and 
 at an early age he was placed under the best teachers 
 in the colony — as his brothers had previously been — 
 when he made such rapid progress, and gave such 
 evidence of talent, as to afford his friends the most 
 gratifying assurances of future distinction. 
 
 At the age of fourteen he left Hampden Sidney 
 College, where he had remained for about a year, and 
 entered an academy there of high standing in South- 
 ampton county, where he continued to prosecute his 
 studies with great industry and success 'until his sev- 
 enteenth year. At the end of this time, having 
 thoroughly qualified himself for a commencement of 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 29 
 
 the study of medicine, the profession for -which he 
 was designed, he was placed in the office of Dr. 
 Leiber, of Richmond, a physician of considerable 
 eminence and large practice in that city. In the 
 spring of 1791, at the age of eighteen, he was sent 
 to Philadelphia for the purpose of completing his 
 medical studies under the eminent Dr. Richai-d Rush, 
 a revolutionary compatriot of his father, and, like 
 him, one of the signers of the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence. It was while on this journey that he 
 heard of the sudden death of his father, an event 
 which determined him to abandon the further prose- 
 cution of his medical studies, and that, consequently, 
 exerted an all-important influence upon his future 
 prospects and fortune. 
 
 Upon ai-riving in Philadelphia, he met with the 
 warmest and most gratifying reception from Rush, 
 Shippen, and Wistar, the most distinguished medical 
 professors of that day, and from Morris and other 
 friends and revolutionary associates of his father. 
 But though some of these gentlemen exerted all their 
 influence to dissuade Harrison from abandoning the 
 further study of medicine, he firmly persisted in his 
 purpose. His inclinations as to a profession lay quite 
 in another direction, and having entered upon it 
 against his wishes, he felt quite free, at his father's 
 death, to adopt one more in harmony with his own 
 feelings. His heart had long been set upon adopting 
 the profession of arms, and his inclination was greatly 
 Strengthened by the disasters that had overtaken the 
 3* 
 
30 THE LIFE OP 
 
 accomplished Ilarmar and the north-western army in 
 their contest with the Indians of that region. These 
 events removed whatever hesitation he might have 
 had upon his future plans, and he at once prepared 
 to unite his fortunes with his unfortunate countrymen. 
 His wishes were strongly opposed even by Mr. Mor- 
 ris, his guardian, as well as by many of his other in- 
 fluential friends ; but it was of no avail. 
 
 Possessing as he did great family influence, being 
 connected with Peyton, Randolph, Colonel Bassett, 
 Mrs. Washington, and other eminent Virginians, be- 
 sides possessing the warm personal friendship of 
 Washington, it was no difiicult matter for Harrison 
 to find employment in the army. In the midst of 
 the excitement and anxiety that the misfortunes of 
 Harmar's command had excited, General Henry Lee, 
 of Virginia, proposed to him to take a commission in 
 the army. The proposition was cheerfully accepted 
 by him as infinitely more congenial to his habits, dis- 
 position, and taste, than the profession for which he 
 had been designed. But fearful that his wishes might 
 be thwarted by his connections if his intentions should 
 become known, it was arranged that General Lee 
 should solicit his commission without communicating 
 the matter to either Mr. Randolph or Mr. Morris. 
 The latter, however, happening to receive some inti- 
 mation of what was going on, sent for Harrison, with 
 a view of attempting to dissuade him from his pur- 
 pose. Suspecting the object of the summons, he 
 hastened to the War Ofiice, at the head of which was 
 
WILLIAM HENRY Tt • RISON. 31 
 
 General Knox, and procured his commission as ensign 
 in the first regiment of United States infantry. He 
 then repaired to the house of Mr. Morris, who ex- 
 pressed his decided disapprobation at the step he had 
 taken, but said he should offer no farther opposition 
 to his wishes. 
 
 Having remained a few days longer with his 
 friends in Philadelphia, most of which he was em- 
 ployed in the recruiting service, he proceeded to join 
 his regiment at Fort Washington, now the site of 
 Cincinnati, and arrived there shortly after the defeat 
 of the brave but ill-fated General St. Clair. He 
 found the army broken, dispirited, and suffering from 
 the effect of its late disastrous defeat. Everything 
 looked dark and discouraging, and was especially cal- 
 culated to dampen the ardor of a young and inexpe- 
 rienced soldier. But this was not the effect the mis- 
 fortune and misery of his countrymen had upon 
 Harrison. So far from this being the case, it con- 
 vinced him still more strongly of the necessity there 
 existed for his services. Although, when he joined 
 his corps, he was a mere stripling, being only in his 
 nineteenth year of age, tall and thin in his person, 
 and, to judge from his appearance merely, but poorly 
 qualified for the hardships and privations that a sol- 
 dier's life in the wilderness is necessarily exposed to, 
 his ardor and enthusiasm was in nowise dampened by 
 the forlorn and wretched condition of the army. 
 
 His condition, it must be confessed, was a most 
 trying and perplexing one. St. Clair's army was re- 
 
32 THE LIFE OF 
 
 duced to a mere skeleton, and consisted of only a few 
 hundred of half starved and half naked troops. The 
 time for which the militia originally enlisted had ex- 
 pired, the detachment of the second regiment of 
 Eegulars which was engaged in the action under St. 
 Clair was nearly annihilated, and the army was 
 wholly inadequate to maintain the line of posts that 
 had been erected for the protection of the north- 
 western settlers. This certainly was a most gloomy 
 prospect for one reared as Harrison had been, amidst 
 all the luxuries, delicacies, and comforts that wealth 
 could produce, and with a frame softened by these 
 influences, added to the enervating effects of a south- 
 ern climate. So formidable were the obstacles pre- 
 sented to his consideration by a friend whom he met 
 at Fort Washington, and so lively a picture was pre- 
 sented to him of the sufferings he must endure, and 
 of the almost certain consequence upon him of the 
 habits of intemperance that prevailed at that time in 
 the army, that no man with less firmness of character 
 and purpose could have resisted the strong appeals 
 addressed to him. But notwithstanding these ap- 
 peals, backed as they Avere by the strong remon- 
 strances of his other friends, he remained firm to his 
 purpose, influenced partly by his romantic notion of 
 the attractive nature of the profession he had chosen, 
 and his pride, but principally by the strong sympathy 
 that the disasters of Harmar and St. Clair's armies 
 had aroused in his breast he inflexibly adhered to his 
 design. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY nARRISON. 33 
 
 The name of William Henry Harrison is so closely 
 connected with the West, from the time he arrived 
 at Fort Washington, with an ensign's commission in 
 his pocket, to his election to the office of chief magis- 
 trate of a great nation, that a brief reference to its 
 situation at that time, as well as to the events that 
 immediately preceded his arrival there, may very ap- 
 propriately be here introduced ; and indeed this seems 
 in some measure quite necessary to a full understand- 
 ing of many of the incidents in his life that will be 
 narrated. 
 
34 THE LIFE OP 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 It has already been incidentally stated that the 
 first emigrants to the north-west territory was made, 
 in the spring of 1788, by a colony from New England, 
 mostly officers and soldiers of the Revolution, who 
 settled at the mouth of the Muskingum River, and 
 laid out the town of Marietta.* The first object of 
 the pioneers was to erect a block-house and stockade 
 as a means of defence against Indian attacks, after 
 which the town was surveyed, and village lots laid out 
 west of the Muskingum River, adjoining Fort Ilar- 
 mar, then recently built and garrisoned by United 
 States troops. 
 
 Many of these founders of Ohio were men of 
 distinction, and had held high offices, both civil and 
 military, during the revolutionary war. Amongst 
 their number was General Israel Putnam, Avho by com- 
 mon consent, from the necessity of having some chief 
 head in such a colony, was selected as their leader, a 
 position for which his character and experience par- 
 ticularly fitted him. Soon after the settlement at 
 Marietta was commenced there, other companies were 
 formed, one of whom laid out the town of Columbia, 
 
 * Burnet's Notes. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 35 
 
 at the mouth of the Little Miami ; the second founded 
 Cincinnati, in the fall of 1788 ; and the third settled 
 at North Bend, the subsequent residence of General 
 Harrison, with the intention of founding a magnificent 
 citj there. The citj was actually laid out on a most 
 extended scale, and named Symmes, after Judge 
 Symmes, the leader of the party by whom it was 
 settled. 
 
 Seven years after the settlement of Cincinnati, 
 it was but a miserable village of log cabins, except 
 fifteen rough, unfinished frame-houses, with stone 
 chimnies. There was not then a single brick house 
 in a place now the Queen of the West, and containing 
 numerous elegant and costly public edifices and many 
 thousands of inhabitants. At this period the pop- 
 ulation of the whole north-western territory was only 
 fifteen thousand, and in 1800, five years after, but a 
 fraction over forty-five thousand. When Harrison 
 reached Cincinnati, to enter upon his military career, 
 there was probably scarcely a log cabin there, much less 
 frame and brick houses, and the population of the whole 
 territory could not have been more than three or four 
 thousand, and these scattered over an immense extent 
 of country. As late as 1796, five years after Har- 
 rison reached Fort Washington, the emigrants in the 
 territory were represented to be few in number, and 
 were located in different and remote settlements, be- 
 tween which there was little or no intercourse.* The 
 country they inhabited was wild and uncultivated, and 
 
 * Burnet's Notes. 
 
3g THE LIFE OF 
 
 was separated from the Atlantic inhabitants by rug- 
 ged mountains, almost impenetrable forests and im- 
 passable rivers, with hardly the semblance of a road, 
 bridge ferry, or any other improvement for lacili- 
 Sg comm';nication with the old Atlantic settle- 
 ments. The adjoining regions on every side were all 
 equally wild and uncultivated, without commerce or 
 the means of creating it. The country contained 
 neither shelter nor safety for civilized man. 
 
 Previous to the treaty negotiated by General 
 Wayne, in 1795, with all the Indian tribes north-west 
 of the Ohio River, known as the treaty of Greenville, 
 by which a permanent peace with all the various tribes 
 was established, but few improvements had been made 
 of any kind; and the settlers, besides the dangers 
 and sufferings to which they were subjected by their 
 almost constant collisions with their inveterate savage 
 foes, endured all the privations that are incident to 
 pioneers. Though a large portion of them had been 
 accustomed to the comforts, and many of the luxuries 
 of civiUzed life, previous to their emigration to the 
 West, they were here deprived of all the luxuries, and 
 some of the necessaries of life. But all these mcon- 
 veniences and deprivations they submitted to not 
 only without murmuring, but even with cheerfulness. 
 Before they determined on selecting a home m the 
 wilderness they had schooled their minds for the new 
 life before them, and to endure with patience and 
 courage whatever might chance to them. They 
 
 * Burnet's Notes. 
 
TTILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 37 
 
 mostly sought the West, for the purpose of recovering 
 from the ruin brought upon them by their sacrifices 
 in the revolutionary struggle, and partly to hide, 
 themselves from the mortifications of poverty. 
 
 Little peace, however, was given them, or little 
 chance aiforded to amend their shattered fortunes. 
 The Avar they had to wage with the north-western 
 Indians was of equal duration, and little less bloody 
 than that which had so recently ended in estab- 
 lishing their independence. During the revolutionary 
 war many of the tribes took part with the British, 
 and when peace was concluded, some of them refused 
 to lay down their arms, but still continued their mer- 
 ciless ravages upon the new settlers. 
 
 In 1790, the various north-west tribes were sup- 
 posed to consist of about fifteen thousand warriors, of 
 whom five thousand were in open war with the United 
 States, and of the others, several tribes were by no 
 means friendly. They were also now much more for- 
 midable than the early English colonists found them, 
 for they no longer depended on bows and arrows for 
 defence and attack. Under seventy years of French 
 tuition, and the experience of the revolutionary war, 
 thev had become skilled in the use of arms and had 
 acquired considerable knowledge of discipline. In 
 courage and the power of endurance they had no su- 
 periors in any country or age of the world, though in 
 physical strength they were inferior to the descend- 
 ants of Europeans.* 
 
 * Frost's Book of the Army. 
 
38 THE LIFE OF 
 
 A treaty of peace was concluded Avitli the Creek 
 Indians, who had for some time been at war with 
 Georgia, at New York, in August, 1790, and over- 
 tures were made to the north-Avestern Indians, but 
 rejected. It became necessary, therefore, for vigorous 
 preparations to be made to meet the threatened storm, 
 on the part of the government. It was therefore re- 
 solved by Congress to increase the military force and 
 to destroy the Miami villages. To carry out this ob- 
 ject, the governor of the territory, General St. Clair, 
 was authorized to call on Pennsylvania and Kentucky 
 for fifteen hundred militia, to join General Harmar's 
 regiment, consisting at that time of four hundred ef- 
 fective men. On the 15th of July, 1790, he ad- 
 dressed circular letters to the proper officers of Ken- 
 tucky and Pennsylvania, requesting them to proceed 
 to Fort Harmar, at the mouth of the Muskingum, as 
 soon after the 3rd of September as possible. The 
 militia from Kentucky arrived at Fort Washington, 
 without even stopping at Muskingum, on the day 
 designated, with the exception of about one hundred 
 and fifty. The troops of Pennsylvania were less 
 prompt in their movements ; but they joined the ar- 
 my, however, soon after it had marched from Fort 
 Washington. 
 
 The troops who composed General Harmar's army 
 were in a wretched condition, many of them being 
 substitutes hired by those who had been drafted. 
 Others were too old and infirm to bear the fatigues 
 of an active campaign, and they were nearly all awk- 
 
AVILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 39 
 
 ward and undisciplined. A large portion of their 
 arms were also unfit for use, many of their muskets 
 and rifles being without locks, and there was a state 
 of insubordination and a disregard of military rule 
 that gave little promise of future success.* When 
 the troops arrived at Fort Washington, the season 
 was too far advanced to permit of any delay for dril- 
 ling them, and on the 1st of October, General Har- 
 mar took up his march for the enemies country. 
 During the campaign, several Indian villages were 
 destroyed, but the expedition on the whole was a dis- 
 astrous one to the American army. When these 
 towns were burnt, and their inhabitants were dis- 
 persed, the chief object of the enterprise was accom- 
 plished. General Harmar, however, considered his 
 work unfinished, and was therefore determined to 
 bring on an engagement with them if possible. But 
 instead of advancing himself with the main body of 
 his army, and forgetful also of the character of his 
 forces. Colonel Hardin was sent forward with a de- 
 tachment of three hundred men, of whom only thirty 
 were regulars, in pursuit of the enemy. He was 
 attacked by a body of Indians, Avhen the militia, un- 
 der his command, were seized with a panic, and pre- 
 cipitately fled, and the regulars were nearly all cut 
 off. Colonel Harden was then sent out with another 
 detachment of three hundred and sixty men, who 
 speedily encountered another large body of the sav- 
 age foe. But after a long and bloody contest, in 
 
 * Burnet's Notes. 
 
40 THE LIFE OF 
 
 which Colonel HarJiii lost nearly half his force, he 
 ■was compelled to retreat and fall back on the main 
 body of the army. General Ilarmar, after these and 
 some other less disastrous reverses, returned to Fort 
 Washington, by easy marches, pursued for some time 
 by the Indians ; but OAving to the vigilance of the 
 General, they were unable to harrass his movements 
 or injure the troops during the march. Soon after, 
 the militia were disbanded, and General Harmar re- 
 signed his command, and obtained a court martial, 
 by which he was fully acquitted. 
 
 Though this expedition is generally considered to 
 have been a failure. General Harmar claimed for it a 
 different and more honorable name ; and in justice to 
 the character of a brave and patriotic officer, it ought 
 to be stated that the movement was got up in great 
 haste, and that the troops, with the exception of three 
 hundred and fifty rank and file, were undisciplined, 
 insubordinated, and barely equipped.* Notwithstand- 
 ing these facts, the main object of the expedition, 
 which was the destruction of the Miami villages, was 
 accomplished ; and those places of rendezvous, where 
 British traders resorted to poison the minds of the 
 Indians, and excite their hostility against the settlers, 
 were broken up. Thus far the expedition was com- 
 pletely successful. But in his anxiety to inflict still 
 further injury on the enemy, he suffered what, with 
 very little stretch of the imagination, looks much 
 like a very decided defeat. 
 -> * Bui-net's Notes. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 41 
 
 But whethex' General Harmar may have been vic- 
 torious or defeated, the result of his expedition had 
 very little effect in repressing the attacks of the Indi- 
 ans upon the American settlements. In the winter of 
 1790-1, one of those attacks, by a party of four or five 
 hundred, and headed bv the notorious Simon Girtv, 
 was made upon Dunlap's station at Coleraine; but 
 it proved unsuccessful, as a similar one subsequently 
 did upon Fort Jefferson. But it is not necessary to 
 enumerate all the hostile movements and outrages of 
 the Indians. Their depredations and incursions con- 
 tinued more or less frequent during the whole pro- 
 gress of the war, and small parties Avere constantly 
 lurking in the neighborhood of the white settlements, 
 watching for opportunities to plunder and murder the 
 settlers. So frequent were these depredations, that 
 the inhabitants were kept constantly on their guard 
 against them. There was no safety for any one out- 
 side their defenses: no one retired to rest with any 
 confidence of ever seeing another day. The pioneers 
 literally slept on their arms for years ; they felt that 
 there was no security for their lives for a single day. 
 This condition of affairs produced its natural conse- 
 quences upon their characters. They became bold, 
 daring, and almost reckless of life; or rather, they 
 became so accustomed to danger, that they seemed to 
 be almost indifferent to it. This was rather a neces- 
 sity of their mode of life, however, than any real dis- 
 regard for life. Their apparent disregard of life even 
 led them to hazard it when nothmg was to be gained 
 4* 
 
42 THE LIFE OF 
 
 by the risk. All the elements of true courage they 
 possessed in the highest degree: and it is not too 
 much to say that, by the constant exposure to danger 
 with which they Avere surrounded, and the hard ne- 
 cessities of the life they were compelled to lead, were 
 planted the germ from which has sprung many of 
 these distinguishing features of their descendants, 
 known as "Western character." 
 
 So frequent were the depredations and murders 
 of the Indians, even after General Harmar had de- 
 stroyed their towns, that in January, 1791, President 
 Washington felt called upon to submit to Congress a 
 statement of the condition of the western country, and 
 to recommend the measures which, in his opinion, it 
 was necessary and proper to be taken for its defense 
 and security. He urged upon Congress the duty of 
 taking prompt and efficient measures for the protec- 
 tion of the white settlements against the relentless 
 and cruel warfare that was carried on against them, 
 and recommended another expedition against the Wa- 
 bash Indians as the most effectual means of putting 
 an end to these outrages. 
 
 In consequence of the President's statements, and his 
 urgent recommendation for some speedy action. Con- 
 gress was induced to authorize him to raise an army of 
 three thousand men ; and in the meantime, for the pur- 
 pose of affording immediate relief, they authorized him 
 to raise a corps of Kentucky volunteers, with the view 
 of destroying the towns on the Wabash. The exe- 
 cution of this latter duty was intrusted to General 
 
•VriLLIAM HENRY HARRISON". 43 
 
 Charles Scott, and proved entirely successful, several 
 villages having been burnt, the growing corn cut up, 
 a large amount of property destroyed, thirty-two war- 
 riors killed, and fifty-seven prisoners taken, and with- 
 out the loss of a single man killed, and only four 
 wounded, on the part of the Americans ; and what 
 is more to their honor, without having permitted a 
 single act of cruelty to mark their conduct.* 
 
 Soon after the termination of this brilliant expe- 
 dition another was fitted out, under the discretionary 
 power given to Governor St. Clair, and the command 
 of it intrusted to Colonel John Wilkinson, who had 
 signalized himself during the campaign of General 
 Scott. It consisted of five hundred and fifty well 
 mounted and equipped Kentucky volunteers. Though 
 all the objects designed by Colonel AVilkinson were 
 not accomplished, it was nevertheless in the main suc- 
 cessful, and great praise was awarded the whole de- 
 tachment for their perseverance and bravery. 
 
 While these military operations were going on 
 under General Scott and Colonel Wilkinson, the War 
 Department was engaged in raising the army of three 
 thousand men, authorized by Congress. Of this ar- 
 my Governor St. Clair was appointed commander, 
 with the rank of Major-General ; and on the 28th of 
 January, 1791, he left Philadelphia for Fort Pitt, 
 now Pittsburgh, where he arrived on the 16th of the 
 ensuing April, and at Fort Washington on the loth 
 of May. The troops which had assembled at this lat- 
 
 * Burnet's Notes. 
 
44 THE LIFE 01' 
 
 ter fort on the last of August, amounted to about two 
 thousand men. On the 17th day of September they 
 took up their line of march from Ludlow's station, 
 five miles in advance of Fort Washington, where they 
 had been encamped for four or five weeks waiting for 
 reinforcements, under the command of General Butler, 
 who was the second in command. 
 
 On the 3d of November, after a fatiguing and la- 
 borious march, the army arrived at a creek which 
 proved to be a branch of the Wabash, in the vicinity 
 of the Miami villages for the destruction of which the 
 expedition had been undertaken. Here General St. Clair 
 encamped on a commanding piece of ground, having 
 this creek in front, intending to occupy that position 
 until the first regiment, which had been sent back a 
 few days before to bring up the provisions in the rear, 
 and if possible to arrest three hundred militia who had 
 deserted.* The next day he proposed to commence 
 fortifying his position, for the purpose of rendering 
 himself secure from the attack of the Indians while 
 he should be compelled to wait for the absent regiment, 
 and until he should be prepared for active operations. 
 
 But the ever-watchful enemy had prepared for 
 him other and far less agreeable em-ployment for that 
 day. They had observed his movements, and had no 
 intention of permitting him peaceably to retrench 
 himself in their midst. On the morning of the 4th, 
 accordingly, a short time before sunrise, the men hav- 
 ing but just been dismissed from parade, a fierce at- 
 
 * Burnet's Notes. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 45 
 
 tack was suddenly commenced on the militia posted 
 in front, who immediately gave way and rushed into 
 the camp in great confusion, throwing the army into 
 the most hopeless disorder, the Indians following 
 close upon their heels. The enemy, however, were 
 checked for a few moments by the brisk fire of the 
 first line ; but this fire was returned with equal brisk- 
 ness and fatal effect, and in a few minutes extended 
 to the second. In each case the fire was principally 
 directed to the centre, where the artillery Avas posted, 
 and from Avhich the men were frequently driven with 
 great slaughter. 
 
 Resort was had to the bayonet in this emergency, 
 and Colonel Darke was ordered to make the charge 
 with a part of the second line, an order that was ex- 
 ecuted with great spirit and courage. The Indians 
 immediately gave way, and were driven back several 
 hundred yards at the point of the bayonet. For want 
 of a sufiicient number of riflemen, however, to preserve 
 the advantage thus gained, they soon renewed the at- 
 tack, and the Americans were in turn compelled to 
 give way. At the same instant, they entered the 
 American camp on the left, having forced back the 
 troops stationed at that point. Another attack Avas 
 made by Major Clark and Major Butler with great 
 success, and several afterwards with equal success.* 
 They were attended, however, with heavy loss of men^ 
 and particularly of officers. In the charge made by 
 the second regiment, Major Butler fell mortally wound- 
 
 * Burnet's Notes. 
 
46 THE LIFE OF 
 
 ed, and every ofl5cer of the regiment was killed or 
 mortally wounded, except three. The artillery being 
 silenced, and half of the troops slain, the General saw 
 no other means of saving the remnant of his forces, 
 than to make a retreat while it was yet in his power. 
 To accomplish this object, a charge was made on the 
 enemy, which was so far successful as to enable him 
 to reach the road, when the militia commenced a hasty, 
 and soon a disorderly retreat, followed by the United 
 States troops, commanded by Major Clark, who cov- 
 ered their rear. The camp and artillery were entire- 
 ly abandoned. The men threw away all their arms, 
 accoutrements, &c., in their flight, even after the pur- 
 suit, which was continued about four miles, had ceased.* 
 The greatest confusion and panic prevailed amongst 
 the militia, and but for the coolness and courage of 
 the regular troops during the retreat, the army would 
 have been nearly annihilated. All the horses of the 
 General were killed in the action, and he Avas mounted 
 on a broken-down pack-horse that could scarcely be 
 forced out of a walk, so that it was impossible for him 
 to get forward in person to command a halt, and or- 
 ders dispatched by others were wholly disregarded. 
 The rout continued as far as Fort Jefferson, which 
 they had erected in their advance, and twenty-seven 
 miles distance from the battle-ground, where they ar- 
 rived about dark. The battle lasted about three hours, 
 and during its continuance all the troops, with one 
 exception, acted with great bravery. 
 
 .5 * Bui'net's Notes. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 47 
 
 The loss of the Americans in officers was even 
 more severe than in men, thirty-nine having been 
 killed, and twenty-two badly wounded. The loss in 
 men amounted, in killed and wounded, to about seven 
 hundred. Although the army amounted to two thou- 
 sand three hundred men, rank and file, when it took 
 its march from Ludlow's station, there could not have 
 been over fourteen hundred and fifty men engaged in 
 the action, three hundred having deserted from Fort 
 Jefferson, and one regiment of about five hundred and 
 fifty having been ordered back to bring up the pro- 
 visions. It has been stated, that even as many as six 
 hundred and thirty were killed, and two hundred and 
 sixty-three wounded. But, whether the loss of the 
 Americans was as great as this, it was undoubtedly one 
 of the most fatally bloody battles ever fought in this 
 country, and the great disproportion of the wounded 
 to the killed shows with what desperate bravery they 
 fought, as well as the folly of further resistance. 
 
 The intelligence of this melancholy and disastrous 
 defeat, and the inglorious termination of an expedi- 
 tion upon which such high hopes had been placed, fell 
 like a thunderbolt upon the government, filling the 
 whole country with consternation, and especially the 
 now doubly exposed settlers of the North-west. It 
 Was not difficult to foresee, that such an overwhelm- 
 ing defeat of an army which had inspired such strong 
 confidence of success, would result in the dissolution 
 of all our treaties with the various Indian tribes of 
 the North-west, and in the formation of a general 
 
48 THE LIFE OF 
 
 confederacy amongst them against the United States. 
 This confederacy was entered into not long after St. 
 Chiir's defeat. 
 
 Such Avas the discouraging situation of affairs, and 
 such the alarm that everywhere prevailed when En- 
 sign Harrison arrived at Fort Washington to enter 
 upon his military career ; and it must be confessed, 
 that it presented hut a dark and discouraging pros- 
 pect, and but a barren field for reaping laurels, or 
 gratifying ambition. But it was the field upon which 
 he voluntarily entered, at the age of nineteen years, 
 not simply to gratify either ambition, or reap laurels, 
 but in obedience to the dictates of what could only 
 have been patriotic duty. 
 
WILLTAM HENRY HARRISON. 49 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Ensign Harrison arrived at Fort Washington and 
 joined his regiment just in season to witness the re- 
 turn of the dispirited and care-worn fragments of 
 General St. Clair's army, and entered with cheerful- 
 ness and zeal upon the trying and dangerous duties 
 of his new position. 
 
 The period for which the militia had enlisted had 
 expired, and the detachment of the second regiment 
 of United States troops, which was in the army un- 
 der St. Clair, was entirely cut up. The task, there- 
 fore, of maintaining the long line of posts that had 
 been erected, of establishing new ones, and of afibrd- 
 ing convoys for provisions, devolved upon an inconsid- 
 erable body, composed of between three and four hun- 
 dred of the first regiment, and the miserable remnant 
 of General St. Clair's shattered army. In this con- 
 dition of affairs, Harrison was appointed to take com- 
 mand of a detachment of twenty men who had been 
 ordered to escort a number of pack-horses to Fort 
 Hamilton. This duty, it can be very easily under- 
 stood, Avas one attended with great danger and expo- 
 sure to hardships of every kind. It would neces.sa- 
 rily expose him to singular difficulties, distresses, and 
 5 
 
50 THE LIFE OF 
 
 privations, as well as to the hazard of being surprised 
 and cut oiF bj the Indians. He "was compelled to 
 lay out unsheltered, although it was the commence- 
 ment of winter, exposed to the inclemency of the 
 weather, to rain and snow, with no protection but 
 such as his blanket afforded, and no security against 
 the attacks of savages but his own vigilance. Yet, in 
 spite of every obstacle, he accomplished the hazardous 
 enterprise so entirely to the satisfaction of General 
 St. Clair as to receive his public thanks for the fidel- 
 ity and good conduct he displayed. 
 
 The fatal termination of the expeditions under 
 General Harmar and General St. Clair enforced upon 
 Congress the absolute necessity of adopting some 
 more effectual means of repressing the Indians, and 
 of putting an end to their barbarities. It was clear 
 that a larger and more efficient and better disciplined 
 force must be raised, and a more cautious system of 
 operations pursued. Accordingly, an act of Congress 
 was passed for raising a considerable army ; and 
 in April, 1792, General Anthony Wayne, who had 
 rendered his name illustrious during the revolution- 
 ary struggle, was nominated by President Washing- 
 ton to take command of it, with the title of Major- 
 General. In order to provide against the error which 
 had mainly contributed to the defeat of both General 
 Harmar and General St. Clair, which was conceded 
 to be a want of discipline, — though a want of pro- 
 vision also contributed its full share to those misfor- 
 tunes, — the whole of the year 1792, and the winter 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 51 
 
 and spring of 1793, were employed in recruiting the 
 army, and in instructing them in military discipline. 
 The new troops were stationed under General Wayne, 
 at first at Pittsburgh, and then upon the banks of the 
 Ohio, a few miles below Cincinnati. Here Harrison 
 joined the army in June, 1793, and was appointed 
 second aid-de-camp to the commander-in-chief, having 
 the year before been promoted to the rank of Lieu- 
 tenant in the first regiment. The negotiations which 
 had some time before been entered into with the In- 
 dians, having entirely failed and been broken ofl', the 
 army took up their march for Greenville, in Sep- 
 tember. It consisted of four thousand five hundred 
 efiective regulars, including some troops of dragoons, 
 and of an auxiliary force of two thousand mounted 
 militia, under the command of General Scott. But 
 an early frost setting in, rendered it advisable to go 
 into winter quarters. Huts were therefore built, and 
 a system of discipline, calculated to prepare the 
 troops for the kind of warfare they Avere about to en- 
 ter upon, w^as diligently put in practice. Here Har- 
 rison devoted himself exclusively to the study and 
 practice of his profession, and with such success as 
 to obtain the confidence of his commander and the 
 attachment of his associates. The army continued 
 in their encampment until near the last of June, 1794. 
 Having then been joined by the mounted volunteers 
 from Kentucky, arrangements were promptly made 
 for entering upon the campaign, by advancing into 
 the Indian country. 
 
52 THE LIFE OF 
 
 So perfect were the precautions taken by General 
 Wayne to guard against embarrassments, that no de- 
 lay nor difficulty attended his march. For the pur- 
 pose of deceiving the enemy in regard to his move- 
 ments, he made such demonstrations as induced them 
 to expect he would advance in a different direction 
 from the one he had selected. By this expedient, he 
 arrived almost in sight of Auglaize, the great empo- 
 rium of the enemy, and took possession of it on the 
 8th of August, without the loss of a single man. All 
 their property fell into the hands of the Americans. 
 
 The enemy were collected at the foot of the Rap- 
 ids in great force. They had been joined by the 
 militia of Detroit and a portion of the regular army, 
 and had selected an elevated plain at that place for 
 the contest. General Wayne advanced upon the main 
 body on the 20th of August, which was drawn up 
 under the cover of a British fort. A battallion of 
 mounted volunteers, commanded by Major Price, 
 moved in front of the legion, who marched sufficiently 
 in advance to give timely notice for the troops to form 
 in case of an attack. When he had proceeded about 
 five miles, so severe a fire was opened upon him by 
 the enemy, secreted in grass and woods, as to cause 
 him to fall back ; but the troops soon after came in 
 view of the enemy. 
 
 The Indians held a position admirably suited to 
 their peculiar mode of warfare, being within a thick 
 wood of felled trees that had boon torn up by a liui- 
 ricane. Their line was formed in three divisions. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISOX. 53 
 
 within supporting distance of each other, and extend- 
 ing two miles at right angles with the river. It was 
 at once seen by the commanding General, that an 
 enemy thus posted could not be successfully attacked 
 with cavalry, and that a regular fire in line must 
 prove equally unsuccessful. He therefore determined 
 to commence the engagement by an attack at the 
 point of the bayonet, and for this purpose he ordered 
 his troops to march through the woods with trailed 
 arms, and to drive the Indians from their covert with 
 charged bayonets. As soon as they were forced from 
 their hiding place, he directed a close fire to be opened 
 upon them, followed by a brisk charge, so as to pre- 
 vent them from loading a second time. The cavalry, 
 commanded by Captain Campbell, and the mounted 
 infantry, under Major-General Scott, were ordered 
 to turn the flanks of the enemy by circuitous routes. 
 
 These various orders were all obeyed with such 
 spirit and promptitude, — such was the impetuosity 
 and immediate success of the charge made by the first 
 line of infantry, however, — that the Indians, Canadian 
 militia and volunteers, were driven from their coverts 
 before the second line, and General Scott, with his 
 mounted volunteers, could possibly reach their posi- 
 tion in time for all of them to participate in the 
 action. The enemy were driven for more than two 
 miles through the woods, in the course of an hour, by 
 a force not half as numerous as their own. They 
 were estimated to be two thousand strong of fighting 
 men, while the American troops, who actually parti- 
 5* 
 
54 THE LIFE OP 
 
 cipated in the action, did not exceed nine hundred ; 
 yet the savages and their allies fled in all directions 
 in the utmost confusion, leaving the Americans in 
 full and undisturbed possession of the field of battle. 
 The engagement was begun, and terminated within 
 sight of the British Fort, and under the very muzzle 
 of their guns. They did not deem it prudent, how- 
 ever, openly to interfere in behalf of those whom they 
 had so industriously and insidiously incited to take up 
 arms against the Americans. 
 
 The victory of the Americans W'as decisive and 
 complete, and attended with the most important re- 
 sults. As the intelligence of it was received in differ- 
 ent parts of the country, it created the liveliest feel- 
 ings of joy. The bravery and good conduct of every 
 officer belonging to the army, as well as that of the 
 common soldiers, received the warmest approbation 
 of the country, as Avell as the special commendation 
 of the Commander-in-chief. This was the first gen- 
 eral action in which Lieutenant Harrison was engag- 
 ed, and General Wayne paid him the very highest 
 compliment for the efficient aid he rendered him, and 
 for his gallantry, courage, and zeal throughout the 
 battle. He had been appointed by the General, to 
 assist in forming the left Aving of the regular troops, 
 a task of extreme difficulty, owing to the thickness of 
 the woods in which they were posted, but one that 
 he accomplished with great skill and effect. In clos- 
 ing his official report of this battle. General Wayne 
 does full justice to Harrison by declaring that he 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 55 
 
 " rendered the most essential services by communi- 
 cating his orders in every direction, and by his brave- 
 ry in exciting the troops to press for victory." 
 
 An incident characteristic of the coolness, intre- 
 pidity, and enthusiastic efforts on the field of battle, 
 is related by one who was a participant in the action, 
 and an eye-witness to the gallantry of Lieutenant 
 Harrison. The old soldier, from whose interesting 
 narrative of the victory at the Rapids the incident is 
 taken, says that, when the battle was raging hottest, 
 many in that wing of the army where he was, were 
 beginning to falter and to think of a retreat. Just at 
 the moment that this feeling began to become preva- 
 lent, a young lieutenant who was known as the con- 
 fidential aid of old Mad Anthony, galloped up to the 
 line, and called to the men with a voice that was heard 
 above the roar of battle, " Onward, my brave fellows ! 
 the enemy are flying — one fire more, and the day is 
 ours." This gallant young lieutenant, it will be un- 
 derstood, was William Henry Harrison. 
 
 By the official returns of the adjutani-general, it 
 appears that the number of the Americans killed in 
 the action, including those who subsequently died from 
 their wounds, was thirty-nine, and the number of 
 wounded one hundred. The killed and wounded of 
 the enemy were estimated to be more than double that 
 of the Americans. For some distance the Avoods were 
 strewed with their dead bodies. A large number fell 
 on the prairie in attempting to gain the river, or were 
 shot while in the act of crossing it. 
 
56 THE LIFE OF 
 
 The army remained on the field of battle for three 
 days, during which time the duty -was assigned to 
 Lieutenant Harrison, and three or four other oliicers, 
 by General Wayne, of accompanying him in making 
 a critical examination of the British fort, which was 
 found to be a regular military work of great strength. 
 This close and daring scrutiny, however, did not pre- 
 cisely accord Avith the notions Major Campbell, the 
 commander of the fort, had formed of the dignity of 
 his sovereign 'and his own importance, and led to a 
 correspondence so characteristic, at least on the part 
 of General Wayne, as to deserve being extracted. 
 
 On the 21st of August, the day after the battle of 
 the Maumee, Major Campbell addressed the following 
 supercilious note to General Wayne : 
 
 " Sir, — An army of the United States of America, 
 said to be under your command, having taken post on 
 the banks of the Miami, for upwards of the last twen- 
 ty-four hours, almost within reach of the guns of 
 this, being a post belonging to His Majesty, the King 
 of Great Britain, occupied by His Majesty's troops, 
 and which I have the honor to command, it becomes 
 my duty to inform myself, as speedily as possible, in 
 what light I am to view your making such near ap- 
 proaches to this garrison. I have no hesitation, on 
 my part, to say that I know of no war existing be- 
 tween Great Britain and America." 
 
 To this insolent demand General Wayne thus re- 
 plied under the same date : " Sir, — I have received 
 your letter of this date, requiring from me the motives 
 
WiLLIA^I HENRY HARRISON. 57 
 
 "which have moved the army under my command to 
 the position they at present occupy, far within the 
 acknowledged jurisdiction of the United States of 
 America. 
 
 "Without questioning the authority, or the pro- 
 priety, Sir, of your interrogatories, I think I may, 
 without breach of decorum, observe to you that Avere 
 you entitled to an answer, the most full and satisfac- 
 tory one was announced to you from the muzzles 
 of my small-arms, yesterday morning, in the action 
 against the hordes of savages in the vicinity of your 
 post, which terminated gloriously to the American 
 arms ; but had it continued till the Indians, &c., were 
 driven under the influence of the post and guns you 
 mention, they would not have much impeded the pro- 
 gress of the victorious army under my command, as 
 no such post was established at the commencement 
 of the present war between the Indians and the United 
 States." 
 
 On the next day, 22nd of August, Major Campbell 
 again addressed General Wayne, and in equally swell- 
 ing terms, under the judicious pretence of wishing 
 to avoid so dreadful an alternative as commencing 
 hostilities against him, he says : " Sir, — Although 
 your letter of yesterday's date fully authorizes me to 
 any act of hostility against the army of the United 
 States of America in this neighborhood, under your 
 command, yet, still anxious to prevent that dreadful 
 decision, which, perhaps, is not intended to be ap- 
 pealed to, by either of our countries, I have forborn^ 
 
58 THE LIFE OP 
 
 for these tAvo days past, to resent the insults you have 
 offered the British flag, flying at this post, by ap- 
 proaching it within pistol shot of my works, not only 
 singly, hut in numbers, Avith arms in their hands. 
 Neither is it my wish to wage war upon individuals. 
 But should you, after this, continue to approach my 
 post in the threatening manner you are at this mo- 
 ment doing, my indispensable duty to my king and 
 country, and the honor of my profession, will oblige 
 me to have recourse to those measures, Avhich thou- 
 sands of either nation may hereafter have cause to 
 regret, and which, I solemnly appeal to God, I have 
 used my utmost endeavor to arrest." 
 
 Nowise alarmed by this threatening epistle. Gen- 
 eral Wayne returned the following reply the same 
 day : " Sir,— In your letter of the 21st instant, you 
 declare, 'I have no hesitation, on my part, to say, 
 that I know of no war existing between Great Britain 
 and America.' I, on my part, declare the same, and 
 the only cause I have to entertain a contrary idea, 
 at this time, is the hostile act you are now in the 
 commission of, i. e. by recently taking post far within 
 the well-known and acknowledged limits of the United 
 States, and erecting a fortification in the heart of the 
 settlements of the Indian tribes, now at war with the 
 United States. This, Sir, seems to be an act of the 
 hi^^hest aggression, and destructive to the peace and 
 interest of the Union. Hence it becomes my duty to 
 desire, and I do hereby desire and demand, in the 
 name of the President of the United States, that you 
 
\VILLIA:M IIEXRY IIAHRISON. 59 
 
 immediately desist from any further act of hostility 
 or aggression, by forbearing to fortify, and by with- 
 drawing the troops, artillery, and stores, under your 
 orders and direction, forthwith, and removing to the 
 nearest post occupied by Ilis Britannic Majesty's 
 troops at the peace of 1783 ; and which you will be 
 permitted to do unmolested by the troops under my 
 command." 
 
 The following reply of Mnjor Campbell to the 
 above, and bearing the same date, closed this some- 
 what tart correspondence : " Sir, — ^I have the honor 
 this moment to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, 
 in answer to which I have only to say, that being 
 placed here in the command of a British post, and 
 acting in a military capacity only, I cannot enter in- 
 to any discussion, either on the right or impropriety 
 of my occupying my present position. These are 
 matters that I conceive will be best left to the am- 
 bassadors of our different nations. Having said this 
 much, permit me to inform you, that I certainly will 
 not abandon this post at the summons of any person 
 whatever, until I receive orders for that purpose from 
 those I have the honor to serve under, or the fortune 
 of Avar should oblige me. I must still adhere to the 
 purport of my letter, this morning, to desire that your 
 army, or individuals belonging to it, will not approach 
 within reach of my cannon, without expecting the 
 consequences attending it. 
 
 "Although I have said, in the former part of my 
 letter, that my situation here is totally military, yet 
 
60 THE LIFE OF 
 
 let me add, Sir, that I am much deceived if His 
 Majesty, the King of Great Britain, had not a post 
 on this river at and prior to the period you mention." 
 
 General Wayne did not deem the longer contin- 
 uance of this correspondence would lead to any prof- 
 itable result, and the only reply he made to it, there- 
 fore, was by laying waste the country and destroying 
 everything of value within view of the fort, and in- 
 deed within reach of their guns. Major Campbell 
 thought it the safest policy not to put in execution 
 the threats he had made, by seeking to resent these 
 indignities. From the daring character of General 
 Wayne, it is more than probable that his object was 
 to provoke the British commander to fire upon him 
 as a pretext for attacking his fort. 
 
 Having accomplished the object of his expedition, 
 and so broken the power of the confederation as to 
 discourage the Indians from immediately risking 
 another battle. General Wayne returned to Grand- 
 Glaize, where he arrived on the 27th of August, and 
 commenced fortifying his position. But signal as his 
 victory was over the savages, the main body of the 
 enemy still remained in arms, — though it had deterred 
 many tribes from their cause, — while his own force 
 was gradually growing weaker. Apprehensions were 
 therefore entertained that a discovery of the real 
 condition of the American forces would prevent the 
 enemy from entering into any negotiations for peace, 
 and the utmost caution was observed to keep them 
 ignorant of their real strength. Preparations wero 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 61 
 
 also made to recruit the army. In the meantime 
 there was a growing anxiety on both sides for peace. 
 The Indians had been stunned by the blow they had 
 received from General Wayne, and prepared by it to 
 listen to terms. A proposition was therefore made 
 by General Wayne, to all the tribes at war with the 
 United States, to assemble at Greenville, with the 
 view of agreeing upon some terms of reconciliation. 
 After some delay and much correspondence a gen- 
 eral council was assembled at that place, which re- 
 sulted in the " Treaty of Greenville, " by which 
 universal peace was once more restored to the North- 
 west. This treaty was concluded on the 3rd of Au- 
 gust, 1795, and was signed by ten of the Indian 
 tribes who had so long waged a relentless war upon 
 the United States. 
 
 The efficient services rendered by Lieutenant Har- 
 rison during this whole campaign, and the evidence of 
 courage, zeal, and ability he had so often given, in- 
 spired General Wayne with such confidence in his 
 character as an oflScer of prudence and judgment, as 
 Avell as of ability and courage, that soon after the 
 peace of Greenville, he was entrusted with the impor- 
 tant and responsible command of Fort Washington, 
 though then only twenty-three years old. He had a 
 short time previously been promoted to the rank of 
 Captain, an honor he had well earned by his good 
 conduct in the recent campaign. 
 
 While in command of Fort Washington, in the 
 autumn of 1795, Captain Harrison was married to the 
 6 
 
62 THE LIFE OP 
 
 youngest daughter of Honorable John Cloves Symmes, 
 one tf the judges of the north-west territory, and 
 the distinguished founder of the Miami settlement, a 
 lady who still survives him, and whose mental accom- 
 plishments and private \irtues gave grace and dignity 
 to her character as a wife and a mother, in the do- 
 mestic and social circle, or presiding over the presi- 
 dential mansion. An anecdote is related, m connection 
 with his marriage to this lady, which illustrates a re- 
 markable trait in Harrison's character, and which, as 
 much as any other, was the moving principle of his 
 life. It was his perfect rehance on his own energies 
 to work out his own fortune. On applying to Mr. 
 Symmes for permission to address his daughter, he 
 was asked what were his resources for maintammg a 
 wife. Placing his hand upon his sword, he replied, 
 with as much confidence as though he were pointmg 
 to his coffers and his title-deeds, "This is my means 
 of support." Mr. Symmes was so much dehghted 
 with the cool self-reliance and daring chivalry dis- 
 played by the young soldier, that he at once yielded 
 a cheerful assent to the proposal. 
 
 Captain Harrison remained in command of Fort 
 Washington, and had the management of the large 
 amount of public property collected at this post, until 
 the spring of 1798. Peace then being restored through- 
 out the '^North-west, the object which principally 
 prompted him to enter the army, and there being no 
 farther use for his services, he resigned his commis- 
 sion and retired to his farm, at North Bend, with 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 63 
 
 the intention thereafter of devoting his time to the 
 peaceful and more congenial pursuits of agriculture. 
 He was not permitted long to indulge his desire, how- 
 ever. Almost immediately after resigning his commis- 
 sion he was appointed, by President Adams, secretary 
 of the north-west territory, in the place of Winthrop 
 Sargeant, Esq., who had been promoted to the office 
 of Governor of Mississippi, or south-western territory. 
 By virtue of this office he was ex-officio Lieutenant 
 Governor, and in the absence of Governor St. Clair 
 from the territory, the executive duties of his office 
 devolved upon him. These he discharged in a manner 
 so satisfactory to the people as to win their uni- 
 versal approbation. 
 
 The population of the north-western territory hav- 
 ino; been ascertained to amount to five thousand white 
 male inhabitants, the territory was entitled, as a 
 matter of right, to enter upon the second grade of ter- 
 ritorial government under the provisions of the ordi- 
 nance of 1787, and to a delegate in Congress. Meas- 
 ures were therefore taken to organize a territorial 
 government, and Jacob Burnnet, James Findlay, 
 Harvy Vanderberg, Robert Oliver, and David Vance, 
 were appointed by the President to be members of a 
 legislative council. They were selected from amongst 
 a list of ten persons that had previously been 
 chosen and sent to the President by the first general 
 assembly of the territory elected in pursuance of the 
 proclamation by Governor St. Clair. 
 
 This first legislative assembly of the north- 
 
64 THE LIFE or 
 
 vrestorn territory, assembled at Cincinnati on the 16th 
 day of September, 1799. Of the character of the 
 members Avho composed it, and of the considerations 
 which controlled the people in electing them, it has 
 been said by one whose position and ability gave him 
 the means of judging more correctly than any other 
 man in the territory,* that in choosing members 
 of the territorial legislature, the people in almost ev- 
 ery instance selected the strongest and best men in 
 their respective counties. Party influence was scarcely 
 felt, and it may be said with confidence, that no legis- 
 lature has been chosen under the State government, 
 which contained a larger proportion of aged and intel- 
 ligent men than were found in that body. Many of 
 them, it is true, were unacquainted Avith the forms and 
 practical duties of legislation, but they were strong 
 minded, sensible men, acquainted with the wants and 
 condition of the country, and could form correct 
 opinions of the operation of any measure for their 
 consideration. 
 
 Upon this legislature devolved the duty of elect- 
 ing a delegate to represent the territory in Congress. 
 This subject had excited much attention from the mo- 
 ment the proclamation of the Governor ordering an 
 election had been published. But before the legis- 
 lature met, public opinion had settled down on William 
 Henry Harrison, and Arthur St. Clair, jr., a son of 
 Governor St. Clair, who were the only candidates for 
 the ofliice. On the 3rd of October the two branches 
 * Judge Jacob Burnnet of Cincinnati. — Burnet's Notes. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 65 
 
 met in convention for the purpose of proceeding to an 
 election, and Harrison was elected on the first ballot 
 by a vote of twelve to ten. On being furnished with 
 a certificate of his election, he resigned the oSice of 
 secretary of the territory, and proceeded to Phila- 
 delphia, where Congress was then in session. 
 
 He at once took his seat and entered actively upon 
 the discharge of the duties of his position. He did 
 not retain it but a single session, however, but he 
 succeeded in that brief period in securing several 
 important advantages for his constituents. Amongst 
 other beneficent measures of legislation which he 
 induced Congress to adopt for their benefit, was a 
 law authorizing the surveys of the public lands to be 
 subdivided, and requiring them to be ofi"ercd for sale 
 in small lots. This important act he succeeded in 
 getting through both branches of Congress in spite of 
 the most determined opposition of interested specula- 
 tors, who had till then monopolized the whole business 
 of selling lands to the poorer class of settlers, at their 
 own exorbitant prices. This act was hailed as the 
 most beneficent measure that Congress had ever adopt- 
 ed for the benefit of the people of the West. It put 
 it in the power of every industrious man, however 
 poor he might be, to become a freeholder, — to culti- 
 vate his own domain and lay a foundation for the 
 support and future comfort of his family.* To this 
 single act, more than to any other one measure, is to 
 be attributed the wonderfully rapid growth and un- 
 
 * Burnet's Notes. 
 6* 
 
66 THE LIFE OF 
 
 precedentcd improvement and prosperity of the West. 
 By putting in the power of every man to become an 
 independent land owner, it started such a tide of 
 emigration westward as the world never before 
 witnessed. 
 
 Another act of great importance to the western 
 settler was a liberal extension of the time of payment 
 in behalf of those persons who had procured pre- 
 emption rights to lands they had previously bought of 
 Judge Symmes, lying beyond the limits of his patent, 
 and for which it was not in his power to make their 
 titles. The effect of this indulgence to the class of 
 settlers for whose relief the act was passed, enabled 
 them to secure undisputed titles to their farms, and 
 ultimately to become wealthy men and enterprising 
 and useful citizens. 
 
 Soon after the adoption of these salutary mea- 
 sures, Mr. Harrison addressed a circular to the people 
 of the territory, setting forth the result of his labors 
 in their behalf. In this circular he states, that 
 amongst the variety of subjects that engaged his at- 
 tention, none appeared to him of so much importance 
 as the adoption of a system for the sale of public 
 lands, which would give more favorable terms to that 
 class of purchasers Avho are likely to become actual 
 settlers, than was offered by the existing laws upon 
 that subject. Conformably to this idea, he procured 
 the passage of a resolution, at an early period, for 
 the appointment of a committee to take the matter 
 into consideration, and shortly after reported a bill 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 67 
 
 containing terms for tlic purchaser as favorable as 
 could have been expected. This bill was adopted by 
 the House Avithout any material alteration ; but in 
 the Senate, amendments Avere introduced, obliging the 
 purchaser to pay interest on the money for which a 
 credit was given, from the date of the purchase, and 
 directing that one-half of the land (instead of the 
 whole, as was provided by the bill from the House 
 of Representatives) should be sold in half sections of 
 three hundred and twenty acres, and the other half 
 in whole sections of six hundred and forty acres. All 
 his efforts, aided by some of the ablest members of 
 the lower House, at a conference for that purpose, 
 were not sufficient to induce the Senate to recede 
 from their amendments. Bvit still he felt that there 
 was great cause of congratulation to the people of 
 the territory, as the bill still contained as favorable 
 terms as could be procured. The law, he said, prom- 
 ised to be the foundation of a great increase to the 
 population and wealth of the country, an anticipation 
 that has been realized far beyond what he could have 
 foreseen. 
 
 Though the minimum price of lands was still fixed 
 at two dollars, the time for making payments was so 
 extended as to put it in the power of every industri- 
 ous man to comply with them, it being only necessary 
 to pay one-fourth of the money in hand, and the bal- 
 ance at the end of two, three, and four years. The 
 odious circumstance of forfeiture which was made the 
 penalty of failing in the payments under the old law 
 
68 THE LIFE OP 
 
 was also entirely abolished, and the purchaser allowed 
 one year, after the last payment should become due, 
 to collect the money. If the land should not then be 
 paid for, the balance of the money, after reimburs- 
 ing the government, was to be returned to the pur- 
 chaser. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HAllRISON. 69 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 It was during this session of Congress, that the 
 North-western Territory, then represented by Harri- 
 son, was divided, and the new Territory of Indiana 
 established. Not long after the passage of the Act 
 creating this territory, Mr. Harrison was appointed 
 its first governor and superintendent of Indian affairs, 
 by President Adams, and immediately thereupon re- 
 signed his seat in Congress, with the view of entering 
 upon the duties of the office. The region embraced 
 within the new territory included what now constitutes 
 the States of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, 
 and Iowa. All this vast region, now inhabited by a 
 hardy, enterprising population of two millions and a 
 half of people, contained at that time, a short half 
 century ago, only a population of five thousand souls, 
 thinly scattered through the vast wilderness of the 
 territory, with only three white settlements of any 
 note within its boundaries. One of these was Vin- 
 cennes, the seat of government, a beautiful town situ- 
 ated on the Wabash, and originally settled by the 
 French. The second was known as Clark's Grant, at 
 the falls of the Ohio, nearly opposite Louisville ; and 
 the other, a French settlement on the Mississippi, not 
 
70 THE LIFE OF 
 
 far from St. Louis, and more than two hundred miles 
 from the seat of government. 
 
 The whole territory was inhabited b j warlike tribes 
 of Indians, and the whole country overrun by their 
 hunting-parties. It can at once be imagined how dan- 
 gerous and difficult was the duty of keeping open a com- 
 munication between these distant settlements. Notwith- 
 standing the treaty of Greenville, these various tribes 
 retained all their restless hostility towards the United 
 States. Their natural hatred, too, was constantly 
 stimulated by unscrupulous British agents, who con- 
 stantly misrepresented the policy of the American 
 government, and by presents of liquor and merchan- 
 dise, fomented theii'- passions, and excited them to re- 
 sist the further progress of the white settlers to the 
 North-west. Frequent robberies and other outrages 
 were committed, and sometimes whole families were 
 murdered, and their cabins burnt to the ground. These 
 outrages produced retaliations, and the consequence 
 was greatly to increase the deadly hatred that existed 
 between the Indians and Americans. 
 
 It was under these circumstances that Harrison was 
 appointed Governor of Indiana Territory. Few situ- 
 ations could be more encouraging, or surrounded 
 with more incidents less embarrassing, than those he 
 was to encounter in the administration of its govern- 
 ment. With such difficulties, as have been enumer- 
 ated, to be encountered at the outset of his admini- 
 stration, it was no less a matter of duty than of neces- 
 sity, that he should be clothed with the amplest inde- 
 
AVILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 71 
 
 pendent powers. Understanding this, he was invested 
 by the President with civil as -well as military poAvers 
 of the most important nature. Amongst the powers 
 conferred upon him, were those, jointly with the judges, 
 of the legislative functions of the territory, the ap- 
 pointment of all the civil officers within the territory, 
 and all the military officers of a grade inferior in rank 
 to that of general, commander-in-chief of the militia, 
 — the absolute and uncontrolled power of pardoning 
 all offenses, — sole commissioner of treaties with the 
 Indians, with unlimited powers, and the power of 
 confirming, at his option, all grants of lands. 
 
 These, it will be admitted, were dangerous pow- 
 ers to place in the hands of one man, and nothing 
 would have justified the government in placing the 
 lives, liberty, and property of the people of the ter- 
 ritory almost literally, at the disposal of Governor 
 Harrison, but an overruling necessity created by the 
 peculiar condition of the territory, and the undoubt- 
 ing confidence with which .his w^ell-tried virtue and 
 inflexible integrity had inspired all minds. It will 
 be seen that the people had no voice whatever in the 
 manao-ement of their affairs, and that their interests 
 of every kind were at his disposal. 
 
 The able, faithful, and impartial discharge of such 
 absolute, delicate, and responsible duties as Harrison 
 was clothed with, it is obvious, required a rare com- 
 bination of moral and intellectual qualities. Yet, del- 
 icate and responsible as they were, and as independ- 
 ent as he was, not only of the people, but even of 
 
72 THE LIFE OP 
 
 the government, the high honor belongs to him of 
 never having abused his great poAver by trampling on 
 the rights of the people, or consulting his own inter- 
 ests at the expense of the public good. Though he 
 held this office sixteen years, having been twice reap- 
 pointed by Jefferson, and once by Madison, no con- 
 sideration of private gain or of personal ambition 
 ever severed him from the straight line of his duty, 
 and no charge either of tyranny or corruption rests 
 upon his memory. The legislative council and House 
 of Representatives of the territory, the officers of 
 the militia, the citizens of St. Louis, when their con- 
 nection with Indiana was about to cease, and other 
 public and private bodies of the people, all bore the 
 amplest testimony to his disinterested integrity and 
 patriotic devotion to the welfare of the territory. 
 
 The liberal and enlightened policy he pursued 
 during his administration of the affairs of the terri- 
 tory contributed largely to the rapid settlement and 
 great improvement which commenced with his ap- 
 pointment, and which have continued with each in- 
 creasing year to the present time, and which bid fair 
 to increase still more rapidly for many years to come. 
 The moderation, good sense, and disinterestedness with 
 which he exercised his almost unlimited powers won 
 for him the friendship and esteem of the whole peo- 
 ple. In the management of the Indian affairs of the 
 territory he was equally straightforward and upright, 
 and received the warm approval of government for 
 the promptness, energy, and fidelity with which he 
 discharged its duties. 
 
V/ILLIArtI HENRY IIARRIbON. 73 
 
 A leading and most important object with Governor 
 Harrison was the conciliation of the warlike tribes 
 of the territory. By his intimate acquaintance with 
 the Indian character, his undaunted firmness, and 
 the reputation he had established amongst them by 
 his justice and impartiality, as by his uniform kind- 
 ness of manner and considerate forbearance, he had 
 inspired their confidence and respect. He was, 
 therefore, better qualified to accomplish this purpose 
 successfully than almost any other man in the Union. 
 Owing to the unremitting efforts of British minions, 
 however, he did not entirely succeed in allaying the 
 suspicions and jealousies that these agents so con- 
 stantly stimulated, though his influence was sufii- 
 ciently strong over them to prevent any open out- 
 break until 1811. 
 
 In 1805, it being ascertained that the territory 
 contained a sufiicient population, it was advanced to 
 the second grade of government, and a legislative 
 council was selected by the President, and a House 
 of Assembly chosen by the people. This measure, 
 of course, deprived Governor Harrison of much of 
 the power he had previously possessed, by transfer- 
 ring it from him to the people ; but, democratic in 
 his principles and feelings, it met his hearty concur- 
 rence and approbation. 
 
 On the 30th of April, 1803, the negotiations that 
 
 had been instituted with France, for the purchase of 
 
 Louisiana, were brought to a termination, by which 
 
 the immense region of country, known as the ter- 
 
 7 
 
74 THE LIFE OF 
 
 ritory of Orleans, now the State of Louisiana, and 
 the District of Louisiana, was ceded to the United 
 States, in consideration of the sum of fifteen millions 
 of dollars. In the following December, our govern- 
 ment took possession of this vast region, and the 
 boundaries of the ancient charters of the British 
 government to her American colonies were thus real- 
 ized. This large acquisition to our territorial pos- 
 sessions greatly enlarged the jurisdiction of Governor 
 Harrison, and the laborious duties and responsibilities 
 of his position were correspondingly increased. 
 
 In his first address to the territorial legislature, 
 two years after the annexation of Louisiana, he took 
 occasion to refer to that important measure at length. 
 His message on this subject displayed so many unmis- 
 takable evidences of statesmanship, and such striking 
 indications that the important bearing of that mea- 
 sure upon the future destiny of the country were fully 
 understood by him, and contained withal so many 
 noble and enlarged sentiments, that an extract from 
 that part of it, referring particularly to this question, 
 will be found of interest. 
 
 " Upon a careful review of our situation, it will 
 be found that we have much cause of felicitation, 
 whether it respects our enjoyment or our future pros- 
 pects. An enlightened and generous policy has for- 
 ever removed all cause of contention with our west- 
 ern neighbors. The mighty river which separates us 
 from the Louisianians will never be stained with the 
 blood of contending natioub, but will be the bond of 
 
WILLIAM HENRY IIARIUSON. 75 
 
 our union, and .vill convey upon its bosom, in the 
 course of many thousand miles, the produce of our 
 great and united empire. The astonished traveler 
 Avill behold upon cither bank a people governed by 
 the same laws, pursuing the same objects, and warmed 
 by the same love of liberty and science. And if, m 
 the immense distance, a small point should present 
 itself where other laws and other manners prevail, 
 the contrast it will afford will serve the useful purpose 
 of demonstrating the great superiority of a repub- 
 lican government, and how far the uncontrollea and 
 unbiased industry of freemen excels the cautious and 
 measured exertions of the subjects of despotic power. 
 The acquisition of Louisiana will form an impor- 
 tant epoch in the history of our country. It has se- 
 cured the happiness of millions, who will bless the 
 moment of their emancipation and the generous pol- 
 icy which has secured to them the rights oi men. 
 To us it has produced immediate and important ad- 
 vantages. We are no longer apprehensive of waging 
 an eternal war with the numerous and warlike tribes 
 of aborigines that surround us, and perhaps being re- 
 duced to the dreadful alternative of extermmatmg 
 them from the earth. 
 
 By cutting off their communication with every 
 foreign power,''and forcing them to procure from our- 
 selves the arms and ammunition and such of the Eu- 
 ropean manufactures as habit has to them renderd 
 necessary, we have not only secured their entire de- 
 pendence, but the means of ameliorating their con- 
 
76 THE LIFE OF 
 
 clltion, and of devoting to some useful and beneficial 
 purpose the ardor and energy of mind which are now 
 devoted to war and destruction. The policy of the 
 United States with regard to the savages within their 
 territories forms a striking contrast with the conduct 
 of other civilized nations. The measures of the lat- 
 ter appear to have been well calculated for the effect 
 which has produced the entire extirpation of the un- 
 happy people Avhose country they have usurped. It is 
 in the United States alone that safety and protection 
 from every species of injury, and considerable sums of 
 money have been appropriated, and agents employed, 
 to humanize their minds, and instruct them in such 
 arts of civilized life as they are capable of receiving. 
 To provide a substitute for the chase, from which 
 they derive their support, and which from the exten- 
 sion of our settlements is daily becoming more pre- 
 carious, has been considered a sacred duty. The hu- 
 mane and benevolent intentions of the government, 
 however, will forever be defeated, unless effectual 
 measures be devised to prevent the sale of ardent 
 spirits to those unfortunate people. The law which 
 has been passed by Congress for that purpose has 
 been found entirely ineffectual, because its operation 
 has been construed to relate to the Indian country 
 exclusively. In calling your attention to this sub- 
 ject, gentlemen, I am persuaded that it is unne- 
 cessary to remind you that the article of compact 
 makes it your duty to attend to it. The interest 
 of your constituents, the interest of the miserable 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 77 
 
 Indians, and your own feelings, will urge you to take 
 it into your most serious consideration and provide 
 the remedy which is to save thousands of our fellow- 
 creatures. So destructive has been the progress of 
 intemperance, that whole villages have been swept 
 away. A miserable remnant is all that remains to 
 mark the names and situation of many numerous and 
 warlike tribes. 
 
 In the energetic language of one of their orators, 
 it is a dreadful conflagration which spreads misery 
 and desolation through their country, and threatens 
 the annihilation of the whole race. Is it then to be 
 admitted as a political axiom that the neighborhood 
 of a civilized nation is incompatible with the exist- 
 ence of savages? Are the blessings of our repub- 
 lican government only to be felt by ourselves? And 
 are the natives of North America to experience the 
 same fate with their brethren of the southern con- 
 tinent? It is with you, gentlemen, to divert from 
 these children of nature the fate that hangs over 
 them. Nor can I consider that the time will be con- 
 sidered misspent, which is devoted to an object which 
 is so consistent with the spirit of Christianity, and 
 with the principles of republicanism. 
 
 During this time, and for two or three years be- 
 fore, events had been maturing with the various In- 
 dian tribes of the North-west which produced results 
 that were the ultimate cause of the war of 1811. 
 This was the formation of a general league amongst 
 them. It was not finally consummated, however, 
 
78 THE LIFE OF 
 
 until the following year. Various causes had trans- 
 pired to keep up their irritation against the Amer- 
 icans. The active agency of Britsh minions in pro- 
 ducing this state of things has already been noticed. 
 Other causes and other agents were still more pow- 
 erful. Most prominent amongst the latter of these 
 were the renowned Indian warrior and celebrated or- 
 ator, Tecumthe, and his cunning and hypocritical 
 brother Olliwachica, better known as the prophet. 
 The genius of the one, and the prophetical character 
 of the other, gave them almost an unlimited influence 
 amongst the savage tribes, and drew around them 
 larse numbers of reckless followers. 
 
 A confederacya mongst the tribes, along the whole 
 frontier against the United States, had been repeat- 
 edly attempted before, but never with success. By 
 the wisdom and prudence of Governor Harrison, 
 aided by the respect he had inspired amongst the 
 savages by his courage and high character for justice 
 and integrity, he had always succeeded in defeating 
 it. But against the influence of a chief of Tecumthe's 
 ability, tact, and daring, backed by the fanaticism 
 which had been created by the prophet's incantations, 
 he could not contend. Tecumthe was as wary and 
 sagacious in council as he was bold and impetuous in 
 war, and in the execution of his designs of whatever 
 character. He possessed a capacity for commander 
 of the very highest order. He was, besides, familiar 
 with every cause of grievance of every tribe in the 
 North-west — with all their passions and sympathies. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 79 
 
 This knowledge lie used, with the most consummate 
 skill, to carry out his ambitious projects. Though his 
 brother Avas remarkable for little else than his cun- 
 ning, he proved a powerful auxiliary, by enlisting the 
 superstition of the tribes which they wished to mould 
 to their views. With the view of impressing upon 
 them the sacred calling and character of the prophet, 
 Tecumthe aflfected to treat him as a being of a supe- 
 rior order. By this cunning artifice he succeeded in 
 inspiring a reverence for him, which gave him an im- 
 mense influence. 
 
 One of the first acts of Tecumthe, after the union 
 between the tribes was consummated, was to induce 
 them to abstain from using the supplies furnished by 
 the United States. As a necessary consequence of 
 this refusal, illicit trading followed, frequently accom- 
 panied with fraud, violence, and sometimes murder, 
 and hostile incursions soon followed. This state of 
 things continued until war finally commenced. The 
 treaty of Fort Wayne, negotiated by Governor Har- 
 rison in 1809, gave especial offense to the distinguished 
 chief, it being considered a violation of the great 
 princ'iple of his confederacy, which was that the In- 
 dian lands were the common property of all the tribes, 
 and could not be sold without their unanimous consent. 
 He was absent when the treaty was ratified, and on his 
 return not only indignantly refused to acknowledge it, 
 but threatened to kill the chiefs Avho had signed it, de- 
 claring his determination to prevent the lands, ceded to 
 the United States by it, from being surveyed or settled. 
 
80 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 On being apprised of this determination, Governor 
 Harrison sent a message to Tecumthe, informing him 
 that any claims he might have to the lands which had 
 been ceded by the treaty of Fort Wayne, were not 
 affected by that treaty, and inviting him to visit Vin- 
 cennes and exhibit his pretensions, and if they were 
 found to be valid, the lands would be relinquished, or 
 an ample compensation made for it. In accordance 
 with this invitation he went to Vincennes, in the month 
 of August 1810, attended by four hundred warriors, 
 notwithstanding Harrison had restricted the number 
 to thirty. The interview took place in front of the 
 governor's house, when Tecumthe entered into a long 
 and elaborate statement of his many supposed or real 
 causes of grievance, and the grounds upon which he 
 refused to acknoAvledge the validity of the treaty of 
 Fort Wayne. He alleged that the Great Spirit had 
 created this continent exclusively for the use of the 
 Indians, — that the white man had no right to come 
 here and take it from them, — that no part of it was 
 given to any tribe, but that the whole was the common 
 property of all the tribes, and that, therefore, any 
 sale of lands, made without their unanimous consent, 
 was not binding upon any. 
 
 Governor Harrison's reply to this artful address 
 was firm, and at the same time conciliatory and mod- 
 erate. He stated that the Indians, like the white 
 people, were divided into different tribes or nations, 
 and that the Great Spirit never intended that they 
 should form but one nation, or he would not have 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 81 
 
 taught them to speak diiferent languages, and thus 
 precluding them from understanding each other. He 
 also informed them that, even if the ground taken by 
 Tecumthe was sound as a general principle, the Shaw- 
 anoees, Avho emigrated from Georgia, could have no 
 claims to the land on the Wabash, which had been in- 
 habited by the Miamies far beyond the memory of 
 man. At this point of his address the governor took 
 his seat, for the purpose of having what he had said 
 interpreted to the different tribes present. No sooner 
 had it been translated into Shawanoees, than Tecum 
 the interrupted the interpreter by indignantly declar 
 ing that the statement of the governor was all false 1 
 At the same time he gave the signal to his warriors, 
 who immediately seized their weapons and sprang to 
 their feet, ready to do the further bidding of their 
 chief, whatever it might be. 
 
 The occasion was one, it will readily be perceived, 
 of the most imminent peril, and calling for the exer- 
 cise of all the governor's coolness, courage, and pres- 
 ence of mind. Great as the danger evidently was, 
 Harrison proved equal to it, and remained as calm 
 and self-possessed as though it was but an ordinary 
 occurrence. Although he Avas almost wholly unat- 
 tended in the midst of four hundred fierce and des- 
 perate savages, fully armed and ready for any outrage, 
 he at once rose from his seat and drew his sword, and 
 boldly faced the threatened storm. A considerable 
 number of the citizens of Yincennes were present, en- 
 tirely unarmed, however, therefore compelled to remain 
 
82 THE LIFE OP 
 
 mere spectators of the exciting scene. But close at 
 hand was a guard, composed of a sergeant and twelve 
 men, who were promptly ordered to take a proper po- 
 sition for sustaining the governor in whatever emerg- 
 ency might arise. But Tecumthe thought it advisable 
 not to carry matters to extremities. The undaunted 
 bearing and unruffled self-possession of the man they 
 had to deal with, brought Tecumthe to his senses, and 
 made his savage train quail before his steady valor. 
 
 The treacherous and wily chief thought to have 
 taken the governor by surprise, and to have forced 
 from him his own terms. But he soon discovered his 
 error, and the mistaken estimate he had made of Har- 
 rison's character. Though taken by surprise, and 
 entirely at the mercy of the foe, he remained unmoved 
 and firm in his purpose, equally incapable of violence 
 and fear. Tlie moral influence of his conduct under 
 the critical circumstances with which he was surround- 
 ed, was at once perceptible upon the savages, and 
 especially upon Tecumthe. He knew how to appre- 
 ciate such true courage, and it at once subdued him. 
 When Harrison saw that all immediate danger was 
 passed, he told Tecumthe that he was a bad man, and 
 that he would have no further intercourse with him, 
 and at once broke up the council, directing him to 
 leave his camp and return to his home. 
 
 Fearing that an attack might be made upon the 
 town, as the savages greatly outnumbered its citizens, 
 two companies of militia were brought in during the 
 night, and a considerable number the following day. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. °^ 
 
 But the next morning Tecumthe sent for the inter- 
 preter, apologized for his bad faith, and requested that 
 another conference might be granted hun. i he re- 
 quest was complied with by the governor, but he took 
 good care not again to trust himself to the mercy of 
 the treacherous enemy. He therefore took with him 
 a number of his friends well-armed, and had the troops 
 at his command ready for action. Another conference 
 was accordingly held the same day, at which lecum- 
 the explained the cause of his conduct at the previous 
 meeting. He alleged that it had been pursued m ac- 
 cordance with advice given him by white persons in- 
 terested in getting up a war between the Indians and 
 the United States, but that it was not his intention to 
 offer any violence to Governor Harrison. ^ 
 
 In reply to his speech, the governor mquiredif 
 he had any other claim to the lands ceded to the 
 United States by the treaty of Fort Wayne, than such 
 as he had stated at their interview. He answered 
 that he had not ; but stated during the conference, 
 that if the lands in question were not relinquished to 
 the Indians, it was his determination to wage a war 
 against the United States, and that he would never 
 bury the hatchet, or cease his efforts, until he had 
 united all the tribes upon the continent into one grand 
 confederacy, and compelled the pale faces to acknow- 
 ledge their rights, and do justice to the Indian race. 
 The council here ended, and Tecumthe withdrew 
 
 As soon as the council of Vincennes was dissolved 
 and the ambitious and sagacious chief discovered 
 
°^ THE LIFE OP 
 
 that he had nothing to hope from negotiation, he set 
 about the great object of effecting his favorite object 
 of a confederacy amongst all the North-American 
 tribes. It was his policy to avoid hostility until this 
 object should be accomplished, or the anticipated war 
 between the United States and Great Britain should 
 break out. The next year, in pursuance of this plan, 
 he visited the southern Indians, leaving his brother in 
 charge of a party at Tippecanoe. In reference to 
 these efforts. Governor Harrison thus referred in his 
 message to the Territorial Legislature of Indiana, at 
 its next session : 
 
 "Presenting, as we do, a very extended frontier 
 to numerous and warlike tribes of the aborigines, the 
 state of our relations with them must always form an 
 important and interesting feature in our local politics. 
 It is with regret that I have to inform you, that the 
 harmony and good understanding, which it is so much 
 our interest to cultivate with these our neighbors, 
 have, for some time past, experienced a considerable 
 interruption, and that we have indeed been threatened 
 with^ hostihties by a combination, formed under the 
 auspices of a bold adventurer, who pretends to act 
 under the immediate inspiration of the Deity. His 
 character as a prophet, however, would not have given 
 him any very dangerous influence, if he had not been 
 assisted by the intrigues and advice of foreign agents 
 and other disaffected persons, who have for years 
 omitted no opportunity of counteracting the measures 
 of the government with regard to the Indians, and 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 85 
 
 filling their naturally jealous minds with suspicions of 
 the justice and integrity of our views towards them. 
 
 " The circumstance which was laid hold of to en- 
 courage disaflFection, on a late occasion, was the treaty 
 made by me at Fort Wayne, in the autumn of the last 
 year. Amongst the difficulties which were to be en- 
 countered to obtain those extinguishments of title, 
 which have proved so beneficial to the treasury of the 
 United States, and so necessary as the means of in- 
 creasing the population of the territory, the most 
 formidable was that of ascertaining the tribes which 
 were to be admitted as parties to the treaties. The 
 object was accordingly discussed in a long correspond- 
 ence between the government and myself, and the 
 principles which we finally adopted were made as lib- 
 eral towards the Indians as a due regard for the in- 
 terests of the United States would permit. Of the 
 tribes which had formed the confederacy in the war 
 which terminated by the peace of Greenville, some 
 were residents upon the lands which were in possession 
 of their forefathers at the time that the first settlements 
 were made in America by white people, whilst others 
 were emigrants from different parts of the country, 
 and had no other claim to the tract they occupied, 
 than what a few years' residence, by the tacit consent 
 of the real owners, could give. Upon common and 
 general principles, the transfer of the title of the 
 former description would have been sufficient to vest 
 in the purchaser the legal right to lands so situated. 
 But m all its transactions with the Indians, o«r gov- 
 8 
 
8(5 THE LIFE OP 
 
 ernment has not been content with doing that Avhich 
 was just only. Its savage neighbors have on all oc- 
 casions experienced its liberality and benevolence. 
 Upon this principle, in several of the treaties which 
 have been concluded, several tribes have been admitted 
 to a participation of their benefits, who had no title to 
 the land ceded, merely because they had been accus- 
 tomed to hunt upon, and derive part of their support 
 from them. For this reason, and to prevent the Mi- 
 amies, who were the real owners of the land, from ex- 
 periencing any ill effects from their resentment, the 
 Delawares, Potowatamies, and Kickapoos, were made 
 parties to the late treaty at Fort Wayne. No other 
 tribe was admitted, because it never had been sug- 
 gested that any other could plead even the title to use 
 or occupancy of the lands, which at that time were 
 conveyed to the United States. 
 
 " It was not until eight months after the conclu- 
 sion of the treaty, and after his design of forming a 
 combination against the United States had been dis- 
 covered and defeated, that the pretensions of the pro- 
 phet, in regard to the lands in question, were made 
 known. A furious clamor was then raised by the for- 
 eign agents among ns, and other disaffected persons, 
 - against the policy which had excluded from the treaty 
 this great and influential character, as he is termed, 
 and the doing so expressly attributed to the personal 
 ill-will on the part of the negotiator. No such ill-will 
 did in fact exist. I accuse myself, indeed, of an error 
 in the patronage and support which I afforded him on 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 87 
 
 his first arrival on the Wabash, before his hostility to 
 the United States had been developed. But on no 
 principle of propriety or policy could he have been 
 made a party to the treaty. The personage, called 
 the prophet, is not a chief of the tribe to which he 
 belongs, but an outcast from it, rejected and hated by 
 the real chiefs, the principal of whom was present at 
 the treaty, and not only disclaimed on the part of his 
 tribe any title to the lands ceded, but used his per- 
 sonal influence with the chiefs of other tribes to effect 
 the cession. 
 
 "As soon as I was informed that his dissatisfac- 
 tion of the treaty was assigned as the cause of the 
 hostile attitude which the prophet had assumed, I sent 
 to inform him, that whatever claims he might have to 
 the lands which had been purchased for the United 
 States, were not in the least affected by the purchase ; 
 that he might come forward and exhibit his preten- 
 sions, and if they were really found to be just or equi- 
 table, the lands would be restored, or an ample 
 equivalent given for them. His brother was deputed 
 and sent to me for that purpose ; but far from being 
 able to show any color of claim, either for himself, 
 or any of his followers, his objections to the treaty 
 were confined to the assertion, that all the lands 
 upon the continent were the common property of 
 all the tribes, and that no sale of any part of it 
 could be valid without the consent of all. A propo- 
 sition so extremely absurd, and which would forever 
 prevent any further purchase of lands by the United 
 
88 THE LIFE OF 
 
 States, could receive no countenance from any friend 
 of his country. He had, however, the insolence to 
 declare, that by the acknoAvledgment of that prin- 
 ciple alone could the effects of his resentment be 
 avoided." 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 89 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 But, though Tecumthe was only successful to a 
 limited extent in his mission amongst the southern 
 Indian tribes, he relaxed none of his efforts to organ- 
 ize his plans for prosecuting a war against the United 
 States, nor abated any of his deep-Tooted enmity 
 against the white "intruders." Early in the year 
 1811, matters had assumed so serious an aspect, that 
 it was foreseen that the cloud of war, which had dark- 
 ened the western frontier, must shortly burst, and in- 
 volve the country once more in all the horrors of this 
 most direful curse to frontier-settlers. The hostile 
 intentions and the fierce hatred of the Indians, which 
 had been so long and so industriously kept alive and 
 stimulated by British spies and agents, began to as- 
 sume so bold and threatening an aspect, that Governor 
 Harrison saw the necessity of making prompt and ef- 
 ficient preparations for the emergency. He therefore 
 applied to President Monroe for authority to prepare 
 for the approaching contest. In accordance with this 
 request an armed force, consisting of Ohio, Kentucky, 
 and Indiana militia, was immediately furnished him, 
 but with the strictest orders not to resort to hostili- 
 ties of any kind whatsoever, and to any degree, not 
 indispensably necessary. 
 
90 THE LIFE OF 
 
 His situation was now of the most delicate and 
 embarrassing character. Although furnished with 
 means of defense, it was crippled with such rigid con- 
 ditions as seemed to leave him but little discretion. 
 Under these trying circumstances he consulted with 
 Governor Howard, of Missouri, and Governor Ed- 
 wards, of Illinois, who advised him to break up the 
 prophet's town, where the Indians had already begun 
 to assemble in large force. These outrages had be- 
 come so frequent, in consequence of the impunity with 
 which they had been suffered to carry on their depre- 
 dations, that any longer forbearance would have been 
 felt to be criminal indifference to the safety of the 
 settlers. Surmounting every difficulty, he prepared 
 to strike a blow that, if successful, would effectually 
 crush the savage confederation, and put an end to all 
 further apprehensions from them. When it had be- 
 come known that an attack upon the prophet's town 
 was resolved upon, a large number of gentlemen from 
 Kentucky volunteered their services to Governor Har- 
 rison, amongst whom where the gallant Joseph H. 
 Daviess, an eminent lawyer of great military ambition ; 
 Major-General Samuel Wells, who had already distin- 
 guished himself in Indian wars; Colonel Owen, also 
 a distinguished officer in those wars ; Colonel Keiger, 
 and Messrs. Croghan, O'Fallan, and others, who after- 
 wards distinguished themselves in the war with Great 
 Britain, as well as at the battle of Tippecanoe. The 
 governor's army was thus increased to about nine 
 hundred effective men, consisting of regular troops 
 and volunteer militia. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 91 
 
 Having completed all his arrangements, lie com- 
 menced his march up the Wabash, with the best dis- 
 ciplined force that had ever been brought into the 
 field against the Indians, towards the last of Septem- 
 ber 1811. Acting under the express orders of the 
 President, to present a last opportunity to the Indians 
 for a reconciliation, before actually commencing hos- 
 tilities, Governor Harrison came to a halt at Fort 
 Harrison, within the limits of the United States, for 
 the purpose of attempting to induce the prophet to 
 deliver up the murderers, who had taken refuge 
 amongst his men, and to deliver up the many horses 
 that had been stolen from the white settlements. But 
 his messengers were treated with contempt ; and ev- 
 ery proposition made to him was rejected; and to put 
 an end to all hopes of accommodation, an attack was 
 made upon the Americans, their sentinels fired upon, 
 and one of them severely wounded. Finding it but 
 lost time, therefore, to hold any further intercourse 
 with the prophet, he determined to march upon the 
 prophet's town as soon as his army, which had suffered 
 severely from the use of fresh food, was in a condition 
 for active service. On the 28th of October, Governor 
 Harrison left Fort Harrison for the head-quarters of 
 the prophet and his army. 
 
 Well skilled in the peculiar mode of Indian war- 
 fare, and profiting by his own early experience and 
 the example of General Wayne, his march through 
 the wild region to Tippecanoe was conducted with so 
 much skill and caution, that he avoided all danger of 
 
02 THE LIFE OP 
 
 an ambuscade or surprise from the enemy, and on the 
 6th of November arrived within six miles of the pro- 
 phet's town in perfect safety. In accordance with 
 the instructions of the President, Governor Harrison 
 immediately sent a flag of truce to the prophet, to en- 
 deavor once more to open an ample negotiation with 
 the hostile Indians. A pacific, but deceitful, reply was 
 returned to this overture, professing the most friendly 
 intentions, and agreeing to meet the governor the next 
 day in council with his chiefs, with the view to settle 
 definitely the terms of peace. Harrison knew too well 
 the treacherous character of his artful antagonist, to 
 allow himself to be deceived by his friendly professions, 
 or lulled into any fancied security. He carefully se- 
 lected the most eligible and defensible position for his 
 encampment, and posted his troops in a hollow square, 
 with his cavalry drawn up in rear of the front line. 
 His men were ordered to lie on their arms all night, 
 that they might be in readiness at a moment's warn- 
 ing for any sudden attack that might be made during 
 the night. He also surrounded his entire camp with 
 a chain of sentinels, placed at such a distance as to 
 give timely notice of the approach of the enemy, and 
 the officers were required to sleep with their clothes 
 on, and their arms by their sides. The governor him- 
 self, too, was ready to mount his horse at any moment. 
 All these careful preparations to guard against a sur- 
 prise were necessary, not only from their well-known 
 treacherous character, but from certain intimations 
 Governor Harrison thought he discovered in the sin- 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 93 
 
 ister conduct and proceedings of the prophet. He 
 felt confident from these indications that an attack 
 woukl be made upon his encampment before morning. 
 
 The order was given the army, in case of a night 
 attack, for each corps to maintain its ground at all 
 hazards until relieved. The dragoons were directed, 
 in such a case, to parade dismounted with their 
 swords on and their pistols in their belts, and thus to 
 wait for orders. The guard for the night consisted 
 of two companies of forty-two men and four non- 
 commissioned oflBcers, each under the command of a 
 field ofiicer. 
 
 The two columns of infantry occupied the front 
 and rear of the position he had chosen, at the dis- 
 tance of about one hundred and fifty yards from 
 each other on the left, and something more than half 
 that distance on the right flank. These flanks were 
 filled up, the first by two companies of mounted rifle- 
 men, amounting to about one hundred and twenty men, 
 under the command of Major-General Wells, of the 
 Kentucky militia, who served as a major ; the other 
 by Spencer's company of mounted riflemen, which 
 amounted to eighty men. The front line was com- 
 posed of one battalion of United States infantry, un- 
 der the command of Major Floyd, flanked on the 
 right by two companies of militia, and on the left by 
 one company. The rear line was composed of one 
 battalion of United States troops, under the com- 
 mand of Captain Baen, acting as major, and four 
 companies of militia infantry, under Lieutenant-Col- 
 
94 THE LIFE OP 
 
 onel Decker. The regulai* troops of the line joined 
 the mounted riflemen, under General Wells, on the 
 left flank, and Colonel Decker's battalion formed 
 with Spencer's company on the left. 
 
 Two troops of dragoons, amounting in the aggre- 
 gate to sixty men, were encamped in the rear of the 
 left flank, and Captain Parker's troop, which was 
 larger than the other two, in the rear of the front 
 line. The order of encampment varied but little 
 from the above described, except when some pecu- 
 liarity of the ground made it necessary. For a night 
 attack the order of encampment was the order of 
 battle, and each man slept immediately opposite his 
 post in the line. In the formation of his troops, 
 Governor Harrison used a single rank, or what is 
 called Indian file, because in Indian warfare, where 
 there is no shock to resist, experience has shown that 
 one rank is nearly as efficient as two, and in that 
 kind of warfare the extension of line is of the utmost 
 importance. Raw troops also manoeuvre with much 
 more facility in single than in double ranks. In the 
 evening he assembled all his field officers, and gave 
 them the watchword and their instructions for the 
 night. 
 
 On the morning of the 7th of November, Gov- 
 ernor Harrison had risen at a quarter before four 
 o'clock, with the intention of ordering out the men, 
 and the signal for that purpose was on the point of 
 being given. The orderly drummer had already been 
 roused for the reveille. The morning was dark, in 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 95 
 
 consequence of the moon being overshadowed with 
 clouds. After four o'clock, General Wells, Colonel 
 Owen, and Colonel Daviess had all risen and joined 
 the governor, when the treacherous foe, notwithstand- 
 ing their appointment to meet them in council the 
 next morning, for the purpose of listening to terms of 
 peace, had crept up so near the American lines as 
 to hear the sentries challenged when relieved. It 
 was their intention to rush upon them and kill them 
 before they could fire. But one of the sentries dis- 
 covered an Indian creeping towards him in the grass, 
 and fired upon him. This was immediately followed 
 by the Indian warwhoop, and a desperate attack 
 upon the left of the American line.* But a single 
 gun was fired by either the sentinel or guard in the 
 direction of the attack. They made not the least re- 
 sistance, but abandoned their officers and fled into 
 the camp in the wildest confusion, and the first inti- 
 mation the troops of that flank had of the attack 
 was from the yells of the savages within a short dis- 
 tance of the line. But though thus taken by sur- 
 prise, through the bad conduct of the sentinels and 
 guard, they promptly rallied and behaved with the 
 most distinguished gallantry. Many of them were 
 not yet awake, but upon the first alarm they seized 
 their arms and took their stations. Those who were 
 more tardy met and contended with the enemy in the 
 doors of their tents. The storm first fell upon Cap- 
 tain Barton's company of the fourth United States 
 
 * SIcAfee's History of the Late War. 
 
96 THE LIFE OP 
 
 regiment, and Captain Geiger's company of mounted 
 riflemen, whicli formed the left angle of the rear line. 
 The fire upon these companies was most galling and 
 destructive, and they suffered severely before relief 
 could be brought to them. Some few Indians passed 
 into the encampment near the angle, and one or two 
 even penetrated some distance before they were killed. 
 
 Ail the other companies were under arms and 
 formed in line before the attack was commenced upon 
 them. The camp fires, which afforded a partial light 
 in the darkness of the morning, for the Indians to 
 take a sure aim, and which was therefore more ad- 
 vantageous to them than to the American army, were 
 at once extinguished. Under all these discouraging 
 circumstances, so well calculated to produce a panic 
 even amongst veteran soldiers, the governor's troops, 
 although nineteen-twentieths of them had never be- 
 fore been in an action, exhibited the utmost coolness 
 and bravery, and fought with a gallantry that enti- 
 tled them to the highest honor. They took their 
 places, too, with less noise and confusion than might 
 have been expected from veteran troops in similar 
 circumstances. 
 
 As soon as Governor Harrison could mount his 
 horse, he rode to the angle where the attack com- 
 menced, and found that Captain Barton's company 
 had suffered severely, and that Captain Geiger's was 
 entirely broken. He immediately ordered Captain 
 Cook's company, and the late Captain Wentworth's, un- 
 der Lieutenant Peters, to be brought up from the cen- 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 97 
 
 tre of the rear line, where the ground was much more 
 defensible, and formed across the angle in support of 
 Barton's and Geiger's companies. He then discov- 
 ered that a heavy fire was kept up on the left of the 
 front line, where a small company of United States 
 riflemen, armed however with muskets, were sta- 
 tioned, and also the companies of Captains Baen, Snel- 
 ling, and Prescott, of the fourth regiment. Colonel 
 Daviess immediately formed the dragoons in the rear 
 of these companies. Understanding that the heav- 
 iest part of the fire proceeded from a small thicket, 
 fifteeiT or twenty rods in front of them, Harrison 
 directed him to dislodge them with a part of his 
 dragoons. Unfortunately the order was not distinctly 
 heard by his men, and but few of them accompanied 
 him in the charge, amongst whom were Messrs, Mead 
 and Sanders, who afterwards rendered signal service 
 in the army of the United States. This enabled the 
 enemy to avoid him in front and attack his flanks. 
 The charge, therefore, though executed with great 
 gallantry, was entirely unsuccessful, and the brave 
 Colonel Daviess, as chivalrous an officer as ever drew 
 a sword in his country's defence, fell mortally wounded. 
 The Indians, however, were immediately dislodged 
 from their advantageous position by Captain Snel- 
 ling, at the head of his company. 
 
 In the course of a few minutes after the com- 
 mencement of the attack, the fire extended along the 
 left flank, the whole of the front, the right flank, and 
 part of the rear line. Upon Spencer's mounted rifle- 
 9 
 
98 THE LIFE OP 
 
 men, and the right of Captain Warwick's, the latter 
 of which was posted on the right of the rear line, the 
 fire was excessively severe. Captain Spencer and his 
 first and second lieutenant were killed, and Captain 
 Warwick was mortally wounded. Their companies, 
 however, still bravely maintained their posts, but 
 Captain Spencer's Company had suffered so severely, 
 and having originally too much ground to occupy, 
 was reinforced with Captain Roble's company of ri- 
 flemen. This company had been driven from their 
 position, or ordered from it by mistake. They fought 
 bravely, however, during the whole action, and espe- 
 cially after they had been ordered to the support of 
 Spencer's company, having seventeen men killed in 
 the battle. 
 
 The great object of Governor Harrison was to 
 keep the lines entire and unbroken, in order to pre- 
 vent the enemy from penetrating into the camp until 
 daylight, when a general and more effectual charge 
 could be made. With this view he had reinforced 
 every part of the line as fast as it had become weak- 
 ened, and as soon as the approach of morning was 
 discovered, Captain Snelling's company, Captain Po- 
 sey's, under Lieutenant Albright's, and Captain 
 Scott's, were withdrawn from the front line, and Cap- 
 tain Wilson's from the rear line, and drawn up upon 
 the left flank ; and at the same time Captain Cook's 
 and Captain Baen's companies, the former from the 
 rear, and the latter from the front line, were ordered 
 to reinforce the right flank, the governor foreseeing 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 99 
 
 that^l the enemy would make their hast efforts. 
 General Wells, who commanded on the left flank, not 
 knowing the intentions of the governor precisely, had 
 taken command of these companies, and with the aid 
 of some mounted dragoons, commanded by Captain 
 Park, and charged the enemy before the governor had 
 completed his arrangements for the attack. But the 
 charge was entirely successful, however, and the In- 
 dians were driven by him and. the infantry, at the 
 point of the bayonet, and forced by the dragoons into 
 a marsh, where they could not be followed. 
 
 Captain Cook and Lieutenant Larebee had, in the 
 meantime, agreeably to the governor's orders, marched 
 their companies to the right flank, and formed them 
 under the fire of the enemy. Being then joined by 
 the riflemen of that flank, they had charged the In- 
 dians, killed a number, and put the rest to a precipi- 
 tate flight. The decisive success of this charge, and 
 the overwhelming defeat of the enemy at this point, 
 terminated the battle, and gave the victory to the 
 American arms. 
 
 The whole of the infantry was under the command 
 of Colonel Boyd, who acted as Brigadier-General, 
 during the engagement, and formed a small brigade. 
 Throughout the action he manifested equal zeal and 
 bravery in carrying into execution the orders of Gov- 
 ernor Harrison, in keeping the men at their posts and 
 stimulating their courage and exertions. His brigade, 
 Major Clark, and his aid-de-camp, Croghan, also ren- 
 dered valuable service by their coolness and courage 
 
100 THE LIFE OF 
 
 during the battle. The conduct of Colonel JosepliBar- 
 tliolomeAV, a brave officer, who commanded the militia 
 infantry, under General Boyd — ,Major G. R. C. FloA'd, 
 the senior of the fourth United States regiment who 
 commanded the battalion of that regiment, — Colonel 
 Decker, who commanded on the right of the rear line, 
 and Major-General Wells of the fourth division of 
 Kentucky militia, — all likewise received the highest 
 praise from the commander-in-chief for their gallant 
 conduct and good services. Indeed, every officer of 
 the army, as well as the rank and file, discharged 
 their whole duty like brave men and true soldiers. 
 Several of the militia companies acted with the steady 
 courage and firmness of veteran troops. 
 
 Amongst the killed, the brave and accomplished 
 Colonel Joseph H. Daviess, of Kentucky, has already 
 been mentioned, as have also Captains Spencer and 
 Warwick, and Lieutenants McMahon and Berry, all 
 accomplished and excellent officers. In addition to 
 these, Colonel Abraham Owen, commandant of the 
 eighteenth Kentucky regiment, who joined the army 
 as a volunteer a few days before the action, and who 
 acted as an aid to Governor Harrison during the bat- 
 tle, also fell early in the action. He was a noble- 
 minded and brave man, and a much-esteemed citizen. 
 Captain Baen, of the fourth United States regiment, 
 another gallant officer and brave soldier, was killed, 
 too, early in the action. In the death of these brave 
 officers, the United States suffered a great loss, as 
 they possessed the characteristics of true soldiers, 
 
- WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 101 
 
 and displayed the most chivalrous devotion, even after 
 they had been mortally wounded. Even after Cap- 
 tain Spencer had been shot through the head, he ex- 
 horted his men to fight on. Being next shot through 
 both thighs, he still continued to encourage his men, 
 and even requested to be taken back after he had 
 been carried oflF the field, and when it was evident he 
 had but a short time to live. Other similar acts of 
 self-sacrificing devotion might be recorded. 
 
 The whole loss of the Americans, in killed, was 
 sixty-two, and one hundred and twenty-six wounded. 
 The Indians left thirty-eight, and their whole loss, in 
 killed, was supposed to have been between fifty and 
 sixty ; but from their practice of carrying their dead 
 off the field when in their power, their loss was un- 
 known. The number of Indians engaged in the ac- 
 tion were estimated at six hundred. Three weeks 
 before the battle, the prophet was known to have had 
 four hundred and fifty followers ; and his force was 
 daily augmented by the arrival of lawless adven- 
 turers. Not an American was taken prisoner during 
 the action. 
 
 This was probably one of the most desperate bat- 
 tles ever fought with the Indians, and but for the 
 caution and efficiency of Governor Harrison, might 
 have terminated as fatally to the American army as 
 the night attack upon General St. Clair, just twenty 
 years before. Resolutions were passed by the legis- 
 latures of Kentucky and Indiana, highly complimen- 
 tary to Governor Harrison and the officers and men 
 9* 
 
102 THE LIFE OP 
 
 under his command. It established the reputation of 
 the commander-in-chief on the most solid and perma- 
 nent basis, and created a feeling of confidence and 
 security amongst the frontier settlers that had never 
 before been experienced.* 
 
 An incident occurred the evening before this ac- 
 tion admirably illustrative of his character for mag- 
 nanimity. A negro, named Ben, who was attached 
 to his camp, deserted to the Indians, and entered into 
 a conspiracy to assassinate his old general as soon as 
 the attack upon him should commence. Being ap- 
 prehended while lurking about Governor Harrison's" 
 marquee, waiting for an opportunity to execute his 
 bloody purpose, he was tried by a court-martial and 
 sentenced to be shot. The execution of the sentence 
 was delayed for a short time, in consequence of the 
 troops being engaged in fortifying the camp. In the 
 meantime, the negro was put into Indian stocks, that 
 is, a log split open, notches cut in it to fit the cul- 
 prit's legs, and when placed in it, firmly staked to the 
 ground. Governor Harrison interposed his authority 
 and pardoned the guilty wretch, assigning as a reason 
 for the undeserved act of clemency the following : — 
 " The fact was," said he, to a friend afterwards, " that 
 I began to pity him, and could not screw myself up 
 to the point of giving the fiital order. If he had 
 been out of my sight he would have been executed. 
 The poor wretch lay confined before my fire, his face 
 receiving the rain that occasionally fell, and his eyes 
 * Brackenridge's History of the Late War. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 103 
 
 constantly turned upon me as if imploring mercy. I 
 could not withstand the appeal, and determined to 
 give him another chance for his life. 
 
 Though the conduct of Governor Harrison, both 
 preceding and during this action, has been as severely 
 criticised as any battle ever fought between the Amer- 
 icans, whether Indians, English, or Mexicans, yet it 
 has received the universal approval of military men, 
 and of every man competent to form a correct judg- 
 ment, who has given the subject any investigation. 
 Amongst others who have paid the highest commenda- 
 tion to his prudence, judgment, and military genius, 
 were most, if not all, the gallant officers who served 
 under him on that occasion, especially the brave and 
 gallant O'Fallan, Wells, General Scott, Major Larri- 
 bee, and Captain Snelling. A defence of his conduct, 
 therefore, would now be as out of place as it would be 
 unnecessary. The charges were originally made by 
 his personal enemies, and renewed with equal bitter- 
 ness by his political opponents, when a candidate for 
 a high office many years after, not to be permanently 
 believed, but to effect a temporary disaffection. The 
 battle has been fought over again many times, and, 
 after years of altercation, public opinion has per- 
 manently settled the question in favor of the military 
 skill, prudence, and caution, displayed by Governor 
 Harrison. All the accusations of his personal enemies 
 have been disproved, and those of his political oppo- 
 nents abandoned. 
 
 In regard to the personal bearing and gallant con- 
 
104 THE LIFE OP 
 
 duct of the commander-in-chief during the engage- 
 ment, cotemporaneous testimony is equally clear, and 
 public opinion equally decided. Mutual confidence 
 existed between him and his officers and soldiers to an 
 extent rarely equaled. Wherever his presence was 
 required, there he was found urging on his troops by 
 cheering words and his personal example.* He shared 
 every danger and fatigue to which his army was ex- 
 posed. In the battle he was in more peril than any 
 other officer, as he was personally known to every In- 
 dian, and exposed himself fearlessly on horseback at 
 all points of attack during the whole engagement. 
 Every important movement was made by his express 
 order. t His self-possession, too, was as remarkable 
 as his courage and personal exertions throughout the 
 battle. Though shrouded in almost impenetrable dark- 
 ness almost the whole time the action lasted, he seemed 
 to understand, as if by intuition, where his presence 
 was most needed, and there he was sure to be found. 
 
 * Dawson's Life of Harrison, 
 f Hall's Memoirs of Harrison. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 105 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The battle of Tippecanoe was but the precursor 
 of more important events, and only preceded the war 
 with Great Britain, which it had been long foreseen 
 must soon burst upon the country, — as the shadoAV 
 precedes the substance. If anything were required 
 to inflame the country to a still higher pitch of exas- 
 peration than had been produced by the well-known 
 efforts of British agents to incense the Indians against 
 the United States, and their positive encouragement 
 to repeated outrages, and the insolent aggressions of 
 the British government on our commerce, it was found 
 in this battle. It was, indeed, the beginning of the 
 war. There was little doubt that the Indians had pre- 
 viously received assurances of aid from Great Britain 
 in case of hostilities, and they immediately began to 
 threaten all the American border-population in the 
 Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois Territories, as well as 
 the north-western confines of New York, Pennsylvania, 
 and Ohio.* The whole of the western frontier was 
 thrown into a state of alarm, and many of the inhab- 
 itants removed to the older settlements for safety. 
 
 * Monette's Valley of the Mississippi. « 
 
106 THE LIFE OP 
 
 Besides the efforts of Great Britain to stir up a 
 war amongst the Indians against us, and her impress- 
 ment of American seamen, an affair between an Amer- 
 ican and English vessel of war, on the IGth of jVIaj, 
 1811, served greatly to complicate matters between 
 the two governments. This was an attack upon the 
 United States frigate President, Commodore Rogers, 
 by the British ship-of-war Little Belt, commanded by 
 Captain Brigham, under the following circumstances : 
 When off Cape Henry, the President fell in with the 
 Little Belt, and having come within speaking distance 
 after a long chase, hailed her, and was hailed in turn 
 as the only answer to Commodore Rogers. Believing 
 himself entitled to the first answer, as he hailed first, 
 he hailed a second time after a few seconds pause, and 
 before he took the trumpet from his mouth, the Little 
 Belt fired upon him, cutting off one of the main-top 
 back-stays, and the ball entering the main-mast of the 
 President, and immediately after another, and then 
 three more in quick succession. Hereupon, being de- 
 termined neither to be the aggressor, nor sufler the 
 American flag to be insulted without impunity, he 
 gave a general order to fire. In the course of ten 
 minutes the Little Belt was entirely disabled and si- 
 lenced, when Commodore Rogers ceased firing. From 
 twenty to thirty of her men wei'e killed or wounded. 
 A court-martial, called to examine the conduct of 
 Commodore Rogers, fully acquitted him of going be- 
 yond his most imperative duty to his country. But 
 the affair was made a pretext, on the part of the Brit- 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 107 
 
 ish government, for still further outrages and inso- 
 lence, and great efforts were made to prove that the 
 President was the aggressor, but without success. 
 
 The United States government was unwilling to 
 resort to war, as long as there was any hope of an 
 honorable adjustment, and therefore exhibited great 
 forbearance. But this very proper apprehension of 
 venturing upon the experiment of resorting to arms, 
 and involving the country in a long and bloody war, 
 was looked upon by Great Britain as proceeding from 
 pusillanimity rather than a humane desire to avoid 
 bloodshed, and subjected us to new insults. This state 
 of things could not and was not long to continue. The 
 public mind was gradually becoming not only prepared, 
 but anxious for the contest. Dreadful as the alternative 
 of war was, and anxious as the American government 
 and people were to avoid it, they nevertheless felt 
 that there were other things worse even than that, — 
 that a peace purchased at the price of dishonor was 
 far more to be deprecated. The first session of the 
 Twelfth Congress assembled under the influence of 
 this state of the popular feeling, and was protracted 
 to an unusual length by the exciting and momentous 
 question of peace or war. 
 
 On the 5th of June, 1812, President Madison laid 
 before Congress the correspondence between the 
 American Secretary of State and the British Minister 
 near this government, which seemed to preclude all 
 probability of a satisfactory adjustment.* At length, 
 
 * Breckenridge's Iih,\q War. 
 
108 THE LIFE OP 
 
 on the 18th of June, 1812, after having sat with closed 
 doors for seven days a declaration of war was de- 
 clared against Great Britain. This act, terrible as it 
 was, received the approbation of the people, or a 
 large majority of them.* 
 
 After the battle of Tippecanoe, Governor Har- 
 rison proceeded, with his usual energy and regard for 
 the public interests, to put the frontier in a state of 
 defense, as well against the Indian incursions, as to be 
 prepared for the approaching war with England. He 
 held interviews with the governors of several of the 
 western States, at which plans of defense were ar- 
 ranged, measures taken for enrolling and equipping 
 troops and preparing munitions of war. From the 
 large military experience of Governor Harrison, as 
 well as from his well-known abilities and patriotism, 
 the most unlimited confidence was felt in his opinions 
 and judgment, and his advice in all matters relating 
 to the defenses of the country was never unheeded 
 by the people of the West. 
 
 When he had aided Governor Edwards, of Illi- 
 nois, in putting the exposed portions of that State in a 
 posture of defense, he was invited by the distin- 
 guished General Charles Scott, of Kentucky, then 
 governor of the State, to hold a conference with him 
 in relation to the disposition of the Kentucky troops 
 who were destined to protect the western frontier. 
 He at once proceeded to Frankfort, where he was re- 
 ceived with public honors, the governor appearing in 
 * See Appendix (B). 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 109 
 
 person at the head of the troops, amidst the firing of 
 cannon and the acckmations of the people.* 
 
 The highest civil and militarj honors were paid 
 him as a mark of respect for his distinguished public 
 services and private virtues, and marks of the ardent 
 attachment and unbounded confidence of the people 
 whom he had so triumphantly defended from their 
 savage enemy. 
 
 After having remained at Frankfort some days, he 
 was actively engaged in maturing plans for the protec- 
 tion of the lives and property of the people of the West, 
 and giving to that object all the energies of his ac- 
 tive mind. During this visit to Kentucky, an incident 
 occurred which may not be without sufficient interest 
 to deserve recording : — One day Governor Harrison 
 dined in Lexington, in company with a large party of 
 gentlemen of that town and its vicinity, all of them 
 ardent friends of the war. The conversation turning 
 upon the north-western campaign, and the governor 
 delivering his sentiments similar to those in a letter af- 
 terwards written, the company were so struck with the 
 wisdom and justice of his remarks that he was urged to 
 communicate them to the Secretary of War. To this 
 he objected on the ground that it might be interfering 
 with matters which were foreign to his own duty, and 
 might not therefore be considered entirely free from 
 presumption. But being assured by Mr. Clay, who 
 was one of the party, and who was always alive to 
 the true interests and honor of his country, that it 
 * Hall's Life of Harrison. 
 
 10 
 
110 THE LIFE OF 
 
 would be well received by the government, the letter 
 was written. 
 
 In this letter, besides suggesting a system of op- 
 erations, in which he displayed his intimate acquaint- 
 ance with the military art as with the actual con- 
 dition of affairs throughout the whole western coun- 
 try, he evinced the sagacity of a strong and pene- 
 trating mind by predicting events, which, unhappily 
 for the country, had not been anticipated by the gov- 
 ernment.* lie expressed his fear that the capture 
 of Macinac would give the British and Indians arms, 
 that the northern tribes would pour down in swarms 
 upon Detroit, oblige General Hall to act entirely on 
 the defensive, and meet, and perhaps overpower, the 
 convoys and reinforcements that might be sent to him. 
 He considered it highly probable that the large de- 
 tachment which was destined for his relief, under 
 Colonel Wells, would have to fight its way ; but he 
 expressed his confidence in their valor, though he was 
 apprehensive that the event might be adverse to the 
 Americans, and that Detroit might fall, and with it 
 every hope of re-establishing our affairs in that quarter 
 until the next year. These considerations induced 
 him strongly to recommend the Secretary of War to 
 send a reinforcement to General Hall. 
 
 War having now commenced in earnest, the eyes 
 of the whole West were turned upon Governor Har- 
 rison as the ablest General, and one of the most pop- 
 idar men of the nation. Governor Scott, of Kentucky, 
 
 * Dawsoa's Life of Harrison. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. Ill 
 
 had levied an armed force of five thousand militia, 
 commanded by some of the most experienced officers 
 of the State. Two thousand of these were designed 
 for immediate service. No sooner had they learned 
 their destination, than they expressed the most earn- 
 est desire to be placed under the command of Gover- 
 nor Harrison, and this feeling met a cordial response 
 from the people of the entire State. 
 
 But there seemed to be an insuperable difficulty in 
 the way of such an arrangement in the laws of Ken- 
 tucky, which prohibited any other man than a citizen 
 of the State from holding a command in her militia. 
 In this dilemma, Governor Scott held a consultation 
 with the venerable Isaac Shelby, Governor elect, — 
 Henry Clay, then Speaker of the United States 
 House of Representatives, — Thomas Todd, United 
 States Judge, — and several other most distinguished 
 individuals, — by whom it was unanimously decided 
 that Governor Harrison should receive a brevet com- 
 mission of Major-General, from the Governor of Ken- 
 tucky, in the militia of that State. 
 
 This was a distinction as unusual as It was honor- 
 able, and did infinite credit to the judgment and fore- 
 sight of the authorities and people of Kentucky. It 
 was received with the most lively satisfaction by the 
 people of the West, and inspired a feeling of confi- 
 dence that nothing else, short of a defeat of the 
 enemy, could have produced. 
 
 The appointment was made on the 25th of August, 
 1812, and shortly after he marched to the relief of 
 
112 THE LIFE OP 
 
 the frontier posts, especially Fort Harrison, on the 
 Wabash, and Fort Wayne, situated on the Miami of 
 the lakes. He reached Cincinnati on the 27th of the 
 same month. At the same time, Brigadier-General 
 James Winchester, of the army of the United States, 
 was recruiting at Lexington ; and having written to 
 the Secretary of War, that he intended to assume the 
 command of that portion of the Kentucky troops then 
 under General Payne, on their march to Detroit, he 
 accordingly set off and overtook the detachment at 
 Cincinnati. Upon General Harrison's arrival at that 
 place, he informed General Winchester of the author- 
 ity he had received to take the command of the Ken- 
 tucky troops, but invited him to continue with the 
 army. Winchester, however, immediately returned 
 to Lexington. On the 28th, he wrote the letter to 
 the Secretary of War, suggesting a plan of opera- 
 tions for the campaign, an incident in connection with 
 which has already been noticed. On the 30th, he left 
 Cincinnati, and joined his troops the next day about 
 forty miles north of that city. 
 
 In the meantime, the Secretary of War, not 
 having yet been advised of the appointment con- 
 ferred upon Governor Harrison by the executive of 
 Kentucky, had appointed General Winchester to take 
 command of the same troops. The information of this 
 appointment, in reality superseding Harrison, created 
 no little excitement and disapprobation throughout 
 tlie army ; and the venerable Shelby at once wrote to 
 lie Department, remonstrating against the proceed- 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 113 
 
 ing, as a measure not only very unpopular, but likely 
 to prove highly injurious to the country. But Gen- 
 eral Harrison, ever ready to submit to the laws, and 
 cheerfully to yield his own wishes and interests to the 
 public good, at once wrote to General Winchester, 
 from Piqua, where he arrived on the 3rd of Septem- 
 ber, to come to that place and assume the command 
 of the detachment. 
 
 While waiting the arrival of General Winchester, 
 however, he determined to destroy the Indian towns 
 on the Wabash Elk Hart, and for that purpose Gen- 
 eral Wells led a body of troops to the latter place, 
 and General Harrison himself headed those destined 
 for the former. Both of these expeditions were suc- 
 cessful ; and after having destroyed several towns and 
 large quantities of corn, they returned to Fort Wayne, 
 where General Winchester shortly arrived and took 
 command of that portion of the army designed for 
 him. This consisted of the regiments of Colonels 
 Allen, Lewis, and Scott, of the Kentucky troops, — 
 Garrard's troops of cavalry, also of Kentucky, — and 
 a part of the 17th United States regiment of infan- 
 try, under General Wells. 
 
 In consequence of this supersedure. General Har- 
 rison, on the 19th of September, took leave of the 
 army in a very affectionate manner, and set out for 
 the Indiana Territory, with a body of troops, to break 
 the settlements of the savages. In his general order 
 of that date, he closes by adding, that " if anything 
 could soften the regret which the General feels at 
 10* 
 
114 THE LIFE OF 
 
 parting with troops which have so entirely won his 
 confidence and affection, it is the circumstance of his 
 committing them to the charge of one of the heroes 
 of the glorious revolution, a man distinguished as 
 well for the services he has rendered the country as 
 for the possession of every qualification which consti- 
 tutes the gentleman." 
 
 So great was the dissatisfaction created by the 
 appointment of Winchester over Harrison, that it re- 
 quired all his influence, as well as that of the ofiicers 
 of the detachment, to recommend the soldiers to the 
 change. But the President of the United States, 
 seeing the confidence that the western people reposed 
 in General Harrison, and anticipating the dissatisfac- 
 tion that his withdrawal from the army would pro- 
 duce, appointed him commander-in-chief of the whole 
 western department. On the 24th of September, he 
 received a letter from the War Department, in answer 
 to his communication from Cincinnati upon his ap- 
 pointment by the Governor of Kentucky, in which 
 the Secretary informing him that in taking command 
 of the north-western army, he had only anticipated 
 the wishes of the President. A few days after, he 
 received another dispatch, dated on the 17th day of 
 September, ofiicially announcing to him his appoint- 
 ment to the command from which he had been dis- 
 placed. 
 
 A messenger was therefore dispatched for him, 
 and he accordingly returned and resumed the com- 
 mand of the army. The most extensive powers were 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 115 
 
 conferred upon General Harrison by the President. 
 He was authorized to command all such means as 
 might be practicable, to exercise his own discretion, 
 and act in all cases according to his judgment. Such 
 unlimited power had rarely before been conferred 
 upon any American commander, and never perhaps, 
 except upon Washington and Greene. General Har- 
 rison, however, had already proved himself worthy 
 of such confidence, and shown that power in his 
 hands never would be abused, and never used except 
 for the public good, and to promote the designs of 
 the government. In communicating the appointment 
 of General Harrison to Congress, he expressed the 
 most unlimited confidence in his skill and ability. 
 
 At the same time that this appointment conferred 
 upon him powers of the most delicate kind, it also 
 imposed upon him responsibilities, requiring the exer- 
 cise of all his great talents. The services he was 
 required to perform were, in the opinion of old, ex- 
 perienced able ofiicers, the most extensive and arduous 
 that were ever required of any commander in America. 
 The endless number of posts and scattered settle- 
 ments which he was obliged to maintain and protect, 
 and numerous and scattered bands of Indians, while 
 he was contending with difficulties almost insurmount- 
 able, in the main expedition against Maiden, were 
 sufficient to employ all the time and talents and re- 
 sources of the greatest military genius at the head of 
 a well-appointed army.* 
 
 * McAfee's History of the Last War. 
 
116 THE LIFE OP 
 
 The day before General Harrison returned to 
 Fort Wayne to take upon himself once more the com- 
 mand of the army, General Winchester had marched 
 for Fort Defiance on his way to the Rapids, the ulti- 
 mate destination of the forces under his command. 
 It consisted of a brigade of Kentucky militia, four 
 hundred regulars, and a troop of horse — in all, about 
 two thousand men. The march was one of great 
 diflBculty and embarrassment, and to facilitate it, 
 each man was compelled to carry provisions for six 
 days. General Harrison now proceeded in person to 
 Fort St. Mary's, for the purpose of organizing the 
 ultimate movements of the army. A detachment was 
 ordered to proceed with supplies, under Major Jen- 
 nings, to the Auglaize river. 
 
 The army was obliged to advance with great cau- 
 tion, in order to avoid surprise, in a country so highly 
 favorable for Indian warfare. Owing to the close- 
 ness of the thicket, the troops were compelled to cut 
 out a road as they proceeded, and were unable to 
 proceed more than seven or eight miles a day. They 
 took the precaution to send in advance a party of 
 spies, and also an advance guard of about three hun- 
 dred men. During the march, they fell in with a 
 party of Indians, whom they succeeded in dislodging 
 from an ambush they had formed for the Americans ; 
 and when near Fort Defiance, they found them en- 
 camped in great force within two miles of that fort. 
 A messenger arrived on the 29th of September from 
 Colonel Jennings, with the information that, on hav- 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 117 
 
 ing discovered the British and Indians in possession 
 of Fort Defiance, he had landed about forty miles 
 above that place, and erected a blockhouse, where 
 he was awaiting further orders. He was ordered to 
 join the army with the provisions, and the order was 
 promptly obeyed, and the exhausted army was once 
 more recruited in body and spirits. In the meantime 
 the British and Indians precipitately abandoned the 
 fort, and the American army took immediate posses- 
 sion of it. 
 
 While at this fort, news was received that General 
 Harrison had been appointed to the command of the 
 north-western army. This intelligence was received 
 with the liveliest satisfaction by the soldiers, and went 
 far to reconcile them to the severe hardships they were 
 called upon to endure. In announcing the appoint- 
 ment, he expressed his earnest hope that General 
 Winchester might remain with the army. On the 
 3rd of October he yielded up his command to General 
 Harrison. In his general order of that date, relin- 
 quishing the command of the army to his successor, 
 he expressed a high opinion of the great military skill 
 and reputation of General Harrison, and declared his 
 belief that his appointment would be hailed with uni- 
 versal satisfaction. As General Winchester prefer- 
 red the service in the north-west to that on the Ni- 
 agara frontier. General Harrison immediately ap- 
 pointed him to the left wing of the army.* 
 
 The charge has been preferred against General 
 
 * Sketches of the civil and military services of General Harrison. 
 
118 THE LIFE OP 
 
 Harrison, by the friends of General "Winclieiyter, of 
 having procured his appointment to the command of 
 the north-western army by unworthy means. But 
 there was not the slightest ground for the accusation 
 to rest upon, and it has been so triumphantly dis- 
 proved by gentlemen of the highest character and the 
 amplest means of information, that it left no impres- 
 sion on the public mind injurious, in the slightest de- 
 gree, to the reputation of General Harrison. 
 
 General Harrison left Fort Defiance on the 4th 
 of October, and returned to Fort St. Mary's, with the 
 view of organizing and bringing up the centre of the 
 army. General Tupper was ordered to proceed im- 
 mediately to the Rapids, by the commander-in-chief, 
 with about one thousand men, for the purpose of 
 driving the enemy from that place. But the expedi- 
 tion proved a failure, in consequence of the delays 
 caused by the damaged state of the ammunition and 
 the requisite time necessary to prepare the provisions 
 for the troops. They were also totally insensible to 
 everything like military discipline or subordination. 
 So literally true was this, that upon Major Bush being 
 ordered to disperse a body of Indians lurking in the 
 vicinity, the whole camp broke up in bodies of twenty 
 and thirty, and joined in the chase without the slight- 
 est regard for order or even common prudence. If 
 they had been attacked, they must inevitably have 
 been cut to pieces. 
 
 General Tupper was, immediately after this oc- 
 currence, ordered to go in pursuit of the Indians, and, 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 119 
 
 if possible, to ascertain their strength. But he re- 
 presented to General Winchester the disorganized 
 state of his troops, and requested that the order might 
 be countermanded. The commanding general, how- 
 ever, peremptorily persisted in it, and General Tupper 
 attempted to execute it. But this resulted in a mis- 
 understanding between the two officers, that led to 
 the appointment of Colonel Allen to supersede Gen- 
 eral Tupper, and the consequent refusal of the Ohio 
 troops to submit to the command of the former. The 
 expedition, therefore, was broken up and abandoned. 
 
 Nothing more could now be done until the arrival 
 of the other wing of the army, either against the 
 Rapids or Detroit. General Tupper having returned 
 to Urbana, after his misunderstanding with General 
 Winchester, with his mounted men, was dispatched 
 with the division of the centre, consisting of a bri- 
 gade of Ohio volunteers and militia, and a regiment 
 of regulars, to Fort M'Arthur, while the right wing, 
 consisting of a Pennsylvania and a Virginia brigade, 
 was ordered to Sandusky.* On his arrival there, he 
 organized another expedition to proceed against the 
 Kapids, consisting of about six hundred men. The 
 expedition marched on the 10th of October, and ar- 
 rived within thirteen miles of the Rapids on the 13th, 
 which was still in the hands of the British and In- 
 dians. General Tupper marched immediately for the 
 fort, intending to cross the river and attack it at 
 once. But he found the river too rapid to effect this, 
 
 * Brackenvidge's History of the War. 
 
120 THE LIFE OF 
 
 and therefore attempted to induce the enemy to cross 
 by resorting to a stratagem. This was only partially 
 successful, though a considerable number finally 
 crossed over, and a brisk skirmish ensued, which 
 finally resulted unfavorably to the Americans, and 
 they were compelled hastily to return to Fort M'Ar- 
 thur. 
 
 After the failure of General Tupper's attempt to 
 cross the river, he dispatched an express to General 
 Winchester for reinforcements, and upon the arrival 
 of his second express he found that a detachment of 
 four hundred men had been sent out under the com- 
 mand of Colonel Lewis, to march to his support. On 
 the 15th, this reinforcement proceeded on their march, 
 and during the night Ensign Charles S. Todd-, after- 
 wards minister to Russia, under General Taylor's 
 administration, was sent with a few men to apprise 
 General Tupper of his approach. But he found 
 General Tupper's camp evacuated. He therefore re- 
 turned, and Colonel Lewis at once retreated to Gen- 
 eral Winchester's camp. Though this expedition was 
 in some degree a failure, it was of service in one par- 
 tic.ular, which was in inducing the detachment of Brit- 
 ish and Indians to fall back to the river Raisin, and 
 to abandon the design of removing the corn from the 
 farms that had been abandoned at the Rapids, the 
 principal object of their expedition to that place.* 
 
 Events of considerable importance, meanwhile, 
 were transpiring further West. A large army had 
 
 * M'Afee's History of the late War. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 121 
 
 assembled at Vincennes, and early in October pro- 
 ceeded to Fort Harrison, under the command of Gen- 
 eral Hopkins, and sanctioned by Governor Shelby, of 
 Kentucky. This army reached Fort Harrison about 
 the 10th of October, and proceeded soon after against 
 the Kickapoos and Peoria towns. But after a march 
 of only four days, evident signs of discontent began 
 to exhibit themselves, and every man seemed to feel 
 at liberty to act upon his own responsibility, and the 
 army became little more than an ungovernable mob. 
 They demanded to be led back, and everything was 
 in disorder; and after every eflFort on the part of 
 General Hopkins to awaken in his men some little 
 sense of duty had failed, the crowed returned to Fort 
 Harrison, against his orders, and left him to bring up 
 the rear. Not long after, he led another expedition 
 against the towns at the head of the Wabash, with 
 more success, which he destroyed. The principal 
 camp of the Indians was also discovered, which they 
 were compelled to evacuate, though they occupied an 
 exceeding strong position. 
 
 Some time previous to the termination of this ex- 
 pedition, an attack was made on Fort Hari'ison, then 
 in the command of Captain Zachary Taylor, after- 
 wards President of the United States. This was a 
 rude and weak stockade, garrisoned by only fifty 
 men, most of Avhom, like Captain Taylor himself, were 
 worn down and disabled by their long and severe ser- 
 vice. Almost in the midst of an enemy's country, 
 surrounded on all sides by a sleepless savage foe, and 
 11 
 
122 , THE LIFE OP 
 
 kept constantly on the alert, night and day, for weeks 
 together, Taylor and his men had nearly sunk under 
 the fatigue and labor they had been compelled to 
 endure. 
 
 While in this wretched condition, with scarcely a 
 dozen men fit for service, he was attacked on the 
 night of September 5th, after an ineffectual attempt 
 to get possession of the fort by stratagem, by a force 
 of four hundred and fifty Indians. The attack was 
 commenced about eleven o'clock at night, amidst the 
 excitement and confusion occasioned by the burning 
 of the lower blockhouse, containing the property of 
 the contractor, which they had previously fired. The 
 Indians, confident of victory, had completely sur- 
 rounded the garrison, and commenced their fire upon 
 all sides, simultaneously with the firing of the block- 
 house. Captain Taylor, however, was prepared for 
 the attack, and was neither dismayed by that nor the 
 even more dangerous enemy they had called to their 
 aid. He calmly gave his orders for extinguishing the 
 flames, but for a long time all efforts were fruitless. 
 The fire communicated with the roof, in spite of all 
 their exertions to check it. Finally, however, by his 
 great presence of mind, and the well-directed efforts 
 of his men, the flames were subdued. 
 
 Having extinguished the fire, and erected a tem- 
 porary breast-work, the fire of the enemy was re- 
 turned with redoubled vigor during the whole night, 
 and with such success that, at six o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, the Indians gave up the contest in despair, and 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 123 
 
 withdrew their forces. In this gallant defense, Cap- 
 tain Taylor lost only two men killed, and two wounded. 
 The Indians must have suffered severely: but they 
 were in sufficient force to take off all their killed and 
 wounded. Soon after, he was reinforced by Colonel 
 Russell, with several companies of rangers and Indiana 
 volunteers. In consequence of his gallant conduct on 
 this occasion, he was promoted to the rank of major. 
 Soon after Colonel Russell had relieved Fort Har- 
 rison, he undertook an expedition against the Peoria 
 towns, and destroyed a populous village, and killed 
 twenty Indians. About the same time. Lieutenant 
 Campbell marched with a small detachment against 
 the towns on the Mississinewa River, a branch of the 
 Wabash, which resulted in defeating a body of Indi- 
 ans, by whom they were furiously attacked, killing 
 fifty of their Avarriors and taking thirty prisoners. 
 They also destroyed several of their villages, in vari- 
 ous expeditions of less importance, but in which the 
 militia of Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri Territories 
 greatly distinguished themselves. During these vari- 
 ous expeditions, the Indians had been so harassed, 
 and their means of subsistence so effectually cut off, 
 that they began seriously to doubt whether they had 
 acted wisely in taking up arms against the United 
 States, and even to repent having done so. The only 
 prospect before them now was to be compelled to re- 
 move to distant British settlements. 
 
124 THE LIFE OP 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Though the season had now considerably ad- 
 vanced, and the weather had become extremely cold, 
 General Harrison did not retire into winter quarters, 
 nor abandon any of his vigilance. When the troops 
 composing the left wing of the army had completed 
 Fort Winchester, they were directed by him, early in 
 December, to proceed to the Rapids as soon as pro- 
 visions for a few weeks could be provided. And on 
 the 12th of the same month, he wrote to the Secre- 
 tary of War, that if there were not some important 
 political reason urging an immediate attempt to cap- 
 ture Maiden, and recover Michigan Territory, he 
 would suggest that an effort first be made to obtain 
 command of Lake Erie, and that Maiden, Detroit, 
 and Mackinaw will then fall into the hands of the 
 Americans, almost as a matter of course. The ne- 
 cessity of securing the naval ascendancy of Lake 
 Erie had been forcibly pointed out to the government 
 by him as early as the year 1809. He established 
 his head quarters at Upper Sandusky, on the 20th of 
 til is month. Whilst here, he received a communica- 
 tion from Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell, giving him 
 
WILLIAM IIENUY HARRISON. 125 
 
 official information of the result of his expedition to 
 the Mississinnewa River, and immediately started for 
 Chillicothe to consult with Governor Meigs about 
 another expedition against the Indians m the same 
 
 quarter. . r- ^.i ^ 
 
 General Harrison's plan of operations for the 
 campaign was to occupy the Miami Rapids, and to 
 deposit as much provision there as it was possible for 
 him to procure, and to move from thence with a choice 
 detachment of the army, and with as much provision, 
 artillery, and ammunition as the means of transporta- 
 tion would allow. His design also was to make a 
 demonstration from this point towards Detroit, and 
 by a sudden passage of the straits of Detroit upon 
 the ice, an actual investiture of Maiden. Should his 
 offensive operations be suspended until spring, he 
 strongly advised, as the most effectual as well as the 
 cheapest plan, would be to obtain the command of the 
 lake Tliis being once effected, he believed that every 
 difficulty would be removed, and that an army of four 
 thousand men landed on the north side of the lake, 
 below Maiden, would soon reduce that place, retake 
 Detroit, and, with the aid of the fleet, proceed down 
 the lake to co-operate with the army from Niagara. 
 
 On General Harrison's arrival at Sandusky, he ex- 
 pected to be met by an express from General Win- 
 chester, with information of his advance to the Rapids, 
 in conformity with advice that had previously been 
 given him. But as no such information had arrived, 
 he dispatched Ensign Todd to Winchester's camp, on 
 11* 
 
126 THE LIFE OF 
 
 the Miami, Lelow Fort Defiance. He performed tlie 
 journey with great secrecy and dispatch, having com- 
 pletely eluded all the scouts of the enemy. He was 
 instructed to communicate to General Winchester the 
 following directions and plans from the commander- 
 in-chief: that as soon as he had accumulated provi- 
 sions for twenty days, to advance to the Rapids, 
 where he was to commence the huilding of huts to in- 
 duce the enemy to believe that he was going into win- 
 ter quarters there, and to construct sleds for the main 
 expedition against Maiden. He was to impress it 
 upon his men, however, that they were for transport- 
 ing provisions from the interior. The different lines 
 of the army were to be concentrated at that place, 
 and a choice detachment from the whole would then 
 be marched rapidly upon Maiden. In the meantime 
 he was to occupy the Rapids, for the purpose of se- 
 curing the provisions and stores forwarded from the 
 other wings of the army. 
 
 A tolerable supply of provisions having been re- 
 ceived. General Winchester took up his march for the 
 Rapids, and at the same time Leslie Combs, a volun- 
 teer in the army, was sent to inform the commander- 
 in-chief of the movements. While on his march to 
 the Rapids, General Winchester received a dispatch 
 from General Harrison, recommending him to aban- 
 don the movement to the Rapids and fall back to 
 Fort Jennings. The recommendation, however, was 
 disregarded, and on the 10th of January the detach- 
 ment reached the Rapids. A despatch was sent to 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 127 
 
 the commander-in-cliief of the arrival of the troops at 
 that place, but was not received by him, in conse- 
 quence of various delays, until his arrival himself at 
 the Rapids. On the 12th another despatch was for- 
 warded to General Harrison, advising him that no re- 
 liance could be placed on retaining the Kentucky 
 troops after the expiration of their term of service in 
 February. This was received by the commander-in- 
 chief on the 16th, and was the first information he 
 had of the arrival of General Winchester at the 
 Rapids. 
 
 Information was received by General Winchester, 
 on the 13th of January, that the Indians were threat- 
 ening an attack upon the settlement on the River 
 Raisin, and asking assistance from him. In accord- 
 ance with this request, Colonel Lewis was dispatched 
 by him on the 17th, at the head of six hundred troops, 
 to protect Frenchtown on that river, and .1 once 
 moved down to Presque Isle, a distance of twenty 
 miles from the Rapids. Here he received informa- 
 tion which should have induced him to request a rein- 
 forcement; but, instead of this, he pushed on his 
 command to Frenchtown, where he arrived the next 
 day. On the same day he attacked the combined 
 forces of British and Indians, and defeated them with 
 great loss, having driven them for two miles at the 
 point of the bayonet. 
 
 News of this victory was sent to General Winches- 
 ter on the night after the engagement, who at once 
 marched to the Rapids, and reached Frenchtown on 
 
128 THE LIFE OP 
 
 the night of the 20th. He encamped on the right of 
 Lewis' detachment, which was defended by some gar- 
 den pickets. The reinforcement was commanded by 
 General Wells. General Winchester himself establish- 
 ed his head-quarters at a house on the other side of the 
 river, more than half a mile distant from his troops. 
 The day after the arrival of Winchester, a spot was 
 selected for the encampment of the army, intending 
 to fortify it the next day.* 
 
 No sooner was the news of the defeat of the Brit- 
 ish and Indians by Colonel Lewis known at Fort Mai- 
 den, a British fort, it will be recollected, near the 
 mouth of the Detroit River, or straits, in Canada, 
 than a large reinforcement was sent from that post, 
 and preparations were made for an immediate attack 
 upon the Americans. On the 22nd, accordingly, at 
 reiville, the attack Avas commenced by a considerable 
 British and Indian force, with six pieces of artillery. 
 The troops being completely surprised, and the ground 
 unfavorable, had but little opportunity of forming to 
 advantage. They were entirely surrounded, and broke 
 in twenty or thirty minutes. One major, a captain, 
 and tAventy or thirty privates, were all that effected 
 their escape. 
 
 When General Harrison received information that 
 the action had commenced, he was three miles above 
 the Rapids, with only*three hundred and sixty men. 
 He immediately ordered them to march to the relief 
 of Winchester, and set out himself and staff to over- 
 
 * Sketches of the Life of General Harrison. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISOX. 129 
 
 take a detachment of three hundred men that had a 
 few hours before started for the River Raisin. He 
 overtook them at the distance of six miles, hut before 
 the troops that had set out with him had come up, he 
 ascertained that Winchester had met with a disastrous 
 defeat. It was the unanimous opinion of General 
 Payne, General Perkins, and the field officers, that 
 these two detachments should now return. But a de- 
 tachment of one hundred and seventy picked men 
 was sent forward, with orders to proceed as far as 
 possible, for the purpose of assisting those who were 
 so fortunate as to escape. Very few, however, suc- 
 ceeded in reaching the American camp, the snow be- 
 ing so deep that the fugitives became entirely ex- 
 hausted in running a few miles — not more than forty 
 or fifty who got a mile from the scene of action, and 
 the greater part of them were overtaken and mas- 
 sacred. 
 
 Until this disastrous defeat, the American army 
 was in a most prosperous condition, the result solely 
 of the unfortunate step of marching to the River Rai- 
 sin, not only without the authority of the commander- 
 in-chief, but in opposition to his views and even his 
 express advice. Even if Colonel Lewis had been 
 satisfied to return after his defeat of the Indians and 
 British, everything would have been well, notwith- 
 standing the original error of General Winchester. 
 But in resolving to hold Frenchtown, a measure sanc- 
 tioned by Winchester, they brought upon their troops 
 the fatal calamity which befell them on the 22nd. 
 
loO THE LIFE OF 
 
 Everything was done bj General Harrison to avert 
 the disaster, after he had discovered the false step 
 General Vrinchester had taken, and reinforcements 
 were pushed on with all possible rapidity. Major 
 Congreve's battalion, the finest body of troops in the 
 army, was within fourteen miles of the action, and 
 three hundred regular troops were also on their way, 
 when they heard of the defeat, leaving him with but 
 a single regiment at the Rapids. 
 
 The British troops in this action were commanded 
 by the notorious General Proctor, and the savages by 
 Round Head and Split Log, two famous chiefs. Their 
 forces, united, amounted to about fifteen hundred, 
 while the American numbered only one thousand. 
 The American right Aving was either cut to pieces or 
 surrendered themselves prisoners to the British, un- 
 der promise of protection. But the left wing con- 
 tinued to fight with desperate courage, and in attempt- 
 ing to rally the right, General Winchester and Colo- 
 nel Lewis were taken prisoners. They repulsed every 
 assault of the enemy with unsurpassed gallantry, 
 makinjj dreadful slaughter in his ranks. 
 
 The British commander at length attempted to se- 
 cure, by fraud and treachery, what he either could not 
 by force of arms, or what must be secured at too great 
 a sacrifice. General Winchester was informed by 
 Proctor, that unless his men surrendered, they would 
 be delivered over to the fury of the savages, or at 
 least that he Avould not be responsible for their con- 
 duct, and 'that the village would be burnt. These 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 131 
 
 threats, or rather the jn'omiscs of protection made by 
 Proctor, induced General Winchester to agree to a 
 surrender of his troops as prisoners of war on condi- 
 tion of being protected from his savage allies. It 
 was not, however, until these flags of truce had 
 passed that the remnant of the little army, then con- 
 sisting of thirty-five oflicers and four hundred and 
 fifty non-commissioned ofiicers and men, would con- 
 sent to the terms of the surrender*. They did agree 
 to the terms of the surrender, after the most solemn 
 assurances from Proctor that he would faithfully ad- 
 here to all its conditions, and not only protect their 
 lives, but respect private property. 
 
 No sooner had they laid down their arms, how- 
 ever, than it was discovered that they had been fully 
 betrayed by the infamous and blood-thirsty Proctor, 
 and that they were to be butchered in cold blood by 
 their brutal and savage conquerors. The work of 
 scalping and stripping the dead, and of murdering 
 the wounded, who had previously fallen into their 
 hands, had already commenced. And the barbarous 
 outrage was suffered to go on without the least at- 
 tempt to restrain it on the part of the infamous Proc- 
 tor. Indeed, so far from this being the case, or from 
 his exhibiting any inclination to arrest his savage 
 fiends in the work of carnage, he seems to have en- 
 couraged and advised it ; and when they could find 
 no other victims of this class to vent their thirst for 
 vengeance and blood upon, they begun to butcher the 
 
 * Breckenridge's Late War. 
 
ji32 THE LIFE OP 
 
 brave men who had laid down their arms under the 
 pledged faith of the British commander. 
 
 He, as well as his equally infamous oflBcers, turned 
 a deaf ear to the remonstrances of their now unre- 
 sisting and defenceless victims, and they were toma- 
 hawked and scalped by dozens and scores. The few 
 that survived this first wholesale slaughter were placed 
 in the rear of their forces in charge of the Indians, 
 to be marched to Maiden. But long before they 
 reached that post they, too, were murdered, one by 
 one, as they became too weak to walk, either from 
 their wounds or exposure to the inclemency of the 
 season. Those who were not thus inhumanly but- 
 chered were reserved for the more horrible fate of 
 being roasted at the stake. 
 
 The night after the action, from fifty to sixty of 
 the prisoners who had been badly wounded, most of 
 them officers of distinction, were permitted to take 
 shelter with the citizens of Frenchtown, and Proctor's 
 surgeons sufiered to dress their wounds. They were 
 promised, too, a sufficient guard to protect them from 
 the scalping knife of the savages. But this was only 
 the refinement of cruelty ; no such guard was pro- 
 vided. On the contrary, they were probably pointed 
 out to the savage hell-hounds, by the infamous wretch 
 who employed them for such infernal objects, as easy 
 victims of their fiend-like hatred ; and, as has been 
 foreseen and designed, they fell upon them the same 
 night, plundered them of their clothing and every 
 article of value in their possession, murdered the most 
 
WILLIAM HENRT HARRISON. 133 
 
 of them in the most horrible manner, and then set 
 fire to the houses, consQming alike the few remaining 
 and the bodies of the slain in the flames. 
 
 Infamous as these acts of infernal barbarity were, 
 and as eternally infamous as they must render the 
 memory of the blood-thirsty monster who permitted 
 them, both Avere increased, if it were possible to add 
 to the cruelty of such acts and the infamy of such a 
 monster, by his treatment of the bodies of his slaugh- 
 tered victims. It would seem that the innocent blood 
 he had shed would have satisfied the most unrelenting 
 and sanguinary ; but not so with Proctor ; he even 
 refused to permit those rites which every civilized 
 country held sacred. The inhuman wretch refused 
 to permit the citizens of Frenchtown to bury the bo- 
 dies of the murdered soldiers, on pain of death ! 
 These bodies were suffered to lie on the ground ex- 
 posed to ferocious beasts of prey, or the more hor- 
 rible pollution of domestic animals. 
 
 There were many scenes of individual suffering 
 which created even a stronger feeling of sorrow for 
 this bloody tragedy, and increased the melancholy 
 interest felt for its numerous victims. Amongst those 
 was the case of Captain Hart, a near relative of 
 Henry Clay, an accomplished gentleman and ripe 
 scholar, who particularly distinguished himself during 
 the action. Upon being surrendered, he was recog- 
 nized by Colonel Elliot, who was a citizen of the 
 United States, with whom he had been a class-mate 
 at Princeton, but who had become an officer in the 
 12 
 
134- THE IJFE OF 
 
 British army, and an ally of the savages. Elliot 
 voluntarily offered his old friend his protection, but 
 subsequently either changed his mind or was forbid- 
 den to keep his promise by the savage Proctor, for he 
 gave himself no further concern in regard to Captain 
 Hart. The next day a party of savages came into 
 his room and tore him from his bed. He was taken 
 to another room by some brother officers, when he was 
 again subjected to the same barbarity. By the offer 
 of a large sum of money, he induced some Indians to 
 take him to Maiden; but when they had proceeded a 
 short distance, he was dragged from his horse, shot 
 and scalped. The same tragedy was enacted respect- 
 ively in the case of Colonel Allen, Captains Hick- 
 man, Woolfolk and M'Cracken; also, Mr. Simpson, a 
 member of Congress from Kentucky, and Captains 
 Bledsoe, Watson, Hamilton, Williams and Kelly, and 
 Majors Madison and Ballard, from the same State, 
 were amongst the victims.* 
 
 Becoming restless under the load of infamy which 
 his conduct had brought upon him, Proctor sought to 
 wipe out some little portion of the stigma by offering 
 the very few prisoners who had escaped the Indian 
 tomahawk, for sale, instead of permitting them to be 
 murdered; and in pursuance of this impulse of hu- 
 manity, prisoners of the highest respectability were 
 literally hawked about the streets of Detroit like 
 beasts of prey, by their captors, in search of pur- 
 chasers. The conduct of the people of Detroit, in re- 
 
 * Brackenridge's History of the Late War. 
 
■WILLIAM IlJi:NRY UAKRISOX. 135 
 
 gard to those unfortunate prisoners, was of the most 
 humane and noble character. Many of them parted 
 with everything in their possession to procure means 
 for purchasing them, and all vied with each other in 
 acts of benevolence, women taking the lead in the 
 good work. They gladly gave their shawls, and even 
 the blankets from their beds, when nothing else was 
 left them to give.* But these horrible details need 
 not be pursued farther. The voice of the civilized 
 world has assigned to the principal actors in the bar- 
 barities, that have been but faintly portrayed above, 
 a depth of degradation from which no length of time 
 and no power of sophistry can rescue them, and their 
 crimes have been so indelibly stamped upon the his- 
 tory of the times, that no effort can erase the damn- 
 ing stain. 
 
 In pursuance with the unanimous advice of his 
 general and field officers, upon hearing Winchester's 
 defeat. General Harrison fell back to the Rapids, and 
 immediately set about constructing a fort, which, in 
 honor of Governor Meigs, of Ohio, for his patriotic 
 efforts in behalf of the American array, he named 
 Fort Meigs. Fortifications were also constructed at 
 Upper Sandusky, by General Crooks, Avho commanded 
 the Pennsylvania militia. Excepting some other par- 
 tizan excursions of little moment, the first campaign 
 may be considered as having ended. The movements 
 .of General Winchester and his overwhelmino; defeat 
 had so entirely deranged all his plans, that it was 
 
 * Brackenridgo's History of the Lato Wais 
 
136 THE LIFE OF 
 
 necessary to organize a new system, and make new 
 preparations for the approaching campaign. He ac- 
 cordingly returned to Ohio for the purpose of obtain- 
 ing reinforcements from that State and Kentucky.* 
 
 General Harrison had continued to flatter himself 
 with the hope that he might find an opportunity dur- 
 ing the winter to carry into execution his long-cher- 
 ished enterprise of attacking Fort Maiden. The bar- 
 barities of Proctor had stimulated his desire, as well 
 as that of his troops, to get possession of that post. 
 For this purpose he had ordered up all his troops in 
 the rear, except such as were necessary to maintain 
 the forts on the Auglaize and the St. Mary's. He 
 had intended to advance against Maiden by the 15th 
 of February, disperse the Indians, destroy the ship- 
 ping, and establish a post near Brownstown, and re- 
 main there until the weather should become suffi- 
 ciently cold to freeze the lakes and swamps, so as to 
 permit the artillery to be brought up. It continued 
 so rainy, however, and the period for which the Ken- 
 tucky and Ohio troops had engaged to serve being 
 about to expire, he was reluctantly compelled to 
 abandon for the season his contemplated attack upon 
 Maiden. All further thoughts were now abandoned 
 by the commander-in-chief of continuing a campaign 
 which had virtually ended with_ the defeat of Win- 
 chester. 
 , * Brackenridge's Late War. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 137 
 
 • CHAPTER VIII. j 
 
 Before following General Harrison into the next 
 campaign, a hasty glance will be taken at events that 
 had in the meantime transpired upon other portions 
 of the theatre of war. A short time preceding the 
 declaration of war, William Hull, then governor of 
 the Territory of Michigan, a revolutionary officer of 
 distinction, and then recently appointed a brigadier- 
 general in the regular army, was placed in command 
 of twelve hundred Ohio volunteers, a regiment of 
 United States infantry, and some detachments of 
 other regiments, with which he arrived at Detroit on 
 the 5th of July, 1812. Before taking the command, 
 he had received discretionary power to act offensively 
 in case of war. He therefore determined on an inva- 
 sion of Canada, and great preparations were made for 
 the enterprise, and on the 12th of July the main body 
 of the army crossed into Canada. General Hull issued 
 a proclamation to the inhabitants, which induced a con- 
 siderable number of them to join the American stand- 
 ard, and favorably inclined the most of them towards 
 the Americans. 
 
 Immediately after the array entered Canada, an 
 expedition was sent out under Colonel M'Arthur, 
 12* 
 
138 THE LIFE OF 
 
 with the view of reconnoitering the country, and on 
 the 16th another, for the same purpose, under Colonel 
 Cass. Both these enterprises were highly successful, 
 and proved that, had the army of invasion been en- 
 trusted to a bold, skilful and patriotic officer, it would 
 most certainly have succeeded in subduing to our 
 arms the whole of Lower Canada. Maiden, situated 
 at the junction of Detroit River with Lake Erie, and 
 then the key to that province, might have been re- 
 duced with scarcely an effort. But General Hull 
 remained comparatively idle at Sandwich, and the 
 favorable opportunity for striking a blow that would 
 have ended the war in that quarter permitted to pass 
 unimproved. While waiting here for cannon in order 
 to attack Maiden, news was received that Mackinac 
 had been surprised ana taken by the British on the 
 17th of July, the garrison, through the criminal 
 neglect of Hull, not even having been advised of the 
 declaration of war. By the fall of this important 
 post, the British were enabled to collect such a force 
 at Maiden as put it out of the power of an army, un- 
 der such a leader as Hull, to accomplish anything 
 against it. He accordingly abandoned Canada, with 
 the exception of a small detachment left to protect 
 the inhabitants who had taken up arms for the Amer- 
 icans, and arrived at Detroit, where he had deter- 
 mined to concentrate his force, on the 8th of August. 
 The evacuation of Canada, after so prosperous a 
 parade, without accomplishing anything of real ad- 
 vantage to our arms, created not only loud murmurs 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 139 
 
 against General Hull, but even suspicion of treacliery. 
 After liis arrival at Detroit, two attempts were made 
 to open a communication with the River Raisin — one 
 by Colonel Miller with six hundred men, and another 
 by Colonels M' Arthur and Cass at the head of three 
 hundred men. Colonel Miller met and was attacked 
 by a superior body of British and Indians. He, how- 
 ever, defeated them, after a severe engagement, with 
 great loss ; but he was compelled to return to Detroit, 
 in consequence of the great fatigue his troops suffered 
 during the action. The other detachment set off on 
 the 14th of August, six days after Colonel Miller. 
 
 The day following the departure of Colonels Cass 
 and M'Arthur, General Brock, the British commander, 
 dispatched two officers with a flag of truce, from 
 Sandwich, demanding of Hull the immediate sur- 
 render of Detroit, as the only means of preventing a 
 general massacre by the Indians in his army. Hull 
 replied that he was prepared to meet any force that 
 could be sent against him, and was prepared to abide 
 the consequence. On the return of the flag, the 
 British opened a brisk fire from their batteries at 
 Sandwich, which was as vigorously returned by the 
 Americans. The firing was kept up till ten o'clock 
 at night, and resumed early the next morning. 
 
 During the night the British ships of war had 
 moved up the river in order to protect the landing of 
 the troops. About ten o'clock on the morning of the 
 16th of August, accordingly, the landing was effected, 
 and immediately they advanced upon the fort. The 
 
140 THE LIFE OP 
 
 American forces had, in tlie meantime, been judi- 
 ciously posted, and had placed several pieces of can- 
 non so advantageously as to command the approach 
 of the enemy and sweep the whole of his line as he 
 advanced. The enemy, however, fearlessly advanced, 
 and all was anxiety amongst the American army, ex- 
 pecting every moment that the fire would commence, 
 when General Hull, to the mortification, amazement 
 and indignation of his whole army, ordered a whig 
 flag to be hoisted and the firing to be suspended. The 
 firing from the British side also was immediately sus- 
 pended. A treaty was at once entered into, and 
 terms of capitulation agreed to by Hull, by which the 
 whole territory, with all the American forts, and De- 
 troit, with all the American troops, public stores, and 
 everything else of a public nature, as well as the de- 
 tachment under Colonels M 'Arthur and Cass, who 
 were absent, were surrendered to the British. By 
 this shameful surrender, twenty-five pieces of iron and 
 eight pieces of brass ordinance, the latter taken from 
 Burgoyne, just thirty-five years before, fell into the 
 hands of the British, also twenty-five hundred mus- 
 kets and rifles, and a large quantity of ammunition. 
 General Hull was tried by a court-martial on a charge 
 of treason, imbecility and cowardice. He was vir- 
 tually acquitted of treason, and sentenced to bo shot 
 on the other charges, though he was recommended to 
 mercy in consideration of his revolutionary services. 
 The sentence was remitted by the President, but his 
 name stricken from the rolls of the army. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 141 
 
 This event, so disgraceful to our arms, and so 
 mortifying to our national pride, was received Avith 
 one burst of indignation throughout the whole Union, 
 and an army at once sprung up at the West, almost 
 as if by magic, determined to avenge their lost friends 
 and retrieve their tarnished honor. This army, as 
 has been seen, was placed under the command of 
 Governor Harrison. 
 
 The American forces on the frontier were sta- 
 tioned at Plattsburgh, under General Bloomfield ; at 
 Buffalo under General Smith, and at Sacket's Har- 
 bor and Black Rock and Ogdensburgh — the whole 
 being under the command of General Dearborn. The 
 militia of the State of New York, under General Van 
 Rensselaer, amounting to three thousand five hundred, 
 were stationed at Lewistown. Owing to an armistice 
 that had been entered into between General Dearborn 
 and Sir George Provost, it was late in the season be- 
 fore any movement of importance was made by either 
 commander. The time was therefore employed by 
 the American officers in drilling and disciplining their 
 troops and in preparing for active serAace. 
 
 As the season for military operations was now so 
 far advanced that the militia began to display great 
 impatience and anxiety to be led against the enemy, 
 General Van Rensselaer, therefore, determined to 
 make an attack upon Queenstown, a British post, situ- 
 ate on the Canada side of the Niagara River, directly 
 opposite his quarters at Lewistown. The attempt 
 was to be made on the 13th of October. The troops 
 
142 THE LIFE OF 
 
 were to cross over in two divisions, one under the 
 command of Colonel Solomon Van Rensselaer, and 
 the other under Lieutenant Colonel Chrystie; but, 
 owing to a deficiency of boats, only a portion of 
 each detachment could pass over; and even such as 
 could be procured did not all reach the opposite side. 
 The attack, however, was immediately commenced by 
 the troops who succeeded in landing, and the enemy 
 gradually gained ground in front of Colonel Van 
 Bensselaer. He, as well as Colonel Fenwick, had 
 both been so severely wounded as to be compelled to 
 quit the field. Each company now fought on his own 
 responsibility, there being no one entitled to com- 
 mand. The enemy, however, were soon driven from 
 the great height, called the "mountain," having pre- 
 viously carried a battery in their ascent. The enemy 
 fled precipitately to Queenstown, where they were 
 met and rallied by General Brock. He instantly led 
 them to the charge, but when at the distance of an 
 hundred paces, fell mortally wounded. His troops 
 were again dispersed. 
 
 At this moment Lieutenant Colonel Winfield Scott 
 arrived on the heights, having been ordered over to 
 take the command of the whole force. General 
 Wadsworth claimed to command the militia, however, 
 and he was therefore only permitted to command tlie 
 regular troops, only about two hundred and thirty in 
 all. But with this small force he made prompt ar- 
 rangements for meeting the enemy. With the assist- 
 ance of Captain Totten, of the engineers, Colonel 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 143 
 
 Scott drew up his men in the most judicious manner. 
 His position was the strongest that could be chosen, 
 and so selected, that he could protect the boats as they 
 landed from the other side with additional troops, and 
 also receive the enemy at the best advantage. 
 
 The firing in the morning had attracted the atten- 
 tion of the British garrison at Fort George and the 
 Indians collected there. The Indians, amounting to 
 four hundred strong, arrived first at the scene of ac- 
 tion, and a sharp conflict at once ensued. Colonel 
 Scott received the enemy with his regulars in gallant 
 style, and routed them with considerable loss. He 
 pursued them as far as the main design of protecting 
 the landing of troops would permit, and then resumed 
 his position. On account of their great superiority, 
 the enemy was induced to renew the attack. He 
 drove in the pickets and forced his way into the 
 midst of the American camp. All was now confu- 
 sion. Defeat and massacre seemed almost inevitable. 
 At this critical moment. Colonel Scott, who had been 
 everywhere in the thickest of the fight, stimulating 
 his men by his presence and example, by great exer- 
 tions brought the retreating line to stand to face the 
 enemy. They at once caught the spirit of their brave 
 and chivalrous leader. With a burst of enthusiasm, 
 as sudden as the panic of the moment before, the line 
 charged upon their pursuers with such impetuous zeal, 
 and the movement was so instantaneous with all, that 
 the enemy at once broke and fled in confusion, leaving . 
 a considerable number of dead and wounded on the 
 
144 THE LIFE OP • 
 
 field. They were pursued a considerable distance. 
 In these affairs the militia, with individual exceptions, 
 behaved very badly, and indeed with little else than 
 cowardice.* 
 
 Having been so frequently defeated by a greatly 
 inferior force, the Indians and light troops were re- 
 solved to await the arrival of the garrison from Fort 
 George, already in sight, and amounting to nearly 
 nine hundred strong, under general Sheaffe. Informa- 
 tion was at the same time brought to Colonel Scott that 
 no aid was to be expected from Lewistown. General 
 Van Rensselaer had done everything in his power to 
 induce the militia to go to the assistance of their gal- 
 lant countrymen on the other side. But the sight of 
 General Sheaffe's reinforcement excited in their minds 
 the liveliest constitutional scruples. Nothing could 
 induce them to relinquish their constitutional rights 
 by setting their feet on foreign soil. The sight of 
 their countrymen being cut down, one after another, 
 for want of the aid they had the power to give them, 
 had no other influence than to strengthen their deter- 
 mination not to hazard their own lives. 
 
 It was now discovered that retreat was as impos- 
 sible as succor was hopeless, as the boats were all on 
 the American side. The gallant Scott, therefore, and 
 his brave little army, resolved to receive the enemy 
 on the ground they occupied, and that if any of them 
 survived it would be time enough to surrender. The 
 British general approached to the attack with great 
 I * Frost's Book of the Army. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 145 
 
 caution, finding that such an enemy as he had to meet 
 ■were not to be easily subdued, even by a force three 
 times as large. He feared, too, that the small body 
 he saw in view of American troops were only a small 
 part of the army he had to encounter, and designed 
 to decoy him to his ruin. At length, however, the 
 conflict commenced. The action was sharp, bloody 
 and desperate, and continued for nearly half an hour. 
 The Americans being nearly surrounded on every 
 side, and finding longer resistance against such fearful 
 odds little else than madness, surrendered prisoners 
 of war. 
 
 Through this whole engagement, in each of the 
 fierce contests with the enemy. Colonel Scott fought 
 with desperate bravery, though he acted with the 
 coolness and discretion of a veteran. He exposed 
 his person in the most fearless manner in every quar- 
 ter where the fire was the thickest and the danger 
 the greatest. Being in full uniform, his remarkably 
 tall and commanding person was observable towering 
 far above all others, and was singled out as a mark 
 by the enemy's sharp shooters. He was advised by a 
 brother oflicer to throw aside his uniform, or cover it 
 so as to escape observation. "No," said he, smiling, 
 " I will die in my robes." Captain Lawrence fell by 
 his side, dangerously wounded, immediately after. 
 When the action was over and the Americans had 
 surrendered themselves prisoners of war, an Indian 
 came up to Colonel Scott, and, attentively surveying 
 him, said, " Sair, you are not born to be shot — so 
 13 
 
- 146 THE LIFE OF 
 
 many times — (holding up all tlie fingers of both hands, 
 to indicate ten) — so many times have I leveled and 
 fired my rifle at you." From Queenstown Colonel 
 Scott was sent to Quebec. In about a month after 
 he embarked for Boston, and was exchanged in the 
 following January. 
 
 In the engagement the Americans, especially the 
 regulars who were actually in the battle, acted with a 
 gallantry that reflected the highest credit on them- 
 selves and on their country. But for the cowardice 
 of the militia in refusing to cross the river, the result 
 would have been quite different. The most of them 
 who did participate in the action behaved with great 
 coolness and bravery. The loss of the Americans in 
 the battle was believed to be full one thousand in 
 killed, wounded and prisoners. The loss of the Brit- 
 ish is not known, though it must have been very con- 
 siderable, as they were twice repulsed. 
 
 Soon after the battle of Queenstown, General Van 
 Rensselaer resigned his commission, and" General 
 Smith was appointed to succeed him in his command. 
 Another invasion Avas projected by General Smith, 
 and great promises made to the "men of New York." 
 If they would come to his standard in his contem- 
 plated invasion of Canada, they were assured that they 
 should have an opportunity not only to cover them- 
 selves with glory and renown, but of retrieving the 
 tarnished honor of the country, which he believed to 
 have been very seriously Avounded by the previous 
 failure under his predecessor. After a large number 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISOX. 147 
 
 of volunteers had been collected by these bright 
 visions of fame and fortune, and the most imposing 
 preparations made for the conquest of Canada, the 
 troops having been twice actually embarked in the 
 boats for the great enterprise, the whole magnificent 
 expedition was suddenly abandoned, the troops or- 
 dered to be withdrawn from the boats and to go into 
 winter quarters. This enterprise, terminating thus 
 unfortunately to the country, and dishonorably to a 
 portion of the militia and to General Smith, ended 
 the operations of the "Army of the Centre," as the 
 battle of Queenstown begun them, to the equal dis- 
 honor of another portion of the militia, though to the 
 everlasting renown of Colonel Scott and the ofiicers 
 and men under his command. Two years after, the 
 same gallant officer, on the same field of battle, added 
 new laurels to his own fame, and did much to wipe 
 out whatever of disgrace to their country there was 
 in his previous defeat. 
 
 While many of our operations by land during the 
 first campaign brought but little honor and less ad- 
 vantage to the nation, our naval exploits can be 
 pointed to with pride and exultation by every patri- 
 otic American. Our victories at sea, while they did 
 much to inspire confidence and hope at home amongst 
 ourselves, also did more to humble the pride, if not 
 to destroy the confidence, of our haughty enemy, in 
 their boasted invincibility in what they claimed as 
 their native element. The capture of the frigate 
 " Guerriere," one of the finest vessels in the British 
 
148 THE LIFE OF 
 
 navy, by the " Constitution," Commodore Hall, after 
 an action of only thirty minutes, was probably the 
 severest blow to the national vanity of England that 
 she had ever received, either on land or by sea. It 
 is doubtful whether even her overwhelming defeat at 
 New Orleans, at a subsequent period, produced so 
 deep a feeling of mortification as the capture of one 
 of their favorite frigates. This was more particularly 
 the case, as the " Guerriere" had been sent out to re- 
 venjie the insult to the "-Little Belt." This action 
 took place on the 19th of September, 1812. The 
 " Guerriere" was so much shattered, that a few broad- 
 sides must have sunk her, and it was impossible to 
 carry her into port : she was therefore blown up the 
 day after the action. Her loss was fifteen killed and 
 sixty- three wounded ; while the " Constitir.tion" had 
 only seven killed and seven wounded. The joy which 
 this brilliant achievement produced throughout the 
 United States was only equalled by the depression 
 and chagrin produced by the same result in England.* 
 
 * The following account of the capture of the " Guerriere," 
 ■which was communicated to the New York Erening Post by an 
 American gentleman who was a prisoner on board that vessel dur- 
 ing the action, will be found to be excitingly interesting, and to 
 deserve a place amongst the historical records of the country : — 
 
 Having been an American prisoner on board the " Guerriere," 
 during the famous battle between that frigate and the United 
 States frigate "Constitution," I propose giving you an account of 
 that important action which took place in June, 1812. 
 
 About two weeks previous to the engagement, I left Boston in 
 an American ship, which was captured by the " Guerriere " some 
 five days before she fell iu with the "Constitution." 
 
AVILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 149 
 
 Almost immediately after this victory of tlie " Con- 
 stitution," news was received of the capture of the 
 
 It was about ten o'clock in the morning when the " Constitu- 
 tion" was discovered. The ■' Guerriere" hove to, to enable her to 
 come up. As the "Constitution" neared us, Captain Dacres 
 handed me his glass, and asked what I took her to be. My reply 
 was, " She looks like a frigate." Very soon she came within 
 reach of the long guns of the " Guerriere," which were tired, but 
 with no effect, as the sea ran high. The " Constitution" made no 
 reply, but, as I saw, was manoeuvring for a position, during which 
 Captain Dacres said to me, " Do you think she is going to strike 
 without firing ? " I replied, " I think not. Sir." 
 
 At this moment, seeing a severe contest was about commenc- 
 ing, in which I could take no part, being only a prisoner, I raised 
 my hat to Captain Dacres, and said to him — " With your permis- 
 sion, sir, I will go below, as I can take no part." " certainly," 
 said he, " and you had better go into the cock-pit ; and should any 
 of our men chance to get wounded, I shall feel obliged if you will 
 assist the surgeons in dressing them. " Certainly, sir," said I, 
 and then descended into the cock-pit. There were the surgeons, 
 and surgeons' mates, and attendants, sitting round a long table, 
 covered with instruments and all necessaries for dressing the 
 wounded, as still as a funeral. Within one moment after my foot 
 left the lower round of the ladder, the " Constitution" gave that 
 double broadside, which threw all in the cock-pit over in a heap 
 on the opposite side of the ship. 
 
 For a moment it appeared as if heaven and earth had struck 
 together ; a more terrific shock cannot be imagined. Before those 
 in the cock-pit had adjusted themselves, the blood run down from 
 the deck as freely as if a wash-tub full had been turned over, and 
 instantly the dead, wounded, and dying, were handed down as 
 rapidly as men could pass them, till the cock-pit was filled, with 
 hardly room for the surgeons to work. Midshipmen were handed 
 down with one leg, some with one arm, and others wounded in 
 almost every shape and condition. An officer, who was on the 
 table having his arm amputated, would sing out to a comrade 
 
 13* 
 
150 THE LIFE OP 
 
 British sloop of war, "Alert," by Commodore Porter, 
 of the "Essex." Following fast upon the heels of 
 
 coming down wounded — "Well, shipmate, how goes the battle?" 
 another would utter some joke, that would make even the dying 
 smile ; and so constant and freely were the playful remarks from 
 the maimed and even dying, that I almost doubted my own senses. 
 Indeed, all this was crowded into a space of not over fifteen or 
 twenty minutes before the firing ceased. I then went upon deck, 
 and what a scene was presented, and how changed in so short a 
 time. 
 
 The " Constitution" looked perfectly fresh ; and even at this 
 time, those on board the "Guerriere" did not know what ship 
 had fought them. On the other hand, the " Guerriere " was a 
 mere rolling log, almost entirely at the mercy of the sea. Her 
 colors all shot away, her main-mast and mizen-mast both gone by 
 the board, and her fore-mast standing by the mere honey-comb 
 the shot had made. Captain Dacres stood, with his officers, sur- 
 veying the scene — all, all in the most perfect astonishment. At 
 this moment, a boat was seen putting off from the hostile ship for 
 the " Guerriere." As soon as within speaking distance, a young 
 gentleman (Midshipman Reed, now Commodore Reed) hailed and 
 said — " I wish to see the officer in command of the ship." At this, 
 Captain Dacres stepped forward, and answered. Midshipman 
 Reed then sai'I — "Commodore Hull's compliments, and wishes to 
 know if you have struck your flag?" At this. Captain Dacres 
 appeared amazed, but recovering himself, and looking up and 
 down, he deliberately replied, " Well, I don't know — our mizzen- 
 mast is gone, our main-mast is gone — and, upon the whole, you 
 may say we have struck our flag ! " 
 
 "Commodore Hull's compliments, and wishes to know if 3'ou 
 need the assistance of a surgeon or surgeon's mate?" Captain 
 Dacres replied : " Well, I should suppose you ha<l on board your 
 own ship business enough for all your medical officers." Midship- 
 man Reed replied, " (), no, we have only seven wounded, and they 
 were dressed half an hour ago." 
 
 Captain Dacres then turned to me, deeply affected, and said, 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 151 
 
 this victory, followed those of the "United States" 
 over the "Macedonian," and of the "Wasp" over 
 
 " How have our situations been suddenly reversed ? You are now 
 free, and I a prisoner." 
 
 All the boats of both ships were now put in requisition to re- 
 move the wounded on board the "Constitution;" so dreadful was 
 the condition of many of them that two days were nearly con- 
 sumed in the removal, after which the " Guerriere" was burned, 
 with all her stores, armament, &c. The "Constitution," having 
 recently come out of port, had no room to take scarcely an article. 
 
 "^Vho can imagine the joy I experienced in finding myself again 
 Tinder American colors — or the pride I felt at finding, from Com- 
 modore Hull down to the most humble man on board, an entire 
 absence of everything like a boastful or even a triumphant look at 
 their wonderful victory. Captain Dacres kept his state-room till 
 we arrived in port. About two hundred of his men were neces- 
 sarily ironed, as the ship was so crowded. Charles Morris (now 
 Commodore), the first ofiicer of the "Constitution," had a ball 
 through his body, and for several days his recovery was doubtful 
 —during which he sent for me to come to his room ; and I well 
 remember his perfect unconcern for himself, although the surgeon 
 had apprised him of his danger. Every courtesy and kindness 
 was by Captain Hull and his oflScers extended to their prisoners. 
 
 On Sunday, about noon, the " Constitution" arrived in Boston 
 harbor. I was sent on shore in the boat. The harbor between 
 the ship and wharves was now covered with boats to learn the 
 news. To the first boat that we neared we hailed, " The ' Consti- 
 tution' has captured the ' Guerriere.' " Instantly, the two men in 
 the boat took off their hats, and violently struck them on the side 
 of the boat, and rising, gave cheer upon cheer. They hailed other 
 boats, and thus the air was rent with cheers, and the victory 
 passed along until it reached the wharf, and then spread like wild- 
 fire all over the city and country. 
 
 It is now nearly forty years since the transaction of that day 
 proved to the Americans that British frigates were not invincible. 
 Who can remember that day without feeling a glow of pride, that 
 
152 THE LIFE OF 
 
 the British brig "Frolic," the first of which took 
 place on the 25th of October, and the other on the 
 20th of the same month. When the " Frolic" sur- 
 rendered, she had but four of her crew alive on deck. 
 She had thirty-eight killed and fifty wounded. On 
 board the "Wasp" there were but five killed and five 
 wounded. This was the most decisive action fought 
 during the war, and was more fatal to the enemy in 
 proportion to the number engaged. On board the 
 "Macedonian" there were thirty-six killed and sixty- 
 eight wounded, while the "United States" lost but 
 five in killed and seven wounded. In addition to 
 these victories, so mortifying to British arrogance, 
 they had to submit to another quite as humiliating to 
 their pride. This was the capture of the British 
 frigate "Java" by the "Constitution," Commodore 
 Bainbridge, on the 29th of December. The "Java" 
 carried forty-nine guns, and had on board, when cap- 
 tured, four hundred soldiers and one hundred seamen, 
 whom she was carrying out to the East Indies. She 
 had on board, also, despatches of an important char- 
 acter for St. Helena, the Cape of Good Hope, and for 
 their different establishments in the East Indies and 
 
 BO early in the war, and in a manner so unpretending, a victory 
 80 perfect should have been achieved ! I write this statement 
 without notes, but believe it to be, in the main, accurate. 
 
 In justice to Captain Dacres, I add, that there was none of 
 the boasting on his part, before the action, which has to him been 
 attributed, as he did not know the ship till Midshipman Reed an- 
 nounced her name and commander. 
 
 0. W. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY IIARRISONt 133 
 
 China, besides the Governor of Bombay, and a large 
 number of officers, civil, military and naval. The 
 ''Constitution" had nine men killed and twenty-five 
 wounded. The killed on board the "Java" Avere 
 sixty, and one hundred and twenty wounded. The 
 capture of the "Java" was of little if of any less im- 
 portance than the capture of the "Guerriere," by the 
 same ship. The conduct of all the officers of the 
 " Constitution" towards their prisoners Avas as remark- 
 able for its humanity and courtesy as it had been 
 during the action for courage and good conduct, and 
 they received the public acknowledgments of the Gov- 
 ernor of Bombay, Lieutenant General Halsop, upon 
 their arrival at St. Salvador. 
 
 The exploits of some of the American privateers 
 were little less humiliating to British pride, and grati- 
 fying to the American people, than those of our legit- 
 imate naval ships. One of the first to sail was the 
 "Atlas," commanded by Captain Moffat, who on the 
 3rd of August fell in with two armed ships, and, after 
 a severe action, captured them both. The "Dolphin," 
 Captain Endicot, in the course of a few weeks, cap- 
 tured fifteen ships of the enemy, but had the mortifi- 
 cation to be captured herself by an English squadron. 
 The achievements of Commodore Barney, who sailed 
 from Baltimore, carried destruction throughout the 
 British merchant trade, and did more injury to her 
 commerce than it had received for years before from 
 French cruisers. These repeated disasters carried 
 consternation throughout the British nation, as oiu* 
 
154 THE LIFE or 
 
 privateers had throughout her commerce. Its signi- 
 fication was more terrible to England than the defeat 
 of her ships of war or the ruin to lier trade, for it told 
 her that omnipotence upon the seas was about to be 
 destroyed. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HAKRISON. 155 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 It has already been stated that, after the termina- 
 tion of the campaign, General Harrison hard gone to 
 Cincinnati for the purpose of procuring a reinforce- 
 ment from that State and Kentucky. Early in the 
 spring, while prosecuting this object, he received in- 
 formation that the British were making extensive 
 preparations and concentrating a large force of regu- 
 lar soldiers, Canadians and Indians, for the purpose 
 of laying siege to Fort Meigs. In consequence of 
 this intelligence, he immediately returned to that post 
 and commenced the most energetic and judicious ar- 
 rangements to be prepared for the threatened attack. 
 
 As the new levies had not arrived, the Pennsylva- 
 nia brigade, although its term of service had expired, 
 generously volunteered for the defence of Fort Meigs. 
 His arrival had inspired the troops with fresh confi- 
 dence, and strong hopes were rekindled in all hearts 
 that an opportunity would soon be presented them, 
 not only of avenging their murdered countrymen at 
 the River Raisin, but vindicating the honor and es- 
 tablishing the supremacy of the American arms. 
 
 Fort Meigs was situated on a rising ground, a few 
 
156 THE LIFE OP 
 
 hundred yards from the river, on both sides of which 
 the country was chiefly natural meadows.* The gar- 
 rison was amply supplied with the means of defence, 
 and Harrison labored night and day to improve its 
 capacity for resisting the anticipated attack. With 
 the assistance of Captains Wood and Gratiot, his 
 principal engineers, his fortifications were so improved 
 and strengthened, that he felt confident of being able 
 successfully to resist any force that could be brought 
 against liim. The troops in the fort were in excellent 
 spirits, and determined to defend themselves to the 
 last. 
 
 On the 28th of April, one of the parties of obser- 
 vation, that was constantly kept out for the purpose of 
 discovering the advance of the enemy, returned with 
 information that the enemy were in great force only 
 about three miles distant. Shortly after a few Brit- 
 ish and Indians made their appearance on the oppo- 
 site side of the river, but a few shots from an eighteen 
 pounder soon compelled them to disperse. 
 
 General Harrison now determined to dispatch an 
 express to General Clay, commanding the Kentucky 
 reinforcements, amounting to twelve hundred militia, 
 to hasten his march. For the discharge of this dan- 
 gerous and responsible duty, requiring an intimate 
 knowledge of the country and great intrepidity and 
 firmness, he selected Captain William Oliver. These 
 qualities he possessed in an eminent degree. He was 
 accompanied by one Indian and one white man, and 
 
 * Brackonridge. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 157 
 
 performed the hazardous duty assigned him with sig- 
 nal success, having found him at Fort Winchester, 
 and urged upon him the importance of forwarding the 
 reinforcement with all possible dispatch. 
 
 For three days after the enemy was first discov- 
 ered in the vicinity of the fort, he was occupied in se- 
 lecting a suitable position for erecting his batteries, 
 from whence he might the more successfully annoy it. 
 Their labors were greatly impeded, however, by the 
 brisk fire that was kept up upon them by General 
 Harrison during the day. On the first of May they 
 had succeeded in mounting their batteries, and they im- 
 mediately commenced a heavy fire upon the fort from 
 several of their guns. No material injury, however, 
 was done on either side, though General Harrison made 
 a narrow escape, a ball having struck a bench on 
 which he was sitting. On the following morning, af- 
 ter the fort had been fully invested, the commander- 
 in-chief issued a general order to his troops, appealing 
 to their patriotism in the most eloquent terms. He 
 closed by saying, — " Can the citizens of a free coun- 
 try, who have taken up arms to defend its rights, 
 think of submitting to an army composed of merce- 
 nary soldiers, reluctant Canadians, goaded to the 
 field by the bayonet, and of wretched naked savages ? 
 Can the breast of an American soldier, when he casts 
 his eyes to the opposite shore, the scene of his coun- 
 try's triumphs over the savage foe, be influenced by 
 any other feelings than those of glory ? Is not this 
 army composed of the same materials with that which 
 14 
 
158 THE LIFE Of 
 
 fought and conquered under the immortal Wayne? 
 Yes, fellow-soldiers, your general sees your counten- 
 ances beam with the same fire that he witnessed on 
 that glorious occasion ; and although it would be the 
 height of presumption to compare himself to that 
 hero, he boasts of being that hero's pupil. To your 
 posts, then, fellow-soldiers, and remember that the 
 eyes of your country are upon you." 
 
 By the time the enemy were prepared to open their 
 batteries upon the fort, the American troops had com- 
 pleted a grand tower, about twelve feet high, upon a 
 base of twenty feet, three hundred yards long, on the 
 most elevated ground, through the middle of the camp, 
 calculated to ward off the shot from the enemy's bat- 
 teries. Orders were given for all the tents in front 
 to be instantly moved into the rear, which was effected 
 in a few moments. The enemy's efforts, therefore, to 
 bombard and cannonade the American lines was en- 
 tirely thwarted, and all their immense labor in erect- 
 ing their batteries was rendered useless. The em- 
 bankment of earth behind which our troops now re- 
 tired entirely obscured the whole army, while it served 
 as a perfect protection against the British fire. Not 
 a tent nor a soldier was to be seen ; but, notwith- 
 standing the futility of the attempt, Proctor still kept 
 up a tremendous fire upon the fort, and continued it 
 for five days, at great expense of powder and ball, 
 but little injury to the American troops, only one man 
 being killed and four wounded during the whole time. 
 
 On the 3rd of May, Proctor sent a flag to the fort 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 159 
 
 by Major Chambers, and very coolly summoned Gen- 
 eral Harrison to surrender. Chambers assured him 
 that the great anxiety of the British commander, in 
 thus summoning him to surrender, was to spare the 
 effusion of human blood ! and that his force was so 
 numerous, that it would be impossible to withstand it. 
 He also assured him that, unless the Americans at 
 once surrendered at discretion, and throw themselves 
 upon the tender mercies of the author of the but- 
 cheries at the River Raisin, they might expect to be 
 indiscriminately massacred in cold blood. 
 
 As might have been expected, from the character 
 for courage and gallantry which General Harrison 
 had acquired and so well sustained, this insolent sum- 
 mons Tvas treated with the contempt anything from 
 the infamous Proctor so well deserved. He, as well 
 as every oiEcer and soldier under his command, pre- 
 ferred instant death to the ignominy of surrendering 
 to such a monster, even if they had any faith in his 
 promises of protection. But they had none. He 
 had already forfeited his honor, as well as all 
 claims to the respect of mankind, for his infamous 
 barbarities. To look for mercy at the hands of a 
 man who had thus outraged every principle of truth 
 and every feeling of humanity, required a degree of 
 credulity that his conduct had not inspired in General 
 Harrison. 
 
 He expressed his 'surprise at the demand, espe- 
 cially under the circumstances in ■which it was made, 
 looking upon it as an intentional insult on the part of 
 
160 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Proctor. This, however, Major Chambers disclaimed 
 in behalf of the British commander, but intimated to 
 him at the same time that he was in sufficient force to 
 compel his demand. To this General Harrison re- 
 plied, that he believed he had very correct informa- 
 tion as to Proctor's force, and that it was not such as 
 to create the least apprehension for the result of the 
 contest, whatever shape he might thereafter be pleased 
 to give to it. He desired Major Chambers to assure 
 him, however, that the fort would never be sur- 
 rendered to him, and that should it fall into his hands, 
 it would be in a manner calculated to do him more 
 honor and to give him a larger claim upon the grati- 
 tude of his government than any capitulation could 
 possibly do. 
 
 Finding how little he had to hope, either from his 
 threats or from the force of his arms, the siege was 
 renewed with redoubled vigor, and the firing was 
 kept up on both sides with great energy. The savages 
 even mounted into the tops of trees with the object 
 of firing down into the fort, and by this means suc- 
 ceeded in killing and wounding several men. General 
 Harrison now began to feel the most anxious solici- 
 tude to receive intelligence of the approach of Gen- 
 eral Clay, to whom, it will be recollected, he had 
 some days before dispatched a special express for the 
 purpose of urging him to forward the Kentucky vol- 
 unteers with all possible speed. ' But his anxiety was 
 soon to be relieved, for late in the night of the 4th 
 of May, a Email party under Major Trimble and Cap- 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 161 
 
 tain Oliver, reached the fort, with the gratifying in- 
 formation that General Clay was hut a few miles 
 above the Rapids, with a considerable reinforcement. 
 
 Immediately upon receiving this intelligence, Gen- 
 eral Harrison dispatched orders to him, requesting 
 him to detach eight hundred men for the purpose of 
 landing on the other side and attacking the enemy's 
 batteries. In the meantime, he embraced the favora- 
 ble opportunity given by the timely arrival of Gen- 
 eral Clay's reinforcements, for completing the ar- 
 rangements for a sortie he had planned some time 
 before. The sortie was designed to be made upon the 
 Bide of the fort commanded by Lieutenant Colonel 
 Miller, of the nineteenth United States infantry, 
 simultaneously with the attack to be made upon the 
 enemy's batteries by the detachment under Colonel 
 Dudley, from General Clay's reinforcement. The at- 
 tack was admirably planned, and should it prove suc- 
 cessful, the enemy would be compelled to raise the 
 siege immediately. The duty assigned to Colonel Dud- 
 ley was executed with ability, and he landed his men in 
 good order. He then advanced at once to the enemy's 
 cannon, and with such determined bravery, that four 
 of their batteries were carried almost instantly, and 
 the British regulars and Indians were at once put to 
 
 flight. 
 
 The victory of Colonel Dudley seemed to be 
 complete and decisive ; but it was soon turned into a 
 defeat. A large body of Indians, under the cele- 
 brated Tecumthe, were on their route to the British 
 14* 
 
162 THE LIFE OP 
 
 camp, -when they met the fugitives whom Dudley had 
 so signally beaten. This body was immediately or- 
 dered to form an ambush, and to await the approach 
 of the Americans, while a few Indians were to act as 
 decoys. After having executed his orders. Colonel 
 Dudley ordered a retreat ; but his men, flushed with 
 victory, and desirous of avenging their murdered fel- 
 low-soldiers at Frenchtown, pushed on in pursuit of 
 the flying foe with an impetuosity that nothing could 
 resist. Their commander attempted in vain to check 
 their headlong career, and even threatened them with 
 summary punishment, but without eflect, and in a few 
 moments they found themselves drawn into the snare 
 that had been set for them, surrounded by a force 
 three times their number. A dreadful battle now en- 
 sued, in which the Kentuckians fought with their 
 usual desperate courage; but they were fighting 
 against tremendous odds, both in numbers and posi- 
 tion, and were finally slaughtered, with the exception 
 of one hundred and fifty, who succeeded in making 
 their escape. Colonel Dudley, in attempting to cut 
 his way through the enemy to the river, was killed, 
 having fought with great gallantry throughout the 
 bloody engagements.* 
 
 The misfortune that befel Colonel Dudley in some 
 measure disconcerted the plan of the sortie under 
 Colonel Miller, though it did not deter him from sal- 
 lying forth at the head of three hundred men and as- 
 saulting the whole of the British works, manned by 
 
 * Brackenridge. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 163 
 
 three hundred and fifty regulars and five hundred In- 
 dians. In this attack, which was made with an im- 
 petuosity that overcame every obstacle, he drove the 
 enemy from their principal batteries, spiked their can- 
 non, and returned to the fort with forty-two prison- 
 ers. When the great disparity of force between the 
 Americans and British, and the advantageous posi- 
 tion of the enemy are considered, the sortie of Colonel 
 Miller must be looked upon as one of the most suc- 
 cessful and gallant actions of the whole war. Every 
 man fought with the courage of a hero, and indeed 
 every man made himself a hero by his noble con- 
 duct. 
 
 The attack was commenced against the Canadians 
 and Indians by Major Alexander's battalion, and was 
 followed by Colonel Miller in a gallant and irresisti- 
 ble charge against the British regulars. Amongst 
 the officers in these two attacks were Captains Crog- 
 han, Langham, Bradford and Waring, and Lieuten- 
 ants Gwynne and Campbell. A company of Ken- 
 tuckians, commanded by Captain Lebree, who had 
 distinguished himself at Frenchtovrn, won new honors 
 by their brave conduct in this gallant action.* 
 
 Though Colonel Dudley was finally defeated by 
 being drawn into an ambush, the complete success of 
 his attack upon the British batteries, and Colonel 
 Miller's equally successful sortie, had taught Proctor 
 a profitable lesson, and proved to him that, in any- 
 thing like an equal contest, the Americans were more 
 
 * Brackenridge. 
 
164 THE LIFE OP 
 
 than a match for his blood-thirsty allies and his almost 
 equally ferocious regulars. He was therefore quite 
 willing for a cessation of hostilities, which took place 
 for the three days following the sortie. Flags fre- 
 quently passed between the besiegers and the besieged 
 during this temporary calm, and arrangements were 
 entered into for the exchange of prisoners. Tecum- 
 the agreed to release his claims to the persons taken 
 by the Indians, provided some Wyandots, to the num- 
 ber of forty, were delivered up. Proctor also pro- 
 mised to furnish a list of the killed, wounded and 
 prisoners ; but he again forfeited his word ; the pro- 
 mise was never fulfilled.* 
 
 Thus terminated this siege at the end of thirteen 
 days. It had not only reflected honor on General 
 Harrison and his brave little army, and the Ameri- 
 can character, but convinced the butcher Proctor that, 
 whatever victims he might thenceforth procure to feed 
 his own and the appetites of his savage auxiliaries 
 upon, he must fight for, and that they would be dearly 
 purchased. His speedy retreat from Fort Meigs, af- 
 ter all his vaunted parade and impudent threats, were 
 as disgraceful to his generalship, and as mortifying 
 to his vanity, as his previous butcheries of defenceless 
 men and his want of truth were dishonorable to him 
 as a soldier and a gentleman. 
 
 The loss of the Americans in the fort was eighty- 
 one killed and one hundred and eighty-nine wounded, 
 seventy of whom were Kentucky volunteers. This 
 
 * Brackenridge. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 165 
 
 does not include the killed and wounded under Colonel 
 Dudley. The force under Proctor was reported at five 
 hundred and fifty regulars, eight hundred militia, and 
 fifteen hundred Indians, — the latter of whom fought 
 with great courage, frequently saving their allies from 
 total destruction. 
 
 After the cessation of hostilities, the savages re- 
 turned to their homes, in accordance with an almost 
 universal custom, and in spite of all the influence Te- 
 cumthe could exert. Proctor was so much weakened 
 by this defection of his allies, that he was compelled 
 precipitately to retreat, and to leave behind him, in 
 his haste to make his escape, many valuable articles. 
 
 In reflecting upon the siege of Fort Meigs, a ju- 
 dicious writer * expresses the opinion that it was for- 
 tunate for the American cause that the enterprise of 
 General Proctor against that fort was delayed so 
 long. Had he been ready to sail as soon as the lake 
 became navigable, and so timed his movements as to 
 arrive at the fort during the first week in April, im- 
 mediately after the last militia of the winter campaign 
 had been discharged, and before General Harrison 
 arrived with reinforcements, he must have succeeded 
 against that post. The garrison was then left very 
 weak, being considerably less than five hundred efl'ec- 
 tive men. The works, too, were then very incomplete, 
 and entirely too large for that of soldiers successfully 
 to defend, as the fortified camp included seven or 
 
 eight acres of land. 
 
 * M'Afee. 
 
166 THE LIFE OP 
 
 The capture of Fort Meigs •would have been a 
 most serious loss to the country, as it contained nearly 
 all the artillery and military stores of the north- 
 western army, besides a large amount of provisions. 
 General Harrison repeatedly pressed upon the atten- 
 tion of the government, during the winter, the neces- 
 sity of preparing a force to take the place of the 
 militia then in service. But instead of this, the new 
 Secretary of War, John Armstrong, who had been 
 appointed to that office the preceding February, in 
 place of William Eustis, at the critical moment when 
 the last of those troops were disbanded, restricted 
 General Harrison to the use of regulars, which were 
 still to be levied in a country where it was almost im- 
 possible to raise a regiment of regulars through the 
 whole year. Without the aid of the Ohio and Ken- 
 tucky militia, which the general called into service 
 without the authority and contrary to the views of the 
 War Department, it is highly probable that the im- 
 portant post at the Rapids would have fallen into the 
 hands of Proctor, and the bloody scenes of French- 
 town been re-enacted. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 167 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 With the raising of the siege of Fort Meigs were 
 suspended oftensive operations on both sides for a con- 
 siderable time. The troops were to remain at that 
 post and Upper Sandusky until the completion of the 
 naval preparations on Lake Erie, whichwere then in 
 a considerable state of forwardness. Without the 
 command of that lake, little of consequence could be 
 accomplished, and any attempt either to recover De- 
 troit or subdue Maiden, objects which General Har- 
 rison as well as the government had much at heart, 
 would be worse than useless, while it was in the hands 
 of the enemy. The troops, therefore, must necessarily 
 remain in a state of inactivity a great part of the 
 summer, awaiting the completion of the fleet designed 
 to co-operate with the army in those favorite ob- 
 jects. 
 
 While awaiting this event, therefore, General 
 Harrison returned to Franklington for the purpose 
 of organizing the forces which were to be concen- 
 trated at that place. In the course of the summer, 
 deputies from the various Indian tribes residing in 
 
168 THE LIFE OP 
 
 Ohio, and from some of those in the territories of In- 
 diana and Illinois, waited upon him at Franklington, 
 and volunteered their services for the campaign into 
 Canada. It had been the general policy of the gov- 
 ernment not to employ any of the friendly Indians in 
 the service of the United States. The only exception to 
 this human policy was in employing a small body under 
 the command of the celebrated Logan, a nephew of Te- 
 cumthe. But the advice to them to remain neutral 
 could not be comprehended, as they looked upon it 
 as an indirect imputation upon their courage. Gen- 
 eral Harrison finally consented to receive them into 
 his service, but only upon the condition that they 
 should spare their prisoners, and not make war upon 
 defenceless women and children. 
 
 He informed Tarke, the oldest Indian in the 
 "western country, who was at the head of the deputa- 
 tion, that he would be able to judge by the conduct of 
 the Indians who might enter his service, whether the 
 British could restrain those in their army from the 
 horrible cruelty they had perpetrated. If the In- 
 dians under him would forbear such conduct, it would 
 satisfy him that Proctor could also restrain them if he 
 wished to do so. He humorously told the deputation 
 that he had been informed that Proctor had promised 
 to deliver him into the hands of Tecumthe, if he had 
 succeeded at Fort Meigs, to be treated as that war- 
 rior might think proper. As a fair offset to this lib- 
 eral offer, he promised them that, if Proctor should 
 fall into his hands, they should have him as their 
 
WILLIAM HKNRY HARRISON. 169 
 
 prisoner, on condition that they would agree to treat 
 him as a squaw, and put petticoats on him, for he 
 must be a coward, deserving only such treatment, 
 who would kill a defenceless prisoner.* 
 
 There is little doubt that the promise to deliver 
 General Harrison, and all who fought at Tippecanoe, 
 over to Tecumthe, if the attack on Fort Meigs should 
 prove successful, with the understanding that they 
 were to be burned at the stake, was true. Major 
 Ball ascertained this fact from the prisoners, desert- 
 ters and Indians, all of whom agree as to its truth ; 
 and besides, it is sustained by the previous conduct 
 and well-established character of Proctor, though in- 
 consistent with the conduct of Tecumthe after the 
 treaty of Vincennes.f 
 
 Though the failure of the expedition against Fort 
 Meigs, and the consequent dispersion of many of the 
 British allies, had to a considerable extent checked 
 the depredations of the savages upon the more thickly 
 inhabited parts of the country, they still continued to 
 attack the settlements along the borders of the lake 
 from Frenchtown to Erie. Their inroads, however, 
 received a temporary check from a squadron of horse 
 under Major Ball, a brave and valuable officer. As 
 he was descending the Sandusky with only twenty- 
 two men, he was fired upon by about the same num- 
 ber of savages, from an ambuscade. He promptly 
 charged upon them, drove them from their hiding 
 places, and after an obstinate contest, in which both 
 
 * Sketches of HarrieKm. f Dawson. I 
 
 15 
 
170 THE LIFE OF 
 
 parties fought with great courage, the Indians were 
 defeated, and the whole band killed to a man. The 
 Indians fought with the ferocity of despair, but discip- 
 line prevailed over their savage desperation. 
 
 A hasty glance at the operations of the northern 
 army under General Dearborne. The British Gov- 
 ernment during the past winter had made extensive 
 preparations for the defense of Canada, and had sent 
 a large number of troops to Halifax, for the purpose 
 of being employed in that object. Great care and 
 energy had also been used in disciplining the militia of 
 Canada for the same purpose, while little had been 
 done on the American side toward the conquest of 
 that Province. In consequence of the unpopularity 
 of the war in the northern part of the union, it was 
 difficult to prevail on the States to call out the militia. 
 The favorable moment for the conquest of Canada, 
 therefore, seemed to have passed, though the hope 
 was still indulged that something might still be 
 done, if a proper spirit could be roused in the north- 
 ern States, especially if the command of the lakes 
 could be obtained ; there was no doubt entertained 
 that the whole of Upper Canada, at least, must fall. 
 
 Several acts of hostility took place, also, during 
 the winter on the northern frontier. In February, 
 a small party of British passed over from Canada, os- 
 tensibly in search of deserters, during which they com- 
 mitted many wanton depredations upon the houses 
 and property of American citizens. Determined to 
 avenge these injuries, Major Forsyth, who commanded 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 171 
 
 at Ogdensburgh, took part of a company of riflemen, 
 with several volunteers, and entered Canada with such 
 celerity that he surprised the British general at Eliz- 
 abethtown, took fifty-two prisoners and a considerable 
 amount of public property, after which he returned to 
 Ogdensburgh without the loss of a man. Shortly af- 
 ter this exploit, on the 21st of February, the British 
 made an attack upon Ogdensburgh, with a force of 
 twelve hundred men, and succeeded with the vastly 
 superior force in expelling Major Forsyth from the 
 town, but not until after a sharp contest, in which the 
 Americans lost twenty men in killed and wounded, 
 and the enemy twice that number. 
 
 It was determined by the commander-in-chief to 
 make a descent upon Canada, by such a force as should 
 at least make itself felt. For this purpose General 
 Zebulon Pike, one of the most accomplished officers 
 and bravest men in the army, and a gentleman who 
 was as highly beloved by the soldiers for his noble 
 quahties of heart as he was respected and honored 
 for his bravery and accomplishments, was selected for 
 this responsible enterprise. After a conference be- 
 tween the commander and chief, it was determined 
 that the contemplated expedition should be directed 
 ♦against York in Upper Canada. The fleet under 
 Commodore Chauncey was ordered to co-operate with 
 General Dearborne, in his plans of whatever charac- 
 ter. On the 27th of April he landed his troops, destin- 
 ed for the attack about two miles from York, in spite of 
 the most obstinate efforts of the British and Indians 
 
172 THE LIFE OF 
 
 to prevent him. Having succeeded in landing all his 
 troops, in the midst of a destructive fire, he gallantly 
 charged the enemy and drove them all from their po- 
 sitions at the point of the hayonet. They then fled 
 to the fort in all speed. 
 
 He at once formed his lines and commenced the 
 attack, carrying several of the batteries and driving 
 the enemy within the garrison. Suspecting that some 
 stratagem was designed from the fact that the British 
 appeared to have deserted their barracks, he dis- 
 patched Lieutenant Riddle to learn the situation of 
 the enemy. While waiting the return of Riddle he 
 seated himself upon the stump of a tree, after having 
 humanely removed a wounded British soldier to a 
 place of security, when suddenly an explosion took 
 place that shook the very earth. The magazine had 
 blown up, and instantly the air was filled with huge 
 stones and fragments of wood which were rent asun- 
 der and whirled aloft with tremendous force. The 
 magazine contained five hundred barrels of powder. 
 This was the treacherous and cowardly stratagem 
 General Pike had feared, but the precise nature of 
 which he could not have foreseen. 
 
 Immense quantities of these broken and blackened 
 fragments fell amongst the victorious columns of the 
 Americans, causing a havoc which the arms of the 
 enemy could not effect in a fair and honorable con- 
 test. Upwards of two hundred Americans were thus 
 killed and wounded in a manner scarcely more credit- 
 able or less barbarous than the Frenchtown massa- 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 173 
 
 ere. Amonsst the number slain was the beloved and 
 heroic Pike. But though for a moment confounded 
 by the shock and the dreadful havoc in their ranks, the 
 brave troops almost instantly rallied, closing up their 
 broken columns and giving, in their turn, three loud 
 cheers. General Pike, though mortally wounded, 
 preserved his undaunted spirit. AVith his last breath 
 he addressed them in words of cheerful confidence. 
 "Move on," he exclaimed, "my brave fellows, and 
 avenge your general." The appeal was instantly 
 obeyed, and with such irresistible impetuosity and 
 gallantry as to overwhelm their treacherous foes, and 
 soon the British flag was presented to Pike. At four 
 o'clock the Americans were in possession of the town ; 
 and all the troops of the garrison, regulars and mili- 
 tia, naval officers and seamen, were surrendered pris- 
 oners of war. All the public stores were given up, 
 but private property and the rights of the citizens 
 were strictly respected. 
 
 The American loss, until the blowing up of the 
 magazine, was inconsiderable. By this characteristic 
 act of base treachery and cowardice, the number was 
 increased to three hundred in killed and wounded. 
 About three hundred British sm-rendered prisoners of 
 war, besides the killed and wounded. But, as might 
 have been expected from the treachery displayed by 
 the British general in attempting to blow up the 
 whole American force, the terms of the stipulation 
 were not faithfully observed, for a large amount of 
 public property was destroyed after the capitulation. 
 15* 
 
174 THE LIFE OP 
 
 The next enterprise of importance was an attack 
 upon Fort George and Fort Erie. Both these forts 
 were captured, and all the British fortifications along 
 the shore fell into the hands of the Americans on the 
 27th of May. In these operations Colonel Scott, 
 now commander-in-chief of the army of the United 
 States, and then an accomplished officer, distinguish- 
 ed himself, as he had the year before at Queenstown, 
 as did also General Boyd. Commodore Chauncey, 
 who commanded our little navy on the lake, co-ope- 
 rated with the land forces and added greatly to the 
 success of the American arms. Commodore Oliver 
 n. Perry also signalized himself in these various 
 movements. The day after the battle, Lieutenant 
 Perry Avas dispatched to Black Rock with fifty men 
 for the purpose of taking five vessels to Erie, and to 
 prepare the squadron at that place for commencing 
 operations, in conjunction Avith General Harrison, as 
 early as the 15th of June. 
 
 A few days after the battle of Forts George and 
 Erie, the battle of Stoney Creek was fought. Though 
 this action resulted in the accidental capture of both 
 General Chandler and General Winder, two Ameri- 
 can officers of distinction and acknowledged bravery, 
 they were nevertheless beaten in the action, with 
 great loss. Their killed and wounded amounted to 
 more than double that of the Americans, besides one 
 hundred prisoners captured by the Americans. But 
 these movements of General Dearborne against the 
 British fortifications on the Niagara had well nigh 
 
WILLIAM HEXRY HARRISON. 175 
 
 cost the Americans dear. Taking advantage of the 
 absence of the troops and fleet, the British "made an 
 attack upon Sacket's Harbor, the depository of all 
 our naval and military stores, both those captured at 
 York and those accumulated for a year past for the 
 contemplated operations against Canada, and a place, 
 therefore, of the utmost importance. The attack, how- 
 ever, proved unsuccessful, through the judgment and 
 well-managed stratagem of General Brown. As usual, 
 Sir George Provost, who commanded the attack, boast- 
 fully claimed a victory after his return to Canada. 
 
 The next enterprise of the British was a predato- 
 ry incursion to the village of Sodus, principally with 
 the view of destroying some stores that had been de- 
 posited there. But their stores being concealed in the 
 woods upon their approach, and exasperated at their 
 disappointment, they set fire to the most valuable 
 part of the village, and continued their devastations 
 until they were compelled precipitately to retreat. 
 Shortly after this. Lieutenant Colonel Berstler was 
 defeated in an attempt to dislodge the enemy from 
 La Couse's house, about seventeen miles from Fort 
 George. After having been attacked by a greatly 
 superior force, while in the execution of this object, he 
 and his whole party Avere compelled to surrender.* 
 
 The British, having been greatly reinforced a few 
 days after, invested the American camp. During 
 the remainder of this and the ensuing month a war 
 of posts was kept up between the two armies. On 
 
 * Brackenridge. 
 
176 THE LIFE OP 
 
 the 8tli of July a severe skirmish took place, in which 
 nearly the whole force on both sides was engaged ; 
 but it ended in no important result. The British, 
 however, succeeded in capturing Lieutenant Eldridge, 
 an accomplished young officer, and ten men, who were 
 never afterwards heard of. They were undoubtedly 
 handed over to the savages, and by them inhumanly 
 murdered. Three days after they attacked Black 
 Rock, but were compelled to betake themselves to 
 their boats, in great haste, almost immediately after 
 landing. On the 28th of July, Colonel Winfield Scott 
 undertook another expedition against York, which had 
 been recaptured by the British. He landed suddenly 
 at the head of three hundred men, destroyed the pub- 
 lic stores, released a number of prisoners, and re- 
 turned to Sacket's Harbor, with but a trifling lo^s. 
 
 The enemy's ambition seem to have been quite 
 satisfied by this kind of warfare, during June and 
 July, and they pursued it with a zest which showed 
 that their hearts were in the cause. They continued 
 their war upon such peaceable citizens, and their out- 
 rages upon such private property, as they could reach 
 without too much exposure. They laid waste the 
 country along the borders of Lake Champlain. All 
 the public buildings at Plattsburgh were wantonly 
 burnt, and a large amount of private property car- 
 ried. Similar outrages were also committed at Swan- 
 ton, in Vermont. On the lakes, little of importance 
 to either side was accomplished during these months. 
 Commodore Chauncey attempted to bring Sir James 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HAKRISON. 177 
 
 Yeo to an engagement on Lake Ontario, but without 
 success. 
 
 At the South, in the meantime, the enemy had 
 prosecuted the war with even less of the usages of 
 civilized nations than at the North ; cruelty and de- 
 struction marked their course. Sometime in Febru- 
 ary, an attack was made upon Lewistown, on the 
 Delaware, by Commodore Beresford ; but the town 
 making a gallant resistance, he was compelled to 
 abandon the enterprise. But, on the Chesapeake, 
 they were more successful. It was here that the no- 
 torious Cockburn, who commanded the British block- 
 ading squadron, acquired the reputation which has 
 rendered his name infamous throughout the world, 
 and given him a standing, in the eyes of all civilized 
 countries, second only to that of Proctor. This mis- 
 erable creature commenced operations as a rear-admi- 
 ral in the British navy, by attacking and robbing 
 detached farm-houses, wantonly slaughtering cattle 
 that he could carry off, and by arming slaves against 
 their masters. Emboldened by his success in robbing 
 hen-roosts, and decoying women and children, he next 
 turned his attention to objects offering richer plunder. 
 
 His first achievement on a large scale was against 
 the village of Frenchtown, containing six dAvelHng- 
 houses, two store-houses, and a few stables, which he 
 gallantly captured, carrying off as usual a consider- 
 able amount of private property stored there. This 
 exploit was followed by the still bolder one of bui-n- 
 ino- Havre de Grace, a village of thirty houses, situ- 
 
178 THE LIFE OP 
 
 atcd on the Susquclianna, Amongst other acts of 
 bravery, during the burning of this town, they offered 
 the grossest insults to the women, tearing their clothes 
 from their backs, and subjecting them to almost every 
 outrage. Having stolen all the private property that 
 had been spared from the flames, and laying Avaste 
 the country for miles around, they suspended the 
 work of destruction for the work of something else 
 to destroy. Following these victories over unarmed 
 citizens and defenceless women and children, was the 
 destruction of Georgetown and Frederickton, Mai-y- 
 land, both of which were plundered of everything 
 valuable before beino; burned. Not long after these 
 achievements, so honorable to the British arms, and 
 so much in keeping with the chivalry and humanity 
 of British officers, their fleet was greatly increased 
 by the arrival of Admiral Warren from the West 
 Indies. 
 
 It was soon ascertained that the first formidable 
 enterprise of the English, after the reinforcement of 
 tlieir fleet, was an attack upon Norfolk. But before 
 this could be successfully undertaken, it was necessary 
 to subdue the forts by which it was protected. Cra- 
 ney Island was the first of these, and it was attacked 
 with great fury on the 22nd of May ; but they were 
 repulsed with loss, several of their boats sunk, and 
 their whole force compelled to make a precipitate re- 
 treat. To revenge themselves, hoAvever, for this de- 
 feat, they proceeded to pillage the town of Hampton, 
 about eighteen miles from Norfolk ; but they met with 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 179 
 
 a warm reception, and, but for the immense superi- 
 ority of force, would have been defeated. After they 
 had got possession of the town, the most shocking 
 outrages were committed upon the inhabitants. Full 
 license was given the soldiers to gratify their passions ; 
 and such acts of brutality and blood-thirsty cruelty 
 were perpetrated as never before disgraced the sol- 
 diers of any civilized nation. 
 
 Having satiated his thirst for blood and plunder, 
 or rather having exhausted the means of gratifying 
 it on the Chesapeake, the hen-roost robbing admiral 
 proceeded farther south in search of new objects to 
 display his gallantry upon. He commenced his ca- 
 reer there by various depredations in North Carolina, 
 quite as honorable as those by which he had already 
 distinguished himself. 
 
 Though all the legitimate evils of war were expe- 
 rienced north of the Chesapeake, none of the bar- 
 barities which disgraced Cockburn's career were per- 
 petrated. Nor, indeed, were there any very important 
 movements or exploits of any kind on the northern 
 coast. An attempt of considerable pretension was 
 made upon New London, or rather an attempt was 
 threatened, but the place was so well fortified that it 
 was abandoned. 
 
 While these events were transpiring, — events that 
 were, in the main, as dishonorable to the British name 
 as they were annoying to the Americans, — our gallant 
 little navy had been running a career of glory that 
 filled the breast of every American with pride, and 
 
180 THE LIFE OP 
 
 the hearts of our enemies with mortification. One of 
 the most brilliant of this series of victories was the 
 capture of the " Peacock," Captain Peake, by the 
 *' Hornet," Captain Lawrence, on the 23rd of Febru- 
 ary, 1812. The "Peacock" was of somewhat supe- 
 rior force to the " Hornet." The action only lasted 
 fifteen minutes, during Avhich the enemy was literally 
 cut to pieces, and went down before her crew could 
 be rescued by the utmost efforts of Captain Lawrence 
 and his crew. 
 
 This brilliant factory, however, was more than 
 counterbalanced by the capture of the " Chesapeake," 
 commanded by the victor of the "Peacock," by the 
 British frigate " Shannon," on the 21st of June fol- 
 lowing. This calamity was owing, not to the want 
 of courage and good conduct in Captain Lawrence, 
 but must be attributed to the character of 'his crew, 
 most of whom had but just been enlisted. Many of 
 his officers were also sick ; and, worse than all, seve- 
 ral foreigners had crept into the ship's crew, who had 
 succeeded in poisoning their minds. This victory 
 made the British nation almost wild with joy, as it 
 seemed to afford them some hope that the American 
 navy was not quite invincible, a fact about which they 
 •were beginning to have their doubts. This hope was 
 considerably strengthened by the capture of the "Ar- 
 gus," after having for two months committed great 
 havoc upon the shipping of the enemy in the English 
 channel. 
 
 On the 5th of September, these misfortunes were 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 181 
 
 partly compensated by the brilliant victory of the 
 American brig "Enterprise," Lieutenant Command- 
 ant William Burrows, over the British frigate " Box- 
 er," of superior force. But this victory was pur- 
 chased with the life of the brave Burrows, the only 
 man killed on board the "Enterprize." The com- 
 mander of the Boxer was also killed. On the 26th 
 of the same month. Commodore Rogers returned after 
 a most successful cruise of five months, having cap- 
 tured a large number of British merchant vessels, 
 and the British war schooner, "Highflier," a tender 
 to Admiral Warren. The " Congress," Captain 
 Smith, which put to sea with the " President," re- 
 turned on the 12th of December, having also captured 
 a large number of the enemy's vessels and two armed 
 brigs. '' 
 
 Besides these brilliant achievements, — for even 
 the actions in which the " Chesapeake" and "Argus" 
 were ^captured added to our naval renown, — on the 
 part of our vessels of war, the American private 
 cruisers rendered valuable service to the country, 
 and aided to convince our proud and powerful enemy 
 that America would, at no distant day, dispute the 
 claim of Great Britain to mistress of the sea. In 
 the engagement betAveen the " Comet" and a Portu- 
 guese brig and three armed merchantmen. Captain 
 Boyle, the commander of the " Comet," after fighting 
 them all for several hours, compelled the brig, though 
 double his own force, to make her escape, and cap- 
 tured one of the merchantmen. Little less brilliant 
 16 
 
182 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Avas the action between the privateer "Decatur" and 
 the British vessel of Avar "Dominica," in Avhich the 
 latter was captured, after a hard contest. Many 
 other actions equally honoi'able to our brave seamen, 
 and equally beneficial to the American cause, we 
 fought during the summer, and immense damage Avas 
 done to British commerce. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 183 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 HAVING thus given a very meagre glance at some 
 of the leading events transpiring at the North, along 
 the Atlantic course, and on the ocean, during this 
 second year of the war, the history of operations 
 with which General Harrison was more immediately 
 connected will be resumed. In these occurrences, 
 important preparations were being made by him at 
 the West. Pubhc attention was directed to that 
 quarter with great anxiety, and the northern army 
 remained almost with folded arms, awaiting the cam- 
 paign upon which he was about to enter, and of the 
 daily anticipated contest for the command of Lake 
 Erie. The British labored with equal diligence to 
 strengthen themselves, fully alive as they were to the 
 fatal consequences of defeat either on the lake or by 
 land. Troops were therefore constantly arriving to 
 reinforce Proctor's army, and to enable him to follow 
 ■ up any advantage that might be obtained over our 
 fleet.* 
 
 On the other hand, the people of Ohio and Ken- 
 
 * Brackenridge raising r^forcements and organizing. 
 
184 THE LIFE OF 
 
 tucky were making the most patriotic sacrifices in 
 secoudino; the efi'orts of General Harrison. One uni- 
 versal feeling of excitement prevailed amongst the 
 people ; and had the exigencies of the country re- 
 quired it, every man capable of bearing arms would 
 cheerfully have marched to her defence at whatever 
 sacrifice. Fifteen thousand men, — three times the 
 number required, — promptly responded to the call of 
 the patriotic Governor Meigs of Ohio ; and the noble- 
 hearted Shelby, Governor of Kentucky, declared his 
 intention of putting himself at the head of the volun- 
 teers of that State, whose number he limited to four 
 thousand, with the determination of avenging their 
 murdered friends and brothers. 
 
 General Harrison, who, it will be recollected, was 
 left at Franklinton with his army for active opera- 
 tions, received information in June that Fort Meigs 
 was again invested. But this proved to be a false 
 alarm ; and, after satisfying himself that the enemy 
 had no such immediate intention, he returned to 
 Lower Sandusky. From that place, he set off for 
 Cleveland, on business connected with the public 
 stores accumulated there, and to hasten the com- 
 pletion of boats designed for transporting the army 
 across the lake. On the 23rd of July, a body of 
 eight hundred Indians passed Fort Meigs, and it was 
 supposed they contemplated an attack upon Fort Win- 
 chester. Two days afterwards, a large body of In- 
 dians and British, amounting to not less than five 
 thousand men, mostly Indians, passed in the same 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRJHON 185 
 
 direction. This was the largest army of Indians ever 
 assembled on any occasion during the army. 
 
 General Harrison, however, came to the conclu- 
 sion that this movement against Fort Meigs was de- 
 signed to divert his attention from Lower Sandusky, 
 the real object of attack. The result proved the re- 
 markable accuracy of his judgment. He immediately 
 removed his head quarters to Seneca, nine miles above 
 that place. He could thus fall back upon Upper San- 
 dusky, should circumstances render it necessary, and 
 move to the relief of Fort Meigs, as these two points 
 were of far more importance than Lower Sandusky. 
 Major Greorge Croghan, with one hundred and sixty 
 regulars, was left at the latter place for the defence 
 of Fort Stephenson. The number of troops at 
 Seneca amounted to only six hundred, a force entirely 
 too small to advance upon Fort Meigs. Captain Mc 
 Cune was sent back to General Clay, then in com- 
 mand of that post, with information that, as early as 
 the commander-in-chief could collect a sufficient num- 
 ber of troops, he would relieve that fort. But the 
 day after the return of the express, the enemy raised 
 the siege, and, as had been foreseen by General Har- 
 rison, the British sailed round into Sandusky Bay, 
 while the Indians marched across the country to aid 
 in the attack upon Lower Sandusky, now satisfactorily 
 ascertained to be the real object against which their 
 efforts were to be directed.* 
 
 On the 21st of April of this year. General Har- 
 
 * Sketches of General Harrison. 
 
 16* 
 
18G THE LIFE OF 
 
 rison had written to the Secretary of War, advising him 
 that he shouUl cause the movements of the enemy to be 
 narrowly watched ; but that in the event of his land- 
 ing at Lower Sandusky it could not, in his opinion, 
 be saved, and he should cause it to be evacuated and 
 the arms there removed. Shortly before the express 
 from Fort Meigs reached General Harrison, he, in 
 company with Major Croghan and other officers, had 
 examined Fort Stephenson, and come to the conclu- 
 sion that it could not be defended against heavy artil- 
 lery, and that it then must be abandoned and burnt, 
 provided a retreat could be safely effected. In the 
 orders given Major Croghan, he was immediately to 
 retreat in case he could discover the approach of the 
 enemy with cannon, in season to do so, and to destroy 
 all the public stores. It was suggested that the at- 
 tempt to retreat in the face of an Indian force would 
 be vain, and that against such an enemy, however 
 great, the garrison would be safe. 
 , Immediately upon information being received by 
 the commander-in-chief, a council of war was held, 
 composed of McArthur, Cass, Bull, Wood, Holmes, 
 Hukill, Paul, and Graham, who were unanimously of 
 opinion that Fort Stephenson was untenable against 
 heavy artillery, and that the garrison should be with- 
 drawn and the place destroyed, upon the approach of 
 the enemy. An order was therefore forthwith sent to 
 him, requiring him at once to abandon the fort, set 
 fire to it, and repair with his command to head quar- 
 ters. This order did not reach Major Croghan until 
 
WILLIAM HENEY HARRISON. 187 
 
 the next clay, tlie 30th of July. By this time he was 
 of opinion that he would not retreat with safety, as 
 the Indians had surrounded the fort in considerable 
 numbers. 
 
 In this opinion a majority of his officers concurred. 
 They were equally decided in the opinion that the 
 fort would be maintained, at any rate, until further 
 instructions could be received from head quarters. 
 Major Croghan therefore promptly acknowledged the 
 receipt of this order, informing the commander-in- 
 chief that it had been received too late to make good 
 his retreat, and then laconically adding, " we have 
 determined to maintain this place ; by heavens, we 
 can ! " Not understanding the motives which induced 
 this apparent disobedience of orders, nor the consid- 
 erations which prompted the use of such strong lan- 
 guage, — the fear it might fall into the hands of the 
 enemy, — next morning sent General Wells, under the 
 escort of Colonel Ball and a detachment of dragoons 
 to relieve Major Groghan of his ordering him to re- 
 pair to head quarters. On his arrival there, he ex- 
 plained his motives to the satisfaction of General 
 Harrison, and was immediately after directed to re- 
 sume his post, and fully authorized to defend the fort 
 to the last. 
 
 The next day it was supposed that the British were 
 within twenty miles of Fort Stephenson, approaching 
 theplace by water. It was not till after twelve o'clock 
 on the 1st of August, when the scouts that had been 
 sent out by General Harrison communicated this in- 
 
188 THE LIFE OF 
 
 formation to Major Croghan. In a few hours after, 
 the fort was actually invested by the British and In- 
 dians. The force of the enemy amounted to five 
 hundred regulars and seven hundred Indians, under 
 the command of the despicable General Proctor. 
 After he had made such a disposition of his troops 
 as rendered it impossible for the garrison to escape, 
 he sent a flag of truce by Colonel Elliot and Major 
 Chambers, demanding the surrender of the fort, ac- 
 companied with the usual threat of butchery and 
 massacre of the garrison should it persist in hold- 
 ing out. 
 
 Major Croghan, finding that all his companions — 
 who, like himself, were mere striplings — would sup- 
 port him to the last, declined the summons, assuring 
 the bearers that " when the garrison surrendered, 
 there would be none left to massacre, as it would not 
 be given up while there was a man able to fight." 
 When the flag returned, bearing this Spartan-spirited 
 reply, a brisk fire was opened from six-pounders in 
 their boats, and from a howitzer, which was kept up 
 during the night. The next morning it was discov- 
 ered that three sixes had been planted, under cover of 
 the darkness, -within two hundred and fifty yards of 
 the pickets, which shortly after commenced firing, 
 with little effect. About four o'clock in the after- 
 noon, the enemy having concentrated his fire against 
 the north-west angle of the fort, with the intention 
 of making a breach, it was immediately strengthened 
 by means of bags of flour and sand. At the same 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 189 
 
 time, the six-pounder, the only piece of artillery in 
 the fort, was carefully concealed in the bastion which 
 covered the point to be assailed, and loaded with slugs 
 and grape shot. 
 
 About five hundred of the enemy now advanced to 
 attack the part where it was supposed the pickets had 
 been injured, at the same time making several feints 
 to draw the attention of the besieged from the real 
 point to be assailed. Their force being thus disposed, 
 a column of three hundred and fifty men, who were 
 so completely enveloped in a density of smoke as not 
 to be seen until they approached within twenty paces 
 of the lines, advanced rapidly to the assault. A fire 
 of musketry from the fort threw them for a moment 
 into confusion ; but they were quickly rallied by 
 Colonel Short, who sprung over the outer works into 
 the ditch, and commanded them to follow, character- 
 istically exclaiming, " Give the d d Yankees no 
 
 quarter." Scarcely had the profane and inhuman 
 order been uttered, when the six-pounder opened upon 
 them a most destructive fire, killing their barbarous 
 leader and twenty others, and wounding as many 
 more. A volley of musketry was discharged upon 
 the assailants with fatal effect. 
 
 The officer who succeeded Colonel Short in the 
 command, exasperated at meeting such opposite re- 
 sistance from a parcel of boys, formed the broken 
 columns anew, and again rushed to the onset with re- 
 doubled fury. The six-pounder was again played 
 upon them with the same terrible success as before, 
 
190 THE LIFE OF 
 
 / 
 
 and the volleys from tlie musketry "were poured in 
 upon them in such rapid succession, and with such 
 unerring certainty, that they were once more thrown 
 into confusion, and, in spite of the exertion of their 
 officers, fled to an adjoining wood with even more 
 speed than they had, but a few moments before, ex- 
 ercised to gain, as they thought, so easy and so cer- 
 tain prey. Their savage allies immediately followed 
 them, and shortly after the assailants abandoned the 
 attack in despair. Panic struck, they retreated to 
 their boats in sullen silence, scarcely daring to cast 
 their eyes towards the spot where so many of their 
 companions had found a bloody grave, and whei'e they 
 had met with so ignominious a defeat from an enemy 
 they held in so much contempt, and scarcely one- 
 tenth their own number.* 
 
 Glorious as w^as the conduct of the heroic Crog- 
 han and his brave companions in this gallant defence 
 of a post decided by a council of war to he feneeless, 
 it reflects scarcely more honor on the no^le little 
 band than their treatment towards their wounded 
 enemies who had been left at their mercy by the 
 British in their flight. Regardless of the fact that 
 they were doomed to an indiscriminate massacre had 
 they fallen into the hands of Proctor's butchers, and 
 of every other consideration save the impulses of 
 their own noble souls, they directed their whole 
 efforts to relieving the suff'erings of their wounded 
 foes. Provisions and water were handed over the 
 
 * Brackenridge. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 191 
 
 pickets to them during the night ; and although a 
 firing was still kept up u.pon them, an opening was 
 made, and many of them were removed within the 
 fort where they were immediately supplied with sm*- 
 gical aid and every kindness and attention within the 
 power of the victors saown them. The fabled eastern 
 prince, who offered the hand of his daughter to the 
 man who would do the noblest and most disinterested 
 act, would have awarded the prize to Croghan, had 
 he lived in that age. No fairer wreath can adorn the 
 brow of a soldier than such conduct, under such cir- 
 cumstances. It was not so much that the objects of 
 his humane treatment were his own and his compan- 
 ion's chosen and willing executions, as that they were 
 the perpetrators of the Frenchtown massacre, that 
 renders this act of magnanimity so truly noble. 
 
 In this brilliant defense, the Americans' loss 
 amounted to one killed and seven wounded. The 
 enemy lost one hundred and fifty in killed and 
 wounded, more than one-third of whom was killed. 
 Upwards of fifty were found in and about the ditch 
 after the enemy had fled. The next morning it was 
 discovered that the enemy had retreated, and with so 
 much precipitation that they left behind them one 
 boat, a considerable quantity of military stores, and 
 upwards of seventy stands of arms. During the day, 
 the Americans were engaged in burying their dead, 
 with the honors of war, and in providing for their 
 wounded. 
 
 This achievement, so honorable in every respect to 
 
1«)2 THE LIFE OP 
 
 the gallant defenders of Fort Stephenson, or Fort San- 
 dusky, called forth, as it deserved, the admiration of 
 the whole American people. Major Croghan, together 
 •with Captain Hunter, Lieutenants Johnson and Baylor, 
 and Ensigns Shipp and Duncan (the latter afterwards 
 governor of Illinois), of the seventeenth regiment, as 
 well as several other oflSicers and volunteers, were 
 highly complimented hy General Harrison. They 
 also, afterwards, received the thanks of Congress. 
 Major Croghan was promoted to the rank of Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel, and was presented with an elegant 
 sword hy the patriotic ladies of Chillicothe. Li Gen- 
 eral Harrison's official report of this hrilliant affair, 
 he said : " It will not be among the least of General 
 Proctor's mortifications to find that he has been baf- 
 fled by a youth who has just passed his twenty-first 
 year. He is, howevei*, a hero Avorthy of his gallant 
 uncle, George R. Clark."* 
 
 When General Harrison was informed of the at- 
 tack upon Fort Stephenson, he hesitated, very natu- 
 rally, before going to its relief. He was hourly 
 expecting considerable reinforcements, but had not 
 then a disposable force of more than eight hundred 
 men, one-fifth of whom was cavalry, who would have 
 been of little service in the thick woods between 
 Seneca and Lower Sandusky. The remainder of this 
 force was raw recruits, upon whom he did not con- 
 sider it safe to rely in such an emergency. He feared 
 that to have marched against an enemy several thou- 
 
 ': * See Appendix (C). 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. * 193 
 
 sand strong, with sucli a force, would have resulted in 
 its total destruction. He would also in that case be 
 compelled to leave one hundred and fifty sick soldiers 
 in his camp at Seneca, exposed to the ruthless foe, 
 while the public stores at Upper Sandusky, in which 
 were included ten thousand barrels of flour, which 
 were indispensable to the main objects of the cam- 
 paign, would be equally exposed to the attack of 
 Tecumthe and his horde of savages. 
 
 This renoAvned chief was then lying between Sen- 
 eca and Fort Meigs, ready to fall upon either the 
 former place or Upper Sandusky the moment General 
 Harrison should march to the relief of Fort Stephen- 
 son. He was bound, therefore, on correct military 
 principles, to retain that position in which he could 
 with the most certainty accomplish the best results.* 
 Confidently relying upon reinforcements before the 
 fort could be reduced, he determined to await the 
 progress of events for a time, at least. On the night 
 of the 2nd of August, that the enemy was retreating, 
 and having in the meantime received a reinforcement 
 of three hundred Ohio militia, he set out for the fort 
 early the next morning, attended by the dragoons, 
 and directing the remainder of his disposable force to 
 follow under Generals Cass and McArthur. Upon 
 arriving at the fort, he was informed by a wounded 
 British sergeant, that Tecumthe was in the swamp, 
 south of Fort Meigs, ready to attack Upper San- 
 dusky, upon the first opportunity. This information 
 * Sketehes of General Hai'rison. | 
 
 IT 
 
194 THE LIFE OF 
 
 corroborated what he had before heard, and induced 
 him to direct General McArthur, Avho had not yet 
 reached the fort, to return to Seneca with all possible 
 dispatch. 
 
 The conduct of the commander-in-chief, in regard 
 to the defense of Fort Stephen, having been subject 
 to severe criticism by his enemies, the testimony of 
 the gallant Major Croghan himself, in reply to these 
 disingenuous charges, may be here appropriately in- 
 troduced. In a letter to a friend in Cincinnati, dated 
 at Lower Sandusky, August 27th, 1813, he wrote as 
 follows : 
 
 "I have, with much regret, seen in some of the 
 public prints such misrepresentations respecting my 
 refusal to evacuate this post as are calculated not 
 only to injure me in the estimation of military men, 
 but also to excite unfavorable impressions as to the 
 propriety of General Harrison's conduct relative to 
 this affair. 
 
 " His character as a military man is too well es- 
 tablished to need my approbation or support. But 
 his public services entitle him at least to common jus- 
 tice : this affair does not furnish causes of reproach. 
 If public opinion has been hastily misled respecting 
 his late conduct, it will require but a moment's cool 
 dispassionate reflection to convince them of its pro- 
 priety. The measures recently adopted by him, so 
 far from deserving censure, are the clearest proofs of 
 his keen penetration and able generalship. It is true 
 that I did not proceed immediately to execute his 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 195 
 
 order to evacuate the post ; but this disobedience was 
 not (as some would wish to believe) the result of a 
 fixed determination to maintain the post contrary to 
 his most positive orders, as will appear from the fol- 
 lowing detail, which is given to explain my conduct. 
 
 "About ten o'clock, on the morning of the 30th 
 ult., a letter from the Adjutant-General's office, dated 
 Seneca Town, July 29, 1813, was handed me by Mc 
 Conner, ordering me to abandon this post, burn it, 
 and retreat that night to head quarters. On the re- 
 ception of the order, I called a council of officers, in 
 which it was determined not to abandon the place, at 
 least until the further pleasure of the general should 
 be known, as it was thought an attempt to retreat in 
 open day, in the face of a superior force of the ene- 
 my, would be more hazardous than to remain in the 
 fort, under all its disadvantages. I therefore wrote a 
 letter to the general, couched in such terms as I 
 thought were calculated to deceive the enemy, should 
 it fall into his hands, which I thought more than 
 probable, as well as to inform the general, should it 
 be so fortunate as to reach him, that I would wait to 
 hear from him before I should proceed to execute his 
 order. This letter, contrary to my expectations, was 
 received by the general, who, not knowing what rea- 
 sons urged me to write in a tone so decisive, con- 
 cluded, very rationally, that the manner of it was 
 demonstrative of a most positive determination to 
 disobey his orders under any circumstances. I was 
 therefore suspended from the command of the fort, 
 
196 THE LIFE 01' 
 
 and ordered to head quarters. But on explaining to 
 the general my reasons for not executing his order, 
 and my object in using the style I had done, he was 
 so perfectly satisfied with the explanation that I was 
 immediately reinstated in the command. 
 
 " It will be recollected that the order above al- 
 luded to was written on the night previous to my 
 receiving it. Had it been delivered to me, as was in- 
 tended, that night, I should have obeyed it without 
 hesitation. Its not reaching me in time was the only 
 reason which induced me to consult my officers on the 
 propriety of waiting the general's further orders. 
 
 " It has been stated also that, 'upon my represen- 
 tation of my ability to Maintain this post, the general 
 altered his determination to abandon it.' This is in- 
 correct ; no such representation was ever made. And 
 the last order I received from the general was pre- 
 cisely the same as that first given; viz., that if I dis- 
 covered the approach of a large British force by 
 water (presuming they would bring heavy artillery), 
 and had time enough to effect a retreat, I was to do 
 so ; but if I could not retreat with safety, to defend 
 the post to the last extremity. 
 
 "A day or two before the enemy appeared at 
 Tort Meigs, the general had reconnoitered the sur- 
 rounding ground, and being informed that the hill on 
 the opposite side of Sandusky completely commanded 
 the fort, I offered to undertake, with the troops under 
 my command, to remove it to that side. The gene- 
 ral, upon reflection, thought it best not to attempt it, 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 197 
 
 as he believed that if the enemy again appeared on 
 this side of the lake it would be before the ^York could 
 be finished. 
 
 " It is useless to disguise the fact, that this fort is 
 commanded by the points of high ground around it. 
 One single stroke of the eye made this clear to ma 
 the first time I had occasion to examine the neighbor- 
 hood, with a view of discovering the relative strength 
 and weakness of the place. 
 
 " It would be insincere to say that I am not flat- 
 tered by the many handsome things which have been 
 said about the defense which was made by the troops 
 under my command : but I desire no plaudits which 
 are bestowed upon me at the expense of General 
 Harrison. 
 
 " I have at all times enjoyed his confidence, so far 
 as my rank in the army entitled me to it, and on 
 proper occasions received his marked attention. I 
 have felt the warmest attachment for him as a man, 
 and my confidence in him as an able commander re- 
 mains unshaken. I feel every assurance that he will 
 at all times do me ample justice ; and nothing could 
 give me more pain than to seize upon the occasion to 
 deal out their unfriendly feelings and acrimonious dis- 
 like ; and so long as he continues (as in my humble 
 opinion he has done) to make the wisest arrangements 
 and most judicious disposition which the forces under 
 his command will justify, I shall not hesitate to unite 
 with the army in bestowing upon him that confidence 
 17* 
 
198 THE LIFE OP 
 
 which he so richly merits, and which has on no occa- 
 sion been withheld. 
 
 " In addition to the above unqualified and mag- 
 nanimous approval of General Harrison's conduct by 
 one more nearly interested, personally, in the charges 
 against him, all the field ofiicers of the army united 
 in a cordial approval of his conduct, and in an unqual- 
 ified denial of the truth of those charges. Amongst 
 others who thus unequivocally and indignantly re- 
 pudiated everything like improper conduct in the 
 commander-in-chief, in reference to this afi"air, were 
 General Lewis Cass, Colonel Samuel Wells, Colonel 
 T. D. Owen, Colonel George Paul, Colonel J. C. 
 Boatless, and Lieutenant-Colonel Ball. These two 
 documents spontaneously given, and from the highest 
 possible authority, must for ever put at rest, at least 
 with all generous minds, the censures which partizan 
 illiberality attempted to cast upon his fair name, and 
 his military fame." 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 199 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Immediately after the termination of the bril- 
 liant defense of Fort Stephenson, and the disgraceful 
 repulse of the enemy, Tecumthe raised the siege of 
 Fort Meigs, and followed Proctor to Detroit, all hopes 
 being given up by the enemy of reducing the Ameri- 
 can forts, until they could gain the ascendancy on the 
 lake. The utmost exertions had been made in the 
 meanwhile, by Captain Perry, to complete the naval 
 arrangements on Lake Erie. By the 2nd of August, 
 the fleet was fully equipped, though some time was 
 lost in getting several of the vessels over the bar at 
 the mouth of Erie harbor. On the 4th, Captain Perry 
 sailed in quest of the enemy, but not meeting him, he 
 returned on the 8th. But after receiving a reinforce- 
 ment of sailors, he again sailed on the 12th, and on 
 the 15th anchored in the Bay of Sandusky. Here 
 he took in a few volunteer marines, and again sailed 
 in search of the enemy, and after cruising off Maiden 
 a short time, retired to Put-in-Bay, a distance of 
 thirty miles. 
 
 The fleet of Captain Perry consisted of the brig 
 *' Lawrence," his flag ship, of twenty guns; the "Ni- 
 
200 THE LIFE OF 
 
 agara," Captain Elliot, of twenty guns ; tlie "Caledo- 
 nian," Lieutenant Turner, of three guns; the schooner 
 " Ariel," of four guns ; the '' Scorpion," of two guns ; 
 the " Somers," of two guns and two swivels ; the sloop 
 " Trippe," and the schooners " Tigris" and " Porcu- 
 pine," of one gun each, amounting in all to nine ves- 
 sels, fifty- four guns and two swivels. 
 
 On the morning of the 10th of September, the 
 enemy was bearing down upon the American squad- 
 ron, which immediately got under way, and stood 
 out to meet him. The Americans had three ves- 
 sels more than the British ; but this advantage was 
 fully counterbalanced by the size and number of guns 
 of those of the enemy. The fleet of the latter consist- 
 ed of the "Detroit," Commodore Barclay, of nineteen 
 guns; the "Queen Charlotte," Captain Finnis, of 
 seventeen guns; the schooner " Lady Provost," Lieu- 
 tenant Buchan, of thirteen guns and two howitzers ; 
 the brig " Hunter," of two guns ; the sloop " Little 
 Belt," of three guns; and the schooner " Chippewa," 
 of one gun and two swivels ; in all, six vessels, sixty- 
 three guns, four howitzers and two swivels. 
 
 When the Americans stood out, the British fleet had 
 the weather gage, but the wind soon after changed and 
 brouo-ht the American fleet to the windward. The 
 line of battle was formed at eleven o'clock, and at fif- 
 teen minutes before twelve the enemy's flag-ship, and 
 the " Queen Charlotte," opened the fire upon the 
 " Lawrence," Avhich she sustained for ten minutes 
 before she was near enough to return the fire. She 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 201 
 
 continued to bear tip, making signals for the other 
 vessels to hasten to her support. At five minutes be- 
 fore twelve she brought her guns to bear upon the 
 enemy. The wind being light, unfortunately the 
 smaller vessels could not come up to her assistance, 
 and she was, therefore, compelled to contend single- 
 handed for two hours with two ships, each nearly 
 equal to her in force. But the contest was maintained 
 by her with unshaken courage, and with a coolness 
 which won the highest admiration. 
 
 By this time the " Lawrence" had become entirely 
 unmanageable, every gun in her being dismounted, and 
 with the exception of four or five, the whole crew either 
 killed or wounded. Perry, therefore, determined to 
 leave her. With a presence of mind and courage that 
 showed forth the praise of the gallant ofiicer to whom 
 he was opposed, he sprung into his boat, and heroic- 
 ally waving his sword passed vrith his flag unharmed 
 to the " Niagara." At the moment he reached the 
 "Niagara," the flag of the "Lawrence" came down. 
 She was utterly disabled and could make no further 
 resistance. Captain Elliot now left the " Niagara" 
 Avith the view of bringing up the rest of the fleet, 
 while Perry again bore down upon the enemy in a 
 ship that had as yet taken no part in the action. As he 
 passed ahead of the " Detroit," "Queen Charlotte" 
 and " Lady Provost," he poured into each a broad- 
 side from his starboard side, and from his larboard 
 poured a broadside into the " Chippewa" and " Little 
 Belt." The fire upon the "Lady Provost," Avas so 
 
202 THE LIFE OP 
 
 destructive that the men were compelled to take ref- 
 uge below. 
 
 At this moment the wind freshened, and the " Cal- 
 edonian" was enabled to come into action, opening a 
 heavy fire. Several of the other vessels Avere soon 
 after able to follow her example. For a time this 
 action, the result of which was to have so important 
 a bearing upon the whole campaign, raged with inde- 
 scribable violence. The command of a sea, and the 
 honor of two rival nations, as well as the result of a 
 campaign, hung upon the issue. But the contest was 
 not long doubtful. The "Queen Charlotte" lost her 
 Captain, and all her principal officers, and by some 
 mischance ran foul of the " Detroit," and thus the 
 greater part of the guns were rendered useless. The 
 two ships were now in turn compelled to sustain a 
 heavy and incessant fire from the "Niagara," and the 
 other vessels of the American squadron. The flag of 
 Captain Barclay soon struck, and the " Queen Char- 
 lotte," the "Lady Provost," the " Hunter," and the 
 " Chipppewa," surrendered in immediate succession. 
 The " Little Belt" attempted to escape, but was pur- 
 sued by two gun-boats and was captured.* 
 
 Thus terminated the first naval action between an 
 American and a British fleet. Our ships had often 
 met and conquered the enemy in single combat, but 
 we had never before beaten Great Britain in squad- 
 ron. Every vessel of the enemy was captured, and 
 the Americans, by this brilliant victory, had acquired 
 
 , * Brackenridge. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 203 
 
 absolute command of Lake Erie, and rendered tlie fall 
 of Maiden, and the recovery of Detroit, and conse- 
 quently of Michigan, almost certain. If anything 
 could enhance the brilliancy of this victory, and add 
 to the fame of the heroic Perry, it was the modest 
 and ever memorable terms in which he announced the 
 splendid achievement. " We have met the enemy and 
 they are ours,'" has become and will remain the watch- 
 word of victory, while the Union lasts, and will do 
 little less to render immortal the name of Oliver 
 Hazzard Perry, than the victory the language was 
 designed to announce. 
 
 The loss on both sides, in this engagement, was 
 unusually severe, compared with their respective 
 forces, though much the heaviest in the British fleet. 
 The Americans had twenty-seven killed and ninety- 
 six wounded. Amongst the former were Lieutenant 
 Brooks of the marines, and Midshipman Laub ; and 
 amongst the latter. Lieutenant Yarnall, Sailing-master 
 Taylor, Purser Hamilton, and Midshipmen Claxton 
 and Swartwout. The loss of the British amounted to 
 about two hundred, in killed and wounded, many of 
 whom were oflficers ; and the prisoners, who amounted 
 to six hundred, exceeded the whole number of Ameri- 
 cans engaged under Perry. After the victory had been 
 decided, Commmodore Perry's humane conduct to the 
 wounded British soldiers, and his kind consideration to 
 his prisoners, was as honorable to his nature as his 
 coolness and bravery during the action was to him as 
 an officer. It called forth their warmest thanks. Cap- 
 
204 THE LIFE OF 
 
 tain Barclay declared that " Lis conduct towards tlie 
 captive officers and men was enough to immortalize 
 him." 
 
 Having now by this signal victory over the British, 
 and the destruction of their whole fleet, obtained un- 
 disputed possession of the lake, active preparations 
 were immediately made for expelling Proctor from 
 Maiden, and for the recovery of Detroit. General 
 Harrison called on Governor Meigs for a portion of 
 the Ohio volunteers, who, it has previously been 
 stated, had tendered their services to General Harri- 
 son ; the whole of whom had not yet been disbanded. 
 On the 17th of September, four thousand volunteers, 
 the flower of Kentucky, with the venerable and patri- 
 otic Governor Shelby, the hero of King's mountain, at 
 their head, arrived at General Harrison's camp. 
 
 Thus reinforced, the commander-in-chief deter- 
 mined at once to embark the infantry on board the 
 fleet for Maiden ; and he directed Colonel Richard 
 M. Johnson to proceed with his mounted regiment of 
 Kentuckians to Detroit by land. The latter accord- 
 ingly took up their line of march, and arrived at the 
 point of destination on the 30th of September, the 
 day after the infantry. On the 27th, the other troops 
 embarked on board the vessels, and the next day ar- 
 rived at a point below Maiden. But the British gen- 
 eral, brave as he was, in making war upon unarmed 
 men, declined to wait the approach of the Americans 
 at that point. He had therefore destroyed the fleet 
 and public stores, and retreated along the Thames 
 
AVILLIAM UENRY HARRISON. 205 
 
 towards the Moravian villages, together "witli Lis sav- 
 age allies under Tecumthe. Upon arriving at Mai- 
 den, a number of females came out to implore tlic 
 protection of the commander-in-chief; but he had 
 already given orders that even Proctor himself, if 
 taken prisoner, should not be harmed, much less inno- 
 cent and unprotected women. Governor Shelby had 
 also issued an address to the Kentucky troops, enforc- 
 ing it upon them to treat the inhabitants with justice 
 and humanity, and to respect private property. On 
 the 29th, the army reached Detroit, and took posses- 
 sion of that town. It was resolved by General 
 Harrison and Governor Shelby to proceed immedi- 
 ately in pursuit of General Proctor. 
 
 On the 2nd of October, they marched with a force 
 of three thousand selected men, consisting chiefly of 
 Colonel Ball's dragoons. Colonel Johnson's mounted 
 resiment, and other detachments of Governor Shel- 
 by's Kentucky volunteers. Commodore Perry and 
 General Cass accompanied General Harrison on this 
 enterprise as volunteer aids. On the first day the 
 army moved with such rapidity that it traveled twen- 
 ty-six miles. The same day they captured a Lieu- 
 tenant of dragoons and eleven privates, from whom it 
 was ascertained that Proctor had no certain knowl- 
 edge of the approach of General Harrison. While 
 repairing a bridge across a branch of the Thames, 
 which the enemy had partly destroyed, they were 
 attacked by a body of Indians from the other side. 
 But they were soon dispersed, and two thousand stand 
 18 
 
206 THE LIFE OF 
 
 of arms and a quantity of clothing taken. They then 
 pursued the enemy four miles up the Thames, taking 
 several pieces of cannon, and compelling them to de- 
 stroy several vessels containing public stores. The 
 following day they reached the place where the ene- 
 my had encamped the night before. 
 
 General Harrison ascertained shortly after that 
 the British army had made a stand a few miles dis- 
 tant, and was preparing for action. General Proctor 
 had drawn up his regular forces across a narrow strip 
 of land covered with hearth trees, flanked on one side 
 by a swamp, and on the other by the River Thames. 
 Their left rested on the river, supported by the larger 
 portion of their artillery, and their right on the 
 swamp. Beyond the swamp, and between it and the 
 other morass, still further to the right, were posted 
 the Indians under Tecumthe. This position was skil- 
 fully chosen by Proctor ; but he committed a fatal 
 error in neglecting to fortify his front, and drawing 
 up his troops in open order. His whole force con- 
 sisted of eight hundred regular soldiers, and two 
 thousand Indian warriors.* 
 
 The troops, at General Harrison's disposal, amount- 
 ed to about three thousand. But when it is recol- 
 lected that the enemy had chosen his own position, 
 effectually securing his flank, and that Harrison could 
 not present to him a line more extended than his own, 
 this disparity of force will be admitted to be nearly 
 or quite compensated for, and the superior bravery of 
 
 * Brackenridge. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 207 
 
 the American troops made apparent. They consisted 
 of about one hundred and twenty regulars, of the 
 twenty-seventh regiment ; five brigades of Kentucky 
 volunteer militia infantry, under Governor Shelby, 
 averaging less than five hundred men ; and Colonel 
 Johnson's mounted infantry. No disposition of an 
 army, opposed to an Indian force, can be safe, unless 
 it can be secured on the flank and in the rear. Gen- 
 eral Harrison formed his men in conformity with this 
 idea. 
 
 General Trotter's brigade, of five hundred men, 
 formed the front line ; his right up the road, and his 
 left upon the swamp. General King's brigade formed 
 the second line, one hundred and fifty yards in the 
 rear of General Trotter's ; and General Child's brig- 
 ade, as a corps reserve, in the rear of it. These three 
 brigadiers formed the command of Major-General 
 Henry. The whole of General Desha's division, con- 
 sisting of two brigades, were formed en jyotence on 
 the left of General Trotter. 
 
 While General Harrison was engaged in forming 
 the infantry, he had directed Colonel Johnson's regi- 
 ment, which was still in front, to be formed in two 
 lines opposite to the enemy ; and, upon the advance 
 of the infantry, to take ground to the left, and fixing 
 upon that flank, endeavor to turn the right of the 
 Indians. But from the thickness of the woods, and 
 swampiness of the ground, he was convinced that they 
 would be unabled to do anything on horseback, and 
 there was no time to dismount and place their horses 
 
208 THE LIFE OF 
 
 in security. lie, therefore, determined to refuse liis 
 left to the Indians, and to break the British lines, at 
 once, by a charge of the mounted infantry. This was 
 a novel movement in military tactics, suggested by 
 General Harrison's good judgment, and one that 
 he was satisfied would succeed, from the fact that 
 American backwoodsmen ride better in the woods 
 than any other people. He was persuaded, too, that 
 the enemy would be quite unprepared for the shock, 
 and would be unable to resist it. 
 
 In accordance with this plan, General Harrison 
 directed the regiment to be drawn up in close columns, 
 with its right at a distance of fifty yards from the 
 road, that it might be, in some measure, protected by 
 the trees from the artillery ; its left upon the swamp, 
 and to charge at full speed as soon as the enemy 
 delivered their fire. The few regular troops of the 
 twenty-seventh regiment, under Colonel Paul, occu- 
 pied, in columns of sections four, the small space, 
 between the road and the river, for the purpose of 
 seizing the enemy's artillery, and some ten or twelve 
 friendly Indians were directed to move under the 
 bank. The crotchet formed by the first line, and Gen- 
 eral Desha's division, was an important point. At that 
 place Governor Shelby was posted. 
 
 General Harrison placed himself at the head of 
 the front line of infantry to direct the movements 
 of the cavalry, and to give them the necessary 
 support. The army had moved on in this order, but 
 a short distance, when the mounted men received the 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 209 
 
 fire of the British line and were ordered to charge. 
 The horses in the front column recoiled from the fire. 
 Another fire was immediately given bj the enemy, 
 and the cavalry at length, getting in motion, broke 
 through them with irresistible force. In one minute 
 the contest in front was over. The British officers, 
 seeing no hope of reducing their broken and panic- 
 struck ranks to order, and the American mounted 
 men wheeling upon them and pouring in upon them a 
 steady and destructive fire, immediately surrendered. 
 Upon the left, however, the contest was more severe 
 with the Indians. Colonel Johnson, who commanded 
 on the flank of his regiment, received a most galling 
 fire from them : but it was returned with great effect. 
 The Indians, still further to the right, advanced and 
 fell in with our front line of infantry, near its junc- 
 tion Avith General Desha's division, and for a moment 
 made an impression upon it. Governor Shelby, how- 
 ever, brought up a regiment to its support, and the 
 enemy receiving a severe fire in front, and a part of 
 Colonel Johnson's regiment having gained their rear, 
 retreated with precipitation. 
 
 During the action the Indians, under their distin- 
 guished leader, Tecumthe, fought with a courage and 
 determination which the British troops did not ex- 
 hibit. The voice of their great chief could be dis- 
 tinctly heard, even above the roar of battle, encour- 
 aging his warriors to increased efforts ; and although 
 beset on every side, except that of the morass, they 
 fought with more obstinate bravery than they had 
 18* 
 
210 THE LIFE OP 
 
 ever exhibited before. Indeed, they only ceased their 
 efforts after the fall of Tecumthe, who was killed near 
 the close of the action. Colonel Johnson having ob- 
 served the desperation with which he and a body 
 of warriors who had gathered around him fought, 
 charged into the midst of them. His uniform and 
 the white horse he rode made him a conspicuous mark 
 for Indian rifles, and he almost immediately fell badly 
 wounded. Tecumthe meanwhile was killed in the 
 melee ; but the Indians continued to fight as fiercely 
 as ever for some time, until no longer hearing the 
 voice of their great leader, they gave way on all 
 sides. The contest was now closed, and the Ameri- 
 cans had obtained an overwhelming victory over the 
 marauder Proctor and his far greater and more mag- 
 nanimous ally, Tecumthe. 
 
 The loss of the British in this engagement was 
 nineteen killed, fifty wounded, and six hundred taken 
 prisoners. The Indians left one hundred and twenty 
 on the field. The American loss, in killed and Avound- 
 ed, amounted to upwards of fifty, seventeen of whom 
 were Kentuckians. Several pieces of brass cannon, 
 the trophies of the revolutionary w'ar, and which had 
 been surrendered by General Hull at Detroit, were 
 retaken. General Proctor basely deserted his troops, 
 almost at the very commencement of the action, thus 
 confirming beyond a doubt the proof of his cowardice 
 already given by his conduct in murdering disarmed 
 prisoners. 
 
 General Harrison immediately ordered Colonel 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, 211 
 
 Payne to pursue the fugitive with a part of his bat-' 
 tallion, which was promptly clone, and the pursuit 
 continued for a distance of six miles beyond the Mo- 
 ravian towns, where some Indians were killed, and a 
 large amount of pubHc property captured. The pur- 
 suit was still continued by several officers, with their 
 privates, for several miles, but was arrested by the 
 darkness of night. His pursuers, however, pressed 
 him so closely that he was obliged to abandon his 
 carriage, which, together with his sword and papers, 
 fell into their hands, and conceal himself in the forest. 
 
 In communicating to the Secretary of War his 
 report of this action, he commended, in the warmest 
 terms, the conduct of his officers and men on the oc- 
 casion. Of Governor Shelby especially he spoke in 
 terms of the highest admiration, and -scarcely less 
 warmly of Generals Henry, Desha, Allen, Caldwell, 
 King, Chiles, and Trotter ; of his aids O'Fullen, 
 Todd, Perry, Cass, Smith and Chambers ; of Colonel 
 Johnson, Payne and Thompson, and of Major Wood 
 and Captain Butler, all of whom rendered their coun- 
 try good service on that day, as did every officer and 
 private in the engagement. Commodore Perry re- 
 payed the important aid General Harrison had ren- 
 dered him in the battle of Lake Erie. 
 
 It has been well said that, in the signal victory 
 gained over Barclay's fleet and Proctor's army, it is 
 impossible to separate the brave and victorious com- 
 manders. The circumstances are indeed very strik- 
 ing. General Harrison sent reinforcements to assist 
 
212 THE LIFE OF 
 
 Perry, and the action terminated in the capture of the 
 whole British fleet. In return, Commodore Perry 
 volunteered with General Harrison, and assisted him 
 in the capture of the British army. Perry, himself, 
 in writing to General Harrison, bears cheerful testi- 
 mony to the valuable aid received from him. He 
 says, " the very great assistance, in the action of the 
 10th, rendered by these men, you were pleased to 
 send on board the squadron, renders it a duty to 
 return you my sincere thanks for so timely a rein- 
 forcement. In fact, sir, I may say, that without 
 those nine, the victory could not have been achiev- 
 ed." 
 
 Having now, in conjunction with Commodore Per- 
 ry, taken quiet possession of Upper Canada, on the 
 17th of October, they issued a proclamation, setting 
 forth, that as the combined land and naval forces 
 under their command, those of the enemy in the upper 
 district of Upper Canada, had been captured or de- 
 stroyed, — and as the said district was then in the 
 quiet possession of their troops, — it became necessary 
 to provide for its government. Therefore, they pro- 
 claimed and made known that the rights and privileges 
 of the inhabitants, and the laws and customs of the 
 country as they existed, or were in force, before their 
 arrival, should continue to prevail. All magistrates, 
 and all other civil officers, Avcre to resume the exercise 
 of their functions, previously taking an oath to be 
 faithful to the government of the United States, as 
 long as they shall be in possession of the country. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 213 
 
 The authority of militia commissions was suspended 
 in said districts, and the officers required to give their 
 parole in such way as the officer, who may be ap- 
 pointed by the commanding-general to administer the 
 government, shall direct. 
 
 The inhabitants of said districts were promised pro- 
 tection to their persons and property, with the excep- 
 tion of those cases embraced by the proclamation of 
 General Proctor, which was declared to be in full 
 force, and the powers therein assumed were transferred 
 to the officer appointed. 
 
 An anecdote is related in connection with the battle 
 of the Thames, by an eye witness, and indeed by one 
 of the parties, showing the painful degree of anxiety 
 that the barbarities of Proctor and his Indian blood- 
 hounds had created, and the wild enthusiasm that the 
 news of the victory caused. In those days mails 
 were few and uncertain ; and our citizens eagerly 
 hailed every traveler from the West for some in- 
 telligence of our army. Such was the delay and 
 uncertainty, that it was generally believed that Har- 
 rison and his army had, like those before him, been 
 defeated and massacred. The narrator of this cir- 
 cumstance was, at the time referred to, attending school 
 in a log cabin, in Washington, Pennsylvania, taught 
 by an honest and patriotic Irishman. 
 
 One day while his eyes were wandering out of the 
 window, as the eyes of the best disposed scholars 
 sometimes will wander, he espied the mail boy, from 
 the West, coming at full speed. Soon he reached the 
 
214 THE LIFE OP 
 
 log cabin school-house, and as he passed it, he called 
 out, " Harrison has whipped the British and the In- 
 dians !" The Irish tutor, with as true an American 
 heart, as ever beat in human bosom, immediately 
 sprang from his seat as the tomahawk of Tecumthe was 
 about to be hurled at his head, his eyes flashing fire, 
 and exclaimed at the top of his voice, " Boys, do you 
 hear that /" Then siezing his hat, he rushed madly out 
 in pursuit of the mail boy, his scholars all at his heels, 
 and all exclaiming in the delirium of happy excite- 
 ment, " Hurrah for General Harrison !" " God bless 
 General Harrison !" In a few moments the whole 
 village joined in the glad shout — "Hurrah for Gen- 
 eral Harrison ! He has whipped the British and In- 
 dians!" 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 215 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The defeat and capture of the British army at 
 the battle of the Thames was attended with the most 
 important results. It, in reality, finished the work 
 which Commodore Pei'ry had so well begun, by his 
 glorious victory on Lake Erie, and enabled the com- 
 mander-in-chief to rescue the whole north-western 
 territory from the depredations of the savages, and 
 the horrors of war. The national gratitude burst out 
 in one loud voice of applause ; General Harrison was 
 complimented by Congress, and by various public 
 bodies, and his victory was declared by Langdon 
 Cheves, on the floor of Congress, that the victory 
 was such as would have secured to a Roman general, 
 in the best days of the republic, the honors of a tri- 
 umph, and that it put an end to the war in Upper 
 Canada. And President Madison, in his next annual 
 message, declared, in equally emphatic language, that 
 the result was signally honorable to Major-General 
 Harrison, by whose military talents the victory was 
 won. And again. Governor Snyder, in his annual 
 message to the Legislature of Pennsylvania, said, the 
 blessings of thousands of women and children rescued 
 from the scalping-knife of the ruthless savage of the 
 
216 THE LTFE OP 
 
 ■wilderness, and from the still more savage Proctor, 
 rest on Harrison and his gallant army. Such was 
 the unanimous opinion of the country upon General 
 Harrison's conduct, and of the consequences that must 
 flow from the victory of the Thames. 
 
 General Harrison was now in a condition to pro- 
 ceed to the Niagara frontier without the risk of a 
 repetition of Proctor's outrages, which he accordingly 
 did, taking McArthur's brigade ; the rifle regiment, 
 under Colonel Wells ; and the battalion, under Colo- 
 nel Ball. In this he anticipated the Avishes of the 
 government. Though he had received no instructions 
 from the War Department, since the preceding July, 
 his own intricate acquaintance with the condition 
 and wants of the country, as well as his superior 
 knowledge of the movements of the enemy, and his 
 correct military judgment, led him to transfer his 
 disposable force to the Niagara straits after he had 
 so successfully accomplished the main objects of the 
 campaign. The want of necessary provisions, and the 
 advanced state of the season, had previously induced 
 him and Commodore Perry to abandon, for the pres- 
 ent, the expedition against Mackinac. General Cass 
 was stationed at Detroit, with his bi'igade, and the 
 civil government of Michigan, and the military oc- 
 cupation of Upper Canada was committed to his 
 charge.* 
 
 On the 22nd, General Harrison reached Erie, in 
 Commodore Perry's fleet, and Bufisilo on the 24th of 
 \ * Sketches of General Harrison. ^ - 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 217 
 
 October, and proceeded immediately to Newark, where 
 he assumed the command of the troops at that place, 
 and also at Forts George and Niagara, then under 
 the command of General McClure, of New York. 
 While at Newark, he received from General Arm- 
 strong, the Secretary of War, a copy of the despatch 
 of 22nd September, which had been lost by Captain 
 Brown in attempting to pass up the Detroit in Octo- 
 ber. This letter suggested to General Harrison the 
 propriety of proceeding to the Niagara straits after 
 he had secured Maiden and the army under Proctor. 
 Another letter received from him, about the same 
 time, under date of October 20th, adds the weight of 
 his opinion in favor of the course adopted by General 
 Harrison, in his operations against Proctor, a subject 
 about which there had been some controversy. In a 
 letter dated the 30th of the same month, the Secreta- 
 ry of War recommended to General Harrison, to move 
 against the enemy at Burlington Heights, near the 
 head of Lake Ontario, the capture or destruction of 
 which, he says, would be a glorious finale to the cam- 
 paign. 
 
 Greatly to the surprise of every one, however, 
 four days after this letter was received, he was, in 
 effect, suspended from his command by the same ad- 
 ministration which had, up to that time, given him so 
 many proofs of its approval of his conduct. On the 
 3rd of November, he received a despatch from Gen- 
 eral Armstrong, requiring him to send General Mc 
 Arthur's brigade to Sacket's Harbor, and concluding 
 19 
 
218 THE LIFE OP 
 
 with the declaration, that he would he permitted to 
 make a visit to his family. This General Harrison 
 very naturally understood as an order to retire to his 
 own district. His letters to General McClure, of No- 
 vember 15th, show that he regarded it in this light ; and 
 that he believed it left him no alternative as to the 
 disposal of General McArthur's brigade. Immediately 
 upon the receipt of this intimation, he accompanied 
 the troops to Sachet's Harbor, and thence returned 
 to Cincinnati, resuming early in January, 1814, the 
 command of the eighth military district. 
 
 Shortly before his departure from Fort George, 
 an interesting correspondence took place between 
 General Harrison and the British General Vincent, in 
 regard to the treatment of prisoners of war. General 
 Harrison, after assuring him that he had taken every 
 precaution in regard to the prisoners in his hands, he 
 adds, with equal force and justice, that he wished it 
 distinctly understood, that in these assurances his 
 conduct had been directed solely by motives of hu- 
 manity, and not by a belief that it could be claimed 
 on the score of reciprocity of treatment towards the 
 American prisoners who had fallen into General 
 Proctor's hands. He continues, that the unhappy 
 description of persons who have escaped from the 
 tomahawk of the savages, in the employment of the 
 British government, who fought under the immediate 
 orders of that inhuman and cowardly officer, had 
 suffered all the indignities and privations which 
 human nature is capable of enduring. He insisted 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 219 
 
 that there was not a single instance in which the pro- 
 perty of the officers had not heen respected. 
 
 Having thus briefly referred to the past treatment 
 of American prisoners, and to the horrid barbarities 
 committed by the savages, under the command of 
 Proctor, he demanded from General Vincent an ex- 
 plicit declaration as to the future, and whether the 
 same species of warfare which they had, up to that 
 time, practiced against the American troops, and 
 against the peaceable inhabitants of our frontiers, 
 was to be continued. He recounted a long list of 
 barbarities of this kind, many of them perpetrated 
 under the very eyes of British officers. 
 
 To retaliate, he proceeds to say, upon the sub- 
 jects of the king, would have been justifiable by the 
 laws of war, and the usages of the most civilized na- 
 tions. To do so has been most amply within my 
 power. The tide of fortune has changed in our favor, 
 and an extensive and flourishing province opened to 
 our arms, nor have the instruments of vengeance been 
 wanting. The savages, who sued to us for mercy, 
 would gladly have shown their claims to it by re-en- 
 acting upon the Thames the bloody scenes of French- 
 town, Fort Meigs and Cold Creek. A single sign 
 would have been sufficient to have poured upon the 
 subjects of the king their whole fury. The future 
 conduct of the British officers will determine the cor- 
 rectness of mine in withholding it. If the savages 
 should again be let loose upon our settlements, I shall 
 with justice be accused of sacrificing the interests and 
 
220 THE LIFE 01 
 
 honor of my country, and the lives of our fellow-citi- 
 zens to feelings of false and mistaken humanity. You 
 are a soldier, sir, and, as I sincerely believe, possess 
 all the honorable sentiments which ought always to be 
 found in men who follow the profession of arms. Use 
 then, I pray you, your authority and influence to stop 
 that dreadful effusion of innocent blood, which pro- 
 ceeds from the employment of those monsters whose 
 aid is so little to be depended upon, when most need- 
 ed, and which can have so trifling an influence upon 
 the issue of the war. The effect of their barbarities 
 Avill not be confined to the present generation. Ages 
 to come will feel the deep-rooted hatred and enmity 
 which they must produce between the two nations. 
 
 I deprecate most sincerely the dreadful alternative 
 which will be offered to me should it be continued ; 
 but I solemnly declare that if the Indians, who re- 
 main under the influence of the British government, 
 are suffered to commit any depredations upon the dis- 
 trict that is committed to my protection, I will remove 
 the restrictions which have hitherto been imposed 
 upon those who have offered their services to the 
 United States, and direct them to carry on the war in 
 their own way. I have never heard a single excuse 
 for the employment of savages by your government, 
 unless we can credit the story of some British officers, 
 having dared to assert that, as we employ Kentuck- 
 ians, you had a right to make use of the Indians. 
 
 If such injurious sentiments have really prevailed, 
 to the prejudice of a bravo, well informed, and virtu- 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 221 
 
 ous people, they will be removed by the representa- 
 tions of your officers who were lately taken upon the 
 River Thames. They will inform you, sir, that so far 
 from offering any violence to the persons of their 
 prisoners, these savages would not suifer a word to es- 
 cape them which was calculated to wound or insult 
 their feelings, and this, too, with the sufferings of their 
 friends at the River Raisin and the Miami fresh upon 
 their recollection. 
 
 In answer to this letter. General Vincent admitted 
 that the captured British officers bore full testimony 
 to the kind and humane treatment they had received 
 from their American captors, but he declined giving 
 General Harrison the assurances he required, that he 
 would thereafter prevent a repetition of those atroci- 
 ties which had rendered Proctor's name forever infa- 
 mous, though he pledged himself to endeavor to alle- 
 viate as much as possible those who, by the chances 
 of war, might fall into his hands. He also expressed 
 his desire that no such acts of cruelty might be there- 
 after committed, under any pretext. His reply was cau- 
 tious and non-committed. Either he felt that he could 
 not, or did not wish, wholly to suppress the outrages 
 of which General Harrison so indignantly and so 
 justly complained. 
 
 General Harrison, it has been seen, returned to 
 Cincinnati, after the very extraordinary letter of the 
 Secretary of War to him, of December 3rd, and re- 
 sumed the command of his military division. The 
 course of public opinion, during the winter succeeding 
 19* 
 
222 THE LIFE OP 
 
 his virtual suspension from the command of the north- 
 western army, indicated very decidedly the choice of 
 the victor of Tippecanoe, Fort Meigs and the Thames, 
 as the most suitable officer to be invested with the 
 chief command of the army in the next campaign. 
 Commodore Perry, General McArthur and other gal- 
 lant and experienced officers, expressed the most 
 earnest desire that he might be appointed command- 
 er-in-chief for the ensuing campaign. But from 
 causes which can neither be explained nor justified, 
 General Armstrong's feelings and opinions had under- 
 gone a remarkable change in regard to General 
 Harrison, or at least, his conduct towards him had 
 undergone a change not dictated by a regard for the 
 interests of the country, or by any sudden light he 
 had received in regard to his character and public 
 services. His conduct, therefore, in regard to an 
 officer, who had so faithfully, so ably, and, above 
 all, so successfully discharged his duty to the coun- 
 try, and who was, besides, the idol of the army, must 
 be attributed as dishonorable to General Armstrong, 
 as the consequences growing out of their indulgence 
 was injurious to the public service. Nor is the admin- 
 istration entirely from just censure for permitting and 
 indeed sanctioning an act of such glaring injustice 
 to a great and successful, and a pure patriot. 
 
 General Armstrong's plan of the campaign, sub- 
 mitted to the President, on the 30th of April, 1814, 
 left no doubt that General Harrison would not be 
 assigned a command in the active operations of the 
 
WILLIAM HEMRY HARRISON. 
 
 223 
 
 year. All the troops in the eighth military dis- 
 trict, excepting garrisons for Detroit and Maiden, 
 were to be held in readiness to move down the 
 lake to Bufialo, and General McArthur was des- 
 ignated for the command of those corps, including 
 the 17th, 19th, 24th and 28th regiments of reg- 
 ulars. This arrangement of all the disposable 
 force in the north-west, while it left General Harri- 
 son to remain in the eighth military district, was 
 made after the receipt of his letter at the War De- 
 partment, of the 13th of February, 1814, in which he 
 expressed his views and feelings in regard to his sus- 
 pension from his command of the north-western army. 
 That letter concludes with the declaration, that apart 
 from the considerations of his duty to his country, he 
 had no inducements to remain in the army, and that 
 if the prerogatives of his rank and station, as the 
 commander of a district, be taken from him, being 
 fully convinced that he could render no important ser- 
 vice, he should much rather be permitted to retire 
 
 from public life. 
 
 But the Secretary of War was not content with 
 the degredation he had inflicted upon the brave Har- 
 rison, in withdrawing him from his command, and 
 withholding him from active service, during the ap- 
 proaching campaign. He still persisted in interfering 
 with his prerogatives, as the commander of the dis- 
 trict. His next unworthy act was to dispatch to 
 Major Holmes, a subordinate ofiicer at Detroit,, an 
 order to take two hundred men from that port, and 
 
224 THE LIFE OF 
 
 proceed on board of Commodore Sinclair's fleet, 
 destined for Mackinac. Tliis proceeding on the part 
 of the Secretary of War was a gross invasion of mili- 
 tary propriety, as well as a direct insult to General 
 Harrison, Avhatever may have been the design. 
 
 The order not only passed by the General, but 
 ■was also derogatory to Colonel Croghan, the immedi- 
 ate commander of the post. The gallant young offi-- 
 cer spoke of this conduct without reserve, and in a 
 letter to General Harrison, he wrote as follows : — 
 " Major Holmes has been notified by the War De- 
 partment, that he is chosen to command the land troops 
 which are destined to co-operate with the fleet against 
 the enemy's force on the upper lakes. So soon as 
 I may be directed by you, to order Major Holmes on 
 that command, and to furnisli him with the necessary 
 troops, I shall do so. But not till then shall he or 
 any other part of my force leave the sod." In anoth- 
 er letter to General Harrison, he said, " I know not 
 how to account for the Secretary of War's assuming 
 to himself the right of designating Major Holmes for 
 this command to Mackinac. My ideas on the subject 
 may not be correct, yet for the sake of the principle, 
 were I a general, commanding a district, I would be 
 very far from sufiering the Secretary of War, or any 
 other authority, from interfering with my internal 
 
 police." 
 
 This order to Major Holmes, would authorize the in- 
 ference, that the Secretary of War may have had other 
 correspondence with him or other inferior officers of 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 225 
 
 the district. At any rate it was a course of conduct, 
 the most insulting and derogatory to a high spirited, 
 honorable and patriotic officer, that could have been 
 devised", and was, besides, both impolitic and indeli- 
 cate. Immediately upon receiving notice of this 
 order, he acted as any officer, having a proper regard 
 for his honor would have done, and resigned his com- 
 mission in the army. Accompanying his resignation, 
 was a letter to the President, explaining his motives 
 for the step he had taken, at the same time assuring 
 him of his continued devotion to the interests of the 
 country, and personal and political friendship for 
 himself. 
 
 " This measure," he says "has not been determin- 
 ed on without a reference to all the reasons which 
 should influence a citizen who is sincerely attached to 
 the honor and interests of his country ; who believes 
 that the war in which we are engaged is just, and ne- 
 cessary, and that the crisis requires the sacrifice of 
 every private consideration which could stand in op- 
 position to the public good. But after giving the 
 subject the most mature consideration, I am perfectly 
 convinced, that my retiring from the army is as com- 
 patible with the claims of patriotism as it is with 
 those of my family, and a proper regard for my own 
 feelings and home. 
 
 " I have no other motives in writing this letter, 
 than to assure you that my resignation was not pro- 
 duced by any diminution of the interest I have always 
 taken in the success of your administration, or of 
 
226 THE LIFE OP 
 
 respect and attacliment to your person. The former 
 can only take place when I forget the republican 
 principles in which I have been educated, and the 
 latter when I shall cease to regard those feelings 
 which must actuate every honest man, who is con- 
 scious of favors which it is out of his power to repay." 
 
 As soon as Governor Shelby understood that Gen- 
 eral Ilarris'on had forwarded his resignation, he ad- 
 dressed a letter to the President, urging him to decline 
 its acceptance. The President was on a visit to 
 Virginia, to which place the letters from General 
 Harrison and Governor Shelby were forwarded. But 
 that of the latter was not received until after the Sec- 
 retary of Vfar, without the previous consent of the 
 President, had taken upon himself the high preroga- 
 tive of accepting the resignation. President Madison 
 expressed his great regretthat the letter of Governor 
 Shelby had not been received at an earlier date, as in 
 that case the valuable services of General Harrison 
 would have been preserved to the nation in the ensu- 
 ing campaign.* 
 
 The letter from this venerable man, and distin- 
 guished soldier, so truly reflected the public sentiment 
 of the times, and is withal so highly expressed, and 
 so pregnant with patriotic sentiments, that it well de- 
 serves the consideration it has received, and to be 
 preserved as a permanent record in favor of the con- 
 ceded military genius and pre-eminent public services 
 of General Harrison. After stating his motives for 
 
 * Sketches of Harrison. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, 227 
 
 'writing to the President, to be the interest he felt 
 for our beloved country, and his desire to promote the 
 public good by all practicable means, he proceeds to 
 say : — 
 
 "It is not my Intention to eulogize General Harri- 
 son. He is not in need of that aid ; his merits are 
 too conspicuous not to be observed. But it is my 
 Intention to express to you, with candor, my opinion 
 of the general, founded on personal observation. 
 
 " A rumor has reached this State which, from the 
 public papers, appears to be believed, that the com- 
 manding general of the northern army, may be re- 
 moved from that command. This circumstance has 
 induced me to reflect on the subject, and to give a 
 decided preference to Major-General Harrison, as his 
 successor. Having served a campaign with him, by 
 which I have been enabled to form some opinion of 
 his military tactics, and capacity to command, I 
 feel no hesitation to declare to you, that I believe him 
 to be one of the first military characters I ever knew ; 
 and, in addition to this, he Is capable of making great- 
 er personal exertions than any officer with whom I 
 have ever served. I doubt not, but It will hereafter 
 be found, that the command of the north-western army, 
 and the various duties attached to it, has been one of 
 the most arduous and difficult tasks ever assigned to 
 any officer in the United States j yet he surmounted 
 all. 
 
 "Impressed with the conviction, that General 
 Harrison is fully adequate to the command of the 
 
228 THE LIFE OP 
 
 northern army, should a change take place in that 
 division, I venture thus freely to state my opinion of 
 him, that he is a consummate general, and Avould fill 
 this station with ability and honor, and that if, on the 
 other hand, any arrangement should take place in the 
 war department which may produce the resignation of 
 General Harrison, it will be a misfortune which our 
 country will have cause to lament. His appointment 
 to the command of the northern army would be highly 
 gratifying to the wishes of the western people, except 
 some who may, perhaps, be governed by sinister 
 views. 
 
 " I confess the fii'st impressions on my mind, when 
 informed of the defeat of Colonel Dudley's regiment, 
 on the 5th of May last, were unfavorable to General 
 Harrison's plans. But on correct information, and a 
 knowledge of his whole plans, I have no doubt but 
 they were well concerted, and might with certainty 
 have been executed, had his orders been strictly obey- 
 ed. I mention this subject because Mr. H. Clay 
 informed me that he had shown you my letter, stating 
 the impressions which that affair made on my mind 
 on information that was not correct." 
 
 Thus was lost to the country the services of tlie 
 first military character of the day — a general who 
 never lost a battle, and in whom not only the army, 
 but the whole nation, had the most unlimited confi- 
 dence. And this deep injury was inflicted upon the 
 country, from no other motive, that has ever been 
 discovered, than to the jealousy of a small-minded 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 229 
 
 and malevolent man. But while his attempts to pull 
 a great man down to his own level, proved a signal 
 failure, he sunk himself so low that his name is 
 almost forgotten, or onlj remembered to be despised. 
 
 20 
 
2n0 THE LIFE OF 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Before proceeding wltli a record of General Har- 
 rison's civil and political career, it may be proper to 
 complete the chain of military events, transpiring in 
 other parts of the country, than upon the theatre of 
 his immediate operations. General Wilkinson had 
 been appointed commander-in-chief of the American 
 forces upon the resignation of General Dearborne. 
 The force under his command, on the Niagara, 
 amounted to eight thousand regulars, besides those 
 under General Dearborne, which were expected to ar- 
 rive in the course of the month of October. General 
 Wade Hampton was appointed to the command of the 
 army of the North, encamped at Plattsburgh, and 
 amounting to four thousand men. 
 
 Extensive preparations had lioen made for the in- 
 vasion of Canada, by General Wilkinson, and on the 
 2nd of October, 1813, he left Fort George with the 
 principle body of troops, for Grenadier's Island, a 
 point of rendezvous convenient for embarkation. On 
 the Gth of November, the army landed a few miles 
 above Fort Prescott, in Canada, on the St. Lawrence. 
 They met with some opposition, and had frequent 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 231 
 
 skirmishes Avith the enemy between their landing and 
 the 11th, when a sharp action was fought at a place 
 called Chrystler's Field. Both parties claimed the 
 victory, though, in reality, neither had the right to 
 claim it, and it may properly be called a drawn battle, 
 as the enemy soon after retired to their camp, and 
 the Americans to their boats. The loss of each was 
 also about equal. The Americans had one hundred 
 and two killed, and three hundred and thirty-nine 
 wounded. Amongst the wounded was the brave Gen- 
 eral Covington, who died two days after, and but for 
 whose fall the victory would undoubtedly been with 
 the Americans. Several other valuable officers were 
 also badly wounded. From the fact that the British 
 never again attacked the Americans, it may not be 
 too much to say that the advantage of the battle was 
 on the side of the Americans. 
 
 At Barnhart, where the army arrived on the 12th, 
 information was received which at once put an end 
 to all further designs upon Montreal, the main object 
 for which the invasion of Canada was undertaken. A 
 few days before the battle of Chrystler's Field, the 
 commander-in-chief had sent orders to General Hamp- 
 ton, to meet him at St. Regis. But this order he de- 
 clined to execute, owing to the scantiness of General 
 Wilkinson's supply of provisions, and the impossibility 
 of his transporting a larger quantity of provisions 
 than a man could carry on his back. He therefore 
 determined to open a communication with the St. 
 Lawrence and Chateaugay. With a view to a readier 
 
232 THE LIFE OP 
 
 co-operation with the commander-in-chief in his con- 
 templated attack upon Montreal, he had descended the 
 Chateaugay River from Plattsburgh with the forces 
 under his command. But he was thwarted in his at- 
 tempt by General Provost, and, by the advice of his 
 officers, determined to retreat to a place he had occu- 
 pied some days before, called the Four Corners, 
 where he arrived on the last day of the month. Hav- 
 ing by this movement diverted the attention of the 
 enemy from the army of General Wilkinson, he fell 
 back to a position where he could with greater facility 
 make his way to the St. Lawrence. It was from this 
 point that he dispatched the letter to the commander- 
 in-chief already mentioned. 
 
 Upon the receipt of this information, a council of 
 officers was called by General Wilkinson, by whom it 
 was determined that the objects of the campaign were 
 no longer attainable. It was therefore resolved to 
 quit the Canada side of the St. Lawrence, and 
 go into winter quarters at French Mills, on Salmon 
 River. General Hampton followed his example, and 
 soon after, in consequence of indisposition, resigned 
 his command to General Izard. Thus terminated 
 a campaign which had excited the highest expecta- 
 tions of the country, and which created disappoint- 
 ment and dissatisfaction in proportion to these san- 
 guine hopes. The failure of the enterprise was 
 attributed to inability of General Hampton to co-op- 
 erate with General Wilkinson, and the mischievous 
 interference of the Secretary of War, who was on the 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 233 
 
 ground, superintending the operations of the cam- 
 paign, ambitious to prove to the country how much 
 more competent he was to bring the war to a glorious 
 termination than General Harrison, whom' his envy 
 had driven from the service. 
 
 Commodore Chauncey, meanwhile, was not idle 
 on Lake Ontario. He used all his exertions to bring 
 the British squadron. Sir James Yeo, to an engage- 
 ment, but was unable to do so, owing to the poor sail- 
 ing qualities of his vessels. On the 7th of September, 
 however, he got within sufficient distance of the ene- 
 my to open a running fire upon him by which consid- 
 erable injury was eflfected. He then took refuge in 
 Amherst Bay, and was there blockaded until the 
 17th. About the middle of October, he captured five 
 British armed schooners, on board of which were a 
 considerable number of soldiers. The same day the 
 British fleet took refuge in Kingston, and Commodore 
 Chauncey remained master of the lake during the re- 
 mainder of the season. 
 
 On the 19th of December, the British surprised 
 Fort Niagara, through the shameful negligence of 
 Captain Leonard, the commanding officer, and put 
 the Avhole garrison, amounting to three hundred, prin- 
 cipally invalids, to the sword. This act of barbar- 
 ity was alleged to have been committed in retaliation 
 for the burning of Newark, a village on the Canada 
 side of the Niagara, which was destroyed a short time 
 before. The destruction of Lewistown, Buffalo and 
 other places, followed rapidly upon the heels of this 
 20* 
 
234 THE LIFE or 
 
 outrage, all in retaliation for an act that had prompt- 
 ly been disavowed bj the American government. And 
 even if it had not been, there was no further outrage 
 committed at Newark than simply burning the village 
 after the inhabitants had been given notice to remove 
 their effects. Thus virtually closed the campaign at 
 the North. 
 
 At the South the war was prosecuted during the 
 summer, principally by the Indians, with great fero- 
 city — or rather they had hegaii hostilities with a de- 
 tei-mination to wage it to the knife. They had been 
 induced to declare war, especially the Creeks, through 
 the machinations of the British. Their first act of 
 hostilities was against Fort Mims, one of a line of 
 posts, that the inhabitants had hastily thrown up on 
 the various branches of the Mobile. This place was 
 surprised towards the last of August. After a bloody 
 contest, however, they withdrew, but soon again re- 
 newed the attack, the fort was carried and every per- 
 son in it put to death. Not a man, woman, or child 
 was spared. In retaliation for this wholesale massa- 
 cre. General Coffee, of Tennessee, was sent against Tul- 
 lushatches, a Creek town, and two hundred of the war- 
 riors were killed, and three hundred women and chil- 
 dren taken prisoners. On the 8th of November, five 
 days after, another action took place between General 
 Coffee and a large body of Indians, at Fort Talla- 
 dega. The Indians were defeated with a loss of about 
 three hundred more. On the 17th, he surprised a 
 town containing three hundred warriors, sixty of 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 235 
 
 ■whom were killed, and the rest taken prisoners. The 
 Georgia militia, under General Floyd, also advanced 
 into the Creek country, and defeated them in several 
 engagements. 
 
 On the ITth of January, 1814, General Andrew 
 Jackson, with a view of making a diversion in favor 
 of General Floyd, marched to the relief of Fort 
 Armstrong. On the 21st, his camp was vigorously 
 attacked by a large force. But they were soon re- 
 pulsed, and compelled to fly. Finding himself hut 
 poorly supplied with provisions. General Jackson 
 thought it advisable to retreat. The next morning 
 he fell into an ambuscade. But he had anticipated 
 it, and made such admirable arrangements for meeting 
 it, that the Indians were repulsed at great loss. He 
 now continued his retreat without molestation. 
 
 General Floyd in the meanwhile continued his 
 operations against the savages. On the 27th of Jan- 
 uary, he was attacked at Fort defiance, by a very 
 large body of them ; but he repulsed them with 
 severe loss. Often as they had been defeated, how- 
 ever, and desperate as their condition seemed to be, 
 they determined to make one more desperate effort to 
 change the fortune of war ; and they accordingly 
 made their last stand at a place called Horse Shoe 
 Bend, on the Tallapoosa River. Across the neck of 
 the peninsula, formed by the curve of the river, they 
 erected a breast-work, five feet high, and of great 
 strength, with a double row of port-holes artfully 
 arranged. Here they imagined themselves perfectly 
 
2o6 THE LIfE Ui" 
 
 secure ; but they were doomed to a sad disappoint- 
 ment. After a dreadful conflict, as bloody as it was 
 short, the Indians were totally defeated and cut to 
 pieces. So v.ell had General Jackson taken his meas- 
 ures, that not more than fifty made their escape, Avhile 
 five hundred and fifty-seven were killed, besides those 
 who were thrown into the river by their friends or 
 drowned in attempting to fly. Jackson's loss in killed 
 was only forty-nine, including twenty-three friendly 
 Indians, and one hundred and fifty-two wounded, in- 
 cluding forty-seven friendly Indians. This decisive 
 victory ended the Creek war. In the course of the 
 following summer General Jackson dictated a peace 
 to the Creeks, on severe terms. 
 
 The campaign of 1814 was opened at the North 
 by an unsuccessful attack, under General Wilkinson, 
 upon a considerable body of British at La Colle Mill, 
 three miles from Rouse's Point. In this affair the 
 Americans lost one hundred and forty in killed and 
 wounded. The disastrous termination of this attack, 
 together with the complete failure of the last cam- 
 paign, brought General Wilkinson into such disrepute 
 that the administration yielded to the popular voice, 
 and suspended him from his command. The army 
 was placed under the command of General Izard. 
 General Wilkinson was subsequently tried and hono- 
 rably acquitted. 
 
 A warm contest was now begun for superiority on 
 Lake Ontario. The British had commenced the con- 
 struction of a large ship for the purpose of inclining 
 
WILLIAM HENRY IIARIIISON. 237 
 
 it to their side. For the purpose of maintaining as 
 near as possible an equality of force, Commodore 
 Chauncey had also commanded the construction of an 
 additional one. Frequent attempts were made by 
 each party to destroy these v ^ssels, but they all fail- 
 ed. The British then attempted to destroy the rig- 
 ging designed for the American ship, which was at 
 Oswego. For this purpose they made a desperate 
 attack on this place, on the 6th of May, but Avere 
 gallantly repulsed. The following day the attack 
 was renewed from their fleet, and two thousand men 
 marched under General De Waterville, who succeeded 
 in gaining the shore, though bravely resisted by Lieu- 
 tenant Pierce. The Americans, finding that further 
 resistance would be useless, fell back to Oswego Fall, 
 whither the naval stores, for which the British had 
 been to so much trouble, had previously been remov- 
 ed. The English lost in the attack two hundred and 
 thirty-five men, in killed and wounded. To compen- 
 sate them for so much blood they obtained the cannon 
 of the fort, a few barrels of provisions, and some 
 whiskey. The next morning the enemy evacuated 
 the place. 
 
 After an attack upon Pultneyville, in which they 
 were repulsed by General Swift, of the New York 
 militia, the enemy's fleet blockaded Sacket's Harbor, 
 cutting ofl" all communication between that port and 
 other places on the lake. But when he heard that 
 the new American ship, " Superior," had received her 
 equipment from the interior, he raised the blockade 
 and returned to Kingston. 
 
238 THE LIFE OF 
 
 On the 28tli of May, a large party of British 
 were drawn into Sandy Creek, where they were sud- 
 denly attacked by Captain Woolsey, several gun- 
 boats and articles captured, and several naval offi- 
 cers, and one hundred and thirty men, taken prison- 
 ers. They had been sent out to capture a quantity 
 of naval stores, bound for Oswego, and destined for 
 the " Mohawk," another new American ship. This loss 
 was the more severe to the British, as it gave the 
 Americans once more the command of Lake Ontario. 
 This was the only event of much consequence that 
 transpired either on Lakes Erie, Ontario, or Cham- 
 plain, until late in the season. 
 
 The operations on land were of comparatively 
 little consequence, until near mid-summer, though 
 several skirmishes took place, and some enterprises 
 in which great gallantry and good conduct was dis- 
 played. In a skirmish on the border of Lake Erie, 
 Major Forsyth, a valuable officer, lost his life. He 
 made an invasion to Oldtown, and attacked a body of 
 British, killing nineteen of them, but lost his own life. 
 Another affair was an incursion into Canada, by 
 Colonel Campbell, who destroyed a number of private 
 dAvellings, together with some mills and distilleries. 
 For this act he was court-martialed and censured. 
 
 But the most gallant affair that signalized the 
 opening of the campaign was the defense made by 
 Captain Holmes against a greatly superior force of 
 British and Indians. On the 21st of February, 1814, 
 he was dispatched by Captain Butler, who was in 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 239 
 
 command at Detroit, at the head of one hundred and 
 sixty rangers, against a body of the enemy who had 
 assembled at a village about fifteen miles from Detroit. 
 Not knowing the strength of the enemy, he took up 
 a strong position, which he felt confident of being able 
 to defend until he should ascertain. He was soon 
 after attacked on all sides by the British and Indians. 
 But he and his men defended themselves with a cour- 
 age, judgment and resolution, scarcely, if any, inferior 
 to that of Fort Stephenson by Major Croghan. After 
 several inefi'ectual efi"orts to dislodge him, the enemy 
 finally retreated in disorder, having lost sixty-five in 
 killed and wounded, besides Indians. 
 
 The British kept up a formidable squadron before 
 the ports of New York, New London and Boston, and 
 the whole eastern coast was exposed to their ravages. 
 Eastport was captured by Sir Thomas Hardy, and 
 the inhabitants compelled to take the oath of allegi- 
 ance to the British crown. It was afterAvards decided, 
 however, that they should be considered and treated 
 as conquered people, and placed under a military 
 government. The place was soon after strongly for- 
 tified, and remained in the possession of the enemy 
 until the close of the war. During the summer the 
 British conquered, or rather entered upon the peace- 
 able possession of all that part of Elaine, east of the 
 Penobscot, and was, like Eastport, retained until the 
 end of the war. 
 
 Our gallant little navy won even higher honors 
 this year than since the war commenced. Commo- 
 
240 THE LIFE OF 
 
 dore Porter completed his successful course in the 
 Pacific. From April until October 1813, he captured 
 twelve armed British whale ships, carrying in all one 
 hundred and seven guns, and three hundred and two 
 men. Having after these exploits thoroughly re- 
 paired his ship, the "Essex," he arrived at Valpa- 
 raiso, on the 12th of January, 1814. While here. 
 Commodore Ilillyer arrived oiF the harbor in the 
 "Phoebe," accompanied by the " Cherub," in pursuit 
 of him. After trying in vain to bring these vessels 
 into action singly, Commodore Porter attempted to 
 escape. But he failed in the efiTort, and was finally 
 captured, after making the most desperate resistance 
 on record. Ilis ship was almost litei'ally cut to pieces, 
 and a large portion of his crew were killed, wounded 
 or missing. He was permitted to return to the Uni- 
 ted States on parole. But upon arriving oiF the port 
 of New York he was brought to by a British vessel, 
 and his parole taken from him. He, however, suc- 
 ceeded in effecting his escape, and ai-rived safely in 
 New York. 
 
 On the 29th of April, an engagement took place 
 between the American sloop of war "Peacock," and 
 the British brig of war, " Epervier." After an action 
 of forty-two minutes she struck her flag. In July 
 following, the American sloop of war, "Wasp," cap- 
 tured the British brig " Reindeer," after a desperate 
 enerafiement, in which the "Reindeer" lost half her 
 crew, and the ship was nearly destroyed. Not long 
 after the " Wasp" had an engagement with the British 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 241 
 
 brig "Avon," 'wliicli sunk almost before her crew 
 could be removed. On the 21st of September she 
 captured another prize, a British brig of eighteen 
 guns. This was the last ever heard of the "Wasp," 
 or her gallant commander, and she undoubtedly foun- 
 dered at sea, carrying down with her every soul on 
 board. 
 
 A single check to the almost uninterrupted series 
 of naval victories, which had crowned our efforts at 
 sea, occurred in the loss of the "President," Commo- 
 dore Decatur, by a British fleet of three ships of war. 
 But this loss was more than compensated by the 
 capture of the "Cayenne" and "Levant," by the 
 " Constitution," Commodore Stewart, on the 20th of 
 February, 1815, and the capture of the British brig 
 "Penguin," by the "Hornet," captain Biddle. 
 
 Several gallant exploits signalized the American 
 privateers. Amongst the most remarkable of these 
 was the defense made by the privateer "Armstrong," 
 in the Spanish port of Fayal, where she had taken 
 refuge from a British squadron. The "Armstrong" 
 was first attacked by four boats filled with men, and 
 upon these being compelled to haul off, a second at- 
 tack was made with twelve or fourteen boats, manned 
 by several hundred men. They were suffered to ap- 
 proach almost along side, when so destructive a fire 
 was opened, that in forty minutes scarcely a man of 
 them was left. The next day, finding it useless to 
 continue the contest, the captain of the "Arnstrong" 
 removed his men to the shore, and sunk his vessel. For 
 21 
 
242 THE LIFE OF 
 
 her loss a claim was preferred by our government 
 against Spain, wliicli came near involving the two 
 countries in a serious difficulty in 1850, and which has 
 but recently been adjusted. The British loss amounted 
 to one hundred and twenty killed and one hundred 
 
 and thirty wounded. 
 
 1 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 243 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 On the Niagara frontier, the first important move- 
 ment was the recapture of Fort Erie by General Scott. 
 The next movement was against General Riall, who 
 occupied an entrenched camp at Chippewa. General 
 Brown succeeded in drawing the British General into 
 an engagement on the plains of Chippewa, on the 5th 
 of July. The field was bravely contested "on both 
 sides, but the Americans carried ofi" the palm of vic- 
 tory ; and after an action of something over an hour, 
 the enemy retired, first, until he reached the sloping 
 ground that lead to Chippewa, and from that point he 
 fled in confusion to his intrenchments. In proportion 
 to the numbers engaged in the battle, the loss on both 
 sides was very severe. That of the Americans in 
 killed, wounded and missing, was three hundred and 
 thirty-eight. The total loss of the British amounted 
 to five hundred and five. In this action, which filled 
 the country with the greatest joy. General Scott es- 
 pecially distinguished himself, and contributed very 
 largely to the brilliant result of the battle. 
 
 Immediately after this victory, the American ar- 
 my moved forward and encamped at Queenstown. 
 At his own request, he was detached from this point 
 
244 THE LIFE OP 
 
 with one hundred and twenty men to rcconnoiter Fort 
 George. On his arrival in the neighborhood he sur- 
 prised and captured a small body of British, one of 
 whom, after having asked and received quarter, sud- 
 denly raised his piece and mortally wounded General 
 Swift. He instantly killed the assassin. 
 
 After remaining a short time at Queenstown, Gen- 
 eral Brown retreated to Chippewa. General Riall 
 immediately took post at that place, upon the Ameri- 
 can army's evacuating it. The British General was 
 extremely mortified at the disgraceful defeat he had 
 met with at Chippewa, and was resolved, if possible, 
 to retrieve his credit ; and, with this view, he had 
 collected a large reinforcement from Burlington and 
 other points. The American commander was not un- 
 willing to afford him a speedy opportunity to prove 
 his boasted superiority. General Scott was accord- 
 ingly dispatched towards Queenstown. He discovered 
 General Riall on the Niagara, at Lundy's Lane, a 
 position of great strength, where he had planted a 
 battery of nine pieces of cannon. He was immedi- 
 ately attacked, with consummate bravery, by General 
 Scott and the force under his command, though the 
 British force was more than double that of his. 
 
 The battle that followed was one of the most 
 fiercely and obstinately contested of any during the 
 whole war, or perhaps that ever was fought. The 
 enemy felt that he had a shattered reputation to re- 
 cover, and the Americans that they had their country 
 and their honor to defend, and both therefore fought 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 245 
 
 as though the last hopes of either depended upon the 
 issue. The action lasted for several hours, and only- 
 terminated when the two armies had become so ex- 
 hausted that they could fight no longer. The number 
 of the British engaged in the action amounted to 
 about five thousand, while the Americans was less 
 than three thousand. 
 
 The loss was about equal on each side, that of the 
 Americans being eight hundred and fifty-one in killed 
 and wounded, while the enemy's was eight hundred 
 and seventy-eight, being a difference of only twenty- 
 seven. The victory was claimed by the British, as 
 usual, but with little show of reason. Their artillery 
 was captured, and they were three times repulsed in 
 attempting to recover it, and were finally compelled 
 to abandon them altogether. They were afterwards 
 abandoned by the Americans, for want of ability to 
 remove them, and upon this circumstance the enemy 
 founded his claim to a victory. But it is clear that 
 many such victories would have totally ruined the 
 British cause in America. In the action. General 
 Brown and also General Scott were badly wounded ; 
 and the British General Riall, and the aid to General 
 Drummond, were taken prisoners. The next day the 
 Americans retreated to Fort Erie, having only fifteen 
 hundred men left fit for service, while the British 
 force, who had received a reinforcement of one thou- 
 sand, amounted to five thousand strong. 
 
 The enemy now prepared to attack Fort Erie, which 
 was little more than an unfinished redoubt, and consid- 
 21* ... 
 
246 THE LIFE OP 
 
 ered almost indefensible. On the 3rd of August, little 
 more than a week after the battle of Lundy's Lane, 
 or Niagara, he appeared before that port with his 
 whole force, amounting to more than five thousand. 
 On the night of August 14th, an assault was made 
 upon the Fort. The enemy, however, were repulsed 
 at all points with great slaughter. Three days after, 
 the assault was renewed with more ferocity than ever. 
 On the 28th, having been in the meantime considera- 
 bly reinforced, the siege was continued with great 
 zeal until the 17th of September, when General Brown 
 resolved upon making a sortie for the purpose of de- 
 stroying the enemy's works. The design was exe- 
 cuted, and proved abundantly successful, and in a few 
 hours the labor of the enemy was entirely destroyed, 
 their cannon captured, and upwards of a thousand 
 of the enemy killed, wounded, and taken prisoners. 
 This was so severe and expensive a lesson for the 
 British, that they immediately after raised the siege 
 and retreated to Fort George. 
 
 Some time in October, General Bissel was de- 
 tached with nine hundred men to the enemy's stores, 
 at* Cook's Mills, or Lyon's Creek. While on his 
 march to perform this duty, his camp was assailed by 
 the Marquis of Tweeddale, at the head of twelve hun- 
 dred men. But he met with so severe a reception 
 that he retreated in great confusion, after a brief con- 
 test, leaving his dead and wounded in his flight. Im- 
 mediately after this repulse, it was resolved to destroy 
 Fort Erie and evacuate Upper Canada in consequence 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARBISON. 247 
 
 of the advanced state of the season. This was ac- 
 cordingly done, and the American army went into 
 winter quarters at Buflalo, Black Rock, and at Ba- 
 tavia. Thus ended the third invasion of Canada. 
 
 On the Atlantic coast and towards the South, 
 events of considerable importance meanwhile had 
 transpired. The enemy had for some time been 
 threatening Baltimore and Washington, the defense 
 of which was committed to General Winder. On the 
 19th of August, the enemy, under General Ross, 
 landed at Benedict, the head of frigate navigation on 
 the Patuxent, to the number of six thousand, and on 
 the 21st, took up his march for Washington, the point 
 now ascertained to be his destination. The British 
 were first encountered at Bladensburgh, and some 
 stand made against them. But after an irregular sort 
 of a contest, in which the militia acted very badly, the 
 Americans were defeated. A portion of the Ameri- 
 can troops, however, fought with great bravery, espe- 
 cially the Washington City and Georgetown militia, as 
 the loss of the British will attest. Their killed, wound- 
 ed and missing, on the occasion, was but little short of 
 one thousand men, while the Americans had less than 
 one hundred killed, and one hundred and twenty- 
 taken prisoners. 
 
 The defeat of General Winder placed the Ameri- 
 can metropolis at the mercy of General Ross, and on 
 the 24th of August he arrived in Washington. Imme- 
 diately after he reached the city, he ordered the Pres- 
 ident's house and the national capitol, two of the most 
 
248 THE LIVE OF 
 
 beautiful specimens of architecture in America, to be 
 burned. The great bridge across the Potomac was 
 also destroyed. This act of Vandalism reflected eter- 
 nal disgrace on the character of General Ross and 
 Admiral Cockburn, by whose order it was perpe- 
 trated, and little less dishonor on the British name for 
 virtually sanctioning so barbarous and wanton an out- 
 rage. In this conflagration the valuable library of 
 Congress was wholly consumed. All the public build- 
 ings, except the Patent Ofiice, shared the same fate 
 as the Capitol and the President's House. On the 
 following day, after this chivalrous performance, the 
 vandal perpetrators retreated from the city, Avhile a 
 small division of his army plundered Alexandria, and 
 committed sundry other depredations. In one of their 
 skirmishes at Moor's Fields, with some militia, Sir 
 Peter Parker was mortally wounded, and died shortly 
 after. 
 
 The capture of Washington filled full to overflow- 
 ing the cup of indignation against General Arm- 
 strong, the Secretary of War, and he was soon after 
 forced to resign, to avoid being removed, a punishment 
 richly deserved for his treatment of General Harri- 
 son, as well as for his neglect to guard against the 
 calamity that befel the Capitol. 
 
 Active preparations were now made for the de- 
 fense of Baltimore. The disgracefvil conduct of the 
 British, at Washington, was received with one feeling 
 of indignation throughout the country, and all sec- 
 tions of it resolved to lay aside the differences until they 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 249 
 
 had punished the insolent invader. It was clear that 
 the next object of attack would be Baltimore, as on 
 the 11th of September, Admiral Cockran appeared at 
 the mouth of the Patapsco, about fourteen miles from 
 that citj. On the next day, General Ross landed at 
 North Point, at the head of six thousand troops, and 
 took up his march for Baltimore. An action took 
 place the same day, in which the Americans were 
 worsted, and compelled to retreat, though the British 
 General Ross was killed. The next day the British 
 appeared before Baltimore, in front of the Ameri- 
 can lines. On the 13th, the enemy had brought six- 
 teen pieces of cannon within a sufficient distance of 
 Fort McHenry, which commanded the entrance to 
 the harbor, to commence a tremendous bombardment, 
 which continued until the next morning. Having sig- 
 nally failed in their attack upon the fort, all further 
 attempt upon Baltimore was abandoned, and the 
 enemy commenced a retreat even while the bombard- 
 ment was continued. 
 
 Admiral Cockran soon after retired to the West 
 Indies with his whole fleet, with the view of awaiting 
 reinforcements from England. He not only abandon- 
 ed the idea for the present of attacking any other 
 cities or large towns, but withdrew all the vessels of 
 his squadron which had been engaged in marauding 
 expeditions into the country along the coast. 
 
 The operations of the American army at the North 
 were attended with some results of a most brilliant 
 character. At the beginning of September, the Brit- 
 
250 THE LIFE OF 
 
 iah invaded New York, for the purpose of destroying 
 the American army at Plattsburgh, and the subjuga- 
 tion of the country as far as Crown Point and Ticon- 
 deroga. Early in September the enemy occupied 
 Phxttsburgh, opposite the American works, where they 
 cahnly awaited the co-operation of the British fleet 
 on Lake Champhxin. But the fleet soon found other 
 matters to attend to than aiding to capture the Amer- 
 ican army. On the 11th of September the Amer- 
 ican fleet, under Commodore McDonough, and the 
 British fleet under Captain Downie, Avere moored 
 abreast of each other in CumberLand Bay. The num- 
 ber of guns in the battle amounted to ninety-five, and 
 one thousand men, Avhile in the American fleet the 
 number of guns was only eighty-six, and eight hun- 
 dred men. The action commenced a little past nine 
 o'clock, on the morning of the 11th, and continued to 
 rage for two hours, when the guns of the enemy were 
 silenced, and most of his vessels surrendered to Com- 
 modore McDonough. The loss of the Americans was 
 fifty-two killed and fifty-eight wounded ; and that of 
 the enemy eighty-four killed and one hundred and 
 ten wounded. 
 
 About the same time the action between the two 
 fleets commenced ; the British General at Plattsburgh 
 commenced a vigorous bombardment upon the Amer- 
 ican works, which was returned Avith equal vigor by 
 the Americans. The action continued until dusk. 
 But after witnessing the surrender of their fleet on 
 the lake, their efibrts somewhat slackened, and, as 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 251 
 
 soon as night set in, tliey commenced a hasty retreat, 
 leaving behind their sick and wounded, besides a large 
 quantity of military stores. The loss of the British 
 in killed, wounded and deserters, in this action, 
 was fifteen hundred, and their loss in the naval action 
 was little less than a thousand men. The American 
 loss was very trifling, compared with that of the en- 
 emy. Ey the glorious termination of these two ac- 
 tions, the Americans obtained the complete command 
 of Lake Champlain, and the British invasion of New 
 York was happily defeated. With the defeat of het 
 enemy at Plattsbiu'gh, and the entire destruction of his 
 fleet on the lake, closed the campaign and the war at 
 the North. 
 
 "While these events were taking place at the North, 
 and along the Atlantic coast, the war was prosecuted 
 with vigor at the South. In the month of August, 
 several British ships of war arrived at Pensacola, theu 
 a Spanish port, and took possession of the forts 
 with the assent of the authorities, and fitted out an 
 expedition against Fort Bowyer or Mobile Bay, and 
 commanding its harbor. But after the loss of a ship 
 of war, and a large number of men, the armament re- 
 turned to Pensacola. General Jackson, who then com- 
 manded at the South, after having in vain remonstra- 
 ted with the authorities for afi"ording shelter to the 
 enemies of the United States, marched against the 
 town, captured it, and compelled the British tq evac- 
 uate Florida. Upon returning from this enterprise, 
 he ascertained that the enemy was making extensive 
 
252 THE LIFE OF 
 
 preparations for invading Louisiana, and attacking 
 New Orleans. He immediately repaired to that city, 
 and by his energetic efforts put it in a complete state of 
 defense, restored confidence amongst the citizens, or- 
 ganized the militia, and finally proclaimed martial law, 
 a measure justified by necessity, though clearly a vio- 
 lation of the constitution. 
 
 On the 5th of December, a large British squadron 
 appeared off the harbor of Pensacola, and on the 
 10th, entered Lake Borgue, the nearest avenue of 
 approach to New Orleans. Here a small squadron 
 of American gun-boats was attacked, and after a 
 brave resistance compelled to surrender. On the 
 22nd of the same month, two thousand five hundred 
 of the enemy reached the Mississippi, nine miles be- 
 low New Orleans. Here they were surprised and lost 
 four hundred men, though they succeeded in repelling 
 the attack. General Jackson now retired to his in- 
 trenchments, which were vigorously cannonaded on 
 the 28th of December, and the 1st of January, but 
 without success. 
 
 General Packenham, the British commander-in- 
 chief, however, advanced with his whole force, amount- 
 ing to twelve thousand men, against the American 
 lines on the 8th of January, 1815. 
 
 Entrenched behind his breastwork of cotton bales, 
 General Jackson, at the head of six thousand troops, 
 principally militia, calmly awaited the onset of this 
 vastly superior force, reserving his fire until the en- 
 emy should approach within reach of his battery. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 253 
 
 Then, however, he opened upon them a most terribly 
 destructive fire from his cannons, cutting wide open- 
 ings in their ranks. But they continued steadily to 
 advance, until within reach of the American mus- 
 ketry and rifles, when even a more fatal shower of 
 balls was poured in upon them than from the batter- 
 ies, and they were literally mowed down by scores 
 and by hundreds. The plain was covered with the 
 dead and dying, and the enemy finally gave way. 
 No flesh and blood could stand such dreadful volleys. 
 In attempting to rally them, General Peckenham was 
 killed, and General Gibbs, the second in command, 
 fell mortally wounded, and General Keene severely. 
 The enemy now fled in the wildest confusion from 
 this certain death, and no attempt was made to rally 
 them a second time. General Lambert, upon whom 
 the command now devolved, therefore retreated to 
 his camp, leaving seven hundred dead on the field, 
 and one thousand wounded. The Americans lost six 
 in killed and seven wounded. The whole British 
 army, immediately after this terrible defeat, hastily 
 withdrew to their ships. In this whole expedition 
 the British loss amounted to full three thousand men. 
 The battle of New Orleans was the only action of any 
 importance that was fought, and may be said to have 
 ended the war in a blaze of glory, as it ended the 
 campaign at the South, as Plattsburgh and Cham- 
 plain had at the North. News of the peace which 
 was concluded by the treaty of Ghent, on the 24th of 
 22 
 
254 THE LIFE OF 
 
 December, 1814, was soon after received, and hostil- 
 ities ceased. 
 
 The commissioners on the part of Great Britain, 
 hj -whom the treaty was concluded, were Lord Gam- 
 hier, Henry Goulburn and William Adams ; and John 
 Quincy Adams, James R. Bayard, Henry Clay, Jon- 
 athan Bissel and Albert Gallatin, on the part of the 
 United States. According to its stipulations, all 
 places taken during the war, or after the signing of 
 the treaty, were to be mutually restored, and all cap- 
 tures at sea made with a certain time thereafter, ac- 
 cording to the latitude in which they were made. 
 Every attempt was to be made by the two govern- 
 ments to put a stop to Indian hostilities, and to 
 extinguish the traffick in slaves. The greater part of 
 the treaty, however, related to the adjustment of the 
 boundaries between the United States and the British 
 territories, which were imperfectly defined by the 
 treaty of 1783. The subject of impressment, which 
 was one of the leading causes of the war, paper block- 
 ades, orders in council, and the rights of neutral flags, 
 were passed over in silence. 
 
 But though these questions were left unsettled, 
 the right of impressment was virtually abandoned by 
 the British Government, and has never been asserted 
 since she had been made to feel our strength, and to 
 respect our power. Especially had she been taught 
 that she was no longer the undisputed mistress of the 
 seas. The loss of two thousand merchant ships, the 
 many millions added to her public debt, the numer- 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARIUSON. 255 
 
 0U3 vessels of war that liad been compelled to strike 
 their flags to the Americans, as well as the battles of 
 the Thames, Queenstown, Chippewa, Niagara, Platts- 
 burgh. New Orleans, and numerous other bloody fields, 
 had effectually checked her insolent bearing tOAvards 
 the United States. It is probably the last attempt 
 that Great Britain will make to recover the "jewel" 
 that was torn from the crown of George III, by his 
 own folly and the wickedness of his ministers. 
 
 The history of General Harrison's career will now 
 be resumed. 
 
266 THE LIFE OF 
 
 CHAPTER XYI. 
 
 Upon resigning his commission in the army, for 
 causes which have been fully explained, and Avhich 
 amply justified him in the eyes of the country, he retir- 
 ed to his farm at North Bend, fifteen miles below Cin- 
 cinnati, in 1814. Here he resumed those peaceful pur- 
 suits which were so much more congenial to his tastes 
 and inclinations than the strife and turmoil of war. If 
 he had preferred his own interests to that of his coun- 
 try, he might have retained his position in the army, 
 and continued to receive the emoluments attached to 
 his command of the eighth military division. But 
 when he could no longer render active service to the 
 country, he refused the reception of pay for services 
 not permitted to be performed, as he had previously 
 upon the peace of Greenville. 
 
 He was not long suffered to remain in seclusion, 
 however. During the summer of the same year he was 
 appointed, in connection with General Cass and Gen- 
 eral Adair, to treat with some of the tribes of north- 
 western Indians, with whom a treaty was soon after 
 concluded at Greenville. The following year he was 
 appointed at the head of another commission, and 
 -concluded a treaty at Detroit with nine important 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 257 
 
 tribes, which were highly advantageous to the United 
 States. In 1816, other and still more important and 
 honorable duties awaited him. He was during that 
 year nominated as a candidate for Congress, in the 
 district in which he resided, and though he had six 
 competitors for the same office, he had an aggregate 
 majority over all of them of one thousand. He was 
 elected to succeed the Honorable John McLean, who 
 had resigned the office shortly before. No stronger 
 evidence of the strong hold General Harrison had 
 upon the affections of the western people, and how 
 little the unjust treatment he had received at the 
 hands of General Armstrong had affected him in their 
 estimation can be had than this triumphant endorse- 
 ment of his character and patriotism by those most 
 competent to judge of each. 
 
 While a member of Congress, and shortly after he 
 took his seat, a charge was made against him by an 
 army contractor, whose high expectations of large 
 profits were blighted by his rigid supervision of the 
 commissary's department, of misconduct or improper 
 connection Avith that department while in command of 
 the army at the West. General Harrison boldly met 
 the charge, and demanded an investigation. A com- 
 mittee was accordingly appointed, at the head of 
 whom was Colonel Richard M. Johnson, and after a 
 thorough and impartial investigation, a report was 
 made by him on the 23rd of January, 1817, in which 
 they say, that " The committee are unanimously of 
 
 opinion that General Harrison stands above suspicion 
 9.9 * 
 
258 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 as to his having had any pecuniary or improper con- 
 nection Avith the officers of the commissariat for 
 the su])ply of the army ; that he did not wantonly 
 or improperly interfere with the rights of contractors, 
 and that he Avas, in his measures, governed by a jn'oper 
 zeal and devotion to the public interests." 
 
 "When this report was read, Mr. Hulbert of Mas- 
 sachusetts, who was a member of the committee, said, 
 that he as well as the committee considered the sub- 
 ject an important one, as well as interesting to the 
 public, and especially so to General Harrison. The 
 character of that gentleman had been impeached, and 
 the committee, therefore, determined to make the in- 
 vestigation as full and thorough as should be in their 
 power. They had received the testimony of the gen- 
 tleman who made the charge, had read and considered 
 all the documents and papers they could obtain, and 
 had examined many respectable witnesses ; after all 
 this the investigation resulted in a firm conviction and 
 unanimous opinion of the committee, that the insinu- 
 ations and complaints that had been made against 
 General Harrison were unmerited, groundless and un- 
 just. 
 
 Mr. Hulbert said, it gave him pleasure to make 
 these declarations, as he considered himself doing an 
 act of justice to an individual. He admitted that he 
 had entered upon the investigation with impressions 
 very unfavorable to General Harrison. The com- 
 plaint which had been made against him had spread 
 far and wide. The bane and the antidote had not 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 259 
 
 . . ! 
 
 gone together. He rejoiced that this investigation 
 had heen made, and he had no hesitation in saying, 
 that so far as the report of the committee shoukl de- 
 fend the character and conduct of General Harrison 
 before the public, it would promote the cause of truth 
 and justice. In regard to the charge of oppressive 
 and unjust conduct towards the contractors in the 
 army under his command, he was entirely satisfied 
 that he had interfered only in those cases where he 
 thought his duty to the public imperiously demand- 
 ed it. 
 
 The most serious charge that had been preferred 
 against General Harrison was that, while he was com- 
 mander-in-chief of the north-western army, regardless 
 of his country's good, he was in the habit of managing 
 the public concerns with a view to his own private in- 
 terests. This, Mr. Hulbert said, he could not re- 
 frain from pronouncing a false and cruel accusation, 
 and that there was the most satisfactory evidence that 
 he had, in the exercise of his official duties, and in his 
 devotion to the public interests, neglected his private 
 concerns to his material detriment and injury. In a 
 word, he added, he felt himself authorized to say, 
 that every member of the committee was fully satis- 
 fied that the conduct of General Harrison, in relation 
 to the matter under inquiry, had been that of a brave, 
 honest and honorable man, and that instead of de- 
 serving censure, he merited the thanks and applause 
 of his country. 
 
 At a subsequent state of the inquiry, the matter 
 
260 THE LIFE OP 
 
 ■was referred to the Secretary of "War, who reported 
 that General Harrison had been guilty of no impro- 
 priety of conduct ; that upwaixls of a million and a 
 half of dollars had passed through his hands, during 
 the Avar, no part of which had been applied to his own 
 use ; that from the evidence furnished him, it ap- 
 peared that General Harrison was poorer at the end 
 of the war than he was at the beginning of it. 
 
 On the 6th of December, four days after he took 
 his seat in Congress, and previous to the investiga- 
 tion into the charges against his official conduct, he 
 offered a resolution insti'ucting the military committee 
 to enquire into the expediency of providing by law 
 for the relief of such of the officers and soldiers who, 
 having faithfully served in the armies of the United 
 StateSj are now in distressed circumstances, and who, 
 not having received wounds or disabilities whilst in 
 actual service, are excluded from the benefits of the 
 pension laws, and that the said committee report by 
 bill or otherwise. This resolution led the way for an 
 act of justice to those who had sacrificed some of their 
 best years in the service of the country, and thus, in 
 many instances, entirely blighted their Avorldly pros- 
 pects, but who had hitherto been entirely neglected 
 by their government, because they had not the good 
 fortune to lose a leg or an arm. 
 
 On the 30th of January, on his motion, the mili- 
 tary committee was instructed to enquire into the ex- 
 pediency of granting a bounty of one hundred and 
 sixty acres of land to all non-commissioned officers 
 
WILLIAISr HENRY HARRISON. 261 
 
 and soldiers of the army, wlio, having been enlisted 
 previous to the 24th of December, 1811, are not enti- 
 tled to said bounty, but who, having served faithfully 
 through said war, have obtained an honorable dis- 
 charge. These two propositions were the foundation 
 of a system of legislation that has resulted in a vast 
 benefit not only to a large class of soldiers, but to the 
 widows and orphans of those who had perished gal- 
 lantly fighting in defense of their country. 
 
 At the following session a bill was introduced to 
 increase the pay of members of Congress from six to 
 nine dollars a day. In discussing a proposition to 
 strike out six and insert nine, which took place on the 
 6th of January, 1818, General Harrison said that in 
 explaining what would otherwise appear an inconsist- 
 ency in the vote he was about to give, he was aware 
 that in order to preserve in Congress talents of a 
 proper grade, and to enable men of moderate property 
 to come to Congress without loss, a higher compensa- 
 tion was necessary than had heretofore been allowed 
 to members of Congress. But, notwithstanding he 
 entertained these views, he was opposed to increasing 
 the pay of members until they had done justice to 
 others whose claims were much stronger. Whenever 
 justice should be done to sufferers in the war of the 
 revolution, he should be willing to vote for the meas- 
 ure in question, and not till then. The revolutionary 
 pension biH became a law before the close of the 
 session. 
 
 This bill being under discussion the next day, on 
 
262 THE LIFE OP 
 
 its third reading, General Harrison said he was 
 persuaded that the members of the House, who had 
 voted for a compensation beyond the ancient aUow- 
 ance of six dollars, had voted under great embarrass- 
 ment, possessed as they were on the one hand by a 
 sense of duty and justice, and on the other by that 
 delicacy which must be felt Avhen they were acting as 
 judges in their own case. He thought, however, that 
 there was a mode by which their feelings might be 
 saved, and which, if adopted, would be as highly ac- 
 ceptable to them as it would be honorable to their 
 representatives. It would evince a disinterestedness 
 and magnanimity which could not fail to produce the 
 most happy effects, and finally fix the compensation 
 at the sum which their disinterested judgment should 
 deem right. Being satisfied that it was a question to 
 be determined rather by feeling than argument, he 
 would simply submit a resolution to re-commit the 
 bill, with instructions to amend it so far as to fix the 
 compensation for the present Congress at six dollars, 
 and for the ensuing Congress at eight dollars. The 
 motion, however, was lost and the bill passed. 
 
 On the 20th of January, of the same Congress, 
 General Harrison introduced a resolution, providing 
 that a committee be appointed jointly with such com- 
 mittee as may be appointed by the Senate, to con- 
 sider and report what measures it may be proper to 
 adopt to manifest the public respect for the memory 
 of General Thaddeus Kosciusko, formerly an officer 
 in the service of the United States, and the uniform 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 263 
 
 and distinguished friend of liberty and the rights of 
 man. Upon this resolution he made the following 
 admirable remarks : — 
 
 " The public papers have announced an event which 
 is well calculated to excite the sj^mpathy of every 
 American bosom. Kosciusko, the martyr of liberty, 
 is no more ! We are informed that he died at So- 
 leure, in France, some time in October last. In 
 tracing the events of this great man's life, we find in 
 him that consistency of conduct v/hich is the more to 
 to be admired as it is so rarely to be met with. He 
 was not at one time the friend of mankind, and at 
 another the instrument of their oppressions, but he pre- 
 served throughout his whole career those noble prin- 
 ciples which distinguished him in its commence- 
 ment, which influenced him at an early period of his 
 life to leave his country and his friends, and in an- 
 other hemisphere, to fight for the rights of humanity. 
 
 "Kosciusko was born and educated in Poland, of a 
 noble and distinguished family, a country where the 
 distinctions in society are perhaps carried to greater 
 lengths than in any other. His creator had, how- 
 ever, endowed him with a soul capable of rising above 
 the narrower prejudices of caste, and of breaking the 
 shackles which a vicious education had imposed on 
 his mind. AVhen very young he was informed by the 
 voice of fame that the standard of liberty had been 
 erected in America ; that an insulted and oppressed 
 people had. determined to be free or perish in the 
 attempt. His ardent and generous mind caught with 
 
264 THE LIFE OF 
 
 enthusiasm the holy flame, and from that moment he 
 became the devoted soldier of liberty. 
 
 " His rank in the American army afforded him no 
 opportunity greatly to distinguish himself. But he 
 was remarked throughout his service for all the qual- 
 ities which adorn the human character. His heroic 
 conduct in the field could only be equaled by his 
 moderation and affability in the walks of private life. 
 He was idolized by the soldiers for his bravery, and 
 beloved and respected by the officers for the goodness 
 of his heart, and the great qualities of his mind. 
 Contributing greatly by his exertions to the establish- 
 ment of the independence of America, he might have 
 remained and shared the blessings it dispensed, under 
 the protection of a chief who loved and honored him, 
 and in the bosom of a grateful and affectionate people. 
 
 "Kosciusko, however, had other views. It is not 
 known that, until the period I am now speaking of, 
 he had formed any distinct idea of Avhat could, or 
 indeed what ought to be done for his own. But in 
 the revolutionary war he drank deeply of the princi- 
 ples that produced it. In his conversations with the 
 intelligent men of our country, he acquired new views 
 of the science of government and the rights of man. 
 He had seen, too, that to be free, it was only neces- 
 sary that a nation should will it, and to be happy, it 
 was only necessary that a nation should be free. 
 And was it not possible to procure these blessings for 
 Poland ? For Poland, the country of his birth, which 
 had a claim to all his efforts, to all his services ? That 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 265 
 
 unhappy nation groaned under a complication of evils, 
 ■which has scarcely a parallel in history. The mass 
 of the people were the abject slaves of the nobles ; 
 the nobles, torn into factions, were alternately the in- 
 struments and the victims of their powerful and am- 
 bitious neighbors. By intrigue, corruption" and force, 
 some of its fairest provinces had been separated from 
 the republic, and people, like beasts, transferred to 
 foreign despots, who were again watching for a favor- 
 able moment for a second dismemberment. To regu- 
 late a people thus debased, to -obtain for a country 
 thus circumstanced the blessings of liberty and inde- 
 pendence, was a work of as much difficulty as danger. 
 But to a mind like Kosciusko's, the difficulty and 
 danger of an enterprise served as stimulants to under- 
 take it. 
 
 " The annals of those times give us no detailed ac- 
 counts of the progress of Kosciusko in accomplishing 
 his great work, from the period of his return from 
 America to the adoption of the new constitution of 
 Poland, in 1791. This interval, however, of apparent 
 inaction was most usefully employed to illumine the 
 mental darkness which enveloped his countrymen. 
 To stimulate the ignorant and bigoted peasantry with 
 the hope of future emancipation — to teach a proud 
 but gallant nobility that true glory is only to be found 
 in the paths of glory and patriotism — interests the 
 most opposed, prejudices the most stubborn, and 
 habits the most inveterate were reconciled, dissipated, 
 and broken by the ascendency of his virtues and ex- 
 23 
 
266 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 ample. The storm which he had foreseen, and for 
 Avhich he had been preparing, at length burst upon 
 Poland. A feeble and unpopular government bent 
 before its fury, and submitted itself to the Russian 
 yoke of the invader. But the nation disdained to 
 folloAv its example ; in their extremity every eye was 
 turned on the hero who had already fought their 
 battles — the sage Avho had enlightened them, and the 
 patriot who had set the example of personal sacrifices 
 to accomplish the emancipation of the people. 
 
 " Kosciusko was unanimously appointed Generalis- 
 simo of Poland, with unlimited powers, until the en- 
 emy should be driven from the country. On his 
 virtue the nation reposed with the utmost confidence ; 
 and it is some consolation to reflect, amid the general 
 depravity of mankind, that two instances in the same 
 age have occurred where powers of this kind Avere 
 employed solely for the purposes for which they were 
 given. 
 
 "It is not my intention. Sir, to follow the Polish 
 chief throughout the career of victory which for a 
 considerable time crowned his efforts. Guided by his 
 talents, and led by his valor, his undisciplined, poorly 
 armed militia charged with effect the veteran Russians 
 and Prussians ; the mailed cuirassiers of the great 
 Frederick, for the first time, broke and fled before the 
 lighter and more appropriate cavalry of Poland. Hope 
 filled the breasts of the patriots. After a long night 
 the dawn of an apparently glorious day broke upon 
 Poland. But to the discerning eye of Kosciusko, the 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 2G7 
 
 light -which it shed was of that sickly and porten- 
 tous appearance indicating a storm more dreadful 
 than that which he had resisted. 
 
 " He prepared to meet it with firmness, but with 
 means entirely inadequate. To the advantages of 
 numbers, of tactics, of discipline and inexhaustible 
 resources, the cornelian despots had secured a faction 
 in the heart of Poland, and if that country can boast 
 of having produced its Washington, it is disgraced 
 also by giving birth to a second Arnold. The day at 
 length came which was to decide the fate of a nation 
 and a hero. Heaven for wise purposes determined 
 that it should be the last of Polish liberty. It was 
 decided, indeed, before the battle commenced. The 
 traitor Pouiski, who covered with a detachment the 
 advance of the Polish army, abandoned his position 
 to the enemy and retreated. 
 
 " Kosciusko was astonished but not discouraged. 
 The disposition of his army would have done honor 
 to Hannibal. The succeeding conflict was terrible. 
 When the tablets of the General could no longer di- 
 rect the mingled mass of combatants, the arm of the 
 warrior Avas brought to the aid of his soldiers. He 
 performed prodigies of valor. The feeble powers of 
 Ajax in defending the Grecian ships was realized by 
 the Polish hero ; nor was he badly seconded by his 
 troops. As long as his voice could guide, or his 
 example fire their valor, they were irresistible. In 
 this unequal contest Kosciusko was long seen, and 
 finally lost to their vision. 
 
268 THE LIFE OF 
 
 • Hope for a season bade the worUl farewell, 
 And freedom shrieked as Kosciusko fell.' 
 
 " He fell covered with wounds, but still survived. 
 A Cossack would have pierced his breast, when an offi- 
 cer interposed. ' Suffer him to execute his purpose,' 
 said the bleeding hero. ' I am the devoted soldier 
 of my country, and will not survive its liberties.' 
 The name of Kosciusko struck to the heart of the 
 Tartar like that of Marius upon the €imbrian war- 
 rior. The uphfted weapon dropped from his hand. 
 
 " Kosciusko was conveyed to the dungeons of Pe- 
 tersburgh — and, to the eternal disgrace of the Em- 
 press Catharine, she "made him the object of her 
 vengeance, when he could no longer be the object of 
 her fears. Her more generous son restored him to 
 liberty. The remainder of his life has been spent in 
 virtuous retirement. Whilst in this situation in 
 France, an anecdote is related of him which strongly 
 illustrates the command which his virtues and his 
 services had obtained over the minds of his coun- 
 trymen. 
 
 " In the late invasion of France, some Polish regi- 
 ments, in the service of Russia, passed through the 
 village in which he lived. Some pillaging of the 
 inhabitants brought Kosciusko from his cottage. 
 ' When I was a Polish soldier,' said he, addressing 
 the plunderers, ' the property of the peaceful citizen 
 Avas respected.' 'And who art thou,' said an offi 
 cer, ' who addresses us with this tone of authority.' ' I 
 am Kosciusko.' There was magic in the word. It ran 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 269 
 
 from corps to corps ; the march was suspended ; 
 thej gathered around him and gazed Avith astonish- 
 ment and awe upon the mighty ruin he presented. 
 Could it indeed be their hero whose fame was identified 
 with that of their country ? A thousand interesting 
 reflections burst upon their minds, they remembered 
 his patriotism, his devotion to liberty, his triumphs, 
 and his glorious fall. Their iron hearts even softened, 
 and the tear of sensibility trickled down their weath- 
 er-beaten faces. We can easily conceive, Sir, what 
 would be the feelings of the hero himself in such a 
 scene. His great heart must have heaved with emo- 
 tion to find himself once more surrounded by the 
 companions of his glory, and that he would have been 
 upon the point of saying to them : — 
 
 * Behold your general, come once more 
 To lead you on to laurel'd victory — 
 To fame, to freedom ! ' 
 
 "The delusion could have lasted but for a moment. 
 He was himself, alas ! a miserable cripple, and for 
 them, they were no longer the soldiers of liberty, but 
 the instruments of ambition and tyranny. Over- 
 whelmed with grief at the reflection, he would retire 
 to his cottage to mourn afresh over the miseries of his 
 country. 
 
 " Such was the man, Sir, for whose memory I ask 
 from an American Congress a slight tribute of re- 
 spect. IJot, Sir, to perpetuate his fame, but our grat- 
 itude. His fame will last as long as liberty remains 
 upon the earth — as long as a votary ofi'ers incense 
 23* 
 
270 THE LIFE OP 
 
 upon lier altar, the name of Kosciusko "will be in- 
 voked. And if by the common consent of the world, 
 a temple should be erected to those Avho have ren- 
 dered most service to mankind, if the statue of our 
 great countrymen shall occupy the place of the "most 
 worthy," that of Kosciusko will be found by his side, 
 and the wreath of laurel will be entwined with the 
 palm of virtue to adorn his brow." 
 
 Though the great merits of Kosciusko was univer- 
 sally admired, yet this resolution met with so much 
 opposition that General Harrison finally withdrew it, 
 together with another testifying the respect of the 
 brave for his memory by wearing crape. It was 
 shown that no such respect as it proposed had been 
 paid to any of the departed worthies, native or for- 
 eign, who had aided in the achievement of our inde- 
 pendence, except in the single instance of Washington, 
 which was claimed to be an exception to all general 
 rules. The occasion, however, was happily seized 
 upon by General Harrison to bring the great merits 
 of the noble patriot and martyr before the country, 
 and to pay the eloquent and touching tribute to his 
 memory which has been quoted above ; a speech 
 containing sentiments as honorable to the heart and 
 head of the man by whom tliey Avcre uttered as to the 
 patriot whose glorious deeds and eminent virtues they 
 were designed to commemorate. 
 
 In 1816, a resolution was offered in the Senate of 
 the United States, voting a gold medal and the thanks 
 of Congress to General Harrison and Governor Shelby. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 271 
 
 But the enemies of the late war were almost, as 
 a matter of course, the enemies also of the man who 
 had done so much to carry the country honorably 
 through it as General Harrison had, A motion was 
 therefore made by Mr. Lacoch, from Pennsylvania, 
 to strike his name from the resolution. This motion 
 prevailed by a vote of thirteen to eleven ; but on 
 the 20th of April, one week after, the resolution was 
 called up again, and General Harrison's name re- 
 stored by a vote of fourteen to thirteen. The subject 
 was re-committed to the military committee where it 
 rested until 1818. When Governor Shelby heard of 
 the attempt to strike the name of General Harrison 
 from the resolution, with the magnanimity of a great 
 mind, he wrote to his old commander, praying him not 
 to let the conduct of the Senate disturb his mind. 
 He said, " I hope their resolution has been laid over 
 as to both of us. The moment I heard of the course 
 it was likely to take, I wrote instantly to Mr. Clay, 
 and expressed my regret that it had been introduced, 
 and how mortified I should feel to be noticed, if you 
 were not included, who had rendered ten times more 
 service to the nation than I had." 
 
 The subject was again brought before the Sen- 
 ate, on the 24th of March, 1818, by Mr. Dickinson, 
 of New Jersey, subsequently the Secretary of the 
 Navy under General Jackson's administration. On 
 that day he asked leave to introduce a resolution offer- 
 ing the thanks of Congress, and providing that a gold 
 medal be struck and awarded to General Harrison and 
 
272 THE LIFE OP 
 
 Governor Shelby, for their distinguished bravery and 
 good conduct in capturing the British army under Gen- 
 eral Proctor, on the Thames, in Upper Canada, October 
 5th, 1813. Mr, Dickinson prefaced the introduction 
 of this resolution with the following chaste and appro- 
 priate remarks : — 
 
 " I should not," he said, " at this late day, highly 
 as I think of the merits of those officers, who, in co- 
 operation with the hero of Lake Erie, turned the tide 
 of war in our favor, bring forward the present resolu- 
 tion if no similar attempt had heretofore been made 
 in their favor, but would leave their fame to rest upon 
 the testimony of impartial history which has already 
 done ample justice to their characters. 
 
 " Two years ago a resolution like the present was 
 reported in this House, by the chairman of the com- 
 mittee on military aflfairs, by direction of that com- 
 mittee. This resolution was opposed on two grounds, 
 applying solely to General Harrison, as I have been 
 informed (for I had not then the honor of being a 
 member of this body) — the first, that an inquiry was 
 at that time pending before the House of Representa- 
 tives, into the official conduct of General Harrison, as 
 a commander-in-chief of the north-western army, upon 
 charges which, if well founded, were calculated essen- 
 tially to injure his character; the second, that a rumor 
 prevailed that Genei'al Harrison had discovered some 
 reluctance in pursuing Proctor and his army, after 
 Perry's victory on Lake Erie, and that he had been 
 forced to the pursuit by the remonstrance of Gov- 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 273 
 
 crnor Shelby, and that this information had been de- 
 rived from the declarations of Governor Shelby. 
 
 " These charges, utterly unfounded as they turned 
 out to be, were deemed a sufficient reason for postpon- 
 ing a decision of the report of the committee until the 
 result of the inquiry, before the House of Representa- 
 tives should at least be known. * * * j\^g ^he 
 friends of General Harrison have it in their power com- 
 pletely to obviate every objection heretofore made to 
 the passage of this resolution, it is their duty to bring 
 the subject again before Congress, more especially as 
 the journals of this house, if left unexplained, imply 
 a censure upon the conduct of General Harrison, 
 which certainly was not intended. I will confess for 
 one, from a perusal of the journal of this house, the 
 military reputation of General Harrison sunk in my 
 estimation. And I believe this confession might be 
 made by three-fourths of the citizens of the United 
 States who read the proceedings of Congress, and 
 who had not an intimate knowledge of the character 
 and conduct of General Harrison. I should reproach 
 myself for having suffered such an impression to be 
 made upon my mind if the means of correcting it 
 had also been found upon our journals ; those jour- 
 nals did not then afford the means of correct informa- 
 tion upon this subject, nor do they till this day. 
 
 " As to the first objection that an investigation 
 was depending in the House of Representatives, into 
 the official conduct of General Harrison, the result of 
 that investigation was in the highest degree honorable 
 
274 THE LIFE OF 
 
 to his character. The committee were unanimously of 
 the opinion that General Harrison stood above suspi- 
 cion of being implicated in the charges exhibited 
 against him, and that in his whole conduct, as com- 
 mander-in-chief of the north-western army, he was 
 governed by a laudable zeal for and devotion to the 
 public service and interests. 
 
 " The second objection made to the passage of the 
 resolution, if well founded, was calculated to give to 
 Governor Shelby the entire and exclusive merit of 
 having urged the pursuit of Proctor and his army. 
 But Shelby, generous as he is brave, disclaims this 
 exclusive merit in a letter, which I beg leave to read ; 
 denies, in the most positive terms, having used the 
 language ascribed to him, and he gives General Har- 
 rison the highest praise for his promptitude and vigi- 
 lance in pursuing Proctor ; for the skill with which 
 he arranged his troops for meeting the enemy, and 
 for liis disinterested bravery during the action." 
 
 The resolution passed both branches of Congress 
 unanimously, or so nearly so that the exception was 
 but a single vote in the House, and on the 4th of 
 April, 1818, was approved by James Madison, Presi- 
 dent of the United States. So triumphantly had 
 General Harrison's character been vindicated from 
 the charges, of whatever kind, which had been prefer- 
 red against him by his enemies, that scarcely an 
 objection was raised to the passage of a resolution con- 
 ferring upon him the highest honor in the power of 
 Congress to bestow. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 275 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 It was during General Harrison's first regular term 
 in Congress, that the celebrated and important debate 
 was had on the resolution to censure General Jack- 
 son for his conduct in the Seminole War. Upon this 
 subject he felt a very deep solicitude, and between his 
 Avarm sympathy and disinterested friendship for a 
 brave and patriotic fellow-soldier, and honest deter- 
 mination to let no considerations come between him 
 and his duty to his country, he necessarily felt pain- 
 fidly embarrassed. His speech on this question was 
 equally admired, therefore, for its ingenuity, ability 
 and eloquence, and was pronounced one of the finest 
 efibrts elicited by that interesting occasion. It was 
 even more admired, however, for its impartial and pa- 
 triotic spirit than for its eloquence and ability ; for 
 while he disapproved the course of General Jack- 
 son, and commented on his conduct with the manly 
 independence of a freeman, he defended such of his 
 acts as he believed right, and did full justice to his 
 motives.* In concluding his remarks he said : — 
 
 " If the highest services could claim indemnity for 
 crime, then might the conqueror of Platsea have 
 
 * Hall's Life of Harrison. 
 
276 THE LIFE OF 
 
 been suffered to continue his usurpations until he had 
 erected a throne upon the ruins of Grecian liberty. 
 Sir, it will not be understood that I mean to compare 
 General Jackson to these men. No ; I believe that 
 the principles of the patriot are as firmly fixed in his 
 bosom as those of the soldier. But a republican gov- 
 ernment should make no distinctions between men, 
 and should never relax its maxims of security for any 
 individual, however distinguished. No man should be 
 allowed to say that he could do that with impunity 
 which another could not do. If the father of his 
 country were alive, in the administration of the gov- 
 ernment, and had authorized the taking of the Span- 
 ish ports, I would declare my disapprobation as 
 readily as I do now. Nay, more, because the more 
 distinguished the individual, the more salutary the 
 example. No one can tell how soon such an example 
 may be beneficial. General Jackson will be faithful 
 to his country. But I recollect that the virtues and 
 patriotism of Fabius and Scipio were soon followed by 
 the crimes of Marcus and the usurpations of Sylla. 
 
 " I am sure, Sir, that it is not the intention of any 
 gentleman upon this floor to rob General Jackson of 
 a single ray of glory, much less to wound his feelings 
 or injure his reputation. And whilst I thank my 
 friend from Mississippi (Mr. Poindextcr), in the name 
 of those who agree with me, that General Jackson 
 has done wrong, I must be permitted to decline the 
 use of the address which he has so obligingly pre- 
 pared for us, and substitute the following asmore 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 277 
 
 consonant to our views and opinions. If the resolu- 
 tion pass I would address liim thus : In the perform- 
 ance of a sacred duty, imposed by their construction 
 of the constitution, the representatives of the people 
 have found it necessary to disapprove a single act 
 of your brilliant career ; they have done it in the full 
 conviction that the hero who has guarded her rights in 
 the field, will bow with reverence to the civil institu- 
 tions of his country — that he has admitted as his creed 
 that the character of the soldier can never be com- 
 plete without eternal reference to the character of the 
 citizen. 
 
 " Your country has done for you all that a coun- 
 try can do for the most favored of her sons. The 
 age of deification is passed ; it was an age of tyranny 
 and barbarism ; the adoration of man should be ad- 
 dressed to his Creator alone. You have been feasted 
 in the pretoires of the cities. Your statue shall be in 
 the capitol, and your name be found in the song of 
 the virgins. Gro, gallant chief, and bear with you 
 the gratitude of your country ! Go, under the full 
 conviction that, as her glory is identified with yours, 
 she has nothing more dear to her but her laws — noth- 
 ino^ more sacred but her constitution. Even an unin- 
 tentional error shall be sanctified to her service. It 
 will teach posterity that the government which could 
 disapprove the conduct of a Marcellus, will have the 
 fortitude to crush the vices of Marius. 
 
 " These sentiments. Sir, lead to results in which 
 all must unite. General Jackson will still live in the 
 24 
 
278 THE LIFE OF 
 
 hearts of his fellow-citizens, and the constitution of 
 your country will be immortal." 
 
 General Harrison remained in Congress until he 
 had served out the unexpired term of Mr. McLean, 
 and the full term for which he was returned. He 
 then declined a re-election. During his brief legisla- 
 tive career, he exhibited the same aptness for the 
 new duties and responsibilities thus imposed upon 
 him that he had previously shown for those of the 
 soldier and the general. His familiar acquaintance 
 with the wants of the country, and his extensive ac- 
 quirements, peculiarly qualified him for an enlightened 
 and useful discharge of the duties of the law-maker. 
 As a debater, he was ready, fluent and forcible. 
 Always courteous and dignified, and possessing a vig- 
 orous and cultivated mind, he not only made himself 
 a most useful member, but was enabled to exercise an 
 influence far greater than that exerted by many much 
 older members. Many of his speeches will bear a 
 favorable comparison with most members of the same 
 Congress. 
 
 The following year after his withdrawal from Con- 
 gress he yielded to the solicitation of his friends, and 
 became a candidate for the Senate of Ohio, to which 
 he was elected in the fall of 1819. In that body he 
 rendered important services to the State. Earnestly 
 as he labored for the public good, and advantageous 
 as were his services to his constituents, his conduct 
 did not escape the criticism of the censorious, nor 
 even the open condemnation of disingenuous partizans. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 279 
 
 His vote in the Senate, in favor of selling the services 
 of convicts sentenced for larcenies of sums under 
 fifty dollars, as a punishment less injurious to them 
 and less burdensome to the State than confinement in 
 the State prison, was made the pretext for charging 
 him with voting to sell poor white men to pay their 
 debts. In relation to this charge. General Harrison 
 himself has given at once the clearest explanation and 
 the most convincing refutation. After referring to an 
 attack of this character that had been made upon 
 him, he proceeds to say that no such act as one 
 authorizing the sale of a poor debtor's services was 
 either voted for him or passed by the legislature of 
 which he was a member. 
 
 " The act in question has no more relation to the 
 collection of 'debts,'" continues General Harrison, 
 " than it has to the discovery of longitude. It was an 
 act for the punishment of offenses against the State ; 
 and that part of it which is so bitterly assailed was 
 passed by the House of Representatives, and voted 
 for by the twelve senators, under the impression that 
 it was the most mild and humane mode of dealing 
 with the ofi'enders for whose cases it was intended. 
 It was adopted by the House of Representatives as a 
 part of a general system of criminal law which was 
 then undergoing a complete revision and amendment. 
 The necessity of this is evinced by the following facts : 
 For several years past it had become apparent that 
 the Penitentiary system was becoming more and more 
 burdensome at every session. A large appropriation 
 
280 THE LIFK OF 
 
 was called for to meet the excess of expenditure 
 above the receipts of the establishment. In the com- 
 mencement of the session of 1820, the deficit amount- 
 ed to nearly twenty thousand dollars. 
 
 " This growing evil required the immediate inter- 
 position of some vigorous legislative measure. Two 
 were recommended as likely to produce the effect: 
 first, placing the institution under better management, 
 and, secondly, lessening the number of convicts who 
 were sentenced for short periods, and whose labor 
 was found, of course, to be most unproductive. In 
 pursuance of the latter principle, thefts to the amount 
 of fifty dollars or upwards were subjected to punish- 
 ment in the Penitentiary, instead of ten dollars, which 
 was the former minimum sum. This was easily done ; 
 but the great difficulty remained to determine what 
 should be the punishment of those numerous larcenies 
 below the sum of fifty dollars. By some, whipping 
 was proposed ; by others, punishment by hard labor 
 in the county jails ; and by others it was thought best 
 to make them work on the highways. 
 
 " To all these there appeared insuperable objec- 
 tions. Fine and imprisonment was proposed by the 
 House of Representatives as the only alternative, and 
 as it was well known that these vexatious pilferings 
 were generally perpetrated by the most worthless va- 
 gabonds in society, it was added that when they could 
 not pay the fines and costs, which are always part of 
 the sentences and punishments, their services should 
 be sold out to any persons who should pay their fines 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 281 
 
 and costs for them. This was a clause which was 
 passed, as I believe, by an unanimous vote of the 
 House, and stricken out in the Senate, in opposition 
 to the twelve who have been denominated. A little 
 further trouble in examining the journals would have 
 yhown that this was considered as a substitute for 
 whipping, which was lost in the Senate and in the 
 House, by a small majority after being once passed. 
 
 " I think I have said enough to show that this ob- 
 noxious law would not have applied to " unfortunate 
 debtors of sixty-four years," but to infamous offenders 
 who depredate upon the property of their fellow** 
 citizens, and who by the constitution of the State, as 
 well as the principle of existing laws, were subject to 
 involuntary servitude. I must confess I had no very 
 sanguine expectations of beneficial effects from this 
 measure, as it would apply to convicts who had at- 
 tained the age of maturity. But I had supposed that 
 a woman or a youth who was convicted of an offense, 
 and remained in jail for the payment of the fine and 
 costs imposed, might with great advantage be trans- 
 ferred to the residence of some decent, virtuous pri- 
 vate family, whose precept and example would greatly 
 lead them back to the paths of virtue. * * * I think 
 that imprisonment for debt, under any circumstances 
 but those where fraud is alleged, is at war with the 
 best principles of our constitution, and ought to be 
 abolished." 
 
 General Harrison remained in the Senate of Ohio 
 two years, during which he devoted the energies of 
 24* 
 
282 THE LIFE OP 
 
 his mind and his great capacity for public business to 
 the promotion of such measures as he believed best 
 calculated to promote the general welfare. During 
 the time he was a member of the State Senate, he 
 was elected as one of the Presidential electors for 
 Ohio, and voted for James Madison for President, and 
 Daniel D. Tompkins for Vice President. He was 
 subsequently again chosen as one of the electors of 
 that State, and voted for Henry Clay for President. 
 He was nominated for Congress again in 1822, 
 but was defeated in consequence of his vote against 
 the Missouri Restriction.* Upon being nominated, 
 he issued an address to the people of his district, at 
 the conclusion of which he thus succinctly sets forth 
 his political principles : " I believe that upon the 
 preservation of the Union of the States depends the 
 existence of our civil and religious liberties, and that 
 the cement which binds it together is not a parcel of 
 words written upon paper or parchment, but the broth- 
 erly love and regard which the citizens of the several 
 States possess for each other. Destroy this, and the 
 beautiful fabric which was reared and embellished by 
 our ancestors, crumbles into ruin. From its disjointed 
 parts no temple of liberty will again be reared. Dis- 
 cord and wars will succeed to peace and harmony ; 
 barbarism will again overspread the land ; or, what is 
 scarcely better, some kindly tyrant will promulgate 
 the decrees of his will from the seat where a Wash- 
 ington and a Jefferson dispensed the blessings of a 
 
 * Hall's Life of Harrison . 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. -83 
 
 free and equal government. I believe it therefore to 
 be the duty of a representative to conciliate, by every 
 possible means, the members of our great political 
 family ; and always to bear in mind that as the Union 
 was effected only by a spirit of mutual concessions 
 and forbearance, so only can it be preserved." 
 
 Having served two years in the Senate of his 
 adopted State with honor and distinction to himself, 
 and advantage to the people, he once more sought for 
 that happiness and repose in the midst of his family 
 at North Bend, which was so congenial to his disposi- 
 tion, but of which for so many years he had been de- 
 prived. He was once more to be disappointed in 
 these agreeable anticipations. In the year 1824 he 
 was elected to the United States Senate by the legis- 
 lature of Ohio. Soon after taking his seat in that 
 body he was appointed chairman of the military com- 
 mittee, in place of General Jackson, who had just 
 resigned. 
 
 Acting upon the principle that had ever influenced 
 his conduct, he warmly advocated the passage of a 
 bill giving the preference in the appointment of ca- 
 dets to the Military Academy at West Point, to the 
 sons of those who had fallen in defense of their coun- 
 try's rights. While a member of the other house of 
 Congress, he lost no opportunity of enforcing the ne- 
 cessity of giving not only to those who had shed their 
 blood in their country's services, but also to the wid- 
 ows and orphans of those who had fallen in battle, 
 some practical evidence of the country's gratitude. 
 
284 THE LIFE OF 
 
 His course in relation to the appointment of cadets 
 was in accordance with his Avhole conduct towards 
 these and the descendants of those who have periled 
 and lost their lives in fighting for the rights of the 
 whole people. 
 
 The eccentric and extraordinary John Randolph, 
 of Roanoke, occupied a seat in the Senate at the time 
 General Harrison represented Ohio in that body, and 
 like every one else whose fortune led him into contact 
 with the fierce genius from Virginia, he had to pay 
 the penalty such contact imposed. True to his uni- 
 form practice, and the instinct of his nature, the Ro- 
 anoke orator commenced one of his furious philippics 
 against Harrison, renewing an old charge of having 
 been a black cockade federalist, and an advocate of 
 the Alien and Sedition laws which were adopted du- 
 ring the administration of the elder Adams. In re- 
 ply to a virulent and unprovoked attack of this char- 
 acter. General Harrison replied with promptness and 
 good temper, that the extraordinary manner in which 
 his name had been brought before the Senate by the 
 Senator from Virginia, probably required some notice 
 from him, though he scarcely knew how to treat seri- 
 ously such a charge as had been advanced against 
 him. 
 
 To the charge that he had the stain of federalism 
 upon his skirts, and had voted for a standing army 
 and the Alien and Sedition laws, he said that he had 
 not so fertile an imagination as the gentleman from 
 Virginia, nor could he at command call up all the 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 285 
 
 transactions of nearly thirty years ago. He could 
 say, however, that at the time alluded to, he was not 
 a party man in the sense the Senator from Virginia 
 used. He was a delegate of a territory which was 
 just then rising into importance, and having no vote 
 upon the general questions before Congress, it was 
 neither his duty, nor thje interest of those Avhom he 
 represented, to plunge into the turbulent sea of gen- 
 eral politics which tlien agitated the nation. 
 
 There were questions of great importance to the 
 north-west territory then before Congress — questions 
 upon the just settlement of which depended the future 
 prosperity of that now important portion of the Union. 
 Standing as he did, the sole representative of that 
 territory, his greatest ambition was to prove himself 
 faithful to his trust by cher-ishing its interest ; and 
 nothing could have been more suicidal or pernicious 
 to those he represented than for him to exasperate 
 either party by becoming a violent partizan without 
 the power to aid it, because he had no vote on politi- 
 cal questions. This was his position, and although 
 he had his political principles as firmly fixed as those 
 of the gentleman from Virginia, it was no business 
 of his to strike where he could not be felt, and where 
 the blow must recoil upon himself and those whom he 
 represented. 
 
 He wore no cockade, black or tri-colored, at that 
 time, and never wore one but when he was in the 
 military service of his country. But he was seriously 
 charged with the heinous ofi"ense of associating with 
 
286 THE LIFE OF 
 
 federal gentlemen. He plead guilty; he respected 
 the revolutionary services of President iVdams, and 
 had paid him that courtesy which was due to him as 
 a man and a chief magistrate. He also associated 
 with such men as John Marshall and James A. Bay- 
 ard : was the acknowledgment of such guilt to throw 
 him out of the pale of political salvation ? 
 
 On the other hand, he was on intimate terms with 
 Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Gallatin, and with the whole Vir- 
 ginia delegation, among whom he had many kinsmen 
 and dear friends. They were his principal associates 
 in Philadelphia, in whose mess he had often met the 
 gentleman who was now his accuser, and with whom 
 he had spent some of the happiest hours of his life. 
 It was true, as the senator alleged, he had been ap- 
 pointed governor of the north-western territory by 
 John Adams ; so had he been by Thomas Jefferson 
 and James Madison. 
 
 But he was not in Congress when the standing 
 army was created and the Alien and Sedition laws 
 were passed, and if he had been he could not have 
 voted for them, and would not if he could. It was 
 not in his nature to be a violent or prescriptive parti- 
 san, but he had given a fine support to the republican 
 administrations of Jefferson, Madison and Monroe 
 He hoped the senator from Virginia was answered ; 
 he was sure the Senate must be wearied with this 
 frivolous and unprofitable squabble. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 287 
 
 CHAPTER XYIII. 
 
 General Harrison remained in Congress only 
 three years, having been appointed by President John 
 Quincy Adams, in 1828, Minister Plenipotentiary to 
 the republic of Colombia. He sailed from New York 
 on his mission on the 10th November of that year, 
 in the ship Erie, and arrived at Bogota on the 5th of 
 February ensuing. On the 27th he presented his 
 credentials and was received with flattering attentions. 
 The official journal of the government, in announcing 
 his arrival, congratulated Colombia on beholding the 
 interest which was manifested by the government of 
 the United States, to cultivate friendly relations with 
 that republic by sending among them so distinguished 
 a citizen as General Harrison. 
 
 On the 4th of March following, twenty-eight days 
 after General Harrison arrived at the capitol of Co- 
 lombia, General Jackson Avas inaugurated President 
 of the United States. On the 8th of March, thirty- 
 one days after his arrival, he was recalled, and 
 Thomas P. Moore, of Kentucky, appointed his suc- 
 cessor. A recollection of this circumstance will aid 
 in forming an opinion as to the correctness of the 
 
288 THE LIFE OF 
 
 charge that General Harrison was recalled in conse- 
 quence of his interference with the internal aifairs of 
 the republic. The government of the United States 
 could not have been advised of his arrival at Bogota 
 until some time after he had been recalled, and Mr. 
 Moore appointed to succeed him. The pretext upon 
 which this charge of interference was based, was a 
 letter Avritten \)^ him to Bolivar, the President of the 
 republic, containing some patriotic admonition as to 
 his future course. 
 
 Unfortunately, however, for those who sought to 
 justify the injustice done to General Harrison and 
 the injury to the country, by his hasty recall, that 
 letter was written six months after the appointment 
 of his successor, and when he had ceased to be an 
 officer of the government. The charge, however, 
 served its purpose for the time, and has long since 
 ceased either to be believed or repeated. The letter 
 which was used as an attempted justification of an act 
 that met with the almost universal disapprobation of 
 the country, contained sentiments alike so noble and 
 patriotic, and is withal so pregnant with the true 
 spirit of republicanism, that it deserves to be perpet- 
 uated in every practicable form. Few papers ema- 
 nating from a private citizen have ever been more 
 admired or commanded more general respect for their 
 patriotic principles and their beauty and energy of 
 style. The letter is dated at Bogota, on the 27th of 
 September, 1829. The motive by which it was dic- 
 tated is best explained by the letter itself, as follows : 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISOX. 289 
 
 " If there is anything in the style, the matter or 
 the object of this letter, -which is calculated to give 
 offense to your excellency, I am persuaded you will 
 readily forgive it, when you reflect on the motives 
 which induced me to write it. An old soldier could 
 possess no feelings but those of the kindest character 
 towards one Avho has shed so much lustre on the pro- 
 fession of arms ; nor can a citizen of the country of 
 Washington cease to wish that in Bolivar the world 
 might behold another instance of the highest military 
 attainments united with the purest patriotism and the 
 greatest capacity for civil government. 
 
 " Such, Sir, have been the fond hopes not only of 
 the people of the United States, but of the friends 
 of liberty throughout the world. I will not say that 
 your excellency has formed projects to defeat these 
 hopes, but there is no doubt that they have not only 
 been formed, but are at this moment in progress to 
 maturity, and openly avowed by those who possess 
 your entire confidence. I will not attribute to these 
 men impure motives, but can they be disinterested 
 advisers ? Are they not the very persons who will 
 gain njost by the proposed change ? who will, indeed, 
 gain all that is to be gained, without furnishing any 
 part of the equivalent ? That the price of their fu- 
 ture wealth and honors is to be furnished exclusively 
 by yourself? And of what does it consist? Your 
 great character. Such a one, that if a man were 
 wise, and possessor of the empire of the Caesars 
 in its best days, he would give dl to obtain. Are 
 26 
 
200 THE LIFE OF 
 
 you prepared to make this sacrifice for such an 
 object ? 
 
 " I am persuaded that those who advocate these 
 measures have never dared to induce you to adopt them 
 by any argument founded on your personal interests, 
 and that to succeed it would be necessary to convince 
 you that no other course remained to save the country 
 from the evils of anarchy. This is the question, then, 
 to be examined. 
 
 Does the history of this country, since the adop- 
 tion of the constitution, really exhibit unequivocal 
 evidence that the people are unfit to be free ? Is the 
 exploded opinion of a European' philosopher of the 
 last age, that in the new hemisphere man is a degraded 
 being, to be renewed and supported by the example 
 of Colombia ? The proof should indeed be strong to 
 induce an American to adopt an opinion so humilia- 
 ting. 
 
 " Feeling always a deep interest in the success of 
 the revolutions in the late Spanish America, I have 
 never been an inattentive observer of events, pending 
 and posterior to the achievements of its independence. 
 In these events I search in vain for a single fact to 
 show that in Colombia, at least, the state of society is 
 non-suited to the adoption of a free government. 
 Will it be said, that a free government did exist, 
 but being found inadequate to the objects for which 
 it had been instituted, it has been superseded by one 
 of a different character with the concurrence of a ma- 
 jority of the people ? 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 291 
 
 " It is the most difficult thing in the world for me 
 to believe, that a people in the possession of their 
 rights, as freemen, would ever be willing to surrender 
 them and submit themselves to the will of a master. 
 I say such instances are on record ; the power thus 
 transferred has been in a moment of extreme public 
 danger, and then limited to a very short period. I 
 do not think that it is by any means certain that the 
 majority of the French people favored the elevation of 
 Napoleon to the throne of France. But if it were so, 
 how different were the circumstances of that country 
 from those of Colombia, when the constitution of Cu- 
 cutor was overthrown ! At the period of the elevation 
 of Napoleon to the First Consulate, all the powers of 
 Europe were the open or secret enemies of France ; 
 civil war raged within her borders. The hereditary 
 king possessed many partisans in every province ; 
 the people, continually betrayed by the factions which 
 murdered and succeeded each other, had imbibed a 
 portion of their ferocity, and every town and village 
 witnessed the indiscriminate slaughter of both men 
 and women of all parties and principles. Does the 
 history of Colombia, since the expulsion of the Span- 
 iards, present any parallel to these scenes ? Her 
 frontiers have never been seriously menaced ; no civil 
 war raged ; not a partisan of the former government 
 was to be found in the whole extent of her territory ; 
 no faction contended with each other for the posses- 
 sion of power ; the executive government remainc-^ 
 in the hands of those to whom it had been committed 
 
292 THE LIFE OP 
 
 by the people, in a fair election. In fact, no people 
 ever passed from under the yoke of a despotic gov- 
 ernment to the enjoyment of entire freedom with less 
 disposition to abuse their newly-acquired power than 
 those of Colombia. They submitted, indeed, to a 
 continuance of some of the most arbitrary and unjust 
 features which distinguished the former government. 
 If there was any disposition on the part of the great 
 mass of the people to effect any change in the exist- 
 ing order of things, — if the Colombians act from the 
 same motives and upon the s.ame principles which 
 govern mankind elsewhere and in all ages, — they would 
 have desired to take from the government a part of 
 the power which, in their experience, they had con- 
 fided to it. The monopoly of certain articles of agri- 
 cultural produce, and the oppressive duties of the Al- 
 cabala, might have been tolerated until the last of their 
 tyrants were driven from the country. But when 
 peace was restored, when not one enemy remained 
 within its borders, it might reasonably have been sup- 
 posed that the people would have desired to abolish 
 these remains of arbitrary governments, and substitute 
 for them some tax more equal and accordant with 
 republican principles. 
 
 " On the contrary, it is pretended that they had 
 become enamored with these despotic measures, and 
 so disgusted with the freedom they did enjoy, that 
 they were more than willing to commit their destinies 
 to the uncontrolled will of your excellency. Let me 
 assure you. Sir, that these assertions will gain no 
 
■WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 293 
 
 credits with the present generation, or with posterity. 
 They will demand the facts which had induced a 
 people, by no means deficient in intelligence, so soon 
 to abandon the principles for which they had so gal- 
 lantly fought, and tamely surrendered that liberty 
 which had been obtained at the expense of so much 
 blood. And what facts can be produced ? It cannot 
 be said that life and property were not as well pro- 
 tected under the republican government as they have 
 ever been ; nor that there existed any opposition to 
 the constitution and laws too strong for the ordinary 
 powers of the government to put down. 
 
 " If the insurrection of General Paez, in Venezu- 
 ela, is adduced, I would ask by what means was he re- 
 duced to obedience ? Your excellency, the legitimate 
 head of the republic, appeared, and in a moment all 
 opposition ceased, and Venezuela was restored to the 
 republic. But it is said that this was affected by 
 your personal influence, or the dread of your military 
 talents, and that to keep General Paez and other ambi- 
 tious chiefs from dismembering the republic, it was 
 necessary to invest your excellency with the extraor- 
 dinary powers you possess. There would be some 
 reason in this if you had refused to act without these 
 powers, or having acted as you did, you had been 
 anable to accomplish anything without them ; but 
 jrou succeeded completely, and there can be no possi- 
 ble reason assigned why you would not have suc- 
 ceeded with the same means against any future at- 
 tempt of General Paez or any other general. 
 25* 
 
294 THE LIFE OP 
 
 " There appears, however, to be one sentiment in 
 which all parties unite ; that is, that as matters now 
 stand, you alone can save the country from ruin — at 
 least from much calamity. They differ, however, 
 very widely as to the measures to be taken to put 
 your excellency in the way to render this important 
 service. The lesser and more interested party is for 
 placing the government in your hands for life, either 
 with your present title, or with one which, it must be 
 confessed, better accords with the nature of the pow- 
 ers to be exercised. If they adopt the less offensive 
 title, and if they weave into their system some appa- 
 rent checks to your will, it is only for the purpose of 
 masking, in some degree, their real object, which is 
 nothing short of the establishment of a despotism. 
 The plea of necessity, that eternal argument of all 
 conspirators, ancient or modern, against the rights of 
 mankind, will be resorted to, to induce you to accede 
 to their measures, and the unsettled state of the coun- 
 try which has been designedly produced by them, will 
 be adduced as evidence of that necessity. 
 
 " There is but one way for your excellency to es- 
 cape from the snares which have been so artfully laid 
 to entrap you, and that is to stop short in the course 
 which unfortunately has been already commenced. 
 Every step you advance under the influence of such 
 counsels will make retreat more difficult, until it will 
 become impracticable. You will be told that the in- 
 tention is only to vest you with authority, to correct 
 what is wrong in the administration, and to put down 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 295 
 
 the factions, and that when the country once enjoys 
 tranquillity, the government may be restored to the 
 people. Delusive will be the hopes of those Avho rely 
 upon this declaration. The promised hour of tran- 
 quillity will never arrive. If events tended to pro- 
 duce it, they will be counteracted by the government 
 itself. It was the strong remark of a former presi- 
 dent of the United States, that sooner will the lover 
 be contented with the first smiles of his mistress than a 
 government cease to endeavor to extend and preserve 
 its powers. With whatever reluctance your excellency 
 may commence the career ; with whatever disposition 
 to abandon it when the objects for which it was com- 
 menced have been obtained ; when once fairly en- 
 tered, you will be borne along by the irrresistible 
 force of pride, habits of command, and, indeed, of 
 self-preservation, and it will be impossible to recede. 
 " But it is said that it is for the benefit of the 
 people that the proposed change is to be made ; and 
 that by your talents and influence alone, aided by 
 unlimited power, the ambitious chiefs in the diSerent 
 departments are to be restrained, and the integrity 
 of the republic preserved. I have said, and I most 
 sincerely believe that from the state into which the 
 country has been brought, that you alone can pre- 
 serve it from the horrors of anarchy. But I cannot 
 conceive that any extraordinary powers are necessary. 
 The authority to see that the laws are executed ; 
 to call out the strength of the country ; to enforce 
 their execution, is all that is required, and is what 
 
296 THE LIFE OP 
 
 is possessed by the chief magistrate of the United 
 States, and of every other repubUc, and is what was 
 confined to the executive by the constitution of Cu- 
 cuta. Would your talents or your energies be im- 
 paired in the council or the field, or your influence 
 lessened when acting as the head of a republic ? 
 
 " I propose to examine very briefly the results 
 which are likely to flow from the proposed change of 
 government : first, in relation to the country ; sec- 
 ondly, to yourself personally. Is the tranquillity of 
 the country to be secured by it ? Is it possible for 
 your excellency to believe that when the mask has 
 been thrown oS", and the people discovered that a 
 despotic government has been fixed upon them, that 
 they will quietly submit to it ? Will they forget the 
 pass-word which, like the cross of fire, was the signal 
 for rallying to oppose their former tyrants ? Will the 
 virgins at your bidding cease to chant the songs of 
 liberty which so lately animated the youth to victory ? 
 Was the patriotic blood of Colombia all expended in 
 the fields of Vargas, Bayaca and Carebobo ? The 
 schools may cease to enforce upon their pupils the 
 love of country, drawn from the examples of Cato 
 and the Bruti, Harmodius <and Aristogiton ; but the 
 glorious example of patriotic devotion, exhibited in 
 your own hacienda, will supply their place. Depend 
 upon it. Sir, that the moment which shall announce the 
 continuance of arbitrary power in your hands, will be 
 the commencement of commotions which will require 
 all your talents and energy to suppress. You may 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, 297 
 
 succeed. The disciplined army at your disposal may 
 be too powerful for an unarmed, undisciplined and 
 scattered population. But one unsuccessful effort will 
 not content them, and your feelings will be eternally 
 racked by being obliged to make war upon those Avho 
 have been accustomed to call you their father, and to 
 invoke blessings on your head, and for no cause but 
 their adherence to principles Avhich you yourself had 
 taught them to regard more than their lives. 
 
 " If by the strong government which the advocates 
 for the proposed change so strenuously recommend, 
 one without responsibility is intended which may put 
 men to death, and immure them in dungeons without 
 trial, and one where the army is everything and the 
 people nothing, 1 must say that if the tranquillity of 
 Colombia is to be preserved in this way, the wildest an- 
 archy would be preferable. Out of that anarchy a 
 better government might arise. But the chains of 
 military despotism once fastened upon a nation, ages 
 might pass away before they could be shaken off. 
 
 " But I contend that the strongest of all govern- 
 ments is that which is most free. We consider that 
 of the United States as the strongest, precisely be- 
 cause it is the most free. It possesses the faculties 
 equally to protect itself from foreign force or internal 
 convulsions. In both it has been sufficiently tried. 
 In no country upon the earth would an armed oppo- 
 sition to the laws be sooner or more effectually put 
 down. Not so much by the terrors of the guillotine 
 and the gibbet as from the aroused determination of 
 
298 THE LIFE OF 
 
 the nation, exhibiting their strength, and convincing 
 the factions that their cause was hopeless. No, Sir, 
 depend upon it, that the possession of arbitrary power 
 by the government of Colombia will not be the means 
 of securing its tranquillity ; nor will the danger of 
 disturbances solely arise from the opposition of the 
 people. The power and the military force which it 
 Avill I;e necessary to put in the hands of the governors 
 of the distant provinces, added to the nature of the 
 country, will continually present to those officers the 
 .^ temptation and the means of revolt. 
 
 " Will the proposed change restore prosperity to the 
 country ? With the best intentions to do so will you 
 be able to recall commerce to its shores, and give new 
 life to the drooping state of agriculture ? The cause 
 of the constant decline in these great interests cannot 
 be mistaken. It arises from the fewness of those 
 Avho labor, and the number of those who are to be 
 supported by that labor. To support a swarm of 
 luxurious and idle monks, and an army greatly dis- 
 proportioned to the resources of the country, with a 
 body of officers in a tenfold degree disproportioned 
 to the army, every branch of industry is opprressed 
 with burdens which deprive the ingenious man of the 
 profits of his ingenuity, and the laborer of his reward. 
 To satisfy the constant and pressing demands which 
 are made upon it, the treasury seizes upon everything 
 within its grasp — destroying the very germ of future 
 prosperity : is there any prospect that these evils will 
 cease with the proposed change ? Can the army be 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 299 
 
 dispensed with ? Will the influence of the monks be 
 no longer necessary ? Believe me, Sir, that the sup- 
 port which the government derives from both those 
 sources will be more than ever requisite. 
 
 "But the most important inquiry is the effect 
 which this strong government is to have upon the 
 people themselves. Will it tend to improve and ele- 
 vate their character, and fit them for the freedom which 
 it is pretended is ultimately to be bestowed upon them ? 
 The question has been ansAvered from the age of Ho- 
 mer. Man does not learn under oppression those 
 noble qualities and feelings which fit him for the en- 
 joyment of liberty. Nor is despotism the proper 
 school in which to acquire the knowledge of the prin- 
 ciples of republican government. A government 
 whose revenues are derived from diverting the very 
 sources of wealth from its subjects will not find it 
 the means of improving the morals and enlightening 
 the minds of the youth, by supporting systems of lib- 
 eral education ; and if it could, it would not. 
 
 " In relation to the effect which this investment 
 of power is to have upon your happiness and your 
 fame, will the pomp and glitter of a court, and the 
 flattery of venal courtiers, reward you for the trouble 
 and anxieties attendant upon the exercise of sover- 
 eignty everywhere, and those which will flow from 
 your peculiar situation ? Or power supported by the 
 bayonet for that willing homage which you were wont 
 to receive from your fellow-citizens ? The groans of 
 a dissatisfied and oppressed people will penetrate the 
 
300 THE LIFE OP 
 
 inmost recesses of your palace, and you Avill be 
 tortured by the reflection that you no longer possess 
 that place in their affections which was once your 
 pride and your boast, and -which would have been 
 your solace under every reverse of fortune. Unsup- 
 ported by the people, your authority can only be 
 maintained by the terrors of the sword and the scaf- 
 fold. And have these ever been successful under 
 similar circumstances ? Blood may smother for a pe- 
 riod, but can never extinguish the fire of liberty 
 which you have contributed so much to kindle in the 
 bosom of every Colombian. 
 
 " I will not urge as an argument the personal 
 dangers to which you will be exposed ; but I will ask 
 if you could enjoy life which would be preserved by 
 the constant execution of so many human beings — 
 your countrymen, your former friends, and almost your 
 worshipers? The pangs of such a situation will be 
 more acutely reflecting on the hallowed motives who 
 could aim their daggers at your bosom ; that, like the 
 last of the Romans, they would strike, not from hatred 
 to the man, but love to the country. 
 
 "From a knowledge of your own disposition and 
 present feelings, your excellency will not be willing 
 to believe that you could ever be brought to commit 
 an act of tyranny, or ever to execute justice with un- 
 necessary rigor ; but trust me. Sir, there is nothing 
 more corrupting — nothing more destructive of the 
 noblest and finest feelings of our nature — than of un- 
 limited power. The men who, in the beginning of 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 301 
 
 sucli a career, might shudder at the idea of taking 
 away the life of a fellow-being, might soon have his 
 conscience so seared by the repetition of crime, that 
 the agonies of his murdered victims might become 
 music to his soul, and the drippings of his scaffold 
 afford "blood enough to swim in." History is full 
 of such examples. 
 
 " From this disgusting picture permit me to call 
 the attention of your excellency to one of a different 
 character. It exhibits you as the constitutional chief 
 magistrate of a free people, giving to their representa- 
 tives the influence of your great name, to reform the 
 abuses which, in a long reign of tyranny and misrule, 
 have fastened upon every branch of the government. 
 The army and its swarm of officers reduced within 
 the limits of real usefulness, placed on the frontiers, 
 and no longer permitted to control public opinion, and 
 be the terror of the peaceful citizen. By the removal 
 of this incubus from the treasury, and the establish- 
 ment of order, responsibility and economy in the ex- 
 penditures of the government, it would soon be enabled 
 to dispense with the odious monopolies and the duty 
 of the alcavala, which have operated with so malign 
 an effect upon the commerce and agriculture ; and, 
 indeed, upon the revenues which they were intended 
 to augment. No longer oppressed by these shackles, 
 industry would everywhere revive ; the farmer and 
 the artisan, cheered by the prospect of ample reward 
 for their labor, would redouble their exertions ; for- 
 eigners, with their capital and skill in the arts, would 
 26 
 
302 THE LIFE OF 
 
 crowd hither to enjoy the advantages which could 
 scarcely elsewhere be found ; and Colombia would 
 soon exhibit the reality of the beautiful fiction of 
 Fenelon — Labutum rising from misery and oppression 
 to prosperity and happiness, under the counsels and 
 direction of the concealed goddess. 
 
 " What objections can be urged against this 
 course ? Can any one acquainted with these circum- 
 stances of the country doubt its success in restoring 
 and maintaining tranquillity ? The people would cer- 
 tainly not revolt against themselves, and none of the 
 chiefs who are supposed to be factiously inclined 
 would think of opposing the strength of the nation 
 when directed by your talents and authority. But 
 it is said that the want of intelligence amongst the 
 people unfits them for the government. Is it not 
 right, however, that the experiment should be fairly 
 tried ? I have already said that this has not been 
 done. For myself, I do not hesitate to declare my 
 firm belief that it will succeed. The people of Co- 
 lombia possess many traits of character suitable 
 for a republican government. A more orderly, for- 
 bearing, well-disposed people are nowhere to be met 
 with. Indeed, it may be asserted, that their faults 
 and vices are attributable to the cursed government 
 to which they have been so long subjected, and to the 
 intolerant character of their religion, whilst their vir- 
 tues are all their own. But admitting their present 
 want of intelligence, no one has ever doubted their ca- 
 pacity to acquire knowledge ; and under the strong 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 303 
 
 motives -whicli exist to obtain it, supported by the 
 influence of your excellency, it would soon be ob- 
 tained. 
 
 "To yourself the advantage would be as great as 
 to the country ; like acts of mercy the blessings would 
 be reciprocal, your personal happiness secured, and 
 your fame elevated to a height which would leave but 
 a single competition in the estimation of posterity. 
 In bestowing the palm of merit the world has become 
 wiser than formerly. The successful warrior is no 
 longer entitled to the first place in the temple of fame. 
 Talents of this kind have become too common and too 
 often used for mischievous purposes to be regarded as 
 they once were. In this enlightened age the now hero 
 of the field and the successful leader of armies may, for 
 the moment, attract attention ; but it will be such as 
 is bestowed upon the passing meteor, whose blaze is 
 no longer remembered when it is no longer seen. To 
 be esteemed eminently great it is necessary to be em- 
 inently good. The qualities of the general and the 
 hero 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 num- 
 ber and the splendor of hia victories, but upon tho re- 
 sults and the use he may make of the influence he 
 acquires from them. 
 
 " If the fame of Washington depended upon his 
 military achievements, would the common consent of 
 the world allow him the pre-eminence he possesses ? 
 
504 
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 The victories of Trenton, Monmouth and York, bril- 
 liant as they "were — exhibiting as they certainly did, the 
 highest grade of military talents — are scarcely thought 
 of. The source of the veneration and esteem which is 
 entertained for his character by every description of 
 politicians — the monarchist and aristocrat, as well as 
 the republican — is to be found in his undeviating and 
 exclusive devotedness to the interests of his countrv. 
 No selfish consideration was ever suffered to intrude 
 itself into his mind. For his country he conquered ; 
 and the unrivaled and increasing prosperity of that 
 country is constantly adding fresh glory to his name. 
 General, the course which he pursued is open to you, 
 and it depends upon yourself to attain the eminence 
 which he reached before you. 
 
 "To the eyes of military men the laurels you won 
 on the fields of Vargas, Bayaca and Carebobo, will 
 be forever green ; but will that content you ? Are 
 you willing that your name should descend to posterity 
 amongst the names of those whose fame has been de- 
 rived from shedding human blood, without a single 
 advantage to the human race ; or shall it be united to 
 that of Washington, as the founder and the father of 
 a great and happy people ? The choice is before you. 
 The friends of liberty throughout the world, and the 
 people of the United States in particular, are wait- 
 ing your decision with intense anxiety. Alexander 
 toiled and conquered to obtain the applause of the 
 Athenians ; will you regard as nothing the opinions 
 of a nation yrhich has evinced its superiority over that 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 305 
 
 celebrated people in the science most useful to man, 
 by having carried into actual practice a system of 
 government, of which the wisest Athenians had but a 
 glimpse in theory, and considered as a blessing never 
 to be realized, however ardently to be desired. The 
 place which you are to occupy in their esteem depends 
 upon yourself. Farewell." ' 
 
 Immediately upon the arrival of General Harri- 
 son's successor he took his departure from Bogota, 
 and arrived at New York on the 16th of February, 
 1830. He proceeded at once to his residence at North 
 Bend, and again entered upon his favorite pursuit of 
 agriculture with all the zeal of former years. A 
 short time after his return he partook of a public din- 
 ner, tendered him by the citizens of Cincinnati, as 
 a mark of their high respect for his private virtues 
 and distinguished public services. The next year he 
 delivered the annual address before the Hamilton 
 County Agricultural Society. This address gave con- 
 vincing evidence of General Harrison's familiar ac- 
 quaintance with the theory as well as the practice of 
 agriculture, and of the deep interest he felt in that 
 most important of all branches of industry. An 
 extract from it will illustrate the truth of this state- 
 ment : 
 
 " The encouragement of agriculture, gentlemen, 
 would be praiseworthy in any country ; in our own it 
 is peculiarly so, not only to multiply the means and 
 enjoyments of life, but as giving greater stability and 
 security to our political institutions. In all ages and 
 26* 
 
306 THE LIFK OP 
 
 in all countries, it has been observed, that the culti- 
 vators of the soil are those who were least willing to 
 part with their rights, and submit themselves to the will 
 of a master. I have no doubt, also, that a taste for 
 agricultural pursuits is the best means of disciplining 
 the ambition of those daring spirits who occasionally 
 spring up in the world for good or for evil, to defend 
 or destroy the liberties of their fellow-men, as the 
 principles received from education or circumstances 
 may tend. As long as the leaders of the Roman 
 armies were taken from the plow, to the plow they 
 were willing to return ; never in the character of 
 general forgetting the duties of the citizen, and ever 
 ready to exchange the sword and the triumphal pur- 
 ple, for the homely vestments of the husbandman. 
 
 " The history of this far-famed republic is full of 
 instances of this kind ; but none more remarkable 
 than our own age and country have produced. The 
 facinations of power, and the trappings of command, 
 were as much despised — and the enjoyment of rural 
 scenes and rural employments as highly prized — by our 
 "Washington as by Cincinnatus or Regulus. At the 
 close of his glorious military career, he says, ' I am 
 preparing to return to that domestic retirement which 
 it is- well known I left with the deepest regret, and for 
 which I have not ceased to sigh through a long and 
 painful absence.' 
 
 " Your eiforts, gentlemen, to diffuse a taste for 
 agriculture amongst men of all descriptions and pro- 
 fessions may produce results more important, even, 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 307 
 
 than increasing the means of subsistence, and the en- 
 joyments of life. It may cause some future con- 
 queror for his country to end his career 
 
 ' Guiltless of his country's blood.' 
 
 * * * "To the heart-cheering prospect of 
 herds and flocks feeding on unrivaled pastures, 
 fields of grain exhibiting the scriptural proof that the 
 seed had been sown on good ground, how often is 
 the eye of the philanthropic traveler disgusted with 
 the dark unsightly manufactories of a certain poison 
 — poison to the body and the soul. A modern ^neas 
 or Ulysses might mistake them for entrances into the 
 infernal regions ; nor would they greatly err. But, 
 unlike those passages which conduct the Grecian and 
 Trojan heroes on their pious errands, the sconce to 
 which these conduct the unhappy wretch who shall 
 enter are those exclusively of misery and woe. No 
 relief to the sad picture ; no Tartarus there, no Ely- 
 sium here. It is all Tartarian darkness, and not un- 
 frequently Tartarian crimes. I speak more freely of 
 the practice of converting the material of the ' staff 
 of life' (and by which so many human beings yearly 
 perish) into an article which is so destructive of 
 health and happiness, because in that way I have 
 sinned myself; but in that way I shall sin no more." 
 
308 THE LIFE OF 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 General Harrison's time and attention now and 
 for several years after continued to be almost exclu- 
 sively devoted to agricultural pursuits, — not so exclu- 
 sively, however, that he was not ever ready to aid to 
 the extent of his abilities, and in any way his ser- 
 vices might be required in every useful and benevo- 
 lent enterprise. His expensive literary attainments 
 subjected him to frequent demands of this character. 
 Frequent addresses, speeches and orations of his, 
 written or spoken, during this period, are productions 
 of no mean literary merit, and evincing a range of 
 intellect and a depth of research which place General 
 Harrison in the front rank of American orators and 
 statesmen as well as writers. 
 
 Passing over several of these productions, an ex- 
 tract will be given from a speech delivered at Vin- 
 cennes, in May, 1835, at a dinner given him by the 
 citizens of that place, for the purpose of showing his 
 opinions upon a question which then, as now, excited 
 the deepest interest in the public mind. Though his 
 opinions on the. subject of slavery may not command 
 the same attention now that they did when the public 
 mind first began to be directed towards him as an 
 
- WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 309 
 
 aspirant for the highest office in the nation, they are 
 nevertheless entitled to that respect which everything 
 emanating from a man of his character, talents and 
 patriotism, should ever receive. Many of his senti- 
 ments will, probably, scarcely find a response amongst 
 a large number of the people in one section of the 
 Union. After having briefly referred to the move- 
 ments of emancipation societies, and denounced them 
 in terms that proved with how good a will it was 
 done, he proceeds : — 
 
 " Am I wrong in applying the terms weak, pre- 
 sumptions and unconstitutional to the measures of the 
 emancipators ? A slight examination will, I think, 
 show that I am not. In the vindication of the objects 
 of a convention lately held in one of the towns of 
 Ohio, it was that nothing more was intended than to 
 produce a state of public feeling which would lead to 
 an amendment of the constitution of the United 
 States. Now can an amendment of the constitution 
 be effected without the consent of the southern states ? 
 What then is the proposition to be submitted to them ? 
 * * * But the course pursued by the emancipa- 
 tionists is unconstitutional. I do not say that there 
 are any words in the constitution which forbid the 
 discussions they are engaged in ; I know that there 
 are not. Any citizens have the right to express and 
 publish their opinions without restriction. But in the 
 construction of the constitution it is always necessary 
 to refer to the circumstances under which it was 
 framed, and to ascertain its meaning by a comparison 
 
310 THE LIFE OP 
 
 of its provisions with each other, and with the previ- 
 ous situation of the several States who were parties to 
 it. In a portion of these, slavery was recognized, 
 and they took care to have the right secured to them ; 
 to follow and reclaim such of them as were fugitives 
 to other States, The laws of Congress, passed under 
 this power, have provided punishment for any one 
 who shall oppose or interrupt the excercise of this 
 right. Now can any one believe that the instrument 
 which contains a provision of this kind which author- 
 izes a master to pursue his slave into another State, 
 take him back, and provide punishment for any citi- 
 zen of that State who should oppose him, should at 
 the same time authorize the latter to assemble to- 
 gether, to pass resolutions, and adopt addresses, not 
 only to encourage the slaves to leave their masters, 
 but to cut their throats before they do so. 
 
 " I insigt, that if the citizens of the non-slave- 
 holding States can avail themselves of the article of 
 the constitution, which prohibits the restriction of 
 speech, or the press to publish anything injurious to 
 the rights of the slave-holding States, that they can 
 go to the extreme that I have mentioned, and effect 
 anything further which writing or speaking could 
 eifect. But, fellow-citizens, these are not the princi- 
 ples of the constitution. Such a construction would 
 defeat one of the great objects of its formation, 
 which was that of securing the peace and harmony of 
 the States which were parties to it. The libei'ty of 
 speech and the press were given as the most effect- 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISOX. 311 
 
 ual means to preserve to each and every citizen his 
 own rights, and to the States the rights which apper- 
 tained to them, at the time of their adoption. It 
 could never have been expected that it would have 
 been used by the citizens of one portion of the States 
 for the purpose of depriving those of another portion 
 of the rights which they had reserved at the adoption 
 of the constitution, and in the exercise of which none 
 but themselves have any concern or interest. If sla- 
 very is an evil, the evil is with them. If there is 
 guilt in it, the guilt is theirs, not ours, since neither 
 the States where it does not exist, nor the government 
 of the United States, can, without usurpation of 
 power, and the violation of a solemn compact, do 
 anything to remove it without the consent of those 
 who are immediately interested. But they will nei- 
 ther aid nor consent to be aided, whilst the illegal, 
 persecuting and dangerous movements are in progress, 
 of which I complain ; the interest of all concerned re- 
 quires that these should be stopped immediately. 
 This can only be done by the force of public opinion, 
 and that cannot too soon be brought into operation. 
 Every movement which is made by the abolitionists 
 in the non-slave-holding States is viewed by our south- 
 ern brethren as an attack upon their rights, and 
 which, if persisted in, must in the end eradicate those 
 feelings of attachment and affection between the citi- 
 zens of all the States, which was produced by a com- 
 munity of interests and dangers in the war of the 
 revolution, which was the foundation of our happy 
 
312 THE LIFE OP 
 
 union, and by a continuance of wliich it can alone be 
 preserved. I entreat you, then, to frown upon the 
 Pleasures which are to produce results so much to be 
 deprecated. The opinions which I have now given 
 I have omitted no opportunity, for the last two years, 
 to lay before the people of my own State ; I have 
 taken the liberty to express them here, knowing that 
 if they should unfortunately not accord with yours, 
 they would be kindly received. 
 
 In relation to these opinions of General Harrison, 
 it may be said that public opinion in the free States 
 has taken a long stride forward in the sixteen years 
 since their delivery and the present period. Then 
 they were up with the sentiment of the northern 
 people on the subject of slavery ; now they are far 
 behind it, at least, on some points. While the great 
 body of the citizens of the free States will cordially 
 agree with him that neither they nor Congress have 
 any right to interfere with slavery in the States, where 
 it exists, they still claim the right to investigate it in 
 all its relations to the North, and to use every proper 
 means to prevent its extension beyond its present 
 limits. 
 
 For a long time the attention of the people of sev- 
 eral of the States had been concentrating upon General 
 Harrison as the most suitable man as the whig candi- 
 date for President, at the ensuing presidential election. 
 By a spontaneous movement in his behalf, he was nom- 
 inated, on the part of the people, in the autumn of 
 1835 ; and the nomination thus virtually made by the 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 313 
 
 people was confirmed by various State conventions op- 
 posed to the re-election of Mr. Van Buren, held the 
 same autumn or the ensuing spring. Several of the 
 States, however, either made no nomination, or nom- 
 inated another candidate ; and this want of unani- 
 mous and harmonious action between all the opponents 
 of Mr. Van Buren, in every part of the Union, and the 
 late period to which the canvass was deferred, led to the 
 defeat of General Harrison. The result proved, how- 
 ever, that had he been brought before the people with 
 the advantages which a national nomination and a 
 national organization would have given him, and the 
 confidence it would have inspired in his friends, he 
 might have been elected ; and especially it proved 
 that he possessed the elements of future success in 
 his character. Though he received but seventy-two 
 electoral votes, in the fifteen States in which he and 
 Mr. Van Buren were the only candidates, he received 
 five hundred and fifty-two thousand votes, and Mr. 
 Van Buren five hundred and eighty, being a majority 
 for the latter of the popular vote of only twenty-eight 
 thousand. 
 
 In 1837, General Harrison was selected to deliver 
 a discourse before the Philosophical and Historical 
 Society of Ohio, a duty that he discharged with con- 
 summate ability. The subject of this address was on 
 the Aborignies of the valley of the Ohio. It displays 
 a very considerable degree of research, and a perfect 
 familiarity with the ancient works and the Aborigines 
 on the Ohio. It is written, too, with force and ele- 
 27 
 
314 THE LIFE OP 
 
 gance, and is as ingenious as it is profound. A sin- 
 gle extract or two will illustrate this ; and also afford 
 both pleasure and interest to the enquirer after both : 
 — " The process by which nature restores the forest 
 to its original state, after being once cleared, is ex- 
 tremely slow. In our rich lands, indeed, it is soon 
 covered again with timber, but the character of the 
 growth is entirely different, and continues so through 
 many generations of men. In several places on the 
 Ohio, particularly upon the farm which I occupy, 
 clearings were made in the first settlements, aban- 
 doned, and suffered to grow up. Some of them, now 
 to be seen, of nearly fifty years' growth, have made so 
 little progress towards attaining the appearance of 
 the immediately contiguous forest, as to induce any 
 man of reflection to determine that at least ten times 
 fifty years would be necessary before its complete 
 assimilation could be affected. The sites of the an- 
 cient works on the Ohio present precisely the same 
 appearance as the circumjacent forest. You find on 
 them all that beautiful variety of trees which gives 
 such unrivaled richness to our forest. This is par- 
 ticularly the case on fifteen acres, included within the 
 walls of the neck at the mouth of the Great Miami ; 
 and the relative proportions of the different kinds of 
 timber are about the same. The first growth on the 
 same kind of land, once cleared, and then abandoned 
 to nature, on the contrary, is more homogenious — 
 often stinted to one or two, or at most to three, kindo 
 of timber. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 315 
 
 " If the ground had been cultivated, yellow locust, in 
 many placs, will spring up as thick as garden peas. If 
 it has not been cultivated, the black and white, walnut 
 will be the prevailing growth. The rapidity with which 
 these trees grow, for a time, smothers the attempt of 
 other kinds to vegetate and grow in their shade. The 
 more thrifty individuals soon overtop the meeker of 
 their own kind, which sicken and die. In this way there 
 are soon only as many left as the earth will support 
 to maturity. All this time the squirrel may plant the 
 seed of those trees which serve them for food, and by 
 neglect suflfer them to remain, — it will be in vain ; 
 the birds may drop the kernels, the external pulp of 
 which have contributed to their nourishment, and di- 
 vested of which they are in the best state for ger- 
 minating, still it will be of no avail ; the winds of 
 heaven may waft the winged seeds of the sycamour, 
 cotton-wood and maple, and a friendly shower may 
 bury them to the necessary depth in the loose and 
 fertile soil; but without success. The roots below 
 rob them of moisture, and the canopy of limbs and 
 leaves above interrupt the rays of the sun and the 
 dews of heaven : the young giants in possession, like 
 another kind of aristocracy, absorb the whole means of 
 subsistence, and leave the mass to perish at their feet ; 
 this state of things, however,will not always continue. 
 If the process of nature is slow and circuitous in 
 putting down usurpation and establishing the equality 
 which she loves, and which is the great characteristic 
 of her principles, it is sure and effectual. The pref- 
 
316 THE LIFE OF 
 
 erence of the soil for the first growth ceases with its 
 maturity ; it admits of no succession on the principle 
 of legitimacy. The long undisputed masters of the 
 forest may be thinned by the lightnings, the tempest, 
 or by diseases peculiar to themselves ; and whenever 
 this is the case, one of the oft-rejected of another 
 family, will find between its decaying roots shelter 
 and appropriate food, and, springing into vigorous 
 growth, will soon push its green foliage to the skies 
 through the decayed and withering limbs of its blasted 
 and dying adversary ; the soil itself yielding it a 
 more liberal support than any scion from any occu- 
 pant. It will be conceived what a length of time it 
 will require for a denuded tract of land, by a process 
 so slow, again to clothe itself with the amazing variety 
 of foliage which is the characteristic of the forests of 
 this region. Of what immense age, then, must be 
 those works, so often" referred to, covered, as has been 
 supposed by those who have the best opportunity of 
 examining them, with the second gro^Vth after the 
 second forest state had been regained. * * * 
 
 " An erroneous opinion has prevailed in relation 
 to the character of the Indians of North America. 
 By many they are supposed to be stoics, who willingly 
 encounter deprivations. The very reverse is the fact ; 
 if they belong to either of the classes of philosophers 
 which prevailed in the declining ages of Greece and 
 Rome, it is to that of epicureans ; for no Indian 
 Avill forego an enjoyment, or suffer an inconvenience, 
 if he can avoid it, but under peculiar circumstances, 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISOX. 317 
 
 — when, for instance, he is stimulated by some strong 
 passion ; but even the gratification of tliis he is ever 
 ready to postpone, Avhenever its accomplishment is 
 attended with unlookcd for danger, or unexpected 
 hardships. Hence their military operations were 
 always feeble — their expeditions few and far between, 
 and much the greater number abandoned without an. 
 efficient stroke, from whim, caprice or an aversion to 
 encounter difficulties. But if the Indian will not 
 throw ofi' ' the pomps and pleasures' with which his 
 good fortune furnishes him, — when evils come which 
 he cannot avoid — when ' the stings and arrows of out- 
 rageous fortune' fall thick upon him, — then will he 
 call up all the spirit of a man into his bosom, and 
 meet his fate, however hard, like ' the best Roman of 
 them all.' * * * 
 
 " It may be proper that I should say something 
 more as to the character of the now scattered and 
 almost extinct tribes which so long and so success- 
 fully resisted our arms, and who, for many years after, 
 stood in the relation of dependents, acknowledging 
 themselves under our exclusive protection. Their 
 character as warriors has been already remarked upon ; 
 their bravery has never been questioned, although 
 there was certainly a considerable difference between^ 
 the several tribes in this respect. With Wyandots, 
 flight in battle, when meeting with unexpected resist- 
 ance or obstacle, brought with it no disgrace. It was 
 considered rather as a principle of tactics ; and I think 
 it may be fairly considered as having its source in that 
 27* 
 
318 THE LIFE OP 
 
 peculiar temperament of mind which they often man- 
 ifested of not pressing fortune under any sinister cir- 
 cumstances, but patiently waiting until the changes 
 of a successful issue appeared to be favorable. With 
 the Wyandots it was otherwise; their youth were 
 taught to consider anything that had the appearance 
 of an acknowledgment of a superiority of an enemy 
 as disgraceful. In the battle of the Miami Rapids, 
 of thirteen chiefs of that tribe who we represent, one 
 only survived, and he badly wounded. 
 
 "As it regards their moral and intellectual quali- 
 ties the difference between the tribes was still greater. 
 The Shawanees, Delawares, and Miamis were much 
 superior to the other members of the confederacy. 
 I have known individuals among them of very high 
 order of talents, but these were not generally to be 
 relied on for sincerity. The Little Turtle-, of the Mi- 
 ami tribe, was of this description, as was the Blue 
 Jacket, a Shawanee chief. I think it probable that 
 Tecumthe possessed more integrity than any other of 
 the chiefs who attained to much distinction. But he 
 violated a solemn engagement which he had freely 
 contracted, and there are strong suspicions of his 
 having formed a treacherous design which an accident 
 only prevented him from accomplishing. Sinister in- 
 stances are, however, to be found in the conduct of 
 great men in the history of almost all civilized na- 
 tions. But these instances are more than counter- 
 balanced by the number of individuals of high monil 
 cliaracter Avhich were to be found amongst the princi 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 319 
 
 pal and secondary chiefs of the four tribes above 
 mentioned. This was particularly the case with 
 Tache or the Crane, the Grand Sachem of the Wy- 
 andots, and Black Hoof, the chief of the Shaw- 
 anees." 
 
 The opinions of General Harrison upon the sub- 
 ject of dueling may not be without interest, and pos- 
 sibly they exert some slight influence even in an age 
 when the barbarous custom has almost been driven 
 from respectable society. In 1838, he addressed a 
 letter to A. B. Howell, Esq., of New Jersey, on this 
 subject, from which an extract will be made. He 
 illustrates the dreadful cfl"ects of the practice, and its 
 demoralizing tendency, principally by giving one or 
 two instances of his own experience in such matters : — 
 
 "I believe," he says, "that there were more 
 duels in the north-western army between the years 
 1791 and 1795 than ever took place in the same 
 length of time, and amongst so small a body of men 
 as composed the commissioned officers of the army, 
 either in America or any other country, at least in 
 modern times. I became an officer in the first-men- 
 tioned year, at so early an age, that it is not wonder- 
 ful that I implicitly adopted the opinions of the older 
 officers, most of whom were veterans of the revolution, 
 upon this as well as upon other subjects connected 
 with my conduct and duty in the profession I had 
 chosen. I believed, therefore, in common Avith the 
 large portion of the officers, that no brave man would 
 decline a challenge, nor refrain from giving one 
 
320 THE LirE OP 
 
 whenever he considered his rights or feelings had been 
 trespassed upon. I must confess, too, that I was 
 not altogether free from the opinion that even honor 
 might be acquired from a well fought duel. Fortun- 
 ately, however, before I was engaged in a duel, either 
 as principal or second, which terminated fatally to 
 any one, I became convinced that all my opinions 
 upon the subject were founded in error, and none of 
 them more so than those which depicted the situation 
 of the successful duelist, as either honorable or desi- 
 rable. It could not be honorable, because the greater 
 portion of that class of mankind, whose good opinion 
 of an individual confers honor upon him, were opposed 
 to it ; and I had the best evidence to believe that in 
 the grave of the fallen duelist was frequently buried 
 the peace and happiness of the survivor ; the act 
 Avhich deprived the one of existence in planting a 
 thorn in the bosom of another which would continue 
 to rankle and foster there to the end of his days. 
 The conviction that such was the case with men of 
 good feelings and principles was produced by witness- 
 ing the mental saffeiings of an intimate and valued 
 friend by whose hand a worthy man had fallen. * * 
 " In the summer of the year 1793, Lieutenant 
 Drake, of the infantry of the second sub-legion, re- 
 ceived a marked insult from another ofiicer. Mani- 
 festing no disposition to call him to an account, some 
 of those who wished him well, amongst whom I was 
 one, spoke to him on the subject, expressing our fears 
 that his reputation as an officer would greatly suffer 
 
WILLIAM HENRY UARRISON. 321 
 
 if he permitted such an insult to pass unnoticed. The 
 answer that he gave me was tliat he cared not what 
 opinion the officers might form of him ; he was de- 
 termined to pursue his own course. That couise was 
 so novel in the army that it lost him, as I supposed 
 it would, the respect of nearly all the officers. The 
 ensuing summer, however, gave Mr. Drake an oppor- 
 tunity of vindicating most triumphantly his conduct 
 and his principles. He had been stationed in a small., 
 fortress, erected by General Wayne, during the winter, 
 upon the spot in which they had the previous day 
 deposited a quantity of provisions, and Avhich had 
 been rendered remarkable by the defeat of General 
 St. Clair's army three years before. The garrison 
 consisted of a single rifle company and thirty infan- 
 try, and of the latter Drake was the immediate com- 
 mander. In the beginning of July, a detachment of 
 the army, consisting of several hundred men, under 
 the command of Major McMahon, being encamped 
 near the fort, were attacked early in the morning by 
 about three thousand Indians. The troops made a 
 gallant resistance, but being turned on both flanks, 
 and in danger of being surrounded, they retreated 
 to the open ground around the fort. 
 
 "From this, too, they were soon dislodged by the 
 over-powering force of the enemy. In their retreat 
 many wounded men were in danger of being left, 
 which being observed from the fort, the commandant, 
 Captain Gibson, directed his own lieutenant to take 
 the infantry (Drake's particular command) and a por- 
 
322 THE LIFE OF 
 
 tion of the riflemen and sally out to their relief. To 
 this Drake objected, and claimed the right to com- 
 mand his own men, and, as a senior to the other heu- 
 tenant, his right also to the whole command, ' 0, 
 very -well. Sir,' said the captain, 'if such is your 
 wish, take it.' 'It is my wish. Sir, to do my duty, 
 and I wuU endeavor to do it now and at all times,' 
 was the modest reply of Drake. lie accordingly 
 sallied out, skillfully interposed his detachments be- 
 tween the retreating troops and the enemy, opened 
 upon them a hot fire, arrested their advance, and gave 
 an opportunity to the wounded to effect their escape, 
 and to the broken and retreating companies of our 
 troops to reform, and again to face the enemy. 
 Throughout the whole affair Drake's activity, skill 
 and extraordinary self-possession, was most conspicu- 
 ous. The enemy of course observed, as Avell as his 
 friends, the numerous shots directed at him, however, 
 like the arrows of Tenar aimed at the heart of Hec- 
 tor, were turned aside l)y providential interference, 
 until he had accomplished all that he had been sent 
 to perform. He then received a ball through his 
 body, and fell ; a faithful corporal came to his assist- 
 ance, and with his aid he reached the fort, and those 
 two were the last of the retreating party that entered 
 it. Drake made it a point of order that it should be 
 so. lie was rendered unfit for service for a long time 
 by his wound. He had not, indeed, recovered from 
 i*; in the summer of 1796, when he was my guest 
 at Fort Wayne, where I was in command, while 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 323 
 
 on furlough, to visit his native State, Connecticut. 
 His friends, however, enjoyed his presence but a short 
 time. Having, as I understood, taken the yellow 
 fever in passing through Philadelphia, he died a few 
 days after he reached home. * * * 
 
 "I acknowledge, then, that the change of my 
 opinions which I have admitted in relation to duelino- 
 have no other influence on my conduct than to deter- 
 mine me never to be the aggressor. But although 
 resolved to offer no insult nor to inflict any injury, I 
 was determined to suffer none. When I left the 
 army, however, and retired to civil life, I considered 
 myself authorized greatly to narrow the ground upon 
 which I would be willing to resort to a personal com- 
 bat. To the determination which I had previously 
 made, to offer no insult or to inflict any injury, to wive 
 occasion to any one to call upon me in this way, I re- 
 solved to disregard all remarks upon my conduct which 
 could not be construed into a deliberate insult, or any 
 injury which did not affect my reputation, or the happi- 
 ness and peace of my family. When I had the honor 
 to be called upon to command the north-western army, 
 recollecting the number of gallant men that had fallep 
 in the former war in personal combat, I determined 
 to use all the authority and all the influence of my 
 station to prevent their recurrence, And to take 
 away the principal source from which they sprung, in 
 an address to the Pennsylvania brigade, at Sandusky, 
 I declared it to be my determination to prevent, by 
 all ths means the military laws placed in my hands, 
 
324 THE LIFE OF 
 
 any injury or even insult which should be offered by 
 tire superior to the inferior officers. I cannot say what 
 influence this course upon my part may have produced 
 in the result ; but I state with pleasure that there was 
 not a single duel, nor, as far as I know, a challenge 
 given, whilst I retained the command. 
 
 "The activity in which the army was constantly 
 kept may, however, have been the principal cause of 
 this uncommon harmony. In relation to my present 
 sentiments, a sense of higher obligation than human 
 laws or human opinions can impose, has determined 
 me never, on any occasion, to accept a challenge, or 
 seek redress for a personal injury, by a resort to the 
 laws which compose the code of honor." 
 
W'lLLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 325 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 In the fall of 1838, an Anti-Masonic National 
 Convention assembled at Harrisburgh, and after a 
 calm and careful survey of the whole ground, nomi- 
 nated General Harrison as the candidate of that party 
 for the Presidency in 1840. The proceedings of this 
 convention were communicated to him by the Honor- 
 able Harman Denny. In December of the same year, 
 General Harrison replied to this official announcement, 
 laying down his views of the duty of the chief exec- 
 utive of the nation, and the principles by which he 
 should be governed if elected. 
 
 Ha\nng expressed his gratitude to the convention 
 for the honor conferred upon him, he proceeds thus 
 to develope his political creed. Among the principles 
 proper to be adopted by an executive sincerely desi- 
 rous to restore the administration to its original sim- 
 plicity and purity, he laid down the following as of 
 the most prominent importance : 
 
 I. To confine his services to a single tei-m. 
 
 II. To disclaim all right of control over the pub- 
 lic treasury, with the exception of such part of it as 
 may be appropriated by law to carry on the public 
 
 28 
 
326 THE LIFE OF 
 
 service, and that to be applied precisely as the law 
 may direct, and drawn from the treasury agreeably to 
 the long-established forms of that department. 
 
 III. That he should never attempt to influence 
 the elections, either by the people or the State legis- 
 latures, nor suffer the federal oflBcers under his control 
 to take any other part in them than by giving their 
 own votes when they possess the right of voting. 
 
 IV. That, in the exercise of the veto power, he 
 should limit his rejection of bills to, — 1st. Such as are, 
 in his opinion, unconstitutional ; 2nd. Such as tend 
 to encroach on the rights of the States or individuals ; 
 3rd. Such as invohdng deep interests, may, in his 
 opinion, require more mature deliberation or reference 
 to the will of the people, to be ascertained at .the suc- 
 ceeding elections. 
 
 V. That he should never suffer the influence of 
 his ofiice to be used for purposes of a purely party 
 character. 
 
 VI. That in removals from office of those who 
 hold their appointments during the pleasure of the 
 executive, the cause of such removal should be stated, 
 if requested, to the Senate, at the time the nomination 
 of a successor is made. 
 
 And last, but not least in importance, 
 
 VII. That he should not suffer the executive de- 
 partment of the government to become the source of 
 legislation ; but leave the whole business of making 
 laws for the Union to the department to which the 
 constitution has exclusively assigned it, until they have 
 
AVILLIAM UENRY HARRISON. 327 
 
 assumed that perfected shape, where and when alone 
 the opinions of the executive may be heard. 
 
 A community of power in the preparation of the 
 laws between the legislative and executive depart- 
 ments must necessarily lead to dangerous combina- 
 tions, greatly to the advantage of a President desirous 
 of extending his power. Such a construction of the 
 constitution could never have been contemplated by 
 those who propose the bills, and will ahvays take care 
 of themselves or the interests of their constituents ; 
 and hence the provision in the constitution, borrowed 
 from that of England, restricting the originating of 
 revenue bills to the immediate representatives of the 
 people. 
 
 Referring to the appointment of members of 
 Congress to office by the President, he says the con- 
 stitution contains no prohibition of such appointments, 
 no doubt because its authors could not believe in its 
 necessity for the purity of character which was man- 
 ifested by those who possessed the confidence of the 
 people at that period. It is, however, an opinion 
 very generally entertained by the opposition party, 
 that the country would have escaped much of the evil 
 under which it has suffered for some years past, if 
 the constitution had contained a provision of that 
 kind. * * * 
 
 " To the duties I have enumerated, so proper, in 
 my opinion, to be performed by a President, elevated 
 by the opposition to the present administration (and 
 which are, as I believe, of constitutional obligation), 
 
S^S THE LIFE OF 
 
 I will add another, -which I believe also to be of much 
 importance ; I mean the observance of the most con- 
 ciliatory course of conduct towards our political op- 
 ponents. After the censure our friends have so freely 
 and so justly bestowed upon the present chief magis- 
 istrate for having, in no inconsiderable degree, dis- 
 franchised the whole body of his political opponents, 
 I am certain that no oppositionist, true to the princi- 
 ple he professes, would approve a similar course of 
 conduct in the person whom his vote has contributed 
 to elect. In a republic, one of the surest tests of a 
 healthy state of its institutions is to be found in the 
 community with which every citizen may, upon all 
 occasions, express his political opinions, and even his 
 prejudices, in the discharge of his duty as an elector. 
 " The question may be asked of me, what security 
 I have in my power to offer, if the majority of the 
 American people should select me for their chief mag- 
 istrate, that I would adopt the principles which I have 
 herein laid down as those upon which my administration 
 would be conducted, I could only answer by referring to 
 my conduct, and the disposition manifested in the dis- 
 charge of the duties of several important offices which 
 have heretofore been conferred upon me. If the 
 power placed in my hands has, on even a single occa- 
 sion, been used for any purpose other than that for 
 which it was given, or retained longer than was nec- 
 essary to accomplish the objects designated by those 
 from whom the trusts were received, I will acknowl- 
 edge that either will constitute a sufficient reason for 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HABRISOX. 329 
 
 discrediting any promises I may make under the cir- 
 cumstances in which I am now phxced. 
 
 " The time had now arrived for selecting a Presi- 
 dential candidate in opposition to Martin Van Buren, 
 who was almost the only man the democratic party 
 had spoken of for that office. Though General Har- 
 rison was defeated in 1836, by causes heretofore 
 hastily glanced at, his friends were far from being 
 discouraged by the event. On the contrary, the vote 
 that he received, in spite of the unfavorable circum- 
 stances under which he entered the contest, more than 
 ever satisfied them that he might be elected if once 
 the whole opposition could be united upon him, and 
 their hopes were greatly strengthened by the univer- 
 sal dissatisfaction that prevailed throughout the coun- 
 try against the administration of Mr. Van Buren. 
 Hitherto the whig party in each State of the Union 
 had nominated their own candidate in their own way ; 
 but the necessity had gradually made itself apparent 
 that some mode must be adopted by which the senti- 
 ment of the whole whig party could be concentrated 
 upon one point. Accordingly a caucus of the whig 
 members of Congress was held at Washington on the 
 15th of May, 1838, to devise some plan of combining 
 the strength of the opposition against Mr. Van Buren. 
 They finally resolved upon a national convention as 
 the organ through whom the will of that party should 
 be expressed, and it was decided that it should be 
 held at Harrisburgh, on the first Wednesday in De- 
 cember, 1839, each State to be entitled to as many 
 28* 
 
330 THE LIFE OF 
 
 delegates as it had senators and representatives in 
 Congress. 
 
 " The convention met at Harrisburgh, in accord- 
 ance with this appointment. Delegates were in attend- 
 ance from twenty-two of the twenty-six States. It 
 undoubtedly combined more talent and patriotism, 
 and a larger number of the eminent men of the nation 
 than any body of any kind that ever before assem- 
 bled in this country, with the single exception of the 
 old continental Congress, and the convention which 
 framed our national constitution. Amongst them 
 were sixteen ex-governors. United States senators and 
 ex-senators, members of Congress and ex-members, 
 and some of the highest officers and most distinguished 
 citizens from every State in the Union that was rep- 
 resented. And they assembled with motives as patri- 
 otic and purposes as pure as their characters were high. 
 They saw, or thought they saw, that the best interests 
 of the country required a change in the administra- 
 tion, and they entered upon the discharge of the duty 
 with which they had been delegated with a disposition 
 to sacrifice every personal consideration, and relin- 
 quish all personal preferences to the general good. 
 
 Mr. Webster having requested that his name 
 should not be brought before the convention, the only 
 candidates were William Henry Harrison, Winfield 
 Scott and Henry Clay. The friends of each urged 
 their favorite with all the zeal and warmth their high 
 characters, great talents, and important public ser- 
 vices were so well calculated to inspire. The choice, 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 331 
 
 after an ardent contest, fell upon General Harrison ; 
 and then it was that the real patriotism of the con- 
 vention exhibited itself in all its force, and in its true 
 colors. The moment the nomination was known, all 
 the warmth of feeling that had been engendered by 
 an exciting canvass was forgotten, and the States, one 
 after another, through one or more of their delegates, 
 cordially, eloquently, nobly, responded to it ; the only 
 rivalry being who should be the first to show that if 
 he had preferred either General Scott or Mr. Clay 
 to the successful candidate, it was not because they 
 had any doubt of his patriotism, his abilities or his 
 honesty. 
 
 The generous cordiality with which this nomina- 
 tion was received by the convention was but the pre- 
 monitory symptoms of the deep satisfaction which it 
 created amongst the people themselves. They were 
 already ripe for a revolution in the administration, 
 and when the name of a man who had not only dis- 
 tinguished himself as one of the first captains of the 
 day, but who had proved himself an accomplished 
 statesman, and, above all, an honest man and a well- 
 tried patriot, the popular feeling broke out in such 
 exhibitions of enthusiasm as this nor any other coun- 
 try ever before witnessed. There was undoubtedly 
 some little disappointment amongst the friends of the 
 unsuccessful candidates, but it was comparatively only 
 momentary. The canvass gave rise to a system of 
 immense mass meetings, at which the people met by 
 tens and twenties, and fifties of thousands, to listen 
 
332 THE LIFE OP 
 
 to the discussion of party principles, and to a mode 
 of electioneering as novel as it was exciting. 
 
 At such times as the several States had determined 
 the election took place, and General Harrison received 
 the electoral vote of twenty of the twenty-six States, 
 and two hundred and thirty-four electoral votes of the 
 two hundred and ninety-four, Mr. Van Buren receiv- 
 ing the vote of six States and sixty electoral votes. 
 There were two millions, three hundred and ninety- 
 five thousand, nine hundred votes polled, of which 
 General Harrison received one million, two hundred 
 and sixty-nine thousand, seven hundred and sixty- 
 three ; and Mr. Van Buren one million, one hundred 
 and twenty-six thousand, one hundred and thirty- 
 seven, giving Harrison a majority of one hundred and 
 forty-three thousand, six hundred and forty-six of the 
 popular vote. The vote of the electoral colleges was 
 opened in Congress, and the election of General Har- 
 rison as President of the United States was officially 
 declared. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 333 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1841, General Harrison 
 •was inaugurated as eleventh President of the United 
 States, with the usual ceremonies of that important 
 occasion. The oath of office was tended him by 
 Chief Justice Taney. The event drew together an 
 immense concourse of citizens from every party of the 
 Union, to witness the simple, yet imposing and sub- 
 lime ceremony ; and he entered upon the duties of 
 his high position with as bright anticipations, as hon- 
 est purposes, and as firm resolves on his own part, 
 and with the confidence of the American people to as 
 great an extent as any man who had occupied the 
 position since Washington. The inaugural address 
 was read by the President, from the steps of the cap- 
 itol, in a voice so clear and distinct as to have been 
 clearly heard by the vast multitude of spectators 
 present. Though of great length, it is entitled to a 
 place in a work of this character, aside from its im- 
 portant declaration of principles, and the lesson of 
 political Avisdom it contains. It is given below: 
 
 " Called from a retirement which I had supposed 
 was to continue for the residue of my life, to fill the 
 
834 THE LIFE OP 
 
 chief executive office of this great and free nation, I 
 appear before you, fellow-citizens, to take the oath 
 which the constitution prescribes as a necessary qual- 
 ification for the performance of its duties; and in 
 obedience to the custom coeval with our government, 
 and what I believe to be your expectations, I proceed 
 to present to you a summary of the principles which 
 will govern me in the discharge of the duties which I 
 shall be called upon to perform. 
 
 " It was the remark of a Roman consul, in an early 
 period of that celebrated republic, that a most striking 
 contrast was observable in the conduct of candidates for 
 offices of power and trust, before and after obtaining 
 them — they seldom carrying out in the latter case the 
 pledges and promises made in the former. However 
 much the world may have improved in many respects 
 in the lapse of upwards of two thousand years since 
 the remark was made by the virtuous and indignant 
 Roman, I fear that a strict examination of the annals 
 of some of the modern elective governments would 
 develop similar instances of violated confidence. 
 
 Although the fiat of the people has gone forth 
 proclaiming me the chief magistrate of this glorious 
 Union, nothing on their part remaining to be done, it 
 may be thought that a motive may exist to keep up 
 the delusion under which they may be supposed to 
 have acted in relation to my principles and opinions, 
 and perhaps there may be some in this assembly who 
 have come here cither prepared to condemn those I 
 shall now deliver, or, approving them, to doubt the 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 335 
 
 sincerity with which they are uttered ; but the lapse 
 of a few months will confirm or dispel their fears. 
 The outlines of principles to govern and measures to 
 be adopted, by an administration not yet begun, will 
 soon be exchanged for immutable history ; and I shall 
 stand, either exonerated by my countrymen, or classed 
 with the mass of those who promised that they might 
 deceive, and flattered with the intention to betray. 
 
 " However strong may be my present purpose to 
 realize the expectations of a magnanimous and confid- 
 ing people, I too well understand the infirmities of 
 human nature and the dangerous temptations to 
 which I shall be exposed, from the magnitude of the 
 power which it has been the pleasm-e of the peo- 
 ple to commit to my hands, not to place my chief 
 confidence upon the aid of that Almighty Power 
 which has hitherto protected me, and enabled me to 
 bring to favorable issues other important, but still 
 greatly inferior, trusts heretofore confided to me by 
 my country. 
 
 " The broad foundation upon which our constitu- 
 tion rests, being the people — a breath of theirs having 
 made, as a breath can unmake, change, or modify it 
 — it can be assigned to none of the great divisions of 
 government but to that of democracy. If such is 
 its theory, those who are called upon to administer it 
 must recognize, as its leading principle, the duty of 
 shaping their measures so as to produce the greatest 
 good to the greatest number. But, with these broad 
 admissions, if we would compare the sovereignty ac- 
 
336 THE LIFE OP 
 
 knowledged to exist in the mass of our people, with 
 the power claimed by other sovereignties, even by 
 those which have been considered most purely demo- 
 cratic, we shall find a most essential difference ; all 
 others lay claim to power limited only by their own 
 will. The majority of our citizens, on the contrary, 
 possess a sovereignty with an amount of power pre- 
 cisely equal to that which has been granted to them 
 by the parties to the national compact, and nothing 
 beyond. We admit of no government by divine 
 right — believing that, so far as power is concerned, 
 the beneficent Creator has made no distinction among 
 men ; that all are upon an equality ; and that the 
 only legitimate right to govern is an express grant 
 of power from the governed. The Constitution of the 
 United States is the instrument containing this grant 
 of power to the several departments composing the 
 government. On an examination of that instrument 
 it will be found to contain declarations of power 
 granted, and of power withheld. The latter is also 
 susceptible of division into power which the majority 
 had the right to grant, but which they did not think 
 proper to entrust to their agents, and that which they 
 could not have granted, not being possessed by them- 
 selves. In other words, there are certain rights pos- 
 sessed by each individual American citizen, which in 
 his compact with the others he has never surrendered. 
 Some of them, indeed, he is unable to surrender, 
 being in the language of our system inalienable. 
 
 The boasted privilege of a Roman citizen was to 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISOX. 337 
 
 him a shield only against a petty provincial rule, whilst 
 the proud democrat of Athens could console himself 
 under a sentence of death for a supposed violation of 
 national faith which no one understood, and Avhich, at 
 times, was the subject of the mockery of all ; or of 
 banishment from his home, his family and his coun- 
 try, with or without an alleged cause, that it was the 
 act, not of a single tyrant or hated aristocracy, but 
 of his assembled countrymen. Far diiferent is the 
 power of our sovereignty. It can interfere with no 
 one's faith, prescribe forms of worship for no one's 
 observance, inflict no punishment but after well ascer- 
 tained guilt, the result of investigation under rules 
 prescribed by the constitution itself. These precious 
 privileges, and these, scarcely less important, of giving 
 expression to his thoughts and opinions, either by 
 writing or speaking, unrestrained but by the liability 
 for injury to others, and that of a full participation 
 in all advantages which flow from the government, 
 the acknowledged property of all, the American citi- 
 zen derives from no charter granted by his fellow- 
 man. He claims them because he is himself a man ; 
 fashioned by the same Almighty hand as the rest of 
 his species, and entitled to a full share of the bless- 
 ings with which he has endowed them. Notwithstand- 
 ing the limited sovereignty possessed by the people of 
 the United States, and the restricted grant of power to 
 the government which they have adopted, enough has 
 been given to accomplish all the objects for which it 
 was created. It has been found powerful in war, and, 
 29 
 
338 THE LIFE OF 
 
 hitherto, justice has been administered, an intimate 
 union efiFected, domestic tranquillity preserved, and 
 personal liberty secured to the citizen. As was to 
 be expected, however, from the defect of language, 
 and the necessarily sententious manner in which the 
 constitution is written, disputes have arisen as to the 
 amount of power which it has actually granted, or 
 was intended to grant. This is more particularly the 
 case in relation to that part of the instrument which 
 treats of the legislative branch. And not only as 
 regards the exercise of powers claimed under a gen- 
 eral clause, giving that body the authority to pass all 
 laws necessary to carry into effect the specified pow- 
 ers, but in relation to the latter also. It is, however, 
 consolatory to reflect that most of the instances of 
 alleged departure from the letter or spirit of the con- 
 stitution have ultimately received the sanction of a 
 majority of the people. And the fact, that many of 
 our statesmen, most distinguished for talent and pa- 
 triotism, have been, at one time or other of their po- 
 litical career, on both sides of each of the most warmly 
 disputed questions, forces upon us the inference that 
 the errors, if errors there were, are attributable to 
 the intrinsic difficulty, in many instances, of ascer- 
 taining the intentions of the framers of the constitu- 
 tion, rather than the influence of any sinister or un- 
 patriotic motive. 
 
 " But the great danger to our institutions does 
 not appear to me to be in a usurpation, by the gov- 
 ernment, of power not granted by the people, but by 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 339 
 
 the accumulation, in one of the departments, of 
 that which was assigned to others. Limited as are 
 the powers which have been granted, still enough have 
 been granted to constitute a despotism, if concen- 
 trated in one of the departments. Many of the stern- 
 est republicans of the day were alarmed at the extent 
 of the power which has been granted to the federal 
 government, and more particularly of that portion 
 which has been assigned to the executive branch. 
 There were in it features which appeared not to be in 
 harmony with their ideas of a simple representative 
 democracy or republic ; and knowing the tendency of 
 power to increase itself, particularly when exercised 
 by a single individual, predictions were made that, at 
 no very remote period, the government would termin- 
 ate in virtual monarchy. It would not become me to 
 say that the fears of those patriots would not have 
 been already realized. But as I sincerely believe 
 that the tendency of measures and of men's opinions, 
 for some years past, has been in that direction, it is, 
 I conceive, strictly proper that I should take this oc- 
 casion to repeat the assurances I have heretofore 
 given of my determination to arrest the progress of 
 that tendency, if it really exist, and restore the gov- 
 ernment to its pristine health and vigor, as far as 
 this can be affected by any legitimate exercise of the 
 power placed in my hands. 
 
 " I proceed to state, in as summary a manner as 
 I can, my opinion of the sources of the evils which 
 have been so extensively complained of, and the con- 
 
340 THE LIFE OP 
 
 nectives which may be applied. Some of the former 
 are unquestionably to be found in the defects of the 
 constitution ; others, in my judgment, are attributable 
 to a misconstruction of some of its provisions. Of the 
 former is the elligibility of the same individual to a sec- 
 ond term of the presidency. The sagacious mind of Mr. 
 Jefferson early saw and lamented this error, and at- 
 tempts have been made, hitherto without success, to 
 apply the amendatory power of the States to its cor- 
 rection. 
 
 " As, however, one mode of correction is in the 
 power of every President, and consequently in mine, 
 it would be useless, and perhaps invidious, to enume- 
 rate the evils of which, in the opinion of many of our 
 fellow-citizens, this error of the sages who framed the 
 constitution may have been the source and the bitter 
 fruits which we are still to gather from it, if it con- 
 tinues to disfigure our system. It may be observed, 
 however, as a general remark, that republics can 
 commit no greater error than to adopt or continue 
 any feature in their systems of government which may 
 be calculated to create or increase the love of power 
 in the bosoms of those to whom necessity obliges them 
 to commit the management of their affairs. And, 
 surely, nothing is more likely to produce such a state 
 of mind than the long continuance of an office of high 
 trust. Nothing can be more corrupting, nothing more 
 destructive, of all those noble feelings which belong to 
 the character of a devoted republican patriot. When 
 this corrupting passion once takes possession of the 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 341 
 
 human mind, like the love of gold, it becomes insati- 
 able. It is the never-dying worm in his bosom, grows 
 with his growth, and strengthens with the declining 
 years of its victim. If this is true, it is the part of 
 wisdom for a republic to limit the service of that offi- 
 cer, at least, to whom she has intrusted the manage- 
 ment of her foreign relations, the execution of her 
 laws, and the command of her armies and navies, 
 to a period so short as to prevent his forgetting that 
 he is the accountable agent, not the principal — the 
 servant, not the master. Until an amendment of 
 the constitution can be effected, public opinion may 
 secure the desired object. I give my aid to it by 
 renewing the pledge heretofore given, that under no 
 circumstances will I consent to serve a second term. 
 " But if there is danger to public liberty from the 
 acknowledged defects of the constitution, in the want 
 of limit to the continuance of the executive power in 
 the same hands, there is, I apprehend, not much less 
 from a misconstruction of that instrument, as it re- 
 gards the powers actually given. I cannot conceive 
 that, by a fair construction, any or either of its pro- 
 visions would be found to constitute the President a 
 part of the legislative power. It cannot be claimed 
 from the power to recommend, since, although en- 
 joined as a duty upon him, it is a privilege which he 
 holds in common with every other citizen. And al- 
 though there may be something more of confidence in 
 the propriety of the measures recommended in the one 
 case than in the other, in the obligations of ultimate 
 29* 
 
342 THE LIFE OP 
 
 decision there can be no difference. In the language 
 of the constitution, ' all legislative powers' which it 
 grants ' are vested in the Congress of the United 
 States.' It would be a solecism in language to say 
 that any portion of these is not included in the whole. 
 " It may be said, indeed, that the constitution has 
 given to the executive the power to annul the acts of 
 the legislative body by refusing to them his assent. 
 So a similar power has necessarily resulted from that 
 instrument to the judiciary, and yet the judiciary 
 forms no part of the legislature. There is, it is true, 
 this difference between these grants of power ; the 
 executive can put his negative upon the acts of the 
 legislature for other cause than that of want of 
 conformity to the constitution ; whilst the judiciary 
 can only declare void those which violate that instru- 
 ment. But the decision of the judiciary is final in 
 such a case ; whereas, in every instance where the 
 veto of the executive is applied, it may be overcome 
 by a veto of two-thirds of both houses of Congress. 
 The negative upon the acts of the legislature, by the 
 executive authority, and that in the hands of one in- 
 dividual, would seem to be an incongruity in our sys- 
 tem. Like some others of a similar character, how- 
 ever, it appeared to be highly expedient, and if used 
 only with the forbearance and in the spirit which was 
 intended by its authors, it may be productive of great 
 good, and be found one of the best safe-guards to the 
 Union. At the period of the formation, the principle 
 does not appear to have enjoyed much favor in the 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 343 
 
 State governments. It existed in but two, and in one 
 of these was a plural executive. If we Avould search 
 for the motives which operated upon the purely pat- 
 riotic and enlightened assembly which framed the 
 constitution for the adoption of a provision so appar- 
 ently repugnant to the leading democratic principle, 
 that the majority should govern, we must reject the 
 idea that they anticipated from it any benefit to the 
 ordinary course of legislation. They knew too well 
 the high degree of intelligence which existed among 
 the people, and the enlightened character of the State 
 legislatures, not to have the fullest confidence that 
 the two bodies elected by them would he worthy of 
 such constituents, and, of course, that they would re- 
 quire no aid in conceiving and maturing the measures 
 which the circumstances of the country might require. 
 And it is preposterous to suppose that a thought could 
 for a moment have been entertained, that the Presi- 
 dent, placed at the capital, in the centre of the coun- 
 try, could better understand the wants and wishes of 
 the people than their own immediate representatives, 
 who spend a part of every year among them, living 
 with them, often laboring with them, and bound to 
 them by the triple tie of interest, duty, and aifection. 
 To assist or control Congress, then, in its ordinary 
 legislation, could not, I conceive, have been the mo- 
 tive for conferring the veto power on the President. 
 This argument acquires additional force from the fact 
 of its never having been thus used by the first six 
 Presidents — and two of them were members of the 
 
344 THE LIFE OF 
 
 convention ; one presiding over its deliberations, and 
 the other having a larger share in consummating the 
 labors of that august body than any other person. 
 But if bills were never retm-ned to Congress by either 
 of the Presidents above referred to, upon the ground 
 of their being inexpedient, or not as well adapted as 
 they might be to the wants of the people, the veto 
 was applied upon that of want of conformity to the 
 constitution, or because errors had been committed 
 from a too hasty enactment. 
 
 " There is another ground for the adoption of the 
 veto principle, which had probably more influence in 
 recommending it to the convention than any other. 
 I refer to the security which it gives to the just and 
 equitable action of the legislature upon all parts of 
 the Union. It could not but have occurred to the 
 convention that, in a country so extensive, embracing 
 so gr^at a variety' of soil and climate, and conse- 
 quently of products, and which, from the same causes, 
 must ever exhibit a great difference in the amount of 
 population of its various sections, calling for a great 
 diversity in the employments of the people, that the 
 legislation of the majority might not always justly 
 regard the rights and interests of the minority ; and 
 that acts of this character might be passed under an 
 express grant by the words of the constitution, and, 
 therefore, not within the competency of the judiciary 
 to declare void. That however enlightened and pat- 
 riotic they might suppose, from past experience, the 
 members of Congress might be, and however largely 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 345 
 
 partaking in general of the liberal feelings of the 
 people, it was impossible to expect that bodies so con- 
 stituted should not sometimes be controlled by local 
 interests and sectional feelings. It was proper, there- 
 fore, to provide some umpire from whose situation and 
 mode of appointment more independence and freedom 
 from such influence might be expected. Such a one 
 was aff"orded by the executive department, constituted 
 by the constitution. A person elected to that high 
 office, having his constituents in every section, State 
 and sub-division of the Union, must consider himself 
 bound by the most solemn sanctions to guard, protect 
 and defend the rights of all, and of every portion, 
 great or small, from the injustice and oppression of 
 the rest. I consider the veto power, therefore, given 
 by the constitution to the executive of the United 
 States solely as a conservative power ; to be used 
 only, — first, to protect the constitution from violation ; 
 secondly, the people from the effects of hasty legisla- 
 tion, where their will has probably been disregarded 
 or not well understood ; and, thirdly, to prevent the 
 effects of combinations, violative of the rights of mi- 
 norities. In reference to the second of these objects, 
 I may observe, that I consider it the right and the 
 privilege of the people to decide disputed points of the 
 constitution, arising from the general grant of power 
 to Congress to carry into effect the powers expressly 
 given. And I believe with Mr, Madison that repeated 
 recognitions, under varied circumstances, in acts of 
 the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the 
 
346 THE LIFE OP 
 
 government, accompanied by indications in diiferent 
 modes of the concurrence of the general will of the 
 nation, as affording to the President sufficient author- 
 ity for his considering such disputed points as settled. 
 
 " Upwards of half a century has elapsed since the 
 adoption of our present form of government. It will 
 be an object more highly desirable than the gratifica- 
 tion of the curiosity of speculative statesmen if its 
 precise situation could be ascertained, and a fair ex- 
 hibit made of the operations of each of its depart- 
 ments ; of the powers which they respectively claim 
 and exercise ; of the collisions which have occurred 
 between them, or between the whole government and 
 those of the States, or either of them. We could then 
 compare our actual condition after fifty years' trial 
 of our system, with what it was in the commencement 
 of its operations, and ascertain whether the predic- 
 tions of the patriots who opposed its adoption, or the 
 confident hopes of its advocates, have been best real- 
 ized. The great dread of the former seems to have 
 been, that the reserved powers of the States would be 
 absorbed by those of the federal government, and a 
 consolidated power established, leaving to the States 
 the shadow only of that independent action for which 
 they had so zealously contended, and on the preser- 
 vation of which they relied as the last hope of liberty. 
 
 " Without denying that the result to which they 
 looked with so much apprehension is in the way of 
 being realized, it is obvious that they did not clearly 
 see the mode of its accomplishment. The general 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 347 
 
 government has siezed upon none of the reserved 
 rights of the States. As far as any open warfare 
 may have gone, the State authorities have amply 
 maintained their rights. To a casual observer, our 
 system^ presents no appearance of discord between the 
 diiFerent members which compose it. Even the addi- 
 tion of many new ones has produced no jarring ; they 
 move in ther respective orbits in perfect harmony 
 with the central head, and with each other. But 
 there is still an under current at work, by which, if 
 not seasonably checked, the worst apprehensions of 
 our anti-federal patriots will be realized. And not 
 only will the State authorities be overshadowed by the 
 great increase of the power in the executive depart- 
 ment of the general government, but the character of 
 that government, if not its designation, be essentially 
 and radically changed. 
 
 " This state of things has been in part effected by 
 causes inherent in the constitution, and in part by 
 the never-failing tendency of political power to in- 
 crease itself. By making the President the sole dis- 
 tributor of all the patronage of the government, the 
 framers of the constitution do not appear to have an- 
 ticipated at how short a period it would become a 
 formidable instrument to control the free operations 
 of the State governments. Of trifling importance at 
 first, it had, early in Mr. Jefferson's administration, 
 become so powerful as to create great alarm in the 
 mind of that patriot, from the potent influence it 
 might exert in controling the freedom of the eiec- 
 
848 THE LIFE OP 
 
 tive franchise. If such could have then been the 
 effect of its influence, how much greater must he its 
 danger at this time, quadrupled in amount, as it cer- 
 tainly is, and more completely under the control of 
 the executive will than their construction of the pow- 
 ers allowed, or the forbearing characters, of all the 
 earlier presidents permitted them to make. But it is 
 not by the extent of its patronage alone that the ex- 
 ecutive department has become dangerous, but by the 
 use which it appears may be made of the appointing 
 power to bring under its control the whole revenues 
 of the country. 
 
 " The constitution has declared it the duty of the 
 President to see that the laws are executed, and it 
 makes him the commander-in-chief of the armies and 
 navy of the United States. If the opinion of the 
 most approved writers upon that species of mixed 
 government which in modern Europe is termed mon- 
 archy, in contradistinction to despotism, is correct, 
 there was wanting no other addition to the powers of 
 our chief magistrate to stamp a monarchial character 
 on our government but the control of the public 
 finances. And to me it appears indeed that any one 
 should doubt that the entire control which a President 
 possesses over the officers who have the custody of 
 the public monies by the power of removal, with or 
 without cause, does for all mischievous purposes, at 
 least, virtually subject the treasure also to his disposal. 
 The first Roman emperor, in his attempt to seize the 
 sacred treasure, silenced the opposition of the officer 
 
■WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 349 
 
 to whose charge it had been committed by a signifi- 
 cant allusion to his SAVord. By a selection of politi- 
 cal instruments for the care of the public money, a 
 reference to their commission by a President would 
 be quite as effectual an argument as that of Caesar to 
 the Roman knight. I am not insensible of the great 
 difiiculty that exists in devising a proper plan for the 
 safe-keeping and disbursement of the public revenues, 
 and I know the importance Avhich has been attached 
 by men of great abilities and patriotism to the divorce, 
 as it is called, of the treasury from the banking insti- 
 tutions. It is not the divorce which is complained of, 
 but the unhallowed union of the treasury with the 
 executive department which has created such exten- 
 sive alarm. To this danger to our republican institu- 
 tions, and that created by the influence given to the 
 executive through the instrumentality of the federal 
 officers, I propose to apply all the remedies which 
 may be at my command. 
 
 " It was certainly a great error, in the framers of 
 the constitution, not to have made the officer at the 
 head of the treasury department entirely independent 
 of the executive. He should at least have been re- 
 movable only upon the demand of the popular branch 
 of the legislature. I have determined never to re- 
 move a secretary of the treasury without communi- 
 cating all the circumstances attending such removal 
 to both Houses of Congress. The influence of the 
 executive in controling the freedom of the elective 
 franchise through the medium of the public officers 
 30 
 
850 THE LIFE OP 
 
 can be effectually checked by renewing the prohibi- 
 tion published by Mr. Jefferson, forbidding their in- 
 terference in elections further than giving their own 
 votes ; and their own independence secured by an 
 assurance of perfect immunity, in exercising this sa- 
 cred privilege of freemen under the dictates of their 
 own unbiased judgments. Never, with my consent, 
 shall an officer of the people, compensated for his 
 services out of their pockets, become the pliant instru- 
 ment of executive will. 
 
 " There is no part of the means placed in the 
 hands of the executive which might be used with 
 greater effect, for unhallowed purposes, than the con- 
 trol of the public press. The maxim which our an- 
 cestors derived from the mother country, that ' the 
 freedom of the press is the great bulwark of civil and 
 religious liberty,' is one of the most precious legacies 
 which they have left us. We have learned, too, from 
 our own, as well as the experience of other countries, 
 that golden shackels, by whomsoever or by whatever 
 pretense imposed, are as fatal to it as the iron bonds 
 of despotism. The presses in the necessary employ- 
 ment of the government should never be used ' to 
 clear the guilty or varnish crimes.' A decent and 
 manly examination of the acts of the government 
 should be not only tolerated but encouraged. 
 
 " Upon another occasion I have given my opinion, 
 at some length, upon the impropriety of executive in- 
 terference in the legislation of Congress. That the 
 article in the constitution making it the duty of the 
 
WILLIAM HENRY UAURISON. 351 
 
 President to communicate information, and author- 
 izing him to recommend measures, was not intended 
 to make him the source of legislation, and, in partic- 
 ular, that he should never be looked to for schemes 
 of finance. It would be very strange, indeed, if the 
 constitution should have strictly forbidden one branch 
 of the legislature from interfering in the origination 
 of such bills, and that it should be considered proper 
 that an altogether different department of the govern- 
 ment should be permitted to do so. Some of our best 
 political maxims and principles have been drawn from 
 our parent Isle. There are others, however, which 
 cannot be introduced in our system without singular 
 incongruity and the production of much mischief; 
 and this I conceive to be one. 
 
 " No matter in which of the Houses of Parliament 
 a bill may originate, nor by whom introduced, a min- 
 ister or a member of the opposition, by the fiction of 
 law, or rather of constitutional principle, the sover- 
 eign is supposed to have prepared it agreeably to his 
 will, and then submitted it to Parliament for their 
 advice and consent. Now the very reverse is the case 
 here, not only with regard to the principle, but the 
 forms prescribed by the constitution. The principle 
 certainly assigns to the only body constituted by the 
 constitution (the legislative body) the power to make 
 laws, and the forms even direct that the enactment 
 should be ascribed to them. 
 
 " The Senate, in relation to revenue bills, have the 
 right to propose amendments ; and so has the execu- 
 
352 THE LIFE OP 
 
 tive, by the power given him to return them to the 
 House of Representatives with his objections. It is 
 in his power, also, to propose amendments in the exist- 
 ing revenue laws, suggested by his observations upon 
 their defective or injurious operation. But the deli- 
 cate duty of devising schemes of revenue should be 
 left where the constitution has placed it — with the 
 immediate representatives of the people. For similar 
 reasons, the mode of keeping " the public treasure 
 should be prescribed by them ; and the farther re- 
 moved it may be from the control of the executive, 
 the more wholesome the arrangement, and the more 
 in accordance with republican principle. 
 
 " Connected with this subject is the character of 
 the currency. The idea of making it exclusively 
 metallic, however well intended, appears to me to be 
 fraught with more fatal consequences than any other 
 scheme, having no relation to the personal rights of 
 the citizen, that has ever been devised. If any single 
 scheme could produce the effect of arresting, at once, 
 that mutation of condition by which thousands of our 
 most indigent fellow-citizens, by their industry and 
 enterprise, are raised to the possession of wealth, that 
 is the one. If there is one measure better calculated 
 than another to produce that state of things so much 
 deprecated by all true republicans, by which the rich 
 are daily adding to their hoards, and the poor sinking 
 deeper into penury, it is an exclusive metallic cui*- 
 rency. Or if there is a process by which the char- 
 acter of the country for generosity and nobleness of 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 853 
 
 feeling may be destroyed by the great increase and 
 necessary toleration of usury, it is an exclusive me- 
 tallic currency. 
 
 " Amongst the other duties of a delicate character 
 which the President is called upon to perform is the 
 supervision of the government of the Territories of 
 the United States. Those of them which are destined 
 to become members of our great political family are 
 compensated by their rapid progress from infancy to 
 manhood, for the partial and temporary deprivation 
 of their political rights. It is in this District only 
 ■where American citizens are to be found, who, under 
 a settled system of policy, are deprived of many im- 
 portant political privileges, without any inspiring 
 hope as to the future. Their only consolation, under 
 circumstances of such deprivation, is that of the de- 
 voted exterior guards of a camp — that their sufferings 
 secure tranquillity and safety within. Are there any 
 of their countrymen who would subject them to 
 greater, to any other, humiliations than those essen- 
 tially necessary to the security of the object for which 
 they were thus separated from their fellow-citizens ? 
 Are their rights alone not to be guaranteed by the 
 application of those great principles upon which all 
 our constitutions are founded ? We are told by the 
 greatest of British orators and statesmen, that at the 
 commencement of the war of the revolution the most 
 stupid men in England spoke of ' their American sub- 
 jects.' Are there, indeed, citizens of any of our 
 States who have dreamed of theii' subjects in the Dis- 
 30* 
 
354 THE LIFE OP 
 
 trict of Columbia ? Such dreams can never be real- 
 ized by any agency of mine. 
 
 " The people of the District of Columbia are not 
 the subjects of the people of the States, but free 
 American citizens. Being in the latter condition, 
 when the constitution was formed, no words used in 
 that instrument could have been intended to deprive 
 them of that character. If there is anything in the 
 great principle of inahenable rights, so emphatically 
 insisted upon in our Declaration of Independence, 
 they could neither make, nor the United States accept, 
 a surrender of their liberties and become the subjects, — 
 in other words, the slaves, — of their former fellow- 
 citizens. If this be true, and it will scarcely be de- 
 nied by any one who has a correct idea of his own 
 rights as an American citizen, the grant to Congress 
 of exclusive jurisdiction in the District of Columbia 
 can be interpreted, so far as respects the aggregate 
 people of the United States, as meaning nothing more 
 than to allow to Congress the controling power neces- 
 sary to afford a free and safe exercise of the functions 
 assigned to the general government by the constitu- 
 tion. In all other respects the legislation of Congress 
 should be adapted to their peculiar position and 
 Avants, and be conformable with their deliberate opin- 
 ions of their own interests. 
 
 " I have spoken of the necessity of keeping the 
 respective departments of the government, as well as 
 the other authorities of our country, within their ap- 
 propriate orbits. This is a matter of difficulty in 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 355 
 
 some cases, as the powers wliicli they respectively 
 clahn arc often not defined by very distinct lines. 
 
 " Mischievous, however, in their tendencies, as col- 
 lisions of this kind may be, those which arise between 
 the respective communities, which for certain purposes 
 compose one nation, are much more so ; for no such 
 nation can long exist without the careful culture of 
 those feelings of confidence and affection which are 
 the effective bonds of union between free and confed- 
 erated States. Strong as is the tie of interest, it has 
 been often found ineffectual. Men, blinded by their 
 passions, have been known to adopt measures for their 
 country in direct opposition to all the suggestions of 
 policy. The alternative, then, is to destroy or keep 
 down a bad passion, by creating and fostering a good 
 one ; and this seems to be the corner-stone upon which 
 our American political architects have reared the 
 fabric of our government. The cement which was 
 to bind it and perpetuate its existence was the affec- 
 tionate attachment between all its members. To 
 'insure the continuance of this feeling, produced at 
 first by a community of dangers, of sufferings and of 
 interests, the advantages of each were made accessible 
 to all. 
 
 " No participation in any good, possessed by any 
 member of an extensive confederacy, except in do- 
 mestic government, was withheld from the ci^zen of 
 any other member. By a process attended with no 
 difficulty, no delay, no expense but that of removal, 
 the citizen of one might become the citizen of any 
 
356 THE LIFE OP 
 
 Other, and successively of the whole. The lines, too, 
 separating powers to be exercised by the citizens of 
 one State from those of another, seem to be so dis- 
 tinctly drawn as to leave no room for misunderstand- 
 ing. The citizens of each State unite in their persons 
 all the privileges which that character confers, and 
 all that they may claim as citizens of the United 
 States ; but in no case can the same person, at the 
 same time, act as the citizen of two separate States ; 
 and he is ^therefore positively precluded from any 
 interference vrith the reserved potvers of any State hut 
 that of ivhich he is, for the time being, a citizen. He 
 may indeed offer to the citizens of other States his 
 advice as to their management, but the form in which 
 it is tendered is left to his own discretion and sense 
 of propriety. 
 
 " It may be observed, however, that organized as- 
 sociations of citizens, requiring compliance with their 
 wishes, too much resemble the recommendations of 
 Athens to her allies — supported by an armed and 
 powerful fleet. It was, indeed, to the ambition of the 
 leading States of Greece to control the domestic con- 
 cerns of others that the destruction of that celebrated 
 confederacy, and subsequently of all its members, is 
 mainly to be attributed. And it is owing to the ab- 
 sence of that spirit that the Helvetic confederacy has 
 for so many years been preserved. Never has there 
 been seen in the institutions of the separate members 
 of the confederacy more elements of discord. In the 
 principles and forms of government and religion, as 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 357 
 
 well as in the circles tan ces of the several countries, 
 so marked a discrepancy was observable, as to promise 
 anything but harmony in their intercourse or perma- 
 nency in their alliance ; and yet for ages neither has 
 been interrupted. Content with the positive benefits 
 which their union produced, with the dependence and 
 safety from foreign aggression which it secured, these 
 sagacious people respected the institutions of each 
 other, however repugnant to their own principles and 
 prejudices. 
 
 " Our confederacy, fellow-citizens, can only be 
 preserved by the same forbearance. Our citizens 
 must be content with the exercise of the powers with 
 which the constitution clothes them. The attempt of 
 those of one State to control the domestic institutions 
 of another can only result in feelings of distrust and 
 jealousy — the certain harbingers of disunion, vio- 
 lence, civil war, and the ultimate destruction of our 
 free institutions. Our confederacy is perfectly illus- 
 trated by the terms and principles governing a com- 
 mon co-partnership. There a fund of power is to be 
 exercised under the direction of the joint councils of 
 the allied members ; but that which has been reserved 
 by the individual members is intangible by the com- 
 mon government or the individual members composing 
 it. To attempt it finds no support in the principles 
 of our constitution. It should be our constant and 
 earnest endeavor mutually to cultivate a spirit of con- 
 cord and harmony among the various parts of our 
 confederacy. Experience has abundantly taught us 
 
858 THE LIFE OP 
 
 that the agitation by citizens of one part of the 
 Union of a subject not confided to the general 
 government, but exclusively under the guardianship 
 of the local authorities, is productive of no other 
 consequences than bitterness, alienation, discord, and 
 injury to the very cause which is intended to be 
 advanced. Of all the great interests which apper- 
 tain to our country, that of union, cordial, confiding, 
 fraternal union, is by far the most important, — 
 since it is the only true and sure guaranty of all 
 others. 
 
 " In consequence of the embarrassed state of bu- 
 siness and the currency, some of the States may meet 
 with difficulty in their financial concerns. However 
 deeply we may regret anything imprudent or excess- 
 ive in the engagements into which States have entered 
 for purposes of their own, it does not become us to 
 disparage the State governments, nor to discourage 
 them from making proper efforts for their own relief ; 
 on the contrary, it is our duty to encourage them, to 
 the extent of our constitutional authority, to apply 
 their best means, and cheerfully to make all necessary 
 sacrifices, and submit to all necessary burdens, to 
 fulfill their engagements and maintain their credit ; 
 for the character and credit of the several States form 
 part of the character and credit of the whole country. 
 The resources of the country are abundant, the 
 enterprise and activity of our people proverbial ; 
 and we may well hope that wise legislation and pru- 
 dent administration, by the respective governments, 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 359 
 
 each acting within his own sphere, will restore former 
 prosperity. 
 
 " Unpleasant, and even dangerous, as collisions 
 may sometimes be between the constituted authorities 
 or the citizens of our country, in relation to the lines 
 which separate their respective jurisdictions, the re- 
 sults can be of no vital injury to our institutions, if 
 that ardent patriotism, that devoted attachment to 
 liberty, that spirit of moderation and forbearance for 
 which our countrymen were once distinguished, con- 
 tinue to be cherished. If this continues to be the 
 ruling passion of our souls, the weaker feelings of the 
 mistaken enthusiast will be corrected, the Utopian 
 dreams of the scheming politician dissipated, and the 
 complicated intrigues of the demagogue rendered 
 harmless. The secret of liberty is the sovereign balm 
 for every injury which our institutions may receive. 
 On the contrary, no care that can be used in the con- 
 struction of our government, no division of powers, 
 no distribution of checks in its several departments, 
 will prove effectual to keep us a free people if this 
 feeling is suffered to decay ; and decay it will without 
 constant nurture. To the neglect of this duty, the 
 best historians agree in attributiiig the ruin of all the 
 republics with whose existence and fall their writings 
 have made us acquainted. The same causes will ever 
 produce the same effects ; and as long as the love of 
 poAver is a dominant passion of the human bosom, 
 and as long as the understanding of men can be 
 warped and their affections changed, by operations 
 
360 THE LIFE OP 
 
 on their passions and prejudices, so long will the lib- 
 erty of a people depend upon their own constant at- 
 tention to its preservation. The danger to all well- 
 established free governments arises from the unwil- 
 lingness of the people to believe in its existencie, or 
 from the influence of designing men diverting their 
 attention from the quarter whence it approaches to a 
 source from which it can never come. This is the old 
 trick of those who would usurp the government of 
 their country. In the name of democracy they speak, 
 warning the people against the influence of wealth 
 and the danger of aristocracy. History, ancient and 
 modern, is full of such examples. Caesar became the 
 master of the Roman people and the Senate, under 
 the pretense of supporting the democratic claims of 
 the former against the aristocracy of the latter; 
 Cromwell, in the character of protector of the liber- 
 ties of the people, became the dictator of England ; 
 and Bolivar possessed himself of unlimited power 
 with the title of his country's liberator. There is, 
 on the contrary, no single instance on record, of an 
 extensive and well-established republic being changed 
 into an aristocracy. The tendency of all such gov- 
 ernments in their decline is to monarchy ; and in the 
 antagonist principle to liberty there is the spirit of 
 faction — a spirit which assumes the character, and, in 
 times of great excitement, imposes itself upon the 
 people as the genuine spirit of freedom, and like the 
 false Christs, whose coming was foretold by the Sa- 
 vior, seeks to, and were it possible would, impose upon 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 361 
 
 the true and most faithful disciples of liberty. It is 
 in periods like this that it behooves the people to be 
 most watchful of those to whom they have intrusted 
 power. And although there is at times much difficulty 
 in distinguishing the false from the true spirit, a calm 
 and dispassionate investigation will detect the coun- 
 terfeit as well by the character of its operations as 
 the results which are produced. The true spirit of 
 liberty, although devoted, persevering, bold, and un- 
 compromising in principle, that secured, is mild and 
 tolerant and scrupulous as to the means it employs ; 
 whilst the spirit of party, assuming to be that of lib- 
 erty, is harsh, vindictive and intolerant, and totally 
 reckless as to the character of the allies which it 
 brings to the aid of its cause. When the genuine 
 spirit of liberty animates the body of a people to a 
 thorough examination of their affairs, it leads to the 
 excision of every excrescence which may have fast- 
 ened itself upon any of the departments of the gov- 
 ernment, and restores the system to its pristine health 
 and beauty. But the reign of an intolerant spirit of 
 party amongst a free people seldom fails to result in a 
 dangerous accession to the executive power introduced 
 and established amidst unusual professions of devotion 
 to democracy. 
 
 " The foregoing remarks relate almost exclusively 
 to matters connected with our domestic concerns. It 
 may be proper, however, that I should give some indi- 
 cations to my fellow-citizens of my proposed course 
 of conduct in the management of our foreign relations. 
 31 
 
362 THE LIFE OP 
 
 I assure them, therefore, that it is my intention to use 
 every means in my power to preserve ,the friendly 
 intercourse which now so happily subsists with every 
 foreign nation ; and that although, of • course, not 
 well informed as to the state of any pending negotia- 
 tions with any of them, I see in the personal charac- 
 ters of the sovereigns, as well as in the mutual interest 
 of our own and of the government with which our 
 relations are most intimate, a pleasing guaranty that 
 the harmony so important to the interests of their 
 subjects, as well as our citizens, will not be interrupted 
 by the advancement of any claim or pretension upon 
 their part to Avhich our honor Avould not permit 
 us to yield. Long the defender of my country's 
 rights in the field, I trust that my fellow-citizens 
 will not see, in my earnest desire to preserve peace 
 with foreign powers, any indication that their rights 
 will ever be sacrificed, or the honor of the na- 
 tion tarnished, by any admission on the part of 
 their chief magistrate, unworthy of their former 
 glory. 
 
 " In our intercourse with our Aboriginal neighbors, 
 the same liberality and justice Avhich marked the 
 course prescribed to me by two of my illustrious pred- 
 ecessors, when acting under their direction in the dis- 
 charge of the duty of superintendent and commis- 
 sioner, shall be strictly observed. I can conceive of 
 no more sublime spectacle — none more likely to pro- 
 pitiate an impartial and common Creator — than a rigid 
 adherence to the principles of justice on the part of a 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 363 
 
 powerful nation in its transactions with a weaker ami 
 uncivilized people, whom circumstances have placed 
 at its disposal. 
 
 "Before concluding, fellow-citizens, I must say 
 something to you on the subject of the parties at this 
 time existing in our country. To me it appears per- 
 fectly clear that the interest of that country requires 
 that the violence of the spirit, by which those parties 
 are at this time governed, must be greatly mitigated, 
 if not entirely extinguished, or consequences will en- 
 sue which are appalling to be thought of. If parties 
 in a republic are necessary to secure a degree of vig- 
 ilance sufficient to keep the republic functionaries 
 within the bounds of law and duty, at that point their 
 usefulness ends. Beyond that they become destruc- 
 tive of public virtue, — the parents of a spirit antago- 
 nist to that of liberty, and eventually its inevitable 
 conqueror. We have examples of republics where 
 the love of country and of liberty, at one time, were 
 the dominant passions of the whole mass of citizens ; 
 and yet, with the contour of the name and forms of 
 free government, not a vestige of these qualities re- 
 maining in the bosom of any one of its citizens. It 
 was the beautiful remark of a distinguished English 
 writer, that ' in the Roman Senate, Octavius had a 
 party, and Anthony a party, but the Commonwealth 
 had none. ' Yet the Senate continued to meet in 
 the Temple of liberty, to talk of the sacredness and 
 beauty of the Commonwealth, and gaze at the statues 
 of the elder Brutus and of the Curtii and Decii. 
 
364 THE LIFE OP 
 
 And the people assembled in the forum, not as in the 
 days of Camillas and the Scipios, to east their free 
 votes for annual magistrates, or pass upon the acts of 
 the Senate, but to receive from the hands of the leaders 
 of the respective parties their share of the spoils, and 
 to shout for one or the other, as those collected in 
 Gaul, or Egypt, and the Lesser Asia, would furnish 
 the larger dividend. The spirit of liberty had fled, 
 and, avoiding the abodes of civilized man, had sought 
 protection in the wilds of Scythia or Scandinavia; 
 and so, under the operation of the same causes and 
 influences, it will fly from our capitol and our forums. 
 A calamity so awful, not only .to our country, but to 
 the world, must be deprecated by every patriot ; and 
 every tendency to a state of things likely to produce 
 it, immediately checked. Such a tendency has ex- 
 isted — does exist. Always the friend of my country- 
 men, never their flatterer, it becomes my duty to say 
 to them from this high place, to which their partiality 
 has exalted me, that there exists in the land a spirit 
 hostile to their best interests — hostile to liberty itself. 
 It is a spirit contracted in its views, selfish in its ob- 
 ject. It looks to the aggrandizement of a few, even 
 to the destruction of the interests of the Avhole. The 
 entire remedy is Avith the people. Something, how- 
 ever, may be efiected by the means which they have 
 placed in my hands. It is union that we want, not 
 of a party for the sake of that party, but a union of 
 tlie whole country for the sake of the whole country — 
 for the defense of its interests and its honor against 
 
•WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 365 
 
 foreign aggression — for the defense of those principles 
 for which our ancestors so gloriously contended. As 
 far as it depends upon me, it shall be accomplished. 
 All the influence that I possess shall be exerted to 
 prevent the formation at least of an executive party 
 in the halls of the legislative body. I wish for the 
 support of no member of that body to any measure 
 of mine that does not satisfy his judgment, and his 
 sense of duty to those from whom he holds his ap- 
 pointment ; nor any confidence in advance from the 
 people, but that asked for by Mr. Jefferson, to give 
 firmness and effect to the legal administration of their 
 affairs. 
 
 " I deem the present occasion sufiiciently import- 
 ant and solemn to justify me in presenting to my fel- 
 low-citizens a profound reverence for the christian 
 religion, and a thorough conviction that sound morals, 
 religious liberty, and a just sense of religious respon- 
 sibility, are essentially connected with all true and 
 lasting happiness ; and to that good Being who has 
 blessed us by the gifts of civil and religious freedom, 
 who watched over and prospered the labors of our 
 fathers, and has hitherto preserved to us institutions 
 far exceeding in excellence those of any other people, 
 let us unite in commending every interest of our be- 
 loved country in all future time. 
 
 " Fellow-citizens ! being fully invested with that 
 
 high office to which the partiality of my countrymen 
 
 has called me, I now take an affectionate leave of you. 
 
 You will bear with you to your homes the remem- 
 
 31* 
 
366 THE LIFE OP 
 
 brance of the pledge I have this day given to dis- 
 charge all the high duties of my exalted station, 
 according to the best of my ability, and I shall enter 
 upon their performance with entire confidence m the 
 support of a just and generous people. 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 367 
 
 I CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Having now gone through all the requirements 
 of the constitution necessary to qualify him for the 
 discharge of the duties of President of the United 
 States, General Harrison promptly set himself about 
 the great work of correcting whatever abuses may 
 have crept into the administration of the government, 
 and of performing the pledges he had made before 
 his election and in his inaugural address. These 
 pledges had been made from an honest conviction that 
 they were not only just, but demanded by the general 
 good. Having therefore been made in good faith, he 
 was determined to carry them out in the same, so far 
 as it was in his power to do so. Investigations were 
 instituted into the various branches of the public ser- 
 vice with a view to those reforms which the country 
 had so long demanded and he had promised to intro- 
 duce, and many corrupt or injurious practices marked 
 out for correction. And if he had been spared to the 
 country to serve out the term for which the people 
 elected him, there is no doubt that he would have 
 redeemed all his pledges to the country. 
 
 Considering it a great abuse of power to bring 
 
368 THE LIFE OP 
 
 tlie patronage of the government into conflict -with the 
 freedom of elections, as has been seen both by his 
 letters before his election and his inaugural address, 
 and that such abuse ought to be corrected wherever 
 it might exist, circulars were addressed to all the 
 heads of the departments on the 20th of March, de- 
 signed to effect this object. They were directed to 
 furnish information to all officers and agents in their 
 several departments, that partisan interference in pop- 
 ular elections, whether of State officers or officers of 
 the general government, and that for whomsoever or 
 against whomsoever it might be exercised, or the pay- 
 ment of any contribution or assessment on salaries, 
 or official compensation for party or election purposes, 
 would be regarded by him as cause of removal. 
 
 It was not intended that any officer should be 
 restrained in the free and proper expression and 
 maintenance of his opinions respecting public men, 
 or public measures, or in the exercise, to the fullest 
 degree, of the constitutional right of suffrage ; but 
 persons employed under the government, and paid for 
 their services out of the public treasury, were not ex- 
 pected to take an active or officious part in attempts 
 to influence the minds or votes of others, such con- 
 duct being deemed inconsistent with the spirit of the 
 constitution and the duties of public agents acting 
 under it. He expressed his determination, that while 
 the exercise of the elective franchise by the people 
 shall be free from undue influence of official stations 
 and authority, so far as depended upon him, opinion 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 369 
 
 should also be free among the officers and agents 
 of the government. He wished it farther announced 
 and understood, that from all collecting and disburs- 
 ing officers promptitude in rendering accounts, and 
 entire punctuality in paying balances, would be rigor- 
 ously exacted. 
 
 With a view of arresting what was feared to be a 
 needless and extravagant expenditure of money upon 
 the public works in the city of Washington, he ap- 
 pointed a board of commissioners or examination to 
 investigate the subject rigidly. They were required to 
 report upon the number of persons employed upon 
 those works, exclusive of laborers, what was their re- 
 spective duty, what compensation was paid them, and 
 whether there was any just ground of complaint 
 against any of these in regard to their diligence or 
 skill, or in regard to their treatment of laborers. 
 They were especially instructed to inquire into no 
 man's political opinions, but to report if any one hav- 
 ing the power of appointing and removing had abused 
 that power, or in any way violated his duty for party 
 or election purposes. 
 
 These evidences of the honesty and sincerity of 
 his professions were received with lively demonstra- 
 tions of satisfaction by the public at large, however 
 little encouraging they may have been to the hopes 
 and aspirations of the mere politician. They gave 
 assurance that, under his administration, that system 
 of prescription which had excluded every man from 
 office, however deserving, competent or needy, whose 
 
370 THE LIFE OP 
 
 political principles did not accord with the ruling ex- 
 ecutive, was to be repudiated, and all the benefits of 
 the government to be shared by the people equally. 
 This he believed to be the theory of our government, 
 and so far as was consistent with the obligations he 
 admitted himself to be under to the party which had 
 placed him in power, he determined it should be its 
 practice. 
 
 As the case always had been, and as it is always 
 desirable it should be, under our democratic form of 
 government, upon so important an occasion as the 
 change of rulers, he was overwhelmed Avith visits of 
 all classes, actuated either by motives of pure friend- 
 ship or personal interest ; and no one was ever denied 
 an interview. Unlike the members of his cabinet, 
 and indeed the members of most American cabinets, 
 he could at all times be approached, and when ap- 
 proached, he assumed none of the airs which men, oc- 
 cupying minor positions, too frequently think it nec- 
 essary to put on for the purpose of inspiring that 
 reverence and respect which their characters would 
 never command. He understood that real greatness 
 could not be aflfected by a familiar and free intercourse 
 with the people, and that it Avould never fail to re- 
 strain the impertinent and ill-bred. An assumption 
 of superiority, and that supercilious bearing so com- 
 mon to naturally vulgar minds, however high in office, 
 found no countenance in his practice, nor no sympathy 
 in his disposition. This practice of General Harrison, 
 of receiving visits from all who sought access to him, 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 371 
 
 and the multiplicity of public duties necessarily attend- 
 ant on his first entrance into office, produced not only 
 great fatigue of body, but anxiety of mind. In ad- 
 dition to this, he was overtaken by a violent shower 
 in one of his usual morning walks, and his clothes 
 became thoi'oughly wet. This was followed by a slight 
 cold ; but he paid little attention to it, although on 
 the 25th of March he was really ill, and continued to 
 receive visits from all, as when in health, refusing to 
 postpone any of his official duties. Even when thus 
 indisposed, and pressed with cares too great for a man 
 in sound health to endure, he neglected no demand 
 upon his friendship and benevolence. Accidentally 
 meeting an old acquaintance in distress, he took him 
 to the President's house, gave him a breakfast, and 
 after conversing with him a while upon events long 
 since passed, he wrote to the collector of New York 
 the follomng [Jiis last) letter, dated March 26, 1841, 
 for the purpose, as will be seen, of aiding him in his 
 adversity : 
 
 " The bearer hereof, Mr. Thomas Tucker, a vet- 
 eran seaman, came with me from Carthagenia, as the 
 mate of the brig Montidia, in the year 1829. In an 
 association of several weeks, I formed a high opinion 
 of his character ; so much so, that (expressing a de- 
 sire to leave the sea) I invited him to come to North 
 Bend, and spend the remainder of his days with me. 
 
 " Subsequent misfortunes prevented his doing so, 
 as he was desirous to bring some money with him to 
 commence farming operations. His bad fortune still 
 
B72 THE XIFE OF 
 
 continues, having been several times ship^vrecked 
 within a few years. He says that himself and fam- 
 ily are now in such a situation that the humblest em- 
 ployment would be acceptable to him. I write this to 
 recommend him to your favorable notice. I am per- 
 suaded that no one possesses, in a higher degree, the vir- . 
 tues of fidelity, honesty and indefatigable industry, and 
 I might add, indomitable bravery, if that was a quality 
 necessary for the kind of employment he seeks." 
 
 On the 27th of March he was seized with a chill, 
 and other symptoms of fever. The next day, pneu- 
 monia, with congestion of the liver, and derangement 
 of the stomach and bowels, was ascertained to exist. 
 In spite of all the efforts and skill of his physicians 
 to arrest the disease, it continued to increase in vio- 
 lence until the 3rd of April, at three o'clock in the 
 afternoon. A profuse diarrhea then came on, un- 
 der which he rapidly sank ; and at thirty minutes past 
 twelve o'clock, on the morning of April 4th, 1841, 
 he breathed his last. His last words were, as heard 
 by Dr. Worthington, one of his consulting physicians : 
 Sir, I wish you to understand the true principles of 
 the government. I wish them carried out. I ask 
 nothing more." Thus died General William Henry 
 Harrison, the ninth President of the United States, 
 at the age of sixty-eight years and twenty-six days, 
 after having filled the oflBce of President but one 
 single short month. 
 
 This great national calamity fell upon the public 
 mind with startling suddenness. Almost before the 
 
"VTILLIAM HENRY HARRISOX. S73 
 
 sound of the cannon 'which announced to the people 
 that he had been invested with the office of Pres- 
 ident had died away, and before the news had spread 
 scarcely beyond the District of Columbia, the sad 
 intelligence was received that he had ceased to exist. 
 The affecting event, feared, perhaps, by those who 
 best knew General Harrison's enfeebled constitution, 
 was at once officially made public in the following 
 document, signed by the Secretary of State, and all 
 the other heads of departments : 
 
 "An All-wise Providence having suddenly re- 
 moved from this life William Henry Harrison, late 
 President of the United States, we have thought it 
 our duty, in the recess of Congress, and in the ab- 
 sence of the Vice-President from the seat of govern- 
 ment, to make this afflicting bereavement known to 
 the country, by this declaration under our hands. 
 He died at the President's House, in this citv, this 
 4th day of April, Anno Domini 1841, at thirty min- 
 utes before one o'clock in the morninof. 
 
 " The people of the United States, overwhelmed 
 like ourselves, by an event so unexpected and so mel- 
 ancholy, will derive consolation from knowing that 
 his death was calm and resigned as his life had been 
 patriotic, useful and distinguished ; and that the last 
 utterance from his lips expressed a fervent desire for 
 the perpetuity of the constitution and the preservation 
 of its true principles. In death, as in life, the hap- 
 piness of his country was uppermost in his thoughts." 
 
 Wednesday, April 7tb, was selected for perform- 
 32 
 
874 THE LIFE OF 
 
 ii)g tlic funeral solemnities of the late President. The 
 ceremony Avas as solemn as it was imposing. Every 
 countenance was impressed Avitli the most profound 
 melancholy. The military portion of the procession was 
 volunteer companies from Washington city, George- 
 town, Baltimore, Philadelphia and various other cities, 
 together with several companies of marines and United 
 States artillerists, all accompanied by the mounted 
 and dismounted officers of the army, navy, militia 
 and volunteers. The civic part of it consisted of the 
 municipal officers of the District of Columbia, the 
 clergy, the judiciary and executive officers of the 
 government, including the President of the United 
 States and all the heads of bureaus. The procession 
 occupied two miles in length. The religious ceremo- 
 nies at the grave were performed by the Reverend 
 Mr. J2eal«yy-of the Episcopal church.* 
 
 As the news of General Harrison's death spread 
 throughout the Union, the profound respect which was 
 entertained for his character, and the gratitude they 
 felt for his important public services, begun to be ex- 
 hibited in their full force. Every demonstration in 
 the power of the people to show was bestowed upon 
 his memory. All party animosity was at once for- 
 gotten, and the whole people united in the perform- 
 ance of ceremonies appropriate to the occasion. In 
 almost every city and town in the Union funeral ser- 
 mons were delivered, processions got up and addresses 
 delivered ; and the most profound grief was every- 
 
 *See Appendix (D). 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. i5 / 
 
 Avhere, and bj all parties and sects, evinced. The 
 nation for a time Avas almost literally clothed in 
 mourning, and there was a general rivalry amongst 
 those so lately his warm political opponents who should 
 best show bow little their political differences blinded 
 them to his real merits and many noble virtues. 
 
 On the 31st of May following. Congress assem- 
 bled in extra session, in pursuance of a proclamation 
 issued by General Harrison ; and on the 4th of June, 
 passed the following resolutions in relation to the 
 national loss : 
 
 " The melancholy event of the death of William 
 Henry Harrison, late President of the United States, 
 having occurred during the recess of Congress, and 
 the two houses sharing in the general grief, and de- 
 siring to manifest their sensibilities upon the occasion 
 of that public bereavement, therefore : 
 
 " Hesolved, hy the Senate and House of Repre- 
 sentatives of the United States of America in Con- 
 gress assembled, That the chairs of the President of 
 the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representa- 
 tives be shrouded in black during the residue of the 
 session ; and that the President pro tempore of the 
 Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, 
 and the members and oiBcers of both Houses, wear the 
 usual badge of mourning for thirty days. 
 
 " Resolved, That the President of the United 
 States be requested to transmit a copy of these reso- 
 lutions to Mrs. Harrison, and to assure her of the 
 profound respect of the two Houses of Congress for 
 
376 THE LIFE OF 
 
 her person and character, and of their sincere condo- 
 lence with the late dispensation of Providence." 
 
 But Congress went still further than this. On the 
 9th of June, John Quincj Adams reported a bill in 
 th* House of Representatives in favor of a grant of 
 money to the widow of General Harrison. This had 
 been suggested to Congress by Mr. Tyler, in his mes- 
 sage at the opening of the session. He said, " that 
 the preparations necessary for his removal to the seat 
 of government, in view of a residence of four years, 
 must have devolved upon the late President heavy 
 expenditures, which, if permitted to burthen the lim- 
 ited resources of his private fortune, might tend to the 
 serious embarrassment of his surviving family ; and 
 it was therefore respectfully submitted to Congress, 
 whether the ordinary principles of justice would not 
 dictate the propriety of legislative interposition." 
 
 The measure was also urged upon Congress from 
 various quarters as an act of simple justice to the 
 family of Harrison. He had occupied positions in 
 which he might have amassed an immense fortune, if 
 he had chosen to avail himself of the advantages 
 placed in his hands. It could have been done without 
 any real injustice to government, and with but a very 
 slight departure from the principles of rectitude. He 
 chose not to enrich himself by any doubtful means. 
 Poverty in his estimation was far preferable to riches 
 thus acquired. These and other considerations, oper- 
 ating with the sympathy felt for the affliction of the 
 widow of Harrison, an appropriation of $25,000 was 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 
 
 finally made to Mrs. Harrison. The bill passed the 
 House, on the 18th of June, by a vote of 122 to 66, 
 and the Senate by a vote of 28 to 16. 
 
 General Harrison's personal appearance was com- 
 manding, and his manners prepossessing. He was 
 about six feet high, of rather slender form, straight, 
 and of a firm, elastic gait, even at the time of his 
 election to the presidency, though then closely bord- 
 ering on seventy. He had a keen, penetrating eye, 
 denoting quickness of apprehension, promptness and 
 energy. His forehead was high, broad and prom- 
 inent, his lips rather thin and compressed, and his 
 whole features strongly marked. His countenance 
 was expressive of the genuine kindness and philan- 
 thropy which his whole life had practically exempli- 
 fied. There was that in his personal appearance 
 which indicated him as a man of not an ordinary 
 character. The inherent honesty and integrity of 
 his nature showed forth in his countenance. 
 
 The qualities which General Harrison displayed 
 as a military chieftain are now universally admitted 
 to be of the very highest order. Indeed few were 
 ever found, even during the violent political contest 
 which resulted in his elevation to the presidency, hardy 
 enough, and so reckless of his own reputation, as to 
 deny him the merit of a great general. As com- 
 mander-in-chief of the north-western army, he was 
 intrusted with almost unlimited discretionary powers, 
 requiring the exercise of military skill, science and 
 ability, such as few commanders of American armies 
 32* 
 
378 THE LIFE OF 
 
 have ever exhibited. The history of the last war with 
 England, and especially the misfortunes that befell 
 so many of our generals at the North and North-west, 
 as well as at the South, proves this to be true. While 
 most of the fjenerals in command of our armies in that 
 war, no matter how eminent and how successful gen- 
 erally they may have been, sometimes meet with 
 reverses, General Harrison never lost a battle, and 
 never committed an error in his military movements. 
 This was the peculiar glory of General Harrison as a 
 commander. This uniform success was the result of 
 "an almost intuitive sagacity, greatpower of combina- 
 tion, with prudence, caution, promptness and energy, 
 combined with perfect self-reliance and self-control." 
 These qualities are necessary to form the great, or 
 what is equivalent, the successful general. 
 
 It has been claimed that in many points the mili- 
 tary career of Harrison bears a striking analogy to 
 that of Washington, — that the same extent of discre- 
 tionary powers and responsibilities were assigned to 
 both, that both had the same difficulty in procuring 
 supplies of troops and provisions, and, above all, that 
 they never hazarded the grand result of a campaign, 
 by any minor enterprise, however tempting. Both 
 exercised the extensive powers with which they were 
 invested without any invasion of the laws, or the 
 rights of citizens, and both retired to the peaceful 
 pursuits of agriculture when the objects which had 
 called them to the field had been effected. This is 
 high praise to General Harrison, as the parallel has, 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 379 
 
 at least, some ground to rest upon, tliougli nothing 
 must, be admitted to stand almost without parallel. 
 
 The prominent feature of General Harrison's 
 character was the most inflexible and rigid integrity, 
 his devoted patriotism, his keen sense of honor, and 
 his great love of justice. These noble virtues marked 
 his whole life from youth to old age, in the field as 
 well as in the council. No consideration of personal 
 advantage, of whatever character, could induce him 
 to swerve a hair's breadth from them. During twenty 
 years of public employment he had numerous oppor- 
 tunities of enriching himself; but he sternly rejected 
 them all, and retired from the service of his coun- 
 try poorer than he entered it. Of the three million 
 dollars that passed through his hands as a government 
 agent, not a single dollar ever adhered to them. So 
 nice were his feelings upon these points that he even 
 refused to make purchases of land, lest it might by 
 possibility be charged that he had transcended his offi- 
 cial authority. Equally sensitive were his feelings of 
 honor, with the single exception of private secretary, 
 he invariably refused to appoint any of his relatives 
 to office. 
 
 General Harrison's mind was of a good order. 
 He possessed excellent natural powers of mind, and 
 they were thoroughly disciplined and well-directed. 
 Few men possessed a sounder or better judgment, or 
 had more sagacity and penetration. His scholarly 
 attainments were far above mediocrity. In general 
 history he was thoroughly versed, and his notes upon 
 
380 THE LIFE OP 
 
 that important branch of education possess many val- 
 uable suggestions. With the public characters and 
 leading events of both ancient and modern times he 
 was intimately familiar. As a Avriter he ranks among 
 the first public men of the country ; and many of his 
 compositions exhibit felicity of expression, strength 
 of thought, and sound, practical common sense. As 
 a speaker he was easy, graceful and fluent, often rising 
 to real eloquence. He might have excelled as an ora- 
 tor had he failed as a soldier, and the renown he won 
 in the field might have been eclipsed by that he pos- 
 sessed in the Senate, had his profession led him in 
 that direction. 
 
 No man possessed a kinder or more benevolent 
 heart. His feelings were ever alive to the sufferings 
 or misfortunes of those about him, and his hand was 
 ever open to relieve the necessities of the needy. 
 His personal address and manners were well suited to 
 win the favor of the people, as he was open, frank, 
 and courteous in his intercourse with all. There was 
 nothing of the aristocrat in his character ; on the con- 
 trary, he was purely democratic in his tastes as well 
 as in his inclinations. While President of the nation 
 he was as easy of approach, and as free in his inter- 
 course with the people, as when only the plain farmer 
 of North Bend. Courtesy and a graceful condescen- 
 sion, united with ease and dignity of manners, re- 
 lieved every one of embarrassment while in his pres- 
 ence. 
 
 His moral character was above reproach ; though 
 
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 381 
 
 perhaps not a professing cliristian, lie entertained the 
 highest and most profound regard for the christian re- 
 ligion. This he did not fear to declare as well in his in- 
 augural address as upon all suitable occasions during 
 the brief period he occupied the presidential chair. 
 Such, imperfectly drawn, is the character, — and such, 
 imperfectly recorded, are the great deeds and import- 
 ant public services, — of WilHam Henry Harrison. 
 There is much that cannot fail to be admired in the 
 one, imperfectly as it has been sketched, and much to 
 excite the gratitude of the people in the other, imper- 
 fectly as they have been recorded. General Harrison 
 had his imperfections, like all other men, but that his 
 virtues greatly outweighed them must be the verdict 
 of impartial history. His errors, whatever they 
 were, Avere never permitted to affect the public wel- 
 fare, while his virtues and public services have con- 
 tributed something, at least, to the happiness of the 
 people, and much to the honor of the nation. 
 
 A single circumstance will illustrate his high sense 
 of justice and his true nobleness of soul far better 
 than any studied panegyric could do : A few years 
 ago it was ascertained that a large tract of land near 
 Cincinnati, which had been sold some time before for 
 a mere trifle, under an execution against the original 
 proprietors, could not be held by the title derived 
 from the purchasers on account of some irregularity 
 in the proceedings. The legal title was in General 
 Harrison and another gentleman, who were the heirs 
 at law. This tract of land was exceedingly valuable, 
 
382 THE LIFE OP • 
 
 and would have constituted a princely estate for 
 both these heirs, had they chosen to insist on their 
 legal rights ; or they might have compromised Avith 
 the purchaser. But General Harrison refused to do 
 either the one or the other. He had never yet suf- 
 fered his own interests to blind him to other's rights, 
 and on being informed of the situation of the property, 
 he and his co-heir immediately granted deeds in fee 
 simple to the purchaser, without claiming any consid- 
 eration except the trifling difference between the ac- 
 tual value of the land when sold and the amount paid 
 at the sheriff's sale. There were in this tract, too, 
 twelve acres of General Harrison's private property 
 improperly included in the sale, which he might have 
 retained both legally and equitably. But such was 
 his nice sense of honor and scrupulous regard for the 
 rights of others, that he suffered even his own rights 
 to be invaded rather than to vindicate them at the ex- 
 pense of others. Such instances of magnanimity and 
 chivalrous sense of honesty are bright spots in the 
 history of humanity, the more conspicuous, perhaps, 
 from being so seldom seen, but equally the objects of 
 our admiration, however often and whenever seen. ' 
 
[A] 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 STATISTICS OF THE SIX CENSUS. 
 
 The following facts, compiled from the returns in the 
 census office, will show the extent, population, resources, 
 manufactors, and, above all, the growth of our country 
 since General Harrison entered upon public life. They 
 will also be of great and permanent interest as a matter of 
 reference. 
 
 The seventh enumeration of the inhabitants of the 
 the United States exhibits results which every citizen of 
 country may contemplate with gratification and pride. 
 Since the census of 1840 there have been added to the 
 territory of the Republic, by annexation, conquest, and 
 purchase, 6.35,988 square miles ; and our title to regions 
 covering 341,463 square miles, which before properly be- 
 longed to us, but was claimed, and partially occupied, by a 
 foreign power, has been established by negotiation, and it 
 has been brought within our acknowledged boundaries. 
 By such means t&e area of the United States has been 
 extended, during the past ten years, from 2,055,163 to 
 3,221,595 square miles, without including the great lakes 
 which lie upon our northern border, or the bays which 
 indentate our Atlantic and Pacific shores, all which has 
 come within the scope of the seventh census. 
 
384 APPENDIX. [a] 
 
 la the endeavor to ascertain the progress of our popula- 
 tion since 1840, it will be proper to deduct from the aggre- 
 gate number of inhabitants shown by the present census 
 the population of Texas in 1840, and the number embraced 
 within the limits of California and the new territories at 
 the time of their acquisition. From the best information 
 which has come to hand it is believed that Texas contained, 
 in 1840, 75,000 inhabitants; and that when California, 
 New Mexico, and Oregon came into our possession, in 
 1846, they had a population of 97,000. It thus appears 
 that we have received, by additions of Territory since 1840, 
 an accession of 172,000 to the number of our people. 
 
 The increase which has taken place in those extended 
 regions since they came under the authority of our govern- 
 ment should obviously be received as a part of the develop- 
 ment and progress of our population ; nor is it necessary to 
 complicate the comparison by taking into account the pro- 
 bable natural increase of this acquired population, because 
 we have not the means of determining the rate of its ad- 
 vancement, nor the law which governed its progress while 
 yet beyond the influence of our political system. The year 
 1840, rather than the date of our enumeration of Texas, 
 has been taken for estimating her population in connection 
 with that of the Union, because it may be safely assumed 
 that, whatever the increase during the five intervening years 
 may have been, it was mainly, if not "altogether, derived 
 from the United States. 
 
 Owing to delays and difficulties mentioned in completing 
 the work, which no action on the part of this office could 
 obviate, some of the returns from California have not yet 
 been received. 
 
[a] appendix. 385 
 
 Assuming the population of California to be 165,000 
 (which vre do partly by estimate), and omitting that of 
 Utah, estimated at 15,000, the total number of inhabitants 
 in the United States was, on the 1st of June, 1850, 23,- 
 246,301. 
 
 The absolute increase from the 1st of June, 1840, has 
 been 6,176,848; and the actual increase per cent, is 36.18. 
 But it has been shown that the probable amount of popu- 
 lation acquired by additions of territory should be deducted 
 in making a comparison between the results of the present 
 and the last census. These deductions reduce the total 
 population of the country, as a basis of comparison, to 
 23,074,301, and the increase to 6,004,848. The relative 
 increase, after this allowance, is found to be 35.17 per 
 cent. The aggregate number of whites in 1850 was 19,- 
 619,366, exhibiting a gain upon the number of the same 
 class in 1840 of 5,423,371, and a relative increase of 38.20 
 per cent. But excluding the 153,000 free population sup- 
 posed to be acquired by the addition of territory since 
 1840, the gain is 5,270,371, and the increased per cent. 
 37.14. The number of slaves, by the present census, is 
 3,198,298, which shows an increase of 711,085, equal to 
 28.58 per cent. If we deduct 19,000 for the probable 
 slave population in Texas in 1840, the result of the com- 
 parison will be slightly different. The absolute increase 
 will be 692,085, and the rate per cent. 27.83. 
 
 The number of free colored in 1850 was 428,637, in 
 1840, 386,245. The increase of this class has been 42,- 
 392, or 10.95 per cent. 
 
 From 1830 to 1840 the increase of the whole population 
 was at the rate of 32.67 per cent. At the same rate of 
 
386 APPENDIX. [a] 
 
 advancement the absolute gain for the ten years last past 
 would have been 5,578,333, or 426,515 less than it has 
 been, without including the increase consequent upon addi- 
 tions of territory. 
 
 The aggregate increase of population from all sources 
 shows a relative advance greater than that of any other 
 decimal term, except that from the second to the third 
 census, during which time the country received an, accession 
 of inhabitants, by the purchase of Louisiana, considerably 
 greater than one per cent, of the whole number. Rejecting 
 from the census of 1810 1.45 per cent, for the population 
 of Louisiana, and from the census of 1850 one per cent, 
 for that of Texas, California, &c., the result is in favor of 
 the last ten years by about one-fourteenth of one per cent. ; 
 the gain from 1800 to 1810 being 35.05 per cent., and 
 from 1840 to 1850 35.12 per cent. But without going 
 behind the sum of the returns, it appears that the increase 
 from the second to the third census was thirty-two-hun- 
 dredths of one per cent, greater than from the sixth to the 
 seventh. 
 
 The relative progress of the several races and classes of 
 the population is shown in the following tabular statement : 
 
 Increase per cent, for each class of Inhabitants in the United States 
 
 for sixty years. 
 
 1790 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 
 
 to to to to to to 
 
 1800. 1810. 1820. 1830. 1840. 1850. 
 
 Whites 35.68 36.18 .34.30 34.52 34.72 38.20 
 
 Free colored 82.28 72.00 27.75 34.85 20.88 10.95 
 
 Slaves 27.96 33.40 29.57 30.75 23.81 28.58 
 
 Total colored 32.23 37.58 29.33 31.31 23.40 26.16 
 
 Total populatioa 35.02 36.50 33.85 33.92 32.67 86.18 
 
[a] appendix. S87 
 
 The census had been taken pre\aously to 1830 on the 
 1st day of August; the enumeration began on that year on 
 the 1st of June, two months earlier, so that the interval 
 between the fourth and fifth census was two months less 
 than ten years; which time allowed for would bring the 
 total increase up to the rate of 34.36 per cent. 
 
 The tables given below show the increase from 1790 to 
 1850, without reference to intervening periods. 
 
 Absolute increase Incr. per 
 
 1790. 1850. in 60 years. ct. in 60 
 
 years. 
 
 No. of whites 3,172,464 19,630,019 16,457,555 52,797 
 
 Free colored 69,466 428,637 369,171 61,744 
 
 Slaves 697,897 3,184,262 2,486,365 35,013 
 
 Tot. free col. & si. 757,363 3,612,899 2,855,536 377 
 
 Total population... 3,929,827 23,246,301 19,316,417 491,152 
 
 Sixty years since the proportion between the whites and 
 blacks, bond and free, was 4.2 to 1. In 1850 it was 5.26 
 to 1 ; and the ratio in favor of the former race is in- 
 creasing. Had the blacks increased as fast as the whites 
 during these sixty years the number on the first of June 
 would have been 4,657,289; so that, in comparison with 
 the whites, they have lost in this period 1,350,340. 
 
 This disparity is much more than accounted for by 
 European emigration to the United States. 
 
 Dr. Chickering, in an essay on emigration, published in 
 Boston in 1848, distinguished for great elaborateness of 
 research, estimates the gain of the white population from 
 this source at 3,922,152. No reliable record was kept of 
 the emigrants into the United States until 1820, when, by 
 the laws of March, 1819, the collectors were required to 
 make quarterly returns of foreign passengers arriving in 
 their districts. For the first ten years the returns under 
 
388 APPENDIX. [a] 
 
 the laws afford materials for only an approximation to a 
 true state of the facts involved in this inquiry. 
 
 Dr. Chickering assumes, as a result of his investigations, 
 that of the 6,431,088 inhabitants of the United States in 
 1820, 1,430,906 were foreigners arrived subsequent to 
 1790, or the descendants of such. According to Dr. Sey- 
 bcrt, an earlier writer upon statistics, the number of foreign 
 passengers from 1790 to 1810 was, as nearly as could be 
 ascertained, 120,000; and from the estimates of Dr. Sey- 
 bert, and other evidence, Honorable Geo. Tucker, author 
 of a valuable work on the census of 1840, supposed the num- 
 ber from 1810 to 1820 to have been 114,000. These esti- 
 mates make, for the thirty years preceding 1820, 234,000. 
 
 If we reckon the census of emigrants at the average 
 rate of the whole body of white population during these 
 three decades, they and their descendants in 1820 would 
 amount to about 360,000. 
 
 From 1820 to 1830 there arrived, according to the 
 returns of the custom-houses, 135,986 foreign passengers; 
 and from 1830 to 1840, 579,370 ; making, for the twenty 
 years, 715,356. 
 
 During this period a large number of emigrants from 
 England, Scotland, and Ireland, came into the United 
 States through Canada. 
 
 Dr. Chickering estimates the number of such from 1820 
 to 1830 at 67,993, and from 1830 to 1840 at 199,130; 
 for the twenty years together, 267,123. During the same 
 time a considerable number are supposed to have landed at 
 New York with the purpose of pursuing their route to 
 Canada; but it is probable that the number of these was 
 b ilaaced by omissions in the official returns. 
 
[a] appendix. 389 
 
 Without reference to the natural increase, then the 
 accession to our population from foreign sources, from 1820 
 to 1840, was 982,479 persons. 
 
 From 1840 to 1850 the arrivals of foreign passengers 
 in the ports of the United States have been as follows : 
 
 1840, 1841 83,504 
 
 1842 101,107 
 
 1843 75,159 
 
 1844 74,607 
 
 1845 102,415 
 
 1846 202,157* 
 
 1847 234,756 
 
 1848 226,524 
 
 1849 269,'610 
 
 1850 173,011f 
 
 Total 1,552,830 
 
 As the heaviest portion of this great influx of emigra- 
 tion took place in the latter part of the decade, it will 
 
 * This return includes fifteen months, to wit, from July 1, 1845, 
 to September 30, 1846. 
 
 f The report from the State Department for this year gives 
 315,333 as the total number of passengers arriving in the United 
 States ; but of these 30,023 were citizens of the Atlantic States 
 proceeding to California by sea, and 5,320 natives of the country 
 returning from visits abroad. A deduction of 106,879 is made 
 from the balance for that portion of the year from June 1 to Sep- 
 tember 30. Within the last ten years there has probably been 
 very little migration of foreigners into the United States over the 
 Canadian frontier, — the disposition to take the route by Quebec 
 having yielded to the increased facilities for direct passenger trans- 
 portation to the cities of the Union ; what there has been may 
 perhaps be considered as equaled by the number of foreigners 
 passing into Canada, often landing at New York, many having 
 been drawn thither by the opportunity of employment afforded by 
 the public works of the province. 
 
890 APPENDIX. [a] 
 
 probably be fair to estimate the natural increase during the 
 term at 12 per cent., being about one-third of that of the 
 white population of the country at its commencement. 
 
 This will swell the aggregate to 1,739,192. Deducting 
 this accession to the population from the whole amount of 
 the increase of white inhabitants before given, that increase 
 is shown to be 3,684,519, and the rate per cent, is reduced 
 to 25.95. 
 
 The density of population is a branch of the subject 
 which naturally first attracts the attention of the inquirer. 
 The following table has been prepared from the most authen- 
 tic data "accessible to this office. 
 
 Table of the Area, and the number of Inhabitants to the square mile, 
 of each State and Territory of the Union. 
 
 Area iu Populatiou No. of inhab. 
 
 States. square mUe. in 1850. to sq. mile. 
 
 Maine 30,000 583,188 19.44 
 
 New Hampshire 9,280 317,964 34.26 
 
 Vermont 10,212 313,011 30.07 
 
 Massachusetts 7,800 994,499 126.15 
 
 Rhode Island 1,360 147,544 108.04 
 
 Connecticut 4,674 370,791 79.33 
 
 New York 46,000 3,097,394 67.66 
 
 New Jersey 8,320 489,555 60.04 
 
 Pennsylvania 40,000 2,311,785 50.25 
 
 Delaware 2,120 91,535 43.64 
 
 Maryland 9,356 583,035 62.31 
 
 .Virginia 61,552 1,421,661 23.17 
 
 North Carolina 45,000 868,903 19.30 
 
 South Carolina 24,500 668,507 27.28 
 
 Georgia 58,000 905,999 15.68 
 
 Alabama 50,722 771,071 15.21 
 
 Mississippi 47,156 606,555 12.86 
 
 Louisiana 46,431 611,974 11.02 
 
 Texas 237,321 212,592 .89 
 
 Florida 59,268 87,401 1.47 
 
 Koutuckv 37,680 982,405 26.07 
 
 Tennessee 45,600 1,002,625 21.98 
 
 Missouri 67,380 682,043 10.12 
 
[a] appendix. 391 
 
 [Continued from last page.) 
 
 Area in Population No. of inhab. 
 
 States. square mile. in ISoO. to sq. miie. 
 
 Arkansas 52,198 209,639 4.01 
 
 Ohio 39,964 1,980,408 49.55 
 
 Indiana 33,809 988.416 29.23 
 
 Illinois 55,405 851.470 15.36 
 
 Michigan 56,243 397,654 7.07 
 
 Iowa 50,914 192,214 3.77 
 
 Wisconsin 53,924 305,191 5.65 
 
 California 188,981 
 
 Minnesota 83,000 6,077 .07 
 
 Oregon 341,463 13,293 .03 
 
 New Mexico 210,744 61,505 .28 
 
 Utah 177,923 
 
 Nebraska 136,700 
 
 Indian 187,171 
 
 North-West 587,564 
 
 District Columbia 60 51,687 861,45 
 
 Total 3,221,595 23,080,792 
 
 From the location, climate, productions, and the habits 
 and pursuits of their inhabitants, the States of the Union 
 may be properly arranged into the following groups : 
 
 Area in No. of inhab- 
 
 States. square mile. Population. to sq. mile. 
 
 New England States 63,226 2,727,597 43.07 
 
 Middle States, including Ma- 
 ryland, Delaware, and Ohio 151,760 8,653,713 57.02 
 
 Coast planting States, includ- 
 ing South Carolina, Georgia, 
 Florida, Alabama, Missis- 
 sippi, and Louisiana 296,077 3,537,089 12.36 
 
 Central Slave States, Vir- 
 ginia, N. Carolina, Ten- 
 nessee, Kentucky, Missouri, 
 and Arkansas 308,210 5,168,000 16.75 
 
 North-Western States, India- 
 na, ^lichigan. Illinois, AVis- 
 cousin, and Iowa 250,000 2,735,000 10.92 
 
 Texas 2^37,000 212,000 89 
 
 California 189,000 165,000 87 
 
392 APPENDIX. [a] 
 
 There are points of agreement in the general character- 
 istics of the States combined in the above groups which 
 warrant the mode of arrangement adopted. Maryland is 
 classed as heretofore- with the Middle States, because its 
 leading interests appear to connect it rather with the com- 
 mercial and manufacturing section to which it is here 
 assigned, than with the purely agricultural States. Ohio 
 is placed in the same connection for nearly similar reasons. 
 There seems to be a marked propriety for setting off the 
 new agricultural States of the North-West by themselves, 
 as a preliminary to the comparison of their progress with 
 other portions of the Union. The occupations which give 
 employment to the people of the central range of States 
 south of the line of the Potomac, distinguish them to some 
 extent from that division to which we have given the ap- 
 pellation of coast planting States. In the latter cotton, 
 sugar, and rice are the great staples, the cultivation of 
 which is 80 absorbing as to stamp its impress on the char- 
 acter of the people. The industry of the central States is 
 more diversified, the surface of the country is more broken, 
 the modes of cultivation are different, and the minuter 
 divisions of labor create more numerous and less accordant 
 interests. So far as Texas is settled, its population closely 
 assimilates with that of the other coast planting States, but 
 it would obviously convey no well-founded idea of the 
 density of population in that section to distribute their 
 people over the most uninhabited region of Texas. For 
 the same reason, and the additional one of the isolation of 
 her position, California is considered distinct from other 
 States. 
 
 Taking the thirty-one States together, their area is 
 
[a] appendix. 393 
 
 1,485,870 square miles, and the average number of their 
 inhabitants is 15.48 to the square mile. The total area of 
 the United States is 3,220,000 square miles, and the 
 average density of population is 7.219 to the square mile. 
 
 The areas assigned to those States and Territories in 
 which public lands are situated are doubtless correct, being 
 taken from the records of the Land Office ; but as to those 
 attributed to the older States, the same means of verifying 
 their accuracy, or the want of it, do not exist. But care 
 has been taken to consult the best local authorities for 
 ascertaining the extent of surface in these States; and as 
 the figures adopted are found to agree with, or difler but 
 slightly from, those assumed to be correct at the General 
 Land Office, it is probable they do not vary essentially 
 from the exact truth. 
 
 The area of some of the States, as Maryland and Vir- 
 ginia, are stated considerably below the commonly assumed 
 extent of the territory, which may be accounted for on the 
 supposition that the portions of the surface withiu their 
 exterior limits, covered by large bodies of water, have been 
 subtracted from the aggregate amount. This is known to 
 be the case in regard to Maryland, the superficial extent of 
 which, within the outlines of its boundaries, is 13,959 
 square miles, and is deemed probable with reference to 
 Virginia, from the fact that many geographers have given 
 its total area as high as 06,000 square miles. 
 
 It appears from the returns that during the year ending 
 on the 1st of June, 1850, there escaped from their owners 
 1,011 slaves, and that during the same period 1,467 were 
 manumitted. The number of both classes will appear in 
 the following table : 
 
394 APPENDIX. [a] 
 
 Manumitted and Fugitive Slaves in 1850. 
 
 Manu. I'ug. 
 
 Delaware 277 26 
 
 Mavyland 493 297 
 
 Virginia 218 83 
 
 Kentucky 152 90 
 
 Tennessee 45 70 
 
 North Carolina 2 64 
 
 South Carolina 2 16 
 
 Georgia 19 89 
 
 Florida 22 18 
 
 Alabama 16 29 
 
 Mississippi 6 41 
 
 Louisiana 159 90 
 
 Texas 5 29 
 
 Arkansas 1 21 
 
 Missouri 50 60 
 
 Total 1,467 1,011 
 
 In connection with this statement, and as affecting the 
 natural increase of the free colored population of the 
 United States, it may be proper to remark that, during the 
 year to which the census applies, the Colonization Society 
 sent 562 colored emigrants to Liberia. 
 
 In our calculations respecting the increase of the free 
 colored population, we have not considered that class of 
 persons, independent of these two causes, which respectively 
 swell and diminish their number. 
 
 The statistics of mortality for the census year represent 
 the number of deaths occurring within the year at 320.194, 
 the ratio being as 1 to 72.6 of the living population, or as 
 10 to each 726 of the population. The rate of mortality in 
 this statement seems so much less thnn that of any portion 
 of Europe, that it must at present be received with some 
 degree of allowance. 
 
 Should a more critical examination, which time will 
 
[a] appendix. 395 
 
 enable us to exercise, prove tlie returns of the number of 
 deaths too small, such a result will not affect their value for 
 the purposes of comparison of one portion of the country 
 ■with another, or cause with effect. The tables will possess 
 an interest second to none others in the world; and the 
 many valuable truths which they will suggest will be found 
 of great practical advantage. 
 
 ]Medical men accord to the Census Bureau no small 
 meed of credit, for the wisdom manifested in an arrange- 
 ment which will throw more light on the history of disease 
 in the United States, and present in connection more inter- 
 esting facts connected therewith, than the united efforts of 
 all scientific men have heretofore acccomplished. 
 
 AGRICULTDRE. 
 
 The great amount of labor requisite to the extraction 
 of the returns of agriculture will admit at this time of pre- 
 senting but limited accounts, though perhaps, to some ex- 
 tent, of the most separate interests. 
 
 The returns of the wheat crop for many of the "Western 
 States will not at all indicate the average crop of those 
 States. 
 
 This is especially the case with Ohio, Indiana, and 
 Illinois, from which, especially the former, the Assistant 
 Marshals returned a "short crop" to the extent of fifty per 
 cent, throughout the whole State. 
 
 The shortness of the wheat crop in Ohio in 1849 is veri- 
 fied by returns made during the subsequent season by 
 authority of the legislature. 
 
396 APPENDIX. 
 
 MANUFACTURES. 
 
 [A] 
 
 The period which has elapsed since the receipt of the 
 returns has been so short as to enable the office to make 
 but a general report of the facts relating to a few of the 
 most important manufactures. 
 
 If, in some instances, the amount of capital invested in 
 any branch of manufacture should seem too small, it must 
 be borne in mind that, where the product is of several 
 kinds, the capital invested, not being divisible, is connected 
 with the product of greatest consequence. This, to some 
 extent, reduces the capital invested in the manufacture of 
 bar iron in such establishments where some other article 
 of wrought iron predominates, — sheet iron, for example. 
 
 The aggregate, however, of the capital invested in the 
 various branches of wrought iron will, it is confidently be- 
 lieved, be found correct. 
 
 The entire capital invested in the various manufactures in the 
 United States, on the 1st of June, 1850, not to include any estab- 
 lishment producing less than the annual value of $500, amounted 
 
 to, in round numbers $580,000,000 
 
 Value of raw material 550,000,000 
 
 Amount paid for labor 240,000,000 
 
 Value of manufactured articles 1,020,300.000 
 
 Number of persons employed 1,050,000 
 
 The capital invested in the manufacture of cotton... $74,501,031 
 
 Value of raw material 34,835,056 
 
 Amount paid for labor 16,286,304 
 
 Value of manufactured articles 61,869,184 
 
 Number of hands employed 39,252 
 
 The capital invested in the manufacture of woolen 
 
 goods amounted to $28,118,650 
 
 Value of raw material 25,755,98 
 
 Amount paid for labor 8,^99,28 
 
 Value of product 43,207,55 
 
 Number of hands employed 92,286 
 
[a] appendix. 397 
 
 The capital invested in the manufacture of pig iron 
 
 amounted to §17,346,425 
 
 Value of raw material 7,00-3,289 
 
 Amount paid for labor 0,006,028 
 
 Value of product 12,748,777 
 
 Number of hands employed 20,448 
 
 In making these estimates the Assistant Marshals did 
 not include any return of works which had not produced 
 metal within the year, or those which had not commenced 
 operations. The same is applicable to all manufactures 
 enumerated. 
 
 The capital invested in the manufacture of castings 
 
 amounted to $17,416,361 
 
 Value of raw material 10,846,355 
 
 Amount paid for labor 7,078,920 
 
 Value of product 25,108,155 
 
 Number of hands employed 23,589 
 
 The capital invested in the manufacture of wrought 
 
 iron amounted to. $13,995,220 
 
 Value of raw material 9,518,109 
 
 Amount paid for labor 4,196.628 
 
 Value of product 16,387,074 
 
 Number of hands employed 13,057 
 
 The statistics of the newspaper press form an interest- 
 ing feature in the returns of the seventh census. It 
 appears that the whole number of newspapers and periodi- 
 cals in the United States, on the 1st of June, 1850, 
 amounted to 2,800. Of these 2,494 were fully returned, 
 234 had all the facts excepting circulation given, and 72 
 are estimated for California, the territories, and for those 
 that may have been omitted by the Assistant ]NIarshals. 
 
 From calculations made on the statistics returned, and 
 Estimated circulations where they have been omitted, it 
 appears that the aggregate circulation of those 2,800 papers 
 34 
 

 No. of copies 
 
 Circulation. 
 
 printed annually, 
 
 750,000 
 
 235,000,000 
 
 75,000 
 
 11,700,000 
 
 80,000 
 
 8,320,000 
 
 2,875,000 
 
 149,500,000 
 
 300,000 
 
 9,300,000 
 
 900,000 
 
 10,800,000 
 
 20,000 
 
 80,000 
 
 5,000,000 
 
 422,000,000 
 
 398 APPENDIX. [a] 
 
 and periodicals is about 5,000,000, and that the entire 
 number of copies printed annually in the United States 
 amounts to 422,600,000. The following table will show 
 the number of daily, weekly, monthly, and other issues, 
 with the aggregate circulation of each class. 
 
 No. 
 
 Dailies 350 
 
 Tri-weeklies 150 
 
 Semi-weeklies 125 
 
 Weeklies 2,000 
 
 Semi-monthlies 50 
 
 Monthlies 100 
 
 Quarterlies 25 
 
 Total 2,800 
 
 424 papers are issued in the New England States, 876 
 in the Middle States, 716 in the Southern States, and 784 
 in the Western States. 
 
 The average circulation of papers in the United States 
 is 1,785. 
 
 There is one publication for every 7,161 free inhabit- 
 ants in the United States and Territories. 
 
 The work, of course, has not been submitted to the 
 public for its judgment; but where opinions have been at 
 all expressed, by those deemed good authority, on the pro- 
 priety of our classification, they have been invariably favor- 
 able. Some such have found their way into public docu- 
 ments. In the 32d Annual Report of the New York 
 Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, made to the legislature 
 of that State, the following language occurs with respect to 
 our designed classification of such portion of the work as 
 interested particularly the Directors of the Institution : 
 
[a] appendix. odd 
 
 " Such a list -will furnish valuable materials, never possessed 
 to any extent before, for solving many highly interesting statisti- 
 cal questions, and its publication is looked for with much interest. 
 We shall endeavor in our next Annual Report to set forth the 
 results of a careful analysis of the census respecting the Deaf and 
 Dumb." 
 
 So far as the judgment of the public press is concerned, 
 its expression has been much more favorable than could be 
 wished, with its imperfect knowledge of the plan, as expec- 
 tations may thereby be raised which the results will not 
 justify. None of the information, as imparted in the 
 volume of statistics, has been promulgated, it being con- 
 sidered indelicate to make known to the world information 
 due first to the Head of the Department, and through him 
 to Congress ; and it would not be decorous to forestal the 
 dispassionate judgment of either. 
 
 It has seemed to me that a work, the expense of which 
 is shared by the whole community, should be arranged, as 
 far as possible, for general utility, and not a compilation 
 of mere columns of figures, interesting only to the man 
 of science, for legislative purposes, or for reference, but 
 should be so adapted that, while it will furnish practical 
 information to the statesman and philosopher, and useful 
 data for the legislator, it will contain also matters interest- 
 ing to every portion of the community, furnished somewhat 
 in advance of those deductions from analytical investiga- 
 tions made years after its publication. To this end, if sup- 
 ported by the favorable opinion of Congress, it will be made 
 to evolve all the instruction which zealous efibrts, though 
 limited ability, are capable of eliciting from the facts, within 
 such period of time as it must be accomplished without 
 retarding its publication. J. R. KocHE. 
 
 Census Office, Dec. 3, 5 J o'clock, A. M. 
 
400 
 
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[b] appendix. 403 
 
 DECLARATION OF WAR. 
 
 The Message of President Madison to Congress, imme- 
 diately preceding the Declaration of War against England, 
 in 1812, — the Report of the Committee on Foreign Rela- 
 tions, to whom it was referred, — the Declaration of ^Var 
 itself, — and the President's Proclamation of that grave 
 event, — are all documents that will ever possess deep in- 
 terest to Americans. The two first give, in the most concise 
 form, the causes that led to that war, and they therefore 
 deserve to be often read and free to general access. For 
 these reasons they have been incorporated in this volume. 
 The President's message was communicated to Congress on 
 the 1st day of June, 1812. 
 
 To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States. 
 
 I communicate to Congress certain documents, being a 
 continuation of those heretofore laid before them, on the 
 subject of our affairs with Great Britain. 
 
 Without going back beyond the renewal, in 1803, of 
 the war in which Great Bi'itain is engaged, and omitting 
 our repaired wrongs of inferior magnitude, the conduct of 
 her government presents a series of acts hostile to the 
 United States as an independent and neutral nation. 
 
 British cruisers have been in the continued practice of 
 violating the American flag on the great high way of na- 
 tions, and of seizing and carrying off persons sailing under 
 it; not in the exercise of a belligerent right, founded on 
 the laws of nations against an enemy, but of a municipal 
 prerogative over British subjects. British jurisdiction is 
 thus extended to neutral vessels in a situation where no 
 
404 APPENDIX. [b] 
 
 laws can operate but the law of nations and the laws of the 
 country to which the vessels beloug ; and a self-redress is 
 assumed which, if British subjects were wrongfully de- 
 tained and alone concerned, is that substitution of force, for 
 a resort to the responsible sovereign, which falls within the 
 definition of war. Could the seizure of British subjects in 
 such cases be regarded as within the exercise of a belligerent 
 right, the acknowledged laws of war, which forbid an article 
 of captured property to be adjudged without a regular in- 
 vestigation before a competent tribunal, would imperiously 
 demand the fairest trial when the sacred rights of person 
 were at issue. In place of such a trial, these rights are 
 subject to the will of every petty commander. 
 
 The practice, hence, is so far from affecting British sub- 
 jects alone, that under the pretext of searching for these, 
 thousands of American citizens, under the safeguard of the 
 public and of their national flag, have been torn from their 
 country and from everything dear to them ; have been 
 dragged on board ships of war of foreign nations, and ex- 
 posed, under the sevei-ities of their discipline, to be exiled 
 to the most distant and deadly climes, to risk their lives in 
 the battles of their oppressors, and to be the melancholy 
 instruments of taking away those of their own brethren. 
 
 Against this crying enormity, which Great Britain would 
 be so prompt to avenge if committed on herself, the United 
 States have in vain exhausted remonstrance and expostula- 
 tion. And that no proof might be wanting of their con- 
 ciliatoi-y dispositions, and no pretext left for a continuance 
 of the practice, the British government was formally assured 
 of the readiness of the United States to enter into arrange- 
 ments, such as could not be rejected, if the recovery of 
 
[b] appendix. - 405 
 
 British subjects were the real and sole object. The com- 
 muuieation passed without effect. 
 
 British cruisers have been in the practice also of violat- 
 ing the rights and the peace of our coasts. They hover 
 over and harass our entering and deporting commerce. To 
 the most ins,ulting pretensions they have added the most 
 lawless proceedings in our very harbors, and have wantonly 
 spilt American blood within the sanctuary of our territorial 
 jurisdiction. The principles and rules enforced by that 
 nation, when a neutral nation, against armed vessels of bel- 
 ligerents hovering near her coasts and disturbing her com- 
 merce, are well known. When called on, nevertheless, by 
 the United States to punish the greater offences committed 
 by her own vessels, her government has bestowed on their 
 commanders additional marks of honor and confidence. 
 
 Under pretended blockades, without the presence of an 
 adequate force, and sometimes without the practicability of 
 applying one, our commerce has been plundered in every 
 sea; the great staples of our country have been cut off 
 from their legitimate markets, and a destructive blow aimed 
 at our agricultural and maritime interests. In aggravation 
 of these predatory measures, they have been considered as 
 in force from the dates of their notification, a retrospective 
 effect being thus added, as has been done in other important 
 cases, to the unlawfulness of the course pursued; and to 
 render the outrage the more signal, these mock blockades 
 have been reiterated and enforced in the face of official 
 communications from the British government, declaring, as 
 the true definition of a legal blockade, " the particular ports 
 must be actually invested, and previous warning given to 
 vessels bound to them not to enter." 
 
406 APPENDIX. [b] 
 
 Not content with these occasional expedients for laying 
 waste our neutral trade, the cabinet of Great Britain re- 
 sorted, at length, to the sweeping system of blockades, un- 
 der the name of Orders in Council, which has been moulded 
 and managed as might best suit its political views, its com- 
 mercial jealousies, or the avidity of British cruisers. 
 
 To our remonstrances against the complicated and trans- 
 cendent injustice of this innovation, the fu-st reply was that 
 the orders were reluctantly adopted by Glreat Britain as a 
 necessary retaliation on decrees of her enemy, proclaiming 
 a general blockade of the British Isles, at a time when 
 the naval force of that enemy dared not to issue from his 
 own ports. She was reminded, without eflfect, that her own 
 prior blockade, unsupported by an adequate naval force ac- 
 tually applied and continued, was a bar to this plea; that 
 executed edicts against millions of our property would not 
 be retaliation on edicts confessedly impossible to be exe- 
 cuted; that retaliation, to be just, should fall on the party 
 setting the guUty example, not on an innocent party, which 
 was not even chargeable with an acquiescence in it. 
 
 When deprived of this flimsy veil for a prohibition of 
 our trade with her enemy, by the repeal of his prohibition 
 of our trade with Great Britain, her cabinet, instead of a 
 corresponding repeal or a practical discontinuance of its 
 orders, formally avowed a determination to persist in them 
 against the United States, until the markets of her enemy 
 should be laid open to British product; thus asserting an 
 obligation on a neutral power to require one belligerent 
 power to encourage, by its internal regulations, the trade 
 of another belligerent, contradicting her own practice to- 
 wards all nations, in peace as well as war, and betraying the 
 
[b] appendix. 407 
 
 insincerity of these professions which inculcated a belief 
 that, having resorted to her orders with regret, she was 
 anxious to find an occasion for putting an end to them. 
 
 Abandoning still more all respect for the neutral rights 
 of the United States, and for its own consistency, the British 
 government now demands, as pre-requisites to a repeal of its 
 orders as they relate to the United States, that a formality 
 should be observed in the repeal of the French decrees, no- 
 wise necessary to their termination, nor exemplified by 
 British usage ; and that the French repeal, besides includ- 
 ing that portion of the decrees which operate within a ter- 
 ritorial jurisdiction, as well as that which operates on the 
 high seas against the commerce of the United States, should 
 not be a single special repeal in relation to the United 
 States, but should be extended to whatever other neutral 
 nations unconnected with them may be afiected by those 
 decrees. And as an additional insult, they are called on 
 for a formal disavowal of conditions and pretensions ad- 
 vanced by the French government, for which the United 
 States are so far from having made themselves responsible, 
 that, in official explanations, which have been published to 
 the world, and in a correspondence of the American minister 
 at London with the British minister for foreign afi"airs, such 
 a responsibility was explicitly and emphatically disclaimed. 
 It has become, indeed, sufficiently certain that the com- 
 merce of the United States is to be sacrificed, not as interfer- 
 ing with the belligerent rights of Great Britain, not as sup- 
 plying the wants of her enemies, which she herself supplies, 
 but as interfering with the monopoly which she covets for 
 her own commerce and navigation. She carries on a war 
 against the lawful commerce of a friend, that she may the 
 
408 APPENDIX. [b] 
 
 better carry on a commerce polluted by the forgeries and 
 perjuries which are, for the most part, the only passports 
 by which it can succeed. 
 
 Anxious to make every experiment short of the last re- 
 sort of injured nations, the United States have withheld 
 from Great Britain, under successive modifications, the ben- 
 efits of a free intercourse with their market, the loss of 
 which could not but outweigh the profits accruing from her 
 restrictions of our commerce with other nations. And to 
 entitle these experiments to the more favorable considera- 
 tion, they were so framed as to enable her to place her ad- 
 versary under the exclusive operation of them. To these 
 appeals her government has been equally inflexible, as if 
 willing to make sacrifices of every sort, rather than yield to 
 the claims of justice or renounce the errors of a false pride. 
 Nay, so far were the attempts carried, to overcome the at- 
 tachment of the British cabinet to its unjust edicts, that it 
 received every encouragement within the competency of the 
 executive branch of our government to expect that a repeal 
 of them would be followed by a war between the United 
 States and France, unless the French edicts should also be 
 repealed. Even this communication, although silencing 
 forever the plea of a disposition in the United States to 
 acquiesce in those edicts, originally the sole plea for them, 
 received no attention. 
 
 If no other proof existed of a predetermination of the 
 British government against a repeal of its orders, it might 
 be found on the correspondence of the minister plenipoten- 
 tiary of the United States at London, and the British secre- 
 tary for foreign affairs in 1810, on the question whether the 
 blockade of May, 1806, was considered as in force or as 
 
[b] appendix. 409 
 
 not in force. It had been ascertained that the French gov- 
 ernment, which urged this blockade as the ground of its 
 Berlin decree, was willing, in the event of its removal, to 
 repeal that decree ; which, being followed by alternate re- 
 peals of the other offensive edicts, might abolish the whole 
 system on both sides. This inviting opportunity for accom- 
 plishing an object so important to the United States, and 
 professed so often to be the desire of both the belligerents, 
 was made known to the British government. As that gov- 
 ernment admits that an actual application of an adequate 
 force is necessary to the existence of a legal blockade, — and 
 it was notorious, that if such a force had ever been applied, 
 its long discontinuance had annulled the blockade in ques- 
 tion, — there could be no sufficient objection on the part of 
 Great Britain to a formal revocation of it ; and no imagin- 
 able objection to a declaration of the fact, that the blockade 
 did not exist. The declaration would have been consistent 
 with her avowed principles of blockade, and would have 
 enabled the United States to demand from France the 
 pledged repeal of her decrees ; either with success, in which 
 case the way would have been opened for a general repeal 
 of the belligerent edicts ; or without success, in which case 
 the United States would have been justified in turning their 
 measures exclusively against France. The British govern- 
 ment would, however, neither rescind the blockade nor de- 
 clare its non-existence ; nor permit its non-existence to be 
 inferred and affirmed by the American plenipotentiary. On 
 the contrary, by representing the blockade to be compre- 
 hended in the orders in council, the United States were 
 compelled so to regard.it in their subsequent proceedings. 
 There was a period when a favorable change in the pol- 
 35 
 
410 APPENDIX. [b] 
 
 icy of the British cabinet was justly considered as estab- 
 lished. The minister plenipotentiary of his Britannic ma- 
 jesty here proposed an adjustment of the differences more 
 immediately endangering the harmony of the two countries. 
 The proposition was accepted with a promptitude and cor- 
 diality corresponding with the invariable professions of this 
 government. A foundation appeared to be laid for a sincere 
 and lasting reconciliation. The prospect, however, quickly 
 vanished. The whole proceeding was disavowed by the 
 British government without any explanations which could at 
 that time repress the belief that the disavowal proceeded 
 from a spirit of hostility to the commercial rights and pros- 
 perity of the United States. And it has since come into 
 proof, that at the very moment when the public minister 
 was holding the language of friendship, and inspiring confi- 
 dence in the sincerity of the negotiation with which he was 
 charged, a secret agent of his government was employed in 
 intrigues, having for their object a subversion of our gov- 
 ernment, and a dismemberment of our happy union. 
 
 In reviewing the conduct of Great Britain towards the 
 United States, our attention is necessarily drawn to the 
 warfare just renewed by the savages on one of our extensive 
 frontiers; a warfare which is known to spare neither age 
 or sex, and to be distinguished by features peculiarly shock- 
 ing to humanity. It is difficult to account for the activity 
 and combinations which have for some time been developing 
 themselves among tribes in the constant intercourse with 
 British traders and garrisons, without connecting their 
 hostility with that influence, and without recollecting the 
 authenticated examples of such interpositions heretofore 
 furnished by the officers and agents of that government. 
 
[b] appendix. 411 
 
 Such is the spectacle of injuries and indignities which 
 have been heaped on our country, and such the crisis which 
 its unexampled forbearance -and conciliatory eiforts have 
 not been able to avert. It might at least have been expected 
 that an enlightened nation, if less urged by moral obliga- 
 tions, or invited by friendly dispositions on the part of the 
 United States, would have found, in its true interest alone, 
 a sufficient motive to respect their rights and their tranquil- 
 lity on the high seas; that an enlarged policy would have 
 favored that free and general circulation of commerce, in 
 which the British nation is at all times interested, and which 
 in times of war is the best alleviation of its calamities to 
 herself as well as the other belligerents ; and more espe- 
 cially that the British cabinet would not, for the sake of the 
 precarious and surreptitious intercourse with hostile markets, 
 have persevered in a course of measures which necessarily 
 put at hazard the invaluable market of a great and growing 
 country, disposed to cultivate the mutual advantages of an 
 active commerce. 
 
 Other councils have prevailed. Our moderation and 
 conciliation have had no other effect than to encourage per- 
 severance and to enlarge pretensions. We behold our sea- 
 faring citizens still the daily victims of lawless violence 
 committed on the great common and highway of nations, 
 even within sight of the country which owes them protec- 
 tion. We behold our vessels freighted with the products 
 of our soil and industry, or returning with the honest pro- 
 ceeds of them, wrested from their lawful destinations, con- 
 fiscated by prize courts, no longer the organ of public law, 
 but the instruments of arbitrary edicts ; and their unfortu- 
 nate crews dispersed and lost, or forced or inveigled, in 
 
412 APPENDIX. [b] 
 
 British ports, into British fleets ; whilst arguments are em- 
 ployed in support of these aggressions, which have no 
 foundation but in a principle equally supporting a claim to 
 regulate our external commerce in all cases whatsoever. 
 
 We behold, in fine, on the side of Great Britain a state 
 of war against the United States; and on the side of the 
 United States a state of peace toward Great Britain. 
 
 Whether the United States shall continue passive under 
 these progressive usurpations, and these accumulating 
 wrongs, or, opposing force to force in defense of their nat- 
 ural rights, shall commit a just cause into the hands of the 
 Almighty Disposer of events, avoiding all connections which 
 might entangle it in the contests or views of other powers, 
 and preserving a constant readiness to concur in an honora- 
 ble re-establishment of peace and friendship, is a solemn 
 question, which the constitution wisely confides to the leg- 
 islative department of the government. In recommending 
 it to their early deliberations, I am happy in the assurance 
 that the decision will be worthy the enlightened and patri- 
 otic councils of a virtuous, a free, and a powerful nation. 
 
 Having presented this view of the relations of the 
 United States with Great Britain, and of the solemn alter- 
 native growing out of them, I proceed to remark that the 
 communications last made to Congress, on the subject of our 
 relations with France, will have shown that since the revo- 
 cation of her decrees as they violated the neutral rights of 
 the United States, her government has authorized illegal 
 captures, by its privateers and public ships, and that other 
 outrages have been practiced on our vessels and our citizens. 
 It will have been seen, also, that no indemnity had been 
 provided or satisfactorily pledged for the extensive spolia- 
 
[b] appendix. 413 
 
 tions committed under the violent and retrospective orders 
 of the French government against the property of our citi- 
 zens, seized within the jurisdiction of France. I abstain 
 at this time from recommending to the consideration of 
 Congress definitive measures with respect to that nation, in 
 the expectation that the result of unclosed discussions be- 
 tween our minister plenipotentiary at Paris and the French 
 government will speedily enable Congress to decide, with 
 greater advantage, on the course due to the rights, the 
 interest, and the honor of our country. 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 
 Washington, June 1, 1812. 
 
 The committee on Foreign 9'elations, — to loTiom was re- 
 ferred the Message of the President of the United States, 
 of the \st of June, 1812, — 
 
 Report, — That after the experience which the United 
 States have had of the great injustice of the British gov- 
 ernment towards them, exemplified by so many acts of vio- 
 lence and oppression, it will be more difficult to justify to 
 the impartial world their patient forbearance than the meas- 
 ures to which it has become necessary to resort, to avenge 
 the wrongs, and vindicate the rights and honor of the nation. 
 Your committee are happy to observe, on a dispassionate 
 review of the conduct of the United States, that they see 
 in it no cause for censure. 
 
 If a long forbearance under injuries ought ever to be 
 considered a virtue in any nation, it is one which peculiarly 
 becomes the United States. No people ever had stronger 
 motives to cherish peace : none have ever cherished it with 
 greater sincerity and zeal. 
 35* 
 
414 APPENDIX. [b] 
 
 But the period has now arrived when the United States 
 must support their character and station among the nations 
 of the earth, or submit to the most shameful degradation. 
 Forbearance has ceased to be a virtue. War on the one 
 side, and peace on the other, is a situation as ruinous as it is 
 disgraceful. The mad ambition, the lust of power and 
 commercial avarice of Great Britain, arrogating to herself 
 the complete dominion of the ocean, and exercising over it 
 a lawless and unbounded tyranny, have left to neutral na- 
 tions an alternative only between a base surrender of their 
 rights and a manly surrender of them. Happily for the 
 United States, then* destiny, under the aid of heaven, is in 
 their own hands. The crisis is formidable only by their 
 love of peace. As soon as it becomes a duty to relinquish 
 their situation, danger disappears. They have suffered no 
 wrongs, — they have received no insults, however great, for 
 which they cannot obtain redress. 
 
 More than seven years have elapsed since the commence- 
 ment of the system of hostile aggression by the British 
 government on the rights and interests of the United 
 States. The manner of its commencement was not less 
 hostile than the spirit with which it has been prosecuted. 
 The United States have invariably done everything in their 
 power to preserve the relations of friendship with Great 
 Britain. Of this disposition they gave a distinguished proof 
 at the moment when they were made the victims of an op- 
 posite policy. The wrongs of the last war had not been 
 forgotten at the commencement of the present one. They 
 warned us of dangers against which it was sought to pro- 
 vide. As early as the year 1804, the minister of the United 
 States at London was instructed to invite the British gov- 
 
[b] appendix. 415 
 
 ernment to enter into a negotiation on all the points on 
 ■wliieh a coalition might arise between the two countries, in 
 the course of the war, and to propose to it an arrangement 
 of their claims on fair and reasonable conditions. The in- 
 vitation was accepted. A negotiation had commenced and 
 was depending, and nothing had occurred to excite a doubt 
 that it would not terminate to the satisfaction of both par- 
 ties. It was at this time, and under these circumstances, 
 that an attack was made by surprise on an important branch 
 of Ameriean commerce, which affected every part of the 
 United States, and involved many of their citizens in ruin. 
 
 The commerce on which this attack was so unexpectedly 
 made was between the United Utatcs and the colonies of 
 France, Spain, and other enemies of Great Britain. A 
 commerce just in itself, sanctioned by the example of Great 
 Britain, in regard to the trade with her own colonies; 
 sanctioned by a solemn act between the two governments in 
 the last war, and sanctioned by the practice of the British 
 government in the present war, more than two years having 
 elapsed without any interference with it. 
 
 The injustice of the attack could only be equaled by 
 the absurdity of the pretext alleged for it. It was pre- 
 tended by the British government that, in case of war, her 
 enemy had no right to modify its colonial regulations so as 
 to mitigate the calamities of war to the inhabitants of its 
 colonies. This pretension to Great Britain is utterly incom- 
 patible with the rights of the sovereignty in every independ- 
 ent State. If we recur to the well-established and universally 
 admitted law of nations, we shall find no sanction to it in 
 that venerable code. The sovereignty of every State is co- 
 extensive with its dominions, and cannot be abrogated, or 
 
416 APPENDIX. [bJ 
 
 curtailed in rights, as to any part, except by conquest. 
 Neutral nations have a right to trade to every port of either 
 belligerent which is not legally blockaded, and in all articles 
 which are not contraband of war. Such is the absurdity 
 of this pretension, that your committee are aware, especially 
 after the able manner in which it has been heretofore refuted 
 and exposed, that they would offer an insult to the under- 
 standing of the House if they enlarged on it ; and if any- 
 thing could add to the high sense of the injustice of the 
 British government in the transaction, it would be the con- 
 trast which her conduct exhibits in regard to this trade, and 
 in regard to a similar trade by neutrals with her own colo- 
 nies. It is known to the world that Great Britain regulates 
 her own trade in war and in peace, at home in her colonies, 
 as she finds for her interest — that in war she relaxes the 
 restraints of her colonial systems in favor of the colonies, 
 and that it never was suggested that she had not a right to 
 do it, or that a neutral in taking advantage of the relaxa- 
 tion violated a belligerent right of her enemy. But with 
 Great Britain everijtlimg is lawful. It is only in a trade 
 with her enemies that the United States can do wrong. 
 With them all trade is unlawful. 
 
 In the year 1793, an attack was made by the British 
 government on the same branch of our neutral trade, which 
 had nearly involved the two countries in a war. That dif- 
 ference, however, was amicably accommodated. The pre- 
 tension was withdrawn and reparation made to the United 
 States for the losses which they had suffered by it. It was 
 fair to infer from that arrangement that the commerce was 
 deemed by the British government lawful, and that it would 
 not be again disturbed. 
 
[b] appendix. 417 
 
 Had the British goverument been resolved to contest 
 this trade with neutrals, it was due to the character of the 
 British nation that the decision should be made known to 
 the goverument of the United States. The existence of a 
 negotiation which had been invited by our government, for 
 the purpose of preventing differences by an amicable ai*- 
 rangement of their respective pretensions, gave a strong- 
 claim to the notification, while it afforded the fairest oppor- 
 tunity for it. But a vei-y different policy animated the then 
 cabinet of England. The liberal confidence and friendly 
 overtures of the United States were taken advantage of to 
 ensnare them. Steady to its purpose, and inflexibly hostile 
 to this country, the British government calmly looked for- 
 ward to the moment when it might give the most deadly 
 wound to our interests. A trade just in itself, which was 
 secured by so many strong and sacred pledges, was consid- 
 ered safe. Our citizens, with their usual industry and 
 enterprise, had embarked in it a vast proportion of their 
 shipping, and of their capital, which were at sea, under no 
 other protection than the law of nations, and the confidence 
 which they reposed in the justice and friendship of the Brit^ 
 ish nation. At this period the unexpected blow was given ; 
 many of our vessels were seized, carried into port and con- 
 demned by a tribunal, which, while it professes to respect 
 the law of nations, obeyed the mandates of its own govern- 
 ment. Hundreds of other vessels were driven from the 
 ocean, and the trade itself in a great measure suppressed. 
 The effect produced by this attack on the lawful commerce 
 of the United States was such as might have been expected 
 from a virtuous, independent and highly injured people. 
 But one sentiment pervaded the whole American nation. 
 
418 APPENDIX. [b] 
 
 No local interests were regarded ; no sordid motives felt. 
 Without looking to the parts which suflFei'cd most, the inva- 
 sion of our rights was considered a common cause, and from 
 one extremity of our Union to the other was heard the 
 voice of an united people, calling on their government to 
 avenge their wrongs, and vindicate the rights and honor of 
 their country. 
 
 From this period the British government has gone on 
 in a continued encroachment on the rights and interests of 
 the United States, disregarding in its course, in many in- 
 stances, obligations which have heretofore been held sacred 
 by civilized nations. 
 
 In May, 1806, the whole coast of the continent, from 
 the Elbe to Brest inclusive, was declared to be in a state of 
 blockade. By this act, the well-established principles of 
 the law of nations, principles which have served for ages as 
 guides, and fixed the boundary between the rights to beli- 
 gerents and neutrals, were violated : By the law of nations, 
 as recognized by Great Britain herself, no blockade is law- 
 ful, unless it be sustained by the application of an adequate 
 force, and that an adequate force was applied to this block- 
 ade, in its full extent, ought not to be pretended. Whether 
 Great Britain was able to maintain, legally, so extensive a 
 blockade, considering the war in which she is engaged, re- 
 quiring such extensive naval operations, is a question which 
 it is not necessar}'^ at this time to examine. It is sufficient 
 to be known that such force was not applied, and this is 
 evident from the terms of the blockade itself, by which, 
 comparatively, an inconsiderable portion of the coast only 
 was declared to be in a state of strict and rigorous Nockade. 
 The objection to the measure is not diminished by that cir- 
 
[Jj] APPENDIX. 419 
 
 eumstance. If the force was not applied, the blockade was 
 unlawful from whatever cause the failure might proceed. 
 The belligerent who institutes the blockade cannot absolve 
 itself from the obligation to apply the force under any pre- 
 test whatever. For a belligerent to relax a blockade, which 
 it could not maintain, it would be a refinement in justice, 
 not less insulting to the understanding than repugnant to 
 the law of nations. To claim merit for the mitigation of an 
 evil, which the party either had not the power or found it 
 inconvenient to inflict, would be a new mode of encroaching 
 on neutral rights. Your committee think it just to remark 
 that this act of the British government does not appear to 
 have been adopted in the sense in which it has been since 
 construed. On consideration of all the circumstances at- 
 tending the measure, and particularly the character of the 
 distinguished statesman who announced it, we are persuaded 
 that it was conceived in a spirit of conciliation, and intended 
 to lead to an accommodation of all diiferences between the 
 United States and Great Britain. Ilis death disappointed 
 that hope, and the act has since become subservient to other 
 purposes. It has been made by his successors a pretext for 
 that vast system of usurpation which has so long oppressed 
 and harassed our commerce. 
 
 The next act of the British government which claims 
 our attention is the order of council of January 7, 1807, by 
 which neutral powers are prohibited trading from one port 
 to another of France or her allies, or any other country with 
 which Great Britain might not freely trade. By this order 
 the pretension of England, heretofore claimed by every 
 other power, to prohibit neutrals disposing of parts of their 
 cargoes at different ports of the same enemy, is revived an4 
 
420 APPENDIX. [b] 
 
 with vast accumulation of injury. Every enemy, however 
 great the number or distant from each other, is considered 
 one, and the like trade even with powers at peace with Eng- 
 land, who from motives of policy had excluded or restrained 
 her commerce, was also prohibited. In this act the British 
 government evidently disclaimed all regard for neutral 
 rights. Aware that the measures authorized by it could 
 find no pretext in any belligerent right, none was urged. 
 To prohibit the sale of our produce, consisting of innocent 
 articles, at any port of a belligerent, not blockaded, — to con- 
 sider every belligerent as one, and subject neutrals to the 
 same restraints with all, as if there was but one, — were bold 
 encroachments. But to restrain or in any manner interfere 
 with our commerce with neutral nations with whom Great 
 Britain was at peace, and against whom she had no justifi- 
 able cause of war, for the sole reason that they restrained or 
 excluded from their ports her commerce, was utterly in- 
 compatible with the pacific relations subsisting between the 
 two countries. 
 
 We proceed to bring into view the British order in 
 council of November 11th, 1807, which superseded every 
 other order, and consummated that system of hostility on 
 the commerce of the United States which has been since so 
 steadily pursued. By this order all France and her allies 
 and every other country at war with Great Britain, or with 
 which she was not at war, from which the British flag was 
 excluded and all the colonies of her enemies, were subjected 
 to the same restrictions as if they were actually blockaded in 
 the most strict and rigorous manner ; and all trade in arti- 
 cles, the produce and manufacture of the said countries 
 and colonies, and the vessels engaged in it, were subject to 
 
[b] appendix. 421 
 
 capture and condemnation as lawful prizes. To this order 
 certain exceptions were made, ■which we forbear to notice, 
 because they were not adopted from a regard to natural 
 rights, but were dictated by policy to promote the commerce 
 of England, and, so far as they related to neutral powers, 
 were said to emanate from the clemency of the British gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 It would be surperfluous in your committee to state that 
 by this order the British government declared direct and 
 positive war against the United States. The dominion of 
 the ocean was completely usurped by it, all commerce for- 
 bidden, and every flag driven from it or subjected to cap- 
 ture and condemnation, which did not subserve the policy 
 of the British government by paying it a tribute and sailing 
 under its sanction. From this period the United States 
 have incurred the heaviest losses and most mortifying hu- 
 miliations. They have borne the calamities of war without 
 retorting them upon its authors. 
 
 So far your committee has presented to the view of 
 the House the aggressions which have been committed, un- 
 der the authority of the British government, on the com- 
 merce of the United States. We will now proceed to other 
 wrongs which have been still more severely felt. Among 
 these is the impressment of our seamen, a practice which 
 has been unceasingly maintained by Great Britain in the 
 wars to which she has been a party since our revolution. 
 Your committee cannot convey in adequate terms the deep 
 sense which they entertain of the injustice and oppression 
 of this proceeding. Under the pretext of impressing Brit- 
 ish seamen, our fellow-citizens are seized in British ports, 
 on the high seas, and in every other quarter to which the 
 36 
 
422 APPENDIX. [b] 
 
 British power extends, are taken on board British-men-of- 
 war, and compelled to serve them as British subjects. In 
 this mode our citizens are wantonly snatched from their 
 country and their families, deprived of their liberty and 
 doomed to an ignominious and slavish bondage, compelled 
 to fight the battles of a foreign country, and often to perish 
 in them. Our flag has given them no protection ; it has 
 been unceasingly violated, and our vessels exposed to danger 
 by the loss of the men taken from them. Your committee 
 need not remark that while the practice is continued, it is 
 impossible for the United States to consider themselves an 
 independent nation. Every new case is a new proof of their 
 degradation. Its continuance is the more unjustifiable be- 
 cause the United States have repeatedly proposed to the 
 British government an arrangement which would secure to 
 it the control of its own people. An exemption of the Uni- 
 ted States from this degrading oppression, and their flag from 
 violation, is all that they have sought. 
 
 The lawless waste of our trade, and equally unlawful 
 impressment of our seamen, have been much aggravated by 
 the insults and indignities attending them. Under the 
 pretext of blockading the ports and harbors of France and 
 her allies, British squadrons have been stationed on our own 
 coast to watch and annoy our own trade. To give eifect to 
 the blockade of European ports, the ports and harbors of 
 the United States have been blockaded. In executing these 
 orders of the British government, or in obeying the spirit 
 which was known to animate it, the commanders of these 
 squadrons have encroached on our jurisdiction ; siezed our 
 vessels and carried into effect impressments within our lim- 
 its, and done other acts of great injustice, violence and op- 
 
[b] appendix. 423 
 
 pression. The United States have seen, with feelings of 
 mingled indignation and surprise, that these acts, instead of 
 procuring to the perpetrators the punishment due to their 
 crimes, have not failed to recommend them to the favor of 
 their government. 
 
 Whether the British government has contributed by 
 active measures to exercise against us the hostility of the 
 savage tribes on our frontiers, your committee are not dis- 
 posed to occupy much time in investigating. Certain indi- 
 cations of general notoriety may supply the place of authen- 
 tic documents ; thoiigh these have not been wanting to es- 
 tablish the fact in some instances. It is known that symp- 
 toms of British hostility towards the United States have 
 never failed to produce corresponding symptoms among 
 those tribes. It is also well known that, on all such occa- 
 sions, abundant supplies of the ordinary munitions of war 
 have been aflbrded by the agents of British commercial 
 companies, and even from British garrisons, wherewith they 
 were enabled to commence that system of savage warfare 
 on our frontier which has been, at all times, indiscriminate 
 in its effects on all ages, sexes and conditions, and so revolt- 
 ing to humanity. 
 
 Your committee would be much gratified if they could 
 close here the detail of British aggressions ; but it is their 
 duty to recite another act of still greater malignity than any 
 of those which have been already brought to your view. 
 The attempt to dismember our Union and overthrow our 
 excellent constitution by a secret mission, the object of 
 which was to foment discontents, and excite insurrection 
 against the constituted authorities and laws of the nation, 
 as lately disclosed by the agent employed in it, affords full 
 
424 APPENDIX. [b] 
 
 proof that there is no bound to the hostility of the Britisli 
 government towards the United States — no act, however 
 unjustifiable, which it would not commit to accomplish 
 their ruin. This attempt excites the greater honor from 
 the consideration that it was made while the United States 
 and Great Britain were at peace, and an amicable negotia- 
 tion was depending between them for the accommodation 
 of their difierences, through public ministers, regularly 
 authorized for the purpose. 
 
 The United States have beheld, with unexampled for- 
 bearance, this continued series of hostile encroachments on 
 their rights and interests, in the hope that yielding to the 
 force of friendly remonstrances, often repeated, the British 
 government might adopt a more just policy towards them; 
 but that hope no longer exists. They have also weighed 
 impartially the reasons which have been urged by the Brit- 
 ish government in vindication of these encroachments, and 
 found in them neither justification or apology. 
 
 The British government has alleged, in vindication of 
 the orders in council, that they were resorted to as a retal- 
 iation on France, for similar aggressions committed by her 
 on our neutral trade with the British dominions. But how 
 has this plea been supported ? The dates of all British and 
 French aggressions are well known to the world. Their 
 origin and progress have been marked with too wide and 
 destructive a waste of the property of our fellow-citizens to 
 have been forgotten. The decree of Berlin, of November 
 21st, 1806, was the first aggression of France in the pres- 
 ent war. Eighteen months had then elapsed, after the at- 
 tack made by Great Britain on our neutral trade, with the 
 colouies of France and her allies, and six months from the 
 
[b] appendix. 425 
 
 date of the proclamation of May, 1806. Even on the 7th 
 January, 1807, the date of the first British order in coun- 
 cil, so short a time had elapsed after the Berlin decree, that 
 it was hardly possible that the intelligence of it should have 
 reached the United States. A retaliation which is to pro- 
 duce its effect, by operating on a neutral power, ought not 
 to be resorted to till the neutral had justified it by a culpa- 
 ble acquiescence in the unlawful act of the other belligerent. 
 It ought to be delayed until after sufiicient time had been 
 allowed to the neutral to remonstrate against the measure 
 complained of to receive an answer, and to act on it, which 
 had not been done in the present instance ; and when the 
 order of November 11th was issued, it is well known that a 
 minister of France had declared to the minister plenipoten- 
 tiary of the United States at Paris, that it was not intended 
 that the decree of Berlin should apply to the United States. 
 It is equally well known that no American vessel had then 
 been condemned under it, or seizure been made. The facts 
 prove incontestibly that the measures of France, however 
 unjustifiably in themselves, were nothing more than a pre- 
 text for those of England. And of the ihsufficiency of that 
 pretest, ample proof has already been afi"orded by the British 
 government itself, and in the most impressive form, al- 
 thouch it has declared that the orders in council were retal- 
 iatory on France for her decrees. It was also declared, and 
 in the orders themselves, that owing to the superiority of 
 the British navy, by which the fleets of France and her 
 allies were confined within her own ports, the French decrees 
 were considered only as empty threats. 
 
 It is no justification of the wrongs of one power, that 
 the like were committed by another ; nor ought the fact, if 
 36* 
 
426 APPENDIX. [b] 
 
 true, to have been urged by either, as it could afford no 
 proof of its love of justice, of its magnanimity, or even 
 of its courage. It is more worthy the government of a 
 great nation to relieve than to assail the injured. Nor can a 
 repetition of the wrongs by another power repair the violated 
 rights or wounded honor of the injured party. An utter 
 inability alone to resist would justify a quiet surrender of 
 our rights, and degrading submission to the -will of others. 
 To that condition the United States are not reduced, nor do 
 they fear it. That they ever consented to discuss with 
 either power the misconduct of the other, is a proof of their 
 love of peace, of their moderation, and of the hope which 
 they still indulged, that friendly appeals to just and gener- 
 ous sentiment would not be made to them in vain. But 
 the motive was mistaken, if their forbearance was imputed, 
 either to the want of a just sensibility to their wrongs, or 
 of a determination, if suitable redress was not obtained, to 
 resent them. The time has now arrived when this system 
 of reasoning must cease. It would be insulting to repeat 
 it; it would be degrading to hear it. The United States 
 must act as an independent nation, and assert their rights 
 and avenge their uu-ojigs, according to their own estimate 
 of them, with the party who commits them, holding it 
 responsible for its own misdeeds unmitigated by those of 
 another. 
 
 For the difference made between Great Britain and 
 France, by the application of the non-importation act 
 against England only, the motive has been already too often 
 explained, and is too well known to require further illustra- 
 tion. In the commercial restrictions to which the United 
 States resorted as an evidence of their sensibility, and a 
 
[b] appendix. 427 
 
 mild retaliation of their wrongs, they invariably placed both 
 powers on the same footing, holding to each, in respect to 
 itself, the same accommodation, in case it accepted the con- 
 dition offered; and in respect to the other, the same re- 
 straint, if it refused. Had the British government con- 
 firmed the arrangement which was entered into with the 
 British minister in 1809, and France maintained her de- 
 crees, would the United States have had to resist, with 
 the firmness belonging to their character, the continued 
 violation of their rights ? The committee do not hesitate to 
 declare that France has greatly injured the United States, and 
 that satisfactory reparation has not yet been made for many 
 of those injuries; but that is a concern which the United 
 States will look to and settle for themselves. The high 
 character of the American people is a suflBicient pledge to 
 the world, that they will not fail to settle it on conditions 
 which they have a right to claim. 
 
 More recently, the true policy of the British government 
 towards the United States has been completely unfolded. 
 It has been publicly declared by those in power that the 
 orders in council should not be repealed until the French 
 government had revoked all its internal restraints on the 
 British commerce, and that the trade of the United States 
 with France and her allies should be prohibited until Great 
 Britain was also allowed to trade with them. By this 
 declaration, it appears, that to satisfy the pretensions of the 
 British government, the United States must join Great 
 Britain in the war with France, and prosecute the war until 
 France should be subdued, for without her subjugation it 
 were in vain to presume on such a concession. The hostil- 
 ity of the British government to these States has been still 
 
428 APPENDIX. [b] 
 
 further disclosed. It Ikis been made manifest that the 
 United States are considered by it as the commercial rival 
 of Great Britain, and that their prosperity and growth are 
 incompatible with her welfare. When all these circum- 
 stances are taken into consideration, it is impossible for your 
 committee to doubt the motives which have governed the 
 British ministry in all its measures towards the United 
 States since the year 1805. Equally is it impossible to 
 doubt, longer, the course which the United States ought to 
 pursue towards Great Britain. 
 
 "^ From this view of the multiplied wrongs of the Britisb 
 government, since the commencement of the present war, it 
 must be evident to the impartial world that the contest 
 which is now forced on the United States is radically a 
 contest for their sovereignty and independence. Your com- 
 mittee will not enlarge on any of the injuries, however 
 great, which have had a transitory effect. They wish to 
 call the attention of the House to those of a parliamentary 
 nature only, which intrench so deeply on our most import- 
 ant rights, and wound so extensively and vitally our best 
 interests, as could not fail to deprive the United States of 
 the principal advantages of their revolution, if submitted 
 to. The control of our commerce by Great Britain in reg- 
 ulating at pleasure, and expelling it almost from the ocean ; 
 the oppressive manner in which these regulations have been 
 carried into effect, by seizing and confiscating such of our 
 vessels, with their cargoes, as were said to have violated her 
 edicts, often without previous warning of their danger ; the 
 impressment of our citizens from on board our own vessels, 
 on the high seas, and elsewhere, and holding them in bond- 
 a(^e until it suited the convenience of these oppressors to 
 
[b] appendix. 429 
 
 deliver them up, are encroachments of that high and dan- 
 gerous tendency which could not fail to produce that perni- 
 cious eflPect, nor would those be the only consequences that 
 would result from it. The British government might for a 
 while be satisfied with the ascendancy thus gained over us, 
 but its pretensions would soon increase. The proof which 
 so complete and disgraceful a submission to its authority 
 would afford of our degeneracy, could not fail to inspire 
 confidence that there was no limit to which its usurpations 
 and our degradations might not be carried. 
 
 Your committee believing that the freeborn sons of 
 America are worthy to enjoy the liberty which their fathers 
 purchased at the price of much blood and treasure, and see- 
 ing, in the measures adopted by Great Britain, a course 
 commenced and persisted in which might lead to a loss of 
 national character and independence, feel no hesitation in 
 advising resistance by force, in which the Americans of the 
 present day will prove to the enemy and to the world that 
 we have not only inherited that liberty which our fathers 
 gave us, but also the xcill and power to maintain it. Rely- 
 ino' on the patriotism of the nation, and confidently trusting 
 that the Lord of Hosts will go with us to battle in a right- 
 eous cause, and crown our efforts with success — your com- 
 mittee recommend an immediate appeal tj ARMS. 
 
 AN ACT 
 Declaring War between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ire- 
 land, and the dependencies thereof, and the United States of America 
 and their territories. 
 
 Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representa- 
 tives of the United States in Congress assembled j That 
 
430 APPENDIX. [b] 
 
 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 be, and he 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 repri- 
 sals, 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 same United Kingdom of 
 Great Britain and Ireland, and of the subjects thereof. 
 
 June 18, 1812. 
 
 Approved, — James Madison. 
 
 On the final passage of the act in the Senate, the vote 
 was 19 to 13— in the House 79 to 49. 
 
 By the President of the United States of America. 
 
 A PROCLAMATION. 
 
 Whereas the Congress of the United States, by virtue 
 of the constituted authority vested in them, have declared 
 by their act, bearing date the 18th day of the present month, 
 that war exists between the United Kingdom of Oreat Bri- 
 tain and Ireland, and the dependencies thereof, and the 
 United States of America and their territories : Now, 
 therefore, I, James Madison, President of the United 
 States of iVmerica, do hereby proclaim the same to all whom 
 it may concern ; and I do especially enjoin on all persons 
 holding office, civil or military, under the authority of the 
 
[b] apj>endix. 431 
 
 United States, that they be vigilant and zealous in dis- 
 charging the duties respectively incident thereto : and I 
 do moreover exhort all the good people of the United States, 
 as they love their country, — as they value the precious her- 
 itage derived from the virtue and valor of their fathers, — as 
 they feel the wrongs which have forced on them the last re- 
 sort of injured nations, — and as they consult the best means 
 under the blessings of Divine Providence, of abridging its 
 calamities, — that they exert themselves in preserving order, 
 in promoting concord, in maintaining the authority and the 
 efficacy of the laws, and in supporting and invigorating all 
 the measures which may be adopted by the constituted au- 
 thorities, for obtaining a speedy, a just, and an honorable 
 peace. 
 
 In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, 
 L. S. and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed 
 
 to these presents. 
 Done at the City of Washington the nineteenth day of June 
 one thousand eight hundred and twelve, and of the In- 
 dependence of the United States the thirty-sixth. 
 
 (Signed) James Madison, Fresident. 
 
 (Signed) James Monroe, Secretm-y of State. 
 
 GENERAL GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 
 This gentleman, though his history has never yet been 
 written, was undoubtedly one of the most eminent men and 
 purest patriots the country has ever produced, fruitful as it 
 has been in great men and disinterested patriots. And for 
 decision, energy, forethought, good sense and intrepidity, 
 
432 APPENDIX. [C] 
 
 he will compare favorably with any general of the Revolu- 
 tionary War. In the West he was one of the best, if not 
 the best, soldier that ever led an army against the savage 
 force. He has been esteemed, too, the most extraordinary 
 military genius which Virginia, of which State he was a 
 native, has ?ver produced, although the field of his opera- 
 tions was the remote wilderness of the West. Judge Hall, 
 a biographer of General Harrison, declares him to have 
 been a man of extraordinary talents and energy of charac- 
 ter, and possessed of a military genius, which enabled him 
 to plan with consummate wisdom, and to execute his designs 
 with decision and promptitude. 
 
 His great mind readily comprehended the situation of 
 the country, and he made himself acquainted with the topo- 
 graphy of the whole region and the localities of the ene- 
 mies forts, as well as the strength of their forces. He 
 possessed the rare faculty of penetrating the designs of his 
 antagonist, thus becoming informed of the actual condition 
 and movements of the enemy. He could therefore deduce 
 his subsequent operations and his ulterior designs, and 
 hence was enabled to anticipate and defeat all his plans and 
 movements before they were matured. In the execution 
 of his plans, his movements were made with such precision 
 and celerity, and conducted with such consummate judg- 
 ment, that success was always doubly ensured. General 
 Washington entertained the highest opinion of his charac- 
 ter, talents and military genius, and long hesitated whether 
 he would appoint him or " Mad" Anthony Wayne to the 
 command of the army designed to chastise the north-western 
 Indians after the defeat of General St. Clair. He only se- 
 lected General Wayne because he was comj^dled to malco a 
 
[C] APPENDIX. 433 
 
 choice between them — not because he believed either pos- 
 sessed superior qualifications ox claims as a general. 
 
 General Clark, it has already been stated, was a native 
 of Virginia, and was born in 1742. In his personal ap- 
 pearance he was commanding and dignified, and was well 
 calculated to attract attention. His personal appearance 
 was rendered particularly agreeable by the manliness of his 
 deportment, the intelligence of his conversation, and, above 
 all, by the vivacity of his manners and the boldness of his 
 spirit for enterprise. 
 
 Early in the Eevolutionary War, while a private citi- 
 zen, holding no commission, civil or military, he distin- 
 guished himself by his eflForts to protect the frontier settle- 
 ments of Virginia and North Carolina against the incursions 
 of the Indians. He led the party which made the first set- 
 tlement at the falls of the Ohio, where an improvement 
 was commenced, from which the splendid, flourishing and 
 wealthy city of Louisville has grown up. 
 
 G-eneral Clark was the leading commissioner in negoti- 
 ating a treaty between the United States and the chiefs and 
 warriors of the Shawanee nation, including a part of the 
 Delawares, at the mouth of the big Miami, in January, 
 1786, by which the United States were acknowledged to be 
 the sole and absolute sovereigns of all the territory ceded 
 by the treaty of peace with Great Britain^ in 1783. 
 
 This treaty was negotiated at Fort Washington, where 
 there were, at the time, a garrison of only seventy troops. 
 All the Indians in council appeared peaceable, except three 
 hundred Shawaneese, whose chief made a boisterous speech, 
 and then placed on the table his belt of black and white 
 wampum^ to indicate that he was prepared for peace or war. 
 37 
 
434 APPENDIX. [C] 
 
 This act of daring and defiance of their chief was applauded 
 by the three hundred Sliawaneese warriors, by one of 
 their terriffic war-whoops. At the table sat Commissary- 
 General Clark and General Ilichard Butler. Nowise intim- 
 idated by this war-like demonstration, General Clark with 
 his cane coolly pushed the wampum from the table, and 
 then rising, as the savages muttered their indignation, he 
 trampled the belt under his feet, and with a voice of author- 
 ity ordered them instantly to quit the hall. His boldness, 
 assumed superiority, and disregard of the savage threat, had 
 such an effect upon them that they returned the next day 
 and sued for peace. 
 
 After the massacre of Wyoming, in 1778, he took com- 
 mand of a body of troops designed to operate against the 
 Indians, and to protect the frontiers against their murderous 
 mcursions. His vigilance extended to the borders along 
 and near the Monongahela and southward to the Kanhawa. 
 In that year he superintended the construction of Fort Fin- 
 castle, afterwards Fort Henry, for the protection of the in- 
 habitants in the vicinity of Wheeling Creek, as well as 
 other settlements north and south of that point, near the 
 Ohio Kiver. His expedition to the Mississippi, in the same 
 year, with the view of taking possesion of it on behalf of 
 Virginia, was conducted with so much skill, judgment and 
 boldness as to give him a rank amongst the first military 
 men of his day. 
 
 When the commonwealth of Virginia sent him a colo- 
 nel's commission, accompanied with a warrant to raise a 
 regiment of volunteers, and for that purpose to make con- 
 tracts on the credit of the State, they did not furnish him 
 with funds for that purpose, but left him to procure them 
 
[C] APPENDIX. 435 
 
 in the best way he could, either on their credit or on his 
 own. Yet such was his perseverance and energy, and so 
 unbounded was his confidence in the honor of his native 
 State, and such was his influence with the people of the 
 West, who knew his bravery and military talents, that he 
 soon raised a regiment of hardy Kentuckians, whom he 
 inspired with his own spirit; and having attached them 
 warmly to his person, led them to the Mississippi, and cap- 
 tured the posts at Kaskaskia and Cahokia. The inhabitants 
 of those villages, on receiving a promise of protection, took 
 the oath of allegiance to the United States. 
 
 At the same time Governor Hamilton was at Fort Vin- 
 cennes, making his arrangements to capture Clark and his 
 band of heroes, which he expected to accomplish with but 
 little difficulty. He was aware, however, of Hamilton's 
 purpose, and also of the danger of his own situation, and 
 determined to anticipate his enemy. Having left a sufficient 
 number of men to ensure the safety of the conquests he 
 had already made, he proceeded with the residue by a forced 
 march through swamps and quagmires to the Wabash, 
 where he arrived without the loss of a man, though the 
 country was so flooded that they were sometimes compelled 
 to swim. The advance of the troops was so arranged as to 
 bring them to the village before the dawn of day, and before 
 the governor was advised of their movement from the Mis- 
 sissippi. The consequence was, the post was carried by 
 etorm, and the governor and his troops made prisoners of 
 war. The expedition was not excelled in difficulty and 
 suff"ering, or in daring courage, by the memorable march of 
 Arnold to Quebec, in 1775, 
 
 General Clark, in starting on the enterprise against 
 
436 APPENDIX. [C] 
 
 Kaskaskia and Cahokia, embarked with his regiment at the 
 Falls, and descended the Ohio to some point not far from 
 the mouth of the Wabash, where he landed a part of his 
 men ; and, having ordered the residue to proceed with the 
 boats and baggage to the mouth of the Ohio, and thence to 
 Kaskaskia, proceeded across the country by the most direct 
 route to the same place. \Yhen he arrived in sight of the 
 village, the inhabitants were as much surprised as if they 
 had seen him descend from the clouds. As the provisions 
 brought in the knapsacks of his men were nearly exhausted, 
 and many days must elapse before the arrival of his boats, 
 he was admonished to act promptly and without delay. 
 
 For the purpose of magnifying his force in the estima- 
 tion of the town and garrison, as soon as he came in sight 
 he ordered his men to march in such a circuitous manner 
 that the formation of the intervening ground led the enemy 
 to see and count them twice or thrice, without discovering 
 the deception. He then halted, and with a part of his men 
 and a flag, advanced to the fort, and demanded an immedi- 
 ate surrender, on the penalty of receiving no quarter in 
 case of a refusal. The inhabitants at once submitted. The 
 commandant of the fort, in the surprise of the moment, 
 followed the example, and surrendered the garrison prison- 
 ers of war without firing a gun. Having thus captured 
 Kaskaskia, he proceeded to Cahokia, thirty miles distant, 
 which surrendered at once. 
 
 These conquests were achieved before the arrival of the 
 boats, and were immediately made known to the British 
 governor of Vincennes, by some friend, who stated at the 
 same time, the diminutive force by which the object was 
 accomplished. The governor immediately projected a plan 
 
[C] APPENDIX. 437 
 
 to surprise the Americans, and re-take the posts. In the 
 meantime the boats arrived with the residue of the regi- 
 ment, when General Clark, leaving a sufficient number of 
 men to retain the posts he had captured, marched without 
 loss of time to Vincennes. Having waded through mud 
 and water for several days, he approached the Wabash River, 
 which was so flooded that his men were frequently up to their 
 arm-pits in water ; yet they were not disheartened, nor did 
 their devotion to their heroic leader in the least degree 
 abate until Vincennes, its garrison and governor, were in 
 their hands, as already seen. 
 
 General Clark succeeded in retaining military possession 
 of that extensive country till the close of the war of the 
 revolution, and by that means secured it to the United States, 
 The fact is well known that in arranging the articles of the 
 treaty of peace, at Paris, the British commissioners insisted 
 on the Ohio River as part of the northern boundary of the 
 United States, and that the Count de Vergennes favored 
 that claim. It appears also from the diplomatic correspond- 
 ence on that subject, that the only tenable ground on which 
 the American commissioners relied to sustain their claim to 
 the lakes, as the boundary, was the fact that General 
 Clark had conquered the country, and was in the undisputed 
 military possession of it at the time of the negotiation. 
 That fact was affirmed and admitted, and was the chief 
 ground on which the British commissioners reluctantly 
 abandoned their pretensions. 
 
 These, however, are only a few of the many great and 
 valuable services rendered his country by this noble-minded 
 man and true-hearted soldier. And all this was accom- 
 plished, too, almost literally on his own credit, and by his 
 37* 
 
438 APPENDIX. [C] 
 
 own unaided enterprise. Virginia neither sent him money 
 nor means when she sent him a commission, with permission 
 to raise men and money as he might be able. The State 
 having no credit, he was compelled to rely solely on his own 
 eflForts to raise and equip troops, and to feed and clothe them 
 durins the term of their service, which continued to the 
 end of the war. The task was a herculean one, and few 
 other men could have accomplished it. Nothing but the 
 most devoted attachment to the country could have prompted 
 him to undertake it, and to persevere as he did ; and, at all 
 events, nothing else could have prompted him to persevere 
 in his patriotic labors after the indignities to which he was 
 constantly subjected. 
 
 Though holding conclusive evidence of the authority 
 upon which he acted from the legislature of Virginia, his 
 drafts upon that State in favor of those who had advanced 
 means to enable him to equip, feed and clothe his troops, 
 were dishonored, and for reasons, too, of the most humilia- 
 tino: character ; but even this did not shake his purpose, or 
 induce him for a moment to relax his patriotic efforts. As 
 his difficulties multiplied, his resolution gained strength ; 
 and when his credit failed, and he was cut off from every 
 other resource, he resolved to sustain his troops, and pre- 
 serve his conquests, by the strong arm of power. 
 
 After weighing all the consequences both to himself and 
 his country, he resorted to force loans, and by that hazard- 
 ous expedient accomplished the object nearest his heart, 
 which was the preservation of his conquests until the close 
 of the war. He issued an order, as commandant of the 
 regiment, directed to two or three of his officers, command- 
 inT them to enter on the premises of the persons designated 
 
[C] APPENDIX. 439 
 
 in the order, requested the property there found, and re- 
 move it to the public store, for the exclusive use of the 
 troops. An exact inventory and careful valuation of the 
 property was ordered to be made, that the amount might be 
 made good by the legislature of Virginia. By this expedi- 
 ent, and this only, he was enabled to maintain the posts he 
 had conquered on the Mississippi and the Wabash till the 
 termination of the war, and thus save to the nation the 
 vast territory lying between the Ohio River and the lakes. 
 
 The persons whose property was sold under this order 
 of General Clark, commenced suit against him, obtained 
 judgments, and portions of his own private property were 
 sold to satisfy these demands contracted for the exclusive 
 benefit of the country. After the close of the war the leg- 
 islature of Virginia made an appropriation of one hundred 
 and fifty thousand acres of land lying on the Ohio Eiver, 
 opposite to Louisville, for the use of the officers and soldiers 
 of General Clark's regiment ; but at that day it was of but 
 very little value, and was long since disposed of at mere 
 nominal prices. 
 
 Thus it appears that one of the most distinguished and 
 valuable officers of the revolution, who had performed ser- 
 vices of the most incalculable importance, was not only 
 treated with cold neglect, but was subjected to the payment 
 of debts and claims incurred for the support of his troops, 
 to a very large amount. The cruel ingratitude to which he 
 was doomed, for which no justifiable cause can be assigned, 
 and the comparative poverty which made him almost a pen- 
 sioner on the bounty of his relatives, was more than he 
 could bear. 
 
 A person familiar with the lives and character of the 
 
440 APPENDIX. [C] 
 
 military veterans of Rome, in tlie days of her greatest power, 
 might readily have selected this remarkable man as a speci- 
 men of the model he had formed of them in his own mind. 
 But he has fallen a victim to his extreme sensibility, and 
 to the ingratitude of his native State, under whose banner 
 he had fought so bravely, and with such eminent success. 
 But the time must come when the people of Louisville and 
 of his native State, at least, will render the debt of grati- 
 tude they owe to the memory of this distinguished man, 
 however forgetful the nation may be of his eminent services. 
 It is a reproach upon the character of his native State, that 
 she will not easily rid herself of; and never, except by a 
 full and ample atonement for the base ingratitude done to 
 this most worthy son. 
 
 The above particulars of the life of General Clark are 
 principally taken from Burnet's Notes on the North-western 
 Territory, and Monette's Valley of the Mississippi. With 
 the example of such an uncle before him, it is not very 
 strange that Colonel Croghan should know how to fight. 
 The sketch, meager as it is, compared with his pre-eminent 
 merits, it is thought will be found interesting, and fully to 
 justify general reference to him. It is only to be regretted 
 that one who has done so much for his country could not 
 have found a biographer worthy his deeds and his fame. 
 This evil should have been corrected long since. The life 
 of scarcely any man in America would be found more re- 
 plete with sterling and brilliant events than that of George 
 Rogers Clark, or to afford a brighter example for the imita- 
 tion of the rising generation. 
 
[d] appendix. 441 
 
 GENERAL HARRISON'S DEATH AND BURIAL. 
 
 The following detailed account of General Harrison's 
 last illness and burial was compiled principally from the 
 Washington " Intelligencer" and " Madisonian," and the 
 New York " Observer." It will undoubtedly possess a 
 permanent interest as a chapter in the history of the times, 
 long after the generation in which the melancholy event to 
 which it refers shall have passed away. The general par- 
 ticulars of his death have been elsewhere given. 
 
 ACCOUNT OF THE PRESIDENT'S LAST HOURS. 
 
 . Saturday, 1 o'clock, P. M. — Dr. Alexander of Balti- 
 more has just visited the President's chamber, and pro- 
 nounces him better, giving all his friends reason to indulge 
 in hope. The good news spreads all over the city with joy- 
 ful alacrity. 
 
 2 o'clock. — The favorable symptoms continue. 
 
 3 o'clock. — The symptoms are becoming alarming ; a 
 diari-hea is threatened. 
 
 Half-past 3 o'clock. — The alarm of General Harrison's 
 friends are very great : the symptoms grow worse, and his 
 case becomes more dangerous than ever. The medical men 
 begin to doubt, if not to despair, and to speak in a manner 
 and tone that hardly give us hope. 
 
 4 o'clock. — The news of increased danger flies over the 
 f ity, and all are inquiring, and in all directions. 
 
 5 o'clock. — The President wanders, and is at times quite 
 insensible. All his symptoms are worse. His family hang- 
 ing in anxiety over his bedside, his physicians watching 
 
442 APPENDIX. [p] 
 
 every motion. His diarrhea grows worse, and leaves hardly 
 a hope, so rapidly does it prostrate his strength. 
 
 6 o'clock. — The members of the Cabinet have been 
 summoned to the President's; Mr. Granger just gave the 
 alarm to his associates. The symptoms all worse. His 
 physicians give him up. The dreadful report fills all with 
 consternation. The danger of losing the good and venera- 
 ble man now breaks fully upon us all. 
 
 10 o'clock. — "Reports from the sick chamber for the last 
 four hours have all been worse. The pulse beats feebler 
 and feebler every minute. His flesh has become cold and 
 clammy. During this time. General Harrison has spoken 
 his last words, after which he fell into a state of insensibil- 
 ity. At a quarter of nine. Dr. Worthington at his bedside*, 
 he said (and it is presumed he was addressing Governor 
 Tyler),— 
 
 Sir, — I WISH you to understand the true princi- 
 ples OF THE GOVERNMENT. I WISH THEM CARRIED OUT. 
 I ASK NOTHING MORE. 
 
 This is the dying injunction of the good old man, made, 
 Dr. Worthington says, in a strong tone of voice. 
 
 All the members of the Cabinet, except Mr. Badger, 
 for three hours past, have been in a chamber near the Pres- 
 ident's sick room. Their spirits, of course, are sadly de- 
 pressed by this melancholy event, but they are preparing 
 for the mournful duty that devolves upon them. 
 
 11 o'clock. — The President yet lingers. The White 
 House has been thronged by citizens of all classes, fearfully 
 inquiring into the President's health. He is insensible, 
 feeble indeed, and no one now indulges in hope. All prep- 
 arations are making as for a man already dead. The con- 
 
[o] APPENDIX. 443 
 
 solations of religion have all along been administered. He 
 has been calm, and manifested no fear of death. The phy- 
 sicians are just using the last remedies their skill devises, 
 but with no hope of any favorable result. 
 
 12^- o'clock. — General Harrison has just breathed his 
 last, and without a struggle. He has been insensible for a 
 long while, and the last words he spoke were to Dr. Wor- 
 thington. Most anxious and deeply affected friends are 
 weeping around his chamber. What a dreadful blow has 
 struck the land ! 
 
 1 o'clock, A. M. — The members of the Cabinet, after 
 performing their last mournful duties to the departed Pres- 
 ident, are preparing a letter to the Vice-President, announc- 
 ing the fact officially. The chief clerk of the State Depart- 
 ment, Fletcher Webster, Esq., is dispatched with it, and 
 he will reach Mr. Tyler by Monday noon, who will proba- 
 bly be here Wednesday or Thui'sday the latest. 
 
 OFFICIAL LETTER TO THE VICE-PRESIDENT. 
 
 Washington, April 4, 1841. 
 
 " To John Tyler, Vice President of the United States. 
 
 " Sir : — It has become our most painful duty to inform 
 you that William Henry Harrison, late President of 
 the United States, has departed this life. 
 
 " This distressing event took place this day, at the Pres- 
 ident's mansion in this city, at thirty minutes before one in 
 the morning. 
 
 " We lose no time in dispatching the chief clerk in the 
 State Department, as a special messenger, to bear you these 
 melancholy tidings. 
 
444 APPENDIX. [d] 
 
 " "We have the honor to be, with the highest regard, 
 your obedient servants, 
 
 Daniel Webster, See'ry of State. 
 Thos. Ewing, See'ry of the Treasury. 
 John Bell, See'ry of War. 
 John J. Crittenden, Attorney-General. 
 Francis Granger, Postmaster-Gen." 
 
 ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE FUNERAL. 
 
 Washington, April 4, 1841. 
 
 The circumstances- in which we are placed by the death 
 of the President render it indispensable for us, in the recess 
 of Congress and in the absence of the Vice-President, to 
 make arrangements for the funeral solemnities. Having 
 consulted with the family and personal friends of the de- 
 ceased, we have concluded that the funeral be solemnized 
 on Wednesday, the 7th instant, at 12 o'clock. The reli- 
 gious services to be performed according to the usages of 
 the Episcopal Church, in which church the deceased usually " 
 worshiped. The body is to be taken from the President's 
 House to the Congress Burying Ground, accompanied by a 
 military and civic procession, and deposited in the receiv- 
 ing tomb. 
 
 The military arrangements to be under the direction of 
 Major-General Macomb, the General Commanding in Chief 
 of the Army of the United States, and Major-General Wal- 
 ter Jones, of the Militia of the District of Columbia. 
 
 Commodore Morris, the Senior Captain in the Navy 
 now in the city, to have the direction of the naval arrange- 
 ments. 
 
J[b] appendix. 445 
 
 Tlie Marshal of tlic District to have the direction of the 
 eivie proc-ession, assisted by the Mayors of "Washington, 
 Georgetown, and Alexandria, the Clerk of the Supreme 
 Court of the United States, and such other citizens as they 
 may see fit to call to their aid, 
 
 John Quiney Adams, ex-Prcsident of the United States, 
 Members of Congress now in' the city or its neighborhood, 
 all the members of the Diplomatic body resident in Wash- 
 ington, all officers of government, and citizens generally, 
 are invited to attend. 
 
 And it is respectfully recommended to the officers of 
 government that they wear the usual badge of mourning. 
 
 Daniel Webster, Sec'ry of State 
 
 Thos. Evi^iNG, Sec'ry of the Treasury. 
 
 John Bell, Sec'ry of War. 
 
 John J. Crittenden, Attorney-General. 
 
 Francis Granger, Postmaster-General. 
 
 ARRIVAL OF THE VICE-PRESIDENT. 
 
 At 12 o'clock, all the Heads of Departments, except the 
 Secretary of the Navy (who has not yet returned to the 
 city, from his visit to his family), waited upon the Vice- 
 President to pay him their official and personal respects. 
 They were received with all the politeness and kindness 
 which characterized the new President. He signified his 
 deep feeling of the public calamity sustained by the death 
 of President Harrison, and expressed his profound sensi- 
 bility of the heavy responsibilities so suddenly devolved 
 upon himself. He spoke of the present state of things 
 with great concern and seriousness, and. made known his 
 wishes that the several Heads of Departments would con- 
 38 
 
44 r> APPENDIX. ' [o] 
 
 tinue to fill the places which they now respectively occupy, 
 and his confidence that they would afford all the aid in their 
 power to enable him to carry on the administration of the 
 government successfully. 
 
 The President then took and subscribed the following 
 oath of office : 
 
 I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the 
 office of President of the United States, and will, to the 
 l)est of my ability, preserve, protect and defend, the Con- 
 stitution of the United States. John Tyler. 
 
 April 6, 1841. 
 
 District of Columbia, ) 
 
 City and County of Washington, \ 
 
 I, William Cranch, Chief Justice of the Circuit Court 
 of the District of Columbia, certify that the above-named 
 John Tyler personally appeared before me this day, and, 
 although he deems himself qualified to perform the duties 
 and exercise the powers and office of the President on the 
 death of William Henry IlARRtsoN, late President of 
 the United States, without any other oath than that which 
 he has taken as Vice-President, yet, as doubts may arise, 
 and for greater caution, took and subscribed the foregoing 
 oath before me. W. Cranch. 
 
 April 6, 1841. 
 
 FUNERAL CEREMONIES. 
 
 It was not until Wednesday, that the full force of the 
 bereavement was felt by the public mind, when to all who 
 about five weeks before had witnessed the spectacle of the 
 inauguration, there was now presented the very different 
 spectacle of a funeral — and the funeral of that very inaugr 
 
[b] Ai-PENDIX. 447 
 
 urated Chief Magisti-ate. The day itself — the clouds cov- 
 ering the heavens — resembled the Fourth of March. The 
 numerous flags at half-mast, and hung with crape, met the 
 ■eye wherever it was turned ; while the ear was saluted with 
 the deep thunder of heavy cannon, as at short intervals the 
 melanclioiy sound came through th^ air. The stream of 
 human beings continued to pour into the city from all quar- 
 ters until 12 o'clock, and although it was supposed all tho 
 States of the Union sent the materials that constituted the 
 host at the Inauguration, there seemed really to be as many 
 to-day in the city as on the Fourth of March. 
 
 At sunrise the sound yf eancoo from the several mili- 
 tary stations in the vicinity of the city heralded the melan- 
 choly occasion which was to assemble the citizens of the 
 district and its neighborhood, and minute guns were fired 
 during the morning. In entire consonance with those 
 mournful sounds was the aspect of the whole city, as well 
 its dwellings as its population. The buildings on each side 
 of the entire length of the Pennsylvania avenue, with 
 scarcely an exception, and many houses on the contiguous 
 streets, were hung with festoons and streamers of black, 
 not only about the signs and entrances, but in many cases 
 from all the upper stories. Almost every private dwelling 
 had crape upon the knocker and bell-handle of its door, and 
 many of the very humblest abodes hung out some sponta- 
 neous signal of the general sorrow. The stores and places 
 of business, even such as are too frequently seen open on 
 the Sabbath., were all closed. Everything like business 
 seemed to have been forgotten, and all minds to be occupied 
 with the purpose of the day. The great point of attractidu 
 was the President's Mansion. Toward that, all steps, all 
 
448 AWENDIX. [dJ 
 
 thoughts were tending. The northern portico of the Man- 
 Biou was hung with long banners of black, extending fron> 
 column to column. The iron gates of the enclosure in fronti- 
 were closed, save wben the Foreign Ministers, Members of 
 the Cabinet, the attending Physicians, the Clergy, the Judi- 
 ciary and ladies, were admitted, preparatory to their taking 
 the places assigned them in the funeral procession. 
 
 At the entrance of the Mansion, the dressings of black 
 presented themselves on every side, descending from the 
 lofty ceiling to the floor. The great chandelier, with tke 
 immense mirrors of the east room, and other articles- of 
 furniture, were enveloped in the sable symbols; while in 
 the centre of the room reposed the illustrious dead — the 
 body being contained in a coffin covered with rich silk vel- 
 vet, over which was tliTOwn the pall of similar material. 
 Under the Hd of the coffin was a glass, through which could 
 be seen the face of the late President. The expression was- 
 calm and natural : his white hair lying close to his head, and 
 bis features regular and peaceful, as if they had been quietly 
 composed to their last long sleep. It was impossible to es- 
 cape contrasting this moveles"S repose of death with the 
 incessant activity of the living individvial, when receiving, 
 the visits of the people, or transacting business with those 
 who called. What little of form or ceremony remained 
 about the Government v/as extinguished by the late Presi- 
 dent. 
 
 The first semi-circle around the coffin was composed of 
 jibout forty clergymen of different denominations in and 
 near the district. Opposite to these, encircling the head 
 of the coffin, sat the Vice-President and the Cabinet, except 
 Mr. Badger, who had gone to North Carolina. On the 
 
[b] APrENDix. 449 
 
 left of the Ca"binet were Messrs. Forsyth, Poinsett and 
 Paulding, also Mr. Adams. In their rear sat the Foreign 
 Ministers, in their gorgeous dresses of gold and silver lace, 
 stars, epaulets and other insignia peculiar to monarchical 
 governments, and strongly contrasting with the severe sim- 
 plicity of all around, especially the simplicity of death. 
 Immediately behind the clergy were the mourners, about 
 fifteen or twenty in number, including the " faithful women," 
 who " did what they could" to minister to the last wants of 
 their departed relative and friend. The next semi-circle was 
 composed of the attending and consulting physicians, and 
 the twenty-four pall-bearers, all with white sashes. Officers 
 of the government of various grades, ladies and others, who 
 had the privilege of admission, filled the room, which was 
 not crowded, the thousands of the people being outside even 
 the gates of the great front lawn, and maintaining the most 
 profound stillness and exemplary order. In fact, the pop- 
 ulation had, as if by common consent, extended itself in 
 very equal masses along the whole distance of a mile and 
 ti half from the Mansion to the Capitol. The passage-way 
 within the spacious front lawn was filled with mourning- 
 coaches, in waiting for the Family Mourners, the Cabinet, 
 the Clergy, Members of Congress, Foreign Ministers, &c. 
 
 At half-past 11 o'clock, the Rev. Mr. Hawley, Rector 
 of St. John's Church, arose, and observed that he would 
 mention an incident connected with the Bible which lay on 
 the table before him (covered with black silk velvet). 
 " This Bible," said he, " was purchased by the President 
 on the 5th of March. He has since been in the habit of 
 daily reading it. He was accustomed not only to attend 
 church, but to join audibly in the church sei-vice, and to 
 38* 
 
450 APPENDIX. [»j 
 
 ineel before his JMaker.''' Mr. H. stated tliat Lad the 
 President lived, and been in health, he intended on the 
 next Sahhath to beeome a communicant at the Lord'^s table, 
 A part of the 15th of 1st Corinthians was then read, 
 
 J some selections from the Psalms, and a short prayer. No 
 
 1; address or particular appeal was made to the assembly or to 
 
 i' any portion of it. 
 
 ^^^^'^^It was after 11 o'clock, when the procession in front of 
 the Presidential Mansion presented a complete line, and a 
 few minutes before twelve, a funeral car entered the square^ 
 and drew up within the portico. It was of large dimen- 
 sions, in form an oblong platform, on which was a raised 
 dais, the whole covered -with black velvet. From the cor- 
 nice of the platform fell a black velvet curtain outside of 
 Ihe wheels to within a few inches of the ground. From the 
 corners of the car a black crape festoon was formed on all 
 Bides, looped in the centre by a funeral wreath. 
 
 Precisely at 12 o'clock, a detachment of musicians, 
 •which had been marched up in front of the portico, played 
 the Portuguese hymn, during which the body was moved, 
 and placed on the car. The coffin was covered with a rich 
 velvet, on which were placed two swords, laid across (the 
 Sword of Justice and the Sword of State), surmounted by 
 the scroll of the Constitution, bound together by a funeral 
 wreath formed of the yew and cypress. The car was drawn 
 by six white horses, having at the head of each a colored 
 groom, dressed in white, with white turban and sash, and 
 supported by pall-bearers in black. The effect was very 
 fine. The contrast of this slowly moving body of white 
 and blacky 9o opposite to the strong colors of the military 
 around it, struck the eye even from the greatest distance, 
 
[d] appendix. 451 
 
 and gave a chilling warning beforehand that the corpse was 
 drawing nigh. 
 
 The most impressive portion of the military part of the 
 procession consisted of the dismounted and mounted oiEcers 
 of the Army, Navy, Militia, and Volunteers. Seldom has 
 there been exhibited within a space so limited so many dis- 
 tinguished military men, the sight of whose well-known 
 figures led back our thoughts to many a bloody field, and 
 many an ensanguined sea, on which the national honor haa 
 been well and nobly maintained. 
 
 Next to the military were the clergy of the district and 
 elsewhere, (dressed with scarfs, and with crape on the hat 
 and left arm), about forty in number, in carriages. 
 
 Then followed the attending physicians, in their private 
 vehicles. 
 
 Immediately behind the hearse were the male relatives 
 of the deceased, including his old and faithful friends, Col- 
 onels Todd and Chambers. 
 
 Immediately after them President Tyler, in a carriage 
 with the Secretary of State ; then the several other Heads 
 of Departments, and Mr. J. Q. Adams. Several members 
 of the Judiciary Department followed, and then all the 
 Ministers of Foreign Governments, now present, or their 
 Secretaries. 
 
 Next followed oflicers and soldiers who had served under 
 General Harrison in the late war. Another division of the 
 procession consisted of public societies and associations 
 preceded by their banners, and wearing their respective 
 badges. 
 
 On the firing of the signal gun at the appointed hour, 
 the procession moved along Pennsylvania avenue, under the 
 
452 APPENDIX. [d] 
 
 fire of minute guns neai* the President's House, repeated at 
 the City Hall, on the head of the column arriving opposite 
 to it, and at the Capitol on its reaching the western gate 
 of the enclosure. The music was excellent ; several fine 
 bands playing mournful airs, giving place, from time to 
 time, to the muffled drums of the military, beating slow 
 marches. 
 
 The solemnity of the scene was bej'ond description. 
 
 Among the most touching incidents which occurred du- 
 ring the procession was its meeting the Maryland Legisla- 
 ture about half-way down the avenue. Having just arrived 
 in the cars, the members, preceded by their officers, marched 
 on to meet the funeral train of the President, and were 
 immediately assigned their proper and honorable rank in 
 the multitude of public mourners. 
 
 Having reached the Capitol Square, passing on the 
 south side of it, the procession advanced over the plains 
 eastward till it reached the space in front of the Congres- 
 sional Burying Ground. 
 
 Here the car halted, while the line was formed by the 
 military ; and then passed slowly on, being saluted as it 
 passed with a dirge, with colors lowered, the troops present- 
 ing arms, and the officers saluting it in . military form. 
 Having reached the principal entrance, the car was again 
 halted ; the coffin was taken down and placed on the should- 
 ers of the bearers; the clergy advanced, and the Rev. Mr. 
 Hawley, reciting the solemn funeral service of the Episco- 
 pal Liturg}^, the procession advanced down the principal 
 avenue of the cemetery until it reached the receiving vault, 
 where a space had been kept open by sentries under arms, 
 and where a hollow square being formed, the coffin ^vas 
 
[d] appendix. 453 
 
 lowered in the public vault, which was hung with festoons 
 of black crape and muslin. It is a spacious arched apart- 
 ment at the extremity of the ground, perfectly dry. There 
 were about eight coffins in it before that of General Harri- 
 son was received into it. In the centre of this vault, a 
 mahogany shell had been placed, and into this shell the 
 coffin was fitted, and the lid was then placed upon it, when, 
 in an interval of " expressive silence," the coffin was con- 
 veyed down into the tomb, and all that remained on earth 
 of. the President of this great Union was laid in its narrow 
 bed : near the other coffins almost unnoticed, and altoeether 
 unknown to us, how did all eartlily grandeur dwindle to its 
 real insignificance, and how impressively did the tomb teach 
 it in that hour ! The immortality of Fame ! How did the 
 bubble burst in the atmosphere of that house of death ! 
 And when I saw Tyler, Webster, Ewing, Bell, Crit- 
 tenden and Granger enter that house, to take their last 
 view of the coffin, and to emerge again with the weight of a 
 nation's cares, added to present affliction upon them who 
 could help exclaiming : " What shadows we are, what shad- 
 ows we pursue !" Among the last things which I observed 
 were the tears of his old comrades in arms on many a hard- 
 fought field, as they ascended out of the vault, and left 
 their brave and beloved General in the embrace of the 
 Universal Conqueror, adding another trophy to the ti'i- 
 umphs of Death, and another portion to the spoils of the 
 Grave. 
 
 A signal being given to the troops outside, the battalion 
 of Light Artillery, who were placed on an adjoining emi- 
 nence, fired a salute, which was immediately followed by 
 the several military bodies in line, who commenced firing 
 
454 APPENDIX. [d] 
 
 from the left to the right, and had continued the salute till 
 it had thrice gone up the whole line. 
 
 The Vice-President appeared to be much affected. Mr. 
 Ewing, the Secretary of the Treasury, was, at times, almost 
 unmanned by the excess of his grief. Mr. Webster, Mr. 
 Bell, Mr. Granger, and Mr. Crittenden evinced by their 
 deportment that they felt their loss. 
 
 The entire procession occupied two full miles in length, 
 and was marshaled on its way by officers on horseback car- 
 rj'ing white batons with black tassels. The utmost order 
 prevailed throughout ; and, considering the very great con- 
 course of people collected, the silence preserved during the 
 whole course of the march was very impressive. 
 
 The procession returned by the same route to the city, 
 where the troops were dismissed, and the citizens retired to 
 their several abodes. By five o'clock, nothing remained 
 but empty streets and the emblems of mourning upon the 
 houses, and the still deeper gloom, which oppressed the 
 general mind with renewed power after all was over, and 
 the sense of the public bereavement alone was left to fill 
 the thoughts. 
 
 It was the universal impression, that the procession was 
 larger, and the whole effect more imposing, than that of the 
 pageant of the Inauguration. In regard to solemnity, the 
 two occasions of course admit of no comparison. The one 
 was a nation in joy ; the other a nation in tears. 
 
 REFLECTIONS IN THE EAST ROOM— April 7, 1841, 
 
 The great East Room of the President's House, — that 
 room in which I have seen a thousand gay and joyful faces 
 glowing in the light of ponderous chandeliers, radiating the 
 
[d] appendix. 455 
 
 light of a hundred burners, — was now the scene of death ! 
 Those brilliant fountains of light were hid in the dark robes 
 of mourning. The splendid mirrors, which rose almost to 
 the lofty ceiling, reflecting on every side the brilliant crowds 
 which often thronged this room, now refused to look upon 
 the scene before them, and buried their polished bosoms in 
 the habiliments of sadness. In short, this magnificent 
 room, in every part of it, spoke in the appropriate language 
 of silent grief, announcing to all — Death is here ! 
 
 The coffin rested in the centre of the room, and was 
 richly and beautifully dressed. Closely attached to it was 
 a covering of black velvet. The edges where the top rested 
 were delicately traced with fine gold lace, and on either side 
 and at each end of the coffin the same material was formed 
 into beautiful squares. A gorgeous velvet pall hung grace- 
 fully over the whole, with a deep rich fringe appended to a 
 border of gold lace. On the top of all rested two elegantly 
 wrought swords in mourning, buried in a profusion of lovely 
 and fragrant flowers, which Flora had consecrated to this 
 sad and melancholy service, as if to express the idea that 
 sweetness and beauty could conquer the sword and survive 
 death itself ! 
 
 Around the coffin, and at an appropriate distance, was 
 formed a circle composed of the new President of the 
 United States, the heads of departments, the clergy of 
 every denomination, judges of courts, and members of the 
 bar. The next circle contained the foreign ministers in 
 their rich and varied court dresses, with a number of mem- 
 bers of both Houses of Congress, and the relatives of the 
 deceased President. Beyond this circle a vast assemblage 
 of ladies and gentlemen filled up the room. Silence, deep 
 
456 APPENDIX. [T)] 
 
 and undisturbed, even by a whisper, pervaded the entire 
 assembly. The solemn event which they were now gazing 
 upon fixed every eye and hushed every tongue. When, at 
 the appointed hour, the officiating minister rose from his 
 seat, and as he rose in solemn tones announced these words, 
 " / am the resurrection, and the life !" one simultaneous 
 move placed this vast assemblage upon their feet on the first 
 sound of the ministers voice, and a feeling of deeper awe 
 rested upon every countenance, as he uttered the above sen- 
 tence. Never before did I realize the grandeur and sub- 
 limity of these words — never before did I feel the thrilling 
 effect which the enunciation of this glorious Christian truth 
 is capable of inspiring. 
 
 At the close of these religious ceremonies, the coffin was 
 conducted to the funeral car specially constructed for the 
 occasion, where it was met and saluted by the solemn dirge 
 of appropriate music ; and the procession moved off under 
 the discharge of funeral artillery, which uttered loud and 
 long the nation's grief. 
 
 THE MOURNFUL INTELLIGENCE. 
 
 As the news of the decease of the venerable President of 
 this republic spread from city to city, there was every dem- 
 onstration of the deep grief which the nation feels, at the 
 removal by death, of the chief officer of the republic. In 
 the smaller towns on the route of the mail hither, the per- 
 sons always waiting at the railroad depots, heard the intel- 
 lio'ence in silence, and turned away to communicate it to 
 their friends, in that suppressed tone which is the indica- 
 tion of true feeling. 
 
 Tn Baltimore, on Sunday, the bells of the city wera 
 
Xp] APPENDIX. 457 
 
 tolled througliout the day, and the flags from various edi- 
 fices floated at half mast, trimmed with the " insignia of 
 woe." In several of the churches, the ministers took ad- 
 vantage of the occasion, and made most impressive and af- 
 fecting allusions to the national bereavement, in the decease 
 of the President. 
 
 In Philadelphia, the slip signed by all the heads of the 
 department, announcing the fact, was read at the Exchange 
 to about 500 persons, all of whom evinced much feeling, 
 and without uttering a word left the room. In less than 
 two minutes after the announcement not three persons of 
 the dense crowd that had so lately filled the apartment were 
 to be seen. 
 
 The news was received in New York a little before mid- 
 night, by the evening train. At that hour, on account of 
 the storm with which the afternoon closed, few persons were 
 stirring, but as the intelligence was announced by the pas- 
 sengers, it was received with the same demonstrations of 
 grief and respect for the deceased, which had marked its 
 reception in other cities. The news was circulated through 
 a large part of the city ; but still could not be said to be 
 generally circulated, until the appearance of the morning 
 papers, dressed in the proper marks of mourning. 
 
 New York is emphatically a reading city. The propor- 
 tion of houses at which a morning paper is served in the city 
 is probably as eight to ten, if not larger. Consequently 
 almost the first thing that met every man's eye was the 
 indication of the national loss, in the turned rules, and 
 funeral appearance of the newspapers, which, with one ex- 
 ception only, paid this mark of respect for the deceased. 
 Made in a manner so striking, the announcement could es- 
 39 
 
458 APPENDIX. [d] 
 
 cape no one, and men walked abroad to their daily avoca- 
 tionsj with faces which betrayed what every honest man's 
 heart felt. Our daily avocations make us among the ear- 
 liest of early risers, and had we been, by any chance, unap- 
 prised of the intelligence, we could have read in the faces 
 of those whom we met, the unanimous declaration that some 
 grief, for the general weal, oppressed our fellow-citizens. 
 
 The method of striking fire alarms in this city prevents 
 the use of the bells to toU an unexpected announcement. 
 None were therefore struck, but at the usual hour of hoist- 
 ing flags, the city standard, and the national ensign were 
 displayed at half mast upon the City Hall. All the prin- 
 cipal hotels, the political head quarters of both parties, and 
 the other public buildings upon which flags are usually 
 hoisted on public occasions, displayed them yesterday at 
 half mast ; and the shipping at the piers and in the harbor 
 wore the same testimonials of national grief. We never 
 felt before so proud of our citizenship, as we did in exchang- 
 ing remarks of sincere condolence with our friends of the 
 opposition party, who thus testified that love of country is 
 superior in American hearts to devotion to party. 
 
 The courts met only to adjourn ; and the Common 
 Council was convened to take measures for testifying the 
 public sympathy and respect. 
 
 All the flags in Albany were displayed at half mast ; 
 the Supreme Court and Court of Chancery adjourned, and 
 an extraordinary meeting of the Common Council was con- 
 vened at 12 o'clock. 
 
 The Governor of the State sent a message to the legis- 
 lature, which immediately adjourned after appointing com- 
 mittees of arrangements. 
 
[d] appendix. 459 
 
 At Hartford, and at all other places, readied by steam- 
 boat hence, the news was divined by the half-mast flag, be- 
 fore a word was spoken ; and many citizens turned away 
 without asking or waiting to hear one word. There was 
 agony in that telegraphic sermon. 
 
 At Boston, the news of the death of the President of 
 the United States was received on Tuesday morning. The 
 shipping at the wharves hoisted their colors at half mast, 
 and the Kevenue Cutter Hamilton, Captain Sturgis, at an- 
 chor in the harbor, fired minute guns for an hour. This 
 was done in compliance with the recommendation and in- 
 structions of the Collector of that Port. The courts ad- 
 journed, and the Common Council was convened to take 
 proper measures for a municipal observance of the occasion. 
 
 In every place, indeed, throughout the land, the intelli- 
 gence was received with mourning, dismay and solemnity. 
 No event that has ever occurred since the death of Washing- 
 ton has ever filled the nation with such sincere and univer- 
 sal grief. 
 
 FUNERAL CEREMONIES ELSEWHERE. 
 
 In addition to the ceremonies at Washington, there 
 was, on the day and during the hours of the funeral obse- 
 quies, a cessation of business, with other demonstrations of 
 solemnity, in the great cities of Baltimore, Philadelphia, 
 New York and Boston. 
 
 After due arrangements had been made, during the 
 same or the following week, the afiiicting dispensation 
 was further solemnized by the delivery of addresses and 
 large funeral processions in all the principal cities and many 
 other places. The procession in New York occupied a 
 
400 APPENDIX. [d] 
 
 space of four miles, and was many hours in passing, with 
 its large concourse and funeral tread. In Alhany there was 
 a torch-light procession. The procession was accompanied 
 by a full band of music, and the funeral urn, covered with 
 its pall — the whole illuminated by the light of upwards of 
 600 torches. It passed through the principal streets of the 
 city between 8 and 10 o'clock. The night was still, and 
 very dark ; and the effect produced by the long array of 
 mourners at that unusual hour, — the funeral emblems, the 
 solemn music, and the strong red glare of the torches, re- 
 vealing from the gloom and lighting up with picturesque 
 effect the houses and crowds of spectators which thronged 
 the windows as they passed, — left an impression which will 
 not soon be effaced from the memory of those who beheld 
 the scene. 
 
 Accounts are still coming in from every quarter of the 
 very many public testimonies of the grief of the people, for 
 the loss of their venerable and beloved Chief Mao;istrate. 
 
 't> 
 
 GENERAL HARRISON'S FAMILY. 
 
 1. The following relatives of Gen. Harrison were pres- 
 ent in the city on the day of the funeral, viz : 
 
 Mrs. Jane Harrison, of Ohio (son's widow), and two sons. 
 
 3Irs. Taylor, of Virginia (niece), a daughter and two 
 sons. 
 
 Pihe Harrison (grand-son), son of J. C Harrison, and 
 grand-son of Gen. Pike. 
 
 Mr. D. 0. Coupcland, of Ohio (nephew). 
 
 Mr. Benjamin Harrison, of Berkley (nephew). 
 
 Henry Harrison (grand-nej)hew), son of the preceding, 
 who hus acted as confidential secretary of the President. 
 
[d] appendix. 461 
 
 Dr. John Hinge, of Charles City, Va (nephew). 
 / We may also add the name of 3Irs. Findley, of Ohio, 
 •who adopted Mrs. Jane Harrison as a daughter, and who 
 almost invariably occupied the right hand of the President 
 at his table. 
 
 2. The following are the surviving relatives who were 
 absent : 
 
 Mrs. Harrison, the Greneral's bereaved widow. 
 
 John Scott Harrison, the only living son. 
 
 J//-S. Judge Short, eldest daughter. 
 
 Mrs. Dr. Thornton, daughter. 
 
 Mrs. Taylor, daughter. All these are living at or near 
 North Bend. 
 
 Mr. Taylor and his wife and family were expected to 
 become members of the President's family, for the whole 
 term of his service. 
 
 3. The following are the names of the deceased mem- 
 bers of the family : 
 
 Lucy Harrison, a daughter, married Judge Este. 
 
 J. C. S. Harrison, a son, married Miss Pike. Both 
 dead. 
 
 Wni. H. Harrison, Jr., married Miss Jane Irvine. His 
 widow presided at the President's table, and her personal 
 graces have commended her to the affections of all who have 
 had the pleasure to know her. 
 
 Dr. Benjamin Harrison, a son. Died the last summer. 
 
 Carter B. Harrison, who was a lawyer of fine talents, 
 and accompanied General Harrison to Colombia. Died two 
 years ago. All the sons left children. 
 
 Mrs. Harrison, the President's widow, has been for 
 
 many years a member of the Pregbyterian church. Th(i 
 39* V U-V, 
 
462 APPENDIX. [d] 
 
 rest of the family are also Presbyterians, except Mr. Ben- 
 jamin Harrison, wlio is an Episcopalian, and Mrs. Taylor, 
 of Richmond, who is a member of the Baptist church. 
 
 GENERAL HARRISON DEAD. 
 
 BY ANN S. STEPHENS. 
 
 Death sitteth in the Capitol ! His sable wing 
 Flung its black shadow o'er a country's hope. 
 And lo ! a nation bendeth down in tears. 
 A few short weeks and all was jubilee, — 
 The air was musical with happy sounds — 
 The future full of promise — joyous smiles 
 Beam'd on each freeman's face and lighted up 
 The gentle eye of beauty. 
 The Hero came — a noble good old man — ■ 
 Strong in the wealth of his high purposes. 
 Age sat upon him with a gentle grace, 
 Giving unto his manhood dignity. 
 Imbuing it with pure and lofty thoughts 
 As pictures owe their mellow hues to time. 
 He stood before the people. Their' s had been 
 The vigor of his youth his manhood's strength. 
 And now his green old age was yielded up 
 To answer their behest. 
 
 Thousands had gathered round the marble dome 
 Silent and motionless in their deep reverence, 
 Save when they gushed the heaving throb 
 And low tumultuous breath of patriot hearts 
 Surcharg'd with grateful joy. The mighty dead 
 Bent gently o'er him with their spirit wings, 
 
[d] appendix. 463 
 
 As solemnly he took the earthly state 
 
 Which flung its purple o'er his path to Heaven. 
 
 The oath was said, and then one mighty pulse 
 
 Seem'd throbbing through the multitude — 
 
 Faces were lifted upward, and a prayer 
 
 Of deep thanksgiving wing'd that vow to Heaven. 
 
 Time slept on flowers and lent his Glass to Hope — 
 
 One little month his golden sands had sped 
 
 When, mingling with the music of our joy, 
 
 Arose and swell'd a low funeral strain, 
 
 So sad and mournful, that a nation heard 
 
 And trembled as she wept. 
 
 Darkness is o'er the land. 
 For lo ! a death flag streams upon the breeze, — 
 The Hero hath dejmried ! 
 
 Nay, let us weep, our grief hath need of tears — 
 Tears should embalm the dead, and there is one, 
 A gentle woman, with her clinging love. 
 Who wrung her heart that she might give him up 
 To his high destiny. Tears are for her, — 
 She lingers yet among her household gods 
 And knoweth not how low her heart is laid. 
 From battle-fields where strife was fiercely waged, 
 And human blood-drops fell a crimson rain. 
 He had returned to her. God help thee, Lady, 
 Look not for him now ! 
 Thron'd in a nation's love he sunk to sleep, 
 And so awoke in Heaven. 
 
 New York, April 5. 
 
464 APPENDIX. [d] 
 
 VICE-PRESIDENT TYLER'S RECOMMENDATION OF A 
 NATIONAL FAST. 
 
 OFFICIAL. 
 
 To the People of the United States. 
 
 A BECOMMENDATION. 
 
 When a Christian People feel themselves to be over- 
 taken by a great public calamity, it becomes them to humble 
 themselves under the dispensation of Divine Providence, to 
 recognize His righteous government over the children of 
 men, to acknowledge His goodness in time past, as well as 
 their own unworthiness, and to supplicate His merciful pro- 
 tection for the future. 
 
 The death of William Heney Harrison, late Presi- 
 dent of the United States, so soon after his elevation to 
 that high office, is a bereavement peculiarly calculated to 
 be regarded as a heavy affliction, and to impress all minds 
 with a sense of the uncertainty of human things, and of 
 the dependence of nations, as well as of individuals, upon 
 our Heavenly Parent. 
 
 I have thought, therefore, that I should be acting in 
 conformity with the general expectation and feelings of the 
 community in recommending, as I now do, to the People 
 of the United States, of every religious denomination, that, 
 according to their several modes and forms of worship, they 
 observe a day of Fasting and Prayer, by such religious ser- 
 vices as may be suitable on the occasion ; and I recommend 
 Friday, the fourteenth day of May next, for that purpose ; 
 to the end that, on that day, we may all, with one accord, 
 join in humble and reverential approach to Him, in whose 
 hands we are, invoking him to inspire us with a proper 
 
[d] appendix. 465 
 
 spirit and temper of heart and mind under these frowns 
 of His providence, and still to bestow His gracious bene- 
 dictions upon our Government and our country. 
 
 John Tyler. 
 "Washington, April 13, 1841. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Thus the national bereavement, so signal and so over- 
 whelming, has been acknowledged by many sincere demon- 
 strations of sympathy and grief — and finally by an executive 
 recommendation of a day of national fasting and prayer. 
 President Tyler has done well to enter upon the honors 
 of office by honoring our fathers' God and ours ! The pub- 
 lic solemnities attending the late fearful dispensation are 
 appropriately concluded by the humiliation of the whole 
 people before the majesty of Heaven. 
 
 Christians ! the voice of God summons you to Zion ! 
 Prepare ye to assemble at her solemn places with humilia- 
 tion and prayer. The national visitation demands national 
 penitence ; and the garment of our praise must be wrapped 
 in the spirit of heaviness. 
 
 Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the 
 terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy, let not all 
 the trouble seem little before Thee, that hath come upon 
 us, unto this day. Howbeit Thou art just in all that is 
 brought upon us; for Thou hast done right, but we have 
 done wickedly. We have not kept Thy law, nor hearkened 
 unto Thy commandments and Thy testimonies, wherewith 
 Thou didst testify against us ! 
 
 To the Lord our God, belong mercies and forgiveness. 
 O Lord, hear ! O Lord, forgive ! 
 
IHBD'^Q